TARDIS Tuesday -Kerblam!

Ha, it's 2 years, practically, since I last featured this outfit on the blog- in fact, I mentioned the Albert Hall concert in the post.

I ended up throwing this sweater on for church on Sunday morning - not sure how it ended up being in a position for quick grabbing but it did! I was very late! I just had to throw on clothes as I got out of bed!

The outfit is worn by Yaz in my favourite series 11 episode, Kerblam.

It features her series 11 staple- a jumper  and jeans with her All Saints Jacket worn over the top

This outfit has one of the cosplay world's elusive items- the sweater from a brand called Maison De Nimes.

Here's me in it!

It's  a simple outfit - the sweater, which I am lucky enough to own the Screen Accurate version, is comfy and fits me well.  I wore my black ASOS trousers and my Ash Bowie trainers plus my charity-shopped leather jacket.

Confession- I didn't wear that jacket for church- I wore my Barbour jacket instead as it was warmer!

 When I got back, I ended up doing some housework, having some breakfast.

I have a funny story.

Yesterday, the door went and it was my neighbour Martyn.  He his opening comment was, "I'm going to pick up some Alpaca poo tomorrow...would you like me to get some also?"

I laughed a lot! This morning (Sunday, when I wrote this), I heard the intercom on my door go and I pressed the button and said, "Hello, Martyn, have you got poo for me??!?"

Luckily, when I opened the door, it WAS Martyn- would have been really embarrassing if it had been anyone else!?!?!  

I spread it over my raised bed along with some top soil and I'd already put a load of raked leaves on there too.  I need some more topsoil.

We've got this massive palm tree in the garden and it's getting to be a bit of a problem. I was cutting it back this afternoon and it's got these massive spikes and one of them is caught in my middle finger knuckle- I can't get it out!  

I bought some cornflour from the refill shop and we used it for the first time to crisp up some tofu- may need to figure out how to give it a bit more flavour but it was was ok for a first try!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Yaz Khan from the Ghost Monument

Good evening!  Greetings from a very tired me on the penultimate day of term.  I needed a quick outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and I realised I had the perfect outfit which could be interpreted as Christmas jumper outfit...sort of!

I last wore this outfit on the blog in November 2020 (and first in January 2020)- I have worn this outfit outside of the blog but not shared online.  It was worn by Yasmin Khan in her second episode, The Ghost Monument.

It's a standard Yasmkin Khan outfit- leather jacket, jumper, jeans and trainers.  Her jumper is from Mint Velvet and her jacket from All Saints.

Here's today's  version.   For the first time since I last wore this, I can actually find my orange jumper! I originally had a red one but bought an orange one but it kept hiding when I wanted to wear it for a photo. It's a bit bigger but is warm and comfy. 

The rest of the outfit is not particularly interesting- I wore black trousers and boots, rather than trousers and jeans so it worked for school.

My trusty River Island leather jacket to the rescue again!

Had a really funny thing happen today.  We had an online Zoom assembly which I had to have with my year 1 class last lesson.  At the end, everyone left and I hadn't managed to press the Leave button.  Suddenly, our teacher said, "Hello, are you still here? Shall I continue my story?".

He then proceeded to tell us a story about a little boy in his house who tries porridge and chairs and gets visited by Red Riding Hood, a Wolf, 3 pigs.  Just as it got exciting, he had to go. 

It was so surreal and funny and I have no idea why it happened but it was brilliant!

CBC's carol service went really well last night! I was super proud of him!

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday

Hello there visitors,

I hope you are well!

For TARDIS Tuesday this week, I have something new to share!  This is always exciting!

I have @_rachelmmillar on Instagram to thank for this one.  She contacted me to ask about a Yasmin Khan item I had identified and then  kindly told me about some items she had identified herself.

But what was that?

It is the jumper from an outfit worn by Series 11,12 & 13 companion, Yasmin Khan. She wore this briefly at the end of New Year special, Resolution and also wore it for an appearance on Children in Need in 2019 to meet a sweet little girl who was a huge fan!

