19.04.10

Big news- I have a job!! woop! I now get to say that I am a waitress... at a strawberry farm- how quaint :D
Unfortunately, this doesn't mean I'll be able to buy lots of lovely new clothes to show you all, mainly because I'm putting most of my earnings towards getting a car when I'm seventeen. What this does mean however, is that I'll be able to get my Gorillapod to show you all of my lovely old clothes, and I'll at least be able to buy a few new things every month or two. Still, that's not half bad ;P

I've been awfully healthy today (except the sausage roll I had at school- I can be excused though, because that's the only half-edible thing that they serve), and made myself a lemon and thyme chicken breast for dinner, with a green salad, sliced carrots and some smoked salmon (yum!). Only thing is, now my fingers stink of smoked salmon- not sure if I love it or not yet.. (hold on the dirty jokes please- such children!)

Aaw, just realised that there are no pretty pictures here :(
(I don't care if these have already done the rounds on the blogs, I love them and I want one.)

10.04.10

I cooked that today- all by myself, no recipe :)
Over the last few months, I feel like I've started to- not grow up because you should never do that, but I definately feel like I can handle myself better. I always thought I was self sufficient, but I've always had a problem with talking to people for 'offishal' stuff like taking things back to shops and applying for jobs and stuff. However, at this moment I have a job interview for waitressing at our local strawberry farm next Saturday, I took a pair of unwanted shoes back to Dorothy Perkins today and I managed to cook a whole meal without too much catastrophe.. although there was an issue with the cat finding my chicken breast :P
Anyway, I just felt that this amazing, fantastic wondrous meal I've created today deserved a post because it's sooooo amazing. G'night :)

Guess what I got in the post this morning?!

I spotted it on Urban Outfitters weeks ago, but they weren't selling them any more so I ordered one from WHSmith's, however it took aaaages for them to finally despatch it.
The concept of the book is to stop you from trying to make all of your art neat and correct, and to sure perfectionism by making you do destructive and messy things to the book- i.e. the first instruction you get is to crack the spine of the book, followed by standing on an open page of the book and spitting coffee at it. I'd highly reccomend you take a look at the Wreck This Journal gallery, because some of the ways people have interpreted the instructions are brilliant! I could look through the pictures on there for years.
here's the page I did today (it's a bit lame, but hey! I'm a beginner!)-

People- this is where I'm lucky enough to live!
Well, I don't actually live in the woods, but it's an around-the-corner thing. I took the dog for a walk this morning there, and I happened to go just early enough to catch the birds- no dawn chorus, but they were definately going for it!
May I direct your attention to the Polyvore badge to my right- that website is so addictive! I'm being very active on there lately- it's such a simple, quick way to let creativity out and it lets me create outfits with clothes that I would never in a million years manage to lay my hands on!
I think that's all for today, except...
I know, I know- I'm a spaz :P

We've actually got some sun today! hallelujah!


I thought I'd take this chance to wear my new lacey tights, as well as a nice pair of linen shorts. The polo shirt is by Joules, my very favourite place for cute, classy clothes (hello alliteration!) and a bonus- they're designed and based very near where i live in Market Harborough, a gorgeous little village with really nice boutiques and charity shops.
Hope you all have a good day- enjoy the sun while it lasts!

Gosh, it feels as though I've been inactive for weeks!
the truth is, not much has actually been going on so I haven't had much to report on (not that I normally have a lot going on in my shockingly un-glamourous life). I did go shopping again, but I'm sure you'll get to see what I bought another time when I post outfit photos more regularly (trying desperately to track down a Gorillapod, which would be a lot more convenient than a bulky and expensive tripod!).

One fashion quandary that has been permeating my life quite a lot recently, is the issue of.. dun dun duuun! Prom.
That one word can send girls everywhere clamouring for long dresses in that offensive, horrible satin fabric covered in rhinestones and other shit- as you can tell, I'm not a fan.
So far, I've managed to find one dress on the internet that fits my rules of 'no rhinestones, excessive ruffles or metal rings and keep it classy' by Jovani

I can't stop imagining it with a pair of black, chucky-strapped heels and (if it's cold) a big, black army coat or a big parka...

...Or something like that. Not that I've been obsessing about it or anything... :S
Anyway, although I love the chunks out of that dress, it's well beyond my budget- does anyone have any reccomendations for good dress websites that aren't too expensive??

I Love Love!

Goodness me, it looks like I'm writing about good ol' Topshop again! this time, they have a new studio brand on their site- Love.
That banner's said it about as well as I ever could. They haven't got an awful lot on their page yet, but I can imagine just slipping every single piece they do have on in the summer. The clothes aren't making a statement or trying to be 'avante-garde', Love has simply created a set of classic, girly clothes that anyone can wear (which I see as a very good thing!).



