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

Cupcakes for Breakfast!

Last night I went for drinks with a very nice chap. Who brought me... cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes, Candycake cupcakes. Which gave him at least another 150 brownie points on top of the million and forty seven I've already given him. Lol.

So this morning, I had cupcakes for breakfast!

I don't think it shows... but there were sparkles!

I bought this dress in Manchester when I accidentally ended up there the other week. It's perfect for picnics but sadly I have to go to work!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week

Jen xxxx

When I Get Sad, I Stop Being Sad and Be a Sailor Instead

Okay. I'm not actually particularly sad, but I liked the way it sounded...

I'm going out in a bit to eat lots of yummy Indian food with some people from work.  I tried on many many outfits then thought, 'sod it. I want to be a sailor.' So here it is :)

This is one of the dresses I picked up in Cambridge last month, it's so pretty!

Check also the necklace.  I saw it in topshop and absolutely HAD to buy it.  Sewing machine cuteness!

Hope everyone else is having a lovely start to the week.

Jen xxxx

Peachy Keen

There's no reason for this picture, other than I like it...

(image from here)

The world on the internet is vast and exciting.  Sadly, most of my internet use has been searching for articles to spice up my history of youth work essay... and facebook for general procrastination.  However, along the way I've found some gems as well.  Check it.

Culture. Etiquette. Style. With a tagline like that, how can you resist MIEN magazine?

When I get sad, I like to look at otters.  Otters are amazing!  The Daily Otter does exactly what it says on the tin... a new picture of an otter everyday.  (If otters aren't your thing, they have The Daily Bunny too!)

Vintage Movie Magazines is well worth a visit if you just like looking at pretty things.  My favourite cover? James Dean and Natalie Wood, no contest.

There are many reasons why you should read The Grumpy Owl.  It features robots and owls on a regular basis; Ryan (the grumpy owl) writes in a way whereby even things that don't interest you in the slightest (baseball?) seem worthy topics; there is pink suit appreciation; the use of the word flaneur; it's nice to read something that offers a little intellectual stimulation while still being utterly dapper and slightly frivolous. Yeah. Just go read.

Megan shows us exactly how to throw a clothes swapping party.  I've always wondered how you make this more than a couple of girlfriends turning up with carrier bags.  Let the planning commence!

Hope you're all having a lovely Tuesday
Jen xxxx

Summing up, and some nice things too...

Well. The past few weeks have been entirely eventful. Bag stolen. Mild nervous breakdowns thanks to the huuuuge amount of work I've been doing/avoiding. Cameron becoming prime minister. All just thoroughly too depressing.

Then! I found some beautiful dresses, started reading some lovely books and listened to Mahler's 5th Symphony on repeat. And I gave up smoking. Everything is okay again. Maybe. If I can just get some uni work done...  So let me forget about those 4,000 words that are due in next Friday and think about something else instead.

I picked up an awesome book in a charity shop in Cambridge - '1939: The Last Season' by Anne de Courcy.  It mixes stories of the final party season of the thirties with the political issues as we headed right into the middle of World War 2 (parties and politics are two of my favouritest things).  I'm not even halfway through it yet, but it's got some fantastic quotes (matched up here with some pictures, just because, well, I like pictures!)

"...for a young woman of the upper classes, adult life began with a curtsey."

(image from here)

"Two good subjects if you are stuck for conversation are ghosts and the royal family."

(image from here)

Apparently, the advertising for a car called the Lancaster really was 'At 50 m.p.h. you can knit comfortably'.  That is so my type of car! (I gave up trying to find a picture of the actual car - my car distinction extends to "it's red"...)

(image from here)

Finally, apparently my sister not only has been reading this blog but also enjoying it (thanks panda!).  So for her, here's some outfit pictures from when I felt particularly lovely over the last few weeks.

Me feeling a little Miss Marple-y. Actually, this happens quite a lot.

My hair makes me happy here :)

Yep, I liked this outfit a lot...

No outfit in this picture. Actually, no clothes except a towel. But Lilycat's just about the cutest thing ever.

Other exciting things have included some amazing acquisitions from various shopping trips to Cambridge, which will hopefully be posted as soon as I can access some passable photographic equipment, and some true visual treats.  But that's another story for another day!

Jen xxxx

Miss Marple: Style Inspiration!

Until a few weeks ago, I'd never watched or indeed read a single Agatha Christie novel.  Then, thanks to a combination of circumstances (The Moving Finger being first read in the Vintage Book Club, and discovering that Richard Armitage was in one of the adaptation...) I decided to finally sit down and watch this knitting super-detective!

And oh my. What style inspiration! Beautiful dresses, immaculate make-up and some seriously swoon-worthy chaps. Don't take my word for it, have a peek :)

Photos from the PBS website

See what I mean? I've almost worked my way through every episode, and have no idea what I'll do when they're done! Someone's recommended I try Foyle's War for some 1940s drama... any thoughts?

One final Miss Marple thought: Megan Hunter... the unlikely, scruffy, clumsy heroine of The Moving Finger.  She falls off her bike, can't darn her stockings and is generally a little bit quirky.  Love. Her.

(I can't remember where these photos are from, they were just hanging out on my laptop... if you know, pass that info to me and I'll credit them!)

And now... I have a big cup of Earl Grey, some champagne truffles and absolutely must get on with my uni work!

Jen xxxx