A big summary of lots of outfits!

 As is often the case, sometimes, I take some pictures of outfits but they never make it onto here. Various reasons- 1. I am not in a blogging mood, 2. don't want to have too many outfit posts, 3. Don't transfer photos across from phone successfully. 4. I forget about them.

Therefore, I had a quick look through my folders on the computer and thought I'd bung together all the outfits I forgot to post into one post.  Some will seem sadly inappropriate now given the season but it will have to just suffice.

So, let's give them a look!

This was an outfit from August. I have not remembered to post any outfit in which I wear this t-shirt. It's a sailor t-shirt from Joanie Clothing. I bought it secondhand on eBay, having liked it when they sold it new online.  Of course, I went all out with the sailor cliques and added this stripy skirt from Peacocks (new a few years ago) and added a Compass brooch plus my Tom shoes.

Continuing with the sailor theme (I love a sailor item of clothing!), I am sharing some photos from August when we took my niece to Burnham-on-Crouch on the boat (You get the 'ferry' from Essex Marina which is at Wallasea Island).

I knew we were going on a boat and spotted an opportunity.

I haven't worn this lovely dress from Jaeger for the last two years, since 2020 so it was due a revisit.

The new straw sun visor I'd picked up from Barnardo's a few days prior went perfectly with it.

And, I even managed to coordinate with my niece who was sporting a rather lovely white stripy coord! She borrowed a sun hat from me!

Here was a school outfit from July.

It was charity-shopped Cath Kidston from last Summer and worn with an almost matching wired headband from Primark and a Primark cardigan plus my rose gold Tom shoes which I reaaaaaaaaaaally must glue- the sole is flapping at the toe on one foot!

I have no recollection what this outfit was for. I love my Parrot jumpsuit from Emily and Fin.

I added a charity-shopped straw and raw silk hat and a white linen M&S (Charity shopped) shirt plus Rieker sandals.

Lorelai LQ orange earrings made from reused plastic straws!

A recent charity-shopped item which I have already worn a lot was a black Indian rayon skirt. It features dancing figures in gold, red and green. £2.99 from the Salvation Army.  I added a tomato red top from Topshop (charity shopped in Hexham) with frilled sleeves and my Dr Martens teal Joylyn boots.

Can you spy the gold leafed oak leaf earrings?

A black sparkly Primark cardigan provided a bit of a cover up if needed. This was a Saturday outfit.

This Joanie Clothing dress was purchased for £4 from a market stall when they were still for sale on the Joanie website a few years ago.

We made a visit to Priory Park in Southend for a bandstand concert and I wore this with a green charity shopped cardigan from Dotty P & my Toms Huaraches

You could go into the house in Priory park which is on the grounds of the old abbey.  There is a great interactive part with monks singing Gregorian chant on recordings as you look at some old stones.  And there are robes! CBC wore the adult sized one. I got the child's one!

Oh look, it's the new skirt again and the green cardigan- which I realise was inside out here! Oh, the glamour of being a not-style blogger! This time worn with a black t-shirt and squirrel shoes!

And finally, here is what I wore to go and watch the orchestra that I play with in Essex. There were only 2 flutes so I watched CBC play. As the whole programme was from the Classical era, I decided to go Jane Austen themed- sort of! 1970's does Regency!

Darn, it, uploaded the blurry photo.  Style blogger fail again!

The dress is by Louis Caring of London

I wore it with my Gstar navy corduroy coat and a Green felt Accessorize hat (bought the same day as Bridesmaid dresses!) plus my Nan's locket!

And that's the lot! Any favourites here?

How would you style the Indian skirt? I am currently wearing it with a green tshirt and red cardie and big knitted Poppy!

x

Cat under the skirt

 For some reason, when I have been to visit my Mum at her home in recent times, I always seem to be wearing a long skirt.

My long skirts seem to be a constant source of joy and fascination for her feline children.

Every single time I sit down, I immediately  have one or two squatters who set up camp under the canopy of the skirt. Which ever skirt it is.

In the early days, they used to try and leap up my legs but now, they just like sitting there.

Every little movement I make results in a little tickle up my leg

They have SUCH characters! They are the absolute best of friends but both unique.

Here's Rowan.  He plays fetch with a small ball and can leap around 2 foot in the air to catch!

Bramble, not pictured, chirrups away and is very intelligent. Her motor begins the moment you pick her up.

I'm so glad Mum has them. They bring her such joy, despite their naughty antics.

