The Fosters Festive Challenge

Here we have it, the results of the Fosters Christmas Charity Challenge!

Just to recap, they each had a budget of £5 to find a "decent" present for a close family member from a charity shop. They had to put some thought into it, it wasn't just about a joke present that would either go in the bin or back to the charity shop. I think they did really well, especially considering that they are not a family that grazes much in second-hand shops! I hope they had lots of fun doing it. I think we should all have a go next year and I will definitely be suggesting it to my flock.

Take Note! This is a great time to go grazing as lots of people will be donating their unwanted gifts from Christmas to charity. It may be a tad early for some but if it saves you money, why not! I do lots of my Christmas shopping in the January sales and the money I save can then go towards other goodies.

I love this. Apparently it folds away so we aren't quite sure if it's a plant pot box or an umbrella stand or something else but it's lovely whatever it's use and it will look great just sat in a corner of a room.

An Art Deco vase for Emma. I love this, it's really pretty but then I am a massive fan of old glassware.

Presents for dad. Both brand new games.

Madame Foster collects wooden birds so this was a great find.

La collection, and all in support of great causes. Not just lining the pockets of a corporate fat.

Lesson learnt for next time apparently:  give yourself more time to graze. You can't just expect to find that perfect item the first time you go into a charity shop. You need to keep visiting and put some time and effort into your search., especially if you don't really know what you are looking for. 

Glorious Gifts

I thought I would post a few pics of some of my lovely presents that I received this Christmas.  

Christmas can get overwhelming at times and its easy to forget the true meaning and think about the things that really matter (such as....... exactly what time does M&S open their doors on first day of sale and will I ever receive that red Louis Vuitton hat box or should I put that dream well and truly to bed). 

Joking aside, Christmas (for those of us slightly less religious people) is about love and family and sharing some great moments together.  I always feel a little sad at this time of year when you seem to be reminded even more about all the people that are not so lucky.  I visited an elderly gent in a nursing home on Sunday. It's an old man that I have known for maybe 10 years, that I used to live near before I moved to Bristol.  I used to watch him struggle past my flat in Weston-super-Mare with his bag of shopping or his washing on the way to the launderette.  It took me weeks, months even to pursuade him to let me help him and little by little he allowed me to do odd jobs for him.  We are still in touch although I don't have as much time as I would like but visiting him this week and seeing a smile on his face was one of the nicest things I've witnessed this Christmas. He has little or no family and wants for nothing apart from someone to sit and have a chat with, and that's what we did. 

So, as lovely as all these gifts are, remember boys and girls - it's experiences that really matter.

Now about those presents................................

One of my favourite (ever) presents.  I won't mention the benefactor as she will get enormously embarrassed but I will say this - year after year, she gives good gift and I am shamefully un-creative in return with my gifts.

A lovely coffee table book about fashion through the ages. I would put on a coffee table if I thought for one minute that the dog wouldn't chew it and anything on it, to pieces.

This was from John's mum.  She has a very similar necklace that I "coo" over every time she wears it and I am very touched that she got me a replica.

Red plant pots!  Not at the top of everyone's gift list but I love looking at fresh herbs on my kitchen windowsill while watching the birds in the garden.  In the absence of fresh herbs however, plastic plants from IKEA will fill the void until a Tesco's can be reached.

Eskimo socks.  This to me is a very exciting present because for most of my life I seem to wander around as warm as a block of ice.  I am of the desert and HATE the cold.  So these have become my new best friends.  Only to be worn in the safety of one's own home of course and I challenge any door to door salesmen to stay chatting at the front door when greeted with these babies.

So there you have it.  A round up of my 2012 favourite presents.  And for those of you that thought it would all be shoe-based......shame on you.

A Very Merry Married Christmas

 

We took the tree down tonight, one big indication that Santa's turned his back and a gloomy January is just around the corner. This was my first Christmas as a married woman to the wonderful (but ever suffering) John and it's been a lovely "first". Made even better by the fact that while me and my very untimely cold were wallowing in the bath earlier, John hacked down the tree into bits, took it all outside and replaced it with this.........

 

 

 

This was my Christmas present - a mannequin.  It's something I have wanted ever since I was a little girl and at the grand old age of 39, the mannequin stork delivered one and I love her.  It's not a typical tailors dummy made of padded material but a wrought iron version that is more of a large ornament than one you might hope to see in the corner of Coco Chanel's atelier.  But I'm glad that's what he bought, it looks so beautiful at the top of the stairs wrapped in fairy lights (and it gives the lights a purpose after being dumped by the Christmas tree).  Now all I need is a chez longue and a dressing room and way too much time on my hands.

