The rainbow dress strikes back!

Hello there!

Before I start waffling, here's some music for you to listen to. I've not heard this piece by the English Composer, Gustav Holst (he of the Planets!) before but I was delighted by the opening music between viola and flute.

The term has ended and the last week went well.

The school concert went really well without too many mishaps and most of the children and their parents turned up. We started 15minutes late so it overran but I was really proud of how well the children performed.   

One delightful thing that occurred was that I applied for a scholarship for one of my year 5 boys who we have been partly funding for flute lessons this year. He has really taken to it and worked hard and I wanted to ensure that he would be able to carry on after he left me so I applied to the London Music Fund and to my delight, he was selected to receive funding for lessons for 4 years.  Such an opportunity for him!

I bought the children involved in the concert choc-ices (the only ice-cream/lolly product which comes in no plastic packaging!)  to say thank you for their hard work and I was delighted with the serendipity that I had bought just enough for everyone AND enough to give one also to the children who had helped out and done extra jobs like putting away my singing assembly things each week and for tidying up the music room.

At the weekend, CBC and I went to camp in Snowdonia for the weekend.  I had a stinking cold but had a gorgeous time and will share some photos soon.

I bade a sad goodbye to CBC this evening as he drove off to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to France.  We are to be parted for 2 weeks as we do different things - he is a checkpoint monitor for the Transcontinental Cycling Race and I am to go to music camp.

Enough waffling, I found some photos from last Summer (on my lost camera which turned up- it was in the walking rucksack!!!) of when I styled the Madras check dress in yet another way.

Let's have a look:

I wore the dress with its V-beck crossover side which I rarely wear as I prefer the straight one but I wore it the other way round here.

I added my pink Peri top underneath with a matching pink rose in my hair and a pink belt.

I added my red polka dot skirt underneath to give an extra layer of pattern to the dress

I decided to hoik up the hem of the dress on one side to see if that gave another dimension to this.

I am not 100% sure I liked this outfit totally but certainly it was different from how I've worn it on other occasions!

Plus my George @Asda blue and gold velvet pumps!

I've been practicing for our flute recital on Friday

Very excited as we've practised lots! I HOPE people come to watch especially as my friend Tony is coming from Kent as we are performing his beautiful arrangement of Debussy Petite suite for two flutes and piano for the first time.

x

 

The Rainbow dress worn sideways!

You always know it's Summer when my rainbow dress gets an outing!  It likes to be a chameleon, cropping up in outfits in new and different combinations!

It was on Sunday, that I suddenly had a thought.

Could I turn the dress sideways, get my head through one of the shoulder straps- could I make it into a halter-neck dress?

After a little experimenting, and one moment of panic, I discovered...

Yes I could!

I discovered, that I could get my head into the hole. Although the pattern matching at the seam isn't great, it still worked!

At the back, I tucked in the other strap so it had a slightly lower back.

As it is a circle skirt, I suddenly thought about adding a tulle petticoat underneath to give it a bit of body and to puff it out.  I added my TARDIS blue one!

A black belt to cinch the waist.  Perhaps a blue one would have been better but I only have turquoise, not electric blue.

I decided to pin my hair up with a flower clip from Bali.

Here's a side view.

I decided to wear my TARDIS blue floral Irregular Choice pumps to go with the tulle petticoat.

What do you think of this new take on the dress?

Do you have any other suggestions for this dress styling?

xx

The Madras rainbow checked dress as suggested by Polyester Princess

 dfdfd

I have worn my rainbow dress again. In case you have missed it. I bought this Madras rainbow-check St Michael's dress in a charity shop about 15 years ago and have never worn it the same way on this blog here every time it has featured- in fact, it has always been my goal to find more ways to wear this versatile dress. Last month, I wore it with a a white logo t-shirt here and I challenged people to give me ideas of how to wear it.

This time, I decided to use Ann's idea for how to style it:

2. 
   Polyester Princess6:44 pm

   Your Madras rainbow checked dress is gorgeous so I'm not surprised it's still going strong after 16 years. I love how you styled it as a skirt here and I'm looking forward to see you styling it as a top. Perhaps paired with your sailing boat skirt and stretchy belt?
   Your Mum's finished cardigan is absolutely fabulous! xxx

   ReplyDelete

I don't think I've ever worn it as a top on here so this one appealed to me:

Here's my take on it:

Here I am just after my shower.  As requested by Ann, I wore the dress as a top. I wore it with the round neck side and then tucked it into the lovely boat skirt which Ann gave me as a present. As it is quite high-waisted, it worked well with the dress and the length was perfect to hide the skirt!

