the thoughts of mary jane

- scheduled post -

i will be away until 4th of september

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i've been on a bit of an ebay bender recently, most of my new clothes in the last month appear to have come from there! anyway, i think i have found the most lovely blouse ever, & it only cost me £3 including postage.

*happy face*

it's soo lovely! it has gorgeous frills, & is very floaty but still has a nipped in waist. it has a really pretty paisley pattern too which has lots of colours that i can match with other items. the only thing that's a little bit wrong with it is that it's a bit see through at the back, which might be a bit of a problem if i want to wear it to school.

blouse - primark via ebay, skirt - topshop, flower hairclip - h&m, badge - beatles store.

i wasn't too sure what to wear the blouse with, as it's very (in the words of my mother) sweet, & i don't have that many things in my wardrobe that would match without making the look a bit too twee. i like the skirt with it though, as i think the overall shape looks slightly like a tea dress. but then that's just my silly imagination!

this look also makes me feel very girly, with all the fabric floating around. in fact, it makes me feel like someone from a nick drake song (:

i had to add a badge as i felt it was a bit of a bare outfit otherwise, especially as a necklace would have been overkill with all the frills.

hope you're all having a lovely end-of-summer!

isabella necessary

- scheduled post -

i will be on holiday until 4th of september

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seeing as i'm currently away on holiday, i thought i would make at leats one of my scheduled posts holiday themed. so, without further ado, here are my holiday essentials.

number one; skincare.

i have dry skin & on holiday with all the sun & sea water it can tend to dry out even more, so i always pack a good, light moisturiser & some handcream. of course, suncream is a must! generally i wear factors 30-40 as i have very pale skin, factor 20 (as shown here) is for those cloudy days. face wipes i think are always good to have too, especially as i can't really be bothered with a proper routine on holiday.

number two; hair products

for me, dry hair shampoo is an absolute godsend! i wash my hair every day on holiday anyway, but it's nice just to give your hair a bit of a lift after a long day. i always pack plenty of hairgrips & bobbles too, especially as my hair looks unbelievably unpresentable in the heat (serious frizz issues people).

number three; electrical equipment

it is the most frustrating thing when you go away to find that you're left your charger for your camera at home. this has happened to me several times, & i was not at all happy. now i'm making sure i pack them, so as to avoid any frustration!

number four; jewellery & accessories

i am a major overpacker. seriously, it is so so difficult for me to pack light! it's very annoying to because i rarely ever wear any jewellery, & i never wear about half of the clothes i take with me. this is the only jewellery i'm allowing myself to take with me this year - two pairs of earrings (one stud pair & one dangly), three necklaces, two changeable chains & two pendants & two bracelets. i'm also taking a few flowers & ribbons for my hair.

love first, questions later

- scheduled post -

i will be on holiday until 4th september

*

it's been a while since i last did a post that was completely verbal, sans pictures & solely about what was on my mind at any given time. i find this a little bit weird, as this was originally what i intended my blog to be for, & i've been very conscious lately of my terrible ability to have to post regularly and that i have to be interesting. and just recently i've been thinking; wait, what? i shouldn't be concerned about whether people will find what i post interesting, i find it interesting & this is my blog. this is not a dig at my followers or the blogging community in any way (without sounding too corny, i think you are all wonderful), but i'd quite like to take a step back & become more relaxed about what i post here. i'm not saying i'll stop posting, no way no how, but i'd like to share things from my life too, not just my wardrobe.

also, for a while i had been thinking of what to do for celebrating getting to 50 followers - which by the way i still find totally astounding & i seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for (what was that about not being corny again?) - but now it appears *gasp* that number just kept on creeping up to 60!

now, i see myself as a bit of a pensioner (old man's taste in music & books, crazy old lady's taste in clothes & everything else) so 60 seems to be the perfect number for a celebration, right? i'm going to have a think for what i can buy/make for a giveaway, but in the meantime you can all have a chance to ask me some questions here & i'll answer them truthfully in another post (or possibly a video if you're lucky).

feel free to ask as many as you want, you can ask them on this post or on my tumblr & even anonymously if you'd like! (please ask within reason though, i won't answer anything that is tooo personal, sorry)

hope this is something nice for you all (:

awake my soul

results day tomorrow, i'm pretty cool about it.

