You know those crazy love heart sunglasses doing the rounds at the moment? You can get a pair for £2 at Primark. Did I get them? No. I already have thirteen pairs of sunglasses and at some point, you really can have enough sunglasses.

Monday Musing 2 : Spotty

A couple of months ago, I was having a try on in Urban Outfitters of this rather cute dress which I put on Instagram Stories. I didn't tag it at the time and received a lot of messages about the dress which I replied to when I got home. Fast forward time and the trying and returning of a gazillion dresses in the meantime and guess what? I went back to the first one I tried on. The black spotty one. It's the perfect day dress for me. Girly enough for those who want to wear it that way, and tomboyish enough for me to don a pair of trainers on with. It's a winner. And I don't have to fiddle with it. Sorry, it literally sold out this week but the odd one comes back online and there may be the odd one in store.

Monday Musings 3 : Shoe Dupes



So we finally get to free the toes and what better way to show them off than in a lovely pair of sandals. And what's even nicer is if you don't have the budget for the big guns, the high street's got your back. All the odd numbers are the pricier ones. And the evens are the sweet on the purse strings. I can't take the credit for number 6 - Lynne had these on her IG and I was thinking "well hello there!". I tried them on today and they are lovely - I prefer them to the Zara version doing the rounds as they are lightly cushioned.

Monday Musings 4 : About Time


Monday Musings 5 : Hayfever



It's the pits.

Last time I spoke about the Hush skirt, I said I was favouring this Picante colour over the Jolly Green version which has sold out every where. I actually managed to get my hands on both colours but no matter what I wore the green one with, it just didn't feel like me. I guess I'm more a Spice girl.

I finally cut the tags off on Sunday as I was out for the day and to be honest, I wasn't sure if it was going to crease and crumple after an hour of sitting in the car but it stayed beautifully neat and crease free all day. The elasticated waistband came in to it's own - I had a Sunday lunch and a Korean barbecue - so it was tested to the max. And it has pockets. Pockets are always the icing on the cake on any dress or skirt aren't they? They can be deal breakers for some but in this case there was no deal breaking scenario to have to consider. Basically, the skirt has pockets.

Another pleasant surprise - the wooden earrings. I have the pink resin version which are similar but I  didn't get on with them for some reason. It might be that they're just pink and didn't go with much but I much prefer how light and neutral these wooden ones are. I wore them all day and didn't feel the urge to fiddle with them or take them off till nearly bedtime. That's good for me. Really good. Fantastic actually.

And the Posse sandals. These have been getting a lot of love on IG. I remember seeing them around last year but chose to leave them as I didn't want to deal with ordering from overseas. Then a lovely lady put a pic of them up on her IG and we had a dialogue about them. After a couple of weeks deliberation and many many try ons of other woven slides, the Posse ones arrived at my house. The heart wants what the heart wants. A word of warning - there will be a customs charge to pay of around £20 - you need to factor this in if you're interested. Besides which, that's the last pair of sandals I will buy this summer. If you see me in a pair of black Birkalikes - I've already got them but not worn them yet.

Everything else is old - the scarf is a couple of years old, the basket is about fourteen years old and the Everlane shirt was a buy from last year. All firm favourites which won't be seeing the likes of Ebay any time soon.

Toodle pip.

Forgive me. Sorry there's no Friday Five this week (or last for that matter). I'll be back on it soon, I'm just busy doing stuff. But here's a quick #OOTD. It's my first one this year!

Right, a little short and sweet post from me as I just wanted to tell you that I've bagged my 2018 buffet dress. I popped in to M&S in search of a skirt. I found the skirt and found this dress next to it. The skirt was awful but the dress was good. 

Good Points :

Bad Points :

• It's from the M&S Collection section. Which is usually the preserve of the much older  shopping demographic. I'm ignoring this fact. 

• It's not for everyone. I'm only 5ft nearly 2" at a push. This just comes below my knee but hits me at a good point on the legs. You need to factor your own height with this to see if it works for you. 