I added my ancient silver Rieker sandals and added my Croatian Watermelon earrings and a Past Times ivy leaf pewter necklace which was a present from my Godmother (who came round last night!) 

Later, when I went to the library and to drop off soft plastics to the Coop, I remembered to add a stretchy belt- this grey lacy Primark one and a grey Primark cardigan (both ancient) to match to my silver/grey sandals.

I quite liked this combination but I do miss seeing the pretty circle skirt!

Stay tuned for later this week as I had a brainwave about how I could wear it in a different way the next day!

Annoyingly, I was awake around 6am as CBC had to leave early for DoE but hadn't packed and hadn't set an alarm.  Somehow, I woke up and warned him. He then raged around the bedroom trying to find things! By the time he left, I was thoroughly awake.  I got up to make myself tea, read some of my book by Jiri Weil, Mendelssohn is on the roof, and went to water the garden.  

It was delightfully overcast so I ate my breakfast and drank tea whilst I read my Bible readings for the day on the swing seat.  

After having a shower, I did some stuff, ate left-over Thai food and then cycled to town to go to the library to order the new Hunger Games book. I had a quick look in the charity shop where I bought a lovely Fatface cardigan for my Mother in Law and bought myself a khaki green crocheted crop top. I cycled to the Coop to drop off a load of soft plastics.  I bought 2 reduced Broccolis, a Viennetta (classic 80's dessert) and also some Choux pastries for my guests.

I then set to work doing some cleaning and tidying.  We've had a bit of an ant problem for the last week and a half and I was determined to thwart them. Mum arrived mid-clean and  I cleaned the kitchen floor.  We then put some Cayenne Pepper onto the top of where we suspected a nest was.  To my delight, since this time, we have not seen any ants!!! I am hoping and praying that is it!

My Godmother and daughter arrived around 7pm.  We chatted, ate some snacks and had some refreshments and then I ordered a Chinese. Maria and I went to pick it up and we came back. Had a lovely time with them- lots of laughs!  They all went around 10pm.

This morning, I woke up for church, actually earlier than my alarm so it wasn't the usual last minute dash!  We had a visitor from Tearfund and I really enjoyed his sermon which was brilliant.

 I came back home and had a phone call to my dad.  I then went into the garden and did some pruning and cutting back on my roses, Viburnam, Acanthus and then sorted some washing.  I then spent some time putting clothes away in the bedroom and hoovering. I also had long phone calls to my Mother in Law and my sister. 

This week is another busy one!  I have 3 performances at school in the playground, involving 180 children at a time, Exhibition evening at school, a flute trio rehearsal, a Big band barbecue, an orchestra rehearsal, a Gamelan rehearsal AND an orchestra concert- all in 5 days! 

Hope all is well with you!

x

P.S.

I found two more posts where I wore the dress in different ways:

September 2021 with a turquoise cardigan

August 2021 as a mini dress.

The remix post - can't seem to resurrect the photos that don't work- sad!

With butterfly styling

Easter Joy and flowers!

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again!

Easter Sunday is always so joyful! I didn't know if we were going to be back in time for me to attend my own church as we were in Hexham, which would still have been lovely,  but I was so happy to be at church!  Sadly, I didn't make it up for 5.30am for the Sunrise service but I was there for 9.15 service to worship and play my flute. It was a joyous occasion!!!! The entrance to the church had been set up with a line of knitted flowers of various kinds on sticks.

I came home to find CBC had not gone out cycling which I was sort of happy about as often he's out for a lot of Sunday. 

Went out into the garden to have a look at the new life outside.

There was blossom on all the trees, some of it older than others now.

The Forget-me-Nots were out in their full mist of glory.

The Viburnum is starting to form its snowballs- their time is so fleeting so it's lovely to capture them before their zenith.

The apple tree is covered in Blossom! I am so excited! Please give us lots of apples this year!

One of the blueberries has lots of flowers on it.

My garden is reflected in my outfit for church. I always wear something floral and a dress on Easter Sunday.  This year, I decided to wear the handmade vintage dress which I recently was given from my Godmother. I was a little bit concerned I looked  a bit too dressed up!

I wore it with my Monssoon velvet jacket and Florence blue leather boots.

The dress fits me exactly like it was tailored to my dimensions. I think I'd like it a tiny bit looser but it does fit well

I wore it with my bee necklace.

Later in the day, I changed as  I wanted to veg on the sofa.  Later, we wanted to go out for dinner and it was a bit chilly so here's what I wore then:

My vintage cardigan and striped top plus a M&S silk skirt, a beret and my blue Dr Martens!

