TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Smith's Edwardian look

 Hello there!

Hope all is well with you!

Today's cosplay was one I last featured in August 2017.   That's 7 years ago!

It was worn by Classic Who Companion, Sarah Jane Smith, played by the wonderful Elisabeth Sladen 

https://unearthlydoctor.blogspot.com/2011/11/pyramids-of-mars.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562870/

https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/sarah-jane-smith-pyramids-of-mars/

This beautiful cream outfit apparently belonged to previous companion, Victoria. So she's dressing as another companion!  It looks Edwardian!

I realised I could make another closet cosplay of this so here it is:

I started with the skirt which is the Per Una Skirt I wore last time for this cosplay. It's so pretty and was a lovely birthday present from my Dad and Stepmum around about 12 years ago.

I was looking in a underbed zip bag for a costume piece when I dressed as Wendy last year for World Book Day and I found this blouse. I KNOW it must have come from my lovely friend Ellie as it had a label saying her surname inside but I have no idea when! It is definitely vintage - I'm guessing 1970s.

Although the style is a bit different, it has the Leg o' mutton sleeves & across chest frill. I did contemplate attaching a scarf to get the effect of the downward part of the blouse but decided to just go with it like it is.

Decided to pose with a walking pole to represent the gun. Last time I cosplayed this, I used a broom!!! I remember people laughed!

I had a go at a side-by-side photo!  The blouse is VERY fitted so I'm not sure I could wear this in public without it popping open!

I had a lovely weekend!

Friday night, CBC was rather sleepy so we didn't do anything particular.

Saturday morning, we had a lazy morning, breakfast out on the swing seat.  Then we headed out to Chelmsford where CBC got a haircut. I had a look in the charity shops along Moulsham street (where we parked) and ended up buying the following. I didn't need them and you may feel free to judge me should you wish.

One of the charity shops had a end of season sale and I bought the Monsoon red top and the White Stuff sleeveless blouse for 49p each.  The white Primark crochet top was £1.  The Hobbs cotton striped twinset was £6 and the teal dress with beaded wings was £5. 

The whale was £2 and the turtle was £1 and I bought them for one of the Year 5's book corners which I have helped create with my work friend.  I put up words on her high window saying, "Dive into an ocean of reading!" (wanted to avoid the stereotypical phrase), added some nets from Treasure Island and added my Beanie Baby crab, plastic lobster and a whole array of shells from Holkam beach.  There was already a cuddly octopus too.  The children LOVE every time I add to it.  I am thinking of trying to make some plastic bubbles out of packaging!

I also bought CBC two shirts in the 49p sale too!

We then headed to Little Baddow church to watch our friends Lara and Tim do a fantastic piano and drumkit recital- it was superb! I collected conkers after the performance and we enjoyed drinks in the churchyard. Had a lovely catch up with a retired work colleague.

We then headed to a localish wild swimming spot where I spent a blissful 20minutes swimming in the river before heading home and eating a Chinese.

Hope all is well with you!

xx

Totally chazzered!

Lots of us in Blogville love charity shopped clothing. The thrill of finding  something a bit different or a sought-after  item is a great one. And if you  like something  new  but don't  want to contribute to the fast-fashion eco-disaster, a charity-shopped item is a solution! 

I wear charity-shopped items daily  but rarely is an outfit completely from a chazzer!

But today's  outfit is.

I really love all the items involved and all have  already  been worn loads despite nearly  all being  fairly recent  purchases.

The dress is F&F but bought from the Hexham hospice charity shop for  £3. It's  a bit different  to all my other dresses but also works as a tunic. 

The cardigan was purchased  in the same shop and was a £6 Karen  Millen  one I'd  actually looked at on eBay.

The  shoes, £12 for virtually new Timberland suede MaryJane shoes from  HebdonBridge  are my Summer  shoes of choice  particularly  as I have  a black toenail  from the Pennine  Way.

The corduroy trousers were £6 brand new in my local Haven hospice charity shop and were something I've  been wanting for a while. 

The earrings were bought about 20years ago in an Ilford charity shop.

This is one of my favourite outfits in recent times and super comfy! 

Had SUCH a great evening at Gamelan tonight.

We have a guest player with us at the moment, Pak Dewa and his wife Sonja and he taught us to play a new piece tonight. It was SO satisfying to learn a new piece from the beginning and not be playing catch up.

