every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

...or maybe we just love their suits?

voila, presenting my sequin blazer!

£10 in the dorothy perkins sale, reduced from £60! a bargain i do believe (:

i generally don't wear much 80s inspired clothing, but i do rather love this.

sequins really are my bag, but i'm not quiiiiite sure about the shoulder pads, they might need a bit of getting used to.

i thought an 80s outfit deserved an 80s pose B)

also, is it just me or does the headscarf give it a bit of a madonna-in-the-desperately-seeking-susan-film look? i'm not a huge madonna fan, but i must say it's quite the look.

yeaaaaaah, i was feeling in a bit of an 80s music mood so i stuck some marc bolan & t rex on & did some (thoroughly embarrassing) dance moves.
i know i'm cool by the way, you don't need to tell me.
oh, the shame.

i love love love everything about this jacket!
the sequins, obviously.
the cute little lapels.

the silky lining on the rolled up sleeves.

the way it can be done up or loose.
even the shoulder pads! (yes, i'm coming around to them)

the only thing now is wondering how to wear it. i'm thinking it might be too showy for my general outlandish skirt-bright tights daytime apparrel, so i think i'll be sticking to jeans & a plain/band tshirt.

which means buying new jeans.

gah. note to self; you must stop recklessly spending money!
PS you may have noticed i'm wearing the same tshirt/bow/necklace combo as the last post. well my dears this is because i managed to sweet talk my camera into taking a couple more photos so i could post them to you lovely people.

okay, so i held the battery against the radiator - but it worked all the same!

i like big bows & i cannot lie

today is my good friend's birthday, and also my blog's birthday! :O

(i want to call it a blirthday, is that weird?)

i can't quite believe it's been going for a year, it feels very strange. i haven't always been posting in the same sort of way, at first this was more of an outpouring for my general thoughts (from another kook) but now it's more clothes, art, accessories, inspiration based which i really do love.

i've been thinking of changing the name of my blog lately, to reflect more what i write about.

maybe i'm getting too superficially deep?

i'll get back to you on that one.

in the meantime, this is what i wore to school today;

what do you think of the headscarf/bow? i like to think of it as my '40s housewife look.

cardigan - vintage, tshirt - h&m, necklace - dolls & molls, badge - beatles story shop (it says love and peace are eternal)

i don't really like this photo, but my camera had a full on hissy fit & died before i could take any more normal ones of my face.

i still feel really self conscious about taking photos of myself, even just outfit ones for here. i've never really been all that confident with the way i look, i guess i just have to get used to being objective about it.

still, it would really really freak me out if people from my school saw this blog. perhaps one of my new year's resolutions should have been not to be concerned with the way i look & be a bit more confident.

oh my, i think it's time for me to watch a bit of QI with the lovely stephen fry (:

people never notice anything.

quote from the catcher in the rye.

just heard the sad news that JD Salinger died, aged 91.

catcher in the rye is one of my favourite books of all time, if you haven't read it you really should. when you're reading it it doesn't seem that awesome, but when you get to the end it's just like wow.

that's not very eloquently put, but it really leaves an effect on you.

this is a handbag made to look like the novel, i found it on someone's blog, but i can't for the life of me remember who's it was! if anyone knows, could they please inform me so i can give credit?

i may have to have a go at making it, it really is one of the coolest & original things i have ever seen.

*

"what really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it" - holden caulfield, chapter 3.

with a little help from my friends

remember those acrylics i posted about a while back?

well, for my art project about identity i've been making my own record sleeve thing.

this is the front (slightly based on the sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band).

anyways, this is the portrait i drew on my "record" with the acrylics.

it hasn't photographed very well unfortunately =/

also, i got a lovely package from dorothy perkins this afternoon (which really cheered me up after crying & freaking out about my bitchy art teacher at school, oh the joy), but seeing as this is just a quick post you'll have to wait to see the full extent of it (possibly) tomorrow!
oh, the suspense! i hear you cry.
can you guess what it is yet?

don't look back into the sun

it's been SO long since my last post, i do apologise!

this saturday was my friend's birthday party (and today is her birthday, happy birthday joanna! :) & she had a bit of a dance/raving session at her house, which was beyond awesome!

my bowler hat (£10 in the topshop sale, woo!) arrived so i wore that,

with my vintage lace dress (ebay), pink tights & rainbow heart necklace - a very "charlotte-y" item of jewellery i have been told!

here are a couple photos of the night (taken by the lovely birthday girl) , all the dancing by the way is completely sober as i don't drink (none of us had been at the vino), i just dance in an extremely odd and exuberant manner.

