Yeah, I WAS wearing makeup! I had a lightning bolt on my wanger!

Hello my lovelies! I hope you're all well wherever you are. It's beautifully sunny and warm here in Leamington, and Nic and I have just spent most of the afternoon in the park, which was lovely. Well, it would have been better without all the other people there but I'll try to be gracious. It is a public space after all.

The unbelievably foul mood I was in on Wednesday did go away. Thursday and Friday were a bit better in the office, mainly because I was able to do some proper work. On Friday the head of my department called me to ask me to get involved in some planning work for a new project we might be taking on. It'll be good, I hope, because if it goes ahead it'll give me a chance to actually use my brain and my experience at work, and it meant a lot that she was keen to have me involved in it. We'll see what happens there, I suppose. I think that whatever happens, the next few months at work are probably going to be bumpy ones so I think the ups and downs will continue no matter what.

I don't usually have to go into the office on Friday but this week I had some external people in, so I needed to be there. It was a nice day, although the afternoon seriously dragged. My colleagues were in a silly mood so we did have fun, but I was still glad when it hit 4 and I could leave. On Thursday my most recent ebay purchase arrived, so I wore it to work on Friday:

Fever Atlantis dress and Irregular Choice Hermia shoes

It's funny how your tastes can change. This dress is from Fever's Spring/Summer 2008 collection. I remember at the time thinking I liked the shape, but not the print. But when I saw it on ebay at a bargain price I thought I might as well, and I'm glad I did because I love the print. It's not too clear in that photo, but it's seashells with fish behind them (hence the name 'Atlantis', I guess)
As with my Corbusier Atlantis dress, I altered the straps so the dress isn't halterneck, as wearing a halterneck often gives me a headache. In fact, after these photos were taken I altered them further because they were a wee bit too long (I have narrow shoulders and they kept slipping down, which was annoying) This is an alteration I have to make a lot. Fun.

Nic treated me to dinner from Millennium Sweet House before I went out to the cinema with Lauren to see Bridesmaids. I don't go to the cinema as often as I ought to, given my background in film studies, but I had read a fair bit about Bridesmaids and was curious enough to want to see it. Also, there are so few films about women in the cinema now that when one comes along, I want to go and see it. Well, apart from Mamma Mia. I never want to see Mamma Mia. A lot of the reviews of Bridesmaids gave the impression it was like a female-centered version of The Hangover, which I think is unfair. It has its flaws, but I enjoyed Bridesmaids so much that I'm planning on going back to see it a second time. It's very, very funny but I wasn't expecting it to be so moving. The disintegration of Annie's life coninciding with mean girl friendship politics had me crying as much as John Hamm's performance made me laugh. John Hamm, though. That guy is FUNNEH. Seriously really, really funny. Rose Byrne's turn as bitchface Helen was especially affecting as well. We all know a girl like Helen - someone who can't wait to tell you how much better your friends like her than they like you, and tries to make you feel small. Then she cries that no-one likes her. Yeah, that.

Bridesmaids. Not a chick flick. Check out the bitchface on Rose Byrne!

After the cinema there was still time to catch Nic and friends in the pub around the corner for a drink (another reason to like the film, it wasn't ridiculously long like every other modern film. 2+ hours is too bloody long!) so ending the evening on a gin and tonic was just right.

On Saturday I had a lovely, luxurious lie in before going for a bit of a potter around town. There is a Guide Dog training school in Leamington, and they were holding a big event in the Pump Room Gardens. I'm not sure what exactly all was going on, but there were lots of happy looking dogs and owners, some stalls selling cakes and bric a brac and it coincided with the monthly farmer's market. The weather was nice - warm, but not hot, and I decided to wear a lovely cool cotton frock:

Green wrap dress from Phase Eight, and yellow wedges from Next

This is the second one of these frocks I've bought. The original came from the Phase Eight sale a number of years ago but was a size too big so I stopped wearing it and gave it to a friend. When it came up in my size on ebay last month I went for it! I usually find wrap dresses unflattering, they gape in the bust and tie in the wrong place, but this one works. It has a full circle skirt as well, so although I'm not wearing it with a petticoat here it accomodates one.

