DIY

When I bought work clothes for when I was at the ISL I spotted this t-shirt in the mens section of H&M, I knew my bf would like it, and seeing as it was only 4.95 Euro, I thought I'd take a chance.

As it happens, he did love it, but as it was a cheapy there was a slight defect in the shoulder seam that he just couldn't live with. As I loved it too, I got to keep it and happily chopped away and wore it on the plane last week. I <3 it loads!

Sorry for the terribly MySpace pics but the full length ones I took looked horrid. I hope you get a decent idea of what it's like. A bargain if you ask me ;)

Monday Musings

This is an odd sort of update... nothing of real substance, more of an excuse to show you some pics I've been hoarding ;)

I haven't really been dressing up, it's far too humid to wear tights and my legs are not ready to be disclosed to the world yet. Also, if I don't wear tights, I can't bike in my dress... so that's a definite no-no. But I miss my dresses :(

Here is one of my much loved outfits of late. I really love the lacey tights, these are my peach/nude coloured ones, with my peach dress. I wore this to go sunbathing at the lake a week or two ago. I got many stares and realised this dress is just a little too short to bike in. But I did it anyway (with one hand on the handlebars and the other holding the hem of my dress).

And here are my nails. I got really bored and decided to repeat the leopard pattern I attempted before, but using this nice mint green colour I picked up in Primark over my 2 day trip to London.

On Friday I decided to go with curly hair. My hair is really fine and has a really annoying wavy shape to it. It's not wavy enough to be nice, it makes waves in weird places and if I just leave it to dry naturally it's rubbish. I managed to get some quite nice curls this time though, which is rare for me because curls usually fall out pretty easily in my hair.

I towel dried my hair and then just twisted large sections around themselves and pinned them into little coils close to my head. When they were almost dry I undid the coils, combed my fingers through the sections to define the curls, scrunched them with wet hands and gave a final spritz of hairspray.

I'm in France now for at least a week. The weather here is much cooler than in Italy and it's nice to get some decent, non-sweat-drenched sleep... although I'm missing my bf immensely. I'm going to go into Lyon city centre when the shops have opened after lunch. I need to get my brother in law a bday card, I also need some shampoo and conditioner (nearly 5 Euros a bottle at the supermarket around the corner!!!) and I wanted to look in some of my favourite shops here, but just window shopping ;)

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend, I start my work experience this week, so I'm sure my updates will be even more slack than ever ;)

My week.

I had a pretty awesome time during the last seven days. The start of the week was fairly quiet, a nice bit of shopping and much letter writing on Monday, more letter writing and crafting onTuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday I went into town with the bf and the brother in law. We went to covent garden, ate great mexican food at Cafe Pacifico, did a little shopping and went to the Natural History Museum. It is one of my favourite London museums, it's such a fantastic building, outside and in. I'll be sure to scan my pictures when I get them back (if they are any good!)

We spent alot of time in the earth rooms. My favourite areas used to be dinosaurs and mammals as a kid, but I could spend hours looking at and learning about minerals these days. Such amazing beauty and patterns. Fantastic.

Friday I slept late and then spent most of the day painting my nails and such in preparation for our Persian meal out. I wore my new shoes, of course ;)

Saturday was an early morning up and out, back into town to meet friends who came up from Brighton for the day. We walked 6.5 miles (10.5 km) walking through London and we went to the Tate Modern where I picked up a couple of really lovely notebooks and a PENCIL :D We sat in the sun and it was such a lovely warm day :) We then went straight to my sister's place. We'd made plans to go to the cinema, but had to drive there as the local one wasn't showing Clash of the Titans. Her mr. drives an Audi TT. My sister and I had to squish into the back of it. I'm a little claustrophobic and there was zero space back there, but it was a giggle. We stayd over at theirs and indulged in late night snacks and beer.

My sister has a really nice coffee machine and I love staying at hers because she makes a great latte in the morning. I had two on Sunday, sitting on the sun drenched balcony and it was lovely. She decided to have a bbq so we had to go buy one. We went to the garden centre where they sell myriad of amazing things and I picked up a couple of candles and this cute little ladybird pot thingy that I'm going to keep my rings in. The bbq was tasty, but I drank way too much. Beer, Pims, Champagne and Sangsters.

