Jumping on the 70's bandwagon

Hello! All of a sudden, I am seeing references to the 70's being BIG this season apparently! I missed the official memo (don't really follow) but I've several cool bloggers to thank for me now knowing! Hurrah!
I love the 70's since there were so many influences- there was something for everyone, I love all my Mum's 70's dresses she wore. Sadly,she no longer owns any of my favourites- alas! I won't be buying any 2015 does 70's, why buy new when you can get the real thing (or you could if you hadn't given up shopping for Lent and hopefully beyond)

I was delighted to haul this item (sincerely hoping it really IS 70's....)  out of my wardrobe on Sunday for church- I found it at a vintage fair in London some time ago. It is comfortable but I have accidentally made a rip at the seams down one side but have been too lazy incompetent forgetful to do anything about it thus the addition of the knitted waistcoat- luckily this made me tie in loosely with the Two Birds Inspiration for this week as best as my wardrobe could muster. Believe it or not, it didn't seem a hat day yesterday...



Oh the sun was glorious but the poses were dumb!


 I WAS going to mow the lawn yesterday. Except that we still don't have one and I am too embarrassed to ask the neighbours.  Wish I'd bought one when gardencentres and B&Q hike the prices in anticipation!



Happy shoes for a happy day! I've had these shoes since before Christmas. I had seen them in Modcloth- they must have been in someone's 'rainbow wishlist' or 'rainbow fashion' post, who knows but I fell for them! They have a RAINBOW on them. BUT, there was no way I was risking US import taxes (or a large cost). Amazingly luckily, they turned up reduced on the ASOS site and I had the amount left on a voucher from WOMOTM from last year's birthday. Clearly was meant to be.

One of the first times I was GOING to wear them, I put them in a bag in CBC's car to meet him at his school because I was helping out by playing viola for his school concert.  When I got there and went to get changed, I could only find one shoe. I was utterly perplexed as to where the other one was. I searched all through his music department and his car. No shoe.  In a weird Cinderella way, I was one shoe down and the only shoes I had with me were my turquoise clompy Doc Martens which I clearly couldn't wear on stage. No one who had any spare black shoes was even close to my enormous size 8's. In the end, I had to go onto stage in my 'stockinged feet' (you know tights, but how else do I phrase it?) and hope the fact they were dark didn't draw attention to my feet.  The next day, it transpired that it had dropped out the bag as he brought it in and sat in the rain all night outside the office where it was found by a secretary. Sigh.  Luckily it hadn't shrunk and at least I got it back.


That isn't the most daft shoe/concert/story/incident I can relate though.  Once,I was playing a concert at St John's Smith Square in London. It is a huge concert hall with a high up stage so essentially the audience can see your feet quite prominently.  Well, the leader forgot his black shoes and only had white trainers with him. So...what did he do?  Any ideas?

Well, what actually happened was, the co-leader, the man who sat next to him lent him ONE on his shoes and they both sat on stage wearing one shoe each.   Now we all surely know that the leader has to walk onto and off of stage to applause by himself. Yep, he did that in one shoe!!!!!! What would you have done if that had been you?? Surely ANYTHING but that!

Do you have any funny shoe stories?  Or any 70's clothing? Or rainbow shoes? Or any random anecdote you want to share? I'm all ears!x
xxx

P.S. Actually think my neighbour might hate us.But had a hilarious laugh with CBC tonight trying to play my Grandad's violin so CBC could practice accompanying me for a GCSE recital on Grade 6 pieces- I scraped and slid my way through pieces. And then, as CBC hijacked the violin, I tried my Lidl bagpipes after Steph/ven told me how to put the reed in the chanter- I could manage a rather party-popperesque squeak but there will be no Highland fling here!