This is my attempt to look sultry in sunglasses, but I look silly. The sunglasses are silly - I think they're very 70s footballer's wife, but I like them. On Saturday afternoon I went to hang out with Denise, we drank coffee, gossiped and iced cakes. You know how you do. My hayfever was bad on Saturday and I sneezed non-stop all day. I was mid-sneeze, halfway across Regent Street on my way to Denise when a stray gust of wind blew my skirt up and I flashed my knickers to some teenage boys. Seriously. I was too busy sneezing to do anything else. Luckily, I was wearing nice pants.

Nic and I had been invited out for drinks to celebrate a friend's birthday, and after a rather large dinner I needed to change out of that wrap dress. The bow was constricting my tummy. Nice. We only planned to stay for one drink, but lots of nice people were at the pub, the sun was shining and the garden was pretty. We closed the pub, and it was about 4 am before Nic and I took ourselves to bed. I love impromptu nights out, especially where gin is involved.

Fever Daydreamer dress and Irregular Choice Hermia shoes

I was happily not hungover this morning and, as I said above, Nic and I passed the afternoon in the park. There was a free falconry display which was really interesting - although there was a bit of a hairy moment when one of the birds just didn't want to come back. The falconer was shouting for him for about fifteen minutes, which became increasingly surreal because the bird's name was Joe. It was one of those lovely, lazily sociable afternoons that has turned into a sleepy evening. I have my glass of wine and a DVD and I'm off now to enjoy the rest of my weekend.

The beautiful river Leam in the sunshine from Mill Gardens

Sunhat!

Before I go, if you'd like to check out a few vintage outfit shots, the lovely people at Fever Designs wrote this wee blog about me. I know I'm blowing my own trumpet, here, but go and have a wee look anyway. Good night my pretties!

God, Ben, I'm such an eejit, I put the shorts on my head!

Evening all! Yes, another midweek blog post. It must be the season of the witch! I hope you've all been having a good day and, now that Wednesday is over, that you're looking forward to the weekend. I'm grand, although today has been a difficult day. It certainly brightened up once I got off the train in Leamington and it was sunny, and I was greeted on the doorstep by this little lady:

So, what's the craic?

She's not my cat. In fact, I'm not sure who she belongs to but she's often to be found trying to gain access to our building. A friend who lives around the corner reports that she does the same there, too. I don't think she's a stray because she's in good condition and is very well socialised - such a friendly little kitteh! I sat down on the step and she curled up in my lap, purring away like a good'un. Sadly I don't think she'd enjoy soya milk or vegetarian food, so we didn't invite her upstairs. Still, there's a lot to be said for getting a cuddle from a little purry thing to make your day seem less crap.

Actually, today wasn't that bad. I am exaggerating a little bit. There were lots of good things about it. I got to see my friend C again as she's back from holiday. I had a meeting with some excellent people. I wore new shoes!

Sail Away Ceylon dress, made by me and Irregular Choice Patty shoes

These shoes are black, so they don't actually match the dress but I don't care. I like how they look together. Despite the reservations I expressed yesterday, I really enjoyed wearing these shoes, and the more I look at them the more I'm able to see the flag as a nice graphic. The shoes are a wee bit big, even with insoles but I'm going to wear them anyway and make sure to walk slowly in them!

This was the second time I've worn my Sail Away Ceylon since I made it a few weeks ago, and it held up well through a whole day at work - buttons staying closed and everything! It's convinced me that I need to do another make of this frock, in red with shiny black buttons and black piping. Incidentally, those shoes would go well with that if I ever do get around to making it.

Still, even with the amusement of new shoes and a pretty dress I did not get on well with today. It's partly because I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. Recently, though, I've been really up and down. It's like the emotional equivalent of the weather. You know how at the moment it's all dark clouds and wind one minute, and beautiful blue skies and sunshine the next? I'm just like that. I've been all over the place today, emotionally speaking, veering from feeling so frustrated it makes me physically nauseated to feeling like I could hug a colleague because she brought me a cup of coffee. It's a bit tiring, to be honest. I'm trying not to read too much into it, and I'm also trying hard to breathe deeply and count to ten on all of those occasions when I want to scream (or to type) "would you just PISS OFF, PLEASE!" at the people around me.

