Friday, December 21, 2007

Merry Christmas!


Well that's me done with work for the year! I don't know whether I will have the time or facilities to post over the holidays so I'll leave you with a picture of my Christmas tree. Have the best Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year and I'll see you all 2nd January.

xx

How This Blog Has Affected Me: An End of Year Reflection

I have been blogging here for 18 months now and just want to share a few thoughts with you. Looking at a photograph of yourself each day certainly helps you to see which outfits work and which don’t. And the same goes for hairstyles.

Then there’s the interactive element. I read a ton of blogs each day (see the links at the side) and although you clearly don’t ‘know’ each author, you do get to feel you know a little about each and every one of these fabulous individuals, be it through their sense of style, a ‘tag’ challenging them to reveal something random about themselves or just through the writing in their posts. And it’s good to leave them comments either complementing their style or simply agreeing or disagreeing with something they have said.

Which brings me to comments on my own blog. It is true that your self esteem soars with nice comments. Especially when it’s a complement about an outfit you weren’t sure about, or reassurance when you think you look fabulous but are not so sure what others will think (and it doesn’t help when you have a boyfriend who does not appreciate much of what you wear, and dislikes your new hair cut).

Outfit: Last Day of Term!



It’s Christmas! Woo Hoo!

Grey sweater dress – Tall Girls
Dark jeans – Gap
Green suede boots – River Island
Silver belt – Local boutique
Green pendant – Primark

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Wanted: Silver Shoes from Dorothy Perkins


Now just £10 in the sale.

Outfit: Thrifty Thursday



Penultimate day before the Christmas holidays! This dress was only 99p in a charity shop and I think the whole outfit probably cost less than £20, shoes included.

Green print dress – F+F at Tesco (charity shop)
Burgundy cami – Dorothy Perkins
Dark jeans – Next (charity shop)
Teal faux suede shoes – Matalan

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Outfit: Wednesday



I’m loving the midweek casual-ness so I did it again.

Dark Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Lilac faux fur trimmed cardi – Pilot outlet
White long sleeve top – Tall Girls
Grey faux suede shoes – New Look (charity shop)

Outfit: Playing Santa



Well it had to be the Santa boots for this particular task didn’t it? And they need a skirt to show them off hence the rest of the outfit. We went visiting my cousin and his wife with my sister and brother in law to deliver their Christmas gifts, and stopped off for fish & chips on the way.

Denim skirt – Tall Girls
Brown top – Tall Girls
Brown cardi – M&S (charity shop)
Brown tights – Next
Brown suede boots with faux fur trim – Roberto Vianni (Debenhams)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Reader Stats

I’ve been counting up where in the world all my readers are located. I did this exercise about 6 months ago and thought it would be interesting to repeat it. So today the last 100 visitors (and it does add to 100 this time) were as follows:

36 British
37 Americans
1 Israeli
3 Irish
2 Philippines
1 Latvian
2 Indians
1 Taiwanese
1 Singaporean
2 Belgians
1 Netherlander
2 Mexicans
1 Turk
3 Canadians
1 Lebanese
1 Korean
4 Germans
1 Japanese

If one of these people is you, leave me a comment and say hello!

Outfit: One Week To Christmas!



I’m getting excited now – can you tell? I decided on the green boots for a festive combination rather than the red shoes I would have usually put with this outfit. If you can’t wear red and green at Christmas when can you? I was going to put a red cami under the dress but then I remembered I had this shirt that I was saving to put on Ebay and decided it would be a warmer layer.

Black wrap dress – Luxuriously Tall
Red shirt – Ralph Lauren (charity shop)
Red belt – Market stall
Black tights – George at ASDA
Green suede boots – River Island

Monday, December 17, 2007

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing my choir uniform – I have two concerts this week
…reading the January issue of Glamour magazine – it was only £1
…watching The Wedding Date on video (video, I know, I’m so retro!)
…listening to Christmas songs and carols
…eating fish and chips
…shopping for nothing – all my Christmas shopping is done

Outfit: Brown and Teal


I wore this outfit a few weeks ago. I was going to alter it slightly today by wearing teal tights and brown boots but when I put on my teal tights there was a massive hole and ladder in one leg and I had to throw them out. A knit dress is easy to throw on when it’s cold out and feels warm and cosy whilst still looking smart and stylish for the office.

