The Mac is Back!

What a glorious day. I am so happy that the weather has changed for the better. I need the sun, I am sure I was born in a greenhouse. I hope it is beautiful wherever you are reading this from.

I thought I would take the ripe opportunity of taking a few shots of new additions dans le jardin. Despite my lack of blog posts of late, I have still been on the prowl in the background and this is one of the 5 or so items that I treated myself to last month. A lovely beige Mac. Originally from Mango, I came upon it in the St Peters Hospice shop in Fishponds, not far from where I live. I have a couple of Mac's that are very dear to me but I have not, until recently, managed to find a classic beige one. With Burberry being slightly hors budget, a cheaper alternative was very welcome.

It was £7.50 but was brand new with tags, the original price being £47. Quel bargain. The only issue is that the belt is a bit impractical as there is no fastener, just a large loop but that is easily fixed. Also, it's not waterproof so holds the title of Mac somewhat loosely but nevertheless, a great little purchase.

Lord knows where it is going to reside however. I house all my coats in a canvas wardrobe in the girl's room and it is already bowing with the weight of around 30 or so inhabitants.....

Petit Hibou

I am so proud if this....

My love of art is going from strength to strength, I just wish I was more interested years ago before I started suffering from RSI. Every piece takes its toll on my wrist in terms of pain but it's still worth it.

This little fella took about 3 hours to do. I just used different silver pens on black A3 card and bought a cheap frame. I am so pleased with the outcome, especially as its all freehand. I found the outline of an owl that I liked on google images and used that as my base, then just kept adding more detail bit by bit inside the shape. 

I love him. I have also created a peacock but that's not quite finished. Watch this space! 

Sequins on a Sunday?

Why the hell not.......

After an afternoon of water fights in the sun with John and my stepdaughter (and some very excitable local kids that gate crashed), it felt only right that I should change into something a bit special. And dry.  We thought we would take Keely out for tea tonight to make up for being boring parents this weekend.  I worked yesterday and other than the watery activities this afternoon, we haven't done a lot with them this weekend. So much so that middle child left us this afternoon for a better offer. And then the was only one.

I'm glad I dressed up to be honest. I have neglected my wardrobe of late as I am continuing to put on weight and not much comfortably fits really. I really need to do something about it, it's just so much easier to do nothing and just moan about it.

Anyway, this gorgeous top was found on Etsy from Lions Mane Vintage . I paid around £15 for it but considering its totally covered in sequins front and back, I think that was a good price.  It came from the same lady that I bought my beautiful black velvet dress from a couple of months back, I just hadn't worn this item before. It works better with black jeans but they have moved to the back of the wardrobe until i can actually do them up once more.

 So my love of sequins continues and just like when I was a little girl, they still hold the power to make you feel instantly Princess-like.

And here is my Prince, once more stealing the limelight.

La Vie Est Belle

It certainly is since I met my John....

I have been dying to create a picture made from old Lexicon cards for ages and my mum kindly bought me a pack that she found in a second hand emporium last month. I could have spent ages deciding on exactly the right words to display but I went with my heart so it had to be in French. I bought some black card and a frame and glued the cards together before fixing  it to the black card. I was really pleased with the result. As for John, he was less pleased with the result as to him, all it represents is another hole in the wall.

Potty for peppermint....

If you'd have asked me ten years ago what my favourite wardrobe colour palette was, it would have been easy.....Red, Black, Camel, Silver. My wardrobe choices revolved around those four hues and not much else. Red for shock factor, black for safety, camel for professionalism and silver for those oh so plentiful red carpet moments (Saturday nights in the wine bar in Weston). These days, I am loving the whole spectrum (apart from maybe grey and brown, I am yet to be convinced of their uses). The inside of my wardrobe now looks like an explosion of M&M's with bright colours at every turn. I still smile fondly when I think of my amazing year in France and the response of the French to my colourful clothes. If I turned up to school in an orange or red dress for example, they would always enquire as to why I was wearing something so bright. And in the street? People would openly joke that I must be either a tourist or English. 

Their idea of fashion, no matter how elegant, was about blending in, not standing out. After all, why would you want to bring attention to yourself? Anyway, that's an interesting debate for a other time but for now, I wanted to show you a lovely little peppermint duo that I came across a couple of weeks ago in a charity shop in Fishponds. 

Peppermint is one of those colours that I have never even considered before but for some reason, it has implanted itself well and truly on my radar. 

£3 for the cardigan and £4 for the shoes. And if I ever find myself with a spare 5 minutes, I plan to embellish the shoulders further with some more sequins and maybe a sprinkling of Mother of Pearl beads. Just to fully accentuate the Grandma look. Just add a full circle skirt, necktie and John Travolta....perfect for a Thursday night at the drive-thru. 

Sex And The (Bristol) City

Back home and back to work. And by work I mean truffle hunting. 

Last Wednesday the sun was out so I thought I would treat myself to a trip out for lunch pour "un" and I thought why not have a quick peak in the charity shops for desert. 

This is what I found. A pretty close copy to a dress used in the second Sex And The City movie. The original dress in the film was Halston. This one isn't.......unfortunately, and at £8, it's probably several thousand pounds below the original price tag.  But it will serve as a great holiday dress......if I am lucky enough to get away again this year. This orange colour seems to be everywhere at the moment. We seem to have lots of orange and red lines at work. The only trouble is that it suits people that are beautifully tanned. This I am not, but thanks to the genius products at Dove headquarters, I can be transformed on request.

A dress for the sunshine but a dog that is not. 5 minutes and he starts to cook in all that Alaskan fur, but he likes to be at the centre of everything I do.

The iconic Miss Parker. Love her or hate her, you cannot deny what she and the HBO series achieved in terms of putting New York outlandish fashion on the tips of many tongues. 

The fabulous (ted) Baker boy

Now this little baby did make it to la Belle France serving as hand luggage and an all round fab day bag.

This was found in the same charity shop in Staple Hill as the lovely teal and black one on my previous post, hidden on a bag rack. I still can't believe that I spotted it really, it was bogged down behind many other bags all waiting for adoption. 

A Ted Baker shopper bag for £5! The interior satin is a gorgeous black and white flowery pattern in great condition. It never fails to amaze me how these things end up in charity shops. I would love to see some kind of timeline explaining their journey up to the point where someone dislikes it enough to give it away.

The only little job I and to do? The lettering on the front pocket was discoloured so you couldn't see the Ted Baker wording, so I got out the gold nail vanish and painted over it. Job done.