The next few months are going to be like this, though. Nic is working so hard to finish his thesis as well as working on other projects too. You all know how much my job is sucking at the moment. Figuring out money stuff and making plans for the future are in there too. There's a lot going on. In some ways, I work well under pressure. You know, I can meet deadlines and I like a challenge. Where I start to crack up is when I feel claustrophobic, and that's how I'm feeling now. In crowds I get stressed out when I have to hold my elbows really close to my body. It sounds silly but it makes me feel trapped. I feel like I'm being forced into things I don't want to do, and being directed down roads I no longer want to travel. It's emotional, and probably a bit of an overstatement, but I am stressed out. I'll get over it, and later this evening no doubt I'll be feeling more mellow. However, like I said, I think the next few months might be a bit bumpy.

Anyway, enough bellyaching. Wednesday is over, and that means The Apprentice later this evening, a wee bit of sewing and a wee bit of reading. I might even be able to scare up enough alcomahol in the cupboards to make myself a Wednesday cocktail. Things could be a lot worse. I'll be more cheerful in the next one, honest. Have a lovely evening, don't be hypnotised by Jedi Jim, and I'll catch you all later.

But eventually, I got out of his headlock. And where are you now, Father Eamon Hunter?

Evening all, my dearies. A reasonably rare midweek blog post here, because I'm trying to be a better blogger and blog more regularly. What a treat for you all, eh? I'm actually not feeling too clever today, and stayed home from work feeling under the weather. I watched Frasier and drank mint tea like it was going out of fashion while Nic worked at the table. The glamorous life, what do you think? I'm actually feeling a lot better now, and hopefully well enough to go out for a walk in the evening sunshine. I did even take an outfit shot for today (to show off the excellent dress I bought for 99p on ebay last week) but the photos are so dreadful. I mean, I'm happy enough to shed my vanity for the love of blogging and all, but my eyes are closed, my hair is in my face. No. Y'all will have to wait for another opportunity to see that frock.

Being as I've had a quiet day I don't have too much to share with you all apart from my new shoes! Well, not quite new - they were a gift from a friend who found that she didn't wear them. She decided to pass them on to me:

Irregular Choice Patty shoes

Of course, I'm pleased as punch at having been given a pretty pair of shoes. Naturally I'm already dreaming of all the things I can wear them with. That said, I might not have bought these for myself, and I wouldn't bring them home to Northern Ireland. I've lived in England for nearly ten years now, and obviously here the union flag has different connotations. I grew up on the Catholic side of things in Northern Ireland, however, so the union flag means something very different to me. My family didn't have strong political views, and neither do I, on the political situation at home. I'm not really a Catholic, far less a nationalist. Still, a part of me can't help but look at the union flag and see it as a statement of a political view. It's the same as when I wear my bowler hat. I like it, but I wouldn't wear it at home - too many thoughts of the Orange Order and sectarian hostility. Things have changed a lot at home, and the current civil disturbances in Belfast are the works now of a few hateful extremists rather than a coherent paramilitary organisation. Anyway, I don't have much more to say on the subject, just that it struck me that I'll happily wear these in Leamington. I just wouldn't find them appropriate in Dungannon, even if no one else was fussed by them.

Anyhow, dinner is ready and Nic has cued up an episode of New Tricks for me. More later in the week, but good solstice to you all.

They have no morals, and no respect for human life. But what they do have is the finest collection of boilers in the world. I include Canada in that.

Hello peeps, what's the haps? I'm one tired and happy Dolly this afternoon, after a most refreshing weekend of socialising. For the most part, last week was highly meh. Those of you who know me in real life or follow me on twitter will have heard me moaning about all the printing I had to do, which was incredibly boring. Still, I came to work prepared with my book and on Monday while printing about approximately twelfty three bajillion scripts I managed to read lots, so it wasn't all bad. I really should quit my jibba-jabba though, because lots of nice things did happen also. Nic started a new job on Monday, which was initially meant to be one day a week but which has expanded to two. On Wednesday evening Zoe taught us how to do traditional hexagon patchwork at Sew Make Believe which gave me the skills and the enthusiasm to start working on a quilt as a gift for someone. So that was awesome, and just the antidote to the tedium of work.