peeeeeace!
these girls are my world (:

freaking out to the libertines.
i told you i dance oddly.

i may not be posting as much over the next few works, basically work is getting on top of me & while i love love love posting here, it might have to take a back seat for a wee while. 'cause, y'know, apparently these A level things are quite important.

i must go finish my drawing now (self portrait, it's taking ages! i swear to god i have the weirdest nose ever) & listen to belle & sebastian, love love readers (:

made a maid

i'm in a much better mood today, i'm not sure if it came up on my last post but i was pretty despondent yesterday. some people just appear more wrapped up in their (self-inflicted, i might add) problems than their friends. i don't mean to be cruel, but perhaps your troubles are actually not as bad as you see them?

wow, that was a tad b to the itchy charlotte, let's cool it down a notch shall we?

back to positive things blogfriends!

my guitar lesson today actually went pretty well, after i was dreading it all week. i think i do appear to be making progress. i know where all the notes are, it's just the order that muddle me up.

also, i got a couple packages in the post - a streetcar named desire by tennessee williams for my english literature class, a bowler hat (which is a bit annoyingly bent out of shape, so i need to sort it out before i take any photos of it!) & a laura marling badge i bought off ebay.

how cute! i love the design on it, can't wait to wear this to her concert in april, eeeeeek!

according the the nme, she's planning on releasing two albums next year!

please excuse me while i hyperventilate at the excitement of it all.
and to top it all off, she's gone & dyed her hair black! that girl really & truly is my inspiration, worryingly stalkerish as that may be.

gilded cage

hellooooo!

just a smidgeon of a post today i'm afraid, as i have much art homework/psychology revision/guitar practice to be doing.

basically, i just wanted to tell you about my friend's new jewellery website which she has just set up. her business is called dolls & molls & you can visit her website here. before, she was just selling it at vintage fairs but now she has decided to branch out a tad - you can also become a fan on facebook here.

in my opinion, her jewellery is lovely (she sells homewares & purses etc too), here is one of the necklaces i have bought from her in the past, which you can also purchase off her website here.

see now, isn't that sweet?
i have also bought a lovely turquoise shoe necklace from her in the past, but i don't think it's available any more sadly.
it's a shame this is such a short post, but i always find out i run out of inspiration when i go back to school - that & the fact i have so much work to do! hopefully at the weekend i will have some more to post (:
for now, i will leave you with my playlist of today;
simple twist of fate - bob dylan
thunder road - bruce springsteen
superstition - stevie wonder
get ready - the temptations
hurtful - erik hassle
all you need is love - the beatles
no woman, no cry - bob marley
shark in the water - vv brown.

oh, PS this is my 111th post, how i love palindromes! (:

acrylic love

psychology revison is driving me up the wall, so i thought i'd take a break & post about my lovely new set of acrylics (:

*cue heavenly angelic chorus*

aren't they beauuuuuuutiful?
i bought these in the sale yesterday, which was wonderful because they are normally rather expensive. i feel so artisty now, with my little collection of art supplies growing & growing! i can't wait to start painting with them, i actually adooooore acrylic paint - so much so that i've forgotten what it's like to paint with anything else!
i do feel a little odd about calling myself an "artist" though, sometimes i don't feel like i deserve that title. people often tell me i'm a creative, arty person, but i always feel shy about using the word artist in case people think i'm not good enough or that i'm being pretentious. in the future, i hope i can use that word without feeling embarrassed or like it doesn't belong to me.

a chain of flowers

had a massive excursion to hobbycraft today (an arts & crafts store) & bought many many things.

i was also supposed to be shopping for presents for two friends as well, but i just wandered round for ages in lots of different shops & couldn't find a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g that suited them. major frustration attack.

anyway, back to the creativeness.

i bought this bag from a charity shop a while back (and posted about it here), but it was without a strap & while clutches are all sorts of elegant, they just aren't my thing. therefore, i decided to add my own strap to it, and with a smidgeon of chain & ribbon from hobbycraft later...

et voila!
i haven't quite figured out how to attach yet, i may have to enlist mother's help for that.
a few recent purchases of mine;

i bought these bows off ebay last week for about £2 combined & they have just arrived, awfully sweet don't you think?

gosh, more hair accessories!
i do have quite an obsession with hair bands & bows & things i must say.
these were wonderfully cheap in the dorothy perkins sale, the purple flowered one was £1.50 & the gold bow one was only £1.

the flower is made of lovely silky material, it has a wonderfully opulent feel.

