(title said in the voice of the rich old man from The Aristocats)

HELLO. I haven't any proper outfit photos but I really wanted to update because it's been so long.
So here's one from a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it is the same dress I've worn in a previous outfit post, but I'm desperate, okay? Plus I still love it. And I'm wearing different shoes. So there you go.

I feel like I have so many outfits that I just haven't photographed, so next week is going to be a picture taking week. Yes it will. Maybe I'll take one every day. Maybe I'll include pictures of other peoples' outfits. What a radical suggestion. No one's ever done that before. Well by jove not on this blog they haven't. Apart from the entry before last. But never you mind.

Got this in the post the other day. Fucking tea and Tim Tams. Living the dream.

And you know what else I got in the post the other day? A postcard! From New York! Or as I like to call it, Noo Yawk.

The sender was the lovely Erin Kim of unscripted, who is like... the nicest, coolest person ever, as you will see upon going to her blog.

I have an insane amount of work to do, so time to get off the internet. Hopefully I can update next week, as I am also going to a couple of interesting places (hopefully) including Cambridge to visit the twin, which is always always fabulous.

OH, and also, to the girl who came up to me today, if you read this:
Sorry I was a bit unfriendly / didn't ask your name or anything! I was just totally not expecting it. Hope you didn't think I was too rude!

So goodnight / goodbye everyone!

Hello everyone

Currently experiencing what is probably my third hangover ever. It's kind of horrible, and yet, and yet, and yet, it makes my room seem especially cosy and this porridge taste especially comforting. And it makes writing this blog post and reading seem like the perfect thing to spend my afternoon doing! So there you go.

What to update you on? I'm back in Durham for one thing. It is now officially my home as my parents are off in sunny ol' Sydney for good. But that's fine! Durham may be a little small but it has everything you need, plus Newcastle is only a few minutes away by train. So yes, all is well. I've had massive amounts of work to do but I've taken this week to relax a bit, read some non-law related things and generally pretend I have nothing to do. Feels good. Oh, and yesterday I went to a Burns Night dinner party and had haggis for the first time. For some reason I thought haggis was some kind of horrific offal sausage, but... it wasn't! It was actually really good. I could go for some more right now. But ANYWAY, yesterday I got some outfit pictures for the first time in what feels like ages. I haven't worn something so prissy in a long time. I felt a bit like a walking cream cake. But kind of in a good way.

I love this lion brooch. I got it for £2 from Topman! For some reason the Topman in Durham has a lot of jewellery I like. Much more than the Topshop downstairs, certainly. Very strange indeed. I actually bought my sister five Topman necklaces for Christmas just because they were all so good. ...YEAH.

Now, let me tell you about this dress. It was sent to me by the lovely China Doll Boutique and it is... awesome. It came with a slip which I stupidly forgot to put on, but no matter. It's lovely soft stretchy lace, super comfy and pretty. I will probably wear it a lot when it gets a bit warmer. But for now, luckily it looks febulous with a collared shirt underneath.

Aaand this was Charlie's outfit (the very kind photographer for the afternoon). And also a very nice door. Kind of feel like I should have taken pictures of Palace Green for this post, just because it's so nice. But I didn't, so oh well. Is this a strange way to end a post? I'm not sure. Anyway, goodbye!

My style in 2011

Just thought I'd do this after seeing it on a couple of other blogs. I feel like I don't take that many outfit pictures and yet it seems like I have a lot to post! Anyway, these are my outfit pictures of 2011. Possibly not representative of my style in general / right now, but this is what I have!

Bye!

home for christmas!

Well, kind of home. Home for the next couple of weeks, then I'm moving to my grandmother's old house in Wimbledon. Then my mother goes back to Australia and Durham is my home for good! Slightly exciting but also sad because I love this house.

Right now we have the best window display ever. In my street everyone puts things in their windows, and my sister and friend decided to do something Christmassy.

Awwww. It's funny watching people walk past the window and then stop to gaze upon the glory of the penguins (they dance in sunlight, by the way). Everything is really Christmassy in Brighton generally at the moment. I mean, it is Christmas, but it seems even more festive here than up in Durham. ANYWAY. So yes, I got here on Saturday evening. The first thing we did was go to Street Thai for fucking amazing food and cocktails. I love thai food. Wow. Actually, everything I've done has revolved around food so far. We went out to breakfast the next morning, then went to my favourite cafe, then went out for mulled cider that evening...

... how very festive. Then today we went out for breakfast. I was also presented with a box of candy upon my return and I have eaten literally all of it by now. Let's see how much weight I gain over the break, shall we?

