Just popping to the village...

That is what I tell myself regularly. I need stamps OR something for tonight's dinner OR a card, knowing damn well the lure of the two local charity shops will pull me in while there and today as no exception.

Today I came home with two new pairs of shoes and a velvet jacket that I will write about another time. The shoes are not particularly sexy or edgy, no skyscraper heels, just comfy useful everyday shoes. Both were £2.50 and found in St Davids Hospice shop in Caldicot village. The green pair originated from my own shop Wallis but the second pair in black are from none other than Hobbs whose court shoes and pumps can easily be seen at prices around £130-£150. They look brand new with no visible marks whatsoever so they are a particularly good find. Neither pair are very high (for me, although I say that and everyone else still thinks they are too high), so they will serve as good work shoes. 

The odd thing was that I strolled into the village in a pair of turquoise shoes that were pretty much the same style. They too are a charity shop find from a few years back as I bought them to match a dress for my graduation (or at least the festivities afterwards).

So now I have three pairs of similar guise. Thankfully, now I have my dressing room, they can be displayed and not hidden. We have built in space for a few new purchases at least. 

I haven't written about my dressing room as it is not quite finished but rest assured when it is, there will be a post covering the official opening ceremony. 

A helping hand.....

Another item crossed off the bucket list. 

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to go and help my friend set up a sale in the St Peter's Hospice shop where she works in Bristol.  She is Deputy Manager of their Bishopston store on Gloucester Road and it was her job to set up a big summer sale last week so she roped in a few extra pairs of hands to help. Luckily, I wasn't working which is rare for a Saturday so I jumped at the chance of lending a hand for a couple of hours (despite it being John's birthday that day).  What can I say, I am a bad wife but a good friend.

Those of you that are regulars to my blog will know that I write about St Peters a lot, trying to promote them and their stores whenever I can. They do an amazing job in their Hospice in Brentry in Bristol for people that are terminally ill and they rely heavily on their chain of 42 shops in and around Bristol to raise much needed funds.

They are not like other charity shops, they really have paid attention to what is going on in the retail sector and mirror many boutique style shops with lovely shop fittings and interior design. They are always bright and welcoming and the clothes are all colour-blocked so it is a very inviting place to shop.  Their shops have "shunned" the old cliché of charity shops being smelly, dark, jumble sale style places, harnessing the love for all things vintage and second-hand, promoting a new way of shopping.....and thinking.

For anyone that knows the Gloucester Road area of Bristol, you will know it is a vibrant community full of local independent shops alongside a large array of charity shops.  It has a slightly bohemian feel to it which I love, a far cry from the giant retail behemoths in the city centre. It's an area where charity shops do very well but there is also a lot of competition.  This particular St Peters Shop is right next door to the Clic Sargent Vintage Flagship store (that I wrote about recently) but they also have another St Peters Store further up the road which is much larger and sells furniture.  Nic likened them to "Harrods" whereas her store is more "M&S" in scale.  It did make me laugh, I would prefer M&S any day.

This is Nicola and her sales assistant Rhiannon that were working that day.  In order to get the sale in full swing, Nic bought balloons, sweets, we put up bunting, just as you would in any other store hoping to make the most of a promotion.  It was interesting spending time there as I learnt that they too have sales targets, as per most shops and the pressure is no less apparent just because they are a charity.  In some ways, the pressure is more because they know how desperately important every single penny is.  The target for that day was £1000 which put things in perspective when we sometimes don't even take that in one of our Wallis stores! It's even more of a challenge when the items that you sell are traditionally at the lower end of the price bracket meaning you need to sell more of them to hit your plan. The charity needs an average of £16,000 per day to keep the hospice running and that comes largely from their stores, fund raising events such as the Midnight Walk and from donations left to them by individuals in their wills.

It is such an amazing and worthwhile cause, I admire anyone that works or volunteers for charity. A few years ago, after taking voluntary redundancy, I was lucky enough to take a 3 month break from paid work and I did lots of volunteering.  Some for animal charities which are a real passion of mine but also charities that support the elderly who I think get so easily overlooked. It was really rewarding and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to do it.

I work pretty much every Saturday so its not an option for me to volunteer on a fixed basis so it was nice to be able to help for a couple of hours if nothing else. While I was there, a stag party came in looking for waist-coats (which we didn't have unfortunately, despite rummaging through many a bag in the store room) and it made me realise that a lot of trade probably comes in that guise.  My stepdaughter was recently looking for a fancy dress item and her first port of call was a local charity shop so they really do serve the communities in many ways for many different reasons.

