Be enthusiastic!

I'm sitting here watching The Apprentice and one feature I notice again and again which yields success is enthusiasm.  Those candidates whose faces have a lot of facial expression, who enthuse always do well.  That facial expression thing is something I feel quite strongly about is something that helps in all aspects of life!
I find this in life in general.  I am generally an extremely enthusiastic person who has quite extreme and overt facial expressions, perhaps this is a part of being enthusiastic?  This works well as a teacher too, that enthusiasm for something, for a passion, for a subject, for what you are enjoyed in is so important! 

If you do something, do it with passion, do it with fervour and enthusiasm; don't be half-baked with it!

TARDIS Tuesday - Clara in Time Heist!

This week, TARDIS Tuesday was a rather last minute, midnight-on-Sunday-night choice.
I have a few things that I would like to wear for some TARDIS Tuesdays but wasn't feeling the choices.   Then, I suddenly remembered I had picked up some purple-trousers in the charity shop a while back...

And that reminded me of an episode called Time Heist in which Clara wears a purple suit...

Image borrowed from Mariah's Cosplay Site

So Clara wears this look for a date but it seems quite suitable for the Bank heist they end up being involved in.  She is wearing a purple suit from super expensive brand, Kooples, with a white textured shirt with attached black tie also from that shop.  She wears some patent sky-scraper heels from Kurt Geiger to finish the look.

Image borrowed from Mariah's Cosplay site

You can just about see the texture of her embossed silk shirt in this shot.

And here is my version.  I teamed the recently charity-shopped trousers with a purple corduroy jacket that I purchased in a charity shop about 14 years ago. 

Image borrowed from There will be a second chance tumblr

The white blouse I wore was charity-shopped brand-new at Easter- it has exactly the same texture as Clara's one but at a fraction of the price-tag- it even has a black tie.

 I was actually thankful I wore this relatively smart outfit today because it ended up being the day we had to have our photos taken!

 My outfit was super comfortable, much more than Clara's and I think, except for the shoes, the entire outfit cost me £13

IMage borrowed from Rebloggy

In terms of footwear, I ended up wearing these patent Clarks shoes with a large wedge heel- I keep them at school in case I suddenly need a smart choice of footwear as they are too uncomfortable to walk a mile with though are fine for a day at school!

What do you think?  This is definitely an outfit combination I will wear again!!  Maybe I'll remember to tuck my shirt in and button my jacket next time!

x

Shades of Autumn foliage

Hello there,

It's the last day of the Half term holiday and I've had a lovely time in Vienna so not really blogged much (thank you scheduled posts!).  Dreading the 8 week half-term which is coming up but at the same time, it's my favourite term- Christmas! Where I get to sing Christmas songs 5 times a week for 8 weeks in prep for our Christmas performances. It felt MOST strange to be preparing scripts, songs and resources for the KS1 teachers for their nativity play the 3rd week of October!!  They only have a month until their performance though so entirely necessary!  Before that, however, I have to get through our WW1 centenary concert with about 80 children performing with just me to rally them!

Yesterday, it was a rather lazy day of waking late, household chores, reading and then heading over to CBC's brother's flat for the evening.  I didn't know what we were planning yesterday- everything was rather 'off the hoof!'

 Somehow, it seemed my outfit was inspired by the emerging Autumnal colours.  My mother came over on Friday and we were doing some pruning, digging up and picking in the garden and I was struck by the leaves beyond our boundary.  Which shade of Autumn do you like best?

 The outfit consisted of old favourites plus one new item:
The dress is a charity-shopped Jack Wills one which I like for its simplicity to be adapted with other accessories and garments. It was the base of a watermelon-themed outfit in the Summer.

The yellow cardigan is one that I have worn on here a myriad times- I always wear it inside-out accidentally though.  A child told me it was inside out on the last day of term and I thanked her, thinking rather darkly of all the teachers who'd seen me earlier and hadn't told me!  Add some grey leggings and my beloved Dr Martens Joylyn boots which I found second-hand on eBay earlier in the year- Dr Martens have stopped making these now which is super-annoying as they are my ultimate comfy, durable Winter footwear.  My teal pair have been going for about 4 years now.  The red socks are a boot-accompanying favourite.

