On a plain

Happy Monday everyone!

Here are some recent work outfits, this is from last week

 

I bought this dress in the sales thinking it would be ideal for work but when I looked back at these photos, I just wasn't sure.  The shape of it just seems designed to draw attention to my ample chest from every angle.  While wearing it I felt like I'd inserted a pair of  comedy breasts inside my dress... Blackadder style 

Found here

Dress - Next sale

Leggings - goodness knows

Beads - charity shop

Bag - Primark (with charity shopped scarf)

Shoes - Ebay

I think it's possibly cut in too narrowly on the shoulders and buttoned up too high but it made me realise one thing...  I am definitely ready for colder weather!  Do I talk about the weather too much on this blog?  I suspect I do.  I posted here about the dread I feel every year when the spectre of 'summer' is on the horizon.   I've realised that it's not that I don't like sun and brightness, I just don't like humid and humid, unfortunately, is a word that sums up British 'summertime'.  That and the fact that I just want to wear cardigans again!

Here's what I wore today

Yes the opaques and brogues are out already

Nothing exciting.  You've seen the dress before, a few posts ago.  I just feel so much more comfortable in this outfit.  I can't wait to be able to layer it up with cardigans and scarves and brooches galore!

Dress - charity shop

Tights - don't know

Brogues - Next, years ago

In other news, I was recently tagged by fellow tree dweller Gem and our own pink haired artist extraordinaire Clare with the following awards

 

 

You probably already follow them but if you don't, what are you waiting for?  Be off and follow them at once!

Here are my 7 random facts:-

1.  I hate diet coke.

2.  I love cherry coke

3.  My natural hair colour is mousey blonde.  I've been dying it since I was 12

4.  I hate moths - they're evil

5.  Among many others, I currently love the words - nonsensical, disquietude, avuncular, spry and  plinth.

6.  I have just read George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four for the first time (I know, I know, I've been in a coma all my life) and it BLEW MY MIND.  I am poised to devour Orwell's entire literary back catalogue and I have added the 1984 film adaptation starring John Hurt to my rental queue

7.  Despite my initial indifference, I have really enjoyed the London 2012 Olympic Games and I think they've been great for the country

I'll leave you with a quote from Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian which I think sums it up:-

A glorious celebration of a forward-looking, outward-looking attitude, a multi-ethnic identity, confidence and self-belief. Irony and cynicism have been suspended for a fortnight, and it's remarkable how we easily learned to live without them.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Have a great week

 

Lucy x

Love Bunches & 7 More Things

These photos were taken a few weeks back in Berwick on Tweed.  We had gone to Bamburgh, a little coastal town with a big castle, earlier in the day.  The sun had done its regular trick of shining in the morning and duping me into wearing something completely inappropriate for the cooling temperatures and torrential downpours that inevitably came later in the afternoon.  These photos were taken just as the first drops were starting to fall.  That morning, I had quite by chance picked up Miss 5's flower bobbles and decided to put my hair in bunches.  Mainly just to disguise the fact that it needed a wash.  I hadn't worn my hair like this for ages but found that I really quite liked it. 

Top & beads - Charity shop

Cardi - New Look

Jeans - Supermarket

Sandals - Schuh

Wonky owl brooch - Primark

Not sure how age appropriate these are, but quite honestly, I couldn't care less.  I can easily still see myself wearing them when I'm 50.

In other news, I have been nominated by Wendy from The Butterfly Balcony, Melanie Follybird and Kezzie AG  for the following blog awards 

Thank you so much ladies for thinking of me.  If you haven't already, please do visit their respective blogs as I am positive you will enjoy them as much as I do.

The rules are very similar - share 7 things about yourself - so I will combine them in this post.

OK...  scratches head... admittedly this took a fair while.  I'm sure if I was to sit in a bar on a one to one with any one of my talented and erudite readers... not just any bar mind you, it would have to serve cheap whisky shots and have a spectacularly good jukebox... anyway, If I was to do that, one might, by the end of the night, think me quite interesting!  I tend to come into my own with a bottle of Jack and the right ambience.  However, in the cold light of day, trying to think of 7 random, blogworthy and appropriate things to share becomes more of a challenge.  Here goes...

#1.  I don't do Social Networking.  I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account. (as a result I can't get on Pinterest, boo!)  I generally think putting yourself, your friends and family out there for the consumption of all and sundry, aside from being a terrifying prospect, is potentially very dangerous.  I have heard so many social networking horror stories.  I have nothing against people who use Facebook and Twitter and I can see the benefits of it, particularly if used to promote a business etc, it's just not for me. 

