PSYCHEDELIC DREAM

There are many sorts of friends, all of them perfect in their own sort of way: the party friend who gets you drunk, the problem-solving friend who tells you to dump him, the shopping friend who isn't afraid to say when your bum looks big. The best sorts of friends though are the ones that you don't necessarily see all that often, thanks to distance or busy work schedules, but are still there when it counts. Those who travelled from far and wide to be with me at my dad's funeral; Helena, despite losing a loved one herself, always manages to send me a few kind texts  day; and Sara, who sent me a surprise dress of my dreams.

I was actually festering in bed at around midday Friday when this dress arrived (and I am not a festering in bed sort of person) but its arrival made me jump up and want to do something with my day to warrant the wearing of this dress. I got out of the flat and spent the day in Manchester, culminating in a lovely Wagamama's tea and a few pints at the pub with friends.

I'm wearing:

Waiste vintage dress

Oasis mongolian gilet

Dr Martens Britain boots

Minkpink bag

(Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the comments, tweets and texts regarding my last post. Everyone I know has been so kind and it has been most overwhelming.)

HORTICULTURALLY SPEAKING

I woke up this morning with an unaccountable need to get some tropical looking plants for my flat's balcony, which may or may not be related to poring over pictures of LA sunsets on Instagram: complete with palm trees, beaches, and the outdoor lifestyle which accompanies warmer climes. Improvement in the weather only increases my craving for an outside space; sat on cute cast iron furniture, candles burning, drinking a sundowner.

So this afternoon, I dragged Chris to B&Q. A sickeningly Sunday Couple activity, I know, but nothing would calm my desire for plants. We picked up a fern type thing, which would pass as a palm tree if you squint a bit and forget about perspective; an olive tree which promises to bear fruit in late summer, though I doubt they'll compare to their meaty Mediterranean counterpart; and some other little plant thing that will bloom with red, orange and yellow flowers. You can tell from my comprehensive description of the flora that I am not naturally a green-fingered individual.

Anyway, due to a slight planning oversight (read: forgetting to measure the space on the balcony in which the trough was supposed to go, and being unable to shut the window while it was out there) the outdoor plant box is currently an indoor plant box. Attempting to do a grown-up weekend activity was a bit of a failure. Back to lay-ins and beer in front of the TV, I think!

I'm wearing:

COS breton

Vintage/DIY waistcoat

Oasis skirt

Topshop Arson boots

Minkpink bag

DRESSING DOWN

Ever wondered what I wear to dress down, to run errands and the like? No? Well, just humour me then... I don't always wear 5-inch flatforms and rainbows of colours, as much as I would like to. I do sometimes just dress down, and this outfit is just something I'd wear to uni or to pop to the supermarket; this particular look was for a day off work, picking up our weekly shop and visiting the hospital.

I'd seen Minkpink bags on Market HQ (such an amazing store.. shame it's in Auz) but didn't know they were sold in the UK - so you can imagine my excitement when I found out they were being stocked at Eternal Envy, just down the road from me. Cue the biggest, baddest of the collection quickly coming into my possession. The patchwork reminds me of bags my nana had in the 1980s, with added fringing, which I'd have on every accessory if I had my way. Along with my pastel tie-dyed Evil Twin tee, light furry jacket, and skinny pleather trousers this is my kind of dressing down.

I look so tired and pale in these photos.. a rest is needed but the end of the university year is in sight, plus Chris and I have started talking about holidays. A horizontal week in the sun has never been more necessary!

I'm wearing:

Minkpink jacket

Evil Twin/DIY t-shirt

Oasis trousers

Waiste beanie

Topshop glitter socks

Dr Martens shoes

Minkpink bag

CLUB FOOT

It's difficult for me to shock friends and family with what I wear. They've seen it all: from the punk with a face full of piercings, and the PVC-clad black-and-white haired goth, to the Gaga-obsessed crazy shoe wearer, to the give-anything-a-go-girl I am today. Nobody has batted an eyelid when I've had pink hair or worn 6-inch-platforms. It's just what they're used to.

Good to know, then, that I am still able to cause some surprise. Never have I worn anything like an ugg boot before (which I learned last year is just the generic name for this type of boot) and I vowed that I would never succumb: until last week, when seemingly for no reason I woke up to find my left foot like a balloon (okay.. I say for no reason, but I may have fallen out of my JCs mega-flatforms at some point in the week prior). Luckily my mum kindly donated her Emu boots for the duration of my injury, and they've barely been off my feet since. Everywhere I've been there have been cries of you, in uggs?! and I've never seen you in uggs before!! It's great to keep everyone on their toes. Maybe it'll be Crocs next time..

I guess I could have shoehorned my foot into a somewhat more glamorous pair for photos but in reality these are all I've worn for almost a week. Whatever, I think I've styled it out in tonal hues and my approximation of the pinafore-plus-blouse look that is ubiquitous right now.

The moral of the story? If you're going to wear ridiculous shoes, just make sure your mum is there to save the day with a sensible pair.

