7.20.09 London.

V&A museum entrance

Modern design is what I live for so when I found out that today was the day for modern museums I was quite excited. Our first stop was the V&A museum and we got broken up into groups for an assignment. The project is to get inspiration for pattern ideas while going through 3 different museums and individually creating 3 patterns from those museums, the V&A being one of them. Then as a group, we will take those patterns, refine them, and present them to the whole group in a unified presentation so it seems as though only one person created the entire series of patterns. My group decided to walk around together and check out everything and if we saw something of inspiration, we’d all sketch it and see how each person came up with their own unique design. My favorite exhibit in the museum was probably the fashion section. I loved seeing fashion from way back when until the present and seeing how things have changed and then not changed so much. Fashion always seems to come full circle in some way or another. They also had a 20th century furniture section and it was so cool to see like mid-century modern designs because that is my favorite time period. Sometimes I think I should have been born in the 50’s or 60’s because I love everything that comes from that time period. Our group was successful in creating some very unique and creative patterns and I can’t wait to see how we develop them into something collective.

dress designed by givenchy, audrey hepburns favorite designer. audrey is my idol.

coolest shoes not quite finished yet.

the panton chair. could you be more sleek and sassy?

nuff said.

i just love seeing this everywhere except that i might very well be one of the 52 injuries that occur every year.

It was on to the Tate museum from there, but we made some detours along the way that were in our path such as the Tower Bridge. I still am not convinced that this is THE London Bridge from the song, but if it really is then I’ve been there and it was cool. The best was the view from the bridge because there was a straight shot look at London City Hall designed by Norman Foster. Its modern and eccentric design was created to be energy efficient while still maintaining the same square footage. I love the leaning egg look and each glass panel is custom and was laser cut. We just stopped inside to see the round shape from an interior perspective and the ceiling is incredible. It mimics the outside shape and creates an oblong circular pattern in rings of mirrors…very cool. A lovely feature found in London City Hall was a multi-faith meditation room so naturally we took time to meditate since the opportunity was there.

bradizzle and i in front of london city hall

london london london bridge falling down??

We continued our walking journey to the Tate museum and once again were asked to looked for inspiration for patterns in this museum. I just can’t get enough of modern design! Don’t’ get me wrong, I loved Italy and Paris and seeing all the old architecture and design but it is just so refreshing to finally see some straight, clean and creative lines and art. Modern design can be super eccentric and a little out there but for the most part it is all fascinating to me and definitely amusing at times. There were some videos playing at the Tate that were interesting to put it loosely. A lovely surprise I found there though was a beautiful Monet painting that I have always loved and it fit in perfectly with the other pieces there. I think my favorite exhibit was a room with a very large scale dining room table and chairs. Sadly, we weren’t able to play on the display but I decided that when I have kids, I’ll just buy them an extremely large set of furniture and they can play on that instead of a playground. It’s much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. There was some incredible modern canvas pieces that were so cool and gave me great inspiration for some patterns. I just can’t get enough of that modern loveliness and hope to see much more of that here in hip London.

such cool modern canvas art

monet painting in the tate

The evening was ours and seeing as we were in London and had just missed the Harry Potter premiere for the sixth movie, we decided to go see it. There was a big group of us that was planning on going so us 5 thought it would be a great idea to buy our tickets in advance so we wouldn’t have to worry about waiting in lines that were sure to be long when we got to the theatre. We gave Brady the task of buying and figuring out the tickets online and reserving them for us. We headed off to the theatre but not without our HP lovin lightning bolts on our foreheads, put on with eyeliner. Check the pictures out and you tell me which two witches have the best lightning bolts because I can tell you right now Lindsey and I take the cake. We arrived at Leicester square where the premier for the movie had been held just days before and headed into the Empire theatre. Alright I’ll make this story short, turns out there is another Leicester square not in London and about 15 minutes away that we had actually booked our tickets for. Very stressful moment finding this out and thanks to the cheery ticket girl, we not only got in with a student discount but she got us all sitting together in the most amazing seats in the theatre, even when the movie had already started 10 minutes ago. Just a word about the theatre – never in my life have I ever seen a movie theatre that big. It looked more like a giant auditorium than a cinema and the seats were SO comfy. I’m convinced this is where the premier was held and I feel like I got the whole Harry Potter experience being in London in that theatre. Oh and what an amazing movie! It really was so good and I can’t wait for the seventh one to come out.

wingardium leviosa!

yes we went on the tube like this and you best believe i got some serious double takes of what was happening on my forehead. oh and you'll notice the "correct" bolts are on me and lindsey.

seeing harry potter in london in a london theatre. priceless.

man standing outside the theater. it was just what we needed to see after our day.

We arrived back to our flats and were so tired from the day but needed to shower badly. I hurried and got in so the rest of us could shower and Kaitlyn was super eager to get in after me. She hopped in and we kinda forget she was there. I was in the room and about to plug in Ashlee’s computer charger for her when suddenly a very loud and alarming alarm went off in our room. I thought the plug had tripped some sort of alarm or something but I opened the door and it was surely the fire alarm going off in the entire building. We all grab jackets and start the long descent outside when we realized that Kaitlyn was still in the shower. Next time I saw her, she was out with hair wet and towel wrapped around her bottom half since she miraculously grabbed a shirt to put on. The poor girl was freezing but it was so funny that she happened to be in the shower at that time. The fire alarm lasted for way too long and I was so ready for bed. No one will ever know what set it off but hopefully it won’t happen again any time soon. Goodnight from South Kensington.