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

Daisies forever.

 Daisies are one of my happy things. I think that is true of many people.  We remember long Summers playing on school fields making daisy-chains- the innocence and the lack of responsibility of childhood is synonymous with these ubiquitous flowers. My school had a vast field considering its suburban background and my memories seem to be filled with Summer upon Summer of idyllic times spent upon that field. I work near my old school and I am still filled with excitement when I see it now. Even though it has had some building on it, school places being extremely lacking in that borough, it is still astonishingly large for the area!

 I remember the searching for this dress (I'd seen it advertised on Matalan) led me to discover the lovely Laura, blogger at www.adaisychaindream.com - I searched for Daisy dress and found her blog- so consequently, when I wear this, I think of her!  When I wore this a week ago or so, I decided to wear this collared dress as a top with a black skirt: 1) because I wanted to give it a different look and 2) it really is rather short!

 Don't know WHY I decided to jump but behold the manic facial expressions as one tries to achieve great heights with the self-timer.  You're welcome. I think a skirt which fits my waist better AND higher would have looked better so this is something else to experiment with at a later date.  The mustard cardigan here, bought from Mistraal in Wallingford a few years ago has ended up being a real workhorse in my wardrobe this year so far- it has been worn pretty much weekly since January.

I'd better leave this here.  Things to do....

Take care,

Kezzie xx

5 brooches #43

Hello there!

I hope you had a lovely day! I had a nice swim after school which always makes me feel better! Definitely a water baby!

The day was, on the whole, a successful one. Just finished eating a delicious ratatouille with Bulgar wheat and Quinoa!

But enough of that- onto the brooches!

 You actually should have seen these in last week's post- don't know how I didn't notice there were only 4 brooches, not 5! Hence this week, you get 6!  The Collar clips come from Kate Gabrielle and they rank amongst my favourite brooches! Worn with a Poppy England (now Bryony and Co) blouse!

Up next is another vintage scarf clip (charity-shopped a few years ago).  It is perfect for this silk daisy scarf as it is really too short to tie!

And here's a flatlay I did with it, my Punkypins daisy collection and my Matalan daisy dress (which incidentally, was the reason I first discovered Laura at A Daisychain dream as I was searching on the internet for this dress!

 This next one, the biscuit, is actually a me-made one. Well me-made in the sense that I found an object, got some glue and brooch back and married the three together! The rubber came from Mr Wolf and is far pretty to be used for its original purpose!

 I don't know how I failed to photograph this glittery Trophy brooch up close! but at least you can see it! You can also see the amazing Present bow earrings that Hazel sent me for Christmas!!

 Here's my Topshop glitter bear brooch.  This, surprisingly, causes consternation amongst the kids at school!

Lastly, here's my Deer Arrow Caravan and Car making their debut.  And I had to share the print of the skirt I was wearing with it!!!

Have you been wearing any brooches recently or spied any corkers?

Brooches elsewhere:

http://polyester-princess.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/tuesday-i-got-friday-on-my-mind.html#comment-form Polyester princess wore a cute elephant brooch. She also bought 3 gorgeous ones at the Fleamarket in her current post!

http://www.annasislandstyle.com/2016/05/a-tale-of-two-jackets.html  Anna's got a denim jacket filled with cute pins and brooches!

http://www.polkadot-pink.com/2016/05/neighbourhood-watch_8.html Not a brooch but Donna has the sweetest Fox necklace!

http://vintagevixon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/finnished-my-marimekko-mini.html Vix has MADE the most cool Steampunk brooches out of old watches and their parts!!! So creative. She is a vintage, recycling marvel!!

5 brooches part 7- falling apart at times

Hi All,

Hope you are well. I've had a lovely weekend with some great events and excursions which I will tell you about at some point but I thought I'd do a quick share of the latest brooches- these are all over the course of two weeks or so as I've not worn so many as I was away and when I pack for holiday, I'm not so good at planning specific outfits (yet at home, I do this by rote- weird eh?!)

 Brooch number 1 came from the Vintage emporium in Hexham and only cost 49p!  I loved it because it looked like a regimental medal. It was also very different to any other brooch I own. Teamed tenuously with Blackwatch tartan.

