TARDIS Tuesday outfit- Petronella Osgood in Death In Heaven

In my recent 'Future TARDIS Tuesday' post, I alluded to this outfit worn by Petronella Osgood, in an episode called Death in Heaven.  Osgood works for UNIT as a scientific adviser and her clothes are very much nods to the Doctor's outfits as she is his super fan!

Let's look at the outfit she wears...

I've put together this collage of stills I made from the episode showing her outfit as best as possible.

As you can see, it consists of:

• Claret bow tie.
• Navy, long practical-looking coat.
• Navy trousers
• Beige and peachy floral shirt
• Converse trainers
• Hair in plait
• Black-framed glasses.
• Brown buckled belt

I thought it would be fun to do some side-by-side photos of this outfit!

Let's talk through my outfit:

I started with the floral blouse. Actually, this item is a Clara Oswald shirt which she wore in clips from the BBC Doctor Who prom- it was one of my first Clara purchases and came from a charity shop in town. It seemed very similar in print to Osgood's!

My vintage bowtie came from the Vintage Emporium in Hexham a few years ago.

My navy Barbour jacket is in fact a Clara jacket, again! Also second-hand (I COULD NOT find the hood! Where is it?!!)

My glasses are from Primark.

My Converse trainers were £2.50 from my local charity shop and yes, you guessed it, they are a Clara item also!

Finally, my trousers are from Just Female (but bought second-hand) and are.... a Clara item!

So this was all put together from items I already had, which is the best kind of cosplay I think! As usual, everything is second-hand (except the glasses!) 

Later in the episode, Osgood is in her laboratory and changes into her white lab coat so I threw on one of CBC's workshirts to emulate that!

Obviously, since I was working at home, I didn't wear jacket or labcoat all day, so this is what I wore (and am still wearing) for the rest of the day with rainbow slippers instead of shoes which were only worn to go and fill up watering cans from the Waterbutt outside in the rain to maximise the amount of rain water I could collect! Wish I had a second butt!

 What do you think?

xx

Kezzie and the amazing technicolor dream skirt

"I wore my skirt (yes, on Saturday)
With golden lining (not really)
Bright colours shining (they're matt- cotton doesn't shine)
Wonderful and new (wonderful, yes,.  New....well, second hand from the charity shop 2 years ago)
May I return? (this is ok so far, please specify to what or where or whom?)
To the beginning (of what? Life?  The day?  This blog post?  Knock yourself out!)
The light is dimming (not at 11am)
And the dream is true (well, I like having a rainbow skirt but it wasn't always my dream!)"

Enough of the silliness!  I hadn't shared an outfit post on here.  I know a lot of people have been existing in their pajamas during the Lockdown/stay at home (you've made me paranoid about what is the right term to use Bev!)  but for me, I always like getting dressed properly in what I'd wear anyway!

On Saturday, I thought it was time to pull out the rainbow skirt!  Rainbows are everywhere at the moment- a symbol of hope. Like my good friend, Ang,  I have always liked rainbows and talked about the importance of them in my childhood memories so I have had lots of rainbow items of clothing in my wardrobe- it's always something that has cheered me!

Except for the leggings and jewellery, the whole outfit is charity-shopped from the rainbow skirt (£2.50 Scope, Hexham), black top (Barnardos £2.50), Birkenstock sandals (£12 British Heart Foundation)

My necklace is from the Crafty Anteater and my earrings (Parrots!) were from Primark a looong time ago!

Sending you all positive rainbow wishes.

xxx

Rainbow outfits and rainbow blessings

Greetings friends.

