Cameo's, Espadrille's, Tea and Cake.

Today I met up with my girls, it was so lovely to see them! The sun came back out after the spot of rain this morning, and we went for tea.

This is what I wore, I wanted to go without the tights but as it had been raining I thought I better wear them just in case! I love this stripey dress, it's brand new and only cost £7 from Ethal Austin. It's really simple and i'm loving stripes at the minute! The only thing i'm not too keen on is the elasticated waist but it's easily fixed with a belt. I love this belt and have had it for years, I can't even remember where it's from I just love that it's got a thick section, makes it a bit more different than just a plain black belt.

My espidrilles are one of my favourite pairs of shoes. I got them from ASOS years ago and to be honest they are a bit tatty now but still very wearable!

And I had to wear my beloved Cameo ring and brooch. The ring was made by a friend's boyfriend's mum and the brooch was a 21st birthday present from my mum. I absolutely love it and it goes perfectly with my soft blazer from Primark.

I was umming and ahhing about which bag to wear with this outfit, I didn't really want to take my Cath Kidston bag, even though it's the most delicious bag I own, it didn't exactly go being covered in cowboys anyway so I decided on a canvas bag, and what better canvas bag that my Tim Minchin canvas bag that my friend got me when she went to see him live. (I'm not a bit jealous! Not one little bit...) Here is the beautiful Tim, singing a very funny song (or should that be power ballad?!) about canvas bags: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvnYIxv_364&feature=related

As it would be rude not to, we popped into Topshop and because I had no money but can't resist a sale I got a really cute necklace with two little birds on, I only wear gold jewellery because I constantly wear two real gold rings and i'm really glad Topshop sells a lot of gold coloured jewellery.

So finally the reason for the day was in fact to have a catch up and go for tea. We went to The Olde Young Tea house, a lovely little teashop which has just opened in Middlesbrough. It's vintage style with mismatched cups, saucers and teapots is really welcoming. And the music from the record player makes it a really relaxed place to be. It's also uber fashionable, ran by Carli-Jayne Mcnaught who last year graduated from Cleveland College of Art and Design with a Ba (Hons) in Fashion Enterprise, and spent the last year working in Saville Row in London!

You can choose from over sixty varieties of teas from around the world which are displayed in jars all along one wall, and either have a light lunch or a slice of whichever cake there is that day. Today it was Lemon and Poppyseed cake which i'm so glad about because it's my favourite and was delish! I washed it down with a mug of Green Tea. Also my favourite and I have to say it was the nicest Green Tea i've ever tasted! It had a slight flowery taste which was lovely. And it came in a Cath Kidston mug, which just added to the delights of the place. Here's a little taster for you if you're ever in the Middlesbrough area and fancy a cuppa and a slice of cake!

At the minute I have the dreaded task of going through all the crap I have ever collected and decided what is important enough to keep and what i'm going to throw away.

In six weeks i'll be moving from Redcar which has been my home for the majority of my life, (bar three years I spent living in York) stopping off at my sister's in Poole for a month and a half then finally moving to Southampton where i'll be studying Writing Fashion and Culture at Southampton Solent University. It's not exactly like I can pop home if I forget anything like I could in York, i'll be an eight hour train journey away!

Also I can't exactly leave my mum with a room full of stuff that is just going to be gathering dust, especially as she has plans to move herself.

I've started already, some may say that this is a bit premature but let me just tell you this, i'm a horder and hate to throw anything away so my plan is if I do it little by little then it's a lot easier for me. I have clothes stashed in the loft that I haven't worn since I was about 15, but it's hard to throw clothes away I mean, you never know when you might want them again. Ok so if I haven't worn something in seven years and I don't actually like it anymore it's pretty safe to say that it's never going to be worn, I know this and slowly but surely i'm getting through the mountains of awful clothes.

Right now, my room looks like a bomb's hit it, which to be honest isn't that unusual but even more so with the mountains of clothes to get through and i'm not the tidiest of people so it will probably stay there until it's neatly packed away ready to move.

The one thought that's getting me through the whole process is that this will mean i've have more wardrobe space for more beautiful clothes.

Back to the future

Who would have thought aged four that eighteen years later i'd be yet again wearing jelly shoes?! I didn't actually like them the first time round, infinately jealous of my elder sisters high heeled pink sparkly pair while I still had flat sandles.

However, while happily perusing the Topshop website last week, something I do quite often when i'm feeling the pinch and it's not worth the pain of actually going into the shop only to cry "I wish I had money, I need it!!" at every beautiful item, I came across their lovely Harbour Gladiator Jellies, and knew I just had to have a pair! They come in black, silver, jade and tan.

Now i'll be honest, when I went into Topshop yesterday I was looking for a jade pair, which I thought were amazing when I first saw them. but as with smaller Topshop stores, they didn't have the full range in stock in the Middlesbrough store. My options were tan or black.

So I tried on a pair of the tan sandles, and fell immediately in love! And at only £12 (£10.80 with student discount) they were a steal!

I wore my beautiful new sandles today. I have a habit of having to wear something new immediately, even if I buy it for a special occasion I have to try it on numerous times before the event! So off I went into town, loving my new shoes but thinking in about ten minutes I am going to be crippled. Pleasingly though these were really comfortable and my feet weren't ripped to shreads as i'd antisipated. I have a feeling they are going to be my favourite shoes of the summer.

This is one blast from the past that i'm glad is back!