quirky, quirkier, quirkiest.

oops, can't believe i haven't posted in nearly two weeks, sorry about that! i've had a pretty bad infection for about a week and a half now, which has been really painful, so i've not really been in the mood for posting. the doctor prescribed me some antibiotics which made me unbelievably nauseous, but i've been given some different ones & am now feeling much bette, thank god.

last friday was my school's leavers' ball, which was a really lovely night (despite the fact i was majorly drugged up on nurofen painkillers). the meal we had was really funny, & i actually ended up getting an award, totally unexpected! i didn't take many pictures, but to be honest it was really nice to just be there & enjoy the night. there were a few professional photos taken, i especially can't wait to see the awkwardness of me standing alone on the stairs!

charlotte, birkbeck, kate, me, beth & cathryn. my posture is kind of awful in this picture.

i didn't really get any proper ~outfit pictures~ but i did post some detail photos of my dress when i first bought it here.

i didn't like the main course we were given (fussy eater alert), so i made it into a face. cue troll face expression & obnoxious pose. maturity, this is what it looks like.

my friend also joined in my display of arty maturity & made the world's easiest maze out of mange tout.

my face!!1! any resemblance to that green-haired batman villain is completely unintentional.

me, birkbeck & harriet. shiny face alert under all the flashing lights.

alix, kate, me & cathryn. awkward leaning & me becoming a meerkat.

this is me collecting my reward, tearing up slightly. i'm actually not too sure what the award was even for, although i'm pretty sure the phrase "unique sense of style" was mentioned! i was so, so surprised to be given an award, & i got a little bit emotional walking to collect it, it's just so weird/nice to think that people (especially real life people who i never thought cared) like the way i dress and want to tell me so in award form! also, they mentioned the fact that i have a blog in the speech, it was so unbelievably weird to hear it said by someone else, especially as i didn't even think anyone knew i had one!

okay, so that paragraph was a complete mess, sorry if that was ridiculously difficult to understand/follow/read.

my award! i think this means i am officially the quirkiest person in my year, yay!

i'm going to paris on monday with my mum (can't believe it's arrived so fast!), so i'll probably post before i go & maybe schedule one for while i'm away (:

but you've got to have friends.

this time last week, i was at my friend charlotte's house party, which was a pretty good night! wild, as expected. there aren't many photos with me in them, partly because my camera was the designated camera of the evening & was spirited away from me on more than one occasion. also it wasn't really a group photo kind of party, but there are some which i thought i would post here (:

kate & me. i'm looking ridiculously washed out in this picture, flash is not my friend.

me & beth. charlotte has a pretty extensive collection of hats; farmery ones (as she lives in the country wilderness), victorian top hats & oriental straw ones to name but a few.

as you can see, i of course tried on many of the hats throughout the evening.

kate, jess & i.

i really kind of love this photo, even though i look silly & awkward, but i really do love these two more than anything. and yes, soppy post alert, but i will miss them so much when they leave for uni next year & i go to college. i've known kate since i was four, & jess since year 9, & they are two of the best friends i have ever had. it's really nice to have photos like these to look back on when i'm not feeling too great, like tonight for example because i've been feeling a bit lonely recently. i can't say why, i just feel that way sometimes, regardless of how daft or untrue that may be, but it is a total comfort to know i do actually have great friends that i can count on.

okay, emotions back in their box for now! tomorrow i'm going to have a bit of a look around oxfam for clothes, books & some material i can cut up & use for art. if i get anything particularly lovely i shall post about it. (:

i'd like to take you out for tea, & for biscuits.

on saturday, my friend alix had a tea party at a tea room in a local seaside town (look at me trying to be all obscure with my geographical references, paha). it was a properly lovely afternoon, even if i was still tired from another friend's party the night before (pictures to follow as soon as i get my camera back, silly old me left my camera at her house). anyway, this is my outfit below;

blouse - car boot sale, shorts - homemade, cardigan - vintage, hat - topshop, tights - topshop, socks - gift (next), necklace - gift (urban outfitters).

i thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to wear my new homemade shorts as the print has little sandwiches & cakes, as well as paddington bears. as we were going for afternoon tea, something oh so english, i thought i would dress with a certain theme as you can't really get more english than a bowler hat, tea & paddington bear.

here is more of a close-up of the shorts, although it's not a great photograph. the pattern we got for the shorts was actually really difficult as we had to alter the sizing slightly because i wanted them to be more high-waisted than the pattern suggested. i also forgot to take a picture of the socks i was wearing which i got as a present recently, and i am totally in love with! they are knee high & cable knit in a lovely beige-y colour.

