Saturday 31 July 2010

When in doubt, eat cake!

So in approximately 13 and a half hours i'll be on my way down south! I've been saying goodbye to my nearest and dearest, it's been awful, probably the hardest thing i've ever done but thing's are only going to go up from hereon in.

So no outfit photos today, i've been more concerned with packing all my clothes the past few days rather than wearing them!

I have however been baking up a storm! Blueberry muffins last week and two lemon drizzle cake's this week. Two?! I hear you ask, yes two because the first didn't even last a day. Not to blow my own trumpet or anything but this is the most amazing cake i've ever tasted. Marks and Spencer's has nothing on me!

I found the recipe on a baking blog but tweaked it just a touch. I added cinnamon to the flour, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon on vanilla essence to the mix and the juice of one and a half lemons to the drizzle rather than one. I also found that 100g of sugar was too much for the drizzle so I lowered it to 75g.


Friday 23 July 2010

Do you stand and deliver?

I don't think i've laughed so much in a long time as I did last night. I had a girly sleepover at my best friend's house and we decided it would be really funny to do our make-up as Adam Ant. So I chose Adam from the Prince Charming video and she chose Adam from the Stand and Deliver video.

Adam Ant songs are actually one of the first things we found out that we had in common. We're pretty much chalk and cheese so it's nice that we have a few things in common. Like Adam ant the Ants and Audrey Hepburn films.

It was so nice to just have fun and be silly for one last night before I go.


Today has been her little boy's first birthday so all morning we were sorting the house out, blowing up balloons and making sandwiches. Thank goodness i'd made his birthday cake last night and not this morning!

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Good food and even better company.

I went for the most amazing meal last night. How I do love Akbar's, even when it's jam packed! Me and the girls went for a meal before I leave in 11 days!! It was such a lovely evening, even the torrential downpour which soaked my H! jacket and made it impossible to wear, or the fact that my train was cancelled and I had to get the bus home didn't ruin it.



I wore an old black, paisley cut-out dress from Primark, purple tights, biker boots from New Look and a vintage look cameo/lace brooch from Topshop.

It was chicken korma's and nan bread all round, stories and giggles, good food and even better company!

Monday 19 July 2010

Best buds and vintage

I've been to see my absolute bestest friend ever today, love her so so so much and gonna be gutted when I leave her in two weeks. Also today I went to pick up my vintage drape coat from being altered, it was a size 22 and I am not a size 22 but where do you find a tartan vintage drape coat for £10, so I had it altered and it's fab! Stay tuned to see that one!


Talking of vintage, I'm wearing a vintage top today that I got from Babysaysboutique. Love love love this website, it sells some absolutely beautiful pieces. This top has a pleated section at the front and a tie at the side. You can also see my Onochord tattoo here.




Did you notice I have straight hair today?! Probably not because it's tied up but it dried funny so I had no choice other than to blowdry it and shot it up. It feels odd though, so used to it being curly now.
As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a thing for cameo's. (I even have a Bob Dylan cameo tattoo) Here is the latest addition to my cameo jewellery, a brooch from Topshop with vintage look lace bow. It's yum!

Baby's got a brand new bag

Oh how I love charity shops. There's a certain one in Redcar, the Kidney Research UK shop that always has something great every time I go in.

Yesterday I went in just for a look as I always do and found this beautiful navy blue overnight case. It was only £1.99. Yes that's right £1.99. I had to check the price tag about three times to make sure it wasn't £4.99 or £7.99, no it was a measly £1.99! As you can see It was a massive bargain and I just had to have it before someone else snatched it up.

This is also the perfect opportunity to show you another beautiful case I have. I've never actually used it yet, it's one of those things that i'm waiting to use but have never has a good enough excuse really. My sister bought me it for my birthday about two years ago, so far it's just been storing some of my many scarf's. It's beautiful, I love the 1920's style design.

Sunday 18 July 2010

Aint nothin' but a houndstooth dress.

Today i'm actually going to talk about yesterday as I never got chance then. I'd planned to go underwear shopping with my mum before I leave in two weeks. The morning was sunny and warm and I made the stupid mistake of thinking it would actually stay this way. Come mid-day it was raining and freezing. I was not happy!

As i'm limited with my wardrobe at the minute, be prepared to see a couple of pieces repeated the next couple of weeks. I do try not to wear the same outfit in the same way though.
My outfit here is kind of a 1950's style with a modern twist.