We headed out for a Thai meal which was delicious.

xx

My 2 Totnes cardigans

Remember back in August, I shared a post showing what I bought on my Cornish holiday. This included 2 vintage cardigans from Totnes market.

I've been really enamoured with them and really glad I  bought them- both have already had a lot of use. I have been throwing one on each night when I get home and wearing them over whatever I have been wearing at the weekends.

Since both got worn this weekend, I thought I'd share them.

Outfit 1, worn on Saturday:

The whole outfit, bar my hat is second hand.

The Tam O'Shanter hat is Isle of Skye tartan bought on Kirkwall in the Orkneys in Summer 2016 on my cruise with Mum.

The blue top was Zara (Charity Shop), Indian skirt (CS),  Vegan blue Dr Martens (Insta 2nd hand sale), cardigan (Totnes vintage market stall) and finally the gorgeous black sheepskin (?) gilet/waistcoat (CS)- I'm not sure if the gilet is Toscana sheepskin or it is fake as it is reversible so there's no washing indication but it cost £15 in the charity shop so I'm wondering if it is genuine- it is exquisitely soft and fine and keeps me so warm. I can't tell from the smell- anyone got any ideas how I can tell apart from setting fire to a bit of it to see how it burns???  If it's real, I got an ABSOLUTE bargain- if it's synthetic, I was conned!

Saturday morning I was SO CROSS. I went to bed at around half midnight and was exhausted, having not had as much sleep as I needed this week. What time did I wake up? 5am!!!!! WHY???? I lay awake for hours until I gave up and got up around 7.40am to go downstairs to do the washing up and make tea.   After various bits of tidying and pottering, emptying the compost etc, I went to shower and CBC and I made porridge.   I then carried on with some sorting as well as a bit of reading and then decided to do my Summer/Winter wardrobe changeover. I keep the out of season clothes in 2 enormous (I mean ENORMOUS) suitcases kept in my Spare room wardrobe.  The switchover took a couple of hours and also involved some sorting and culling- managed to cull about 20-25 items- I find this hard- I like the things I own but I also like the new things.  I decided to cull some things that a) I didn't wear so much including a gorgeous Monsoon sequinned circle skirt and clothes which I find I don't enjoy wearing so much e.g. if they are too tight around the armpits, synthetic, make me sweat or I don't like the fabric so much. I have realised in recent years, I am quite hypersensitive to materials and how things fit or feel (Ha, my stepmum could have told me this - she still has nightmares about me and, quote- "That wretched white cardigan!" that I was always trying to get out of!).  However, often, I don't realise what something will feel like or how I will fear, until I've worn it for a day, or a couple of times.

I was still working on this but CBC and I decided to go out and get some lunch. We headed to one of our numerous local garden centres.  This one has a newly expanded restaurant which has been shown as being really popular. We've tried to go before but the queue was epic and the restaurant was full. Luckily, as we were going close to the end of serving, we got a table easily.  I ordered a breaded chicken escalope with garlicky chard and potatoes and CBC a butternut squash risotto.  We ordered hot chocolate and chocolate milkshake respectively. Mine was delicious although the chard wasn't super garlicky and could have been more plentiful (I'm a huge garlic AND chard fan!). CBC's was tasty but smaller than he would liked. Whilst waiting and eating, we played Qwirkle. I bought this game back in July after having bought it for my sister for her birthday and LOVING it.  CBC is always willing to play it which is an absolute bonus as usually, he's not so up for playing so many games with me!  I bought it from Mr Wolf Hexham as it was recommended to me by the WONDERFUL Mrs Wolf who I am very friendly with when I go to visit.  I have subsequently bought it from her repeatedly (SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES not BIG BUSINESSES!) via my Mother In Law when she visits or gifts- it comes in a handy little pouch so it fits in a handbag easily- it has been on every holiday with us subsequently and my Taiwanese friend LOVED it and kept asking to play in on holiday which I adored as I will play a game at any time, any place). 

It was quite a tense game and the final score was

197 a piece! YES, we tied for the first time ever!

We had a quick look round the garden centre- I was tempted by some LARGE Jingle Bell garlands- they clanked like cowbells- but at £28, I decided to forgo it- would have loved them for the music room!  The garden centre is stocking Field and Fare freezer products which are unpackaged so you can bring your own container for them.  We bought some fishcakes and Chicken Kiev, frozen fish.

