It's not like there was the Lone Ranger and Tonto and Bonto.

You guys, what is UP?! I know there have been tumbleweeds and all blowing around the blog, here. I respect y'all for sticking with me. I had very sporadic computer access last week when I was at home, and for most of the week I was either asleep, reading or playing The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass on my mum's Nintendo DS. What can I say? It rains A LOT in Northern Ireland. I did have an excellent week, however. It was really nice to be home, despite the utterly dismal weather. And playing all those hours of Zelda brought back many happy memories of becoming totally addicted to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on my gameboy back in the day. Sigh. I need to get myself some kind of computer game.

Anyhoo. I won't bore you all with every single detail of my week at home. I really didn't do very much other than the things I've just mentioned, and a little bit of shopping. In fact, I had one majorly successful shopping trip to Craigavon shopping centre (dizzy heights!) with my parents in which I bought a dress I'd been after (but unable to buy online) the elusive green cardigan and yellow belt I've been looking for, and a nice blue cardigan as well. I also did a lot of window shopping with my sister, and accidentally (drunkenly) bought a dress from a friend. I have no self control. But then, you all knew that.

On the Wednesday of my visit home I hopped on the bus down to Belfast (cheaply thanks to Ulsterbus and their 'summer rambler ticket') to meet up with two dear friends, Roseability and Clarabelle. We had an accidentally cheap lunch at a well known chain of pizza restaurants (they brought us the wrong bill) and then spent the afternoon drinking outside in the drizzle at a fabulous bar called Muriel's. It's on Church Lane (opposite the side of the In Stores) if you're in the Belfast area, and it's worth a visit. We had a canopy to shelter us from the drizzle and lots and lots of Sauvignon Blanc. Apparently the eponymous Muriel was a lady of ill-repute, running a hat shop on the ground floor and a knocking shop on the first floor. The bar is decorated accordingly. I didn't have my camera with me, so I only have grainy vignette snaps, but it is a really lovely bar with friendly staff and well worth a visit. It felt very decadent to be lushing it up with two beautiful ladies, it was an excellent day.

Upstairs in Muriels

Beautiful ladies

I've known these two ladies for most of my life, and it's always a joy to see them. Of course our many (many many many) glasses of wine helped us to put the world to rights and it's always good to catch up on the gossip too. It was totally worth the hangover the next day.

I've got a few photos from the week that I'll share with you guys. These are dog heavy, because the dog kind of pushes herself into the foreground.

My first night at home. The dog had just had a shower. I know.

Sad dog waiting for Daddy to come home.

I swear this is the last one of the dog.

This is a cafe in Belfast. I stood for about ten minutes trying to figure out what the name meant, before I figured out the missing letter. I am so lame. Wind OR Dairy?

The pond in my parents' garden

Yeah, it's just a pretty flower. Pretty though, isn't it?!

Manhole cover in Drogheda - no reason for this one, but isn't it nice?

Oh, but I do have one totally mad story to share with you. I can't find evidence of this elsewhere on the internet to back it up, but I have been assured that it is true! One of my mental uncles (one of the ones we don't talk to because he's an asshole) was BURIED ALIVE FOR CHARITY. Guys, I'm sorry about the capital letters but seriously. BURIED ALIVE. Apparently it was to raise money for the local gaelic football team and youth club. So, you can see the thinking there, right? No? Me neither. A cousin who is an undertaker supplied the coffin (which had a tube for air, I guess) and led the funeral procession, there was a funeral mass and my uncle's wife and friends pretended to be in mourning for the two days he was buried alive. You could not make this shit up. I don't know how much money he raised. I don't even care because he's an asshole.

Anyway. Yeah. So that happened. But the rest of the week was lovely, and it was really nice to get back to Leamington on Saturday. Nic was waiting for me at the airport and he'd cooked me dinner and it was just so nice to sleep in my own bed (my bed at my parents' house is too soft because it has about three mattresses on it!) And the sun came out on Sunday, which was also lovely. I had a long lie in, read some of my book, and then Nic and I went out for a wander in the sunshine and to forage for blackberries.

Foraged blackberries

Nic was very pleased with his crop. He was thinking of the apple and blackberry crumble he was going to have later

Me outside The Talbot. I'm wearing my Fever Tulip Ruffle dress and birkenstocks

Going back to work on Monday kind of (totally) sucked. Especially as Monday starts with an utterly soul-destroying meeting in which someone usually says something pissy which makes me feel depressed. So, yeah. Today was better though, marginally, because we had an office party in the afternoon. So free wine helped dull the pain, and running into the gorgeous Louise on my way home made the afternoon unexpectedly excellent.

