I Like it in Black, does it come in Brown?

I noticed the other day, whilst rummaging through the jungle of my boots/shoes that if I like the style of a pair of boots, I'm apt to get them in BOTH black AND brown.  (Like one colour wasn't enough!)

I discovered that I have 3 pair of black boots, and the identical number in brown.  To be fair, some of them were incredibly cheap, so it seemed completely against the Laws of Nature not to get 2 pair.

These are the first pair: I've photographed one of each colour to show you they are identical.  I like that these have a sort of Victorian look to them with their lace-up grommits. Marvellously comfy and cheap as well.  Good thing they didn't have more colours!

This next pair I bought on holiday in Lille, France.  They have a great lace-up ties in the back.  Strictly for looks, as they have a zip on the side.  I bought the black pair and discovered that they felt fabulous, and kept the rain out.  I asked Gorgeous Husband if he minded if I got the same ones in brown, and he (foolishly) said, "Do whatever you want."  (You can see the consequences of that!)

This last pair were very hard to photograph, as the suede seems to "eat up" the light, and makes them both look the same colour.  So I took 2 photos.  One pair is black, but the other is a dark chocolate brown.  I wear the black ones so often, I felt it only fair to give them some company.

Here are the brown ones, modelled on my feet.  Very versatile, and comfortable, considering how pointy they are.

And then I lost my heart (and wallet) these babies:

Pink cowboy boots?  Well, who doesn't NEED that?  Once again, quite flat and comfortable.  My friend took one look at them and said, "I could never wear those.  The toes are too long."  To be fair, the last 3 inches or so of boot is completely empty, which is why my feet aren't squashed.

Apparently they also had these boots in lime green, but fortunately, they had been sold, and only the pink ones were left.  That was a close call.  But really, even if I had to choose one, it would have been the pink ones anyway.  I like the way they look with my pink charity shop scarf.

They're just right for putting your feet up on the radiator!  I can hardly wait to introduce them to my summer clothes.

My Wonderful Friends

Something lovely happened to me the other day, and it caused me think of all the lovely friends I have, and how much they have all contributed to me and my sense of well-being.  Mucho, mucho thanks for you all! 

The lovely thing that happened was my good friend Sam (female Sam) had returned from a trip to India and this is what she brought me back as a present!

This lovely fabric is actually a sari, but I am going to sew it into a dress.  There are about 6 or 7 metres of it!  The lavender and rust colour combination is really chic.

AND she also brought me this lovely shawl/blanket/warm wooly rectangle:

This is a reversible piece of fabric, one side is bright pink and violet stripes, the other is bright pink and green and violet stripes.  It is soft and wooly and great as winter chill-chaser.  I might make a jacket out of it, but more likely I will leave it as a throw/shawl.  Wonderfully cosy!

How incredibly generous of her to think of me when she was seeing all those fabulous sites in India-- each day being overwhelmed with colour and brilliant images.  And in the midst of all this excitement, she thought of me and took the time and effort to bring these treasures home for me.  How lucky am I??

As well, I have recently been wearing this wonderful brooch on my coat, and people have been remarking on it.  That too,  reminded me that it was a present from a dear friend who I knew in Canada.  Someone who still lights up my life with her entertaining emails. 

Such good taste my friends have! I used to have a pair of earrings that matched the brooch, but I lost one some time ago.  I love the 2 pewter faces in the gold-coloured ring.

How wonderful it is to have friends -- whether they give you presents or not.  Wouldn't you agree?!

Normality Returns (or as I know normal, at any rate)

Many thanks for the all your support, my blogging buddies, and for reading the fashion horror story in the last post.   As I said, I was unable to post photos for a while due to the computer images and the blog page not talking to each other.  But a nice IT person put a little word in my ear, and since then, viola!  They have kissed and made up and now are friends again. Harmony restored!!

So, it's much too late to talk about Christmas, but here it is anyway.  This is either way, way late for Christmas, or about 11 months early.  This is what I would have posted if I could....

At Liverpool Catherdral, in front of the altar.  The beaded handbag was a gift from Gorgeous Husband, although not this year.

Despite Vintage Vix saying that only 3 people went to church on Christmas, all those 3 must have lived in Liverpool and invited 797 of their friends to the service.  It was packed.

It doesn't really show that well, but I am about 20 pounds (10 kilos) lighter than Christmas 2011's photo.  I didn't exactly diet, but did "encourage" the excess to leave by being a bit more active.