I thought I'd share a few blessings or happy things from the day:
1.  I got some vague whiffs of smells today. I got some tomato pasta out of the microwave and just for a minute, I got a whiff of something tomatoey and later, a whiff of coconut oil as CBC was preparing to cook. I also have some vague sensation of taste today when I ate some strong garlic.
2.  Delicious red lentils: though I couldn't taste very much, I was appreciative of the deliciousness of them and how many yummy vegetables CBC cooked.
3.  A local vegetable wholesaler is selling to the public and someone posted it on Facebook. We phoned up and ordered some lovely vegetables and EGGS!!!! CBC will pick it up on Monday.
4.  CBC is now on for the idea of raised beds! Ordered some topsoil from our local garden centre who are doing local delivery.
5.  I played a game of Bananagrams by myself! I love Bananagrams!
6.  Finished my Tasha Alexander book which was great!
7.  Lovely letter and seeds through the post from Sophie today! Tomato plants!!!
8. Had a fun game of Swingball with CBC yesterday which was fun!
9.  My sister called me back today and we had a lovely chat of over an hour. Oh how wonderful it was to have that time with her- it's so rare for that to happen. We both thoroughly enjoyed the time!
10. For the sleep I got!
11.  For having a job where my income is secure. So grateful that I am so far, not having to worry about my income whereas I know others are in a more precarious situation.
12.  For having such a spacious home.
13.  For our TV- so glad we bought it at Christmas. I was worried it was a lot of money to spend but it has been really useful.

And now onto an outfit.
Last Sunday, feeling worried and scared, before my church service online, I donned a collection of rainbowy and brightly coloured clothes.

This green t-shirt has been a firm favourite since I bought it from H&M last year.  The fluffy mustard cardigan was a present from my in-laws 4 years ago.

I love my Zara embroidered velvet joggers- I totally copied Anna  when I bought these- but managed to get them second-hand when they were still new in the shops!

My red beret and Clarks desert boots were also charity-shop purchases over the years.

What about accessories?  

Well, my earrings and star brooch were from Lorelai LQ and my beautiful necklace is from Smile and Make.  I was one of the lucky first few to own this necklace!

My hope and trust is in God right now- he's saving me from panic, especially with anxiety about health, but I am glad for rainbows too- after all, those were the original symbol of hope from God all those years ago!

xxx

TARDIS Thursday - Clara from Sleep No More

Hello there,

I hope you are well. I missed TARDIS Tuesday on er- Tuesday because we were in Northumberland and CBC was hogging using computer.   Therefore, I am posting today instead!

The outfit is one I wore last February- pretty much exactly a year ago in fact! It's worn by Clara Oswald in the final series she featured in.  She wears it at the end of the episode.  For me, it's quite a simple outfit. Plain and monochrome. However, it is a chic outfit that I really like!
Take a look!

And here's my image of the outfit at the Doctor Who Exhibition (not put on correctly!)

My picture from the Doctor Who Exhibition.

 I found a good picture that my friend Chrissi used on her blog for it. You can see her bag on the chair and she is taking off a leather jacket

Image borrowed from my friend Chrissi's Cosplay site- www.claracosplay.dreamconnect.de

And here's me!

 I wore this outfit for going to the Beaumont Hotel on Tuesday with my Mother-in-Law and CBC for her birthday.

It is very similar to last time I wore it except with a change of jumper.

The cute, white collar is part of a loose cotton blouse from &Other Stories (acquired 2nd hand).  The skirt is from Topshop.  My alternative jumper came from the charity shop and as it is cashmere, it was really cosy for a cold night in Northumberland!

The decor seems to suit the outfit!

What do you think?

xx

Style Imitating Art: French embroidery Part 2

Hi there,

Yesterday, I shared with you my first outfit, from the archives, for this week's Style Imitating Art Challenge.

The inspiration piece was this beautiful Embroidery sample from the late 18th to early 19th century by Jean-Francois Bony, a French embroiderer and silk manufacturer who was famous for being the fabric designer for those famous historical figures of France, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon!

It looks beautiful- gorgeously intricate floral embroidery on a black background and made of silk and wool. I'm not too sure whether that background is just shiny or it is stripy!

Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/223036

I am wearing a beautiful embroidered ASOS dress with a black velvet Kangol beret (both charity-shopped).  These are teamed with black leggings and my black Clara boots (secondhand) The embroidery is self-explanatory I hope and the black accessories are a nod to the background.

When I saw this inspiration, I knew exactly what I was going to wear for the challenge. Last year, I shared a blog post featuring this beautiful ASOS intricately embroidered floral dress which I found in the charity shop with original tags still on.  The embroidery really reminded me of that dress so I knew I could fulfil the challenge but would I remember to wear the outfit AND have an occasion to wear it?  As it happens, the answer to both were YES.  I was heading up to London on Friday night to London to go and see Hamilton, the musical with CBC, his brother, sister and mum.  A nice smart dress was perfect for the theatre.  I headed off to school that day with the dress packed in my suitcase along with my overnight things to stay at his brother's flat in London and my flute and concert dress for Saturday as I was heading to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon to perform Belchazzer's feast with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lewisham Chorus.