 The first of the two from the 'falling apart' epithet above.  This was another of those Lidl Autumnal decorations which I wore to school on Monday only I didn't quite stick the brooch back on properly and it fell off about 6 times during the day. It wasn't until one of the year 6's came up to me with it that I admitted defeat and took it off!  I need to use some proper glue this time!  Here it is, sans outfit.

Same problem two days running. On Tuesday, I wore a black polo neck top with a beautiful turquoise appliqué skirt with this brooch attached. I picked it up in Nottinghill a while ago- it's a 1950's one but sadly the catch is broken which I didn't notice when I brought it so after I'd walked down the street and it had started falling off about 4 times, I decided to remove it before losing it. Pity, as it has a really lovely shimmer on those leaves.

 Hello from Blanchland!  I wore this foxy brooch for an Autumn walk in Northumberland- even outdoor walking outfits can cope with brooches!   He, er,  too, was a Northumbrian purchase from one of those independent shops I always want to support in Haltwhistle lest they close down.  He was only £1 anyway!

Finally, another charity-shopped item. I bought this cute little snail brooch with Hazel and Sophie during our May Charity-shop jaunt and this is the first time I've worn him!  I wish this dress had cabbages on rather than Daisies as it would be more true to life but never mind- he's chomping on something!

Any brooches to show?
Hope all is well with you!

xx

BEDM 6: Home sweet home

Today's brief for BEDM was Home Sweet Home:

Talk about what home means to you. Maybe share a room or house tour. Collect a list of your favourite homewares. Or discuss any issues about home ownership or living.

Now, I think it would get a bit sappy if I talked about what home means to me so maybe avoid that.  I daren't give you a housetour because if I am honest with you, my house is a mess! It's not as bad as it was since I spent most of the day tidying it up but I don't know, giving you a tour would just feel embarassing. We rent it and neither of us are particularly interior-designy minded so it's largely filled with clutter not in any particular style.  Nonetheless, I remember asking Char to talk about all the knick-knacks and items on the shelves behind her in her outfit posts once and she did do a post based on this which I loved so I thought what I'd do is give you a few photos of a few items on walls or items on windowsills/horizontal surfaces which we've added over the year and a half we've lived here and tell you about them. Yes, I like to fill horizontal surfaces in case that's what you end up commenting!!



Photo collages
So on three walls in our Front room, we have collages of CBC and I over the years. WOMOTM, my lovely Father in Law did these for us for the wedding.  They always make me smile at the random costumery and dumb poses- esp the top left one where CBC is using my hair as a moustache!
We replaced one of the hideous lampshades with this globe of the world which I bought CBC for his old house.  Globes are cool!


Artworks
Here are some of the artworks around the house.  Framed my TARDIS picture from Janet and that is currently in the dining room though CBC is none too happy about it.  The Regency lady was a charity shop purchase that I love for its genteel prettiness.  The Audrey photos from My Fair Lady need to be properly framed but they just hang out in that frame for the moment in the study.  The bottom right picture of a squirrel was handpainted by my friend M, who is an art-teacher. It was a wedding present- she gave us her portfolio to choose which picture we'd like and we chose a squirrel! After all CBC's favourite nickname for me is squirrel based!  The lamp was a Christmas present and you can see my little boy in Columbia to the right.


Bookcases (IKEA)
Yes, the bookcases in the living room really need a tidy.  I've still got books mouldering in the shed so I should really get rid of some and sort these out.  As you can see, the hats have migrated onto the tops of all three.  On the leftbookcase you can see a fish painting with goldleaf we bought in Dubrovnik which we'd like to get framed and the right bookcase is some of the many shelves of sheet music we own.





Daisy Landing
So called because as you go up the stairs, you are surrounded on three sides by daisy canvases.  All three of these came from Charity shops over the last decade and I love them. I've always loved daisy images. A friend handpainted some watercolour daisies as a wedding card for us and they would have been in the tour too but I need a new picture hanging for them as finally bought a frame for it.
The odd one out is this wicker and rose-quartz heart which was a delightful wedding present from one of my pupils at school. You'll see what her sister bought me later on. The pair of them actually came to my wedding service as their Mum is friends with my Mum.


