Baby, It's Cold Outside

Blazer: charity shop, T-shirt: Belleseb concert, Skirt: vintage, Tights: Primark, Socks: H&M

I'd not noticed until I uploaded these pictures, but I am apparently very fond of the double hand-on-the-hip! Probably need to come up with a new pose for my outfit photos (I look ridiculously awkward in most of my 'out-takes' though), so apologies for being a bit uninspired! How do you gorgeous girls make posing look so effortless??

This outfit was my attempt at fighting off the bitterly cold weather that's descended upon Yorkshire this week. Brr! I wore it with some lovely heeled boots, which looked great, but were mildly crippling for the long walk to work and back - won't be repeating that shoe choice any time soon. This blazer was an old find of mine at a charity shop in York, a steal at £2.50! I love blazers, but they don't usually suit my frame, however, since this one is woolen, it fits like a dream, whilst keeping me nice and toasty.

What are your sartorial secrets for keeping warm whilst still looking stylish?

My Week In Lists

This week I have...

(source)

Gone:

• Back to work and actually enjoyed it for the most part, it's been a surprisingly good week.
• To Panto - Berwick Kaler's York Family Robinson, a positive institution in Yorkshire - I can not recommend it enough, words can't describe how great it is.

Watched:

• Sherlock - gutted it's over tonight! Pretty emotional.
• The 1st episode of Call The Midwife. Excited to see Miranda Hart in it next week.
• 2 Broke Girls. A slightly above average comedy staring Kat Dennings - good for a laugh or two but not as funny as Community!

Not:

• Completely got over my back pain :( But I'm getting there. I can almost bend again!
• Taken down our Christmas tree still! Oops. Too busy, plus we kind of like having it up...

Purchased:

• A cute new swim suit. Not something I needed strictly, but I couldn't pass it up!

Listened to:

• My other two new purchases. Foe's Bad Dream Hotline and Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday.
• A rather delightful cover of Taylor Swift's Mean by What Luck! (which you can listen to here)

And become ridiculously excited about:

• Seeing FOE live next week
• Birdsong being dramatised next week on the BBC - such a terrific novel and I've loved  Clémence Poésy and Eddie Redmayne in everything I've seen them in. Can't wait.

What have you been up to this week? What are you looking forward to next week? Anyone got any theories on how the ending of Sherlock makes any sense?!

Friday Fiction 1/52

So as you may or may not have noticed (I don't exactly hide it though), I am a MAJOR book worm, and since last year I fell just short of reading 52 books in total (one book per week), I decided that would be the challenge I set myself for this year. I thought a good way to track what I'm reading, and make a nice little weekly feature for my blog, would be to write a short review each week about the books I'm reading. Please feel free to recommend me any books you think I might like in the comments!

The first book I finished this year was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

I started re-reading the series last year, but got distracted after book 5 and didn't manage to finish the 6th one before the new year started. If you've not read the series, then I'm sorry, but don't even talk to me, just go and read them. The Half-Blood Prince isn't my favourite (I'm a Azkaban girl myself, with OOTP coming a close second), but the thing that I dislike about it is also the thing that makes it stand out from the others - the awful, awkward teen romance angle that plays out so heavy across the book, and hugely in the film (and here we pause, and take a minute to appreciate the delight that is Tom Felton's Draco in TH-BP...)

Beautiful.

Moving on, I like how this book grounds the series in reality, and gives you more information about the characters and their emotions, allowing you to get to know them better, and their motivations for how they behave. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ridiculously over-immersed in the series, so I care about the characters and the small details of their lives. But at the same time, it all gets a bit Twilight-y and overdoes it on the hormones, and the quality of the writing suffers for that. It's still Harry Potter though, so I'd read it again (and again), in a heartbeat. And you do get all the joy of Snape being brilliant (film and book), which makes it all worthwhile really. Snape is only second to Hermione, who I've been obsessed with since Day 1, in my eyes, so I'd easily still give it a 9/10.