I'm pretty dehydrated today, but I got up to go to the shopping centre and get some paper and a couple of things for swaps. I stopped in peacocks and picked up a cute top and dress I'd seen last monday, and I also picked up this really cute sweater dress. I <3 it.

I'm totally a crazy cat lady (well, I have the potential to be one) so this sweater is going to stay a firm favourite of mine :D

So the past seven days were prety hectic in the end. I'm hoping for an equally busy and fun packed week this week too. My beloved man is leaving in a week so we want to do all those things we've wanted to do in town for a while but not gotten round to yet. I'll try and take more pictures this week :)

Spring has Sprung!

I have been mostly spending my time writing letters and postcards of late. I've somewhat neglected my love for clothes, but that is also because I am really skint and just can't afford anything. I've been hunting for a jacket to go with some of my dresses, I wanted a grey one, because black I can do with a cardi and because I love, love, love grey. I have yet to find the perfect jacket... and I'm holding out for the right one. The trouble is that everywhere has blazers and I don't want a blazer. The other trouble is that as the weather gets warmer I'm worried I'll run out of time for actually finding the right jacket. I guess I need to get my walking shoes on and do some shopping!

The Emerald Isle.

I'm sure I have mentioned it several thousand times but a couple of weekends ago we went to Ireland for my niece's confirmation. (ps I'm not Catholic, but everyone in ROI is.) My sister and her family live in Co. Galway and I don't get to visit as much as I'd like so it was a real treat of a weekend.

I spent much time deliberating between three dresses to wear and I was thoroughly pleased with my choice. I really like the bust line in this dress. Having a somewhat ample bosom means things that are too low cut just look slutty, but the print on this dress is also marvelous! It was a little chilly to only be wearing that little blazer, but we didn't spend too much time outside, so it worked out ok. I also wore my Melissa's, which was great fun, but sadly no one commented on my shoes :(

I didn't get any airport pictures, so I may have to recreate the outfit at some point. I brought along my vintage suitcase as carry on luggage and was obviously the best kitted out person on the flight ;) heh

I spent most of the weekend in Jeans and my beloved Gant hoodie because it wasn't warm enough for anything else and I also spent an inordinate amount of time bouncing around on their trampoline. I also participated in a countryside bike ride, illegal field walking/stone wall climbing with my nephew and practically off road driving in the middle of the forestry. It was oodles of fun and I really want to go back :D

Enough of my drivel, have some pictures!

This was my outfit trial. Blazer, Dress, Bag - Primark


My outfit in practice.


Me and the bf with my exceptionally stylish niece.


Trampoline fun.


The bf indulging the youngest nephew.


P'd off and tired after a delayed flight home.

Have you been away recently? Are you planning a trip? I'm always interested in holiday destinations and photos :)

Awaiting spring...

I didn't really get excited about spring/summer nudes until I went to the shops yesterday. It was a mistake and completley unplanned. I was supposed to be going to the cinema but I left it too late and it was packed with school kids so I hit the shopping centre instead. I hadn't intended to purchase anything except office stuff from the £1 store (which I also did) but I walked through Primark and saw a couple of lovely sun dresses, one in apricot and the other in charcoal. I picked them up, held them against me in the mirror and put them back. While walking to the exit I saw a gorgeous nude faux suede blazer, I immediately picked my size and went back for the charcoal dress. I looked for ages for a grey blazer to go with the apricot dress but to no avail so I picked a white dress and black blazer and headed for the changing room where I fell in love with the nude blazer and the charcoal dress and promptly purchased them to wear to my niece's confirmation next weekend.

Today I actually managed to get up early enough for the first Alice in Wonderland show of the day and stupidly went back into Primark where I purchased the apricot dress and a cute navy and pink floral dress. I also got an adorable mint and black polka dot top (which I'm wearing), a much needed nude coloured bra and a couple of camisoles (I hate wearing a top or dress with nothing underneath). Oh and a cute cream bag with gold detail.

