goodbye summer

Life has been so hectic this summer. I entered it dreading it because I had no idea what was to come. And now looking back I can see there is no way I could have predicted the events of the past month. How cryptic does that sound?? I wouldn't be able to start writing about everything, though, without suddenly sounding unbearably dear-Diaryish.

I've been on a bit of a rollercoaster, and it's been fun and it's been horrible but it has never been in between. And so, I am very very tired. Tomorrow, I start my last year of school and I go back into a routine. I will have more time to think, to just be. To not be caught in the act of doing, and to be able to process the moments that just zipped past. And in doing so, I will finally write and read and reflect and rest. Maybe I'll even write more and better blog posts? (Here's hoping).

The unwinding process begins. And for the first time in a long time I have time to just sit and waste an hour watching terrible TV. Isn't that wonderful?

Hmmm..

This week, I happened to glance at a rack of magazines in Selfridges. Instead of the usual selection I would have expected to be greeted with, I was presented with two whole rows of ELLE UK magazines. And they all had different covers. At first, I wondered if I was looking at an archive of ELLEs, but it soon became evident that they were all the same March '09 issue.

Further investigation has shown me that several different designers (Stella McCartney, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Christopher Kane) were all asked to design an exclusive cover. I use the word exclusive sceptically, since according to the website you can only buy them online, at LFW and selected WHSmiths but there were plenty in Selfridges.

On top of that, there appear to be two alternative Gwyneth Paltrow covers which mainly differ in colour, one being black and white and one not. In addition, there is the seasonal runway guide which can be purchased seperately. Oh, and don't forget that you can also purchase the magazine in a convenient travel-size (you'll be getting Gwyneth Paltrow in colour then).

Another tongue

Detective Pretty Face is back, but this time she wishes she could speak Norwegian. Yes, before I tell you more about the wonderful foreign language literature which I have received from Paris, I have some other news in another tongue.

Too late last night for my brain to be functioning properly, I was browsing the beautiful photos on Phiary when I came across this, which led to this article which appears to hold the answer to the mystery of the lost Stylebytes.

Intim Bakrus - click here to read

Now, I know (you did confess) that you all are just as nosy as I am, and so I'm guessing it's probably killing you just as much as it did me not to be able to understand the content of this article. So, at silly o'clock, I went off on a search for free Norwegian translators online, which were predictably, pretty useless. My limited understanding tells me that Agathe had a pretty tough time personally on returning from her trip, was unable to blog until she finally could blog again but had by then realised it as more fun not to. Figures.

Anyway, if any of my lovely readers can actually understand Norwegian, maybe we'll be able to understand what looks like a fascinating article even more. But, for now, it appears that language has become a barrier.

My Blogosphere Radar

One of the results of having a carefully (OK not so carefully... mainly lazily) pared down blogroll is that I can invest more time and detection skills in the blogs I do read. Up until now, my blogosphere radar has been responsible for watching the development of the Stylebytes Saga. That's pretty much over, but there are always more mysteries to be solved.

Remember that hot red-haired Parisienne, who made multiple appearances on street style blogs and was soon the blogosphere's girl crush equivalent to [insert your celebrity girl crush here]?

She appears to be a real life acquaintance of lovely French blogger Alix of The Cherry Blossom Girl. Here is the incriminating post.

Not only that, but she has her very own blog!

Louise's blog: Pandora


No need to tell me how brilliant I am.

Beeeep Beeeeep Beeeeep

I know I said I was busy, but that doesn't mean that Detective Pretty Face didn't make time to do a little bit of detection work. My detection skills seem to have formed a radar device, which notifies me if there is anything important I need to report.

In recent news, Agathe seems to have reopened her Style Bytes website for our browsing pleasure. I'm keeping my detecting eyes peeled for her blogging return.

Detective Pretty Face Returns

I've just finished watching a scary movie with a friend and now I'm alone in an empty house. I don't want to go to sleep quite yet, and so I've turned to thinking about how long it's been since I last wrote an 'off-to-bed' post. I think this one must be some sort of late record; it's 13 minutes past midnight at the time of writing this sentence. I don't normally feel like blogging when I'm having a late night which may explain that.

But I'm not sure I'm ready to sleep just yet!

Anyway - so we watched Saw. I was quite proud of myself whenever I figured something out ahead of time, in a smug sort of way. Although it's probably just an indicator of spending too much time watching CSI.

Another thing which struck me was Cary Elwes' grand decline. When I saw that he starred, I got super-excited, expecting to see this:

I was instead greeted with this (he's on the left):

There's something odd about scary movies; they can have the power to scare you, render you incapable of turning out the lights and going to bed. But sometimes, they just make you laugh. I couldn't keep a straight face at the end of Psycho (and no, I wasn't screaming...)

Not Just a Pretty Face

For all you guys who are still missing Style Bytes after its mysterious disappearance, Detective Pretty Face (who is obviously not just a Pretty Face.... and referring to herself in the 3rd person. Okay, that's weird) has some news for you.

Style Bytes' former writer, Agathe, has had a phiary for several months. That's a photo diary - word morphing, like Brangelina. Click here for Agathe updates.