The Buyer's archive July 2016

I have missed this for two month- I just got busy and kept forgetting. Luckily Janet reminded me and as I was sorting out clothes today, I decided to try and remember my purchases.

The Buyer's archive is inspired by Elise's Buyer's Archive project, and involves keeping a record of all clothing purchases in a bid to keep on eye on my purchase, notice any patterns and IDEALLY cut down on my spending. There is a #buyersarchive hashtag on Twitter/Instagram where you can see posts from everyone taking part,  The usual suspects are Elise, Hazel, Janet, Donna, Lucy and Charlotte and perhaps a few more!?

Well, all I can say this month is, I am well and truly ashamed of myself.

Let's get on with it then...

 &Other Stories navy beaded sun dress: £1.99- Barnados
I spotted this dress in Barnados with its £65 price tag on. It's cotton and a really comfy good length. I am really pleased with it.

 Laura Ashley maxi dress £3.69 Barnados
I love Laura Ashley dresses. Barnados were having a half price sale on all clothing so I took a gamble on this for me and my Mum to share on holiday as she adores Laura Ashley dresses. If it doesn't fit her, I will keep it!

 H by Henry Holland collared dress £4, Marie Curie Cancer care
This is one of those dresses I wanted first time! Yay. It's a size 12 but I like it being loose and now fitted. Er- another navy blue patterned dress...

 Jaeger Striped button top £1.99 Barnados-
I have really wanted a high necked sleeveless top or two so this monochrome one is perfect. Not that I need it...

 NW2 Striped top £1.19 Barnados
I like basic striped cotton tops like this, so I picked up this staple for the colder season and for hikes..

 H by Henry Holland collar top- £1.50 Marie Curie
I have this top already in a size 6 which I am constantly worried about it shrinking and being too small for me so for £1.50, I figured was worth a gamble, two sizes bigger.

 River Island dress via Ebay £8.00 + £2.50 postage.
This dress is a Clara Oswald screen accurate dress that I have seen and looked at for ages. And in a moment of weakness, gave in to it...

Bryony and co Lollipop dress £29.99
I picked up this dress in the Sample Sale. I was buying a dress for my niece (£12!) and ended up buying this one as I was paying the postage. Really shouldn't have but this dress was originally £149 (cotton, handmade in England) and again I caved.
I think I need to unsubscribe from some of these websites..

So, on the clothing front, I ended up spending £54,85.  I bought a few accessories too but I will have to check and summarise in another post.
If I can get through August without buying anything, I hope I will feel less guilty.

That quintessential navy staple!

 That combination of red, navy and stripes really does put one in mind of 'Anything goes' and the seafaring branch of the armed forces.

 It's a funny thing but as a teenager, it was NOT cool to tuck in ANY garments- leaving them hanging out, especially school shirts was the status quo. It has purely been the influence of blogging pals and their immaculate tucking-in skills that reconciled me to it again after all these years.  It also served to marginally hide the lack-of-ironing!

 Today, I took a gamble with resorting to summery clothes again for school and it paid off as my cardigan was off within 5 minutes of class time!

I started off the day sans headache and within an hour had developed one and it was only later after being in another classroom and I returned to that year 4 classroom that I noticed one of those nasty plugin fragrance things in the class (or it may have been something else but it SMELT of one!).  THEY give me a headache. I really loathe them- the nasty artificial smell. I know kids can be smelly sometimes but I would honestly rather put up with 'wet dog wet-playtime stench' than endure one of those things.  My Mum made me a room spray purely with spring water and a few essential oils which was good although even that made me a bit fussy! Is it just me or does anyone else react badly to the fragrance-makers

 Gratuitous shoe close-up of my Irregular Choice shoes shining gold in the sunshine!

Hope you had a good day.
xx

The Buyer's archive 2- April 2016

Hi there!

Joining with my second edition of the Buyer's archive with Elise and some other lovely ladies!

I thought this would be a good way to make my look at my spending (and hopefully shame me into spending less!). I thought it would but it seems this month, I did worse than last month- I truly and utterly went mad! Honestly don't know what went wrong with me! On the flip side of it, I got some incredible bargains!

