RUNNING THE COLOUR

As you are well aware - through my incessant mithering on here, Twitter, and in the Real World - I did Manchester's first Color Run on Sunday. It's a 5K run with a paint station every kilometre, complete with volunteers throwing powdered paint at you! I felt like I was absolutely covered in colour (including my teeth, because I was laughing as I went through the orange station and got a face full of colour) but when I got back I found I wasn't quite as bright as I thought! Wah. It was so good running through the clouds of paint though and it definitely gave you a kick of energy, urging you on when you thought the tank was empty; you can see the yellow station behind me in the picture above and the blue one below with clouds of colour billowing up. My aim was to run it in half an hour but adrenaline kicked in and I did it in 25 minutes - so that is probably why I wasn't caked in colour! You can see the (seriously unattractive) photos from my sprint finish HERE.

I'd love to do it again next year but my next aim is a 10K in October. If you enjoy these pictures (and those finish pictures alone must be worth a donation) don't forget you can donate to Macmillan Cancer Support, who I did the run for, using my JustGiving page - though if you don't have any pennies right now don't worry, this is an ongoing project for the charity!. A big thanks to those who have kindly donated already:

Maria, Tara, Aurora, Josie, Gill, Jordan & Adam, Karis, Sara and her custom denim, Clare, Tom & Lianne, Jan-Marie, plus all of my parents' friends including car dealer Nick Tomlin and the generous gang at Weaver Vale Housing Trust!

I haven't finished adding up the real-world donations yet but it should come to £300+.. eeek! If you're a company or a brand who would like a link in exchange for adding to my total for Macmillan drop me an email.

DISTANT TRAVELLER

Just takin' a quick teabreak in the Ette garden. I so love how I wear whatever I want to go work there, and I'm constantly surrounded by quirky, bohemian fashion - whether it's being worn by Lucie and Grace, store stock, or an image I'm updating the Tumblr with. My brain is definitely a style sponge, soaking up whatever it's immersed in, and I find myself reaching for slouchier fits, vintage prints, and cowboy boots right now. And still with the black and white stripes.. they perfectly go/don't go with everything.

I'm finding the "I don't know what to wear" moments are coming less and less at the moment; it makes it easier that whether I want to sit in the studio in a ballgown or a bikini, Ette wouldn't bat an eyelid. I don't even know where my style is right now but I like it.

I'm wearing:

Hacked up Oasis t-shirt

Minkpink Distant Traveller trousers

Topshop moccasins via charity shop

eBay sunglasses

Vintage necklace

Vintage, eBay, Kenneth Jay Lane & Chlobo bracelets

BCBG, Dixi, Topshop & Bohemian Collective rings

WEIRD WONDERFUL LA LA LAND

Minkpink are by far one of my favourite brands, and every season I find myself lusting after (and ultimately buying) far more than is healthy for my bank balance. Sara Waiste and I have said to each other that Minkpink's stuff is what you dream of finding when you're out charity shopping - cheesecloth, clashing prints, smock dresses, crochet, and cute vintage detailing.

While their product seems to be moving away from that, and becoming younger - catering to the brightly coloured and printed blogger "twosie" trend - I still absolutely loved the colour, vibrancy and dynamism in this campaign (mind you, I'm pretty into the crystal/dolphin t shirt you can just see in one of the shots). I would love to visit Venice Beach; it's just so typically Californian, with rollerbladers in lycra, the meatheads on Muscle Beach, and snake charmers after your dimes. Plus the amazing Chloe Norgaard is the star, along with her real-life best buddy Daveigh. Chloe is best known for her rainbow hair, though I've been following her travels on Instagram for a little while now and she seems like a downright cool dude who I'd love to hang out with. She loves doing everything from going to music festivals to meditating on tropical beaches.. along with working as a model, that's the dream life right there.

The whole shoot is basically a treat for the eyes. Take a look at the full lookbook on the (newly made over!) Minkpink website.

