Big Sleeves...Big Hair

It's a good job I saved this dress for today. If I'd worn it earlier in the week there's a distinct chance I'd have taken off and been blown across the Irish Sea.

There is a lot of fabric in these sleeves. If a gust of wind had caught them in the wrong direction, I reckon I'd have been rapidly transformed into a well-dressed kite.




It's excellent fun to wear though. I feel very dramatic.

It barely needs any embellishments either. I've tried wearing a cardigan over it and well, that turned into a giant tangle of fabric. Luckily the dress fabric is a really nice thick jersey so it's lovely and warm just by itself. If I need extra warmth I can always tuck myself up in the sleeves!






Dress - Pearl Lowe @ Peacocks
Shoes - TK Maxx
Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale

All The Patterns

We've all been there, haven't we?

You put on what you think is a lovely outfit, prance around in it feeling fab all day, merrily snap some outfit photos and then look at them on your computer screen only to discover that someone has replaced your face with a moon.

An actual moon. With really unflattering specs on.

And although you are still getting used to said specs because they're much bigger than your other ones, they managed to look all fun and vaguely trendy when you took photos of them before. They don't look that bad in the mirror. So how has the camera made them transform your face into something rather terrifying?

Ok, ok, perhaps you haven't all been there. This is probably something only familiar to glasses wearers. The fact I had no makeup on didn't help either. But still, it's VERY UNFAIR. I've only got one tolerable outfit photo out of the whole bunch.

I nearly scrapped the whole lot but the new (old) coat is too gorgeous not to share and I'm rather fond of some of the #wardrobezoo prints that have sneaked in on the other parts of my body.

Coat - vintage, via The Vintage Corner
Top - Red Herring, Debenhams
Skirt - H&M
Cardi - TK Maxx
Shoes - Irregular Choice

The joys of doing some ironing for the first time in months: you discover all sorts of amazing things you'd totally forgotten about! Also plenty of things that you realise you're never actually going to wear...

And on that note, if you're a similar size to me and are in the mood for swapping some of those things in your wardrobe that you never quite get round to wearing, I'm signing up for Janet and Steph's Big Blog Clothes Swap. It's not just clothes, everything is considered: shoes, accessories, bags. I'm so looking forward to it!

Easter Frolics

Happy Easter everyone!

Today is my one day of liberty over the mini-break and I'm planning on a day of football, films and time with friends. Kinda envy all of you who have four days to loaf around eating chocolate! I was volunteering all day yesterday and we're back there all day tomorrow, then I spent Good Friday working. Ah well, it might be tiring but it's all good fun. 

Plus, y'know, volunteering as a fence judge = PICNICS. What's not to love about that?

This is what I wore on Good Friday. It's my most appropriate frock for this time of year.  Not exactly the most springlike colour in the world but the print more than makes up for it. The debate still rumbles on as to whether they're bunnies or hares but today I vote bunny.

Isn't this brooch utterly tremendous? It was a birthday present from Steph. She rocks.

Dress - People Tree sale
Shirt - gift, Matalan
Pumps - TK Maxx
Brooch - gift

Minty Stars

I'm still finding the shops deeply uninspiring. Everything is either bright blue or in-your-face neon yellow at the moment and although I don't hate either of those colours, I don't seem to want to buy or wear them. Luckily spring always means a sprinkling of mint. I love mint. It's definitely my favourite pastel shade.

During a brief jaunt round Asda at the weekend I naturally made a beeline for this jumper. My mum (we were having a girly shopping day) also went "ooh" over it so we are now the proud owners of matching jumpers and will have to co-ordinate our wardrobe diaries so we don't wear them at the same time and look any madder than we already are. Ha!

It's got stars on! And it's slouchy! Two of my favourite things.

Jumper - George @ Asda
Maxi skirt - Primark
Pumps - TK Maxx

Totally Tapestry

Everyone's seen The Sound of Music, right? Well I hadn't until a couple of years ago. I sat down with my mum one lazy day during the Christmas holidays and watched it for the first time. By the time Julie Andrews had whizzed up an entire set of outfits for the children from one pair of curtains I was in absolute hysterics. Seriously, I was lying on the floor gasping for breath because I was laughing so hard I'd slid off the sofa and ended up in a heap.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I still don't know quite why making clothes from curtains tickled my funny bone so much. Just one of those things. I think it triggered something deep within me though because my life mission now appears to be to dress entirely from the soft furnishings department. I've got dresses made from curtains and duvet covers and upholstery fabric and now I've got a dress that looks like a chair.


Yeah, my Nana had some awesome furniture. Almost as good as that outfit I'm wearing. I want a grownup version!

I know they don't match but you cannot have too much tapestry!

Dress & cardi - New Look
Boots - ASOS
Hat - Jessica Simpson c/o TK Maxx

TK Maxx: Aintree

There's a lot of store redevelopment going on in Liverpool at the moment. Liverpool One sprung up a few years ago now, chock full of all sorts of shops and restaurants, and the rest of the city centre is gradually being revamped too. We've got a Forever 21 now! Matalan have just opened a flagship city centre store and the TK Maxx on Bold Street, which I blogged about here, is huge and ace! They're spreading the love into the suburbs too and have just opened a shiny new store in Aintree, so off I popped last weekend to pay it a visit.

