I'm back!

Once again, I've let my blog go and haven't written anything for far too long.  I had to blow away the cobwebs when I signed in today.

Anyway, October is shaping up to be quite an awesome month: I've joined a band, Martha and the Moodies, and played one gig already, with another tomorrow.  I'm going to see The Pierces play in ABC, who I love and am so excited about!  I also managed to get a ticket to see Lykke Li after her previously cancelled gig was re-scheduled in a bigger venue, so huzzah for that!  And, of course, it's nearly Hallowe'en time.  I'm not usually too fussed by Hallowe'en - I've always preferred Guy Fawkes night - but for some reason this year I decided on my costume well in advance and have been looking forward to it for a while now.

I'm going to go as a pirate, but not one of those lame, sexy girly pirates you get if you look up 'women pirate costume' in Google images (go on, try it, you'll see what I mean) - I'm going to be an androgynous swashbuckling pirate, with both a beard and plenty of eyeliner.  Awesome.  My new boots from Tenerife will come in very handy for this, I think!

In other news, I've recently been made the Regional Organiser for UK Feminista, along with my amiga Hazel from GFN.  So far we don't really know what we'll be doing but I think it will involve a fundraising event so keep your eyes peeled for that, there will be no excuse good enough for not being there!

The horrible weather has officially set in here in Glasgow, with terrible rain, drizzle, gale-force winds and general dreichness every day.  Not nice.  I heard a rumour that it was to snow in October - although this would be a bit early and would cause untold disruption again, I'd still rather have snow than rain.

With this in mind, I'm trying to squeeze in wears of my fave clothes that will just not be suitable for winter.  So for The Pierces' gig I'll be wearing my incredible star-print maxi dress:



I also have the lovely camel jacket from H&M which I think can safely be layered over jumpers on a cold day, though maybe not a rainy day cause it'll get spotted and marked.  And then when the cold weather really kicks in it'll be full steam ahead for the fluffy Russian-style hat that I got for £1 in a charity shop last year.  It's incredible and I feel like Miss Saigon when I wear it.  With that hat on my head, all I need is a vodka to hand and I'm pretty sure I'd be right at home in Moscow.

Here's a pic of me in the hat last winter in Spain.  I don't always wear the sunglasses, too, but I'm sure you can still appreciate it!

New clothes, a series of pics

Here are a few pics of the new stuff I was talking about in my last post.

First up, here are my new black wellies from Boohoo.  I bought these after my purple wellies got small cracks in them and started letting in water.  It had been raining hard so I thought new wellies were a good shout.  Since I bought them, naturally, it hasn't rained since.  Still, I guess you never know when you're going to need them again, and they were only £15, so not bank-breaking. 

I went for black ones this time because, although I loved the colour of my old blue ones, they were a bit 'comedy' whereas the black ones look more like normal boots, so they will go with everything.  Anyway, here they are:

At the GFN meeting I got some new skirts at the clothes-swap and then I found a nice stripy t-shirt (which, I've since been informed, was my dad's - now it's mine) which I paired with it.  So here's a wee pic of them, too:

And then, to top off the totally unneccessary wordrobe expanision, I popped into Primark and got myself a wee pair of nautical ballerinas, and a lovely brown satchel.



Stripy shoes, Primark

  

And, last but not least, the bag:



New satchel bag

So there you have it peeps, all that lot for under £25. 

Who says you can't be skint and still look good?

Monday, Monday

Even when you're not working, Monday's are a bit crap.  For some reason I woke up in a bit of a bad mood this morning and it hasn't really gone away all day.  I think I'm just tired; even though I was knackered yesterday I couldn't sleep til about 2am and then I was up at 8 to go to my volunteering at the Glasgow YWCA.  So, early night tonight, I guess.

I applied for a job at Glasgow airport, so I'm really hoping I get an interview for that, cross your collective fingers, please!  The closing date for applications is the 1st April, so I guess I'll have to be patient. Hmm.

On the way home from the YWCA this morning I bought a nice wee bag, and a pair of shoes from (shhhhh!) Primark.  I don't usually buy anything in Primark cause the stuff is such bad quality and everyone wears the same things, but I did see a wee satchel-bag that I really liked so I went in and bought it, and I saw a nice wee pair of Nautical-style ballet pumps so I bought them too.  I'll take some pics and post them here, whenever I get around to it!

I'm loving all things striped at the mo' - I found a tshirt in my room that wasn't mine (maybe my dad's or my brother's) but it's white with narrow navy stripes and it fits! So... it's mine now! Score.

