Some like it hot!

Image from hutnyk.wordpress.com

CBC and I spent 2 hours trying to decipher the workings of Apple TV (renting movies from your TV using your i-tunes account) on his house's new TV system. I really dislike digital TV, sky and all that. All I want is to switch it on and be able to just pick from one of 5 channels by pressing one button- I do not want to go digital! Perhaps I will be the last analogue rebel in the country, refusing to change over. Anyway, that said, finally we manage to select a movie to watch over fish and chips and it was the classic, Some like it hot.

Right from the start this was a winner- set in the 1920's, humorous, great music-big band and songs like a musical, train journeys, confusion and romance. It begins in a speakeasy cunningly disguised as a funeral parlour-our intrepid heroes are a bass player and a saxophonist. Immediately, there is a raid and so their hopes of earning money are dashed. Somehow, they fall foul of local gangster, Spats and need to escape. The only way they can manage this is to dress up as female musicians to gain a gig out in Florida. Curiously, I've never watched Marilyn Monroe in anything so I was eager to see what she was like- she plays the rebellious, not very clever but utterly adorable lead singer and ukelele player.

There are great moments such as a slumber party in one of the men's bunks, where he is trampled on by all the girls as they clamour to drink the bootleg liquor that he has opened in order to woo Marilyn. I love how the female clarinettists play in the band- so funny! My boyfriend sent me a link to this film from youtube near when we started going out because I am always getting told off for trying to lead when I dance with men and there is a classic line, "You're leading again!" so it was funny to see it in context. The costumery is fabulous also. The rest of the film is great fun as the guys experience the trials of being a woman and falling in love with Marilyn! The jokes and quips are very clever and the costumes are fabulous. I love Marilyn's singing. The film has some saucy moments for a film of its era as well as the humour and some real moments of sentiment.

Watch it, it's fabulous!

Shameless promotion of my giveaway! Have you entered my giveaway! Would you like to begin a hat-obsessive journey just like me? Click on the hat to link to the giveaway post and leave me a comment, follow in google and tell me your favourite book! It closes on 23rd November!

Let them eat hats 26- The Chap Olympiad stalking inspired hat!

Oh dear! Poser!

On a previous post, I showed this hat as part of Northumbrian adventures! It was also a Hexham hospice purchase! I bought the scarf in the same shop to adorn it with as otherwise I was worried it might look a bit too much like I was wearing a basket on my head! When I put them together, it immediately reminded me of the hat worn by this girl I saw when I went to the Chap Olympiad in 2010. She looked like Agatha Christie in Doctor Who- I adored her outfit. That's her at the front of the screen with her back to the screen centre left, red dress, right of the girl in the black 50's netted dress. I kept looking for her the whole day, I loved her outfit so much! Was too shy to actually take a sneaky photograph of her as outfit inspiration but found her in this video as a still!Please excuse the 60's arm movements- a few days previouse I went to a 60's dance class at the Saturday night swing club (lindy hop etc) in London where we learnt the pony, the swim, etc!

I so would love her outfit! It was my first 'vintage/retro dressing' event I went to and I was dazzled.

Have you ever felt like you stalked someone because you loved their outfit so much you just wanted to look at it again?!

Have you entered my giveaway!? Closes on 23rd November! You are very welcome! Follow the link, follow me, follow with your favourite book in the commmmmmments box!

Two birds inspiration Monday on er- Friday!

I've been following the Two birds blog for a little while now and liking the challenge of trying to use your wardrobe to emulate a look,thanks to seeing it on Sophie's blog first.

So I was suddenly struck this morning by what I was wearing was directly put together subconsciously because I'd been looking at their inspiration Monday post. The challenge was Sarah Jessica Parker this week and here's my attempt at it. I lack black shoes and then realised I was still wearing socks and had not rolled up my trousers enough but the evil camera then went all white and washed out and refused to take any more. So anyway....

A view from a bridge

Sometimes, I just need to stand or sit and watch the water.

See the dappled sunlight upon the murmuring waters.

Breathe in slowly and listen to the unintrusive clamour of nature.

Contemplate what is, what was and what will be,

Recollect the blessings of yore, and rejoice in them

To be at one with God's creation and feel like myself again.

I grow thoughtful, reflective and happy with who I am, in awe of who has made me.