...

hdgdhkdksjdkodlsdldffkgldfkglfgdl NOT.

good luck to anybody out there who is awaiting their results (as or a2 levels), i hope you get what you want (:

me & my friends are hoping to meet up after ours in the local park, provided everyone feels up for it.

anyway, i just wanted to update you all on a new dress i bought recently. it's from ebay via primark, & cost me about £6. i actually adore it, even though it's very different from what i normally wear, ie. it's black. i never wear black. seriously, it's like i'm allergic to it.

note the facial expression showing my disdain for results day.

i wore this dress to go out for a picnic with my friends on monday, which was very lovely (even though i got sunburnt on my elbow! i know, my sensitivity to sunlight amazes me sometimes). we had an awesome day, being extremely childish as ever.

i really like the pattern on this dress, floral isn't something i wear a lot - not through choice, i just don't own many flowery items, but happily that seems to be changing as of late! yay! i just wore it with black opaque tights, although i think it would go quite nicely with some pink or maybe cream ones, what do you think?

this is my new favourite jewllery of the moment, my miniature harmonica necklace - which actually works! and yes, i was playing it at opportune moments all day. my friend joanna & i received one each as a gift from dolls & molls for helping out with, well, you'll just have to wait & see! muaha, i'm such a tease!

just showing off my amazing harmonica skillzzz. i could so be in an alternative folk band! marcus mumford, johnny flynn, give me a call ;)
*
edit: i'm a bit of a banana & forgot to say before, but i'm going away on holiday to spain as of the 21st, so won't be around to reply to any comments unfortunately. i will be scheduling a couple of posts though, so all is not lost!

feel alright

while in london, i visited the british music experience gallery at the o2, as i mentioned before. in the mid-60s gallery, there was (of course) lots of beatles stuff there that i was completely in awe of - ringo's suit, george's guitar etc - but one item i was really in love with was a dress worn by an usherette at the premiere of the beatles' 1964 film, a hard day's night.

unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed in the exhibition (although i was going to take some super sneaky photos but i was scared in case they had cctv & threw me out. yeah, rebellious) so you'll have to make do with the pictures i found on google.

see, isn't it amazing? the one in the gallery was actually blue, but this is pretty much what it looked like. this picture linked to a website where it looked like you could actually buy the dress, but it was sold out sadly!

this is sort of the closest i could get to finding the blue one on the internet...

yeah, i know it's on a freaking sindy doll, but what can you do? her eyes really scare me actually.

i would really love to own this dress, so either i'll be stalking ebay & google & many beatle devoted websites to find it, or i may try & make my own! which could be ambitious, but let's see how it goes.

to dress extravagantly

hey! (:

i'm doing this like post more often thing, it's cool & I LIKE IT.

sorry, i'm writing this at like half past midnight after watching harry potter (the half blood prince, oh yeaah) so my thoughts are kinda scrambled right now. i'm scheduling this 'cause i've got family coming until saturday so i can't post until then, & i actually have a huuuge list of things i want to post about. so yeah, apologies for the rambling that shall no doubt fill this post.

henceforth i shall commence my list of purchases from londinium!

i bought this dress at spitalfields market, & i kind of love it. although i really should stop buying so much blue.

it's kind of unlike anything else i own, as i don't have many floral things or *ahem* low-cut-y things.

i do like it though, it has a kick ass bow at the back.

points for the messy bed in the background.

what's that i can hear you crying? "ohmygod, more beatles things?! will this girl never stop!?"

in a word; no.

adding two more; i won't!

from the british music experience, i bought two postcards - a sgt pepper era one of the beatles & a john lennon imagine one. i also got a couple badges, the mod one & a hey jude/revolution beatles single cover one.

yes, i know i go overboard with beatles information. deal.

purchases from the imperial war museum! now, i actually really don't like seeing things about war (surprise!) or the army but this place was quite good.

the badge was an impulse buy at the desk, i own far too many badges. i need to get myself a dashing jacket & emblazon them about it joe strummer style. or like effy from skins, if you didn't get that reference.

i bought some postcards; a 1940s lady, a keep calm & carry on one & one that says "to dress extravagantly in war time is worse than bad form it is unpatriotic".

that last one makes me laugh, i just feel it's pretty arrogant.

on the last day of the trip, i met up with my cousin & we went around spitalfields market together, which was possibly the coolest place in existence. i do wish i'd gone to brick lane though, maybe next time.

anywaaaaay.

besides the dress, i bought a pocket watch thing, which i think is actual vintage! although i can't be sure as it was cheap if its real. it's a bit broken though & i can't figure out how to set it to the right time. i need to get padre on the job to fix it.

i also bought this really cute bow! they had loads & i couldn't make up my mind which one to buy, but in the end this turquoise beauty stole my heart. just look at that lace! LOOK AT IT.

when you're done looking at the lace, you could have a look at these lovely flowery buttons i bought at the same stall as that beautiful lacy object.

i think they're pretty darn cute, & i really want to use them for making some jewellery soon, but i don't quite know what for yet.

