On Ya Bike!

I seemed to have developed a bit of a love for old men on bicycles. Ok, so not for the actual men, but for the photographs of these men. The place where I keep getting my fix of these lovely old boys? The infinitely famous Sartorialist. I got his book for my last birthday and I believe this is when the adoration for good photographs of people on bicycles.

There's something about the way they hold themselves upon these metal frames. Whilst so many people of today lean forward and try to be as aerodynamic as possible, these gentleman are going at a leisurely pace to suit their lives.

I blogged with a picture from the book not long after I got it last year, but here it is again:
Along with the new one that reminded me of this lust:
Which can be found in this archive month on The Sartorialist blog. I would direct link to the blog if I could, but I haven't managed to figure out how to do that yet, cos I'm a bit slow and it doesn't work the same way as my own blog - which would work different, I guess, seeing as it recognises I'm its owner.
But I digress! I think it must be something about the streets of Milan that create these gentleman cyclists, as both of these photos are taken there. In the second picture, I'm particularly liking the handlebar moustache. I wonder if he has a comb for it (a scene from Friends with Ross and Richard making small talk whilst they wait for their girlfriends to come back)!

Dear Diary,
I would love it if you made my future husband as awesomely cool as this as we grow old together. I will be somewhat disappointed if he is not this awesome, but I do understand such levels of awesomeness are hard to achieve repeatedly.
D'ya think there's enough "awesome"s used in that paragraph? Awesome :).

Payday at Last!

Friday was payday, hence the reason I have been completely unavailable online to pretty much everyone. Instead I've been doing the only sensible thing to do post-pay day (after figuring how much is going on rent and bills), and went drinking. Two hangovers later; yes I went out Friday night, worked Saturday and then went out Saturday night; and here I am. Finally able to put up a picture of what I wore out on Friday night:

I had time to come home quickly after work to change, thankfully, so I left on my skirt (Marks and Spencers), but folded it up so it was thigh-high rather than knee length. I then chucked on my lace top (H&M) that I'm still totally in love with, months after getting; added to it my strapless bra (Debenhams) and my black sheer cardigan (Uniqlo) and I was set for the night. I also wore my ever faithful heels (Faith) that I seem to live in for nights out at the moment. It had to be said, I felt pretty good in it, and I didn't get too cold either, which is always a win in England!

Last night I didn't have the joys of being able to go home to change, so had to do it at work in the loos (oh so classy, yeah?). Due to this, I couldn't get a picture - I got enough weird looks going into a cubicle in black skirt and top and coming out in my dress - but I wore my new dress. The one I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. I wore it in basically the same way as that picture, just adding to it that sheer cardigan. I'm pretty sure I'm going to ruin this cardigan out of over-use!

Anyway, I won't stop for more now, I need to do some food shopping, make some calls and go and collect clothes from my work locker that I left there yesterday. So much to do, so little time, but oh so worth it.

We Have Stripped in Hyde Park.

Yes, I can officially say I have stripped in Hyde Park... not quite to full on nudity, but pretty close! It was more of a careful manipulation of my clothes to change from one outfit to another in full public view whilst revealing as little of my negligee as possible. I think, mostly, I remained vaguely decent, but at times it was questionable!

Fellow blogger, Jennily, was also doing a bit of the stripping, so I was not alone. And now I can hear you cry "why? Why on earth were you doing that?!" Well, clearly some one did not read my blog yesterday! Today Jennily and I were doing a mini-photoshoot of some of her newer designs. We got some rather lovely pictures (I think/hope) which are all on her camera, but no doubt will appear sooner or later.

Here's what I wore to start with:
I chucked on one of my favourite dresses (Illustrated People @ Topshop) with my boyfriend blazer (Florence + Fred @ Tesco) and some black tights (Debenhams). I also put on my black pumps (Primark) which you can just see in the bottom right of this picture. I don't think I looked too shabby, bar the "come any closer and I'll kill you. Grrrr" look, considering I made an outfit decision and dressed in 15 minutes this morning. This is about a 5th of the amount of time it usually takes me to make a satisfactory decision on the issue of what to wear, but being my usual organised self, I was running late to get to the station to meet Jennily.

Once we were all done stripping in Hyde Park, as you do... We took a wonder via Oxford Street, to Trafalgar Square, where I managed to get this rather lovely snapshot of the girl herself:

I haven't got much else to say for now, I don't think. It's payday tomorrow - at last! This means I can finally - hopefully - buy some sunglasses. Which in turn, means I cans tare at the outfits girls are wearing without them giving me weird looks and wondering why I'm acting like a weirdo!
So, in the next 12 hours, I should be a very very happy girl. Until then, I'm off to go wallow in the fact I'm majorly craving sweet things, of which I have none, and yet I have no money to buy some with either. Wahey! Enjoy your evenings :)

Eat Eat Eat.

So it's been a few days since my last post. I blame this down to being on the late shift Monday and Tuesday plus stock take yesterday PLUS early today and having like... NOTHING! to wear.

Thank god it's payday on Friday. Major shop-a-thon, it has to be said.

I don't really have anything to say either at the moment. Tomorrow I have fellow blogger, Jennily, coming to London town and we're doing a bit of modelling of her dresses, much like in January as featured here on her blog, and here on mine... My, my, my. what a link-fest, and we're only a couple of paragraphs in.
The biggest problem we're gonna come up against tomorrow will me being unable to fit into the dresses, which is looking a strong possibility considering the amount of food I've been consuming of late. Tonight alone I've had a pasta bake meal, 5 chocolate filled doughnuts and 6 mini rolls. All from Tesco. I'm finally not hungry, but my gosh, that's a lot of food! BUT hopefully, all that extra food has just gone straight through and not added a single bit of weight to my body - haha, yeah right!

So, top of my list right now for payday is some sunglasses and hold ups (I've shredded so many pairs by accident, oops!). But they're what I deem "necessities" to a degree.
None necessities that I'm major lusting after and will be ordering post-payday is Essie nail varnish.
I wanted to copy in a picture of each bottle, however, the website I'm gonna order off won't permit to do it, so instead I'll point you in their direction. Nails By Mail is the site I'm planning to order off of. The colours I want are "Lollipop" (a gorgeous classic red), "Great Expectations" (the gorgeous pale grey I got sometime last year as a freebie with a magazine, that thus began the love affair with Essie) and "Over the Top" (a fabulous dark metallic grey).
The only minor downfall with this is with each bottle being £8.95 a go, those 3 bottles come to the rather ouch-worthy price of £26.85 BEFORE postage and packaging. Soooo, I might have to be good and limit myself to just the two, in which case it'll be "Lollipop" and "Great Expectations".... I would only get one, but considering I'm going to have to pay P&P on top, I might as well make it vaguely worth it. That or I'll just see how much it is and suck it up to order all 3!

Anyway, that's enough for now. Will hopefully have pictures tomorrow from my outing with Jennily. Tres, tres excited. Let's just hope the weather stays vaguely nice, yeah, please?

"Maybe You Were Right After All, Maybe I am Bad News"

The sun is shining, it's warm and I'm in a good mood. All things considered - this is England and men suck sometimes - this is a bloody miracle, it has to be said!

Yet none the less I'm sat inside because it's a smidge too warm for my liking, and it's also setting off my hayfever. Knew there was a reason I didn't like summer sometimes! But we don't mind, because we've been out and enjoyed the sun for a little bit en route to Tesco for fooooood.
And now I'm sat here enjoying the music from Motion City Soundtrack (Her Words Destroyed My Planet at present, lyrics from which are title of this post). It's been a delightfully pleasant day all in all. Now I'm just having to kill time until payday so that I can go buy all the pretty things I want... Including new work clothes because I'm soooo bored with my current work ones, and I've only been there a month. Woops!
At present, I'm kinda lusting after this blouse from New Look. It's definitely one that I'd need to try on, to see if it actually works for my figure, but that will be my plan for my first day off after payday! That'll be for work obviously, and I'll wear a black strap top underneath to keep it decent.
I've also just spotted this blouse whilst I was looking for a picture of the other blouse. This has been reduced from £30 to £18 and is also at New Look. Quite liking, but again it'd be one I'd have to try.
Another thing I'd like to look for post payday is some nice skirts as well. I'm starting to rediscover my feminine side. Shocking stuff! That and I want to replace my nail varnish collection because most of them have dried up to crappy levels. I'm thinking of investing in some Essie nail varnish as I did adore that freebie one I had time ago. Black, grey, red and maybe whatever other colours take my fancy, yeah? I'm beginning to wonder if I should wait until I've paid all my bills before I go spending masses on clothes and nail varnish... Ahh and make up, as I need more mascara and the likes. And replacing my sunglasses that I broke! You can guarantee though, that as soon as I buy new sunnies, the sun will disappear in and it'll chuck it down constantly for the rest of summer!