But... I was really tired and running out of time on Friday so I headed up to London without changing, thinking I could change at the theatre.  I arrived to Victoria at 6.20pm but the others didn't arrive till at least 20minutes later and they had the tickets. They informed us they had headed in. 

CBC and I headed to the theatre which was flanked by hoards of people in a queue to go in.  When we got to the front of the queue, the doorman told me that the cloakroom didn't usually accept suitcases and most people left them at the Left Luggage Place between Platform 3-4 at Victoria Station. I wasn't best pleased at this. It seemed that we wouldn't be able to get in until we'd disposed of the suitcase. When I got there, I was outraged to discover that leaving the tiny suitcase would cost £7.50 for 3 hours and the cost hiked up to £12.50 after 3 hours (and it was then a flat fee for 24hours). Would the show be finished by 22:06 meaning my charge would only be £7.50?  Of course, in all this brouhaha, I completely forgot to take out my embroidered dress to change into AND my very expensive flute which was in my suitcase.  Cue anxiety later in the theatre when I realised.  

When we got back to the queue, a woman in front of us had a suitcase 3 times the size of mine and seemed to be going in with it.  We'd paid £100 a piece for our tickets.  Why were we penalized?  As I saw the same doorlady, I said, "She's got a suitcase too," but for some reason, she was waved in with it. Cue a feeling of more outrage.  When we got to the ticket office, CBC said the name for us because the tickets had been left for us by Brother and Mum.  We separated ours off from his sister's one (who hadn't arrived yet) and then were told off by the ticket person saying, "You're supposed to all come at once!".  I replied, with a slight edge, that I had arrived before everyone and it wasn't my idea that they had headed in before calling us and that we didn't know that they were going to go in before us.   We headed in and met the two who were already in.  They'd got drinks for us and I noticed that they were all served in plastic cups which displeased me.  At which point, CBC mentioned that Hamilton was all rap. I didn't know this and I don't like rap.  It wasn't turning out to be a success so far...  Finally, we headed into our seats. 

In the interval, I headed with my own cup to get some tea but was told I couldn't use my own cup as 'it wouldn't work' with my cup, and would have to have a cardboard cup so I said I wouldn't be getting one.  

The show finished at 10:25 so I ended up paying the £12.50 and having to stand in an epic queue to retrive it- humph!

What was the show like?  Well, I think it was extremely clever and the performers were very talented and it is an excellent way to educate young people and indeed anyone on the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the American constitution- they were very energetic, talented and had great stamina.  Luckily, it didn't turn out to be all rap- they sang so it wasn't just rap music (which is what I thought when CBC said that) and dancing, singing, visuals and the wordsmithery were all very clever and well conceived and I am glad to have seen it but I think that it wasn't my cup of tea- there was very little silence and I felt it was all a bit too relentless- I do prefer more light and shade in my choice of musicals. It doesn't detract from the performers at all they were amazing and it is worth seeing but it just isn't my thing. 

We ended up staying at WKWTTG's flat again on Saturday night so the embroidered dress turned out to be my only clean clothing to wear on Sunday so I took a photo of my outfit when I got home.  Bit fancy for a lazy Sunday mostly spent travelling home from London- got to love Engineering works- NOT!

What do you think of the outfit?  It’s not too late if you wanted to join in with SIA. Send an outfit picture or a flatlay to livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Romana 1 from The Stones of Blood

Hello there my beauties!

It IS lovely to have you, my blog friends who so kindly pay a visit to my old blog here and show your care and compassion. I do value you all.  Please give yourself a big hug from me, especially if you are having a rotten day.

Onto TARDIS Tuesday! I've been having a go at some classic companions recently, as you may have noticed and I decided to repay a visit to one I last tried in June 2017.  Romana 1, a time lady who accompanied the Doctor during the 6 serial season, The Key to Time.

She wears a very Boho, gypsy-looking outfit comprising of a dark red jersey top with loose long sleeves, an open neck with ties paired with a red tiered maxi skirt worn with a white petticoat underneath plus maroon/browny boots.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

You can see it in all these different images.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

Here's a short clip of it in action:

And here's my version!

