Oh what a day - lights, love and lust

Cathedral of 55,000 lights at the Festival of Light, Ghent 2012

Today has been a mad combo of work and generally being glowy and emotional...

I am constantly reminded of why I love working in digital and the absolute bloody amazingness that the web shows me every day. Stuff I would NEVER have seen if it wasn't for the giant, sharing, rich content world of the web.

Here are some of my favourite things I saw today that has made me a tiny bit happier at the world!

The Light festival of Ghent in Belgium.
As you can see from the picture, the Belgians have only gone and made the most spankingly awesome festival of light installations including this bad boy... A cathedral made of LED lights. Before you eco-mentalists start worrying, it uses only 2kw per hour of electricity! Now that is a lot of bang for your kilowatt!

Feet First - a Family Portrait
A brilliant photographer, Tom Robinson, did a great series called "I'm Going to be a Dad" where he snapped people's reactions when he and his wife told people she was expecting a baby (so lovely, see it here). Having seen this a while ago, I was pleased to discover he had another great photo diary of his life called Feet First which basically charts he and his family's travels and life with photos of their feet in great locations. I love the point where they add their new baby girl to the shots as well. I think it is a really special series and it really made me smile and slightly emotional as well. Have a look at this gorgeous set of travel/family photos on this link.

Garrards - centuries of history

12ct Garnet Fire of London Ring by Garrard

I love jewels. LOVE THEM... So was mega excited that Garrard have come out with a Diamond Jubilee collection with 12 varieties using birthstones. I thought it was a fabulous idea!

While on their website, I utterly fell in love with this amazing Garnet ring in their Fire of London collection. I could honestly just lick it - it is so stunning. It is likely to also be about £12,000 so unlikely to ever adorn my little paws but it did give me 15 minutes of true drool-worthy window shopping having a look at their stunning site with just the most amazing collection of jewellery you have ever seen.

Garrard Diamon Jubilee Necklace

It is the sort of jewellery that makes me want to be the next Zsa Zsa Gabor and have a dozen rich ex husbands who bought me a lot of jewellery. It also brings out a strong klepto urge in me to just shove it down my bra and keep it forever!

I once dragged my husband to a Diamond exhibition that nearly made me weep with desire. I should also probably not be allowed back in the Tower of London Crown Jewels display as I go round and round on those little conveyor belts like a slightly mad woman, looking at them from every angle!

 

Taylor's swimming tiara!

I always loved the story of Elizabeth Taylor swimming in a tiara bought for her by Mike Todd - her 3rd husband.  She had the most amazing collection of jewels which were auctioned at Christies in December 2011 and total sales were over £100m for couture clothing, jewels & film memorabilia. I would have loved to have seen such an incredible jewellery collection all in one place before it was split up and sold. It seems too sad.



I have always said that if I was the Queen, I would sit around in my pyjamas wearing all the Crown Jewels I could fit on in one go and waving the Soveriegn's Sceptre about and giggling like a nutter.

So this is what the wonderful web brought me today: light, love & lust - that's quite a day!