Brown polo neck knit dress – Long Tall Sally
Brown wool mix rib tights – Levante at MyTights
Teal boot – Faith
Teal belt – Claire’s
Teal beads – Claire’s

Friday, December 14, 2007

Outfit: Wardrobe Remix


Yes, I stole the title of this post from here. It’s a reworking of part of Wednesday’s outfit – l love these boots so much I just had to wear them again and they stay up better over jeans.

Grey wool/angora mix sweater dress – Oasis
Grey wool rib polo neck sweater – chain store seconds shop
Dark jeans – Gap
Green suede boots – River Island

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Outfit: Fairly Festive Thursday



Well it’s Christmas party number 2 today, a lunch with the lads from work. I’ve done a slight reworking of this outfit by adding teal accessories for a red & green festive look.

Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Burgandy skirt – Matalan
Black leggings – Long Tall Sally
Teal boots – Faith
Teal beads – Claire’s

Review: Scholl Ball of Foot Cushions


I recently purchased a pair of these as an alternative to Party Feet and decided to test them out on Saturday by spending the day walking around York. The Foot Cushions are different party feet in that they are designed to sit inside your socks or tights and are held in place by a little loop over your second toe. Although this means they cannot be worn with sandals as Party Feet can, for closed toe shoes and boots I think this feature makes them superior. For one thing, it means that they stay in place the whole day, exactly where you put them, and they don’t bunch up like Party Feet can do. The cushions are made of a rubbery foam and are washable and therefore reusable. Inside my boots on Saturday they stood up to the test of a whole day walking round the city and so I would definitely recommend the use of Foot Cushions rather than party feet if your footwear allows.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Outfit: Another Casual Wednesday


I am going Christmas tree shopping for work this afternoon so I thought I would wear jeans again today since no one seems to mind. The necklace was a £1 bargain in Primark.

Black sweater – New Look (charity shop)
White t shirt – Dorothy Perkins
Dark jeans – Gap
Green suede boots – River Island
Chain belt – Dorothy Perkins
Green pendant – Primark

Outfit: Christmas Party




It was the local drama group Christmas party last night and we went for a meal in a local pub. I wanted to dress up a bit but not go over the top so went for a sparkly skirt. I have had this skirt for years (I wore it at my 21st party) and I think I got it at Matalan for about £8. The label says ‘Soon’ so I could be wrong. I am going out for lunch with the lads from work tomorrow so am thinking of re-working this look for that too. I was named the ‘shoe guru’ by the ladies in the group last night as I am always seen in fabulous footwear.

Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Burgandy skirt with black swirls and silver glitter – Matalan (I think!)
Black tights – George at ASDA
Burgandy patent shoes – Matalan

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

At Last!


New Look have finally started selling online! Unfortunately the Tall collection is not yet available but the site promises it will be on there soon. Until then I shall have to make do with the bargainous shoe selection. Well done New Look. What took you so long?

Outfit: Two Weeks to Christmas!



Wearing the same boots as yesterday. I wouldn’t usually do that, I was going to wear red shoes today. But it is just so cold outside that sometimes only boots will do and today is one of those times.

