The bargain boots come out to play!

The bargain boots of a coupla posts ago (£20 down from £215 in Urban Outfitters - I never get fed up saying it), came out with me to see Harry Potter last week. They were very excited. Especially as I had a coupon thing for the posh seats at an Edinburgh cinema and you get a big squishy leather couch and foot stools! Amazing! So comfy, I actually took the boots off for the film.

Shirt and dress: H&M, boots: Urban Outfitters, Hairband: San Francisco (yup, I bought it from the WHOLE city), necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK.

In spite of how it appears, I'm not actually asleep. Although it was a late one the night before after hours of sunshine drinking so I was very sleepy. However, I stayed awake all the way through Haz-Po (as I see Heat Magazine are calling Harry Potter. Don't judge me - sometimes I treat myself to Heat when I'm travelling.) and I enjoyed it very much, though it was less emotionally wrenching than the previous film. It was also better than Bridesmaids which I saw last week too - has anyone else seen it and can't figure out what the fuss is about? They drop the 'c' bomb and some chick shits in the road so all of a sudden it isn't a cliched chick flick? At this point I'd like to say that I usually LOVE a cliched chick flick but this just didn't do it for me.

 

Back to the boots, pair number 65 in the shoe wearing challenge, which have since been to work with me too so they're down to a tenner a wear so far. Not too shabby. Sometimes cost per wear really does make sense. For example, I have a Warehouse leopard cardi that cost about £45 - waaaay more than I'd normally pay for a cardigan but I loved it so much I treated myself and it's now so worn it's getting tatty and has holey armpits but, lordy, have I had good cost per wear usage so far! Anyway, I feel these boots are definitely going to work out to be a winner in the fash maths stakes!

That's all for this evening folks!

Longest day of the year, my arse.

It's little after 3pm and I have the lamp on cause it's so dull in my living room. Which is on the top floor of a tenement and usually flooded with light. (Did I ever tell you I love my house? It's awesome). Welcome to Summer Solstice in Scotland! Jeeeeeezuz!

So, to cheer myself up, I thought I'd whack up an outfit post from a night at the pub a coupla weeks ago. I say the pub: we did actually go for dinner rather than just boozes. Cos one is most posh, y'know? As you can probably tell from my too short, too tight get up:

Shoes: Schuh, Leggings and 'dress': Uniqlo, shirt: Primark, necklace: Lady Luck Rules ok, Skank attitude: The 80s.

Fuck yeah! In your face! At times like this, I'm glad of my ample thighs and behind. It just gives everything a bit more shape and interest, I think. The look I was going for here was slight 80's skank (short, tight, high heels), but grunged up and casualled down a bit with messy hair and a checked shirt. And no skank would be complete without a slash of red lippie. Am I right? Speaking of which, I treated myself (at Duty Free) to MACs Morange lipstick. It's bright orange! I've been coveting it for ages but didn't buy it, first because of fear of the colour, then because I became convinced I could find a cheaper alternative. I couldn't. It's a-may-zing. With a 'y'.

And so to the shoes. Embarrassingly, I haven't mentioned the shoe wearing challenge since my post of the 8th of May! For shame! And, in that, I was likening my weekend wear to that of a bag lady. For those who haven't heard me bang on about it (hello those!), the shoe wearing challenge is a bit of a use it or lose it approach to my massimo shoe closet. I have a year (ending in August) to wear all my shoes (not including all my Havaianas and rubber flip flops because a) who wants to see that over and over and b) did you not READ the first paragraph? I'm in S-C-O-T-L-A-N-D  and all the weather cliches are TRUE!). Those that aren't worn get sold, donated or chucked. I introduced you to this pair from Schuh a coupla posts back but they were just on the floor. Now they're on the floor and being worn! I give you, pair of shoes # 60!

Looooooook! The heel is so sparkly! Looooooooook! The suede is so soft and purple! The platform is so glorious, the heel is so deliciously chunky, they're GORGEOUS! And I'll let you into a secret. I can barely walk in them! Seriously - my 80's skank was verging on 80s bad tranny. Oh dear...