and the bow has very small sequins.

gold isn't normally my colour, but i absolutely ADORE big bows, & for some reason i thought this had a kind of alice-in-wonderland feel to it, so obviously i had to buy it.

baby, we were born to run.

things that made me smile today.

getting a B on my english essay.

learning funny numbers in german.

wearing the bruce springsteen tshirt i bought at the weekend, then getting to school & finding out that my friend (who i bought the tshirt with) was also wearing it!

throwing playing cards around.
my art teacher liking my final piece idea (:
having another friend back at school.
being amused at the way tennessee williams died.
finding i have a new follower *wave*
mucking about in spanish & translating insults & obscure beatles lyrics.
walking home from the doctors in the dark & the snow listening to belle & sebastian & feeling like i was in an achingly lovely indie film.

reading my emails & finding i've be invited to help out at a jewellery & vintage fair.
watching notting hill with my momma.
*
i hope you've all had things that make you smile today (:

braveheart

my god i've been bored today.

i really should have done some schoolwork but i just did not have the energy. oh, and did i mention i'm the laziest person on earth?

so instead i listened to some records & played dress-up to try & diffuse the boredom.

this is the tartan shirt i posted about yesterday;

i actually love it!

i have a bit of a thing for oversized shirts, and it's a men's XL so it fits the bill perfectly. it is quite weird doing the buttons up though, 'cause men & women's buttons do up the opposite way (there's an intriguing fact for you).
i've received mixed reviews about the shirt so far.

my brother said i looked like an ice road trucker, then an old scottish man, then an idiot.

whereas my mother said it was very charlotte, which i'm going to take as a compliment.

& the father identified it as royal stuart tartan (um, yeah, we're scottish).

personally i think it would go better with a blue belt, but i don't have one of those so i had to settle for my thin little red one.

i put a spell on you

FINALLY got around to seeing this today:

nowhere boy,

best

film

ever!
to those who haven't heard of it, it's a biopic of john lennon (one of my heroes :) focusing mainly on his childhood, which was pretty traumatic.

(awww man, the edge of the picture got cut off. daayyyym)

i won't spoil the film, but you should totally go & see it. especially if you're a beatles fan, 'cause it really helps to understand why john lennon was the way he was.
oh and also, aaron johnson (the dude who plays john lennon) is a total babe!

"it's my buddy holly look"
you're damn right it is!

i went to see it with my friends kate & joanna which was lovely, i don't think there's ever been more squealing in the tyneside cinema! there were a few inaccuracies in it i must say, but i, as a truly devoted beatles fan, resisted the urge to point them out.

the picture above is from one of my favourite scenes, where the quarrymen (the first draft of the beatles) were recording in spite of all the danger - the now infamous session.

i think i'm going to have to buy the dvd. and the soundtrack. and the cardboard cutout from the cinema, which i have a photo of me & kate standing next to.

actually, i may ring the cinema & ask if i can buy it. that wouldn't be too much would it?

OH. aaaaaaaaaand we saw our head teacher there, most hilarious thing ever! tres awkward, although i'm fairly sure he had no clue who we were.

after the film, we went shopping for a friend's birthday present (we got her a jewellery box between us) & i bought a hairband, some flowers for my hair & i pretty damn awesome tshirt which i'll post pictures of sharpish, as well as the tartan shirt i bought from ebay which arrived this morning.

:)

funny face

i have a serious case of artist's block right now (the artist version of writer's block, surely there must be such a thing, right?) so instead of drawing, i felt like doing a post.

& also, i kinda hope it brings me a touch of inspiration.

this is what i wore today, thoroughly inappropriate weatherwise but i like it nonetheless.

besides, i stayed inside all day eating & watching how i met your mother (my obsession for that show just grows & grows)

oh, and to my left in that photograph is some of the audrey hepburn posters i was sticking up yesterday. i just put up my new calendar (jimi hendrix, eeep!) so unfortunately audrey had to come down. instead of recycling the wonderful images, i decided to cut out & keep.

so now when i'm feeling devoid of all hope & inspiration i can look up at my desk or from my bed & see audrey smiling above me.

(note to self: dude, that was seriously corny)

this skirt is the only black item of clothing i own, but i guess it doesn't really count because, well, it's not all black.

it was one of my first more "out there" purchases & still is one of my favourite items from my wardrobe.

tshirt - gift, skirt - h&m, red tights - mother's.

also, in my boredom i decided it would be fun to see what my hair looked like in a scarf/bow thing. i actually think it looks kind of freaking awesome!

goodbye england (covered in snow)

in the post this morning, i received a thick cardboard envelope with the words fragile: DO NOT BEND on it.

for a moment i was confused as to what was in it, but then i remembered about the vinyl laura marling EP i ordered.

