Spring Is In The Air!

I mentioned on twitter this morning that due to the fact it looks like my bedroom has been binge drinking and then vomited my clothes all over the floor I've had to be very brave in my choice of clothing today as I didn't have time to iron/ determine what was actually clean. By brave I mean, not overly for the normal person. By normal person I mean not me.

I've not had a chance to play with my new camera (thank you Dad!) because of the terrible weather we've had recently but I rushed home today in the hopes of catching the light and giving it another shot. Two minutes after getting back in the house I decided it might be prudent to take a shot with my phone. Y'know, just in case.

Good thing I did, the above picture was the phone version. Despite figuring out how to activate the self-timer I've neglected to figure out how to focus and zoom (out) on shots I'm not currently in when there's just a wall in picture. Ah well, something to work on!

You're probably thinking 'what's so brave about that?'. The shorts, dears, the shorts. I've had these for about a year and never had the courage to wear them. I was surprised by how comfortable I felt in them once everyone in the office had noticed them and absolutely no one asked what the hell I was wearing. I may have to wear them again.

In other (sad) news, Nelson the Red Admiral butterfly I mentioned from an earlier post has passed away last week, just days before the first day of Spring. I've no idea how he survived through the winter months, particularly as he was living in my bathroom.

I also wanted to thank everyone who left comments on my muslin post, I shall be reviewing those when I get a second. That second doesn't appear to be any time soon unfortunately as I have a rather action packed month ahead with an imminent visit to Saundersfoot on Saturday for the St David's Festival and a fortnight long visit from my sister and nephew starting the following week.

My first blogiversary passed me by last month with nary a twinge, mostly because I've been a bit rundown with a cold that had no other symptoms than enormous lethargy and inability to focus. Should I be doing something to celebrate?

I also wanted to ask if people would like recipes for homemade beauty products? I make my own lip balm and have been planning on branching out but have been dithering over the question of how much DIY is too much? What do people think? Yay or nay?

I'll leave you with a couple of the less crazy photos from my new camera that I accidentally ended up taking.

Cardigan, undershirt and shorts: La Redoute
Shirt: H&M
Tights: New Look
Shoes: Hush Puppy

Edited to include: Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to thank Suzy for my new award! Thank you! I shall do a proper post for it later this week.

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What To Wear To ... A Sci-Fi Convention

This weekend gone I drove 5 hours to Pontins in Camber Sands, East Sussex for the SFX Weekender. Actually I drove 5 hours to Camber Sands to hang out with two old friends, one of whom I've not seen in a decade, the sci-fi bit was just an added bonus.

I tried, I really did, but gale force winds and no proper heating in the chalets or the main building meant that my jeans and my huge woolly cardigan was just not going to be removed for the three days I spent freezing my butt off down there. Photos of the weekend are limited and I'm going to share with you just two.



If you follow me on twitter (shameless plug: @torsgrantham) you'll know the guy in the middle, holding on to me rather tightly, freaked me out one evening when I was alone in my chalet by breathing outside the door. In his defence, he was just walking past.

I'm wearing my red checked shirt as support for the Welsh rugby team who unfortunately didn't manage to win their match against England on Friday, my Mum's flared jeans that I've stolen because I love them and a scarf and cardi I refused to remove the entire weekend. The guys are wearing their standard work clothes.

What I should have done is something a little more along the lines of this:

As soon as I saw her I was in envy. I didn't catch her name but she had great style and really stood out from the crowd (which, given the crowd was made up of stormtroopers, people on stilts, superheroes and general sci-fi fans, was quite an achievement). She was a little shocked at being asked to be photographed for my blog but happily gave her permission. Lovely lady, should you, by some miracle, be reading this, thank you!

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Sod The Heidi

I'm sorry, I thought I was smiling when I took this

I've been wearing my hair styled after one of Gertie's tutorials, so much so that I've actually taken to calling it a Gertie rather than Heidi. It's quick, easy and keeps it out of the way all day. Better yet, it doesn't result in a mass of hair at the back of my head that then catches on my car seat or my office chair. I do love a win, win situation. Unfortunately, as this photo attests (taken at oh dark thirty this morning) even immediately after it's been braided my hair still manages to never look tidy. I'm not entirely certain if that's due to my nervousness in using hair products or the general waviness of my hair or both. I rather like it regardless, so thank you Gertie!

