Seeing Red

 

 

 

  

You would never know but I am a bit of a sucker for all things red and this jacket is no exception. I bought this last year from our Wallis website (I always feel guilty buying from the Internet as opposed to my own shop but we didn't stock this jacket in red and I got it for a stupid price - less than £20 with my discount). Then last week, I noticed a similar one advertised in Reiss for nearly £400!  Who has that kind of money for an item of clothing other than a wedding dress????? 

 

So pleased is not the word. They are pretty identical although you cannot see the asymmetric zip so well on mine but it does do up on the side (when I breath in).

 

 

 Reiss do some beautiful clothes (that I will never be able to afford) and of late, they have become a firm favourite with our beautiful future Queen - Kate the Great.  And although the prices are not aimed at a lowly commoner such as myself, it is nice to see that she supports the British High Street so much.  Especially when we are sadly seeing many of our stalwart chains go into administration. I feel very sad when I see yet another "closing down" sign (something that will be appearing in my own shop in a couple of weeks) but faced with stiff competition from the Internet and extortionate rental prices, many of our High Street stores are struggling.  There is a flip side of course as we see the second hand market continuing to boom but our prized High Street is starting to lose its identity somewhat as we see more and more cheap pop-up stores temporarily appear in the wake of large institutions that have closed.  I don't know what the answer is.  Of course you are going to favour the Internet if you can get the same item much cheaper (especially when times are hard) but there is still something to say for being able to touch and feel the product, to see it worn on Sales Advisers - the more tactile approach.  I am very proud of our High Street, there is nothing else like it anywhere else in the world and although I prefer the second-hand market for the majority - I will always be saddened by news of more troubled British institutions facing closure.

 

Woolworths RIP.......

 

 

The "Caped" Crusader....

 

Another early Sunday start to get down to the Bristol Flea Market & Vintage Fair at Ashton Gate.  This is becoming somewhat of a monthly pilgrimage to join the hustle and bustle at the football grounds.  I arrived around 9.30am so as to get some early bargains and yet again, even at that early hour, it was packed full of truffle-hunters.  The more I go to these things, the more I understand about the world of second-hand goods. It really is a massive economy in its own right.  There are signs-a-plenty brandishing the words "vintage" and "retro" to entice the customers.  I am always amazed at how over-utilised those words are just for the purposes of inflating prices.

 

There hasn't been that many clothes stalls of late, mainly furniture, jewellery, bags and ornaments.  I tried on a beautiful green fedora hat but it was sadly destined for a much smaller head. BUT, I did find this gorgeous fake-fur cape.  A cape was another item on my "covet" list for this year so that is another tick in the box.  On the downside however, there were a lot of real fur items at the fair. Something I am completely against and will never understand.  Anyway, my little beauty was £12. I was considering haggling her down to £10 but it has never been my strong point. So £12 it was but that is still a very good price.  Some of them were over priced at £40 and £50 upwards so I was happy to hand over that amount.

 

I wanted to have a play around with different looks for it and here are the results.....

 

 

This is one of my favourite dresses.  I feel instantly transported back to 1940, just add red lipstick and a victory roll hairstyle.

 

A "Maggie" style bag and leather gloves are a must I think with this look.

 

I wanted a big frilly bow blouse for this look but I didn't have one that seemed to suit so I stole a sash from one of my dresses and used it around my neck.

 

This dress was from Wallis where I work. I popped in with my Sister-in-law on a day off and someone had just returned it so I snapped it up.  It is a lovely forest green colour and very fitted (the picture doesn't really do it justice).  I wanted the picture to give a nod to old Hollywood glamour. 

 A necklace from Bath Aqua Glass teamed with some forest green heels from my beloved Marks & Spencers (that I have yet to wear....) and a gem bracelet (again from Wallis).  It was originally £30 full price and I waited and waited and because there was one stone missing, it eventually got reduced to £1.  Meant to be.

 

 

 

This is one of the rings that I bought at the last vintage fair, priced at £3.

 

And finally, a casual look accessorised by a wolf.  I would like to think that I will wear the cape with jeans and heels occasionally and not just keep it for special occasions.  Life is an occasion!

Clock This!

 

Thursday was a very good day. 

 

We took my Mother in Law out for breakfast - and came back with a clock and a new TV!  Bet is a massive collector of clocks - all shapes and sizes and the majority are Elvis themed in some way.  And to make way for her new Elvis acquisition, she had discarded this retro-looking time-piece and gave it to yours truly.  I had been admiring it for a while as I am attracted to anything with spectrum's of colour so I was really chuffed when she said I could have it.  It's hanging proudly in our kitchen although it is a challenge to actually tell the time on it.

