Things I Own That Everyone Likes

It's a funny old life being a fashion blogger.  Especially when you work in quite a conservative place where the usual attire consists of jeans, walking boots and fleeces.

If I ever had any sense of shame about trotting into the office in Irregular Choice heels, #wardrobezoo prints or frivolous frocks, it's long since disappeared.  I'm at work 5 days out of 7 and I cannot see the point in dressing like a bore for most of the week.  Don't get me wrong - I'm quite often to be found in jeans and the walking boots and fleece do get donned when necessary, but I can't see the point in leaving all the fun stuff in my wardrobe for the weekends.

My clothing choices do draw comments from my colleagues and they're not always especially nice but I forgive them because they are clearly misguided fools.  Anyone who can call my beloved Irregular Choice Rosepea heels "hooker shoes" is an IDIOT (or the sort of person who frequents classy hookers - who knows?)

Look, not a hint of perspex platform!

Most of them have got much better taste. As you have you lovely lot! I realised the other day when wearing my cat, wine and hand print cardigan that even though it's a bit odd, everyone seems to like it.  And although I wouldn't say I dress to please the masses, I do have a few things like that. Here are some of the things that have drawn nicer comments recently.

The aforementioned cardi.

The amazing cake print blouse.

My red Mary Janes.

CAPE.

The Mary Poppins locket.

My Kookai coat. Probably my best ever purchase. Definitely my best ever car boot sale purchase.


ps - oh ffs. I did NOT mean to press publish instead of save on a half written post last night. Bless you all for not pointing out that it made no sense.

Feeling Blue

Panic not. The title of this post isn't literal. I'm not gloomy or anything. I'm actually fairly hyper due to my usual high intake of coffee and the prospect of a day volunteering at the British Eventing competition at Kelsall Hill tomorrow. Yay, horses!

I just somehow ended up wearing many, many shades of blue. Cardi, coat, shoes, tights, jewellery..even my specs are blue! If you squint hard enough then the bag and skirt could be classed as grey-ish blue and greeny-blue. Right? Oh ok then, not really.  But considering I didn't even think I owned this many blue things, that's quite good! It's not generally a colour that appeals to me but I may be changing my mind on that point.

Did I mention yay, horses!  Cos look, they're on my top.  Yay, horses!  I bought this in Bath (tres appropriate given the Regency/carriage driving heritage) on a complete whim.  You know when you walk past a shop and your pattern radar locks in on something awesome?  It was one of those moments. I had to buy it. It's brilliant.

Top - Oasis
Cardi & skirt - H&M sales
Coat - Tu
Flat shoes - StylistClick
Bag - Accessorize, birthday present
Ring - Next Clearance
Necklace - Sunday Girl

The Secret Weekend

I am a lucky so-and-so.  Not only do I have amazing friends but they buy me super amazing presents. I was thoroughly spoiled on my birthday last week but the fun didn't stop there! Char booked me in several months ago for a post-birthday mystery secret trip and Friday morning saw us zooming down the motorway on our way to destination unknown.  I was very, very good and hadn't asked many questions at all (other than the obvious how long are we going for/what sort of clothes do I need to pack/are we running a marathon or doing anything that requires unusual supplies - I'm a stressy packer!) so it was a delicious surprise to find out that we were going to Bath!

And not just going to Bath, but going to Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights for the Reading Spa! I have been lusting after this for a long, long time but Bath is very far away from Liverpool and it's just a bit too indulgent to take myself there.  If someone else wishes to take me there though, that's a totally different matter!

Oh my gosh, I had the best time ever.  It's the most fabulous place:

I was plied with coffee and flapjack whilst I had a good chinwag with Libby about my taste in books, then she came back a short while later with this amazing selection. Books, books, books!  It was an excellent sign that I'd already read several of her picks. I had the hardest time choosing between the rest of them though.  It was such a treat to have books recommended to me by someone who was so passionate and interesting when she was talking about them. I almost felt a bit bad leaving some of them behind.

It took me an absolute age to whittle the selection down to this pile.  I've already devoured The House by the Thames and if it sets the tone for the rest of them, I'm in for a very good time! It was utterly fascinating.  I think I might do a review post when I've read them all...

The Attenbury Emeralds wasn't part of the selection but the spa included a fully stamped loyalty card which gave £5 off your next purchase, so I promptly went back the next day and bought that as well!