If it all gets too much for me, and I struggle to hear the voice of my maker, too wrapped up in what is around me, my heart tells me that this is what I need: To stop, be alone, to return to simplicity

To look, dream, pray.
Then all is well.

KAG 2011

Have you entered my giveaway!? Closes on 23rd November! You are very welcome! Follow the link, follow me, follow with your favourite book in the commmmmmments box!

Let them eat hats 25- Sailor girl on multicultural day

That really hot weekend ending September began with a hot Friday. At school, we had a fundraising day, multicultural dress day, raising money for Kenyan appeals. Being a boring English girl, I felt I sadly lacked a traditional outfit of sorts that was ubiquitously English. So, I decided to wear my traditional Balinese kebaya and sarong. However, then the roasting weather happened and I couldn't bear the though of wearing that all day. So, I decided to wear this vintage sailor dress I'd bought some weeks previously (and hacked out the enormous shoulder pads-urgh!) with this minature straw boater courtesy of Asos sale in a bid to try and suggest English vintage look. It has a stretchy lace ribbon which you can tie under your hair to hold in place. I'm not sure what era I was even aiming for, particularly as I wore my nautical themed rocket dog shoes. Any suggestions?

I achieved the effect I wanted as everyone realised I'd made an effort to dress up (and I wasn't too hot!) though the children were perplexed- "Where are you from Miss?".

Urgh nasty, nasty nose shot but only close hat shot!

Rather too modern for the look but coordinating the theme I suppose.

Have you entered my giveaway! Closes on 23rd November! Do have a go- at the moment, the odds are a 1 in 9 chance of winning

Let them eat hats giveaway!

I never thought about doing a giveaway. It didn't really figure. I just thought that they were a nice thing that everyone else did but I thought that that wasn't really something I thought to do on my little eccentric blog! Just because, I wasn't expecting to have lots of followers (unless of course they were overwhelmed by my panache and zeal in writing!Which is unlikely since I ramble!) and I just guess I didn't really think about it. However, in a streak of meglomania (mwah ha ha!) and compulsion, I was buying some bits at ASOS and I thought why not- it'd be nice to buy something for my blog followers, especially in the spirit of one of my er- obsessions, namely hats!

So..... up for grabs, I have this 70's style black floppy hat with cut out flowers to giveaway bought from ASOS, worth £25. I like it very much and trying it on to check it wasn't squashed in the post, it looked very nice, so it's taking great willpower to give it away!

(image from http://www.asos.co.uk/ )

There's a second prize of a set of Cupcake (Alex read that as Fairycakes) cards (blank cards that you can send to penpals etc! Not made by me unfortunately!) and a brown and white polka dot headscarf

To be in with a chance of winning it all you have to do is:

a) Be a follower of this blog (seems a bit ironic given my previous comment, however... )

b) Leave me a comment saying you are following and you'd like to enter the giveaway (no cheating!) . In addition, tell me what your favourite book is (I'm nosy, what can I say!?)

c) I don't have any of those other mediums such as twitter, facebook, Bloglovin or anything so sorry, there isn't an extra entry system, but if you wanted to spread the word, you can have an extra entry (just leave me an additional comment saying as such!)

d) If you tell me a funny story, you can have another entry!

e) Feel free to tell others if you want. You can have another entry. Just leave me a comment to say so!

You can be an international or a Brit blog!

Entries close on November the 23rd and then I'll try to work out how to use that random thing or put you in a pretty pot and get Frank the hamster to pick one out or something!

Tschuss!

Just one day, a rapturous ode!

Weeks, days, hours, minutes- all become dust
As the time turner reaches its finish.
Sunsets become gloriously golden,
Hearts flutter in anticipation,
Eyes look to the horizon,
Joy unleashed as the prize beckons.

Teacher, your time has come.
Go home and rest.

KAG

One day....

"I wish I could read as many books as you do when I am older Miss..." What I've read this week!

How nice is that comment from one of my kids! He was reading Lemony Snicket, A series of Unfortunate events, The Austere Academy and me being me, I couldn't help but wax lyrical about how much I loved those books (I read one a day for 2 weeks!) and he was amazed that I'd read them all as an adult and then uttered those words. I was touched! It reminded me of a craze I began in my very second year of teaching, over Lemony Snicket.