In the run-up to Christmas, I got a delightful order from one of my customers.  He ordered perfume for his wife, and "anything else that would make up a nice Christmas gift" for her, up to a certain value. I volunteered to gift wrap the whole thing, and being a man, he thought that was a great idea.

This is what it looked like:

The products in their "nude" state.  Aloe Purifying Cleanser, Aloe Moisturizing Lotion, Aloe Nourishing Serum, "25th Edition" perfume, and Aloe lip balm with jojoba oil.

This is the products wrapped:

All in silver and white with the angel box containing the lip balm.

Then all of it put in this silver and white gift carrier bag.  It looked like a lovely white frothy confection.

My customer said that his wife was well pleased with the whole thing, and it was a marvellous validation for me that the husband had the confidence that I would produce something lovely.  It was a win-win! (And a nice lucrative order!)

Well, that's it.  No more Christmas photos til December 2013, I promise. 

It's Story Time

Apologies for my long absence, but I have been having some difficulties with my blog lately, and hence I'm afraid I will just have text in this post, considering that my photos refuse to jump over from my files onto the blog page.  They are being extremely naughty, and will be dealt with severly (sooner or later!)

So, boys and girls, I will tell you a little story instead.  Seeing as this is a kind of fashion-y blog, it is a fashion "horror story" (of sorts.)

Without further adieu, and/or excuses, I present to you:

IT SEEMED LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD AT THE TIME

There had been a complete universal disaster.  No one knew how it happened, but overnight, denim evaporated.  No trace of to be found anywhere.  Every item of denim clothing gone. No jeans!  Whole wardrobes were decimated.  People called in to work sick because they had nothing to wear.  And they genuinely were sick.  Sick at heart that their denim crutch had been cruelly kicked out from under them with no warning.  Many were left with only their underwear.

            What would be the next new thing? Woollen trousers? Linen? Jodpurs? Lycra bicycle shorts?  What?! People would have to find a new crutch—and fast!

            At least the old folks, who were wearing denim in a deluded attempt to look hip and cool had some things in their wardrobes to fall back on.

            Everyone held their breath that fleece and jogging pants wouldn’t be the next to go, but it looked ominous, as fewer and fewer things that could be classified as “comfy” were available.  People began to stockpile leggings and jogging pants and hoodies.  It was no use, of course.

            One fateful morning, people woke up to another disaster.  Their fleecy, comfy, baggy pants had followed the same fate as denim and disappeared overnight.

            This WAS serious!  What would be next?  Surely to goodness, people couldn’t be expected to go back in time and wear the type of things available in “the olden days.”  In other words, about the time of the wars: WW I and WW II.  Dresses!  Tweeds!  What the heck was coming next? A return to wearing hats?

            Naturally, this opened up a HUGE gap in the market.  Vintage and retro were longer just a fashion option or statement.  It was practically the only game in town until manufacturers could come up with some miracle fibre that they hoped to God wouldn’t also evaporate into nothingness whenever it took the notion to do so.

            Suddenly, there was hardly enough vintage to go around and correspondingly, it became very expensive.  Antique dealers and those who were by nature hoarders of old clothes were rubbing their hands in glee. People were paying silly prices for old clothes practically in any condition. People wished they hadn’t de-cluttered.  Those lucky enough to have warehouses of clothes from house clearances -- stock that they thought  they would never get rid of-- began to see these old clothes as their retirement fund or a brilliantly performing stock portfolio.

            Because of the cost, people began to purchase fewer clothes.  Gone were the days of “wear it once or twice and toss it out.”  People actually learned to mend!  It was a revelation to the younger generation, and took to signing up for classes in how to do it.  It was “make do and mend” time again, only this time it was more than a slogan.

            Eventually, new miracle fibres were invented, but surprisingly, people were not as keen to embrace them as what had been predicted.  People seemed to have discovered individualism and were reluctant to get back into a universal form of dress.   Maybe they feared that these new materials would also go the way of denim and they’d find themselves with the equivalent of the Emperor’s New Clothes, as they had when denim died.

            For whatever reason, people began to wear their clothes with pride.  They walked taller and didn’t slouch along like robots in an invisible chain gang.

            Finally a fibre very similar to denim was heralded as the New Denim, but no one wanted to go near it: it was too stiff, too rough, and too much like wearing cardboard. It had no association with being young and cool anymore. Even people with long memories, who once wore only denim, could not be coaxed back. It was a complete flop and soon the manufacturers saw it as a financial dead donkey and stopped making it.  What supplies they had, they pulped into roof insulation for homes.

