Yes, that's the same pink Fat Face shirt I wore just a couple of days ago. Rest assured, I washed it first.
I think the husband might have figured out what I've been doing. Here's hoping he won't tease me too much...
Bright-eyed singalong day
Victor and I went out for Yum Cha today, and on the way we encountered some very persistent Chinese Christians. Young, glazed-eyed and bushy-tailed, they sang their way up and down Oxford street - literally - they went a certain distance, then crossed the road and walked back on the opposite side. So we ran into them twice, and I noticed that the one who seemed to be the leader - he was playing a guitar while he walked, which I admit must take some co-ordination skills - was kind of wearing the same thing as me. Well, his black shirt was long-sleeved, but you know. We almost had an "Oh, snap!" moment there.
Yes, that's the same pink Fat Face shirt I wore just a couple of days ago. Rest assured, I washed it first.
I think the husband might have figured out what I've been doing. Here's hoping he won't tease me too much...
Yes, that's the same pink Fat Face shirt I wore just a couple of days ago. Rest assured, I washed it first.
I think the husband might have figured out what I've been doing. Here's hoping he won't tease me too much...
Floral vintage day
The husband and I had a special date-night tonight - he was treating me to Japanese first, then I was treating him to Cirque du Soleil. So that was the perfect excuse to wear my new dress that I probably shouldn't have bought. (Let me elaborate: Cath Kidston ain't cheap. Well, some of the stuff is, but never the dresses. Unless they're on sale.) Yes, when I got their new catalogue, I was all relieved because I didn't like any of the new bags and thinking I wouldn't be spending any money there... and then I saw this dress, and thought, "Oh damn."
I bought those lovely royal blue tights long before I caved in and bought the dress - just in case, you know? The match the buttons and trimming purrrfectly. F.Y.I, I nearly froze to death to take this picture.
This last one was taken on the back stairs at Royal Albert Hall. Isn't he cute? Especially when he doesn't really want to have his picture taken?
Oh, and I just have to post a picture from the show - I didn't take it, I'd never want to endanger the performers - it's from the official website. This was my favourite act - Native American rollerskating on a giant tribal drum.
In other news, calamity strikes the sutra-scarf! Turns out that the wool they'd had delivered at Liberty's wasn't the same kind of blue - it was paler, and twice as expensive, and just didn't look right. But, the sales lady was one of those alternative ladies that I seem to sync really well with - she had at least five necklaces on, and the most awesome pair of royal blue horn-rimmed glasses - and she told me about how, in this book she had at home, there were pictures of ancient sutras where the important bits were written in red. Then she dug out a gorgeous ball of red wool, and told me she wouldn't let me buy the blue - "Get this instead!"
I've started knitting with the red wool now (saving the last bit of blue for the end of the scarf), and it actually looks kind of okay.
Angela will ask her Japanese teacher for help to write a note that says, "Please imagine that the red bits are extra powerful spells written in yokai blood."
I bought those lovely royal blue tights long before I caved in and bought the dress - just in case, you know? The match the buttons and trimming purrrfectly. F.Y.I, I nearly froze to death to take this picture.
This last one was taken on the back stairs at Royal Albert Hall. Isn't he cute? Especially when he doesn't really want to have his picture taken?
Oh, and I just have to post a picture from the show - I didn't take it, I'd never want to endanger the performers - it's from the official website. This was my favourite act - Native American rollerskating on a giant tribal drum.
In other news, calamity strikes the sutra-scarf! Turns out that the wool they'd had delivered at Liberty's wasn't the same kind of blue - it was paler, and twice as expensive, and just didn't look right. But, the sales lady was one of those alternative ladies that I seem to sync really well with - she had at least five necklaces on, and the most awesome pair of royal blue horn-rimmed glasses - and she told me about how, in this book she had at home, there were pictures of ancient sutras where the important bits were written in red. Then she dug out a gorgeous ball of red wool, and told me she wouldn't let me buy the blue - "Get this instead!"