As you can see, I have updated this from the 2017 version- only to be achieved with second-hand items.

The far-biggest pain to find, and my search has been LLLLLLLLOOOONG, was the search for the skirt. You have no idea how many eBay searches of red tiered maxi skirt, boho maxi skirt, gypsy skirt I have done  over the last two years and how many red skirts I have waded through in my quest. I finally scored this for £4 after so many fruitless searches!

The top, was reasonable too (can't remember what!) but bought a year ago or so (yes, the skirt quest has been that long)  I wore the same white lacy skirt underneath and my brown knee-high boots

I do like this outfit even though the colours are slightly off!

What do you think?

Would you wear this? Is this your thing?

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Smith and the Masque of Mandragora

Hello there!

Welcome to my latest installment of TARDIS Tuesday where I attempt to dress up as a Doctor Who character or inspiration-Screen accurate or a cursory nod, it's all fun!

Today, I am sharing an outfit from an adventure I've actually never seen but would very much like to!  It's from Tom Baker's era and is worn by Sarah Jane Smith (played by the lovely, deceased Elisabeth Sladen) in an episode called The Masque of Mandragora.

It's quite hard to find any decent images of her fab 70's outfit, I've included what I can and then a Youtube video which features the outfit quite well at some points.

Image borrowed from Who Back then

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

Check out this amazing Deviant Art representation of it! What a clever person.

It comprises of a beautiful loose, midi, folk tapestry dress worn with a high-necked white blouse with black piping ties and knee-high brown boots.

This is another one of those, "Hmmm, I can sort of do that with items of clothing I own!"outfits but really became possible when I found a beautiful light summer dress in the charity shop during my last week of the holiday.

And here's my version:

As you can see, my version is really a sort of nod to the outfit but I hope you will agree it sort of works!

The dress was the key piece which I picked up in the charity shop - it is light but covered in sort of folksy embroidery- it was very much my type of thing but it had a dual use so that was super!

Worn with my very old Italian knee-high boots. The leather is all coming away from the zips but I love these- they are so comfy!  The blouse has been rather a useful piece. It's from Autograph at M&S but I found it brand new in a charity shop in Hexham and is a beautiful, textured silk and cotton mix. I bought it for a Clara outfit originally but then used it for another Clara outfit and I realised how well it worked for an alternative to Sarah Jane's blouse.

What do you think?  Can you see enough resemblance for this to work?

xx

Style Imitating Art- Children at the Beach

It's time for another Style imitating Art outfit. Salazar chose this beautiful watercolour, Children at the beach.

The painting is by Post-Impressionist Maurice Prendergast, “Children at the Beach.

I knew that would begin with my Cath Kidston cloud skirt as this would suit the colours nicely and the literal fact that there are clouds in the sky - well, sort of!


Next, I added my blue charity shopped Karen Millen shirt as it was another jolly shade of blue.  My cotton cardigan is from DKNY and I've had it since I was a teen aged 16 and my Nan was still alive.  My sister gave it to me as a present so it's doing well 21 years on! My second-hand Saltwater sandals seemed perfect for the hot day and since we had a sea scene, I added me Kirsten Stewart fish necklace from the Orkneys. And of course, a silly paddling pose!

What do you think?

Go and see how everyone else interpreted it!

xx

Valentines Day outfit

Greetings, honoured guests!

I hope you are well!  I am fine.   I am doing my usual Packing Avoidance.  I really loathe packing and I am therefore not doing it. It usually means I start packing at Stupid o'clock and then really regret it the next morning.

I almost forgot it was Valentines Day today!  It was only last night at 11.30pm, that I suddenly remembered and scrambled to make CBC a card- you can see that in tomorrow's post!

I did decide to wear a Valentines-themed costume today- it may be similar to my outfit from last year but with variation!  One of my usual 'clothing and accessory fans at school clocked my outfit choice as usual- she always comments on it!

I started with this jumper. It's from Sugarhill Boutique but I bought it secondhand on Depop last year- stripes and hearts- the perfect combo!

With it, I added possibly my most-worn charity shop item of the last year or so- this Dorothy Perkins denim midi-skirt.  I wear it at least once a week if not more- so comfy and versatile. I'm starting to wonder when I last washed it though!?