We squeezed in a trip on the Friday evening to the Little Theatre Cinema (about a million times better than the soulless Odeon) to see The Place Beyond the Pines.  It wasn't at all what I expected in terms of structure and tone but I definitely liked it.  Even if I am that weird creature who doesn't get the appeal of either Ryan Gosling or Bradley Cooper.

Saturday was a day of walking round in the rain exploring the city and doing cultural things. We went to the Assembly Rooms, where Char got mistaken for a wedding guest as she was so beautifully frocked up.

And then to the adjoining Fashion Museum (well worth a visit) where I discovered that:

It's quite hard to take pictures of gorgeous frocks when they're behind stupid reflective display cases.

I really want to wear a sack back dress. Alas I was born 200 years too late and several social classes too low.

My favourite dress from their evening dress collection was a pink one. I know. I'm as surprised as you are.

And that I definitely want to bring bonnets back into fashion. They're the only hats that I actually suit!

I didn't quite do the true blogger thing of recording everything I ate because sometimes I feel like a weirdo pulling out an SLR to take a photo of my dinner.  A camera phone snap is obviously more subtle but my phone is old and the camera is lame, so it makes life difficult.  I braved the shame to take these though:

A scrumptious brunch of cinnamon soya hot chocolate and a sausage sandwich at Cafe Retro

And a bun at Sally Lunns.  Because you can't go to Bath without eating a Sally Lunn bun.  It's the law. Plus they have sugar lumps. Yayyyyy! I really like sugar lumps.

Despite the rain, I had a glorious time. It's been ages since I was last in Bath and it's such a perfect place for a weekend jaunt.  Plus I still have the warm fuzzy feelings after the Reading Spa.  All the books!  It was a truly excellent birthday present and Char is a super duper pal.

I shall leave you with this:

Fnar.

An Etsy Discovery

Oh Etsy.  I love it, I really do.  It's a veritable treasure trove of amazing stuff.  Yet it's so very big (and, let's be honest, not the easiest website in the world to navigate) that I tend to go "oof" at the thought of idly browsing through it for pleasure.  I haven't got the patience.  I have to brace myself and do it all in one huge go when I've got my Christmas presents list in front of me instead.

I cope much better with Etsy when someone goes "OI ALEX, LOVELY STUFF ALERT!"  That way I can add it to my favourites, check back every now and then for shiny new things and not have to go through the whole palaver of browsing through 987623 pages of stuff that I don't want to find the one perfect thing that I do want. 

Louise from Naive Melodies got in touch with me a couple of weeks ago to let me know about her Etsy shop which sells v. pretty jewellery.

She very kindly sent me the rectangle charm necklace. Isn't it lovely? I know the trendy fashion blogger thing at the moment is for massive, chunky, neon necklaces but I do not like them. At all. Massive jewellery, whether that be necklaces, earrings or rings, is for other people. It's not for me. It weighs me down and irritates me.  Big or long necklaces are the worst.  I have a terrible habit of getting them caught on things (especially door handles, which hate me) and either breaking them or nearly garroting myself. I like my necklaces pretty and, even if they're not exactly what you'd call little and dainty, on the simple side.  This is perfect.

I did want to do a proper outfit post but, well, I've got the plague and my face isn't fit to make an appearance on the blog right now.  The hedgehog jumper is from ASOS btw.

Louise has very kindly provided me (and you!) with a discount code for 33% off all purchases at Naive Melodies - just enter SOCKS33 in the appropriate box when you're paying. I'm sure you'll find something you like on there! I think I'll treat myself to the arrowhead necklace.  I need a bit more gold coloured jewellery in my life.

A Blogging Good Read - April

Hello everyone and welcome to the April edition of  A Blogging Good Read.  Joining me this month are Maddie from Apostrophe M and Jenni from Bows, Bangles and Bakes.


Our first book this month is my choice, Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer:

I LOVE THIS BOOK.  I can't even tell you how much. Lots of people scorn Georgette Heyer and lump her in with Barbara Cartland and all the modern Regency rubbish romances. I think these people are idiots. She basically created the genre of Regency romance, although her books are so much more than that. A lot of them are comedies of manners, some are mysteries, some are straightforward historicals; all of them are immaculately, captivatingly written. Devil's Cub is my absolute favourite of all her books and probably my favourite book ever, by any author.  I love it so much that I want to shout to the world about how amazing it is but I have to fight that constant battle of people being judgey about romance novels.  Please don't be put off if you don't like girly books or romances - give one a go and judge it on the quality of the writing and storytelling. She puts most authors to shame.

