Festive summation

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and New Year type period. I've had a swell time and, rather than do a few posts on it all, I thought I'd sum it all up in a one-er, complete with neat picture collages. May I please now have an 'ooh' from the audience?

Christmas Eve

I was working Christmas eve so there truly isn't much to write home about from that day. However, I did come home to find Mr Scribbler festooning our flat with Christmas decorations which was lovely, partly because I hadn't had time to do it and our flat did look really bah humbug, and partly because he couldn't give a monkey's about Christmas decorations ordinarily, so it was very sweet of him to bust them out as a surprise.

The other thing of vague note about Christmas eve is that, in another burst against winter dressing and big boots, I dropped a boot level to these suede ones from schuh (only to end up wishing I'd stuck with the thick soled Docs). I also whipped out this awesome sequined cardigan thing. I got it for a song in a vintage store in Haight Ashbury in San Francisco and it's by a brand called Three Flaggs, a division of Edith Flagg clothing (she says as if she knew Edith personally and didn't have to run through to the bedroom to read the label). I just looked up some info on the brand and it's really rather interesting - check out the Wiki info if you fancy it. Three Flaggs was started in 1973 and I imagine some lady in California going on a cheesy cruise and using this piece as a little cover up to keep off the sea breeze. It's hard to see from the picture but the sparkle is really iridescent and just what was needed this Christmas eve!

Christmas Day

I love Christmas! It's just ace going round seeing the family and then chilling out, watching crap TV and eating plenty good food. This year we visited Mr S's parents, followed by my Mum (where my little sis, niece and nephew also were), and finally my Dad and Step-Mum. It was a fair round trip by the time we made it back to our place and we couldn't wait to get stuck into dinner (AKA, even start on dinner. AAKA, crack open some champagne in a fit of faux-poshness). The tree below is my Mum's (ours is tiny - about a foot) and it's accompanied by my home baked and decorated Xmas cake (YUM!), gifts for giving on our journey and my sensible, yet sparkly Xmas ensemble - gold lurex dress (cute, comfy, plenty room for belly expansion), cosy leopard print coat and my shiny new leopard print Fud. Yes, Fud. Now, I don't know if that word has any meaning where you live but, where I come from, it's slang for, er, a lady garden. This amuses me greatly as I am actually an overgrown child with a wicked sense of rude and toilet based humour. So, when I came across the company, I hit Twitter to express my amusement. Cue sense of guilt and shame when the company contacted me to say they were unaware of the double meaning and had decided to change their name! Apparently, there's supposed to be an umlaut over the 'u' so it'd be pronounced 'oo', 'food' (Furry Hood - Fud - geddit!?) but, I guess the umlaut doesn't come up in all fonts etc so they got Fud. Anyway, point is, although it started with a chuckle, their Fuuds (as they're now called) are actually very cute and cosy and thanks go to Mr S for treating me to mine! It's now official. I love Fuud.

Hogmanay!

I also love Hogmanay (New Year's eve to the uneducated. Not uneducated in a rude way, just if no-one's ever referred to New Years Eve as Hogmanay in front of you, you might wonder what the sweet bejesus I'm talking about. It's a Scottish thing). For me, Christmas is family, Hogmanay is friends. And me and some friends went down to a lovely local pub, the Roseleaf, which is all pretty chintzy wallpaper, hats displayed around the room and menus hidden inside vintage vino magazines. Oh, and blackboards and chalk behind the loos. Cue much hilarity. No, of course I didn't draw a penis on the blackboard like an IMBECILE. The Roseleaf serve their cocktails, pot-tails, in vintage teapots accompanied by a mish-mash of mixed vintage tea cups. It's tres lovely. And their food is absolutely delicious! Anyway, a swell time was had by all. Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure I hadn't yet worn the shoes I wore that night during my shoes challenge (sorry, is this making sense?) but I neglected to get a picture of my whole outfit - d'oh! Blogger fail. I shall wear them again, snap them and include them. Here's to 2011 being a good one folks!

Maybe I should have split this into three separate posts...

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Ladies and gents, I know you all think of me as being some busy little fox (and you think that's the reason for my slightly sporadic blogging last week) but, this weekend I was house-wifely! (In between parties and gin. Though drinking gin is a pretty house-wifely thing to do if you ask me. It's just that I'm still celebrating with it and not drowning my sorrows). I polished stuff, tidied up some other stuff and, gasp, I baked the Christmas cake! Yes I did. Apparently it's important to do it in advance to make sure you allow enough time for it to ferment and fester and for the Christmas magic to brew. Exciting times! Here's how the magic unfolded!

I'll be dousing it in amaretto sporadically until it's time to marzipan it. I can't buy marzipan in advance because I only eat it. I am lacking badly in, er, what's it called? Willpower!! And, yes, you better believe I licked the spatula!

And onto shoes # 32! 32! A higher number than there are days in any given month!

And it's this delightful pair of Irregular Choice shoes from schuh.

 

 

Here are some reasons why they are, in fact, awesome. They're green and that's a good colour. They're super soft lovely suede - really soft. They have a kinda funny shaped heel and I appreciate that detail. The toe is rounded but not round - very nice. And finally, yes you better believe I am loving all over that big enormous green and silver sequined flower. They've really considered the practical here, making the petals wire edged so you can easily shape them up/down/off the ground! I've had them ages and don't wear them that often but every time I do they feel like a revelation and I get a wee excited glamorous feeling in my feet.

 

I decided that the only way to wear these shoes was to embrace the floral theme in my Trollied Dolly dress and to keep it cutesy in my heart print leggings. Top it off with an Asda cardi (I know - it looks totally vintage! Well I think so. I shoulda thought to take a pic of the buttons too as they have tiny flower details on them - unusual for a cheap cardi. I've got so much wear out of this thing though - green lurex is surely another one of my essential neutrals) and a funny face and you are good to go.

For next time, I'm hoping my friend got a decent pic of my Halloween costume as shoes #33 are at the bottom of it and I needs proof!!

PS - Mr Scribbler actually did way more house work than me this weekend and he deserves credit for it. He really is tremendous.