Given how much I read it's not a ridiculous challenge, but since my reading tends to happen in fits and starts, it will require some effort on my part to make sure I have enough to write about each week! I'm already on my 4th book and racing through it (so good), so I've given myself a bit of breathing space, AND, super excitingly, I'm going to start a mini-book club with one of my friends. I can't think of anything better then dedicating a hour or two every week/fortnight/month (we've not really worked out the details yet) to discussing literature over the phone or skype (it's a long distance book club), as well as all the excitable texting that I'm sure will ensure during good plot developments. I've always wanted to join a book club so forgive my geekish glee. Our first book is going to be Wuthering Heights and as I mentioned, I'm super excited :)

Have you ever done anything like this with your friends? Any tips or advice for a novice?

Completing the 30 Day Journal Challenge

Finnnnallly! I actually finished it a week or two ago, but I was too busy enjoying my holiday time to blog about it, and really, what's a few weeks when you're half a year late with it anyway?

Prompt 25: What's in my bag?

Fairly self-explanatory. Essentials like my purse, inhaler, lipstick, keys mp3 player, tissues - wet winter necessities; umbrella and mittens, as well as my onya bag - if you've never heard of them, you're missing out. A strong, light bag that scrunches up into a tiny pocket - I'm very pro-resuable bags, so it's great to be able to carry one with me that doesn't take up half my bag like some cloth ones.

Prompt 26: Today... Think of a creative way to document your day and then do it!

This was back before Christmas when I was making glittery ornaments and since I had the glitter out I thought I'd get a little creative :)

Prompt 27: Who or what inspires you?

This was a really tough one for me, because really, everything inspires me, how do you narrow that down to one page?! - I actually did it out of sync since it took me so long to think of an idea, but it's probably turned out as my favourite page of the entire challenge. Books have always been a huge part of my life and shaping who I've become - none more so than the Harry Potter series, so this page is a little nod to that :D 

Prompt 28: What are your goals for July January?

I'm not going to be starting any crash diets any time soon, but this month/year is going to be learning to look after my body better and I'm going to start with getting someone to look at my back - I keep doing something to it and it's giving me the worst back ache. Literally can't even bend :( My hot water bottle is currently my best friend in the world.

Prompt 29: An interview.

Introducing my Hubby!

Prompt 30: A thank you :)

Thank you for reading my blog, for putting up with me taking so long to finish it, and to Janel for running the challenge in the first place! She writes a really lovely blog called Run With Scissors about her amazing crafting efforts and her adoption journey - definitely worth a read.

Blue Ivy Carter (Glory)

 Soundtrack: Glory by Jay-Z featuring B.I.C

T-shirt: Jay-Z concert

Skirt & Tights: Primark

So after a few days of speculation, it was finally announced that Beyonce and Jay-Z had given birth to a baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter, on Saturday the 7th of January. Eee! I don't know about you, but I have been pretty darn excited about this baby, I mean, could you get closer to a prodigal child? I love Beyonce, and I love Jay-Z, so goodness knows what kind of almighty swag Blue is going to possess - those are some might fine genes she's got there.

In honour of her birth, Jay-Z released a song yesterday called 'Glory', which you need to go listen to right now, featuring 'B.I.C' (Blue Ivy Carter, duh!). Hubby and I both had a little cry and it's been on repeat ever since. It's an emotional rollercoaster, let me tell you. It's about Blue ("a little pinch of Hov, a whole glass of B), and his family, and his love for her, but it's also about their fears for the pregnancy after Beyonce's previous miscarriage (weep! I did not know about this). And the ending... ahhh. It's beautiful, it really is.

With all this in mind, today's outfit was rather heavily influenced! 

What do you think of the name? Blue's a little, er, unusual, but I kind of like it. Not that Bey-Z can do any wrong in my eyes...

What I Wore: Taking inspiration from Taylor (Swift)

Soundtrack: Mean by Taylor Swift

(gotta love that banjo)

Since I blogged about my style crush on Taylor Swift in December, well, that crush has deepened, just a tad... I may have said her music was a bit cheesey, and well, it is... But that hasn't stopped me becoming nigh on obsessed with her and her music. So today for my first day back at school, I channeled my favourite of her recent outfits... 

Jumper: Marks & Spencers

Skirt: vintage, from eBay

Belt: from a vintage dress

Bag: Asos via my lovely Hubby

 I couldn't stay quite as true to Taylor's minimalist chic - I needed to add a bit more of pop of colour via a belt to feel happy, and navy tights to keep to warm. My skirt's a bit longer, since I don't have the legs of a baby giraffe like she does, and my bag's a bit more jazzy - a perfect Christmas present from Hubby after a few dropped hints on my Twitter page, but I think it still works.

