My default settings

1) Wearing a jumper.

2) Looking at the floor.

Sorry about the latter - I have a big double chin going on in the rest of the photos for some bizarre reason. But I'm not apologising about the jumper. I flipping love jumpers and this is just so cosy and warm. And it was a nice excuse to wear another pair of lovely shoes.




Jumper & broderie anglaise trimmed top - Dorothy Perkins
Leggings - M&S
Shoes - New Look
Necklace - Tu


And as I was heading out (in the snow) to the theatre this evening, I bundled up in jacket and many woolly accessories. The jumper has totally ridden up in this pic - I haven't been flashing that much thigh all day!



Jacket - George
Pashmina - ancient
Hat - also ancient
Armwarmers - a handmade Christmas present from my lovely friend Sharon - ribbon woven in and they have jingle bells on them!





Vix wanted to know about yesterday's hair - I just put it into three plaits (one at each side and one at the back) when it was wet, slept with it like that and then undid them in the morning and shook them out a bit. Quite pleased with how the waves lasted actually as they usually fall out and just look limp for the rest of the day. Unfortunately my hair has now rebelled today and gone super static-y and flyaway, grr!

Shoes first...

Today's outfit was mainly inspired by watching the Winter Olympics last night. I love watching sport. And despite never having strapped on a pair of skis or ice skates in my life, I can't get enough of watching people hurl themselves down mountains or leaping about on the ice. The skicross last night was amazing - I was bouncing around all over the place cheering people on and gasping at the high speed crashes!

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes, outfit inspiration. Well these rather fantastic shoes made their way into my life a few weeks ago and winter is really the only time I can wear them so I thought it was time to give them an outing.




I know they might be a bit bold and in your face for everyone's taste but I love them. Knitted shoes, can't go wrong! And the colours are so happy and make me feel cheerful. Plus, it's got to be a good sign when you get to work and the first thing anyone says to you is "Amazing shoes!"

The rest of the outfit followed from there really. Both the dress and cardi have been blogged before (separately) I think. I'm not so sure it would have occured to me to put them together before now, but I like the way it looks.



Tunic dress - Dorothy Perkins
Cardi - Matalan
Tights - M&S
Shoes - Irregular Choice via my trusty supplier ;-)
Beads - car boot sale
Hair - somewhat larger and curlier than usual!

And the photo is my best attempt at a smile - it just doesn't come naturally to me when taking my own pic!

Oh and as I completely forgot to reply to it at the time, Lou - my cocktail ring is some type of quartz, I think possibly rutilated quartz? The photo doesn't really do it justice, it's so beautiful.

My Unfashionable Past

So Dad has been busily working away to scan in all the old family photos and slides and presented me with a cd full of photos last night. I've been browsing through them all day and just had to share a few of the pics. Oh dear me, the perils of growing up in the 80s and 90s. Luckily there don't seem to be too many of me wearing lycra neon leggings or cycling shorts (believe me, I owned far too many pairs!) The enormous pink Deidre Barlow specs though - who ever thought they were a good look?!


It's probably a tad shameful to admit this but if I still had this outfit in a grownup size, I'd so be wearing it. How amazing are the tights?!



What well dressed girl doesn't wear a full ski suit and knitted hat to go and feed the ducks in?




Taking the nautical trend a little too far in a full sailor suit..



This is possibly the most terrible thing I have ever worn. I mean really, look at the state of it!! Floral velour AND giant baggy trousers?



I am really quite a fan of leggings now. But the old way of wearing them - 3/4 length, in an "interesting" colour, teamed with a huge tshirt. Very glad I've progressed since then!



Half tucked in blouse - check. Hideous culottes - check. Socks and sandals - check. Completely oblivious of how awful it looks - check!



The floral skirt is tolerable I suppose. But teamed up with a satin shirt and sparkly jelly shoes? Oh dear. And quite why I thought ankle bracelets would look good with it is beyond me now.




And the horrible mid 90s fashion for weirdly patterned strappy dresses over white tshirts.



Then I got horribly self conscious at about the age of 14 and stopped having my photo taken so you're spared any of my fashion disasters from then onwards! It terrifies me how much time and energy kids spend on their appearance nowadays - I might have been an unfashionable kid but I had such a happy childhood - there were better things to do than worry about makeup and hair!

Brrrrrrrrrrrr....

How cold has it been today?! In retrospect, wearing just tights on my legs was a mistake. I've only just thawed out now. Anyhow, moving swiftly on, the person that invented wireless broadband deserves a medal. I'm currently tucked up in bed, catching up on blogs, listening to Paloma Faith (love her so much) and generally winding down after a long and very tiring week at work.

