February Scavenger Hunt

Note to self for March - try and remember to look at Kathy's list of scavenger hunt items more than 3 days before the end of the month. I have taken rather a lot of these today.


Black and white

At least this one was easy.


5

Fnar. That is all I have to say on the matter.



Empty

Poor dead tree, it is empty(ish) inside and had to get chopped down. The tree surgeon had a very big chainsaw. Fnar again.


Crowded

A (small) section of last week's insane to-do list


Music


The song I cannot stop listening to at the moment.


Leap Year


Imagination fail.



Cupid

Bah.


Food

Well it had to be cake, didn't it? Marbled vanilla and choc chip loaf cake to be precise.



In the Sky


Is it a bird? Is it Superman? No, it's a plane. Boo hiss to the evil company with all the stupid charges.


Love


You know I don't do the hearts and flowers shit. I truly love every little thing about my ginger bundle of fluff though. Yes, even that insanely irritating habit of constantly walking backwards and forwards between my face and the laptop/magazine/book I'm looking at.


Train


I have been on a train this month, honest I have. See the top of this post for the reasons why I don't actually have a picture of one. This ticket is for my jaunt Oop North in a couple of weeks.


Heritage


Did you know that you should never polish gilt? Well you do now. I am full of such useless conservation tips.

Back To Basics

I'm back! Not that you'll have missed me, but I have really felt the lack of bloggage recently and I'm sorry for it. February is always a fully ridiculous month in terms of work/life balance though and life is only just starting to take back over.

How better to ease back than with an outfit post? Nice and simple, green and with some Irregular Choice shoes. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

Dress - AX Paris via charity shop
Blouse - present from Vix
Shoes - Irregular Choice, Christmas present from Char. I have wanted these FOREVER. She is fricking awesome.

How did the hair get so ginormous? Princess Leia(ish) buns, that's how:

Don't quite have the guts to go out like this normally...

Anyway gang, what's new with you? Have I missed anything good during the stupid month of being stupidly busy?

Tagtastic

I am not generally fond of the awards and tags that consist of listing things about yourself. I dunno, they just seem a bit lacking in imagination. I make an exception for this one because, yes, I have to do a bit of listing but then I get to answer Perdita's brilliant questions and that's much more fun!

So the rules are:

1) You must post 11 random things about yourself;
2) Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post;
3) Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer;
4) Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them;
5) No stuff about 'you're tagged if you're reading this' - legitimately tag people.

So, my 11 things:

1) I do not fancy Brad Pitt at all. The one time he has looked halfway decent was in that episode of Friends and I think that was more due to the nice navy jumper than anything else.

2) When I buy new clothes, I like to hang them on the picture rail in my room for a little while so I can admire them.

3) My favourite film of all time is Mary Poppins and I will not hear a word said against it.

4) I sometimes get 2 and N mixed up when writing things down. I have no idea why.

5) I don't like red roses.

6) Or diamonds.

7) I have a pathological loathing of the word moist.

8) I like to liven up long car journeys by making the noises of animals that we drive past. All together now... *spot a sheep* *BAAAAAAAA* Quite tricky when driving past a field of llamas.

9) I feel really uncomfortable in Topshop.

10) I am fangirlish about the following things: The West Wing, Henry Cavill and mini party rings.

11) I'm not on Facebook. Never have been. Don't want to be.



And the questions set for me:

1) What is your favourite flavour of crisps?

The perils of having a milk allergy: there are a surprising amount of crisp flavours that I can't eat. I mostly scoff ready salted Walkers Baked. Very boring, I know. Not necessarily my favourite flavour but the least likely to make me feel ill.


2) What is the funniest photo of you that you still own?


The demented bride look is tres chic, non?


3) What would your dream home be?

Something Georgian. Big enough for all my books. In an ideal (lottery winning world), something like this would be my dream and I'd have a pony in a paddock at the bottom of the garden. If I won enough to buy a nice house but not enough to give up work, I would truly love a house on Hope Place.


4) What are you great at? (Keep it clean. Or don't. Whatever)

Oh the temptation to not keep it clean. My dad reads this blog though and I don't want to shock him.

I am great at reading. Also list making. I am amazing at sounding polite and helpful on the phone whilst rolling my eyes dramatically. I like to think I'm quite good at being a friend too.


5) Who (fictional character) would you go to the pub with? (Extension: pint or bender? Why?)

Bertie Wooster. Bender. Why? Well he's rich and well mannered, so I wouldn't be buying the drinks. He's hilarious, so we'd spend the evening laughing and getting into scrapes. Plus I would naturally be transported back in time for this bender so I could wear something fabulous and end up dancing on a table in a glamorous nightclub.


6) Which takeaway is best?

Chinese.


7) Explain your plan for the Zombie Apocalypse.

I haven't got one! Oh shit, best think of something quick... Um, find some fellow survivors and put my Girlguiding survival skills to good use? We could take over a house in the countryside with a large library and I'd be quite happy. I'm quite handy (good with an air rifle, can cook out in the woods, faff with tents etc) so I reckon I'd be useful to have around.


8) Which terrible, terrible fashion do you secretly kind of hanker after?

One word: Clueless

9) Tell me your motto.

I don't really have one. Perhaps (to steal a phrase from Dory) - just keep swimming. I find most things are bearable if you're prepared to slog through them.


10) Who is your favourite villain?

Jadis, the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia.



11) Describe your favourite pair of shoes.

Irregular Choice.
Suede.
Green.
Teal.
Brown.
Gold piping.
Beautiful.