Landing and Bedroom Windowsills
The bottom two pictures are the landing windowsill which contain my lovely Zentangle from Fat Dormouse and my Sylvanian Families Music Teacher set as well as a random tube-chime.

Above, is our bedroom window sill which has a woodland theme on the left with my Christmas Swap rabbit lamp, a singing RSPB blackbird and a handcut image we received from my Deputy head as a wedding present plus various knitted woodland animals.
On the right, you can see an earring tree which holds my longest earrings, bought this in Felixstowe and a sweetie box full of all my wired hairscarves!


Bedroom walls
Carrying on in the bedroom, you can see our recent hung Beachut hooks, we love these!
The beautiful floral horseshoe was the sister present of the wicker-heart. It is so pretty and delicate.
The woodland themed bunting came from Wilkinson's in the January sales some years ago.
Finally, here's the other TARDIS picture that Gemma gave me in her Snailmail swap with me.



Spareroom
The hydrangea heart was a wedding present from my Mum, it is really pretty- imagine how nice that would be as a floral crown!
The picture top right is from about 12 years ago at a friend's wedding- I love that picture of my Mum, sister and I.  To its right is an image of my old church's nativity in which I am a shepherd!
The window sill holds my wind-up toy collection (Whaaat? You mean you DON'T have one???) and a picture of my little sister and I as bridesmaids for our other sister!
The ring tray was a hen picnic present from church friend and those candles came from my previous headteacher. The Christmas she gave me these,she wrote me the sweetest card which was SO lovely. More wind-up toys flank it on either side!




Other
Finally, a few other touches.  I really like our Ikea shoe bench- we added the pillows and I don't know how I lived without a shoe bench before! It's very useful by the front door even if you have to battle against being strangled by coats above you!

I found the rainbow hooks in a charity-shop today and I was really chuffed over them- only £2 and useful for the bathroom as we don't have much towel rail space!

The musical hooks have only been up a month or so. I've had them for years but it wasn't until our friends came round with a powerdrill and no fear of DIY that we got them up!

Finally, here's a peek at the messy spareroom! Yes, it's a mess!!! I've cleared the bed a bit since I took this photo but it is by no means ready for a guest!


Do  I need to cut down on the windowsill paraphenalia? What do you have on your shelves, walls and sills?

xx

Boggly eyes

Hi y'all! Firstly, thank you SO much for your kind, considerate empathy and well-wishes on my teaching angst post.That was SUCH a nice surprise to come home to tonight.  The day started off a bit weirdly as I had to cover year 5 as BOTH year 5 teachers were off sick. I had my favourite class minus 10 children who were out on a music day at the local secondary school I had chosen them for.  We had a lovely morning- I taught literacy and asked them to produce some free-writing on the subject of 'The Problem Child'. They've been reading 'There's a boy in the girl's bathroom' and so had ideas from that. We then had a very enthusiastic maths lesson where they were absolute enthralled darlings throughout. It's not often I get to teach year 5 non-music nowadays and it felt very comfortable- I taught in year 5 for 4 years before I did just solely music and I was back in my old classroom.  The afternoon, after taking year 6 for a SATS test, it was time for the aforementioned Year 6 observation. My Head arrived a bit late but he asked the kids LOADS of questions as they were going. They were very well-behaved and responsive and better still, when it came to group work, they got on and completed the task in time and did everything they were asked.  We ran out of time for every one to perform and the plenary was a little short (and oops, over-ran!) but apparently it was effective. The long and the short of it was I got a Grade 1 and the headteacher was SO nice to me in feedback. He said he was really glad he'd observed me as he could see why it was important and the impact of having a specialist music teacher throughout the school (EEEEK? This was in doubt!?!?!?!?!??!?!??!)  and he could tell progress was outstanding over time through their use of specific musical vocabulary with as much nonchalance as talking about the weather. Phew, to say the least!
Anyway, that was added waffle to the MAIN ACTION! YA, ya ya, tis Visible Monday today and TARDIS Tuesday tomorrow. so shall we continue?



