It felt good to be out of the rain

Hello there

Here I am in my back yard amongst the straggly (okay, dead) plants

It's the school holidays and my Little Miss has gone to Shropshire for a couple of days to visit her auntie and uncle.  Today, I was determined to actually get out of my pyjamas and out of the house, so the Mister and I took Master L out for breakfast. 

Cardi - Asos sale

Skirt & necklace - Dotty P's sale

Tights - fancy dress shop

Shoes - Ebay

Brooch - charity shop

About a month ago, just before the birth of my lil guy, I was sent the very bag I am sporting to review by a lady named Jocelyn at Sammydress

I call it my 'horse with no name' bag

On browsing the site I was struck by how many cheap pretty dresses and shoes I would be able to buy if I was a size 8 and had size 4 feet.  Unfortunately my post baby size 16-18 curves and size 7's are a stretch too far but if you are lucky enough to be all petite and doll-like then it might be worth checking out.  I love the bag apart from the fact that the shoulder strap broke the first time I used it, doh!

So how is everyone?

My Little guy is 4 weeks old this week and I could write a whole post on how amazing he is but you know that's not my style, right?!  Me and the Mister are in the 'not quite adjusted to the sleep  depravation' phase.  Your body does strange things during this phase, like shivers uncontrollably even in a centrally heated room.  I know there is a general assumption emanating from certain elements of the media that would have you believe that pregnancy, childbirth and life bringing up young children is a beautiful picturesque roller coaster ride to be celebrated and enjoyed like the healthy breakfast of granola and organic yoghurt, which is consumed each morning as part of a healthy, balanced breast feeding diet, which in turn miraculously makes your mummy tummy disappear and your figure snap back into shape.  Bah!  You know what, it is wonderful, but it is also horrendously emotionally and physically exhausting.  For my part, I am just taking each day as it comes.  Mainly surviving on quick chocolate hits and full sugar coke to keep me going.

Just keeping it real

Having Netflix also helps with the crazy hours

Orange Crush

Outfit pics have been a pain in the backside of late

Short overcast days, drizzle and a lack of a photographer during daylight hours all being contributing factors

Plus a smattering of can't-be-bothered-itis

All hail the good old fashioned mirror selfie, the staple of the lazy amateur blogger

Not the best quality, just what we're stuck with.

This is a work outfit from last week.  

Do you like my orange tights?  I can't have enough orange in my life at the moment.  I got them on Ebay.  They were described as 'XXXL Fancy Dress Tights for Ladies & Men'.  I am currently wearing tights for drag queens which happen to be perfect for accommodatng my girth

Dress : Asos Maternity

Cardi & vintage wooden brooch - Ebay

Boots - DM's

Necklace - Dotty P's

Speaking of which, this week I finally finished work for mama leave - woo hoo!

I can't say how relieved I am to be free of that particular bind for the next 10 months.  Just time enough to put the finishing touches to the mammoth home renovation/reorganisation that has been going on for the last 6 months before we welcome Mr Bump (yes, we've been told we're expecting a boy) - due in approximately 3 weeks.

This corner of our new room has been altered slightly to accommodate this...

There is still a flat pack wardrobe and cotbed lying around my house waiting to be assembled which is stressing me out and messing with my mojo really more than it should.   I'm fighting a constant battle against turning into a hyper hormonal neurotic fishwife.

But we don't want to hear about that.  Instead here are a couple more amateur outfit selfies

35 weeks - taken after a party

What I wore for a family gettogether last week

Currently looking forward to a couple of stress free weeks and sleeping in.  Half term couldn't have come at a better time. 

xxx

Where's your mama gone

So as most of you know I'm pregnant right now.  Whatevs.  I'm 32 weeks, permanently exhausted and absolutely huge.  Like comedy sketch, stick a pillow up your dress huge.  I can barely sit upright due to exhaustion and when I'm not working or you know, doing necessary living stuff, you'll find me in a state of deep slumber

 Towards the beginning, while I still had the energy, I scoured the web for maternity wear inspiration and found it to be pretty damn scant.  Why do terms like 'classic' and 'understated' seem to go hand in hand with articles on pregnancy style.  Ugh.

I say thank goodness for bloggers

I found Bianca's blog Goodnight Little Spoon completely by accident and it's since become one of my favourites.  Bianca was pregnant when I discovered her blog and I was very impressed with her creative maternity wardrobe.  Little did I know that before too long I'd be referring back to it for inspiration.  I just love her use of colour, her cardigans and the quirky finishing touches.  

Colour, cardigans and quirky accessories are also all staples of one of my favourite blogging ladies Marissa of The Shades of Monet Chronicles 

Longtime readers will know what a big fan I am of Marissa's style (see this post).  Recently I just loved how she sailed through her pregnancy without missing a beat.  She looked exactly as unique and beautiful as she always did.

