Vintage Shopping in Liverpool...The Vintage Corner

Hands up if you like a good vintage shop.

Yup, thought so! Me too, although I'm sure that won't come as a surprise to anyone.

Liverpool isn't brilliantly off for them, to be honest. Raiders closed down a while ago and although there are a few decent little shops, I have to do most of my rummaging in charity shops and at the odd vintage fair. We've got quite a few of the latter, it's just finding time to actually attend them that's the problem for me at the moment!



I paid a visit to Waterloo last weekend to see my dad, watch all of the X Men films and take in the delights of St John's Road. There are some fab shops starting up down there and after buying a lot of delicious cake at the newly(ish) opened Caz's Kitchen, we went for a wander around The Vintage Corner. Also new, also amazing!

Cheryl and Alison own and run the shop and they're girls after my own heart. They were both having great fun unpacking and trying on a new batch of stock when I was there - instant coat envy as an Aquascutum cape appeared out of the bag!



Oh so many pretty things in stock.





Also props to me for inadvertently paying my first visit when they were having a sale.  My timing is never usually that good!  I had a whale of a time trying on all the things that took my fancy.











Alas that gorgeous swirly green patterned frock was far too small for me otherwise it'd so be in my wardrobe right now. I bought other things though. Obviously.

Want a sneaky peek of my purchases? It turns out I really can't resist a good sale rail and came away with two tops and two frocks which I'm sure will feature in upcoming outfit posts very soon.



Oh and this beauty, although it won't technically be mine till Christmas as Dad has bought it for me as a present.

Life's A Beach

The following rules apply if you're from Liverpool:

1. Always dress up. Always.
2. Hair must be big, eyebrows must be groomed, makeup must be perfectly applied.
3. Going out in public in your pjs is entirely acceptable, as long as rule 2) is adhered to.
4. When it comes to shoes, go high or go home.
5. Basically, model yourself on Scouse Bird
6. Put up with no crap from anyone, especially not those who wear Uggs.

I will freely admit that I fail at all of the above, except for 6).  I am great at scorning people, especially if they wear terrible shoes. It's in my genes. What's not in my genes is the ability to give myself a curly blow, contour my makeup (is that even the right phrase?), spend 70% of my wages on new clothes or walk round all day in six inch heels.  I admire it but I can't do it.

I'm still a good Scouse girl at heart though. I'd like to think the rest of them don't scorn me for being a bit different. There's just as much room for vintage as there is for bodycon.  Plus it's not just about clothes, it's about attitude. I love where I live; it's the best city in the world.  I could wax lyrical for approximately 435789894573 blog posts about places I love and things to see and do here.



Culture and industry, that's my city.

Wallis set me a little challenge recently. What would I pick from their rather delicious new range of summer dresses that would suit life in Liverpool? Only one option really: JUMPSUIT! This pretty black floral jumpsuit, to be exact. Very appropriate for Liverpool (see 1. ) and totally practical for frolicking in the woods and at the beach!  Liverpool is more than just a city centre.

I wore it on a day out to the pine woods at Formby to spot some red squirrels and to visit the Iron Men (aka Another Place) in Crosby. They're very slightly outside the city centre but I adore them both and always take visitors to the city there. That counts, right?







It's boss, isn't it? (good Scouse word for you there)  And yes, I am both short and pear shaped. Remember what I said about attitude? No London-based magazine is going to lay down the law about what I can and can't wear. If I want to wear a jumpsuit, I'm flipping well going to wear one.









Jumpsuit - c/o Wallis
Shrug - Matalan
Sandals & bag - Primark
Rings - Dorothy Perkins
Bracelet - shell necklace from France





See that happy face? That's the face of a girl with a lush new item of clothing that doesn't need ironing. Muahaha. It's going to be the most versatile thing ever. Can't wait to whack on a black blazer, ridonkulously high heels and wear it out for drinks with the girls!

*[]*

North West Bloggers Meetup

I'm not the most sociable person in the world. Innate shyness and an inability to make good small talk, combined with a longing to spend my spare time curled up with a good book, means that I probably turn down more invitations than I should. The fear creeps in and I make my excuses.

Sunday saw me putting on my brave smile though. Can't stay in the house all my life!  I trotted off to the Hard Days Night hotel with Laura for the North West Bloggers meetup.  I'd had a mild panic midweek when I realised it was mostly beauty bloggers attending. I can't do makeup, argh! It's bad enough when I'm surrounded by uber-stylish, slim, 20-something bloggers without them all being gorgeous and perfectly made up as well.

Oh well. Get over yourself, Alex, thought I, and off I went.