It's been a good few days for cheap clothing gains.  We had the Glasgow Feminist Network funday on Saturday and part of what we organised was a clothes swap - there was just a table with a mountain of clothes that people had brought along and you could rummage through and help yourself. I got two skirts and a dress, love it!  I'll post pics of them, too.  I'm wearing one of the skirts today but I discovered (after leaving the house, of course) that the zip is a bit unreliable, it keeps falling down! I think a wee pin will be enough to sort it out, so I'll keep the skirt.  It's a lovely green shade with black graphic roses printed on.  It's quite short and it has pockets. I love skirts with pockets for some reason! I guess I just love being able to slouch my hands in my pockets as if it were a pair of jeans... but actually it's a pretty skirt. Best of both worlds.

We also watched t he animated film Persepolis and it was great, I'd really recommend it to anyone, and I'd like to see it again.  It's about a wee girl growing up in Iran during the time of the revolution and war, and then life there afterwards, but there are some funny bits and the animation is so lovely.  It also has a sweet soundtrack!

Tomorrow is *sigh* jobcentre day.  This last week has been slightly better on the job-searching front, I suppose, I've found a few decent-sounding jobs that I think I have a good shot at, so I've gone for those.  And I've found some really crap sounding ones that I can do so I've gone for them too. 

Lisa and Emma, in Valencia

I think at the end of May I'm going on holiday to Valencia, so I totally can't wait for that.  The flights are uber cheap so, Spanish air strikes not included, it should be good!  I'm hoping to get just over a week there, and I'll be staying with Lisa and/or Emma, so it'll be party and beach central!



Bakewell Tart

In very happy news, the lovely MM is out of hospital in London and will hopefully be heading back home very soon!  I think I'll bake a cake for the occasion.  Lemon drizzle cake, and coffee cake have been requested so I'll see what I can do.  One of the woman at the GFN meeting said that my baking was 'wonderful' - she was talking about my Bakewell tart (if you're interested in the recipe, you can get it here) before she knew it was mine.  Talk about chuffed!  She said I should do it professionally.  Well... I dunno about that but I'm still happy to give some new ones a go!

My wonderful friend KH

...just got a new job, so hearty congrats going her way.  Sounds like a much better job plus a humongous (how do you spell that?  Is it possible to mis-spell a word that doesn't actually exist?) pay-rise and more holidays.  KH always provides a couch for me to crash on when I go to London, and she also does a great line in tanking bottles of red wine and then marching (drunkenly) out without paying for them.  What more can you ask for in a best friend, than someone who also loses to track of what you've paid for already and what you haven't?

Anyway, I'm very chuffed for her, and whenever I hear success stories like this I start thinking again about post-grads, masters, second degrees etc etc etc.  Can't say the current climate really does much fr the confidence but even so.  Case in point is Glasgow Uni who are currently in the process of savagely obliterating their language departments in order to spend millions on new computer systems and encourage higher-fee-paying oversees students to do business courses.  On the cut list are:  Russian, Polish, Czech, Portuguese and Catalan.  These are all the kind of more unusual languages which are taught in very few unis across the UK so they actually attract students, and cutting them makes no sense at all.  It's all just going down the tubes.

Day off tomorrow, and I'm meeting my Auntie C for a coffee and then I think I'll go to the west end and buy the dress from the shop (not hanging about though!) and then see if I can get an appointment to get my hair cut.  I think I'm going to leave the length but get a chunky fringe cut in.  I had one a couple of years ago in Valencia and I saw a pic of myself recently and remembered that I quite liked it!

I have a voucher to get £10 off a haircut, plus another fiver if you book online, so it'll come out at about £18, which is pretty good.

Oh, for anyone who's interested, Waterstone's have a deal on modern day Penguin Classics at the moment.  Books of short stories are £3 each and 3 for the price of 2.  They had Virginia Woolf, Camus, Kipling, Hans Fallada, and loads more so worth popping in if you're looking for something to read! 

I also got an amazing voucher deal for the Body Shop last night - buying the £12 voucher gets you £30 to spend in store.  Think I'll stock up on some moisturisers and things that are normally too pricey for me!  The wondrous Beauty blogger RJ hooked me up with this one.  I'd highly recommend her blog for all sorts of barginous make-up stuffs!

Oh yeah, I also have to make some cake and biscuits for the Glasgow Feminist Network meeting on Saturday.  There's an awesome blogger called The Caked Crusader, and it was her Bakewell tart recipe that I found, and it's always a big hit, so I think I'll make that again and maybe one other cake, I'll have a look on her  page and see what else she can recommend that looks easy and doesn't need any weird ingredients!

Aahhh, cake.  There's something very satisfying about baking.  When it goes well.  When it looks like it's going wrong it's quite stressful, but I've loads of time to do it tomorrow so I'm sure they'll turn out fine and tasty!

The '70s Are Back.

...Again.  Except this time they're really back.  This can mean several things for S/S 2011. 



Emilio Pucci. 
Sponsored by Colman's.



