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!

This post is just way too long

Right, ladies and gentlemen Simon, on the menu tonight we have a quick boring outfit post, a bit of a diary of what I've been up to lately, some random observations, and finally an exciting surprise.  All laced with the usual killer witticisms and nuggets of hilariousness, of course.  Ready?  Let's go.

Boring Outfit Post

This is what I wore Saturday night on the Toon.  My vintage white dress is so versatile - I've worn it with summery colours for the daytime, with utterly ridiculous leopard print platform shoes (that I bought on ebay when I was drunk once) and red lipstick for parties, with brown leather for a sliiightly boho look this time (No Alexa, I'm not becoming a hippy - this is as boho as I get!), AND I'm sure it will come in for a costume should I ever play an angel in a Nativity play.

Dress:  Best Vintage in Newcastle
Belt:  River Island, when I was 18
Boots:  Clarks January sale a few years ago
Bag:  AMAZING vintage-shop-charity-shop-hybrid in Oldham

Here are my flutterbys.  I bought the pink one when I was about 17 and used to wear it on my white beret.  The gold one came in a set from Monsoon that was a present from one of the children at school (Monsoon! Very generous child, that one!), and I haven't got a clue where the green one came from.

I may say "haway" from time to time, but I'm not a proper Newcastle girl yet, since I wear a jacket on winter nights.  Of course it had to be my ridiculous leopard one!

My glamorous showbiz life

In the past couple of weeks I have been to see THIS



Couldn't choose which of the amazing Deco-inspired posters I liked best, so I had 'em all.

Oh my word!  I knew it was going to be creepy, but I didn't realise there was going to be quite so much gore and mutilation.  If you haven't seen it yet, it's basically 40% horror film, 40% porn film and 20% ballet film.  I DID like it, but don't want to ever see it again ever!  We saw it at the beeyootiful Tyneside cinema, and the feeling of the Metro rumbling past underneath our seats gave the film an additional layer of creepiness.  Predictably, my favourite thing about Black Swan (I didn't realise until today that it hasn't got a 'The'.) was the make-up.  So dramatic and stage-y!

I've also seen THIS

I don't think that's actually the right image for this production, but it matched my Black Swan posters!

A-MAY-ZING!!  I don't think I've ever seen a standing ovation in the Theatre Royal before, or at least not a ten-minute long one with people dancing in the aisles.  Literally!  Dancing in the aisles!  I thought that was an urban myth!  Anyway, it was fab, and Simon's going to quit teaching and join the cast as Willard, the cowboy who can't dance.  Sadly there isn't a part tailor-made for me, so I'm going to have to play one of the two mothers.  Classic alto, stuck as the old lady again!

I've dined on roast beef on two consecutive Sundays, once at Malmaison, swank swank swank, and once in my own kitchen.

ME: Mm, this is nice gravy.

SIMON: It's not gravy. Gravy is working-class. This is a jus.

I also got my hair cut.

It's got some layers this time, so I'm not a proper flapper anymore.



Anyway, onto the exciting surprise!

I was very pleased to be nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award by Little Miss Bossy of littlemissbossysadventures !  A blog award!  AND I'm up to 17 followers!  I've arrived!  Thank you very much, Little Miss Bossy.  It was very thrilling seeing my blog link right there in your post, and I'm totally spiffed to be considered a Stylish Blogger!  My already considerable vanity is going to go through the roof now!  It cheered me up after an afternoon involving a child throwing up on my feet, and there aren't many things that can bring you out of a puke-induced mood!

The conditions of the Stylish Blogger Award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So, seven facts about me...

1.  I can twist my left thumb around so it looks like my thumb is on backwards.  Yes, it's gross and no, you don't want to see a photo.

2.  I've got a phobia of a common household vegetable, and no, Simon, it isn't funny.

3.  My dream job would be to be in charge of the Naming Bureau, where new parents, as part of registering the baby's birth, would have to apply for the name they want.  I would review each name, and if deemed unacceptable, I would return the application with 'REJECTED' stamped across it in big red letters, and a list of three options from which they may choose.  This would prevent children from being called stupid things like Madison.

4.  I hate washing my hair.

5.  I would like to time-travel to meet Robin Hood.  I bet he was a hottie.

6.  My favourite book in the world is 'Wise Children' by Angela Carter.  I feel like every word of it was written specifically for me.

7.  I copy-and-pasted several of these facts from a Facebook quiz from about two years ago!

Now onto the good bit!  Seven of my favourite stylish blogs, that I recommend you go and have a look at, because they're stylish, and stylish is good.

http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/

Solanah's blog has the best outfits.  When she isn't buying and selling vintage clothes, I think she just skips around her city looking fabulous and eating strange American delicacies with her glamorous friends.  Look back through the archives and read how she got her vintage wedding dress for 75 cents!

http://freelancersfashion.blogspot.com/

The Freelancer is a burlesque dancer from Helsinki, she looks retro-perfect in every photo, her tattoos are amazing, her house is cool, and she's just generally brilliant.

http://pennydreadfulvintage.blogspot.com/

I love the way Penny Dreadful wears vintage with a modern kick-arse-ish-ness.  She also posts about books, films, bargains and her own glamorous life.  And she's really nice and comments on my humble blog!

http://essbeevee.blogspot.com/

Sarah has more dresses than anyone I've ever met, she takes nice pictures and she has a very high tolerance for creepy blog stalkers (cough me cough)

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

Not a fashion blog, but undoubtedly stylish.  Katie does crazy street art things with paper, and her blog is so colourful it instantly puts you in a good mood.

http://byanika.com/

Anika said in one post that she believes in only wearing things that you absolutely love - nothing you only tolerate.  I've adopted that as my philosophy!

oldhollywoodglamour.blogspot.com

Not updated all that often, but the posts are worth waiting for.  And it doesn't really get any more stylish than old Hollywood, now does it?