 

 

 

 

As for the TV, she just happened to have a spare, new 32" TV still in the box that also came our way. It's always a bit of a gamble as to whether ours will work.  Sometimes sound and no picture, sometimes picture and no sound but the two together are not always guaranteed.

 

And this is our new bedroom "lamp".  I bought the paper star at the Bath Christmas Market last year and I have been begging John to hang it ever since.  I looks so lovely as it matches our bedroom suite perfectly and I managed to smash our previous lamp.

Pendant for a posh night out

Morning all, I hope you are having a great week. I am all excited as last night we decided to go away for the night on Friday. John received an email for a cheap hotel deal so we have decided to treat the kids and go posh for the night!  We are going to Tortworth Court Hotel in South Gloucestershire. It's a beautiful place that we did consider for our wedding last year......until we saw the price and then quickly moved on to another brochure. I can't wait. It will be nice to do something a bit different with the girls. The last few weekends with us have just been spent hanging around the house due to lack of funds. It seems quite posh but we thankfully haven't paid a posh price. As John just pointed out, you know a place is posh when they have a disclaimer at the bottom of the menu stating that any game dishes may contain bits of "shot". Nice. 

Anyway, as we were discussing what to pack last night (that would be me and the girls, not me and John), I came across this necklace that I bought last month from the St Peters Hospice charity shop in Bradley Stoke. It was £3.25 and still in the box so quite possibly an unwanted Christmas gift although I'm not sure why. It's really lovely. 

I have a huge selection of pendants, some of them are my Nan's that I really treasure but I have many second-hand beauties thrown into the mix. Depending on what I wear (a mammoth decision making process), I may also pack this little gem....

Shoe Tree

I've been wanting to do this for a while but time has never allowed (my week off is becoming very productive....not). I wanted to try and dig out all of my shoes purchased in charity shops/second-hand emporiums. I am not convinced I have found them all (with over 150 pairs it takes a while to go through them all) but this is certainly a good start.

 

Going through them all though, it made me realise I have many, many gorgeous shoes (and even many more that I had completely forgotten about) and I just do not wear them. I stick to the same couple of pairs for work because they are comfy and dig out the same black heels for a night out.  So from this day on, I have vowed to change this "habitude".  More effort shall be made when choosing my chaussures in future.  The dust on some of the boxes was shameful.

 

 

 

My dancing shoes....or so the lady in the charity shop thought. She couldn't believe that I would wear them for every day use.

 

 

One of three pairs of second-hand cowboy boots - although they were not used when I bought them.  Still can't believe it really.

 

 

A lovely pair of brogue style heels. Very 1920's.

 

My friend Ewa gave me these and I think her mum got them for her in a charity shop.  I have yet to wear them, they are higher than they appear but if we every get some nice weather this summer, I shall endeavour to dig them out with a nice flowery dress.

 

 

My Puss in Boots boots!  Plum suede and very pointy.  It's fine.....I don't need my toes.

 

Love, love, love these but not yet had the opportunity to wear them.  The moment will come.

 

I have worn these to death since I found them last year at a vintage fair.  Favourite colour, possibly favourite boots.

 

Now these did have a big flap over the top that made them look like Pirate boots BUT....I unfortunately left them downstairs for the night and the wolf woke up and treated himself to a little snack.  Still wearable though thankfully, I love the fact they look so distressed. The leather is soooooo soft.

 

Cobalt blue, my colour of the moment.  Nice little girly bows too although I fear I am approaching an age where girly bows are questionable in ones attire.

 

Ahhhhh. My fail safe night out heels. Immensely high and definite bone breaking material but I always seem to walk more confidently after a glass of wine....or 4.

 

Again, another pair of toe crushers but great for the nice weather.

 

Another pair of beloved cowboy boots and again brand new when found. I am one lucky b$*&*.

 

These were bought 4 years ago in Cannes, France. My mum had flown out to visit me when I was lucky enough to live there and unusually for the French, a little "brocante" was taking place on the Prom, full of second-hand treasures.  They are completely flat and give me leg ache (I prefer a heel of some sort) but they are special because of the memory of where they were bought.  Home.

 

 

Last but not least, my pale pink Mary Jane's.  Very pale colour for me but I do have a couple of dresses that they look great with and they too were brand new in the box from Topshop.   The style is so feminine. I love the T-bar style.

 

So there you have it.  A respectable number of pre-loved/never loved until I found them, shoes and boots. No doubt the collection will grow in size, along with John's constant headache when he looks at all the shoe boxes slowly consuming the house.  He knew what he was marrying.....sort of.