Made quite the entrance too - I promptly fell down the stairs into the room it was being held in. Thankfully there weren't too many people there at that point to see me making a tit of myself.

Anyway, onto the photos! We had one room set aside for sitting, scoffing and gossiping and another one housing stalls set up by various brands. Loads of chances to chat to local businesses and stores, get samples and generally have a good time.

Fashion Zoo are a Liverpool based jewellery company with a heavy animal/tribal theme going on. They'd brought along tons of gorgeous things. That seaside bracelet totally reminded me of Rosie.

The lovely ladies from Liverpool Lush were there too. I've decided that as soon as the house buying process is over and done with, I'm treating myself to one of their spa treatments. I went to the opening of the Liverpool spa last year and it's utterly gorgeous inside. Definitely time to try it out.

This was half of the raffle prizes! After much eager waiting (I am a complete sucker for a raffle and turn into a 5 year old waiting for Christmas) I won these:



Awesome!

T'was clearly the day for curly hair as the lovely Rebekah Treherne gave me wavy princess locks

Hannah and Frances did such a fantastic job organising it and rounding up so many great stalls and people to attend. We got a fab tshirt each from Original Attire and a massive goody bag full of all sorts of treats. I shall have much fun putting this lovely lot to good use!

I'm very glad I made myself go. Hope the next one is just as great!

Eating Out in Liverpool: Free State Kitchen

Liverpool is great.  You all know this, right?  Well, should you need persuading further, I've decided to start featuring some of the good things about the city - shops, restaurants, things to see and do.  I'm guilty of writing lots about holidays I go on and city breaks I take but my beloved home city never seems to get the same attention.  This will change!

Liverpool One has a lot of big chain restaurants but other than Yo Sushi and Wagamama, I tend not to bother eating there much.  Most of the interesting places are at the other end of town and there are loads of new restaurants popping up around the city at the moment.  I've been hearing good things about Free State Kitchen recently so it was top of my list to try. First impressions were good! Very welcoming staff, nice location and generally a nice vibe about the place.

HONK!

The benefit of being a few minutes walk out of the main city centre streets is that you also get a space like this:

It's not quite finished yet - they were busily watering the new turf while we were there - but it's going to make the most amazing garden space this summer.  We're due a proper summer for once and I plan on taking advantage of and eating/drinking outdoors wherever possible!

Papa Odd Socks (sporting a Frank Zappa tshirt) accompanied me on this visit. 

So, what did we eat?

Maryland crab cakes. They were delicious (and I don't even like seafood that much, so that speaks volumes).

Sweetcorn fritters. Yum!

The Scooch. Which I did order without cheese but the eagle eyed amongst you may spot a layer of it in there. They were super apologetic and made me a fresh one in double quick time, so that's fine by me! It was really, really tasty and those chips were divine.

Free State Dog.

Blueberry cheesecake. Dad ate both of those, not me (due to my stupid dairy allergy) and good noises were made, especially about the cheesecake which he proclaimed to be exceptionally nice.

It wasn't expensive either. I'll definitely be going back! 

If you want to pay them a visit, Free State Kitchen is just off Hope Street, near the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Shopping & Bopping

I love Liverpool.  Mock it at your peril cos I will get ferocious to defend it.  There's one thing about it that can't be denied though: it's a long old way from London.  We Northern bloggers can feel a long way removed from most of the social whirl that surrounds this odd hobby of ours.

Even if I was on those PR lists that mean automatic invitations to all the cool events (I'm not), it would have to be something pretty amazing to make it worth spending 4 hours on a train and taking time off work.   I don't have a chip on my shoulder about it or anything - it makes perfect sense for things to take place in the capital.  It'd just be nice if there was the odd bit of recognition that not everyone lives there.

Events that take place in Liverpool are much rarer but when they do happen, I say "yoicks" and do my very best to get to them.  So last Thursday saw me meeting up with Liverpool lovelies Laura and Frances to have a shop and a bop at TK Maxx.

The Silent Disco featured some ace music but I don't really do dancing, so I limited myself to a little bit of jaunty shuffling around the aisles instead. Mostly in my natural habitat, the shoe department.



This fella had no such inhibitions!





The mojitos were fab and the shiny gift card we got given upon leaving was even better!

There's another TK Maxx store close(ish) to my house so I had a little end-of-the-week shopping trip there with my mum. Well, she had a whale of a time buying herself a handbag and loads of stuff for her summer holiday and even a potential outfit for my brother's wedding (organised! It's not till October!). I resisted the lure of all the impractical Dune and Nine West high heels and spent my giftcard wisely instead:




What do you mean, I only buy green things? That is clearly not true. I also bought something black but it's a Top Secret Birthday Present so you'll have to trust me on that.