Outfit: Colder, Wet and Rainy

I don’t think I’ll be able to wear boots much longer if the warm weather returns, so I’m going to take advantage on days like this when it’s a bit cooler outside.

Pink wool v neck sweater – Gap
Dark skinny jeans – Gap
Brown boots – Faith
Necklace – Scope
Bracelets – Accessorize (gift from friend)

Outfit: Windy Thursday

It’s very spring like here today. The blossom is out on the tree in the garden, the sun is shining and the sky is blue with patches of white cloud. It’s a chilly breeze though.

Brown wool mix pinstripe jacket – Long Tall Sally
Brown wool mix pinstripe trousers – Long Tall Sally
Pink cotton camisole – Marks and Spencer
Pink shoes – Nine West (Debenhams)

Updated Links Column

I have added some new links on the side bar, and also deleted a few. Some people have stopped blogging and some have disappeared without trace, so it was time for an update. Check out the new links, especially Dollymix, a new blog from Shiny Media.

Outfit: Sunny Wednesday

All my summer dresses are black. Or have black in them. How did that happen? Actually, I know the answer to that: it’s because I only got into dresses this autumn/winter, when black was a totally appropriate colour to buy, then I stopped shopping in January so have not been able to partake in the colourfulness that is this year’s spring/summer collections. Will have to make do with my black for now.

Black cotton dress – George @ ASDA
Black acrylic shrug - Unknown
Brown faux leather belt – Dorothy Perkins
Brown shoes – Roberto Vianni (Debenhams)
Necklace – Scope

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing some of my spring/summer clothes now the weather has perked up
…reading ‘Sleeping Arrangements’ by Madeleine Wickham
…watching more episodes of ‘Friends’ – Season 2 this week
…eating Rice Krispie treats, if I ever get round to making some!
…shopping for shoes! At last! I got Faith vouchers for my birthday so it doesn’t count as spending money and there’s a sale on…what’s a girl to do?

Outfit: I’m Back!

Brown linen blend jacket – Next
Brown linen blend skirt – Next
Pink sleeveless t shirt/vest – George @ ASDA
Brown & pink slingbacks – Faith

Happy Easter!

Well I’m on holiday for a week now so have a lovely Easter and I’ll post again when I return.

Outfit: Casual Thursday

Since it’s Good Friday tomorrow, I decided to wear my jeans today. Although it is really sunny again, it’s still a little chilly out, hence the sweater.

Black wool v neck sweater – Gap
Black cotton shirt – Tommy Hilfiger (Designer Room outlet store)
Dark Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Red shoes – Next

Still Not Shopping

My friend Emma (over at the SFFs) and I have pledged to continue our ‘Not Shopping’ until September. So I didn’t buy any whites or anything at the weekend.
Wish us luck!

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing black and red
…reading ‘Diary of a Married Call Girl’ by Tracy Quan
…watching ‘Friends’ DVDs – we have the boxset of all 10 seasons and we’ve just started from Season 1 again
…eating chocolate brownies
…shopping for nothing for a while longer

Outfit: Dress

Black and cream wrap dress – Dorothy Perkins
Black vest – Topshop
Black shrug – Unknown
Red shoes – Next
Red heart pendant – Claire’s Accessories
Red dangle earrings – Claire’s Accessories

Outfit: Red and Black

Black jacket – Long Tall Sally
Black bootcut trousers – Long Tall Sally
Black cardi – Long Tall Sally
Red vest – New Look
Red shoes – Next
Red heart pendant – Claire’s Accessories

Pick of the High Street: Blue Shoes at Topshop

Whatever style of shoe you’re looking for this spring, in whatever shade of blue, you’re bound to find something you like at Topshop!

£50

£50

£25

£45

£50

£50

£35

£50

Outfit: Black and White

Houndstooth top – Dorothy Perkins
Black long pencil skirt – Dorothy Perkins
Shrug – Unknown
Black belt – George at ASDA (taken off another dress)
Black brogue style court shoes – Dolcis

Aldo

I have just discovered that Aldo do shoes up to a size 9 (42). Albeit a small size 9 but a size 9 nonetheless! So of course I have to pick out my favourites to show you…
The silver of this Temse style is bang on trend for this season’s metallics, and the D’Orsay shape reminds me of Carrie’s ‘stolen shoes’ in the final season of Sex and the City, ‘A Woman’s Right to Shoes’.

Outfit: Friday Bling!

You can't really tell from the picture, but the shoe on my t shirt is outlined in diamante.

White ‘Shoe Slave’ t shirt – Marks & Spencer
Dark Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Grey cashmere round neck cardi – Marks & Spencer (ebay)
Red shoes – Next
Red belt – Next
Red heart pendant – Claires Accessories
Red drop earrings – Claires Accessories

Outfit: A Grey Day

I’m just loving my shoe boots this week – they make my ankles look so skinny!

Grey wool A-line skirt – Gap
Grey wool rib polo neck sweater – Outlet store
Grey tights – We Love Colors
Navy shoe boots – Faith

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing blue and black
…reading ‘Join Me’ by Danny Wallace, the story of a man who started a cult by accident
…watching hardly any TV – it’s been so nice on an afternoon that I’ve been sitting in the garden with a book rather than watching Neighbours or Hollyoaks
…eating mashed potatoes
…shopping for whites – or maybe I should wait until after my birthday like I pledged?

Outfit: Foggy Wednesday

Black cotton dress – George at ASDA
Black rib shrug – Unknown
Black Argyle pattern tights – Boots
Blue suede shoe boots – New Look
Black leather belt – Wild Thing
Blue bangles - Oxfam

Outfit: Blue Tuesday

Blue & black dress – Dorothy Perkins
Black cami – Topshop
Black shrug – Unknown
Blue tights – Jonathan Aston (Debenhams)
Black knee high boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)
Blue & silver bangles – Oxfam
Black circle pendant – Scope

Find That Shoe.com

See those ads at the top of the page? Well sometimes they can be useful. This morning the ad said ‘We specialise in larger shoe sizes – 8, 9, 10’ and I just had to check it out. Typing in the url for Find That Shoe! (for some reason me clicking on the ads is forbidden under the terms of the AdSense programme), I took a look at what they had to offer.
The shoe collection is not vast (11 pairs to be exact), and there are some questionable styles such as these:

(Capri 3, £54.95)

Also some of the styles only come in a UK 7 (huh? I thought you were size 8-10 specialists?). But for basics you can’t fault them.

This shoe is also available in brown or black and with a leather upper and lining, it can’t be faulted at £44.95.

(Suzy, £44.95)

The boots are also excellent value too (and in a far wider range of styles), my particular favourites are these in vintage red suede at £69.95.

(Jamelia, £69.95)

The sizes equate to a EUR 41, 42 & 43 which I would call a small 8, 9, 10 (and many of the 10/43s are sold out) but it’s terrific to see this corner of the market being covered for a change. All the shoes and boots feature leather uppers and/or linings, and delivery is a maximum of 3 working days to addresses in the UK. They will also ship overseas, email them for a quote.

I Am Such An Idiot!!!

Well, I fear I may have to go shopping. It’s essential. I put on a load of white washing last week and somehow a duster managed to get in with them. A new, bright yellow duster. So now all my lovely whites are an unattractive shade of pale yellow. Lovely. So you see, it’s essential that I go shopping to replace these things. I have lost 2 Gap Favourite Ts, one DP camisole, one DP long length vest and one long sleeve Gap dress shirt. I have tried to remove the colour using white vinegar (a substance I was led to believe was a miracle cure-all), but to no avail. The shirt may yet survive, the label says it’s OK to use non-chlorine bleach on it so that has to be worth a try as I love that shirt and have not had it that long. The rest of the items are all well over 2 or 3 years old and have been worn so often that their ‘cost per wear’ is probably zero or below so I’m not too upset about it. Just really annoyed with myself.
Trawling the internet to see what I can find to replace the items, whilst still sticking to resolution number 5 to only buy clothes designed for people my height, I came up with this list:

Rib vest, £6 or 2 for £9, Topshop Tall

Long sleeve gathered neck top, £15, Long Tall Sally

Cotton shirt, £30, Long Tall Sally (if the Gap shirt I have doesn’t make it)

V neck vest, £5 or 3 for £12, Dorothy Perkins Tall

Outfit: Clock Change Monday

So the clocks changed on Saturday night making it dark again when I got up this morning. It doesn’t feel like spring anymore.

Grey wool mix pin stripe trouser suit – Dorothy Perkins
Blue wool cable knit v neck sweater – Gap
Blue knot detail round toe shoes – Moda in Pelle

Outfit: Dull Thursday

Brown linen mix skirt suit – Next
Turquoise cotton rib vest – Dorothy Perkins
Brown tights – Next
Turquoise boots – Splash (Ebay)
Turquoise bangles – Oxfam
Turquoise necklace - Accessorize

New Styles at Tall Girls

Tall Girls have some new spring styles available for all us tall ladies. This Tunic Top (worn here as a dress by this brave model over the lovely striped footless tights) is £38. The tights come in black & white, black & pink, black & blue or black and green by the way and cost £5.25.