A Wife, the woods and no wardrobe.....

Day four of our week off and the sun continues to shine. I cannot believe it, it's such a nice change.

With my dog walking clothes in the wash and spending the day at home spring cleaning,  I took the opportunity to throw on something silly. This grey circle skirt is an old M&S classic that was £4.50 from the St Peters Hospice shop in Downend, Bristol. I still think it would be lovely with a white crinoline petticoat underneath and a pair of cowboy boots. I however, just quickly threw on the only  silver/grey item I could find which was a thin knit silver thread jumper and my black velvet jacket. 

 

I love this shadow shot. I am desperately trying to be more creative with my photos but it is difficult when a) you need someone to take them most of the time b) I am usually the principal subject in the shots and I still don't feel comfortable being photographed so much. I am not 19 and stick thin like many of the gorgeous fashion bloggers out there and c) I never have enough time to dedicate to my blog life. Real life always gets in the way. 

This brooch is so pretty. I am ashamed to say that I can't remember where I found it. It was definitely in a charity shop and I know I have had it a long old time. I remember wearing it to a lovely restaurant in Venice when I went away with my mum a few years back.

This is Elizabeth Somerset's monument in Stoke Park Estate near where we live. It's such a beautiful view at the top of the hill. It's such a shame it is marred by the M32 running right through the landscape.

Just gorgeous.

A glass of claret.....

This isn't second hand but I saw it last night in  Sainsburys and had to bring it home. It was sat lonely on the clearance shelf looking very sorry for itself so I took it upon myself to give it a new home. I have placed it on the shelf in the porch (away from wandering wolves) so that I can enjoy it every time I walk in the house. And if I run out of wine glasses one day.....it can always double up. 

Lilac wine......

Sunday night and off out for tea......

John and I decided to go out for a late valentines meal so that we wouldn't get ripped off on February 14th. And we had some vouchers to use up so even better! I took the opportunity to wear the lilac dress that I bought recently on Etsy. I absolutely love it despite not being a colour that I would normally go for. Much brighter colours normally suit me.

I love pleated skirts, they are so feminine. I felt like a million dollars. It was a lovely dress for a lovely evening. 

I couldn't decide on the shoes and then I remembered that I had some lilac ones that I bought from Kurt Geiger. They had a closing down sale recently at the centre where I work so I treated myself to a couple of cheap pairs. They are so expensive, I couldn't justify it otherwise!

I bought this brooch around 12 years ago from a charity shop in Leeds. I had to go there for work and I remember killing time in a local hospice shop while I was waiting for my train home. It was the only brooch I had with lilac stones to go with the dress. 

Merryment at the Masons......

At 5pm yesterday, after a tough week at work, that lovely feeling hit me.......that I have a week off.  Nothing quite beats that feeling, it's like waking up to the alarm early one morning, just to realise it's Saturday after all.  Perfect.  So, in true Merchant-Locke style, John & I decided to celebrate by a trip to our local pub - The Masons Arms. It is a proper "spit & sawdust" pub full of true locals that have been sitting in the same seat year on year.  John and I are relative newcomers as we only discovered it after moving here a couple of years ago. But, we consider ourselves properly initiated into the "clan" as John proposed to me (almost) in that pub but that is a story for another day.

One good thing is that it is dog-friendly so we were able to take Solo with us. Aways good for a bit of light entertainment with the locals.

 

This is one of the other items that I bought on Etsy. A silver satin shirt with tie. John was a bit surprised, it's a different style to what I would normally go for but I want to try and step outside my comfort zone a little and try some new things.  Looking back, even though I just wore it with jeans, it was probably a tad over the top for the Masons Arms.

 

 

This was the pic from Jess's store Volkerwandering on Etsy. I think it was around £6 from her store.

 

John with a well-earned beer.

 

My boy.  Carefully watching John's pint.

 

The landlords dog - she wasn't impressed with the arrival of a wolf.

 

These are pics John took when we were larking around. They get sillier and sillier as the night wore on but they are not all fit for public consumption.

 

We are bad parents (again). Last night we took the dog to the pub and this morning we took him to see Terry's burger van in Fishponds for a sausage and bacon hangover roll.

Luck be a lady tonight

 

After pretending that he wasn't doing anything for Valentines, my wonderful husband not only surprised me with a bottle of my favourite perfume (Coco) but yesterday, I also got a bouquet of gorgeous flowers.  As he pointed out, he refuses to buy me flowers just because society dictates you should on February 14th. So I got some on the 10th & the 15th instead.