Three bloggers go mad in Ipswich!

Totally stole Hazel's pic!

It has taken me ages to write this post, for reasons which I will explain in a minute but I was really fortunate to meet up with Sophie at Sophie in the Sticks and Hazel at World of Joy for a blogger meet-up in Hazel's home town Ipswich.  I was very excited this because I've been reading both of these blogging ladies' blogs for several years now and been writing to Sophie for at least 3 years so it was really exciting.  CBC said, "Wow, you're actually meeting Sophie!" (Sophie is the ONE blogger he remembers and talks about when he talks about my blogging friends!).  Hazel was very efficient in organising our meet-up and I was so pleased to meet her!

I jumped on a train ridiculously early and Hazel was waiting for me at the gates and Sophie appeared literally seconds later!  Utterly surreal and great meeting them in real life!

We headed off down the road on Hazel's charity shop tour of Ipswich. I must say, she had a brilliant route planned.

We walked along chatting and devastatingly, the heavenly sounding charity-shop with attached tearoom had shut down!!! Not to be  easily defeated, we simply headed into a  tasty-looking coffee shop for beverages and a good chat!



And then,  we headed on through Ipswich visiting a good 10 or more charity shops. I was impressed by lots of them. There was a brilliant Salvation Army which I found loads in (and everything I bought was marked down) and then the best was a £1 Cancer Research shop in which I found 3 items I liked and 2 books.




At some point, we stopped for lunch, Hazel led us towards a great place that was quiet, tasteful and quick. I had a delicious fish-finger sandwich (Aren't I terrible- manage a picture of a sandwich but not much else!)

The adventure continued, I managed to sneak a little picture or two!


I was actually planning to gather together all the things I bought (lots of them-eek!!)  to add into this post but I've worn most of the items and they are scattered around the house in various washing baskets, clean or dirty, in drawers, hanging on banisters or lying on the spare bed. Yes, I'm no domestic siren!

Hazel had a great idea for a challenge for our outing. Two of us had to buy an item for the third to style up, so essentially we each ended up with an item to style, bought by the others.

Hazel and I managed to sort Sophie in the first shop, we saw a turquoise polka dot knitted mini-dress that we thought was just her.
Sophie and I, knowing Hazel's love of stripes, found something a little different, a sort of coloured stripy maxi dress.

And what did they buy for me:

Well, the reason I have taken so long to write this post (apart from BEDM) is that it's been rather too cold for the item I was bought. They chose me a beautiful red, sleeveless, frilly mini-dress with an adorable umbrella print all other it. red-check, fun print- check, ruffles- check!  It was a great item, very, very much in my style!

I finally got around to wearing it on the bank holiday Sunday as we paid a visit to RHS Hyde Hall.

How did I style it?

A hat of course- charity shopped straw with red band, black cardie and grey leggings as it wasn't THAT warm, sensible black Rieker shoes for walking around and a black necklace given to me by my friend Ellie


It was nice to be bright in this setting, against a backdrop of foliage.

I loved the item they bought me, it will be great for sunny days that I hope are coming! Thanks for a great choice! It was a great day and I am very pleased we managed to meet up. Huge thanks to Hazel for being an ace host!

You can read Sophie's styled post here and Hazel's one here to see what we bought each other and how they styled it!

xx

P.S. Thank you, thank you,thank you for all the kind comments- you are wonderful.I was out swing-dancing last night and had a headache on Monday  so haven't had a chance to visit everyone yet!

Linking to Hat Attack with Judith, the one and only StyleCrone

A cloche with a hair cut to match

Claire Justine recently posted a brilliant post where she documented her hair cuts over the last 5 years. I was truly amazed and impressed at the sheer range of different styles she had had. Me,not so. I fluctate between 2 hairstyles and the growth between these and have done for at least 13 years or so, if not my whole life. Bob with feathered ends and then long. I had an awful haircut once when I was 14 which involved my Mum, some wine, a pair of hairdressing scissors, me putting my head wonkily and so I am wary of trying anything new.

On Friday, I decided that I needed to get my hair cut as the last time it was chopped was July.  I've been known to go over a year without a trim or anything and was feeling a bit shabby.

I went to the salon in my old home town which I have been frequenting since I was about 14 and had it chopped.  It feels wonderful, light and bouncy and I discovered the benefit of getting my haircut in the midwinter- suddenly, my cloche hats look like they are supposed to!!



Indulge me!! I was trying to capture a picture of the hat I wore to church this morning and decided to go with the silliness.