Miserable Russian lady visits London's oldest wine bar

There is a reason I smile in all my blog photos (or virtually all of them).  This is because I look like this if I don't smile! Miserable!   CBC met me at Stratford on Sunday to go up to London to a friend's birthday.  We got on the central line and I sat down.  I was suddenly aware of being watched and saw CBC with his Smartphone up in 'photo position'.  I glowered at him sullenly aware that he was mocking my garb and the result is this (with some old-fashioned grainy filter on to make me look even more like an extra missing from a Chekhov film!
With the 'inclement weather' (I do love that phrase- it feels so contrived!) I brought out the big-guns in the hat department with my Joyce Anderson of Corbridge sheepskin cossack hat but decided that it needed cheering up so added the turquoise butterfly clip which CBC found rather incongruous!

We headed up to a place near Embankment tube station called Gordons Wine Bar which is apparently London's oldest Wine Bar, established 1890 (and possibly the oldest in the world)  If you want to go somewhere atmospheric and different to drink wine (and not much else I am afraid- the only other choices are orange juice or water but you can bring in your Starbucks coffee if you want, as one of our companions discovered).  It is located in a cellar- so you sit at Candle-lit (and lamplight) tables with the roof barely above your head (you have to stoop to stand if you are Giraffe-like).  It is surprisingly warm and cosy.  We sat in a cubby at the end and happily sat there for several hours.  The only downside of it being a snowstorm all day was there did end up being drips on our coats by the walls, since it is a cellar and the walls and roof are near you.

The wine and the food is served a bit higher up some steps with proper ceilings.  A cheery-kind man was serving the food.  It was buffet-style.  You could buy a roast-dinner plate, carvery style for around £10.95 but what we went for was the cheese platter.  For £12, you got to choose 3 large slabs of cheeses (and they were big and I tried 3 large chunks of cheeses before I chose) the equivalent of almost a whole baguette sliced and then you can help yourself to pickles, chutney, butter, gherkins etc from the 'cold buffet' (there's also cold meat platters and a pate platter with bread and pickles which we got for £5.95 I think).
The Corsican ghost's cheese was delicious as was Saint-Nectaire and something else!  I had a mulled-wine (£4) which is the only tolerable-way for me to drink wine.



If you're interested in the history-side, it really hasn't changed in the years it has been there and apparently, quoting the website, it has an impressive residential history:

...the building in which the bar is situated was home to Samuel Pepys in the 1680s and more recently (1820) by Minier & Fair, a firm of seedsmen who used it as a warehouse. This came to an abrupt end when, in 1864, the river was embanked and the warehouse landlocked, following which it was turned into accommodation and Gordon's wine bar began its life. Rudyard Kipling lived in the building in the 1890s as a tenant and famously wrote “The light that failed” in the parlour above the bar, the building is now named Kipling House. Angus Gordon who set up the bar in 1890 was one of the few remaining “free vintners” who were able to set up and sell wine anywhere without applying for a license as a result of Edward III’s Charter to them in 1364 – granted as a result of his financial embarrassment at being unable to repay a loan made by the Vintners to him some years earlier! The current Gordon family who own the bar are not actually related to Angus Gordon but it was a happy coincidence that Luis Gordon discovered the bar and took it over in 1975 so was able to maintain the Gordon name.

Taken from the website, quoted above.

I really recommend it, it was a really friendly place and I enjoyed the vibe in there, plus it's so convenient being located close to Embankment tube (Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines) on Villier's street.


After we left, CBC and I with a friend, went to look at the river where we delighted in the virtues of waterproof gloves and made really satisfying snowballs without a hint of wet-frozen hand I am used to and attempted to throw snowballs onto the deck of a small rowing boat moored alongside the dock.  We almost managed it, but no, we were too rubbish!

You can see me modelling my new Christmas frilly umbrella and also my Yaxtrax snow-grips! Honestly, I really recommend them- you can attach them to any shoe, not only sturdy-walking boots like mine, you can attach them to any of your high-heeled fashionable boots, they have rubber construction at the edges so they wont mark your shoe. I bought mine from QVC last year

****
In other news- I caught a MOUSE!!!!! I spotted a little mickey run across my floor the other day and I bought a humane mousetrap which yielded fruit in under a day.  I came home to mickey trapped inside.  I took him along to the park and released him where he frantically scurried away.  Let's hope he doesn't come back, which everyone has ominously told me they do if you are kind to them! Anyone have mouse-experiences they can share?

