Hen do and sneaky charity shopping

I had a lovely weekend in Cardiff at my almost-Stepmum's hen do, full of feather boas, drag caberet and willy-shaped straws! But it actually wasn't tacky, I think because a lot of the women were older and/or married we didn't act like a group of sexed-up screaming banshees (although we did see quite a few of those groups while we were out!).

And I also had the oppurtunity to pop into a couple of charity shops; one while on a ten minute train change at Cosham - I decided to go to a charity shop instead of getting food which my stomach was very angry about - and the second when I got off the train in Cardiff - there were three in a row but I only managed to go in one because I had to meet the others.

I picked up a cute little brown bag and a yellow cardi in the first one, and a brooch and a pendant in the second. Here are some pics:

I love the cute price tag on the bag. The picture of me is my outfit of the day, the cardi is nice and warm and I think the pendant goes really well.

So I know everyone is giving up things at this time of year, but I have banned myself from buying anything online this month. It might not be a big deal for everyone, but I don't work near any shops so I do ALL my shopping online. And even though I get loads of bargains I spend so much money every month. So it's going to be quite hard for me! Although I am helped by the fact that a lot of sales are ending, and also because I don't have any more room for clothes anyway!

I am kind of tempted to not count ebay as online shopping, even though it totally is...

Last thing - if anyone reads this blog and isn't a follower, please can you follow me? It's only so I can see if any more than 11 people are reading, no other reason. Ta!


Danni x

Good things they are a-happenin'

A flurry of good things happened today and yesterday. Nothing major but I still thought I'd share!

Firstly, last night I actually managed to use my sewing machine for the first time! I'm so pleased, I've been a real idiot with setting it up, and worried that it would just sit and gather dust in my room and be a guilt present - like when you were young and begged and begged for something, then when you got it realised that you didn't really want to use it. Anyway, this is NOT going to be one of those! I'm massively excited about all the possibilites now. All I actually managed to do was to sew a very wonky hem on a dress that I had bought from a charity shop then cut shorter, but all journeys start with a single step!

Before:

 After:

You can't see how wonky it is because it's a bit wavy, but it's not that noticeable luckily!

The second good thing is that I finished my second month of bootcamp this morning. I am SO much fitter than last month which is great. I can also jog a bit better even though I still hate it more than anything. The only bad thing is that I've built up muscle and not lost a lot of actual weight (I blame the muscle not the fact that I can't stick to a diet!) but I've got another two months of bootcamp booked (for the bargain price of £40) so hopefully now the weight will start to come off.

The third good thing is that my Evans delivery turned up yesterday! Very happy me, although I had to lug it all the way home in the big plastic sack they'd sent. Here's what I got:

Purse - £3 down from £10; brown boots - £10 down from £35; black knee high boots (I love these so much!!) - £15 down from £49.50; spotty tights - £3 down from £8 and some £5 tights.

I'm so happy with these purchases, I've been looking for black knee high boots for a while but just haven't found any that fit well or that don't look cheap. The brown boots seem really comfy - hopefully I'll wear them this weekend and find out! And it's really nice to get funky tights in a bigger size - I always buy patterned or coloured tights from Primark but they never go over my hips because they're two sizes bigger than the rest of me!

And lastly, I bought three new books from Waterstones with my giftcard yesterday; Lovers and Liars by Nina Bell, The Room by Emma Donoghue and Peter James' newest book, Dead Like You. Peter James is great crime writer that bases his books in Brighton which makes for good reading seeing as I live here! I'm going to Cardiff this weekend for my almost-Stepmum's hen do so I can make a good start on these on the train.

Here's my outfit of the day to finish - It's a cute dress I got years ago from New Look for about £10, and a gorgeous blouse I got in a charity shop recently for £3.99. Oh and my now-permanently-on-my-feet black cowboy boots. I added a big thick brown cardi as well on which I've pinned these two lovely swallow brooches I got from Primark last year.

Danni x

Apparently Stylish

Look I won an award! THANK YOU to the lovely Sam at Corsets, Crafts and Cupcakes for choosing me as Stylish, how flattering!

The 'rules' around recieving this award are as follows:

* Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

* Share 7 things about yourself

* Pass the award on to 7 recently discoverd blogs that you enjoy reading

* Leave your recipient a note telling them about their award.

Here are 7 things about me:

1) I can blow air out of my eyeballs. Seriously.

2) I have a fear of heights that I pretend isn't very bad, but it really is. Sometimes I fall over if I'm near a high edge. (Not over the edge you understand, but to the floor. I think it's like my subconcious wants me there so it knows I can't fall any further/off the edge.)

3) I'm addicted to crisps and bread. Full blown addiction.

4) I'm addicted to buying dresses. Another full blown addiction.

