Secret Blogger no more

Today I came clean and told my husband about the blog.  Had been posting in secret but now I've reached my first milestone a whole week of daily posts without deleting the lot, decided to tell him.  Well used to my various experiments in creative writing, he wasn't that surprised. He hasn't actually read it yet though.  I've quite enjoyed writing these posts though it's taking a long time mainly because of my lack of technical competence.  I also keep getting distracted by reading other blogs - there are some fabulous ones out there which have really inspired me.

Not much time for reading with all this blogging, but did read a bit with Fashion Girl the last two nights.  She still suffering from a really nasty cold but has struggled bravely through exam week at school, bless her.  But in the evenings she's gone back to being a little girl and last night she wanted me to read to her in bed.  She's reading Ketchup Cloud by Annabel Pitcher. Ordered this for FG as a Christmas present as we'd both read and loved her debut novel 'My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece' in the summer.  She was nominated for a Carnegie award for that novel which is why we read it as we were shadowing the judging.  She captured perfectly the voice of her child narrator and the reality of family life in the way that Jacqueline Wilson does so well.  And FG loves Jacqueline Wilson.

So therefore was happy to read a bit of Ketchup Cloud to her as we snuggled up under her duvet last night.  Didn't get very far.  This time the narrator is a 16 year old girl rather than the 10 year old boy who narrates 'My Sister'.  And the chapter we read describes her going to a party, drinking vodka, going for a walk with a boy...That's when I decided to stop after I skim-read the next page in advance.  Books should be marked with an age rating like films!  Thought about taking it off her to read when she is older but not much point now.

Actually two of the most enjoyable books I have read in the past year have come from the Carnegie shortlist. 'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness moved me to tears.  The original idea for the novel came from wonderful Northern Irish writer Siobhan Dowd who sadly died from cancer before she could complete it.  You can probably guess what the 'Monster' in the title turns out to be.   And 'Trash' by Andy Mulligan was a really good read too, a real page turner with a happy ending this time.

Not much fashion today so apologies if that's what you are expecting, dear reader, if you are there at all.
 

To Buy, or not to Buy: the Biker Jacket.

Next Brown Leather Biker Jacket

Roise Milliard in leather

Watching Daybreak over breakfast on Friday, Fashion Girl made some rather unkind comments about journalist Rosie Milliard, who was appearing with Aled on the sofa.  According to FG she was too old (she's 47,  I googled her) to be wearing the black leather biker jacket she had chosen for breakfast telly. I thought she looked great. Couldn't find an image of her in that jacket but here she is in another zip up leather one.  And my neighbour who is 60+ was wearing a biker style jacket with a diagonal zip, admittedly a sheepskin lined one, when I met her last week.  She also looked great.

After my protests FG did accept that it would be OK to wear this style of jacket over the age of forty if it wasn't black.  She has a biker jacket herself, from H&M in pleather with studs on.  She clearly doesn't want her mum to copy her style. 

The new Next directory arrived on Saturday and couldn't help myself  flicking through it and turning down the corners of pages which featured items I need to fill the gaps in my newly decluttered warbrobe (See post later this week.  Have spotted a brown leather biker jacket which could replace the rather dull Lakeland leather one I currently own.  Tempted to order it just to make a point. 

Not sure.  Have made a pledge not to indulge in impulse purchases.  And £160 is quite a lot to pay just to make a point.

Sale Bargains?

Have had quite a lot of time to get on with things at home today as any plans to go out were abandoned because of Fashion Girl's (aged13)  nasty cold/flu virus.   So continued with the Wardrobe Edit, consigning to the charity shop bag any items which don't fit properly or which I don't feel comfortable in.

And I have done a lot of thinking about my shopping habits. Many of the things I put in the charity bag were 'sale bargains': a tunic from Next in a print I liked but in a 14 so it has never fitted properly (am a 12) and pastel blue chinos also from Next which are really not flattering on me but I loved the colour.  I didn't buy the chinos when I first tried them on but in the summer sale they were reduced to half price so I bought them.  They still didn't look right and haven't been worn much.  So in fact they were not a bargain at all as, price per wear, they were much more expensive than my £45 jeans which have been worn to death.

Here's an example of a recent bad sale decision.

The Phase Eight Heart Print Twist front dress I wanted but didn't buy at £55

The Boden Pimlico Dress I have bought  for £27

And it's the same with the Boden sale.  I usually don't buy full price Boden as it's kind of out of my budget.  So I stick to the sales.  But of course the things I really wanted in the first place have totally sold out by then (a Great White Shirt).  This year I bought another jersey print dress shown above. I like it.  It fits beautifully; is flattering and comfortable.  But I don't love it.  Or need it.  I bought it because it was £27.  I really wanted the twist front jersey dress from Phase Eight.  But it's still quite pricey, even in the sale.  Didn't buy it.

My new year resolution then. Don't shop in the sales.  Choose what I need and  love. Forget the rest.

Wardrobe Edit Phase One:Boden Dresses

Busy day so just a short post.  No comments yet but have just discovered the stats information which shows that some people have viewed the blog.  So I will keep going.  But if you are reading please do comment as I'd love to hear your views on my posts.