 Tom Baker probably had the most iconic and well-loved outfit out of the old Doctors in Doctor Who. It was something that everyone could identify with: stripy scarf. I shared my mock-Tom Baker 10 foot scarf in a previous TARDIS Tuesday and I've been accused of dressing like Tom Baker in other posts in the past. In half term, I thought I'd try another spin on Tom Baker. Here I was not trying for a geniune recreation, just highlighting a few features.

 
The most obvious one was the rainbow stripy scarf.  I bought this one for a mere fiver in the January sales from Accessorize and very pleased with it I was too! It has brighter shades than my other Tom Baker scarf though it lacks length.

The second feature was the tweed trousers. I always associate Mr Baker with tweedy brown tones. I love these Primark trousers- had them a good few years now.

The third is of course the hat. Mr Baker often sported a hat of this shape. I bought this in the gents section of Primark a few years ago intending it for CBC. As we know with me and hats, it somehow found its way onto my head and never reached its destination.
Boggly eyed facial expression or manic smile optional. Girly daisy cardigan definitely loose interpretation!

See you later.
xxx

Lemonade and daisy chain dreams

You know all this blog talk about Autumn? I'm sorry, I don't quite get it. Perhaps it was because I was away  (in the sun) and then spent most of the last week mouldering over a computer (school prep) but things have felt the same to me, I'm curiously immune to it! Sunday was gorgeously warm and sunny and I wore this ensemble to church. It was a sad day as it was the vicar's last service before moving to a new parish. He was SUCH a lovely man and I am so sorry to have missed the last 2 months of his services (I've been away that much!) but there is always the promise and hope of the new incumbent- the Lord provides!!  There's a time for everything in heaven and on earth, so there must be a time for change!


I was absolutely determined that the day would be sunny on Sunday and it was indeed, so the outfit I picked out was just fine. I actually find this lemon-yellow broderie-anglaise Topshop dress (Charity-shopped of course), quite hard to wear- I last wore it with a panama and heart-shaped sunnies in the yellow-peril post but I wanted to wear it in a different way that didn't quite it look quite so 'little girl'.

Thus, I teamed it with a Primark Daisy-print blouse tied-up, added these Clarks suede kitten-heel shoes (clothing-swap party) and then added more accessories- old Daisychain crown from Poppydaisy, daisy-earrings (?) and daisy bracelet (Tu). Finally, added my lemon necklace to play on the whole thing

To be honest, I'm not so sure I managed to stop it looking 'Little girl' but at least I achieved a different look with it.

I'm determined to get some mileage out of my beloved summer dresses so that Autumn-blogger bandwagon is passing by this house, untouched for now!!! Call back later Pal!




As you read this, I'll be back at school. I'm trying not to be blue about it, but it's just been a wonderful holiday and I am, I admit, anxious about this new school year, there just seems SO much change and despite doing lots this week, I still feel vastly unprepared! A new headteacher (a maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!), lots of new teachers joining (5-6), lots having left, a new timetable (no Reception and instead- a whole day's worth (spread over the week) of random non-music lessons in year 1 and 2), trying to find the time to train the Reception and nursery staff in music and juggle sharing instruments, a WW1 concert to organise, trying to gather evidence and finally apply for Threshold (upper-pay scale), the possibility I might still be chucked out of my lovely new classroom back to my deafening rabbit hutch, having to sort out all my 6 clubs again, process letters and applications for these (a laborious process), adapt to a new national curriculum or at least silly key-skills that we follow, having to train an orchestra with mostly new beginners, the possibility of my role at school changing to a scarier one.  I will of course, adapt,survive and find the enjoyment and joy in it, but whilst it hasn't happened, I just long for the halcyon days of last year! God be with me! And you too!
xxx


Big thanks to WOMOTM for my new tripod since the old one vanished inexplicably!

52 weeks of happy- flowers, caravans and Atomic Mildred!

1.  I was so happy to meet the lovely Miss Simmonds Says on Sunday at my weekend Music Camp performance.  It is really surreal to meet another blogger but really cool!  We didn't get a huge amount of time to chat but it was so so lovely to meet her and she is just as lovely, if not nicer, in real life!!! Plus her hair is the most awesome thing ever!!!  Thanks so much for coming Clare, it was a delight and I hope to meet you again another time soon!