Rachel identified the jumper as a jumper from White Stuff with a sequined star on it. She wears it with a pair of black skinny jeans and boots (I think they may be her Dune ones) and her ox-blood All Saints leather jacket.  In the Comic Relief outfit, we see her Alex Monroe floral initial necklaces (Y and Z)

Well, here's my attempt:

I started with the jumper, which will make a great any season but useful for a simple Christmas jumper.

I found it for £3.50 on Vinted. With postage, it was about £6. It is warm as it contains Alpaca and lamb's wool in a blend.

I added my brown leather jacket from River Island which comes from a Clara outfit and is what I wear most times in place of Yaz's ubiquitous All Saints leather jacket..

I didn't bother to go more accurate on the trousers and boots and just wore a pair of denim trousers from F&F (charity shopped) and black Clarks boots.

I am VEXED that I appear to have lost my Avon floral K necklace which goes with my Z necklace that I usually wear in place of Yaz's Alex Monroe letters- it's been missing for a few months and I've searched to no avail. Either, I left it somewhere, it got sucked up by the hoover or ????

Annoying. Instead, I wore the little Y and Z I made out of silver mirrored card a few years ago which I hung on chains with jump rings.  Pretty flimsy and only to be worn in the house (I wore my Alex Monroe bee necklace when I was out) but they look the part.

I thought it would be fun to recreate this image (well, mirrored) from Resolution, sans bunting.

We had an absolutely lovely weekend.   Saturday morning (and early afternoon) was spent frantically cleaning and tidying the house. I had invited CBC's brother to come and stay for the weekend as we hadn't seen him for months and it was also a very good incentive to clean the house.

We picked him up and headed to an Escape room.  I am happy to report that we solved it with 9minutes to spare and we all helped and felt we had taken part. It's much better with 3. When we do them with 6, I tend to miss out on a lot.  We then headed to a lounge restaurant for some late-lunch Tapas and then onto a French bar/restaurant for some tea and went to watch free fireworks on the seafront, standing by the cliff railway.  After this, we headed to dinner at a Thai restaurant.  Back home, we drank mint tea and headed to bed.

The next morning, I was up early to go to church. This morning, the vicar was playing keyboard and it was the first time I had played flute next to him. He's a really good musician though I found it a bit harder to see the music.  The service was excellent.

I headed back home and enjoyed some late breakfast with CBC and his brother T. 

We then drove to the seaside to do a circular walk, enjoying some lunch in a seafront cafe/art gallery which we had all to ourselves.  We then dropped CBC's brother to the station and drove home.

We both felt very positive for having spent time with T and having a tidy house so headed back home in an  upbeat frame of mind.

Luckily, only one rehearsal for me this week in the evenings though CBC has persuaded me to come and play viola for a music festival performance on Friday for his school.

Hope you have a good week!

xx

sdsds

TARDIS Tuesday- Fluffy and Cosy Yaz Khan

 Hello there!

I sometimes wonder which season is more difficult for TARDIS Tuesday- Winter or Summer? I think probably Summer so I am glad I have some cosy Winter cosplays to wear for these posts!

The one I am sharing today is a favourite- it is Yaz Khan's first civilian outfit in her debut episode, The Woman who fell to Earth.  This will be the second time I have featured it- the first time being in January 2021- the first week of online lessons!

It was the PERFECT outfit for a VERY frosty day spent at home and doing some shopping in town!

Let's look at the inspiration:

It features a lovely beige, fluffy, hooded teddy coat from Zara, an unidentified pink wool sweater with a simple collar, blue jeans, burgundy leather gloves and Dune Pacey boots in Burgundy

The only identified items from the outfit, as far as I can remember are the Zara coat. I obtained mine for £12, secondhand from Depop and it is my favourite Car journey coat- it is light but cosy- like wearing a furry blanket. I wore it last time I wore this outfit.  

The other item I wore last time was the pink sweater- it was £4 second hand and is very soft.  I don't know where her real jumper is from!

The new elements for me, this time at least, were I have obtained the other identified element- The Dune Pacey flatform brogue boots and that pair of comfy blue jeans from M&S that I mentioned obtaining a few weeks ago.  

