Three decades and all at only 99p

Well isn't the weather here being a bit mental? Freezing cold one minute and baking hot the next. I really don't do heat very well, especially as the heating at work is still on full blast! Bleugh.

Anyway when the weather was miserable last week and I was tired and bored I went on Ebay and found myself becoming the new owner of 4 rather marvelous vintage bargains.

The first was mentioned but not shown in my last post.

1970's purple dress from good old Marks and Spencer, not quite as pussy bow as it looked in the picture on Ebay but what the hey, I still love it and it was only 99p plus postage.

The second a very loud 1960's crimplene shirt.

Also from Marks and Spencer and also 99p plus postage.

The third a 1980's houndstooth dress, again for the princely sum of 99 pence.

 of course now it's way too hot to wear it so it will have to wait patiently in my wardrobe for colder days.

Finally these were a little more than 99p, in fact the were just shy of a fiver at 4 hundred and 99 pennies but I think they are well worth it.:-)

 
Loud, kitsch, elephanty and just perfect for my kitchen!

Vintage Shopping, 4 Pussybows, a Nautical Lovely and a Bob.

Well it's been longer than I meant between posts, Himself has had a pile of freelance work so I haven't been able to get near the computer until tonight. It's been a busy couple of weeks workwise and in the social life so when Saturday came and I had the chance to go to the charity shops for a blissful rummage I could not summon up my shopping mojo....bah.
I simply could not be arsed to go into town so I pootled around at home instead.

 Action Shot : Someone over the back of us was feeding the Red Kites, at one point I counted 30 of course by the time I ran in and got the camera there were a lot less!

By Monday I had thankfully recovered and headed over to Summertown in Oxford where our local hospice Helen and Douglas House have opened a 'Vintage and Retro' shop.

I have to say overall it gets a thumbs up from me. The layout of the shop was wonderful, not too much, not too little. Great decor with tables and cabinets laid out with treasures to browse. The prices on the whole were very reasonable and the clothes and other items had been carefully chosen. They were all genuine vintage pieces, (thankfully no Primark 'in the style of') Some were a little more expensive than I think they were worth, mostly going on their condition which in some cases was very well loved or very well 'worn' shall we say (nothing like 50 year old B.O!, no really, there is no smell quite like it) *retch*
On the whole however I think they got it spot on.  

My shopping mojo was back and for £28 I bought two of the four pussy bows both beautiful and both green.

The third of my pussy bows is also vintage and a wonderous ebay bargain of purple loveliness that I can't show you yet because it hasn't arrived!

The fourth and final pussy bow is new and from New Look.
To set the scene. My sister in law is in need of a frock for a special event, she has been hunting high and low, shops and internet alike, and I have been looking too, at the same time as finding suitable and extremely unsuitable options I of course ended up finding a couple of things I just had to buy!

Willpower what willpower?

Pussycats with a pussy bow and in the sale, now do you blame me??

Nautical but nice :-) 

 The only downside is it's sleeveless (time to get to work on the bingo wings!)

Finally the bob:

My hair always a bit sickly, has not been in the best of health lately. I can do bugger all with it, it has been wispy, dry and generally crap. I finally got to the point of no return last week and pleaded with my sister in law for a haircut. With no idea of what I wanted other than anything that would make it look better, I left it up to her. She decided to go for a much shorter and more sculptured bob, here it has been straightened but she says it should work with my natural curl too (we shall see later when I have to wash it!! Eek)

and yes I REALLY am as tired right now as I look in this picture, weekend plans are to sleep, sleep, sleep!

Mayday Fun and Gardening.

It occurs to me that this would be one of those times where, if I was that way inclined, I might worry that the magic was going from this relationship!
There we were with a lovely long bank holiday weekend ahead of us and Himself and I have been like ships that pass in the night.
Friday I was in London whilst he was at home, Sunday Himself was in London whilst I was at home and today I was out in Oxford with my best girls whilst he was home nursing a hangover.

We did manage to spend half of Saturday together (steady on now!) when we had a lovely steak pie for dinner and then decided as it was so windy outside we would go and try and fly the mini kite I bought Himself in Hampstead last week. The garden proved to be to sheltered so Himself suggested the park, I was sure it would be locked at night he thought this was rubbish so we walked to the park, it was locked. Much to the bewilderment of some dog walkers we ended up with him runnng down the middle of the street and me leaping up and down flinging the kite into the air, (and there's me wondering about the relationship magic?).

 Sunday the SUN CAME OUT! God I've almost forgotten what it looks like.After a delicious egg breakfast Himself set off for London and I spent the rest of the day in the garden doing some much needed work. It was sheer bliss even if I did overdo it and was so stiff  I was walking like John Wayne come the eveing! 

*Gratuitous garden shots*

Veggie patch all planted out and covered in sticks to try and stop the local cats using it as a convenient toilet.

Pumba does not look happy, he was completely hidden by weeds poor thing, now at least he can see again.

                                                              Happy Feet.

After all that I headed down to my Brother's house to give my Sister in Law her birthday present, eat chocolate and cola cake (YUM!) drink wine, drink baileys listen to cheesy 80's music until we could stand no more and put some Rammstein on, then head home and realise it was too late for dinner.

Today I left Himself to his hangover and went to Oxford.
It's the first time in about 15 years that I was there on a Bank Holiday for leisure rather than for work, it felt quite strange really. I met my two best friends for some quality catch-up time. We had to go with our Plan B which was straight to the pub as the weather was so awful. We ended up in Weatherspoons and there we stayed for the next four hours. Wine, scampi and chips, a strawberry/banana sundae and much laughter, just what the doctor ordered. 
I then came home and cooked a roast dinner, and yes I ate a huge plate of that too. Himself is upstairs packing for a business trip and I am sitting here positively bursting at the seams avoiding the washing up by blogging instead.
Happy Bank Holiday.

Marilyn Monroe Exhibition at the Getty Gallery.

Today I had a day off work to go to Old London Town and the Marilyn exhibition at the Getty Gallery. I was meant to be having a whole day out in the big smoke with my exhibition buddy Simon but he let me down and cancelled on me. *boo*
I didn't want to miss the exhibition so I went on my own. Got myself to Regent's Street no problem, but then I got a tad lost in the streets behind, eventually I turned a corner thinking I was heading back to where I started to try and find my way again and instead I was actually there!

First thing I did was fall in the door. As anyone who knows me will tell you this is not an unusual occurance, for one who was born on a Tuesday and therefore supposedly 'full of grace' I am laughably lacking in any signs of it. I have spent my entire life falling, tripping, stumbling and generally walking into. I have actually even fallen down a manhole, a singularly painful experience and one I joke I shall have put on my gravestone so it can keep amusing people even after I am gone!

Anyway people if you do plan to go to the exhibition please note there is a large step down into the gallery!

Now having been to the Marilyn exhibition in Bath last summer and being the owner of quite a lot of literature about her, I left this exhibition feeling a bit flat. It is quite tiny as exhibitions go, (but then the gallery itself is only small) However other than half a dozen photos I had seen everything here before, indeed most of the pictures I already own via an A3 sized calander I bought years ago or books in my collection.

 Having said that it was great to see them as a good quality photographic print. Also the dresses were far more brightly lit than they had been in Bath and you were allowed to take pictures of them here which you weren't allowed to do there, so that was a bouns too.

I think the thing was in such a brightly lit modern gallery it didn't have the same personal feel or poignancy as the other exhibition and I'm convinced this is why I felt a bit flat.

Having said that if you love Marilyn then it really is well worth a visit!