Home.Sweet.?

I have always been a big fan of charity work - organisations & people who's primary purpose is to help others is pretty special, I'd say. We all deserve to be happy on this planet so I think it's completely right to do whatever one can - in whatever small way - to strive for this to happen.

WORLD PEACE, right?

Yes, I would definitely make a good Miss World.

I also have a particular interest in how society works - the intricacy's, complicated webs, hierarchy's, social classes, subcultures & trends which shape our minds & behaviours, and so it seemed only natural for me to study Sociology at school. I had a completely whacky teacher who made the class sit under the table for our first A level lesson & gave us over-sized brightly coloured plastic glasses to wear during her lessons. With such a babe as a guide, I focused my work on those socially excluded in society - particularly disabled people & the homeless. I worked for a while with the charity 'Changing Faces' & got to know some the homeless chaps in the area around my school.

A few years on I became a weekly volunteer at a homeless drop-in shelter in South Kensington. I have had some of the most interesting & inspiring conversations with my homeless chums, I tell you now. Many of them are jolly & love a good laugh, others are caught in detrimental behaviours & addictions..all of them comment on an overwhelming feeling of being neglected & cast out from 'normal' society. Goodness me, I could chat on about this for a long time (and indeed I shall another time) but the main point of my chatter now is to talk about the work I've been doing at the charity Crisis.

I was the Art Fundraising Team intern at Crisis which was bloody great. Crisis puts on an exhibition once every two years displaying the work of Britain's top contemporary artists which is then auctioned & the proceeds goes to the charity. My pretty ideal job was to initially engage with the artists I thought should take part. From Bill Woodrow to Mark Wallinger, Gavin Turk & Ann Christopher, we had a pretty powerful arty force.

Each artist had to respond it their own way to the theme HOME & create a piece of work for the exhibition. This took place in a warehouse in Bermondsey & it was pretty spectacular. The works by these successful artists were displayed alongside the work of Crisis members. What lovely business.

Check out some snaps from the exhibition. If you're interested to find out more, take a look here. The auction is at Christies on July 2nd!

'Found Line' by Ann Christopher

I particularly love 'Home' which is a collaborative piece between Matt Chivers & Crisis members Sarah E Goode & Tom Hair. What good hair-y names.

 'Wherever I lay my Hat' by Bill Woodrow

'Pillow' by Gavin Turk

The event was beautifully catered for by the Crisis Skylight cafe.
I found the popcorn in red stripey packets particularly exciting. Felt just like being at home..

Oh hey Mr & Mrs Franks (aka mum & dad) hanging out in from of 'Astrakhan hat & Flower Bonnet' by Billy Childish to the right & 'Early man, Modern man' by John Carew-Reid

'Former Self' by Mathew Carey

This great piece by Mark Wallinger is called 'No Way Home'

WHEN I SMELT YOUR HAIR

Those.Prickly.Hills.

My LA trip is fast becoming a distant memory, a place I pop to in my mind when I need a relaxed sunny memory - I'm sure I don't have to spell it out to any London readers..we are not exactly experiencing the HEIGHT of summer right now. Rain, drizzle, cold.

So let me write my last LA post and indulge myself in the memories of slapping on 50+ suncream to gaze at the Hollywood sign from a hill covered in cacti & lizards soaking up the rays.

ENTER AT YOUR PERIL ('peril' aka sun envy)

Seeing the Hollywood sign whilst staying in Hollywood seemed pretty imperative to Kimberley & my LA adventure, so we took our little automobile to the nearest possible point which happened to be a Wild West style ranch. We said hello to the horses, considered letting them ride us through the hills before deciding on braving the rattle snake infested wilderness alone - two blondes in incredibly inappropriate attire..what could possibly go wrong?

If something had in fact gone wrong I'm sure it would make a funny story in retrospect, however I'm glad to say that we returned from the hills unscathed and drove back to the heart of Hollywood to reminisce about all the rich and famous on Hollywood Boulevard.

The Muppets were by far my most exciting find. 

 

This nutella crumble was also a pretty ideal find. If it's not rich and famous yet, it certainly should be.

 So that leads me on to the food in Cali. One often hears of the obesity epidemic in America (which advertising certainly isn't helping with - see photo below) & so true to form, we had our fair share of munching on Ihop pancakes & Fatburger burgers which was pretty dreamy, although a week of it was about all my sensitive tummy could handle. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we ate lots of poolside sushi, drunk fresh juices and felt very healthy indeed.

 TV night in with sushi, juice, avocado, strawberries & choc chip cookies. Yum.

 Apart from our one TV night dinner after a long roadtrip back from Palm Springs - we hit the town. One particularly fun night was at a very swanky Italian joint called RivaBella..good name right?

The meal was delicious & made us feel like we were quite frankly in the land of Michaelangelo. We drank Bella Bellini cocktails & finshed off with what could be seen as the ultimate pudding..or just plain weird..

NITROGEN ICE-CREAM.

 The ice-cream was so exciting we even made up a dance in its' honour. It is called the 'nitrogen ice-cream' dance, because despite being a group of 2 actors, a swimwear designer and an artist..our ability to creativity name a smoking ice-cream failed us on this occasion.

 And this my friends, is a CRO-NUT. 

We named it Mr. Cronut.

Full of food, fun & freaky dance moves, we continued the night at Soho House - there were slightly less palm trees than the Soho House pop-up Kim & I went to in Coachella, but the Photo Boudoir certainly made up for that...

 So I guess this happened....                    ....Interesting.

 

Ok ok I know what you're saying - in the name of a mustached stop sign - STOP dreaming of fun in LA & get back to your desk in rainy, drizzly London.