Friday 27 July 2012

The Lost Boys.

Part of my birthday present from Himself was tickets to go and see The Lost Boys on a big outdoor screen (for it is 25 years since the film was released, I kid you not! Where they hell have those years gone???)

(I have this very poster which a friend of a friend nicked for me from the video shop where they worked!) (back in the days when there still were video shops)

To say I am just a bit excited about this would be a major understatement, I suspect I will get there and run round squealing until I hyperventilate and pass out. Which is pretty much what me and Jenny did when we first saw it at the cinema all those 25 years ago.

Let me set the scene......

I had been to the cinema, to see a film the title of which has been lost in the mists of time. Whilst there I saw a trailer for The Lost Boys. Long haired, painfully cool, drop dead gorgeous vampires? I was sold.
 Jenny however was not.
For she had not seen the trailer or heard of the film, she also had an important essay deadline at Uni. So quite frankly I literally nagged her into it, to the point where she agreed to go just to shut me up. The compromise was an early viewing so she could slave away over the essay afterwards (yeah right, but more of that later.)
We got the cinema, bought our tickets and took our seats. All through this and the trailers and the start of the film (cos in those days you didn't have 40 freaking minutes of adverts before a film), Jenny grumbled loudly about how she shouldn't be there, how she would fail on her essay, how it was all my fault etc.

Then that amazing opening shot on the carousel happened. 

I don't think I will ever forget the sound of her huge intake of breath when she saw The Lost Boys walk onto the carousel in slow motion, we clutched at each others arms in speechless wonder when we saw Brooke McCarter and Billy Wirth for the first time and were lost.

                   These two weren't the only reason we loved the film but they certainly helped! 

Like many others around me, I did become oh so slightly OBSESSED with the film after that first viewing. I suppose just like 'Interview with the Vampire' in the 90's or 'Twilight' and 'True Blood' now, at the time this film was huge. The enduring romance of the handsome vampire. Everyone secretly wanted to be a Lost Boy or seduced by a Lost Boy.

Of course I wanted to be Star! Jamie Gertz was so beautiful and so damn cool.

  I ran out to River Island and bought broderie anglaise bustier tops in dark red, black and white, I ran to the Indian shop on the Cowley Road and bought elasticated waist gypsy skirts with handkerchief hemlines.
I thought I would look gorgeous like her.

 I did not.

Indeed I actually looked like a shapeless sack. I was tall and thin with no boobs and absolutely no waist. Bustiers need some boobage to make them look sexy and elasticated waists need an actual waist and hips otherwise they just look bad, very bad.

I went back to the drawing board and decided to dress my boyish figure in the boys clothes. Lost Boys clothes.


I can most definitely say my long enduring love of military jackets started there and then.

 Luckily for me in those days there was an Army and Navy surplus store in Oxford. I never looked back. With the scarves tied around the top of my riding boots and round my wrists, tight fitted trousers and a long military frock coat, (the huge hair was already there) my look was complete.

I went to see the film a few times at the cinema and played it to death when I got the video then I guess fickle wench that I am I simply moved on. To the point where I haven't seen it in, well, ages. I only bought it on DVD a few years ago and can't actually remember when I last saw it.

And yet......and yet.

When Himself mentioned the outdoor screening in passing a few weeks ago I had a rush of the old magic.

Don't let me down boys.

Thursday 26 July 2012

And the Winner is.......

I finally got around to writing out the names and putting them in a hat last night.

 
 I asked Himself to pick one out, he decided as it was Harrington's hat he should pick the winner

er ok, ahem thanks Harry.....
 without further ado the winner is.....

                                                               Mim/Crinoline Robot!

Please email me your address so I can send you your goodies :-)

Saturday 21 July 2012

Necklaces and Shakespeare.

Tatty Devine is a name a lot of people will only know from the British press after the disgraceful plagiarism of some of their designs by Claire's Accessories earlier this year. For those who don't know them they make wonderful quirky jewellery which sadly as a rule is out of the reach of my pocket.
I do have two perspex necklaces by them, a black Poirot moustache and the one Himself bought me in Newcastle last year that says 'Chips'. They have a fantastic service for making customized pieces which I was considering as I really wanted another word necklace saying 'Tea' (as you know I am somewhat of a fan of the brew!) but it just didn't pan out economically, there is a set fee and as it was only 3 letters I felt it was a bit pricey. I would still recommend it for longer word necklaces though see here

Instead I decided to take to Etsy and see what I could find and what I found was House of Fickle Queen 
From them I bought this awesome 'Wonka' necklace.

