The angels never arrived, but I can hear the choir

Fun "We Are Young" Ft. Janelle Monae

The weather has been beautiful this weekend! So as long as the sun decides to stick around, I will be surviving on a diet that mainly consists of bbq-ed meat, Pimms and cider, hardly balanced...

Topshop dress and sandals via ebay

Miss Selfridge skirt, Topshop sandals and denim jacket via ebay, New Look bandeau top and head scarf, River Island belt 

 

Me: Customised New Look crop, River Island skirt and Faith wedges via ebay, Dorothy Perkins belt and Miss Selfridge earrings

 Emma: River Island Skirt and New Look bandeau (I think it's New Look...!)

Those of you that keep up-to-date with the blog will notice that's the New Look smock top that I basically cut the bottom off, I think it's got me back onto the diy bandwagon. I read Geneva's blog daily, A Pair & A Spare, and I am constantly inspired by her creations and the images she posts. Hopefully there will be a few more made by me to come, I think I can expand my crop making abilities.


KDx

Once you enter my house, it becomes our house

Julio Bashmore "Jack got Macked"

So it looks like my pleas were answered in the form of glorious sunny spells, and with that comes the mad dash to stuff all the jumpers to the bottom of the drawer and dig out all the 'Summer' frivolities that have been packed away since last year; and that's where the problem lies, everything feels a little, well, last year. The skirts I have been wearing throughout the colder months are perfect now I can go sans tights, but I feel myself longing for something a little bit 'now' to perk everything up and keep it fresh. As I posted about here, the high drift is the flesh to flash, so on the hunt for a crop top I was left a little disappointed by the offerings immediately available to me. Truth be told, the campus of the College where my office is based has a less than pathetic high street, filled with restaurants and charity shops of which have been known to give me some delightful spoils, both edible ones and wearable ones at that, but in this instance I wanted instant wearable gratification that can normally be found in your average shopping centre. Making the most of what (little) there was on off, I was drawn to the print of this top in the sale in New Look, £6 down from £16.99.

The smock style top has a fitted band that sits above and below the bust, so in essence, a crop top with a skirt, with a little bit of time to spare I decided to get out my needle and thread and get customising.

What you will need:

A Smock top

Scissors

Needle

Thread

This little diy project should pose itself as no challenge for even the most sew-phobic of individuals.

1) Lie your top down on a flat surface and locate the waist band. You want to make one cut straight across, about an inch below the waistband.

2) You can discard the bottom bit of fabric for now, although I am intending to make that into a crop also-a tutorial will follow, so keep it somewhere safe! Turn the top piece inside out and locate the seam.

3) Leaving an allowance of an inch will mean you can ensure a neat edge along the bottom of your crop top. Those of you that don't have any faith at all in your sewing abilities can just cut the fabric close to the bottom of the waistband, but this way, although a little more time consuming should ensure that the crop can be washed without fraying. 

4) Take the cut edge of the fabric and bring it up to meet the seam, this is where you will be sewing.

5) With the needle and thread, sew the cut edge of the fabric to the seam; with the top being inside-out there is no need to worry about neatness here. The novices amongst you might find it easier to use a contrasting colour of cotton so you can see where you are sewing; again being on the inside no-one will ever know! I just used a basic up and over stitch, I tried to demonstrate the motion with my dotted line in the image, but any basic stitch would do to secure it.

6) Turn the top the right side out, and voilà! Smock to Crop in just a few minutes. Not only will you have the satisfaction of knowing this is something you created yourself, but definitely no chance of bumping into someone in the same one as you. 

I am pretty sure that smock tops had their day a while back, and so I bet if you delve deep enough there will be more than a few lurking in the back of cupboards, maybe even in the yet-to-be unpacked Summer wardrobe from last year? 

KDx

The music went and led me astray

Friction "Led Astray"

As I'd wrote about in an earlier post here, I was taken by the idea of a Spring suit,or co-ord and here's my interpretation as worn out on Friday night when we dined at La Tasca for my good friend Laura's birthday. It turned out to be a bit of a double celebration as she only went and bagged herself a new job after unfortunately having to endure an interview on her birthday, but it was all worth it in the end! 

American Apparel black u-back body, Asos floral shorts via ebay, Oasis blazer and Topshop boots

Despite the undesirable weather conditions, I perked up my hands with a summer nail look

I brought this Rimmel Lasting Finish nail varnish in 'Hot and Spicy' for a bargainous £1.24 in Morrison's whilst on my lunch break, admittedly my main reason for painting my nails was that I had brought the colour that day; how can you fail to transport yourself to hotter climes with zingy nails like this? The colour also looks a dead ringer for Models Own 'Hedonist' that has been spotted on numerous bloggers fingers. For my ring finger I used one of my favourite Nails Inc's, 'Lanseborough Place'. I have also discovered an amazing nail art/inspiration blog that actually comes courtesy of the Guardian-so I thank them for bringing it to my attention. The blog is called 'The Nail Saurus' and is written by 21 year-old Sammy from South Wales, you can find her amazing nail creations here. After reading through post after post I have to say my once creative self isn't feeling so advanced right about now, but she has filled me with some ideas and reignited my love for diy nails, so hopefully there will be some to feature shortly!