My hair was still wet in the picture- I just washed it! I realise I did my side-plait on the wrong side.

Oh, I wore my wool burgundy gloves for the picture! I don't have leather ones but these ones that were a present work perfectly well.I could only find one of them and then suddenly thought to check a handbag which has hats in- there it was!

I went to town with CBC, who isn't very well, to try and buy a sweater for my sister but they didn't have it in stock. I bought lots of vegetables, a top in the Salvation Army, a couple of books and bits in the Barnardos and in Wilkos, we picked up a mini Christmas tree for £12 and a new shower Squeegie! We had a brief late lunch in a nice little tea room.

When we got home, I hung some washing, did a bit of tidying, finished off yet another recycled Christmas craft and read a little.

Did I tell you about the Instagram competition I won? 

Last Christmas, I won a £50 book voucher for my favourite Northumbrian book shop. I bought children's books for school!

This year, I have won a complete set of books by Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series,  which I entered to try and win for my school library! They are her own personal author copies! They are not pristine she says, but author owned!  I'm excited to read the latest one which I haven't read yet!!  Can't wait for them to arrive!

Hope you are well!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Rosa Parks- Yaz Khan.

 And back to school it is! I almost feel like I haven't been away.  It was a tough day to go straight into- Year 1 all morning and Year 2 in the afternoon.  Year 1 learnt to dance and sing a Polka Song, Year 2 were comparing two pieces about fireworks- Handel's Music from the Royal Fireworks and Stravinsky's Fireworks.  Both year groups not too bad! 

I wanted to wear something comfortable and cosy for school so what better way to meet this want with a delve into Yaz Khan's wardrobe- hers is definitely the most suitable for Winter wardrobes.  I have selected her outfit from the episode entitled 'Rosa' which was about Rights activist, Rosa Parks.  The episode deals with how a disgruntled man from the future wants to stop Rosa's historical refusal to leave her seat for a white person which led to hugely important reforms for black rights.  It's a wonderful episode.  I last attempted this outfit for TARDIS Tuesday back in April 2019 (eek,how is that almost 3 years ago!?!)

Let's look at it:

Image borrowed from Express.co.uk

She wears her trademark brown leather jacket from All Saints along with standard skinny jeans.  Today, the variants are her navy spot jumper which I identified as coming from Whitestuff and a pair of pale pink Adidas trainers.



Here's my 2022 version of this.

I wore the same jumper as last time (I purchased a size 16 secondhand  as I love baggy jumpers- so much more comfortable) and wore my Clara Oswald leather jacket  which always doubles for Yaz's jacket.  My trusty ASOS black fitted trousers which I always wear to emulate black skinny jeans (alas, they are getting a bit tight!).  I am also wearing Adidas trainers but not pink ones- my ones belonged to my stepdad but they didn't quite fit him so he gave them to me instead.

Tomorrow is another day! Year 5 and 6 tomorrow! I'll get used to this new timetable soon!

xx

Stripes and Phones

 Sometimes, I get ridiculously over-the-top emotional and irrational about things and feel bit bit like I'm going a bit mad. I hate myself for it, beat myself up over it and then realise, my hormones are probably responsible.  Something happened today- something which in about 99% of people's worlds would be a nice thing, a really nice thing.   I reacted to it negatively with exasperation- stroppily (not directly TO anyone but outloud in my house to CBC) and then felt utterly miserable with how much of a horrible person I was/am, how ungrateful and (and please don't tell me, I'm not, because if you knew the details of the situation, you would think I was indeed not good) and then got annoyed again.   Sometimes, I need to just shut up and realise when my hormones are in their bad place and not say anything or do anything- then I won't have these horrible feelings about it.  The only people that know about my reaction are my Mum (who I cried down the phone to and incoherently rambled about it twice) and CBC (who was impatient, then understanding, then impatient again) and my friend Lara (who was the rational voice of calm and reason that made me feel better about the situation and how to react to it).