And I'm wearing my new (to me) favourite pair of wool trousers. My mum gave me two black bin bags full of her clothes and these trousers were amongst them. Other (standing) photos aren't quite so flattering but I'm telling myself that's because I'm taking pictures on my phone instead of with a camera (that I don't own) and not because they don't actually not suit me. They're a grey coloured wool with a thin black stripe, very comfortable, and completely not the style I usually wear. They go rather well with my t-bar Hush Puppies and have rather quickly become a staple in my wardrobe. Huzzah for free clothes!

* Why yes, that is a Roman Gladius next to my bed, why do you ask? ;)

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Fashion Faux Pas?

I wore my latest eBay purchase to work today, unironed and in sheer desperation. When I put it on this morning there was a part of me that felt like I was wearing a party dress to work, but I decided that I could live with that so long as I had something to wear that I hadn't already worn this week.

I love the colour, I love the style, I am however a little annoyed at the sizing and it highlights my point regarding RTW clothing exactly. I took a risk on this eBay purchase as it was listed as a size 10 and I wasn't entirely confident my rib cage hadn't gotten bigger along with my waistline. This fits more like a size 12 on me and goes to show that Next just isn't playing fairly.

I know it's too big for me because Julie, one of the other women in the office, came in to work this morning in the exact same dress. Hers fits her perfectly and looks much nicer. We'd both paired it with black Mary Jane shoes (of differing styles thank goodness!) and a black top layer (Julie had a cardigan and I had a jacket). Julie had black tights and I was wearing my Nora Batty's but we still had to run around and hide from each other throughout the day (a little difficult when at a buffet lunch with 20 other people in a narrow corridor, particularly after Julie came and sat next to me!).

This isn't even a dress I can bbzzzzzz up the sides to make it a little smaller, it has a side closure using buttons ... which go all the way up to the armpit, making it a little difficult to close and open by yourself. I'm considering just refashioning it into a shirt or something as I love the colour so much but am a little afraid of ending up with nothing, or (as per usual) something 6 inches too big. At least as it stands now the dress is only about an inch or so too big!

Dress: Next via eBay
Shoes: I Heart Shoes 

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Outfit Round-Up { Tuesday }

I was feeling the French vibe so I bust out my La Redoute Shirt Dress. I'm not particularly comfortable wearing things this short (or this short and baggy) and I get the sense looking at these photos that I maybe look a little like a blur of fabric on sticks but hey ho! I was running out of ideas.

Dress: La Redoute
Socks: eBay
Shoes: Hush Puppy via Amazon

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Outfit Round-Up { Monday }

I have failed mightily at the SSS challenge, having simply not had anything ready to wear for work. Instead you're getting a peek into my limited work wardrobe and my attempts at spicing up a few pieces.

Today dawned bright and rather warm, unfortunately the office didn't feel like that and my shirt and waistcoat combo (that I really like) didn't work from a warmth perspective.

I did however go on a red lipstick shopping trip into Caerdydd (Cardiff to the non-Welsh) at the weekend to visit the Mac store and choose a red lippy in a shade I felt comfortable in. I tried the Russian Red but felt it a little too overwhelming and settled on Du Bonnet instead. Whaddya think?

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Dawn Skies to Dusk

Dawn's getting later and later. Just last week the sky was light when I got up to take the dog out at just shy of 6am. I took this picture this morning as we headed out the back lanes to the old coal tip for his morning constitutional.

The mountain the sun is rising behind in this photo means that the sun doesn't properly hit my house until about 8am at the moment. It makes photographing my outfits a little difficult!

I'd had a yen to straighten my hair for a while now, just to see exactly how long it actually was without the curl. Other than highlighting just how bad my split ends actually are there doesn't appear to be that big a difference in length, either way it's nearly at my waist, the longest I've ever grown it!

I love this skirt, despite the fact it's too big for me. For some strange reason I felt like a Spanish horse rider from yesteryear in this outfit, possibly due to the combination of an embroidered skirt and a short bolero style cardi. The Nora Batty socks have made a come back (they're just so warm) and I bust out the tan version of my Hush Puppy T-Bars because T-Bars are my favourite style shoe evah. And these ones are just so comfortable!

In comparison, I took this photo when I got home at about 4pm. Totally different light! The entire family's in the photograph, they were hoping I'd give them food and kept following me around!

Dusk up the Old Tip, I love it up there when it's quiet. You can just see the moon peeking out of the cloud. Beautiful.