I would like to tag the following blogs:

Lady Bug Says
Tête en l'Air
Pennyblossoms
Chloe Likes To Talk
Please May I?
t*rexes and tiaras
Jumbles and Pompoms
Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping
Katyboo1's Weblog
KezzieAG
Foof and Faff

My 11 questions are:

1) Are you a morning or a night person?
2) Have you ever stolen anything? (be honest, I won't set the law on you)
3) What is your favourite word?
4) What can't you live without?
5) Who/what do you have an irrational dislike of?
6) Where is your favourite place to eat out?
7) Who is the cleverest person you know?
8) What was the last film that you saw at the cinema? Was it any good?
9) What is your guilty tv pleasure?
10) Where did you last go on holiday?
11) What makes you go "GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"?

No Hearts and Flowers Here

As per my very own single girl tradition, implemented last year, I mark this day not with gnashing of teeth and wailing about the lack of tacky flowers and gifts in my life, but with a blog post full of HOTNESS.

A very tasteful, monochrome blog post full of hotness.

It's all arty like, honest it is.














My taste doesn't generally run to skinny wretches but there's always one per year. Hello Eddie Redmayne!


What? WHAT? I love Kermit.

Seeing as it would be rude to leave my two favourite ladies out...

Altering Vintage

Do we? Don't we? Should we? Shouldn't we?

On the whole, I think go for it. Not with anything precious or very old but alas, life being what it is, I am not likely to own anything like that.

I do often have to battle the nagging voice in the back of my head that says "Should you even be altering this? It is vintage." (the voice says vintage in a very Ab Fab sort of way) Let's not be precious though. Just because something happens to be more than 15 years old is no real reason to preserve it untouched. Fashions and hemlines change and a piece of clothing is far better off being altered so that it fits and is wearable rather than hanging on a rail unloved for all time.

If it was an expensive purchase or difficult to alter, I may consider sending it to someone who is slightly less cackhanded with a sewing machine than I am but with things that aren't quite so old, I don't feel quite so much pressure. I (eventually) have a crack at the alterations myself. Here's one I did last year.

I picked up two very nice Welsh tweed skirts from Oxfam months ago. Rather a snip at £6.99, thought I. But, oh, they were a hideously unflattering length. Look, see for yourself (and ignore the Mitch Benn tshirt. I only realised at the last minute that I should probably take a photo before starting the alterations):

Turns out it wasn't so very difficult to make them look good after all. Measure, pin, hack and hem. Bish, bash, bosh. They're both beautifully made, so it was just a case of trying to do it neatly enough to do them justice.

Additional bonus - a lot of offcuts! I think I shall attempt making a clutch bag. Watch this space. I may get round to it by...ooh...September?

And what do they look like now? Well you can only see one because I haven't photographed them both, but here is the darker of the two. I'm very pleased with the results.






Shirt - Zara, via charity shop
Skirt - vintage, via Oxfam
Cricket jumper - Oxfam. No idea if it's vintage or not, it's just cute
Brogues - Dune, via TK Maxx
Coat - Kookai, via car boot sale
Gloves - Accessorize

It's a Birthday Kind of Day

My blog is two years old today!

Happy birthday blog. I remember those early days when I disgraced you by posting outfit photos that were tiny and too dark to even see the clothes. It all got better when I discovered the brick wall, didn't it? I hereby promise that at some point soon I will spruce you up and make you look pretty. You should at least have a proper header, shouldn't you? You deserve it: I'm rather fond of you.

And I'm rather fond of *you*. Yes, you. Each and every one of you lot who like my little corner of the interweb and come along to comment and say such wonderful things. You really do cheer me up, nudge me into trying things, make me giggle, increase my knowledge and generally bring a smile to my face. You never tell me I have too many shoes or books and for that reason alone, I love you all. If you lived closer I'd invite you all round for tea and cake. I feel bad that I have been truly dreadful at commenting back recently *hangdog expression*

I also feel a little bad that I decided to start the blog in February. It makes it inconvenient when it comes to giveaways because I am poor as a churchmouse this month. I always forget that it's expensive to go to weddings, even if you already have the outfit. I have no money left already and it's only 6th. Oh dear. Anyway, I can't afford anything very much but I have raided the present cupboard and found a few goodies.



- A rather beautiful silk scarf
- Lovely Things To Make for Girls of Slender Means by Eithne Farry
- A pretty clutch containing a Poppy King lip gloss (Flirty Red) and lipstick (Fabulous Red)
- And a pink starry necklace

Sorry international readers but it's going to have to be for UK followers only because the book will make it extortionately expensive to post otherwise. I'll try and pick lighter things next time!

But let's keep it simple otherwise:

To enter, be a follower and comment below. Please leave me some way of contacting you.

I'll pick a winner at 8pm on Monday 13th February. Good luck!

Crowning Glory

I am rubbish with hair. I've never dyed mine, I don't know how to style it other than straight down or up in a topknot and the only type of hair-related gadget I own is a hairdryer.

Hairdressers will probably keel over with shock at this revelation but...I only get it cut about once a year.

Today was the big day. As you can see from my last outfit post, the mop had officially got too long and tatty. I have a wedding to go to on Friday as well, so it seemed like a good time to get it chopped. Off I trotted to Andrew Collinge Graduates, skidding on the pavements as I went (seriously, can we not just have snow? This icy rain is an absolute bugger).

An hour later, I looked like this:


I love it! I don't stand a chance of recreating the bouffantyness myself - at one point there were 4 brushes in my hair - but what the hell. She asked if I wanted it blowdryed straight or with some bounce. The answer to that question should only ever be bounce. This is Liverpool after all...

ps - not a sponsored post or owt, I'm just impressed! Ask for Sophie if you go - she's lovely.