Songs that make me happy - by Bee

I really miss - by Bee

My summer list - by Bee

Things that make me feel grown up - by Bee

Bee's favourite smells

fawkes-underwood bookshop in flask walk, hampstead
bergamot
the smell of the tarmac in new york on a steaming hot day when it's just rained
almond essence
sugared nuts from a street vendor in new york
bonfire night
limes
hot and sour soup
marc jacobs eau de parfum, and generally anything with gardenias
my dad's study
izzy's hair
mulled wine
pumpkin pie

Bee's top 5 magazines

1. The New Yorker - quite possibly the best magazine in the world
2. Harpers (not to be confused with Harper's Bazaar)
3. Vanity Fair
4. Sight and Sound - even though it's poncy
5. And let's not forget - Cottage Jottings!

Bee's Guilty Pleasures

bruce springsteen, billy joel & pat benatar
gill sans font (i am currently obsessed with converting all my PhD research into gill sans – time consuming but i can pretend it’s work!)
anything by the herskowitz/zwick/w.g. snuffy walden team
going to planet organic on the sly and purchasing random overpriced face creams, soaps, quinoa or anything for 34p
charity shop pootling
drinking a glass of chardonnay & reading vanity fair in the bath
watching reality bites/singles/almost famous and pretending i am bridgit fonda/winona/kate hudson
re-reading jay mcinerney’s ‘story of my life’ – (“i’m like, i don’t believe this shit, i said to skip pendleton”) - so class
green & blacks dark chocolate – way better than lindt. currently only on 1 bar a week which leaves room for…
jelly beans, jelly babies, cola bottles and generally anything gummy
buying peonies, even though they cost an arm and a leg
a nice cup of tea and a sit down

Bee's town (NYC)

the brooklyn bridge - one of the most beautiful spots in the world

cog and pearl - a lovely boutiquey shop in our old 'hood, park slope, brooklyn

vodka martinis at the grange hall, greenwich village, before it sadly closed

cupcakes from magnolia bakery, bleeker street (i dug them WAY before carrie bradshaw!)

anthropologie (many locations but i like the soho one the best) - may fave shop ever. i weep thinking of it

housing works bookshop, crosby street - a lovely bookshop/cafe/music venue

the walnut-raspberry scones at once upon a tart on sullivan street

friday night cabaret night at marie's crisis, grove street - an amazing west village landmark

prospect park, brooklyn - so much better than central park!

the neue galarie and cafe sabarsky, 5th avenue - great art, great desserts!

pearl river market, broadway and canal - a bargain hunter's paradise

kiehls, 3rd ave & 15th street - every girl's (and boys!) dream

barbes, park slope - a lovely jzuzy bar serving great cocktails with film screenings and live music in the back

playing ski-ball at coney island on july 4th weekends

the eldridge street project - a very special place

the sunshine movie theatre on houston street - lovely restored old art house cinema. good knishe's at yonah schimmel's next door

the steaks at peter luger's - well worth the trip into deepest williamsburg

the shoes at otto tootsie plohound, soho - well worth the price tag

grand central station - good for oyster eating, coffee drinking, waltzing and even catching the odd train

Bee's town (London)

the women's ponds on hampstead heath - the most tranquil spot in the world

columbia road flower market on a sunny sunday

the everyman cinema, hampstead (then, and now)

the charity shops on marylebone high street (great for bargains, and a fab oxfam books too)

konditor and cook (especially the cornwall road one at waterloo) - yummy

the great hall at the british museum - lovely memories of being a kid and charging about, and now i take izzy there to do the same

st. pancras station - an architectural gem

the NFT - the south bank always gives me a special feeling - like i'm 7 years old all over again and off to see the wizard of oz with my dad

tate modern - very special - i love the turbine hall, the marc rothko room and the wonderful shops

libertys - the loveliest department store in the world, even during the january sales

the beergarden at the spaniards inn, hampstead - a wonderful spot to while away those summer afternoons

the parkland walk from finsbury park to queens wood - a very special walk, and a newly discovered london fave

my little holborn/russell square walk, which takes in 3 favourite spots: corams fields (for the animals) lambs conduit street (for the glorious persephone books) and the cafe at the mary ward centre in queens square (lovely and cheap and next to the october gallery - a bonus!)

rasa in stoke newington - my favourite indian restaurant - they even have a storytelling evening!

the top of kite hill, hampstead heath, on a blustery autumn day

Bee's Coulda, woulda, shoulda...

coulda been a robert plant band-aid (but he was rather old and sad so prob for the best)

shoulda white-water rafted down the zambezi but was too scared

woulda made a great tortured artist's muse - offers anyone?

