Summer Exhibition

The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition is the largest open art exhibition anywhere in the world. That means that ANYONE can submit their art. And quite a few do. Tens of thousands of works are entered every year. After a gruelling elimination process, the lucky few are exhibited in the county's most popular art show.

This year I went to see it for myself.



Walking in feels electric.

The show starts with this crazy, psychedelic staircase by Jim Lambie. Can't you just feel the lines and energy pulling you upward into the gallery space; its amazing!

Also, look at this cute little lady photobombing my pic of the stairs. I can see my grandma wearing her exact outfit and I love it. I want to be this old lady when I grow up.



At the top of the stairs you walk into a sculpture-filled rotunda, and immediately to the left is the show's centrepiece.

There, greeting you in vibrant bubblegum pink, is the largest room in the exhibition.

I had been watching the prep for this exhibition on BBC and I cringed at the thought of gallery walls sprayed down in pepto-bismol pink. But in-person, it was perfect. It felt playful, spontaneous and completely iconic of Michael Craig-Martin, the show's co-ordinator. 

I loved the piece above (it was one of my absolute favs from the whole show). 'Pinkerslift' by Frank Bowling went for a cool £125,000.

I continued through the hall and turned into two of my favourite rooms. There were artworks from floor to ceiling. I loved the way the pieces were so diverse in both subject and medium. There were works created with techniques I've never heard of, things like 'chine colle' and 'carborundum printing.' I honestly had to look them up to figure out what I was looking at.

As I'd come in the last days of the show's exhibition, all my favourite pieces were sold (so indicated by little orange and red stickers at the bottom of the works), but there were so many reasonably priced works. Many of the smaller pieces were in the £100-£200 range (of course this varied greatly as evidenced by the Bowling piece above).

I observed this lady [below] from a distance for awhile (sometime I think the people in galleries are more interesting than the art). 

She had her little booklet (that each person is given at the door, with all the names and prices of the pieces). She was systematically going through and identifying the works which hadn't been sold yet, and was making calls to get them purchased. She just sat on her little fold-out chair and would explain each piece in very serious detail to the person on the other end. It was fascinating to watch.




In total there were 1131 contemporary works. In all those pieces, there was only one that I really found distasteful. But there again, I do believe that art is about asking questions and pushing boundaries. There was so much amazing talent to be seen.

It is pretty safe to say it is now my life ambition to create a piece good enough to get into this show. Maybe I'll apply this next year!

Have you been to any exciting art shows/museums recently? Tell me about them!

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Win A Trip to Romantic Jersey (Channel Islands)

These days, now that school has started again and the leaves are changing, I can feel my toes longing a little bit for warm yellow sand to wiggle around in, which means I run to Pinterest and Instagram for vacation planning. 

It's a bit of an obsession really-- planning the next romantic holiday. I literally have notebooks filled with proof of this ridiculous wanderlust. I've shared a few gems before, but there's a couple I've been saving up. Luckily, for you (and for me) I just found out about a contest where we could WIN A FREE TRIP TO JERSEY! 

So, grab your sweetheart and let's discover together (a la Instagram) what the Channel Islands have to offer...

A photo posted by Martin Garcia Veiga (@mgarciaveiga) on Apr 19, 2015 at 4:41am PDT

First stop on our magical trip is St. Brelade's Beach Bay. Look at all that beautiful fun white sand! GAH! 

I have really high arches, so walking on sandy beaches feels amaaaaazing. Plus I'm a collector... I always have pockets full of shells and pebbles and sea glass whenever we go to the beach. This bay is exactly what the doctor ordered. 

A photo posted by @johnpliggyday on Aug 24, 2015 at 1:15am PDT

Doesn't this look like something from Never-Never land? I feel like a mermaid could just flop up on a rock and say 'hello' and I wouldn't even be surprised. 

In actuality, this is Cobiere Lighthouse. During the summer you can get yourself an ice cream cone and walk out at low tide. And how gorgeous would this be at sunset?!

A photo posted by Visual Culture (@mattporteous) on Jul 12, 2015 at 3:33pm PDT

You're on a romantic vacay, so why not treat yourself? Because, we can all afford that right? 

Apparently Jersey has a lot to offer in this particular department. Between Jersey's nine different spas, you have quite a lot to choose from as far as experiences go. So, get yo' self a couples massage. You deserve it. 

A photo posted by Andrew Krukowski (@sydbardo) on Jul 25, 2015 at 1:25pm PDT

Between the world-famous Jersey cows and ample sea life, you know this island is going to have a lot to bring to the plate (this little island literally has four Michelin starred restaurants!). After consulting Tripadvisor and several Jersey specific food sites (as well as my pocket book), I would probably book dinner at either:

Bistro Rosa - This is definitely the place to indulge in seafood. Located right in the fish market, it sounds like this place is as fresh and authentic as I think you'll find. 

or 

Bellagio - A cozy restaurant which seats under 20 people. From the sounds of things, this is where you order that steak!