 The orange hues come from the belt, an old favourite, the fox-necklace and the only new item, a fox-ears beret which I saw on an instagrammer back in March and ordered back them from eBay as I loved it! Yes, that's me being a fox. You're welcome.

 I tend to favour leggings over tights nowadays as a long-legged being, I find tights such an utter pain in the sense that I have to hoik them up every five minutes plus, the synthetic fabric doesn't make my legs feel very comfy- some are ok though. I still have many pairs though as I am not sure anyone would like someone else's old tights.  Maybe they could be cut up for stuffing for the felt fish the kids make at school like I've done with some old odd socks?  Seems a shame though if they are still wearable- I need to just suck-it-up and wear them!

Can you see my Autumn-leaf earrings?  They were charity-shopped a few years ago and they are the final touch!

Hope you are well.

xx

A nice thing about Autumn

It feels weird to be calling the weather we have been having Autumn, but since the leaves are changing and we have passed the Equinox, I suppose it counts.  It is well-documented on here that Autumn is my least favourite season. I do not enjoy it although I have tried to see the good in it and appreciate it.

However, I have noticed that there have been some marvellous skies this Autumn and recall that there have often been beautiful watercolour-worthy skies during many an Autumn.  

The day of this sky was no exception.  It was a joy to walk home with this canvas above my eyes.  It's always quite hard to photograph where I live as we feel quite low down but look at those colours.

Small things fill our hearts with joy.  It doesn't have to be a great statement or something tangible but something like this is to be cherished.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- A brief Clara from Time Heist

Hi there,

You're seeing a few obscure outfits for TARDIS Tuesday recently.  I sometimes like to keep things simple.   Here's another obscure outfit worn by Clara in Series 8 of Doctor Who.  In Time Heist, a brilliantly exciting episode, we have a conversation between Clara and her boyfriend, Danny Pink, and we only really see Clara's top half though we know she is wearing something black on her bottom half.  She tells off a child who interrupts her talking to him.

Image borrowed from Shopyour TV.com

She is seen wearing a Topshop light-acid-stained cropped shirt and her hair with the sides up.

Image borrowed from Cosplay Gallifrey

And here is a very simple, badly posed version of it.  This shirt was actually one of my first Clara items. It's not the EXACT shirt but it's the same brand and shape but it lacks a pocket but since I found it unexpectedly in my local charity shop, I was very happy to snap it up!  I've featured it once before for TARDIS Tuesday when I wore it to the Doctor Who Exhibition with my TARDIS dress.

And here we have a very obvious reason why I need to smile in all my photos!  I look terrible like this otherwise!! I'm afraid I do not have Jenna Coleman's beauty and talent for looking good no matter what her facial expression!

Stay tuned next week for a slightly better TARDIS Tuesday (we hope!!) 

xx

Style Imitating Art outfit- Melody

It's been a few weeks since I remembered to join in with Style Imitating Art. 

This week, Salazar at 14 Shades of Grey has chosen a real corker for our inspiration piece this time.

“Melody (Musica)” by  Kate Bunce, 

This is "Melody (Musica)" by Kate Bunce (1856-1927).  She was an English painter who was apparently someone who was linked to the Arts and Crafts movement and also influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.  Ahrgh, isn't it beautiful!

Obviously, it appeals to me as a musician.  It also appeals to me on an aesthetic level.  The flowers in the background, the colours, the detail.  I would absolutely love to wear this dress too.

So... here is my outfit inspired by it.

I have made a modern spin on the outfit.  Let me talk you through my garments and accessories and reasons for choosing them:

I began with these black velvet embroidered trousers which make a nod to the beautiful floral embroidery of the lady's bodice and a little on the sleeves.  And of course, the velvet fabric of the sleeves.. I first saw these very trousers on lovely blogger Anna at Anna's Island Style- she had them and I thought they were a beautiful pair of jogging trousers- they are very much casual lux!  The originals cost about £40 but I found someone selling the same pair second-hand on Depop for £8 a few months ago.  They are very short on me but I quite like the cropped look.