I wish I didn't get so ridiculously emotional over really stupid things! I remember last July getting totally stressed over something and blowing it out of proportion and it always seems to coincide with hormones but because of the medication I have been taking for the past couple of years, I am a bit hazy with where I am so I don't realise when it might be a time where I am going to get irrationally emotional until it has happened.

I don't like myself when that happens- CBC is a saint to put up with irrational emotion me.  Perhaps that makes up for me being patient with him being an irrational grump bag at times- perhaps we balance it out?

Anyway, that doesn't really segue into the rest of the post at all but I took some photos of an outfit from when we still had snow. I'm not sure when it was but it was before Half Term- possibly the Saturday.

The snow week, I kept cosy all week by wearing mainly cashmere and wool jumpers. It was nice to be able to do that when I wasn't rushing around because I was cosy without getting too hot in my cashmere!

This dark pink jumper was charity-shopped a few years ago and I remember the first time I wore it was for the first rehearsal with one of the orchestras I played with- I had to travel on the rail replacement and I wore this jumper with this Cath Kidston telephone skirt (bought 2nd hand)- I always seem to pair the two together

That day, I suddenly remembered I had these stripy thick tights which sort of went with the top and decided to wear them.  This is unusual because I have been avoiding tights like the plague for the last few years and sticking to leggings and socks as I am fed up with saggy tights having to be hoiked up all the time.  But I'd forgotten that these tights were a delightfully well-fitting pair (from Tescos) and that, in fact, I liked wearing certain woolly tights- it was a bit of a revelation for me because I felt really guilty about all the tights I have but don't wear.  Tights aren't exactly the type of thing people would want to buy 2nd hand from a charity shop and it'd be a waste to cut them up for something if they aren't ripped etc. A couple of years ago, the lovely Ann and a friend Becky did actually help me out by taking some barely worn (as in, as soon as I wore them for the first time, knew they didn't work for my leg length and shape- again tights aren't really something you can try on in a shop!) tights, 

The final items in this outfit were a charity-shopped black velvet Kangol beret and my Clarks Ben's purple Brogue boots.  Adding a pair of earrings and necklace from Esoteric Londonw which I won, I was set for the day but not just a boring jumper and trousers outfit!

It seems hard to think we had all this snow 2 weeks ago and none now!

A bit like the fact that in just over a week's time, we'll go from lockdown with me teaching a class of 10 children back to me teaching 540 different children every week. I'll be glad to see them.  One nice thing from today, despite the crazy hormones and trying get my work done was this message I got from a parent.  I save them here to remember happy things when I look back on posts and remember good things:

"Hi hope you are well just to let you no I’ve uploaded E's music work there is a few lol she really been struggling with not being at school and the work and music really seems to help her and shift her mood so thank you so much x "

And there it is, the ray of sunshine that makes all the difference.

TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan from It Takes you Away

Hi there,

I'm sorry I've not been on here for a couple of days. I am so thoroughly sick of staring at a screen and using computers that I just couldn't bear to go near it! Today has been tiresome. I think the thing I find most annoying about preparing about these online lessons is that it is so inefficient-  I spend SO much time on them and though what I get in return from the children is negligible and seems not worth the effort, this is not the annoying part: it is the sheer frustration that I would be able to teach these lessons in person in an hour (to each class), being able to give instant feedback, improve playing, assess them,  be able to explain in a child-friendly way if they don't understand something.  Whereas in the current situation, I expend all this energy trying to create a presentation that is easy to navigate, contains multimedia, allows for different abilities, isn't so massive, can actually be uploaded that gives enough work but not too much and then I can't really see what the children are producing from it as I don't know how they can upload videos (and the size is unwieldly and the amount of time to type feedback to each individual if they DID, would be unmanageable).  It was so annoying that I'd prepared my Year 6 lesson powerpoint with everything they needed, recorded audio instructions and examples and when I uploaded it to Googledrive, I couldn't hear ANY of the audio- it hadn't attached any of it! So annoying!

I feel like I am wasting my time and not achieving much and  that makes me struggle to be even more efficient because I hate feeling so inadequate.

