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I wasn't going to blog this outfit.

I was in the middle of a case of severe plague when these photos were taken and felt horrendous. As such, my motivation when selecting an outfit that morning was not "OMG, what can I pick that will look amazing?!" It was "hgggnnnnnrggghhh, need clothes that are clean and not pyjamas."

I was quite surprised when I dragged myself into work and got loads of compliments on my tights/shoes/frock/combo. Now I don't know if this is because it's actually that good or because some of the people there find the idea of patterned tights and polka dot shoes very lively indeed and were accordingly admiring of them. Probably the latter. It doesn't strike me as a massively exciting outfit, although I am fond of it.

What do you reckon?

Dress - Dorothy Perkins via charity shop
Cardi - Hawkshead
Tights - Henry Holland
Fancy high heels - Irregular Choice
Ring - Dorothy Perkins

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

Getting Dressed

Goodness me, I feel as if I've forgotten how to get dressed recently, let alone do an outfit post.  I am fighting a joint battle against the last, lingering effects of the plague (I have been blowing my nose for 10 days now - it is SORE) and trying to reduce the overwhelming amounts of stuff that I own. More on the decluttering saga at a later date, but in brief - so much stuff.  No room.  Am living surrounded by towering heaps of crap that I don't know what to do with.  Help.

Despite the fact that I've actually done some ironing for once (I know, right? I'm as surprised by this as you are), it doesn't mean clothes are actually accessible at the moment.  I just cast my eye over the easily reachable things and went: t-shirt, yup, shorts, yup, still not warm enough to go bare legged so tights, yup, boots, yup.  This pair were so desperate to be worn that they fell out of the wardrobe and threw themselves across the room.

Note to self.  Don't take outfit photos at 5pm.  You look crumpled.

Tshirt - Hero and Cape
Shorts - H by Henry Holland, Debenhams sale
Boots - Aldo, Asos sale
Rings - Landbaby (owl) and Dorothy Perkins sale (white)

Frocks Galore!

I think all this time off work has already gone to my head. It's either that or the continued lack of sleep - I was up at 5.30am to hit the supermarkets at 6am and get the food shopping done before it got busy. Or perhaps the good news - my best friend is pregnant!! I am already preparing to be Mad Auntie Alex.

Whatever the cause, I've been in thoroughly merry form all day and so I have been playing dress up. Not something I do very often.

You might remember that at some point during the giveaway I mentioned the arrival of a rather wonderful parcel. Well, it was from the very lovely Christina, who had been having a wardrobe clearout (have you finished yet?) and was generous enough to send some stuff my way. She's about 8 inches taller than I am and considerably slimmer as well as being much more glam than me, so I must admit to being a tad worried as to whether anything would actually fit me but most of it did! Thank you so much Christina - it really was amazingly generous of you. I don't deserve it but I most definitely appreciate it.

I am totally smitten with this Ghost tunic. I think I'm just about short enough to get away with wearing it as a dress. Oh it's so pretty.

A rather awesome vintage jumpsuit. I'm not entirely convinced I'm tall enough or glam enough to get away with this one but I enjoyed prancing round the house in it!

Ooh la la, you've caught me in my nightie. Posh eh?

Honest opinions on this one please girls. I think it's utterly beautiful but I have a horrid feeling that the drop waist is not the best look on a pearshaped short girl...I'm wondering if it would be rude to chop the bottom section off, re-hem it and wear it as a shorter tunic?

I love this one. Bet you I spill wine all over it though!

There was also a rather snazzy purple frock in there and a beautiful one shoulder black Ghost dress but they don't feature in the photos as they're a little too snug over the old tum at the moment. Hopefully they'll fit in the New Year!

When I was feeling a little more sensible, I got dressed and braved the snow, ice and minus 6 temperatures to meet the girls for lunch.

Self in typical flap mode - hair and scarf going all over the place

A bit more composed although I've only just noticed how manic my eyes look!

Jacket - Tu
Shorts - Henry Holland @ Debenhams
Tights & scarf - dunno
Boots - Chiara
Earmuffs & mittens - Accessorize

And the ring is a giveaway prize! I won it (and a matching necklace) in Jen's 12 Days of Christmas giveaway (thanks again Jen!) and it's from Stolen Thunder. I was so thrilled to win this and even happier when it turned up - not only was it beautifully packaged but both pieces of jewellery are really lovely. I am absolutely hopeless at thinking of snappy messages so had a right struggle to think of what to put on it. No doubt I'll think of something awesome tomorrow and kick myself but I do like what I've picked - I think the style of the ring and font go rather well with it.

This evening the silliness returned. I attempted to recreate this corking photo that Christina shared in a great post a few days ago. I don't quite have all the outfit components but I think I've got the manic grin down quite well!

Dress - Pilot (fake fur added by moi for a uni party YEARS ago)
Shoes - Irregular Choice via Char

I'll be back on 27th so I'll take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas everyone. If you're celebrating, I hope you have a wonderful time. If not, I hope you have a wonderful time anyway!

Hello from Herefordshire

So then, the wi-fi works!

In typical form, I've managed to balance things out by killing some form of technology and MELTED the tv remote control by not realising it was on top of the fire. I am exceedingly dim sometimes.

It's quite dead.

The cottage is lovely and I'm having a fab time so far - shall do general holiday photos at some point this week if you won't be bored by them, but for today I shall just do a quick outfit post. I really must get more comfortable with someone taking my picture as I feel really self conscious still and so all the photos taken of me today look awful and really unflattering! Ho hum. Back to the tripod it is.

Jumper - H&M
Shorts - H by Henry Holland at Debenhams
Tights - M&S I think. They're a lot darker and greener than they're showing up in these pics.
Boots - Evans
Coat - Tu
Ribbon - from a Lush giftset
Socks - Dorothy Perkins
Nails - Barry M in Racing Green (v. difficult to photograph properly!)

I quickly replaced the ribbon with a knitted headband/earwarmer thingy as it was so flipping cold today but no pics of that. There will probably be some soon though because I rather love it. Not as much as I love these shorts though. Aren't they great? 25% off as well - gotta love random sale weeks.