Onto the shame:

 I went to TK Maxx with my sister after going out for dinner at the end of the Easter holidays and bought her some running gear as a birthday present. As I was looking, I spied this light denim shirt by SH Denim which was reduced to £13.00.  I also bought this shirt in the Helen Rollason charity shop for £4.25 from Next that week. Didn't need either but have already worn both a few times. Both fit really well.

The next few items were all bought in old my local Barnado's - they ALWAYS have really nice things in there- that's where I bought my tap shoes.

 The Newlook white collared top was £2.49 and I thought it was a great staple top for work in the summer when I want to wear a skirt with a sleeveless top (we're not allowed to wear strappy tops). I lack basics for summer like this as I always go for patterns.
To demonstrate the above point, this George floral and polka dot top was £1.99.

 I made a bee-line for these polka-dots. I can spot a me-pattern a mile off,hidden amongst items. This skirt was so pretty- mint polka dots, coral scalloped hem, red waist-band AND pockets- brand new with tags. Only £1.99!

The next item was probably my item of the month. I saw this Emily & Fin dress hiding amongst a whole selection of beautiful Monsoon dresses and I was so excited as I had loved this dress when I saw it on A Million Dresses blog. Emily & Fin dresses are made of 100% cotton, fully lined with pockets.I already have this dress in a different print. I couldn't believe it still had its £65 price-tag on. At £9.99, it was more than an average charity-shop dress price but it was a great saving on the original price!

As I was paying, I saw this necklace hanging on the pin-board and I saw it as something I could butcherize into a cute set of punctuation brooches! I don't wear big chunky chains like this but 99p for 5 potentially cute brooches-hurrah! They are all sparkly or mirrored!

 I thought that was it for the month.  I wish I hadn't been so weak..

That was the end of my Barnados splurge!

 The next item was from Age Concern and I really didn't need it. It still had its £17.99 price tag and cost £4.99. I thought this one was a better dupe for my Caretaker Clara cosplay so bought it. Probably shouldn't have but they let me in after they weren't supposed to and I felt somewhat obliged to buy something!

I'd totally forgotten about this purchase. I bought this Deer Arrow set of brooches for £4.50 + £2.00P&P from Ebay.

The last purchase was from Donna's instagram- a brand new Lindy-bop dress covered in retro TV's and radios. £18 posted.

The total is not as bad as I thought at  £64.19 but when you are saving for a house (and you have WAY too many clothes), it's much more than I should have.  Plus I bought a fair few books which I'll share in another post.

What have you bought this month?

If you head over to Elise's blog, she will let you know who is taking part in the Buyer's archive.

Here's Hazel's .  By the way, I am aware that I am somehow indirectly responsible for other participants' purchases this month! Oops, sorry Donna and Hazel!!

xx

Those Autumn leaves

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.  

Sending many best wishes,

Kezzie xx

Linking to:

Creative Mondays with Claire Justine 

AND 

Visible Monday with Patti

Pretending to be a pin-up girl

 Howdy!  Hope you are having a beautiful day! As I write this, it is scorchingly hot, and I am sheltering inside before heading off to London for a leaving party for an acquaintance who is heading off round the world on a boat!

Last Saturday, we were going to a birthday barbecue and I decided it was really time I wore those polka dot scalloped shorts I bought with my birthday voucher in April.  Shamefully, I teamed it up with this Collectif Halter-neck top. I say shamefully, because I have definitely had it over 2 years unworn.  I ended up with it as I couldn't get a refund for something I bought in the sale there.

 I confess that when I bought these, I thought they were a respectable length but actually I was pulling them down all day, it seemed like there was far too much leg on show- might reserve these for going to the beach!

 As the holiday is 'Brooch time', I've been trying to vary my brooch selection but I confess that I am loving my ice-cream one too much! I was thinking of making myself a few more novelty ones but despite being at home for two weeks, I haven't made one though I have made about 14 cards!

Thanks for all your brooch advice. Yes, I have been trying to put the brooch on before donning the outfit, good idea chaps, don't always think of it before getting dressed though!

As we turned up to the birthday barbecue with his birthday presents, I noticed I inadvertently matched out present!

xxx

Yet another sailor outfit!