52 weeks of happy (weeks 2 and 3)

Alas, I missed out on last week, so here's a 2x +2 post (i.e. two weeks worth of 4 plus a m=bonus 2).



1. Snow silliness! Yes, it can be scary walking and travelling, after my broken wrist and sprained wrist of 2 years ago, I am over-cautious, but it still puts a romantic, beautiful sheen on everything!

 
2. CBC’s experimental cookery-
Bear with me on this.  He'll be really cross I took and posted a photo but honestly, it was amazing!!!!!!!
Radishes, sugar-snap peas, tomatoes, red pointed peppers, chicory, pomegranate balsamic vinegar, olive oil with orange, goats yoghurt, coriander and a PieMinster Heidi-pie. It tasted absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!


3. Swimming:
I haven’t been for soo sooo long!!! It made me feel really relaxed, invigorated and it’s always fun to don a vintage-look polka dot swimsuit! I also love the fact that CBC enjoys the fun, silly games I do, like, see who can stay on the ledge the longest!



4. Healing- sometimes, you can be in receipt of a miracle! See previous post for why



5. Dressing like a mad old lady! I have been wearing the mad cat lady jumper, folk-fiddle t-shirt, and an old lady scarf-clip with a silk-scarf (vintage, via charity shop)


6. My snow-grips- they keep me upright and safe!!! If you've ever broken a limb slipping in the snow, you will know how it knocks your confidence in the snow, the worry of slipping- you can see from the footprints how these babies cut through the snow.


7. My church family. Old and young, I adore them- I really do- they are so kind, humble, funny, unique and caring. I sat in church on Thursday night and felt near to tears as I regarded these humble, loving people dancing in joy.



8. My new Tiffany Lamp. It prompted rearrangement of my front room to place it in a place of glory (and heck, not much would persuade me to move furniture!). I’ve wanted one for so long, ever since I saw Hale and Pace on a TV programme as a teenager where they had to try and create a catwalk collection- they used Tiffany Lamps as inspiration for their buttons in their collection. I’d never seen one before and I loved them. So pretty! CBC remembered this and bought me the perfect little one for Christmas.



9. Warm houses- I started to get a cold on Thursday and my house, as previously mentioned, has no central heating, so I have been without heat so it has been really comforting to be in CBC’s house with heating.




10. Warm hats and scarves:  So funny to get dressed up!  I love making people snigger and laugh on the Tube when I wear ridiculous hats and scarves! Oh by the way, this is a tea-cosy, not a hat! Though it would be fun to wear this on the Tube, just to see how people reacted! It's also fun to wear a tea-cosy on your hat. Essentially, that's what a beanie hat is anyway, isn't it?!



What has made you happy this week?

The undisputable funkiness of foam and daleks

 It being Tuesday, I linketh up to Madame Lakota's Tah Dah Tuesday!
I made this card here for my sister's graduation yesterday.  It came together surprisingly quickly and easily without too much thought needing.
The mortaboard and scroll are made out of funky-foam with the tassle made out of thin black elastic (charity shop purchase- massive reel of it ages ago) and the ribbon is the obligatory bit of recycling- from a dress tag!  I won't bore you with how I made it- you can probably work it out!

Sorry, the picture below is a little childish but as I took my daleks over to CBC's for his robot party, I ended up being a bit silly with them!  Only one of these is purely a dalek for Dalek sake (the Renegade dalek, third from the left)- he talks when you press the button in the middle and says either, "Destroy the Doctor!", "Seek, locate, annihilate," or surprisingly enough, "Exterminate!"- he was a leaving present my friend Joe bought me when I went to study in Indonesia!
Number 2 and 4 from the left house and housed bubble-bath respectively (also presents).  I plan to turn them both into bookends when I've finished the bubble-bath by filling them with sand.
Number 1, cunningly enough holds a set of special edition Doctor Who UNO cards! He's only half dalek! (sadly, not a present-I am THAT sad that I bought them myself in Whitby!)
I have other daleks but they live in their packaging, and I didn't want allow all my daleks to suffer people at parties (you know men FIDDLE with things-wanting to know how they are put together!)
Sounding like a real saddo here...

