TARDIS Tuesday - Dark Water

Hello there!

Hope you are well.

Today, I am back to my favourite/main orchestra rehearsals with Kensington Chamber Orchestra.  Hooray!

And it's a return to TARDIS Tuesday after a few weeks hiatus.

Last seen in October 2023, I am featuring an outfit worn by Clara Oswald in Dark Water and Death in Heaven.  This was an episode where she is filled with grief over the loss of Danny Pink after her declaration of love.

She wears a dress from French brand, Sessun with an Geometric pattern, navy brogues from Bertie and a Green mac with checked lining from Topshop

Also borrowed from Clara Who Cosplays

My whole outfit is made up of colour alts and I sold my screen accurate shoes last year so I have some navy blue shoes from Aldi I had to buy for my FiL's funeral when I discovered I had only taken walking boots.

The dress I have is made of a different material from the screen accurate one and you can dye it to make it more screen accurate or colour it in but I don't think I'll bother!

The jacket is, still, to this day, my favourite Clara item and I found it in the wild- in my local charity shop.  It's such a lovely cotton coat and is a great mid-season cover-up. I wore it today for school.

This is my second week of trying to get to know the new year 1 children- will I remember their names??? 90 to learn!

xx

 

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

Plums and Aubergines

Things have been a bit fraught this week- mainly due to stressful experiences playing the piccolo.  It's stressful enough playing the piccolo- everyone can absolutely bloomin' 100% hear every single note. It hurts your ears to play such high pitched sounds.  It's quite high pressure and hard work. When the conductor then makes you play a really high, fast, screechy and loud part by yourself at least seven times with the whole orchestra listening in pain (as it's so high)- it does not do much for one's confidence, let alone making it sound any better.  The concert is Sunday. I will survive it. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share this beautiful dress I bought in Winkelmann's- a charity shop or thrift shop in  Bruges.  It's made out of that lovely waffle cotton and cost 7 Euros.

I loved the sort of Prairie/vintage vibes it has going on and is soft, comfortable and easy to wear.

I wore it to church on Remembrance day with my Florence-bought leather boots and my Poppy.

 Despite the stressful start to the week, OUTSIDE of school, actually, in school has been positive and I am going to list the things here to remind me that, though I may be playing the piccolo awfully, school is ok!

• Lovely Year 6 girl bought me After Eight mints because I happened to mention they are amazing!
• Drumming club are hilarious!
• Year 3-4 choir were SO sweet when I announced who got the solos- they came out to their parents and ran screaming to tell them. That I managed to give them that joy made me so happy.
• Year 4 were composing their own melodies yesterday- I'm actually really enjoying their lessons at the moment and they did well!
• Year 1 weren't so awful this week- I've been teaching them 'In and Out the Dusty Blue Bells' - usually chaos but actually wasn't! Even managed to introduce rain sticks and ganzas to accompany it! Not usually done that in previous years.
• Singing Assembly has been full of enthusiasm.  Our Sports Coach LOVES I saw three ships come sailing in and BEGGED me to include it in our Christmas performances.  He practically ran into the hall when we were singing it and belted it out with all the children in Year 3-4
• Year 5-6 were in good spirits this morning and several children told me later, how much they love singing assembly. 
• Introduced all of Year 5 to the Tabla today- they were utterly awestruck by how fantastic it is! Watch the video below right to the end just to see how amazing and virtuosic this instrument can be.
• I am so grateful to the fantastic girl who donated her older brother's unwanted Tabla about 10-13 years ago that has meant I am able to show them it in real life.
• Playground duty this morning- surrounded by my Year 5 girls!
• Grateful for my Year 2 colleague who is probably my closest friend at school now. I would never have imagined we would have become friends originally, as I was a bit scared of her but she is kind and cares.
• Grateful we have a Lidl so close to school!
• Grateful for finding joy in  returning to writing poetry in recent times!

Hope that you can find joy in the things you do this week!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Hide

Hi there,

Back from the holidays!  We had a lovely half term.

The funeral was really lovely. The crematorium was full to the brim and there were many people who live-streamed it.  We played our music and everyone was very complimentary.  My Godmother and Godsister were really grateful and were brilliant. I saw so many old friends and it was lovely.

We spent 4 days in Belgium.  More on that soon (I hope- I'm not very good with travel posts!) 

We met up with CBC's brother and also with some friends from his previous school (who are also my friends now and bizarelly, one of them comes from where I come from!) 

I've had a roaring headache for the past two days which has been really irritating for school but I've ploughed on.

Now onto TARDIS Tuesday.  This features an old favourite which I wore to church on Sunday.