So, having gone off on a little one about all the pretty things I want to buy once payday comes around - who says I'm a shopaholic - here's what I wore today for my little trip to the shops. I didn't wear the heels (Faith @ Debenhams) in the end, I wore my flat pumps (Primark) that I wear to walk to work in.
Neon pink nails to accessorize this otherwise rather monotone outfit. I swear I can't go back to natural for now - loving the brightness waaaaay too much!
I chucked on my jersey dress (Bay), New Zealand necklace (a little boutique somewhere in North Island, New Zealand) and my hold ups (Jonathan Aston - Debenhams) that I'm loving at the moment. It's probably a good thing I didn't decide to sunbathe in those hold ups though. I reckon the tan lines would be rather interesting, and somewhat embarrassing!

I think I'll leave it at that for now. Will hopefully have something of interest to say soon, rather than just talking about myself.

Tubage

Today was the first Saturday I've worked since I started at Selfridges (3 weeks this coming Tuesday, how time flies). It was pretty fun actually - which is quite a thing to say considering that outside today it was gorgeous sunshine and warmth and y'know, I was stuck inside at work. But laughs were had, and friends were made, so that constitutes a good day as far as I'm concerned. Oh, that and a quick (free) beer after work, and I'm a happy girl. Gotta love generous workmates who aren't as broke as yourself!

Anyway, on Thursday evening I got a call inviting me out for a drink - can anyone see the re-occurring pattern here? So of course, I agreed, and chucked on my heels, tidied up my make up, changed from hot pants (well, it had been warm all day!) to skinny jeans and headed on out. Whilst on the tube, I fell into major lust. Dear diary, can I have shoes like these, but in black please?

Apologies for poor picture quality, but I didn't think it was exactly appropriate to grab my camera out and start snapping away, so instead chose to be "discreet" and take pictures on my phone instead... I don't think I was that discreet in the end - muppet forgot a bigass light comes on, on the back of my phone, whilst focusing and stuff. Ahh well. This girl's entire ensemble was rather lovely, and rather bang on trend I reckon. That patterned fabric you can see on the legs belongs to a rather delightful pale grey jumpsuit covered in white, green and pink (or red) floral design in a very subtle way. To top it off, she had on a jacket that looked buttery soft and was in like a dark gun metal grey. That's a terrible description and makes it sound terrible, but it wasn't. It was pretty stunning actually, and I would have loved to have got up the guts to take a full length snapshot for you guys, but I wussed out. Boo hoo! I also keep forgetting my URL for my blog (damn laziness because Firefox remembers it for me), and I don't think I can really go up to people and be like "can I take a picture of you for my blog" if they ask what it is so they can look, and I'm then like "errrr, I dunno, sorry". That's just an epic fail.

ANYWAY. I'm blabbering. Let's move on. Although I don't really have much left to say, I'm heading out tomorrow to meet up with a friend, and I'll *hopefully* take a picture before I leave because I think I know what I'm going to wear (if it works as well as I'm hoping it does - will have to have a play tomorrow morning!)
More tomorrow, have a good evening; I'm going to go make my nails even more neon pink. Wahey :)

Out and About....

Today I had the day off from work (woo!). After doing the usual mundane chores (washing, tidying, food shopping, etc) I got busy with having some fun!

For starters I decided to mix things up with my jewellery - swapping the simple ring that I've been wearing since my 18th, for my DKNY ring that I bought a couple of years back.
Add to that some neon pink nails, and you have pretty intense fingers:
Well, I think so anyway! Loving how my hands look today! Well, bar the sausage fingerness.

