I thought I'd make a return to TARDIS Tuesday this week but I didn't have time to post what with OFSTED unexpectedly turning up! So it's coming on a Thursday instead!
I was observed by the lead inspector this morning with my year 4's. Of course, he had to come in at the moment they were all fetching instruments. I apologised and said, "Sorry, it's chaos in here as we get instruments!". He stayed for about 10 minutes and I hope he saw some good things or what he wanted to see. I think it was fine, just wish he'd stayed for the creative stage, not just the recap! Still, I did show some extension of the highers and offered feedback to one of the kids so hopefully, he saw progress.
On to TARDIS Tuesday/Thursday.
Last worn in May 2022 on here, it's an outfit I love but don't wear very often which is a shame as I really like it. Let's look at it:
Worn by 6th (and 5th) doctor companion, Peri Brown, it is a departure from her usual combo of short bottoms, tight top.
Here's my 2025 iteration:
The entire outfit was second hand when bought.
The straw boater was one from my grandparents' house. I do like these Next tailored trousers which I've had a very long time from C.S The blazer, originally Miss Selfridge was charity shopped and my comfy Rieker shoes were also.
The top is the same vintage blouse I wore last time. I decided to try wearing it inside out so it didn't have its lace strips down the front and tucked the collar in which I think worked fairly well!
As I don't have a cane, I used my 7th Doctor umbrella to recreate the photo!
Last worn in March 2022 on the blog from what I can see but worn at least a few times in the last year, I decided to share an old favourite TARDIS Tuesday outfit. It is one of my original Clara Oswald cosplays from my original TARDIS Tuesday posts. It's also a brilliant 'School Teacher' outfit
A Miss Patina pinafore, a Topshop mustard turtle neck, black tights, black socks and black Topshop boots- it's a great Autumn outfit.
Here is today's outfit:
I have not really changed this outfit for a long time except that I occasionally wear a different turtle neck. The dress is a good length and sometimes I wear it with different tops!
The lovely TA who helps me with choir (one of our few long-serving staff) saw me in the playground and said, "Is it Clara Oswald today then?!" Ha, she recognised this outfit as a stalwart Clara outfit. She's my main person to talk to about Doctor Who.
Today was a hard day for some lessons. The children were definitely... talkative, distracted, listless in two of my lessons. One Year 1 class was really disheartening and a Year 3 class also really distracted. However, the other Year 3 class and the Year 2 class were good so I should take what I can get.
I was quite tired. I went to my friend Izzie's house as we were rehearsing for a dear family friend's funeral next week. More on that soon.
CBC is away for a pair of days on a Geography field trip. He's staying in the house which Constable painted, "Willy Lott's cottage!" I miss him but I did eat some junk for dinner tonight!
Thank you for those of you that kindly commented on my last two posts- I know they weren't the greatest posts ever (one full of lengthly book reviews and the other, me feeling annoyed the rantings on social media). I don't think, despite my long walk, I was feeling my best. My sinuses and tonsils felt really sore and swollen last night and I ended up not sleeping well and feeling dreadful when I woke up so I ended up not going to school as my throat felt awful- the usual 'apple in the throat' feeling I get when my tonsils are enflamed. Having an additional 4 hours sleep has helped and I am feeling much improved.
Wanting to post something cheerful, I thought I'd share my outfit from Saturday. It was comfy and a bit different so I wanted to share it.
It features my March purchase (I did mention I would only be buying one thing a month, less if I could) and is a second hand skirt originally from East but made by Indian company Fabindia. Vix, has been looking stunning in her beautiful Indian blockprint items and I bought a maxi skirt last year but it didn't quite work for me as it was wrap-around. This one has an elasticated waistband.
I wore it with an old sparkly navy top and a cardigan I bought from Mistral in Wallingford a long time ago and my blue boots.
Something about the outfit suggested a night sky to me so I decided to don my Starry night necklace (Kimchi and Coconut) and gold star earrings (Esoteric London)
The Battlesbridge antiques centre wired headscarf was the final thing to complete the artistic look. CBC liked it- he said it was very me but also very Ellie S. (Ellie is in her 70's, dear flute playing friend and someone who I aspire to be like- she is an artist in later life too).