Did I really last feature this in May 2021?? Surely, I've worn it since!!!

Image borrowed from this Pinterest but ultimately belongs to the BBC

It features my beloved Clara in her quintessentially 90's-looking outfit!

A ditsy floral dress, navy blazer in jersey, a Barbour Duralinen jacket and some black laceup boots from F Troupe

Here's my 2024 version.  It's pretty much the same as the last two times I wore it.   

It features an alternative dress from Soulcal which has a similar print and shape plus a New Look blazer alternative.  I wore tights this time, as opposed to leggings and I regretted it on the cycle to church- this dress was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too short to cycle in- I had to keep pulling it down as I cycled and wore my Barbour jacket (seen below) round my waist on the way home.

Richard at church, who I often joke with as he often drives behind me and beeps, "Road hog!" at me, commented on my dress and I mentioned I was regretting it.  He laughed and said he'd missed that! He's in his 80's and loves making fun of me!

I hope all is well with you!

Much love,

Kezzie xx

3 outfits

 It was a fun weekend which I shared. 

A swim in the river, a concert, dinner at our local Chinese, church and tidying the house!

I thought I'd share my outfits from the weekend:

Here is my outfit from Sunday, worn for church.  It's my Mum's 1980's Laura Ashley dress which now fits me well! I wore it with my Lotus blue pumps, Swarovski necklace and a stretchy belt! It's weird the way it looks plain above. As you can see below, it is patterned!

Here's what I wore on Saturday night to go out for dinner! Yes, I wore two of my charity shop purchases bought mere hours before.

The teal dress with wings, the white cotton crochet top plus a pair of Kurt Geiger shoes (charity shopped earlier this year) plus a charity-shopped glass aurora borealis beaded necklace (years ago!)

Ann and Sheila wanted to see more of the wings! Here they are!

Here's what I wore on Saturday to go to the concert. Bernie Dexter poppy-field dress with a Monsoon cobweb cardigan plus my Rieker pumps!

I had my first ensembles this week at school.

All 3 have been really positive and the majority of children seemed really happy to be there and enjoyed it! One amazing experience was that there is a boy who has SEND and he often struggles to stay focused and not become very (EXTREMELY) loud and emotional.  He had been signed up for choir and I was a little worried about how he would be and to my and the lovely TA who stayed to help him, he did not utter one thing the entire time, did not fidget, did not want to leave,  but joined in with all the songs and seemed really happy.  It may not last but I was so happy, for him, that he was able to be there for it and enjoy it!

xx

Summer Outfits worn 1

 I LOVE Summery outfits.  Summer is absolutely my favourite season for clothing.

This dress, from Sainsbury's supermarket is one of my favourite Summer dresses. I tried it on in store originally 2 Summers ago with my sister. I didn't buy it as I also bought some Lilac dungarees and one item was enough to be buying but then regretted it and spent the next year trying to track one down second hand.  It's cotton with a lovely shirred bodice which means it fits really well. I bought this hat in TK Maxx about 18 years ago and I'd not realised they would work together! I wore my Accessorise embroidered espradrilles (also charity-shopped)

Here's what I was wearing the first day I got my hair cut! I bought this T-shirt from Hello Dodo in lockdown from their sample and seconds sale - they have so many funny pun t-shirts. I loved this Gull Power one but they also have one that says "Mean Gulls" on it which makes me giggle and a Christmas jumper which says "Raptor present for ya'" with a raptor with Christmas lights on! Go and have a look for a laugh!  The culottes were secondhand from Emily and Fin (eBay) and are so comfortable except for the fact they have an annoying zip that doesn't quite stay up all the time!  The sandals are from Lotus but they were secondhand on eBay a few years ago.

I bought this dress with tiny peaches on it from a charity-shop 3 weeks ago- it's from Abercrombie and Fitch and reminded me of a beloved dress from New Look I had in my 20's.  It was a no-brainer to pair it with my Lorelai peach earrings plus this Esprit cardigan I bought in Croatia and Rieker lattice flats

For church on Sunday, I wore this Emily and Fin floral dress. It was actually too hot for it as it was too fitted for doing anything active so I changed pretty much straight after church!

The last one in this batch features a charity-shopped handmade skirt (out of some sort of 70's floral fabric) and a F&F orange vest-top plus a Monsoon cobweb cardigan (charity-shopped).  Worn with my Toms Huarache sandals (TK Maxx about 10 years ago)

Another pair of Lorelai LQ earrings and a Cath Kidston necklace

The one which was best for the hot weather was the peachy dress!

Which one is your favourite?

xx

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a joyful Easter!!! 

Christ has died

Christ has risen

Christ will come again!