It all began with my reading the series. I then came into school and told the children how cool they were and asked who wanted to be the first to borrow Book 1. There was wild clamouring For some reason, with that class, if I told them about a great book I read, they would all instantly long to read it.

From that moment, there was a MASSIVE waiting list to borrow my books. At least 20 children read the first couple of books in my class and one child read them all and borrowed all the subsequent sequels (The Unauthorized biography, Beatrice letters) from me. I loved that class....

Anyway, I'm not sure exactly what that has to do with this post, except to offer some sort of justification to the world for me reading so many kids books! Some people think it's a bit funny but I maintain

a) if I can recommend to a reluctant reader, something I think he/she might like, it's worth it

b) it's research for my job

c) I have to teach guided reading so I HAVE to read kids books in order to prepare the best for them

d) They are blooming exciting! I don't want to read about gratuitous sex and violence, I like things to be innocent and fun!


Anyway, if you have kids of the age 8-9, particularly maybe boys, then have a look at the books below. I bought the 3 Louis Sachar books in Book Ends in Hay-on-Wye in August for £1.00 a piece.

LOUIS SACHAR is a brilliant author for boys, particularly those at the latter end of Key Stage 2, early KS3. He writes about modern, social and moral issues that concern them. Behaviour, friendship, making right choices, outsiders, community, relationships, self-belief, family. I could go on. His first work I read was There's a boy in a girl's bathroom which is a wonderful book for children with challenging behaviour and social issues or dealing with difficulties in frienships but for anyone really of that age, they are marvellous.

The following ones are for younger children, year 3,4,5 I would think.
46. Louis Sachar Marvin Redpost:Class President

Part of a series of at least 10 books, the main character, Marvin is a kind and considerate boy who thinks before he acts. We encounter him and his friendships at school and outside. The characters in this book are quirky and all have idiosyncracies (word of the day!). There is always a subtle lesson to be learnt in the Marvin Redpost books. In this one, it is to do with daring, believing and aspiring. In this book, the class have all come in holey clothes when it transpires the American president is visiting their class! Cue pandemonium and frantic question preparations. It gets children to think about relevant questions when interviewing someone, people believing in their goodness and having dreams and going for them. There's a lot of fun, jokes and frolics thrown in for good measure that boys and girls alike will enjoy!

47. Louis Sachar Marvin Redpost: A magic crystal
Another book in this series, which interestingly touches upon friendship between boys and girls. When children reach year 4 or so, they're already starting to think, "EUGH girls!" or "Yuck boys!". In this book, Marvin becomes friends with a girl and this book is about how he and his friends deal with it. An interesting issue. Again, the character of Marvin ultimately comes across as someone who is a good role model as he faces dilemmas.

48. Louis Sachar Marvin Redpost: A flying birthday cake.

The general message of this is that old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," which is as important today as it's ever been. In this book, it becomes obvious to US the reader, that the new boy may be not of this world! This is a great book for Assessment Focus 3- inference and reading between the lines, in guided reading as you can get the child to talk to you about all the clues that prove that the character Joe might not be human. Again, the book deals with friendships. In this case, reconciling making friends with someone who is different to staying friends with people who don't want to welcome new people. It also deals with jealousy and standing up for what is right. In the case of Marvin- he has to make a decision between facing being bullied himself and standing up for someone who's being picked on. Highly recommended.

I thoroughly recommend all 3 as medium-sized reads that engage the child and encourage emotional literacy.

49. Edward Eager The Time Garden.

I LOVE time travel!!!!! Or in this case, Thyme travel! This book has inspired me to read HG Well, The time machine. HOW is it that I have not read any of his books?!

This is one for boys and girls. It has a Famous five ilk to it with a group of children, in a seaside mysterious house and garden, adventures, buried treasure, historical interest, play-on words. Some children who live in America end up staying with an aunt in her cliffside house and gardens. They meet a mysterious Natterjack upon a sundial who leads them on a variety of time travelling adventures. They meet American and English historical figures, help fugitives and even end up meeting characters from Little women. I found this book highly imaginative and great fun with some valuable lessons to be learnt as well for kiddies!

By the way, do you not think that front cover looks like Quentin Blake's work. Apparently, it's not him but don't you think it is????

http://www.amazon.com/ Thank you for the images!

Would you recommend these to any children? Do you read kids books at all? Have you read any of these?

Let them eat hats 23- brown and blue- can also play for weddings, barmitzvahs and balls!

