Today I went outside

Yes, it's been sunny and rainy and thundery! Today at work I looked outside and thought it was snowing! It turned out to be blossom blowing around in the wind, lovely.

This is the first time I actually went outside on the street to take an outfit photo, it was a little awkward, this is only a few yards from my door and the street is fairly quiet, but there were a few times when someone would walk around the corner while I was mid pose and I felt a little silly, oh well it was an interesting exercise of confidence and not caring what other people think if you.



Just trying out a new skirt I bought from my new favourite second hand shop, they have a vintage section, but the stuff they have there is really reasonably priced and they have nice basics like this skirt and shirts and trousers. I really haven't been out much lately, starting to feel a like a bit of a square, I'm sure it won't last long.

Sick Obsession

That title is a bit overdramatic really. The thing is, I've been sicky poo! all week with a horrible spring cold which has left me a bit zombified. No colds all winter, now big fat cold. So, while I was slobbing around in a pool of mucus I watched some films on the iplayer, one of which was a 90's rom-com B-movie called 'Wishful Thinking' starring Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals.



It wasn't a great film but it kept me entertained, mostly because I became a bit obsessed with Drew's character's style and was screen snapping throughout the film. I know the 90's fashion trends are SO NOW-right now and everyone's already gone on about them long enough, but I did enjoy seeing the outfits and remembering the style, because those were the fashions that were around when I was first becoming aware of fashion and picking my own things to wear.





I don't think I ever dressed quite the same Drew does in this film with lots of kitsch accessories and clashing pattern and colour. But I do remember owning a couple of velour skirts and tops, in particular a rather questionable velour, turquoise, turtleneck tank top with, kind of, silver splats on it from Miss Selfridge- aces.



I think this is my favourite outfit.

DIY Colourful Hair Slides

I saw some of these pretty hair slides in a picture on The Glitter Guide and thought they were a really nice and easy way to add colour to any hairstyle. 

So I thought I'd do a super quick DIY that is as quick as easy as painting your nails. I've used Kirby grips that you can get from most chemists. I slid them onto a piece of cardboard to separate the part the part I wanted to paint form the rest of the kirby grip because I would have undoubtedly ended up painting the entire thing if otherwise (I'm a bit messy).



Leave enough room between each kirby grip so that the paint doesn't stick them together, then just paint the flat side with whatever colour nail varnish you fancy. Easy peasy. (Let them dry before putting them in your hair...of course).

It's that time again

It's warming up and I've been working quite a bit at a local cafe, so at least I am getting some more money. Yay, survival!
I don't have much else to say except that I should be writing my essay for my masters but currently am not, which makes me sad and that this outfit is nearly all thrifted, which makes me happy.



Top: Oxfam (altered into a crop top) 
Cutoff shorts: Oxfam 
Belt: Red Cross 
Shoes: All Saints

Nunhead Cemetery

There are a few 'listed' cemetery's around London, the most well known is probably Highgate Cemetery where many historically famous people are buried and which you have to pay to get into. Nunhead Cemetery is free to get into and much nearer my end of town. Although there maybe aren't as many famous people buried there (none that I spotted anyway) it is more overgrown and left-to-nature allowing encouraging more wildlife, which is something I think I would really like, if I were to be buried (rather than cremated or whatever) I would love to be somewhere that nature is allowed to take over, (it is something everyone will have to consider at one time or another, afterall).



Part of the cemetery is new and being used and maintained as you would expect from a modern cemetery, but about half or more is overgrown and woody, you can ramble of the track into the ivy and find old gravestones and small monuments. I recommend wearing jeans if you're going to do this as there are a lot of brambles and I was a bit limited to where I could go because I stupidly wore leggings-ouch.



Luckily it was a good weather and it was really nice to walk around the place spotting wildlife and the occasional goth (we heard a woodpecker and saw a gothic gentleman) very nice. 

A visit to the Zoo

This weekend me and my friends went on a small tour of museums (all of which were free!). By far, our favourite was the Grant Museum of Zoology. I saw this recommendation on London for Free's Facebook page, I love museums of natural history and anthropology, museums of weird things and things that make you feel a bit sick when you look at them. One of my favourite museums is the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, I remember being afraid of the shrunken heads and seeing the shrivelled toes of the mummy sticking out of the coffin...memories. The Grant Museum of Zoology entertains one of my other joys, which is animals. It is like a zoo, however, all the animals in this zoo are expired, they are no more, they are ex-animals. They are displayed in jars, cross sectioned or stuffed in old wood and glass cabinets, the building itself is also very beautiful. I will warn those who do not like seeing dead animals in jars, to look away now.



I don't really know why there needed to be a whole jar of moles or how they acquired so many. The museum is part of UCL, the specimens have been used for research in the university. I can only assume that a jar of moles was required for scientific research. It was one of the highlights of the museum (for us at least, that's not a bad thing by the way).







An inquisitive Blackbird, a proud Magpie and a shocked Owl. 
After the Grants museum we went to the Hunterian museum of surgical research, there were yet more specimens in jars but you weren't allowed to take pictures. You could tell this museum is used a lot more for study and less for the general public but it was still pretty interesting. All that formaldehyde made us hungry so we went to eat our lunch in a nice little park outside the museum, lovely. It was great to get out and about and explore some of the many free and fascinating things to do in London. 

Layers-ers-ers-ers-ers-er-e

That was my effort to express the idea of layers with the word 'layers', yup.
So, I said in the last post how I would like to experiment more with layers and pattern, I found this lady's blog via this lady's blog. The first lady, Courtney from A Bevy of, has got me very jealous of her layering skillz. I really like the way she wears thrifted long dresses as jackets and loads of pattern!

I shall try more to step out of my comfort zone and have a bit more fun.

A leap into pattern

Ho ho! It's a leap year today---this year? 29th of Feb! Woo!
I decided I'd try to experiment a bit with pattern today. As part of a constantly renewing resolution, I'd like to make more of a general effort to wear more colour, pattern and layers. I have a problem with falling into a boring routine, but I figure that as long as I keep renewing these resolutions, that's all that matters.



Fun patterns, patterns that are fun. I've blogged about this shirt before and how the pictures on it look like they depict a dog in a graveyard - great, the skirt is a pattern of leaping tigers on a zig zag background, how do they think of these things? I don't know eh?!



Here's a bit of jumping for you, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do it because I was outside. We went on a little explore to a nearby woodland park, only about 2 miles down the road can you believe! A nice little retreat, the place was rampant with squirrels. If there was a break down of society and you had to live in the city and hunt for your own food, this would be a good place to go, (there's also plenty of nuts and things too, if you did not wish to eat squirrels). These are things I think about.

Outfit:

Skirt: 2nd hand and modified

Shirt: COW vintage

Shoes: Bass from Etsy

Second hand upper hand

I love charity shops! It had been something that has been instilled in me by my mum I think. When I was a kid she used to drag me around them and I commend her for carrying on even though I did not appreciate it at the time, I eventually grew to love second hand shopping. It's just great when you find something that you've been looking for, that's quirky, original, better quality and half the price (or less) than what it would cost anywhere else and of course, if you find it in a charity shop, you are giving money to charity and not a large scale corporate company. I also feel like it gets better when you practice! I feel like I know what to look for and what I like, but of course there is always more to learn.



Unfortunately I cannot even indulge in one of my favourite pastimes without spending money which I do not have right now, so I decided that I needed to sell a few things, maybe including these trousers,  I'm using asos marketplace for the first time, so we'll see how that goes.
I managed to score this vintage shirt and trousers for a very reasonable price at a charity shop, I decided to style them with my vintage hat that I got from Oxfam a while ago.

LANCH!

Do you ever make your lunch for the next day, but end up eating half of it before then because it's so yummy? Yes, I do. Pearl Barley, beetroot, green beans, tomatoes, carrot and celery with feta cheese and lemon thyme...fancy yum yum!

P.s I've done some snazzing up of the blog, I'm not quite sure if it really works, but I'll stick with it for a bit and see how it goes.

Grrrr!

That's what I'm generally feeling right now, I feel in a bit of a rut at the moment which means anytime something doesn't quite go right I feel really deflated about it, more so than if I wasn't feeling so stuck. Several things are making me feel like this, but probably the worst thing is not having a job. While this means I have more time on my hands to do other things, having little or no money to spare is making me feel restricted in many ways. I'm trying to use my time as productively as possible but I'm not quite as successful at this as I should be. Of course, writing this down is helping to get it out of my system.
I'm also in a bit of a style rut as well, mostly feeling like wearing the same old comfortable clothes. Realising this, I thought I'd have a look through my wardrobe and try on some of the things that I haven't worn in a while or...ever. You know when you have a few items that you got really cheap 2nd hand, they're really cool, but you're not quite sure how or when to wear them. These are some of those:



My Mum found this in a charity shop and gave it to me, I really like it, it's very 50's lady at home. I think it's some sort of house dress. It's actually really warm and comfy so it fits the description of most other things I've been wearing lately, I should be wearing it every day. My only problem is that I'm not sure how to wear it, it looks a little like a dressing gown, but then again, who cares at least it looks nicer that tracksuit bottoms and a pair of old Ugg boots right? (Gee I look really un-enthused in this picture!)