Red cashmere sweater – George at ASDA
Black cotton & cashmere cardi – Long Tall Sally
Black pencil skirt – Long Tall Sally
Black tights – George at ASDA
Black boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)
Silver belt - local boutique
Silver scarf - gift from a friend
Red hairband - Tesco

Monday, December 10, 2007

Outfits: Best of 2007 (Part 2)







If you’ve not already voted on part 1, now is the time to do so! And then it’s time to pick your favourite Autumn/Winter outfit of 2007. So here are your choices:


Which is your favourite autumn-winter look of 2007?
Chunky cardi, red accessories
Grey and red layering
Girl in a tie
Black dress, teal accessories
Silver belt and scarf
pollcode.com free polls

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing red
…reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, the fantastic poem by Clement Moore
…watching ‘How The Ghosts Stole Christmas’, the Christmas X File from Season 6
…listening to Christmas carols
…eating Christmas dinner on Thursday with the lads from work
…shopping for the last few Christmas presents and more gift tags

Outfit: Grey & Red


This is one of my favourite colour combinations this year.

Grey wool rib polo neck sweater – chain store seconds shop
Grey wool skirt – Gap
Red long sleeve t – Primark
Red tights – Primark
Black boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)

Outfit: Saturday



We had friends staying with us over the weekend so this was my casual outfit for our trip to York on Saturday. It rained all day and my feet ended up a bit damp. Time to waterproof my boots again!

Blue wool polo neck sweater – DKNY (outlet store)
Brown long sleeve top – Tall Girls
Jeans – Gap
Tan boots – Faith

Friday, December 07, 2007

A Weather Post

I hate the weather today. It’s so very windy and also, raining. And at the same time the sun can’t make up its mind whether to come out to play or stay hidden away behind the clouds. I had to go out at dinnertime. I was having such a good hair day today – I thought it looked quite fab with this cute little flick thing going on. Now it just looks windswept.

Outfits: Best of 2007 (Part 1)

Well it’s time for those reflective ‘look back on the year’ type posts and I thought it would be fun (for me anyway) to pick out my favourite outfits of 2007 and get you to vote on them. This means me figuring out how to do a poll too. My initial selection tallied at 43 outfit pictures so I tried to narrow it down to a top 5. This proved difficult so I’ll do two posts – one for spring summer & one for Autumn winter.

We’ll start with Spring/Summer as it seems far away now. There were more pictures in this category than I thought there would be – we didn’t have much summer here, what with the 6 weeks of constant rain and all!

Now go ahead: vote!






Which is your favourite spring-summer look of 2007?
Houndstooth and red
Pink cardi and dress
Wide red belt
Blue shirt with denim skirt
Blue top and city shorts
pollcode.com free polls

Outfit: Casual Friday



Grey cowl neck sweater dress – Tall Girls
Black leggings – Long Tall Sally
Blue boots – Priceless Shoes
Black leather belt – local boutique

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Outfit: Dressy Thursday



Out for lunch at the pub today, then running around doing a supermarket shop this afternoon ready for our friends coming to stay for the weekend. The belt was my mum's in the '60s.

Brown polo neck dress – Long Tall Sally
Brown tights – Dorothy Perkins
Tan boots – Faith
Belt – vintage

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Outfit: Black & Blue Wednesday



Yes, it’s the black polo neck again. It’s just so versatile, it goes with everything.

Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Blue knit dress – H&M
Black tights – Silkies
Blue patent shoes – New Look
Black patent belt – Dorothy Perkins

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Why I Love: My Black Polo Neck Sweater


This sweater is from Long Tall Sally and I only bought it this season but I have practically lived in it for the last couple of months. It’s lightweight so is perfect for layering under dresses but because it is from Long Tall Sally it has plenty of length in the body so is fab over jeans or a skirt too. I love the little ‘puff’ detail on the shoulders and the sleeves are so long that they come down over my hands, and there’s nothing that makes you feel cosier in a sweater than pulling the sleeves down over your hands.

Outfit: Pink Tuesday



Sticking with the pink theme today (I couldn’t be bothered to change over my bag and you know how I like to match!).

Pink wool v neck sweater – Gap
Black shirt – Lee (Luxuriously Tall)
Black & white tweed skirt – charity shop
Black tights – George at ASDA
Pink shoes – Faith