Skirt: La Redoute
Shirt: Miss Selfridge
Bolero: La Redoute
Sock: No idea!
Shoes: Hush Puppies via Amazon

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Last of the Summer Wine

For those of you not in the UK or too young to remember, the title is a reference to my baggy socks. Last of the Summer Wine was an old comedy set in Yorkshire about a bunch of blokes in the Autumn of their years.

Compo, a scruffy no good hormone riddled skiver, was completely in lust with tea shop owner, Nora Batty. She of the hair curlers and wrinkled stockings.

I'm really getting behind wearing long socks to work, unfortunately today they turned out to be a bit Nora Batty which garnered some strange looks I have to admit. But so long as I remained toasty and warm I really didn't care. Besides, I was sat behind a desk for most of the day so no one really had to notice.

There's just something so lovely about a long knitted cardi and woollen socksies (although not actual wool as I'm slightly allergic), particularly in an office where the air conditioning comes from the labs downstairs and no amount of fiddling with the thermostat will change the temperature to something a little more ... erm, temperate. 

Once again this is an empire waisted dress, I'm really preferring the style and feel more confident about wearing these types of dresses.

It's a lovely dark blue with a grey diamond pattern, it goes nicely with my large grey cardigan (and green wellies on those days when I'm tramping around with the wolf and it's too nice for jeans) and is made from a wonderfully soft jersey that clings in nice places and swirls prettily in all the others.

Dress: La Redoute
Cardigan: La Redoute
Socks: No idea!
Shoes: Blue T-Bar Hush Puppies

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Seasons Turning

Despite my best intentions I never seem to talk about life in the village or how living in a village in the mountains of South Wales affects my life.

The seasons here are definitely changing, the trees above the old Pit are turning and the foxgloves glow purple amongst the duller greens and browns. Unfortunately you can't really see them in this photo but I promise, up near the ridge line they're there!

The heather on the other mountain has turned a beautiful burnished copper colour and we've been lucky this year with only one fire on the mountainside that's already grown back over.

With the turning of seasons into Autumn the winds start to pick up in readiness for the October storms that have probably been hitting our shores for centuries. My house stands overlooking a park and a dip in our valley that leads down into Caerphilly's bowl. As a result, come Autumn, I spend most nights drifting off to the sound of driving wind and rain, strangely I find it relaxing.

Despite fabulous weather this weekend (for this time of year anyway) the winds picked up today and I decided to let go of my vintage dreams and just embrace clothes ... erm, okay, that came out a little wrong! You may have noticed I get a little obsessive/ compulsive in some instances, and I will singlemindedly follow an idea until I've trampled it to death. In my quest to obtain a wardrobe that fits, in styles I like rather than full of modern fashions, I've lost touch with the idea that anything I like is okay to wear, vintage styled or not.

Given today's weather I decided to experiment, a rather delightful 20 minutes at around 7.15am this morning. The one part of my body that I can't deny is fabulous are my legs. I have great legs, I just don't like getting them out. Particularly from this time of year onwards because it's generally too cold. Hah! Fixed that problem!

Latest eBay purchase: asphalt grey over the knee ribbed socks. Normally I wouldn't try to wear these so visibly as socks, I might not look it but I feel that at my age I'd be pushing my comfort zone by dressing in a style for someone younger, and I'd wear them with a long skirt or dress so they appear to be tights. But I found a pair of blue and a pair of purple tights I'd bought earlier in the year on an impulse to embrace colour and decided to be a little daring. And I have to admit that I really really liked it.

It's been noted that an empire waistline suits me far better than a fitted dress. I had an old little black dress with an almost Grecian-style crossed bodice that could pass as a pinafore dress when paired with a blue and white striped collarless shirt. A red scarf to add a little vibrancy and I was ready to go ... once the Evil Wolf had had his morning belly rub.

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Project: Style Print 1421 { Notes Pt II }

Firstly, apologies for my absence. I started a new job and combined with my current Merlin obsession I'm having trouble fitting in anything else at the moment.

I wore my Style Print 1421 shirt in white polycotton, my first ever homemade item of clothing from a vintage pattern. You can't really see it in this photo (sorry, the only full length mirror I currently have access to is in the work bathrooms) as my little cardi covers it up (due mostly to the fact that I've yet to sew buttons on the cuffs and it was the only way to stop the sleeves from flailing about like mad things) but I promise you it's the same shirt.

Problems that have come to light after wearing this shirt for the day is that 1950's shirts were short. Seriously, how did anyone not flash their bellies whilst wearing these? Every time I reached up I'd pop out the front, every time I bent down I'd pop out the back. I'll definitely be adding a couple of inches to the bottom of this pattern the next time I make it because I can't be going around with bits of me hanging out, it's just not dignified!