Plus, it comes from a Gamelan type called Semar Pegulingan which is a different type than we usually play and it was SO fun with the best type of funky drumming.  Plus, it was a short piece with repetitive parts and we finished it in one session! I was sitting at the front playing Pemade next to Daria and we really enjoyed learning it.  Plus, in the break, Emily had bought a mega bag of snacks. She used that app called 'Too Good to Go' and had been to a bakery and come out with about 15 fresh bakery donuts. They were utterly delicious and the perfect snack! After the break, we played through a piece called Cender Wasih which I haven't played for about 16 years. It's utterly amazing, the muscle memory to remember that after so long, from memory. I was perfect, but I remembered quite a lot. It was SUCH a joyful rehearsal.

Tomorrow, I am going to my old primary school for the 70th anniversary of the opening of the school! My old headmaster is going to be there and I am TOTALLY EXCITED to see him and go and sity under my favourite childhood tree!

Xx 

 

Hexham charity shop finds

Evening mi hearties,

Hope you are well.It's been a long week, despite the fact I have only been at school for 3 days this week.

Ann said she'd like to see the charity shop bargains I picked up in Hexham on the bank holiday weekend so I thought I'd share them.

The first item was this Seasalt sailor top. I love these tops- I have them in 3 colours but I don't have a black base one- this one has sparkly stripes. 

The second item was this White Stuff cotton vest top. It's a basic but I like this type of top.

The next item was this F&F green and pink Paisley dress. I found this on the reduced rack and really liked it- it's a light Viscose.

The next item was a purple Karen Millen cardigan. I have another Karen Millen cotton cardie and it is really good quality so I was really pleased to find this. They had one in orange which I almost bought  but realised I don't really like wearing orange a whole load!

I love Cashmere and this Isle navy cashmere cardigan at £6.00 was a total bargain! I have already worn it loads and it is so soft and comfy!

 The bottom right dress is this patterned one from F&F at Tescos. I really liked it- it reminds me of Willow Pattern plates. I love a midi-shirt dress.

The final item was the dress on the left which is from East. I've admired dresses like this on eBay so it was nice to find one in the charity shop. The shirring means it fits beautifully.

I did also buy an Edward Marston book.

I have been trying to have a clear out and have given some clothes to work colleagues as well as charity shops. I was also really pleased to pass on a pile of brand new flute music to the lovely girl who is currently depping for 2nd flute at my Kensington orchestra as she is at music college. She was really happy and excited to have the pile of music (and said she would pass any of the rest onto other students if she didn't want any). I've still got too many clothes but I am working on reducing them as some do not fit any more!

Hope you are well.

x

The day of three dresses

I mentioned meeting my friend Margaret on Monday for a walk and lunch. I'd been planning to cycle to meet her and then leaving the bike at her house. I dressed suitably for a sunny day and for cycling, wearing a white t-shirt and 3/4-length linen culottes/trousers plus Dr Martens desert boots and socks.  However, I ended up not cycling.  As I started walking from the station, it became apparent to me that the elastic in my linen trousers' waist had either broken or melted or something because the trousers felt really loose or saggy. Sufficed to say after 3.5 miles of walking with M, I was getting reaaaaaaaaaaaaally annoyed with my trousers.  After we had had a delicious lunch at a cafe we like (Sweet potato rosti and a Strawberry/mango/apple smoothie), we had a quick look in a couple of the independent shops in that town.  They had this pale blue linen dress with a Monstera leaf print hanging up in the entrance of one of the shops and I made the mistake of trying it on. I really liked it and unusally for me, because I don't usually buy brand new clothes on impulse, I ended up buying it and wearing it- it was so much nicer than the saggy linen trousers (not sure what to do to fix the elastic in them) and is a good length for tall me!

I went to M&S to have a quick look (as I was thinking of buying some new underwear) and saw this pretty, thin cotton dress.  Again, unusually for me, it being new, I bought it, though I may take it back...what do you think of it?  The print is a bit more vibrant than it looks in this picture.

Before I had gone into M&S, I had paid a visit to Barnado's. I found this beautiful green linen dress.  I love it. It fits really well but is hugely comfortable, has pockets and was only £5!

It is CBC's and my anniversary this week, so may just wear one of these if we go out for dinner!

xx

Weekend of plenty

 There's no TARDIS Tuesday this week as I had a Gamelan rehearsal in London tonight and hadn't photographed anything at the weekend- it was a busy one! 

Anyway, on Friday night, after school, I helped a work colleague who is very technophobic, as our payslip system (which has been online since 2018) is going to close and move to a new system so all of us need to download all our wage slips before it closes (we all know that pensions end up with issues if you don't check your paperwork- Ang, I think you had some issues with Teachers Pensions?  I've only ever downloaded 3 for a remortgage application so I need to do the same but she has never done any and had had them sent to a personal email address which she had never set up so I ended up logging into her email address, changing her mobile phone in the verification system, changing her passwords in the wage slip system and then downloading about 50 payslips one by one!  She was having kittens about the whole thing so it was nice to help her!

