The Rainbow dress worn sideways!

You always know it's Summer when my rainbow dress gets an outing!  It likes to be a chameleon, cropping up in outfits in new and different combinations!

It was on Sunday, that I suddenly had a thought.

Could I turn the dress sideways, get my head through one of the shoulder straps- could I make it into a halter-neck dress?

After a little experimenting, and one moment of panic, I discovered...

Yes I could!

I discovered, that I could get my head into the hole. Although the pattern matching at the seam isn't great, it still worked!

At the back, I tucked in the other strap so it had a slightly lower back.

As it is a circle skirt, I suddenly thought about adding a tulle petticoat underneath to give it a bit of body and to puff it out.  I added my TARDIS blue one!

A black belt to cinch the waist.  Perhaps a blue one would have been better but I only have turquoise, not electric blue.

I decided to pin my hair up with a flower clip from Bali.

Here's a side view.

I decided to wear my TARDIS blue floral Irregular Choice pumps to go with the tulle petticoat.

What do you think of this new take on the dress?

Do you have any other suggestions for this dress styling?

xx

Cats and bees

Back in late August, CBC and I headed off to rural Essex to attend a friend's 50th birthday party.  It was really sweet that they actually asked us to check two dates before they announced the dates because they wanted us to be there.

They have a lovely house and beautiful gardens with a proper set of 'rooms' in the garden.  We all brought food along for the barbecue and accompaniments and stayed till quite late.  It was a really pleasant occasion.

For that party, I decided I wanted to wear a Summer dress that I hadn't worn at all this year or last (hoping and praying it still fitted as it is an 8!).  Luckily because it has a sheered back, it still fits perfectly.

It was bought for me by my Mum as an unexpected present in 2016. She rarely buys me clothes as she thinks I have too many but she saw this beautiful Bee dress from British Retro and bought it as a random present. It came with matching headband and is a full circle skirt in cotton sateen.

I teamed it with a cobweb, linen, lace Monsoon cardigan (charity shopped).

For the 'stuff' I added my bee and daisy necklace from Alex Monroe (40th birthday present from Dad and Stepmum) and wore, for the first time (as I had misplaced them!) these Monsoon embroidered espadrilles (charity shopped)

It was the perfect setting to wear the dress in their paradisiacal gardens.

As CBC took these photos, their cat, Slim Shady came along.  He waited by me. He then sniffed me.  In the 3rd picture below, I noticed him as he patted me with his tail. 

In the 4th, he placed a gentle paw on my calf.  I reached down and he reared up like a dog for his head to be stroked and in the final picture, he leaned over.  He's such a cutie!

They have a beautiful Rabbit ears plant, so I decided to accessorise with a couple of leaves!

Ah, I shall miss it when it grows to cold to wear such garments!

xxx
 

From the archives: The Bells of London

I was searching for something and I found this post from 2014 which, though starting with an outfit, ended with a little profound statement.   I wore this very dress yesterday, coincidentally, and it is still a much cherished, well-fitting item, despite me being bigger than I was then! Nice to fit into a size 6 occasionally!

The bells of London

This was my Sunday outfit- I admired this River Island dress on Alex Odd socks and Pink-haired Princess Gemma for a long time before I found some kind soul selling their size 6 on EBay for the princely sum of £3 a little while back- it's the perfect size and it now just needs a petticoat and these sunny days to wear it! Enough about it- I do like the London landmarks print. Shame the lighting was terrible for photos!

I overheard part of a really interesting, kind and profound conversation between a busker and a station staff member today as I went to catch my train.  I'm not sure as to the living/financial status of this busker but he appeared at our local stations around about a year ago and every so often, I put some money in his guitar case- he plays Bob Marley a lot of the time and he sings his heart out.  He's got quite a nice voice and he's always got a lovely cheerful face/smile and always says thank you when you put money in.

