Wearing White

I've always loved this Australian opal I got years ago from my aunt and uncle in Australia

Wearing white

'Layrinth Constellation' by Artificial Brain

Weekend treats

Christmas 2015

Christmas went by so quickly this year, despite the fact I felt like I'd been preparing for it for ages. 

Before and after. It was nice to get my hair done in time for Christmas for once (pre-booking is a tricky habit to master) so my hair is looking nice and sharp and pink (and matching my lippie, of course).

I still love our little black tree with its pastel lights. Folk who say white lights are classier can get lost! And... er, I've decided that 'pink and turquoise' is the new 'red and green'. Way more cute as Christmas colours!

Oh yeah, and this is the handbag I made my mum for her Christmas present! I did it using this pattern. I've never made a handbag before... or probably will again... or have ever followed a pattern before, but I got matched with my mum in our family's Christmas present syndicate and wanted to make her something special. It's made of yellow wool with a silk lining and has a magnetic fastener. 

Lastly (and tastiestly) here are the two cakes a made for our family Christmas dinner. A red velvet cake and a dark chocolate and pistachio cake. I have to confess the icing on the RV one is shop bought as, after two batches of failed gloopy, liquidy cream cheese icing, I gave in and turned to Asda for some help. I must ask my mother in law how she makes hers...

Anyway, I hope you guys had a lovely Christmas this year. Did you get any cool presents?? I'm still spending my Christmas money! Although I did get an extra cool present I'll be posting about very soon.

Christmas 2014

I hope everyone had a good Christmas this year! We had a fairly low-key Christmas. Very few presents and we didn't even remember to put the tree up. Still, that's not really what Christmas is about and it's not as though anyone's really going to be mad if you don't decorate the house enough. For me anyway, the most important thing about Christmas is remembering the amazing gift of salvation we've been given in Jesus Christ, even if I find it hard to focus on that sometimes, amid all the rushing around to get things ready for Christmas. When I do stop to think and pray about it though, it blows my mind every time. Can't believe God gives us this love and forgiveness we don't deserve at all. Amazing! Anyway, I'm rambling...

Hey look it's the dark, thick-rimmed specs convention. On Christmas day I wore a black knitted mini-dress from Mango with my plastic harness from restyle. Bit of an odd-looking contraption to get into, but I love it! I also wore Illamasqua lipstick in the colour 'Kontrol' and did my eyes all glittery. Aww.

And I've already written about what my husband gave me for Christmas but, for him, I bought these t-shirts from Rotten Cotton. They're based on the films Braindead and Xtro, two of our favourite movies. When they arrived, I almost wished I'd got them in a size extra small and worn them myself instead, but Tim looks cracking in them, I've got to admit.

Queen of Darkness Grey Skull Dress

My roots are horrific, but I don't even mind. I wanted to show off this dress I got from Queen of Darkness. It's got a grey skulls and roses design and feel soft and fuzzy like velour. I love it!

Dress Up

Last Sunday, had a day out in town then went to visit my parents at night.

I wore this retro dress I got from T. K. Maxx. It's a bit big for me, but I tied a scarf round the collar and threw a cardigan on and I think I got away with it. 

Lunch at our favourite coffee bar. I had a posh-looking broccoli pastie (a poshtie?) and we shared a pistachio brownie and some billionaire shortbread. I can't even describe to you how phenomenally tasting this home baking is. 

Then, at night, when we visited my parents, we had the surprise of seeing my little niece and nephew. I spent a good while before dinner making dress-up dolls with my niece. She's so cute.

Alcest, Opeth, Beastmilk & In Solitude

There are so many good gigs on here at the moment, I'm having to choose between them. I've still got Solstafir and Bast to look forward to and, already this month, I've seen Opeth, supported by Alcest and Beastmilk supporting In Solitude another night.

My friend is a big Alcest fan which is what lead us to going to this gig in the first place. However, I especially enjoyed Opeth who I'd not heard much of prior, I hate to admit. Alcest were very good too. The tracks I liked the most were apparently from their older albums so I'll need to check those out. 

Two days later I donned my new Restyle harness (love it!) to go and see Beastmilk. I hope you folks are appreciating all these tiny, blurry pictures of bands...

Beastmilk put on a fantastic show as we'd hoped and In Solitude were great too. Good stuff!

Louche Vona Dress

I had a little trying-on session the other day at the Barnardos charity shop down the road and ended up buying this dress for five pounds. The label said it was by 'Louche' and I already thought it was a bargain before I got home and looked it up to see that the price for it online was £79! (Or £30, second hand from ebay) Not bad! It even fits really well too which is something I find difficult with tailored dresses.

I wore it to a joint birthday dinner for my Dad and nephew with some little heels (not something I wear very often). I got my Dad a book on Blackadder and my nephew a big book on stones and fossils. Charity shops rule, man. Seriously.

First Summer Sunday

Sunday's are the best because it's the one day me and my husband and I have off work together so we can spend time with each other. 

Yesterday, after church, we had lunch in Siempre Bicycle Cafe again. The food is soo tasty and there's more than a couple of things on the menu I can eat which is unusual with my fussy taste. (I had a sandwich with smoked tofu, pickled daikon and carrot. Yum). 

After that, we toddled to The Kelvingrove Museum and punted the children out the way so we could see some of the exhibits before walking home again. I didn't spend money on a single train ticket yesterday (other than a tube ticket to get us to the cafe). I have no idea how my wee stubby legs aren't falling off these days with the ridiculous amount of walking we're doing.  

I also wore my posh specs yesterday and Tim declared it official Hawaiian shirt wearing weather since the sun's started to come out now.