Day 30 | Monsoon Stripe

Hello. Here we go!

Caffeine headaches have completely cleared - I reckon that was a full 96 hours to ditch the physical habit this time - but 'tis done and in a few more days - I'll stop looking longingly at the flat whites being handed over the steel and concrete counters of my fave java shops up and down the Gloucester Road. *sigh

To celebrate, I have got dressed and even wielded the mascara brush and rotated the lippy tube. It's hours since I did and I've drunk lunch - so you won't notice it in the  pic - but I did and I'm counting it as feeling better. I am very un-girl in that respect. I shove it on once and hope for the best for the rest of the day.

So to the outfit. I'm still struggling with the necessity for layers and jumpers - and by Day 30 I'm feeling dumpy and a bit frumpy in this daily combo. So I've dragged out some beads and bangles to jingle and jangle. Oh and a very, very posh cardigan!

I'm not bothering much with matchy, matchy either - but we're still in the same tonal range. Just.

The Dress: Worn conventionally - I'm rather glad there's only 10 more days of the challenge to go - I have renewed respect for the chic that wore the same dress for a whole year. There are only so many ways to make a jumper and boots look interesting!

The Rest: Thermal, lace, long sleeved vest. M&S. Gorgeous stripey cardigan with tiny buttons. Missoni. (Oh yes you read that right!) - If I were rich I'd be clad head to toe in this label. One of my all time faves - even before their renaissance. Burgundy thermal tights. Black and green plastic beads, green printed perspex bangle, wooden bangles. All collected on my travels.


The Juice: Minty Sunshine.I made mine with an orange, a red grapefruit, carrots, mint and ginger. Happy juice in a beaker.

The Shoes: Blue, DM boots - extra socks.

The Doo: Pobbles trusty Bobbles!

Day 17 | Java Jive

 Morning! I'm weaning myself back off coffee - so you'll not get much sense out of me today. I've woken up with the same headache I went to bed with and I'm feeling decidedly flimsy as my dear pal Hilary would say. So to distract everyone from the peaky, strained  - mad behind the eyes,  little face that greets them today - I've gone with more Purple!

I do love purple - it's the grown up girl's pink - which I also love. Truth is there isn't a colour I don't love - except perhaps mustard. Although I could be persuaded to wear mustard for the right shoes. What?

Today I've had to modify the line of my jumper. Worn at full stretch it made me feel frumpy and fat. I am neither and so I had to raise the hemline - to uncover a tapering line into the bodice of the dress. It's a small adjustment but it makes a huge difference. So far it's staying put.

I love the corsarge of yesterday's outfit - so I've added it again to day - with all the placcy, junky jewels too.

So to be honest - I feel like yesterday's coffee grounds in the ooky bin - but I think I look pretty acceptable no? A cute little happenstance is that the colour of the jumper picks up the remains of the purple chalk slices in my hair. Bonus!

Note: No make-up was harmed in the making of this blogpost. I may be forced to wipe on a pink smile before I head out to fetch Bakery Thursday on a Friday. (Oh do keep up).

The Dress: Worn underneath stuff.

The Rest: Gorgeous purple jumper modified. Shocking Pink 'Ladder' tights - Jonathan Aston. Pink and purple knuckle dusters. Betty's ring. Pink Silk corsarge. Debenhams. (check out their hat dept in the Sales - for loads of brilliant silk flowers and stuff - pick up the scruffy ones cheap and borrow someone's iron to smarten them up - smart huh?).

The Shoes: Carmen Miranda purple suede sandals. Kurt Geiger.

The Eyewear: Purple cats eyes sunnies as yesterday. I pick most of my sunnies up at TK MAXX but I can't actually remember where these come from. I've had them a long time.

The Do: Undone

The Bakery Order: 1x giant steak pasty, 1x cheese and onion pasty, 1x yoghurt topped flapjack, 1x Cherry Bakewell and 1x Chocolate Bus. 1x organic 6seed loaf - thick cut.

The youngest teen used to have a huge sausage roll - but now prefers to have the fresh bread with some soup. The oldest is a veggie and has hummus to eat the crust of his pasty with. I don't have cake or pastry or bread.