On Thursday night, Nic and I had planned to go and see the amazing Devon Sproule, who was playing in Coventry. The gig was scheduled to be held in a beautiful church, but there was a fairly last-minute venue change to an absolute shithole, so regretfully I got a refund on the tickets and we decided to have an evening out with Tom instead. Ever the classy pair, we had dinner in Wetherspoon's (curry club FTW) and were then joined by Tom. We got soaked on our walk to the pub but good old Nic got a few outfit shots of me earlier that afternoon:

In the rain outside the Old Library. Emily and Fin Lucy dress, Fever Valentina jacket and yellow wedges from Next

This dress came from ebay and I bought it thinking it was navy with yellow flowers - I suppose it can be hard to gauge colour from photographs. I wasn't disappointed or anything, although I do generally try to avoid wearing black clothes. Mind you, I don't think that many people look at the dress and see black because all day long I had people telling me how summery I looked. Which, fair enough, but it is summer! So, I don't really get why people found it surprising. Anyway, I am pleased with the frock, and with the jacket which was also from ebay.

I suppose it is quite summery, now that I look at it...

I was working from home on Friday and the miserable grey weather made me feel a bit grumpy, but I was much cheered in the afternoon by a coffee with some friends and a bit of a gossip and some cannoli, before coming home to have dinner with Nic and watch Case Histories on the BBC iplayer, a nice quiet Friday evening in.

Yesterday and today was the annual Leamington Peace Festival, a free festival held in the Pump Room Gardens. I love the peace festival, which is usually very chilled out and fun, with lots of interesting stalls and fun bands. It was looking like the rain was going to make this year's festival a bit miserable but Nic and I headed down early on Saturday anyway to catch up with some friends. It did rain, but in between the rain the sunshine was beautiful and there was lots to look at and do, as well as the fun of running into friends. After wandering around the stalls and getting some wonderful food (all of the food stalls at the peace festival are vegetarian) we found a dry spot of ground down by the main stage and sat down to enjoy some of the bands, even having a bit of a dance before heading back up to our flat to have dinner. On Saturday evening we had some friends over for drinks, which was a a wonderful way to end the evening. We had bubbly, crisps, beer, cake and cheese - what could be better?! I was somewhat immoderate in my drinking, and was expecting a horrible hangover this morning, but was thankfully spared that. The very large mug of coffee and the cooked breakfast I had probably helped, as did the epic sleep. The sun had come out, so we toddled down with a blanket and a flask of coffee and some leftover cake and wine to meet Louise, her husband, and their two gorgeous doggies. There isn't much to say about the rest of the day, as we passed the time chatting and giggling, playing with the dogs, seeing friends and listening to the music. It was honestly one of the most relaxing and fun weekends I have had for ages. I'm back up in our flat now with a cup of tea and although I'm tired, I feel refreshed for the week ahead. I love weekends like this! I'll leave you with a few photos from yesterday and today, and I'll catch you all later in the week.

Enjoying the sunshine between the rain showers on Saturday

Saturday lunch. Mmmmmmmmm, nachos!

Having a hammock looks like fun...

The main stage. Who knew Leamington had so many hippies?!

Making a tit of myself, dancing to a ska band. I'm wearing my curtains Simplicity 2591 and Irregular Choice Oz heels

Another tit moment, and doesn't the man behind me look like Nick Hewer?!

Nic with Alfie, the greediest doggy in the Western Hemisphere

Me with Prudence the Airedale terrier.

Now, where is that leftover cake?

Oh, indeed.

Well my friends and neighbours, what's the craic? Not too much here, it's a chilly and rainy Sunday afternoon and Nic is drawing and I'm just pottering around, Sunday style. I've got the ingredients ready for a cake to be baked, and scones and clotted cream and lemon curd (and jam for Nic) to have with a pot of tea and an episode of Poirot later. I hear it's what all the kids are into these days.

