You know how John Lennon was better than the rest of the Beatles but he didn't realise it until he met Yoko Ono?

A snowy hello to you all, my lovelies! I hope that, wherever you are, you've been keeping toasty and warm. It snowed here all yesterday afternoon, and right into the night, only stopping at about 1am. This made getting ready to go out to Denise's birthday party interesting, to say the least! Luckily, her house is a short walk and I have a great pair of wellies and the ability to carry my party shoes in a bag, which is what I did:

Bettie Page Captain dress and Irregular Choice No Place Like Home shoes

Apologies for the flash face here, but it was dark! When it's not so bone-strippingly freezing I'll get a daylight photo of this dress which I absolutely bloody LOVE. I've been after it for ages, always wondering if it could live up to my expectations, but it does. She's a beauty, and to prove it here's a photo where I'm not standing really awkwardly..

 

Flash face is making me look a bit middle aged, here. Yikes!

As I say, I'd been after this dress for the longest time... seeing both Amber and Arlene (sorry, Arlene, but I can't find a link to the picture, but it's memorably gorgeous!) looking so jawdroppingly foxy in it really sealed the deal for me. I adore the neckline and pretty much everything else, too. When the weather warms up I think this dress will look good with my cherry Lady Dragon shoes but, for the time being, closed toed shoes were the way to go. As I said, for the walk to Denise's house, the shoes were swapped out for wellies and everything covered up with my oh-so-alluring duffel coat! Although the walk was short, it was hazardous. The snow was the type that really hurts your face, but all the same it was nice to leave footprints all around Leamington:

Nic on our snowy street

The party was fab. There was cava, cheese, cake, dancing and good friends - you can ask little else of a Saturday night! It was especially enjoyable for me, I think, because I had a sudden realisation how much I enjoy socialising. It sounds like an obvious thing to say, but there was a time even very recently, where being in a social situation like that would make me paralysed with anxiety. In fact, I missed Denise's birthday party last year for that reason. It feels good to feel happy, if you can forgive the obvious statement. Nic and I took ourselves to bed late, and stayed up even later sipping peppermint tea (me) and gin (him) and talking over the events of the evening.

We slept late this morning and have been having a relaxing Sunday. I have a big work day in London tomorrow so was keen to be as calm as possible. I spent the morning reading in bed with a cup of tea, and finished my current book, The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks. I picked it up, almost at random, when I was in the library a few weeks ago. When I finished my Hunger Games marathon, I was keen for a change of pace and gave it a go. Reid Banks is best known for having written The Indian in the Cupboard, but The L-Shaped Room was her first novel. It's set in Fulham in the 60s, and follows 28 year old, unmarried and pregnant Jane Graham. I loved the style of the writing and, having enjoyed other novels set in London at the same period (The Heart of London by Monica Dickens and A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark, to name a few, plus some of Barbara Pym's wonderful novels) I really enjoyed all of the period detail. I'm going to look out for the two sequels, and some more of Reid Banks's novels. I always feel a bit lost when I don't have a good book on the go, so I'm moving on to The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller next, I think.

Most of the snow had melted to visciously slipperly slush when Nic and I ventured out this afternoon to run a few errands and listen to some jazz, but at least it had warmed up a little bit:

 

Fever Prairie Prom dress, red cardigan from Marks and Spencer and red cowboy boots from Office. Obviously for the rest of the time outside I was wearing a coat!

I bought these boots five years ago. I had recently read Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, and seen the Curtis Hanson film and decided I wanted some red cowboy boots, as worn by Katie Holmes's character, Hannah. Office obliged, and these boots have been a winter staple ever since. They're not brilliant in the slush, however - no tread on the soles. They are warm, though, so there's that.

The rest of this evening has been about pottering around, making dinner and watching New Tricks. It's off to bed with me soon, though - to rest up ahead of my long day tomorrow. Have a good week, my lovelies.