A vintage dress goes to a wedding

It didn't go on it's own, of course. I wore it. To my cousin's wedding. I didn't wear it with the crappy hair. Truth be told, I didn't actually get an outfit shot on the night so I recreated the full outfit, retrospectively, for your pleasure. And because I'm wearing shoes #58 for the first time since I started the challenge and I may not wear them again (who knows), so I HAD to get the shot! They're blue suede Schuhs. Uh, huh, huh!

Big platform? Check. Towering heel? Check. Peep toe? Check. It's looking good so far. The colour's more vibrant then either picture suggests and the suede is buttery soft. Buttery. In fact, I can't believe it's not butter. I tried rubbing them on my toast one time but it didn't taste so good. The finisher is the tres gorge metallic leather bow. Really - these shoes are absolutely cracking - they're just not that feasible as every day wear.

I probably shouldn't draw your attention to this but it kinds looks like I have really bad sock marks in this one - haha!

Here it all is, complete with the aforementioned bad hair (it's pinned back a lot these days - it's getting a bit long and I swear all the sweat from all the exercise I'm doing is giving me spots, so I'm trying to keep my hair off my face so as not to make it worse. Any spot busting tips gratefully received!) and sleepy expression.

Dress: vintage, Shoes: Schuh, tights: who knows? Necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK

I'd like to tell you that the necklace was some kind of romantic gift. In fact, let's say it was. It was to me with love from me. Isn't it cute! Plus, I can help singing along whenever I see it. "Baby I loooooove you, come on baby"

And so you're back!

From outer space! No not the start of a Gloria Gaynor fest (though, let's be honest, everyone loves crucifying a bit of the Gaynor on a karaoke. Who am I kidding, I'll happily murder anything on a karaoke, as evidenced by my recent Singstar episode. My friend cracked out Singstar Disney, I humphed about how it would be crap and I wouldn't know any of it. Five minutes later I'm wrestling the mic off anyone in my way and merrily wailing along to Walt's finest.), more a celebration of my return to blogging/blog reading after a hiatus. Of just over a week. It feels like ages though! Work is CRAZY right now (the company I work for turns 30 this year and we're organising lots of stuff to celebrate and it is keeping me SUPER busy. Sometimes my head's so far up my behind I'm afraid it might somehow come back out my mouth again.) and the last thing I want to do when I get home is switch on the computer. Plus, I've been totally being good at gym classing/swimming which has been eating my evenings.

Anyhoo, I am back and presenting, for your delection/indifference shoes #55 in my shoe wearing challenge, my shiny new Converse trainers.

They were a total BARGAIN off Branch309 (I've told you about them before - totes check 'em out!) and cost a mere £12! My old Cons - the classic white Ox - gave up their final ghost quite some time ago but I've been sort of living in denial and still have them (they're famous too so I'm loathe to get shot. These are my actual shoes in these articles!). The fabric is thread bear, the inside is held together with plasters and there are holes in the soles. Who woulda thunk it from one whose shoes are usually so lovely!? I'm actually thinking of doing a post on shoe death as I've had a few this year. It's traumatic, alright?

The red lining will stain white socks a bugger!

Anyway, I begrudge buying a new pair of white Oxes, partly because I love the old ones and I hate the breaking in process - both because they usually take a bit of breaking both comfort and looks wise - and partly because, working in shoes, I know that they're one of the bestselling shoes out there and, well, it's just a bit dull, isn't it. I guess dems the breaks with a classic, innit? Anyhoo, I figured 12 quid for this little starry pair in nice plain nautical primary colours wasn't a bad job and bingo, bango, they joined the shoe closet.

trainers: Converse @ Branch309 £12, dress: Matalan £14, cardi: Sainsbury's from local charity shop £3, necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK (bought ages ago)

Does anyone else think I look the tiniest bit like Jack Nicholson here? Heeeeeeeere's Llara! I thought I'd embrace the Americana of the trainers and wear them with frilly socks and a little dress. Why not, eh? I picked up the dress at the weekend on my first trip to Matalan in ages! It's cute (pretty flowers and a Peter Pan collar) and was fairly bargainous. Winner!

Lookee! Isn't the necklace adorable. I think I picked it up in a LLROK web clearance where you got £100 worth of stuff for £25. I was an actual fool for those things and ended up with all kinds of tat and duplicates as a result!