My Easter weekend has been one of joy and rest as well as being busy!

The school term ended on Thursday! I spent most of the day doing what is called Pupil Voice with children from each year group.  It's something one has to do nowadays as a subject leader in school.  Interview a small group of students to find out what they are learning in that subject to check it is being taught comprehensively, fully and to find out what is working for children/teachers and that the subject is going according to plan.

It's a pain to do but it's useful and interesting and also reassuring (and frustrating when they can't remember things and you have to prompt them!.  Not sure what possessed me to ask them 20 questions this time!

In between that, I took my Samba band up to the hall to perform for the Easter Bonnet parades (as it was raining and windy, we had to do separate ones inside!).  The kids were incredible at performing the Samba and everyone was gushing about how good they were! I love that 1/4 of the group have SEND and are all brilliant!

Once I'd cleared up my room and sent some essential emails (annoyingly cannot access my school email at the moment from home!), I headed home.

I dumped my massive collection of things at home and headed to the doctor's surgery to see the nurse to see if I had a water infection (as have had abnominal pain for the past 2 weeks).  Traces of blood but not infection so she managed to get me in for a Saturday afternoon appointment for the Doctor.

I headed home for a quick snack and then cycled in the dark to church.  The wind was CRAZY!!! Rocking up on my bike to church through dark fields was interesting!

Our vicar is not very well at the moment and the lovely lady who regularly plays piano and leads workshop is currently receiving treatment after surgery so I was on for most of the Easter services.

It was a wonderful calm in the church in the midst of the hurricane outside. The service was beautiful and I only made a few bad crashes on the piano.

I came home and made dinner for myself.

Good Friday, after some sleep but not as much as I'd have hoped (SOMEONE's alarm went off at 6.45am and has done for the past 3 days!!!) I got up and cycled to the other church for the 10.30am Good Friday service. The wind was very much against me and I arrived bright-red and sweaty as I climbed the hill to church...annoyingly 5minutes too late to play flute (which I was going to do to support the lovely lady who was playing the piano for the first time since her op.

Again, it was a lovely service. We laid hearts at the foot of the cross and it was beautiful to be there. I was very glad I'd attempted the cycle.

As I waffle about my weekend, here are some photos of what I wore for Easter Sunday!

I cannot quite believe I have never worn this coat on this blog before but I honestly think it is true. I actually don't think I've worn this coat for about 10 years!  I bought it about 20 years ago from Mathew Williamson at Debenhams in the sale for either £30 or £40 and it is covered in beautiful floral embroidery! My mum was SO jealous of me when I bought it, when we still lived together.  She wore it a couple of times too!

For church I wore this floral Laura Ashley dress from the 80's that my Recorder teacher, Maggie gave to my mum.  Fast forward to 2021 and mum gave it to me where I wore it for my friend's Jane Austen themed Hen day! It's the most sumptuously soft cotton lawn.

Worn with my Karen Millen (charity-shopped) cardigan and some blue boots bought in Florence 2019!

Saturday, I did washing and some cleaning (including successfully using Nancy Birtwhistle's technique to remove some limescale from the taps in the bathrooms!).

CBC took me to my Doctor's appointment.  He's referred me to see a Urologist and to get some scans and ultrasounds (within 2weeks hopefully) plus a bloodtest.  I'm hoping it's Kidney stones perhaps but not sure.

CBC and I then drove to a cycle shop to enquire about a Bike Box as he is taking part in the Mallorca 312 in 3 weeks and we went and we went and had some late lunch at a Pizza restaurant. We shared a Puttanesca pizza with a garlic butter glaze on the crust and it was amazing!!! I don't say that about Pizza very often! We went for a short walk to the seafront and then we returned home

At home, we did some bits and pieces and I read and then I made some dinner.

Easter Sunday, as my abdomen was hurting in the night, I was really tired when my alarm went off at what was (due to clocks going forward) 5am, and I was really sad to miss the 6.15am sunrise service at church.  I got up at 8.30am and was at church by 9.05am to play piano.

It was a lovely, joyful service and I didn't make any major mistakes on the piano! I love this small country church- such a lovely gentle congregation.  After the service, I got a lift to the other church (we have a 2 church parish) for the second service I was playing for. Same songs but totally different service.  Equally joyful but in such a different way! I was inspired and invigorated by the services and am grateful to have faith in a God who loves me!

After church, I cycled home (downhill this time) and ate breakfast with CBC who had STILL not left for cycling. I carried on reading and then spent quite a gentle afternoon.

CBC and I just got back from buying each other an Easter egg at Sainsbury's and we are about to eat dinner!