Back home, I sat down at the piano and FINALLY got started on my Christmas song/carol- well, I got the first chorus lyrics and melody written and the accompaniment worked out, just need to work out the verses- CBC was pitying the neighbours as there was a lot of stopping/starting and repeating the same chord over and over again as I tried things out.  To ensure neighbourly relations are peaceful, I left it there and  continued with the wardrobe changeover c;earup and sorting and later, we had some Thai food whilst watching Outer Banks on Netflix.

This morning, I got out of bed at 8.57....church starts at 9.15am.  I was at church by 9.17am having cycled!  

The service was a really beautiful service and Steph who led the sermon gave such a powerful sermon.

My main two takehomes from this were:  We take each day as it comes.  In the Lord's prayer, we ask for our daily bread, not our weekly bread and we must react to God's placement  of us. Trying not to worry about next week doesn't mean the same as not being prepared for what is coming.  Also, revisiting the past and imagining different outcomes or choices can be a form of self-harm - I needed to hear that as I often end up thinking about what I should have/would have/could have done.

Had lovely chats to friends after the service, including my lovely neighbour Morris who is 97.  I took him round some Lily O'Brien chocolates 2 weeks ago as he was unwell and able to attend church and he was so grateful and said he'd never had chocolates like them before.

I came home and got started on the washing up from last night (yes, I am a slattern..) whilst listening to a lovely Radio 3 programme with Rupert Everett and his Desert Island discs  and then decided to do some sorting through the cupboards and try to get rid of some out of date baking ingredients and try and rationalise the chaotic pantry.  It's a bit better.  Chucked a few things to compost and also packed a few things for school as flour can be used for Playdough and 15 year old mung beans and aduki beans can be used to make shakers.  I then made a pot of tea and crumpets.  Next I rehoovered the floor and then washed the kitchen, utility room and hallways (they really, really needed it) as well as getting on my hands and knees scrubbing stains with sodium bicarb and an old toothbrush. I  folded up clean washing and put it away and then hoovered the living room whilst imprisoned by drying floor and polished the piano and repositioned the house plants.   CBC came home from cycling and thankfully, the floors were almost dry and he was careful (usually, he tells me not to be a drama queen when I freak out when he walks in and makes a mess).  I washed the upstairs bathroom floors and then hoovered the dry floors to pick up the extra bits that were revealed by washing and hoovered the bedroom.

I then went into the garden and pulled out the remaining tomato plants and bean plants, weeded the raised bed, pulled out the canes, raked leaves and put them onto the raised bed to mulch (wish I'd gone to collect more oak leaves from the field behind our house as there weren't enough to cover the bed...I will then put compost on top and then maybe put cardboard on top- if CBC doesn't moan - he has Opinions about things like this looking messy (even if the advice came from an expert) -picked the last pepper. I then came in and ate some brie, chutney and crackers and sang some songs and played piccolo and piano with CBC for some carols and then went to practice my piccolo for my orchestra rehearsal tomorrow (poor neighbours).  A bit more tidying and then finally, the house was looking calm and more ordered. I have found it really hard to function as the house has felt and looked so dirty and messy and I feel soothed by having done all this cleaning and sorting, even if I haven't 'rested so much

Ah, what was I wearing? Well, the OTHER Totnes cardigan of course! You read the post title right?

This is the gorgeous Alpaca Stained glass pattern one.  My bassoon-playing friend, who owns alpacas and is an alpaca wool geek, told me that this jumper probably retailed at around £400 so I got an absolute bargain for my £35 shell out.  The white top underneath was charity-shopped.  My burgundy cashmere shawl was from H&M about 14 years ago and is one of my top winter favourites.  I have always said I prefer Summer and its sartorial choices but actually, I ADORE my winter favourites and look forward to wearing them.

My black trousers are from Seasalt, bought from their EBay outlet in the Summer after my cycling accident ripped my favourite black trousers (Ang, I just haven't sent them yet!!! I just need to get everything to the post office!) - they are super comfortable and thick material. Finally, I wore my Leggero Gortex and leather boots. I bought these in October 2020 and have worn them through thick and thin, 4 winters and they are still going strong. I paid £160 which is the most I have ever paid for a pair of boots/shoes/garment but I think the cost per wear is probably in pence now as I have worn them so much. What will I do when they wear out? (which they show no signs of doing)

It's now Sunday evening and I am finally doing school work (oops,should have done before now)  before we will eat Thai left overs, but I am feeling satisfied with my weekend endeavours.

 

I hope all is well with you.

xx

 

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a joyful Easter!!! 

Christ has died

Christ has risen

Christ will come again!

My Easter weekend has been one of joy and rest as well as being busy!