I wore my rose-gold Toms shoes as a nod to the gold embroidery and to the delicate gold necklace our model is wearing.

Next, I added this Sainsbury's green vest top as a nod to the colour of the bodice of the dress.  My coral cardigan from Esprit was the perfect accompaniment to nod to the colour of her sleeves.

 My hair was quite bushy today but sadly I brushed it and it settled down.

The penultimate accessory was my Mandolin!
I suspect the model is holding a lute of some sort but I figured my Mandolin would do instead.  I inherited this (and a matching one!) from my Grandad. He and my Nan took it up as a hobby when I was around 10.   I always used to like trying to play them when I was young. The mandolin has the same strings as the violin- E, A, D, and G but there are doubles of each string.    The mandolin was a popular instrument during the Baroque era of music- there were concertos for it.  Unusually, the late Romantic composer, Gustav Mahler, included a part for the Mandolin (and guitar) in his Seventh Symphony- a vast work.  I had the wonderful experience of playing the mandolin part in a performance of this- handily, the 4th flute is mostly tacet (i.e. not playing) in the movement that the mandolin plays in so I was able to play both in that performance!   I also call that piece the Star Trek symphony as there is one moment in it where the trumpet plays a motif that is exactly the same as the theme where the Captain says, "Captain's Log, star date..."

 My final accessory was this Aztez Eagle necklace- I was struggling to find a gold necklace with a stone- sure I have one but I wasn't sure where it was!

 What do you think?  Do you think it works as a response to the art work?

Hope you are well. I had a lovely concert last night in Kent, performing J.S Bach and his son, CPE Bach's Magnificats.  I went to my Dad's afterwards to stay.  All good until this morning where I was helping with some clearing up and leant down to unplug the hoover and because I can't see out of my left eye, I didn't see that I leaned over and a wooden cane supporting an orchid plant on the shelf went straight into my eye!!!! I swore loudly and clutched at it.  Thank GOD it was not my good eye.  It's now feeling quite sore and bloodshot but luckily it wasn't the iris or pupil but the bit in the corner of the eye-socket but super, super scary!  I was fine at first but it was only as I got on the train after my Dad left me that the shock set in and I felt incredibly queasy and cried!   Anyway, I think it is fine but it may be sore for a while!  SUCH a stupid accident!

If you fancy taking part in this challenge, feel free to read Salazar's blog and send her an email with your outfit at 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by Tuesday and check out her blog on Wednesday to see how everyone else responded to the inspiration.

Kezzie xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Under the Lake

Hi there,

Here we are again for TARDIS Tuesday.  Today I'm featuring an outfit worn by Clara that I probably wore for TARDIS Tuesday a year ago- not much has changed except for the addition of a jacket.

In one of the best episodes of Series 9, Clara wore this outfit.

It featured a leather jacket (from &Other Stories), a navy geometric Pinafore (from Miss Patina), a mustard ribbed turtle neck (from Topshop) and some black suede shoes.

Image borrowed from this pinterest

Image borrowed from The Supernatural fox sisters

I went with the pose from the above photo- Clara is overexuberant about success with something and says, "High Five, Doctor!". He just stares as at her and her face turns embarassed, "Come on Doctor, don't leave me hanging!"

I was a bit of a mess after school- these were taken at midnight last night! Can't find my tripod either.  

I am wearing the same Miss Patina pinafore which I purchased brand-new.  My top is from H&M, secondhand and my jacket was from a charity shop- it's one from another Clara costume.  I don't need a second-leather jacket!

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

 You can see the pinafore and top in a bit more detail here.   This was and is the perfect Autumn-day work outfit for a teaching day.  Not surprising since Clara is a teacher!

It's fun to reexplore a look I have shared on here- wasn't quite expecting to share it so soon but I was wearing it anyway and figured I might as well share it again!

