THE Coat

Apologies for the absolutely awful photo, it had to be taken quickly before Lol decided she never wanted to wear anything inside the house but the coat and it fused with her skin. This was one of Lol's christmas presents from Mother Scott, and it was a complete lovely surprise, because Lol had seen it weeks before and it had taken its place in her heart straight away but she never thought she would het it! For weeks it was the flock of birds coat this, and the flock of birds coat that, and now that she has it, well, it's been pretty much the same!

Lol wears:

COAT, Principles

black dress, charity shop

red ribbed tights, stolen from the mother

Jim went to the Flower Ssnake ceremony at Tate Britain yesterday, and got to watch a lady whip the christmas spirit out of the massive Norwegian spruce they have up as you come in. Meanwhile, Lol was answering Latin questions (boo) and reading one of Keats' letters to Fanny Brawne about every five minutes- they are beautiful, almost like sonnets. The everyday becomes magical in Keats' hands. Someday Lol would like her own Keats to write letters to her, Keats sans TB and another women but most definitely avec at least ten more inches to his 5 feet. Somehow Facebook just doesn't capture the sublime and beautiful quite as well.

PLUS: We're going out for pizza tonight, and we've both agreed to wear the clothes we bought each other for christmas, so we'll post up some pictures later on.

A girl can dream

'I've learned all the course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?'

We're not going to try and hide the fact that this is inspired (read, copied) from Hermione's forest look in the latest Harry Potter film, because quite frankly we don't think there is anything to be ashamed of. Who wouldn't want to be Hermione and look like Emma Watson does? We've been thinking of this outfit ever since we saw the Deathly Hallows, and we couldn't not do it today (it's freeeeeezing), on Lol's first day back at school. Coincidentally while Lol was learning about purges and purges and yet more purges in Stalin's Russia, Jim has been lounging around all day because he doesn't go back to school until Thursday! Lol hasn't seen him today yet (because he's off at the cinema right now, the dirty stopout), but she wouldn't mind betting that he didn't read any of his books, but has progressed pretty far with Fifa 11... Mind you, Lol's just started Tess of the d'Urbyvilles, but has ordered two more books from amazon right now, so neither of us is really sticking to our literary resolutions.

Lol wears:

shirt, Republic

purple undershirt, H&M

black jeans, Topshop

clover necklace, birthday present

And everything is all right again

This is the last time that we're going to manipulate the space/time continuum because we were lazylazylazy in the holidays, we promise! This is Lol's party dress, last seen at our Dad's school's christmas disco. We really like it's vintage feel, and the fact that it is specially labelled 'Tall' by Topshop. It's like someone has realised that all those lovely skirts are way too short for the vertically blessed, at least for anyone who wants to maintain any dignity, and that those maxi dresses can only be worn by those with some pretty hefty panache along with the extra height, and don't worry about suitability for school. This dress is the ultimate dress, because it can be dressed up/down- the mark of a good dress for Lol is if she can wear it to sixth form. Plus, it makes her feel like a character from a book, she's not quite sure which one, there's just that general aura. So, now that we're all caught up we're off- Jim's going to see Gauguin at the Tate and Lol's going to read her book. It's One Day, by David Nicholls, which she got for her birthday and (sacrilegiously, we might add) interfered with the pile (the 50 or so books teetering beside her bed that she wants to read all at once) to read. It was a bit of a let down at first, especially because the idea seemed so brilliant- where will two people be on the same day every year?- but the prose is a bit clunky and so many bands and books are mentioned that it feels overdressed. This is starting to settle down now though as the characters do (we wonder if we have missed the point there!), and it must be pretty good, because Lol now feels like she knows all about what it's like to grow up and have to work in a Mexican restaurant and write endless opening chapters for books and put up with a failing comedian for a boyfriend in your tiny flat. Whilst we weren't quite sure why there's such a big buzz around it at the moment initially, we can now understand why so many people are reading it on the train- it's car crash reading, but its captivating car crash reading, you feel embarassed for them, but you can't stop reading, particularly if you can identify on some level with the characters. That's Nicholls' genius here, we think, creating these two main characters, Emma and Dexter, who can embody all the flaws any reader wishes to see reflected in them- they basically represent at least one generation, warts and all.

Meanwhile, Jim is belatedly reading the final Harry Potter, and would like to wish all you muggles out there a happy new-the-deathly-hallows-part-two-is-being-released year!