CBC loves to go and visit them too and he talks about going to see our fur cousins.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan's outfit from The Power of the Doctor

 Hi there!

Hope you are well.

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, I thought I'd have a go at putting together Yaz Khan's final outfit from her final episode, The Power of the Doctor.

Let's have a look at it.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/jodie-whittaker-faces-final-doctor-25333198

My insta pal @Zeiynacosplay was very clever and managed to identify both her jacket and her shirt/blouse from the very dark looking promo pictures available.  They are both from All Saints. Her jacket is a Balfern jacket (Yaz has another Balfern jacket but made from red leather)- this one is some sort of Canvas.

The blouse is a rich burgundy and black snake skin print.

She wears a tan/brown belt and either black/dark jeans.

At this stage, I am not sure what shoes she is wearing but I am taking a punt on either her Dune Pacey boots in Burgundy (which would go well with this) or her Doctor Martens Leonore boots in butterscotch.

She wears her trademark small silver studs and her pair in French plaits.

Here is my version:

In terms of her jacket, I did debate buying a mustard-coloured jacket but I really do have so many jackets and I decided to use one I had any way.  I bought this caramel-coloured fake leather jacket from a charity shop in Ipswich with Sophie and Hazel around about 4-5 years ago. 

I wore a pair of black pinstripe trousers (charity shopped) as they were the first ones I found on Sunday morning (I wore this on the day that the episode aired!) and added my Mum's brown leather belt.

I have no idea how Zeiyna managed to identify the shirt but she was spot on with it.  To be fair, I did think it might be from All Saints!  I managed to find one second hand on eBay as I thought it looked really pretty.  All Saints RRP prices are ridiculous. This retailed at £110!!!

I was SO happy to find it was 100% cotton and beautifully soft.  It was wonderful puffed sleeves and ruched cuffs

She doesn't seem to be wearing any jewellry but I decided to wear my 40th birthday present of her Alex Monroe necklace. I tied my hair in rudimentary plaits- I don't have enough hands to do French braids/plaits!!

My final part of the outfit- I decided to wear my Dune Pacey boots which I FINALLY found in the screen accurate burgundy colour a couple of months ago!

Update: 

Ah, this  was SUCH a wonderful episode!!!

Spoilers alert!!!!!

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Last chance to look away!

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It warmed my hearts to see the Classic Doctors making  an appearance as well as the wonderful inclusion of 5 old companions including William Russell who played Ian Chesterton  in the  very first episode!

I thought  the plot  was very clever and using the Regeneration energy of the Cybermen to get Jodie's Doctor back. 

Lots of great acting and heartfelt moments  as well as laughs.

Sacha Dawan's Master was suitably evil and crazy and a great villain!

I did think Yaz leaving just like that was a bit abrupt and unexpected. I expected  something more dramatic!

Well done Chibnall, this was a great episode!

Xx 

xxx

A sign of peace

Rainbows are so special! The excitement you see when one appears in the sky is a joy!

Last Saturday, CBC and I were in Billericay to go for dinner. He was driving in from a rehearsal and I had gone via train to have a quick peruse of the charity shopw. As I headed towards the restaurant, I got caught in rain.  

I dipped into Poundland to escape the rain.

When I emerged, I saw a rainbow emerging across the sky.

As I walked down the High Street, the rainbow became more and more intense.

 The wonderful thing was, all the people walking towards me had NO idea what beauty was behind them.

It was therefore up to me, to enlighten them.

To each and every person who came towards me, I said, "Have you seen the rainbow?"

And in each and every case, I had the glorious joy of seeing them turn round and gasp at how bright and intense it was.

Every single individual was overjoyed and stopped for a moment to gaze in awe and smile.

And I got to share that joy because I'd shown them the rainbow!

Of course, it can never be captured in a photo well enough.

I think this picture was my best one, of the bow over St Mary's church.

There was a secondary bow which was harder to capture.

This final picture was one that CBC took at the other end of the High Street. He managed to get a photo without any traffic!

Sometimes you don't see the rainbow in your gloomy sky because you don't see it...until someone takes the time to show you what was behind you all along.

I hope someone points out a metaphorical rainbow out to you this week...or that you can show someone that rainbow too!

xx

Recently

 Watching:

Gilmore Girls

I love, love, love this programme! It's so wholesome and innocent and makes me long for a simpler time and small town life!

The Partner Track

All Creatures Great and Small series 3: I love James Herriot so much and this programme is really touching!