The school term ended on Thursday! I spent most of the day doing what is called Pupil Voice with children from each year group.  It's something one has to do nowadays as a subject leader in school.  Interview a small group of students to find out what they are learning in that subject to check it is being taught comprehensively, fully and to find out what is working for children/teachers and that the subject is going according to plan.

It's a pain to do but it's useful and interesting and also reassuring (and frustrating when they can't remember things and you have to prompt them!.  Not sure what possessed me to ask them 20 questions this time!

In between that, I took my Samba band up to the hall to perform for the Easter Bonnet parades (as it was raining and windy, we had to do separate ones inside!).  The kids were incredible at performing the Samba and everyone was gushing about how good they were! I love that 1/4 of the group have SEND and are all brilliant!

Once I'd cleared up my room and sent some essential emails (annoyingly cannot access my school email at the moment from home!), I headed home.

I dumped my massive collection of things at home and headed to the doctor's surgery to see the nurse to see if I had a water infection (as have had abnominal pain for the past 2 weeks).  Traces of blood but not infection so she managed to get me in for a Saturday afternoon appointment for the Doctor.

I headed home for a quick snack and then cycled in the dark to church.  The wind was CRAZY!!! Rocking up on my bike to church through dark fields was interesting!

Our vicar is not very well at the moment and the lovely lady who regularly plays piano and leads workshop is currently receiving treatment after surgery so I was on for most of the Easter services.

It was a wonderful calm in the church in the midst of the hurricane outside. The service was beautiful and I only made a few bad crashes on the piano.

I came home and made dinner for myself.

Good Friday, after some sleep but not as much as I'd have hoped (SOMEONE's alarm went off at 6.45am and has done for the past 3 days!!!) I got up and cycled to the other church for the 10.30am Good Friday service. The wind was very much against me and I arrived bright-red and sweaty as I climbed the hill to church...annoyingly 5minutes too late to play flute (which I was going to do to support the lovely lady who was playing the piano for the first time since her op.

Again, it was a lovely service. We laid hearts at the foot of the cross and it was beautiful to be there. I was very glad I'd attempted the cycle.

As I waffle about my weekend, here are some photos of what I wore for Easter Sunday!

I cannot quite believe I have never worn this coat on this blog before but I honestly think it is true. I actually don't think I've worn this coat for about 10 years!  I bought it about 20 years ago from Mathew Williamson at Debenhams in the sale for either £30 or £40 and it is covered in beautiful floral embroidery! My mum was SO jealous of me when I bought it, when we still lived together.  She wore it a couple of times too!

For church I wore this floral Laura Ashley dress from the 80's that my Recorder teacher, Maggie gave to my mum.  Fast forward to 2021 and mum gave it to me where I wore it for my friend's Jane Austen themed Hen day! It's the most sumptuously soft cotton lawn.

Worn with my Karen Millen (charity-shopped) cardigan and some blue boots bought in Florence 2019!

Saturday, I did washing and some cleaning (including successfully using Nancy Birtwhistle's technique to remove some limescale from the taps in the bathrooms!).

CBC took me to my Doctor's appointment.  He's referred me to see a Urologist and to get some scans and ultrasounds (within 2weeks hopefully) plus a bloodtest.  I'm hoping it's Kidney stones perhaps but not sure.

CBC and I then drove to a cycle shop to enquire about a Bike Box as he is taking part in the Mallorca 312 in 3 weeks and we went and we went and had some late lunch at a Pizza restaurant. We shared a Puttanesca pizza with a garlic butter glaze on the crust and it was amazing!!! I don't say that about Pizza very often! We went for a short walk to the seafront and then we returned home

At home, we did some bits and pieces and I read and then I made some dinner.

Easter Sunday, as my abdomen was hurting in the night, I was really tired when my alarm went off at what was (due to clocks going forward) 5am, and I was really sad to miss the 6.15am sunrise service at church.  I got up at 8.30am and was at church by 9.05am to play piano.

It was a lovely, joyful service and I didn't make any major mistakes on the piano! I love this small country church- such a lovely gentle congregation.  After the service, I got a lift to the other church (we have a 2 church parish) for the second service I was playing for. Same songs but totally different service.  Equally joyful but in such a different way! I was inspired and invigorated by the services and am grateful to have faith in a God who loves me!

After church, I cycled home (downhill this time) and ate breakfast with CBC who had STILL not left for cycling. I carried on reading and then spent quite a gentle afternoon.

CBC and I just got back from buying each other an Easter egg at Sainsbury's and we are about to eat dinner!

Wishing you the joy of Easter and fresh chances

xx

I cy

World Book Day 2024 Costume

Hello there!

I hope you are well!

Finally managed to get around to getting the photos of my World Book Day outfit from my work colleague!