Anyway, here lie-eth my resolution to be well more regular on this baby so, with any luck, I'll see you soon!

I'm off to watch Coco before Chanel. Ooh, la la!

Thrift-ola!

Yay! Because I am excited. You may have seen me, in past posts, wearing jewelery from Lady Luck Rules OK. Or my post on the talks that Leona Baker, its founder, held across the land on the essentials of running a craft based business. The talks were great because they were interesting for both fans of the brand and would be craft entrepreneurs but also because they were so darn inspiring. I really came away feeling like I could achieve anything I set my mind to. Hmm, now what is it I want to do?

Sadly, Lady Luck Rules OK is no more. But, as the ol' saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining and the silver (probably mirrored perspex) lining on this one is that Leona has moved onto a new venture: Thrift-ola! Cute name, non? Thrift-ola is, in Leona's words "like your favourite flea market except you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn and spend hours seeking out the ace stuff – I’ve done that for you". Yup, it's an online treasure trove. Here are some of the goodies she's got ready to go!

SO embracing summer's colour blocking trend...

I don't even know where to begin!

Hands OFF the Babycham fawn girls - he's mine!

It looks like the summary of a "super fun second hand store bursting full o’ kooky kitchenalia, ace accessories, fun homewares, vintage books and oodles of insane bric-a-brac." is bang on. I don't know about you, but I am firmly in favour of insane bric-a-brac and will definitely be logging on to check out the Thrift-owares. Plus, Leona promises that "You won't have to bid on anything! You won’t fall victim to an over inflated 'vintage' price tag!".

Did anyone bring these funny little creatures back from holidays in their yoof?

Look at the rabbit cake on the book! I didn't spy it at first and nearly did a kitsch wee when I did!

There's also going to be a blog on site full of Leona's crafting hints and tips, which I am sure will be bursting with useful info on making, doing, mending and salvaging. If you want to check out any Thrift-ola shizz before the site goes live, you can check 'em out on Facebook and Twitter!

I feel a bookmark coming on.

black and white and red all over (my necklace)

So much for "when I'm off between Christmas and New Year, I'll be catching up on my blog reading and I'll be writing loads of posts". Hmm, best laid plans. So whilst it is regrettable that I haven't got all caught up on that front, I have actually been having a lovely week of catching up with friends, catching up with the gym and drinking wine, on top of wine, on top of wine. Note to self - don't turn up drunk for a haircut - it's just not classy. Luckily I knew what I wanted and have an awesome hairdresser. Still, I'm a bit embarrassed.

Anyway, this post is all about back to business! The business of shoes! I am STILL almost constantly in my DMs (seriously, I am investing in another pair of docs this year so I can at least rotate if the weather goes down the shitter is unpleasant again next year). However, before the weather kicked in and kicked my shoe wearing challenge in the jaxi, I wore this little pair of pumps. Chanel-o! They're shoes #43 and are from schuh.

They're quite classic for me - I tend to be attracted to the glittery, patterned and colourful but I do enjoy a nice piece of monochrome (well, it's kind of cream rather than white but, stop splitting hairs will you?!) on occasion. Plus, these have patent on them, a cute bow and they were a bargain, as I recall.

dress: H&M, cardi: New Look, shoes: schuh, necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK

Uh-oh! Greasy fringe syndrome! I'd just finished a shift at Lush so was a bit wiped out by the time I took this. I may have mentioned before, but one of the things I enjoy about Lush is that the 'uniform' is just your wee apron then black and white. So within the black and white restriction, you can wear anything and it's fun being creative inside that criteria. Plus, you can wear coloured accessories (jewellery, scarves, shoes, tights), so it's pretty endless really!

I love this dress! The skirt is just full enough (so often 50s style 'full skirted' dresses from the high street just don't have full enough skirts on them and they tend to cup an ample bum rather than skim it and accentuate the waist, so well done H&M!) and I like to think it's kinda flattering and a wee bit ladylike - get me! Plus, I'm always a sucker for a nice floral.

Lady Luck Rules OK officially did some of the most ace jewellery ever. Some of my favourites pieces came from them and I'm still sad that the company is no more. I like the fact that this necklace feels like the polar opposite of the demure, ladylike dress. By contrast, it's brightly coloured and the mirrored acrylic really catches the light. Yeah, it's awesome. And on that note, please do have an utterly swell New Year! Bye!

