That's best quality parachute panelling that is! They go berserk when they see my string vest through that.

Afternoon all! When I left you all on Sunday, I was about to get ready to go to a wedding and we were in the midst of a hailstorm. Thankfully after about half an hour the sun came back out, and we got our glad rags on and headed out.

I'll never, ever get tired of seeing Nic in a suit

 Fever Sophia dress, Carvela Australia shoes and Nica Nemo clutch bag

This isn't actually what I had planned to wear to the wedding but, after wanting this dress for years it finally showed up on ebay both in my size and in my el cheapo budget. It arrived last week and I thought a wedding would make a good outing for it. The bright sunlight kind of bleaches out the detail but it's covered in a fine gold print. I wore the shoes partly to see how they would hold up to a long wedding day - I'm going to be wearing them when I'm bridesmaid at my sister's wedding in a few weeks' time. The good news is that they were absolutely grand, so hurrah!

The wedding we were attending was Nic's former housemate Adam and his beautiful lady, Helene. It was held at nearby Wethele Manor and was the first wedding I've been to where the ceremony was held outside:

The groom and best man (another of Nic's old housemates) looked extremely smart:

Nic, Tom and Adam

The civil ceremony was intimate and beautiful, and the wedding itself had so many really special touches. As Adam and Helene said their vows, swallows flew overhead - it was really special:

Personalised confetti

The venue

The bride and groom

After the ceremony we all headed over to nearby Stratford Upon Avon for the reception. We got drinks in The Dirty Duck and the guests gathered on the riverbank:

 The RSC - well, this is actually the smaller Swan Theatre

The Avon... and the shadows of the guests awaiting the happy couple

Adam and Helene made a fabulous entrance.... by boat!

Sorry about the blur.... they were moving very fast!

One last one, of dusk over the Avon

The wedding breakfast was held in a nearby hotel, and soon it was time for Nic and me to take our weary selves home. It was a really beautiful day - the wedding was so moving and so much fun - it really felt like Adam and Helene and it was marked by their happiness. It was wonderful!

So, that was Sunday. So far this week has mainly been rain and finance stuff at work... but stay tuned, because later in the week I'll show you some sewing. Until then, my dears, I'll leave you with a final picture of the happy couple...

Congratulations, Adam and Helene!

Sharks don't have claws! You don't even know what sharks are any more!

What up, nerds! I hope you're all enjoying your weekends. I'm sitting on the sofa with my hair in curlers - Nic and I have a wedding to go to this afternoon - and I thought I'd take the chance to show you what came in the post for me this week!

I took part in the Summer Sewing Swap organised by Kerry of Kestrel Finds and Makes. Kerry paired me with Ann of Annabelle Bumps, and my parcel from her arrived on Tuesday. Ann has been a fab swap partner - I was late sending off my parcel, partly due to a really stressful few weeks taking my mind totally off sewing. I was really touched by how thoughtful her parcel was - I can only hope she likes what I sent her as much as I love what she sent me!

First up was this fantastic repro Butterick pattern. Ann picked it out because she could see how much I love my Bettie Page Captain dress and, of course, this has lots of similarities. I really love the full-skirted version, and I'm very tempted to find some floral fabric to make my own version of the Pinup Couture Birdie dress:

Next up were some lovely notions:

A cute metal zipper, some vintage popper studs and a length of hooks and eyes on lace. Ann said she realised I didn't do much in the way of lingerie sewing, but that she thought the hooks and eyes might make an interesting closure on the front of a dress.

Best of all, though, was the length of amazing cotton sateen included:

I'm not sure exactly how much is there but there's more than enough for a dress - Ann suggested a shift dress, and I think that's a good idea. I'm thrilled to bits with my loot - thanks so much, Ann, and to Kerry for organising it!

The rest of the week was grand - I was working from home on Friday and I've been having a very enjoyable weekend. Ann's parcel kicked my sewing mojo into touch and I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning sewing - more on that later in the week - and of course, making the most of the sunshine by getting out into it as much as I can. I've been having migraines more frequently recently so I've only been able to enjoy the sunshine in limited doses, sadly.

