How do you wear yours?

Snoods. Love them or hate them? I'm personally pleased they are back. Way back in the 80s was my first encounter with The Snood. A cosy warm winter garment which kept all drafts off the neck, a necessity for the snowy months. I am once again the proud owner of a thick knitted snood!

However, the flimsy 'fashion' snoods are another matter. What do we do with them? Are they best simply worn as a doubled over scarf? Or pulled up in the traditional manner. The label shows they are designed to be worn both ways. So in the safety of my own living room I tried it out, and found myself singing Kylie Minogue's "Cant get you out of my head" but thankfully I stopped myself from breaking into her dance routine too. Well you never quite know who is looking through the window! It looked daft to be honest... but a sudden slight cosiness made itself known across my ears and neck, so maybe around the house only.......

A New Year, A New Start!

What better way to start a whole new me than with a whole new hairdo?

Wow, happy new year bloggers! 4 whole months have whizzed by me with such force and before I knew it I've been thrown right into the start of a New Year. A better year hopefully. My life has had crazy ups and downs and huge, humongous, massive changes in the last 12 months. All I can say is here's to a New Year and a whole New Me!!! So it's not going to be easy, but hey life is no walk in the park. As the old saying goes "It'll be OK in the end, and if its not OK then it is not the end." I think that will be my quote for the year. Lets hope I stick with it...

Quick briefing of my life in pics...

 October brought a visit to the fabulous city of Edinburgh for an 'internet weirdies' meet up with my fellow photography crowd.

What started as a 'photography' weekend ended up in us hearing "I can't be bothered to get my camera out, lets have a drink instead" many times. Before all motivation was lost we did manage a cool "Rock the Frock" session down at Parliament where 5 of us had a splashing time in the water display there! Raised a few eyebrows and stopped a couple of tour buses....

How cool are these Primark tights??

My favourite Ebay bargain - Topshop shoes £2.99!

Halloween was spent over in Belfast with my best friend (if that may still be the case... long story!!!) and a load of friends from there. My daughters came along too, which gave me 3 weeks of stress to hand make all of our costumes from scratch. Sewing 150 real feathers of various sizes and thicknesses onto a net skirt (The Eldest went as Black Swan) has literally scarred my fingers for life.

 A beautiful mermaid costume was the suggestion I made to The Terror, "yes Mammy, a dead-ed one". Oh well, a mermaid trapped in an old fishing net and dragged from the ocean with a load of sea junk was the final costume.

Not wanting to spoil my children's delight for all things glam and gory I decided to go as a female matador, a dead-ed one of course! Spent a couple of hours transforming people into Zombies, Beetlejuice, Smurfs, Devils and Gladiators. No face was safe from my paint brushes ;o)  All in all it was a night to remember.

Christmas was like any other, manic, lots of kids, lots of family, boxes, plastic tags, screwdrivers and batteries! The main day was spent at my parents house, the traditional Christmas Eve sleepover and the magical morning, followed by mince pies, cream and lots of booze with my cousins and Aunty before lunch.

Boxing day saw the arrival of my bio mother from Scotland, giving the kids yet another Santa visit! Many games and laughs were to be had before yet another eventful sleepover. Mam bought me some lovely cosy tartan PJ's for Christmas (after my new found love of tartan leggings),

 ...so off I went to get dressed for bed. As I came downstairs she surprised me and the kids by standing in the very same pair! Tweedledum and Tweedledee sprung to mind ;o)

"FAIL"

The upcoming month... Its my birthday soon, the big one (for now until the next even bigger big one), I'm turning 30. I thought I'd dread it, I thought I'd be depressed but I can honestly say turning 25 is somehow a much scarier concept. Maybe its about the boxes on questionnaires, who knows, but I'm quite looking forward to my day. The family have a 'secret' planned for the day, no idea what but I'm guessing they haven't told The Terror or else I would have heard about it a week ago! Then a night on the town with my girly friends the day after, followed by a 4 day rare child free break to Belfast! I'm being totally spoilt. Bring it on!

Hoarder!

No sooner did Dad utter the  words "we're sorting all your Grandad's things out that were at the back of the cupboard" then I was jumping in the car up to his house. I love a good rummage through old things and whats better than the items belonging to family members.

Grandad left us 12 years ago, so there was nothing I haven't seen before in the suitcases and boxes, but my interest in vintage items has increased during that time. We came across WW2 knuckle dusters with daggers attached, old swords, various large wooden wall clocks, pictures, vases, goblets, a huge range of things. Each wrapped in pieces of retro curtain fabric! I was in my element.

I came home with a few pieces that match my living room, cut glass ashtrays (ideal for my crystals!), trinket boxes, a silver 'thing' that I have no idea what it is but I liked. The Terror asked if it was for her pudding! lol.
My favourite item is the copper kettle. I actually inherited this when Grandad was still alive as I used to play for hours with it at his house, so now it sits proudly on my hearth. The most hugely special and sentimental item is the wooden barometer. The glass has a crack in and Dad suggested I get it fixed, but I simply recoiled in horror! It had a crack in when Grandad was alive and as long as I'd known the barometer and that's the way it shall stay. Every time our Grandad would walk to the front door to say good bye and see us out, he would tap twice on the barometer to see what the weather was like. Ive no idea if these things actually work, but its going to have a very proud place on a wall in my house, as soon as I can find a suitable wall... Yes, my name's Zoe and I am a hoarder.

Chasing rainbows...

I'm so behind on my blog posts so I've decided to stick a few days worth all on one post to catch up!

Saturday - Not too hungover, just tired after a 2am bedtime and a bathroom still to scrub this morning for Mam's arrival. As it happened she didn't arrive until 3pm so I could have spent the morning in bed rather than back and forwards to the window with 2 hyper children "Is she here yet? Is that her car?".

Top - Primark, Trousers - New Look, Shoes - New Look, Necklace and Ring - Primark

Sunday - I'm struggling with my colour today, I have 2 yellow tops and both are unsuitable for today's planned activities.  Strolling along the sea front, a trip to the market, ice skating and then the funfair! (The only solution was my ever faithful sunflowers.) Yes we were all totally exhausted by the end of such a fun day.

Jeans - Next, Hoodie - Primark (Men's! Women's are never thick and chunky enough), Boots - Dorothy Perkins, Sunflower headband - Primark

Monday - Magical Maxi! Hides a multitude of sins and is also my colour for today, marvelous! I ended up layered in 2 cardigans, a pair of slipper socks and a fair of fluffy slippers by late afternoon. These temperatures or lack of them are not normal for this time of year surely.
Been practising my Reiki at Dad's house today (after bio Mam went home). My brother and his wife were keen to give it a try then Dad jumped up and said "right, its my turn!" (he was the skeptic from 2 weeks ago....). I laughed but asked if I could at least have a cup of coffee in between treatments!

Mam (bio) and I. Dress - Boden (less 40% discount from a friends party)

Tuesday - I've been dying for a pair of coloured skinny jeans for ages so I treat myself to these last week. Might even get myself a green pair. It's my Mam's birthday today, OK this is where it gets confusing, not Mam who has just visited, but my step-mam who I often refer to as 'mam' as shes the one who has brought me up from being 1 year old. So really she's the mother in my life. My bio mam is still my mam, but I don't, can't and probably never will hold the same respect for her as I do for my step mam. So for J's birthday I treat her to a fish pedicure. We've been once before but I still cant get over the weird feeling of it!

Jeans - Primark, Boots - Dorothy Perkins, T-shirt - Primark, Cardigan - TK Maxx, Head scarf - Ebay

My mam (step mam J) and I.

Wednesday - Too cold for the dress I wore last week so I found another 'back of the wardrobe' item to help me with my indigo day.