Fever Tonga sundress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

Yeah. I caved in and bought this in the Fever sale, and it arrived just before I went home. So I've already worn it lots - and having worn it to work it's a wee bit wrinkly in this photo, and I'm a wee bit wine-wrinkled my own self. But what are you going to do?!

Right, I'm off. Nic is just about to serve me up my dinner (veggie sausages and mash - yum!) I'll be back soon though. Honest.

Alien invaders? Little blue men with three heads?

Afternoon all! I can't believe how long it's taken for this week to get to Friday. I don't like to wish my life away, but this week has been longer than some months. How can it be that some time stretches out endlessly like this? I think it might be because I'm off home to Northern Ireland soon to see my folks and my friends, and this has made time slow down. So, sorry about that folks!

Despite the fact that this week has been long, and that the all-day meeting I was in yesterday made me want to jam a pencil in my eye JUST SO IT WOULD END, I am feeling a lot better. I'm still having random palpitations but my hands have stopped tingling altogether and I am feeling a lot more settled in my mind. I'm very grateful to everyone who commented so kindly with such good advice, and I have taken a lot of it on board (Bach's Rescue Remedy, wine and a good book have all been procured.) I am such a creature of habit, and I like to have things lined up in an orderly fashion in my mind. It makes me feel safe. When things start to get into disarray, or to feel like they are doing so, is when I get stressed out. But, you know, being a control freak is not always that helpful, because it makes even the slightest change very stressful. I'm working on becoming less dependent on things being consistent, and I guess the only way to do that is to diversify. You know, try new things, be more open to new experiences, stop feeling like what I've got now is all I'll ever have. It's all very Norman Vincent Peale of me, I know, self-help and all that. Having a day off in the middle of the week recently, and doing something different really made me feel good about myself. Breaking out of my routine could be really important so that when familiar problems rear their heads (and they do, some bad pennies just keep on turning up) I won't get so stressed about them. That's the theory, anyway. Blah blah BLAH. But yes, better.

On Sunday afternoon Nic and I got out into the sunshine to hang out for a bit with Lysy and The Scientist, which was ace as always. I wore a sundress, while the sun still shone at any rate:

Ruby Belle Photograph dress and Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes

This dress is so cute! Predictably, it came from ebay and was quite a find. I really like the combination of orange, red and pink with the cornflower blue of the waistband and straps. I think orange could be a difficult colour to wear but it's softened by the blue. The print is very fun as well - little beach huts and sailboats and whales.

I didn't get a closeup of the necklace. I used to wear this all the time - far less frequently now - but I am very sentimentally attached to it as it was a leaving gift from an old job. It has a little butterfly on it, a ladybird and a little dragonfly. I must try to work it into my outfits more often.

That evening we braved the rain to have a few drinks with Rick and Lauren in a local Wetherspoon's - we'd planned to go to the fair but it was rained out, so pub it was. It might sound like a small thing, but I'm usually all for pyjamas on a Sunday night to psyche myself up for the week ahead. So doing something different - even though it was just going to the pub - got my week off to an excellent start. So, I'm already trying to put my plan into action!

I won't bore you with what my work week was like, except to say that work is work. It wasn't a bad week, though. On Wednesday night Nic and I went out with colleagues to the excellent Red Lion in Hunningham for dinner. Naturally we had the halloumi. I didn't want to risk trying something else, when I know how amazingly tasty the halloumi is! It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I've said it many times here before, but my colleagues are pretty rad and a few of them are even good friends, so I really enjoyed myself. A relatively late night made Thursday at work a bit of a chore, but what can you do?!

Last night we had some friends over for dinner, drinks and records, and luckily for me I have been working from home today. It makes the week that bit less painful. This morning I got a wee dress in the post, and naturally enough I wanted to put it straight on:

Floral frock by F&F at Tesco and Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon shoes

I confess, as soon as I spotted this dress on another blogger I decided I had to track it down. It was all of £9 from Tesco, and I can't believe how nice it is for that price! I don't make a habit of buying clothes from the supermarket (not out of snobbery, just I'm not keen on fast fashion) but I'm willing to make the odd exception. The Tesco-does-Prada dress I bought last autumn has been worn many, many times, and I know it will be in the future. I think this one will be too although I think it is a little bit less versatile. The only thing I'd say to anyone who is thinking of snapping one of these up for themselves is that the side zip is an absolute BUGGER. A few reviews on the Tesco website complained about it, and they're right. It's because it has to get up past the waistband seam and the interfacing at the waistband. I fixed it by detaching the edge of the waistband from the zip tape (although not from the dress itself) and the zip can get up past it with minimal difficulty now. Still, I did swear a bit this morning at it til I'd figured out a solution!