 

 This is the face of someone who is hopped up on migraine medicine. That shiz messes with me. I'm wearing my Stop Staring Sailor Swing dress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon cherries

Last night I went to the pub with Nic and some friends - we had some pub garden time and then moved indoors to get progressively drunker while setting the world to rights, and deciding that 'Shitty Kitchen' would be a good name for a band. Yep. I love my friends. 

 Ruby Belle Madagascar dress and Swedish Hasbeen Toffel sandals

This dress is wrinkled to hell here because I'd been wearing it all day - including to sew and do house-cleaning in! And those aren't wrinkles on the bust - it's gathered there. I love the flamingoes on this dress and the colour, but I'm not at all sure about the sleeves. I bought the Hasbeens thinking they'd be great sandals for summer but a) summer? and b) each time I've worn them they've chewed up my toes and cut up my ankles. We had a bit of a walk to the pub last night so I braved it out, and I think I'm finally starting to break them in. And they are really cute!

And a derpy out-take. This was pre-wine. Imagine post-wine. Not that different!

Now... the weather has turned from dry and sunny to hailstormy, so I'm off to rethink my wedding outfit....

Summer

You can stay here, with your boxes of shit and your shoe-eating dog, and you can knock yourself out putting on the Rogaine and the Speed Stick!

So, the freaking SUN has finally come out, which is joyous indeed. After all these months of grey skies and rain I confess, I'm finding it hard to adjust to it. I'm almost suspicious of it. It's like, what's your game, weather? What are you after? I joke. Mostly.

Anyway, after all of the excitement that the middle of last week offered, I was kind of in need of a quiet weekend. I'm not so young as I once was, and I was tired! Still, the sunshine meant it was especially fun to mooch around Leamington. I did some chores, and Nic and I set about exploring some of the new shops that have opened recently in our little town.

Limb 'Great Outdoors' Retro dress and Charlotte Russe Madison wedges

 I included this one because it's your typical blogger pose, and I wasn't even doing it on purpose. Eeep! But my hair looks nice in it, so there's that

You've seen both components of this outfit before. The fabulous Limb dress came from 52 Greek Street and I bought the wedges when Nic and I were in Florida in March. They are cheapie copies of the Schuh 'Garda' wedges that you can see Amber wearing here, and I'm wearing the floral ones here. Anyway, they were very cheap and they're a reasonable dupe but I don't wear them often because they're basically made of cardboard. I'm keeping an eye out on ebay for a proper pair because I will be WELL sad when these die and I have to bin them.

Anyway, Leamington! It's a bit of a mixed bag, shop-wise. There are a fair few big chain stores, lots of charity shops, a few boutiques and the majorly middle class shops like Noa Noa and Joules (which are fab in the sales, to be fair) It doesn't have a bookshop, to my endless irritation, but luckily Books and Ink in Banbury is just a short train journey away. It's really nice to see more small independent shops opening in Leamington. First stop was Magpie, on Warwick Street:

As the chalkboard suggests, Magpie sells vintage clothes, handmade homewares and Mexican crafts. They had lots of lovely 80s does 50s dresses, a few fab 70s crimplene maxi dresses and some seriously adorable Day of the Dead themed earrings. It's definitely worth a wee visit if you're in the area - the stock seemed well chosen and reasonably priced.

After Magpie it was on to Loot, in the Creative Arches off Clemens Street. I was fully prepared to write Loot off as hipster nonsense, because their marketing is fairly hateful (their slogan is "Break Away from the Mainstream" underneath posters depicting the five different types of people. Piss off) but I was curious about the space. I was really pleasantly suprised, however.

There was a really good selection of different styles and eras and the prices were pretty darned reasonable too - most dresses were well under £20. I tried on two frocks - one 70s Hawaiian deadstock sundress and a frankly beautiful (but tragically too small) handmade 60s frock - the fabric was stripy with deer and matryoshka dolls on it! So hipster nonsense or not, I'll be back!