Surprisingly for me, I only managed to buy one item, which I felt guilty about as I was hoping to find loads and bump up the sales for that day. I tried several things on (including a few pairs of shoes) but it was not meant to be. My only purchase being this little seahorse bracelet that I gave to my mum which was £2.50 and well worth the smile on her face.

So please give a thought to these shops that do such amazing work for the charities they front and to the dedication of those that work there.  From all of the second-hand and vintage junkies out there, 

We salute you!

Scrapbook...

Life seems to be somewhat of a blur at the moment.

June, July and August are pretty hectic months in the Merchant-Locke household.  A melange of birthdays, family and summer events, school holidays....the list goes on. Time has not stood still for a while, not for us anyway. Added to that, the totally unexpected but very welcome summer that we are having, we seem to be dedicating more of our time to "fun" tasks as opposed to all those sat on our "necessary" list. A guaranteed summer is not one we are used to in this country so this year we have all been taken by surprise.  The ice-cream van man is very happy, blow-up garden pools are out of stock and pic-nics are springing up everywhere. It really is lovely weather and long may it continue.

I thought I would share with you some of the things that we have been up to over the summer, not just to off-set the guilt of not writing much but also because we have been lucky enough to make some lovely memories. I love scrap-booking and although I don't have the time that I would wish to dedicate to it, I am always aware of precious memories, trinkets, moments that I could squirrel away, even if just in my virtual scrapbook.

The St Peters Hospice Midnight Walk.  This is myself Tracy Bisp and Selina Bracey in all our finery about to take part in the annual sponsored walk which raises valuable funds for the hospice. Our dear friend, Wendy passed away recently and was cared for by the hospice in her last weeks.  It is such an amazing cause but also a brilliant night of fun (and aching legs).  I was lucky enough to have Selina's company all the way and we spent the whole night talking, laughing and sharing.  A few tears were even shed but it is a memory that I will always cherish.  Brilliant night with brilliant people for a brilliant lady.  

Sleep tight Wendy.

This is me and my amazing mum at the Westonbirt Arboretum. We spent a gorgeous summer's evening with a pic-nic watching Boyzone with my brother and sister-in-law.  At the time, mum had not long had a major operation on her foot and unfortunately was in a wheelchair. Not that that stopped her!  

The boys looking very dapper.

This is Oswald/Thor (the name hasn't yet been confirmed). At the moment he is a new house resident (much to my dog's disgust) while my step-daughter is away on holiday.  

 

Currently deflated and hanging on the washing line, this is our pool. We succumbed to summer madness and we too bought a blow up pool.  £60 well spent.  We have only been in it a few times as the cleaning process is hard work but we are now more prepared and have spent a fortune on all the correct cleaning products.  Hopefully this will avoid any more fluorescent algae from also joining us.  One small problem, we can't seem to disassociate being in the pool from drinking.  Drinking bubbly. It has become a costly and time consuming hobby.   

This is how the Merchant-Lockes do a small summer lunch.

This little fella is the newest baby in the family. My stepson and girlfriend are the proud owners of this beautiful little Pug (his name escapes me but it is something uber-cool from Lord of the Rings). He is adorable and was centre of attention at Tom's 21st BBQ last weekend.  

I love this photo.

John and I at Tom's birthday BBQ.  That red dress is quickly becoming one of my favourite ever charity shop purchases. And John is looking very handsome in his new birthday t-shirt from Tom.  Bought at one of the Formula One races that he attended recently with work. What a job!

This is John with little Miss Annabel Quarterman. Christening number 2 is this Sunday and yes, the fascinator will be out, no doubt annoying more people behind me.

He is so wonderful with kids, I fall a little bit more in love with him every time I see him with a baby (if that's possible).

The lovely Miss Harriet Davolls - proud new mum.

This is me, attempting to channel my inner Kate Middleton with a "fascinating" (as one of the guests put it).  We recently attended the christening of a friends little boy (seen below) and I have been dying for an excuse to buy one. I probably annoyed everyone in the church that sat behind me but hey. You must dress accordingly for a date with the Lord!

De-robed after the ceremony being happily passed from one guest to the next.  A very cute little Hugo.

So there you have it. A snapshot in the life of me and la famille. Some lovely memories "banked" in my scrapbook of life. Some events that we don't have photo's of unfortunately include a lovely evening with our friends Steve and Ellen who live not far from us. We were invited to a dinner party to meet some visiting French friends of theirs and we had a truly lovely evening (culminating a water pistol fight on the streets at midnight). Another event was last night, the leaving do of my Boss where I got to meet all the new girls that will soon be my new Wallis family as I take on the challenge of a new role in a couple of weeks.