2.  Speaking of camping, the rampant wildlife was a beauty to behold at the weekend.  There were flowers in abundance.  Everything was green and verdant.











It was lovely to sit in the arboretum and sitting doing some cross-stitch (yes, you heard that right!  Crafty-blog link ups have somehow inspired me to try new things!)
The sun shone and it was beautiful despite one or two cold spells.
It was a sheer pleasure to see friends old and newer and be with them in my happy place, a place that is so familiar for me, a place that rarely changes.  For me, a person who likes things to stay the same, it is always special, always meaningful.  It is always there, those friendships remain, those opportunities to make beautiful music remain, those ties remain.  Though much else may change, it will always be there, I am certain!

3.  I thought it was appropriate that the Apprentice was about caravans as I got to sleep in my friend Ellie's caravan this weekend as I arrived too late to put up a tent.  It was sheer luxury to be there and to have a heated caravan with hot water, toilet, bed, curtains so it wasn't light and to share it with a friend! Her caravan is beautiful!

4.  Oh my year 3 recorders!!!! They've been doing composition tasks based on road rhythms, making their own melodies!  Today, they created really successful pieces which made me really happy!!! I shall quite miss teaching them the recorder next year!

5.  We had a borough-wide singing festival today which I took my choir to.  They sang beautifully, we had a jolly good time. Their solo went really well, and though at the time, I wasn't sure how well it came across, and thought the other schools sang amazingly! However, several people came up and asked me how on earth I managed to get my children to sing in 4part harmony with completely independent lines.  I am lucky that my children this year are just not phased by singing harmony lines and indeed, really enjoy the challenge.  I also looked at the other school choirs and noticed there weren't more than 3 boys in other school choirs.  I looked and noticed that I had 9 boys- so glad that this is something that has changed in my choir 'demographic'.  It's a good thing if it is appealing to boys!

What's made you happy this week, apart from looking at sweetie earrings of course!? ;-)
xx

Daisy daisy!

I often see bloggers sharing wishlists of things they'd like on blogs. I've done maybe one or two in my almost eight years of blogging but in this case, I daren't buy anything, I have far too much, but it's nice to admire pretty things I love daisies!!! For some reason, I have always loved them, so cheerful! I don't really buy much from New Look but the last time I bought anything, on line from there was a daisy shirt from their 9-15 range and a daisy-top!  So I had a look and I spotted lots of gorgeous daisy beauties!  Would you like any of these?

Mel by Melissa Nude Fresh Flower Pumps

I find the Melissa and Vivienne Westwood Anglomania shoes all a bit bizarre just because they are glam but in beach shoe material but I imagine they are very practical because they'd just dry off in the rain! I love seeing bloggers wearing them but they usually have big heels that I wouldn't be able to walk in!  I think these daisy pumps would be really pretty for when I go camping and want something waterproof to slip on.

Rocket dog daisy pumps
These definitely are the epitomy of funky daisy!  Sadly, I find Rocket dog shoes in size 8, a little too small for me (they use size 41 I believe) so it'd be no good me buying them- shame as I love everything about them


Kelly Brook bikini top
I used to have a bikini similar to this as a teenager that I bought from River-island, it was so funky, I wonder what happened to it! I love the retro look

Kelly Brook skirted bikini bottoms
The matching bottoms are really nice because they are aren't too high cut which I don't like! The skirt is a lovely femine touch!

 Parisian lace skater skirt
This is far too short for me but I love the ballet-tutu feel to this!!!

Rocket Dog daisy backpack
I need to check the dimensions on this because I really like it, if it were the size that A4 or bigger could fit in!

Rocket Dog Black Jazzin Daisy Lace up Trainers
Hey these are pretty cute! Hurrah for Rocket Dog!

Desert Lily Navy Crochet Trim T-Shirt

Ok, technically no daisies here but it's pretty AND cotton!!!

Forgive the frivolous! I saw and I shared!xxx