Adeline Virginia Woolf's Monk House

On Saturday morning I was sitting in my living room deciding what I was going to do to fill the day. Should I commit to my normal routine of a bit of shopping, maybe some lunch and a late film with my boyfriend? Or should I vere off from the norm and do something vaguely educational on the weekend I mean I'm sure it would be just as fulfilling as getting a new handbag from Top shop or a new pair of shoes!

Sooooo with a baited breath I looked on the internet to see what was open where I live on a Saturday that may interest me and my boyfriend. Only after about 2 seconds of researching on trusted google I discovered that Virginia Woolf's Monk house was open! - Which my boyfriend (who really wanted to go to brighton) was obviously thrilled about!

Now anybody who has read a book by Virginia Woolf will learn that to complete one is a small fete in itself. I myself have only ever managed to finish one book written by Adeline Virginia Woolf which is one of her most famous works "To the light house" and found it enjoyable but relatively strenuous!

Even though I have only ever read one of her books I am still a great admirer of her work so was very interested to go and see her summer house and see where her creative mind worked wonders.

The house itself was small and modest but insanely beautiful! The interior had mostly been designed by her sister Vanessa Bell who lived near by at Chareleston Farmhouse.

During their years at Monk's House the Woolfs entertained some of the best-known literary and artistic figures of the day. Among the visitors were Vita Sackville-West, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Maynard Keynes, T.S. Eliot and Roger Fry. Which is a pretty impressive guest list by anyones standards!

My favourite part of the house would undoubtedly have to be its garden covering almost 1 acre it was full of flowers and life! It also played home to Virginias summer house where she wrote all the time and now is full of interesting information about the acclaimed writer!

All in all I think the swap of a shopping day for an educational one to this beatiful national trust property was definitely worth while and both me AND my boyfriend enjoyed ourselves! (And we still had time to go and see the new Ricky Gervais film "The invention of lying")

Bring on the mud! - Glastonbury festival!

Glastonbury Festival is definitely the best music festival of all time celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year. I personally have only been able to purchase Glastonbury tickets once before (this being due to previous cash flow issues) but this year I was extremely dedicated and was up at 7:30am last Sunday falling asleep by my computer in an attempt to ensure I would be able to register for my oh so precious Glastonbury ticket.

The ticket sales for Glastonbury 2010 reached headline news on Monday as they completely sold out within 24hours. This was in record breaking time in comparison with recent years such as 2009's Glastonbury tickets taking several weeks to sell out and 2008's Glastonbury tickets not selling out until the day of the actual festival.

The fact that people were so eager to purchase their Glastonbury ticket (which this year costs £185 and is a £10 increase on last years ticket price) shows the hype and expectation that Glastonbury has been able to create for itself over the past 40 years because the line up is yet to be announced and people were still purchasing Glastonbury tickets even though the festival itself is still 9 months away.

I personally purchased my tickets so early because I wanted to ensure my place at Glastonbury festival as I previously found the experience amazing and constantly enjoyable! Also it is clear to see that this years swift Glastonbury ticket sales have been helped by rumors that the festivals 40th anniversary will draw in some spectacular headliners such as Beyonce Knowles, Radio Head and U2 and is definitely guaranteed to be a huge success even with the mud!

If you are one of the unfortunate many who were not able to purchase their Glastonbury ticket do not fear as another batch are said to be going on sale within the next couple of weeks.

Look magazine

As you are aware there are countless fashion magazines being published across the world daily. Each one attempting to convey what they believe to be 'fashionable' in attempt to dictate to their readers what they should and shouldn't be wearing. My favourite fashion magazine has to be ‘Look’. It is a weekly publication and is one of the few publications that concentrates on the clothes themselves, the material, style, colour and design. Too many other magazines focus on who is wearing the stuff, forcing us to copy celebrities and attempt cheaper versions of their choice of designer wear. I like ‘Look’ because it educates its readers to take the latest fashion and make it work for them. It looks at affordable pieces that still scream quality and does not focus only on the designer labels such as Prada etc... It encourages us to develop our own image.

The editor of the magazine Ali Hall is clearly passionate about fabrics and patterns and experimenting with designs to suit different bodies. ‘Look’ explores how clothes flatter all shapes and sizes and makes for much more interesting reading than its celebrity driven rivals.

I think if I were able to develop this magazine, I would create a sister publication, ‘Look Further/Ahead/Beyond/Deeper/Out that would celebrate the bigger woman and show her how to exploit all her assets. It is much more interesting to look at everyone we come into every day contact with, rather than be guided by ‘perfect’ bodies.

'Look' is attempting to stop its readers being fashion victims. It influences rather than dictates.