Anyway, as I approached the ticket machines, he was singing was singing this well known song that 'she goes..' (can't remember any more of it!).  Inwardly, I smiled as I heard him and in my mind, wondered how many girls hear him sing that and feel like he's talking to them or singing about them or something like that (weird thought, but that's what came into my head).  I felt a warm bead of sunshine in my heart as I heard his music. Which was weird as at that moment, he stopped singing and said to the ticket man, like he was continuing a conversation they had been having,

"I just do one little thing.  BUT, I might just change one person's life in a small way and they might then change someone else's life and that person might change someone else's life or day and you never know, they might end up changing my life.  Then it's worth doing, that little thing I do."

and I thought how true, beautiful and profound that is.  We may feel insignificant and feel that the small things we can do for someone don't mean much or couldn't possibly affect someone. But they do. They can impact someone in some amazing way we may never know about.  It's like those random acts of kindness- they could mean something to someone-change their outlook, change a decision they might have taken. It's not always the great big acts that are life-changing: all the small ones can too. Don't ever fail to do something because you think it won't achieve anything- there are many things in heaven and on Earth and we cannot possibly fathom them and know their impact.  "Many drops make an ocean," is one of the many things that Jesus said that I always think about- the small things add up. The small things can have an impact.  Do that one small good thing, try to make that tiny difference.  I did have a random thought of sending a text message to someone totally random- telling them that or something like that.. I haven't yet, but maybe I will.

It was something to think about on the train and it was something lovely.

x

Celebrating Shiny T Tuesday with Jane at Flight Platform living with my happy London dress!

Apples

 Hello there!

Today, you get an outfit post of the old school, with lots of photos! Despite the fact I've been wearing lots of pretty outfits, motivation for taking photos is fairly low.

Yesterday, we headed over to my Dad's for the day where we ate lots of food, chatted lots, had an epic water fight and badminton was played until 10pm!  It was really lovely and the waterfight was excellent for a roasting hot day!

I decided to wear this lovely Bernie Dexter dress which I bought secondhand a couple of years ago and wore last on here in September 2 years ago for a trip to Audley End house and gardens, appropriately, also featuring apples.The print is based on poppies in the Essex countryside so it is one I love a lot and I really liked this dress when I first saw it on a blogger about 8 years ago! 

I tied my hair in plaits and then my sister pinned them up for me at the back of my head to keep it out the way for the waterfight and also to avoid hot neck!I love the apple trees in my Dad's garden as they are pruned to make everything a height to be pickable.  They are so densely covered but I am told that the magpies keep knocking apples off!

I wore earrings from Hollyhocks jewellery from Etsy and a necklace from the crafter previously known as Ladybird likes.

Add my charity-shopped straw hat, second-hand Saltwater sandals and Tiger sunglasses and I was good to go.

I did change for the waterfight as this would not feel nice to be wet in!I came home from Dad's with some apples, a glut of green beans and a bag of Perpetual Spinach!

It was so lovely to have so much space for running around, playing, socialising and relaxing.  My Dad and I were talking and he is so grateful for their space.  He was saying that if only the government had asked people who have outdoor space to please try to use their own outdoor space and not to go to beaches and parks so much, perhaps, more people with cramped conditions would have been able to get out earlier which is a good point and might have made things easier for those with cramped conditions at the beginning.
Hope you are well.xxP.S. I have no idea how to get rid of these underlines! I don't like the new Blogger!!

Easter Sunday best

Greetings friends!

I hope you are well. I'm back to regular 'school' this week so trying to get on with school work and activities though I've not done so well so far- somehow, the working environments I could work in were all completely covered in crafting mess so it took a while to get that sorted.  The dining room table is now clear and I've prepared and sent plans and activities for tomorrow to the other staff who are in with me (I'm IN school tomorrow for the first time in a month- am rather nervous to be travelling so far by Public transport and spending time with snotty children! Please keep me in prayer)

I thought I'd share what I wore last week on Easter Sunday.  I always like to wear something pretty for Easter Sunday as usually church is full of beautiful flowers and it's nice to try and wear something special.

Here's what I wore:

This dress is a 1950's one I bought in Hexham from the Vintage Emporium and it was my 'birthday present to myself'!

Accessory-wise, I wore this Sunflower headband which came from Primark about a decade ago and my small cross necklace (handmade by a friend), Mini-egg earrings (bought at the Big Church Day Out festival also about a decade ago) and then my favourite fox-shoes which CBC bought for my birthday 3 years ago.