I then dashed off to the station and I travelled to Westcliff to meet CBC for dinner. We went to Il Palazzo, a traditional Italian restaurant opposite the Palace Theatre. It was delicious- I had Pollo a Milanese- a breaded chicken breast with spaghetti in Tomato sauce.

We then headed to the Palace to watch The Secret Lives of Words, a one-woman show by Susie Dent.  For anyone who doesn't know who she is, she is the expert in Dictionary Corner on British Programme, Count Down, a word and numbers show and as she is Etymologist and Lexicographer, she has extensive knowledge of words and their origins. 

This was incredibly entertaining and interesting. I learnt a lot and we were made to laugh as well as be educated.  For instance, do you know about orphaned positives?  Think of ruthless or gourmless. Apparently, they used to have a positive opposites- ruthful and gourmful which have been lost over the sands of time.

The next morning, despite getting back late, I was up bright and early to go and empty the teabags onto my raised bed, do the week's washing up (yes, I know....mostly not mine as I was out for most evenings) and get washing done etc.

We then headed off to Brentwood to go to a rehearsal for a concert of Tschaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (plus Ukranian National Anthem). I had a nasty shock that morning as I discovered the Lead viola player had Covid as did one of the extra players and there would only be me (leading-eek!) and one lady who had only been to one rehearsal and didn't know it that well!  And the viola part is quite hard and prominent.  We rehearsed and then CBC headed off for a quick hair cut in town whilst I had a quick tour of the charity shops, Wilko and the Larder, a refill shop.

I bought lentils and toilet bombs from the Refill shop. From Wilko, I bought some Colgate, Vegan, recyclable tube toothpaste and some early peas.

I bought this cute cartoon illusion satchel from the St Francis Hospice charity shop (best one in Brentwood).   I loved this satchel when I first saw in back years ago so was happy to find it second hand!

In Oxfam and Cancer Research, I bought 3 books and a game. I received the second two books in MG Leonard's Adventures on Trains series for my birthday but I had borrowed the first one from the library so I was pleased to have my own copy of book 1.  The Bastien book is a pretty new release and I wanted to read it (and then give it to the school library!) The Girls football one is a nice shorter book for younger children and the Codswallop game I bought for my friend Lara for her birthday. 

This lovely light Monsoon top was £4 and looked lovely and wafty for the Summer.

This Max and Co linen dress looks modest for school but lovely and light.

These two garments are inspired by an outfit I saw Vix by: a light cotton top by Anokhi at East (£4) and a brand new light denim midi skirt (£8)

After this, I headed back to the concert venue where we began our performance at 3.30pm. I was really happy to see the President of the orchestra. He's about 84 now and he used to be the head of my music school and it's thanks to him that I was introduced to the orchestra and indirectly, why I  met my husband CBC (he introduced me to the 1st flute player who worked with CBC, who got us to play in a concert together). He's quite frail now after a stroke and some very sad life events but he looked really cheerful and happy to be there.

The concert went well though I have a feeling I skipped a bar in the last movement, I realised after about 24 bars...and skipped back a bar! I THINK. Not really sure.

After our item, the brass players took over and I quickly grabbed my stuff, bid CBC farewell and ran to the train station where the delayed rail replacement bus took me to another rail replacement bus to another town for my NEXT rehearsal and concert!

For this concert, I was playing flute for a piece with choir and then had to perform a piece by Frank Xavier Wolfgang Mozart.  The rehearsal began at 5.30pm but didn't finish until 7.15pm!  That meant no time for dinner for me (hadn't really had much lunch).  I was asked to page turn for the other pieces for the piano accompanist.  This meant 2 things... 1.  I had to stay to the very end of the concert when I could have gone home at the interval.  2.  A very nerve-wracking concert. It is MUCH more scary turning pages than having to play the flute.

My solos went well and I had a chance to chat to some of the audience (who I know from church).  The page-turning went ok....

The concert ended up finishing really late, around 22.15 so I bombed it to the train station to be ready to catch the 22.36 rail replacement bus home.

Except, there was no one in the station to give information and the 22:36 didn't turn up!  I had to wait until 23:06 for the next one. It was really cold waiting at the bus stop. Around 10 minutes before the bus came, a group of drunk hens wearing skimpy dresses and no coats turned up trying to find their way back to Southend.  They were trying to get an Uber or a taxi unsuccessfully and weren't sure how to get home.  At the moment before the bus arrived, they turned to me and asked how I was getting home and I was able to usher them, mother hen style onto the bus and assure them it would take them back to Southend, around £80 cheaper than a taxi.  They obediently boarded and I reassured them that they would be warm and get home safely.