Anyways, I hope you've all been having a good week. It's been all go in Clackett towers as Nic is working very hard. I've had a really boring week at work - it's been busy, but it seems that all I've been doing is going to meetings, writing the meetings up, going to more meetings, writing them up. Not even a spreadsheet to break it up! (although I did get around to making that spreadsheet of all of my dresses) Things were enlivened a bit the other day though. When I came into work the other morning one of my colleagues told me to go and have a look in the kitchen. Our office has a canteen, but there are two little kitchen areas on each floor for making tea and coffee, with fridges for keeping your lunch in and seating. They're really pleasant, and part of the facilities contract is to provide tea and coffee and milk and cordial. I don't drink any of what's on offer because I'm a fussy beggar (I don't drink instant coffee, I don't drink sugar free cordial, I don't enjoy their cheap-ass tea bags) but this certainly did make me laugh:I always enjoy anything that is headed 'Polite Notice' because it will almost certainly be followed up by something passive aggressive and pissy. The reference to 'headcount' is because almost 60 people have been made redundant since March, as the organisation I work for is closing down. Still, though. Taped up next to it was this riposte:I like to imagine the people from FM services hiding behind the plants with a clipboard monitoring tea bags and possibly microchipping them, all the while wearing specialised security breeches. Later that day, both notices were taken down and replaced by a reworded one that removed references to trousers of any kind and instead urged us to approach FM services in confidence if we saw any suspicious behaviour. I don't know if the man with the bag marked 'swag' counts as suspicious, however. These posters caused a heightened level of hilarity in our team, I think because work is so shit for everyone at the moment that the only thing keeping us right is laughing at everything. It is a little bit manic, if I'm honest, but it does make going into work that good bit less stressful than it would be otherwise.

Other than that, this week has been fairly uneventful. Boredom was getting on top of me somewhat, so I did start to compose a blog post in my notebook about all the things that piss me off. I'm feeling mellower now, but I'll give you a condensed version and perhaps add to this list the next time a vicious mood strikes me. Does that sound like a deal?

Two annoying women I see every day on my way to work:
I did actually write loads about these two that I can't be bothered to reproduce here, basically one of them is that rude woman who pushes along the edge of the platform when the train is pulling into the station, endangering other travellers and just generally pissing me off. The other one is possibly my own fault, but it's a woman who glares at me every single morning when I walk past her. I say it's possibly my own fault because I've seen her around Leamington a few times before and without my glasses on she looks rather a lot like someone who I'd usually walk into traffic to avoid having to talk to so she's probably seen me peering at her to figure out who she is. Or maybe not, and maybe she just doesn't like the look of me and that's fine. But still, having a complete stranger look you up and down and tut when you're just trying to make your way to work is pretty annoying, isn't it? Bloody sourpuss.

The mis-use and abuse of the words 'no' and 'one'

By this I mean specifically people who write 'noone' instead of 'no one' or 'nobody'. I swear it makes a vein in the side of my head start to throb when I see it. It bugs me even more than the incorrect use of the apostrophe. Okay, maybe not - but you get where I am going with this! 'Noone' is not a word, at least not in that context. It is the surname of the fine actress Kathleen Noone, who played Aunt Bette in the fabulous Sunset Beach (she was also in Knots Landing and All My Children. What a woman)

Kathleen Noone. It's fine to use Noone in this context.

Listen up. If I see you writing 'noone' when you mean 'no one', I will think that you are stupid, and I'll like you less as a result. It's harsh, I know, but you shouldn't be writing for public consumption if you don't know that this is incorrect, or are too freaking lazy to proof read your work before publication. Learn to spell, and use real words. Just for reference, I feel the same way about 'alot' when you mean 'a lot'.

Trying to format a document in Microsoft Word
One of the quickest ways to send me dipshit.

Being interrupted in conversation
Someone talking across you is annoying, isn't it? That's not just me, right? What about when the person doing it doesn't even know what they're talking about? Does that make you want to go on a rampage? It makes me want to go on a rampage. I have encountered a lot of this recently. Another irritating variant is when the person you're talking to asks you a question, and then interrupts you when you're answering to finish your sentence for you. This makes me want to punch people in the face. Wait until the other person has finished talking before you make your point, especially if you've just pulled that point out of your ass.

That was as far as I got with my list of negativity but I invite you, readers, to share your peeves and vent your spleens in the comments if you feel like it.

