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

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara in The Snowmen-

 I cannot believe it has been 4 years since this outfit has been on TARDIS Tuesday (despite my wearing the outfit a few times!) .  Last seen in August 2020, the Summer of Covid, it is a barely seen outfit of Clara's in her 2nd appearance in Doctor Who.

It features a black silk polka dot blouse from Jigsaw, some navy shorts from Whistles, a tan belt and a red satchel.  We are not sure what shoes she wears.

https://www.facebook.com/ClaraOswaldCosplay/photos/the-snowmen-modern-outfit-jigsaw-bib-tab-shirt-in-blackwhistles-mim-tencel-short/146884895501986/ 

This outfit, for me, has remained the same every time I wear it, except for changing the shorts as I grew out of my old navy shorts.

I love this outfit for a Summer's day- it covers up your arms whilst remaining cool. My polka dot blouse is an alt from Whistles (and was charity shopped for £4) plus some navy linen shorts (around £3 charity shopped).  I forgot to accessorize but added some cute Miss KG shoes I bought in a charity shop in Highbury around a month ago.  Finding nice shoes in a size 8 second hand is quite rare!

It was very nice to get outside for these photos as it had been raining heavily. I got completely soaked cycling home from the station after my rehearsal in London on Sunday. CBC openly laughed at how wet I was when he opened the door to me.  I showered and changed into this!

I wonder if it will be another 4 years before it makes a return appearance on here? I do hope not!

Here's a little close up of the lovely shoes!!!

xx

A nonet of outfits!

*Apologies if I have not commented on your blog in the last couple of days- not sure what was going on with the comments but I kept getting error messages about not being able to save my comments and this happened on multiple blogs!*

Spring and Summer are my favourite seasons for clothing.  There's something about the light fabrics, the colours, the patterns that lightens my heart! I photographed 9 of the outfits I wore in May so far to share with you.  

Wore this to go to the recording day for when I went to my old Sixth form to record. I got completely soaked in it as the rain plummeted down all day. I also wore the same outfit last week for school and orchestra.  The star of the outfit is the lovely lightweight skirt I bought from 'By the Sea vintage' in Southend. I picked out the turquoise with this turquoise top and purple Karen Millen cardie (bought bought second hand) Added a charity-shopped skirt in honour of Ann and my Florence-bought blue boots.  

The butterfly earrings came from Joy and I saw a girl with them at Stansted airport around 15 years ago and asked where she got them from. I spent more on the postage than the earrings!

This screen-printed dress with clouds and raindrops came from Amy Laws but bought second hand from Vinted. Wore with the Lotus blue pumps

This raindrop necklace and matching earrings were a gift from the lovely @LaserKate on insta as they were TARDIS blue!

I transferred the jewellery set to the next day's outfit and wore more clouds-Cath Kidston skirt bought for me by my Mum plus a charity-shopped H&M top.

I have this Monsoon dress for about 5 years and I cannot believe two things...

1. I have never shared it on the blog

2.  I didn't know it was a dipped hem skirt until this Saturday just gone!!!!

It has a nice back and I actually often wear it backwards with the blue tie tucked in. Worn with Esoteric London star tassel necklace.

For my orchestra concert on Saturday, I wore this lightweight black dress from Superdry (Vinted).  Added my favourite ever Secret Santa gift- a black velvet and diamante necklace. I still wonder, to this day, who bought this for me!  Can you see my cat flats? No? Maybe later?

Can you see the cat flats THIS time?  

Worn with this lovely vintage floral skirt (purchased from Think Twice in Bruges) and a lovely white top which I bought a few weeks ago in the Salvation Army.  The Tassel star made a return. 

The Year 6 girls loved this outfit!

The tassel necklace made a return here with an East silk blouse, a Primark butterfly sequinned top and my Miss Patina cat culottes. Can you see the cat flats?

Oh, ok, here they are!  Do you remember when customised a pair of Asda ballet pumps with sewn cat faces?

Bonus arm photo! I think my hair needs a cut

The last one features the charity-shopped Topshop stripy trousers I shared in my last outfit post. It's pretty similar to last time except my black Topshop top has no sleeves!

Out of my nonet, which is your favourite?

From the Archives- Greek adventures- Walking in the Vikos Gorge

Since we are all at home, in our own homes with no opportunity to travel to far flung places, I thought I'd share a journey from my archives. We travelled to mainland Greece 2 years ago and this was our trip to the Vikos Gorge. I have to tell you that CBC first learnt about the Vikos Gorge from his love of exploring places on Google Earth. That's how this holiday came about. I'd like to go back there in the Spring time when it is cooler- apparently it is utterly beautiful in the Spring! Anyway, here's my trek into the Vikos Gorge.

 Enjoy!

