2011 The Year of Home Improvements

You may or may not know but my boyfriend and I bought a house in August last year. It's a 2 bed end mews property with a garden, garage and drive, and we love it. During the past few months we've been living here, we've made a few little changes to the house but to be honest there wasn't a great need as the woman who owned it before had great style in decorating. So the lounge, kitchen, main and spare bedrooms have stayed decorated as they are.
The only room we really wanted to change was the bathroom. It used to have yellow tiles and a border with fish on it. Not the best, I know. So as this is our first house and we're on a bit of a budget, we decided that instead of re-tiling the entire bathroom, we'd just paint over the tiles that were already there. So in January, we had a week off and spent 3 days solid painting coat after coat of white tile paint over the yellow. I'm glad to say it now looks fantastic and modern. Major improvement! So the next step was to paint the walls as they were just cream and boring. We've only just got round to this now but we've gone for Waterfall blue, it's pale but just brightens the room up. Finally, I really want to change the floor. It's currently carpet which isn't fantastic when it's getting wet all the time, so we're thinking some kind of tiles, probably dark grey. Just to give you a taster of the before and after (so far), I've included a couple of snapshots below. 
Before...

After... With my gorgeous new boat, very on trend with the nautical theme for SS11/12.

The next plan is to tackle the garden. We have a fantastic outdoor space considering the size of our house. There's a decent size lawn, some gravel, and a patio behind the garage, which is a brilliant sun trap on these gorgeous summer days we're having. In the past couple of months I've begun planning what I want to do with all this space and thought I'd share some thoughts in the hope that I can either inspire you, or you can tell me some better ideas! I should mention that as I type this, I'm sat out on some new patio furniture with my feet up and a nice cold glass of Lucozade Original. That may seem an odd choice of drink, but as you found out yesterday, I'm still ill. Anyway, back to the garden plans. I purchased some vegetables to grow in pots in the house before transferring them outside so I'm hoping to put these in pots and hanging baskets around the garden, along with normal flowering plants, to give it a bit of colour. 

The fence panels all need re-painting, currently we have a wide variety of colours due to the fact that when the horrendous wind came a few months ago, a couple of panels blew out. Then there's the issue of weeds. We have a lot of gravel around the lawn and patio, and this seems to be over run with weeds and moss. I've bought some weed killer which should hopefully help, and then they all need a good hosing down. Same goes for the patio, unless we decide to swap the current beige stone flags for some sleek and modern grey slate flags, courtesy of my parents left over from their gardening adventures. So this morning we ventured to Homebase (if anyone reads this today and hasn't seen the advert there's 15% off everything just today), to buy all the things we needed to complete the jobs above. I thought to myself, I'll just have a bit of a look at patio furniture and see if there's anything nice and cheapish. Little did I know that as soon as we walked through the door, there would be the perfect set for us. Well, to be accurate the set in the door was a 4 chair and round table set, and we opted for the larger rectangular table with parasol and 6 chairs. £170! Cannot believe it, these are the most comfortable outdoor chairs I have ever sat on, except those day beds on holidays. So yes, the credit card came out and we bought in to the offer. I have to say, I love it, and I can finally enjoy sitting outside! 

Obviously this picture is from the catalogue as there is no way that the weather pictured is in England, or that I am rich enough to afford a pool!

All I need now is some outdoor dining, some fairy lights and little lanterns and it should be done! Roll on the BBQs : )

Finally, my other venture for the year will be the spare room. Though this doesn't need decorating, it's currently a gorgeous pale turquoise, it does need some better furniture to make it more practical. At the moment we have it as a spare double bedroom/dumping ground/washing room. The bed has been used twice and takes up the most space, so we thought it would be better to get a sofa bed so we can have a TV and the WII up there, use it as a second lounge, but if anyone wants to stay over, there's still somewhere to sleep. Then I'd like to get a desk big enough for my laptop and space for dressmaking, so I can use the room when the boyfriend wants to play FIFA in the lounge downstairs. I also bought a mannequin the other day so this will live there too. Hopefully, this will all help me to get on with my dressmaking more vigorously and actually finish the two dresses I'm currently trying to make. 