Ah, any way, enough of that, that's why I don't really want to be on the screen. I've got loads I want to blog about but things that take a bit of time and thought so I am resorting to something easy- talking about an outfit.

This week's TARDIS Tuesday is another Yaz Khan outfit. This one is entirely a closet cosplay as in I haven't bought anything specifically aimed at this cosplay, it's things I had for other cosplays or in my wardrobe anyway.

Let's have a look at it. Yaz wore this outfit for the episode called It takes you away which was the first programme to feature a blind actor as a main part.

She wears her brown All Saints jacket along with a cream/oatmeal jumper, blue jeans and her Dune burgundy flatform Pacey boots and her hair in buns.

Image borrowed from Deviant Art 

IMage borrowed from The Official Doctor Who Merchandize website

Image borrowed from 
The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

I decided that it would be fun to recreate these three poses in my outfit.

When I wore it:  Friday for doing my school work in (photos taken at lunchtime)

I'll talk you through it.

My brown leather jacket is probably the work house of my TARDIS Tuesday wardrobe- it has been worn for various outfits on here- Clara (it's her jacket), Sarah Jane Smith, various Yaz. Not bad for  £6 eBay purchase.

My other accurate-ish item are my boots, they are the same model and brand as Yaz's, Dune, but in black- they are Chelsea brogue boots- I've worn them a few times before.

The jeans are not the same colour as Yaz's but as we all know here, I am not really a big Jeans-wearer so I am wearing these M&S sequin jeans that I bought from M&S, Angel Islington in my last year at uni so they are 19 years old. They fit well and are in excellent condition.

The final item is the jumper here. I was bought this cute rabbit jumper from ASOS by my beloved Father in Law many years ago now after he saw it on a blog wishlist. It was an easy matter to wear it backwards to show its cream side.

  

I was having big hair issues. I tried to recreate Yaz's hair style but the buns kept falling out, they ended up rather like cones in the end as they gradually stretched away from the grips that held them in place. I ended up removing the pins about 10 mins after these photos and just having the sides up in bunches (which still looked alright) as it looked ridiculous in my school videos!

It was fun to recreate the pictures and this was a comfy outfit.  Rather bland and boring for me but good for hunching over a computer!

Hopefully, I'll have something more exciting next week! Will get planning!

What do you think?

Hope all is well with you. DO share your computer woes to make me feel that I am not alone in this computer ennui!

xx

Festive outfits 1- Styling a Christmas jumper

I have a work colleague who has enough Christmas jumpers to wear a different one every day in December that we are at school (that's probably about 20?).  My collection is much more limited. I've somehow accrued several Christmas or winter-themed items of clothing over the years- most of these have come second-hand- I think only maybe three items were actually bought new (and one was handmade from an independent maker). I thought it would be fun to try and post about these this week to show how I like to style them.

We had a Christmas jumper day on Wednesday at school as it coincided with our Christmas dinner. I'll share that another day.  Today, I am going to share what I wore on Saturday to a Christmas party we went to in Taplow.  It was a wonderful party- it was so wonderfully me that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was hosted by two friends from our music camp that actually, I don't know so well but got to know better this year as they were the organisers of our camp.  We ate delicious homemade food (including amazing butternut squash chunky soup), we sang a myriad carols from the Carols for Choirs books in sometimes 8party harmony (for at least an hour and a half) and for me this was so special because I haven't been able to do that with a choir for a few years because the churches I went to didn't do that and also because I just keep losing my voice during this season due to overuse and fatigue.  God gave me my voice today for me to enjoy singing! Also, the people at the party were all so nice and my type of people and finally- we played boardgames - Articulate and Snatch (a derivative of Bananagrams) as they are avid boardgame fans. Also, our team won Articulate! Hurrah!

When we have had Christmas jumper days at school, most people combine theirs with jeans. I never do this! I like to style mine differently.