In the footwear department, I added these red leather Clarks Originals dessert boots. These were from the Save the Children charity shop back in January.  I was waiting for CBC to get back to the car (he was having a hair cut) and I went in as it was opposite the car.  I loved the boots (and they were actually my size!) but they were £15 which seemed a little steep as the heels were really dirty and there were some dark marks on the boots.  I ummed and ahed at the counter as this is really my type of shoe but I wasn't sure if the marks would come off.  The lady at the till tried to rub them with a baby wipe with made it worse so they reduced them to £7.99!  Result! Much more my price!

 On the old jewellery front, I added my Tatty Devine heart lolly necklace and my tassel earrings my colleague bought me for Christmas.

And voila, we have a comfy Valentines outfit.

We didn't do anything special for Valentines (does anybody?) - CBC was out in looking for a Ski mask and snacks for the coach journey until 9.15pm so I cooked what I must say was a very tasty veggie Spaghetti (spaghetti in lemon juice and oil with fried leek, aubergine, tomatoes, peppers, red chilli and spinach with cheddar cheese on top!) and we just ate a mango.

I think I should go and attempt that packing!

Love to you all!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Jon Pertwee's 3rd Doctor in The Time Warrior

Hi there!
Hope you are well.
I thought, for a change, for a TARDIS Tuesday, I would dress as one of the original Doctors.  I have done this before HERE back in 2013- in fact this outfit, but slightly different- only the jacket is the same.

So, in an episode called The Time Warrior, where he meets Sarah Jane Smith for the first he wears an olive green velvet smoking jacket, white ruffle-fronted shirt, a greeny/grey bow tie and some black trousers.

Image borrowed from this Pinterest

The ruffle-fronted shirt is quintessential Jon Pertwee for me- he was indeed a Dandy in Doctor Who.

Image borrowed from Metro

And here is my version:

I should point out that most of the outfit is charity-shopped and not for the purpose of this outfit.

Let's start with the jacket.  I bought this Per Una Olive-green corduroy  jacket from a charity-shop well over 12 years ago and it has proved really versatile. I remember CBC being very envious of it when we first met.  It's not as long as his but then it is a female shape.

The trousers are a pair of ASOS trousers I charity-shopped not so long ago, a few months and they were brand-new with tags and I have worn them lots already- at least 10 times if not more.

My brown men's brogues are the only brand-new item here- they come from the men's section of Clarks- where size 8 shoes are significantly cheaper in the sale.

The one piece I DID buy with Jon Pertwee in mind is the Boden ruffled shirt.  I saw it in a charity-shop a few months ago and thought, "Oooooooooooooooh, that is LOVELY and looks very Jon Pertwee!!"

Look at those ruffles!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, I do worry about whether my ironing skills are up to it once I wash it. I am going to have to wash it since I spilt Indonesian Soto Ayam (which has Tumeric in it! AHGHGHGH!) down it on Sunday at the Indonesian Embassy!

The bow-tie is also second-hand but it came from a vintage shop in Hexham that I always feel sorry for and worry it will close down!  It is an amazing labyrinthine building with so many sections to peruse!

And there we have it- my first male TARDIS Tuesday in quite a while?

What do you think?

x

Style Imitating Art- The County court house ceiling and The 50's dress of dreams

Hi there,

Hope you are enjoying your Monday.

It's been a few weeks since I have taken part in Style Imitating Art.  This week, our host is the wonderful Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks and wonderfully, the art work we are inspired by this week is by her!

She took the photo of the ceiling during a family trip to St Louis, Missouri and had to really crane her neck to get the whole ceiling in. It is part of the building designed by Lavielle and Morton.

What an amazing ceiling and the way Daenel captured it is brilliant!  The photo is hers and I am only borrowing it here to show her amazing work in comparison to my outfits!

Old County Courthouse in St Louis, Missouri. Image by Daenel. A. Vaughn-Tucker

I was actually a little stuck with this at first until I realised on Friday that I was putting on a top which had a variety of colours including the right shade of pink together with some of the other colours and little intricate details including lace which nodded to some of the details.

 I then thought about that central circle in the image, perhaps a skylight and then thought of several items of jewellery I own that would work for that- the necklace is made up of slightly different sized circles in white including some that are intricate.  The white circle bracelet was an Eid present from a lovely girl at school and the earrings I bought in France tied with both of those.

