The Chelsea Flower Show 2014 is in full swing and a number of celebrities have made an appearance at BrandAlley’s Italian Renaissance themed garden. Amy Willerton also appeared and posed as Venus in a giant clam shell. Top to bottom: Jennifer Saunders and Edmondson, Mary Nightingale, Tim Wonnacott, Amy Willerton, Anneka Rice, Lesley Garrett, Mary Berry and Nick & Jessica Knowles
Do you like the Chelsea Flower Show?
Ladies are very lucky when it comes to fashion with an array of wonderful items landing in stores and we can update our look at a touch of our perfectly polished fingertips. Men or men wanting classic clothing on the other hand don’t have that much to chose from. A real downside to the basic wardrobes of many men, but fortunately TM Lewin are upping the anti with their newest collection for Autumn Winter 2014 being launched this September. I had the pleasure of being invited to this brands press day last week, to take a look and also be able to sure all the goodies with you guys. With my camera in hand I headed off to this fabulous event in the heart of London.
TM lewinFrom cool winter jackets, with stunning suits and delightful accessories there really isn’t any excuse to look shabby now guys! The main focus of the season is layering and adding different textures, prints and structure but within the same colour block.
Adding really basic and classic items to an outfit can give it a finished touch, but when you are talking TM Lewin you are also dipping your toes into real brand quality, style and panache with confident, edgy and trend setting elements.
Tm lewinThey are still holding on to key classic items like the pea coats and cool ties but adding a fresh feel to the entire collection.
This brand has always been one of the best around and now I feel its jumped up a notch in the fashion food chain. Gorgeous looks that will get heads turning for all the right reasons. The attention to detail is absolutely spot on too with looks that will suit all age ranges. They will last a lifetime as they are so wonderfully crafted and with 100s of shirt patterns being created each month you chaps will be able to update your closets as much as us ladies.
This brand has been around since 1898 and still is by far one of the best in the world.Tm Lewin
While I was there we all chatted about fashion and how it relates to feeling good, happy and positive. “Clothes make the man” (Hamlet) This phrase implies that how a person dresses tells you something about who they are as a person and TM Lewin have got that bottled up nicely with this collection.
They are also tremendous hosts and we are a variety of canapés that where created by the Winner of Masterchef form last year, Nathalie Coleman. Crafted with distinction, style and quality just like TM Lewin themselves.
I am looking forward to this season so much and I hope you chaps are too. Ladies they have a rather impressive collection for you too but on this particular day it was the mens collection was the highlight of the day for me.
Follow me on Twitter @sarahbacchus and visit my photographic website www.sarahbacchus.com
The red carpet can be a brutal place for women: their talent is put to one side and they are based entirely on the sum of their parts and ability to dress. This is what happened to Sarah Millican at last year’s BAFTA Awards.
“I’m sorry. I thought I had been invited to such an illustrious event because I am good at my job. Putting clothes on is such a small part of my day. They may as well have been criticising me for brushing my teeth differently to them” She wrote in her Radio Times Essay.
.@SarahMillican75 : #Twitter was a pin to my excitable Bafta balloon http://t.co/YN7ocUSiDh pic.twitter.com/EMMrfMfeIa
— Radio Times (@RadioTimes) May 15, 2014
Trolls on the internet attacked her red carpet look, calling it “disastrous” and “nana”-like. She was hurt but choose to respond and point out the sexism of a woman being judged on her appearance rather than celebrated for her achievements.
“I’m not a model (I’m a comedian), have never learnt how to pose on a red carpet (I’m a comedian) and I have pretty low self-esteem.”
She also had this to say about her John Lewis dress:
“Fancy expensive designer shops are out for me as I’m a size 18, sometimes 20, and I therefore do not count as a woman to them.”
“It was like a pin to my excitable red balloon. Literally thousands of messages from people criticising my appearance. I was fat and ugly as per usual. … I cried. I cried in the car.”
Then she got angry….
“Why does it matter so much what I was wearing? … I felt wonderful in that dress. And surely that’s all that counts.”
Cate Blanchett also got sick of the sexist double standards after the cameras kept scanning her up and down at this year’s SAG Awards. She asked, “Do you do that to the guys?”
