i got a head full of ideas, that are drivin' me insane

yesterday, i got a lovely package in the post from maggie's farmm - who, by the way, is also having a sale. i bought an extremely cute blouse & a sweet dress. she's a lovely girl, & she also has a blog here, have a look at her vintage shop because her stuff is truly lovely. very well priced too, i generally don't make many etsy.com purchases because the price plus postage to the uk can be pretty daunting for someone on my budget, but brynna's (incidentally, an awesome name) prices are ace.

also, it happens to be named after one of my favourite bob dylan songs - which is actually one of the reasons i looked at the shop; i swear, name your business after a beatles, bowie, hendrix or dylan song & i will come a-knockin'.

i was quite excited just to see the box to be quite honest with you, the first time i watched castaway when i was about 8 i thought that fedex was some kind of super secret spy organisation. i have no idea why, as that certainly wasn't alluded to in the film!

so cute! i loved this little touch.

i loved this as well! a scene from the graduate i do believe? i haven't seen this film & i've always wanted to.

and it came with some free handmade (i think) vintagey rings! i love these, they really suit the colours of the shirt i bought as well.

now, about that shirt.

excuse the silly poses please, but it was a case of impatience & limited camera time.

how cute are the frills though?! i think it's like a feminine version of a lumberjack shirt.

i decided to wear it with my black (shock horror!) high waisted skirt, which is more of a smart look for school. this is a pretty versatile shirt i think, i look forward to mixing it up a bit over the summer, slight cowgirl look perhaps?

i love these frills quite possibly more than words can say.

i'll post pictures of the dress soon, as i'm still not completely sure how to style it. it's a little bit outside my comfort zone clotheswise, i'm still pretty new to this vintage fashion business! i will just say it is a lovely periwinkle blue & has cute lace detail.

straw boater time! expect to be seeing a lot of this hat here, as i am quite addicted to it. apologies for the expression, i do look like an utter poser!

goodbye until later in the week dears, i've got english flashcards to make & psychological terms to learn!

i'm going to a friend's eurovision night party on saturday, then evolution festival on sunday (with paolo nutini, calvin harris, the futureheads and frankie & the heartstrings, eeep!) so i'll make sure to take pictures (:

good day sunshine

yesterday was moving day for me, which was an experience and a half. not made easier by the absolutely sweltering heat we're having in britain at the moment (i know, second sentence in & already i've mentioned the weather. but, well, i am british, what can you expect?)

i'll post some pictures of the new house in a while, maybe after we've had it decorated & stuff, with furniture. as at the moment most of my things are residing in boxes in the middle of my room. which is going to be wonderously useful when i come to do my revision in a few days.

to celebrate our last proper school day of year 11 before study leave, my friends & i decided to have an impromptu picnic in our local park. alas, we didn't take many photos but my friend did take one of me looking apparently rather hipsterish.

those, sadly, are not my glasses. my friend kate got given them by her dad, and i think they're genuine vintage ray bans (correct my if i'm wrong kate) - but they were also quite trippy when you put them on as they had prescription lenses, & one side was a lot stronger than the other.

i've recently discovered the most awesome drink of all time, ice cream soda. pure lovelyness. my dad bought me some in an extremely cute vintage style bottle, which (much to his consternation) i am now keeping to, i don't know, put flowers in or something.

see the boxes is the background? my untidiness contained.

and it's from glasgow! hello homeland.

i feel free

i had two exams today, eeek! first i had general studies, which kind of doesn't really count, & then i had my spanish listening-reading-writing paper, which was pretty bad frankly. it was just odd, i didn't really know what to make of it, & my essay about musical influence really sucked.

but oh well! there's nothing i can do about it now, so i propose to not worry (:

(this resolution will probably last until, oh i don't know, tomorrow at the latest maybe?)

also, today i, my father & my brother have been packing up our stuff in preparation for moving house on thursday. this is officially my & my brother's last night staying in (what now must be called) our old house, because tomorrow we go to stay with our mother, as per usual. i'm kind of sad to be leaving as i love this house & the garden, but hopefully i will settle into the new place soon enough.

fingers crossed.

i am quite happy though, two exams down, four to go! also, the sun was out today which was lovely, & there are cherry blossom petals everrrrrrrywhere! i was feeling a bit free-spirity so i took my shoes off & ran over the grass in bare feet, which has to be one of the loveliest feelings in the world.