It was the perfect relaxed outfit until I realised the headband was giving me a headache!  Ah well!

Easter Day was lovely with watching Easter services from Bob and Ang, my old church and another one!

I bought CBC an Easter Egg and also one for myself  from Londis when I was buying some other bits.  We've eaten his but mine is still lurking and he keeps hassling me about it! 

xx

Vintage daisies

It's time for an outfit again!

I decided that it was time to dress funky!

I received this dress as a birthday present from my Mother-in-Law.  It's a vintage handmade dress which came from the Vintage Emporium in Hexham.  I always like to support the independent shops in Hexham and the Vintage Emporium is now a wonderful floor full of beautiful vintage clothes!

I'd bought one dress in there but really liked this one also and when CBC and his Mum were talking about my imminent birthday, I mentioned that there was a rather lovely daisy dress I'd liked.  His mum immediately said we should go there as she'd like to buy me something I wanted! I was happy to oblige!

On Tuesday, when I wore this, I decided to team it with a coral Esprit cardigan I bought an the airport in Croatia a few years ago and added my Irregular Choice star slingbacks bought from Char.

Finally, I added my Lorelai LQ peach earrings as the final touch plus a lovely necklace from Melanie Folly Bird!

Things that made me happy today:

1.  Lots of love for something I made yesterday and posted on IG. I'll post it here tomorrow.

2.  Rob Mills, who plays Finn Kelly in Neighbours, liked my comment on Instagram!

3. I finally planted my tomato seeds - in loo roll tubes

4.  Planted the Bluebell plants we bought two weeks ago.  It felt really good to get out in the garden in the early evening and do some planting and removing of weeds. It feels so good to get into the garden!

5.  Chatted to my wonderful friend Lara on the phone.

6. Planted some of the pea plants into a pot.

7. We ordered takeaway from our favourite Madeiran restaurant in town. Nice to support them in their difficult time of only being able to do Takeaway. It was really nice not to cook for the first time in 2 weeks and they gave us a carton of free juice

8.  I made delicious Jumbo chive omelettes for lunch- yum!

9. Watching Sunset Beach on Youtube.  I absolutely loved this programme in the late 90's! I love the person who has painstakingly uploaded all of Season Two in 4 parts per episode!

10.  A couple of really sweet comments on my school music blog today.

11.  Lovely email from Ang this morning! Must reply asap!

What's made you happy today?

xx

Give bees a chance

My Mum bought me a beautiful Bee dress 2 years ago from a company called British Retro. It is one of those items that fits perfectly.

I wore it on Sunday to a barbecue in Eltham.  CBC has an old friend who invited us over. I wore it with two charity shopped items- a white lacy cardigan and some lovely white lattice leather shoes from Rieker that I bought from a charity shop last year.

It was a bad choice though.  Remember how windy it was on Sunday?  

Yeh, unfortunately a big gust of wind blew my skirt up at a most inopportune moment.  When I had no hands free!!

Anyway, it is a nice reminder of my Grandad and his bees when I wear it and all the nicer because my Mum chose it for me.

Hope you are well.

xx

Style Imitating Art- The County court house ceiling and The 50's dress of dreams

Hi there,

Hope you are enjoying your Monday.

It's been a few weeks since I have taken part in Style Imitating Art.  This week, our host is the wonderful Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks and wonderfully, the art work we are inspired by this week is by her!

She took the photo of the ceiling during a family trip to St Louis, Missouri and had to really crane her neck to get the whole ceiling in. It is part of the building designed by Lavielle and Morton.

What an amazing ceiling and the way Daenel captured it is brilliant!  The photo is hers and I am only borrowing it here to show her amazing work in comparison to my outfits!

Old County Courthouse in St Louis, Missouri. Image by Daenel. A. Vaughn-Tucker

I was actually a little stuck with this at first until I realised on Friday that I was putting on a top which had a variety of colours including the right shade of pink together with some of the other colours and little intricate details including lace which nodded to some of the details.

 I then thought about that central circle in the image, perhaps a skylight and then thought of several items of jewellery I own that would work for that- the necklace is made up of slightly different sized circles in white including some that are intricate.  The white circle bracelet was an Eid present from a lovely girl at school and the earrings I bought in France tied with both of those.