 Finally, I added these Geometric Toms shoes - with their black and white circles and patterns, it reminded me of those outside black and white circular bits on the picture (sorry, I'm really going on a downer for descriptive language today!)
My loose blue jeans completed the look.

I then remembered a blog post I had as a draft which was never published with a dress I'd worn with the PERFECT colouring. Although the picture below is pretty dark, the pink of the dress is the exact shade in real life of those pink panels and the corresponding greyish edging is rather like the edging on my dress.  Appropriately, I had worn the same circle bracelet and a white pearl necklace plus some silvery grey sandals.

And you can read the rest of that draft post below!

In my 13 years of blogging, I have read the blogs of many stylish ladies who blog about their style.  Many of them were into Vintage clothing and many of those often found items when out in charity shops of thrift shops.  I am glad that many of them still blog such as Vix, Lauren, Ann although a few have fallen off the blogging wagon.

I was always envious and rather amazed at the beautiful collared 50's dresses that a few of my friends would find and always longed to find something similar.  Sadly, the only 50's dresses I ever really saw were in vintage shops and retailing at over £60 and invariably, never in my size!

When I was in Northumberland at Easter, my heart did a little skip when I saw this dress on a mannequin in the Corbridge Antiques centre.  The collar was gorgeous, the size looked good, it was cotton and the length looked alright.

I asked if they could take it off the mannequin and tried it on and happily, it being Northumberland, a slightly more reasonable £25 was what I managed to buy it for.

It IS very, very fitted at the waist, even for my small waist but the way the sleeves fit is lovely as it doesn't grip me at the shoulders and armpits in the way many modern sleeved dresses do.  It was very comfortable to wear to my Dad's Birthday back at the start of June.

Did you ever seek a particular style of dress and get very excited when you found it?

Now, head over to Daenel's blog on Wednesday to see how EVERYONE ELSE interpreted Daenel's beautiful photo!

AND if you think you've got an outfit that would work for this, email Daenel at livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com and she will post a round-up of all the outfits!

x

Floral fix

I've reiterated on many occasions that I love the fact that we have so many opportunities to purchase clothes second hand- it means that I can find things I really loved first time round but cheaper and also not having the guilt of buying new.

 The outfit above consists of a cardigan I bought from eBay second hand for cosplay.  The dress was one I adored in Sainsbury's when it was new but they didn't have it in my size and it was £20.
Fast forward to a charity shop a few years later and there it was for £6!
A classic collared dress will never fall out of favour in my sartorial choices.  Always happy to make room for one and keep the room for it!

So very many of my favourite items were sought second-time round and it is always nice if you are helping a charity along the way!

I do hope all is well with you.

Sending you hugs.x

Plastic Packaging Paranoia and other tales.

"Just one little bit of packaging won't hurt!"

If we all said that, then there would be 20 million pieces of plastic in landfill every time we said it!

I am despairing of some people. How hard is it to swish a bit of water in your plastic disposable food container and then shake it dry and put it into the recycling box.  If the bin is THERE and the recycling bin AND sink are about 10 cm away, what difference does it make to you? I am frankly sick of educated adults not being bothered at work to recycle when we have actually put something there for you to recycle into.  It really annoys me that I have a long journey of 1.5 hours, I get two trains and walk 2 spells of 0.5 miles and then 0.9 miles on my way home and I will take all my packaging that can be recycled home.  Why can't other people? It's making me increasingly grumpy at work as it did today when I saw a bin full of plastic containers. One colleague buys herself these two boiled eggs in a plastic pot with spinach every day for her breakfast and drops the container into the bin. I offered to take and recycle her containers the other day and told her to just give them to me to recycle hoping this might shame her into doing it herself. No, they were back in the bin today.

I have been fishing out plastic containers out of the bin every day these past few weeks at work and washing them out like the original owner should have done. Yes, it might make me look a bit mad, but I am going to do it and I am not going to do it subtly.  One of my colleagues saw me washing some containers out and then putting them in my bag and said, "You are so good!" and I am afraid I said, "I'm not good, it's just that other people can't be bothered.".  I do think that. I shouldn't be classified as 'good' for doing that- it should be normal to do that. Change doesn't happen without ruffling weathers and I think this is an important enough issue to do that for. 