As the sun was shining, I thought it'd be a good chance to do a Shoeperwoman's Shoe Challenge shoe save. I was a little inspired by Amber's gorgeous photos of her holiday, so put on my Vivienne Westwood Melissa Lady Dragon cherry shoes:

Amber's right. These go with everything, and I've become obsessed with owning them in a variety of colours. I want MOAR PLASTIC SHOES, as improbable as that sounds!

Right my loves, I'm going to be off. I may well be back in the week, depending on what's going on in sunny Northern Ireland. I have plans for hanging out with my family, seeing some dear friends, going on the rip, bridesmaid dress shopping and lots of sleeping and reading. It's going to be awesome. If you're missing me between now and then you can catch me over on About Your Dress and, if you're so inclined, read my review of Scott and Bailey over at Squeezegut Alley. Have a lovely weekend, all.

You knows I loves the bumper cars.

You guys, it's been a busy week. I hope you're all keeping well! I've been very busy at work getting stuff ready for an event at the end of next week and it feels like I've spent most of this week crawling around on the floor of the secure room putting things into bags. I mean, proportionally speaking that's not how I spent most of the week. It sure did feel that way, though. So, you know, that's how things are at work. Yeah.

It's been another funny few days. I haven't been sleeping well and I've been feeling anxious again. I think I have come a long way since last year in terms of being able to pinpoint what it is that's making me feel anxious so that I can address it. It doesn't make everything immediately better, is the only thing. Then, I suppose you can't really expect that. I could really do without the symptoms though - on Wednesday night I hardly slept at all and my hands were tingling, and I have that horrible palpitation feeling of having butterflies in the throat. I know what's causing it, the same thing as last time. It can be difficult to break free of the things that are hurtful - even harder when there are others trying to hold on to them. The big difference now is that I know I'll be okay. I haven't always known that, but I'm stronger now, and more able to say no. I'm better at knowing how I feel, and what my boundaries are. I'll be okay.

One of the reasons why these incidents of anxiety have been relatively isolated is that I'm better at directing my energies into the positive things. To that end I went to see my friend L on Tuesday evening to drop off a dress I'd made for her. A while back she very kindly donated a few pairs of adorable shoes to me, so I offered to make her a dress in return. She bought the fabric and picked out the pattern, and last weekend I sewed the dress up. She chose the Parfait pattern by Colette patterns and some pretty Moda cotton. I was really nervous about making a dress for someone else, but it fit her perfectly and she loved it - no photos to share with you, I'm afraid! It was a good experience, because sewing for someone else made me slow down and properly take my time over the details. Also I didn't have that thing I get when I'm sewing for myself, which is impatience to wear the garment! It helped me get back into my sewing groove - but a bit more of that later.

On Wednesday I wore a new frock I'd bought in the River Island sale, after having been inspired by Amber. This photo was taken after a looooooooooong day in the office, so it doesn't really do the dress justice, but it's very pretty indeed. It was the first thing I've ever bought from River Island, and it was a steal at £15 in the sale.

River Island Apple print dress, Bertie shoes and Joules bag

I know. You can really tell I've had a long day. I'll get a better photo on a better day. It's a lovely light summery dress so I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of this. What more could you ask for?!

Thursday was a bit of a blur because I was so tired. I don't know how these people who deliberately pull all-nighters work, because I was in no form at all for anything. I had a short burst of energy when I got home and popped into Decorative Cloth to buy some fabric, and after a nap I was feeling more presentable, which was good. Thursday was swelteringly hot, and I was really glad to be wearing something light and comfortable:

Emily and Fin Chloe dress and Bertie shoes

Who looks tired here?! Yeah. Like I said, I haven't been sleeping well. This dress is pretty cute though, and an impulse ebay bargain buy. It comes down into a nice V at the back as well - not too low that my bra strap shows, which is a bonus.

I was working from home on Friday, which was a good and restful end to the week. The fair has come to town, and after we were finished for the day, Nic took me out for a spin on the waltzers. I love the waltzers!