*major excitement time*

the single is called goodby england (covered in snow) which seems very appropriate right now what with all the wintry weather we've been having.

the illustration on the front is lovely, and the song itself is hauntingly beautful.

the record has the pattern of branches on the back too, so cute.

you were so smart then in your jacket and coat

my softest red scarf was warming your throat

winter was on us at the end of my nose

but I never love england

more than when covered in snow.

but a friend of mine says it's good to hear

that you believe in love even if set in fear

well i'll hold you there brother and set you straight

i won't make believe that love is frail

and willing to break

i will come back here, bring me back when I'm old

i want to lay here forever in the cold

i might be cold but I'm just skin and bones

and I never love england

more than when covered in snow.

i wrote my name in your book, only god knows why

and i bet you that he cracked a smile

and i'm clearing all the stuff out of my room

trying desperately to figure out

what it is that makes me blue

and i wrote it in a big letter to you

and it's 25 pages front and back

and it's too good to be used

and i tried to be a girl who likes to be used

i'm too good for that

there's a mind under this hat and i

called them all and told them i've got to move

i'm out man , it's too hard

feel like running, feel like running

running off.

nd we will keep you, we will keep you little one

safe from harm, like an extra arm

you are part of us.

you were so smart then in your jacket and coat

and my softest red scarf was warming your throat

winter will leave us, left the end of my nose

so goodbye old england 'till next years snow

ziggy stardust

happy snow day!

cause the photos are too small in my last post, and i'm too darn lazy to re-do it

& it's snowing again!

i have 600 new songs on my ipod.

:O

don't quite know i'm going to listen to all of them, but i'll update on the ones i like :)

home again

3rd day off school in a week, oh my dorothy we really are not in kansas any more.

yesterday it snowed about 4 inches in just a few hours and, deciding not to waste the beautiful weather, i went outside for a bit of a wander & to generally fool about with the brother.

pretty snowy tree :)

i saw this big ass icicle outside my dad's window, cute no?
sadly it didn't last long as i made the mistake of telling the brother about it, and he broke it off & smashed it into many tiny pieces on the ground.

but i found some more!
not quite as pretty, but a bit like jack frost's fingers i think.

i don't really do location outfit posts (in fact, i don't really consciously do outfit posts), but the snow was so fresh & white i thought it was the perfect backdrop for my insane purple/turquoise apparel.
coat - h&m, scarf - gift, jumper - gift, tshirt (underneath) - matalan (yes, i shop there. and i'm proud :), trousers - h&m, wellies - my sister's (but not any moreee!)

me throwing snow in the air 'cause i am hilariously cool.

gosh, these photos turned out unexpectedly small, apologies everyone.

hope everybody has a good day, regardless of whether it is snowy or not :)

show me your heart

i saw this post at muchlove and felt inspired to find something heart shaped from around my room.

this is what i came up with;

my vintage belt with the heart shaped buckle & heart shaped belt holes too!

(i'm pretty sure belt holes isn't the right name, but my mind has gone completely blank)
i love this belt, it only cost me £4 and i think it is ridiculously sweet.
one thing that i love today: gilmore girls. it just makes me happy :)

tomorrow never knows

happy new yeaaaaaaaaar!

merry 2010 everyone, i now christen this decade: the tenties.

it sounds so much cuter than "the tweenies" don't you think? much less cbeebies.

my new year's eve consisted of driving to yorkshire to my auntie's house (the 31st is also her birthday) & playing a hell of a lot of beatles rock band.

my brother, my cousin and i were the best team, we managed to play shea stadium in the story :O

i also kicked some serious ass at singing.
hello 100% in lucy in the sky with diamonds, while my guitar gently weeps and here comes the sun!

it's also been craaaaaaaaazy snow here, like 9 inches thick!
oh my.
but school is cancelled tomorrow, woo!
as it is a new year (and a new decade), i need a few resolutions.
- be more hardworking. i am so lazy it's actually a little bit ridiculous.
- gain some weight. i have no idea how, but i am going to do this.
- spend more time with friends.
- take more pictures. i also plan on digging out my dad's SLR film camera.
- teach myself how to play guitar.
- buy more records.
- be more organised
- go to more concerts.
- discover more vintagey shops near me.
- do unusual things.
oh! and this is my 100th post, oddly appropriate don't you think?
PEACE OUT.