The bus took me around an hour to get to my station and it was 00:05 by the time I got there. I was not impressed.  I had to get  taxi as CBC was not wide awake enough to come and back me and by the time I got to bed, it was 1am old time, 2am, new time (clocks went forward!) 

The next morning I got up around 8.30am new time (old time 7.30am-ouch!) and quickly showered, then headed to the station to get the rail replacement bus to Southend and then bombed it to the other Southend station (had 5mins between trains) to catch the train to my Mum's.

She picked me up from the station and took me to hers.

I gave her the beautiful bouquet that I was presented at my concert last night- they were all Purple- her favourite colour. I told her they were my bouquet. I was going to buy her some but since I would be out all week, I wouldn't get to enjoy them so she should enjoy them.

I played with her tabby kittens who were really fun and affectionate but totally nuts.  The boy cat was obsessed with my long FabIndia skirt and kept getting under it and jumping up and chasing it.  Girl cat was lapping up attention and snuck into the loo when I was in there and left up onto my shoulder and settled down, bum on my head, lying down my back.  The pair of them got into my cycling pannier.

After a while, Mum and I headed out to town where I treated Mum to brunch.  I had a delicious Mediterranean flat bread with fried eggs, Harissa, lamb sausages, chillis, pickled onions, avocado and orange zest.  Mum had a veggie breakfast. 

After that, I headed home, picking up some vegetables from the greengrocers back in Southend before getting my onward train.

As I came home, I noticed that quite a few of the new Daffodil bulbs in my 40th birthday planter were out.

For dinner that night, CBC cooked one of our favourite dinners.  Lentils cooked in stock with tomatoes, Cavolo Nero and then buttery fried leeks. It was delicious.  The picture above is of night two of it on Monday night where I cooked rice to go with it and broccoli.  I do wonder if I might have a slight intolerance to red lentils though as I had some tummy, gut issues on Sunday night to Monday morning as well as some other issues that meant I felt very unwell on Monday morning.  I'm not sure as sometimes I do have issues when I eat them.  I hope it's not that as I really love them but I do keep wondering.

It was a weekend of plenty!

Hope you are well.

Christmas Day and New Year's Eve outfits

 Hi there!

Although I've been wearing lots of 'interesting' outfits, I haven't bothered to photograph them- it's that Winter-meh, darkness meaning bad quality pics and that's annoying!

BUT, I did manage to get TWO photos over Christmas of my outfits worn on those two aforementioned days.   The first one is a pretty grim photo. There's one of CBC and I taken just after and the lighting is so awful, we look really washed out and grey!!!  But still, I am sharing it,despite that!

Above....behold Christmas day.

With the exception of the tights and my Cath Kidston earrings, everything was charity-shopped.

I started with the Hell Bunny burgundy velvet dress (charity shopped from the Pet Protection charity shop for £5 brand new with tags 3 years ago. It's hard to see but it has a cute black collar with embroidered Christmas foliage.  On Christmas eve, I picked up this gorgeous Monsoon teal velvet cropped jacket from Sense charity shop in Hexham for £7 and I was mighty pleased with this- it has possibilities for acting as a Regency Spencer for my Jane Austen outfit!

The green leather, made in Italy, brogues were £5 from my local Hospice charity shop and of course, came from the men's section as I never find my type of shoe in the size 8's women's paltry offerings.  CBC was overtly jealous of these and since his feet are only about 1/2 a size bigger than mine, threatened to steal them! I took the jacket off to do the washing up and food prep in but the dress itself is comfortable and is able to accommodate a big load of food.

Here's my New Year's eve outfit, taken at around 1.30am in the morning as we were about to go to bed.

You may recognise this dress from my 'What shall I wear to the wedding post?' back in August.  It's from a shop in Padstow called Pink Lemons and is made from recycled Sari silk and feels gorgeously comfortable and soft.  I decided to belt it with this Poundland bow belt and some Christmas tree earrings from a child (she laughingly gave them to me in July saying she'd kept forgetting to give them to me the previous Christmas as I'd been away!) as well as a Primark headband. Do you spy my patterned socks?  They came from a handmade wool company in Glastonbury and belong to CBC but I stole them as they went well with my outfit (the green brogues were worn when outside!)  Ohh, and there's my Alex Monroe posy loop necklace!

Which one do you prefer?  Which one would you where?

What did YOU wear?

xx

Charity shop purchases November 2021

Hello there!

Hope you are well.

Before I begin, people, I OWN lots of mittens AND warm, waterproof cycling gloves AND fingerless gloves but I don't own fitted leather gloves! You lot seemed to think I have no winter hand protection! HA! 