I'm wearing a houndstooth dress and a red cardigan from Primark, the neck scarf is actually the belt from the dress and i'm wearing an old thin black belt that i've taken off a waistcoat. My black and cream brogues are from New Look and my silver socks are from Topshop. I'm wearing a pin which you can't see but there's a close up below. It's a mini red Marlboro packet from Voodoo Pickle.

For something a bit different I wore blue mascara which I only put on the ends of my upper lashes which are really blonde, it looked good and I tried to show you in a photograph but you can't really tell. You can see better my favourite lipstick though which is Pro-to-go from Avon. The shade is Provocative Plum.

Thursday 15 July 2010

Stop, woah yeah, wait a minute Mr. Postman

I love being woken up with a parcel, especially one i'm really looking forward to. So was super happy this morning when my Urban Outfitters parcel arrived. I'd ordered a t-shirt, some sunglasses and a purse in the sale. I can never resist a bargain!
I wore my t-shirt with black leggings and some cream and black heeled brogues from New Look. It's by Altru for Urban Outfitters and i'm sure all my ladies from my photography course will be jealous of the vintage camera design.

My lilac sunnies came in handy today too as my nephew's scratched my old favourite's and inbetween the rain today it was very sunny!
And now for my favourite thing that the postman delivered today. A brand new Wren purse I think you'll agree it is beautiful!

Now this was all very exciting, but my postman brought me another exciting thing today. As I received my ND Photography certificates the other day I am now finally able to apply for my accommodation at uni, and got the forms through today. Woo! Things are moving very quickly!

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Not such a grey day.

I've had a lovely day today meeting up with a very lovely friend of mine. I love having a good catch up and a cup of coffee, today we went to Esquires Coffee House. I had a raspberry mocha frappe and Amy had a toffee coffee frappe. It was far too warm a day for hot coffee!

I'm having a bit of a dilemma at the minute choosing what to wear on a morning as i've packed up most of my wardrobe to be picked up in a couple of weeks for the big move. I've only got enough clothes to fill a small suitcase which is coming down with me and I hate wearing the same clothes over and over. I chose today an old A-line dress from Primark with grey tights and high wedges in the same colour blue as the dress.


I love this dress, it always reminds me of this one that Twiggy modelled in the 1960's.


I'm also getting pretty bored of my hair at the minute. I've been growing it for the past 9 months or so and it's great now that it's all my natural colour and I can wear it curly, I hate having to dry and straighten my hair so it's so easy to just wash, scrunch and go. But there is only so much I can do with Kirby gripping my fringe out of my face, so for a change I tied my Orla Kiely scarf in it.

Now, i'm not usually one for painting my nails, I can never seem to find a colour that matches my skin tone. I'm the same with eyeshadow, I never wear it. But i've taken a fancy recently to light grey nail varnish so I decided to try some today. It's Beautyuk, glam nails nail polish in Soft Grey from Superdrug. I love it, it's a really nice shade and I will definitely be wearing it through the summer.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Time for change.

I said i'd get back to you when my second birthday present arrived and hoorah it has! And now a very beautiful gold, mini casio watch is adorning my wrist. I'd been gazing at it for months on the Urban Outfitters website so when my mum said she'd but me a watch for my birthday because my old one was so old the strap was starting to split and looking awfully scruffy, I was over the moon when she agreed to this one. And as you can see the website photograph doesn't do it justice at all. It truely is beautiful!




There were a few things I spotted in the Urban Outfitters sale too that were just too good to resist and while looking at them a purse, a t-shirt and some sunglasses accidently fell into the shopping basket and got paid for. Completely by accident of course. I won't spoil the suprise now but i'll upload a couple of photos when they arrive.

Anyhoo, must dash i've got a Rhubarb Crumble in the oven and tuna pasta bake to stick in!

Sunday 11 July 2010

Every girl needs a pink wig.

Yesterday was my niece's third birthday. I got woken up at 6.20 to watch and photograph her open all her presents, then we went to the cinema to watch Shreck 3. It was actually my favourite of the three Shrek films, the storyline was much better I thought and the new characters were hilarious. I loved Rumpelstiltskin although he did remind me a bit of the Queen of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. And the Pied Piper was genius!