Greek Adventures- Walking in the Vikos Gorge

I shared our experiences of Corfu a week ago or so. I would like to move us onto the next leg of our journey- Mainland Greece!  This part of the journey was the main reason we had come to Greece.  CBC has been harping on about visiting and walking in the Vikos Gorge (Europe's Deepest Gorge) for years now so I mainly agreed to go to shut him up! (only kidding)

On the third morning, our host drove us to the port where we picked up the boat to Agoumenitsa, the port on the mainland.  It was very cheap and a very pleasant journey.  Unfortunately, reaching the port some two hours after our hire car was booked for, it seemed everyone was late for their cars at the Green Line Car hire place and we waited 2 hours as everyone had an argument with them about their car being given to someone else 'because they were late'.  If you ever hire a car from them, DO NOT TURN UP LATE or PHONE them if you are going to. Their customer service was terrible.  We finally got the front and ended up, luckily, not having to pay any extra and ending up with an Automatic car.  We drove and stopped in Ioannina for some lunch and then drove on to the mountainous region called Zagori.  We were due to stay in a wonderful village called Megalo Papigo which was utterly beautiful!  You did, however, have to drive up some pretty scary switchbacks to get there!  CBC did incredibly well driving an Automatic for the first time up them!

We checked into our home for the next three days, the Saxonis Rooms/Hotel which I heartily recommend if you ever wish to explore this beautiful part of Greece. It was a beautiful, quiet traditional hotel with wonderful hosts who provide information on walks tailored to abilities, great conversation and amazing walks.

On our second morning, our host, Vassilis gave us information on a route to take. CBC had already purchased what Vassilis described as 'The best map' so he was able to point it out for us.  We planned to walk from Papigo into the Vikos gorge and ending in the village of Vikos (will appear as Bikos on the maps in Greece as, contrary to popular belief, the second letter of the Greek alphabet is pronounced Veta not Beta!) 

Alas for us, it was rather late when we set off and extremely hot- 39 degrees celsius, to be precise!
The walls of the mountains and gorge were such an interesting set of colours.

The first part of the journey was relatively easy going downhill, although extremely hot.  The views were incredible.

I was immensely grateful for any shade that we could find to escape that interminable sun!

If you compare the size of CBC compared to the rocks which flanked us, you can see we felt very insignificant!

Seeing those very sloped stony looking paths in the distance filled me with dread. I do not like stony downhills.

Yes, that line in the middle was the path we were headed for.

Actually though, when you actually reach it, the path seems more safe and wider than at first appears.

We spotted the odd cairn about.  The vegetation was quite scrubby but was still welcome shade at times even if the difference in temperature was negligible.

The view across was where we were headed once we had descended down into the gorge.  We'd have to go back up at some point. I can't say my heart was filled with the most joy.  I think the phrase, "I'm so hot!" was uttered a myriad times.

At long last, we reached the bottom of the Gorge.  We had been told there should be a beautiful spring or river at the bottom but it was completely dried up- we were standing on a river bed.  I confess to feeling disappointed as I had brought swimming clothes.

Here I am- sweaty, hot, exhausted and hair all over the place. I covered up with this shirt as I didn't want to get too burnt.

CBC thought that we might have to walk a bit further on to find a Spring and decided to be intrepid and seek it.  He started to set off and I saw this little fellow.  We met some other people then. Some Israeli teenagers who also sought the Spring and were equally disappointed.  (This was the first of MANY Israeli tourists we met- it seems that Zagori is very popular with Israeli folks).  At this point,a French family came along also seeking the Spring.  I set off after CBC, going very slowly.  The French dad went ahead like CBC and myself and the rest of the French family trailed along, slightly in despair. I confess that I felt it was a futile endeavour...

Luckily, CBC and the French guy weren't so defeatist and came back to tell us that the Oasis was ahead!

There were plenty of explorers there.  We wondered why they weren't all in the water.  Then someone brave went in... and came straight out...

The water was wonderfully blue.

I took my shoes off and walked in....It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo cold it actually hurt. This water was direct from the mountains.  The odd person dived in.  It must have been a wonderful relief but no one stayed in for too long.  Our hosts had told us that the water is so clear and pure that you can drink it.  We collected some in our now mostly empty water bottles to supplement our meagre supplies for the ascent up to Bikos.

I chatted to an Israeli guy and his family before reluctantly donning my very sweaty walking socks and boots again.

The canopy of trees had been such a welcome respite.

Now we had to climb up again and the heat, if anything, seemed more pronounced.

Looking back over the Gorge was sensational. I wish I could capture the sheer scale of it. I felt very small.

We looked across  to where we had come from.  That's where we were towards the beginning of the walk.

The final leg of the journey was extremely tiring. I was dripping with sweat and we had drunk all our water and had to keep stopping very few minutes as the steep ascent was most arduous.  We seemed to be playing relays with other walkers. You would overtake someone and then they would find you sitting panting on a rock and then they would go ahead and then vica-versa.    

When we finally reached Bikos (my camera had died, alas!) we were so utterly grateful to have finished the 7mile trek in scorching heat.  There was a little wooden shelter at the end of the trail onto the main street and we sat there panting talking to a guy and filling our water bottles from the very welcome tap there.  I drank normal tap water all the time in Greece- I know they say you should drink bottled water but I was none-the-worse for drinking river water, tap water and spring water.

We ate a delicious Greek Salad and a portion of chips and bread in a Taverna and, thanks to Vassilis' tip, arranged for driver from the Taverna to take us back to Pagigo.  It was a long drive as there is no quick way between the two sides of the gorge. It was, definitely, the best 20 Euros I spent all week, not having to walk back!

It was an amazing walk, despite its difficulty, and I was glad we had done it,despite wanting to give up on many occasions!

Have you heard of the Vikos/Bikos Gorge and would you like to visit?

More anon...

xx