I've started knitting with the red wool now (saving the last bit of blue for the end of the scarf), and it actually looks kind of okay.
Angela will ask her Japanese teacher for help to write a note that says, "Please imagine that the red bits are extra powerful spells written in yokai blood."
Delerious flu day.
Yes, I seriously went outside like this in February. You see, I thought it was nice and warm outside. After a while, I realised, "It's not warm at all. I have a fever."
Then I used my cute Eiffel Tower brooch to pin the front of my jacket closed. I got home, curled up in a blanket and spent the rest of the evening practising my wheezing cough. If coughing were an Olympic sport, I'd be perfect for 2012. I'd just have to, you know, stay sick until then. Just as well it's not, really.
Those are yesterday's accessories btw - the (surprisingly practical) brooch is from Accessorize, and I made the earrings. They were dead easy to make, but I like them, and I think I've made the same pair for at least two people - be nice to me, and I'll make a pair for you, too. (After the 30 for 30, obviously.) I think the two feathers cost me a total of 50p, so that's hardly a financial setback.
Then I used my cute Eiffel Tower brooch to pin the front of my jacket closed. I got home, curled up in a blanket and spent the rest of the evening practising my wheezing cough. If coughing were an Olympic sport, I'd be perfect for 2012. I'd just have to, you know, stay sick until then. Just as well it's not, really.
Those are yesterday's accessories btw - the (surprisingly practical) brooch is from Accessorize, and I made the earrings. They were dead easy to make, but I like them, and I think I've made the same pair for at least two people - be nice to me, and I'll make a pair for you, too. (After the 30 for 30, obviously.) I think the two feathers cost me a total of 50p, so that's hardly a financial setback.
Preppy Japanese Day
I say preppy because the shoes are preppy. They're from this Americana store we found in Portugal, of all places, when we went there for a friend's wedding last September. One of the wedding guests had lost his luggage, so Victor and I were helping him shop for new clothes at the local mall, so he wouldn't have to show up at the wedding in a tracksuit... and there they were, these super-cute little green flats with diamonds and love-hearts on them, going, "Buy us! Take us home with you!" And since I'd had to throw out my last pair of cute flats just a week or so before (green Cath Kidstons with polkadots! Worst quality footwear ever, since both soles snapped in half, but man were they cute), the preppies got to come to London with me.
Anyway, I look at the only non-blurry photo of me and think; Why is it I only have stupid hair in the non-blurry photos? Why did the camera cut off the bottom of my shoe? And, I kind of look like I walked into a UniQlo and asked the shop-assistants to dress me. Even my scarf is from a Japanese store (now closed down). I'm heading so far into Wapanese territory here that I might as well start finishing my sentences with "desu"... well, maybe I would if my shirt had anime characters on it instead of flying fish.
...see what I mean? I'm making it look like everything I own is from UniQlo. This coat is pure awesomeness though; it's helped me survive even the Norwegian winter; I've practically lived inside it since mid-November. It's light-weight and super warm, and the hood can be pulled off with a zipper thingie. (Good thing too, since the hood is so deep that it obstructs my view when I cross the road!)
Anyway, I look at the only non-blurry photo of me and think; Why is it I only have stupid hair in the non-blurry photos? Why did the camera cut off the bottom of my shoe? And, I kind of look like I walked into a UniQlo and asked the shop-assistants to dress me. Even my scarf is from a Japanese store (now closed down). I'm heading so far into Wapanese territory here that I might as well start finishing my sentences with "desu"... well, maybe I would if my shirt had anime characters on it instead of flying fish.
...see what I mean? I'm making it look like everything I own is from UniQlo. This coat is pure awesomeness though; it's helped me survive even the Norwegian winter; I've practically lived inside it since mid-November. It's light-weight and super warm, and the hood can be pulled off with a zipper thingie. (Good thing too, since the hood is so deep that it obstructs my view when I cross the road!)
30 for 30, here I come!