Right, back to the food. As much as I enjoy La Tasca I felt that being a party they neglected us a little, as they were so keen to serve us our food, which seems like a bonus, we were denied the 'tapas' experience and ended up with a table of soon-to-be cold food as we just couldn't eat it quick enough. In previous visits they had brought a selection of plates out in succession, so you had chance to enjoy them, before they were cleared away and the next lot brought out, hence our decision for choosing La Tasca; you get 13 girls together and they are going to want to talk! So sadly it felt like a lot of food went to waste. The food was as good as I remembered, albeit it in huge quantities, so I can't say I'll be rushing to recommend the party menu to anyone in the near future, just stick to small groups and I'm sure you'll get a more authentic Spanish tapas experience; the La Tasca I know.

Saturday was just spent wandering around town before a girly night in with our very expectant mother-to-be. Truth be known, a little part of me hoped we might be front line for a piece of the action, but the baby's not quite ready to meet us yet, so the wait continues...

Warehouse black and white cardigan, Zara leopard pumps and Topshop taupe leather shorts via ebay, H&M sleeveless shirt and New Look necklace

I'd been after some leather shorts for an age, but the real ones were always too expensive for me to justify for what in reality is so little material, and the fake ones always seemed to air on the side of bondage, anyone for shiny fake leather?! *shudders* The search inevitably continued. As with most things I tend to buy there is no time frame, which I find is the best way to shop; so as I rarely need anything for a specific outing, I can hold out until I get things at the right price, which in this case was 99p, and £3 delivery. Can't argue with that. In my opinion they were more than worth the wait, especially as it's May and I am still able to get away with wearing them with tights and not look like I am planning to lose my body weight in sweat alone.

As with every alcohol free weekend, food comes to the fore. Being hungover doesn't allow yourself to truly enjoy nice food, so a Sunday afternoon spent baking when I would normally contend with the suppressed fat girl isn't an option, so today Momma Bear and I donned our finest aprons and baked. We opted for scones (my tea habit needs some substance so as not to completely drown my insides) We followed James Martin's recipe from the BBC Food website, the only change we made was the addition of chopped glacé cherries because I love them and sultanas are a product of the devil  quite frankly.

Trust me when I say that it was absolute torture taking a picture of my lovingly jammed scone opposed to just scoffing it down asap. A bake I recommend to all. We only managed to get 7 scones out of the '8-10' mixture though, so I would ignore that bit, as if we rolled the mixture out any thinner I think we would have had cherry biscuits.

According to those that deliver the weather, this week we are supposed to see marked improvements. I'm going to do as every British person does at the hint of sunshine and harass all those around me into having a bbq, and at the risk of looking stupid spend a day without tights (I've been gradual tanning in preparation for this day to come so as not to be taken by surprise!)

Willie Nelson has been singing it for years... Bring me sunshine god dammit!

KDx

I am the ring leader of my own circle

Delilah "Breathe"

One of the many joys of knowing what suits your body shape is having the ability to play dress up every day; getting there may take some time, and a lot of trial and error in the process, but the outcome is ultimately worth it.

For me, this means that from any one day to the next I can dress up to suit my mood, where I am going, what I am doing, or influence how I want people to think of me. As much as we would all like to lead ourselves to believe that we are capable of not judging a book by it’s cover, we pigeon hole people as a ‘type’ as soon as we see what they are wearing, not necessarily in a negative light though. On occasions identifying with someone because they have a similar style to you can often indicate a certain way of thinking, or might help you to draw on common ground and talking points, which is a great way to start conversation with someone or meet new people. Take for instance the first friend I made at University on my course, she said she noticed me as soon as I walked in and thought I looked fun, and we’ve been friends ever since. She of course was right; I’m fun in heapfuls! Ha!

My point is that, what is fashion, if not a means of expressing ourselves, an old cliché, but one that holds very true.  For me this means girl crushing over tweeted pictures of Rihanna, and  Rita Ora who both have a look that's a mix of 90’s glam-come-grunge; to admiring the leggy loveliness of the Saturday’s. (Guilty pleasure anyone?!) Case in pictures, Rochelle Wiseman and Mollie King:

Pictures courtesy of Look Magazine

Since bagging the blazer and satisfying my desire to work it into as many outfits as possible, I have been keeping an eye out for how to develop the look. So moving on from the classic denim shorts and blazer combination, Rochelle and Mollie have very aptly demonstrated not only do they both possess killer pins, but the Spring short-suit, or 'co-ord' is hot right now. (Yes the Rita Ora reference was intentional).