here is the lovely spread we had laid out for us! everything was so cute & miniature, & the shortbread, as i think i bored people by saying far too many times, was a-ma-zing.

me (doing the mother of all awkward poses), lauren, alix (the birthday girl), cathryn & kate in the tea room.

that's all folks, goodbye for now! (:

cheese twist & shout

so, on thursday night i had a 1960s themed party for my birthday, & it went pretty well! 60s clothes were worn, beatles songs were danced to & psychedelic jelly was eaten. mother & i made some jelly for the occasion, as well as putting out other snacks with place cards saying "cheese twist and shout", "rock-a-hula-hoop baby" & "mustang salsa" among others!

this is what i wore for the party, the outfit has been put on here a few times so i won't show a full length version again, but i did want to display my twiggy inspired eye make-up (:

dress - ebay, necklace - gift.

forgive the daft pose & the vapid facial expression, but i was pressed for time.

photographs from el noche!

my friend joanna brought her fish eye camera for the night, so here is my bizarre face all distorted for your viewing enjoyment.

laughing, as ever.

the cakes that one of my good friends made for me - 60s themed of course! oh, and waz is my nickname. don't ask why, it's not a name i favour.

grooving away to george harrison, as that night was his birthday!

kate & i

so there you have it, my 18th birthday celebrations in a nutshell.

i had a really good night, thanks to some great friends & acquaintances who were more than happy to forgo alcohol for my sake; what lovely people they are!

*

edit: oh yes, & i have changed the name of my blog from thoughts from another kook to simply kook. i've been wanting a change for a while, and this seemed more than fitting.

i'm a fool to want you

on monday night, i went to the 18th birthday party of one of my best friends who i've known since i was about nine years old! she's very interested in eras gone by, much as i am, so she had a 1940s themed party. a group of us clubbed together to buy her some vintage records we thought she'd like as a present, & i've just received a text saying she's just been listening to them & she loves them!

it was such a lovely night (even though a couple of annoying, inconsiderate people ruined it for me at the end, but we'll say no more about that) & i can honestly say cathryn - that's her name, by the way - is one of the cutest people i know. unfortunately, there really aren't any pictures of me from the night, but i have a few i took before i went.

this was my attempt at pin-curling my hair, although you can't really see as my hair is so dark in photographs! i was pretty pleased with how my hair turned out, as i have next to no experience in styling hair. in fact, i may have to try it again some time!

as the 1940s aren't really a decade i know a lot about, i didn't have much in my wardrobe that i could wear for such an occasion. thankfully my mother, amazing woman that she is, has forgotten more about decades of fashion than i could ever know so she was the perfect person to guide me.

i love this dress so much, the style isn't 40s in the slightest but the print is so i think i got away with it.

forgive the disaffected youth pose, my camera has a lot of trouble focusing in low light & this was the only shot that came out alright. this is pretty much the same outfit i wore in this post, so i didn't do any full length shots as it seemed slightly gratuitous to me. the only thing i'm slightly annoyed about is that i forgot to take a picture of the tights i wore as they were the most 1940s-ish thing about the outfit!

i'm wearing pearls in these photographs, but i decided to change my necklace at the last minute to this typewriter one i got for christmas from my cousin (the very same cousin who features in the post below!). i thought it was very appropriate, & of course it meant i could spend the night pretending i was one of those wonderfully mysterious women who spent the war working as a code-breaker. or something like that, ahem.

this will be my last post of 2010 (gasp), so i shall see you all in the new year! (:

it's christmas & you're boring me

merry christmas eve eve followers! both christians & non-christians alike (:

i don't know if you remember me saying, but this monday i went to a winter ball organised by my school's events team. it was a really good night, even if there was the odd bit of dramatics here & there - like the fact the hotel kicked us out an hour earlier than billed! silly people.

this is what i wore;

atrocious photograph quality, but i took this when i got back & i was tired!

dress - dorothy perkins, jacket - dorothy perkins, tights - primark, necklace - homemade via tynemouth craft market, bracelets - gifts, wristband - school events team.

i've never worn this jacket out before, but i love it so much! i bought it for £10 (reduced from £60ish, score!)  in the dorothy perkins sale in january & was unsure of how to wear it, but i got a fair few compliments about it on monday night so i'm pretty pleased!

here follow some gratuitous shots of me & my friends, feel free to skip past these - or alternately you could giggle at how silly my posing-with-friends face is & how unnecessarily shiny my outfit appears with the use of flash.

laura & me.