Thank you for lovely recent comments and visitors- it is a pleasure to meet you and hear your feedback and reciprocally visit! Please come again, you are sincerely welcome!

Back in the holidays, I decided to plan in advance for future blogposts on hats! Looks like I didn't manage to keep up with it!

I adore this hat- it feels so feminine! This was one of my Northumberland charity-shop purchases and I fell in love instantly- it is my favourite colour, turquoise plus it had a brown scarf round it (I love that colour combination!) I liked the hat that the brim at the back is small so I can potentially adapt this into a regency-style bonnet for future costumes events. Speaking of which, my Baroque trio was recently asked to play for a Regency ball in Lincolnshire- Jane Austen stylie. It would have been sooooo fun to dress up and play Playford but sadly I can't make the date (playing for a Northumbrian wedding! Which will also be great fun!)

I took these pictures in August on the day we cooked for Northumbrian friends. Everyone commented on how well my hat went with the cardigan I was wearing. I say it was serendipidous that I had the cardie with me- I do like coordination! The light wasn't great for showing off the turquoise colour, but I liked these for some bizarre reason!

What's your opinion on coordination. I don't seem to do clashes or colourblocking that well but everyone says I always coordinate- do you think you can coodinate too much?

Be happy!

2 Regents and a cat fest!

43. Sue Finden Casper- the travelling cat

I feel rather guilty about how I own this book. Well, we have a family friend and 2 years ago, she left a Christmas present at my house for me to give to my Grandad. Aforementioned friend, has a key to our house and lets herself in if we're not there if she wants to leave something for us. A year passed and somehow it was still at my house. Friend let herself in to leave Christmas presents for us and er-noticed it was still there.

It wasn't until I opened my Christmas presents from her that year, reading the tag saying, "You seemed too fond of this to give it to your Grandad so I thought you should keep it" that I realised she had found-out my forgetfulness- oops! What MUST she have thought of me!

This is a wonderfully heart-felt book. You sense just how much Sue loves her cat. It mainly tells the tale of how she received Casper, a strongly individual cat who liked to go a-wandering. This cat became a world-wide celebrity when it transpired that he travelled on a First bus in Plymouth for several years. The cat seemed to touch the hearts of everyone he ever met, including people in a Doctor's surgery. The book doesn't have a happy ending as people who live in an urban area with cats might guess but it is a wonderful tale- I strongly recommend you reading it! 44. Pamela Aidan An assembly such as this. The Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy part 1.

Oh dear, my penchant for Jane Austen spinoffs shows no sign of abating. I picked this up in a Hexham Charity shop. Out of all the Pride and prejudice spin-offs, this is by far the best I have read, particularly from the perspective of Mr Darcy. It is faithful to the original but with originality and sensitivity. You feel a lot more benevolent towards the early Mr Darcy as he seems an insensitive fool at the beginning of Ms Austen's original- one can understand why he acts the way he does in this. Read it, you wont be disappointed! And the best thing about it is it is a 3 part trilogy so I have 2 more parts to read- Amazon here I come!!!

45. Georgette Heyer These old shades

Another charity shop bargain, I am always delighted to find any offerings from Georgette Heyer. She is such a marvellous story-teller. I did wonder if any book could match up to the previous one I read which I loved. The heroine in this is a 19 year old French girl called Leonie who begins the book as an immature French page boy. He is strongly willful and quickly wins over the affection of the main male character, Justin, Duke of Avon who is known as 'Satan' in society due to his mercenary ways and lack of morals. It is an interesting tale as the pair of them are tamed by each other. There is excitement aplenty with an abduction by the villain of the story, a debut-ball, chases, journeys to the countryside, a shooting and a dramatic suicide! Once again, this wonderful author surprised me with her ingenuity and beguiling main characters I grow to love.

Have you read any of these? Would you?

Thanks to www.amazon.co.uk me old hearties- thank you for the images. (I just received 6 things through the post from Amazon I ordered last week- eek! But it was SO nice coming home to a different parcel each day! More Jane Austen!)

Clashing prints- Country girl-inspired!