Have started on the wardrobe edit, choosing which of my 3 Boden print dresses will make it onto the list of 33 items I will keep in my decluttered wardrobe. I own three of these, each bought in the Dec/Jan sale in the last three years.   The one pictured above is last year's purchase and I have decided to edit it out. Have decided that the pink in the print isn't great with my already pinkish colouring. And it makes me look a bit chunky.  So out it goes.

Not to a charity shop yet though. I'm not that brave so edited out items will go in the spare room wardrobe for now.

Wardrobe Edit

One of my goals for the year is to buy less (or fewer to be more grammatical) clothes and to make smarter choices about what I do buy.  There are too many impulse buys in my wardrobe especially separates which don't go with anything else.  So this month I plan to edit out those things I don't wear at all and make a list of what is needed to make the best of what I have got.

I've been inspired to do this by reading 'Just a little less' which is a great blog about minimalism with beautiful photos and several posts about creating a capsule wardrobe.  I was interested in the posts about Project 333 which encourages subscribers to limit their wardrobe to 33 items over 3 months.  So the plan for this weekend is to select the 33 items.  May be a challenge though as Dolly Mixtures at Just a Little Less based hers around black and grey co-ordinating items whereas I am a colour addict.  

Today wore a favourite skirt from Phase Eight called Lisy Jacquard with red geometrical print. There are still some left in the sale. I bought it last autumn and it's one of the items I have nothing I like to wear with.  Today wore rather tatty black ribbed polo and black jacket.  Any other ideas gratefully received.

Still struggling with camera so here's the skirt from the website rather than on me.

Shades of Grey at Fifty

http://www.celtic-sheepskin.co.uk/ladies/knitwear/ladies-cardigans-1278/box-cardi-web-offer/

Back to work and ready to face building which hadn't been heated for a couple of weeks so choose to wear cosy combination of light grey ribbed polo and my Celtic Sheepskin slate grey box-shaped cardigan. Have tried to do a link to it here since my camera battery is dead and so haven't taken a photo of mine. This is from their website. Not sure if it will work.

This was a Christmas present last year and has been worn a lot. Like the boxy shape and the buttons, but the upper part of the arms is a bit bulky.  It's not too granny-like I think because of the neckline and the shape.  It's still in this year's catalogue also coming in blue and natural and it's on offer for £55 at the minute.  Which is what I think I paid for it last year. Well worth it though, because unlike the Next one featured yesterday it hasn't gone all ball-y.  So price-per-wear it's better value.

So far this blog has been more fashion than the fiction or folly also promised.  So thought I'd say a little about the literary allusion featured in my post title (Perhaps this will get me some readers. Is anyone out there? ) . Didn't finish Fifty Shades as couldn't bear to read any more of the dialogue.  What woman in her twenties says 'Holy Moses' or 'Oh my'? So skipped through it, just reading the 'interesting' bits.

Got going on 'The Prague Cemetery' during a bout of insomnia early this morning, reading the first chapter.  Regretted not getting it on Kindle as I could have done with the dictionary feature - it's not an easy read. And tonight got a text telling me that the book club member who had suggested it has found it unreadable and so has selected a different book!  May persist as I did like the first chapter even if the central character is entirely dislikable.

And my first 'inspired folly' of the new year was making my own version of sticky toffee pudding loosely based on Jamie Oliver's recipe.  Very nice with half price brandy flavoured cream from Morrison's. The only alcohol I'm allowing myself for the next week. 

A Jumper is for life; not just for Christmas

I spent most of NewYear's Eve cleaning and getting ready for arrival of guests so had to wear something comfy and not too precious.  So I choose my favourite pair of jeans from Next which are supposed to Lift and Shape your bottom.  They've been well worth the £45 I spent on them as they are so comfortable with a bit of give and stretch which is handy at this time of year.  I suppose they are a lower cost version of the pricey Not Your Daughter's Jeans which I've seen in magazines.  I actually bought another another pair of high-waisted boot cut ones as a 'going out' pair but they've not been so good as they have no belt loops and so I am forever yanking them up.

I wore the jeans with another less successful purchase from Next, a navy jumper with sequins.  It was bought back at the beginning of December and I have worn it a lot, getting quite a few compliments.  I like the length, the colour and the neckline, though it tends to reveal  flashes of bra strap.  But after only a couple of washes it looks terrible: the fabric is all ball-y.  I'm not sure this is a technical term but you know what I mean and you can just about see it above though it's not a great photo.  It wasn't that expensive - £28- but I expected to last a bit longer than this.  And I am not so sure I'll feel comfortable wearing daytime sequins in January anyway.  So I'll probably pack it away with the Christmas decorations.

I also made a trip to the library to return the trashy, but very enjoyable book I've read over Christmas.(TheWild Bohemians by Kate Saunders) and picked up the one I'm supposed to read for the book group I've said I'd like to join - The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco  Will wake up my lazy Christmas brain I think as it looks like a more challenging read.

For the evening celebrations I wore another more durable sparkly knit - a cardigan bought in Zara a couple of years ago - over a really old LBD which is a sleeveless shift.  Not keen on revealing upper arms.  You can just about see the cardi in the photo below.  This was taken before my bit of folly for the day - downing a delicious vodka laced gazpacho shot which along with the champagne and red wine with dinner has left me feeling a bit under par now on New Year's Day.