 It's been a lovely couple of months and we still have more events to look forward to.  I hope you are having a very happy summer, whatever you are doing.

Love, Love, Love...

Last Sunday was our second wedding anniversary.  Two years of fun, laughter, smiles and lots of love.  I am a very lucky woman to have someone like John in my life.

We decided not to go mad and do anything extravagant, the holiday had recently wiped us out and we have a busy few months ahead of us with endless birthdays, christenings and other events (social butterflies that we are.......not). So, we had a very lazy day at home, took the wolf for a long walk in the morning but we went out for a lovely meal in the evening.  Now I'm no good at maths but this was a simple equation for me: evening out + special occasion = excuse to dress up.

I am not a lover of these photo's (not that I am ever a lover of my photo's) but unfortunately David Bailey was unavailable (and so was Kate Middleton's make-up artist).  So, the dress.................

Again, from my most fruitful and recent charity shop run on Gloucester Road in Bristol. It was £5 from the Shelter shop which is a charity that targets homelessness in the UK, something that is prevalent on the streets of Bristol unfortunately. I had already spent around £20 in the shop on other bits and pieces and happened upon the dress on their bargain rail as I was about to leave.  So back to the changing room I went and luckily it fit. I did question whether I needed yet another evening dress, I probably have more of that type of clothing than anything else BUT for £5? Pourquoi pas. 

The fabric is silky jersey with gentle gathering around the waist and a cowl style drop around the bust. No marks or signs of wear and tear so a bargain at that price.

The shoes (matching of course) were ironically a pair that John bought me for Christmas a few years ago so it was only right that they were brushed off for this occasion.

So, the evening was spent at the beautiful Marriott St Pierre Hotel and Country Club which is 5 minutes down the road from our house.  Despite the grandeur of the hotel, as usual I was overdressed, especially in light of the fact is was the evening of the world cup final and the bar was filled with men in shorts that looked like they had just fallen off the golf course and into the 19th hole.  Story of my life.  Even one of the chaps at work recently commented that the art of dressing up seems to have died a sad death. 

Poor John does not relish the whole dressing-up mentality that I was born with.  He frowned at the thought of a shirt and decent shoes for the event but dutifully changed nevertheless. 

Lovely evening, lovely food, lovely company and the sun kept on shining.

 For Germany also it seems.....

Motivation....

Okay, I am not ashamed to say it.  I have joined Slimming World.

John and I decided it was time to take action (especially after all the food and drink we consumed while on holiday).  We both started last Monday, and we must go every Monday night for the ceremonial weigh-in and the slightly Americanised chats that follow about how well/bad we have all done and how we can improve. Cringe.

I know how exactly I can improve. Give up wine (as if). Nevertheless, I am going to try and follow the rules, (a little harder next week I think), and we shall see what fruits it shall bear......

I was thinking to myself, one must have a point of motivation, something to steer me out of the dieting gloom and into the future skinny light, so I have appointed this dress as my beacon of hope.  It is another purchase from my charity shop run last week and one that currently doesn't fit (of course).  I saw it, tried it on and left it behind as the "frown of  disbelief", took over when I left the changing room, unable to do up another zip. Yet another item that probably would have easily fit pre-wedding but now doesn't thanks to all my happy-fat. But I kept thinking about how lovely it was and I returned, frown gone, to stake my claim.

It was a little difficult to take some photos that show it for as beautiful as it is, hopefully when I can finally wear it, I shall do it justice.  There are a couple of marks on the front near the base of the hem, but I'm hoping that as it swishes about, people (myself included), won't notice it. It was £12 and I probably could have got a discount for the marks but I never usually ask if its a charity shop item.  High Street mega-giants are a different kettle of fish. After all, they can afford it and you can expect 

good quality new products. Second-hand, you expect a little wear and tear sometimes. 

I don't have an event in mind, although it would serve as a lovely Christmas Day dress. I am thinking hair up in a bun with a little flower on the side. Go for the whole Spanish look.

"The Shop on Gloucester Road" is Clic Sargent's flagship vintage charity shop in the Bishopston area of Bristol and it's a second-hand lovers dream quite frankly.  The last time I visited, I bought a gorgeous plum dress (I call it my Wilma Deering dress) for £20 that sits proudly in my fab finds tab on this blog. I took some photos to share with you in the hope that those locals among you may pay it a visit.  It really is worth it. They have everything from clothing to nic-nacs, pictures to bric-a-brac.

It is a little treasure trove of vintage goodies just waiting to be adopted. So pop along if you are able Truffle Hunters! You won't be disappointed. 