I am a firm follower of Sophie's blog. She's fun, down-to-earth and wears some funky, cannily-sourced items! I cannot remember where, but she recently hosted a post at someone's blog on how to wear clashing prints! Well, I am notoriously bad at mismatching prints, so I shyed away from this. However, I decided to give it a go after reading her tips and when I went to Oxford, I teamed these two together, coral floral and blue swirls as I wanted something summery, light, a little quirky but none too much. What do you reckon? Does this combo work? And do I indeed match these curtains! Should I make a Sound of Music style dress out of them?


I've kept the photos small but you can click to see the print clearer!

Back to University. Oxford, that is!

Well, technically, not where I went, but since Oxford is a university city, I couldn't resist the title!
We visited last week to go and meet CBC's long-lost auntie (not strictly accurate, but I like the romantic sound of the phrase)
The first place of interest we went past was the Natural History museum. I am such a London-centric that I didn't even think there'd be something named that outside of London. Such wonderful architecture, like much of Oxford- there are so many buildings that fascinate me. I'd love to visit. I was particularly enamoured by the large felled trees outside!

It was a lovely day, not too hot, not too cold, so many lovely buildings to see.

I was amused by the sight of so many bicycles parked- like Cambridge it seems that this is the popular mode of transport. Hurrah I say. (although CBC has been reluctant to let me ride since seeing One Day)

We met up with CBC's relatives in a cafe off the main boulevard where I ate far too much for my liking! It was soo nice to see them as I haven't seen them for a while and it was wonderful to meet CBC's auntie who had lots of tales to regale us of her Southern hemisphere existance. A fascinating, genuine lady who I'd love to meet more of.

As we wandered along the main thorougfare, I couldn't help but notice this shop and take a picture as one of my favourite bloggers (of St Louis fame) is of this name and I was sure she'd like to know that she's been immortalised into a shopping institution!

I really recommend visiting as there is so much to see and do, if only we'd had time to enjoy the sights more. Even the post boxes are quaint!

G&D's is famed for their amazing homemade ice-creams which one can buy in the normal cone form or even have an ice-cream party with ice-cream cakes. A hot favourite is the Oxford Blue- an amazing lavender colour.

Being somewhat conservative in my ice-cream choices, I went for a Dimebar flavoured one though I wish I'd spotted the Cambridge blue which is a mint-choc-chip... Jealous?

We spotted to try and eat these monsters.

Onto Christchurch meadows, flanked by the famous college which has featured in many a film. A lovely breezy walk was just what I needed.

Here we have the famous dining hall which is featured as Hogwarts great hall in the Harry Potter movies. We had to battle past er- lots of photo taking hoards!

The meadows are delightful, ducks and goose a plenty, rowers getting into shape, the barges on the canal.

Due to parking issues, CBC and I seperated, wherein I tried to visit the Botanical gardens which shut just before I got there, this was as far as I got. I love the neo-classical influences and caught a tantilising glance through the gate- it made me think of one of my favourite books, Tom's midnight garden.

After, I had visited a great vintage clothing store where I bought 2 dresses, a hat and a tie (will post at a later date), CBC and I reunited to go to Jesus college, where CBC's mum and aunty were staying. Yes, you can stay at the university residences when the students are away, so it's worth a look if you fancy living as if you were an Oxford student. It made me wish I had gone away to somewhere like Oxford for university to stay in such an amazing place rather than staying in London.

All the colleges have beautiful quandrangles- I can imagine how buzzing they'd be during term time.

The dining halls where they were to have their breakfast are full of wonderful paintings of previous students including a previous primeminister according to CBC's aunty who recognised him from her England days.

It does make me wonder, "What if...?" about university. How would life have turned out if I had moved away from London.

We repaired to CBC's mother's room which was rather nice for students. Whilst they all got ready to go out, I messed around in the room, loved the window seats.

Dinner was at a very luxurious affair called The Boathouse. We began with an Amuse bouche and then I received my 'Autumn root vegetable platter' It was amusing despite a little food envy for those around! Delightfully fragrant, interesting flavours and cleverly thought out.

My main course of Steak was delicious with more root-vegetables- I managed to avoid the vegetable of doom (mushroom) sauce! A very substantial portion!

My dessert was entitled Chocolate soup. I confess that this was not what I was expecting, I was expecting something a little less viscous but it was nonetheless very tasty! The dinner was a wonderful treat from CBC's generous mum and I really enjoyed it and the splendid company.

Getting up the subsequent morning was no mean feat!

I really look forward to going back to Oxford, it was rather too fleeting. Have you ever been there?