I'll keep you updated on our progress through the year. But for now, I'll just sit back, relax and enjoy the sun while I can.


Happy sunbathing.


Lots of love,

Love at First Sight

I promised I'd get to 4 posts in a week...


If you do anything today, go on to the Miu Miu website and just look at some of the fabulous accessories and shoes on sale. Who cares if you can't afford them, the happiness they provide is too much to resist.


For example, this adorable Apple Plexiglass Brooch (£90)

And my favourite find on the whole website, these Patent Leather Loafers (£325)

I know they're expensive beyond imagination for a pair of loafers, but they are absolutely the best pairs of loafers I have ever seen and I would love them in all 3 colours. Unfortunately, this now means I am NEVER going to be able to find a pair of loafers that compare within my price range. Damn Miuccia Prada and her astonishing designs.

Only a quick glimpse, but I'm sure you can find your own favourites to dream about tonight.

Miuccia love,

New Year's Resolutions The Update

As you may remember, in January I gave you a list of 6 of my New Year's resolutions. So far, there are only really 2 that I am on the way to achieving or have done already.


Numbers 1 and 2 were to set up Workplace Giving so I could donate to 3 charities every month, and to donate money every time I bought or sold on Ebay. I am happy to say that this has been a complete success. As I told you all last time, I'm donating to Bowel Cancer UK, Heart Research UK and the NSPCC, and have donated to many charities via Ebay including Tommy's Baby Charity and Heartbeat, a small charity in Preston who helped my Grandad to get better after a heart attack and major surgery. I may not be the richest person in the world, but if I can afford to feed my shoe habit, I can afford to donate to charity and help people that really need the money and support.
Number 3 was to write on my blog 4 times a week. As you may have noticed, I haven't been too successful with this one. I definitely need to try harder but as usual, life gets in the way. If only I could give up my day job and do this full time, then maybe I might have a chance of succeeding in my third resolution! But I promise to do my best. And this week, I'll be pretty much posting all 4 in a day! One extreme to another : )
For number 4, I decided to follow my passion and become a Trainee Buyer. As some of you will know, my meetings with my Manager have gone well and she's been very supportive of my wish to explore a buying career. Although she doesn't want to lose me, she also doesn't want to stand in my way. So with that in mind, I have been meeting with a current Trainee Buyer at work to discuss her job. She's been a brilliant insight in to a department I have little contact with on a day to day basis. She has managed to provide me with detailed information about her daily tasks, career aspirations, previous experience and all other little details I never would have known! I'm really hoping this will give me that extra knowledge to stand out in any interviews I might attend in the future. All I can say right now is, watch this space.
Number 5 was to lose half a stone and tone up. Now as we speak I am sat eating some Dairy Milk in bed. But I'm ill so I'm allowed. But I have been trying my best. I've started taking Zumba classes and Step classes once a week, and am hoping to add Aerobics to my timetable too. These have really helped motivate me as they're so much more fun than just running for miles (or maybe metres!) on a treadmill. If you struggle for motivation in the gym like me, definitely give classes a go. As losing the weight goes, I was doing fantastic and I could fit in my skinny jeans before I went on holiday. However, Budapest seems to do the best chocolate puddings I have ever tasted in my life, and I had one every night for five nights. So as it stands, I think I put the weight back on.
Finally, I had planned to run the 10k Race for Life as my 6th New Year's Resolution. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% there's going to be an event near where I live for me to take part in. So this year I will have to either repeat last year and just go with the 5k, or take part in another 10k race and choose a charity of my own. But I promise I'll run for something!


So there you have it, my current progress for 2011.  I think I've probably added a few more resolutions as the months have gone on, but I won't bore you anymore with my lack of achievements! Hope you're all doing well with any personal goals you have for the year. Good luck.