I'm goan catch me a bear - aar!!

It's the furry hat and checked shirt, innit. Something about them says that I'm gonna go catch a bear or wrestle a squirrel or something. My friend, after seeing my checked shirt on t'blog before, had a dream that I told her I only bought a checked shirt to try to bag a King of Leon (none in particular, just A King of Leon). Now, to my mind, this seems like a perfectly good reason to buy a checked shirt and I feel that if sales assistants used that line, more checked shirts would be sold the world over. However, I simply bought mine because a) I like it and, b) I'm apparently regressing back to my checked shirt and leggings wearing 14 year old self. These days I wear a dress too though as I no longer have my 14 year old self's thighs. Admittedly they were still on the ample side back then. Anyway, here's the bear catching look in all it's glory:

As you can see, there's also a definite bag lady vibe going down here too (a multi-faceted look, this one. Bag lady, bear hunter and, I'm putting it out there, I reckon I could walk onto your average trailer park and not an eyelid would be batted.). It's because it's been so FREAKIN' cold that I've needed the layerage.

T-shirt and (faux fur) hat: Primark

Denim dress: New Look

Shirt: H&M

Cardi: Toppers or Primark

Leggings: Uniqlo

Shoes: Topshop

Necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK

In the word of Chandler Bing, "Could I be wearing any more clothes?!"

Shoes # 36 are, as above, from Topshop. From about 3 years ago when their shoes suddenly got awesome but before they became almost entirely unaffordable. I feel head over heels (actually, I really have fallen off these shoes too and I did myself a proper ankle mischief. I had to cancel the gym and everyfink. Satan's minions at work.) in love with them on first sight. The grainy cream leather, the chunky wooden heel, the gorgeous frill up the front, the girlie styling. They're just dreamy. Dream-a-licious!

Take it to the max(i)

Yay! I'm back after my birthday hiatus. And, no, I'm not yet 30.  And I'm not well enough organised to have planned scheduled posts or anything while I was busy so, post last post, time simply ran away ahead of me and I'm just finding the time to blog now. However, I hope you'll agree this one was worth waiting for. Not because I've suddenly started taking amazing quality pictures. Or because this post is gonna be super funny. Or even because I wore the awesome giant leopard print wedges (though I do think you should spare a mo' to revel in their greatness). No, this post was worth the wait because I finally wore the gorgeous electric blue maxi dress I bought months ago from Miss Kitty Litter Vintage (which sadly closed down just after I bought the dress - I'm fairly sure it had nothing to do with me but who can ever really be certain?)

I wore it for my birthday night out to Electric Circus in Edinburgh. You walk in and you see a bar with some seating and a wee dance floor - it looks alright and on the cool side. However, the hidden cheesy genius of Electric Circus lies along the corridor off the dance floor. Seven rooms. Seven private karaoke rooms of varying sizes for between 4 and 50 people. Oh yes. I'm one of those losers who cannot help themselves when the karaoke cracks out and who gets more and more carried away and excited as the evening wears on. Therefore, this place was perfect for my wee party and, once you stopped smelling the sick-masked-with-bleach (mmm!) in the room, it was such fun! You program in the songs you want to sing and away you go. You even get waitress service to your room so you don't waste any singing/laughing time going to the bar. It's such fun! Plus after we finished with our room they had a wee indie nightclub going which suited me just fine.

Would you believe, this picture is from the END of the night and, if I do say so myself, I reckon I look in not bad nick, given the vigorous sweaty dancing I did and the fact that we walked most of the way home in the pissing rain (good old Scotland living right up to its weather stereotype).