This is a Georgian romance rather than Regency and is a sequel of sorts to These Old Shades which is also rather glorious. Dominic, the Marquis of Vidal, is a very wild young man; a reckless gambler, drinker and dueller (totally swoon-worthy though!). Mary Challoner's younger sister Sophia, a rather ditzy piece, is about to flee to France with him when he's forced into exile but Mary intercepts a note and takes Sophia's place (masked, of course) in order to save her reputation. Well as you might imagine, things don't go exactly to plan. It's a tremendous romp through France with elopements, shootings, duels, fibs and confusions aplenty and a wonderful hero and heroine.

Here's hoping that they both liked it! Firstly, what did Maddie think?

I've wanted to read a Georgette Heyer book for ages now, having read many a blog post of Alex's where she heaped high praise on the author. This is a good enough recommendation for me, and yet I'd started reading These Old Shades a  year or so ago and somehow never finished it. I'll be fishing it back out from the back of my bookcase now though, as I really enjoyed Devils Cub, and it's actually a follow on story of sorts from These old Shades.

The characters we meet are well defined and familiar- you've got the sensible and witty Mary who is overlooked by men in favour of her silly younger sister and the cad of all cads, Dominic, who is the original Bad Boy. You can of course see how the story is going to develop, but that really doesn't matter. It's Heyer's writing which is the real star of the show- real smiling to yourself, snorting as you read it in public stuff. What I particularly loved about the story was the idea that it was a man who needed saving, not a woman as is usual in historical romantic novels. Here however, Dominic is not only a bad boy but well and truly out of control and on a downward spiral before meeting our heroine, Mary, who is frankly having none of it. I loved her. Feminism alive and well in the Regency period! It's a really well written, witty, comical book, and really who can argue with an author who brings exclamations such as Egad! to your vocabulary?

Did Jenni like it?

I tweeted about this book as in all honesty, to begin with, it made me feel slightly stupid! There's a lot of French phrases in this book (I've never done French) and it refers to items of clothing and terms of phrase I've never heard of. After spending the first few chapters reading the book with my phone by my side checking out every single thing I didn't understand, in the end I just gave up and skipped over those bits. I'm so glad I did as I actually started to enjoy it then! It takes a couple of chapters to get going and the ending is slightly predictable but who cares! When the inevitable finally happened, I positively swooned with joy! I'd certainly consider reading regency romances again after reading this, whereas before they were something I would have never considered.


Jenni's choice was Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan:

At first I wasn't sure whether to put this as my choice as I was worried it wasn't perhaps quite 'highbrow' enough. After chatting it over with Alex I decided to go with it. As a Potter-nerd, Percy Jackson appeals to my sense of 'fantasy in the real world' in that there are secret lives out there hidden away from us boring normal people. As a schoolchild I always really enjoyed Greek mythology and this book has it in bundles! Percy Jackson is such an easy read and for me that's what I enjoyed about this book, that it is pure fantasy escapism, and when I found I had read the kindle sample within half an hour I knew I was going to enjoy it. It's pitched at a fairly young level and is written in the first person. It's not going to challenge you or ask you to think too much but that's exactly why I like it and therefore chose it.

I really, really enjoyed this book! I was so pleased when Jenni decided to choose it as I hadn't read it before but had always fancied it.  (Also PFFFT to picking "highbrow" books for this series - it's all about picking and sharing books you love!) I love a book that you can pick up, dive into and find yourself in a totally different world.  Percy Jackson seems to be living a vaguely normal life at the start of the book, albeit one where he's constantly being kicked out of school, but it isn't long before unusual things start to happen and his world starts to reveal itself as a lot more magical than he ever suspected. 

The whole thing is a delicious whirl of adventure, intrigue and mythology, all wrapped up in a world that you think you recognise but which keeps changing and surprising you. It was thoroughly good fun from start to finish. I read it in two hours flat on a train journey back from London and I've promptly borrowed books 2 and 3 in the series to take away on holiday next week - I think that shows how much I liked it!

Over to Maddie:

I'd read this before, a couple of years ago and so was quite looking forward to giving it another read.
The first thing that struck me about this book is the way it taps into the teen conscious we can all well remember- that of being a bit different to everyone else, not quite fitting in and thinking there may be something just a bit strange about you. In the case of Percy Jackson, he's right to think he's different, as he is a half blood son of a Greek God, and the furies of Hades are AFTER HIM.