For both places, you definitely need reservations, so plan accordingly.

#jersey #seaside #MontOrgueilCastle

A photo posted by @becka_hunter on Aug 2, 2015 at 10:17am PDT

What English holiday would be complete if there wasn't a castle somewhere in the landscape. You have several options for said castles, but my favourite is Mont Orgueil, which protected Jersey against French invasion for nearly 600 years. 

Inside there is a network of staircases, towers, and little treasures to discover in each room. The photo above is a view of the bay from between two merlons. 

A photo posted by jerseyseafaris (@jerseyseafaris) on Jul 29, 2015 at 8:51am PDT

As an Island, Jersey has perfected the art of water sports. Basically everything you can think of is available-- surfing, wind sailing, jet-skiing, wake-boarding, waterskiing, kayaking, or banana boating (it's like a tube you sit on behind a boat). 

Any imaginable water sport is available here.

A photo posted by sarah fennell (@freckledfennell) on Jul 27, 2015 at 10:05am PDT

Now let's go to the Durrell Wildlife Park. This place is pretty incredible. Their work is all about conservation and saving threatened species around the world, unlike some other zoos which remove species from the wild for entertainment. They have everything from gorillas to flamingos to sea otters and it is definitely a must see for the animal lover. 

A photo posted by Darion (@miss.deee) on Jun 14, 2015 at 6:29am PDT

Now, If you are ready to find out (and win!) your own trip to this gorgeous island, head over to Escape To Jersey. You'll be prompted to use their little slider widget to say what kind of trip you are looking for (relaxed vs energetic, 5 stars vs under the stars, etc). Then they will make you your OWN custom video of what your trip to Jersey could look like. 

If you love it (as much as I did mine), just put in your email address, and you'll be entered into their free romantic holiday giveaway. So go check it out-- go see what your dream Jersey vacation would look like. 

And, as always, be sure to subscribe and read our disclosure!

One Photo Each Hour II

Photography skills are like muscles.  And I think mine have atrophied. 

This week I went back and looked at my pre-marriage travel photography-- the stuff that's beautiful enough to have never graced the internet (I'm saving them for prints). I realised how lazy I've gotten! AH! 

So, on Thursday, I put myself through a little photo bootcamp - one photo per hour all day long. I did this exercise earlier this year and it was so helpful. Plus, it is just great to look back and see a full day of life. Here we go...

9:00am | 3 Nephi 11 + Tea

10:30am | Important blog posts get old school treatment in the rough draft phase11:20am | Writer's block

12:45am | Potted Plants

1:00pm | Lunch

2:50pm | Victorian Brickwork

3:10pm | Home from Market

4:00pm | Snack

5:00pm | Street Scene

6:45pm | Sunset in Islington

7:30pm | Making Dinner at Harriet's

8:30pm | Bird's Eye View, Tablecloth and Centrepiece in Harriet's Dinning room

9:45pm | Walking Home, Window Display through a Passing Taxi 

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Clayton Christensen with Gousto

This is a post about good food and good people.Lately, I've been trying out this new service (a la a coupon I found in an Amazon order) called Gousto. It allows you to pick your meals out online; then, they package the ingredients up-- with recipes-- and post it to your door. It's a lazy girl's dream.

Above are the ingredients for one of the meals I ordered. I tried to follow the recipes as closely as possible, which is pretty big for me because I never follow food directions. While I was cooking, I realised several things:

1) The meat I usually buy is crap (even though I usually shop at Waitrose). This became clear by the glorious lack of that fat-protein emulsion (spume). Hmmmm... starting to get a little hooked.

2) My spice rack is in need of an update, because even if I had the inclination to try out some of these meals on my own, I probably wouldn't. They would require a lot of spices I've never even heard of.

3) Maybe my portion-sizes are a little (WAY) off. To my amazement, the portions for these meals were incredibly filling, despite looking very small on the ingredients end. Point to Gousto.

The verdict: Good value, but still a bit steep.

Luckily for any of my UK readers out there, Gousto has given me a special voucher code to share. You can get £20 off your first order (generally they only give you £15) by using this handy dandy voucher code: JESSI71345 

So, go get yourself some free food. You're welcome.

In other exciting news, Clayton and Christine Christensen came into town. Among academics, he's a pretty big deal. From his status as as Harvard professor to his best-selling books, he's got some serious clout. However, among Mormons, I'm pretty sure he's nearing demigod status. 

Of course, when I first met him, I was clueless to all this excitement. He was just the very kind grandpa of my future nieces and nephews. When I lived in Boston, I saw him pretty frequently-- we even had Thanksgiving dinner with him and Christine several times. Now, I feel like we're related (even though we aren't -- he's Jon's sister's papa-in-law). 