It was fitting, therefore, to be able to pose with our Oliver Hurst owl (you will remember it was one of our lockdown 1, 'support an artist' works which featured in the Bloggers' art gallery) which CBC finally bought a frame for, had a lot of trouble getting it together and then hung it in our entrance hall between the toilet and the kitchen.
I'll be back in school tomorrow and I hope to be back on form- unfortunately, I think the return to school was a bit of a shock to the system and the constant use of my projected voice, the long days, the early starts and the lack of sleep is often a trigger for me to get tonsil issues so I will try to make sure I get to bed nice and early....even if I can't sleep!
Style Imitating Art this week is hosted by Salazar and she chose Pierre Bonard's "Woman with a Dog" for our inspiration:
Image borrowed from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Pierre_Bonnard_Woman_with_Dog_1891.jpg
I knew immediately of several garments in my wardrobe that would work for this painting but could I find any of them!??!? No! SO instead, I present you with:
I wanted to wear a H&M black and white Gingham dress but it was awol, as was my Gingham floral blouse but I spied this vintage Marjon Couture dress in my wardrobe and figured it would do as a picnic rug. Plus, it has black edging which points to the prominent black fur coat of the lady on the right. Also, the white buttons could be tenuously associated with the polka dot neckwaer or the white flowers up the top.
Underneath, I wore a charity-shopped mustard sweater which has a texture up close which might be said to resemble the brushstrokes of the dog's fur.
It was too cold for no leg-wear so I added my green leggings as a touch of the green from the painting.
As a nod to the neckwear of the lady, I wore my red and white floral cravat. I'm not sure if it goes but I quite liked the addition.
The final touch, I am gutted you didn't get to see are my earrings which Hazel gave me for Christmas- they are resin with preserved yellow wild flowers and green foliage and give a really lovely nod to the yellow blooms in the picture.
Update: turns out I took a picture on my phone:
Boots have no particular reason for being in this outfit but I couldn't be bothered to find my Irregular Choice mustard and checked shoes as I didn't think they'd look good with socks and leggings! Pity as they would have gone quite well.
Wish our neighbour's dog, Lolly, who keeps sneaking into our garden through the badger hole had made an appearance for these photos- would have been nice to have an actual dog in my picture!
The return to school today was ok.
I had 2 year 4 classes and 2 year 6's- all were really well behaved and did their work and genuinely seemed pleased to see me. I managed to make those who didn't do the music work feel dead guilty, whilst not actually telling them off, saying I understood it must have been hard to cope with being at home and working in a new way, but then sharing my great appreciation of those who HAD done it and sighing and saying how sad it made me that some of them didn't even attempt one bit of work or send me any messages to clarify.
The smug year 6's who had done their work found their music listening work really easy this afternoon- they loved the smug feeling of knowledge! I may have milked the 'If you had done Week 5,6,7 work you would have extra knowledge of these instruments,' blah blah etc. Sorry, not sorry.
Greetings on this Wednesday! It's nice to be almost half way through the week and hopefully, since I'll have been on a school trip today, I might actually have my voice, rather than bellowing over the dulcet tones of 30 recorders for 3 hour lessons!
So, today, I am sharing my outfit for Style Imitating Art with Salazar from 14 Shades of Grey.
Ahhh, it is such a beautiful,bright painting! Poor Van Gogh. Such beauty from such a tortured mind.
Still Life with Irises- Van Gogh
And here's how I interpreted it.
I confess to looking at Salazar's outfit on her post on Monday and taking inspiration from her choice of garments!
I started with this blue and black checked shirt (charity shopped from Jack Wills). To this, I added this mustard cardigan from Mistral. To further pick up the yellow, I added my Poetic License heels, which you can see poking out.
To show the green, I wore these Asos green trousers which look annoyingly black in the picture, even though they are GREEN!
The accessories further continue the theme with yellow and green leaf earrings and a felt brooch which I tried to wear as a bow-tie- if only I could pin it straight!!!
Head over to Salazar's blog to see how everyone else wore it!
I'm back with another outfit inspired by art. Daenel chose this week's piece:
Pocket Flask {The MET, public domain}
The blown pattern-moulded glass Pocket Flask were made in the U.S. between 1800 and 1860.
