Saturday 15 October 2011

Packing for New York

With a little over a week to go until we leave for the Big Apple I have made the final choices to my holiday wardrobe. I have decided on 3 pairs of shoes, 

A pair of pumps from Fat Face which look fine with trousers and tights and are comfy to walk in all day, a pair of brown boots that are also comfy and good if it rains and finally a pair of snake print ballet pumps.

The tops I'm taking are 2 stripy tshirts to mix and match with things, I think I will travel in one with the denim skirt pictured. I'm taking my green skirt (shown in the previous post) a new lace top from Primark (£6 - bargain!) a couple of white vests to layer and my green trousers shown a few times recently.
I am not taking too many accessories, a green scarf which I forgot to photo, my chunky pearls as they go with everything, my vintage necklace, couple of gold cuffs and my watch. Also one pair of earrings I wear all the time and a chunky ring which the hubs hates!


I was planning on taking 3 jackets but I'm not entirely sure if to take the navy blazer now? I am going to check the weather first and if it looks warm and dry I may ditch the parka and add another cardigan (probably my navy Abercrombie one?) As it is I am only taking one cardi for now, the pink glittery H&M one I have talked about on here before. I have it here with a pretty Fat Face shirt I will wear with either my denim skirt or green trousers.

Phew! Choices choices! I'm sure I might change my mind before I go. I also have a selection of mini travel toiletries that I have been gathering together, I assume that they will have some things at the hotel, well it is the Waldorf! And I can always buy anything extra I need.

I figure that I can always do a little (yeh, right!) shopping there if I really need to!!

Friday 14 October 2011

Last meal for 4

On Wednesday evening we went out for a lovely Italian meal with our friends, Steve and Claire. I think this will be the last time we see them before the arrival of their baby in 3 short weeks! Exciting!


I decided to wear my green Zara skirt with a Primark blouse and Primark flower necklace. I wore my leopard print ballet pumps (for a change!)




Monday 10 October 2011

A Street in a shop!

Whilst shopping yesterday Catherine and I used these fabulous changing rooms in White Stuff, totally worth trying something on for! They are designed like a little street and each changing room has a front door and is decorated inside like a room, amazing! I like to try and get a different one each time I go.


We had these 'houses'




This was the inside of mine and some shots of the 'street'





I love the dog outside one of the houses! After we had tried things on (just to use the houses) we both got a pair of these beauties from good old Primark, a bargain at £6!



Sunday 9 October 2011

Vintage Fair

Catherine and I were very excited to go to Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in Nottingham this morning. I was looking forward to going with her rather than hubby as he had not been a massive fan when we visited in London and I knew Cat would enjoy it more.There were loads of clothes, bags, homeware and fabric stalls. I got this little jug to add to my collection;



There were some other little shops there too and we both got a few bits from www.createdbyhannah.blogspot.com, Hannah Stevens makes, amongst other things, items from screen printed textiles. I got this phone case, necklace and earrings;


Here is a shot of the fayre;


To keep with the vintage theme we decided to go to a little tea shop called White Rabbit for a cuppa and a teacake. Although the little cafe is lovely, they even do afternoon tea, I have to say the service was veeeerrry slow. Still, worth a visit though. It's just opposite Marks and Spencers on Houndsgate. They serve everything on mix and match vintage china, cute huh?


We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at Catherine and my Mum's outfits for New York (i'm not sure what i'll do to pass the time when I get back!) and singing songs from The Lion King in anticipation of the 3D movie coming soon!