I thought I'd share a few charity shop purchases that I bought over November.  I've had a couple of weekends where I haven't done much but ended up feeling really tired but paid a little visit to town to take back library books or visit the post office which results in a sneaky look in the Haven's Hospice charity shop which always comes up trumps.

This beautiful silk-mix oriental-look blouse from Yaly Couture caught my eye- it's so pretty and would look really nice for a flute concert over a black top and trousers and is in my favourite colour.  I looked up the designer and it is a Vietnam-based tailor who does custom tailoring.  It originated in Hoi Ann and has 3 boutique stores now with over 300 tailors, artists and craftspeople. It cost me £6.99. 

The second item, I was super excited over.  This beautifully soft cardigan is 100% cashmere from Autograph M&S originally.  I've wanted a cashmere cardigan for ages but to find one for only £5 in a charity shop is amazing.  If only it was black for concerts but I've already worn it a few times and loved it! It drapes in a kind of rippling effect rather than the lapel look it has laid down in below but it is lovely. It is so soft and cosy.  I looked up Autograph cashmere cardigans online and buying one of this length is around £119 so a fiver was a great buy! I'm already thinking of wearing it at church when it is cold but I don't want to keep my coat on!

The third item was from the Harp charity shop and cost me £3.99.  I looked up the brand on line, Chinti and Parker and a similar striped top retails at £75.  I cannot resist a good breton-striped top (I know I am in good company, Ang and Vix!) and I actually ignored it the first week I went into that top but the next week, I ogled it again and decided to just go for it.  It is hugely comfortable AND it has cute functional mustard pockets- yes!!!

There were 2 other garment purchases. 1, not pictured is a 3/4 length navy blue shirt dress with coconut shell buttons and then a pair of Made in Italy men's green leather brogues for £5.  CBC has his beady eye on these as we have almost the same-sized feet!

I LOVED the game Hungry Hippos and was discussing it with some teachers at school and how I used to have it in my Year 5 classroom and how it drove the dinner ladies mad when it was wet play. There it was the next day for £2.50.  I want to play it with my niece (CBC and I already played it!) and then I'll probably donate it to one of the classrooms.

The pile of books on the top left are all for the school library.  Sometimes, if I see nearly-new condition books by contemporary children's authors, I buy them for the library in and get reimbursed by one of our TAs who runs the library and saves any library fines/replacement costs for purchasing books. She knows I always vet books and will make some good choices so I sometimes text her if I find anything!

I also picked up 4 Vintage whodunnits for myself.

The last 3 books- 1, I wanted a festive, lighthearted Christmas read.  The other two books are Christmas presents.

I found some picture books for the younger kids on Saturday AND a £2.99 glockenspiel which I'd like as a back up if I ever have a child that I would like to be able to practice at home (without taking a school instrument).

A few useful and fun items here!

xx

The Rainbow checked dress again!

 Thank you for your kind sympathy on my last post. I confess to having cried about 4 times today and feeling utterly miserable about the whole situation since it may last 1-2 years, I've found out. When I thought it might be a term or so, I was able to think, "This will not be long.", but now I feel hopeless. I won't be able to do properly, any of the things that make my job a joy and do all I want for the children and I just want to give up.  BUT, I have had some kind colleagues who have been really supportive (and unfortunately one who I have been fuming about all day... young upstart who needs to stop thinking that she is better than everyone and do her damn job instead of preening, posturing and pretending she's doing it and looking down on people with years or experience just because they are old or don't conform to her image of what someone you should respect looks like. Rant over. Moving on.) and sympathy and as I keep saying, everyone is in a difficult situation in different ways which we are going to have to deal with and we have to do the best we can... I'm just worried I won't be able to do my best for the children after a year of difficulty, but I will do the best I CAN.  And I keep remembering that I have a home and a job and I am not in a war-torn country facing the machinations of an evil government who want to suppress all that I am, unlike the millions I and we have all been worrying about for the last month or so.  It's just a job and I will do the best I can.  However, I am going to offer my own advice to those who say, "My problems are not as bad as what others are facing."   When they say that, I say, "Yes, but these are your problems and what you are facing and they are difficult for you right now and whilst it is good to be practical about other people's problems, it's still ok to be worried and upset about them, because they are what you are feeling."

Anyway, onto something more positive before I cry a 5th time.

Here's another permutation of the rainbow dress.

I wore the dress backwards with a charity-shopped turquoise cardigan and my rainbow earrings made from plastic straws, bought from Lorelai LQ. I added my Nan's floral necklace and wore a scruffy old pair of Toms shoes.

