alisputin

Only a few short months ago I was not even a Facebook user so forgive my inability to describe myself and my likes and dislikes in the online world. I am much more familiar with the traditional postal service and so I think swapping could be a way of combining my love of the effort it takes to build and maintain relationships in the offline world, with the innovation of the online world.

As a girl in my 20s working in PR for a technology company you may be surprised to hear of my reluctance to embrace social networking. I guess this was always partly an attempt at non-conformity, and I do like to mix and embrace different styles and cultures in order to create an individual aesthetic.

Joining Facebook isn't the only big change in my life that I have made recently. I have also moved to the big smoke of London from a small town in leafy Surrey in South England. There are pros and cons to the London lifestyle, but unfortunately working on an industrial state in West London means that a lot of the time I see a lot of the cons and not many of the pros. I dream of a simpler life where I can get out of the bed without having to crawl to the end first because the room is so small that there isn't room to get out of the side, but alas, London rental prices stifle my ability to get out on the right side of the bed.

I may be living the champagne lifestyle of a PR, but sadly it is on someone else's event budget. However, I must be thankful for it nonetheless, as my dear friend David William Vennard attempts to live this lifestyle on his own lemonade budget...We both strive for something better, to take our minds off of our everyday struggles, and that is where our wonderful friend Miranda Lauren Wright (soon to be Kennedy) came in with the suggestion that we join her in the world of swaps.

We have never looked back. Yet.

For clarity, despite the title of this section, I absolutely hate Mary Poppins, although I do enjoy a good musical, especially Wicked, which brings me on to...

Music: I am a music lover and like to explore new music as well as listening to old favourites. I am a big fan of southern bluesy rock, old school hip hop, and 80s soundtrack style electronic music. As you can hopefully tell from my profile picture, I am a big Lady Gaga fan and collect all of her UK singles on vinyl picture disks - I would be thrilled to receive any foreign releases that I wouldn't be able to get hold of here. I have no musical talent whatsoever myself and I absolutely can't stand Christmas music.

Books: As an English Lit grad I am a real book worm and particularly like female authors - Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf are my two favourites. I really enjoy late 19th century literature, particularly gothic, sensation and science fiction novels. I still have a real soft spot for children's books, particularly the works of the great Roald Dahl.

Films: I go to the cinema a few times a month and enjoy all types of movies, except horror as I'm a real scaredy-cat. I particularly like crime dramas, psychological thrillers and world cinema. David Lynch is my favourite director and Lost Highway is my favourite film.

TV: The Sopranos is my favourite TV show of all time, and other favourites include the Wire and 24. I am currently enjoying Homeland and True Blood. I also like guilty pleasure viewing, particularly Gilmore Girls, although sadly it is no longer being re-run in the UK.

Art: I love pre-Raphaelite and Romantic/Gothic art. I also like Art Noveau and Art Deco, as well as Pop Art and more contemporary street art.

Animals: I love anything cute and cuddley - think plush toys, felted animals, collectable toys and figurines. Particular favourite animals are woodland creatures (especially owls, foxes and hedgehogs), mythical beasts (Bigfoot and unicorns are my faves), bears (especially polar bears) and elephants!

Colours: I like colourful items, although I do also wear a lot of grey. My favourite colour is purple, and I also like turquoises and generally any shades of blue or green or a mixture of the two. I also like red. I like bright and pastel shades and am an especially big fan of candy stripes - anything with stripes or polka dots works well for me.

Food and Drink: Like most people I love sweets and chocolate. Coming from South African, Dutch, and Irish roots I enjoy treats from all of these places when I can get my hands on them (Biltong, Speculaas, Liir chocolate etc). I also enjoy good old Cadburys chocolate and American goodies such as Reeces Pieces - yum!

Scents: I like light floral and citrus scents as well as warmer, muskier smells.

Places: City breaks are my favourites types of holidays as I love the culture and the shopping! New York and Rome are two of my favourite places I've been too. I also love Paris and anything with a Parisian style.

Anything with the letter A - I am a big fan of my first initial, or in fact both of my initials together, which are the chemical symbol for silver, which I also like!

Jewellery - I have a silver charm bracelet so I'm always on the lookout for new charms. I tend to either wear simple silver or gold 'real' jewellery or big chunky costume jewellery. I don't really wear rings but I like necklaces and collars, bracelets and bangles and earrings. I like all sorts of styles, especially either with a rock or quaint and girly vibe (completely different I know!) I like to mix in a bit of handcrafted jewellery or pendants from other countries and cultures with a bit of meaning and history behind them.

Collectables: I like kawaii Japanese or Japanese style toys such as Iwako erasers, Hello Kitty and Kid Robot.

Other collections: I collect anything useful for packaging and prettifying - stickers, stamps, ribbons, wrapping materials etc. I also collect matchbooks from around the world and cocktail stirrers (I also used to collect beermats - basically anything you can steal from a bar!)

Beauty products: I love to experiment with make-up and use a mixture of cheap and colourful eyeshadows and lipglosses and more expensive skincare and make-up products. I always like to try new things so please feel free to send me any sample sachets!

French prints/home accessories: I like to decorate with a French Romantic/Gothic theme so anything along these lines would be brilliant.

Gadgets: Working in technology I have developed a love of gadgets and gizmos and cool little pieces of design wizardry.