Originally I put on skinny jeans as the skies were grey this morning, though I knew it was warm out. That said, en route back from food shop, let's just say I had a bit of a glow to me, so decided that the sun was out enough for me to get them out... My legs that is. So this is what I ended up wearing for pretty much the whole day:
Vest tee (A|Wear), shorts (Topshop baxter skinnies customised by me) and neon pink fingers and toes (Stargazer nail varnish). I was gonna wear my black classic hi-top Converse out today, but my feet decided to have a moment and hurt when I put them on, so instead I made do with my neon pink pumps (Primark). Who said you shouldn't match your shoes to your nail colour?!

After having done all the necessities (and gosh, what a long list I had today... no idea how I managed it!) I decided I would go and have a lookie round this Grace Kelly exhibition that's on at the V&A. Life clearly wasn't going in my favour today though! First things, the subway from South Kensington tube to the museums was closed due to a chemical spillage at Science Museum (I think some one may have messed up there, haha!). When I finally managed to find my way to the V&A - I have the worst sense of direction - I then discovered that the exhibition had sold out for today. Boo hoo!
Sooo, rather than it being a wasted journey, I looked round the fashion area again to see what new stuff there was.
Dear Diary; I'm pleased to say that they have installed an Alexander McQueen piece. It's a gorgeous piece as well, I was rather tempted to smash and grab. However, prison isn't for me, so instead I just took a few photos, here's one:
I love the fact that every time you look, there seems to be something different, a different pattern looking like a face or whatever... Or is it just me who sees the faces?

Anyway, that's it from me, I'm off out for a couple of drinks. Have a good evening :)

Dance Dance

I finally found the motivation to start dancing again. Hopefully it'll last this time as I seriously need to do something to fight the podge that has settled in since I moved to London!

Here's what I wore today for work:
I'm mainly only uploading this picture because of my tights. They're Jonathan Aston, and oh so lovely. The rest of the picture is horrible and unflattering, due to having literally just walked in the door from work and, as previously mentioned, having a bit of a podgy time. Damn lack of self control! Haha.
Anyway, dress (Marks and Spencers) looks waaaaay better with heels than with these flats (Primark), but my feet get tired after wearing heels for work, so flats are worn for coming home. The cardigan (Uniqlo) is my favourite cover up in my wardrobe at the moment, I'm not sure what it is about it, but I really like it. Perhaps it's the sheer-ness of it?

Won't stop for more now. I'm off to keep fit. Nah, just kidding, done quite enough of that for tonight - bed time for me. Late shift tomorrow, joys. I doubt there'll be any posting for next couple of days due to shift patterns and social plans, but come Thursday I have the day off, so should get some blogging done then. Enjoy a peaceful coupla days :)

The Dress!

The dress is a success. It's not quite how I thought it would be, but I reckon it works still. So happy (:

Here's the two decent snapshots I got:
I love the way it shows off the curves I'm starting to develop.
And I have just realised that this is a complete Debenhams outfit... Haha, shocker!
Dress by Henry Holland for Debenhams, shoes by Faith but I bought them from the concession outlet in Debenhams. Then strapless bra (which you can see peeking out in a hopefully non-slutty way) and tights are both Debenhams own brand stuff.
Oh wait, the necklace (somewhere in New Zealand) and watch (a gift) aren't Debenhams. But that's acceptable, it's still a Debenhams outfit, haha!
So it's all good. Now I just need somewhere to wear this thing to. Night out anyone?

It has to be said, that an outfit can do fantastic things to one's mood. Before putting this dress back on this evening I was feeling tired and lethargic. My mood has now picked up somewhat, and I feel rather happy. Yay :)
The sleepiness is staggering back in slowly, but it's a slightly more acceptable hour for sleep. I'll hold off for a while none the less, as I just can't bring myself to take the dress of yet, it feels soooo pretty!

Bones

About a week ago, I rediscovered the song "Bones" by the Killers, and since then I've had it playing regularly, sometimes on repeat for hours on end. I'm not even joking. Obsessive much? I just can't help but love that feeling when you hear a song that you loved so much for so long, and then forgot about because it stopped being played on the radio or whatever. That, or when you hear a song that you kinda liked at the time of it's release, but never really fell for... and then you hear it again, and fall for it, hard. Isn't that just the best?

Anyway, enough of music for now... I've been on late shifts at work from Wednesday - Friday, thus the lack of blogging. It's not been too bad actually, it's quite pleasant not having to pretend to be a sardine on the tube - I'm actually getting a seat 99% of the time which is insanely good. Haha.
And here's what I wore on Wednesday (yes, it has taken me this long to get the picture up - fail I know):
I think I look like a ghost in this picture - almost blending into the wall! Everything worn in this picture is Marks and Spencers. Love them for my work clothes.