Moving on, then... on Thursday night Nic and I went out for dinner with Lysy and The Scientist to Sushi Ya on Holly Walk. Having had a bad experience the only other time we'd been (good food, bad company) we'd both been reluctant to go again. This time the food was good, the company was excellent but the service was really bad. Live and learn, eh? A few glasses of wine there and later on in the Somerville made the evening despite having had to wait over an hour for three pieces of courgette in tempura. Oooh, look who's still a bit grumpy!!

Friday afternoon I went out to see my friend L and talk sewing, and I spent most of yesterday sewing while Nic worked. We did get out into the sunshine for a walk in the park, however - I'm even more glad of that given the filthy weather today! I've been wanting to have an outfit photo taken in the bandstand of the Pump Room Gardens for ages, and finally got my chance yesterday:

Simplicity 2591 made from Joel Dewberry fabric, red shoes from Topshop and plastic necklace and cuff from my Aspire goody bag

I actually made this dress a few months ago, but yesterday was the first time I wore it. I was pleased with the make but unsure about the fabric, which was a gift. It's a quilting cotton and although the drape is good, I wasn't sure I liked the colour. Lauren suggested wearing it with red, and as the sun had come out I thought I'd give it a go. I think it photographs well and it's comfortable to wear so I reckon it's a keeper.

One more. Why not?

Today the weather is grim so I've been curled up for most of it with a cup of tea and the hilarious Sweet Valley High book that came for me in a parcel from my darling Victoria Deloria. Nic and I did pop out to get some groceries and have a mooch in the shops (£6.99 for a second-hand copy of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Oxfam? Are you taking the piss?) so I opted for tights and a cardigan to keep dry, although it's not actually that cold:

Red cardigan from M&S, Fever Prairie Prom dress and Bertie Sardinia shoes

I'll be back in the week but until then, you can check out my other offerings from around the web. I've been a busy little bee this week after all...

Some shoes I want over at About Your Dress

Some sewing tips for Vintage lovers over at Retro Chick

And a photo from yesterday in the park, just because:

I mean, Lionel Richie's never even been to Wythenshawe, has he?

Wow, so the sun went away just in time for it to be Monday. Nice one, sun! I woke up this morning feeling verrrry sleepy and confused, having had a weird dream of a dystopian future in which I was in a work camp run by Daleks. I don't know what it says about my subconscious that Indiana Jones swung in to save the day, but whatever. I won't go into details because other people's dreams are boring, right? It meant that, even after my alarm went off for the second time I hadn't woken up so I've been drifting through today in a sleepy haze.

The rest of my weekend after my last blog post was really lovely. On Saturday night, Nic and I went out to play in the park and get the last of the sunshine.

Whee!

That evening, we watched The Thin Man and drank cocktails. It would have been fitting to drink martinis (shaken to waltz time, naturally) but a sad and shameful lack of gin in our house saw us drinking sea breezes instead. The presence of grapefruit juice makes it feel like a health drink rather than an alcoholic beverage and that's fine by me, folks.

Sunday morning got off to a lazy start, and Nic and I decided to make the most of the remaining sunshine by walking out to Warwick. It feels like ages since we've been there, which is a shame because I always enjoy the walk such a lot. Our route took us over the river and onto Smith Street, home to Aspire, a new (but closed on Sunday) vintage shop, and two excellent second hand bookshops. Both were closed, but I am halfway tempted to go back to buy this:

Lovely GIRLS.

Of course, they all have lovely bottoms. With Karen in mind, I posed for an outfit shot on some steps:

Fever Maisy dress and Fez bolero, red belt from a charity shop and red jelly shoes from Miss Selfridge

I haven't tried some Mr Majeeka style do, here, it was windy! After buying those enamel anchor earrings on Saturday I felt the need to continue the nautical theme and throw in my necklace as well. It's all a bit much, but why the hell not, I reasoned. I do adore this dress, which came from the sample rail in the Fever shop on my very first visit there. The jelly shoes are a rare pair of flats, bought to be practical enough to paddle in the sea but pretty enough to wear as part of a proper outfit. Truth be told, I'd forgotten I even had them so finding them under the sofa was a bit of a win. Anyway, this outfit was a nice dose of retro fun and it had a skirt long enough for sitting on the grass. Nic and I walked down through the (small) bit of Warwick castle that you can get into without paying. It's a shame it's so expensive and commerical, because it's a pretty neat castle. Still, though, we did get some pretty photographs:

It wasn't actually this spooky, I was just playing with the vignette settings on my phone

I love this walkway - it's always cool and dark and mysterious

The wind was picking up by the time we sat down to have our picnic in St Nicholas Park but we were able to find a sheltered spot with a view of the river

The boathouse

I was glad of my flask of coffee as it got colder but it was worth having a picnic, if only to enjoy the truly bizarre sigh of the giant swan-shaped pedelo drifting up and down the river. From where Nic and I were sitting, you could only see its head and it was surreal to say the least.

We walked back across the river, pausing on the bridge to enjoy one of England's finest views

Taking the long route home, past Myton hamlet and along the canal, was a perfect end to our lovely walk.

Bear family at Myton school

Grand Union Canal

Bill Posters is innocent - I've been meaning to photograph this for ages, it's one of my favourite bits of grafitti in town!

It was good to get home and feel pleasantly tired after a long walk, and all I needed to complete the evening was a glass of wine and an episode of Inspector Morse. And I don't even care if that makes me sound ready for middle age, because whatever. I'm too old to be out raving these days anyway, so ner.

That's your lot for this evening my pretties, I'm away to cook the dinner and write a letter to a very special girl of mine. See you all soon xx

... and, after an internet search, declined to comment further on the matter of his or anyone else's severed head.

Hola everybody! I know it's been ages, would you all believe me if I told you that it's just I've been super busy? I have been! Sadly with nothing hugely glamorous, but very busy all the same. Anyway, it's a lazy sunny Saturday afternoon and here I am. Settle down, I suppose, and I'll get y'all caught up. Well, you know what I mean.

So, the last time I wrote was before the long weekend. I was slammed at work - more totally boring stuff, but the bank holiday weekend totally made up for it. I had a busy working from home day on the Friday, followed up by an impromptu trip to the pub that evening to celebrate a dear friend getting an awesome new job. I got ridiculously dressed up and wanted to show off my new haircut and ended up having a fabulous night, finished off with chips. Can't ask for better than that, right? Nic and I dragged our hungover selves out of bed the next morning to go to Banbury -for no real reason other than we fancied a change of scenery. It was a sunny, windy day and we had a potter around the charity shops before lunch. We ran into one of my colleagues who recommended a bar to us for lunch - stupidly we ate elsewhere because when we dropped into the bar a bit later for coffee we realised how awesome it was. The Pinto Lounge is really cute and friendly and does the best ever Knickerbocker Glory. Look:

Knickerbocker Glory - yum!

It was accompanied with some lovely coffee....

Banbury is a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon. It has an excellent independent bookshop that also sells second hand books, so we had a nice little haul to look at while swooning over our dessert

Just as well we have lots of bookshelves in our little flat

It was a windy day so I dug some opaque tights out of the winter clothes I packed away somewhat optimistically in March, and paired them with a beautiful Emily and Fin dress I'd borrowed from Denise:

Emily and Fin Lulu heart dress, Fever Fez bolero and my faithful yellow Joules handbag

Okay so obviously this photo wasn't taken in Banbury, but when we got back. Leamington station was looking particularly pretty as the newly renovated waiting rooms had had their grand opening the previous day, with a tea party on the platform. I love the sign, and Leamington's art deco station is one of the town's most interesting buildings (in my opinion, anyway) Nic and I took a turn in the park before returning home for an early night and a very lazy Sunday morning. I was lucky enough to also have the Tuesday off work so, after spending the day sewing on Monday I had a project to bring with me to Denise's house on Tuesday, where we had a little sewing circle with Lauren. The sun had finally come back out, so I dug out one of the dresses that are just too short to wear to work, so don't get worn quite as much:

Ruby Belle sailor pinafore and Irregular Choice Mighty Monster shoes

It was back to work on Wednesday, and on both Wednesday and Thursday I was slammed - it was so busy. However, the sun had come out and after the long weekend I was feeling very relaxed and happy. I wandered into TK Maxx on my way home from work on Wednesday and emerged £36 poorer but with two very pretty new Fever dresses - WIN. On Thursday, Nic joined me in Coventry after work. We had curry at the Spon Gate, a rather nice Wetherspoon's in the city centre, before going to the Nursery Tavern for an evening of drinking and giggling with the wonderful Louise, her husband, her mum and her absolutely hilarious two doggies. It was so much fun, and really good to be able to sit outside in a pub garden and enjoy the gorgeous weather. It also felt a little bit naughty to be getting drunk on a school night, but luckily for me Friday is my working from home day, so I was able to nurse my gentle hangover with many cups of coffee in my pyjamas the next morning. Four cups of coffee and many episodes of Dawson's Creek later (Season 2, now with 150% more douchebaggery!) I was ready to get dressed and face the world. I met Nic in the park sporting one of my TK Maxx impulse bought frocks:

Fever Neapolitan dress (in Spearmint, apparently) Joules bag and yellow wedges from Next

I was genuinely delighted to spot this in my size in TK Maxx, having eyed it up in the Fever store. For £16.99 I had to buy both colourways (well, I didn't have to) so you'll see the other one at some point. I love the hip pockets (because you know I love pockets) but they do mean that this dress is slightly less flattering from the side. I don't care though, because how about those colours?!

Nic had the lovely idea of having dinner in the park, so we had a tapas-style dinner of spanish omelette, olives, bread and cheese by the pond in Jepshon Gardens. I totally failed to take any photos, I was too busy scoffing the delicious treats. You'll have to imagine the food!

Today I met up with Denise, Lauren and Charlotte to go to Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in the Assembly. I had so much fun, and it was a really good opportunity to take my latest sewing project out for a trial run. Having made a Colette Patterns Ceylon dress last year, I knew I loved the pattern and wanted to make it again. I guess all my Rooibos dresses got in the way, because it's taken me until last week to get around to it. Sugar Plum spotted some navy cotton with anchors on it in a local haberdashery shop a while back, and I had to have it. Zoe's polka dot Ceylon inspired me to put the fabric with the pattern, and try my hand at piping for the first time.

Anchor print Ceylon dress and Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes

I'm ridiculously pleased with this dress. I cut it a size smaller than my green one, and accidentally cut the back midriff band a size smaller again - whoops! It worked out fine though, because I decreased the seam allowance slightly and it resulted in a perfect fit around my waist. This was by accident rather than design, to be honest, but who cares? It fits!

Fabric detail - you can tell I'm having an anchors moment

I'm really tickled with how well my piping worked out. I only had enough red bias binding to pipe the top of the midriff but on reflection, I think piping both the top and the bottom might have been too much anyway. And with the polka dot on polka dot action with the buttons on the fabric, I didn't want to overbalance things. You can't quite see it in the photo, here, but I did my topstitching and buttonholes in red thread to pick out the anchors. I still had some headaches with the buttonhole foot, but I do think I've got the hang of it now, finally.

Another totally gratuitous shot, featuring the sunglasses I bought at the vintage fair, and the handbag I picked up at the fair in the Pump Rooms a few weeks back.

To up the twee factor that bit more, I've added some blue ric rack to the hem inside the dress. Sure, why not?

Super twee ric rack hemming

The vintage fair was very good fun. The Assembly is an awesome venue, and there were lots of stalls to rummage though. I didn't find any clothes that rocked my world, but each of us came away with something and the atmosphere was excellent. Lauren and I explored the backstage area and found a Dalek hidden away:

Yikes!

All shopped out, we stopped at the tea rooms for a pot of tea and to take in the beautiful outfits everyone around us was wearing

Some slightly blurry photos of the lovely venue

A turn around town after the fair saw me buying some adorable red enamel anchor shaped earrings, and some cookies for Nic before coming home. And there's still lots of the weekend to come! Right now, however, I feel like getting back out into the sunshine. Before I go, though, you should hop over to About Your Dress as Ria and Nommer very kindly invited me to join them on their writing team. That's just a wee bit more Roisin for your money, there. #WIN