Where on earth did this ferris wheel come from? It was definitely not there when I left haha.

While I'm here and seeing as I haven't updated in a while, I'll also post some photos from Durham.

I wear this coat basically every day.

Starbucks Christmas drinks! Starbucks coffee is usually awful but I have to say... eggnog lattes are fucking good. 

ANYWAY, today is a bit rainy so I'm going to stay indoors and do some work. I'm so awful at writing blogs haha. Let me show you my Christmas outfit?

Well, one of a few. Haha. Recognise the fur? Pretty sure I wear it too much. But oh well. The jumper is from a giveaway by Fashion Your Seatbelts!

Anyway, nothing else to report so... goodbye!

Hyello

Long time no post!

So after weeks of forgetting to bring my camera out with me, I have finally taken some pictures of Durham! Yes! They're not amazing but... they will do for now hoho.

 I love this view and this photo does not in any way do it justice.

Once again, this photo does not do the cathedral justice! Obviously I am not the most fantastic photographer so... you'll just have to come and gaze upon its glory in person.

So, you get the general gist of things. Durham is a beautiful place. Yes it is. As you can see, everything is very autumnal at the moment. Much more so than Brighton ever was / will be considering how incredibly leafy it is around here. Despite being very pretty however, autumn leaves make everything incredibly slippery underfoot. I have come to realise over the past few weeks that I've made awful choices in terms of what shoes to bring to uni with me.

These are my uni shoes (minus one pair which cannot be photographed because it looks awful at the moment). I can only generally wear the awful shoes, or the first pair in the photograph. Everything else is deadly. I had no idea my shoe choices were so impractical until I came here, to be honest. Like I said, Brighton isn't leafy and the ground is pretty even. I could go out wearing any of these and it wouldn't be a big deal. Here, I even have to be quite careful while wearing the first pair (slippery). Maybe I need some hiking boots? Idk

Generally I am quite limited fashion-wise here because I couldn't bring all that many clothes with me, but it's not too bad. Here are a couple of outfits haha :|



Coat: vintage / scarf: Edinburgh Wool Company / bag: made it / shoes: Bertie

 Not the most attractive picture of me but... I'm wearing a red coat with gold buttons so all is well.

Dress: made it / sweater: second hand / skirt thing: Debenhams / necklace: Topshop / rings: H&M, Primark?, ChainlessBrain.com / shoes: vintage

Okay, why do I seem unable to take pictures which aren't a bit weird-looking? This is what I wore today. Actually, I ended up wearing different shoes... but yes. Otherwise this is it.

The ring was very very kindly sent to me by a company called Chainless Brain! It's now something I wear pretty much every day. I'm sure you agree that it's pretty awesome hohoho. Anyway, they do loads of different designs or you can choose your own. Check them out here!

Aaaaand now it's time for me to go to dinner. Bye!

Tutorial: Turn a jacket into a cape

Now, I was going to make a cape from scratch (honest) but as the only thing I could really use for fabric was so close to what the end product would be, I decided to just make a 'reconstruction' tutorial.

Now I'm sure there are other ways to make capes, but this is just what made most sense to me. There are no pockets (though you could certainly add them if you wanted) but there are little holes for your arms to go through haha.

You will need...

A sewing machine, seam ripper, scissors, one blazer / jacket / coat. The jacket I'm using is massively too big for me so I've made the shoulders smaller. You wouldn't have to do this if you used a smaller jacket, obviously. The only thing is that the length of the cape would be limited to the length of the sleeves unless you decided to add another piece on the side... but that could look weird? ANYWAY, do what you want.

Remove the sleeves using a seam ripper and set aside. Cut from the shoulders down both sides, from where you want the shoulders of your cape to sit. Either refer to your own shoulder measurements or use a jacket that fits you as a guide.

Use the seam ripper to open up the sleeves. Cut the sleeve (with the lining) into a kind of... smoother shape :| 

Right sides together, sew the 'sleeve' to the front and back of the jacket, stopping where you want your little ARM SLIT (what a terrible name but 'arm hole' is kind of already taken). Do the same with the lining. After that point, sew the main fabric to the lining fabric of the same piece.  So, the sleeve part will not be joined to the 'body' at that point, it will just have the lining and main fabric joined together. You know what I mean. When you want the slit to stop, rejoin the sleeve + body in the same way as before. Do the same on the other side. Now all you need to do is hem the whole thing (you should have to do some trimming first) and you are done.

Bye! (: