You know you’re eager to stay at a hotel when you check out of an already-plush-enough pre-paid hotel a day early when on a work trip, and willingly cough up your own cash for a stay at an alternative nest only 20 minutes’ walk away.

But since I first saw flashes of photos from the original Ace Hotel in Seattle across US blogs and sites all those years ago, I’ve wanted to rest my head on their crisp white pillows.

Opened in 1999 in the well-situated Belltown, the 28 rooms (all of which are pet-friendly!) kind of have a luxe grown-up hostel feel to them, which really reminded me of our stay in San Francisco’s Hotel des Arts (which is in desperate need of a new website, looking at it again). Ace now has branches in New York, Portland and Palm Springs, which have become somewhat of a parody thanks to the hipster clientele that apparently visits them.

Not that my stay involved awkward shuffles past cooler-than-thou receptionists or guests. In fact, everyone was overwhelmingly friendly and nice, especially the kind Bostonian chap on reception who gave me a free upgrade from the standard room (ie, without a private bathroom, which cost around $109 / £70 a night) to a deluxe room (with a bathroom, which come in at $199 / £125).

Downstairs, Cyclops Cafe (could also do with a site redesign) serves up a brilliant breakfast bap and other American diner-style foodstuffs, in its really fun, cool decor. I didn’t get the chance to visit the Panther Room bar next door, but I heard good things about that too.

The basin next to the bed was a little odd, but quite a fun addition to the utilitarian design. As you can see, my APC overnight bag is still getting a lot of use!

Around the corner, Rudy’s Barbershop (now THEY have a great website) has supplied Ace with some in-shower treats.

Snappin’ my reflection in the bathroom mirror. As you do when you’re a pretentious blogger, I hear.

The aircon was on for the duration of my stay, as Seattle had a mini-heatwave the weekend after the meetings I flew out to the Washington state city for.

The reception area has an amazing collection of curios, plus a terrarium.

Utilitarian water, for thirsty tourist troops.

You know a hotel is popular when it sells its own line of branded accessories. (Take a peep on Ace’s site for more, including its collaboration with the Impossible Project.)

***Bonus photos of the Cyclops Cafe downstairs!***

My immensely-funny colleague Gareth, who joined me for lunch the day he flew back to London.

Mmm, scrambled eggs and red peppers in a bap, with potato wedges. And Gosling’s ginger beer!

A ’50s yard-stick bought for a tenner, and my new Abercrombie & Fitch sou’wester.

I could write one of these posts every day of the week, but particularly after the lovely Saturday morning we had in our little neighbourhood today.

After rolling home just as the birds were beginning to chirp (one of those rare nights, believe me),  I surprised myself with an early morning start — perhaps my subconscious remembered that it was the first day of the annual Modern Movements fair, which sees a dozen or so mid-century antiques dealers’ stalls spring up around the art deco Brockwell Lido a few minutes’ walk from our flat.

There may’ve been a real reason for that sou’wester jacket (unlike previous years’ fairs), which was sad for the dealers eager to sell their lovely ’50s and ’60s furniture, but Jim and I still had fun poking around the wares. I picked up a ’50s yard stick for a tenner for Jim, and he bought a ’50s wooden boat (I should’ve really used the yard stick to measure the length of the boat for this post), which we got for a song for £25. (Here’s hoping we can fit it into our suitcase on our next flight back to Australia, for a present for my boat-mad dad. Mum and Lisa, you can keep a secret, can’t you?)

While we were browsing, we caught sight of local celebrity Jay Rayner, and I caught up with Dan from Modernish, a stall-holder I first met at the West Norwood Feast last year when Linsey and I (and again, with Kate and I) sold vintage clothes there alongside his lovely finds. Then along came George from Luna Cinema (formerly known as Nomad Cinema, the travelling cinema company that pops up around the country with big screens and classic films), alerting us to an upcoming screening of Anchorman at Brockwell Lido. Considering we had such a great time at last year’s Life Aquatic and Casablanca, we’ll definitely be going. And you should too!

Halloumi burger and fries at the Lido Cafe.

