Kate and Lucy

Hello all!

Today's post will NOT contain ankle socks of any kind.  In fact, probably even no pictures of me posing in the garden at all!  Instead, I've come to pay homage (I despise that word.  You sound a bit thick if you pronounce it like porridge, but dropping into a French accent mid-sentence for just one word sounds so incredibly pretentious, like something Simon or Mama Golden would do...) to two blogger-ladies far more stylish than I.

A long time ago (The 20th of February, in fact), I received a comment from Lucy Nation letting me know that she had bestowed a blog award upon me!  Shamefully and inexcusably, I never quite got round to thanking Lucy, or passing on the award, and may possibly have forgotten about it - until today, that is!

According to the rules of the Versatile Blogger award, I have to post a list of seven random facts about myself.  (This is actually far harder than you would think, and I am going to do it at the end of this post!)  

The next step is that I am to nominate fifteen other versatile bloggers to receive the award.  Well, I'm not going to.  I'm only going to do one, so there!  The blogger I have chosen is  Kate Gabrielle of Scathingly Brilliant, and she has pink hair.  If, like me, you're fond of dresses, rainbow tights and flapper girls, go immediately to http://www.scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.co.uk/ and enjoy!  I really like Kate's blog, her perfect-pastel outfit photos, her etsy shop and her general happy outlook.  (Brilliant, she is, but Scathing, she is not.) 

I could go on about this blog for some time,  but I don't need to, because it turns out that my benefactress Lucy Nation has done it already.  When I popped onto Lucy's excellent blog Tales From The Faraway Tree (check out her brilliant Enid Blyton header - I love it!) today to remind myself of the Versatile Blogger rules, already mentally planning my tribute to Kate, what did I find but a whole post dedicated to Kate's blog, style and general loveliness?!

Here it is in its entirity: http://talesfromthefarawaytree.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/i-like-your-style.html  Do read it, and you're sure to understand why I wanted to nominate Kate for the Versatile Blogger award. :o)

While you're at it, have a browse through the rest of Tales From the Faraway Tree.  Lucy's blog is also well worth a read.  Giggle at her posts, admire her outfits and flaming red hair, and above all, go and find the post about her kitsch kitchen - it's awesome! 

Perfection!

To end, here are my seven random facts.  They took yonks to think up, and they're not very interesting.

1. I have a dreadful habit of putting drinks on the floor by my feet, because I'm too lazy to get up and lunge towards the coffee table whenever I want a sip. When sitting back on a sofa with a laptop on your knee, you can't really see the floor by your feet, and I am rather clumsy... There are more tea stains on the floor by my sofa than anywhere else! I thought of this as a random fact because I just now nearly kicked over my glass of water.

2. Speaking of sofas, on the wall behind my sofa there is a large picture of Greta Garbo, and on the wall behind Simon's sofa there is a large picture of... something modern. I frequently insist that we ought to swap so that I don't have to look at modern art and Simon doesn't have to look at Greta - however, one can see the television better (and reach the coffee table far more easily, come to think of it...) from Simon's sofa, so there's nee chance he'll swap!

3. I am terribly fussy about what I wear, and I love nothing more than new clothes, but I bloody hate shopping.

4. I have three little weaknesses, and they are gin, chocolate and singing men.

5. Two of the above I have [had!] given up for Lent, except a small slip-up involving Kayleigh's delicious chocolate biscuit cake (it was nearly Sunday!) resulted in me awarding myself two weeks off Lent...  Starting from this Monday, I intend to put myself back on the wagon and be especially virtuous for the final week of Lent.  NO CHOCOLATE, HAMER!  (I have been flawlessly successful on the gin front, all except for one instance, but Satan drove me to it through death metal music, and I didn't enjoy it anyway.)

6. I don't really like going on holiday.

7. I look like a zebra. You know how everybody looks like an animal? Mine is a zebra. I don't see it myself, but everybody says so, so it must be true.

So there you have it.  I am extremely chuffed to be chosen for a blog award, and I hope you will all enjoy reading Kate's and Lucy's posts as much as I do.  Thanks ever so much for thinking of me, Lucy!

Sing that old song, how does it go? Look out sunshine, here's the punchline.

Hello, this is the second Boring Outfit Post of the week.  Also the second Boring Outfit built around ridiculous ankle socks.  I think I've found my summertime replacement for my ridiculous rainbow tights obsession!  (Dear sunshine and highs of 21 degrees, please stick around until Autumn.  This is bliss. Love, Bette)

(Dear Self, pasty legs are not terribly attractive. Break out the fake tan before School Picture Day tomorrow!)

My evacuee shoes proved to be just as effective for posing on the garden wall as they were for posing on the front steps in Monday's post!

Darn runaway straps!

Shoesies: Primark

Socks: Topshop

(Sale, obviously.  As if I'm paying Topshop prices for socks.)

Skirt: No idea.  It's been in my possession since I was at school, I'm sure.

Blouse: Quiz, almost as long ago.

Dammit, I really need to get rid of this pink background - my pictures look atrocious!

Goodnight, Mr Tom

March, instead of going out like a lion, is behaving like August, and so today, to the intense scorn of Simon, who threatened to only take Boring Outfit Pictures for me from the knee upwards, I shunned tights in favour of my first ridiculous-ankle-socks-moment of the year.

My feet look like an evacuee!

There's no point in dressing like a 1940s urchin unless you're going to do it properly, so I dressed the rest of me in a cotton print dress and very school-uniformy grey cardigan.  I may also have got carried away and joined in with the kiddies' games of rolling down the hill during playtime duty...

I can't help but suspect that my photographer's 'artistic' angles were specifically designed to make his presence felt in all of my photographs.  Hi Simon's shadow!

Frock: Dorothy Perkins sale

Socks and shoes: Primark

Cardi:  Charity shop



So very incompletely dressed.

Hello, this is a Boring Outfit Post.

You know those really annoying times when you're forced to spend FOUR WHOLE POUNDS on some footwear for a theatrical costume (like, for instance, white ballet flats), that you know you will never ever wear again?

Turns out that white ballet flats are suprisingly useful, especially for someone with a large collection of brightly-coloured tights and no neutral shoes!

(Tights anecdote: Yesterday one of my colleagues said to me, "I thought I saw you on your bike at lunchtime, and I thought to myself, "What's Elizabeth doing on her bike at this time?"  Looked just like you, same clothes and same bike and everything.  And then I noticed she was wearing black tights and I thought "Can't be Elizabeth. Wrong colour legs.")

Anyway, Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, and I'm not wearing boots again until November, so there.

(I looked fat in the picture where I was smiling, so two grumpy ones instead!)

Stylish for posing in the garden at breakfast time, but I might have looked a bit stupid when I changed into blue plimsolls (Don't cycle in ballet shoes.  They fall off at crucial moments, i.e. busy junctions), a red coat and a silver and pink bike helmet! 

Next challenge, wear the mob cap in everyday life...