Dissertation Beginning

I'm a post-graduate student in Library Science at City University London, and the books I've ordered for pre-reading have finally come in. I'm going to try to complete most of my dissertation in July, as I'll be flying back to the states for all of August for surgery on my foot.

I guess these will be keeping me company for a long time!

I've had a bit of wedding dress drama. I thought I was ready to commit to the dress I found in this last post, but my mother has told me that she has found a designer who is willing to make me any dress I want, for the same price. I'm so distraught over this. It's true that the other dress is a bit formal, but I really love the back bar bit. I just have always pictured myself in something shorter because it's going to be a civil ceremony at a town hall.
I'm in desperate need of advice! Should I stick with that dress, or go down the route of designing something I won't be able to see in person for another two months?

Completely off-topic, but a bit wedding related-I found this cute little blog article asking if it is annoying to call someone your fiancé. Relevant, because I always find myself questioning using that word.

I'm off to a busy London weekend tomorrow, be back Monday!

Zucchini/Courgette bread step-by-step

I had the promised dinner party as yesterday, which was basically just Dan's former housemate coming over for a meal and to catch up. But any excuse to try out a new recipe. I made the zucchini bread from Proud Italian Cook as planned. And it was simple, impressive looking, and tasted beautiful!


I know this is a photography blog for the most part, so I want to apologize ahead of time for the terrible quality iPhone photos of this step-by-step bit.

Ingredients are two zucchinis, halved. Cherry tomatoes, halved. Crushed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Optional ingredients are bread crumbs, and manchego and parmesan cheese. But those can easily be left to make the recipe either gluten free or vegan.

I started out by scooping the seeds out of the zucchini halves with a teaspoon, and was left with little zucchini boats.

I crushed the garlic, chopped the tomatoes, and got out a bowl for the olive oil/garlic/salt/pepper mixture.

Assembled the zucchini by spreading around the olive oil/garlic mixture in the indent from scooping out the seeds, and placed the tomatoes slice end up. I sprinkled bread crumbs over the top.

Set an alarm on my phone for 30 minutes. (Our oven lacks a timer. And also, temperature labels, so it's all guess work.)

Prepared the manchego cheese and got ready to shred the parmesan, which I put on after they'd been in the over for about 25 minutes.

I poked bits of manchego between the tomatoes, and shredded parmesan on top, and baked for another 5-8 minutes.
Voila! Not as pretty as the photos on the Proud Italian Cook page, mostly because Dan had taken them out of the oven and served them before I had a chance to take a proper photo of them in their finished state.
They tasted amazing, and were so simple to make. I definitely recommend this recipe, especially to people who'd like to eat healthy. It's so versatile and easy to make either gluten-free or vegan.

Dinner party Tuesday!

Tonight Dan is having his former housemate over our place for the first time for dinner. He's in charge of the main course, but for a starter I'm planning on giving this amazing recipe for zucchini bread (or courgette bread) a go!

 Recipe (and photo) courtesy of Proud Italian Cook. How amazing do those look?!

Wedding Dress Shopping Round 3

After a completely mental and fun weekend at Radio 1's Hackney weekend (helllllo Jay Z!), I got back from London just in time to watch the England v Italy game, and get to bed. I crashed out early because I had a special shopping trip planned this morning with my future mother in law at The Harrogate Wedding Lounge.

So it was time for wedding dress shopping, round 3. I previously bought my other dress for my American wedding at the wonderful Kleinfeld. Besides my ordering over the internet disaster, I had tried dresses on at a few other shops but hadn't quite found what I was looking for.

My future mother-in-law and I had a wonderful time, and I tried on quite a few dresses - roughly 8 or so, before finding one I really liked.

The dress I ended up with was called Caprice, a Maggie Sottero dress, with the most dramatic back bar.  I wasn't planning on finding anything, and was really surprised when I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's totally different from my American wedding dress (a very lacy number), but so classic and lovely. I think it will work well for the town hall wedding!

Just goes to shows that sometimes what you end up picking isn't always what you have in mind when you start shopping!
Have some photos of the model with the dress, and one of me with the sample size dress on.

Saltaire, West Yorkshire.

A few weeks ago Dan took me to Saltaire, a Victorian model village near Bradford. I found it absolutely charming despite getting caught in the rain during a walk around the park and having to spend a few hours in a pub, waiting for it to let up.
After picking up a parcel in Yeadon yesterday, I asked if he could drive us to Saltaire again to take a more successful walk in the park. We watched the cricket game for a while, and of course it started to rain. This time I came prepared with an umbrella in my bag, but I had to put the camera away. Eventually we ended up at this great bar, Don't Tell Titus, and had a great dinner together.

Online Wedding Dresses & Ordering Internationally

I'm getting married...twice! First (and legally) in London this November, and then next year in May in the US so I include all my friends and family from home. I decided, with consultation from my mother who is handling the wedding budgets and funds, that I am going to get two dresses. I found my first dress at the lovely, iconic Kleinfeld in Brooklyn in April. It's a Marisa gown, and I would absolutely post a picture of it here but there seems to be no photos of it in existence online. That's for the beach wedding in the US in May 2013.

 Here I am, less than six months before the actual wedding, with no dress! I think what has really limited me so far is the fact that I had my heart set on a short dress. The majority of short dresses available are tea length, and just didn't have what I wanted-too much tulle, and ending at the calf which is an unflattering length for me. I ordered a dress from my favorite online bridal shop, BHDLD. It was a Sarah Seven number, and totally gorgeous online.

Because it was a US site, I expected an extra shipping charge. It was roughly around $80. Fine. But when the dress arrived, I got hit with the UK VAT charge (£121.32). And after that, when I decided the dress wasn't for me after all, I had to pay £69 in shipping to return it because the company required shipping it a method that they could track.

 All in all, I ended up losing out on about $480, or £300 in fees, on a $750 dress that I will never get credited for. 

 To their credit, BHLDN was very upfront about the shipping charges and return aspects on their website, so I can't fault them at all. When there was an issue in the begging with ordering the dress, their customer service department was lovely and prompt and sorted things out with one phone call. I would definitely recommend BHLDN for their wedding dresses and accessories.

 What I wouldn't recommend is ordering a wedding dress from a company outside your country, and to make sure you're highly aware of fees and taxes that your gown may be subjected to.

Unexpected Change of Plans.

I tried so hard today to get to the gym. Locating my workout leggings was a challenge, but it proved that locating my trainers was an even bigger challenge. They're not proper trainers - more like pumps, with flowers all over them. And I only found one. So, no gym for me today. I'm going to shower, put away laundry (I sound like I'm the married housewife already - gah!), and then head to the park to take some shots because the sun is shining, and Leeds is beautiful with a bit of sun on it. Have some more photo's I took yesterday as I walked back from the gym on Town Street in Horsforth, West Yorkshire.

 
Flower Shop.

The Beginning

I decided to make a photography blog for the pictures that I take while I'm out and about. I used to be a gig photographer, but since I've moved to Leeds with my fiancé and out of London, that's been put on hold. So scenery photography it is!