 I emailed them and asked if they did custom pieces, they got straight back to me and said they did what was it I wanted? I described my simple 'Tea' necklace and never heard from them again! I emailed them a further 3 times but no response.
 
I can only conclude they must be coffee drinkers.

Despite this I am very happy with my Wonka necklace and have had many good comments when I wear it.

I took my search to Folksy and there I struck veritable gold in the form of Cherryloco Jewellery.
Not only did the wonderful Lauren say yes she could make my necklace she also directed me to her Facebook page to see examples of her other custom makes and told me I could chose any colour and font from these examples, or if I had a different font I wanted if I sent her a link to it she would see what she could do.
My necklace arrived in super fast time and to say I am thrilled with it would be an understatement!
    
 Again I have had LOADS of compliments on it and everyone who knows me, my tea drinking addiction and my love of purple think it is very me.

Last week I spotted from the facebook page that there was an offer on. Buy one piece over £10 and get another from the darklings collection for free. Well it would have been rude not to.
Here is what I got :-)


 Lets just say I am a very happy camper and would highly recommend this fantastic designer.

Last night I went to see The Merchant of Venice performed outside by the wonderful Creation Theatre Company 

Thankfully the rain held off and the performance went ahead. They have been really suffering this year as have many other outdoor events and performers and the worry is they may not be able to afford to do this again next year which would be a tragedy indeed.

It took me a little while to get into the play at first, it is very wordy when it begins and I was distracted by watching the other actors so lost my concentration! I confess I was also a little confused by the fact it was only half a dozen or so actors playing all the roles and wasn't sure which one was who at one point but... Once I got used to seeing all the stage and the small cast I LOVED it. 

It was set in the 1930's and the costumes where fabulous. I loved the fact they added a couple of songs and pieces of music performed by the cast, this was primarily to cover when the actors where moving bits of the set around but it worked seamlessly and really added to the 30's feel of the production.  

I don't know the play at all and I have to say I did find the anti-semitic sentiments sat very uncomfortably with me indeed. Other than that it is Shakespeare at his best and the cast were wonderful.

I would strongly urge anyone who is able to go and see this production to do so, it is on until September and well worth it.  

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Birthday Goodies and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Yesterday was the day of my birth and this was the reason the sun came out, or that's what I tell people anyway! It was really rather lovely to have a day at home with some blue sky to look at and a bit of warmth on my skin after all the endless cold and grey and wet.

Back to work today and the rain was back too, so I rest my case!

I had a lovely day pootling about in the morning, then over to my brother's house to have my hair done and eat some absolutely delicious Nutella birthday cake courtesy of my Mum. *happy sigh*

Monday night I went out with 4 girlfriends to eat and drink and be very merry. Good times indeed.

I came home to these beautiful roses
 and a bottle of fizz, which I am sitting quaffing even as I type now. I also got this wonderous clock for my kitchen.
I think it's safe to say I will be following it's instruction to the letter!

I also got some more books to add to my never shrinking bedside pile.

 I'm particularly chuffed with 'Hollywood Rocks!' it has been on my wishlist for ages now and has gone some way to soothe my Rock of Ages 'outraged nostalgia' with very much more happy memories of my misspent youth!

From Soo I got an elephant cushion and this fab Snoopy t-shirt. We have a tradition of ice cream eating together so it is apt indeed.

The postcard is of Bournemouth and tells of glorious weather and a 'simply topping time' being had teaching the boys how to 'get in the water' Priceless, I love it.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I have been thinking for a while of doing a giveaway and it somehow seemed apt to do it today, so I had a little toiletries spree.



1. Mighty Mouth by Soap and Glory - 3 steps to gorgeous lips!

2. Glow Lotion by Soap and Glory

3.Max Factor Lipfinity Lip Tint in Pink Princess

4. Collection 2000 Lipstick in Cherry Pop.

You know the drill. leave a comment below and I shall enter you in the draw. :-)



Tuesday 17 July 2012

Two go mad in Witney.

I thought Soo and I were just having a girly shopping day out so I wouldn't need to take my camera, foolish VERY foolish! Oh the sights I could have shared if only I had had my camera with me!
The one on my phone is shit I did try to take a couple of pictures with it but they were poor to say the least.
This is the best of them, who would not want a Peter Rabbit bird feeder in their garden? Come on now don't be shy!


But I am getting ahead of myself.

I headed out to the train station in the pouring rain and that was kind of the theme of the day with hindsight wellies might have been a better idea, seriously will this weather ever stop?