I had a few resolutions at the start of this year, I won't lie to you... a couple of them, I've actually managed to keep, like the one about wearing dresses more often, and getting used to wearing heels (the bane of being tall is that I used to try and make myself shorter - so I used to only wear flats, ever). Styling my hair every week, that one went out the window, and so did the one about reading at least one classic every month (I haven't even finished the Prologue of The Scarlet Letter, for God's sake!) - the book one was the one that really surprised me, but I guess I've been busy... But it's made me think that I do want to go through this 30 for 30 challenge and at least succeed at that!
Here are my items. I don't have very many of the outfits planned, so this could get interesting - but I have a general idea of what to combine! However, my brown boots have gone and let me down; the zipper's broken on the left one, so those won't appear until I've had them fixed. (And no, paying for my boots to be repaired isn't shopping. At least, I don't think it is...)
So yeah, that's 10 tops, 3 skirts, 3 pairs of trousers, 1 dress, 4 cardigans, 1 sweater, 2 blazers, 1 warm coat, 3 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots (with a second pair currently out of commisson).
Here are my items. I don't have very many of the outfits planned, so this could get interesting - but I have a general idea of what to combine! However, my brown boots have gone and let me down; the zipper's broken on the left one, so those won't appear until I've had them fixed. (And no, paying for my boots to be repaired isn't shopping. At least, I don't think it is...)
So yeah, that's 10 tops, 3 skirts, 3 pairs of trousers, 1 dress, 4 cardigans, 1 sweater, 2 blazers, 1 warm coat, 3 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots (with a second pair currently out of commisson).
First outfit post
Since I signed on to do the 30 for 30 challenge at Kendi Everyday, I thought I'd better put up the outfit I wore when I gave my lecture on Shakespeare in performance at the university of Bergen today. That's right, I gave a lecture - my first one ever. I was nervous, of course, but it went really well! The professor said he'd never seen his students this engaged before (I made some of them read exerpts and do acting exercises, and I made everyone learn a song), and wants me to do this again next year - when he will try to arrange for me to get paid as, get this, a guest lecturer! Am I excited? You bet! I just wish my feet weren't still sore from standing up in heels for two hours - next year, I'll be doing the lecture in plimsolls! (Uh, well, probably not.)
I've got to say, posting this picture has given me a renewed respect for style bloggers, because posting a photo of myself messing about with a spatula is one thing, but lowly little me attempting to show off something I wore just makes me think that anyone who sees this pic will think I'm fat/ugly/have no taste/have stupid hair... but hey, 2011 is all about confidence and self-esteem, so up the picture goes anyway. I'd post a picture of beautiful freezing Norway (that's me in shirtsleeves in -1C, people), but this horrible old laptop that I'm using would have an aneurism if I tried to add a second picture.
I knit, therefore I am. (Running out of yarn, that is.)
So yeah, back in December when I said I got sick, I wasn't kidding. Winter is not a season I seem to thrive in, in spite of my mum buying me fleece-lined tights. It's not like I haven't done anything, my brain's just been too deeply steeped in snot to write very much. Mostly, I've been knitting in my free time. It's Battle Of The Scarves time! Which is a bit like Battle of the Bands except much, much slower.
The Sutra scarf is still in the lead, with the Nori scarf chugging sadly along at a much more pathetic pace. The Nori scarf is easier and more relaxing to knit, but the Sutra scarf fires me up with fangirl fervour, and then I can't decide which one I'd rather be working on. And then my head explodes. Then Victor has to gather up all the little bits of skull and brain and stick them back together with the Epoxy glue that may or may not cause cancer in the State of California. Hey, I wiped his vomit up that time he puked in the lift, so it's the least he can do! But wait, I did do some other stuff as well - I spent a day making comics with Angela and Kaz - mostly lettering and toning pages, drinking green tea and eating lovely home-cooked veggie food. And I made ninja-bread cookies with Angela and Poli. Awesomest Christmas presents ever = ninjabread cookie cutters and asshole and douchebag plates. You girls know me well...