(weheartit.com)

dedicated follower of fashion

it's been a while since my last post, & for that i do apologise. i've just had art shiz to deal with (and i forgot to take pictures of my final piece, but i will post some as soon as i can!) & i've had no inspiration for posts, & i didn't really want to just do an oh-my-god-i'm-so-sorry-for-not-posting post.

yesterday, my mother (a textiles/fashion historian) gave me a book about newcastle (my home city) in the 1960s. last week she gave a talk about 60s fashion, & this was her gift for taking part.

this in't just any book though, this actually features my mother (aged about 28ish) modelling some original biba clothes.

not actually in the '60s though, she's not that old.

there she is!

my mum has always been into 60s fashion, & i've practically grown up on information about the famous biba clothing label & barbra hulanicki. she was working on an exhibition all about it just before (and slightly after) i was born at a local art gallery - which remains the most popular exhibition there of all time. in fact, i was almost named biba!

and again in colour.

the book is filled with some amazing photographs of the region and people dressed in lovely multicoloured clothes. i did take some photos, but they came out ridiculously blurry - i must get my camera fixed!

this is one of my favourite finds in the book.

it's a window display in fenwick's (a department store) featuring jenny boyd, who was eric clapton's girlfriends at the time! she's also patti boyd's sister, who eric wrote the song layla about - while he was still with her sister & while patti was still married to george harrison!

i love their love square type thing, even if it is beyond complicated.

i love all the music posters they had too, and i squealed when i saw the bob dylan one!

the seven year itch

today, inbetween spanish revision, i watched the seven year itch which i had never seen before. this is widely regarded as the film which turned marilyn monroe into a star, & i was really impressed by it. i loved the shifts into fantasy, and of course marilyn's costume changes.

if i could look this effortlessly glamourous while carrying groceries, i think i'd be rather pleased.

this wasn't one of my favourite outfits from the film, but this scene shows her amazing grace and elegance - which i had actually never realised before. normally when i think of 1950s-60s hollywood elegance, i think of people like audrey hepburn, sophia loren or rita hayworth, but marilyn is well & truly up there now.

anybody who can look elegant in a dressing gown carrying a breakfast tray is forever in my icon books.

of course, this film is famous for the "skirt scene". marilyn looks lovely in this dress, but i think it's kind of sad that she never got past the "sex symbol" status, and was neveer lastingly, happily married because of that. she was beautiful, but only because she would never be seen any other way.

i wish i was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

we're moving house soon, and i think i'm really going to miss living here. especially the garden, as we have loads of lovely, pretty trees. today i felt a bit sad to be leaving, & some sort of artistic instinct took over me & i raced walked sedately outside to take some photos.

this is the most beautiful tree, ever. it's a little japanese maple & i absolutely adore it.

i've told the father that we have to get another one for our garden in the new house, because my heart just aches to part with it.

okay, slight overexaggeration there.

we have some super cute tulips too, bright pinks, purples, & mixed flowers.

so pretty.

for some reason, i am kind of in love with lichen on tree branches. is that weird?

the rhodedendron.

i do hope i spelled that correctly.

cherry blossom, yum. i'm seeing inspirational photographs of these babies pop up all over the blogosphere at the moment. much better than mine, of course.

i think i'll be marching father down to the nearest garden centre to be purchasing one of these trees too.

i love how it is the proper cherry blossom as well, with the big ass flowers. not the silly little excuses for flowers.

i am quite proud of this photo (:

the factory

oh my, i haven't posted in almost a week!

i do sincerely apologise, but i've been completely overwhelmed with work (mainly art, as my deadline is in 5 days, eeeek!) & probably will be for the next few weeks.

at the moment, as a bit of light relief, we've been coming up with some ideas for summer plans. last year, although we had 2 months off because of our GCSEs, we didn't actually do any of the things we said we would.

this is what we've come up with so far;

- expedition to the end of the metro line

- many days at the beach

- fake tattoo day

- balloon rave

- tenting

- camping in a friend's summer house

- my house warming party

- motown night

- 50s night

- nowhere boy premiere

- vintage fair expeditions

- coco avant chanel night

- charity shopping in hexham

- and, if somebody has passed their test by then, a road trip.

quite a good selection so far, i hope we can do everything!

oh, & my driver's license arrived the other day! eeeeeeeeep! i can't wait to start learning, although i'm a little very nervous because i doubt i'll take to it well. mother says i can't start until after the exams, grrr.

sorrrryyyyy again for the sporadic posting, here's a lovely picture of some tights i'm coveting to make up for it.

image from weheartit