And here's what I wore today (see, I can be speedy with the posting of pictures...)
I realised after putting this photo on my laptop, that I look incredibly short and dumpy... But such is life, I still quite like what I'm wearing because I'm odd like that. I chucked on strap top (Primark), long length shirt (H&M Dublin), shorts (Next jeans customised by me), tights (Debenhams), black cardi (Uniqlo) and Converse trainers (a bargain New Zealand buy ♥)

I now have a confession to make. Despite it being no where near payday, I went shopping today, to cheer myself. I dunno why I needed cheering up, I just decided I did! And I had a bit of a spending spree in Debenhams. I bought myself a Henry Holland dress, which was reduced in the sale, some lace hold ups (absolutely to die for, can't wait to wear them) and a new bra (was actually required, so that's acceptable, yeah?). I'll put up a picture of the dress later, I'm currently just waiting for my washing to dry so I can get the bra that I want/need to wear it with I think.... If it doesn't work with this bra, then it'll have to be returned *boo hoo*. None the less there will be a picture of it up online, be it on my body if I'm keeping it... or laid out dead nice on the floor if I'm returning it.

And that's it for now. Will just be playing the waiting game whilst my washing dries so I can try on this dress again and decide if it's a keeper or not :) Have a fun, fun evening!

Mullet Over

Firstly, apologies for that totally appalling pun in the title. It's so bad, you probably haven't even noticed it's a play on words until I've just pointed it out now. "Mull it"/"Mullet". Geddit?
*Tumbleweed*
Moving swiftly on...
I saw an outrageous number of mullets today. Well, by outrageous number, I mean about 4. But even so; I haven't seen a proper mullet for yonks, and then 4 in one day.

Some looked horrendous, some looked actually kinda good.
If I could be bothered to grow my hair out, I'd want a mullet like this:
What else can I say today? Ermmmmm... There's not much else to say really tonight.
This weekend I'm thinking I may go to see the Grace Kelly exhibition that's currently on at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ahh, the joys of having everything on my doorstep.

No point putting an outfit picture up tonight, as I haven't worn anything of interest today. Instead, I shall just bid you all good night, and hopefully have something of interest to say tomorrow.
For now, I'm just going to go read "Lace" by Shirley Conran. It's a rather addictive book I've found so far. Mum gave it to me when I was back in Oxfordshire as something for me to read in evenings/on the tube, as I have no decent reading books of my own. It's an older title, but all the concepts so far have been little to no different to that of a modern chick-lit book that I usually absorb myself in. Win.

P.S.

I totally forgot how much I love "Bones" by the Killers.


I only just found out today that this video is directed by Tim Burton. Can't say it surprises me, just surprised I only just found that out.

I also love the look that the Asian girl in the car has going on. Vair gothic, vair pretty :)
And Brandon Flowers' look is very attractive, I always love his styling, though I'm not fantastically keen on the whole moustache thing he has going on in the video. To be fair, he can pull it off, and it does suit him, I'm just not that keen on it.

Anyway, genuinely off to bed now.

Lack Of Self Control

I have gorged myself on far too many sweets this even due to an extreme lack of self-control. Therefore I'm feeling most sluggish, and extremely glad I wrote this blog out earlier on my phone, so have minimal concentration to put in.

In the end I didn't go to the Affordable Vintage Fair. It wasn't that I didn't want to go - I would have loved to, however, it was doing to be a lot of hassle due to the numerous line closures that were in place over this weekend. To get there it was going to have to be an overground train, followed by a short walk and then a bus (according to TFL anyway); and to me that just seemed like waaaaay too much effort for a Sunday outing. So instead? I stayed home and did my washing, tidied my room and set off the smoke alarm whilst cooking bacon at lunch time... Waking up one of my housemates -woops! But hey, at least we can now be sure it works! I also succeeded in changing my shoes about 5 different times because I can. Add to that flicking through my Vogue and Harper's magz that I collected from Oxfordshire yesterday, and you pretty much have how I spent a reasonable chunk of my day. It has to be said that with Vogue and Harpers, there is some major lusting going on over things in there. Dear Diary, can I have the money to buy everything I want? I'm pretty sure that as the week progresses I'll put up pictures of everything I want, but tonight I just lack the motivation.