Necklace: Azendi

Lipstick: No. 7 Stay Perfect in Cherry

I wore my pearls around my neck since I can't wear earrings for long without irritating my ears, but the one thing Taylor and I can definitely agree on, a bright red pout can not be beat!

I'm still getting to grips with my new camera, an Olympus SZ-10, but so far I'm thrilled with it. If anyone knows how to stop it double-flashing though, that'd be a real help! I've still got loads of pictures from Christmas and the holidays to sort out, but now I'm back at work, perversely, I should have more time.

I'm also newly ginger again! The darker brown colour had faded back to a coppery brown and to be honest, I missed the ginger. I'm going to have to make more of an effort to maintain it, and re-dye it before my roots get too bad, but it's worth it because I full on love it, so it's here to stay for the foreseeable future at least. I also managed to buy the dye with my advantage card points at Boots, when it was on special offer, so it was essentially free! Don't you just love it when that happens?

10 Achievable Goals

(source)

So whilst my to-do list for 2012 includes the usual get healthy, do more exercise, kind of goals, I thought it might be nice to put down a few more concrete things that I, baring anything going dreadfully wrong, am very confident about achieving this year. It's a little bit like writing down things you've already done on a to-do list (we've all done it, don't lie), just for the satisfaction of crossing them off.

1. Remember to take my vitamins every day
2. Commit to eating even less dairy products - definitely buy less cheese
3. Put as much time & effort into Hubby's Christmas present as possible (discussed here, but remember, no spoilers!)
4. Re-visit Edinburgh in the summer (maybe for the festival?) and fall in love with it even more
5. Travel more within England - visit new places and see old friends more
6. Completely pay off our credit card and stop using it
7. Save money! Save for furniture, for an emergency fund, for a Christmas fund. Save, save, save.
8. Blog 2-4 times a week
9. Give blood for a 3rd time 
10. Start a family

The last one's a bit of a biggie, I know, and may prove to be the easiest, or the hardest of the goals. Only time will tell if we can achieve it this year (or you know, ever, but I'm trying to think positively!).

Are you a list maker like me? What do you hope to achieve with this year? 

Good luck with all your endeavors, whatever they may be :)

My year in stats

Soundtrack: Hold It Against Me by Britney Spears

(my most listened to song this year, statistically)

I adore music, and I adore books, but what I really, really adore, is statistics. I'm a full on stats nerd, so websites like last.fm and goodreads are my kryptonite. In a similar way to pinterest, I loose all track of time and 'waste' hours on them.

This is delightful little graphic of the books I read in 2011, a staggering 51 in total, and the star score I gave them. I did initially try to write a short review for each one, but once I hit my reading kick in the summer holidays (where I read a good half of my years total in about 2 months), I lost track unfortunately.

My favourite new read was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, which I wasn't expecting to like half as much as I did - really fantastic and surprisingly moving. When I read that it was written from the point of view of a dog, I was skeptical to say the least, but I really think everyone should read it, it's that good! Hubby read it at my insistence and loved it too.

With both music and books, I have to admit, I'm more of a 'the-oldies-are-a-goodie' kind of girl, but I'm willing to give new things ago if I think they'll impress me. This year gone I've mostly been listening to old favourit's old and new albums, rather than much that is completely new to me.

My top 20 artists for this year feature my ever deepening obsession with The National, rediscovering my love for Dusty Springfield, enjoying the new Bon Iver, Britney Spears and Ryan Adams albums greatly and being overwhelmingly impressed with the Frank Ocean and Nicola Roberts debuts.

Other honorable mentions go to the new Wye Oak and PJ Harvey albums - both delights, and the Watch The Throne collab was er, 'off-the-hook', so to speak.

My taste is a bit wildly eclectic, but that's ok, I think pop, hip-hop, folk and electronica can all sit happily side by side in my music collection - the only thing I won't abide is jazz!

I'm not quite as in to films, but if anyone could recommend a similar website or programme for a quick and easy review/record keeping of films (I used lovefilm for this kind of thing when I had it, but I'm not sure you could sort or anything), please leave me a comment!

Happy New Year!