Remember, I told you my school was donning PJs or World Book Day.

I was very disappointed to say the least as was one of my lovely pupils!

I decided I could get round this.

I remember illustrations from JM Barrie's Peter Pan depict Wendy and her siblings in long white cotton night shirts and gown.

I also knew that I had my Mum's white cotton full-length nightgown from when she was one of the Major General's daughters in The Pirates of Penzance.

So, I donned this nightgown on a Thursday at school. Sadly, I decided it was a bit too wafty and nippy to wear on the train to work (much as I delight in the bemused side-eye from commuters when I sit there in costume) so I had to change on my way. I wore my Avid Reader's Book club sweatshirt from Joanie on the way.

I thought carefully about my accessories.

You might be able to spot the anchors on my white ballet pumps- a nod to the nautical setting for the story. Sadly, it's probably their last outing as the sole of one shoe had broken apart and disintegrated. There were bits of my shoe everywhere.

My hair got totally messed up in the wind but I added my purple Lady-tie bow into my hair.

Tinkerbell made an appearance!!! I decided to add this brooch as a nod to my character....even though Tink doesn't like Wendy!

 Did people recognise who I was?

Some of the kids thought I was a ghost, one colleague thought I was Jesus, a few weren't sure, several admired my lovely summer dress and yes, a few knew I was Wendy!

Would you have realised who I was?

I managed to incorporate World Book Day into my singing assemblies that week.

Either the Schools Musicals company or Out of the Ark had 2 free songs available on the theme which I taught to the children.  I also played the William Tell overture to KS2 and told them the story of William Tell and played the story of The Noon day witch by Dvorak to KS1.

Oh, by the way...

My choir got through to the final of my local area's Primary Year of the Year competition.

We were one of 6 schools chosen out of  the 24 who entered!  My choir were EUPHORIC to find out on Tuesday as was I!

Now, I have 3 rehearsals to get them ready for the final!

xx

All the textures

 Hello!

Ooof, it's been a loooong week - the first full working week is in January always utterly interminable!

That said, I've survived.

Highlights?

The year 6's today who were doing individual research on Baroque composers today, part of which was to sit and listen to YouTube audio recordings of the composers in question. were really keen and appreciative of the lesson.  "I LOVED listening to Franscesca Caccini! She was so beautiful too!", "This was the best lesson ever!"  "I really enjoyed listening to the music, it's so soothing!" were some of the responses.  Another highlight, well,sort of, was the year 6 boy, who was upset about something at the start of the lesson. I asked him if he wanted to talk to me about it, and he said, yes, later.  When I took him outside to talk, he told me it was a friendship issue and said, "I wouldn't usually talk to a teacher about it, but you're my favourite teacher so I don't mind talking about it.".  Favourite?  Awwww!

The sweet year 3-4 choir pupils who I presented with chocolate lollies today to say thank you for their Christmas performance (was ill then had no time...), were super appreciative and one, not known for hugging me usually, hugged me.

A little boy in Year 2, who has multiple older brothers, none of whom, except one, who have been great fans of me, came up and hugged me yesterday and told me I was the best. Not something they would usually do.

Taught 3 model music lessons to Reception classes today. Met the Reception children for the first time today. They were really sweet and seemed to really like the lesson and the teachers were enthusiastic.

Choir just keeps growing.  Drumming club, not so much.

Took a chance on brand-new but very cheap Sonor Alto xylophone on eBay which you didn't get pictures of- arrived today, sounds gorgeous!

Went to see the musical, Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre in London on Wednesday night with CBC and his work colleagues. The HR manager's son is in the performance. It was brilliant!  They've completed transformed the conventional stage and auditorium into a theatre in the round with a small round stage in the centre, it IS the Kit Kat club of Berlin with little tables and chairs and lamps.  The band are sitting up visible in boxes. They've turned all the bars and areas outside of the stage into the opulent nightclub with interactive appearances from the band and Kitkat boys and girls.  The performers did an amazing job and it was very moving!

Went to Sainsbury's on the way home from school on Thursday and managed to get 3 pots of ricotta-stuffed pepperdew peppers reduced to 73p each from the usual £3.50 price. I absolutely adore them but don't buy very often unless I can get to Waitrose and can bring my own container. But if they're going out of date, I am allowed!

Went to deputize for the 2nd flute part at our Essex-based orchestra on Sunday (sadly, am not in this concert as only 2 flutes, not 3) and had a really lovely time. Izzie, who plays 1st flute plays so delicately and beautifully and it is a pleasure to blend with her on 2nd flute!