One of my other favourite co-ord wearers has to be Caroline Flack, if not for her fashion credentials alone, then for the fact that I am betting those pins had something to do with her bagging a certain young singer who’s making it big over the pond.

Images courtesy of InStyle Magazine and The Mirror online

My plan is to take inspiration from these looks and work my blazers into a Spring worthy outfits. It's my friend's birthday this Friday and we are all going out for a meal to celebrate, a somewhat civilised affair for a change, which I think will be the perfect outing to showcase my co-ord.

As always the high street is full of ideas, be it buying separates and creating your own combination, for this I recommend sticking to a similar colour palette or tones, like Mollie and the Flack, or picking either a patterned jacket or short and picking out a key colour for the other as Rochelle exhibits; or going for a full on matching 'suit' which can be found in Asos, Topshop and River Island, boasting pattern, texture and a punch of colour.

Would you be willing to smarten up your weekend uniform for a short suit, or think it's best left in the boardroom? Sadly the legs are not included with this look!

KDx

I'll keep the dance floor warm

Jessie Ware "110%"

It actually felt like May this weekend, the sun was out and I had the pleasure of spending my time in London; East Putney to be precise. My friend recently made the big move to the big city and the long awaited time had come for me to see her in her new surroundings, the end result has left me feeling  a little lack lustre about being back up in middle England-I want to stay and play in London forever! The fact that she lives right by the Thames and overlooks Wadsworth Park definitely had nothing to do with it. 

We spent Saturday pub hopping in the sunshine- it was deceptively colder than I was led to believe, the English  weather has a habit of doing that I find. 

Oasis leather jacket, American Apparel long sleeved body, Miss Selfridge skirt and Marks and Spencer boots via ebay, River Island belt, and River Island bag via British Heart Foundation

First a note about the bag, bargain find of the week, £8.99 for this almost new River Island bag from British Heart Foundation; charity shop shopping is a favourite lunch time filler for me. The outfit picture was taken in the first pub we went into called The Normanby, the interior was made up of odd bits of furniture that were all available to buy, I can imagine that could be quite lethal after a few too many drinks and thinking that the sofa is so comfy that you should literally have it at home, could make for a very expensive round... 

Inside the Normanby, the table in the front was a bargain at £150!

The Normanby was followed by the Coat and Badger, before we went to The Boat House on the Thames and enjoyed our 4th and 5th Aspall. East Putney has some really nice pubs with heap loads of character, if you're in London and want somewhere new to explore then it comes highly recommended. I picked up some flyers from the pubs along the way, 1) To jog my memory once I'd gotten home and 2) I just loved the old man swishing his vino!

Saturday night revolved around getting dolled up, drinking and dancing. We started in Leicester Square before heading off to Chinawhite in Central London. 

Topshop leopard body and River Island skirt via ebay, Dorothy Perkins belt and shoes, Miss Selfridge earrings

If you noticed that there's something slightly amiss in this picture, then you would not be wrong, Saturday night was the first night I'd ever gone out sans glasses, I've been wearing them for 12 years or so, admittedly reluctantly at first, but I now own around 20 pairs. I even wear contact lenses on the weekends so I can wear cheap 'fashion' glasses to give me a different look from when I am in my glasses all week at work. I am tempted to wean myself off glasses gradually, I think it's a comfort thing, like a bit of a barrier, me against the world in my glasses! It's a feeling of being a bit exposed without them, anyone would think I'd gone out without any clothes on the way I am talking. If you don't wear glasses then all this has probably gone straight over your head! As for Chinawhite's it was a really good night, we were very well looked after in there, which is why I had no problem falling asleep on the train back home! Sadly no celeb spots to report!

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend only five more days until the next one...

KDx

Got to be true to myself

Alex Clare "Too Close"

I'd been putting this post off as I was hoping I would have had the pictures from the Miss Worcestershire Finals that took place on Sunday, but sadly I haven't had my permissions to download them, I was tempted to do it anyway, but I didn't. I guess those of you that are on Facebook can check them out here, and those of you that can hold out, can wait for them to feature in a later beauty pageant related post.

So here's to another host of bank holiday weekend outfits, starting with Friday night 

Oasis Blazer, Topshop ruffle crop vest and high waisted shorts via ebay, Topshop platfrom ankle boots and Miss Selfridge earrings

The Blazer, I couldn't resist wearing it again, the love is still strong. This is what I wore to the pub, I would say 'out for drinks', but for me that consisted of two Red Bulls and a Cranberry juice as I played designated driver; Sunday's fast approaching final was beginning to make me nervy without the added hangover paranoia!