Nic and I had a quiet evening in with a film on Saturday night (Morning Glory, which was enjoyable enough but totally mediocre) and an even quieter day on Sunday as he was feeling poorly. We got out into the sunshine to do some grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day enjoying our sunshine filled flat:

Fever Maisie sundress and red wedges from Primark

Ah not too much to say about this outfit except that I haven't worn this dress for ages and I have no idea why. Well, the crappy weather I suppose. Anyway in the interests of honesty I should tell you I only wore this for the first half of the day. In the afternoon it was all about a loose and cool maxi dress, so I could better enjoy the enormous vegetarian chilli I cooked for dinner. YUM.

Now, I'm off. This evening is all about pizza and wine and friends. Hurrah!

I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip-flops. So I bought army pants and flip-flops.

So, hello again! Thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments congratulating Nic on my last post, he was tickled pink by all of your warm wishes. You guys are the best!

I had booked Wednesday off work as well so Nic and I could spend the day together and get over the excitement of the day before. The initial plan had been to go for a day out in Birmingham or Oxford but the weather forecast was looking so much less promising that we decided to cut our losses and stay in Leamington. This was good for a number of reasons, chief among them being it gave me the chance to have a lie in and breakfast in bed! We cashed in our spare change stash and used the proceeds to buy cheese, olives and coffee from the deli and had a relaxed afternoon at home.

 Fever Delphine sun dress, cardigan from Phase Eight, yellow shoes from Topshop and yellow handbag from Joules

I wore this pretty dress from Fever. I really like the print and the way the bodice is pieced together - since I took up sewing this kind of detail has been increasingly pleasing to me. Nic was looking pretty smart too so I made him pose for a photo. He's not as used to being on the other side of the lens!

We had dinner plans with friends in the evening and Nic suggested that we go for a few cocktails first. Morgan's Bar has recently opened on Holly Walk, as part of the newly relocated Restaurant 23 and we decided we'd like to give them a try. The building is absolutely beautiful:

Nic and I have been rewatching Sex and The City and I think it put him in the mood for cocktails in an elegant setting, and Morgan's Bar gave us exactly that! We were greeted at the door by the Maitre d' and once we'd found a seat under the window, we were spoiled with table service. I ordered a French 75 and Nic a Dry Martini. My drink was absolutely amazing - I'd never tried one before but as its main constituents are gin and champagne, I knew it would be my kind of drink!

French 75, Dry Martini

A handsome man and a smart drink

I've never eaten in Restaurant 23 - while it looks nice, there has never been anything vegetarian on the menu that has tempted me - but I'll definitely be back to Morgan's. The only difficulty will be trying to choose another cocktail to try!

After our drinks we went along to Kayal for dinner with friends. It probably seems like Kayal is the only restaurant I ever eat in, because we do eat there so frequently! But really, I can't think of another restaurant in Leamington that I like as much. Much like the day of the graduation itself, it was so lovely to have the chance to celebrate with good friends and good food, and I was very happy when Nic rolled me home at the end of the evening:

Kayal fans

Introducing HayleyJayney to the wonders of Masala Dosa

I hope you can forgive my self-indulgence around Nic's graduation but one of the really special things about taking time out to celebrate his achievement is the opportunity to reflect on the last few years. I was so proud of Nic when he was accepted onto the PhD and when he secured funding for his studies. In that time I've watched him grow in confidence and ambition, and we've had so many wonderful adventures together. We've both met some amazing people, and made some fantastic friends, some of whom we were able to share these few days with. It's been an incredible few years, and I'm filled with excitement for the future.

It was back to work on Thursday and Friday, and now it's a sunny Sunday evening and I've had a lovely weekend. I'll tell you about that in the week but for now, it's time for dinner. 

Well this is going back. On the commerical, they cleaned the mud off a hippopotamus!