What do you think?

x

5 foods I used to dislike but now like.

Add caption

I have had a few conversations with people about food dislikes.  It's one of those things that really gets some people very animated and others, curiously, not so passionate.  Mushroom-haters are generally extremely overt about their fungus-detesting preferences and all the reasons they think they are the most egregious, heinous, intrinsically wrong form of food (We all know I hate them) .  CBC says I am a bit childish about sharing my dislike of certain foods and says that makes me fussy.  Perhaps that is true.  I am quite vocal about the fact I am not keen on many types of dessert because I don't eat dessert unless I really like it- I feel like the nutrients I would get from most of those desserts are limited and I am not missing anything by avoiding them. For example- I like eating fruits like blackberries and raspberries and blueberries but I am really not fond of Summer Pudding- I find the combined flavour too intense and the addition of white bread is not any nutritional benefit.

I have some relatives, mainly by marriage, who are incredibly fussy or limited eaters, who still dislike many foods that they used to dislike when they were young, but sometimes, we try things and our tastebuds have changed.
I was thinking about this and thought I'd share some foods I now like that I disliked years ago.
I'd be intrigued to see you do something similar.

1. Olives:  I used to strongly dislike these but now, I think they are absolutely delicious. I can polish off a whole pot of them! My favourites are the large green Queen olives- stuffed with garlic is the best!

2. Cooked tomatoes:  when I was a child, I only liked my tomatoes raw- I found the taste of cooked tomatoes too intense and I didn't like the texture.  Now, they are one of the most prolific foods in my diet- we use them for everything.

3.  Green Courgettes- again, these feature so often in my daily diet that I cannot imagine life without them. But, when we were young, I strongly disliked the flavour of green courgettes. Yellow ones were ok.

4. Prawns- I wasn't overly fond of prawns many years ago but they are a staple favourite now.

5. Vegetable stews and soups- I HATED these and I ate them for most of my childhood days. There was no other option. My Mum said that I had to eat them because we had no money for anything else.  I ate them.  I often wonder if that approach would've worked on fussy eaters when they were young?  Anyway, now, there is nothing more I like that eating those in the Winter!


What about you?  Any foods you now like that you once upon a time used to strongly detest?

x

My garden update- Late September

I've subsequently taken more photos since I took these around the 20th of September. But I will share them anyway!

So, what was going on in the garden in September?

I forgot that I planted some chive seeds in a pot in July- they seemed to start growing!

Also, Mum planted some garlic chives in a pot for me and they seem pretty happy.

I cut back my Lemon Balm and it seems to be happily regrowing.

The most prolific growers in my garden were the tomato plants- despite the fact I hadn't really pinched out any side stems.

The ones growing in the bed are really prolific- I think we've had over a 100.  They were supposed to be cherry tomatoes...

Tomatoes!

When we went to Saffron Walden, I found a beautiful herb stall in the market and bought a Marjoram plant, Thyme and a Chocolate mint.  The day after, we went to a local garden centre and I bought this lovely blue pot half price- it is perfect!

The Sedum has been a source of sustainance for the bees.  We have a lot of bee varieties here including someone's honeybees!

Happily, after the yellow Roses bloomed in June and I deadheaded and cut them back, they blossomed again in September!

The Buddlea also had a second lease of life.

Annoyingly, the courgettes have grown many male flowers and an abundance of foliage but the actual courgettes are few.

This one here grew into a monster but it was touching the ground and was rotten inside. I was so upset.

The strawberries had a second round!

My Autumn-fruiting raspberries are getting there- they are not very prolific but I am glad they have at least grown!

I'll give another update soon but I have enjoyed looking around my garden!

What's been growing in yours?

x

TARDIS Tuesday- welcome to the 13th Doctor!

I am doing a TARDIS Tuesday I only did about 10 months ago. Here was when I first dressed as the new 13th Doctor. I know I won't have time to post this tomorrow so posting it now!

And on Sunday, we got to see the new 13th Doctor as played by Jodie Whittaker in the role for the first time!  So in honour of that, TARDIS Tuesday is based on the new Doctor!