P.s. By the time I finished this post, I discovered I had lost two pounds at Slimming World this week. And that was without really trying so I shall double my efforts this week and soon the dress will be mine! 

Red or Dead

I had a great night out this weekend with some friends on the waterfront in Bristol. And it was an ideal time to wear my new red dress that was one of my finds from Thursdays charity shop run. Instantly when I saw it, I had Saturday night in mind for its premiere. It's a lovely soft polyester with a gorgeous sheen to it. It just makes me want to sign up to a flamenco class the minute I put it on! And the icing atop the cake? It was brand new still with tags, never worn and in mint condition.

It was £12 from the wonderful St Peters Hospice shop on Gloucester Road, where my friend Nicola (see photos below) works. She is lucky enough to have one of my dream jobs.....Deputy Manager in a charity shop. I would love that job and would happily take a pay cut if the opportunity ever arose. John on the other hand, would not be so elated. I don't really need any excuses to grow my wardrobe. 

I am always amazed at how different I feel when I wear red. More confident, happier (if that's possible), a little bit more risqué....

Different colours can dramatically change our moods, behaviour and feelings. Fear, peace, aggression, tranquility. It's a very powerful tool, one that marketing people are all too aware of. There is a whole science behind visual merchandising in shops for example, which colours to use and where. They can make the difference between an inviting store and one that you would happily bypass (Hollister, yes that was aimed at you).

I also find it interesting how we interpret colours differently across borders and cultures. White for example is seen for many people as a sign of peace, innocence and purity whereas it is actually a colour that represents mourning (as opposed to black) in many eastern countries.

There is also the study of chromotherapy, once used in Ancient China, which was the use of colours as healing treatments. This is still practiced today as an alternative or holistic option and some examples are listed below. 

• Red was used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation.


• Yellow was thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body.


• Orange was used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels.


• Blue was believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain.


• Indigo shades were thought to alleviate skin problems.

(You can find more information on the web, these snippets of knowledge came courtesy of About.com)

I am not sure if I can say that my new red dress stimulated my mind and body (although my friends may say otherwise, they had to put up with that body jumping around on the dance floor all night), but it helped to make a great night, even better. For me at least. 

A little black dress just doesn't cut the mustard.

Hear are a few pics from the evenings frivolities........A great night with great girls (and one slightly older woman).

Miss Nicola....

Kelly, Hayley and Nic

Mrs Kelly S. And the whole crew. Condiments and all. 

For starters.....

Ok, so I have just been reviewing my purchases from yesterdays charity shop spree and there are rather a lot (quelle surprise). So I thought I would write about them a few at a time. As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent a lovely couple of hours mooching around the Gloucester Road area in Bristol, killing time the best way I know how (that doesn't involve a wine glass in my hand).  I prefer shopping on my own, not sure why, I have always preferred it that way, just me, myself and I.

Gloucester  Road is somewhat synonymous with charity shops.  It's a really vibrant area full of independent boutiques, local businesses, great pubs and second-hand shops galore. It was lovely weather and the cafes and bars were full of punters making the most of the al-fresco dining experience, sat outside, watching the wold go by. A few years back John and I spent the day wandering up and down doing a pub crawl, stopping to browse in the charity shops in between and it was on that fateful day that John found me a genuine Louis Vuitton purse, hiding in the cabinet at the back of the shop.  Good memories.

Yesterday did not disappoint either.  I was a bit dubious as to whether I would find anything to wear clothes-wise (having grown even bigger since the all-inclusive holiday), so I was content just to focus on shoes, jewelry and bric-a-brac.

Now these shoes may look slightly granny-esque but that's probably why I liked them. They were a bit different and had that quirky factor that I like. And in true granny style, they are so comfortable, it actually feels like you are wearing slippers. I always look for bright coloured shoes, yellows, greens, reds and so on.  The more colourful the better. Its important to extend the brightness of your outfit all the way down to your feet and colourful shoes are always a good talking point. 

Le prix? £4.99 from the Clic Sargent  charity shop.

There is still a bit of a heel to help raise up my tiny height towards the clouds.  I don't recognise the label but you can tell they are of a very good quality.

The second item was this pendant (also from Clic Sargent ) at the grand old price of £2. The irony is that I recognised it being from that Great British institution - Primark and as I already have the same necklace in cobalt blue, I remembered that it was only £2 brand new! I actually wore the blue version on my wedding day as my something blue.  But this is a nice neutral colour that you can wear with pretty much anything so it was worth the price. New or old.

So there's a small snippet of what I bought, main course is on its way!