#2.  I prefer anonymity.  Those of you who've been with me from the start of my blogging adventure may remember the days when I used to hide behind the 'curtain' of my hair in all outfit shots or try and obscure my face with some kind of Picnik trickery.  (see also #1)  I realised pretty swiftly that this wasn't going down too well with my readers and wasn't sustainable if I wanted to take my blog in the direction I wished.  I have never been a person who's comfortable in front of a camera or comfortable being the centre of attention.  This has obviously been a struggle over the years due to the way I've dressed and worn my hair etc.  These days, I'm barefaced enough not to care.  Also, I've found that regular blogging has increased my confidence in front of the camera and made me feel a lot more at ease with my appearance.  A big upside.

#3.  I first became interested in blogs after I'd had my daughter 5 years ago.  To cut a depressing story short, I went through a horrendous time as a new mum which included the mother of all identity crises.  I didn't feel, look, or behave like any other mothers I knew so I slowly began to seek inspiration in the form of Flickr groups like Wardrobe Remix and blogs like 'Diary of a Vintage Girl' and 'Liebe Marlene'.  Women similar in age to me who seemed to have their style sussed and their lives down to a tee. I slowly started to stalk more bloggers discover more and more blogs and eventually worked up the courage to join GFC so I could be a commenter.  It took a further 2 years or so for me to take the plunge into the blogging world myself.  Hey, good things take time!

#4  When I was a teenager my favourite writer was Oscar Wilde (I was very much influenced by Morrissey).  I read everything I could get by him and had a giant poster of him on my bedroom wall with the famous quote "

"We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars"

He was one in a long line of deceased writers and fictional characters that I had huge crushes on.

#5   I once came away from an All About Eve concert with a blow up sheep given to me by the guitarist.  Not exactly sure why.  I soon abandoned it when it started to attract a lot of unsavoury attention from the waifs and strays of the London Underground.  I was very naive in those days.

#6   The first film me and Mr N went to see together was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I still watch it sometimes, mainly for Clementine's hair and clothes.

#7  I was once tested for Aspergers syndrome.  I met 3 out of 5 of the specific criteria and was found to be at the high functioning end of the autism spectrum.  I cried my eyes out when I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.  Apparently we all have a bit of it in us

The rules say I have to tag more blogs but I'm going to pass on this bit.  A lot of my fave blogs have either already already been tagged by me or other bloggers recently or have just tagged me!

If you made it to the end of all that, thanks for sticking with me!

I'm off to watch David Bowie & The Story of Ziggy Stardust on BBC catch up

Have a good night

Lucy x

Miss Shyboots

Many thank yous to the lovely Miss Simmonds who has nominated me for my very first blog award.

 

 

I am supposed to post 7 random things about myself.  For some reason I have found this task inexplicably difficult.  I find it difficult talking about myself at the best of times.  I started blogging purely as an outlet for me in my spare time.  To use as an online journal/scrapbook I suppose.  I never properly considered the prospect that other people would ever be interested in my life or what I had to say.  I'm still just figuring it all out I suppose.  To those people who have clicked 'follow' I am truly grateful and glad to have you!

Anyways, here we go:-

1.  I have never had my ears pierced.

2.  I spent my entire childhood fixated with finding other lands and would dream about Silky the pixie coming to take me on adventures at the top of the Faraway Tree.  There were also many failed attempts at finding Narnia at the back of my mum and dad's wardrobe.  I still find it hard to live in the real world and have a love/hate relationship with routine

3.  There exist somewhere several photographs of me jumping onstage and doing an impromptu dance with Dave Vanian of The Damned whist wearing sparkly tights and a Wonder Woman t-shirt

Source

4.  I found out about 5 years ago that my blood group was B-.  I have since adopted this as my outlook on life!

source

5.  My favourite city in the world is Berlin.  When visiting the history and the haunted sense of place are still very much in evidence, and yet the people and the atmosphere are warm, friendly and so addictive.  I would happily spend the rest of my days there.

6. When I was 17 I had the biggest crush on this man

Source

Obviously I was ribbed mercilessly but my response would always be the same

"Only talent interests a woman of taste."
(From Amadeus)  

And really, how can anyone watch the clip below and not fall head over heels with the sheer comedy and linguistic genius on display?!

Long live Stephen Fry!

7.  I speak fluent Klingon.

OK that last one isn't true.  I started to run out of ideas towards the end!

At this point I am supposed to pass the award along to 15 newly discovered blogs.  I've cheated a little and picked a handful of newly discovered (by me) blogs and some longer established personal favourites.

dollycoolclare.blogspot.com
vintagevixon.blogspot.com
betteontoast.blogspot.com
yvettecandraw.blogspot.com
olgreeneyes.blogspot.com
factorymom.blogspot.com
powderbluewithpokerdots.blogspot.com
www.theenchantedhunters.com
mabicyclette.blogspot.com
emsipop.blogspot.com

Hope you don't mind ladies. 

I hope everyone's enjoying their week so far

Lucy x