PAISLEY SHORTS DAY

Um.. hello? Is this thing on? I have to check, you see, as last week the light on my laptop screen broke and I couldn't tell whether I was on Pinterest or porn. Actually I don't go on either of those sites but they're alliterative so it works.

I've been working hard with helping to launch Thriftette's rebrand this week (check out Ette!) and coming home to sit on a computer has been pretty unappealing anyway, especially in this weather. But it was a most welcome relief when I got a new laptop (THANKS DAD & MUM you da best), I really didn't know how much my work life depended on it. Honestly though you should've seen it, the screen had been hanging off by a thread and it's a miracle it lasted so long. Tragic was not the word.

Here are some pictures from a time when I left the house on a sunny day with Chris and we both inadvertently wore paisley shorts. I'd suggest we did it more but the fly broke on my shorts (classy) so perhaps not. We sat in the Manchester International Festival garden drinking cider and it was more like Madrid than Manchester; incidentally a bunch of my friends are in the former city right now, and I keep getting Snapchats saying "jealous???" but when the weather is like this there's nowhere I'd rather be than the latter city.

I'm wearing:

Urban Outfitters tee

Minkpink shorts & bag

Wildfox sunglasses

Topshop hat & sandals

BLONDIE IN THE FOREST

Getting (semi) lost in the vastness of Delamere Forest is one of my favourite things to do, but on Saturday night I descended into the trees to watch the almighty Blondie play ForestLive.

The atmosphere was so chilled with people lay around on rugs and sat on deckchairs, eating picnics and drinking cider (I decided the most sensible idea would be to drive, an idea I regretted pretty quickly).. the crowd were older but I loved looking around an imagining what they had been up to thirty years previous as new Blondie fans: the man in the bucket hat, dancing in the Hacienda; the mum embarrassing her son with her whoops and cheers, illicitly bleaching her hair as a teenager to be more like her idol. When I'm fifty I doubt my past will be half as interesting as most of the boring old farts you meet nowadays.

The band were super cool and I was stunned to see how amazing Debbie Harry still is. She might not be pogoing around the stage but her voice remains, and they played all of the old favourites plus some tracks from recent albums, most of which I enjoyed as much as the hits. Overall the gigs in the forest are something I'd wholeheartedly recommend and hope to do again next year!

It was also so good to be outside at night and be able to wear not very much.. it's finally, FINALLY summer. Hooray. So glad I picked up this Minkpink top from the ASOS sale, and I just needed a crochet cardigan to keep the chill off when the sun went down. See totally awkward outfit pictures in front of loads of people.. haha.

I'm wearing:

Wildfox sunglasses

Minkpink Magic Dragon top & bag

ASOS crochet cardigan

Miss Selfridge candy stripe shorts

Topshop Arson boots

WHITE HEAT

Really don't think I need too many words for this one.. ya'lls know how I feel about these boots. Love love love. One small note though: I thought they were bright white! They're actually more like cream. I'm over that hiccup now though and fully enamoured. I can't afford to eat for a few weeks now but they're totally worth it, right?

I also seem to have developed a thing for black and white striped tees. Actually, it's kind of an old thing of mine that's resurfaced, and I've dug some old tops out of storage. I feel like being a bit minimal right now. I KNOW RIGHT, this is actually crazy for me. The perennial maximalist goes minimal!

Celebrated my boots' arrival with a few pints of cider courtesy of Kopparbeg's pop-up bar on Spinningfields. The new flavours are fit; I like Cloudberry the best. And sometimes (sometimes), when the weather behaves itself (like it did the other night) being in Spinningfields is a bit like being in a beautiful holiday resort somewhere warm, and not like Manchester's financial district at all. Perfect escapism.

I'm wearing:

Chopped up Oasis t shirt

Waiste Cross My Heart dungarees

Topshop Arson boots

Fringed bag from Portuguese market

Urban Outfitters, Delilah Dust & Ibizan market necklaces

PS. Did you get paid today??? Don't forget to sponsor me to run The Colour Run in aid of Macmillan.

THANKS LOVE YOU X