I loved the way the author weaves the Greek legends so easily into modern America, and the matching up of Olympian places to their US counterparts is genius-for example Mount Olympus being high up "in the gods" at the top of the Empire State Building and the Underworld being in downtown LA. There are definitely certain similarities to Harry Potter, in that there is another, magical world running parallel with our own yet humans don't have the capacity to realise it, Percy has two friends accompanying him- one a slightly goofy boy and one a rather bossy girl, but I'd say this is just enough to keep ardent HP fans engaged, as this is a great book in its own right. It's very fast paced and easy to read, and certainly for kids would be a great way to get them interested in the Greek Legends, by making it relevant to them. I really enjoyed it myself, and would definitely carry on reading the series!


Maddie's choice was Nella Last's War:

This was my choice for the review, as Alex asked us to pick one of our favourite books and surprisingly, this is the one that immediately sprang to mind.  I'm going to start by admitting that I originally heard of the book by watching the TV show "Housewife, 49" a few years ago. It was a fantastic programme, but the book, as ever, is even better. During the Second World War a project called Mass Observation was started, and ordinary folk were invited to write diaries of their everyday lives, including all the details they might find boring themselves, and send them in. Nella Last was an ordinary northern housewife, who had long harboured an ambition to write and so she started a diary.

What follows is an account of the war from the ground, if you like.We more often hear about the battles, the fighting and the shocking human conditions of prisoners of war when we read about the Second World War, so I relished hearing about the everyday nitty gritty of what Nella cooked, what her worries were, what she did day to day. If Nella were alive today, she would definitely be a blogger, and one we'd all love to follow, I'm sure. Her tone of voice is so strong throughout the book and she is incredibly witty, warm and engaging. It's like having the chance to ask your Grandma, or Great Grandma all about their younger days, which I whole heartedly wish I'd had a chance to do. I know it's a non fiction book, but it genuinely is one I will pick up again and again. A true favourite.

Did Jenni enjoy it?

I really really wanted to love this as I love anything about the Home Front, but I'm not going to lie - I still haven't finished it yet. I found it like wading through treacle to start with as I never seemed to get anywhere! I'd think I had read lots due to how much the story moves on but then find I'd barely begun to scratch the surface of the book. I think this is because it spans 5 years of WW2. Once the book reached elements of the war I know about such as the Blitz, it became much easier to read and understand the emotions Nella was going through. It's not a book that makes you want to find out the ending (as we know what that is, in some respects) and I wouldn't say it's a page turner, but it's more the type of book you can pick up and read at a leisurely pace. I will finish as I am enjoying it, and I hate to leave a story unfinished but it's just doesn't "grab" me in the way I expected.

I zoomed through this one on the train as well! Are you sensing a theme here? I thought it was absolutely fascinating.  I've read a lot of books about WW2 and they've covered all sorts of aspects of it but I've never read anything about life up North on the Home Front.  As a diary writer myself, the thing that really struck me was how eloquent Nella was, especially when you consider the conditions she was writing this under!  The note at the back of the book by the editors was really interesting on the topic of how they tidied up some of her spelling and grammatical idiosyncrasies but it's her voice that really shines through this.  The subject matter could be mundane in the hands of someone less talented with words - there's a lot of description of cooking good food on very little money and rations, making things for the war effort and the power struggles involved in running a canteen - but the way she talks it about is interesting and incredibly readable.  I totally agree with Maddie; I can definitely see Nella writing a cracking lifestyle blog if she was alive nowadays!


Thanks to Maddie and Jenni for joining in this month and for picking such good books! I'll be back at the start of May when we'll be reading Good at Games by Jill Mansell, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sarra Manning.

Ugly Shoes: The Irregular Choice Edition

It seemed like you all enjoyed my round up of hideous frocks and, going back a while, really ugly shoes.  Since then, many more pairs of awful shoes have thrust themselves to my attention. Now I've stopped wailing "My eyes!", I've decided to share them with you all.  I'm nice like that.

This, my friends, is the Irregular Choice edition.

Now, I should mention that I love Irregular Choice.  You only have to look back through the blog to realise that. I'm wearing a pair of their boots right now, in fact!  They have some of the most interesting, cute and beautiful designs around.  But all that loveliness comes with an ugly flipside.  A lot of their designs are frankly hideous. It's as if they find a nice style, feed it lots of sugar and then let it roll round in the embellishments department.