Funnily, Millican, points out the sexism of the situation: “My husband wasn’t asked who he was wearing, which disappointed him. Mainly because he was dying to tell ANYONE he was wearing an Asda tux.”
Even better, Millican had this to say about the dress she wore:
“I made a decision the following day that should I ever be invited to attend the Baftas again, I will wear the same dress. To make the point that it doesn’t matter what I wear; that’s not what I’m being judged on.”
This will be the weirdest, and possibly funniest, thing you will see all day: Jimmy Fallon and Terry Crews performing a shirtless duet of Ebony and Ivory on yesterday’s Tonight Show. Fallon loves to lip synch and it seemed they could not pass up the opportunity to get the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star shirtless for a different take on it.
The Dining Rooms at The Worsley Park Hotel is a light and spacious restaurant that takes traditional British food and gives it a modern twist. So far, so ‘every decent hotel restaurant’.
From the minute we arrived the staff created a pleasant and friendly atmosphere and our waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable about the menu and wine list. He recommended a 2013 Chenin Blanc to accompany our food choices and he was spot on. It was a lovely wine that somehow managed to compliment both the meaty courses that I chose and the vegetarian ones selected by my colleague.
All of our food arrived promptly, although this might partly have been because the restaurant was surprisingly empty for a Friday night. It’s worth noting here that the hotel is a little out of the way which probably explains the number of customers.
To start with I had chicken liver parfait and my colleague had asparagus with blood orange and hollandaise sauce, both off the specials menu. The blood orange nicely cut through the taste of the asparagus, which was well cooked. My parfait was flavoursome and had a lovely texture but, as is so often the way, it needed a little more toast to accompany it.
For the main course I had lamb in a Chambord jus with mashed potato and roasted beetroot and my colleague had a macaroni and cheese pie with garlic bread and salad. My lamb was tender and meaty and went perfectly with the beetroot and jus. My colleague too was impressed by her macaroni and cheese pie, finding it to be an inventive take on a classic dish which used great quality ingredients and was just the right size. However, there could have been more of the accompanying salad as on its own the pie was a little salty.
To finish, I had a white chocolate panna cotta with raspberry sorbet and a raspberry soup. The creaminess of the panna cotta went perfectly with the sharpness of the raspberry – it was possibly my favourite dish of the evening. My colleague had the sampler which came with miniature versions of the chocolate torte, the blood orange cheesecake and the sticky toffee pudding. Each was served with a suitable sorbet or ice cream and it was clear that thought had gone into the flavour combinations. The torte was dense and rich, just as it should be. Unfortunately, the cheesecake was a little bland and the sticky toffee pudding whilst delicious was lacking in sauce leaving it a little dry in the middle. However, I suspect that this might just be a problem with the miniature taster dish rather than the dessert when served on its own. Both desserts, as with all the courses, were immaculately presented.
The Worsley Park Hotel is a cut above your average hotel restaurant and is certainly a good choice for a meal on a special occasion. Does it manage to do anything radical in its attempt to provide a modern twist on traditional dishes? Not really. Would I recommend visiting anyway? I certainly would.
These guys are a personal favourite of mine, I love War Story and listen to it on repeat. It starts with bagpipes playing ‘Amazing Grace’ and then goes into a brilliant song. They may be lovesick, now so am I.
Band/Artist: Lovesick Saints
Location: Scottsdale AZ.
Styles: Alternative Punk
Similar to/RIYL: Bad Religion, Social Distortion, Pennywise, Alkaline Trio, Face to Face, The Ramones
CD: Dia De Los Muertos
Release date: 6/19/13
Members/Instruments: Tom Holliday (Guitars/Vocals), Jarrod Olson (Bass), Christian Howell (Drums/Backing Vocals)
Production: Recorded at Pyramix Studios (Glendale,AZ) Mixed at The Salt Mine Studios (Mesa,AZ) Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME)
Tracklisting: 1) Dia De Los Muertos 2) Sick and Broken 3) One Foot in The Grave 4) War Story 5) This Aint It 6) Empty
Bio:
Born in 2007 in Chandler Az, Lovesick Saints was a formation of Tom Holliday on guitar/vocals, his brother Davy Joe on bass/vocals and Sun Yun on drums. Initially mixing the old skool country sound with old skool punk rock, Lss eventually evolved into the rhythm-driven Alt-punk rock sound it is today. Although heavily influenced by early punk pioneers such as the Ramones and the Clash, Lss continues to push forward, incorporating fundamental punk music principles with messages from life’s ups and downs of today.