Managed to find and buy a hard-to-find Doctor Who cosplay piece very cheaply this week and it arrived!

The downsides?

So, so tired! After Cabaret, we had to get the train back and had to get the C2C train.We ended up on the Tilbury loop line and didn't get home till 1am! I was super tired on Thursday which is my nightmare day and had to walk to the station and to school because I'd had to leave my bike at school because of going to Cabaret

Didn't have the best week in terms of a balanced diet and regular, proper meals.

I think I win!

Last Saturday, we went out for a Thai meal after a day at home. I wanted to dress up!

Da naaaa!  Thought I'd go with the textures!

I started with the black, velvet Topshop shirt (charity shopped).

I added a Primark blue, glittery turtle neck (had this years now and I still love it!)

Black leggings and my Marks & Spencer stretchy velveteen boots

I wore my sheepskin jacket (charity-shopped Dog's Trust) to travel in.

Accessory-wise, I added my black velvet Kangol beret (charity-shopped). I decided to add a Blue vintage brooch (charityshopped) and a lovely black velvet-cord and crystal necklace (Secret Santa from school around 10 years ago). The earrings (charity-shopped vintage) were the final element plus fluffy hair!

The Thai meal was as delicious as normal but I actually deviated from my usual Starter choices and I had a Pork Wonton soup which was tasty! I'm not very good at trying other main dishes because I adore Thai Green Prawn OR Tofu curry so much!

Hope you have a lovely Saturday!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Into the Dalek Clara

Good evening!

I hope you are well! I am well.  Today, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am sharing an outfit worn by Clara Oswald in series 8 episode, Into the Dalek. I can't believe I last shared this outfit last in April 2019-almost 3 years ago!

Let's look at it!

The outfit is worn I thought would be perfect for Remembrance Sunday...with a slight modification!

It consists of:

• Topshop red ladder-stitch red cropped jumper
• ASOS reclaimed Check jacket
• Topshop black Scallop shorts
• Topshop 'All Mine' boots
• Black Deena and Ozzy satchel
• UO double circle necklace

And here it is.

This practically identical to the last time I wore it. It needed no adjustments*.

The Topshop sweater is really warm and comfortable to wear- it hugs you really well but, because of the ladder-stitch, isn't too hot.  My jacket is one of my best Charity shop Clara finds as it is vintage, not the same brand as hers but looks identical from a distance. It cost me £4 and I spied it from a moving car when I was driving up Battle Hill in Hexham in the window of the Sue Ryder charity shop!

Not much to say about the shorts and boots other than- not appropriate for school!

*Speaking of inappropriate for school- I slightly modified this outfit for church. The shorts are too tight and too short for me to wear in public so I swapped them for my new black cropped corduroy trousers from Seasalt. Also easier to cycle in!

Here's a close-up on my double circle necklaces AND the remembrance addition to this outfit (which I think is perfect for this outfit- Clara's needs it!)

Apart from the fitted shorts, the outfit is super comfortable and smart for many occasions. If only the shorts were longer and a bit looser!

I played piano for the first time at the church I've started going to on Sunday morning. I do NOT enjoy playing piano in public - even Singing Assembly at school or School concerts is not in my comfort zone (even though I've done it for 16 years).  BUT, the regular lady who plays piano had a nasty fall a few weeks ago and broke her shoulder (and really smacked up her eye and face) and I really wanted to help out so I  offered to help out when I was able to.  It went ok- there were a few Les Dawson moments and I had a couple of blanks just before starting about WHERE I was going to start an introduction but it was ok.  As I wasn't singing at the same time (because that makes it harder to get it all right)- I did teacherly nods to show when it was time to come in, just in case!

After church, I did something else really cool but that's for another day!

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday- Summer 5th Doctor outfit

HI there!

I have enjoyed my last 2 Summer spins on the Classic Who Doctors.I hope you did too!

Today, I am considering baby-faced 5th Doctor, Peter Davison's outfit.

I last looked at this outfit as inspiration in April 2021- here I did a literal cosplay and recreation of the outfit but this time, I wanted to do a Summer spin on it. Therefore I was using it as inspiration rather than a direct recreation.  I have actually done a Summer version of this once before (back in 2015 which you can see here) and I used the same base-dress.

Let's look at the original:

Image borrowed from
The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

Image borrowed from
The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

And this time, I have created two versions of it with one garment difference:

 

Here's the first one: I started with the obvious item- my Question mark shirt (embroidered by Ang) which I wore for my 6th Doctor outfit last week. As I said last time, the shirt is lovely and lightweight. I rolled up its sleeves for a more summery look.