I'll be honest now, too. I went to Westfield today. It wasn't as pleasant as I expected at the time as writing this entry out on my phone (I did it on the tube ride there). They were having the premiere there for Prince of Persia, and so it was security en masse and major hell to try and get anywhere. I didn't just go to Westfield to shop though, honestly. I actually met up with a friend and grabbed a coffee, as I was supposed to be meeting some one else, but they cancelled, so I had to do something to keep myself entertained. And seeing as I was there, how could I not window shop? In the end, I didn't actually buy anything. I lost motivation to browse thoroughly as it was soooo difficult to get anywhere in store, as this damn premiere was held in the middle of the store. That said, I did see one of the actresses wearing a very beautiful dress. I wish I coulda gotten a photo of it, but security were keeping everyone moving along who wasn't on the "right" side of the barrier.

Anyway, here's what I wore today:
Shirt (H&M - Dublin), Boyfriend cardigan (New Look), leggings (H&M). I also wore my anchor necklace again (Camden Market) and a bracelet which you can't see, that I made myself.
And then the shoes that I finally settled on to wear for my little outing to Westfield:
My beloved Converse that I got in New Zealand for what worked out to be a bargain £22 when converted at the time. Was mega chuffed with that purchase, I just wish I wore them more - I've neglected my Converse the last few months because they're not 100% waterproof and not quick to slip on and off. Laziness is the bane of my life - I should train myself out of this awful habit.

Right nothing else of interest to say, so run along children. I'll inevitably blog at some point in the not too distant future - I seem to be much better at this regular updating lark. Go me! But until then, there's nothing to see here!

Busy Busy Busy.

Today I went home to Oxfordshire for a little trip. Mainly because my parents have just sold the house, and have to be moved out by end of the July, so are thus putting pressure on me to sort through the stuff I left in my room that they have so kindly boxed for me already. Jeez guys, I've only been gone a week - gimme a chance to settle in!

Anyway, being the fabulous London girl that I now am (haha, what a cliché, and therefore clearly not London girl), I decided that I should look absolutely ab-fab for any locals I might see who would undoubtedly make comments like: "Back so soon, is it not working in the big city?!" With smug looks on their faces. Thankfully, this was not the case, no comments were made. I think had they been, some one woulda been smashed in the face. I'm not violent :)
I wore what I've nicknamed my "sailor" dress (A|Wear), with a pair of skinnies (Vintage) and boots (location unknown). To go with the whole nautical theme that I let spring to mind when I wear this dress, I also chucked on my anchor necklace (Camden Market).
Finally, to offer some protection from the harsh winds that are gracing our English spring at the moment, I chucked on my leather jacket (Florence + Fred @ Tesco) and this gave this completed look:
I was quite proud of the amount I managed to get sorted at home today, but none the less I'm glad to be back in London now. Totally knackered, but it's totally worth it. Going to head to bed soon, and then it's up and out for the Affordable Vintage Fair tomorrow that's being held at Bethnal Green. Win :) Cheap day out, and if I can find some clothes I like as well, then that'll be an added bonus. I don't hold out masses of hope though, as my last couple of visits to AVFs haven't been that successful. None the less, it'll still be a wicked way to spend my day off, I reckon.

Hopefully more posts tomorrow - might even have outfit posts of other people; now wouldn't that be awesome. Depends if I have the balls to approach them at the AVF or not, but we'll see. Happy Weekend people :)

Are You Shaking Your TicTacs at Me?

Why yes, yes I am indeed shaking my tictacs at you. That was, until I finished the packet, and thus remember why I chew gum rather than eat tictacs - majorly addictive! Seriously I buy a pack of 4 boxes of tictacs working on the theory I can eat these as I go back onto shop floor from lunch and therefore banish any lunchtime breath. (Gum isn't allowed whilst working, so tictacs disappear quickly but can be chucked in gob en route back to shop floor). I started the first back this lunch time, and have finished the whole pack in the space of about 5 minutes since I got home. Fail.