Still, having them come into town felt like family and we were awfully glad to see them. They had a fireside at the church discussing missionary work. There were so many insightful things discussed, but most particularly the uniqueness of the LDS church in encouraging tough questions, and how essential that framework is to our growth. 

Then, a few days later, we managed to snag tickets to see him speak on business innovation at PARLIAMENT!
 AH! 

We arrived an hour early because we were so paranoid about not getting in (as they had overbooked the event). Lucky us, we were so early that we got the best seats in the house! Look at us, front row center (with our friend Suzette) in one of the biggest rooms in the entire place. Whoo hoo!

There are some pretty serious people up in front, including John Hoffmire (Oxford Professor), Elder Herbertson, and David Rutley (an MP)

On our way home, I discovered that Jon no longer walks/rides the tube home in his dress shoes. Rather he changes into his running shoes, which I find pretty hilarious. Everyone else found it funny too-- at least 5 people commented on it on the way home. Luckily, Jon can rock a suit and sneakers with the best of 'em. 

What a rock star.

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Young Family Reunion 2015 (Part 2)

"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."

- George Santayana

I love this moment. Sometimes, I feel like when everyone gets together, they all look like a pile of puppies. Everyone is sitting on top of each other and so giddy and happy to be with their brothers and sisters and cousins and grandparents. It is a beautiful thing.

I've been trying hard to capture that feeling. I think I'm getting better at it, but I know I have a long way to go. This year we introduced sound, for the first time. I got a little £3 mic off Amazon and hooked it up to an old ipod for a makeshift voice recorder. It actually did pretty well, although a few of the interviews didn't actually record (luckily the camera also records sound). So, the interview portion, especially, is a work in progress... but I feel like in a couple of years, looking back on these videos will be extra special because of it.

So, anyway, to finalise all that was the 2015 set of Young family goodness, here is Part 2!

Jon's family are literally the kind of people that just sit down to a piano, start playing and everyone else comes around and starts singing. This is something that still baffles me-- not just because I lack the necessary skills to carry out said singing/playing, but also because there just no shame-- no judgement. Everyone just sings to be happy. I think more people in this world should just sing to be happy.

This game "Shoot the Moon" was madness. It sucked all of us in... but Dan was the only one that was able to master it *cough* hack it *cough* to get that little steel ball to the end. How was it so captivating??

One of the events we had this year was a talent show. The kids were the staple entertainment, with everything ranging from music to karate to storytelling. I was pretty impressed by the skills, and showmanship, of my nieces and nephews. 

I think having opportunities like that to perform or speak in front of a large group of people is one of the assets of having a large family... and really Mormonism at large. By the time a Mormon-born child hits adulthood, they've definitely had their fair share of speaking in public (in various church settings), which is pretty fantastic thing to be able to take through life. 

Perhaps my favourite act was by this little nugget below. Ryan is always telling stories. Always. He narrated breakfast every morning with a panel-by-panel recounting of every Calvin and Hobbes comic he'd ever read (which are substantial-- I never heard a repeat). 

His skill to share therefore was, naturally, storytelling. He told the story of the Three Little Bears in his own words. Interestingly, this Goldilocks was discerning not only in coziness, but also in the quality/price of furniture. A recent trip to IKEA had apparently helped Ryan realise that all chairs are not made the same.

After the talent show, we had our legendary film festival. All the many hours of digitising video and editing footage were made completely worth it from the looks on everyone's faces. 

The kids watched the films over and over again. Our Youngling Bunch video, which hadn't made rave reviews on the first viewing, eventually became the most quoted film. Strangely though, the funny bits that I was most proud of fell a little flat, but random lines that were never intended to be funny were the bits everyone was quoting. Further proof I guess that you never know how people will respond to art. :)

After the kids went to bed, then the real party started. We played bananagrams like there was NO TOMORROW! Maybe this sounds lame, but  that would only be because you've never played with my family. We have a several very intelligent people... and a few that are more than a little competitive. We doubled up the tiles for a mega-game (plantain-grams?) and it was so much fun!

We also had a lot of really deep conversations and even hosted a family TED talk. Dan (a computer programmer) discussed Internet safety, Matt C. (hedge fund manager) discussed the global economy and politics, Matt Y. talked about the research he did with non-profits at his recent internship, and Liz discussed some really powerful and deep insights about parenthood. We all walked away being totally blown away by the people we are related to. 

And finally, just a note on the epiloque.... On the last day of the reunion, I realised I hadn't interviewed myself (which really does tend to be awkward, especially if there are children around watching). All the adults were busy, so Ingrid asked if she could film me. I figured, "Sure, I'll just have her hold the camera and I'll just answer my own questions."

But this little cutie was already cueing up. She cut me off and took the interview in her own direction. Have we found a future Barbara Walters? Perhaps... ;)

Anyway, if you haven't already, be sure to check out Part 1. Also, be sure to subscribe or follow us on bloglovin!