Here I am!

Yup, I've been unforgiveably absent from here yet again. I'm gonna plead the same old crap as last time - work's mad busy and I'm just not for the computer come evening! Oh, plus, in more exciting news, I am making a dress and have been concentrating on that for the last few nights. That's ripe for a post when it's finished!

Anyway, let's not focus on my absence and short comings. Let us instead rejoice that I am here! Self important? Moi? I hope you all appreciate that, at this moment, my tongue is jammed hard inside my cheek.

So to this evening's topic. Vintage skirt. It's the skirt I bought at April's flea market for a bargain four quid. Haggled down from a fiver. Yes it's only a pound but it's also 20% and it covered the cost of the picture I bought the same day. Incidentally, while I have my sewing machine out, I'm also working on the neckline of the amazing Frank Usher dress I got. Anyway here's the skirt all dressed up:

I felt with it's fullness, it had to be done slightly 50s style and I decided a 3/4 sleeve would be good with it. What do you think? I was feeling particularly brave so I went with the colour pop tights and my pretty purple Matalan platforms. Waist nipping was courtesy of a Primark belt. Ta-da!

I love this belt but it goes with bugger all so I was glad it found a garish match in this skirt!

I got the cute necklace ages ago from...Asda! In fact, this is one of my all time cheap-tastic outfits as the top was from the American Apparel sale, the shoes were a bargain too and I'm fairly sure the sunglasses are Primark!

I can confirm that every little does indeed help.

I don't trust Tesco particularly. They're too big and powerful for my liking plus, on account of my Clubcard, they know stuff about me. Like the extent of my addiction to premium ice cream at discounted prices (extensive). Yes, I know I could just not have/use one but the coupons you get from them are pretty useful as they freakishly use your info to guess what you want to buy. And you can sometimes trade the coupons for better stuff than just straight up using them as Tesco vouchers. And that's what I did last week. I traded £20 of Tesco coupons (which just sit in a pile unused in my house) for £40 to spend on their clothes. By now, I'm hoping you know I love my fashion maths and this sum goes as follows: "Coupons I don't otherwise use that I got just by getting my normal shopping" + "bonus double value trade in" = practically free clothes! Yes! I say practically free as I had to put £3 toward these dresses and pay postage. Pushing. The. Boat. Out.

Dress no1 plus Uniqlo leggings and Mel shoes from Schuh.

Can you make out the cute bow on the waist. It's like a magic eye puzzle! Maybe, if you stare hard enough, you'll see a naked man or something. Maybe not.

Dress no2 with Miss Selfridge belt and Irregular Choice shoes.

Irregular Choice Elvis. Freakin' awesome. If you don't think so, then you know NOTHING.

Dress 1 would have been £25 in real money and dress 2 would have been £18. And I have to tell you, I'm pleasantly surprised by both! The first is lined and has netting under the skirt for fullness, which I didn't expect from supermarket clothes, and I love the cute floral print, waist bow and Peter Pan collar. The 2nd dress is slightly less posh but beautifully pleated and the style is a versatile as you could wish for a dress to be. And all for about six quid. Roger that. (Apollo 13 is on in the background!).

I SO pledge my allegiance...

...to these shoes. Swoon! SWOON!The Jeffrey Campbell Foxy has been around, in various guises, for some time now. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't. This time I DO. The stars! The stripes! The platform! The t-bar!

A quick whip round my friends reveals that opinions are seriously divided on this one, with comments ranging from 'beast' and 'clumpy' to 'awesome' and 'wow'. I shouted out loud when I saw them.

Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the talking from here on in. I have an urgent call to take - it's Wonderwoman wanting her going out shoes back.

If you want to buy me a pair, you can get them here. (Click the word 'here' doofus!)

Pictures are from the Solestruck website. Don't hate on me.

Sometimes, at the weekend, I dress like a bag lady

I was going for (what I knew would would be boozy) a night in at a friend's house and, post weekend gym sesh, I figured there was no point getting dolled up. So I went for my classic weekend wear - stuff that is comfy and doesn't match but isn't leisure wear and is good, each piece in its own right. Here's the bag lady evidence:

Evidence (1). Before the night in. Dress: Matalan, Cardi and overnight bag: Primark, Shoes: Mel @ Schuh, hairband: boutique in San Francisco.

Florals, stripes, butterflies and bows. Gotta love it.

Evidence (2): "Dress": Dorothy Perkins (I never wear this because, as you can see, it's far too short for me. And I can't abide a tunic type top thing with jeans - it's so frumpalicious - no offence if that's your bag.), Leggings: Uniqlo (I never wear these because, as you can see, they do NOTHING for me. I can only plead that I was mercilessly sucked in by the leopard print.), shoes and bow headband as before.

PERFECT unflattering bag lady outfit, non? Ridiculous, un-matching, ill fitting, comfortable and YET, somehow a million times better than sitting about in pjs (like I am now) or joggers. Go figure.

Am I a secret weekend bag lady? You decide.

Here's a close up of the gorgeous shoes, number 59 in my shoe wearing challenge, to make up for my bag lady assault on your eyes:

Aren't they adorable? The plastic is comfy, the colour's cute, the butterflies are pretty - winner! Plus, it's special breathable plastic so your feet don't go too stinky. Genius! They're £25 by Mel (the lil sis brand of Melissa who do the jelly type shoes for Vivienne Westwood) from Schuh.

And here's a mushroom that looks like a bum. Just cause.