Fever Tahiti dress, wee flat shoes from Miss Selfridge

I'm looking a lot more lively in that photo though, aren't I?! This dress was a ridiculous bargain, costing the princely sum of 99p on ebay. 99p. It's perfect for a day at home as it's comfy jersey, and I love the bright pink colour. I'll tell you, though, it was not the most suitable dress to be wearing to the fairground. We got extra special attention on the waltzers and it's because the damn skirt kept riding up. I had to keep a firm grip on the hemline, or the Ray Von alike who was spinning our car around (a lot) would have seen more than I was willing to show. Seriously. At one point there were two of them spinning us around. Still, we got an extra long go, so it wasn't all bad. I love fairgrounds, the cheaper and tackier the better, so I love it when the fair comes to town, and I'm looking forward to more turns on the rides over the next week or so.

The louder you scream, the faster the ride! Fun is the key, but keep seated at all times, or you may die. SHABBA!

You knows I loves the bumper cars

I'll be down again later in the week to test out some of the other rides, and to put my pennies in the penny drop machines. I'm dead common at heart, me. Luckily Nic quite enjoys the fair as well, so it was a really nice treat at the end of a long week for both of us:

Nic on the waltzers

Before the ride started and I had to cling onto my hem for dear life

Nic bought me some candyfloss as a special treat:

This may be my favourite ever photo of myself. Look at the size of that candyfloss! I'm going to be back down for some more tomorrow.

Today has been a fairly quiet one, starting with a really good lie in and a browse around a vintage fair in town. I put the fabric I bought on Thursday to good use and, having been inspired by how much I loved the dress I'd made for L, made one for myself:

Colette Patterns Parfait dress in Alexander Henry Luca printed cotton

As you all know, I love Colette patterns but for ages I'd been a bit on the fence about the Parfait. I don't know why, maybe the pockets. I impulse bought the pattern after seeing Debi's purple corduroy version and sewed up my own version in some nasty purple cotton I hurriedly bought at Hobbycraft. Yuck. So I still wasn't all that convinced until I saw this version at Sew Something Vintage. The version I made for L was too cute, so in my spare time yesterday I whipped up one for myself. It really was quick as well, I made this in a few hours and in terms of finish, it's the best dress I've made yet. It fits really well, too.

The buttons came from Decorative Cloth as well, and they're purely ornamental. The dress zips at the side so I thought I'd save myself the hassle of buttons, and it's no problem without them. I know the buttons are as twee as you like, but I think it kind of works. This makes a really nice sun dress, and I will make an autumn appropriate one as well. As with the other Colette patterns I've sewed from, the instructions are amazingly clear and precise and some of the techniques are just so clever! The gathering at the bust is hidden by the midriff facing, a detail which makes the inside of the dress look really well finished. I love it! This afternoon I picked up some pretty blue polka dot cotton for my next sewing project, which I hope to get done this week - more to come!

Anyway, that's me for this evening. Nic and I are about to make dinner and settle in with a film. Behave yourselves, and I'll see you all soon.

Last time you were so engrossed, it turned out you were reading the "Adult Video News."

Hello my darlings! Wow, this has been a busy week. One where I kept meaning to take photographs and write and all, but instead found myself doing other, sometimes less interesting thing. As I overheard a young man say to an elderly lady after he'd hit her with a football he'd been booting around the park, "soz".

It has been a good week, however. After all my bitching and whining last week, this week came up trumps. Don't you love it when that happens?! Work has finally started to get a little bit more interesting, which is a blessing. I'm starting to go a bit mad with boredom, pushing spreadsheets around. Nic was away on Tuesday evening and I had to work quite late, so instead of having dinner I went out with two of my colleagues and drank a bottle of wine and ate some cake. It was lots of fun - for one thing, the cake was very good (mint chocolate cheesecake) and the wine was surprisingly tasty. I don't normally drink red wine, and I didn't order it myself, but that bottle of house Merlot was rather nice. Sometimes it's good to be a pleb, eh? I got home and was just tipsy enough to want to watch an episode of The Kennedys on the BBC iplayer. Man, it was disappointing. I was hoping for so bad it's good - and the utterly bonkers title sequence seemed to promise that - but it was just totally boring. The performances are inexplicable too. I'm no great fan of Tom Wilkinson (I know, shhhhhh!) and it seems he's playing Joe Kennedy as Hannibal Lecter. Katie Holmes is even more mad, sadly. Her attempt at Jacqueline Kennedy's accent makes her sound like she came from Brooklyn or something. So, I sleepily switched it off after having been bored for 20 minutes.