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Restylin' For A New Job

Yes, I totally failed at sewing this weekend. I decided that perhaps it might be a little more prudent to make clothes requiring fit with my tutor Mother this coming weekend as she'd already said she was free and would come help me. As I have a limited stash of fabric suitable for these projects and currently no funds to buy any more, it seemed wiser to wait until I was sure I'd get something usable from the effort rather than a bunch of wadders and no more fabric. I didn't mention this before now because ... well, because I was a little ashamed at how rubbish I've been over the sewing ;)

Instead, I thought I'd tell you about my new job. Or rather the clothes I'm wearing for my new job. I started with the NHS on Monday and decided on Sunday evening that I would start as I meant to go on, i.e. I would dress and wear the make-up that I've always wanted to wear to work, regardless of what everyone else around me is wearing, from day one so everyone expected it to continue, rather than doing my usual of wearing whatever and no make-up and hoping for the best whilst being frustrated and feeling like I couldn't suddenly start dressing up because it went against the style I'd already 'declared' to everyone (and my goodness that's a rather long run on sentence, I do apologise!).

To that end I painted my nails red, pulled out the red lippy, stuck a compact in my handbag for touch ups and pulled out the heels.

You may remember my cursed Interview Outfit that got me no jobs. Having already scored the job, this is what I wore on Day One but with blue T-Bar heels and my 'natural coloured' (read: too tan for my skin colour) seamed stockings. Lipstick in place, hair down and natural, I trotted off to work and as I got out of my car in the car park I promptly ripped my stockings with my handbag. Fortunately, no one noticed a thing all day so I kept them on. I also had a 3/4 length sleeved blue cardi over the top and I have to say, partially done up it made me look like I had a waist, I was totally loving the effect!

Day Two: A grey corduroy skirt with attached plaid cotton petticoat, grey shirt and grey boots. Throw in a cream short sleeved cardi and a brown elasticated belt and I was good to go. Unfortunately, whilst I ran out the door thinking I looked okay I ultimately decided I looked like something out of the 80's and hated the skirt with the boots. Big Mistake. Ballet pumps would have worked better ... had I actually owned any. Note to self: see if eBay have any ballet pumps for sale.

Day Three: Grey high waisted trousers and a blue and white pin stripe shirt, all from La Redoute (as was Day Two). Red braces (suspenders to all you Yanks, but to us Brits that's what holds up our stockings) from eBay, blue T-Bar heels and a short sleeved blue cardi, again from eBay. This was much more me and kinda came off 70's (the trousers are quite flared and wide legged ... just in case that isn't completely obvious from the photo). I felt comfortable and relaxed, didn't care if anyone thought anything of my clothes because I was happy. Much better day than yesterday, but then I wasn't sat in a meeting with 50 people around a big table today which may have helped.

It's been hard wearing the red lippy. It's bright, it's unmissable and it gives a very definite statement about the type of woman I am/ want to be (i.e. one that cares about her appearance). I've spent a lot of years not really caring about my appearance in terms of work due to the nature of the job, the work ethic involved (not to mention the stress, the to-ing and fro-ing between offices, departments and buildings and don't even get me started on night shoots out on location in a disused railway shed) and my very strong desire to blend in.

This new style (or this attempt at a new style) is me very much not blending in and I'm still a little uncomfortable with that. I'm not sure why but I'm more uncomfortable about the lipstick than I am about the clothes (well, apart from yesterday's outfit). I don't feel comfortable reapplying in front of people and I don't feel comfortable checking in my compact after eating/ drinking but I also then spend the time worrying I've got lipstick all over my chin or half rubbed off. A big part of me wants to stop with the lipstick to make myself feel better and that could be okay. Except I like red lipstick and I think what I'm more uncomfortable about is the shade of lipstick I've been using. Ideally I'd like to use a shade like Marianne but my skin tone is completely different, my lips are a lot smaller and I don't look anything like as fresh faced half way into my day (or even half an hour into my day!) so I'm not too sure how to proceed. I'm not even sure that if I find the shade I'll still be comfortable because it's still very eye catching. The shade of red I feel more comfortable wearing is a darker berry red, but I think this is predominantly because my natural lip shade is quite dark and when the lipstick fades it's almost unnoticeable. I've been blotting the brighter shades mostly off but even then I still feel over exposed. Any advice please girlies?

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