I got this dress in a charity shop, it's C&A which is now officially vintage! Well it's probably from the 90's, I thought it had a cool collar. I've never worn it! It's very pretty but I have a problem with the fact that it's white, it looks a little bit like a nurse dress. I could dye it, maybe it just needs to be off-white?



This is a pretty cool outfit, another charity shop find-yay! It's a two piece outfit, which is great and I have actually worn each piece separately so it's quite practical, one day I may wear it as intended (including the gold belt) but I'm not sure when or where that will occur. Well I had fun dressing up in stuff that I've not worn outside yet, it's a good way to rediscover your wardrobe and get accustomed to wearing things that you're not used to.

Shoes that are new

Yes, brogues, everyone has a pair, I don't care. They are great. Got these on ebay for a bargain price, originally from asos. They are the perfect shape, the chunky heel gives them a bit of a western feel, or at least I think so. I love a bit of western styleee. Yup.

In other news, I could not decide what to wear when going out to find a job! I knew I wanted to be comfortable but also smart, these shoes helped a lot. I also wanted to add some interest other than just a shirt or a plain top. I went with the scarf. I have a lot of nice scarfs (or is it scarves?), but I have trouble really deciding how to wear them and what to wear them with. I know that sounds a bit dumb, it's probably really easy for other people, but for some reason I find it difficult. So I ended up wearing it with another pattern that it probably didn't match with very well, but oh never mind! I'm trying to be a bit less held back by what I think other people might think of me, so that I just make decisions based on what I think looks good, rather than if I think other people will think that I look good, or even what I think other people think, while thinking that I think 'that' looks good! That makes sense? Yes? Yes!

Crazed eyes...nice scarf though, it has saddles and things on it!!!



Outfit:
Bird print top: asos
Jean: AllSaints
Cardigan: Mum gave me
Shoes: asos via ebay
Scarf!: Charity shop

Look what you can do with it, multi use. I don't really know what I'm talking about. Basically, I got some great new shoes and I found out I can wear my scarf more than one way, which is great progress for the scarf-idea-wearing impaired.

Coconut Cream Hot Chocolate

 

It's been a while...It's been a busy month, but also I kept procrastinating because I felt like I should write my first 2012 post about new years resolutions and all the things I'm aiming for this year and all that stuff, but actually it doesn't really matter, I think if you want to set yourself goals it doesn't matter when you do it. So I may post some goals and resolutions half way through the year instead, or I could use the Chinese new year as a marker. Anyway! Over Christmas I saw this recipe for thick hot chocolate on Jamie Oliver's TV show and I knew I had to try it! Ever since I went to Lithuania and tried the thick hot chocolate I've always wanted to replicate it. They also serve variations of the thick hot chocolate in Italy and other European countries except England! It's really easy to make, this is how you make the mixture using Jamie Oliver's recipe:

• 2 tablespoons Horlicks
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons quality organic cocoa
• 100g quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely grated
• a pinch of ground cinnamon (I like to add a little grated nutmeg instead)
• a pinch of sea salt

Since I first made it, I can't stop! It was only the other day, when I ran out of milk that I thought of using canned coconut cream instead. In the past I had added a dollop of coconut cream, leftover from making a curry, to the hot chocolate that I had in the fridge and it really freshened it up. I looove coconut cream, I could eat it all straight from the can. Making the hot chocolate with coconut cream makes it really rich a creamy without being too heavy.


To make it, heat either a mixture of regular milk and coconut cream, or just coconut cream, measure out how much you want to fill your cup with. As it heats gently I use a whisk to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. When it gets hot sprinkle in the hot chocolate mix and whisk it in, whisking stops lumps forming. Add about 2-3 heaped tablespoons per cup, depending on how thick you like it. Once the it's all mixed in it won't take long to thicken, then you can take it off the heat. I like it quite thick so I can eat it with a spoon like a little desert, yum!