kate & i with the free candyfloss, this is my version of an open bar baby!

cathryn, me & harriet.

shiny shiny shiny!

naomi, beth, charlotte, kate, me (aka floating head in the back), cathryn & catherine. spot the double names.

grooving on the dancefloor to various music atrocities - the highlight of my night was when they played passenger by iggy pop... and the dancefloor was immediately virtually empty apart from me getting far too into it! it seems i'm a bit of a music pariah in my sixth form.

this is going to be my last post before christmas, so i wish you all glad tidings & christmas felicitations etcetera! peace & love (:

ps. in reference to this post title, i urge you all to check out slow club & their christmas EP. the songs from this album are quickly making their way up my most played list this month.

the korova milkbar

last night i went to the fancy dress 18th birthday party of two friends of mine which was a pretty amazing night. even though i'm such an old person i was freaking exhausted by about half ten!

i decided to go dressed as alex delarge from a clockwork orange, given as this was one of my many abandoned outfit ideas for hallowe'en. i'm reading the book at the minute, and it is so good! slightly confusing & a bit odd, but unbelievably brilliant.

this is pretty much the nicest i looked all night, ha. my fringe soon became an utter mess. i probably should have made the eye make-up more obvious, but this was my third attempt & my eye was serrrriously starting to sting! liquid eyeliner is most definitely not my friend.

cathryn, me, kate & alix.

half time refreshments.

myself & lucy - see what i mean about my fringe?

birk & i, not sure this pose is entirely in keeping with my character's mentality.

kiran, kate & i. i totally knew i was going to blink in this photo, oh dear.

here is my dancing face; admit it, you have one too!

i told you i could throw some shapes! paha, this is such a ludicrous shot.

our school winter ball is on monday, so i may post some pictures from that soon - hopefully some ones of me where i actually look nice. wouldn't that be something. my friend cathryn is having a birthday party two days after christmas, which is 1940s themed & i am quite excited! i think i may have become a slight social butterfly this december.

freak out in a moonage daydream

hey guys!

last night i went to a friend's 18th birthday party at the local pub which was a pretty good night! it was my brother's birthday yesterday too so we had roast chicken for dinner & then a triple layer chocolate cake which my mum made - it was so good, but far too chocolatey for me!

for the party, i wore my new lace skirt which mother & i have been making for the past week;

i really love it! and i'm also pretty proud that i managed to do quite a bit of the work for it. my mum is much more experienced than me at dressmaking and because lace is really tricky to sew she did the final stitching together of everything!

shirt - vv brown concert, skirt - homemade, tights - ebay, necklace - h&m kids, lace bow - gift.

this is such an awkward pose!

as it is a very girly skirt, i wanted to wear it quite casual. preferrably i would have liked to wear it with a smiths or a clash tshirt, but my hours of endless searching on ebay for a nice yet affordable one of each those has been pretty fruitless.

i have decided that lace is pretty much my favourite fabric ever.

most of the pictures of me from the party are blurred mugshots or of me in full dad dancing mode, so here are some feet in the snow (:

these are just ghosts that broke my heart before i met you

happy belated hallowe'en!

to celebrate this year, a group of us went to my friend alix's house for a costume party & some of us stayed over afterwards. i went as a ghost, original i know, although i am regretting it now as i had so many good ideas i could've used, & most people were really dressed up compared to me! i thought about going as alex the large from a clockwork orange, david bowie, morrissey, twiggy or mel from flight of the conchords. but being a ghost was easier i'm afraid.

(although i have been thinking of having a flight of the conchords themed party for my birthday)

i didn't take any ~formal outfit pictures because, well, i just didn't but i think this one captures the ghostlyness rather well. i had talcum powder literally plastered all over my face to make myself look even paler than i already do, although i kept laughing so much (it was a funny night guys) that i pretty much wiped it totally off!

dress - ebay, lace shorts - ebay, pink/white tights - topshop, necklace - h&m kids, lace hairbow - grainger market.

raving it up, as ever. we invented a couple of cool new dances, which i was of course performing inbetween pogoing to vv brown.

funniest photograph ever.

it really was an awesome night, & i'm starting to love parties much more than i ever did before. i mean, i still feel a bit weird because i'm generally the only sober one there (i don't drink because of health problems) but this time i felt rather in place. also, i'm starting to feel that not drinking isn't something i have to feel bad or ashamed for any more, because people actually are really understanding which is so lovely. i had some pretty fun times at this party, including running around making sure all the drunkards had some bread, being called mum & obsessively collecting empty bottles (: