Saturday 17 March 2012

Dress dilemma - solved?

So. I haven't abandoned the pink possibilities for next month's wedding. I still have two dresses that have serious potential.

But...

I impulse purchased.

And then I went back the next day and impulse purchased a jacket to match.

This was the end result:



The dress and the jacket are both Forever 21 bargains. The shoes I bought last year for a potential wedding, and then never wore, and the bag is just Accessorize.

Do we like?

Friday 9 March 2012

Nostalgia-fest 2012

When I go back to Engerland in a few weeks' time, as well as going to my amazing friend J's wedding, I'm going to be spending a few days in one of my favourite old stomping grounds.

Lantic Bay - image from here

Every year, from when I was eight to 13, my family shipped out, overfilled the car and headed to the south coast of Cornwall for a week. We always stayed in the same cottage, in the teeny seaside village of Polruan.

This year, we're upgrading the cottage a little bit (the old one was '70's-tastic in its decor, and boasted hundreds of slightly damp old comics and annuals from the 1950s and '60s in a cupboard in my bedroom. This one is a lot more shabby chic, as opposed to, well, shabby). But we're going to be in the same village, and I have some nostalgia-inducing plans to:

 - Walk along the cliffs to Lantic Bay, clamber down the super-steep path to the beach, and eat a picnic

 - Catch the tiny ferry across the estuary from Polruan to Fowey, where I'm going to go to the gemstone shop (it's possible I might have outgrown my love for some semi-precious metals, but definitely not fool's gold)

 - Eat fish and chips one-handed, while fending off vicious feral seagulls with the other hand

 - Head to the local pub and eat a banana split. With a sparkler in it. What do you mean, they stopped serving banana splits in restaurants when the '90s ceased to be? Not in Cornwall! At least I hope not...

 - Re-read my Daphne du Maurier stash - Rebecca and The Loving Spirit in particular. This is du Maurier country, dontchaknow.

The only downside is that le famille will be incomplete - baby bro is touring a Spanish town with his university hockey team that week, carousing and competing and doing god knows what else.

This makes me sad, as I have very clear memories of said baby bro getting up at 6am to press his little snub nose to the window of our holiday cottage, shouting 'boat!', 'boat!', 'boat!' repeatedly, in the days when he was in actual fact my baby bro, and not a hulking great 20-year-old hockey playing student.

But still, fun times ahead - I'm just praying for good weather!

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Dress dilemma

In precisely one month two of my loveliest friends are getting hitched - and I'm going to be there!

Which is, clearly, awesome news of the awesomest variety. To say I'm excited would be something of an understatement. There's just one thing - I don't have anything to wear...

Usually the hunt for a dress for these things begins months in advance (actually I'm not sure that's the best idea, I seem to end up buying three different dresses, or still end up frantically scouring the high street for accessories the day before the wedding) but this time around I booked my flights and decided to fly back at pretty short notice.

So. I adopted an equally foolish strategy - start the outfit with a bag. Not just any bag, a very lovely birthday present bag.


Isn't she purdy? From Accessorize

I don't wear cream or nude (it makes me look all pink and blotchy, plus it's a wedding, white is kinda off the table!). Black is no fun. And the bridesmaids at this gorgeous spring wedding are going to be in yellow. So that leaves either pink or a kind of dusky lilac.

Weather-wise, early April in Eastern England could mean pretty much anything, so I need a dress that can be worn with or without tights.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the options:

Option A. A big fat rip-off of one of my favourite Topshop dresses of the past year or so - Topshop did not oblige me by having any pink versions in stock (how selfish), but I'm hoping this could have potential, as long as the colour isn't too candy pink.


Coral shift dress, Missguided

Option B: Looks just fine on the skinny, leggy, model person - we shall see how it works on me. But I like the colour a lot. And I could imagine it working well with a chunky statement necklace.

Mini tulip dress, ASOS

Option C: Doesn't necessarily look like much in the photo, but I've seen other pics of actual, real-life, non-6ft tall people wearing it, and the angles of the shoulder and neckline, and the simple shape looked pretty cool.

Straight-cut dress, Mango

Anyone have a favourite? Or any better options? I can't, in all honesty, say I'm 100% sold on any of these yet, but A and B are on order, so I'll see how they fit when they get here...

Sunday 4 March 2012

Sunday

Sunday was my only day off this weekend, and I'm not going to lie, it really didn't start very well. Urgent action was required to resuscitate my mood and salvage my weekend, so I adopted a multi-stage plan.

1. Food/music/sunshine

I took a little drive through Laurel Canyon, along narrow, windy, shaded little roads, with Neil Young providing my soundtrack, to an underground pop-up marketplace selling all manner of yummy foods.

Macaroons: A birthday present, if I can resist eating them myself...


Pretty packaging

2. Retail therapy on a budget

On a boring errand-based trip to Target I couldn't resist this $8 vest - I think it has a message (to clarify, not a horrid tacky actual slogan, an unspoken message) - spring is here!



I'm thinking tan sandals, jeans, or even shorts if I'm feeling brave, maybe some coral nail varnish (see below) and this, and I'm all set for a sunny day.

3. Pampering

I've been on a bit of a nail-painting spree recently, but this time I was bored with all my usual colours, so I layered dark, grape red/purple with Miss Piggy glittah. Adult? Possibly not. Happiness-inducing? Mos def.

Pretty nails, pretty cup, it's just a shame about the chipolata fingers...