Then yesterday, I had a day off, and told myself I wasn't allowed to leave the flat until I'd finished a bunch of clothes repairs - so I sewed new buttons on tops, altered shirt-sleeves, put elastic in a skirt that used to be a dress, and got one step further to completing my very first Cath Kidston project. In the book, this project - pimping an old jumper so it looks like something your more adventurous breed of professor or proofreader would wear - as a single star difficulty rating. This galls me, because it's taken me absolutely forever to do this - and I'm not done yet!
With Cath, it's all in the Bondaweb, which is something you iron onto the back of applique patterns so they'll stick to your clothes. I'm not sure Cath and I could be friends - I mean, at the back of the book, she confesses that she didn't even make ONE of the projects featured. What sort of message does that send to your fans, Cath? Anyway, I have to do a blanket stitch around the edges of the patches and my initials on the breast there (and do you recognise the jumper, Polina?) and I'm trying to decide if I should go buy some dark blue embroidery thread, instead of this turquoise stuff that I got on sale. Any opinions?
I'll need to broaden my horizons a bit anyway, when it comes to haberdashery shops, because John Lewis sold out of the blue thread I use for the writing in the Sutra! I explained to them that I was in mid-scarf, and was there nowhere they could search, no secret stash of fluffy navy blue yarn... but alas, they told me to go try Liberty's. I thought they only sold upmarket preppy clothes, but no, turns out they carry yarn and all sorts of crafty stuff. So I'd better get my butt over there, before they also decide to remainder the last fluffy blue balls of Gedifra yarn in all of London town. I will bring a stout stick, in case there are Sloanies on the premises.
The Sutra scarf is still in the lead, with the Nori scarf chugging sadly along at a much more pathetic pace. The Nori scarf is easier and more relaxing to knit, but the Sutra scarf fires me up with fangirl fervour, and then I can't decide which one I'd rather be working on. And then my head explodes. Then Victor has to gather up all the little bits of skull and brain and stick them back together with the Epoxy glue that may or may not cause cancer in the State of California. Hey, I wiped his vomit up that time he puked in the lift, so it's the least he can do! But wait, I did do some other stuff as well - I spent a day making comics with Angela and Kaz - mostly lettering and toning pages, drinking green tea and eating lovely home-cooked veggie food. And I made ninja-bread cookies with Angela and Poli. Awesomest Christmas presents ever = ninjabread cookie cutters and asshole and douchebag plates. You girls know me well...
Then yesterday, I had a day off, and told myself I wasn't allowed to leave the flat until I'd finished a bunch of clothes repairs - so I sewed new buttons on tops, altered shirt-sleeves, put elastic in a skirt that used to be a dress, and got one step further to completing my very first Cath Kidston project. In the book, this project - pimping an old jumper so it looks like something your more adventurous breed of professor or proofreader would wear - as a single star difficulty rating. This galls me, because it's taken me absolutely forever to do this - and I'm not done yet!
With Cath, it's all in the Bondaweb, which is something you iron onto the back of applique patterns so they'll stick to your clothes. I'm not sure Cath and I could be friends - I mean, at the back of the book, she confesses that she didn't even make ONE of the projects featured. What sort of message does that send to your fans, Cath? Anyway, I have to do a blanket stitch around the edges of the patches and my initials on the breast there (and do you recognise the jumper, Polina?) and I'm trying to decide if I should go buy some dark blue embroidery thread, instead of this turquoise stuff that I got on sale. Any opinions?
I'll need to broaden my horizons a bit anyway, when it comes to haberdashery shops, because John Lewis sold out of the blue thread I use for the writing in the Sutra! I explained to them that I was in mid-scarf, and was there nowhere they could search, no secret stash of fluffy navy blue yarn... but alas, they told me to go try Liberty's. I thought they only sold upmarket preppy clothes, but no, turns out they carry yarn and all sorts of crafty stuff. So I'd better get my butt over there, before they also decide to remainder the last fluffy blue balls of Gedifra yarn in all of London town. I will bring a stout stick, in case there are Sloanies on the premises.
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