Here are some things I am trying to do or I would like to do and am doing to try and do my bit. Hazel also wrote a great post about this and Susie is the queen of the Green!

• Taking my insulated cup and steel waterbottle everywhere.
• Using a collapsible sillicone container to get take-away in on my way to rehearsals when I am not able to cook.
• Carrying home anything that can be recycled including compostables.
• Refusing plastic packaging where possible.
• Only buying recycled paper toilet tissue (have done this as long as I have been buying toilet roll).
• Only using Eco-friendly washing powder, washing-up liquid and fabric softener (have done this for 10 years)
• Refusing disposables such as plastic spoons and forks, straws, carrying round my own in my bag. I also have a stainless steel straw.
• Buying the cotton buds made of cardboard.
• Using cotton handkerchiefs.
• Not using clingfilm but rather using my lovely waxed fabric sandwich wraps lovingly made by the wonderful Ang! She has many wonderful ideas for recycling and reusing.
• Tried using a bamboo toothbrush. I admit, I didn't enjoy my first foray into this as the one I used chafed the side of my mouth. Might try again though. You can get these on eBay.
• Returning the hangers to the Drycleaners from CBC's suits.

• Don't take a bag when buying loose veg.
• Switched to an Eco-friendly and renewable Energy Provider for our new house: We have gone with Bulb
• Trying to give away or sell anything that I can. 
• At school, printing my music worksheets onto the other side of scrap paper that has been discarded into the recycling bins. Printing double-sided or printing smaller to get two sheet onto one page.
• Using solid blocks of soap not plastic bottles with liquid soap. Admittedly, we have got some of these that were given as gifts to use, but other than that, we have all block soaps in our bathrooms.
• Saving, washing out and taking back plastic containers to Chinese takeaway- not done this yet but we are going to put them in CBC's boot so we remember to do it.
• Saving the paper bag from Lidl bakery to use the next time I buy something from the bakery.
• Actually remembering to put my bags for shopping back into my bag.
• Telling the children every time I do something to recycle.  I have told them every time this term that I have printed their worksheets onto recycled paper to be eco-friendly so they are getting used to it. I also told them that I was taking home the plastic to recycle (showed them my bag full) and told them that THEY had to change the behaviour of the adults around them and told them all about the plastic in the seas crisis.

There IS a long way to go. I still do many things that are not environmentally friendly. I waste money on things.  Although the majority of my clothes and books ARE bought second hand, I still buy too many. I did visit the library a lot last year but I still bought a LOT of both clothes and books. Luckily, I did give away most of those back to charity shops AND the local library and even sold a few.  However, although I am good at turning off lights, I am not perfect and often have to throw away (into compost) bits of mouldering fruit and other things.  But, self-awareness, self-discipline and a willingness to try, change and think are the start of most good habits.

How are you tackling the environmental issues such as the Plastic Packaging crisis?

xx

Old Skool Boater

Hello there!  Thanks for all your kind advice and empathy over my dancing lack of confidence crisis- it IS comforting to know that these things improve with age and also that I am not alone in it. I appreciate each and every word you kind ladies and gents (I love the fact I can say that!!!) write to me each time you visit- you make blogging the community and kind place it is.

Greetings from the cool tree in my local park! I absolutely adore this tree- not sure what sort it is but it is huge! I adore the texture and walking around it, looking at the all the nobbles and lines that show its age and wisdom!  If I could find my wretched tripod,  (WOMOTM can I please have that spare you offered next time I come up?) I would totally come over here to take photos occasionally as it's such a nice spot. It's by the pitch-and-put golf course and you can be there for several minutes without anyone passing!

I like lots of aspects of this outfit and wanted to share them (sorry if that bores you and sorry WOMOTM, I know you don't like these posts!)  - firstly, the chambray dress. I really liked the chambray 'trend' (dare I say that word- not sure what I am talking about really or whether it was a trend in the world at large or just in blog world?!) last summer and really like the idea of a chambray dress but didn't really like anything in the shops at the time, nor wanted to pay much for something.  I found this ruffly dress in a charity shop just before Easter for about £3 so was super chuffed!CBC liked it too which is always a bonus! It proves that all good things come to those who wait!