Here's me and the beautiful birthday girl all ready to go to the cinema. It was a boiling hot day as you can see so I was quite glad to have a break from the sun for a couple of hours while we were watching the film. I like when the sun comes out but i'm so pale that my skin needs factor 50 sun cream or I burn.


After the cinema we had a little tea party at my mum's house and the birthday girl had changed into her Stephanie from Lazy Town outfit for the occasion so we all had a go of the bright pink wig. What do you think, next new hairdo?!

Thursday 8 July 2010

Start wearing purple for me now!

I got an early birthday present this week, my long awaited H! by Henry Holland varsity jacket. I absolutely love this jacket and it is now number 29 in my collection of coats and jackets, they even have their own wardrobe... and some. Where the hell am I going to store them all in a student room come September?!

The colour of the H! collection is purple, this jacket features delicious deep purple and yellow ribbing, which contrasts beautifully with the denim and jersey. And as I can't resist a great colour co-ordination I dug out my exact purple tights to wear with this outfit.


It's also the detail on this jacket which makes it really special. The brand crest and even the lining is beautiful.


My dress was thrifted a couple of years ago and I also highly suspect hand made too. I teamed it with black biker boots from New Look and grey socks.

Here I was on my way to my final british sign language assessment for my level one certificate. I get the results in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed! Also my other birthday present is on it's way and as soon as it arrives i'll be sure to show it off!

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Out with the old in with the... Errr... Old.

As I previously said i've been trying to sort out all my possessions in preparation for moving. I discovered The Rag and Phone Man who come to collect and recycle your old clothes, sheets, soft toys in exchange for 50p per kg, they also take old mobile phones working or not.

So i've sorted out about 7 big black bin bags full for them to collect. But as I was going through my old clothes being very ruthless and feeling proud of myself for giving away my miss sixty jeans that I loved but because they have an irreparable rip and have been hanging in my wardrobe for the past two years I decided now was the time to say goodbye, it was easier than I thought. I came across my Abercrombie and Fitch Emma boot jeans which were the most amazing pair of jeans I have ever seen, they fitted perfectly but I wore them to death and the bottom of the legs did that horrible fraying thing that jeans a tad too long have a habit of doing. I was just about to throw them into one of the bags for the rag and phone man when I had the ingenious idea of turning my old favourite pair of jeans into my new favourite pair of shorts, so that's exactly what I did.


I did feel a little bit like I looked like I was off to a festival this day rather than going to my nephew's first sports day but I was comfortable and felt good that i'd not had to get rid of these jeans completely, just the knee downwards. I wore my "new" shorts with £3 sand shoes from Primark and a jumper that was on sale from Peacocks. The last one and it was in my size, would have been rude not to!

To accessorise I wore a cameo necklace and some little anchor stud earrings from Topshop and a thrifted satchel bag which only cost £3.50, as soon as I saw it I needed it and doesn't it make you feel good to find something amazing in one of those shops that costs so little!


Saturday 3 July 2010

Something in her style that shows me

If you could choose one woman in the history of the world that you would love to meet who would that be? Some people may spend ages thinking about this, maybe choosing Margaret Thatcher, Marie Curie, Boudicca, Elizabeth 1st. My answer, most definately, without even blinking would be Pattie Boyd.
Pattie Boyd for those of you who don't know was a model in the 1960's. She married George Harrison in 1965, then Eric Clapton in 1979. After finishing her modelling career Pattie took up photography and now displays her photographs around the world.


The reason why Pattie is on the top of my to meet list is because she's had the most wonderful, interesting but also heartbreaking life and she's done it all in style! She's modelled for Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle magazines, also designers such as Mary Quant and Ossie Clark.


She's classy, beautiful, successful, and has always looked amazing. Could you imagine many of these so called "celebrities" now being like her? Or even any models? She was never the 6 foot 1, size zero supermodel that we come to expect walking down our catwalks now but she always looked amazing and knew how to wear clothes.
She is of the generation where models were just becoming public figures rather than a frame to hang beautiful clothing. These models had to walk all over with their portfolios looking for work, had to do their own hair and make up and bring shoes and accessories to shoots, and still managed to look amazing!


She was the muse for two of the most amazing musicians of a generation, being the inspiration for George Harrison's Something, For You Blue and Isn't it a Pity and Eric Clapton's Bell Bottom Blues, Layla and Wonderful Tonight. Just listening to those songs, you can feel the love that both men had for her. Who wouldn't want the chance of meeting a woman who inspired such songs?!