A Doll's House

Following on from our vow to not leave it so long between experiencing live theatre again, Mr N and I went to see an adaptation of 'A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre on Friday night

You may remember from this post that we have visited this beautiful theatre before.  This time, I took more pictures anyway 

The theatre is a sort of glass-walled capsule suspended in the centre of The Great Hall of the historic Victorian Cotton Exchange Buildings in Manchester

The adaptation was a good interpretation of the written work, an observation of marriage and societal norms in the 19th century.  The acting performances were solid but not outstanding.  That said, last time we were at this theatre we saw Imogen Stubbs, who is a hard act to follow.   

"a woman cannot be herself in modern society", since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint." 

Henrik Ibsen


Of course, I partook of one or two pre-show goodies

(I didn't chomp on Mr N's foot)

An interval drinkie

I spy cake!

Horror of horrors, I have bought a pair of jeans, the ultimate wardrobe staple of the lazy girl.  I vow to wear them carefully!

 And, yes, I've dyed my hair black and no, I'm not sure I like it :(

How was your weekend?

I'd work very hard but I'm lazy

This is the kind of dress that I will never get bored of wearing.  It's casual but pretty, it's sooo comfy but still on the right side of twirly, it doesn't require me to breathe in all day or to wear special underwear and it looks great with big clunky shoes.

Because although I'm partial to dressing up on the odd occasion, for the most part I just can't be bothered. 

I want to be comfortable and I don't want to have to make too much effort.  I don't want to have to spend more than 15 minutes doing my hair (including drying time)

But I still don't want to compromise my aesthetic, whatever that is, I'm still not sure

This is my new favourite dress.   It reminds me of the best bits of the 90's.  

It reminds me a little of this dress but at a much better length for me

I only have to put it on and I feel pretty (oh so pretty)

Hurrah for lazy glamour

Dress - Asos

Shoes - French Connection

Necklace - Zara Taylor (seen in more detail here)

When I was thinking about the theme of this post, I couldn't help but think of this band

And this girl

Oh Justine, when I was 14 I desperately wanted to be you.  So effortlessly, androgynously cool, not a scrap of makeup to be seen

You were part of the coolest love triangle in britpop, had a pin-up boyfriend in Damon Albarn, the pretty boy of his time, but you didn't shy away from telling the music press that you weren't a fan of his band's music (cos let's face it, post Parklife, it was pretty much pants)  You were well educated, sexy in that rich girl art school way, and had a kick ass band of your own.  

 The perfect combination of artist and muse

I will never forget watching your live set at Glastonbury on the TV and seeing your bra-less chest in motion as you jumped up and down between vocals.  And I will never forget seeing you perform this song on Top of the Pops and squeeing in knowing recognition when I saw Damon playing keyboards.  You were one of the first women to make me want to be in a band.

I still remember buying this single in the Virgin Megastores in Chester.  Making a beeline for the new releases in my green stripey tights, Dr Martens and a knee length tasselled skirt.  I really felt like I was part of something

Of course, the band kind of imploded and I soon moved on to female musicians with Baby Jane makeup, glitter and chipped nails. 

But it was good while it lasted!

And I still love this song!

Lucy x

Best Sunday (Pinafore) Dress

I like dresses.  I love the idea of being glamourous and dressing up everyday just for its own sake.  When I was younger I did my fair share of this, but these days I can't always be bothered making that much effort with my appearance.  Conversely, I don't currently own a pair of jeans so the casual option is kind of taken away.  I tend to compromise by wearing a lot of skirts and having a huge collection of tights!
 
One item I've recently re-discovered is the pinafore dress.  I like the way it suits my shape and is kind of easy to dress up or down depending on my mood and particular level of laziness.

Today I wore my current favourite

I think its from the 70's.  I bought it on Ebay recently and have been on the hunt for more of the same.  I'm so fussy with dresses.  The length has to be just so, not too far above the knee but not too far below it either, preferably not 100% synthetic fibres and not gathered at the waist!   The high street very rarely comes up with anything that fit's this crietria hence my ongoing search for vintage pieces. 

Pinafore dress - vintage, Ebay
Pussy bow blouse - Sainsburys
Rust tights - New Look
Belt - Primark
Trusty Tesco boots!

An extra half an hour in bed will always win out over doing something fancy with my hair or make up anytime, so it's nice to have these wardrobe compromises to make up for it!


Hope everybody's enjoying their weekend so far.


Lucy x

Dance This Mess Around

Today started out rather emotionally fraught.  I overslept, one thing you should know about me is that I adore my bed and need to have it forcibly removed from my back some days.  The inevitable rush ensued when I realised I had 50 minutes to get myself dressed and Little Miss 4 breakfasted and ready to leave the house!  One of those days where I would have killed to stay in bed, eat chocolate and watch my Sherlock Holmes box set all day with the curtains drawn!

Oh Jeremy... you've restored my equilibrium on so many occasions!

But for some reason the weather, in a rare display of perfect timing, remembered it was the 1st March and produced some glorious sunshine.  It seemed churlish, after returning from the school run looking like a greasy haired bag lady, not to make an effort and try and bring my mood (and my appearance) in line with the weather.  

So I did my roots and freshened up my colour

Then I put on a dress and some lipstick

And posed for outfit shots in my postage stamp sized back yard which is next on the list for beautification, probably in the summer 

I put my Ipod on shuffle, turned the volume right up and tidied the livin daylights out of my house

Then I went out charity shopping and bought these 

and these

Weird crochet dress thing - £4

Blouse £4

Vintage Pyrex tea set £1.99

Scarf £1

Vintage children's books 50p each

I wore:-

Vintage dress - Ebay

Cardi - Sainsburys sale

Vintage cameo - Ebay

Belt - Primark via Ebay

I would love the weather to be like this all the time but then I would yearn for mist and fog and dense snow covered landscapes.

Sigh... I am so many contradictions!

I hope the sun was shining where you were today.

Lucy x