I added the stripy cardigan which was bought several years ago now- I like its 'old skool' appearance and I was always a little smug that I bought it from the Primark aged 12-13 collection- it was £3 cheaper than the adult equivalent and had red buttons (more fun) instead of navy!
Purple tights and Converse added to the old-skool look (not sure how exactly the tights are old skool but movin' on...).  These Converse have a story too. I bought these in Bali last time I was there in 2005.  I went off with my friend Emily one day and we both went into Matahari, a big shopping centre and department store in Denpasar, and both bought trainers- me these and she purple Vans (she LOVES purple more than me!) and then we both bought LOST series 1 and 2 on DVD and I got to see what happened at the end of series 2 in England before it came on TV (which was good as I was actually away when it viewed!).  We were so happy at our purchases- which were bought for about £7 in local currency. We then went to Jalan Sulawesi which is a HUGE street full of material shops! When we got back to the hotel and the rest of our Gamelan group, they asked where we'd been and we shuffled around and shared our purchases to the envy of others!  I realise that I haven't actually worn my black/red Converse on this blog since Easter 2010 (here- at Hever Castle)

Cat's eye sunglasses that I found in a drawer recently (they hurt- bit too tight! I have a big head?) and newly washed, unbrushed, undried hair gave me a nice messy look!). There was also a binoculars necklace which evidently annoyed me as I took it off by the second photo!

Finally the piece-de-resistance:  A straw boater.  Remember I said that all good things come to those who wait?  Well, I have wanted a straw boater for ages. Considering my epic hat collection (over 60 hats- not counted exactly though!), I didn't have a short-brimmed boater (Mum does but she's not giving it over).  I have seen them on ASOS etc but thought they were a bit too expensive. Others in shops have often been too small.
Well, when I was clearing, sorting and tidying at Grandad's house the week before half-term, I was clearing the spare room and in the top of a cupboard I found this straw boater AND another hat (which will be saved for another post). I was SOO pleased- something else I wanted but now I have one that belonged to either my Grandad or Nan! It could even be an old school boater! Nobody else was interested in it so it was ALL miiiiiiiiine*. It has a black ribbon round it but when I was dressing that day, I suddenly thought to wrap my Chambray polka dot wired headband round the brim to give it a different look!
It needs a little putting together, one of the straw seams is working a little loose- any millinery ideas for getting the layers to stick together greatly appreciated (glue? Needle and thread? Other?)

I was lucky that my friend M came out to visit CBC and I in our new home last Thursday - she took my photo by my favourite tree and then I took hers! It was really nice to have her- she's such a great friend, someone who is honest, kind, generous and so interested. She is also INCREDIBLY organised and motivated- these are good attributes for me to aspire to since I am not!  She'll always tell you what she thinks and will be honest and she's so generous. She saw that our old church needed a new hoover for doing the cleaning and just went out and bought a Dyson. Saw a gap and filled it- no fuss, no big deal, just did it.  She was also the painter of the squirrel on our wall- her wedding present to us! She gave me her art portfolio and we got to choose which painting we wanted which she then had framed! It was perfect for us as we love red squirrels and CBC has a cute red squirrel postcard display in his study!  I first met her at church. She used to go to the 8.00am service for a few months when joining our church and then came to a few 10.30 services. I shook hands with her at the Peace a few times and then finally, having really wanted to get to know her, chased her out of the church as she was leaving one Sunday to say hi and introduce myself properly. She always tells people that's how we met! She always laughs about it!

We went to a local arts, crafts and artisan place for lunch and to look around and then we came back to our house for a tour.  CBC then went off for a cycle and we walked over to the local park for several laps of the lake. I like keen walkers and she is certainly one of those!
 
I'll be seeing her again on the 29th of June for my concert at St John's Smith Square, Westminster.  It's going to be a great concert so get yourself to London and come along to it!!! Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Tickets available from www.sjss.org


Do you have any recent made friends (well, we've been friends for 5-ish years now) who you have made and you just get on so well with?

Hugs to all x

Linking to Hat attack with the amazing true hat fanatic Judith AKA Style Crone!!


Next, with the totally cool Bella at Citizen Rosebud who is giving me a wave of nostalgia with her 90's photos!

Thirdly with the fabulous Fashion item Friday with Renae at Simple Sequins


* Cue manic Dictator, Herbert Von Takeoverzevorld, Mwa ha ha ha ha laughter!