Hola lovers! So, right now I'm enjoying a very lovely (if rainy) day off, and soon Nic and I are away out for cocktails and dinner with friends. Hurrah! The reason for our celebration is that yesterday was Nic's PhD graduation, and it was such a wonderful day! He actually finished and handed in his thesis last September, and had his viva in January, but yesterday was the formal recognition that his doctorate had been completed. After the dreadful weather we've been having over the past few weeks, I was relieved to see that the forecast was a bit better and thankfully Wednesday dawned dry and warm. The ceremony was at half four, but we got our glad rags on and got onto campus early for the drinks reception being held in the Film Studies department:

Here's Nic in his suit, in my outfit shot spot. If you're interested, the suit, tie and shoes are from Marks and Spencer, and I think the shirt is from Tesco.

A number of our good friends were also graduating yesterday so it was an extra special day, and the reception at the Film Studies department was a lot of fun. Nic and I met on the undergraduate Film and Literature studies course and, although the department itself has moved location in the intervening years, it always feels very special to me to visit. The department had laid on champagne, cake and soft drinks and it was so wonderful to drink champagne in the sunshine with friends!

Here I am with Lauren and Dr Hannah Andrews - that's a film projector we're standing in front of! I'm wearing my beautiful Vivien of Holloway halterneck circle dress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

The boys were all accidentally co-ordinated in purple! Greg, Dr Nicolas Pillai and Dr Richard Wallace

Nic and Dr Woojeong Joo

I had rather a lot of champagne. It was there, I was in a celebratory mood, the sun was shining and I was not in work! What is more decadant than drinking champagne and eating chocolate cake before noon? NOTHING.

Graduation party people

We retired to a nearby pub for lunch, although after all the champagne and chocolate cake I wasn't really fit to eat my nachos! It was a really good way to spend the time between the reception and the ceremony. The doctors had to be on campus early to get dressed in their robes and register for graduation, and as there were three graduation ceremonies that day, the Arts Centre was awash with graduands. Nic hadn't initially been sure if he'd attend his graduation as his parents were unable to attend, but one of the things that helped to persuade him was the fact that the hat you get for a postgraduate ceremony is so much cooler than a mortarboard:

There was a fair bit of waiting around, and I took about twelfty million and three photographs. I obviously won't share them all with you, but I do love this one of me and Lauren:

 Isn't she a BABE?! (sorry, Lauren, but you are!) Much as the boys had coincidentally co-ordinated their purple ties, Lauren and I were coincidentally co-ordinated in Vivien of Holloway dresses.

The ceremony started at half four and lasted for around an hour and a half. It was grand - obviously the highlight was seeing Nic and our friends cross the stage to collect their certificates. Sadly the VC's speech seemed just to be an extended advertisement for the benefits of joining the Alumni society. The actor David Bradley - best known as Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films - received an honorary doctorate too, and his speech was a highlight. I was glad to get out of the hall and into the last of the sunshine:

 

The Doctors 

After a few drinks with friends, it was time for us to head home - we were both far too tired to go out, so had dinner and went to bed early to watch Line of Duty on the BBC iplayer! The beautiful evening was a fitting end to a wonderful day:

Waiting for the bus....

Remember what blue sky looked like?

It really was a wonderful day. I try not to get too soppy on here about Nic, but I can't express how proud I am of what he's achieved and yesterday was a beautiful day for that reason. He has worked so hard and I'm honestly full of admiration for him, as well as filled with love. The day celebrated four years of hard work and it's something that only a few people achieve, and it was really something to share it with so many good friends. Here's to you, class of 2012!

Check out my handsome Doctor boyfriend...

Congratulations, Class of 2012 - you're all amazing!

It's a fancy briefcase, because you're classy and important. Like a dude.