 Finally, I added these Geometric Toms shoes - with their black and white circles and patterns, it reminded me of those outside black and white circular bits on the picture (sorry, I'm really going on a downer for descriptive language today!)
My loose blue jeans completed the look.

I then remembered a blog post I had as a draft which was never published with a dress I'd worn with the PERFECT colouring. Although the picture below is pretty dark, the pink of the dress is the exact shade in real life of those pink panels and the corresponding greyish edging is rather like the edging on my dress.  Appropriately, I had worn the same circle bracelet and a white pearl necklace plus some silvery grey sandals.

And you can read the rest of that draft post below!

In my 13 years of blogging, I have read the blogs of many stylish ladies who blog about their style.  Many of them were into Vintage clothing and many of those often found items when out in charity shops of thrift shops.  I am glad that many of them still blog such as Vix, Lauren, Ann although a few have fallen off the blogging wagon.

I was always envious and rather amazed at the beautiful collared 50's dresses that a few of my friends would find and always longed to find something similar.  Sadly, the only 50's dresses I ever really saw were in vintage shops and retailing at over £60 and invariably, never in my size!

When I was in Northumberland at Easter, my heart did a little skip when I saw this dress on a mannequin in the Corbridge Antiques centre.  The collar was gorgeous, the size looked good, it was cotton and the length looked alright.

I asked if they could take it off the mannequin and tried it on and happily, it being Northumberland, a slightly more reasonable £25 was what I managed to buy it for.

It IS very, very fitted at the waist, even for my small waist but the way the sleeves fit is lovely as it doesn't grip me at the shoulders and armpits in the way many modern sleeved dresses do.  It was very comfortable to wear to my Dad's Birthday back at the start of June.

Did you ever seek a particular style of dress and get very excited when you found it?

Now, head over to Daenel's blog on Wednesday to see how EVERYONE ELSE interpreted Daenel's beautiful photo!

AND if you think you've got an outfit that would work for this, email Daenel at livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com and she will post a round-up of all the outfits!

x

New year's swing fling!

 I thought I'd better share the New Year photos before the sight of snowflakes and Christmas tree became too unseasonal - we didn't get many good photos of our new year's Lindy ball.

Here we are at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow.

 I wore my 2nd wedding dress- the one from Vivienne of Holloway- it was surreal that the last time I wore it was my wedding day.  I teamed it with some old white brogues from Primark, my Punkypins snowflake necklace and my Crown and glory white net wired headband!

CBC wore his tweed wedding waistcoat (he bought the waistcoat before any other part of his wedding suit because it has a lovely turquoise back to match the Bridesmaids) and tweed trousers plus his wedding shirt I think!

We enjoyed the dancing, we were a bit nervous at first because we didn't really know anyone (eventually I saw 3 guys I knew vaguely from my time at the Holborn hop class).  CBC is very good at dancing with new people and helping them learn some new steps. There were taster classes at the beginning but I think the more experienced people could do more to encourage and dance with the less-experienced. There's always a slightly clichey feel to  social dance floors.

The hotel was very nice, the dance floor was a good size and surface although  there was no bar in our function room.  When we headed down to the bar, the drinks were EXTORTIONATELY expensive.  The bar service was also appallingly slow- we were 3rd in the queue at the bar and STILL waited over 15 minutes to be served.  In that time about 20 people had queued up behind us.  When we came to pay for our 'Hendrix single gin and tonic' and apple juice with soda it cost £16.80!?!?!?!   I didn't buy another drink- just drank water from the free jugs outside. To be honest, that's what I prefer when swing dancing anyway!

The hotel room was comfy, I slept very well and breakfast was excellent, although I confess to wanting to murder the previous occupant of the room who had set 3 alarms on the radio for 6am, 6.10am and 6.15am which, after going to bed at 2.15ish, I was not ready for!  I had to hunt down the radio on the dressing table in the dark and try and turn it off whilst plotting the demise of this unknown person!!!!!


It was an enjoyable new year, we were glad, especially considering it was such a last-minute decision!

xxx


Linking to I will wear what I like with Catherine at Not dressed as lamb

Advent day 18- Dress the tree!

Yesterday's Advent picture was of a beautiful shop front in South London.  Today's comes from an Essex boutique

 CBC and I left our favourite Thai restaurant and saw this display in the front of the shop! Ha ha ha!!!
It's hilarious! Christmas tree skirt and peacock decorations! Not so sure about the white bodice but full marks for effort!

Moving from one green dress to another, since I don't have too much to say about my advent picture, I thought I'd share the full outfit from my Owl and the Pussycat concert- I shared the brooches in Wednesday's brooch fest.

 I wore my Lindybop dress which CBC gave me last Christmas.  He choose it himself.  I wouldn't have chosen it myself, as is often the case, but I really liked it when I got.   It is a shame it was a really windy day when we took these photos- it was the height of those storms but it was fun trying to create a subtle nod to the Owl and the Pussycat through my outfit with my pea green dress, owl and pussycat brooches etc.

It was a lovely concert and I must say, as a musician, it's nice not wearing a black dress!! Most concerts, you have to wear all black, thus I enjoy wearing other colours when I can.  Thus, when people talk about the 'Little black dress', I'm usually not thinking that way! Like many of us, I am all about colour!

Tomorrow, we are going to see Star Wars with a group of friends! I am very excited about it! Hurrah!x

Linking to Photo Friday with Jen as well as Julie for Advent

Lady V London - Hall of Fame! Please vote for me!

Lady V London.

Hi All!

have you heard of Lady Vintage London!? They make beautiful retro inspired dresses. Every month they have a Hall of Fame competition where you send in a photo of yourself for the chance to win £100 gift card for their shop!  I absolutely love their dresses (I have two) and I decided to enter their Hall of Fame competition. If you are on Facebook and you'd like to take a look, I'd be grateful but only vote for me or 'like' my picture if it is truly your favourite!

I'm not on Facebook so I have no other way of drumming up support other than you lovely lot!!!!


Here's the album! I'd be grateful if you wanted to vote for me or 'like' my picture at all!!

Best wishes,
Kezzie

xxx


Linking to Creative Mondays with lovely Claire Justine and Visible Mondays with wonderful Patti! I will wear what I like with Catherine at Not dressed as lamb And finally,the brilliant Passion for Fashion on Friday with Rachel the Hat

Dusky aubergines and chocolate cake.

Good evening!  I hope you are well and having a lovely start to your weekend!

I apologise for the quality of the photos but they were from the day I first had my hair cut and it was late by the time I was able to get home.

I look wistfully at these photos where I am wearing a sleeveless dress,no tights and light ballet pumps and think of the unpredictable weather which necessitates a yellow raincoat, Doc Martens, cardigans and a longsleeved top and I frown.  There's still hope of a late warm spell in my heart!

My hair looks so shiny and bouncy and shaped here but I am terrible at styling my hair so it's now doing a weird flicking bushy version- a bit Hermione Granger!

I've decided the fruits are aubergines on the recently charity-shopped dress! Too big for plums!

Today at school, we had a Macmillan coffee morning to raise money for the Cancer charity. Staff brought in cakes and sold them to parents- I nipped in at breaktime to buy a cake and chat to parents.  I ended up chatting to two parents about their foster daughter who's just joined and apparently is loving music and Tudor dance so far- we then ended up talking about what beginner instruments sound like sick animals:

Saxophone= sick cow

Oboe= sick duck

Violin= Dying cat.

I'd missed breakfast apart from a piece of toast so I ate some chocolates that had been brought in by some teachers for Eid. Then I ate a piece of chocolate mars bar crispy cake with the parents- it was SO sickly. At lunch, because of Tudor dance club and setting up the room for the year 5's, I didn't have time to eat.  Then after school, there was a teacher's tea-party whilst I had Music Makers club and they saved me a plate of cakes which I felt obliged to eat. I felt thoroughly sick after a slice of Apple Strudel and a large chocolate slice. It was then that I realised that all I'd eaten all day was chocolate cake. I feel now,like I never want to see cake or chocolate again!

Hmmm, one of the year 1's (5 years old) ran over and hugged me after music- she leaned against my tummy and then turned round and suspiciously said, "Are you pregnant??" .  