Bee's "I secretly love..."

i secretly love...
toby from 'the west wing'
paul auster
jamie oliver
jason lee (esp. in 'almost famous')
kobe bryant (LA Lakers basketball player)
robbie robertson
benicio del torro
ryan giggs
tony soprano
leonard cohen
justin lee cook
kate winslet
enrique iglesias
jon bon jovi (still)
and totally incomprehensibly...baldrick from 'blackadder'

Bee's Desert Island Discs

1. bob dylan 'you're a big girl now' (blood on the tracks) for that all -grown-up on your own feeling: "you are on dry land"

2. neil young 'silver and gold' (silver and gold) for missing adam and izzy: "our kind of love never seems to grow old"

3. the ramones 'i wanna be sedated' (road to ruin) for rockin' out: "nothin' to do, nowhere to go"

4. tom waits 'gun street girl' (rain dogs) for being tough and scaring away the others: "blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette"

5. joni mitchell 'river' (blue) for feeling blue: "it don't snow here, it stays pretty green"

6. miles davis 'shhh/peaceful' (in a silent way) for being lost...

7. nick cave and the bad seeds 'breathless' (abattoir blues/the lyre of orpheus) for being found...

8. the faces 'ooh la la' (ooh la la) for everything: "i wish that i knew what i know now, when i was younger"
i would save nick cave, and thus be optomistic in a pessimistic way ;-)
book: harper lee 'to kill a mockingbird'
luxury item: a moleskine notebook and pilot pen (can that count as 1 item please?)

Bee's "All I want for Christmas is..."

all i want for christmas is...
a bigger flat
a new frock and a party to wear it to
for someone to hurry up and build a train from london to new york as flying with izzy is so unfun
to be offered a groovy university teaching job where i can 'unpack' things on a regular basis
for my sister and el skype-o's love to be true
for adam to dress up as the hanukkah armadillo
for my dad to make a speedy recovery
a tea cozy
'decca: the letters of jessica mitford'
new york prices in london - wowzers!
for led zep to play in my garden after eff & ben's - maybe to launch the led zep reunion garden tour!
to celebrate festivus - a holiday for the rest of us!
a little snow would be nice

Bee's 'Some things you may not know about me...'

some things you may not know about me are:




i can hold my breath under water for a rather long time

i have a phobia of being trapped in a cave surrounded by stalagtites and stalagmites

once, when i was at school, i watched 'stand by me' 37 times during half term and can still recite all the words

i was always envious of people with middle names, so i gave myself two: gabriella cynthia

i like rod stewart's music quite a lot

sometimes i go by rebecca lubinsky to see how it sounds

i never got into the sopranos

at uni i didn't wash my hair for a month to see what would happen

i can cook a mean spaghetti vongole

the faulkners have distant relatives in tasmania

i have a teensy crush on eminem

in new york i used to serve decaf and pretend it was regular coffee when we'd run out. once i did it for a week.

Bee's 'i don't understand...'

i don't understand...

my hair
why so many people read the da vinci code
movie stars who are in rock bands
people who eat gefilte fish (ie all of adam's family)
jeans tucked into boots
why i feel like having another baby even though i'm knackered
the government
bob's born-again period
izzy's fascination with flowers (but it's adorable)
most of my PhD
why i wasn't a teenager in 1967
the american pronounciation of 'parmesan', but i kinda like it
why she gets on the plane with victor lazlo

Bee's i like list

i like:
day-trips to paris
my so-called life
izzy's fierce face
tiny dancer
cutting adam's hair
green and blacks
the wes anderson oeuvre
sawyer from 'lost'