Afterwards, we had to stop at the cafe by the water, Lido Cafe, for some hugely-earned lunch. It’s tough work ogling bits of furniture. The food and service, as ever, was lovely, and on the way out one of our fellow friendly Herne Hillians enquired about my Kate Spade glasses — it seems to happen regularly down at the cafe, that someone will ask about something I’m wearing. Nowhere else, mind. *sobs*

Pea and mint soup with mini croque monsieur.

On our walk around the Hill’s various real estate agents (we’re still looking) we saw one of the nice Lomography ladies who also lives locally, and a couple other familiar faces too.

Is it all too obvious I adore our ‘hood?

A ’50s wooden boat, bought for £25.

Playing with an old doll’s house, like the child I am.

A flash of nail colour, for Laura LaRue. Please excuse the lack of make-up!

Photo below taken in a Shoreditch bathroom, where Petah and Kam were exclaiming over how different the same lipstick looked on each other. Oh, the highjinks.

Anyway, there’s no better mood-lifter than a purchase, and after a bleak few weeks, I donned them at work today, dressing up a rolled-up pair of relaxed-fit/slim-cut Oslo jeans from MiH* (a steal at £40, down from their usual £150, thanks to my eagle-eyed, sample-shopping pal Laura). The blister was totally worth it, and I felt just a teensy bit like Elin Kling today. Almost.

*Friends who know me too well, may’ve by now clocked I wore a pair of blue jeans to the office. They should know THIS IS THE FIRST TIME, and probably the last. Probably.

Headline from the seductive Zebra by Beach House, which you should hit up on Spotify if you’re not yet familiar with its magic.

I don’t quite know how I managed to get through my childhood without seeing the ’70s film, but when Laura and her ShopStyle colleagues Sarah and Marie said they wanted to go, I thought I’d give it a shot. And I’m so glad I did! If that’s the new direction Future Cinema is taking (announcing the films prior to the showings, basically) then I think there’s a real, ahem, future for them.

*Actors at The Troxy, staging a boxing fight while a singer croons in the background*

Held at the stunningly majestic art-deco East End theatre The Troxy, we were thrilled to see so many people had made an effort to dress up, either as a late ’20s flapper or gangster. In usual Secret Cinema fashion, the whole theatre was decked out with props from the movie (each table in the audience had a menu for Mama Lugini’s Italian restaurant, and there was a Slugger’s gym,  plus some gambling tables…), and a bunch of actors and performers who were unwaveringly convincing in their roles.

Tickets are still available for a bunch of dates, so hop to it — I really can’t rave enough about it. All photos shot on an LC-A+ with either Kodak Elite Chrome 200 or Lomography’s Chrome 100 slide film.

*The beautiful art-deco Troxy theatre*

*Laura watching the performers, with a ’20s-style hair-roll*

*Gangster-actor, who was trying to make us gamble*

*Laura, Kat, Sarah, and Marie, clad in ponchos and ready for the big splurge fight post-film*

*Alexis splurging Marie with a plate of shaving cream*

*Splurge!*

*A washed-out splurge-hatted Laura*

*A double-exposure of Marie and Alexis with the dancing girls, and the dancefloor at a HTC MWC party in Barcelona last month*

*Another double-exposure, with the dancing girls at Bugsy Malone, and two colleagues Will and James at the HTC MWC Barcelona party*

*Alexis dancing in his poncho after the film. They played brilliant old-timey classics, and so many people were dancing around in the foam!*

*Poncho-clad dancers after the film-screening*

*Sarah hiding from a splurge-spraying gangster*

*Splurge-covered dancers*

*Splurge-covered actress*

*Laura and Marie dancing*

*Digital photo of Fat Sam taken by Laura*

*Digital photo of boxers taken by Laura*

*We stuck to wine and prosecco, but there were a few cocktails on offer at Fat Sam’s bar. Digital photo taken by Laura*

*Each table was decked out in with ’20s Italian restaurant-style props, with the food choices consisting of various lasagnes, spaghettis and mac ‘n cheese; digital photo taken by Laura*