I do love this!! What a beautiful image- the glass shades so complimentary- the patterning, the background- all gorgeous!
Here is how I interpreted it:
I started with this vintage checked shirt dress. It has a yellowy beige background, orange and green stripes and beautiful green glass buttons. Because the dress is a little too loose on me, I added an old brown leather belt which picked up the colour of my (men's) Brogues.
To add a little more yellowy colour I added this Mistral cardigan (notice the nice criss-crossing pattern on the edge! Serendipitous detailing!). I saw this exact same cardigan in a charity shop on Saturday in a size larger- I did contemplate buying it as it would be nicer to be a bit bigger!
My green abalone shell necklace seemed quite appropriate- I liked the circular shapes and these plastic green beaded earrings seemed necessary to add some transparency to the outfit.
What would YOU wear for this outfit? If you have time to cobble something together today or tomorrow, take some photos and send them to Daenel at livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com. More details are on her blog www.livingoutsidethestacks.com. You can head over there on Wednesday for the roundup of outfits- it is well worth a look at how everyone interpreted it!
I know, I know, it's a bad pun, but you don't come here for comedy!
How are you today? Well, I hope!! I am fine- well and happy, just rather tired. I think I should probably head straight off to bed when I finish typing this.
Sometimes, I wear an outfit which I want to photograph. Even if the light is terrible, even if it is dreadfully late when I reach home. This was one of those occasions.
This vintage blanket skirt was bought a long, long time ago for £5 from the jumble-sale style stall at Spitalfields market, East London. It always looks different in photos to real life!
This is the first time I paired it with this charity-shopped mustard jumper.
Here's the view of the landing in my new house. I'm giving you taunting, sneaky little views, aren't I!? I did try taking a picture with the ostentatious chandelier our predecessors left for us but alas, it cast a blurry halo around my head, so you get the spare bedroom door!
And what resplendent outfit would be complete without a wise owl? None, I fear!
I seemed to be having a colourful skirt week but then I spoilt it all today by donning a boring breton striped jumper and black pinstripe trousers (with toothpaste necklace!)
I occasionally regret buying these Poetic License shoes. They are lovely and really pretty and I got them at a great discount.BUT...given the amount of walking I do, they don't get worn much AND the mustard and, tweed and brown combo is one I find hard to wear with much!
Nonetheless, given an opportunity, I wore them! Teamed with my charity-shopped Tiger skirt (bought with Hazel and Sophie- yay, soon we shall have another trip!) and my mustard Mistraal cardie plus a black top, they worked well for a smart, yet slightly quirky church outfit.
CBC says this skirt is See-through but no one else has ever commented..
This month, apart from this one skirt, I am trying to wear dresses all month. It seems fun to do that since it is now Spring! Expect a round up of dresses at some point soon!
Mind you, how could I have let this Mary Poppins vibe go- that's one reason to keep them!
Oh and I wore my Punky Pins bees to complete the look!
Howdy! Thanks for your kind comments yesterday. I am glad that the Spring is bringing joy and hope to you too! I will be writing a little more at some point soon!
What AM I doing with my face!??!?!? I thought I'd share the outfit photos that prompted me seeing those daffodil shoots yesterday- you can see them to my right, almost off screen!
Despite owning maaaaaaaaany clothes, there are ones I come back to again and again which makes me ponder the fact that I should just stick with those ones. A mustard cardie and my Cath Kidston clock skirt are frequent callers in my wardrobe choices and a navy top with mustard of course!
I ended up picking up these Conker-coloured boots in Whitby as I wear my turquoise Doc Martens almost constantly in the Winter and I wanted a slightly more versatile colour. In addition, I was searching for sea glass and an unexpected wave completely soaked my feet so it was great to have something to change into! They are from a brand called Roamers and they were a fraction of the price but leather and English-made. And they came from the Men's section...
Here's the broochage and er- necklaceage from the outfit- birds and plants..
I'd like to say I am glad to be back at school and indeed, it was a successful day, but oh the gloom of post-half-term! It will go away soon, esp when I write all 500 reports...
Evenin' all!
Hope that your day was enjoyable, happy and fun.
Mine was... ok!
I thought I'd share this dress which I ordered back in October and tell you a bit about it.