The sweets were SUPPOSED to be for CBC's flat-mate- in France we found Orangina flavoured Haribo (delicious!)  and so brought it some back.  But CBC 'forgot' they were for him. Hence, the sign to warn him the consequences of further plundering Orangina Haribo supplies!

Also linking to Annie the Felt fairy's Make a month.

How was your day?  Mine was pretty exhauasting!  SO tired after last night!  Year 1 were working in groups in their music lesson today.  Anyone who has had year 1, knows how hard this can be, keeping them on track!  They worked in fours to prepare a performance of a song with playing of the rhythms.  Though it was tiring, I was pleased that they managed it even though they did go all shy when it was their turn for a performance!
Singing assembly, surprisingly successful! I found a gorgeous song someone has written based on In Flanders-fields, in preparation for Remembrance Day for the school to sing.  If you're interested, I can give you the link to TES for it.
Year 2 this afternoon, hard work but with hilarious moment discussing how we could use different body-percussion to create a different timbre in the music and one of the boys in Year 2, managed to play the rhythm for Oh dear what can the matter be by making sounds with his hand and ear!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had to be seen to be believed!
How was your day?

Unlikely outfit, unlikely location, unlikely assassin.

Lakota recently commented on one of my inspiration Monday outfits saying that she liked it as it was different and that type of look didn't get much of an outing in blog-outfit posts! 

So I thought I'd break the mould of posting my usual type of outfit and post the MAD CAT LADY LOOK /again, not seen since last winter! I thought you might appreciate the librarian/music-geek location to top it off!  Linking up to Lakota's Tah Dah Tuesday in hope that she'll find my sweater so offensive that I will achieve notoriety, infamy and grandeur through being featured in one of her blog posts!  Or not, considering her taste in raincoats ;-)   )

The jumper is at least 35 years old and belonged to my friend Ellie who looked after me and CBC this weekend throughout the rehearsals and performance of Verdi's Falstaff.   She thought I'd like it, it's Peruvian and it's made of the most lovely warm, dense wool and still so vivid in colour!  I utterly adore it, more so because it belonged to her and it has been long loved, yet seldom worn in recent times.   I couldn't resist yet another hat with this Hello Kitty looking beanie!  (Let's just try to ignore the Crocs, right?)

The opera was wonderful- it was SUCH an exciting piece to play (based on characters from Shakespeare's Henry the 4th of 5th parts 1 or 2), I had a great piccolo part which I at times, felt very self-conscious about playing- playing the piccolo is not a position in the orchestra in which you can hide- everyone notices your mistakes or successes so it was somewhat of a relief for the 1st oboist who I look up to so much, to tell me I was doing a really 'rock solid job' of it!

I barely slept the entire weekend due to First night camping- being far too cold (Ellie solved that with her sweater, fleece, duvet and hot water bottle on the second night), the 2nd night and 3rd night staying up with CBC for study but I made it through and the experience was essentially a joyful one.

By the way, meet the cutest assassin the country- this cat may look small and adorable- she is a ruthless KILLER!!!!

 Mice near and far, beware, your days are numbered!

MEOW!

Rainbow Felt flowers

 Hello!  How are you this fine morning?  One strange thing that keeps occuring this holiday is that I am waking up early!  By this point in the holidays usually, I am staying asleep for a long time! However, there is one benefit of aching muscles is that they don't allow you to sleep in!

I had a nice time in London last night, catching up with friends of CBC.  It's really funny going to the City (we went near Bank), you realise just how much money there is there. I would balk at spending lots of money on a drink like in this venue, but it's normal to all of those who are there.  It was nice to go out but whilst yesterday afternoon I felt the best I've felt in a long time, I didn't want to jeopardize my recovery by staying out till stupid o'clock dancing in loud city clubs/bars- not my thing- especially when not mentally prepared for it (having thought we were meeting for dinner) , so managed to get home by 11ish.