To set the scene...It's been many years since I have been to Witney which is a lovely Cotswolds-y sort of town in Oxfordshire.
It has a perfect mix of independent and charity shops on the High Street and a new precinct with a few chain stores.
It also turns out Saturday was carnival day, we somehow briefly ended up trapped in the parade (I blame my large leopard print umbrella, it does look a bit carnival parade-ish) and we just may have got in without paying due to this fact.....oopps.
They really were being terribly British and battling on despite the weather with stalls and games and a marching band with majorettes. Oh and they had donkeys, beautiful cute donkeys for a donkey derby, but I had no camera - boo :-(

We got slightly lost leaving the carnival but after following the confusing directions of a friendly Postman we finally found the High Street.
There was an 'emporium' always a good start. It turned out to be the shop for a house clearance company. It was a weird and wonderful mix of 'stuff' at random prices for what on the whole was tat. The couple who were behind the till looked the sort who would con your Grandma out of all her heirlooms, the attraction of house clearance to a certain type I guess, didn't make for comfortable shopping, well for me anyway.

Next we did charity shops which were extraordinary and unlike any I have been in before, and the market, where I nearly said something a bit rude at them wanting £10 for a plate.

Stomachs said it was time for lunch, so we retired to the new Wetherspoons. Another time I kicked myself for not having my camera.
Witney is famous for it's wool trade and blankets, the pub was decorated to reflect this with artwork made out of pieces of weaving and looms. The best bit by far were the knitted lampshades, they were beyond awesome and I want one very badly!

Fueled with fish and chips and large glass of Pinot Grigio I was ready to shop some more, oh yes.
Next stop the fabric shop where Soo spotted this material and I squeed very loudly and bought two metres.
which just goes to show you how rubbish I am at clothes making becuase my Mother came round the next day and said 'It's lovely dear, but you need at least 3 metres for most patterns'

Bollocks.

I went on Ebay and bought some more. *sigh*

Next up was one of those Upcycling/Shabby Chic/Cath Kidston-esc type of Antique places with rooms full of stuff where you basically go round excitedly picking things up going 'oooh that's so LOVELY!' turn it over and go 'HOW FREAKING MUCH???' and put it down again. We wandered round and did that a lot then left without buying anything.

Quick bottle of pop stop and we hit the new shopping precinct, for there were sales on which means non charity shops are allowed. I bought this frock in Dorothy Perkins for £7



and LOTS of cheap accessories, once a magpie always a magpie!


 Finally footsore and weary we headed back to the car at Sainsburys, calling in to buy a steak pie and cat food for hedgehogs (me) toilet rolls, coffee and wine (Soo)

Of course this was when the rain decided it was time to go monsoon again!

Behold my purchases.


1970's Fish moneybox and a wee owl.


Eggs cups 50p each. The bottom two are christened my 'Poirot egg cups'. All three were used Sunday for breakfast!

 A gorgeous bowl with a purple heather pattern. I plan to put potpourri in this.

Scarf for hair.

I also bought a birthday pressie for my Mum which I am very happy with.

All in all a great day out



Tuesday 10 July 2012

Just Call me Doctor Dolittle!

This was not the post I had planned to write this week but I have been having hedgehog dramas and adventures so I am somewhat preoccupied with them it has to be said.

We had a wee chap who overwintered in our compost bin and I knew he was out and active, or we had had another little visitor lately by the 'deposits' on the lawn!

 I had seen a hedgehog out there in the evening a couple of times but more than that I had heard him. Quite frankly it sounded like an asthmatic with a 60 a day cigarette habit was hiding in the hedge!

Not knowing whether this was normal or not I posted a question on a hedgehog forum and received some horrifying responses. It seemed my little hedgepig friend was very sick with something called lungworm and needed urgent treatment. Without it his lungs would fill with fluid and basically he would drown. I was ridiculously upset by this news. I mean I know this is natures way, animals die but I really do hate the thought of a poor animal suffering.

 I rang a local animal centre and had a long and thankfully reassuring conversation with someone there. It seemed that due to the fact the hedgehog was otherwise healthy, eating well and was off like Usain Bolt if you went anywhere near him the outlook was quite good.
She gave me exact details of the medication I should get from the vet and how to feed it to him, so I hotfooted it up the road to the vet where thankfully they were prepared to let me buy the stuff even though I wasn't signed up there and don't have any pets!
(I am signed up now with hedgehog treatment on my record!)


