Four score and seven years ago...

Well hello to you!

This is a bit of a tribute post to my mister (not the greatest post in the world - just a tribute) who has long since been an American Civil War geek, in no small part down to his admiration of this gentleman

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He's read anything he can get his hands on about the subject, most notably 'The Civil War: A Narrative' by author Shelby Foote and many others.  Our bookcase is practically collapsing under the weight of history books.

Obviously he was chomping at the bit to see 'Lincoln' the critically acclaimed biopic of the man himself.

We went to see it on Friday night and it didn't disappoint.  Daniel Day Lewis was absolutely mesmerising in the lead role. 

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He completely inhabited it to the point where you stopped actually seeing the actor.  

Other notable performances include Tommy Lee Jones (always good value) as Thaddeus Stevens, the radical republican from Pennsylvania and James Spader as the rather corpulent, not altogether above board, but likeable, 'fixer' Mr Bilbo

 I thought of wearing something in keeping with the civil war theme, but, oh my, those necklines and sleeves do me no favours...  also I'm just not sure about the bonnets!

Pauline Cushman, Union spy

Love this gown though

 

So I played it safe with a black dress, lace collar and some Victorian style boots

and of course, stripey tights

Not the best quality shots, just some phone snaps taken when we got home

Here I am posing with the book that the film was based on.  It has sat on our bookcase forever but I have finally lifted it out and added it to my reading queue.

Thank you Mr N for your contagious enthusiasm for history and for introducing me to this fascinating era and this remarkable character, so troubled and so old for his years. 

I would heartily recommend the film 

Of course one of the other great things about the cinema is getting to eat like a 9 year old 

xxx

Words are just dust in deserts of sound

Hello campers

The Nation clan have just returned from a little jaunt up to Northumberland, one of our favourite little getaways. 

These were taken on the first night after a long drive and a couple of glasses of wine

Top & blazer - Primark

Skirt & necklace - charity shop

Brooch - Two Squirrels Vintage

Due to it being forecast to be one of the hottest weekends of the year so far, I thought I'd travel light and only pack a minimum of clothing.  It meant I ended up wearing the same things over and over but hey, less washing.  One of the tops I packed was this one I'm sporting...

...which used to look like this

A bogstandard men's t shirt from the charity shop.  I was drawn to the 'Refreshers' logo, ya know with my fondness for sweeties and all, but I tend not to wear t-shirts.  Answer?  Get scissor happy.

Admittedly I got a bit too scissor happy and ended up having to wear a vest underneath to preserve my modesty!  Still, I'll get much more wear out of this version, so jobsagoodun.

 

Do you recognise the necklace?  Yup, it's the one Vix sent me.  Isn't it fab.  I think it has a touch of the Ziggy Stardust about it which made wearing it even more fun

Top & skirt - charity shop

Leggings - can't remember

Necklace - Vix

Sandals - Dotty P's

On the way there we stopped at the services and I was beside myself with excitement to find this in the newsagents

A special edition of Metal Hammer magazine dedicated to "The Cure & The Story of the Alternative 80's" 

This took care of my reading material for the weekend!!

Special nod to Helga!

We visited all our favourite places and I took lots of photos, trying to get to grips with the 'Hipstamatic' camera app

We visited my one of my favourite ever bookshops, Barter Books, in Alnwick

A converted Victorian railway station piled high with all the books you could ever wish for. 

As far as the eye can see

   I could have spent all day in here, and that's just in the vintage children's annual section!

It has such a laid back and pleasant atmosphere with benches, tables and chairs dotted about for anyone to sit and read for as long as they wish.  Miss 5 spent was delighted to spend her time in the children's section which was full of little ride on toys and children lounging on beanbags reading or being read to by their parents.  Great stuff.

Incidentally, it is from this particular bookshop that the now ubiquitous 'Keep Calm & Carry On' phenomenon had it's modern day beginnings.  

This smoothie bar and cafe was a real find.  I'd definintely go back there.  They had the most yummy smoothies and a mouth watering collection of freshly made bakes, cakes and pastries.  I want to open my own place like this!

So all in all a gorgeous weekend.  Yes there was the odd torrential downpour and I was grateful I'd thrown the wellies in at the last minute, but most of the time the sun was cracking the flags.  

And that's about it from our little weekend, save to show you my nails, which I was very proud of

I knew I wanted to paint them black with some pink and blue accents but I wasn't sure where I was going with it, so I just 'freestyled' and hoped for the best.   When I'd finished, I realised my nails reminded me of liquorice allsorts!  Yay, sweeties!


I'll be taking a wee bloggy break for the rest of the school holidays to enjoy some family time and get myself organised!  So, enjoy the rest of August and I'll see you in September

Lucy xxx

Made Glorious Summer

Hello everybody.  How are we?