One of my favourite bloggers, Miss Lucy Nation, I have noticed, likes to wear a brooch, and I thought of the brooches I have kicking around and decided to wear them.

 This was Tuesday's outfit.  I like my heavnly halo- cast by the light-refraction (correct me on the science), a Topshop via Cancer research dress, which I decided to cheer up by adding this double felt flower brooch from Monsoon (it came on an itchy-scratchy cardigan which some moment of insanity caused me to buy.  I can't bear wearing it!  However, I rescued the brooch before culling last week).  I amused the guys at 'pimp my car' down the street by wandering past with my purple floral crown on. I'm a hippy, what can I say?   They see me trudging with my wheelie-bag everyday on the way home from school.  I wonder what they are thinking!

 This was Thursdays outfit - another rainbowy cheery item!  This dress comes from Spitalfields market some years ago and I always think of when CBC and I starting going out when I wear this- I wore this dress on the first day of music-camp when I invited him along.  It's funny the way you associate memories with certain clothes! Worn with Claire's Accessories rainbow bead necklace

Channelling my faraway tree influence, I added this felt flower brooch which my friend Liz at church made for me last year.  She made me 2 felt brooches and I bought her yellow lego earrings- except that someone in my church moved them where they were waiting for her and I know not where they went!

Today, we have a ladies' teaparty at church where hats are mandatory as are Ritz-style outfits!  I have lent a hat to my friend and now it remains for me to choose an outfit!  I'm thinking that mint polkadot dress I didn't wear for the wedding? What do you think?

Oh, and my giveaway winner-

Well, I used random.org and compiled the names in a word document numbered, based on whether they wanted the dress or necklace and whether they had given me a squag definition (loved them ladies, LOVED them!) so you were entered for one or both draws, with 2 entries in either if you gave me a squag and the results were as follows...

The necklace:

 Can you read that?  It's Mrs Country girl does Norfolk who says, "SQUAG: A stroppy mood a blogger gets in when they fail to find anything they want to wear in their overflowing wardrobe.


"Argh, I'm in a right squag this morning!""

Love it!

And the dress...

Miss Alice- who says
"A squag is a really cute creature that looks like a baby snail but is cuter, less slimy and wears knitted shell covers, x"

So ladies, please can you leave me an e-mail address in the comments box and I will e-mail you to get your address.  It might not be till next week as I am off to Kent for a few days tomorrow...


And because I enjoyed them so much, here is the definitive collection of what you bloggers think squags are:

Lucy Nation said...
SQUAG - The Society for the Quenching of Utiliterianist Aged Grapes. I'm surprised you've never heard of it!;)

Sophie - Country girl said...
SQUAG: A stroppy mood a blogger gets in when they fail to find anything they want to wear in their overflowing wardrobe.
"Argh, I'm in a right squag this morning!"

Zoe Lianne said...
SQUAG: The way a blogger feels when she or he is unable to blog. Useless, Sad, etc.
"Man, I feel a right squag today. My internets down!"

Alice said...
A squag is a really cute creature that looks like a baby snail but is cuter, less slimy and wears knitted shell covers, x

Green Tea and Cupcakes (Luan) said...
SQUAG is a South Queenslands Under Age Gnomes.

yogaduchess1982 (Nicole)  said...
Squag: When a puggle smooshes her nose in reply to a funny noise. :)

Thrifted Shift (Vivienne) said...
squag: noun; a handbag suitable for terrible wet weather such as a sudden squall. (portmanteau of squall and bag) Sentence: I always carry my things in a squag because it rains practically every day in Seattle!

Two birds said...
squag: swag bags given away at a squirrell party. a great bag full of acorns, day-old bread and berries.

Bethie The Boo said...
Squag - Noun, a scuba diver in search of octopus. The squag searches for the perfect octopi with the right length of legs.

Secret Blogger (Caroline) said...
Squag - noun, obviously a square bag.

My own definition:
Squag (noun) pronounced:  S-K-WOGG.  An inhabitant from the planet Xegos.  They have 6 legs, 5 pairs of wings, 3 eyes and have light green fur.  They feed mostly on a special kind of moss grown only at high altitudes that can only be reached by them and have acute sense of smell!