I wore this the last time I visited my Mum's house.  It was a happy occasion. I cycled all along the seafront and then got a train to visit her. We had Spaghetti Ragu for lunch and we spent time in the garden.  

I'm going to wear something happy for work tomorrow. 

xx

Rainbow dress remix 2

Hi,

I thought I'd share a new outfit I created with my St Michael Madras-checked dress. I published a post last Summer showing lots of different ways I'd styled it and thought I'd try to challenge myself to wear it in a new way that I hadn't done before.

This time I thought I'd wear it as a shorter mini-dress and give it a different neckline.

I tucked the top part in and then wore the waist of the skirt at chest height and belted it it make a shorter, high-low/dipped hem dress.  This was a cool dress for reading in the garden.  

I kept the accessories simple, just some Toms sandals and my Nan's crystal flower necklace.

We've been camping in the South Downs these past 3 days and had a lovely time. I hope to share some more soon.

Lots of love and thank you for your kind comments on my wedding outfits.

xx

 

TARDIS Tuesday- Peri Brown from Attack of the Cybermen

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, we have an 80's cacophony of colour to contend with from one Miss Perpigillian or Peri Brown, companion to the equally brightly dressed 6th Doctor!

Here is a collage of images of her outfit from my friend Tamsin:

Image borrowed from:

https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/peri-brown-attack-of-the-cybermen/

And here is my attempt:

Here is my version!

I must just put a disclaimer that I didn't really have a huge intention of doing this cosplay outfit UNLESS I saw the items very cheaply from a charity shop!

And so it was that, I went into my local charity shop to have a little look after posting a parcel (of cosplay clothes to my friend in Aus) and there, on the rails was both a pink top AND shorts priced £3.00 and £3.25 respectively! And for the price of a sandwich in a standard cafe plus a donation to charity, it seemed rude not to take advantage.

I already had a turquoise belt and bracelet plus pale pink shoes (all from Primark about a decade ago) and it was a simple matter to find a pair of round earrings  (you can't actually see them) and a turquoise ribbon from a present to complete the look!

I'm not used to wearing this shade of pink but I'm very pleased with how this came out. The moment I finished taking these photos, it tipped it down with rain and I had to bring various clothes horses, covered with washing, in.

Peri wore quite a few variations on this outfit so stayed tuned for something a bit similar at some point! I can foresee a few versions of something like this at some point soon!

I completed a grant application for school today as its deadline is tomorrow and I was waiting on a part of the application from someone else.  Coupled with needing to do a bit of cleaning and waking up horrendously late, I feel I've wasted this GORGEOUS DAY inside! Typical!

What do you think?

xxx

P.S. Thank you for all your kind anniversary wishes!

Charity shop purchases June and July

I started the year with good intentions to only buy one item a month but once it reached May and shops were open, the temptation was a little too much. a) I wanted to support the charities and b) it was fun to be able to buy something.

Here are a few items I bought.

The previous Saturday, when I went to play flute quartets, I had thought that I wanted to replace a lovely checked dress which was too small for me.  In the first charity shop, there were 3 checked dresses and a jumpsuit. 

I ended up buying this button down checked dress in a seersucker-style cotton and a linen jumpsuit. Both of them are originally from Monsoon.

I also ended up buying 2 Edmund Crispin books which I have previously enjoyed.

Ahrgh, I did NOT need another Breton-striped top but this Boden one, brand new with tags for £7 was a really nice colour and had nice baggy sleeves. 

A loose cotton Laura Ashley cardigan for £4 was good to replace some cardigans which are too tight- I prefer my cardigans oversized.

The red shirt was £2 and is a screen accurate Clara one. I already have a size 12 in it but it is a bit big so this one will fit me better.

The patterned maxi dress is really soft cotton and has nice low arm holes for a hot summer's day and cost £4.  

The white cotton nightie was £4 and is brilliant for a Summer's bedtime!

The leather jacket was £3 and is a great one for my Yaz cosplays and the red hoodie was £4 and is good for an Amy Pond cosplay- plus, I like a hoodie for winter walks.

The green and pink dress was £4 and is Brand new from Boden. I might give this to my friend.

As well as the whodunnit book, I was a little annoyed and amazed to find the Matt Haig book, having just bought it brand new for my sister for her birthday- this one was 50p!

All of these purchases have worked out for me but I like the idea of being able to redonate things back to a charity shop or pass them onto a friend and having somewhat helped a charity whilst having a bit of fun buying some lovely items but yes, perhaps I need to go back to my challenge.

Have you found anything in a charity shop recently?

x

Style Imitating Art- Simultaneous Dresses- Three Women

 Hello there,

Today, I thought I'd join with Style Imitating Art after missing it for a couple of weeks.