Top - Apricot, Leggings - Miss Selfridge, Boots - Dorothy Perkins, Bracelet - Dorothy Perkins, set of 4 beads - Gift, Earrings - Table top sale.

Thursday - Keeping it simple. Violet days are easy... they can be white or violet! So Violet earrings, violet nail polish and a plain simple t-shirt. I haven't been very well recently and took a trip to the doctors today, so I was dressed for comfort. Turns out she thinks I have some kind of cyst/lump/'something' and is referring me for a scan as soon as possible. :-/

Jacket - New Look, T-Shirt - Primark, Trousers - TK Maxx, Earrings - Dorothy Perkins

Day to Night

Friday was such a busy day for me but I was determined to keep in with my 21 day colour theme. My birth mam was coming down to stay at our house for the first time ever. The children didn't think twice to invite her for a sleepover and helpfully told her we have a spare room that my best friend from Belfast stays in when she visits....

Trousers - Matalan (sale), Vest - Matalan

Saturday morning was the time she would arrive, and given the state of the house after our flooded cupboards and 6 weeks of children being off school there was quite a bit of tidying up to do! I'd been invited out for my sister in law's birthday on Friday night, my eldest had her friend around for the afternoon and the hoover was attached to my hand all day. Does anyone else have to spend 2 days cleaning before guests or are you all domestic goddesses? I really need to organise myself better.

So the first pictures are very rare and probably never again will you see me without makeup, unless I have my sunglasses on ;o)
Roll on to Friday night.

Dress - Thrifted (unknown brand), Double ring - Primark, Bangles - Warehouse, Leather cuff - Primark

Time to let my hair down. Well I would have if I had any to let down. I'd planned to rummage amongst my summer frocks to try and get some final wear out of them but with one look out of the window to the clouds that had produced a crazy amount of rain all day long, autumn fashion was the way forward. I was secretly pleased, I always feel more glam in autumnal clothes.

Dress - Thrifted, Tights - Dorothy Perkins (sale), Boots - Dorothy Perkins

Loads of people commented on my dress, asking where I had got it from, "oh I can't remember, its been at the back of my wardrobe for agggggggges". Well OK, between you bloggers and I it was purchased in a charity shop 2 weeks ago! There are some people you can proudly tell about your thrifted purchases, but the crowd I was with on Friday night were not that type...
Sometimes it pays off to be different and stand out from the crowd. As I sat among the group of over done perma-tans it was my paleness that they were all cooing over and wishing they had skin like mine. One particular lady said "I would kill to have skin like yours" then started prattling on about how she ONLY has 6 minutes on a sunbed each day... A smile and nod and say nothing moment from me.

Here's my new toy! I've been after a DSLR for ages and could never afford one but my best friend was upgrading her camera and sold me a bargain. So far its never left the auto switch, I have no idea what I'm doing with it, and I cant even find the timer switch so my eldest is currently taking all of my blog photos. Shes enjoying being paparazzi though as the button has continuous shooting so its like a fashion show when she has it in her hands!

DSLR - Cheaper than usual off best friend, Double ring - Primark, Bangles - Warehouse, Leather cuff - Primark

Indigo!

Dress - New Look (sale), Necklace - Dorothy Perkins (sale)

I have 2 items in my wardrobe this colour and the dress that I chose to wear had been another item with the tags still attached from last year. I love the detail on the skirt part of this dress and as its a lot heavier due to the ruching I'm slightly more confident that it won't flip right up in the slightest breeze!

Something borrowed

So now my eldest is growing up at a super fast rate, it has its advantages. An extra wardrobe ;o)

Tshirt - Next (borrowed), Jeans - Next, Headband - Primark

She occasionally borrows a t-shirt or vest off me but now the roles have reversed. Desperately seeking something green (for my rainbow days...) I found the perfect top, managed to squeeze into it and think it might accidentally find a way into my wardrobe a bit more often lol.