The Annual Outing.

Is it just me or does January seem about 10 weeks long this year? Last week was mad, it felt like the longest week in the history of the world, one poor colleague came in on Monday having woken up thinking it was Friday and then realised she still had the whole rest of the week to get through. Devastating I think you'll agree.
I made Prosecco cupcakes to take in because I thought we could all do with the lift and it also meant I got to drink the rest of the bottle.

I seem to have spent the whole month eating too which is never a good thing in my case. Having said that I have always believed January is a bad month to try and diet, I leave that to February when I feel a bit brighter and stronger willed.
Mind you last night I dreamed I was being weighed and came in at a heart stopping 15 and a half stone!?! I actually woke up in a panic so clearly even my subconscious is thinking it's time to zip those lips girl.

I have made one last sale purchase, from Collectif. They started their sale late 50% off and now have an extra 30% off that so it's worth holding your nerve.

I also got given a dress this week, apologies for the bad picture I just popped it on a hanger all creased and bent, so it looks like a shapeless sack!
One of my students went home to Nigeria for the Christmas break and brought me a traditional dress back, complete with the contrasting hair wrap (not that I have enough hair to pile it up and wrap it sadly, but I shall use it like a head square instead I think.) I was totally blown away by his thoughtful gesture.

I have it on good authority that these are ace to wear in the summer as the lightweight cotton keeps you cool as does the loose design, it also has pockets! Who doesn't love a dress with pockets??

Well unless they are in the wrong place........

So that cherry print frock I bought from Joanie and showed last post also has pockets. I took a punt on the fact the waist would probably not sit right so bought a size up, and sure enough the waist is high, so high in fact it's pretty much under my bust. It looks fine under a cardigan but it does mean I can't use the pockets. As you can see I practically dislocate my shoulders trying to get my hands in them! and yes I am wearing two dresses in this picture. Nothing to do with the fact the heating is broken at work so we are having to swathe from head to toe to keep warm, but I was about to do a load of washing and I suddenly remembered I wanted to take a picture to show the mad high pockets so rescued it out of the laundry basket and put it on over the dress I was already wearing.

I must say this gesture does thrust the bust forward so maybe I could do it as a chest lifting exercise a la Barbara Windsor in Carry on Camping!

I have started to fret a bit as this seems to be happening with depressing regularity lately. I don't *think* I have a particularly strange shaped torso. I mean I am taller than the average and as my inside leg is a fairly standard length I guess most of my height does seem to come from my torso instead, but I don't recall having such an issue in the past. Maybe it's the style of dresses I choosing now?
Having said that I bought a lovely long sleeve pussybow blouse in Debenhams and had to return that because the sleeves were about 3 inches too short so the cuffs were way too tight and frankly looked ridiculous. Maybe the combination of Pilates and regular osteopath visits are lengthening my limbs!
Talking of Pilates and clothing gifts. My brother and sister in law brought me some elephant print loose trousers from Thailand.

Seem here drying after the wash and in need of a desperate iron. These will be perfect for Pilates in the summer.
Most of the ladies in my class are kitted out with snazzy sport/exercise gear. I toyed with getting some but I feel a fraud. I do not partake in any manner of sport or exercise like activity outside of my Pilates class, to be blunt basically in life I'm lazy as fuck, so exercise gear is a fake and a fraud. Instead I wear plain black leggings and a t-shirt or vest top. I have now become known for my quirky t-shirts so I figure these trousers are a step further down the path of eccentric exercise wear!

I also bought another quirky item of clothing to Pilate in when I was out yesterday with Soo for our Annual January Charity Shop Extravaganza.
This January was not so bounteous as previous years. One charity shop was shut and 3 others had sales on, so the only stock out was the not so great stuff they desperately wanted to shift.

This bunny vest is exactly my kind of exercise top. I paid the grand total of £3.75 for it and these other 3 items.

The crocodile is for the garden would you believe, not the animal you would instantly think of when making a garden ornament but I'm happy to go with it.
I can't decide whether to give the Tiki jug to my brother or my sister.
My sister loves her 50's Tiki but my brother is a fan of African art so I thought this might be a fun  thing for his office, to hold pens or something......hmm I suspect it will come down to who is the nicest to me the next few weeks hehehe

I bought a scarf, I don't need a scarf but I bought one anyway because it was lovely and a pound.

Finally I feel in love with this gorgeous footstool. I went away and had lunch but couldn't stop thinking about it so had to go back and buy it. I'm pretty sure it's 1930's or maybe 1940's

It's beautifully made and in pretty good condition. I need to give the wood a good clean and polish and get the white paint you can see off it, as well as clean and feed the leather. I love the little magazine shelf underneath. I have no idea where it will go and I am meant to be downsizing but it was £5 so how could I not?

Oh and before I lose all my beer drinking cred, the John Smiths is left over from Christmas and Himself's Dad, we haven't yet become desperate enough to drink it thank the lord, but don't really know what to do with it. I may have to cook some beef in ale, lots of beef in ale.....

Right I'm off to do the RSPB Big Bird Watch.

A Little Light Sales Shopping.

Well it just wouldn't be me if there hadn't been just a wee bit of shopping taking place when the sales are in full swing.

First stop was Clarks. I *Finally* got my green brogues after literally a year of lusting Porcelina  I bet you can't believe I managed to hold out this long!

Would have been rude not to get the bronze ones too. I now have the full Olympic medal set of brogues! The boots were not the ones I planned to get. I was looking for some black boots, they didn't have my size in store or online, so I thought grey but even as I was trying boots on in store my size sold out online which was a tad annoying. So I tried on the brown ones. The size 6 flopped around my feet and flapped around my calves, so I tried on a pair of size 5 and they fitted perfectly, most bizarre. All three items for £100. Christmas money well spent in my opinion.

I also bought another trio, this time a trio of dresses from Joanieclothing.com

These two were in the sale, the 3rd wasn't but how on earth could I, an ex-librarian, resist books??

Having had so many issues last year with dresses being too short in the torso I took no risks and ordered the next size up. I'm glad I did because as suspected the waist sits squarely on my rib cage and would have been a bad/uncomfortable fit in my usual size.
I'm actually wearing it even as I type

and after the day I've had today no you aren't getting a full shot!

Finally I could not resist this picture.

It could be my old cat Benjie. She was teeny tiny and curious too.

I haven't been doing much else other than working like a Trojan, it's our busiest time of year at work. I'm so wiped other than the necessary housework I have just flopped about and read or watched films.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was fun. As you know we see it every time it tours and we have certainly seen it done much better than this time, but we still enjoyed it.
I found it hilarious that the guy on the door thought Himself in his brown vintage cord jacket was in fancy dress (as Brad) Himself did not.

There again as you can see from this crap picture from a dying phone you can't blame him for that assumption!

We did go and see A Monster Calls at the cinema too, I had no idea what to expect, I wept like a baby.

I also finally got round to watching an Australian show called Cleverman as recommended to me by my osteopath no less!

I wasn't at all sure with the first episode but I gave it another go and then ended up binge watching the whole lot in 2 days!

Finally a new period drama that is actually really rather good. The new series of Endeavour is off to a cracking start, and yes, yes I am a touch biased because it is set in Oxford and it makes my home city look as bloody gorgeous as it mostly is, but seriously people it's fantastic. Frankly Shaun Evans is worth giving it a go for if nothing else.