I'm wearing:

Oasis blouse

Minkpink dress

Charity shop coat

(I think after this winter this coat will be going to 

leopard heaven.. I may get this instead)

Mum's Emu Australia boots

Elephant backpack present from ma & pa

GOING OUT

Saturday nights in Manchester are all about bodycon and bare legs, neither of which I favour on a freezing February night. In fact I really don't enjoy getting dressed for nights out - the norm is to flaunt your body which means less layers and less creativity. So when my friend Gaz decided we were celebrating his birthday in Baa Bar I had to figure out a going-out look that was still essentially me: cue what I'd normally wear (Wildfox & cute blouse from work) plus the fun addition of bright tights and a studded headband. We didn't last long at Baa Bar; as soon as the hen parties and lads out on the pull arrived we headed to Poptastic. I felt right at home dancing to bit of Destiny's Child and Reel Big Fish along with a whole load of Rihanna.

Ended up in a taxi home at 5am slightly worse for wear after falling over and putting a hole in my tights. Santa* (*mum) gave them to me for Christmas, I adore them and this was their very first wear. There were near-uncontrollable tears, trust.. my only consolation is that the hole is a uniform shape so I can get away with pretending it's supposed to be there. They are Vivienne Westwood, after all.

Yesterday was totally wasted thanks to the effects of the night before, I didn't even leave the flat! I really can't hack mad nights out anymore, nor can I handle mixing alcopops, Baa Bar shots and Red Stripe: a cocktail for a headache if there ever was one.

I wore:

Wildfox dress

Oasis blouse

Vivienne Westwood tights

Jeffrey Campbell Suebee shoes

Daisy Thomas bag

Topshop headband

POETRY & GINGERBREAD

The rain thrashed down upon us during our time in Grasmere, and after a hectic few weeks of university and work I had come down with a cold. Despite all of this, we still tried to make the most of our time in the Lake District, and after a filling breakfast at our hotel headed out into the deluge.

A word on our B&B, by the way, should you ever wish to stay in Grasmere: Forest Side Hotel is a self-awarded two star hotel, but almost certainly deserves to be three star (apparently the hoops you have to jump though for official classification are just not worth it for a small business). If you're a fan of old country houses, rolling estates, and making up your own chilling ghost stories, then this is the place for you. It felt Brontë-esque to us, especially in the bleak weather, and Chris & I loved it.

Our first port of call was Dove Cottage, the "inspirational home of William Wordsworth". Just how inspirational can a cottage be, I asked myself? Well, I was pleasantly surprised, more by our charismatic guide than the house itself, though it appears the Wordsworths lived a very comfortable and enjoyable 19th century life. Poets, authors and artists all came to visit and ended up staying for years, taking jolly walks around the area, and lolling around the various lakes. During this time Wordsworth wrote arguably his most famous poem, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils.. 

Wordsworth was awarded Poet Laureate in 1843, but never felt inspired enough to actually produce any poetry. Sorry boss, can't do any work for you today.. I just don't feel inspired. What inspired me in Grasmere, more than scenery or cottages or the fresh country air, was Sarah Nelson's gingerbread. Sold in a tiny shop (one of the smallest in the world!) your choice is simply between packs of six or twelve gingerbread slices. It's a popular concept as the two of us were jammed in the shop with a host of others. I don't like gingerbread normally - too doughy, too sweet - but this gingerbread really is something else. Properly ginger-y, properly bread-y - I don't know how else to describe it! We've already scoffed our six pack and my mum and dad started on their twelve yesterday.

Put simply, this was a day of poetry & gingerbread.. a day which required the restorative effects of a piece of the latter and a cup of tea in a big, fluffy, marshmallow of a bed. Just lovely.

There's that darned curtain again! Coordinates nicely with this look though. I'm wearing:

Oasis blouse

Minkpink shorts

H&M via charity shop coat (similar)

Dad's trilby (similar)

Click to enter my giveaway to win £50 to spend at Miinto!

WATCH OUT FOR THE WEIRDOS, GIRLS

We are the weirdos, mister.
Along with 90% of the 18-30 population, last night I donned my spookiest attire and went out to celebrate everyone's favourite holiday, Halloween. There were plenty of halloqueens and trampires with costumes that delighted and disgusted the senses; medical outfits seemed to be popular this year, ranging from doctors (wearing Crocs, which is scary enough in itself) to nearly-naked patients dragging round a drip. There were some pretty impressive costumes too - check out the excellent appropriation of Maleficent, carefully applied Day of the Dead make-up, and lovingly DIYed Ghostbusters proton pack.

I wasn't dressed as Britney Spears, nor was I Cruella DeVille. I was Nancy from The Craft, but actually I just use Halloween as an excuse to dress how I would really like to dress all year if it were socially acceptable. Chris decided merely hours before we went out that he'd like to be Teen Wolf so I hastily made a t-shirt with an iron on logo and stuck some fake hair on him with latex glue. NB: follow the instruction to shave the area beforehand, otherwise it is very painful to remove!

So now that's over and done with, I think it's high time we started celebrating Christmas. In fact I am sat here dunking a Lindt reindeer in a cup of tea as I type...

  Don't call Jordan the Hulk... He gets angry when you call him that. I'm wearing: Charity shop shirt Oasis skirt Topshop jacket (via Sheree) Miista boots Ancient "I hate school" badge