My innocent cinema and errand trip turned into a miniature spending spree!

I walked through New Look to use their escalator and saw a gorgeous mint and cream lace dress and almost ran through the shop before anything else caught my eye. Now all my new purchases are awaiting better weather so I can dress up like peaches and cream. I've fallen in love with the pastels and nudes of the season and spent ages yesterday trawling the net for the perfect shoes to accompany said colour scheme.

I found them...

I honestly think I may have a spending problem.

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to go back into town with my mum who wants to see if she can find anything nice for next week. I think I might persuade her to buy me the cream version of the polka dot top. It's only £3 after all...

Wishful Thinking

While sitting in the garden enjoying a cigarette and coffee I began to think about work, or lack there of. I made a conscious decision to turn what is left of this week into making week (i.e. really get cracking on my handmade goodies for etsy) and to make next week work week.

Yes, I know that I'm going away from the 6th of February until the XXth of February, depending on if/how long we are going to spend in Lyon (you should go, it's such a pretty city). I am aware that I will probably find a lot of jobs that I know I can do but chicken out from applying for because I've never done them before and I know I will p*o my pants because I've been out of work for a while and would rather work in a supermarket than challenge myself right now, but I can't keep making excuses for myself. I've been out of work since August. That's 6 months! What do I have to show for it? A whole bunch of debt and a depleted savings account... I can't ignore it anymore. I'm going to look into temping and I'm going to throw caution to the wind and apply for everything I fit the person specification for (as long as it's not flipping call centre work again).

What I really started thinking about goes like this: I have no smart office clothes. That means that if I get a smart office job, I will have to buy clothes for said job before I get paid. I have a whole drawer full of smart-casual office clothes, but they will not cut it, especially since most, if not all of the tops are from *cough* primark and the only decent pair of work trousers I have left I bought 3 years ago for my graduation and they look tired and worn and the hems are falling apart.

I made a decision, I need/want to buy a nice pencil skirt, not too expensive, M&S for example... something £40 or less, I need/want a nice blouse, not a shirt, but a blouse, in fact I could do with getting 2 or 3. I could also do with a nice quality cardigan and a smart jacket to go with said skirt and blouse. I can deal with spending up to £200 on a nice basic smart wardrobe... it will kill my bank account/credit card, but it's an investment (see, I'm trying to talk myself into it!), however, I have a horrid problem that I'm losing weight.

I don't like the idea, no, I hate the idea of spending £200 on 6 items of clothing that I'm going tohave to replace in 2-3 months time. I guess if I do get a job it won't be so bad, but it seems like such a freaking waste!

Sigh.

Anyway, I made a big mistake at looking at designer clothes. I never buy designer. I can't afford it and I'm too big. But I've found some gorgeous things that I really want to own... Vivienne Westwood... swoon.



Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Collection - Jersey Draped Dress £110

I absolutely love this dress, it's great for the office, dressed with some opaque tights, or with sheer tights as pictured. It could be worn straight out of work to a bar, restaurant, theatre, just about anywhere. Wrap a belt around, pair with a sparkly clutch... anything goes with this dress and I adore it.


Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Collection - Propaganda Jacket £445


Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Collection - Accident Asymmetric Skirt £220

These two just look fabulous together, this would most definitely be my power suit. My sister has a Chanel 'power suit' but I think I'd pack more punch in this VW one. Shirt, Blouse, a smart tee, this suit will look great with any of those and the edgy design is just, well, me :D I don't mean to blow my own horn, but if I were 20lbs lighter I'd look fantastic in this!


Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Collection - Empress Silk-Satin blouse £235

Last but by no means least, I love this silk-satin blouse. Again, it's such a simple design, but with those gorgeous VW extras. I'd pair this with a pair of slim fit tailored trousers or a nice wide legged pair, charcoal grey, or a nice light grey, or maybe even a cream.

I wish I had money... Maybe one day you'll see pictures of me on here modelling these clothes boasting about my wonderful wardrobe. But, I won't be holding my breath :)