Some interesting facts about coconut cream if you're interested...not interested? I'm going to tell you anyway. It contains Lauric acid which is also found in breast milk and can help fight viruses and bacteria. Like other nuts, it keep you full for longer because of it's high in good saturated fats, which means it doesn't turn into bad cholesterol (apparently). It's rich in magnesium which can acts as block to nerve cells. Fascinating!

Joyeux Yule!

Just a quick post to say:

Merry Yule to you-all!

Yule marks the shortest day and the middle of winter, which is great because it means from here on the days get longer and lighter! Yay!

Here's a scan of a christmas card I made, it's a lino print. Anyone familiar with lino or block printing will know that everything you carve in your design will turn out back to front or mirrored, so it's important to remember to make sure all wr

iting is backwards on your lino or block! Even though I remembered this fact I still managed to screw up one of the letters, I put this down to mild dyslexia or maybe just not concentrating hard enough (I always did have a problem with capital 'N's), unfortunately I'm not young enough to give this card to relatives and have them think it's cute that I've made a mistake, oh well I still it came out quite well despite this.

Blue Macaroons

Did you know that the French word for Macaroon actually translates roughly to English as: 'Tiny pain in the ass"? Ha ha, no! No, of course it doesn't. But they are a pain in the ass to make. But if you get it right, they taste delicious. I have made them before, but this time I made them with electric scales, these are essential in making a good macaroon. Before when I made them I couldn't quite achieve that light meringue texture, it could have also been recipe I used. This time around I used Lorraine Pascal's recipe..Here.

Things I learned are...you need more food colouring than you think, I must have used about 1 tablespoon or more and their still quite pale. Make sure everything is very dry when you're mixing- water will make the mixture heavy. When you do the melting the sugar bit in the recipe, heat it real slow and put as much water as you need to make all the sugar wet, add more than the recipe says if it doesn't make all the sugar wet- this bit for me was the most annoying. I filled mine with just plain whipped cream, you could make a fancy ganache or flavour the cream if you wanted but plain cream works well as a more refreshing and simple filling as the macaroons themselves are very sweet.

Also, because you will end up with a few egg yolks, a good easy thing to make from them is Lemon Curd! I used Delia's recipe. Instead of using whole eggs I just used the yolks I had left, it seems to work just as well. Lemon curd is basically a kind of lemon custard without milk and with loooads of sugar. But it's easy peasy (lemon squeezy...sorry) and could make a nice christmas present!

They're so pretty and took such an effort to make, I needed to give them their own photoshoot, before scoffing them.

St George the patron of the Horse

Have you seen my cape? Here it is. I love my cape. It has big buttons like coins with a picture of St George on a horse and the latin words 'S Georgius equitum patronus', which google translate says means 'St George the patron on the horse', nice touch.

I feel very smart or posh when I wear it. The only problem is that it's hard to wear a bag with it, even a shoulder bag is difficult, it kind of gets stuck and gathered in the fabric. Oh, well I should try to travel light when I wear my cape anyway... so I can fly! ha!

Collected from the ether

I've thought about making a regular post showing all those things, ideas, pictures, recipes, films etc. that you come across over a period of time (like a month). I've seen a lot of other bloggers doing this and I always enjoy seeing the collections of things they've found or have been doing. I'd like to think of title a bit more creative than 'collected from the ether' but I'm sure I can go back and change this if I think of something better.

So here's what I've seen....

I love this idea for making a wreath, you could maybe spray paint one or two of the succulents in metallic paint to make it more christmassy, but it's still a lovely house decoration.

Photo from Honestlywtf.com

These shoes from asos, perfectly elegant with a touch of extravagance, good for the 'party' season, whatever that means...I just like them, but they've ran out of my size!

Asos

This explanation of why cats behave...like cats:

Source unknown

This ring from etsy shop Moon Raven Designs - actually I've had my eyes on this for ages.

Bronze chameleon lizard ring - Moon Raven Designs on etsy

This lovely lady has such clever diy's and only started her blog less than a year ago.

Photo from Freshlygiven.com

Have got round to watching True Grit, after all the hoo-ha and oscar blah-de-blah, not a bad movie, most Cohen brothers films are decent.

True Grit

After watching True Grit, I was reminded of this post of 'teen blog' Rookie. Which I quite enjoyed.. it does seem like these kids nowadays are basically interested in the same things that were going on when I was a kid...ha! I sound old. But actually it's quite an interesting blog, the young writers are very capable (probably more capable than me) at writing interesting and relevant topics for young ladies growing up in the modern western world.

Screenshot of Rookiemag.com