*Fat Sam and his lady-dancers; digital photo taken by Laura*

- The gym. I’ve been three times in three days!
- Having Jim back home after a few days in Switzerland for the Baselworld watch fair, which is definitely the best trade show for freebies. He brought back about a million chocolate boxes from Rolex/Patek Philippe/insert other luxury watch company’s name here; some Chanel cologne; multiple cuff-links and silk ties, and…an Hermes whip?!
- The squid okonomiyaki I just ate at Brixton Village’s Okan. (See above, with a cranberry and mint juice.)
- In fact, the whole of Brixton Village. I bloody love it here. This is actually the second meal I’ve had here this weekend, after Jim took me to the famous Brixton Cornercopia for a saffron-infused grey mullet last night. The feeling one gets wandering around the indoor lanes, full of pop-up indie cafes and vintage shops is just so positive.
- Coffee. Since a particularly bad bout of jetlag in Tokyo last month, I’ve been mainlining several lattes a day. I’ve always hated the taste of coffee (admittedly I’m struggling to swallow anything that doesn’t have a sugar or vanilla shot in it), but it’s surprisingly overtaken tea as my beverage of choice.
- Dexter’s Hi-Hat Club album. Like a jazzy/hip-hop DJ Shadow, I’ve been digitally-spinning the German’s album on Spotify non-stop when out and about.
- Speaking of being out and about, how nice is this spring-like weather we’ve seen in London this weekend? Walking around Bermondsey, on my way to the White Cube to meet Gemma and Darika yesterday, was just idyllic. Dexter was the perfect soundtrack.
- Friends. I’m feeling really fortunate to have so many good friends, and to be able to see them so often. Laura took me under her wing on Friday, and fed me homemade soup and carrot cake (and gave me two pairs of my favourite MiH jeans she bought in a sample sale for me — down from £160 to £40 each!), and Kate entertained me massively on Friday night by popping ’round for a movie/wine/cheese night.
- Red lipstick. After years of getting it wrong, I’ve finally found The One — Kate Spade’s The Perfect Red, which I bought in Vegas back in January. It really is true what they say about how empowering two slashes of paint is.

That Laura is very persuasive when she wants to be; this time convincing me to step out from behind the camera to prance around on the streets of Brixton, having an intimate affair with an old beat-up VW. I think she makes for a far better photographic subject than I, but anyone who knows me is aware self-deprecation is the name of my game, hence I have NO FEAR in posting these photos of my middling modelling efforts. Well, a little fear.

*Top: Gap, from the US. Cropped trousers: Cos. Shoes: New Look, from years ago. Necklace: Handmade from fimo clay*

Meeting up with a good friend for a champagne afternoon tea after a crazy week at work must be one of the best pleasures in life. Laura and I were recently invited by One Aldwych to sample the Covent Garden hotel’s champagne afternoon tea, and had a brilliant time trading saucy gossip whilst tucking into airy raisin scones and fresh sandwich quarterlings.

Having only visited the hotel for press events in the past (I recall interviewing the model who’d been signed as the new Lara Croft for a Tomb Raider game launch about five years ago there), it was nice to actually pause in the lobby bar without having to think about scribbling quotes down or worrying about Wi-Fi and filing stories. As the late afternoon turned to evening, the lights dimmed and the atmosphere became really buzzy and fun — it was terrific for people-watching and guessing who was a tourist, whom a local.

Tasty tomato and buffalo mozzarella, and duck egg mayonnaise and cucumber sandwiches, and welsh rarebit and tomato rounds.

Set on Aldwych, the hotel is overlooked by the Lyceum theatre, making it perfectly placed for seeing a show after a meal or drink. Or in our case, drinks.

Click through for more photos…

Laura had been sent one of the new leopard-print Diana Mini cameras from Lomography for reviewing, so should be uploading photos from our afternoon on her blog shortly.

Laura, enjoying a glass of champagne.

The brownies had a special surprise within their recipe — raspberry! Meanwhile, the battenberg cakes were brightly-hued and incredibly tasty. Hiding behind them were squares of carrot cake.