cemeteries of london

while in london, i got the chance to do a bit of sight-seeing from the "comfort" of an open top bus. i know, i know i'm a shameful tourist. but it was actually really fun! it was kind of nice to see all the famous buildings without having to walk around a LOT & it was quite educational, actually.

i took quite a lot of photographs, most of which came out really dark for some reason. i don't think my camera likes its "landscapes & scenic shots" mode. or any of the other modes for that matter. but anyway, these are some of my favourite shots of the holiday, there are also some from the v&a & a few from our ferry boat ride to the o2 (where we visited the british music experience exhibition, which was unbelievably incredible, but more about that later!).

i am actually supremely pleased with this photograph. don't ask me why, it's probably not even that good.

hey, you know what this house is?

oh, it's only THE FIRST HOUSE ALL THE BEATLES LIVED IN TOGETHER!

*cough*

excitement over.

just to clarify; i'm not trying to show myself off as being an amazing photographer by posting pictures at weird angles & things, that's just the angle i was sitting at.

oh, and i think it looks pretty rad.

i actually don't know what this building is, the houses of parliament maybe?

tower bridge!

this photo would kick ass if it wasn't for the freaking scaffolding.

reason no. 146 to hate builders.

oh, hello attractive stranger who decided to interrupt my achingly hipster photograph of the clouds!

jimi hendrix, playing guitar with his teeth! i love this man, so much.

me & mother spent about half an hour frantically searching for this exhibition at the v&a (photographs of musicians backstage at top of the pops throughout 62-70something) after my mum told me she'd seen a picture of jimi on the website. it took a while, but by god we found it.

that exhibition was a bit strange actually, it wasn't totally clear what it was about & for some reason there was a rhino costume right in the middle of it all.

i love street humour.

the faraway towns

why, hello there (:

i just got back from london this afternoon after a 5 hour drive - which actually wasn't so bad, i watched beatles & jimi hendrix videos on my ipod & played along with the pop master quiz on radio 2. yes, i know i'm a dork.

(i'm not quite sure how i'm going to space out my posts on london. i think i may do a post about kew gardens, then a sight-seeing one & then one with all my purchases, mainly i just don't want to bombard you all with lots of pictures!)

i had a really lovely time in london with the family, even if sharing a room with the brother practically drove me insane! it was very much a whirlwind visit, i didn't quite get to do everything that i would've liked as obviously we had to do things that everyone wanted to do, but it really was awesome! on our first full day, we went to kew gardens to meet up with some of my mum's family who live in london. i hadn't realised how large kew gardens was, it's a really beautiful place too & quite inspiring. seeing as my project title for art is the natural world, i took a few photos that i thought i could maybe use in my sketchbook.

(i apologise in advance, these aren't going to be very good)

i actually don't know why i took so many close-up pictures of leaves & flowers. i mean, don't get me wrong they're quite pretty things, but with this project i was looking forward to drawing water, & landscapes & sunsets & things.

okay, so i'm digressing.

these flowers were lovely, but most of my photographs of them suck. this was about the only decent one.

sometimes when i see lovely pieces of old ironwork like this i think i should've chosen the built environment as my project title, because i just find this kind of this really beautiful.

in the wider gardens, we saw a couple of peacocks which was actually kind of amazing as i didn't realise there were animals there. i'm quite pleased with this photo, i was only about 6 feet away from him! there's actually a series of photographs of the other peacock sitting on the ground, where throughout five pictures i get closer & closer to the bird because i was scared it was going to either leave or get up & run at me!

i really liked the lily pond they had there too, i'm doing claude monet as one of my research artists for this project so i wanted to take a few pictures of my own so that i could attempt my own stylised version of his iconic artwork.

brown paper packages tied up with string

- scheduled post -

i am away in london until the 9th of august.

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last week, i was tagged by both JC & amber for a favourite things award, where i have to list some of my favourite things with some photographs. thanks to both of you, it is very much appreciated.

my favourite things right now;

reading about my favourite people in music magazines.

this is an old mojo edition about the beatles from 2006, i've been buying loads off ebay recently.

finding inspiration for art.

beautiful photographs, lovely outfits & interesting articles.

making jewellery.

i haven't done this in so long, i really miss it.

watching the rain.

i know it's summer right now & i should probably be hating on all the rain, but the truth is i actually don't like summer very much. i really prefer autumn & spring, where it's warm but not stupidly hot & everything isn't built up so much.

my new way of hanging clothes.

i just think it looks pretty, basically.

now, i think i'm supposed to pass this on to something like seven blogs, but i'm just going to pass this on to one; and that is amy at the lonely teapot

(also, because this is a scheduled post, i'll leave a comment giving the award after i get back)