The City Shorts come in black or khaki and either they are very long or the site needs some taller models as they look more like cropped trousers to me. Calling them shorts could be ‘stretching’ the truth a little perhaps?! £35 seems reasonable for a piece that can be worn for work or play.

Outfit: Cold Spring Equinox Wednesday

It’s the Spring Equinox today and it’s freezing! There’s snow elsewhere in the country too.
Brown wool mix pinstripe trouser suit – Long Tall Sally
Beige cashmere v neck sweater – United Colours of Benetton
White shirt – Gap
Brown boots – Faith
Brown pendant – Cancer Research

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing browns and beige
…reading Holly’s Inbox – real time, online, chick lit!
…watching Ugly Betty
…eating out and at other people’s houses
…shopping for the weekly food, not terribly exciting really

Outfit: No Snow Monday

Beige cashmere v neck sweater – United Colours of Benetton
White shirt – Gap
Brown/beige/blue check wool skirt – Next
Brown rib socks (worn as tights) – Sock Dreams
Brown knee high boots – Faith

Outfit: Casual Friday

Embroidered denim pinafore dress – Marks & Spencer
Blue marl roll neck sweater – DKNY (The Designer Room)
Brown tights – Topshop
Brown boots – Nine West (Debenhams)

I was intending wearing a brown long sleeve tee under the dress but it was frosty this morning so I added the sweater for warmth.

Outfit: Thursday Dress

Light grey dress – Miss Selfridge
Red mock-croc belt – Next
Black cotton rich tights – George @ ASDA
Red shoes – Next

Another Dream About Shoe Shopping

Remember I dreamt about buying shoes before? Well it happened again. I had a dream last night about some boots. And great boots they were too! The foot part was really chunky & flat, like a doc marten, but the leg part was excessively long – thigh high but ridiculously tall! They were brown with lacing all the way up. I'd been eying them up for weeks (they must have been expensive) and then suddenly the shop was shutting down and they were reduced to £10! I had to buy them and went a bit mad buying up other shoes (they seemed to specialise in sizes 8, 9 & 10), I remember some black sling back wedges and some yellowy-gold satin kitten heel mules with sequins on, and 2 pairs of slippers but there were more than that in my basket (yes it must have been some kind of shoe supermarket where the give you a basket!). But then got worried at the till that the young man would tell me off for buying more shoes so I put over half the stuff back, and was trying to figure out what to tell my girls at the Shiny Fashion Forums about breaking the no shopping pledge for March. And then the alarm went off. I can never normally remember dreams but these boots were fab!

Outfit: Wednesday

Black and cream wrap dress – Dorothy Perkins
Black cardi – Long Tall Sally

Black vest - Topshop
Black ‘sock pattern’ tights – H&M
Red shoes - Next

The dress looks much better without the cardi but it's cold! Will have to try it with a long sleeve top underneath...

Outfit: Suited Tuesday

Black trouser suit – Long Tall Sally
Red cashmere v neck sweater – George @ ASDA
White long sleeve favourite T – Gap
Black knee high boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing red
…reading April’s Cosmopolitan & Elle magazines
…watching WAGs’ Boutique and Hollyoaks
…eating proper meals – cooking for 2 is so much better than cooking for one!
…shopping for Mothers’ Day presents

WAG’s Boutique

So, what does everyone think of WAGs’ Boutique? Has anyone been watching it? It’s been getting rather a short shrift from various commentators (especially Kim over at Catwalk Queen who seems to have been coerced into watching, rather than watching it through choice), but I really like it. No, it’s not high end TV but it’s about WAGs running clothing boutiques so what do you expect? The girls are lazy (taking long lunches and forever asking to go home early) and unprofessional (arguing and swearing at each other in front of the customers), but they do seem to be making plenty of cash for their charities and are not afraid of taking on the weekly challenges set for them. All the falling out makes for great telly so catch WAGs’ Boutique at 9pm on Tuesdays on ITV2.

Outfit: Thursday

Brown shorts – H&M
Brown v neck sweater – Dunnes
White shirt – George @ ASDA
Brown tights – Topshop
Brown shoes – Roberto Vianni (Debenhams)

The Big Move

I moved house on Saturday and I don’t have all my things sorted out yet, so apologies if posting is a bit sporadic for a week or so. (That word always makes me think of ‘Clueless’ – “I’ll see you around” “I hope not sporadically”.)

Outfit: Monday

Brown trouser suit – Long Tall Sally
Teal v neck tank – Next
White round neck long sleeve Favourite T – Gap
Teal boots – Faith
Not unpacked my camera lead yet so no outfit pics still, sorry!