• It is roomy so remember to size down - it has mixed reviews based on the fact that people who have bought their regular size have found it too big. I took one look at it on the hanger and thought "size down". You can't tell that from a picture online.

I like big buckles and I cannot lie. Well I like the big buckles on the new Birkenstock Madrids. I've just spotted them and think they look a little cool. I like. I like a lot.

All the glamour. All the glamour for you guys. Cushion pads and table cloths. I haven't been in to an actual Dunelm for a few years but in the last month or so, I've been a few times - they do the exact size of feather cushion inner that I like. You should always get them a fraction bigger than the actual size of the cushion cover. So for a 40x40cm cushion, you need a 42x42cm cushion inner so you get extra plumpage. And I like feather as you can bouff them back in to shape a lot better than the foam filled ones which go really uneven and bumpy ... and flat. And the oilcloths from Dunelm? Well, they're a little Emma Bridgewater and Orla Kiely inspired don't you think? 

Friday Five (3 of 5) Hush Skirt

Well the Hush skirts came that I blogged about last week. The jolly green was a little jolly for me but I rather liked the paprika which felt very much like one of my colours. Infact the more I swished in it, the more I liked it and the pockets helped no end along with one of my favourite Pinterest pics. So I'm holding on to it for the time being.

Friday Five (4 of 5) Tassel Garlands.

Whilst in Poundland, I spotted some packs of gold and silver tassel garlands and pompoms which I thought looked okay for any events or parties you might have coming up. I thought you could buy few packs of the garlands to group/weave together for quite a full on fancy effect or you could add your own colour ribbons and tags and tie those on to the main garland. Or if you just fancy being an early bird, I'd get along pronto and bag a few packs for your hallways and fireplaces and put them to one side as Christmas is only eight and a half months away. 

Friday Five (5 of 5) Chicken Dinner

I sometimes do a roast chicken dinner on a Friday evening so I have left overs to go in a soup or anything else I want for the weekend. The only thing I hate ... working out the cooking times. If you get a chicken from one of the big supermarkets, they usually calculate the times for you and have it on the label. If you pop in to the butchers like I occasionally do, there's no helpful label but I have found a useful online cooking time calculator which helps enormously!  :)

So we've hit April. And the sun doth shineth .... for about two days so far but what there has been has been just lovely. Enough to get me out in to the garden wasteland at least and to do a little tidy up. And who'd have thought there would be so many people interested in what to do with half dead lavender. I basically put out a distress call on Instagram Stories saying "help" and so many people replied. Thank you all. And for those who wanted to know what to do with their own half dead lavender - basically prune back hard. Cut off the dead stalks and trim down as far as you dare and pray for a miracle. I've done this. BUT .... if it dies, I'm off to Aldi when they get their new ones in! You've got to know when to cut your losses .... and your lavender which is basically in autumn after flowering. 🤗

Lavender aside - what do I do with rosemary? This is what I did with rosemary.

Pretty eh? I had some old rosemary that I transplanted in to a different part of the garden. It hadn't given up the ghost but it was looking a little pale and feeble. Well one year later it's about two feet high and waving it's branches at me in that "wave your branches in the air like you just don't care" kind of way. So I lopped it and arranged it around my new Vionic espadrilles because I thought "why not?" and they deserve something pretty to show off how lovely they are. Soft pewter leather and little ribbon ties with finished ends - you know how I'm a sucker for little deets. I could give you lots of spiel too about how good they are for your feet especially as they are designed for people with foot problems as you wouldn't know that just to look at them would you but you can read about that here if you like. The only giveaway with these is they have a little raised arch on the inside just to support you that little bit more. #discoverthesecret

Those are about as far away from nanna shoes as you can get which is what people expect when faced with having to wear "sensible" shoes. You know me, comfort first - style shouldn't hurt or else you'll have a miserable face and it will show #truedat! 

* Espadrilles  c/o Vionic Shoes UK

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Last Note :

• If you're lucky enough to have big rosemary plants which have strong stems - I was thinking it might be possible to use them as skewers for meat and veg for a barbecue? I got this idea from this  Jamie Oliver recipe (one of my favourites from yesteryear).