Anyone getting a bit tired of our lacklustre humid summer yet?  Starting to long just a little for Autumn, tights, woollies, boots?  Yeh me too.

Anyway, here's some stuff I've been buying lately

Just a few essentials I think you'll agree:  Beadsets from the pound shop, kawaii stationery and sparkly stickers.

Does anyone else still get as excited by stationery as me?

Speaking of beads, I've had such a thing for them lately.  Well, since I was about 14 actually, the tackier the better.  Anyway, I thought I'd take up jewellery making as a way of keeping Miss 5 entertained during the summer hols.  All of the above were purchased on ebay for buttons.  So far she's shown only a fleeting interest.  Even less interest in wearing the results of our creative endeavours.  Ah well.  It's entirely possible that she just has better taste than me

Whereas I just can't resist a bit of tack

What do you reckon, worthy of a ta-da?  No probably not, but I'm joining in anyway... a day late but whatevs!

I've been on a bit of a charity shop role lately when it comes to beads

Just a mish mash of colourful plastic tacky-as-you-like bead necklaces I've found in the last couple of months.  Each cost no more than 99p.  You may have seen them pop up in various outfit posts recently.  If they fall to pieces, I can just collect them up and re-thread them to make my own glorious colourful creation!

These scarves also found their way to me from the chazzas

This belt was 99p.  OK, it's a bit gaudy and obnoxious even for me but I just couldn't resist it's rainbow allure.  I suspect the strawberries would make good brooches if nothing else.

The comic book collage number is actually a toiletry bag.  Bit of a waste I thought.  I would totally use it as a clutch with the right outfit.

I would seriously urge anyone who is a little tentative about charity shopping to just give it a go.  I suspect I am preaching to the converted here, but if by any chance you've never tried it, I guarantee you that even if at first you don't find any clothes that float your boat, you will find no end of scarves, necklaces, bracelets, etc which will be unique to you and so much fun to accessorise with.

Let's see, what else?  Oh yes, I also bought more Barry M nail paints.  'Block Orange' and 'Jewel Britannia'

To add to my collection

Which I thought I would sort into colour sequence and photograph, cos I'm just a bit sad like that.

  Here are this week's nails

 Made up from entirely from my beloved Barry M collection

And here are some more snazzy snapshots of what I've been up to lately

1.  Blast from the past  2.  Cat shaped marshmallows  3.  Can't resist a Barry M concession  4.  Rainbow toes

1.  Ice Age 4 with Miss 5.  2.  Nail varnish removed.  3.  Hello Kitty keyring.  4.  Yay for Costco!

So how are you keeping yourselves/the kiddos entertained this summer?

Any ideas?

PS.  Sharing the Chemikal Underground nostalgia

Lucy x

Up Above The Streets and Houses...

Inspired by this image from a quick Google search:-

Found here

And these images from this colourful lady:-

I thought I'd do my own version of Rainbow nails:-

Whaddya think?  A much less professional photograph and finish come to that but I was very happy with them all the same.  I couldn't stop looking at my hands all day! 

I did however try to stick to the correct spectrum of colours

And these were some of the polishes used 

Since then I've been obsessed with having colourful hands and have been constantly sporting different variations on the same theme

My obsession has become such that I felt compelled to splash out on a handful of new Barry M nail paints to extend my colour palette!

Here are some rainbow themed images from my Google search that made me smile:-

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I love you Zippy!

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Paint the whole world with a....... rainbow :)

Here's to rainbows.  One of the most beautiful manifestations of bad weather .

Wishing you all a colourful and happy weekend

Lucy x

Workin' For The Man

I don't really know what to talk about cos I haven't been doing anything interesting this week.  In the absence of substance I will post some work outfits.  Starting with yesterday...

What a miserable gob!

Bit of gapage.  The enemy of the curvy girl.

Skirt - Primark

Top - Red Herring

Cardi - Dotty P's

Bird brooch - Acorn & Will

Shoes - charity shop

 

Today:-

Such nonchalance

I'm a little embarrassed that so much of the above outfit came from Primark, i.e., the skirt, blouse, cardi and necklace!  They just seem to have so much good stuff at the moment.  So many skirts in my ideal length and in all my favourite colours.  Primark for all your faults - I love thee still.  The cameo brooch is vintage and the shoes are from a charity shop.

I'm quite fortunate in that I work in quite a relaxed environment.  I don't really wear jeans so I dress for work pretty much as I would normally.


For some reason I am just SO TIRED and can't wait to get into bed with my supplies

Oh yes, I love me some sweeties.  Glad its my day off tomorrow.  Rock n roll!

Mark Radcliffe - swoon! :)