I've managed to get by so far without buying too much in the way of maternity clothes.  A couple of dresses and some mama tights notwithstanding.  Even though the way I look has taken a back seat lately.   Still, thank goodness for the unique and talented ladies of blogland to keep me and similarly placed ladies of expanding girth inspired with their colour, creativity and uncompromising uniqueness.    

xxx

PS.  The lovely people at DotComGiftShop have featured this blog as one of their '15 hip vintage blogs' - hop over this way to take a look

PPS.  I won the Modcloth Polyvore thingy from my last post.  You can see my set along with previous winners here if you're so inclined

Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit by sleepingviolet

So Modcloth approached me and asked if I would like to take part in what they call their Polyvore Outfit Challenge.  The uber giant blogger's favourite brand had noticed my little blog, cool!  The brief was to take this dress and style it from a combination of no more than seven items from the Modcloth site.

I have had a Polyvore account for years but haven't used it in almost as many so I thought I'd give it a go.  Little did I realise that every time I created or edited a set it was now being automatically pubished as a blog post.  Doh!  I apologise for all the dead links that have appeared on your dashboards.  I am clearly not social media savvy.

The other obvious drawback is that while searching through all the wares on offer on the site you are presented with an overload of droolworthy items you can only ever dream of owning.  Especially now that they're doing plus sizes, hells yeah!  So here I am passing on the envy and wardrobe dissatisfaction,... yeh, er, sorry about that folks.

I had fun though.  Hope you like my little rainbow ensemble.  Those tights may just have to become mine.  They reminded me straightaway of this advert which for some reason absolutely fascinated me as a child

Anyone else remember these?

Ah well, happy weekend

xxx

Academically Yours

I don't know what it is about glasses, or eyeglasses as they're called in the States, that people associate with intelligence.  Particularly these days when glasses are more fashionable than ever before.  These days when names like 'geek' and 'nerd' are plastered proudly across the chests of fashion conscious teens everywhere.  I am just glad I had an eye test quite recently which revealed I did actually need prescription glasses cos now I have a legitimate reason to wear them as I'd always longed to.  I spent my childhood cursing my perfect vision.

GlassesUSA.com recently got in touch and asked if I would like to review of a pair of glasses from their site.  The deal was that I got a discount code for a certain amount to put towards a pair of glasses of my choice.  

 I must admit the selection process was hard.  I have a freakishly large head with a PD of 63 so I am used to having a more limited selection of large frames to choose from on online glasses stores.  Plus, there was not a lot of extra money in the budget for glasses with my ongoing house renovation nightmares and all so I was trying to stay within the gift card limit.  This proved quite difficult.  The first pair of glasses I really liked but they had already been marked down and I wasn't able to purchase them with my gift card code.  After some deliberation I eventually opted for this pair 

Dicaprio 80 black with silver

I found the website a little busy at first.  Lots of text and links and pop ups etc and lots of different ways to navigate to the same areas.  Once I got my bearings I was fine.  Apparently Glasses USA do have a try on mirror feature which looks like this 

I didn't find this on the site but I did use the try on view which was very handy.

These glasses cost $68 (roughly £41).  If you want the special anti scratch, anti reflective gubbinsy package attached you need to add a further $29.95 (£18).  I personally opted not to go with this and I haven't had any problems.  Shipping to the UK also costs an additional $21.95 (£13).

There are lots of discount codes and promotions on the site which I think would be worthwhile checking out if you live in the States as you also would get free shipping and could probably get a good bargain.

So what do you think, do I look bookish?

Sorry these photos are so blurry.  I really liked today's outfit as well.  The weather here as been so damn overcast and the light is always bad in my tiny backyard anyway.

The midi dress is new from Asos, I got a code for 40% off so decided to splash out.  The Docs are also secondhand new.  I got a great deal on Ebay.  Even though I already have a pair of Dr Marten mary janes and zip up knee boots I thought it was high time I bought a pair of classic 1490's again.  I gave away my last pair after I inexplicably went up a shoe size after my last pregnancy.  Necklace and bag both charity shop finds.

Boo to crappy weather and bad light.

Til next time

xxx

Loot wine be mine and then let's stay out for the night

Happy bank holiday weekend

Here are some pics of what I wore to a wine tasting evening with some friends on Friday night

A spot o' green and pink

 Nothin special here.  I'm in such a clothes rut lately.

This skirt is my fallback for when I'm not feeling more imaginative 

  

Still, you can't whack a spot of hot pink and leopard to add a touch of class to any proceedings

 

Bit of an outtake this one, but shows up the emerald eyeshadow nicely

 

I'm a little peeved with how these photos turned out.  The light was starting to fall so all the pics were slightly overpowered by a fading golden glow and I think I overdid it a bit on the contrast :(

Top - H&M via charity shop

Skirt - Ebay

Cardi - M&S outlet

Tights & Shoes - Next sale

Fobwatch - Groupon

Brooch - Etsy

Anyhoo,

This was our contribution to the evening.  Just something off the rack you know!

 

Why yes, it is a 1994 Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Nope?  

Meant nothing to me either 

 But apparently it's a goodun, and it did taste rather nice

Among the oohing and aahing and talk of raspberries, plums and toffee bouquets, I probably muttered the odd inane comment like "mmm, peppery"


As usual I was more interested in the nibbles


Hope you all have a great weekend

PS.  UK dwellers don't forget to put your clocks forward!!  Public service! :)