This particular cloche was a very lucky find in a charity shop a little while ago. Brand new with tags for £3.50 from some Italian name, I liked the sparkly feature star.  I kept the labels on for a while because I felt guilty about buying a black cloche hat when I already had one (with feathers and a ribbon) but somehow didn't find anyone to give it to (didn't want to send it in case it got squashed!) and so decided to give it its debut with the new hair cut.



I've had a fair bit of luck with hats in Charity-shops over the years and so I thought I'd say this to you.
If you like charity-shopping but never see a hat you like, try it on. Honestly, some hats look different on the mannequin but on you, they suddenly come alive.  Same with any hat shopping, just try it. So many people have told me hats don't suit them but you just have to try them.  Change the angle of the hat, wear it at a rakish or jaunty angle and all of a sudden, it takes on its true character.  Nobody really bats an eyelid when I wear them now, because they are used to them. Except when I wear my cossack hat, but you know, that's understandable.  Take a tip from the beautiful Style Crone, Judith, founder and host of Hat Attack.  Judith has a whole host of wonderful hats that become her so beautifully.  She has all different styles.

My weekend hasn't quite worked out the way it was meant to. We didn't end up being in the places we were supposed to at the right times, but it was still a good weekend on the whole. I have a bit of a rotten cough and co but life is good, no complaints.
xxx


Linking with:








and 52 Pick me up with Spy girl


Hat Attack with Style Crone
Creative Mondays with Claire Justine
Magpie Mondays with Liz Burton
52 Pick me with with Anne,  Spy girl

Following Hadrian

This post has taken a while to come but I wanted to share some photos along the way from our visit to Northumberland to see CBC's parents, the famous WOMOTM and J!  My favourite walk, as mentioned several times before, is the walk from Haltwhistle along the Burn up towards Hadrian's wall.  The first time I met CBC's parents,  we took this beautiful walk from Haltwhistle, along the Burn, up to the Military Road, up to Cawfields to Cragg Lough where we end our journey with a trip into the Twice Brewed pub.
The photos are a mixture of mine and WOMOTM's.  The weather conditions made clear photos quite difficult but here are the best.


Above is a curious pipe and platform that always captures my interest on the Burn.  It looks so red, like it is made of iron, rusting away.  Can anyone offer a scientific explanation to this phenomenom?


There are a few houses along the Burn and I was rather taken by the foxy Wind direction ornament on top of one of the houses which I've never noticed before. That's why I love the Burn walk, there's always something new to notice!


There's a few bridges across the Burn so someone always takes it upon themselves to forge a pionerring path first.  CBC in this case.


I'm resisting the temptation to share yet another picture of the faces in the Gorge rock face, which is a geological wonder and so interesting, but perhaps you might get bored of them. I'm not.  You never know, I might post one later on.


One sight to see that I enjoy looking out for is what I coin as Rapunzel's tower.



Onwards and upwards, out of the valley up to the Military Road, which is an incredibly straight road, built along the original path laid by the Romans of course.  Here we stood, at the cross-roads, so to speak.
Oh, and I'd like to introduce a new hat I've had for a little while but which has not made its blog debut, a beautiful soft furry trapper hat with fake leather exterior (not seen) which I found in a charity shop in Maldon. It was WONDERFUL for such a cold day! I should really Hat-attack it!


We walked up towards Hadrian's wall (what's left of it) starting at Cawlfields, where there is a quarry. 





Here is the remains of the Roman Milecastle (Milecastle 42, I believe).  They are so called because they were built every mile along the wall I presume.


Hadrian's wall is quite low now- I wonder how tall it was in Hadrian's day?


CBC's incredible eyesight told him that this was a double-propellered helicopter ages before WOMOTM and I could tell.


The journey continued with some quite steep hikes at times but the path was been well kept a lot of the time, just a few slidy, muddy matches. I've never done this walk in warm weather!


The order is always CBC, Me, WOMOTM, or sometimes the latter two swap places.


This was quite exhausting reaching the top but it is a privilege to walk in a place quite so steeped in history.


Finally, we reached the Trig-point at Crag Lough.
CBC is holding on for dear life-it really was blustery up there.


Victory to the men!


The last stretch to Crag Lough- I've never been further than this and I'd really like to.  Behind that large hump is a rather beautiful lake I've never got close to.




Oh look, you can see where the trapper hat came into its own! SO warm!


As you may tell from my What is it? post series, I like seeing pictures in objects.


Here were three friendly faces from my walk:




Trig point beaver.


Yawning hedgehog tree.


Pursed lips Bishop (with large nose).  Notice his little pointy-nosed crony up to the right!


By the time we'd reached the Twice Brewed pub for lunch (fish-finger sandwich!), we had walked 6.1miles and so decided seek alternative travel arrangements home!