These are just my favourites- I absolutely adore those shorts!
Our classic british weather's being horrible- it was lovely last week and everyone thought that the horrible winter we've been having had ended, but then the bloody snow, rain and 0-5 degree temperatures came back this week. boo >:( I'm still waiting to wear my new sunglasses- waiting in hope!

Neely There...

It was my sister's leaving do last night- she's leaving for 8 months travelling in Australia on Wednesday (I think I've mentioned that before). I absolutely LOVED the outfit I was wearing, but I never managed to get one half decent photo that didn't even show my shoes- baaww :(
One day I'll have nice photos that don't need extensive editing for you.

I also realised today that out of the many people I'd like to be(that sounded less weird in my own head...), the one person I always find myself thinking "why can't I be yoooouuuuu D:" is Rumi, of Fashion Toast. As well as having family in Tokyo (creating the perfect excuse for loooong holidays in Japan), she always looks incredibly confident and sexy- two things which I would love to be!).

Burda!

Recently I had that horrible moment where you realise that you have a lot of things To go to, nothing to wear AND no money! Aaaaagh!
Luckily, I've always been a bit of a handy sewer, so I was thinking of getting my old mannequin down (although, she is a plus size unfortunately) and making a dress or two, and whilst researching this a little I found Burda, a lovely site populated by younger sewers than most, that also allows you to download some free patterns. So far, I've found some incredible sewers on there, where I wouldn't be surprised to at least see their designs on the high street, and some even on the catwalk (although they're not madly unwearable, so I have doubts about that second point).
Here's a few of my favourites;
Although I'd probably do the last one in a different colour, or just a different shade of pink..
So hopefully I'll come up with something to wear over the next few days.

In other news, my wonderful sister is leaving for australia next week- she's spending 6 months out there back packing and generally having fun whilst we all have to stick with GCSE's and stuff. I'm really worried about what I'll do without her for 6 months, but at the same time I'm really excited for her- she's gonna have so much fun and see so many things she would otherwise have never seen.
Check her blog out- I'm sure it'll be full of some hilarious stuff. She does have an odd way of expressing herself...

12.03.10

So, art exams went well.. I think, at least. I figured out that I only have about a month or two until my actual GCSE's start, so expect posts to become a lot more sparse and disjointed- like this one!

First order of business- SKINS! For anyone else who watches it, this was a very traumatic episode to watch- I have a theory though!
First of all, Freddie is much too beautiful to die. Sometimes you see someone so gorgeous that it is unimaginable that something could possibly harm that face, and many people watch skins just for Luke, so why would the telly people kill him off?
Another, I'm pretty sue that, since there's only one episode of this series left, the gang won't find Freddie and will assume he's dead. However, shock horror, in the next series we will see him wake up from a coma with, *gasp*.... AMNESIA!
hurr hurr..

Secondly, I saw this woman in Susie Lau's post on The Gentlewoman, and felt that she needed a mention-
Gillian Wilkins.
I was trying to find an alternative picture so that I could pretend to be all original and that I didn't need other blogs to tell me what to write about, but I couldn't, so there.
i just felt that even though she's probably british, she seems like the quintessential, elegant french woman to me for some reason.

London Nights..

I found the good side to coursework!

(yes, they are actual pages from my art project)
My art teacher does part-time work for topshop here and there (she used to design for them), so in the half term she was in London doing trend research. This, of course, perfectly coincided with me doing my art gcse based on personal style and street style. lucky, innit?!
So she brought me back some fantastic pictures of people on Brick Lane- I was so excited! Fate must've realised I was gonna have a hard time fitting all of my coursework in and gave me an option on my paper to pick fashion. Thank you fate :)
This also means that for an 'inspirational visit', I will be in topshop tomorrow trying on loads of clothes and taking photos to show my personal style- pictures will appear on here, promise! Mind you, it'll be a rare treat because the pictures of my style are actually pictures of my style if i could get rid of all the nasty clothes in my wardrobe, win a million and start again. damn.

Macaroons

I've really had a longing for these lovely sweet treats lately.. they always bring up memories of school trips where the coach stops off in France, and whilst 70% of the bus are crowding round the generic pick and mix, I head straight to the macaroon counters and buy as many as my sparse amount of euros can afford.