The next item was my vintage dress bought back in 2015 or so.  I loved this dress. It's handmade and I definitely get cricket jumper vibes from the patterning around the neck and hem. Do you agree?

I added my handmade celery brooch (made from Shrink plastic in 2015). Yes, it looks more like Chard.

I wore CBC's LilyWhite's genuine Panama hat (which I bought from Oxfam for him 7 years ago or so) and added the same red spotty scarf I wore round my neck last week for the 6th Doctor outfit.

Here's the second outfit. Spot the difference!

This time, I took away the white shirt (I could have kept it on but I think in the Summer, it would be a bit too warm with both the jacket and the shirt. Instead, I wore my Whistles blazer which I bought for £4 for my 5th Doctor cosplay. It has ties but I tied them loosely inside the blazer. Celery was repinned.

I wore my Toms Huarache shoes- couldn't wear my white brogues as they are in school (spare shoes) and didn't think that the white Converse high-tops would work so well.

I think I like this outfit better out of the two, but what about you?

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Missy

 Hello!

For TARDIS Tuesday, I am going to share an outfit inspiration and character that last featured on this blog back on my birthday cosplay party...but it wasn't worn by me!! It was worn by Fil and Sophie!  However, I did have an outfit inspired by Missy back in 2015.

Yes, the queen of mean is my inspiration for this week.

For anyone who doesn't know who I am talking about, The Master was a villain introduced to Doctor Who during Jon Pertwee's tenure of Doctor Who. He was a rival, renegade timelord and was the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock.  He was played by the wonderful Roger Delgado.  He sadly died in an unexpected car accident whilst Pertwee was still the Doctor and the character was not seen for another few years until he turned up burned in The Deadly Assassin with Tom Baker. In the penultimate Tom Baker story, The Keeper of Traken, the wasted character from the Deadly Assassin took over the body of Tremas (anagram of Master!), a Traken man played by Anthony Ainley and he terrorized the Doctor through Peter Davidson's tenure. He disappeared again until the final 7th Doctor Story, Survival where he had become infected with The Cheetah People's something or other.  He then appeared in the 1996 movie played by Eric Roberts  He disappeared for another decade and turned up in David Tennant's era in the form of Derek Jacobi and then John Simm.  Finally, in Peter Capaldi's era, He became She and Michelle Gomez played the bonkers female version of him called Missy!

I'm using the Series 10 version of Missy whose hair is a bit more wild, less-Mary Poppinsesque and her outfit is darker but with Edwardian influences still strongly featuring.

Image borrowed from Arstechnica

Image borrowed from The Radio Times

IMage borrowed from this Twitter.

Doctorwhotv.com

In this version of Missy's outfit from Doctor Who series 10 (in which the Doctor is trying to redeem Missy, AKA, the Master, she wears a variation on her Mary Poppins-esque outfit.

A dark brown paisley blouse with rounded white collar and cuffs, a brown neck bow with red flowers and a dark purple full length skirt and black boots.  

I saw an instagram cosplayer share a work in progress version of this Missy and thought to myself, "Hmmm, I could do a closet cosplay version of this without getting anything additional that might work quite well."

And here we go:

I'll start from the very begining, a very good place to start...

Wait, that's the Sound of Music, wrong Julie Andrews film.  Hold on, Mary Poppins isn't right either??? Ah, Michelle Gomez, Doctor Who!

I began with my white round-collared shirt from ASOS (which has featured in various cosplays including Romana and Yaz Khan).

Over the top of that, I layered my cappucino-coloured Boden shirt, bought originally, secondhand for my Clara Oswald 60's echo outfit. I tucked its own collar in.

Next, to emulate Missy's neck-tie, I added a black silk with red flowers scarf from Primark.

Yeah, Missy did a dab when she was pretending to be The Doctor in one episode.  This being the only time I would do one! The final two clothing elements were my 1970's Droopy and Brown skirt which was given to me by a friend and my black Clarks ankle boots.

I am notoriously bad at HAIR styling and struggled a bit with this but I put my hair in a highish ponytail (as high as mine goes...which isn't very) and then used hairgrips to pin it messily to the top of my head!

It was quite fun incorporating the piano into these photos.  Right colour, wrong model, mine being an upright, not a grand piano!

It was quite fun trying to pull slightly manic, slightly evil facial expressions!  I'm quite good at those. My A for GCSE drama came from playing a child-killer suffering from Postnatal depression and mania and Satan (modelled from Eric Roberts' Master from the 1996 Doctor Who the Movie), not from nice characters or essays!! Eeek!!!

So, what do you think? Does my version of Missy cut the mustard?  

xx