My jumper was from M&S originally and I bought it in the January sales about 4 years ago and its best feature is the big sequinned Christmas bow. To compliment the colours of the bow, I added one of my Clara items- this woolen red Tartan skirt bought second-hand from eBay.  With this, I wore M&S leggings and my Clarks originals red leather desert boots (charity shopped last year) and some Fairisle socks I received as a present a few years ago.  Festive accessories came in the form of red and gold bell earrings and my Rosebud Casson robin necklace (a freebie!)

I decided to share my outerwear like the wonderful Sheila does too.  My F&F duffle coat is another Clara item (secondhand) and my red furry scarf comes from when I used to live in East London.  The red beret was also charity shopped!  I much prefer wearing my Christmas jumper like this rather than just slung over jeans. If you like wearing your Christmas jumper like that, that's brilliant, but I like the creative challenge of trying to combine mine with more varied items!

Comfy and cosy for a Christmas house party!

What do you think?

xx

Cosy in the cold

This Sunday, I was so tired that I completely slept through all alarms and woke at 10.30. It was bitterly cold, bleak,  rainy and generally miserable.

Thus, I knew what I needed was items to keep me feeling cosy.

I am definitely one for cosy when feeling miserable or tired.

I've always ended up buying something fluffy or furry when I've slipped in the snow or been drenched in the rain!

I could have brightened up these pictures and edited them but I thought I'd keep the bleak weather in the background.

What did I choose??
Cosy Clement Ribeiro jumper from TK Maxx a few years ago in the sale. I bought 2 sizes larger than my own size as I think that's much better for Cashmere to have it oversized since it shrinks and also, it's much nicer to be able to cuddle up in it!
Cashmere scarf from CBC for Christmas 2 years ago. Thanks CBC!
Leggings and skirt cosy too!
Sheepskin boots from a brand called Ukala a few years ago.
And my Cloche that CBC bought for me for Christmas about 3 years ago!

These were taken after I went to go and finish picking the tomatoes that were still left on the plant.Most were green so I'm hoping they will ripen with the help of a few bananas!!!
There were about 178 tomatoes on the plant!

My garden looks so different in the Autumn/Winter. I am finding it hard to keep up with the leaves in the garden. I rake and then there are more the next day!

Sigh..

This week is another busy one. Practice at church for the Carol service; the postponed teaching observation, Niece's birthday party, Carol service, more rehearsals!

I hope all is going well with you!

xx

7 Stylish ways to incorporate stationery into your outfits

Want to be the pioneer of a new style?  Why not try to incorporate stationery into your outfits.  From putting pencils into your bun at the back of your hair (in different colours for interest) to glueing a brooch back to a pencil sharpener or rubber or wearing a pencil behind your ear, look no further than this post for THE way to shine in the pencil case crew.

 Ok, so I am jesting with you somewhat!

 When I saw my Dad recently, we exchanged Christmas presents (I know, it's terrible!!) My little sister bought me the most perfect presents!!This scarf is so much fun.

 It seemed maybe a bit too much with the stripy Bunny jumper and the patterned skirt, but hey-ho, a bit of OTT clashing is always good fun!

 I've had a really beautiful day today. Last night, I went to CBC's school to watch a production of Hairspray which was amazing.  WKWTTG came to watch and came to stay at ours afterwards.
We had a lazy start today and then went out for breakfast at a really nice cafe in a little village near by. I had the full English breakfast which was 2 tasty sausages, scrambled egg, 2 rashers of bacon, beans and I substituted the mushrooms (urgh) for avocado! After that, we drove to a garden centre to look at some rattan furniture for WKWTTG and then after going back home for tea, cream cakes and some reading, we headed off on a 6 mile walk from Great Waltham to Felstead on the Saffron trail which was idyllic. I have some beautiful photos to share soon so stay tuned for that!!

 What do you think about this outfit?  Too much?? It was what I wore for a casual day of flute quartets, charity-shopping and lunch with my flute pals!!

Hope all is well with you!!

xx

Pink alpacas

 It's very funny- it shouldn't work this way, but you know when you are a slightly quirky dresser OR you are a bit of a shopaholic, or you talk about clothes too much- people like to give you clothes.

