Confidence boosters

Today turned out to be a bit intimidating - a normal day at work turned into panic stations after someone rang in sick and I ended up having to run a training workshop for some of the volunteers. Not so scary you may think. Well most of them are 30-40 years older than me and of decidedly strong character so I was not really looking forward to it - I'm everso good at dealing with imaginary confrontations (does anyone else plan out arguments and responses in their head or is it just me?) but in real life I did not relish the prospect of being barracked by lots of shouty pensioners.


However I'm proud to say that it all went jolly well indeed. So well that I've now been drafted in to do the next three sessions! I put my success down to the confidence boosting powers of a pretty frock, madly colourful tights and some fab new shoes:

A right bargain - only £6 in the George sale

Dress - Dorothy Perkins

Tights, cardi & ring - Primark

Necklace - Accessorize

Shoes - George

There's something very cheering about looking down and seeing this:

I do think I'm in need of a boldly coloured cardi or two though. I'm not overly enamoured of the black cardi as part of this outfit but I don't have much choice so it was either black or gray! Also, the dress is not as shapeless as it may appear in the main photo although it is a tad too big now.

Oh, and I've received this shiny award from the all-round fabulous Vix. I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to awards and tags and suchlike but apparently I have to share a fantasy bag. So here goes!

I do like a good bag but I'm not overly fussed when it comes to designer bags. They all just seem as if they're trying a bit too hard. So really, there's only one choice when I'm asked to pick my fantasy bag:

It's magic, what more could you ask for?! Plus it's oversized and utterly beautiful. I need a big bag - I cart round far too much stuff to manage with a tiddly little thing. Usual contents of my bag (I'm not doing a photo, it's too messy!) include a couple of books, my diary, a notebook, makeup bag, keys, purse, phone, hairbrush, mp3 player, loads of receipts, a mini torch, tissues, a packable shopping bag, several pens, some random items of jewellery and an umbrella (sadly not a parrot headed one). I could fit all of that into the magical carpet bag, plus a hatstand, several changes of clothing and even a potted plant, should I so wish. Hey, you never know when it'll come in useful!

I'd like to pass the award onto Vicki, Queenie, Sharon and Celine. What's your fantasy bag?

Keeping it simple

Dress & pumps - New Look

Bangle - Shared Earth

I do like this dress very much. Simple, but with enough detail for it not to be boring, and quite flattering over the problem tummy area. It doesn't appear to be draping very well in the photo but that's probably due to the fact it's about minus 1 outside this afternoon and I was shivering when the photo was taken! Brrrrr, I must stop mistaking sunshine for warmth.

I do think I'm a bit too clumsy/accident prone to wear things like this though. I bet you not one other person who's bought this dress and worn it has managed to get the crochet detailing on the hem stuck on a chair and then proceeded to not notice and drag the chair along the room with her. I managed it quite easily. Dearie me, I'm not safe to be let out sometimes.

A little closeup of the detailing on the neckline (not the pesky hem!)

And curses to my hair for not being co-operative! I had fabulous plans for slightly 60's hair today to go with the dress but instead my hair was obviously of the opinion that it wanted to be a)greasy and b)stupidly flyaway. With no time to wash it, a bun was in order. Ah well, the beehive can wait till next time.

My true passion

is books. Always has been, probably always will be. And as it's World Book Day, I thought I'd share some of my collection with you. Sadly a lot of them are still in storage as we don't have enough space or bookcases in this house despite most of the shelves being double stacked but all my precious ones are with me.

Starting with the bedroom, and my most treasured books:

This bookcase houses all sorts of oddments and ornaments but the important thing is the books.

The top shelf is all Georgette Heyer, a truly wonderful writer. Not enough people read her books so I recommend you all go out and track some down!

The one underneath that is Harry Potter, including some foreign language editions that I keep meaning to attempt, and some other fantasy.

The one below that is mostly Diana Wynne Jones (a seriously underrated author) and some Tamora Pierce.

Then it's the completely jam-packed shelf of pony books. I haven't outgrown my horsey past just yet and these books are pure comfort reads.

The bottom is Eva Ibbotson - I can't recommend her highly enough - my Beatrix Potter boxes and an assortment of oversized books that don't fit in elsewhere.

The smaller bookcase is home to my Girls Own books. The top shelf contains all my beloved Chalet School books and other Elinor Brent-Dyer works. Seriously collectable stuff! As a collection they're worth a pretty penny so Mum has instructions what to do with them should I snuff it unexpectedly!

The other shelves are a jumble of Noel Streatfield, some Enid Blytons, lots of Roald Dahl, and some classics like the Little House books, the Little Women series and the Borrowers books.

I know a lot of people seem to grow out of children's books but I just love them. I'm just as happy to sit down and read one of my collection as I am to dip into a classic work of literature. There's no pretension in children's literature, just simple stories, well told. And in my opinion, life is too short to waste time reading grim, depressing books. I'm no book snob but sometimes I do wish that people wouldn't look at me all funny when I'm reading Mary Poppins on the train.

The spare bedroom is part library, part laundry room and the bookcases there are a bit more organised:

Top two shelves - hmm, maybe not so organised! They're a bit of a jumble of stuff that is hard to fit in elsewhere.

The rest of it is crime. Lots and lots of crime and mysteries and perhaps a few fantasy books in there. The Agatha Christie collection has it's own bookcase downstairs though.

Then we have the colourful bookcase, containing an awful lot of chick-lit (and a scarf - not so sure why that's there). Hey, I've already said I'm not a book snob! The top shelf has all my lovely secondhand Penguin PG Wodehouse books though. Ah how I love them.

