Positivity

I don't usually do the whole giving-things-up-for-Lent thing. I'm not particularly religious so it doesn't seem vital to me and I already know full well that I'm capable of denying myself nice food. I did it for sodding ages when I was losing weight. The next 35 days or so won't see me giving up anything physical. Instead (and I'm trying not to sound too wanky and self-help guide here), I'm trying to give up being negative about myself.

It's hard.

For starters I'm English, therefore genetically incapable of being positive about myself without feeling immensely awkward. When it gets to annual PDR time at work I'm generally found gnashing my teeth and trying to think of inventive ways to describe what I've done over the course of the year without sounding like an egomaniac. And I am good at my job: I really am. If I was American I'd be whooping and "way to go Alex"-ing myself. But I'm not, so I don't. 

I'm quite horrible to myself a lot of the time, especially when it comes to my appearance. I take about 90 photos everytime I do an outfit post - thank goodness for the multishot setting. I am harsh when I go through them to select which ones to edit and use. I reckon if I bit the bullet and used most of the ones I discard for making me look too fat/treble-chinned/just plain weird, you probably wouldn't see what I see. You'd just see Alex wearing some clothes in front of a brick wall, looking much the same as normal . I would never read someone else's blog and think "god, she looks terrible in those photos", yet I do it to myself with 90% of the pictures I take.  

My default mode in outfit photos is always to stare at the floor and try and disguise the worst points about myself but this isn't possible when you rope in a family member to take photos and they're all "Look at the camera!" "Stop looking at the floor!" "Stop looking grumpy!" "Smile!" "Say sausages!"

So how do I word this without sounding negative? Um. I am not particularly fond of how I look in these photos.  But I do absolutely adore this new coat and it deserves to be shown off, so I shall show it off. It was quite a discovery. We used to have a Vero Moda in Liverpool but I think it's gone now.  I never shopped there much anyway so it's not a brand I tend to remember to look at online.  Equally I didn't expect to find it stocked at Spartoo: I associate them with shoes, not clothes! I came across it during an idle lunchtime browse and had to have it.

The Peter Pan collar is dead. Long live the Puritan collar!

It's such nice quality - lovely, warm material that makes it perfect for that spring weather when you don't want to bundle up in an ankle length winter coat but need something a bit more substantial than a summer jacket.  I like it when a piece of clothing makes you feel happier.

Coat - Vero Moda

Dress - New Look via New Life

Cardi - Gap sale

Shoes - Next clearance

Here's to positivity and smiling more.

The moral of this story is that a tripod can never make you laugh like your mum can.