Dress: Miss Kitty Litter Vintage, £12.50

Wedges: 20-ish quid from a saucy sounding shop on eBay

Belt: French Connection sale

Necklace: Lady Luck Rules OK

I'd decided the dress should be styled up in a Studio 54-esque disco style on account of the karaoke partying, which is why I went for the sparkly belt and wedges. There are a few reasons why I love this dress so much. I absolutely adore the colour. It's good for dressing up but I reckon it'll be cute with wooden/tan sandals and a tan belt in summer too. It was £12.50 and when it arrived it fit perfectly. How often does that happen when you buy something that's a good price and vaguely sized from a vintage site you've previously never heard of?! Almost never - that's how often. I reckon we all have plenty crappy eBay purchases to back that up. Plus, it's one of those items that, when you put it on, it's like it was made for you and it makes you feel awesome. And you gotta love a dress with that kind of power, right? I even looked graceful in it when I fell off my wedges on the dance floor (well I did in my head at least. In the same way that, dah-dah, dah-dah, I'm the greatest dancer). If you're gonna fall though, off your wedges on the dance floor seems to me to be a good way to do it. I must start being careful - I'm going to do myself a mischief with all this shoe falling off!

Here's the stag ring I wore. My very kind friend Lynsey, knowing my recent obsession with animal rings got me a set that included this little guy, a squirrel and a fox. Between them and my bunny ring, I'm one finger (or a thumb) away from a hand forest!

 

 

Before you go, I thought it seemed only fair, as blog pics are all too often all nice and posed, to share a pic of me maintaining my dignity while belting out a bit of Whitters. The moment was almost certainly topped by my rendition of the Jay Z section of Crazy in Love (seriously - that little Cher on X-Factor ain't got nuffink on my mad rapping skillz) but who can resist a bit of karaoke Whitney?

 

Lady Luck Rules OK. OK!?

Yay! The sun shone today and it didn't rain at all! (well, it's not yet 6pm so there's still time) And I headed up town for a talk by Lady Luck Rules OK's Leona Baker at the Hannah Zakari shop on Candlemaker Row. 

For such an exciting event, only gold lurex, leopard print and a silly 'ooh' face would possibly doodle-doo. Plus, holy-mary-mutha-of-tha-baby-jebus it's got freakin' cold of late and so today was finally the day that I re-busted out my ye-olde-faithful frilly bosom-ed knitted gold lurex dress. Much like leopard print, I believe gold lurex to be a staple wardrobe neutral and this dress is warm, comfy, sparkly and hides absolutely every degree of bloating. Plus, it has ruffles! If anyone knows anyone out there who has the black version and wants shot of it, I'll buy it (it's from H&M)! For anyone who hasn't had them rammed down their throat already (sorry), the boots are Clarks from schuh.

So, back to the day's events! For anyone who didn't come across Lady Luck Rules OK while it was still going, firstly, you can read about the company here, secondly, sad times for you! The brand brought us some of the cutest and kookiest pieces of the, er, noughties (sorry, forgive my momentary twat-sounding-ness there - I hate the phrase noughties.) and some of my absolute favourite pieces of jewellery came from the site. In fact, I'm geeked up enough that I got married in an awesome personalised LLROK necklace, so there's a bit of smooshy sentimental value in the brand for me too. Aw! (Brace yourselves, you're about to get a wee swatch [that's a Scottish word for 'look' BTW. As in "Geez a swatch ae yer new dress" which means "Ooh, may I please have a look at your new dress? Splendid"] of Mr Scribbler)

Picture by Nick Mailer www.fotonick.co.uk

Ooh, look at the pretty necklace!

Sadly, having decided she wasn't feeling the love for her subject anymore, Leona (who started the LLROK after success selling re-worked vintage pieces at London's Portobello market and, amazingly, didn't have a design, jewellery or business background pre market selling.) made the brave decision, late in 2009, to bring Lady Luck Rules OK to an end (it closed up after Valentine's day 2010). Here's a coupla sheets of some of their early designs:

Forgive the picture quality. Being the toppermost awesome blogger amateur that I am my camera battery was dead this morning so the pics are from my phone. Hopefully you get the gist of their early designs, which were bold and colourful and, at the risk of sounding twee, just a bit 'different' from other things out there at the time. Something I think remained true of the brand throughout it's time, in spite of the imitators.