Christian Howell joined the project in 2010 when Sun departed ways and moved to California to pursue another career. Possessing similar musical interests and undeniable dedication, Lss was honored to welcome the new punk rocker to the line up with his undeniable rhythm capabilities. When Davy Joe left the band for personal reasons in 2012, thats when Tom turned to long time friend and fellow musician Jarrod Olson. Having worked with Jarrod on an earlier project years ago, Tom knew he would be a perfect fit. With Jarrod’s unrelenting grunge-era bass technique, this Seattle-born musician was exactly what the band needed to complete it’s line up.
Lovesick Saints has played numerous venues in the Maricopa county area of AZ and looks forward to expanding its sound outside the borders of its home state. The band has released 4 studio EPs: The Punk Rock Honky Tonk, Resurwreckshun, Outside Looking In and its recent “Dia de los Muertos” EP was released in June 2013.
She is not exactly known as a high-fashion icon but it seems that notorious Vogue cover really has given Kim Kardashian some of the credibility she craves, along with some fashion kudos. eBay has seen a mammoth 260%* surge in sales of grey wedding dresses since Kim Kardashian’s recent appearance on the cover of Vogue (with fiancé Kanye West), wearing a similar design.
Despite growing rumblings about ‘Kimye’s’ upcoming ceremony in France, the chosen design for Kim’s wedding dress is still tightly under wraps. But it’s the stunning grey number she wore on the fashion bible’s April cover – with a sweetheart neckline and nipped waist – that British brides-to-be are coveting, proving that this surprising trend is one-to-watch this spring.
Credit: Vogue. (http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/kim-kardashian-kanye-west-cover/)
Muted grey tones, punchy floral designs, pastel blues and girlish greens were among the big hitters at the London Bridal Show in April, all prompting many women to reconsider the conventional white dress. Sales of these fashionable colours have similarly increased on eBay, with green wedding dresses up by 72%, blue gowns by 95%, and floral prints up by an incredible 107%*.
The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast. – Gabriel García Márquez.
Believing in marriage and not in divorce is like believing in joint stock companies and not in bankruptcy. – Neil Ferguson
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution? – Groucho Marx
Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. – Benjamin Franklin
If I get married, I want to be very married. – Audrey Hepburn
When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship. – Joseph Campbell
When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Every good relationship, especially marriage, is based on respect. If it’s not based on respect, nothing that appears to be good will last very long. – Amy Grant
I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. – Rita Rudner
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me. – Winston Churchill
Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
– Martin Luther
Don’t marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can’t live without. – James C. Dobson
It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Let us now set forth one of the fundamental truths about marriage: the wife is in charge. – Bill Cosby
Do you know what it means to come home at night to a woman who’ll give you a little love, a little affection, a little tenderness? It means you’re in the wrong house, that’s what it means.- Henny Youngman
One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again. – Judith Viorst
To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; Whenever you’re right, shut up. – Ogden Nash
If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married. – Katharine Hepburn
I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me, and guarantee that he’d be dead within a year. – Bette Davis
Never get married in college; it’s hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you’ve already made one mistake. – Elbert Hubbard
A good husband makes a good wife. – John Florio
Marrying an old bachelor is like buying second-hand furniture. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. – Sacha Guitry
For years my wedding ring has done its job. It has led me not into temptation. It has reminded my husband numerous times at parties that it’s time to go home. It has been a source of relief to a dinner companion. It has been a status symbol in the maternity ward. – Erma Bombeck
Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives. – Samuel Johnson
Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage. – Ambrose Bierce
Marriage is an adventure, like going to war. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife. – Prince Philip
Men have a much better time of it than women. For one thing, they marry later; for another thing, they die earlier. – H. L. Mencken
There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. – Homer
The first time you marry for love, the second for money, and the third for companionship. – Jackie Kennedy
There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded. – Princess Diana
Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about. – Katharine Hepburn
The true index of a man’s character is the health of his wife. – Cyril Connolly