The curator this time was Terri at Meadowtree Style and she chose the following painting: 

Sonia Delaney's Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours)
Painted 1925

Usually, according to Terri, her style is bright coloured, abstract, concentric circles but this painting is a little different from her usual style and nods to her other creative outlets, costume desining for Ballet, Stage and Films also.

There's some great strong colours and patterns in this painting and I could see lots of ideas to go with but today, I decided to focus on the main 3 women in the picture, rather than the background:

And yes, I decided to create a trio of outfits.

Each of these three outfits has 2 charity-shopped items in them (and the middle one has 3).

Let's look at each one individually:

My first one nods to the lady on the left.  Her main colours are blue and white.  I started with this Phase Eight Chevron skirt (CS Harp Southend) since the model is wearing triangular shapes. Karen Millen blouse (CS Scope Hexham). I DID want to find a pale pink top in my wardrobe to reflect her very pink skin, but I'm not sure I still have such an item that would work so instead.  My Florentine-bought blue boots completed the look (not charity shopped). I kept the accessories simple- just my bee necklace which bears no relevance to the outfit.

My second outfit is based on the central lady and I started with focusing on the brown, tan and burgundy shades on her outfit which I reflect in my Anokhi cotton trousers (CS Oxfam Harrogate).

I DID want to wear my brown vest-top but couldn't find it so instead, I went with this Tu broderie-anglaise-trimmed top (CS Barnados).  For the shoe front, I wore my recently bought Clarks Somerset T-bar sandals (CS Haven's Hospice).  My Nan's wooden necklace fitted with the vibe and I wore my 'fake plait' headband.

Outfit no. 3 is, in my opinion, the most boring outfit of the lot and is based on the lady in black. I had a dress with a similar neckline but much shorter so instead, I wore the same shoes as before along with Mango Culottes (CS Dog's Trust) and teamed it with a ruffle neck vest top from Beale's in Hexham before it closed (Sad!)

If you think you could put an outfit together based on this painting, let Terri know by tomorrow night (Tuesday)

Here are the details from her on what to do:

Send me your picture of your SIA inspired outfit along with a small blurb on how you were inspired to meadowtreestyle@gmail.com May 18th. I’ll share the submissions on my blog on Wednesday May 19th.

Anyone can participate and you certainly do not have to have a blog.

If you do share your inspirations on Instagram use the hashtag #StyleImitatingArt so we know you are there. You can also tag us in the images. Our Instagram names are: terrigardner_meadowtree, daenelt and 14shadesofgrey.

Even if you DON'T participate, let me know what you WOULD wear in the comments, if you had time to join in!

xxx

Bank Holiday weekend

Ah, the British Bank holiday weekend! A free day to do what you want as well as your weekend- such a treat! The May Bank holiday is the best one in my opinion- generally because all over bank holidays come in my school holidays anyway so it's a real joy to have an unexpected day off!

What did I do with mine?

Well, Saturday morning, CBC and I got up and had some cereal and watered the garden.  I sorted some washing and then suggested to CBC that we drive to Maldon for some lunch, a little look at the shops and perhaps a walk. He agreed but then proceeded to faff in the garden for a while, picking dandelions as well as us putting up some new Trellis for the purple Clematis which has ripped the inferior quality metal ones off for the past 2 years.

Finally, we were on our way and headed to Maldon.  We parked in the main car park (despite the Plumberow school having free parking on a Saturday....) and then headed to Mrs Salisbury for lunch.  Alas, there was a big queue. I suggested that we should wait as they had a garden.  CBC told me they didn't have a garden and only had the courtyard passageway so he suggested we head to the river to go and have lunch on the boat which is a tearoom.  We walked down and I regretted the absolute bag of bricks I had (which was a large selection of containers to visit Maldon's newish Zerowaste shop) as it was much further than I thought it was.

When we reached the boat, we had to wait a little while for a time (and watched a pair of Starlings steal sugar cubes from a table!) When we got on board the boat, we discovered (from the menu), that they had stopped serving lunch 10 minutes ago so we went back to town.

We phoned Mrs Salisbury's to see how the queue was and they said there was a queue but they were confident we wouldn't have to wait too long. I headed off at top speed to secure my place in the queue whilst CBC thought of his stomach and headed off to the bakery for a snack.  Luckily, I did go ahead as there were 4 people behind by the time CBC arrived.

Happily, we got a table in their lovely, HUGE, spacious, walled garden (I was right!) and ordered.