Enjoy the sun!

12 years old

Hola!  Inspiration Monday mi hearties!  I must say I love the gorgeous Eva Mende's crisp, fun, daisy outfit!  Alas, why do I not have a black daisy skirt!  I tried to get my Peter Pan collared daisy dress to be a skirt but there's no getting this waist and bottom through a Peter pan neck hole!

 Here we have the Kezzie interpretation:
The lowdown:
White blouse:  Miss Selfridge
Rose skirt:  M&S Per Una via Salvation army
Ecru shoes:  Clarks via Clothes swap party/
Virtuous reusable bag:  Orla Keily via Tescos.  Thanks Sharon for the tip!
Headband:  Primark

 When I wear this headband (and indeed when I bought it, this was what I intended), I always think of April from Home and Away (Rhiannon Fish).  Here's the image that inspired my purchase! 

As I walked into the office after school today, the head and deputy head teacher were sitting there.  The head said to me:  "You look so cute,".  The deputy asked me to remind her how old I am (31) to which she replied, "How come you still bloomin*' look 12 years old?!!!?" (*expletive replaced with alliterative equivalent). Tee hee!

 I'm still loving my salads of the past week!  Here's a sample of what I've been eating!  Mmmmmm!

The day has been quite fun on the whole with singing traditional songs from Jamaica and South Africa with Reception and Year 1 respectively!  They seemed to really like the songs and they made me happy too!

Other exciting news is that I get to go to the Olympics Opening ceremony dress rehearsal performance because my boyfriend is in it and he gets 2 complimentary tickets! On Saturday CBC and I very childishly staged a costumed 'ballot' which was documented in photos to decide which of his siblings won the last remaining ticket!  Let's just say CBC's costume as mayor of the Olympics  involved a fur blanket as a cape, Jubilee chains as an official chain and my straw hat as his bonnet.  It was great fun and now his family think we're completely insane (You mean they DIDN'T know this already?!?!?!).  I wont embarass CBC but here are three shots from the fun (featuring new red hat as the receptacle for the votes!!)

Go and check out the other beautiful birds and their interpretations at The Two birds boutique including what might be my favourite outfit that Megan has ever worn- this is a demo in how to combine spots and stripes in the most wonderful way!

Let them eat hats- the Do it yourself Princess Eugenie and Beatrice edition

HRH, The Duchess of Camping, Ms Kezzie Middleton

I really should finish waffling about camp, particularly as I've now been elsewhere, but I do like to remind myself of what adventures I've had.


On the final Saturday, we had a silly competition entitled, 'The alternative royal wedding anthem' in which we had to get teams together to create a performance, creating our own song/ piece for the royal wedding. It was announced 3 days or so before the event was due to happen.
CBC instantly had lots of ideas that we could use quotes from the media to form our lyrics. We got together with a great composer who agreed to write the music and we recruited team members! I was in charge of costumes and I had the silly idea that we could create a range of hideous fascinators alla Princess Eugenie and Beatrice (I was not a fan!). My only resources were a pair of snaffled scissors from the kitchen, some gaffer tape and the recyling boxes. (oh and some gold wrapping paper later found)

The brief: THE MORE HIDEOUS, THE BETTER!
Below I present you with the finished articles.










Er- CBC presents the 'Emperor's new clothes fascinator' accessorized with feather boa.

F models a wonderful gold triangular number, crafted by herself!

'Cat in the hat' and 'Egg box chic'

Backrow left to right: We have 'pre-raffelite lady with floral headband', 'floral fascinator' (knicked from Sound of Music set and attached to a headband), and 'A right royal crown.'
Front row: 'Walkers crisp box flappers'

'Curly whirly'

Finally we have myself, as the bride- wearing my veil and headband from the Sound of Music with my impromptu Prince William.

The performance was fabulous and we won!!!

The fascinators actually only went together around 10 minutes before the performance as I'd been chief orderly officer and had no time.

They will be available on Ebay for very reasonable rates :-)