Oasis leather jacket, American Apparel black body, Miss Selfridge dip hem skirt and Marks and Spencer boots via ebay

I'd been after some ankle boots for an absolute age! Ever since I saw the onslaught of blogger come streetstyle photos, the Isabel Marant/Acne Pistol boot seemed to be the favourite shoe du jour. My issue was being 5ft 10, I didn't want a heel that made me noticeably taller, but I did want some sort of heel that I could comfortably wear all day. I'd seen these boots originally on the Marks and Spencer website after I hunted them down after seeing them before that in a magazine editorial, I was a little sceptical of M&S throwing up something so on trend, but I missed them and they sold out. Having the patience of a saint, I searched for them on ebay and they turned up-these are brown but were also available in black in stores. I brought what I thought was a size 7, but it turns out they are a 6.5, but they fit perfectly. In order for these boots to tick all the boxes I needed to put them to the test, which meant a traipse around the shops in town should do it. I am pleased to report they were as comfy as any flat, I only wish I hadn't have waited so long and got them first time around!

Oasis leather jacket, H&M sleeveless shirt, Warehouse jeans and M&S boots via ebay

Bank Holiday Monday Funday! Well they were the intentions. I had all the excitement of a kid in a candy shop at the prospect of going to the Sea Life Centre, only to get there to find the queues too long to bear. So we headed on over to Star City just outside Birmingham for Pizza Hut and Avengers action. If you haven't seen it I wholly recommend it! I've only seen one of the Iron Man films, and I watched Hulk by accident, but it still stood up as a film on it's own; you have to see it in 3D though to get the full 'action' experience.

This weekend I will be going to London. I'd like to think I'll remember to take lots of pictures of everything I see, but I am useless, I'm hoping for a couple of celeb spots. I'm trying to get better, if only for the sake of you guys that keep reading :)

KDx

I won’t give up, and I won’t up and go

Disclosure ft Sinead Harnett "Boiling"

From the ebay littered posts you wouldn’t be discouraged from thinking that everything I buy is from ebay. To a certain extent, I guess this would be partly true, but you can literally buy everything you could ever want on ebay, it’s needless to say I have lost a few hours of my time through endless scrolling. I digress, sometimes, I do actually like to go in to a shop and buy real things; it’s a completely different type of satisfaction from paying nothing for something over the interwebs, but after all I am a girl, and so  shopping in any of it’s forms always raises a smile! 

Here's what I have been buying

 New Look  Studded slip-on loafers £17.99 and statement necklaces £4 and £2

I have been looking for a pair of 'inbetween' black shoes since it officially changed season (despite the weather having a stubborn turn and reverting back to seasons past). It doesn't help that I find black shoes boring and/or safe. I have some black patent loafers, which are fine, some would even say nice, but I hate wearing them. They make me feel matronly, and standing at 5ft 10, it's not a feeling I am keen to retain. These slip-ons, despite resembling a house shoe, are spot on, and available here. My other purchases came in the form of statement necklaces for £4 and £2, throw-away money! My jewellery buying habits seem to go in cycles, I become obsessed and buy in abundance, leaving me with a 100 plus ring collection alone.

This Sunday sees me compete in the final of Miss Worcestershire 2012. The required 'Evening wear' filled me with dread, until I saw this beauty online and subsequently sold out. I imagined if I was attending anything more glam than the opening of a works event (a girl can but dream) this is what I would want to wear, simple but well cut, unusual colour, and subtle.

Topshop Clean T-shirt Maxi Dress £58 

Her name is Ginger, or rather the colour is. The dress fits beautifully, skimming rather than hugging, and feels and looks so much more expensive than the £58 price tag. I was lucky enough to find this hanging on the wall in Topshop during my shopping trip last week to the Bullring as part of the birthday bender, my heart actually did a flutter when I knew it was within reach. I was also fortunate enough to still have a £20 gift card burning a hole in my purse, which makes this dress even more loveable. 

Saving the best buy until last. The Blazer. And I do mean the blazer.

Oasis Colour Block Collar Jacket £60

Even before I put together this post I had been long lusting from afar for the perfect blazer. Lightweight and light in colour. That's when this came onto my radar. Neutral still, though slightly darker than I thought I wanted, but after re-evaluation, the likelihood of me being able to keep anything lighter clean for longer than 5 minutes seemed unlikely, I'd like to waiver the right to anonymity and blame make-up for the would be finger marks.

Here's how I wore it (all)

Oasis colour block collar blazer, New Look statement necklace, horse print head scarf and studded slip-ons, Warehouse green belt and Levi's cut offs

My exploits for the rest of the week centre around Sunday, so much so I can't even contemplate a little drinking and dancing this weekend at any point! I do have a jaunt to London next weekend planned so I will more than make up for it. I'll be sure to let you know how I do :)

Enjoy the rest of your week

KDx