Lastly, here is a picture of Catherine in front of a mosaic mural which I think is fab but she is not so keen (and, no, she is not wearing white socks, she is just that pale ha,ha!!) I tried to steal that cardigan but she was having none of it :-(



Friday 7 October 2011

The pink blazer

As I had been on nights last night, by the time I work up it was nearly 2pm. The hubby was also off so I got up quickly and got dressed to pop out and do a few bits. I grabbed the green cargo trousers I wore the other day again, I seem to go through stages of wearing the same things and then don't wear then for ages. Anyway, I teamed them with a shirt from White Stuff and a pink cardigan from H&M. I have to say, this was one of the best things I have ever bought! It was £25 which at the time I thought was quite a lot for a cardi from there but I have totally had my moneys worth from it and it goes with everything. In fact, it is the only cardigan which has made the finals for the New York outfit selection. It should think itself lucky!! I love the sequins on the pockets, they add an extra detail to make it a bit different to just a plain cardigan.


When I got home I realised that I should have worn my lovely pink vintage blazer, I tried it on just for the blog and I think it looks fab!


The hubby and my family are downstairs watching the football this evening but I am off to read Grazia in the bath, on the cover 'More Fash, Less Cash!' right up my street........






Wednesday 5 October 2011

A taste of the 60's

As much as I enjoy my job (most days!) I do feel that there is nothing in it that reflects my love of fashion and shopping, people have joked over the years that I should have a clothes shop or something. I agree that it would be nice to do something in this area but other than leave my job and totally change careers I couldn't see how I could. However, as you know I love shopping in my local vintage charity shop, they support the Sue Ryder Charity. It is a lovely little shop with clothes, furniture, jewellery and ornaments spanning decades, I always find a little treasure in there. Well, they are moving to a new and bigger store and need volunteers, as my shifts are all over the place and so I am often free in the day I thought, why not! I talked about it with hubby and decided to go for it. I have submitted an application form today and they are going to let me know when they need me. I guess it will include a lot of sorting and organising (two of my favourite things to do!) and general shop work. I love the idea of looking at the clothes with people, putting together outfits etc...fingers crossed!


Whilst I was in there I picked up this lovely;





The woman who works in the shop explained the dress was from the 1960's and that the lady who donated it lived in Singapore with her husband who was a senior officer in the army. Whilst they were there she had many of her clothes made. It is beautiful, the thick lace reminds me of the lace on my wedding dress, see...


Much nicer than a dress from Primark that everyone has (not that I'm against Prims as you know!) and lovely to have a history to the dress.


On a completely different note I got myself a bargain winter coat today, £15 from Asda! Yup, the supermarket! They are currently on offer from £19 until tomorrow so I wanted to save that £4, of course! I need a black winter coat but really did not want to spend a fortune on one this year so this is perfect.




And lastly, the outfit. Please bare in mind I have not washed my hair for a few days, don't judge, I have only been at work ha, ha.  I teamed my Gap chambray shirt, which I love love love with my JCrew trousers that go with everything but if I'm honest are a tiiiiiny bit tight! Hence not eating cake for a while! 











The necklace is from Marks and Spencers a few years ago and, by special request to 'see more Mulberry on the blog' from a friend yesterday, my birthday bag!



Tuesday 4 October 2011

The past few days...

As you can probably tell I am back at work now so have not been wearing anything other than uniform and pyjamas again. I don't want to let the blog go too long without updates so here is a quickie before I leave for work, again!


This morning I have made the first of this years winter stews, hubby and I absolutely love them and they are so easy to pop in the oven and come back to a few hours later and you have a lovely meal. I make enough to last a couple of days, I'll be taking it to work this afternoon. This one has the following ingredients;
Beef
Red cabbage
Onion and beetroot (from Jonny's friends garden - yum yum, thank you!)
Red wine
Tinned tomatoes
Mushrooms
Leek
It was basically whatever veg I had in, thats the beauty of stews, you can whack anything in there!




I noticed that the strawberries we had were about to go off so blended them in my fabulous food processor with some ice, fig yoghurt, orange and raspberry juice. Not the best one i've ever made but I didn't really have the ingredients, needed more yoghurt. Still nice though and anything I can zap in my blender makes me happy!



Lastly, this happened yesterday;




Just before I was running out the door to work, someone thought all his Christmas' had come at once and wasted no time hoovering up as much as he could!


Right, quick birthday visit to my friend and then work for me...