Sunday 31 July 2011

More vintage finds







Here are my new vintage finds from yesterday. The red blouse is pure silk with concealed buttons up the back, cute ruffles on the front and lovely gold buttons on the cuffs and top button at the back. I think it will look great tucked into some slim black cropped trousers (not that I have any, maybe an Autumn purchase?) The dress has a lovely matching belt but will look great with one of my many other belts. I love the frilly cuffs too, might be a bit warm for it now but will be great for the Autumn. The bottom one is by far my favourite, it was from an amazing shop called Vintage Obsession in Hockley. They don't have a website yet but are on Facebook. The owner had a beautiful shop, lovely wallpaper, huge changing rooms and all the clothes displayed well. She had some great designer finds as well as some more affordable things, such as the skirt. I love how the colours go from dark to light, so pretty. A great find, in fact, it was my sister who found it so thanks to her! Off to Fosse Park in Leicester today with my Mum so the quest for the gold cuff continues...

Saturday 30 July 2011

A day of vintage




My sister, Catherine, and I decided to head off to Nottingham today and do some shopping. Nothing new there except we scoured the vintage shops for some goodies and were not disappointed. I will post some pictures tomorrow as it is too dark now to get some good photos but I have attached some pictures of todays outfit. Very cute I think! I've teemed the vintage find dress with an old Topshop bag, Tesco sandals and a Primark ring that the hubby hates so I wear just to annoy him!



Here is my lovely sister in her shopping outfit. I think she is wearing a White Stuff dress, John Lewis sandals and a Gap cardigan? And, of course, the Mulberry. Beautiful. 




Despite making a list of things I wanted, a gold cuff, pink blazer and wicker clutch I didn't manage to find any of them today. Here are some of the cuffs I've seen, the bottom two are Topshop, I love the giraffe one as I love them but at £18.50 I wont be getting it anytime soon!! The middle one was £20, totally overpriced. The top one I was going to get, £2.50 from Primark, bargain, but Catherine persuaded me it looked like it was from a children's fancy dress costume and it put me off.

Friday 29 July 2011

Lovely in Liberty

Tonight my husband and I used a voucher from Groupon to go for a cheapy meal in town. The meal sucked to be honest but it was still nice to get a bit dressed up and go out for the evening. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to wear one of my fabulous vintage finds. I had worn the candy striped dress all day, styled with a gold and purple skinny waist belt so changed into the Liberty print skirt and a simple white t-shirt. As I knew we'd have to walk more that 5 metres I left the tan heels at home and went for the more comfy yellow wedges. The wedges are Jones, the necklace (that I always wear!) is Primark, the belt is old old old Dorothy Perkins and the t-shirt Limited Collection at Marks and Spencer. I carried my much loved wicker Gap clutch too and am very sad to say I have finally thrown it away tonight, it has so many holes and broken bits in it that it looks awful. I really must look for a replacement as it will be sadly missed.

That brings me to tomorrows excitement, following my good fortune this week with my first experience with vintage shopping I am going to try again. I have found a vintage warehouse in Nottingham so my sister and I are going to have a look. On my list are...a bright pink blazer, a wicker clutch and some bangles I can stack and/or a gold cuff. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow!




Wednesday 27 July 2011

Fabulous Vintage Finds!

My husband and I have spent the day enjoying actually being off work at the same time, a very rare thing recently! We went to Denby pottery as we had a voucher for a free tour and meal in their cafe, the tour included moulding a frog which we currently have drying on the kitchen window sill...maybe I'll post a picture when they are done? Anyway, the day got better when we went shopping (of course!) we were on the look out for 'bad taste' shirts for his brothers stag in a couple of weeks. There is a great retro shop near us that sells vintage clothing and is for the Sue Ryder charity. The shop is painted bright purple and pink and is a treasure throve of fabulous finds! The lady working there was such a help too. Whilst he looked at the horrid 70's shirts I found the following two beauties. I have never really shopped anywhere like that before but it was such fun, the things are individual, great prices and all the money goes to charity. Win win I say!