Wishing you the joy of Easter and fresh chances

xx

I cy

Lollies and foxes

 I haven't shared an outfit outside of TARDIS Tuesday for a little while so here's an outfit from last Saturday night.  CBC's mum and brother were staying with us- it's the first time we've had both our spare rooms used for guests- the sofa bed got its first outing!  We went to our favourite Thai restaurant for dinner after I had played for my church carol service.  I'd been wearing a large amount of clothes for church as it was outside but not I needed to wear something more stylish.  CBC's colleague says I need an intervention as we go to this Thai restaurant so much!

I wore this lovely dress from Palava Folk which features lollypops! It's made of 100% cotton and is beautiful.  My iridescent snowflake necklace gave me some sparkles.

I decided I wanted to wear my fox shoes from Love Hetty and Dave since I was going in the car and only walking from the car.

Wrapped up in my sheepskin jacket (charity shopped from the Dogs Trust about 5 years ago) and a lovely orange hat that CBC bought me for Christmas a few years ago.

Hope you are well!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara Oswald from Robots of Sherwood- historical outfit

Hi there!

For TARDIS Tuesday this week, after a few weeks of Classic Who companions, I am returning to a modern Who companion- Clara, of course! But, in a surprise change from the modern, tight-fitting or short outfits she is usually known for, we have a historical outfit, worn in the episode, Robots of Sherwood, where Clara and the Doctor encounter Robin Hood.  She does start the episode wearing a modern outfit, which I have worn on this blog before, but this is the first time I have attempted her historical outfit.

Let's have a look at it:

https://whona.forumotion.com/t10012-s8e3-robot-of-sherwood-spoilers

It features a red/orange velvet dress with gold edging,it has long sleeves with drapy ends with undersleeves. It has a fitted bodice and the skirt is more flowing.

https://coffeeandirony.com/2014/09/07/doctor-who-robot-of-sherwood-screencaps/

She wears a Topshop headchain and silver feather earrings.

And now, lets see what I came up with:

This is, as you can see, not a strictly accurate rendition, more of a nod to the original but it came after I found this Maid Marian dress in the charity shop. It was only £6 and I already thought, "Right, that's World Book Day next year sorted!".  The possibilities of it being a Clara dress also did occur to me!

 I bought the gold feather earrings from a craft fair quite a few years ago.  The headchain posed a bit of a problem but I remembered this brooch I wore as an Amy Pond cosplay and figured I could fashion a headchain from it. I did try to hang it from a gold snakechain but it was SO slidy it kept falling off my head, despite hair grips so I attached it to a leather thong instead which, though looks less effective, did the job!

TARDIS Tuesday - Peri meets Clara!!!

Hi there!

It's time for another Summery TARDIS Tuesday!  I was planning to wear this outfit worn by Clara Oswald in Doctor Who, The Ultimate Guide.  I last wore it here for TARDIS Tuesday in September 2020

Image borowed from this Pinterest

The outfit is a beautiful oil-slick rainbowy dress from Yumi.  She wears it with a pair of black/white/yellow, colour block, T bar sandals from Dune, a pair of winged sunglasses and a straw hat.

It's a great summery outfit in many ways!

Here's my version:

I LOVE anything oil-slicky or rainbowy so this dress was one I was eager to find early on in my Clara phase! It was often available as a resell from other cosplayers at a high price but I waited until I found a muggle selling one for less than £10.  It was a bit twisted in this picture! Mental note to self- look in mirror before taking a photo.  It is SO much prettier in real life than it comes across in pictures!

I wore CBC's charity shopped genuine Panama for the photo (I bought it for him!) and a pair of sunglasses I bought in Greece.  I wore both of these last time I wore this outfit.  Finally, I added my Clarks T-bar leather shoes.  These are my standard concert shoes now- they were charity-shopped and are super comfy!

This is a great sunny day outfit BUT for the material it is made out of. Whilst it is breathable, it is synthetic so not convinced I would want to wear this out on a scorching sunny day though for an evening out, it would work!

However, as I was wearing the dress, admiring its lovely rainbowyness, I suddenly wondered if it would work as an alternative top for Peri's Two Doctors outfit, an outfit I interpreted around a month ago or so.

I knew it wouldn't take too much effort to locate the shorts and headband which were lying on my spare room floor and the shoes which are my garage shoes so I quickly tried to see if I could turn the dress into a top. Ta daaaaaaa!

All I did was roll the dress up and tuck it under the waistband and I undid the zip on the dress a bit. Admittedly it looks a bit chunky but I think some other Claras could try and do a Peri outfit using this dress too!

What do you think?  Does it work better than my previous interpretation of the top?

So here they are, side by side:

Which one do you prefer?

xx