Charity Shop Checks

Hey there, checked pinafore dress. You're rather cute, so why on earth were you lurking at the bottom of the mending pile?



It doesn't need repairing. Altering? Well it's a bit longer than I'd usually wear, sure, and the straps do have a slight tendency to slide off my shoulders. Neither of those are enough of a reason to faff around altering it though. I think it looks rather nice, especially with my awesome lady golfers shirt which, let's be honest, will jauntify any outfit quite considerably.

The pockets are weirdly low down though. It's probably not designed for the shorter person but then not much is. I'm resigned to stuff never quite fitting.





These brogues are so close to death. They look respectable here but they're totally falling apart.

As is this ring but the battered look rather suits it, no?

Dress - Primark via charity shop
Shirt - vintage via charity shop
Brogues - River Island sale
Jewellery - Dorothy Perkins

A Few Of My Favourite Things

It's not a Sound of Music reference. Just little things about today's outfit that make me smile:

#wardrobezoo

Sparkly shoes

Messy top knots

Mary flipping Poppins

New lippy. MAC Creme Cup to be exact.

Buttons on cardis

Fun earrings

Rescuing a long-forgotten frock from the mending pile and making it wearable with a new zip.

Dress - New Look (I think...the label has been lopped off) via New Life

Handmade cardi - charity shop

Peacoat - Tu

Flat shoes-Stylist Click

Earrings - River Island

Initial necklace - Sunday Girl

Mary Poppins necklace - Etsy

Cheering Myself Up

D'you know what's quite fun, especially when you're not feeling particularly svelte? Wearing clothes that used to be too tight but are now lovely and big. Now I'm not talking about comedy jeans , although I have kept the pair in that photo, just for posterity.  I mean those everso useful frocks and jumpers that I used to wear when I was a lot bigger and that still work now I'm a lot smaller.  Most of my old wardrobe is long gone but a few versatile things still remain.

I'm very fond of this dress. When I first bought it, many moons ago, we were both a size 18. I wore it when I was at my very fattest and a size 24. I still wear it now that I'm a size 14, with the addition of a belt and a tweak of the fabric. It's ace. And it might be about 8 years old now but I still adore it and haven't conquered the urge to shout "IT WAS ONLY A POUND. ONE ENGLISH POUND!" whenever people compliment me on it. The label may mark it out as a piece of plus size clothing but I don't care what the label says.  It looks nice and I like it and that's all that matters.

Oh and it has pockets. J'adore pockets.

No time for fancy shoes today, I've got mud to walk through!

Dress & belt - Primark

Cardi - Gap

Converse high top trainers

Scarf - Dorothy Perkins

Earrings - River Island

I also accessorised with these fetching things:

We're unlikely to get snow this close to the coast but it's far from warm today!

Two Nights in Liverpool

I've been doing some post-work gallivanting this week. It's a joy to live so close to such a vibrant, amazing city. Ten minutes on the train and I'm here:

Wednesday evening saw me rendezvous with my brother as we had an invitation to visit La Tasca and check out their cocktail and mini tapas offer. 

Princess Leia buns and Mojitos are a good combination, yes?

It got top marks from me.  We ate like kings - the staff were lovely and brought over all sorts of different little nibbles for us to try.  I've established I still can't bear olives (does this come with age? If so, I'm running out of time!) but everything else was utterly delicious.  Plus it's always a good sign when cocktails taste like they contain alcohol rather than just fruit juice!  I can report that the mojitos and strawberry daiquiris get my seal of approval.

Then last night I went on a ship!  Well, Liverpool is a maritime city.  It wasn't completely out of the blue - I didn't get chatted up by a sailor or anything. I'm a member of Fact Fifty and we get invited to exhibition previews and other cultural type events throughout the year.  This was a private evening tour of the Kathleen and May.  I know next to nothing about ships but even I can tell that she's been beautifully restored.  I'm the nosy type so I went exploring round the cabin and galley: everything is so neat! I couldn't live on a ship.  They'd make me walk the plank for being so unbearably messy.

When on board a ship, one must naturally pretend to steer it:

Captain (aka Papa) Odd Socks

Or, you know, stick your head in a funnel:

Dress & cat ring - River Island sale

Belt - Primark

Cardi - Matalan

Jacket - c/o French Connection

Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

Bag - John Rocha

I love Liverpool

Note: I wasn't paid for the review but La Tasca did pick up the bill

Day Six

Hark at me (almost) smiling in a blog photo.  I am happy because I discovered something a) unworn and b) amazing during a bit of a tidying session over the weekend.  House tights!  I do love Henry Holland tights but I'm buggered if I'm paying upwards of £12 for them.  I stalk the River Island sales instead - this pair were £3. Bargain.

I have no idea why they lurked in the depths of my tights suitcase for so long but it may just be that they blended into the background.  There's so much colour going on in there that anything mostly flesh coloured just disappears.  I think that's them in the top right, next to the green pair.  They certainly don't jump out at you in the same way as some of the others.

Anyway, consider them well and truly worn today!

Dress - Closet @ Dorothy Perkins

Shoes & ring - Dorothy Perkins

Tights - H by Henry Holland via River Island sale

Day Two

Day two and I'm already flagging!  I don't know how you daily bloggers do it.  I didn't have a problem with choosing a shiny, new, unworn thing to feature today but my general levels of energy are appalling, so it was hauling together the rest of the outfit that was the problem.  I'd much rather have worn my pj's to work today.  Ah, if only that was allowed.

Anyway, today's outfit was therefore fairly simple but the shoes (the new thing) are somewhat on the crazy side so that's probably for the best.

Behold the shoes!  I am not a cherubic sort of girl but I lost my heart to this pair when I saw them on ebay.  Even the daft height of the heel wasn't enough to put me off.  They remind me of ridiculous Rococo-style decoration and they're just fun.  I don't care if everyone else hates them (and fess up, cos I know some of you will!)

Jumper - Gap

Skirt - River Island sale

Shoes - Irregular Choice via ebay

A Capital Frock

Clothes are funny old things.  Although I am in undoubted love with this frock, I do spend quite a lot of time feeling both wide and short in it.  I have frocks that are a similar length so it's not that it needs shortening.  Perhaps it's just the quantity of fabric in the skirt.  I'd rather whack on an extremely high pair of shoes for morale and height boosting purposes but that isn't always practical.  Sometimes I just have to accept my shortarseness and wear flats.

Let's look on the bright side though.  At least five people at work said "I LOVE your dress!" (including my boss, who is not normally the most observant man in the world when it comes to clothes).  The print is fanbloodytastic.  And it was only £15 in the sale! This, dear readers, is where it pays to be a bit cheeky.  I'd happily have paid the £20 asking price but one of the belt loops on it was ripped - the sort of tiny belt loop that would take two minutes and two stitches to repair (and as it turns out, is completely useless anyway as I prefer a different belt than the one that came with it).  But it's always worth asking, however minor the problem, as sometimes the sales assistants are happy to knock a fiver off.  Yoicks!

Apologies for the BOOBS photo but I keep getting told off for not showing off the bodice part of my frocks and, well, this is the only way to really do it.

Dress - River Island

Cardi - Matalan

Belt - Primark

Flats & pearls - Dorothy Perkins