I, by rights, should not be given any more clothes. I have far too many. Yet people associate you with things they get rid of. Like Vintage Vix gets people sending her things they see and they think of her and the chazzers save her the quirky stuff.
This jumper is a case in point.

 I've talked about my friend E in Petworth who I've stayed with. She's more than double my age and she's given me various vintage items she's got rid of over the last 10 years or so.
She brought this vintage alpaca jumper for me to music camp one weekend.  It's totally insanely bright and toasty as hell! It's almost 40 years old apparently and from Peru. I last wore it on the blog back in 2012, here when E gave it to me! I wore it in a bit of a mad cat lady way!

 On Sunday, I came home from church absolutely freezing and I wanted to wear something a bit warmer, so I changed into this. I was sort of inspired by an old blogging pal Lauren at Someonelikeyou here who teamed a reindeer  sweater with a black velvet mini-dress (except hers is skinny and svelte and stylish-looking!)- in my head, she wore it with a scarf (that's most of her other outfits around it) and so I thought I'd team my jumper with a mini-skirt and scarf- I wanted to wear these new fleecy leggings I'd bought as they are so cosy but I don't agree with leggings as trousers, so the skirt merely protected my modesty!  Underneath, I wore a long-sleeved green top that E had given me in about 2004!!! The skirt was a cast off from my Canadian work-colleague S who gave it to me when she moved home. Cosy socks were necessary as these were leggings and how appropriate these ones matched! Cosy or sad, pick your preferred option!
I truly was cosy and happy wearing this all Sunday. Yeh, it's not the most stylish thing ever, but maybe a little bit cute!?

 Last week, I dismantled our Christmas wreath in the garden, clipped all the foliage into the compost and laid all the artificial elements on the garden table...and forgot about them.

I noticed this poinsetta on the ground.  Picking it up and putting it into my mouth within the space of starting the 10 second timer and the click of the shutter, alla pseudo-romantic dancer, not my best move-urgh, it's been on the GROUND all week!!!

I realised that as I took the second photo!

I hope all is well with you and it all goeth well!


Outfit details:

Jumper-vintage Peruvian, gift from E
Scarf- gift from CBC
Skirt- F21 gift from S.
Boots- Clarks
Socks- gift
Hare Necklace-Wolf and Moon

Take care and stay warm and safe.

xxx

While shepherds watched their flocks by night

I'm currently battling through my nativity script for school! I've used the same one for the past 2 years. Before that, I used one by another member of staff. Trying to make it a sort of 'correspondence' script so all the readers are reading written accounts by someone, e.g. Melchior's travel blog, Angel FM, Herod's top secret diary, letter from Mary to Elizabeth etc!  Getting that irritated, 'not quite right' but ahrgh!' feeling!  Need to just get on and do it, finish it, be done with it but starting to wonder if I am making a rod for my old back, trying to be too 'clever' or 'different' and should just give up! Either way, it is on the 17th December so I had better get those scripts out to children pronto!

I'm not feeling whole imaginative today- slightly grouchy, suggesting I should just go to bed!  I just spent ages notating a recorder duet of 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' for two keen year 6 girls who wanted to play it when I should be doing numerous other things!

Hence, sharing another outfit post! Doesn't take too much thought and the photos were already sitting in a draft!

Various blog friends have talked about finding German vintage items in charity shops recently and this sheep at night jumper was yet another 'Bought with Sophie and Hazel' find back in May. It was only a pound on the Salvation Army sale rack in Ipswich so I saw its Christmas jumper potential immediately!  The label looks like a vintage one made in Germany (not sure if it said East or West without rummaging through the washing basket) 

I wore it on Saturday for a walk into town and cleaning, tidying, marking and  reading day. It worked  with fleecy leggings, sheepskin boots and the quintessential winter fabric- brushed cotton flannel tartan! And I adjusted the flower brooch on this hat I received for Christmas last year to try and release its inner cloche! It's not necessarily a 'stylish' outfit, but I think rather cute and comfy!

The garden is a total mess! I cannot believe how windy and rainy it has been. I looked out my spare room window and saw that all the felting on the shed roof is coming off and waving in the wind. Which means all my craft stuff is probably mouldering. And the drumkit...