If you ever make it to Northumberland, and I do suggest you do, since it is one of the most unspoilt places in all England, make a point to do some walking along the wall.


xxx
If you wish to take some of the paths along Hadrian's wall, see this website.

Don't rain on my parade

Another Style imitating art challenge has come and gone and I managed to get in on the act last minute!  This time, the ever-innovative Jen chose an animated film as her inspiration called 'Parade'.  This film is super and features all sorts of interesting puppets and collaged characters. Plus, I do like Sousa's Stars and Stripes forever (we did this in my windband with 9 piccolos!). So much colour and vibrant moments to choose from but one of the stills that Jen provided was my inspiration

I decided to wear a hat but rather than my initial idea of red beret which just seemed too red with the coat, I swapped for my mustard beret  (from Miss Simmond says) to capture those dashes of mustard in the picture.  I alluded to the smily faced clown through my smiling Gingerbread man (present from Jille) .  The man's criss-cross blue sweater was references through my blue asymmetric-necked jumper as were the Irregular choice shoes.  The large quantity of red shows through my coat and finally, the obvious one- the cartoon-car skirt paid homage to the clown's preferred mode of transport!


This was a great fun one to think about and while I think my outfit was rather over the top and busy (and let's face not remotely chic!) , I still think it worked as a cohesive outfit AND was comfortable and cosy too.

xxx

Linking to Hat Attack with the Style Crone

Stop all the clocks!

At the weekend, I mentioned going to my concert in Victoria.  I saw the opportunity to visit the Cath Kidston flagship store. I PROMISE I intended to buy nothing but when I saw the clock skirt (and with £6 off), I somehow went into Automaton mode and ended up buying it. I do love clock-themed items- it stems from a Doctor Who obsession and an Alice in Wonderland obsession.

I wore it out immediately the next day to church and it was clocked (ha!) instantly by a clock-obsessive who like me, dreams of having an entire mantlepiece of ramshackle clocks of all kinds!

I teamed it up with these George Dalmatian-print shoes, Grandad's boater hat, green thrifted satchel, Dotty Perks pearl collar  and  this t-shirt which caused much consternation at church. It says, "So what if I pray like a girl?" and in smaller writing, "Men and women, all are equal and one in Christ," from Galatians.  I tried to make the point that no, the slogan is not biblical, the point is that God hears everyone's prayers,regardless of who you are.









After church, the weather was SO glorious that I managed to persuade an over-worked and stressed CBC to drive us to Papermill Lock in Little Baddow near Chelmsford for a spot of lunch in the tea-rooms.  It's on the river Chelmer and is a lovely place for cycling to as you come down North Hill, Essex's highest and steepest hill and end with the reward of tea and cake (and nice lunches). The only  bit I don't like is cycling back up it so you can carry on over the river to Hatfield Pevrell and get home that way. It's very easy to reach from the A12.


You can take a short cruise along the river. We ourselves cruised on this boat the day after the wedding with family members.

After lunch, I persuaded CBC to walk along the river for a bit. As you can see from the facial expression, he was SO unimpressed and just wanted to get home.

Much excitement from all those in the tea-rooms as this boat went down in the lock. We seasoned bargers (ha! One 2 day trip!) were rather more nonchalant about it! Did you hear about that barge in the papers that got caught on the back of the lock gates and completely filled with water! It did sober me in regards to how you have to be so careful on a lock!

The canoers were out in force and had I not been in skirt and heels, I would have considered joining in!

Just a couple of the boats around.



Hows you all.
Thanks for the nice comments re my food.  Glad you liked my choices and I was intrigued at the sausage opinions- it seems that I am not wrong to dislike the LM veggie sausages!

***

Linking up to Hat Attack

 and
Fashion Item Friday

Old Skool Boater

Hello there!  Thanks for all your kind advice and empathy over my dancing lack of confidence crisis- it IS comforting to know that these things improve with age and also that I am not alone in it. I appreciate each and every word you kind ladies and gents (I love the fact I can say that!!!) write to me each time you visit- you make blogging the community and kind place it is.

Greetings from the cool tree in my local park! I absolutely adore this tree- not sure what sort it is but it is huge! I adore the texture and walking around it, looking at the all the nobbles and lines that show its age and wisdom!  If I could find my wretched tripod,  (WOMOTM can I please have that spare you offered next time I come up?) I would totally come over here to take photos occasionally as it's such a nice spot. It's by the pitch-and-put golf course and you can be there for several minutes without anyone passing!