Last night as I put the food out under our greengage tree by the hedge and as I straightened up I looked direct into the bright black eyes of the wee man himself, I'm not sure who was surprised the most the hedgehog or me!
Anyway I retreated rapidly to watch and finally he trundled over to the plate and scoffed the lot, I was doing a happy dance I can tell you. Sorry for the blurry pic I didn't want to get too close and scare him off completely.

So tonight I mixed up the next lot of food plus meds and put it out. The hedgehog arrived foraged neatly all around where the plate was, and then bumbled off across the lawn without having had so much of a bite....damn.

                                                         It's behind you!!!

I had just moved the dish to what I hoped was a better spot when I heard more rustling and all of a sudden another hedgehog appeared!

This hedgehog also snuffled and foraged mostly where I had just moved the dish from, double damn, and then he too buggered off without eating a mouthful either! By this time I was cold and wet so I came in.
Fingers crossed they will be back to forage again later and will eat it up then, please oh hedgepigs please.

The weird thing is neither of these two was making the terrible wheezy noises so now I don't know if there is perhaps a third prickly friend?

Tuesday 3 July 2012

My Take on the Vintage Backlash.

There have been various bloggers lately who have posted about why they wear Vintage and how they feel about it going mainstream. I have posted some long and rambling replies to some of these posts, apologies if I filled your comments box with randomness!
It made me think about the subject to such a degree that when I woke up at 5.15am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep again *weeps* I started to write a post on the subject in my head. Of course I don't remember it word for word now, (I do know it was brilliant, witty and incisive) so instead you have my half remembered off at a tangent version.



Vintage is the biggest thing since sliced bread if the papers and women's glossies are to be believed. It is of the moment and even downmarket weeklies are telling you how to shop and where.

There has been much discontent in the world of vintage at this news. There are those who are spitting feathers over the very thought that some little twinkie who usually shops at New Look is suddenly going to be browsing the rails of their beloved vintage stores. There are those who have ACTUALLY STOPPED WEARING 1940's or 50's originals in disgust at the fact they are now trendy!?! I kid you not! Personally I think theirs is mental behaviour but of course it is their choice.

My take on it? I guess the fact that I am not a vintage purist means I was never going to have a violent reaction anyway, but I say live and let live. If there is some young person out there who up until this point had been following friends into Topshop like a sheep, that has suddenly discovered a passion for well made original clothes then I say the current trend is well worth it!

 The only things that irritate me?

 I really don't get why cupcakes are vintage. Cupcakes have only existed in the UK for a few years, if we were being authentic British we would have fairycakes and butterfly cakes!
That being said stick a cake and a cup of tea in front of me and I will soon be distracted from my irritation......Mmmm cake.

The other thing that does drive me mad is when people get their facts wrong!?! Do your freaking reasearch, that's your job and it's not hard.

Oh and people who call every kind of floral vaguely teadress looking frock on Ebay 'Vintage'. It's not vintage dear it's on sale in Primark for £10 even as we speak.

and that the prices of vintage and retro have gone sky high - Bah.

Other than that I am sanguine. This current trend will pass and then 'The Vintage Elite' will be able to go back to swaning around like queen bees and being bitchy about people in repro clothing instead of hissing at the world in general.
Harsh? but oh so fair!
There are some real stuck up bitches in the vintage world, who won't deign to acknowlege someone who is in the wrong type of frock or who is not purist enough for them except to be rude about them. At the end of the day all they do is allienate themselves from some wonderful people so they are the losers. I know who I would rather be friends with because there really are some lovely, lovely people in the vintage scene too.




As for me? I fall firmly into the repro wearing non-purist camp. For a start I am 5ft 11" and a size 14-16 (depending where I shop), with very little in the bust department and absolutely no waist. Quite frankly finding original frocks from the eras I love that actually fit me is nothing short of miraculous!

On top of that I have been a heavy metal fan for the last 30 years and my rock chick habit is going nowhere! Hand on heart whilst I love to dress to the nines on occasion I think I am always going to be more comfortable in my fishnets and biker boots. On that note, unlike some, I have no problem with the fact clothes that I used to wear, or that are still hang in my wardrobe are now 'vintage'. The passing of time is the one damn thing you can do nothing about, so live with it!
   (Genuine 1980's baby - If these boots could talk oh my word the stories they could tell!)

I will never be a vintage purist simply because I love clothes. I always have and I always will. I still get a thrill seeing the new seasons arrivals each year so I can't tie myself to one era. I couldn't even choose a favourite era if I tried because I love different clothes from every single one.