The truth about cats and dogs

I thought I'd intersperse my Germany and France adventures with different blog posts to try and keep things varied here and to try and not make it too samey!

Here's an outfit from before the holidays.

CBC always says I am wearing his school uniform when I wear this Closet London dress as the pattern is quite similar to his school's skirt.

The beauty of these Closet dresses is that you can wear a blouse underneath, pinafore-style and wear them all year round, not just in the Summer. They have pockets and I always know their size 8 will fit me perfectly in these fit-and-flare styles.

The obvious choice was my stalwart turquoise Doc Martens and this time, my Miss Patina Love cat blouse. It seemed  quite a fun idea to add this acrylic dog brooch though I am kicking myself for not putting it on the other side so it looked like the dog was looking up at the cat instead of stubbornly ignoring it!

I have had a very nice weekend. It has largely consisted of garden and nature-based activities which I will share more of in my #30dayswild round-up this week but has felt very satisfying and though I am always sad to go back to work, it has been a very good holiday on the whole!

I hope all is well with you.

Finally remembering to link with lovely Patti at Visible Mondays

How to not produce a blog outfit post

I share quite a few outfits on here and there are times when I look at myself and say, "Why oh why are you sharing this when you look perfectly ridiculous and there are 10 million bloggers doing this well??!!?!" and what a vain idiot you are!
Well, I guess, I have to do something with them to make some extra use of my terrible clothes shopping habits.
So today, in the spirit of those "How to dress for summer,", "How to avoid having to think too much for yourself", "How to wear x,y or z,", I am sharing how to ruin a perfectly blog worthy outfit! Do you think I'll make it into Bloglovin Weekly's top posts with a title like that?

It started so promisingly at the start of the day:

1. Mint shade- Blogger love cliché 1- check!
2.  Peter Pan collar- Blogger love cliché 2- check!
3. Polka dots- Blogger love cliché 3- check!
4. Novelty kitsch fox necklace- Blogger love cliché 4- check!
5. Fun summer print skirt- Blogger love cliché 5- check!
6. Sparkly shoes- Blogger love cliché 6- check!

I wonder why all these are classic blogger loves in so many places?  Perhaps because they are just classic fun items that we just all can't resist,there's lots of them in the shops, we all get polka dot envy and subconsciously seek these out? Who knows! I have no qualms about being a cliché, nor do I intend that to be a slur on anyone.  I love seeing these classic 'blogger clichéd' items. It's one of those things that bonds us together!

Sadly, I lack the execution skills necessary to make this a blog hit. It's ok, please don't feel the need to reassure me in the comments, I am not feeling sorry for myself, I am stating the fact that I am sloppy.

So how to ruin it:
1. Don't bother to iron your t-shirt.
2. Be sure when photographing fox necklace up close that you focus on the part of the photo that looks really creased.
3.  Tuck your t-shirt messily into your skirt so it has all sorts of awkward pleats and lines.
4. Make sure you expose your insect bitten ankles for the photo. Be sure to scratch lots before taking the photo.
5. Choose a moment where the light is terrible and the pattern is really washed out.
6. Forget to take your hair scrunchie off your arm.
7. Forget to brush your hair.
8.  Don't bother to explore any other poses except the stand stiffly and grin.
9. Stand by the bins (N.B. edited out of photo accidently!)
10.  Make sure your waistband is all twisted.
11. Forget to take close-up of cute shoes (actually, the close up of bitten ankles is something we can all do without, so don't worry about this one!)
12. Make sure your neck looks nice and pink and grey by cunning use of shadows in the close up so it looks like suntan and the need for a bath.

Oh well, let's all stare at the cute fox necklace and perhaps I'll be forgiven.

This is all tongue-in-cheek really. I guess the point is, it doesn't matter if you are a sloppy blogger like me, as long as you're being true to yourself and you don't mind what you do (I don't), then that's all that matters. I don't want to be a pro-blogger, I just like having my little space here to poke fun at myself and try out new combinations of clothing items. You lot are kind whatever I do, so I worry not about judgement (apart from poking fun at 'How to' blog titles!")

Plus, if a year 2 child tells me they like my outfit, that's a winner in my eyes!

xxx

Squiffy in the park!

CBC likes to begin his SMS missives usually calling me some sort of name like fluffy or squiffy.  Unfortunately, his latest facebook status amusedly informed the world that I was indeed squiffy in the most common meaning of the word.  I do not usually drink as you may have read.  Not for really any other reason other than I loathe the taste of most alcoholic beverages and would much rather save my hardearned cash and spend less on a lovely fruity drink rather than something bitter that makes me grimace (case in point, visiting the Moet et Chandon cellars last year, the champagne coinnesseur (spelling?) caught me pulling the most abject look of utter loathing when I tried the 2002 vintage rose champers!).  If I did like alcohol, I probably wouldn't drink more than one anyway, it does feel rather expensive and I wouldn't want to make a twit of myself, personally, anyway!!

However, CBC and I decided, since various supermarket proseccos were on special offer, we would try some for the wedding toasts.  We thus purchased 4 bottles from Waitrose, Tescos, Aldi and er- Waitrose and invited some friends over to taste them!



We set some Carrs water biscuits out for in between neutralizing and then began.

Up first was the Tescos San something or other at the second cheapest price.
A good start- it was fruity and for me, it didn't make me wince- a good start.

Then Waitrose with the green label.  This didn't get the grimace but nor did it get a smile.
Aldi, mooted by others as fine, was utter ming for me
Finally, the more expensive Waitrose one was neither here nor there. Meh, in other words.

We then tried swigging them.  At which point, I was suddenly aware that my head was spinning. 

In the end, Waitrose more expensive won, but I am working to try and get him to go for a slightly cheaper option which came second.

As various factions got changed out of the cycling garb above (they'd just returned from a ride.  I was so envious!), we decided to walk into town to go and have fish and chips.  CBC found it hilarious that I was a little giggly.

In the park, as 3 zoomed ahead (I thought I was a speedy walker!), having had bad light in my own garden, I demanded CBC took shots as I have not been in the mood to blog this week (not a bad mood but not really in a bloggy mind)







I have culled a lot of clothes this week.  My sister has had some, the charity shops and clothing banks had more and 2 church friends had some.  I was tempted to say goodbye to this blouse not because I don't love it, because I do- it has a slight cutesy Japanese feel to it in my mind (don't know why, it just does) but as it is silk, I felt that perhaps I am too lazy to take the good care of it that it deserves and I could imagine a teenager at church looking lovely in it.  However, I thought I'd give it a spin before.  It was brand new from Barnados.  The skirt (really dress)- Monsoon, shoes- Cath Kidston, cardie (DKNY present from sister).  Necklace, put together by me (cross bead from DIY beads) and mini-egg earrings-(put together by me, also from DIY beads)


In town, we bought our fish and chips and took it back to the park to eat it!  It always tastes better outside! 
Amazingly, as we walked along town, I found my eyes linking with a little girl.  "My goodness, she just looks like my niece!" I thought to myself and then looked up and saw my brother-in-law and his parents!!!!  An amazing coincidence- they don't live anywhere near that town but decided to pop for a meal there!!!  As CBC chatted to them, gorgeous niece said, "BMW Kezzie!" and lo and behold, there was one just driving by!  What a lovely and unexpected treat!

Finally, CBC walked me back to the station where I returned home.  Not so squiffy anymore after food, I returned home happy that half-term had ended on such a positive note with me here, a few hours later, ready to tell you the tale!!

Have you enjoyed the sun?

xx