So, being the apparent LLROK geek that I am, when I heard about Leona's talks I decided to go along for a few reasons. Firstly, out of sheer nosiness! I was curious to know what went into one of my favourite brands - more about how it came about, how it grew and why it ended. Secondly, for inspiration. Like many people, the idea of building a business by myself for myself has always appealed - I'm, er, just waiting for the right inspiration to strike. Hmm - we'll see. But I figured the talk really might throw up some valuable info and it did - there were loads of helpful tips and tidbits (what Leona feels she did right and wrong, advice on copyright and legals, trade fairs, PR and much more) in there for anyone looking to start up any kind of business, not just something craft based. Thirdly, I've dabbled in the odd crafty thing here and there (just for myself and friends) and I was really curious to understand a bit more of the 'making' side of the business and that aspect of the talk was fantastically interesting. I'm not gonna give away all the tips and secrets but it was really amazing to hear about how the various items were sourced and made and it was a great reminder that, in business, you can never overestimate the value of a bit of lateral thinking! Another thing I really took from today was a sense of possibility. The fact that Leona developed such a successful business without having any kind of background in the field just goes to show that with a bit of determination and imagination, you can do whatever you want. Unless you're a tone deaf weirdy type and your ambition is to win the X Factor. Reality check peeps.

Here's a wee bit more of the back-catalogue (the owl is one of my absolute favourite pieces!) and, excitingly, a picture of our hands making our own necklaces! Ooh!

And the finished article:

So all that remains to be said is that today was well worthwhile - interesting, entertaining and really, really informative too. I'm just excited to see what Leona does next. Whatever it is, I don't doubt she'll make a success of it.

Whatchoo mean my ankle's all Nora Batty?!

See that's the thing with tights - no matter what I do they go all Nora Batty at the ankle. And I find myself either nipping to the loo to hike them up or trying to discreetly tug them up under my desk. And, dear readers, I don't do discrete. My version of discreet pulling up involves hoiking and grunting and general inappropriate flashing - I tell thee - pretty it ain't!

Now here's the thing (well two things). I like to think that my tights don't look quite as criminal as poor old Nora, gawd bless 'er. However, unfortunately, due to Blogger being a GIANT DOUCHE, I can't update the one picture that shows my wrinkle-tastic ankle to its best effect. So you'll have to just take my word for it and assume I'm not trying to be coy or self deprecating. Douche. Anyway, at the bottom of my wrinkled ass tights are shoes #28. Irregular Choice from schuh:

 

 

Here's me kicking my feet at the ceiling for the sake of 'art'. Rest assured I wasn't doing anything raunchy at the time. Who wants to hear the second "Blogger's a douche" bummer? The only decent shot of the heels is on a picture Blogger won't load. Arrrgh!! And it's a sexy heel! They're brown kinda faux snake, a bit chunky and just have the most delicious curve to them. Yum! And I haven't even started on the fact that the shoes are leopard print...

 

 

Or that they have a ma-HOO-sive bow on them! LOOK AT IT. It's giant and filled with, er, brown foam. Ok, that's not exactly a selling point but at least the brown blends in and you're still left with a big solid leopard print bow. They're a treat. The other thing that's tricky to see is the gold metallic brogue detail trim around the top line. However, you are lucky enough to be able to see the snake trim around the featherline. Check it out - do you feel like you're totally learning technical shoe terms from me? I can hit you with more if you like...who's for a vamp, a counter or a shank? Woop, woop! Here's what I wore these totally beast-a-licious shoes with (MENTAL EYE ALERT!):

 

 

Yes, leopard was a print too few for me so I went for two bold floral prints on top. Floral trench from Primark, floral dress vintage reproduction from Judy's Affordable Vintage fair.

 

 

Sans coat, there's a leopard print Warehouse cardigan. It was one of those pieces I um-ed and aw-ed over for bloody ages (indecisive, me?) as it cost more than I normally spend on a cardi. But, what an investment. I've worn it about a million times to the point it's getting a bit threadbare in places. Do I care? Do I heck! I'll wear it til the arms fall off and even then I might sew them back on again. I'm also wearing my much loved Lady Luck Rules ok horseshoe necklace which has snapped in half and had a broken chain but, much like the cardigan, I am NOT giving this baby up. It's one of my most favourite necklaces ever so it's been tweezered and super glued back to life. You might be able to see it better if Blogger wasn't a DOUCHE and would upload the picture. 

 

Here's a picture of the dress fabric. Pretty! By the way, before I go watch Gossip Girl and get my freak on to Chuck, I have to share something. I've been shortlisted in the final 10 of a journalism competition with Cosmo and Wonderbra. There'll be some voting action in a week and I'll be sure to put the details here in the hope that someone thinks I'm worth voting for!! Eek!