Simon Reeves South America (BBC) : Unbelievably beautiful but also heart-rending. So much of the world is exploited by Big Business. I really have felt upset by seeing how badly some people are treated by a world that just keeps taking from their country and landscape and 

Eating:

I made delicious pesto pasta with courgette, pepper, tomatoes, shallot and pak choi. Very sad that CBC was zonked out asleep and didn't eat it. He'd said he wanted to go to dinner but fell asleep and wouldn't wake up.

An excellent lentil and vegetable stew. Under the guidance of Sandra (Multicoloured Madness), I soaked my lentils first and this has really helped me to avoid the digestive difficulties I have with them often!

Delicious 

Playing

Mozart Symphony 39,

Bartok Piano concerto no2.

Schubert Unfinished symphony

Ruth Gipps Horn Concerto

Listening to:

Ruth Gipps Horn concert-  This is a brilliant piece!

Mozart Flute concerto in G major -  went to watch CBC play in our local orchestra's concert- first time I've ever been in the audience!

The Lark Ascending by Vaughn-Williams- it is 150 years since he was born this month so I've been playing this to the children.

Florence Price Juba Dance- a very exciting and uplifting piece from her symphony.  She was the first African-American woman to have her music played by a major orchestra.

Discovering:

That there is a Refill eco shop that has opened in our town! They have REFILL CRISPS and Chilli rice-crackers. I went there for the first time on Saturday and bought lots of snacks!! 

Also, cannot believe that my neighbours, 2 along, who I met at church, run a refill eco-business! I can now go practically next door to fill up on cleaning products and washing up liquid!

Some interesting fungi growing around a tree stump in the front of school.

Wishing:

That we had booked a holiday for half term earlier! We almost booked a holiday and then it went unavailable just as we were booking! We can never get our act together!

TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Smith- Invasion of the Bane

I thought I'd return to a previous outfit worn by Classic Who companion, Sarah Jane Smith (played by the wonderful Lis Sladen) in her New Who series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was in her very first episode of this popular series, that she wore the outfit.  I first wore this outfit in June 2018.

Let's take a look at it:

Image borrowed from http://sarahjanetv.blogspot.com/2007/01/

IMage borrowed from  http://sarahjanetv.blogspot.com/2007/01/

https://thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/sja/characters/team/

She wore a brown and caramel-coloured striped dress, a pink ribbed cardigan with double buttons from Karen Millen, burgundy tights, brown knee-high boots and a thick, plain, gold necklace.
 

This is one of my favourite cosplays!

I decided to recreate some of the images I found of it to share my outfit:

My dress was bought secondhand from eBay but is from Dorothy Perkins. As you can see, it's not a match, either my legs are longer or my dress is shorter but it was a match enough for me.

I added some burgundy leggings from Primark which I've had years but recently had their seams stitched up for me by my sister.

I added my lovely eYe Boutique brown Italian boots which I've had longer than I've had CBC in my life which I recently took to the new Shoemender in town who put in a new zip for me in one boot after I busted the old one (£19 but I love these boots and although the material at the side is wearing out, they still have lots of wear in them! Plus, support artisans) 

The gorgeous cardigan is from Karen Millen. It does up with a hook and eye so you can see all the lovely shiny buttons! Mine came courtesy of eBay of course!

I noticed a detail I'd not noticed last time- the fact she is wearing a simple, chunky gold necklace so I added a chunk costume chain of my Nan's that lurks in a box but doesn't usually get won as it's not quite my style but I have never been able to part with any of her 'treasure'.

I hope your week is going well. It's the last week before the Half Term holiday and I am definitely ready for a break from school and the children and my commute. I think the lack of space is getting to everyone now.

Hope you are well.

x  

French supermarket

Reminising about my French holiday, I remembered some photos I took in the Supermarket we visited.

Ah, it is SO lovely to see MULTIPLE varieties of fruit and vegetables available loose! In the UK, moreoften than not, in the supermarket, if you are lucky enough to find something unpacked, there is only the one option. But in this supermarket, there were multiple tomato varieties, multiple plums, multiple beans and I even spy various carrots!

All those tomatoes!

Oh to have a choice of plums and greengages!

And even French beans!

Alas, I got sucked in my the bargain section...which involved some plastic!

Oh, and if you are wondering, this is my favourite purchase ever. A 300g bag of cheesy puffs- the equivalent of Wotsits. The most enormous bag of crisps I've ever seen. Of course I bought them! And ate them all! Over about 2 weeks.

xx