Case in point. 

And if they're not overly embellished, they're often just a bit odd. I'm really not a fan of this heel shape anyway, but the cage bit is WEIRD. Where do your feet go?

I can actually see some people rocking these, but it's all just a bit too much for me.

No, no, no. Ugly heel, ugly peep toe, ugly fabric, ugly bow.


The Dan Sullivan collection is always good for a laugh too. Insanely expensive and usually insanely horrible.

It's not the heel shape I hate - I have a pair with a similar heel and they're surprisingly normal and nice to wear.  It's the fact they're a) pink and b) look like a fecking lampshade.

 Dolls FREAK ME OUT.  Especially when they're trapped in plastic ON YOUR ANKLES. It's like an episode of Dr Who.

Oh god. Where do you even start listing what's wrong with these?


A quick whirl through eBay will also find you some terrible, terrible examples. Char and I quite often email other going "Whaaaat?? EWWWWW! Why would you do that to a poor, innocent shoe?"

Yeti boots anyone?


Hands up if you like these.  Really? You big weirdo*


The shoe equivalent of a chavvy Burberry hat.


Argh, argh, ARGH. I hate trotter toes!!


A perfectly nice blue heel ruined by half a ton of fabric. I just don't get it.  They can make such beautiful shoes when they try!

Alas I've been unable to find photographic proof of the most awful pair I've ever seen, which were creepers with a massive, vomit coloured rubber sole and a big slab of fake fur on the top.  It's probably best that they aren't shared with the world though. We might all go blind with the horror of it.


* If you do like any of these, more power to you.  I know I've benefitted on eBay from liking some of the whackier styles that no-one else does. Just don't wear the Blythe/doll ones anywhere near me, m'kay?

Bed and Blinkbox

I have a funny attitude to technology. I either scorn it or entirely fail understand the appeal of it and it takes me a long, long time to eventually join in with the masses and become hooked on whatever it is. Mobile phones back in the day, iPhones more recently, then Kindles, Twitter and now iPads. I'm suprised I ever managed to get my head around blogging.  I'm still about the only person I know who's never been on Facebook.

Anyway, I was jamtastic enough to get an iPad for Christmas and I love it. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone that has one but it's just so useful! I wasn't quite expecting it to be so good. It's like my phone but bigger and therefore a million times better for entertainmenty type things.


I love it so much I bought it this pretty polka dot case.

I've turned into quite the gamer since I got it. Newsflash: games are better on an iPad than an iPhone. I'm now mildly obsessed with Hay Day and Mirrors of Albion.

But it's also super useful as a portable mini tv and I've finally discovered the joys of being able to watch tv online. I've got the BBC iplayer app, the ITV one and the 4OD one. I even have Sky Go on there courtesy of my excellent brother and his generosity when it comes to his Sky package. It's much easier to curl up in bed with my iPad than it is to do battle with the shit tv in my room. Honestly, it drives me mad. It never bloody works. I'm going to end up throwing it out of the window one day, rock star style.  It's much, much easier to tap on an app and have the programme of my choice up on the screen within seconds.



Blinkbox very kindly gave me some free codes to try out and review their service and I rubbed my hands together with glee. It runs via tvs and computers as well but I think we have established that I like using my iPad, haven't we? Once I'd decided whether I'd rather try out tv or film (tv won, just) I set about the tricky task of deciding which episodes and shows I wanted.

The winners were:

• Private Plane from Blackadder Goes Forth because Lord Flashheart drawling "well this isn't a reasonable use of my time and resources but I'm gonna do it anyway" is one of my favourite lines of all time.
• Noël from series 2 of The West Wing because I adore Josh, the cello music is stunning and it all makes me cry.
• Winter Is Coming, the first episode of series 1 of Game of Thrones. Mostly because I really love the books and have been avoiding watching it in case it ruins them for me, but I can't hold out any longer.

They're happily living on my iPad and I can watch them whenever I want, even with no wifi. Hurrah! I also succumbed to the lure of their cracking Movie Monday offer and bought Jackpot for 99p. I missed seeing it at the cinema and although that 99p hasn't bought me the film, it's got me a 30 day rental and that's a bargain as far as I'm concerned.

There was nothing else to do but make myself a cup of tea and a fishfinger sandwich, then curl up under the duvet for a warm, snuggly evening of bliss and excellent tv.