1)  Camel and mustard items will probably be re-appearing on the high-street.  Be warned:  utmost care is required when plumping for 'mustard', as one wrong jacket/skirt/dress can leave you looking... well, like a jar of Colman's.  Unfortunately, 'mustard' is the colour that most resembles the food it was actually named for. 

(For a slightly safer bet, you could go for the easier shade of 'camel'.  I've yet to see someone in a camel jacket that actually looked like a camel.)





Chanel Resort
2011 Collection



2)  Maxi dresses will be resurfacing.  Done well, they look like this, as at Chanel's S/S show in St Tropez.  The 'catwalk' is a promenade, the models arrived by speedboat, and no-one looks like a parachute their maxi dress.

Shoes in hand, neon toe-nails, floaty flowery goodness and wind-ruffled hair.  Like I said, that's when it's done well.  When it's done badly... think back to walking down Buchanan Street the year maxi dresses really hit the high street. 

There's plenty more of that to come this year. Sorry.

Marc Jacobs Spring 2011

3)  Big hats are where it's at.  Forget trilbies, cloches, pork pie hats and *gasp* turbans (Never!), this summer is all about the floppy, wide-brimmed hat.  If you've a wedding to go in summer, remember: more is more, and a big hat can never be too big.  I have a black floppy hat that was a late Xmas present from the ever-styletastic KM, so now is the summer it comes into it's own!



Christopher Kane
Spring 2011



4)  The times of neutrals and nudes has run it's course, and - from one extreme to another - we've moved onto neons.  If you're not brave enough (stupid enough?) to try a full outfit of neon, this one is easily done by painting your nails a fluoro colour, or by choosing bags, belts, and tights that give it a fashion-savvy nod without looking like this (right).  A look that was Christened 'Princess Margaret on acid', by the designer. 

Enough said.

"Half a pound of tuppeny rice...

...Half a pound of treacle/That's the way the money goes/POP! goes the weasel."

Remember that nursery rhyme? 

Today I was meeting KM for A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Oran Mor, and last night when I couldn't sleep I was trying to decide on what to wear.  Then, as I flipped through the pages of Glamour, I hit on the fashion/style section which was devoted to colour pop, and the decision was made.  I'm not sure what the difference between Colour Blocking, and Colour POPping is and, to be perfectly honest, I suspect it might be a bit like the ASBO and the new CBO (but shhhhhhhh!  I'm really just a ASBO with a new name!).

I deleted the good photo by accident,
this one will have to do, sans hairband.

Anyway, I suddenly remembered my canary yellow mini-dress (or is it a long t-shirt?), dug out three cardis, in various shades of the same colour (!), my jewel-blue headband, and fretted over what shoes to wear.  Ballet flats?  But my black ones have a hole in the sole and need repaired.  Gold ones? But that would detract from the zing of the dress.  Wellies?  Too clumpy, and what if it's not raining?

Then, like a bolt from the blue it hit me: my brogues, of course!  Hurray for brogues, and patent ones at that.  So my colour-tastic, style bonanza slotted together and I've had a spring in my step all day long.

 

When In doubt, Wear a Cape

This is my new motto, to go along with the one I already have:  When in doubt, wear a hat.

I took my lush, green yaks'-wool shawl (bought a few years ago in the Himalayan market in Byres Road) to Tenerife and wore it almost every night.  It's so cosy and soft and warm, that it was perfect for slinging on over everything. (Except, as I discovered, a mini-skirt.  The furry gillet came into play that night.) 

Wrapped round the shoulders and fastened with a glittery brooch to keep it in place et voila!  No need for any hassle or fuss.  Warm, elegant, stylish and cosy.  Yes, the multi-tasking shawl is everything you need, and want, in a cover-up. 

For Scottish-winter use, I recommend wearing it over a couple of layers: vest top, jumper etc, and you can even stick a wee scarf round your neck if you'll be feeling the chill.  Go for a small, discreet scarf though, because if you wear anything long/woolly/brightly coloured you'll end up being all scarfy-fringey-action and look like you're channelling the Mental Boho Look.  And not in a good way.

If you're lucky enough to have a turban as wonderful as mine, you might as well stick that on with it, too.

Back To Reality

That's us back in Glasgow now, after an all-too-short holiday, and I actually cannot believe the weather!  We arrived in Prestwick to gale force winds and rain, and when we got home we realised that the garden fence had been blown down!

Had a long lie today and then went to the gym and did a punishing 70 mins of cardio, plus some weights and my TA arms routine.  Feel it!  Came home (soaked to the bone, thanks rain) and made a pot of soup.  So hopefully that's lunch for the next week sorted!

