Argh, it's all gone mad!

I abandoned my wee blog for ages, but then just today I thought I'd add to it again, cause I quite like writing it, actually, so here goes...

First of all, bloody Blogger has gone and changed everything so it took me ages to figure out how to even get in to write a new post.  And in other changes: I have a new job - I'm working in the Corinthian Club in Glasgow and *drumroll please* I'm going back to Uni this September.  I'm going to be doing the LLB (Graduate) degree in Law.  So I can do it in 2 years instead of three for the heart-stopping sum of £6,500 a year - that's at Strathclyde where I eventually had to accept.  I wanted to accept Edinburgh but they put their fees up to £8,750 a year, which was, frankly, well out of my range.  So, Strathclyde it is, and actually I'm pretty excited about it, though I'm not sure anyone else can tell.  

I'm off to Italy next week to visit the flame-haired dynamo ED who has been living on-and-off in Sicily for about 9 months.  I'm flying through London (7 hour wait in Luton, snore) and back through Pisa (one hour connection time, mad dash from Arrivals straight back into Departures and Security) and I've made it so I get 7 full days in Sicily with the two days travelling tacked on either end.  I'm uber excited and already have several lists of things to pack.  I'm not taking a suitcase, 'cause it would have cost me an extra £60 (screw you, Ryanair), so I need to pack smart and think of things I can double up into at least 2 outfits.  I'm also trying not to buy anything new, because I already have loads of summery clothes that I don't get to wear enough, but the one thing I do really want are a pair of sequined shorts (I say shorts; they're not much more than giant knickers) that I've seen on Asos.  The problem is, the colour I want is the cheapest but sold out in my size, so I don't know if I should go for a different colour instead or kid myself into thinking I can get into the smaller size.  I think, of all things you don't want to be wearing too tight, an unforgiving, tiny pair of shorts is about top of the list, so I might have to forgo the lovely navy and go for black instead.

I need to decide today, really, so they arrive in time for me leaving on Tuesday.  Last time I was going away to Tenerife, I couldn't find my bikini, so I bought one on Asos the day before I left and forked out for their enxt delivery and hoped for the best.  They turned up just in the nick of time, and all was well.  So I have faith in the Asos delivery system, at least!

Tomorrow is my mum's birthday, so I've booked us all a table in Brown's to go for breakfast en famille, and then we're hitting the Swarovski shop to buy her a ring she likes.  So far so good, except my dad still hasn't got her anything and seems to have no idea what to go for, so I'm now racking my brains to try and think of something else that he can get for her.  This happens every damn year, and I'm pretty fed up of it!  If anyone has any genius ideas for a mum-worthy gift, please send them my way before the shops shut tonight...

Happy Feet!

New shoes!  Hurray!

Anyone that knows me will know that my accessory obsession is scarves, not shoes.  But sometimes I see a pair of shoes so amazing that I fall in love with them, and I'm happy to report that le Wardrobe de Clara has a new favourite addition, bought today for the uber reasonable price of £10!  They weren't even on sale, that was actually just the price, I couldn't believe it.  They're by a brand called Ella London, and though each one has a slight mark on the front strap (I asked the shop assistant and she said they were all like that) I loved them anyway.

I saw these shoes in a shop window last week and thought they were awesome (and then I saw the price tag, and realised they really were awesome...) but the shop was closed and then with all the rain last week I forgot about them, I was more worried about the state of my wellies.

But today the sun is shining, I ventured out in a cardie and light dress (no tights), and as I sauntered through Royal Exchange Square I suddenly remembered these shoes.  They weren't in the window any more but I went inside and found them, and promptly tried them on.  They looked like they would be a bit big but once they're all done up they fit perfectly. (It's really not fair - for such a short person, I have surprisingly big feet.)

So, of course, I bought them.  They are now my new summer shoes and I intend to wear them with everything, every day that the sun shines from now until forever...

Check 'em out:

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?

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!

Shopping with KM

Ooooft, I'm tired.

Yesterday I spent nigh-on the entire day in my bed, watching make-up clips 'n' tips from Lisa Eldridge.  I discovered some new ones that I hadn't seen before and revisited a few classics.  The reason for this uber laziness was KM and her rockin' party.  My dad very kindly went out to buy me straws (glitter lips had to remain in tact throughout Cava and punch drinking, and thus required straws) and bought me a bottle of the ole Cava to take up with me.  So when we arrived we tanked that and discovered the cheese board, which me & ED quickly scarfed before anyone else could get a look in.  Then we had KM's punch, which really did, er, pack a punch (badoom-TCHSH!) and then ED very kindly shared his posh grapefruit vodka and M&S lemon juice.  Met some lovely peeps, had a good bit of chat and admired in awe, KM's new flat which is really rather lovely.  She does have one of those mad canopy beds though - like a double-sized bunk-bed with no bottom part.  I must admit I slightly worry for her safety and await the day I get a text message from her in A&E with a concussion, having drunkenly missed a step on the ladder on the way for a mid-night pee.  So far, though, she's been OK.

I left my cardi at her flat so we met up today so I could get it back for my hols, and then we had a very nice day.  Went for lunch in a wee coffee shop in the West End where we had lentil soup and shared a plate of basil-tastic bruschetta, and then... what else? We hit the shops.  I got some toiletries from Boots and we went into that houseware/junk shop Townhouse, where we spent a happy hour or so browsing the junk and picking up some gems for KM's pad.  Then we went to that wee Moroccan (I think it's Moroccan) shop on Argyle Street and were having a happy nosy about when - joy of joys! - I saw a black turban hat slung on top of a row of jewellery hooks.  Now, anyone who has ever listened to my fashion-obsessive chatter for long will know that I've been searching for a wee stylish turban for a while, but to no avail.  The problem was that any I found were woolly, winter ones, or just cosy headbands which, for some reason, a lot of shops have taken to describing as turbans.  Things like this:





Nice though this may be, it is not a turban!




Liz T.  Now all I need are the diamonds to match.

 

So, anyway... as soon as I saw this lying there in the shop, I grabbed it and tried it on in joy.  It looks awesome, and it is actually exactly what I've been looking for; a bit Elizabeth Taylor, I like to think.  I decided that if it was under a fiver I would just buy it for myself.  So I skipped up to the desk and asked the price, and the guy told me that it was only 99p!  I flipped him a pound with a Cheshire grin and couldn't believe my luck.

The funny thing is, the way it was just lying there on top of a bunch of necklaces and earrings, and the fact that it was the only one in the shop, made us both think that maybe it wasn't really from that shop, and actually someone might have left it there while they tried something else on and then forgotten about it.  I think the guy working at the cash desk was just chancing his luck, selling it for a pound!  This suspicion was compounded when KM asked if he had any others and he very quickly replied (without so much as a glance at where I'd picked it up) "No, that's the last one."  The last one, or the only one, I wonder??

A very happy result for me today and I think I'll stick that on for travelling on Saturday because it's very lightweight and will be comfy for keeping my hair off my face, which is my pet hate.  Although I'm sort of growing my hair out at the moment (more out of indecision and apathy than anything else), it drives me mad when it's hanging in my face or on my neck, so I'm always tying it up or sticking a hat, scarf, or turban, on to get it out the way.  I'm sure it won't be long til I get it all chopped off again.  But in the meantime I'll wear my fabulous turban with joyous style and pizazz!