Anywayyyyy, I'm not blogging solely about TicTacs and my lack of self control. I also wanted to blog about my day. I wrote notes at work, and everything! It was a bit of a slow day, but none the less, totally enjoyable. And it has to be said that working in Selfridges you certainly get to see a lot of sights - be it good, bad or just outright ugly! You get the trendies, the chic, weird and alternative. Some of these people are the staff, others are the customers, but there certainly is a diverse range of styles in store.

It was said in my induction training that anyone and everyone is welcome at Selfridges. "This is a community centre" was a phrase that was used in the adverts when Selfridges first opened. This really couldn't be more true. Whether you're just browsing, got £10 to spend, or £10,000; everyone is welcome and *hopefully* everyone is treated the same. It's a good feeling to know that.

Today there were varying styles walking around. Lots of different styles of leather jackets and there seemed to be plenty of harem pants. I guess they really are wearable with the right things and right dose of confidence - because the girls in them today certainly looked happy enough. There was also plenty of tailored vs. grunge going on - numerous people wearing their smart jackets with smart trousers or skirts, followed not far behind by people dressed in full on grunge. And then the ones who combine the two and still look great - gotta be honest, I'm totally jealous.

One of my favourite "everyday" sights today, was an older gentleman who was in shorts I can only describe as school-boy style. Y'know, like, grey above the knee shorts that are pressed to within an inch of their life. Then on his top half there was a typical blazer and that classic gentleman combination of shirt and pull over jumper. It was a bit of an odd mixture, but for him it some how worked. Especially with the geek chic glasses he had going on, which were awesome. I only wish I was able to have my camera on shop floor so I could take pictures of this wonderful catwalk collection called "Reality". Some of the combinations that come into store are truly inspiring, others are utterly off-putting, but that's all part of the appeal of London.

When I was making the notes for this blog, I originally wrote "so far I haven't seen anything to make me go "omgosh, whyyyy?!"
This did however change, not all that long after I finished writing up my notes, or rather decided I should technically look more like I'm working than writing. But I digress slightly. Today in store, we had Jonny Woo as part of promoting our new window scheme that was also launched today. The theme this month is music, as we're entering into the season of festivals - win! But yes, to help with the whole promotion of this, there were 2 "couples" wondering around all the floors, singing and having general banter with the customers. And these couples weren't dressed like everyone else - hell no, it was sequins galore. This was more like having 2 guys and 2 girls from the circus - they were true performers with the impromptu songs and such like that they put on. It was delightfully entertaining. As I said before, I only wish I could have my camera on shop floor to enable me to share properly. That said, there are pictures of our latest shop windows floating around on the website, with a competition running in regard to some of them as well. (Check it here, as you could win £500 if you guess correctly).

Right, I'm gonna stop prattling on. I haven't got any pictures or anything else interesting to say. So I will simply leave you with these parting words:
Visible Bra Lines (VBL) are as bad as, if not worse than VPL. Do not do it!

Day Two of Training

So today I completed my second day of training for my job. I also spent a tiny amount of time on shop floor being shown around the department I'm going to be working in which was cool, and meeting lots of the people in the surrounding area.

I've also seen about a trillion things I want to buy after my first payday, butttttt I have to pay rent and such like first, so the lusting shall have to be put on hold for now.
Here's what I wore today:
Such a classy photo - not. I didn't have the sense this morning to clear the surrounding area behind me, so you'll just have to tolerate the duck slippers, can of beer and general mess. Win.
I decided I'd pop on my dress (Marks and Spencers) for today as it saved me mucho effort from the perspective of having to co-ordinate an outfit. I also popped on simple black hold ups (Marks and Spencers) and simple (but hopefully elegant) heels (Marks and Spencers) and left it at that for the main pieces. That said, due to a slight breeze, I decided I'd pop on my cardigan that I bought the other day (Uniqlo) and also popped on a shoe necklace that I got for my 18th last year from family friends.

I haven't really got much else to say - having a bit of a tired day, can't be bothered with much, so I've been good and finally put in some washing. I'm thinking some shopping would be quite good right about now, but a lack of money, and bills to pay still, put paid to the idea of just nipping down to Oxford street for the evenings. Ahh the novelty hasn't worn off of having the ability to do that yet :)
Hope you're having a good week so far. At least it's only a 4day week for the majority. Win.

Picture Heavy, Word Light.