Ooh, little hearty socks!

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls (though I'd suggest this blog isn't really child friendly fodder - sarcasm and sweary words are not the recommended diet for little 'uns as I understand it), shoes # 22 from schuh by Irregular Choice. Look how nom, nom, nommy they are!

 

Ooh:
Sparkly!
Shiny!
Suedey!
Sequiny!
Sheer! (ok so that's the socks but who else is getting a total alliteration high here?)

And, getting back to non 's' words, they're totally shock inducing electric blue. Yes, I loves these shoes a LOT. I mean, will you LOOK at the heels!?

 

"Now", I hear you holler, "I thought she was yacking about socks in the title", so let's have a look at my nice little ASOS socks. I've been meaning to embrace the ankle sock for a while but was a bit tentative about trying it. While I'm fortunate not to be the possessor of cankles, I don't have, shall we say, the most fortunate legs in the office/house/blogosphere and I was a little afraid that they'd look a bit dodgy or draw the wrong sort of attention. However, as is often the case I said 'fuck it' and got some anyway. And I love this particular pair. Verging on 'barely black' pop sock territory they're saved because of the adorable little hearts on them and a slight ankle frill (which you can't see. It's there though, trust me. It's just a little shy). Anyway, here they are poking out of my lovely shoes. Aw!

 

So, when one's feet are so gloriously shod, what else should one wear? Judging by me, the expression of a grumpy person on the verge of falling asleep/dropping into a catatonic trance. Apologies folks, I'm a fairly cheery sort usually. And seriously, last week was a tiring one. Right now I'm sporting black bags big enough to fit both Olsen twins in so expect a few more glazed looks to come. Anyway, to the matter in hand - what I wore was:

Sequined H and M T shirt come dress

Gold lurex Toppers or Primarni cardi

black leggings

My amazing Lady Luck Rules OK Owl Necklace

 

For shame, there's so much crap in my hall.

 

Twit, twoo! Say goodnight to the shoes!

What the *&% you looking at?

Seriously, what the fuck is my problem in this picture? I look like the camera's just told me that my quiff's falling apart and that, in retrospect, shoes number 20, yes 20, from schuh, aren't actually the best choice to go with this outfit. And, following such insults, I clearly want to kill the camera. Oh dear.

Actually, I'm starting to feel a little murderous right now. They've changed blogger and you can't upload pics and type at the same time now and the picture editor while, in the main, better, is kind of a pain in the arse. So, anyway, there we have it - my murder stare. And here are the shoes that I was so unsure about:

(Still hating on blogger - maybe I should move to typepad or another blog thing, none of the names of which I remember right now. Tumblr - ha!) The thing about the shoes is that I loved them when I bought them and I wore them all the time. (and I bought them in pink, purple and black with gold leopard print - oh you'll see them all at some point). I loved the nice square toe, the shiny patent, the killer heel and the concealed platform. But patent and skinny heels come and go for me and right now I'm not mad hot about these babies. I'm like a bad mother with favourites and just now, these are my kid that I wish would just shut the fuck up and behave. Go to your room!

Maybe they're just bad with these jeans. I acknowledge that, despite the fact that I've worn them all my life, jeans are not my best friend and often serve only to my my arse, and more particularly, my thighs, look E-FRIGGIN-NORMOUS. These particular jeans are not too bad for it. They're indigo (big thigh friendly tick) and they have a wide but not too wide leg (big thigh friendly tick). So far so good. The problem is they're just not really long enough to wear with a heel, especially a spindly one. Jeans and heels incompatibility aside, I don't mind this look for a can't be bothered day. I like my dark grey American Apparel tee and I like my red and grey striped Primark cardi. I LOVE my Lady Luck rules ladybird necklace! In fact, if I'd just worn my smelly old Cons, my face would probably be smiling. Well ain't that a lesson learned.

Anyway, according to sky plus, I've kept Fearne Cotton and Beth Ditto waiting 58mins now so I'm gonna go see what wisdom pearls (ahem) they have to share. Here's my lovely necklace to keep you all entertained while I'm away.