And I've nicked two shelves from the other bookcase to cram in all the Nora Roberts books I own (probably too many!). The top shelf holds my historical books/biographies/diaries/works of interest. It needs a bit of love and attention, poor books all squished in like that.

So that's some of the book collection. I'd natter on about some of my favourite books but perhaps that's for another post as I seem to have waffled on long enough for this entry. Hope you're not all bored!

*Drumroll*

The winner of my little giveaway, selected with the help of random.org, is....

the lovely Sharon from Paper Butterflies

Well done Sharon and thanks to everyone else for entering!

Today I have mostly been feeling....selfconscious

due to not realising this morning quite how short the new dress is! Did I mention I'm not good in the mornings? It's about all I can do to actually get the clothes on, never mind looking at myself with a critical eye in the mirror to check if it looks ok. I think perhaps next time this gets worn it needs to be with leggings rather than tights so that I'm not constantly fretting about flashing people accidentally!




Dress, cardi & red tights - Primark
Fishnets - Evans
Shoes - Faith



Don't get me wrong, I like how the tights look (although perhaps a blue or purple pair might work better to pick up the floral hints in the pattern of the dress) but I appear to be flashing an awful lot more leg than I expected. Someone size 10 could probably get away with it but not me!



Any thoughts on the shoes would be welcome too. Does anyone else have that pair (or several pairs!) of shoes in their wardrobe that was bought on sale on a whim? These are mine and I think I've worn them, hmmm, twice in about 5 years? I have no idea what to wear them with and the heel is an awkward height. Perhaps it's time to send them to the charity shop.




Oh and the perils of working with a self timer on the camera when there's a marauding moggy around! He'd just had lunch, hence the licking of his lips.

More bags of clothes!

Whoops!

I had to go back to Primark today to exchange the red spotty top and the ditsy print tea dress for smaller sizes and couldn't quite stop myself from buying yet more stuff. In my defence, it cost a lot less than yesterday's haul and it's more basic stuff so will be more versatile.

Into the basket went a pair of straight leg indigo jeans, a cheapo pair of black leggings and the following:





I'm really liking the waist belts so got one in black and one in navy. Whether the sequinned headbands will actually get worn is open to debate at this time, but at £1 for the pair it seemed daft not to get them.

I got a basic long sleeved top in the Dotty P sale and some pretty pale blue tights:



Oh and these. I'm completely in love with them.



I should probably do an outfit photo as I don't seem to have taken one for ages. Today's outfit isn't the most interesting in the world but I was running oh so late this morning and had no time to pull together anything nicer. Also please excuse the vile hair but I'm about to go swimming so there didn't seem much point washing it this morning!



Floral top - Dotty P
Cardi & skinnies (which are turned up about 4 inches despite being short length anyway!) - Primark
Pumps - New Look


Oh and for those that haven't entered yet, the giveaway ends tomorrow.

Bags and bags of new clothes

Hasn't it been a beautiful, sunny, cheerful sort of day? I dropped the car off at the valeting place this morning and walked into the city centre with the sun on my back and BBC podcasts on my mp3 player to keep me smiling. Perfect shopping weather.

so, do you think I a)stuck rigidly to the shopping list and bought only what I needed or b)dashed round like a giddy child trying on all the pretty dresses and wanting anything and everything floral?

You've guessed it, pretty frocks were the order of the day! First up, from Peacocks, this rather jazzy print number. It has pockets - I love a frock with pockets. I also got some jogging bottoms and a headband with a big fake flower on but they're not so interesting so no pics of them.




Then into the giant New Look. I was really quite impressed, I must say. There's still a lot of stuff in there that is made from horribly tatty fabric and I did have to put back a few things that I would definitely have bought had they been better made, but I'm super chuffed with what I did buy. Neither of these look particularly good on the hanger but they look and feel so much nicer on.






Also picked up some blue leggings (not pictured) and a pair of belts and some cute sparkly earrings:



Then who should ring me but my Dad? In town and wanted to take me out for lunch. Yes indeedy said I and trotted off for an absolutely delicious meal. And he gave me £50 to spend on my shopping, what an utter gem he is. Mum had already given me £50 so I was feeling rather flush. Into Primark and with money burning a hole in my purse and general Primark craziness raging through my veins, I proceeded to fling things merrily into my basket. Note to self - individual things in there are cheap but that doesn't mean you can fill up one of their giant baskets and expect it not to cost a lot!

I bought some skinny jeans, are you all impressed with me? Tis quite a big step! Didn't find their basic tshirts very inspiring in terms of colour choice or style (I want v neck, they were all round neck) but got a couple anyway.

Other purchases were:












The blue tights are actually a lovely shade of purple but for some reason it's not showing up on the photo.




A cricket jumper(ish)! Yay for the men's department.

Also is it just the Liverpool store or does everywhere else have rails and rails of cardigans in sizes 8 and 10 only? Very irritating.


I had to dash off to pick up the car by that point so didn't have any time to go and try on jeans properly in Dotty P (my preferred shop when it comes to jeans). There's one in the retail park by work though so I may go one evening this week. I did manage to squeeze in a little jewellery shopping and bought these two lovely bangles from Shared Earth:



And then finally into Accessorize (via Lush as I can't walk past the place without buying something) to buy these two whimsical but lovely necklaces:






So all in all, I think I did quite well! Looking forward to wearing all my lovely new stuff.