I first saw @VintageStyleMe on Instagram back in August. They handmake dresses to order. I thought this was a nice idea and had seen this dinosaur print on their dresses. However, I was going through my, "Noooo, I have too many dresses, must not buy, must not buy!" phases (I wish these won the war most of the time). Then I read an article on the lady who runs Vintage Style Me's blog where she talked about the difficulty of running an independent clothes business where she has to compete against fast fashion and how she cannot compete with a clothes chain who can sell dresses for £5 or similar. She wrote about how sometimes, just one sale in a week can save her and allow her to pay her bills etc and selling one dress can be a lifeline. I can't find the article on the blog, it doesn't seem to be working right now, or I'd link to it. It was written so eloquently and honestly and stuck in my mind. I kept hearing those words over and over again in my head. More often than not, I buy my clothes second hand or occasionally from brands such as Miss Patina, Cath Kidston, Palava Folk though I do frequent Primark and Topshop and Asos.
Still, it remained in my mind for a while every time I saw an Instagram post and I kept looking at the website. Finally in October, they had a promotion of 40% off any dress which in my mind tells me that I should have bought it full price, since that would support the principle that was running in my mind. However, I am a sucker for a bargain so I ordered. I went for their 'Design your own dress' option which is a bit more expensive than the 'ready designed' ones. Usually £59. I chose the dinosaur dress and went for a more fitted Skater dress, rather than their ubiquitous smock style which doesn't suit my shape. I am a total collar addict when it comes to my clothes (in case you hadn't noticed) so I opted for a cute collar and cuffs and a slightly longer length.
Bear in mind, it DOES take a while for this option to be made and arrive. It was posted on around the 21st December when I was in South Africa and it hadn't arrived when I got back from there. I contacted them and said they'd posted it but obviously it had been lost in the post. They said would make another one which made me feel terrible. My original intent of supporting an independent business had somewhat backfired.
They were really quick and it arrived a week later and here it is. It is made out of a sort of Barkcloth material- quite textured. However, wearing it here on that Saturday, somehow I have managed to rip it partially down the back seam. It seems to have frayed there after my doing that. I did hear a rip noise when I was pulling down my sleeves (you know when 3/4length sleeves get stuck by your elbows and you're putting on a cardigan). I hope to do something about it.
Nonetheless, despite the comedy of errors, it is a nice dress and very different and I am very glad to have ordered it.
I added dinosaur collar clips in case you didn't realise!
I am sorry about 3 days of outfits and brooches in a row, but really I have more important things to write-about nobler causes and also my Cruise writeups to finish and they take me so long so I habitually put them off. Terrible really.
I thought I'd share an outfit from Saturday when we were going for more house-viewings (We put in an offer for one- was rejected) and then headed up to London (the night of the hideous grid-lock)
I do think this is a typically autumnal look. It reminds me somewhat of the lovely Donna at Polka Dot Pink who frequently pairs mustard with a navy pattern, often being polka dots!
This week so far, aside from Monday's awful day (all was fine until after school meeting) has been quite a positive one. I've been pleased with the lessons I've taught, including the three most notoriously difficult classes. Pre this term, I DREADED teaching Tudor Dance to one class but on the whole, they have totally got on board with it and really enjoyed it. I applied for a music scholarship for one of my pupils last year and discovered she got it which is fabulous, my choir rehearsal was deficient in about 15 pupils who are away on Residential but the 13 I had made a brilliant sound so that was positive. CBC made me dinner tonight ('tis a rare occurrence nowadays which is a shame as he is a great cook), we had a String Quintet recital today which is always a delight, I managed to get all the Nativity scripts printed, annotated and highlighted for staff and pupils and meticulously broken down parts on a big grid so feeling rather smug and organised. So lots of good things after a gloomy start to the week.
CBC has made me consent to going to watch Spamalot with his school tomorrow which I'm a little grumpy about as teenagers make me feel awkward but hopefully the show will be good. Apparently, his non-music colleagues keep wondering why I never come to anything (er- I play in the music concerts!!!!!!) so I'm being dragged along. Hopefully should be fine...
Outfit:
Dress: Louche at Joy (was FREE with a purchase)
Mustard Cardigan: White Stuff (Christmas gift from J and WOMOTM)
Leggings: Primark.