I am a blinking SAINT! 

Just saying...

As if to match my mood Ken is playing Leonard Cohen singing Suzanne... from Ms Vega's 'Tracks of my Years' segment.

"She is wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters ..."

Day 16 | Because I'm Happeeee!

Happy International Happiness Day! Last year March 20th United Nations declared International Happiness Day - and this is the 2nd. Bhutan has the goal of gross national happiness over Gross National Product. The idea that happiness is measured as much, if not more - by our connection with each other, time to play, meditate and contemplate and our opportunities to make a difference,  as it is by the amount of cash we have in our pockets isn't new. But it's definitely having 'a moment'.

Here is The Secretary General - Ban Ki Moon's message on IHD.

For me happiness is simple to articulate but damned hard to practice without mindfulness. I try to bring my authentic self into every encounter I have. I also try to meet every challenge I face with the best I've got at the time. If I had a mantra it would be -  'Be kind, be generous and be grateful and loving.'

So today I dressed, wholly for my own happy amusement. There's pink AND red AND purple. There's a shit tonne of plastic fantastic and a huge silk flower. There are sitting down shoes, and Poble's Bobbles! My absolute fave hair style. Which iPodge isn't particularly fond of but for my money SCREAMS Luli!

And after all that's who I is...

I shall be donating in support of the bonkers Jo Whiley - I am in awe of her achievement and I'll be watching Davina too. I shan't be posting a 'no make-up' selfie. In fact I spend my life without makeup - and I rarely drag a comb through my hair either - most of these pics of me are sans-slap! So there'd be little point and zero trepidation...

If you are joining in the spontaneous Slap-off- Selfie initiative - then please remember to include information about how to donate and details of how your pals can take part too
. I think it's a cool tool to raise funds - but ya gots to ask!

It's also the Spring Vernal Equinox today - So Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Dress: Washed and worn conventionally

The Rest: Lace thermal vest with lace peeping. Red cardigan, with puffy sleeves. Plastic pink and purple knuckle dusters. Mad pink plastic, rose bracelet. Vintage pink beads. Huge pink corsarge pinned to beads. Purple, thermal tights. (toasty). Orla Kiely Black Flower Bag with red handles. Tescos!

The Shoes: Office - red suede, peep-toe. I wrote a story inspired by these but it's too smutty to publish here! They are proper sitting down shoes.

The Eyewear: Purple plastic - lord knows if they have the right level of UV protection but as they're a complete affectation today - lets not worry too much huh?

The Do: Poble's Bobbles - with extra purple pizzaz!

Be happy.

Day 9 | Purple Peril

Greetings! It's freezing again... here in the South West. Today is Bakery Thursday. Which means the men of the house get to scoff baked goods. Pasties, Bakewell tarts, the chocolate bus and amazing, fresh, six seeded, organic bread. Lucky them.

Me? I don't pastie...

Today I am channeling lady-like daintyness - complete with lace around the collar and cuffs of my thermals, pointy, pointy shoes and ickle pearly buttons on my cardy! Layers are the key to keeping warm - I can reveal that my knickers are colour-coded purple too... this doesn't help the thermal count - but it makes me feel great.

I'm wearing what my grandmother would call 'sitting down shoes' -  they are the perfect combination of cute and treacherous. A fairly old-school pointed toe - stiletto designed by the Rock and roll designer John Richmond. Purple, sexiness all the way up and all the way down.

The Dress | Worn right way up - under a button up.

The Rest | Thermal vest with lace trim. Purple, lambswool cardigan with little grey buttons. M&S purple tights under black circle lacey tights. Pink, plastic, roses bracelet. Vintage, pink beaded necklace. Wool, silk scarf - fancy french label. Wide waspy belt with a bow - Peacocks! Betty's ring.

The Shoes | Purple & Silver, leather, stab heel stilettos - John Richmond (Vintage)

The Eyewear | Purple Prada

The Do | Unbrushed and undone. Today was supposed to be lovely new hair day - but my hairdresser's little man is poorly - so that's me flaunting my grey, badger stripe for another few days.