I'm having a bad photo day today. I still haven't properly worked out how to use my camera or the new tripod, and I still feel like a complete div taking photos of myself. I actually felt really nice in this outfit today but looking at the pics is filling me with a bit of gloom - is it really as shapeless as it looks?! May be time for the cardi to get charity shopped. Yes it's pretty and yes I am very fond of it but it's too big now. I need to get a bit tougher I think.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Outfit below:





Tunic - Dorothy Perkins
Cardi - Monsoon
Tights - M&S
Pumps - New Look



I actually much prefer the pic where I'm bundled up for the chilly cold outside world. That's probably due to the earmuffs though - I defy anyone to put these on and not feel happy with the world.





Duffel jacket - George
Earmuffs & mittens - Accessorize




And I found this bag which I thought was utterly lost, hurrah! Cute with the pumps, yes? It's from ASOS and a good few years old but bows seem to be back on trend now so I'm very chuffed to have rediscovered it.





And finally, today's jewellery. The necklace is, I think, a Silver Jubilee crown piece. Another find from Grandma's jewellery box. The ring is probably my favourite piece of jewellery. I've always steered clear of rings, convinced that I had sausage fingers and they didn't suit me. I was at a craft fair at Chatsworth a couple of years ago, saw this and fell completely in love with it. It definitely wasn't cheap and I did the whole try it on - walk away - come back and try it on again - walk away again - do complicated sums to see if it can be afforded - buy it anyway routine. So glad I decided to get it.

From the dregs of my wardrobe...

I am rapidly coming to the end of my clean clothes. Must try and do some washing and ironing very soon or I'll be going to work in my pj's! Ach, it's just so difficult to try and fit everything in at the moment. If I'm not actually at work then I'm doing work at home (have only just finished stapling together a mammoth pile of handouts for a training session I'm running tomorrow) and the dull houseworky stuff just seems to fall by the wayside.

So today I pulled this black jumper out of the very back of the wardrobe. It was a desperate purchase pre-diet when I needed something smartish and was basically limited to Evans in terms of shops available to me. I don't particularly like it - I feel as if the decoration round the neckline is a bit old ladyish - but I thought I'd give it another go. It won't be part of my wardrobe much longer as it's already too big.




Jumper - Evans
Jeans - Dorothy Perkins (do I shop anywhere else? Not often!)





Worn with my Minnie Mouse shoes (Irregular Choice via ebay). The perfect thing to jazz up an all black outfit!

Slouchy sweaters

are possibly one of my favourite things in all the world. I've always worn them with jeans but now that leggings and tights have entered my wardrobe, hurrah for the advent of the sweater dress!

I bought this one a few weeks ago, mainly because it was on sale (only £10, bargain) and I loved the colour. Didn't quite think through what I was going to wear it with, or whether it suited it me. Out came the debit card and home with me it came. I decided it was time to give it an airing today. Working with the limitations of my wardrobe, the outfit looks like so:



Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Black long line long sleeved tshirt - Dorothy Perkins
Leggings - M&S
Boots - Evans




What do you think? I'm not convinced that the boots entirely go with it but I needed a bit of height today and none of my heels were quite right.


Jewellery is from my inheritance - Grandma's jewellery box. None of it is worth anything but that's not the point, the memories are lovely and she had some fab quirky costume stuff. I love this ring, so sparkly and pretty.






Oh and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who comments on here - it means a lot to me :)

At last, a frock!

So half of the title of this blog is about frocks - have I worn one yet? Not until today! This can be partially explained by the severe limitations of my wardrobe at present, but I suppose the rest of it is due to the fact that although I am the sort of person who really wants to wear dresses, I've always been a bit too lacking in confidence to actually do it. I prefer to hide in trousers. But I've been wearing leggings recently and really, tisn't too much of a jump from there to wearing tights. If I've got tights on, I might as well just wear a dress, right?

We had an event at work this afternoon for people who've donated towards a project we're running so I felt as if today was the day for dressing up a bit. So I wore:



Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Cardi - Matalan
Tights - M&S
Pearls - Bobijou


And yes, the cardi doesn't fit very well and I think the cut of the dress could be a bit more flattering, but it's a start!




That photo was taken entirely too early in the morning for my liking, hence me hiding my unmadeup face! I felt a bit better than usual today though, so took a pic later on at work. I wasn't feeling mardy but for some reason I look it!