Tis a bit of a cliche to go to the seaside dressed up as a sailor girl, but I did it anyway.

 In case you are wondering, the top is from Joules (mega sale last year), the skirt is ancient Primark (very tight!) and the raincoat (Seasalt Cornwall) with my beloved Doc martens.

Oh how wonderful it was to inhale that sea air again!

CBC and I visited Newton by the sea with J and though it was a blustery day, it was sunny. CBC and I walked towards Dunstanburgh castle.

Such bursting joy and yet tranquillity surge through my heart simultaneously in a fusion that shouldn't work yet do.  I don't care that I get messier and messier as the breeze laps at my hair because that is its overenthusiastic welcome.   The smell, even when none-too-pleasant has its place in the joy of the situation. The stumbling over uneven patches of sand and the avoidance of large piles of Bladderwrack seaweed, these are all parts of that wild experience.  The beaches in the north are wild, they are unforgiving at times, they lack Cornish and Southern prettiness, yet they have that menace and danger in them that their west-country counterparts have too.

There is a health and a rejuvenation in being blown around and hearing the compulsive returning of the tide. I find myself all too cross and grown-up at times but being here allows me to join in with my husband in fun antics.

Joy as he dashes up a slope and affecting crossness as he kicks sand into my shoes one too many times. Annoying but necessary in peeling back that grown-up and weary facade.

 I delight in my maritime companion with his ever-patient and loving nature.

Such joy to be back at sea. Whether dressed as a sailor or not!?

xxx

Tenuous TARDIS Tuesday for £2.49

Today's TARDIS Tuesday is really just about a blue outfit. Not particularly TARDIS-blue but you know, like Maricel. leader and founder of TARDIS Tuesday, who I am covering for, I want it to be inclusive for anyone who wants to join in. I'm wearing blue, I'm joining in. You can too!

 I bought the skirt and the top (it's a sleeveless vest top) last Saturday as I was at a wedding and in between wanted/had to go to the park for a few hours and didn't really fancy lying around in the grass in my pink dress which was synthetic material in the baking hot sun!

I found the items in some charity shops for 99p (top) and £1.49 (skirt) respectively.  The pin-dot skirt was still brand-new with its £10.00 (Primark) tag.  Both are 100% cotton and I am really chuffed with them, I would wear this for Lindy-lessons, school, a weekend walk, many occasions.  I wore them this Saturday for the Village Green festival in Southend. Not really stereotypical 'festival wear' but then who actually is, or actually wants to be a stereotype. I saw a myriad different outfits on Saturday,- I learnt from the best (Vix, I am talking about you though of course, my outfit resembles you in no way!).

 And a new ring from Punkypins.

The festival was a mixture of pop, rock, world music, funk etc.  We saw Nitin Sawhney and some amazing artistes. It was an interesting event which I am glad I experienced but I realised that though I enjoyed and appreciated some of the music and it being live, the classic 'music festival' isn't for me. Perhaps it was my hormones, perhaps it was the fact I was exhausted, but I didn't like being surrounded by thousands of people, not being able to get away from everyone and the sun and like Sophie in the Sticks, who blogged about a festival, I really was disgusted by litter-droppers.  I prefer non-amplified music, it doesn't feel so real being amplified and I felt it was too loud.  Nonetheless, it was a well-organised event, it was definitely an experience- I wouldn't rule going to it or one again totally, and it was nice to be there with CBC though.  Anyway, here are a few of my photos from the day:

Sharing picnic with CBC- christening my new Cath Kidston picnic bag. Thank you Mummy!

CBC and snacks

Loved this Charleston-style band! Was really tempted to dance.

It was a very family-friendly festival- lots of tents with activities for children.

Which stage now?

Funky parade.

Great Bhangra dancers

Impromptu Alice in Wonderland meeting!

Watching with Nothing but thieves with CBC- I really didn't want to get sunburnt- do you think I had enough clothes?

 Watching Snowboy (I think that was his name)

 There was an altered book exhibition in the Metal art gallery.

There is a lovely wild hedgerow and meadow walk.

Wispy clouds towards Sunset

Sunset on Nitin Sawhney's set

Nitin Sawhney on the main stage.

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