The final image is what I always remember those stalls as- pretty, pastel coloured sweeties stacked end to end in their own neat rows, arranged by colour and handwritten labels- no matter how scummy the hypermarket we're in is, the macaroon counter will always be the same.
The reason for my gushing is that I've finally signed up to a baking site- it was only a matter of time!- and I've found a very promising recipe for plain 'croons. the photo accompanying it looks absolutely beautiful, and although I'm pretty sure mine will look nothing like that i was thinking- what would you have with a nice plate of fresh macaroons? tea? juice? nothing?! hmm... I'm thinking a big mug of earl grey :)

Snooow :)

So, although I've been complaining about the cold, the snow does give way to photo opportunities. I gave my lace body a try with a cropped jumper, and it's still pretty warm.. surprisingly.
It's nice to know that some of these crazy trends do actually work on normal sized people and that they can work in real life (I'm wearing this to have snacks with my girlies later!)
Also, UK Vogue has launched it's young talent competition this month, offering £1000 and 1 month's paid work experience in their offices. Needless to say, I will very much be entering! I don't expect to win, as The winning entries they've posted as examples seem way above what I could do, but it's worth a try, eh?! Also, even if you're just a finalist you get to have lunch with the Vogue editors and judges, which seems just as good if that's the sort of job you want (for me, it is!). The only problem is once you've won something like that, what the hell do you wear?!

Popovers + Parties (continued)

I've got photos of the under 18's night (I'm the chunky brunette lurking at the back!)And how fabulous do my friends look?!
I'm not dressed too 'fashun', mainly because the whole point of this blog is to follow me building my 'fashun' wardrobe, so this is pretty near the beginning when all I've got is my LBD :)
That's all for today- sorry about the short post xx

Popovers and Parties

After reading Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere's post about popovers, I was excited to try them out, until I saw that you needed special flour and a popover tin-things that are probably only sold in America or in specialist shops.
Today, however, I had a sudden yearning for some and since I couldn't find any I was happy with, I adapted my own recipe from this one for cheese and herb popovers.

Check out these bad boys!



Recipe here.

Also, I was out at an under 18's night in town last night, and about 4hrs of dancing coupled with 5 inch heels means that I can only manage to shuffle around today, and I have well and truly learnt my lesson (next time, they'll only be 4 inches)!

Fashion Week

I bought into my own little bit of consumerism today-

Cheap online shops

Oh. My. Goodness.
I'm one of those infuriating people who can't see why anyone would pay £1000 for a dress, so I was in heaven when I discovered Missguided today. One of my favourite shops to find are the ones that, from the outside, look incredibly tacky and cheap so they keep other fashion-folk away, but if you're brave enough to step inside and push past the trash, you find some real gems, like these;

For £27 no less! and this;

for £14. This makes me very happy :)
And I know the designer-folk'll be like "aagh how can you buy high street?! it'll disintegrate in a few weeks!!!" but, to be quite frank, I don't really do anything that wears clothes out at all. I just walk around school, sit in lessons and every so often get a splash of paint on them sooo...
there.

Inescapable Rain!

Ok, so I was at first really excited about this winter, especially as we got snow (and lots of it!) and I completely regress whenever there's snow around and jump on beds, roll about in it etc. But now we've had the snow, we've had christmas and we've had the new year, what's left? Just the rainy bit in between Winter and spring where everyone gets depressed and 15/16 year olds around the country start to realise that their exams are closer than they think... me being one of them.
I've been really, seriously missing warmth lately, and I've never really missed it before- that probably reveals something deep and psychological about myself, or it's probably just because I've become so much closer with my friends lately and I want to go outside- badly. I've had a massive chocolate binge today to try and cheer myself up, but I can't carry around Asda's rice crispy chocolate all the time- can you lot think of any good cheer-up-tricks out there?

Mufti

Not sure if you yanks know about this, since you're lucky enough to have no school uniform but it's just been announced that we have an own clothes day next friday at school- yay! i get really excited about these mainly because it gives me a chance to show the school that I'm not a boy after a disastrously short haircut that earned me the name 'manbeast' for all of years 8 and 9... yeeaahh....
So, I was wondering; does anyone else hold this much importance in own clothes days, and how long before the day can you plan your outfit without seeming too vain and crazy?

Also, I've got a lookbook account now, so although most of my outfit posts will appear on here in future, there might be some extras on there if you fancy a look.
Of course, that is, when I actually manage an outfit post... :S
That is all <3

Creature Fear

Every fashion obsessed person like myself that I know seems to have a photo wall, so naturally I wanted to get in on the crowd. Unfortunately, I'm the youngest in our family and so have the smallest bedroom in the house- the only rooms smaller than it are the bathroom and the airing cupboard!
However, I had to have a go, so here is my pathetic attempt;


Starring roles in this spectacular display of collage (sarcasm) are Sasha Pivovarova (see left), Emma Watson, Kate Moss and Georgia Jagger- my four very favourite ladies in fashion <3