            More and more people fell in love with natural fibres, form fitting tailoring, and the whole notion of being well dressed.  It became not only desirable, but normal to dress in that way. It seemed the Cult of Casual had lost its stranglehold on the nation’s psyche.

Travellin' Along.....

After my last post about minimalistic packing, I recalled other times when I 've travelled with the equivalent of a whole wardrobe in an envelope (so to speak.)

When Gorgeous Husband and I went to Dublin, and when we went to Porto, in Portugal, I took all my gear in this briefcase sized bag.  It worked OK too, although through some miracle, I was able to pack in a new pair of boots that I'd bought in Portugal.  One advantage of this type of packing, of course, is that it all goes in the overhead storage in the airplane.  No waiting for your luggage, or it getting lost.

This is my briefcase-sized bag.  Dimensions are 18 inches wide, 12 inches high and 6.5 inches deep. (Metric: 45cm x 30cm x 17cm.)  I packed an empty tote bag flat to use as a handbag once we'd arrived.

Thinking about travelling made me realize that there are other tips to making your voyage pleasant, and not all of them include what to wear.

For instance, one of the best things to take along on any trip is a smile.  Bear in mind that the more friendly and approachable you appear to be, the smoother the whole journey.  Especially where people are serving you in the capacity of their job. 

Should a misunderstanding arise, consider that it could be you who is at fault.  Maybe you misunderstood what was said.  Maybe they misunderstood you. Maybe you unwittingly committed a social faux-pas.  Be willing to be the first to say, "excuse me" (or the equivalent of it.)

Don't expect that everything will be just as it is at home.  Perhaps the transportation will be late or different than you expect.  Perhaps people will talk slower than you are used to, or faster.  Maybe they have a different concept of what is and isn't rude.  Just, to the best of your ability, go with the flow.  The world does not revolve around your plans.

If the weather is ghastly, it is the same weather for everyone.  No one orders the weather around.  It does what it wants, and it is what it is.  If necessary, change your plans-- do something indoors, find some other amusements, shrug under your umbrella like everyone else.  Accept what is. It may lead you to something or someone totally unexpected.

Keep yourself as safe as possible.  Don't put all your valuables in one bag and then casually loop it over the back of your chair.  Don't wear clothes that advertise you have too much money and would like someone to help you get rid of some of it.  Be aware of your surroundings at all times and if your gut tells you that something isn't quite right, LISTEN to it.

As a general rule, knapsacks should have a sign on them, saying, "help yourself.  I can't see what you are doing."

If the fire alarm goes off in your building, hit for the stairs.  Don't say, "oh, it's probably a false alarm.  Those things are always going off."  This could be one of those times when it is not such a good idea to "wait and see."

Keep your passport close to you at all times.  I keep mine in my body pouch, and basically other than bathing, it stays with me.  It wouldn't hurt to memorize your passport number either.

It isn't really a stupid idea to have some portable snacks with you.  Sometimes when you're hungry and just can't find anyplace suitable to eat, it's great to have.  Or if you are relying on someone else serving you food (such as if you are on a coach trip, or flight) the food might not come as fast as what your stomach thinks is reasonable.  Look after yourself to the best of your ability, and be happy if things work out well when others are doing the catering.

Take the smallest possible sizes of all the things you consider essential.  Surprisingly, band-aids, safety pins, and a nail file come in useful, and are not much fun to go looking for in a strange location.

Besides your camera, if you are so inclined, one of the best things to pack for a trip is a small journal for recording your impressions.  Photos are great, but writing down things like a snippet of overheard conversation, peculiar signs, the smell of something delicious or repugnant, the cost of drinks/meals.. are things too small and insignificant for photos.  Whatever captures your attention as something out of your ordinary experience makes for an interesting read.  These journals can bring back memories so vividly that when you read them at a later date, you are transported back to where you were and what you saw.  For instance, when we were in Paris one night, we saw this scene from the window of the restaurant where we had our meal.:

 "The traffic outside the window was quite entertaining, as it was the junction of about 5 different roads, and the traffic all seemed to funnel through and go its various directions at high speeds and without the aid of road markings. Not only was it every car for itself, there were also lots of flying motorcycles, scooters, buses, bicycles, and even some boys on rollerskates.  In the midst of this hub-bub, a little old lady decided she would cross.  Not in the crosswalk, as that was not the most direct route.  She purposefully pulled her coat closer together, buttoned up, and wove her way past the cars, between two buses and ended up on the other side.  It was like watching a pensioner take on gladiators." 