Nic is in the kitchen, listening to Scott Walker and doing the washing up - this week has shaken out all right, in the end. It started REALLY badly. Monday was basically the worst day I have ever had at work, and I'm counting the day when I was teaching and two year 11 boys put me in a bin! I can't really get into it here, and I don't really want to talk about work too much, but yow, it was BAD. So every day after that was better by virtue of not being Monday, you know? I'm pleased to have made it to the weekend, to be honest. It was tough.

I was working from home on Friday, on an extremely boring task (but it was nice that it was boring, because it was unstressful) and it was a treat to get out and about for a walk at the end of the day.

Fever Detroit Chiffon dress, Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes and Ness Ebony handbag

I love the neckline on this dress, and the colour - which is more of a deep jade green in real life - but I'm far less keen on the fabric belt. Anyway, it's good because the dress is nice and smart while being extremely comfortable to wear.

That evening we put on our glad rags and headed to the pub to meet up with Lauren and Andy, and Lysy and The Scientist. It was a beautiful evening and it's always a joy to go to the Somerville, which was recently voted CAMRA's pub of the year in Warwickshire for the second year running. Having decided earlier that day to keep a pair of shoes I'd bought in the Kurt Geiger sale, I thought it was time to wear them out of the house...

Carvela Assemble heels

These are like chain letter shoes.... I first saw them when they were featured over at Shoeperwoman and, after I bought them, Char bought a pair too. It's easy to see why though, isn't it? They're so pretty. I decided to wear them with one of my beautiful Bettie Page dresses:

Bettie Page Jazmin dress, Carvela Assemble shoes and Nica Nemo clutch bag

These shoes are adorable but they're going to need some taming. I only wore them to the pub and back and they rubbed the shit out of my feet. It's been ages since shoes hurt my feet but these did the job! They'll be fine when I've worn them a few times, and it was nothing I couldn't handle, but a surprise all the same. Sore wee feet aside, Friday night was marvellous. It was so good to spend time with my friends in the pub and, as we were getting ready to leave, Uncle V, our friend W and Shanade and Leo arrived so we stayed on. It ended up being a pretty late, but very fun night.

Nic and I had made plans on Saturday to visit Birmingham with Lysy and The Scientist. Birmingham Jazz Festival was on, and it was sharing a venue with Birmingham Food Festival, and the sun came out! A stage had been set up in Victoria Square for live jazz and blues, and some of the city's many restaurants were offering taster plates of their dishes. It was so much fun, eating tasty food and listening to jazz in the sunshine in beautiful Victoria Square.

 Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum

Jazz fans. You can just see my red gingham Cambie dress peeping out in this photo

While Nic and The Scientist browsed in Nostalgia and Comics, Lysy and I visited the Rag Market and Fancy Silk Stores. I was very good and didn't buy fabric for myself but I did stock up on zips and notions, and treated myself to Butterick 5603 as it was on sale. I don't have plans for it yet in terms of fabric, but I think it's going to be an interesting make. I also bought loads of fruit and veg at the market, so by the time Nic and I had lugged it all home I was only really fit for a lazy evening with a DVD and dinner.

It was more free music today, this time at a free music festival in the nearby Dell. Sadly the weather wasn't the best, but the music was excellent. Bath Place were running the food, lots of our friends were there, and it was just a lovely, relaxed way to spend the afternoon.

The Swaps

Shanade

I'm still willing on the summer, and dressed accordingly. Luckily, it wasn't too cold:

Sewaholic Lonsdale dress, white cardigan from Denise and Miss Selfridge bow sandals

 And without the cardigan, but with an awkward facial expression. You can't win 'em all...

It's been a brilliant weekend and I do feel revived for the week ahead. I know work is going to continue to be work, but unlike the last time when work was really bad, everything else in my life is excellent. This gives me the strength to get through the shitty days! You can't say fairer than that, really. Now, Nic is just serving up the dinner (spicy veggie sausage and spaghetti - YUM) and we're settling down to try out Justified, so I'm out of here. I'm going to leave you with a photo of the beautiful double rainbow Nic and I could see from our flat the other night. Later x