Better get back to that script..

xxx

You know what I am going to say:

Ahem...

PINK ALERT:
P.S.
In case, you missed it, I have entered Lady Vintage's Hall of Fame photo competition with my outfit and I would be SO grateful if you liked my outfit out of those who have entered enough to give it a like on Facebook.   If your husband, boyfriend, cat, dog or significant other felt so inclined to take a look too, (like a few have!), I would be very grateful!  Especially as I am STILL 100 behind the leader (but working slowly towards second place) Waaaaah!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.864013323713000.1073741877.144939495620390&type=1&l=8c4891a181

If you wanted to share the album too, I wouldn't be adverse to that!!!




Linking to Visible Mondays with lovely Patti!!! Also linking to Hat Attack with the lovely Judith!

Friday Favourites: Miss Patina-The Cat Lover's collection

Every so often, there's a collection or a designer or a range of clothing that completely captures my heart and makes me long for some items! 

Enter, Miss Patina London.   The brand came to my attention through Doctor Who back in August. I saw that a fan site listed Clara Oswald's dress from the recent Under the Lake as being the Miss Patina Primrose dress.  It had sold out but I had a look at their online collection and when I was last in London, made a point of going to Topshop, Oxford Street so I could see their garments in person. I loved them in person as much as online.

Their designs are whimsical, ladylike, quirky and original with a very pretty femine vintage edge to their designs with a contemporary twist.  Definitely the most dreamy collection of clothes I have seen in a while.

When I saw that they had a cat collection I was smitten.  When I saw there were cats playing an assortment of instruments, it felt like they were made for me!

My lovely blogging friend Char shows her Friday favourites and I thought today, I'd share mine!

Aristocat dress- navy

I saw this dress had a beautiful collar on it and then it had instrument-playing cats and I thought this was such a fun garment! Long-sleeves for the winter and all.

Love Cat dress in Dogtooh- £75.80

The Love Cat dress is somewhat more conventional with its dogtooth pattern if you're not sure about the novelty print but stands out from the crowd...

...because it has a real statement collar!

Letterman cardigan (Cat)

The Letterman cardigan is a way of showing your cat appreciation in a more subtle yet fun manner and how cosy does it look! I keep thinking I'd like to keep a big cosy cardigan on the back of my chair at work to put on when I'm cold and this one looks perfect!

Love Cat Shirt (white)

The Love Cat shirt features that oh so beautiful collar and the simplicity of this work makes it savvy for a working day in the office but with a cheeky rebellious touch with that darling collar!


Aristocat blouse- Navy
I saw this new arrival and felt that if I bought any of the items, this would be the one that won me most over because it features the two aspects of this collection I love best- the beautiful collar and that musical cat print.

And here's a sneaky close-up of the print! Alas, the cat on the top right is playing his violin with the wrong hands though Double-bass cat is doing fine!


Aristocat  blouse (pink)
Here's the same blouse in pink.  Not sure which one I like best.

Kitten-Kitsch dress
The kitten kitsch is definitely channelling a 70's vibe with its shape and skirt- it reminds me of the 1970's vintage dress I picked up in April.  Pretty and practical in that denim and with cute cat shoulder details!




Paws for thought Jumper
We all love cats, right? We love novelty jumpers, right? We love a good collar, right?
The Paws for thought jumper compasses all three and check out those tiny pink paw prints on the collar! Perfection in a jumper.

Feline Fling skirt

And in case cats are your thing, then look at the Feline Fling skirt (also comes in grey)- a beautiful shelf with various cat poses around the hem- this is again a more sophisticated nod to your cat ardour!

Miss Patina, I am indeed the Smitten Kitten.  Bravo for such a lovely collection!

And in case cats aren't your thing- they have some other amazing collections including one using cakes and pastries like the Sweet Treat jumper, The Flitter Flutter eyelash cardigan and the 'I am a poem' jumper

Over to you: What do you think?  Do you love these items as much as I do and have you come across Miss Patina?

xx