Love and four leaf clovers,

Indulgence

Every so often I like to have a good work through all my clothes and accessories to see if I can throw out any of my vast collection. Even though the reason I'm doing this on the surface is to try and get rid of any junk I don't wear any more, and in doing so make my boyfriend happier, the thing that gets me excited is the thought of finding something at the back of my wardrobe or the bottom of my hat boxes that I've completely forgotten about but still absolutely love. This usually happens with an old t shirt or a hat I can restyle for the new season. But I love love love it when I find an old handbag or some jewellery mixed up in my many jewellery boxes that is now so on trend I'm glad I never chose to throw it out. Moral of the story... though your boyfriend might like it, don't throw anything out unless it doesn't fit you or you completely hate it. You ever know when fashions will return and you'll be able to dig it out all over again. And even if you do throw things out, give them to charity or recycle them because though your personal tastes may have changed, you just might make someone's day with your donation.

Looking at my shoes. Now this will probably sound totally strange to most people, but every now and then I like to get out all my gorgeous shoes and remind myself of what I have in my wardrobes. I always find that you go through spells with the weather and the seasons of being able to wear certain shoes and in the process, those you can't wear get forgotten temporarily. It's always nice to go through your collection and remind yourself of the little bits of shoe heaven you have hidden away for next summer. On line with shoes, when I'm having a really difficult outfit choosing day, I sometimes like to find my favourite pair of shoes and match an outfit to them. Not that this makes my life any easier! Most of my shoes are so different that I only have one or two outfits that are appropriate to wear with them, and if I'm looking for work, most of these won't do either. But when your stressing over outfits, it's nice to have a gorgeous pair of shoes to wear that instantly make you feel happy.

Leafing through my shelves and shelves of Elle and Vogue magazines. When I left university, I started subscribing to Elle magazine and ever since have not been able to throw any away. I have bookshelves and boxes filled with them because to me, they're pretty important and I always love to go back and look through the old ones. I especially like going through every one I get and bending down the corners of the pages of looks I adore. It's pretty interesting going back a couple of years and seeing what fashions I was in to. Sometimes I don't know what I was thinking! 
I've always had the view that books are precious and should be looked after. I always finish every book I read with two exceptions my whole life. One was The Hobbit which my teacher tried to force me to read in year 6 of primary school, and the other was The Dice Man which just got a little bit too creepy for my liking. But overall, I never leave pages unread and for me, this opinion extends to copies of Vogue and Elle too. They're fashion bibles in to which an enormous amount of work is put each month and so should be treated with the respect they deserve. I read other fashion magazines, but to try to keep every issue of them too would just get a bit too much and probably take over the house! From all these other magazines that I read, I always pull out the pages of fashions and garments I love and organise them in to colour palettes to put in to scrap books for each season. Although if I'm honest, I'm a little behind at the moment. It doesn't take long to rip the pages out but it takes a while to cut them and stick them all in the books! So I think I have about 2 seasons worth of images. Next time I ever have some free time on my hands, I might need to catch up on that one.


Just a few things I love to do when I have the time. They keep me in touch with my love for fashion and allow me to indulge that obsession just a little. And if nothing else, they force me to spend some time relaxing and de-stressing, away from my normal daily life.


Go on, indulge your fashion obsessions. It's healthy, I promise...


Lots of love,

Boutique by Jaeger

As I'm currently tucked up in bed off work ill, I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you some recent finds in between my get well naps.  One of my favourite new collections at the moment is the fantastic new range from Jaeger that I stumbled across while reading the usual fashion websites on my lunch.  Absolutely gorgeous, it's good quality fashion for the younger generation.

And with a fantastic 50% off some lines right now, you could get this perfectly shaped trench coat for only £115. Go on, you know you want it. I know I do! 

                                      

Enjoy a beautiful sunny day for those of you lucky people who are allowed outdoors!

Lots of love,