I got some nice new things in Tenerife: a Lancome Colour Fever Shine lipstick, in a lush nude/apricot shade; a leopard-print mini dress, which has already catapulted it's way to the Favourite Dresses list; a set of pink toned fresh water pearls, and a snazzy purple bikini. (Looked good, didn't hold up so well when swimming.  Nearly had to dive to the pool floor to retrieve my pants...Luckily I have fast reflexes and I caught them about knee-height.)  I'll post some pics once I've got them onto my laptop.

I've decided that taking your laptop on holiday is just not worth it.  Not only is it heavy, and you have to take it out at airport security (and then get a huge electric shock when you pick it up on it's way out the X-Ray machine!), but I only used it for 10 mins each morning for my arm exercises, and then 1 hour of overpriced Internet surfing.  Never again.

Can't say I'm thrilled to be back.  When I was over there I started to really miss being in Valencia, probably more than I've missed it since I moved back to Glasgow.  And I'm finding it quite hard to shake that feeling at the moment.  Crap weather and unemployment don't help, but I know if I did go back to Spain (and I'm making no plans to in the near future) there would be loads of things I'd miss from here, too.

I think it's just easy to stick on the ol' rose-tinted specs and forget about all the crap stuff that was mixed in with the good.  And, to be honest, if you were to weigh it all up, you might even say the bad outweighed the good, at least in the first year I was there.  So, must focus on enjoying being back here!

Really looking forward to the yoga classes I've signed up to with KM.  Not sure when they start, but I think you can go from next week onwards, and take the block of ten anytime you like over the next year.  So, maybe we'll make it once a week or something.

Speaking of KM, I saw something advertised in a magazine this week that I'm going to get for her birthday.  Annoyingly, I can't say what it is, in case she reads this, but after her birthday I'll post something about it, I'm sure most of you will appreciate it!

Turban thief

Just got a voicemail from the lovely KM, who informed me that she'd just been into Topshop and seen my new turban on sale there for £12!  So, it looks like someone really did just accidentally leave their's in that Moroccan shop and the shopkeeper was an immoral bastard for making a quick profit on it!  Can't say I'm too bothered, to be honest - I'm actually more chuffed that I got it so cheap!  Does that make me a bad person?  I don't care.  The only other thing I've got like that is a white scarf I got in Granada, years ago when I was doing my Erasmus year.  I was in a cyber cafe and it was lying on the table next to mine.  I was there for over 2 hours an no-one came back to get it, so I took it.  Still have it, and still like it!

Went out for lunch with granny again today, we just went to the pub near my house, so I had a tasty bean burger and onion rings.  Tasty but smelly; much like the celebrated oysters!  I'm about half packed for Tenerife now so I reckon I'll just do the rest this evening.  Have to wash some undercrackers etc but other than that I'm ready to go.

Oh yeah, my trews from la Redoute arrived and they're very nice.  Quite silky, which I wasn't expecting (I thought they'd be cotton), but very comfy.  So I'll wear them on the plane with my granny's (now mine) leopard print gillet and my gold sequined ballet flats. Comfort personified! 

My gold shoes were also high on the bargin scale - when I was in Switzerland visiting JB we went down to Nice for the day, but we had a stand-by ticket for the plane (JB works for Swiss Air), and apparently they're quite strict about the dress code when they're letting you on the plane.  I was wearing flip-flops which are a no-no, so I jumped into a shoe shop in the airport (the day-trip to nice was a surprise, that's why I wasn't prepared) and got these lovely pale gold sequined shoes for about £15 francs. 

I can't remember what that works out as in pounds, but regardless, 15 francs is almost nothing in Switzerland.  To put it into perspective, a bottle of hair spray could easily be 6-7 francs, and I didn't see any other pairs of shoes at less than 30!  Anyway, they're uber comfy and lovely, and I've worn them almost to death.  These are the kind of shoes to get resoled in a cobblers, rather than admit defeat and ever throw them away!

The Age-Old Question:

What Am I Going To Wear?

Yup, tonight is party night and I'm having a dilemma.  Those of you who are regular readers will know that I've decided on the pink! lipstick look, but I still can't decide what to wear.  Going naked is not, apparently, an option.

So my choices are:

1 (a) black strapless jumpsuit* with nude heels, purple neck-scarf, and black feather hairband.

1 (b) black strapless jumpsuit,  with nude heels and black sparkly cape.

2 This new skirt my mum dug out of her wardrobe and was about to throw out, before I claimed it.  It's midi-length, nude, and covered in silver sequins and looks very 1920s.  I would wear that with a black scoop necked tshirt, I think.

The outfit I go for determines the way I do my hair because if I go for the feather hair band then I'll scrape it back and straighten it, otherwise I'll leave it curly.  Ahh, dilemmas, dilemmas...  What to do?

*not my lush new one, because I'm saving that for my hols, and even though it's machine washable, I've already had to wash it once and I don't want to do it any more than I have to.