We all know what a bargain you can pick up there, especially when it comes to clothing and shoes. I tried on a beautiful designer coat (the eagle eyed may be able to spot it in the middle of the above photo) which was £210 down to £49.99. My inner bargain hunter shed a little tear at leaving it behind but I do not need any more coats. I just don't. Stop it, Alex.

If I had one slight complaint it would be that the selection of frocks wasn't fantastic, other than sparkly party frocks, but I suppose it's that time of year, isn't it? The gorgeous array of knitwear more than made up for it. Had this specs jumper not been quite so high necked it would have been coming straight home with me.

I don't want this to be a tale of what didn't come home with me but argh, how I would have liked these ruby red slippers! Such are the misfortunes of having a popular foot size. There were some truly beautiful knee high boots too but alas not in a wide calf option (such are the misfortunes of having fat legs too!)

The homeware aisles are totally my happy place. I don't know why people automatically head to Ikea when they've got a house to fill. There is so much lovely stuff (esp. kitchenware) at TK Maxx. Shiny copper pans and gorgeous stoneware and more spatulas than you can shake a stick at.

This set of hat boxes would have been perfect for Maria. I'm weird though and can't buy things with initials on them if they aren't an "A".

Forget #wardrobezoo, I now want a housezoo!

So what did I actually buy? Presents for people, some coffee, knee high cosy socks and a hat!

I'd given up hope of ever finding a cloche type hat that suited me but I found one! I may have made indiscreet whooping noises in the middle of the shop. So happy!


*TK Maxx invited me along to visit the store and very kindly supplied me with a gift card to make a purchase or two. All opinions are my own. What can I say? I like it there!*

Minty Floral Fun

I was a victim of The Changing Room Horrors yesterday. I tried on 3 dresses in the massive Manchester Primark: one was the most bizarre fit ever, one was pretty much see through and the other one was alright but a bit shoddy and not worth spending £17 on. So far, so average, at least for a Primark trip.

Then I made the bold move of trying on dungarees. Big mistake. Huge mistake.

Admittedly, this cute polka dot dungaree dress almost looked nice. If it hadn't been about 6 inches too short, I'd have bought it. But I also tried on the dungaree shorts (ohhhh, that wasn't a pleasant reflection in the mirror) and the proper full length dungarees (it would have been funny if I hadn't been virtually crying at how awful they looked). No matter what the style, they're clearly never going to suit me and it makes me sad. It also makes me curse my stupid body shape that just won't suit anything at the moment unless it's a particular cut of dress.

Looking at the bright side, at least I have some nice frocks to distract me.

This pretty one came home with me from the trip to Warwick. It wasn't one of the hundreds that Sarah was getting rid of, it was one of Char's castoffs. I love having generous friends with lovely taste in clothes.




These glittery shoes are so much fun that they're almost distracting me from the destruction of my dungaree dream. Sparkly toes!

Dress - Topshop, via Char
Cardi - H&M
Jewellery - all from various Dorothy Perkins sales
Flats - TK Maxx
Bag - c/o Brit Stitch

Spring Green

I love spring. It's by far my favourite season of the year (closely followed by autumn) but it's been so late in coming this year! I'm not exactly Mrs Green Fingers but working in a place with such beautiful grounds and gardens, I get a pretty good idea of when spring has arrived.  It's hard to miss it really.  At this time of year we're usually knee deep in bluebells, everything is turning various glorious shades of green and outdoor tea breaks are well and truly the order of the day.

It's the first of May today and we still have no bluebells. However, the daffodils lining the drive have started to poke their heads out and I spied some blossom on the fruit trees just this morning. Most of the other trees are still as bare as they were during the winter but they must be late starters.  We've had a couple of sunny days recently and, being hardy souls, our morning coffee and cake has been taken outside. Hurrah! It makes such a difference not to be stuck inside in the dark all day.

I think I can tentatively declare that spring has officially arrived.  I'm dressing for it anyway.



Minty pastels, a pale skirt, lashings of girly lace trim, pearls and glittery flat shoes.  That shouts spring to me! 

I even dug out my one pair of skin coloured tights.  They're the one thing I don't like about this time of year.  I am usually so good with tights.  I treat them nicely and they don't ladder or rip or generally fall apart.  Skin coloured tights are RUBBISH though.  One wear and they're laddering like nobody's business.  Stupid things.



This top is about as close as I'm likely to come to indulging in the sports luxe trend this year.  It's not for me. I just can't see trainers as a fashion item and I don't do things that cling.  I can, however, happily wear a nice, vaguely sporty, jersey top. Especially if it's as comfy and pretty as this one.













Top - H&M
Skirt - H&M via blog sale
Shoes - c/o TK Maxx
Pebble necklace - charity shop
Bird necklace - Cheap Frills
Bracelets - Primark (pearls) and gift (green)

ps - I'm over at Essbeevee talking about my favourite books if you'd like to pop over and have a read!