Normally I prefer an unraisined scone, but these were terrific — and pleasingly, Laura knew which order to dollop the clotted cream and jam in, too. Little apple trifles in shot glasses can just be glimpsed behind.

Despite the attentive staff’s offerings of replenishing both savoury and sweet options, we could hardly finish the first round, so gladly took a box of leftovers home for Laura’s boyfriend Nick and housemate Kam.

Disclaimer: While One Aldwych Hotel offered us this complimentary champagne afternoon tea (normally priced at £35 per person), our opinions cannot be bought, so all of the above is the brutal, honest truth.

The other weekend, my fashion journalist pal Laura asked for a hand with taking some outfit pics for her blog, as her boyfriend just doesn’t have the patience. You can’t blame him! However, I was only too happy to help, particularly as she was travelling to me for a day o’ fun in my local Brockwell Park, and she could act as my excuse to buy a lamington from Blackbird Bakery down the road.

While she somehow cajoled me into stepping in front of the camera (more on that later, once I finish editing the photos), I felt far more comfortable behind the camera, shooting her dress fluttering in the late-afternoon sun, or dodging passing cars as I sought that perfect shot.

You can check out her post on the first outfit here, and on the second outfit (shot closer to Brixton, against a gritty “urban” brick wall) over here, to find out where each item originated from. But if you’d rather know about the actual kit used during these “photo shoots” (god I feel like such a wanker writing that), it was just my Canon 500D with EF 50 mm f/1.8 II lens, with editing done in Photoshop.

The full photo-set is over on Flickr too, if you’re really getting into all of this.

Vegas is a real mish-mash of other cities — seen here is the Paris hotel

Every year, the world’s tech press ravages Las Vegas like a virus. No hotel, bar or convention centre is left untouched from the masses of nerds that assemble to see the following year’s gadgets get unveiled.

It’s my fifth time out in Vegas for CES, but I still walk around like it’s my first time, marvelling at how big everything is, and saying things like “oh wow, they built that hotel really fast!” and “my god, I’m dying for something not deep-fried!” It’s the kind of city you feel like you know really well, yet because it’s constantly redressing itself and evolving, you can never truly know it. It’s a special kind of beast.

Back to the reason I’m out here, it’s rather funny seeing companies try and outdo each other not just with their products, but the conferences they put on. So far Sony has wheeled out Will Smith to shill TVs for them, and Panasonic threw some big bucks at Justin Timberlake so he would make an appearance onstage. Later this week, Justin Bieber’s meant to be unveiling a personal entertainment robot (yes, really) and Snooki from Jersey Shore is apparently announcing a new audio range. A company even brought a live kangaroo on stage with them for some reason-or-other.

Thankfully it’s not all work work work. Long hours are spent at the bar, or walking up and down the strip between hotels. I plan on doing a bit of shopping later this week before flying back on Saturday (Bloomingdales and Kate Spade better re-stock their shelves in preparation, is all I’m sayin’), and enjoy Jim’s and my lovely suite at The Palazzo hotel, which is one of the newer and fancier hotels on the strip. As much as us tech journos like to moan about CES, I’m feeling very grateful to be here again.

Eating in Vegas is one of my favourite activities. This Italian meal at D.O.C.G at The Cosmopolitan was pretty healthy, but since then I’ve managed to check off pizza and a burger on the To Do list.

The Bellagio’s infamous fountains, which are synchronised to a different song every hour. We were lucky enough to see them dance around to Elton John’s Your Song on Saturday night. Bonus info: Jim and I met in The Bellagio’s baccarat room five years ago this week (aww).

One of the newest hotels, The Cosmopolitan, is probably one of the gaudiest too.

…I do like the lights here, though.

The Cosmopolitan has a pop-up wedding chapel called iDo, which is designed to look like an Apple Store. Check out more pics and info on it here.

iDo from outside.

Some of the views from our suite window, with one of The Palazzo’s seven pools seen there.

The Palazzo’s suites ain’t half bad, right?

A gorgeous sunset, glimpsed from our suite window. Doesn’t Donald Trump’s hotel look nice bathed in orange rays?