I ordered a chocolate milkshake and a cheese, ham and tomato omelette and we decided to share a pot of tea as well.   CBC grabbed himself a blanket and we played Bananagrams whilst we waited for food and filmed a little video for Lara and Tim as Mrs Salisbury is their favourite establishment to have lunch in as a treat. The food and drink was lovely and Mrs Salisbury herself is really kind and efficient.

After that, I headed off to have a quick peek into the charity shops. I ended up buying 2 copies of Eva Ibbotson's 'Journey to the River Sea' for my little sister for 25p a piece (she studies it with her Year 6 children but only had 2 copies in her school so I've been buying copies for her in charity shops whenever I see them- I think I've got her 8 copies in total so far!)

I also bought a pretty white cotton sleeveless shell top and an Indian vintage top/kaftan

The Zerowaste shop is called Silo Refillery and I managed to get some great things from there: that I don't usually get in my regular refill shops:

• NOODLES! First time I've seen those in a refill shop
• Washing Powder
• Crisps
• Body lotion
• Vegan jelly sweets
• Licorice wands
• And also:
• Washing up Liquid
• Sesi shower gel.
• Recycled toilet roll
• English Tea blend leaves (finally finished the 7 year old tea leaves!) 

I then met CBC (who'd had a happy spree in 'the best WHSmith') and we headed home. 

For dinner, we decided to have another treat and went (with our usual containers) to the Chinese takeaway.

The next morning, CBC and I got up at 7.30ish and I left the house at 8.10am (impressive for me!) as CBC's work colleague arrived for a 90mile cycle with him. Smug that I left before him.

I got the rail replacement bus to Southend and then cycled towards Southend Central c2c station. I had about 20min to spare before the connecting train so I headed to the excellent greengrocer near the station and phoned my mum to ask if she wanted any plastic-free loose veg.  I filled a large bag (my own) with 4 broccoli, 7 cucumbers, 5 satsumas, 5 peaches, 4 monster Braeburn apples, a bunch of bananas for her (all that for £8) and headed to get the train.

When I reached Mum's station, disaster struck as I tried to carry my bike down the stairs with the large bag of veg in the top.  It was top heavy and the entire lot toppled down the stairs! Noooooo!  Managed to get it all back in my pannier and headed outside to meet Mum.

When I got to hers, we had a lovely potter round her garden to look at what was new and had a MUCH needed cup of tea (I had headed out without breakfast to make the rail replacement) and a brownie.  It was so nice and sunny! She mended a top I'd brought a long (seam had frayed) and we had a nice leisurely chat. She was delighted with the fruit and veg and said she'd cut up the fruit and freeze it for her smooothies in case any was damaged. I ended up going home with 4 of the cucumbers as I'd told her they were mini cucumbers (they were 7 for £1) but they were actually fairly large!) and 2 Broccoli.

At which point, my sister arrived and picked us up (masked up) in her car to take us to Leigh on Sea where we all visited the Refill room.  My sister filled THE MOST ENORMOUS jar with pasta. I stocked up on coffee for CBC, Pistachios for CBC, Vegan garlic and herb cheese (made of Cashews- delicious!) shower gel, Branflakes, Farfale pasta, cleaning spray Dhal Yellow Split peas and a few other bits.  My sister paid for my shopping as she'd thought she'd bought me a voucher for the Refill Room for my birthday but it turned out the process never checked out so she decided to pay for my shopping instead! No objection from me, even if £20 of it was on CBC stuff! We then headed to Stop the World Cafe for lunch.  We braved the front bench that was not under the awning as it was the only available table and proceeded to get drenched as it started to rain.  Luckily, a table under the awning came up but we were FREEZING!
 

I ended up wearing my Buff round my head. It was so cold! We all had a breakfast- mine was the veggie one with the mushrooms substituted for a sausage.  I then bought them both cake.  It was the FIRST time it has just been the 3 of us without my niece or anyone else for about 10 years! We all loved it!

We ended up having a look in a nearby charity shop.  My sister ended up buying a few things for my niece and naughty me ended up buying a complete Summer outfit! I think I'd given up on my  1 item challenge in April since I'd already failed at it (Will go back to it!_)

At this point, I was planning to cycle back along the seafront all the way to Southend to catch the train back but my sister offered to drive me home (I think we were all enjoying each other's company so much!) .

CBC had just arrived back when I got back and we all drank tea in the garden.  Thankfully the rain had stopped. Mum and my sister headed off home (they live in the same town) and then CBC and I decided to read together under a blanket on the sofa as it was turning cold.

For dinner, we ate left over Chinese.

On Monday, CBC and I spent most of the day doing chores and doing some reading.

I managed to clear up a few annoying piles of clothes in the bedroom.

It had been a lovely bank holiday weekend with lots of enjoyment.

xx