 

I hope there are others out there that are as happy as me this Christmas (snotty nose aside).

These boots were made for walking.....

I was just perusing the TK Maxx website yesterday and these little beauties caught my eye. I have a penchant for cowboy boots, two of my favourite pairs came from charity shops (three if you count the ones from a market in France). These are leather too, I hate plastic shoes!

£28.99 plus delivery.......maybe if I just don't eat for a couple of weeks. Is that justification? The shoe God would say yes and give me his blessing, John on the other hand? It would definitely violate the terms of my ASBO.

ASBO

 

Well its a good job I didn't marry him for his sense of humour.  My hilarious husband also gave me this.  Apparently, I am forbidden to enter into any charity shops OR buy shoes and dresses because of our "ever-shrinking" house.  It's fine.  We've got a big garage.

Dressed for dinner and new shoes from Santa

If you can't dress up for Christmas Dinner, when can you?  I was dying to wear my blue dress that I found a few weeks ago in the British Heart Foundation on Henleaze Road. I wasn't sure if it would allow for Christmas dinner as it's a tad on the tight side but it lasted through 2 servings of turkey piled upon high with no splitting seams. I can sleep happy (but fat).

 

Its got so much material though, it was hanging over the sides of my chair. Its like having your very own parachute.  Are you allowed to feel like a Princess when you are nearly 40?.......

 

 

And the icing on the cake?  JOHN BOUGHT ME SHOES FOR CHRISTMAS ! Unbelievable? Yes.  Regrettable on his part?  Surely.  Won some brownie points?  Absolutely. All the way from my beloved M&S and they matched the dress perfectly.  Cinderella shall go to the ball (but had to stuff her face before hand).

 

 

The twelve shoes of Christmas (and one for fun)

Merry Christmas Everyone !

I hope that you have all had a wonderful day with your loved ones. I have had a lovely day of "overs". Over-eating, over-drinking and an over the top dress for dinner.  I now give John about 4 minutes before he starts dozing on the sofa in front of Kung Fu Panda so I thought I would take the opportunity to blog-on.

And when considering a worthy subject for Christmas day, it had to be shoes. I still can't believe that I have not yet posted about my love/obsession/general illness regarding footwear.  Yes, my name is Louisa Merchant-Locke and I am a (proud) shoe-a-holic.  156 pairs and counting.  Now this is not an expensive fetish as my lovely mum works for the Mecca that is Marks & Spencer and she tells me when final reductions are hitting down and I run in and buy loads of shoes for usually no more than £5 a pair.  I also buy a lot in charity shops, not everyones cup of tea I know but you can find plenty of unworn items as I have mentioned before. Its heaven.  So on that note and as it is Christmas, I thought I would dedicate a post to the wonder that is SHOES.  My friend Chloe bought me a desk calender last year for Christmas and its now coming to its end (sniff sniff) so I have picked out my favourites to post.

Merry Christmas !

I can't resist a bow

The Essex Shoe

The sexy secretary shoe (think Fifty Shades)

"Strictly Come Dancing" shoe

The "Single White Female" shoe

A French Affair

The Avengers Shoe

The McShoe

Understated but classic

Les Misérables

The Joan Collins Shoe

 

Zip and Tuck

 

And.......well, why the hell not.

 

Back to Black

Family Christmas party last night. Saw head. Bad Skin.  Horrible taste in my mouth and very fuzzy memory.  But, I think we had a good time.  Not sure the indian at 1am was one of our better ideas though.  It was at my brother in laws this time (our turn on New Years Eve) and although it was just a family house party, I wanted to wear a dress.  I haven't worn this one for a long time, not sure why as it's a lovely little black dress.  I found it in the St Peters Hospice charity shop in  Fishponds around 2 years ago and I think it was around £5.  It's really flattering though and I always feel lovely when I wear it (mainly because its so damn slimming!).  There are so many possibilities to either dress it up to dress it down.

I added my new brooch from the Ashton Gate vintage fair

And.......my 99p belt from Primark!  This was the first time I have worn it but I bought it about a year ago.  It looks so nice on a plain dress.

Hinge and Bracket

While I was at Casa del Jo's today, I persuaded her to let me take a photo of her hinge painting that I mentioned previously. It's so unusual and it reaffirms my belief that art should always make you either smile from ear to ear or prompt thoughts and discussions. What do you think?

Good things come in.......

John came home from work yesterday and brought me back two adorable little jars (simple things please simple minds). Someone had brought them down to his department filled with sweets and he saved me a couple from the recycling.  So........ I have filled one with a load of spare pendants that were just sat in a box previously as I don't have enough chains to hang them all up and the other I have filled with coloured gems. They are both now sat on my bedroom windowsill and if we ever get any sun, I am sure the colours will look great in the sunlight!

Wet Wet Wet

Afternoon all.......

I haven't been around much this week. It's not been a great 7 days and I have been feeling sorry for myself a little. BUT, after seeing some friends today who are having a truly tough time at the moment, I have decided to give myself a kick up the derrière and put a smile on it.  John took me out on Thursday to cheer me up and I couldn't even be bothered to ask him to take a photo for the blog so I need to snap out of it and get with the festivities!

So, I dressed up to pop to Jo's at lunch to do our annual Christmas present swap. I took the opportunity to wear my LK Bennett top that I have posted about before but I hadn't yet worn it and I paired it with my skirt also from the same secret shop that has the £5 rail at the back! I will "out" the shop soon I promise but I am waiting to do an interview with the owner first. I've also got a brown Louis Vuitton handbag that a friend from work gave me (unbelievably kind) . I am not sure if its real, her husband brought it back from a business trip and she wasn't sure  but I love it and don't really care. And despite the horrendous weather, I dug out my horrendously high M&S heels that were about £6 in the sale last year. I love them but you need a health and safety certificate to wear them so I was proud of myself for making it back home with no broken bones.

Not the best photo but the weather is so bad at the moment, no matter where we were, it was so dark.

Any excuse to dress up.....

I usually get it in the neck for dressing up to things when its not required (I have yet to find out what those such occasions would be - I dress up to buy a pint of milk) so a family meal at Bottelinos was no exception. This is not over the top but the kids still moaned when I came downstairs.  John and his brood are from the "if its not stained - keep wearing it" school of thought, whereas I have to change about 3 times a day or I will never wear all my clothes.  And, I wanted an excuse to wear my new skirt.  I think the only thing that isnt second hand is my £2 vest from Primark.  Jacket, skirt and of course Maggie bag have all been mentioned on here before.  Solo seems to want in on the blog too, he's such a diva.

 

This was £1.75 I think from St Peters Hospice in Fishponds and is the first time I have worn it.  Maybe it will bring me the luck of the Irish this Christmas!

Christmas Party No.2

Morning!

What a weekend.  2 Christmas do's and lots of headaches later, I am only just starting to recover.  The second one was with the lovely Wallis ladies at the Passenger Shed at Temple Meads and it was a Great Gatsby themed party.  It was amazing. My only regret is that I dont have any photos of the place to show you as I didnt want to take Johns posh camera. The last time I took it out, I dropped it on the toilet floor on my hen night and we had to rush around to buy a replacement before our wedding so that we had one to take on honeymoon!  An expense that we could have done without.  So, I shall wait for my friends to post some of theirs and I shall poach them.

This is what I wore. I am not convinced I got it right - the wig was more 118 man than 1920's (it did not look like that on Amazon when I ordered it!). But I thought what the heck, let's have a laugh and go with it. I chose not to wear a beaded dress and pearls as I thought everyone would so I wore my new top that I bought recently in St Peters and some pleated trousers.

 

I also bought some "eye tattoos" from Claires  Accessories (again - looked nothing like that on the packet!) but just wanted to try something new.  They seem to be quite popular but I obviously bought at the cheap end. I am just glad they washed off, I was worried about work the next day!

 

Wildlife, webs and wintery woods

Its been a busy week this week (as is normal this time of year) but I thought I would post a few pics of some lovely things that I have seen in the last 7 days that made me really happy.

I'm a bit concerned that in a bid to feed the birds in the garden, our resident squirrel is becoming rather obese

 

How beautiful is this?  Just add tinsel.

 

Solo's hunting grounds.....the woods on the Stoke Park Estate.

I love cobwebs.....just hate their maker!

 

This is the garden you see as you turn into our road and it belongs to a lovely lady called Margaret. I often see her out there in all weathers, making sure the garden is lovely for all to see.  She is a little eccentric but I love her for that as she does all her gardening dressed up to the nines with full makeup and her Chanel cardi! I love this tree - it reminds me of the tree from Avatar!

 

You can never have too many squirrel photos.