I can still see the scene in my mind.  How it was wet and cold and dark, the car headlights streaming in the rain.  It was 2001.  Journals really are great.  In mine, I put in whatever strikes my fancy, from the colour of wallpaper in the hotel room, to jokes we've shared with strangers to outrageous prices of things.

This are just some of the things I picked up on my travels that have made it more pleasant for the two of us. How do other people travel?  Do you have any tips that you'd like to pass on?

Minimalist Packing

I've been inspired by other blogger's descriptions of what they packed when they went on holiday, and I decided to "showcase" what I took for our 4 day holiday to Lille, France.  It all fit into a tiny case, and I didn't get tired of the combinations.  Also, to be fair, it's only 4 days, so even if I wore the same thing 4 days, no one but Gorgeous Husband and I would know.

This is what I took:

2 roll neck sweaters (turtle necks, as they are known in North America)
2 skirts
2 pair of boots
1 tunic
1 coat
1 hat
1 umbrella
1 scarf/gloves set
some jewellery
1 long sleeve tee shirt (worn as nightwear, or daywear if it was too warm for the roll necks)
pjama bottoms

The outfits: (needless to say, no ironing needed!)

These are the second pair of boots.  I haven't included them in photos, because I threw them out in France.  They were worn out, and would have cost about £20 to repair.  Besides I had already bought 3 pair of new boots and needed the space in the suitcase for the new ones! Photo in the British Library, next to a bronze seat that looks like an open book.

My philosophy when I travel is to take old clothes that I don't particularly care about.  If I find something new and exciting, I ditch the old clothes in a bin somewhere and just come home with the new ones.  If I don't find anything, no worries, the old clothes just come home again.

I did wear everything, even the hat.  It's a great squashy one that packs flat and is good for drizzle.  Those times when you don't really need an umbrella.  Or it is too windy for one.

The small striped purse I wore under my coat.  It contained my wallet and money.  My passport was in my security pouch which I wear under my clothes.  If I were to have my bag snatched, they would grab the large bag, which contained my umbrella, camera, lunch, guidebook, makeup and anything else that I thought I might have need of.

The over-the-head small purse meant I was never worried about setting my purse down somewhere and forgetting it.  It left both hands free and I could wear it while we had coffee or lunch.  The big bag would be on the floor near my feet (or sometimes between my feet).  Maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but when we went to Paris, my knapsack was always being opened.  I didn't lose anything valuable that time, but it does make me aware that while travelling, being safe rather than sorry is a good motto to follow.

Does anyone else have any tips for travelling? 

A Trip Down Memory Lane

The last time I was at this magnificent Tudor mansion in Cheshire was 17 years ago.  How can I be so sure?  I first set eyes on Little Morton Hall the day after Gorgeous Husband and I had had our English wedding.  I don't remember if we knew what we were going to see, or if we found it by chance, but I do remember that by the time we arrived, after an hour or so of twisting roads, I felt sick as a dog.  I sometimes get carsick, and so it was the day we arrived at here.

Before even having a look around, I went to the cafe to have a coffee and see if I could feel a bit more human.  I decided to have a " cherry flapjack" as they had that on the menu.  I was accustomed to seeing a flapjack as a small pancake in Canada, and I thought it sounded rather good.  However, what arrived was something that looked like a granola bar.  In England, a flapjack isn't a pancake at all! 

Some of the beautiful leaded glass windows.  Original Tudor mansion from the 1600s.

This building is one of those fabulous old Tudor buildings, unique in the way its architecture resembles a line of washing, all sagging inward, and full of peculiar angles and nooks and crannies. Some architects aren't sure why the building is still able to stand, considering its "unusual" sloping condition.

                      An "artistic" photo.  Gorgeous Husband framed me in the leaded pane.

 This is the Long Gallery, which is upstairs.  Apparently, the ladies of the day used to use this long open space to exercise by walking up and down, back and forth.  Not the most interesting of past times, I wouldn't say.

This fireplace, with what looks like a plaster work crest, is in one of the upstairs rooms. That's one of the things I love about England: it has so many mind-bogglingly ancient things.

                          A lovely outfit of the Tudor times.  (The latest in their fashion!)

They even had Tudor outfits that you could try on.  I've got to say, I'm glad I don't have to wear that baby bonnet thing on my head all the time, as it is massively unflattering.