Teal Boots: The Doc Marten store.
Beret: Nottinghill
Necklace: Tatty Devine
Dorothy Brooch: Goodnight Boutique on Etsy
Right, I'm off to read some Terry Pratchett and NOT eat any more Fudge!
I really like this blog challenge as it is educational as well as creative! The premise is that Salazar, Jen or Erin will post a picture of a piece of artwork (this can be painting, sketch, sculpture, installation) fortnightly and then you have a week to come up with an outfit or a flat lay of clothes that is inspired by that painting- you can be as loose or literal as you feel inspired to be.
John Singer Sargent’s “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”.
This is so pretty! I love the flowers, the frills and light colours.
Here's the outfit I put together.
I choose the Miss Patina blouse to represent the light colours of the girls' dresses and particularly my collar was a nod to the frilly colours of the girls. The skirt (from TK Maxx I think) represented the roses and the floral element - although I have a white dress with pale roses on, I wanted to choose the darker shades of the skirt to represent the time of day in the painting. The River Island belt, which is made up of fabric flowers was also acknowledgement of the importance of the florals. If you click the link on Salazar's name, you can see how the others interpreted it.
I love the brushstrokes of this and the colours. Unfortunately, I left it till a bit last minute to interpret this one so the time of day was awful for photographing.
I wore my mustard White Stuff cardie (present from J and WOMOTM) as a nod to her yellow dress and the white lacy tunic (local shop) as a nod to her ruffled blouse. I had the perfect ruffle-necked blouse but couldn't find it.
Jen will post everyone's outfits tomorrow at the link above.
If you'd like a creative challenge, why not join in next time. It's very informal and everyone is welcome- men included!
I was struck by how I was wearing the shades of Autumn leaf decay today- the three stages-
Yellow- when the leaves are bright yellow, the dark brown stage where they have started to die and then that pale biscuity stage where all the moisture has left the leaf and they are brittle, parched and ready to crack. Sounds delightful eh!? Hopefully, combining all three makes for a more pleasing sartorial conclusion.
I have often made no bones about the fact that I emphatically do not like Autumn. I often feel like the Bah-humbug fairy when everyone else (except Sophie, who I think is more on my wavelength, even though she show the beauty of it through her photos) is extolling the virtues of the season. I was thinking, as I read yet another post delighting in the Autumn, that perhaps I need to lighten up and appreciate it - to see the good, like I do in most other things. It's not that I DON'T see the beauty in Autumn, it's just I feel the gloom of the darkening days and mourn deeply for the loss of summer, that time I love so much, thus I consciously shut my eyes to the positives.
And then, today at church, as the children were completing some beautiful Autumn collages around us as the service progressed, Margaret, the vicar, played this beautiful video and said how lucky we were to see the beauty of Autumn.
And perhaps, within me, I knew that I must change my attitude to the Autumn. When you look and emphasize the bad, you come to see that only. Do the opposite, trying to see the good and perhaps you can believe and take joy in that instead.
So, on the day, I came to try and accept that, the sun shone and I wore Autumn shades.
And delighted in my Poetic License (sister-brand of Irregular Choice) shoes which I wore for the first time and made me feel a bit like Mary Poppins.
The silhouette of this outfit is rather more grown-up than I am used to- I don't wear trousers all too happily though today, these Karen Millen mini-dogtooth 'Plus fours' (I called them Culottes, CBC looked askance on them and asked why I was dressing like a gentleman of the 1910's) suited the shoes. Sorry Julia, they needed an iron and I didn't! Yes, I did match everything in the outfit to the shoes. The shoes came first,everything else followed!
And this afternoon, I headed back to church for the Confirmation service where I was playing flute in the band with a combination of people. The church was packed and I was struck with that wonderful sense of a deep love of a community, unity, of a people combined, that I only get when I am at church. It's different from that of just being with family. I felt happy, at peace, understood. I felt the joy and exhilaration of those being confirmed. I felt at home. Something I find very hard to put this feeling I experience into words, but it is, in a sense, a feeling of being lifted, being light and breathing with delight, almost that sort of sigh of contentment you get at times. I wish I could explain it and I wish that you experience this kind of joy too!
I hope that you all have a lovely week and enjoy some fun, joy and rest too.