?@£%@!!!!!!

"No, I just have a very full tummy at the moment!" I retorted delicately!

HUMPH!!!!

Hope all is well with you and a 5-year old hasn't indicated to you that you clearly ate all the pies!!!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday: On wondering how to suck one's tummy in!

I am afraid that for this final July TARDIS Tuesday, this will be the one and only time you see this TARDIS blue polka dot wiggle dress.

I do not wear wiggle dresses.  Or pencil skirts. Or anything with this shape.  They do not suit me.

I have a tummy but one I manage to disguise in floaty skirts or skaterdress shapes. Recently, my tummy is a little bit larger than it usually is. Eating too much no doubt.

I do not know how people wear this type of shape. I found it on the famous, much-mentioned charity-shop trip with Hazel and Sophie (yes, I bought lots that day. Yes, I am ashamed).  I was SO happy to find this dress for £1.  It was TARDIS blue, polka dots, retro look, my size. But for some reason, I didn't notice its was a fitted skirt rather than my beloved circle.

Thus trying it on last week,  as I was having a clear out and try of items, I was MOST disappointed.  

 I am reaaaaaaaaaaaaally sucking my tummy in on these photos and do you know, I can't be bothered! If I can't wear it looking like me and feeling comfortable about it, then I shall avoid it. I know people will say, you look fine but seriously, I have a tiny waist and the contrast is huge and the fundamental point is: I do not feel comfortable in it. And that's fine so please, no grief about, "Goodness gracious there's nothing of you, child" which is what I usually get when I make a statement like this!  Also the wretched thing was riding up if I even took one step into an unattractive sausage around my waist and there is one almighty split at the back (deliberate so you can walk)  so I do not want to reveal my knickers. For the sake of TARDIS blue, I am sharing it with you lot. It is a nice dress and I really like it. But not on me.

Sideways shot with very sucked in tummy- I cannot do that!

So, goodbye pretty dress, it was nice to meet you.

xxx

Over to you, TARDIS blue or Doctor Who? The choice is yours!

An InLinkz Link-up

All aboard!

We've returned from a magical weekend in Lincoln celebrating the wedding of two friends.  It has been truly lovely.  CBC was an usher and the cathedral took place at Lincoln Cathedral no less which is an enormous privilege as they only allow 4 weddings there a year and it is only because the bride was a chorister there that it was allowed, we got a letter read from the Archbishop of Canterbury and all.  Lincoln Cathedral is exquisitely beautiful and I will share some pictures in another post.

 The reception was back at Doddington Hall estate which was a beautiful setting with lots of space to walk around and the bride and groom had really thought of every luxury they might offer their guests from an ice-cream seller in the grounds, glowsticks for the music, flipflops in net bags, torches, treble clef chocolate lollies and personalised pens in wedding favour striped bags and more.

 I wore a dress I bought in the Easter sales from Lady Vintage, this lilac polka dot and rose dress which I loved for its collar, Cath Kidstonesque print and being a button up dress. Its length was perfect for my Vivienne of Holloway petticoat.

 I added a pink rose hairclip which I bought in Bali about a decade ago and my Irregular Choice Posie shoes and some charity shopped pearls.

 There was some really fun topiary in the grounds including this spiral and a unicorn and a lion!

 CBC was an usher and looked very handsome. He performed his duties dilligently and well.

 We were staying at Doddington so in the morning, all the guests staying there boarded a vintage Routemaster bus to the Cathedral and back again.

 Sadly, I was not on the bus that sang all the way back. My bus was very sedate so I sat and read 'The Hunger Games' which I had brought along with me just in case. I don't know what sort of psychological issue I have that means I can't seem to go anywhere without a book!

 As I got off the bus, the bus conductor told me my dress was his favourite and he loved 50's style dresses and the previous wedding he'd been at, it was a theme.  The rest of the crowd were obsessed with my heart-shaped glasses which I found quite amusing!

 Here are just two photos from outside the cathedral.

It was a lovely wedding which I felt very privileged to be at.  Today, we attended a wonderful lunch party back at the Bride's mother's house which was just as amazing!

xxx

Linking to Creative Mondays. with Claire Justine.