Due to popular demand (not really, only had a couple of people ask for them) here are a couple of pictures of my new room.

As you can probably tell, I'm very settled in and already leaving clothes, shoes, etc, lying around. Go me.

Also, I was playing with clothes this morning, trying to decide what to wear today. And here's a vintage-y inspired type outfit. If I was feeling brave and it was warmer, I'd probably wear it just as is in the picture... If I wasn't feeling so brave, then I'd probably chuck on some leggings as well.
Denim shirt (Vintage) avec leather jacket (Florence + Fred @ Tesco). Accessorised with too-shiny legs and a lack of warmth and confidence.
Anyway, I have very little of interest to say now. I start work tomorrow, so we'll have to see what happens to my blogging skills. I'm hopefully I'll be able to maintain slightly better as I feel far more inspired in London, but I make no promises!

Rant Time

I really have to know what it is with some women and NOT wearing a bra. Seriously. I may be biased as I am a trained bra fitting, but it really pisses me off when I see women, especially with a more ample bosom than my own, not wearing a bra. Do you honestly think it's a sexy look to have your boobs around your ankles?! Do you not care about looking after your breasts?

It truly amazes me with the excuses that people come out with for not wearing a bra. "I don't like to feel restrained", "they hurt to wear", "nothing fits me". I'm sorry, but that's all a load of lies. Unless you have a medical reason to not wear a bra (including mastectomies etc), then you have just never worn the correct size bra if you are using any of the previous excuses.
And the number of people who don't wear the correct size bra never ceases to amaze me - especially now with so many stores offering a fitting service. Near enough any department store, and specialist lingerie store, will offer a bra fitting service, and 99% of the time it's free. So what's the excuse not to? It may not be the most dignified thing in the world, but surely 10-30 minutes of mild embarrassment is worth everyday comfort? And the women who do the fittings are all trained professionals, they wouldn't judge or bitch about it. (That said, if you're planning on getting a fitting, especially when it's a hot day, please make sure you've got deodorant on and shaved pits - makes it a far more pleasant experience for both parties)

And if you need some visual persuasion - here's a picture I found when I googled "ill-fitting bras". Just look at the difference it makes:
In case you needed any confirmation, the picture on the right is her wearing a properly fitting bra.
And from a physical perspective, if you have a larger bust, a poor fitting bra will affect your posture, can cause back ache and numerous other problems. Wearing no bra at all, or a very old one/very poor fitting one will also speed up the process of losing elastin from your skin, thus causing them to sag sooner. Yummy, not.

Oh, and by the way, if you think getting fitted once will last you for life, think again I'm afraid. It's recommended to have a fitting done every time you buy a new bra/every 6 months. I personally say once a year is satisfactory, but also get re-fitted if your figure changes drastically for any reason. And for pete's sake, please remember to buy new bras regularly, again, they reckon every 6 months, but once a year should be fine - or stagger it throughout the year, so you can replace slowly.

Right, rant over. Just please remember to take care of your breasts please ladies.

In other news, I've spent my first day alone in London. So far I think it's going pretty well, I've got nearly everything in order in my room, which is good. I've caught up with a friend and bought a gorgeous black cardigan for work from Uniqlo (love that store for my basics). Now all that's left to do is kick back with a beer and the Chinese instant meal I bought for tonight - who says I have to cook straight away, I'd rather spoil myself for a few days.
All that's left to say is that I really hope the weather gets better soon - it's supposed to be warm tomorrow, but right now it doesn't look all that likely. Boo hoo. I want to be able to get my shorts out and feel summery!

It's Officially Done!

Ok, so I'm officially all moved out of Oxfordshire and into London now.
I'm blogging from my new room with my new mobile broadband (which is gonna take getting used to - picture quality ain't half as good, boo hoo). And quite frankly, I don't think it's all sunk in yet as I don't feel much different. I just feel settled at the moment, which is odd for me.

I won't stop for more now, I'm in the process of giving everything new homes and working out what's going to work best for me. So will blog more over the next couple of days - going to have LOTS of time to kill before I start work. I'll also chuck in some pictures of new room and what I'm wearing and such like, as and when I get chance.

So keep it real, and expect better blogging from me too. I won't be getting interrupted every 30 seconds this way, I hope. So yay!