How cute will this look with a thin tan belt and some sandals? It was a bargain at £10.95 and fits like a dream. I love the cute collar too.




These two photos have not come out too well but the skirt is beautiful. It is a Liberty skirt and was £6.95, Unbelievable! It is a high waisted style and I am going to wear it with a white shirt tucked in, a wide belt and some tan chunky heels that kill me to walk in but will look fabulous. I will definitely be trying this vintage shopping again. 

The hubby wanted me to show his new shirts on here but I think I'll save them in case the his brother sees before his stag, sorry Jonny! Maybe you'll get to star on here one day...

Friday 22 July 2011

Lemon drizzle cake


After much peer pressure from work I have made a lemon drizzle cake. This was more of a tester one and I promise I will do another for you all this week. It did turn out well and was very quick. I love my new scales which make baking so much easier as you can add everything in one bowl at the same time. As you can see on the second to last picture I had a little helper! He loves to be sat right next to me although usually sits on top of the microwave! I know it's not hygienic but hey, he's adorable. For those of you who don't know his name is Dexter.










The end result...

Thursday 21 July 2011

Three for Thursday











I found that I had so many things to write about today that I decided to do all three in one. The above is my bargain of the year! I had planned to buy a new trench coat this Autumn as I know it is something that will go with everything. I had a voucher for Next and thought I'd be able to get one there but their sale is still on and so I popped into Outfit (mentioned in yesterdays post) and on the way out I saw this lovely in Oasis. It was originally £90 reduced to, wait for it, £20!! Amazing. And as my friend 'kindly' pointed out 'it's only a bargain if you need it' it actually was as I did!! Couldn't let that one pass me by now could I? I love the collar on it, it's a little bit different to the usual trench coats and will also work with a chunky brown belt I have for a slightly different look. Very happy.





Here are the fruits of some of my hard work in the garden this summer, three lovely tomato plants, all different varieties although I can't remember them off the top of my head. I was very upset to see that the middle one had fallen over in some bad weather and I lost a lot of the tomatoes but there seem to be many many more coming so I can't complain. I have tasted the first one today and it was delicious! They will go lovely with the lettuce we also have growing. 


Finally in the Three for Thursday is my lovely new print by Sam Toft. I already have two in my dining room and had been on the look out for a picture for my bathroom for well over a year before seeing this one in Next today. I used some of the voucher I had and so it didn't cost me anything! It looks great and it just what I had been looking for, especially as I really love this artist. 

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Sunny side up

I really love yellow, it's such a summery bright colour and can make you feel happier even when it's miserable outside (as it so often is here) It wasn't so long ago that I was told by my Mum that I could not wear yellow with my colouring, fair skinned and blond. However, things kept catching my eye and I bought a yellow £9.99 cardigan from H&M which I wore with everything until I put it in the wash with something blue and it got a green tint to it! Oh well, I was hooked and ignored the previous advice buying a few bits in yellow. Some of my favourites are shown below...
This is my latest purchase and I admit, strangely for me, it was not in the sale! I saw it advertised in Grazia last week and wanted it desperately but it seemed to be sold out everywhere. Mainly because the gorgeous Olivia Palermo was seen wearing it! I knew I had to have it and after searching Ebay and seeing it selling for £100 I thought, forget it!! However, I was in Outfit (a store out of town in Nottingham which sells Oasis, Topshop, Warehouse, Dorothy Perkins and a few others) and saw it there! I could not believe my luck. I have tried it on with a few of my wardrobe staples and have styled it here with my favourite gold Primark belt and a Primark necklace that  I wear ALL the time. I'm thinking stacks of gold bangles and either gold heels (as shown in 60th Birthday Celebrations post) or my Jones yellow wedges, shown below.

