V is for Victory

About 15 minutes ago I wrote the final words of my final assignment for the first year of my masters.  Words can't actually express how utterly relieved and totally exhausted I am.


Of course, I still need to wait to find out whether I passed them all :)


So, to celebrate, here's a tribute to some of the songs that have got me through this insanity.  I'd like to thank the people that wrote them, along with my coffee machine, my housemates for their erratic but most welcome support (read: beers and scoldings) and my bicycle Meg for stress relieving zooms around town.



I love this version of In The Mood, it's my dancing round the kitchen soundtrack!



Louis. All you need to say <3



Probably one of my favourite pieces of music. Marginally beaten by:



Just perfection. And, of course, featured in Brief Encounter, one of my favourite films!


Hope you enjoy, I'm off for a good night's sleep...
Love Jen xxxx

And I'm back...

Well.

In all honesty, the last couple of months have been insane. So many uni deadlines and work has been ridiculously busy with planning a recycled fashion show - which made me cry with pride when I saw all the young people coming off stage in their amazing charity shop and 'trashion' ensembles!  Some days I've not had time to eat, let alone craft or read or blog.  But... this time tomorrow all my uni work will be done for the year!  Today I squeezed three days' worth of work into one afternoon and am feeling immensely proud of myself :)

So why did I have so much work to do today?  That's because I played hooky yesterday and had the most amazing day out at the Ramsey 1940s weekend!

It was the best day. Ever.  There were reenactments of every kind, from military set ups to Anderson shelters to handwashing.  My friend Bob and I enjoyed cups of tea in the field refreshments tent, spent ages trying on hats (actually, I tried on hats, Bob just looked nervous everytime I asked him if he thought it would go with my dress) and wandered round having a generally wonderful time.  I could have spent so much money, there were so many beautiful dresses.  But alas, payday was a week away and if I wanted to feed the cat / myself for the next week then I had to be sensible.  I still managed to acquire a snood, the most amazing hat, beautiful gloves and a darling cherry brooch though!

Here's what I wore to wander round the day's events:

Excuse the crazy face. My mamma bear took the picture when we visited.  She's lovely, but obviously incredibly biased and does not tell me when a photo makes me look like I'm auditioning for 'Mad Woman of the Year'.

The main reason for the visit home was because we had to get changed for the evening - a 1940s hangar dance, complete with Opus One big band!  There was a professional photographer there, so we had actual proper photos taken:

 

Natural born posers, eh?  Bob's a total military geek, he's rocking the RAF uniform here :)  That's also my new hat and gloves.  Once bought, fabulous things must be worn immediately.

The evening was probably one of the best nights I've ever had. Everyone was dressed up and looked amazing, and I saw some of the best dancing I've ever seen.  Bob and I are already resolved to practice our steps before the next dance!  The band were amazing, and I got to dance to 'In the Mood', which is probably one of my favourite songs of all time.  I developed a total schoolgirl crush on a trombone player... I did get a smile, but I think that was probably through fear. Or he was laughing at the drool on my collar.  Anyway.  I think I now have a fetish for old-school US army uniforms. 

The next dance is at the end of September... I can't wait!  And, with uni out the way, I can focus on pulling together some awesome outfits.

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

Love Jen xxxx