I like lots of aspects of this outfit and wanted to share them (sorry if that bores you and sorry WOMOTM, I know you don't like these posts!)  - firstly, the chambray dress. I really liked the chambray 'trend' (dare I say that word- not sure what I am talking about really or whether it was a trend in the world at large or just in blog world?!) last summer and really like the idea of a chambray dress but didn't really like anything in the shops at the time, nor wanted to pay much for something.  I found this ruffly dress in a charity shop just before Easter for about £3 so was super chuffed!CBC liked it too which is always a bonus! It proves that all good things come to those who wait!

I added the stripy cardigan which was bought several years ago now- I like its 'old skool' appearance and I was always a little smug that I bought it from the Primark aged 12-13 collection- it was £3 cheaper than the adult equivalent and had red buttons (more fun) instead of navy!
Purple tights and Converse added to the old-skool look (not sure how exactly the tights are old skool but movin' on...).  These Converse have a story too. I bought these in Bali last time I was there in 2005.  I went off with my friend Emily one day and we both went into Matahari, a big shopping centre and department store in Denpasar, and both bought trainers- me these and she purple Vans (she LOVES purple more than me!) and then we both bought LOST series 1 and 2 on DVD and I got to see what happened at the end of series 2 in England before it came on TV (which was good as I was actually away when it viewed!).  We were so happy at our purchases- which were bought for about £7 in local currency. We then went to Jalan Sulawesi which is a HUGE street full of material shops! When we got back to the hotel and the rest of our Gamelan group, they asked where we'd been and we shuffled around and shared our purchases to the envy of others!  I realise that I haven't actually worn my black/red Converse on this blog since Easter 2010 (here- at Hever Castle)

Cat's eye sunglasses that I found in a drawer recently (they hurt- bit too tight! I have a big head?) and newly washed, unbrushed, undried hair gave me a nice messy look!). There was also a binoculars necklace which evidently annoyed me as I took it off by the second photo!

Finally the piece-de-resistance:  A straw boater.  Remember I said that all good things come to those who wait?  Well, I have wanted a straw boater for ages. Considering my epic hat collection (over 60 hats- not counted exactly though!), I didn't have a short-brimmed boater (Mum does but she's not giving it over).  I have seen them on ASOS etc but thought they were a bit too expensive. Others in shops have often been too small.
Well, when I was clearing, sorting and tidying at Grandad's house the week before half-term, I was clearing the spare room and in the top of a cupboard I found this straw boater AND another hat (which will be saved for another post). I was SOO pleased- something else I wanted but now I have one that belonged to either my Grandad or Nan! It could even be an old school boater! Nobody else was interested in it so it was ALL miiiiiiiiine*. It has a black ribbon round it but when I was dressing that day, I suddenly thought to wrap my Chambray polka dot wired headband round the brim to give it a different look!
It needs a little putting together, one of the straw seams is working a little loose- any millinery ideas for getting the layers to stick together greatly appreciated (glue? Needle and thread? Other?)

I was lucky that my friend M came out to visit CBC and I in our new home last Thursday - she took my photo by my favourite tree and then I took hers! It was really nice to have her- she's such a great friend, someone who is honest, kind, generous and so interested. She is also INCREDIBLY organised and motivated- these are good attributes for me to aspire to since I am not!  She'll always tell you what she thinks and will be honest and she's so generous. She saw that our old church needed a new hoover for doing the cleaning and just went out and bought a Dyson. Saw a gap and filled it- no fuss, no big deal, just did it.  She was also the painter of the squirrel on our wall- her wedding present to us! She gave me her art portfolio and we got to choose which painting we wanted which she then had framed! It was perfect for us as we love red squirrels and CBC has a cute red squirrel postcard display in his study!  I first met her at church. She used to go to the 8.00am service for a few months when joining our church and then came to a few 10.30 services. I shook hands with her at the Peace a few times and then finally, having really wanted to get to know her, chased her out of the church as she was leaving one Sunday to say hi and introduce myself properly. She always tells people that's how we met! She always laughs about it!

We went to a local arts, crafts and artisan place for lunch and to look around and then we came back to our house for a tour.  CBC then went off for a cycle and we walked over to the local park for several laps of the lake. I like keen walkers and she is certainly one of those!
 
I'll be seeing her again on the 29th of June for my concert at St John's Smith Square, Westminster.  It's going to be a great concert so get yourself to London and come along to it!!! Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Tickets available from www.sjss.org


Do you have any recent made friends (well, we've been friends for 5-ish years now) who you have made and you just get on so well with?

Hugs to all x

Linking to Hat attack with the amazing true hat fanatic Judith AKA Style Crone!!


Next, with the totally cool Bella at Citizen Rosebud who is giving me a wave of nostalgia with her 90's photos!

Thirdly with the fabulous Fashion item Friday with Renae at Simple Sequins


* Cue manic Dictator, Herbert Von Takeoverzevorld, Mwa ha ha ha ha laughter!