As a reminder, here is what we were shown to expect of the new Doctor's look:

Image from Radiotimes

It appealed to my sense of style and tastes- the trousers are my favourite colour, I like stripes AND rainbows, love culottes, like a good sensible-length coat and boots and socks!

And so here is the version I wore yesterday!

It was a delightfully sunny day so I didn't wear my coat (I just have a beige Jane Norman one I found in the charity shop for £2 with dark piping).

It actually features different garments from the last time I wore it.

I found someone selling this Brandy Melville t-shirt for £4 second-hand and it looked really like the Doctor's one so I swapped that for my winter long-sleeved version I wore last time.  This time I wore another pair of ASOS trousers- they're not culottes, they are a pair I've had for a few years which I bought with a voucher and the colour seems much more like the real ones.

Other than that- the boots (DMs via eBay last year), socks (CBC's Olympics Closing Ceremony Costume 2012) and braces (eBay) are the same as last time.  I have two pairs of the socks and CBC saw me wearing them yesterday and said, "Where did you get those hideous socks from?" (at that time covered in lawn-mowings) and I told him!

Anyone got any tips for keeping braces on?  These things drove me round the bend! What do I attach them to and how do they stay?

Image borrowed from Amazon.com

Ooh, one addition.  Above is featured a version of the earcuff that Jodie wears.  Now, an earcuff really isn't me- I've never really liked additional piercings beyond the ones I have in my ear so I did my own version.

And wore one starry dangly earring from a pair.

On a brilliant note, I decided to wear this outfit for school today BUT with the long-sleeved version of the top and without the braces because they annoyed me so much. I wanted to see if anyone noticed.  The day progressed and no one had commented, not even the staff member who had watched Doctor Who.

After school at 3.45pm, I walked into the classroom where we were having some Computing training which was being led by an external person. I walked in (and apparently my work colleague said that she was staring at me with her mouth open).  I sat down and she said to me, "Are you dressed as Doctor Who??????".  I replied delightedly that I was and she said it was brilliant and had loved it and said she must know where I got the t-shirt.  It made me smile all the way home!!!

What do you think?

And did you watch the episode.

Look away now if you don't want any spoilers. And if you aren't interested just head straight to the comments- you know you want to!

SPOILERS coming....

Don't look if you haven't watched it...

Last chance...

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode.  I thought the characterisation of the Doctor was very well played- she was endearing, a bit scatty, yet with a steel edge of intelligence and age-old wisdom but with a fun, kind energy. She felt like the Doctor. I KNEW that that character who met their demise would meet their demise- it was obvious from the fact that they weren't going to recur.   Wasn't sure what they were actually doing though when it happened.  Maybe that gathering coil mass might have attacked the Doctor if she hadn't done that.  I didn't feel like Mr Sinclair actually did enough to keep that character out of danger- mind you, it made for a strong character. Which is a shame as I really liked that character and would have liked to have seen more.  I was particularly pleased that the 'problem' of the episode just for once wasn't totally apocalyptic but a localised danger, affecting a small group of people- I have been a bit tired in recent times of New Who and its 'End of the World every Saturday' element.  The idea of the alien was intriguing- if a little gross.  It was a little rubbish.  

Very much liked the new assistants.  Everyone has been raving about Bradley Walsh.  I thought he was alright. I knew he could act but I wasn't overly bowled over by him, just thought it worked. The other two assistants, Ryan and Yaz seem great, I particularly liked Ryan- I like the difficulties he experienced- very important to highlight those.  I didn't particularly feel the emotion so much of those characters after the demise of a character.  Loved the charity shop scene- yessssssss, Doctor Who shops in chazzas! But which charity shop has items like that!? 

The new theme tune which seemed to hark back to the 80's was tolerable- I didn't like the overly tinny-sounding synthesised tom-tom drum! It was, in my opinion, to loud.  

I don't think that is the last we have seen of that character- I like to think Asha and other trophies will turn up towards the end of the series.