I had Wednesday off work and had a fairly leisurely start to the morning before catching the train down to London. To my delight, the train itself was one of the former Wrexham and Shropshire trains, so my journey felt unusually luxurious! To my additional delight, I did NOT have a hangover. Win! I pottered around a bit in central London, bought myself a dress from Fever before meeting Nic in the Chandos off Trafalgar Square. We had lunch in Soho, I bought another dress (from a fabulous tiny little boutique called Zegerman and Lusky on Greek Street) and we wandered over to Bloomsbury. The sun was shining and the day felt like a holiday. While Nic browsed the comics in Gosh, I had homemade lemonade and scones in Tea and Tattle, underneath Arthur Probstrain's Oriental bookshop. It was GOOOOOOOOD. The scone came with raspberry and vanilla jam and lots and lots of clotted cream. Bliss.

Yum. Seriously. YUM

The reason I was in London was to meet up with Adlina and her husband Eizwan, as they were briefly over in the UK. Adlina and I haven't seen one another since we graduated, but thanks to Twitter we've been able to stay in touch. It was so much fun to catch up with her and the hours sped by. It was really late by the time we got back to Leamington but it was amazing how one day felt like a whole holiday.

I wasn't in the office on Thursday or Friday so not too much to report from those days, I'm afraid. I hardly left the house, because I was working and sewing and also I'm quite bad at leaving the house unless I absolutely have to. I did have the pleasure of running into the lovely Louise and her mum while out shopping, though, and it was excellent to see her beautiful new haircut in real life! In fact, I recognised her haircut first. This is what happens when your friends blog! Both Nic and I were feeling a bit stressy on Friday afternoon (I kicked the drying rack. Enough said, really) so we decided to go out for a bit of a walk in the last of the sunshine. It's amazing how that can always make me feel more cheerful. We ambled down through Victoria Park and then did a bit of grocery shopping. I love Victoria Park, it's one of the bits of Leamington that I never knew existed until I moved here. There's a walk by the river, a bowling green, a play area and even a strange little paddling pool. On Friday evening it had been filled and the water was just too tempting:
It's only about 6 inches deep but the sound of the water and the feeling of it around my feet completely changed Friday afternoon for me.

You can see here how happy I felt! This is one of the dresses I bought in London, from that little boutique in Soho. It's a Get Cutie dress, but it was heavily discounted. I've always loved the look of their frocks but balked a little at the price - this style would cost £110 at full price and while I admit that the fabric itself wouldn't have come cheap, I can't see that I'd be getting my money's worth at that price. Maybe it's since I took up sewing for myself that I'm more discerning, I don't know. I do know that I wouldn't be happy paying that amount of money for a frock that had the zip tape still sticking out the top at the armhole, which mine had. I also had to alter the neckline. I mean, I'm not Lolo Ferarri but I could have been in this dress. Anyway, that's enough moaning because the dress is really rather lovely and quite a bargain too:

Get Cutie dress in Alexander Henry 'From the hip' fabric, and Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes

I've liked this Alexander Henry fabric for ages. Pinup cowgirls, what's not to love?! I'll probably buy some at some point to make myself a frock, but this one will do in the meantime. I love how sassy these girls are:

I was feeling pretty dodgy on Saturday, perhaps a bit hungover (although how, after only two glasses of wine) but with a pounding headache that made me miserable for most of the day. Luckily I had Nic around to look after me, because I was a bit of a sad panda. Dinner and some paracetamol got me upright enough to have a few drinks (just pop for me) in the gorgeous garden of the New Inn with Greg and Paul. Sadly I didn't get any photos of how lovely the garden is, or of the amazing great dane named Ziggy that was wandering around it, but Nic did get a photo of me on the way there:

Emily and Fin Lucy dress and Bertie Sardinia shoes

It was such a lovely, chilled, funny evening made perfect by the chips we ate once we got home. Even when I haven't been drinking, going to the pub makes me want to eat chips. Yes, I am THAT classy.

Today has been similarly quiet, highlights including a game of badminton in the park with Nic. I mean, if you can call it badminton. Really, it was more just me and Nic dicking around with a cheap set we bought in The Works, but it was lots of fun:

I could never be a really cool fashion blogger, I look like such a tit in this photo. Also check out my Deirdre Barlow neck. NICE. It was lots of fun, though. Oh, and I took my shoes off to play properly! I'm wearing the Fever Atlantis dress, a bolero from Phase Eight, and Bertie shoes.

Nic and I did some housework, bought some groceries and had a very domesticated afternoon. Nothing at all exciting to report! So, I'm going to motor on. Nic and I have the last episode of the rather silly Scott and Bailey to watch, some maltesers hot chocolate to drink (I suspect it might taste like Horlicks, but I will report back) and then it's bedtime. I lead such an interesting life! I do actually have lots of, y'know, really deep thoughts to share with y'all, but I'll do that in the week. Have a good evening, my loves.