Here are a few of my favourite yellow pieces. At the back is the Boden (on sale!) cardigan I got a couple of years ago which I wear with the flowery top, also sale at Boden. However, I need to be careful with this one as someone kindly pointed out last time I wore it that you could see right down the top when I moved (thank you, you know who you are!!) still I love the purple beading around the top. I'd had these both hanging in my wardrobe for ages before daring to wear them due to the 'yellow nerves' but I love them now and they look great with the yellow wedges also shown and a button fronted khaki shirt from Kew a few summers ago. Speaking of the wedges, my husband persuaded me to get these when I saw them in the window of Jones a few years back. I thought they were too high but now I've worn them in I can't get enough of them and they go with anything. They also had them in purple and I'm keeping my eye out on Ebay for them! I can't remember where I got the beads from, I think I got them a few years back when I was forced to wear black and white for work and wanted to rebel! They bag is a cheapy Primark number that my Mum bought me before going on holiday this year and the belt is also Boden, and you guessed it, in the sale!! Finally the yellow pointy courts were something I wanted after seeing Cameron Diaz in a very similar pair, I searched the high street for them and spotted them one day whilst walking past River Island and managed to convince my Dad to buy them for my birthday, this must be 7 years or more ago now but I still love them. Finally, the striped dress was a bargain H&M sun dress a few years ago but still looks lovely in the sunshine on holiday.

Lastly, this little lovely is something I spotted at Outfit today, it was £10 reduced from £22 in the Warehouse section. I've worn it this evening with my cropped, high waisted khaki trousers from Zara.

60th Celebration night



Last Saturday night was the 60th birthday meal for my lovely Mum and lovely Auntie Joan. I know they wont thank me for telling the world that, yes, they are 60 now (well Mum, you have a couple of weeks to go!) This was a Limited Collection for Marks and Spencer dress, I got it with my birthday money and was annoyed to see that it went in the sale before I'd even worn it! Oh well, you can't win 'em all hey! I've accessorised it with gold, my current favourite. The belt is a good old Primark special, the bracelets are some well worn H&M ones and the shoes are very old Office, in the sale a number of years ago and still going strong! You can't beat gold accessories for a bit of glam.


Hope you like the garden shots too, it's starting to come together this summer. Mind you the Lupins seem to be covered in green fly, best get that spray out again!

Wednesday 6 July 2011

New wedding outfits


Here are two new dresses which arrived today from my old favourite, Boden. They were in the sale, of course! The pink one was a particular bargain at £34 reduced from £85 and the turquoise one £62 instead of £135! Excellent! I'm thinking of teaming the pink with my beautiful purple Jimmy Choos (picture to follow at some point!) and the turquoise with a thin gold belt and gold heels? What do you think?


Sunday 3 July 2011

Bloggers Do It Better

However does your garden grow

Here are some of the latest things to come out of my garden. They have all been picked today. The vegetables are 3 cabbages, some lettuce and broad beans. The sweet peas look lovely in a make shift vase which is actually a whiskey glass!
I love having painted nails, my toes are always done and I am currently wearing 'coralicious' shown on the left. I do my fingers whenever I can too and love 'electric' as it seems to go with everything.
I have tested a few different ones and love these Rimmel varnishes, they are a bargain at £2.98 and last for ages, cover brilliantly and dry fast. What more could you want!

Three New Lovlies


I am loving maxi dresses at the moment and found this purple dress yesterday in Primark for £11, bargain! It can be worn dressed up or down and last night I styled it with the pinky/purpley scarf show in the basket (also Primark, £4) and some silver sandals for a meal out with my hubby.

The middle dress is from the gorgeous but slightly expensive online shop Boden (www.boden.co.uk) and I have actually had it since earlier in the year, however after washing it recently it shrunk! I phoned customer services and the kindly replaced it and refunded me £16 credit as it had gone down in the sale! Fabulous! So, I ordered myself something else but you'll have to wait until that's delivered for details!!

I had seen a navy dress in Next for £35 which I really loved but it didn't fit me right so I was very pleased to see this one in H&M for £7.99! It will be great now with some flip flops but also in the autumn layered with a t-shirt, cardigan, tights and boots. Great find!