Mixed Tape

I feel so privileged to have been born in an era with Mixed Tapes. With the more modern conveniences of CD burners and i-pod play lists the making of perfect music mixes has become incredibly simple and easy. It is no longer requires the hours of dedication and perfect timing that was so necessary in the long gone days of the mixed tape.

In the early days of adolescence, as my musical tastes began to sharpen and my Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan tapes got ever more stretched I began to make mixed tapes. I remember pulling our huge beanbag over to a rather archaic HiFi and sitting for hours trying to figure out how to get from Jewel to Nirvana on one side of the tape. There was also the frustration of attempting to make the compilation just the right length – no giant expanse of crackling noise, or cut off songs. Having to wait for each of the songs to play out meant that the creation of the perfect tape could take most of an afternoon, and meant that when finished it was well loved and played until you knew all the words and each syllable of the song went on for a couple of seconds. And so the creation of a mixed tape was a labour of love, especially when it was for another…

So here I am creating a Mixed Tape of sorts – a labour of love. I am going to make it an ongoing feature so watch thus space…

Track 1

Florence and the Machine – I’m Not Calling You a Liar

Florence and the Machine are the most interesting band I have come across in ages. Their blending of instruments along with Florence’s strong but somewhat desperate voice can only be described as haunting. The fanciful, yet somewhat gothic nature of their lyrics is so appealing. Its somewhat like reading a fantasy novel or something. When I pop my headphones in my ears on the tube in the mornings, I feel as though I float through the Underground and to work. I find myself bopping up the escalator, and am honestly at the point where I can’t bare the thought of a morning without them.

Welcome to my Gypsy Corner of the Big City

What do you do when you are a frustrated creative, thrust into administrative hell by the Credit Crunch? Apparently, you start a blog!

Hello, I'm Hayley and I'm an addict - I'm addicted to New Media, music, fashion and culture. I recently moved to London to start my life, at the age of 25, and instead of landing in some inspiring job in Camden or Shoreditch or another PopCulture Mecca I am now a grey Administrative Assistant, in a grey Building surrounded by other grey souls - the only light in my dull day being the thinking up of ways to end it all with a sellotape dispenser, keyboard or that nasty looking thing that removes staples. During these endless hours I have floated through many fashion and lifestyle blogs, making 'friends' who do not now that the inventive outfits and witty banter posted on their blogs saves me a little more everyday.

So I am making my own hybrid blog - to save myself from drowning in a sea of forms and unanswered emails, to give something back to the world wide web, and to document my own little corner of this place we all call home. Borrowing from my favourite, and most religously read blogs, http://frocksandfroufrou.blogspot.com/ and http://classiccatastrophe.blogspot.com/, I will be posting outfits that I wear, and that make me feel great, on a regular basis, as well as adding my own twist with newly discovered (by me anyway) music, art, film and other pieces of beauty...as well as general musings!

So here you have my first post, accompanied by a mildly amusing retrospective of some of my ideas of fun, quirky and perky dressing, as well as some general sillyness that well help you know me a little better...