5) I share a birthday with my Dad.

6) I haven't worn trousers for two years. I'm currently trying to wean myself from leggings and onto tights. My habit of sitting with my legs open like a man makes this tricky.

7) I have to have a book within a couple of feet at all times otherwise I get twitchy.

Oooh. That was kind of liberating! Ok, my nominations are:

Alex at Odd socks and pretty frocks
Vix at Vintage Vixen

Claire at She's called Claire
Sarah at Misfits Vintage
Rebecca at Rebecca's Vintage Romance
Katie at Confessions of a Poor Shopaholic
Rai at BlargleFargle

And now for my weekend charity shopping booty:

This cute china trinket box for £1.99. I think it's fake vintage - has anyone seen Boots doing a range like this recently? But I'm confused because the label on the bottom looks quite old. Anyway, it's cute!

 This card, because it made me laugh. And is randomly glow in the dark.

This book, because Sam recommended it on her blog recently and it was only £1.

A funky orange bracelet for 99p, and a gorgeous Accessorize necklace (the kind that's usually about £12 which means I'll never buy it) for £2, and...

This beautiful brooch for £1.49. Doesn't it look like the rose in Beauty and the Beast? That's part of the reason I bought it, and I showed it to my friend and she thought exactly the same before I'd mentioned it!

Also I thought I'd show you my Saturday night outfit, a gorgeous emerald colour dress (it's brighter in real life) that I got a few weeks ago from a charity shop for about £7. Also if you look on my shoulder you can see my tiny hamster Doris!

I went with some friends to a place on my street called the Bali Brasserie. It calls itself a 'Tropical Bar' which straight away shows how cool it is! It's the most 80's place ever with bamboo walls and a carpeted bar. It's also a restaurant so we had some lovely noodles and then played four (increasingly drunken) games of pool. The boy and I cooked an amazing roast on Sunday and watched the first four episodes of Boardwalk Empire which I highly recommend.

Hope you all had great weekends too!

Danni x

Compliments and cute shoes

A lovely thing happened to me last week; after I wrote my Emily Barr book reviews, I put a link to them on Twitter and included @EmilyBarr on it (I'm not much of a Twitter user and if you aren't either it means that that person can see that you're talking to them specifically) and, OMG, she wrote back! She put:

@dannithegirl thank you! love your blog and thanks so much for the lovely reviews. you are v astute, those are absolutely my best 3 too x

How nice is that! Having one of your favourite authors say something lovely. At times like this I take back my hatred of all these new-fangled social network things!

And now for the cute shoes.

Aren't they lovely?! Only £7.20 (£10 inc.delivery) from Office. They were originally £45, now I know I bought them, but I would never have bought them at that price, what a rip-off! But anyway, they're perfect for spring, whenever it will get here.

I also just went a bit mad on the Evans website in the sale, oh dear, I must stop spending money. But I'll have some lovely things to show you soon! I wish it was payday already, I personally have another TEN DAYS before I can stop taking money from my savings and using it to buy shoes that I don't need.

Danni x

Look at me, look at me!

Ooh, an actual outfit post! I would love to do more of these, but just can't take good pictures of myself on my phone. Also, some mornings it's difficult because I go to bootcamp and have to get ready at work, so (as you'll see today) I have to take pictures of myself in the shower room mirror! I'm quite proud of the way that I get in to work sweaty and sometimes soaking wet from the rain, and manage to shower, produce a decent outfit from my backpack and go upstairs feeling good!


So here's me today:

I got this beautiful grey dress at a charity shop and I think it was about £8, it's made of a nice material and is a very flattering fit. The second picture shows the accessories; a Primark white belt which I use all the time, my favourite grey scarf which I got travelling in India, and my newest love, an Urban Outfitters satchel.

Oh and I thought I'd show you a few pictures from my New Years Eve party, remember I said I was going to do 40's murder mystery? Everyone looked amazing, and I loved the outfit I wore so much that I think I might bring it out from time to time when I feel like going retro!

Doesn't everyone look great! Sorry there's only a posed one of me, it's by far the best one, in every other I look a state! How much like a creepy 40's ghost does my other half look in the picture above?


Danni x

Bargains galore

Hi everyone!

I haven't really been feeling up to doing blogging, or anything, for a few days, because of a bad cold. Meh. Sniff sniff coff coff. But I wanted to share some bargains with you, starting with some shoes. I got these from Evans - their shoes are amazing! And so was their sale. I used my last bit of money in there even though I only went in for some tights, oops! Luckily I got paid early not long after, phew, saved from the evil bank charges.

Firstly there are these, slightly Gaga-esque boots:

Cute no? £15 down from £35.

Then there are these boots. They're amazing (excuse the rubbish pics coming up):

£90 down to £20! Bargain! They look a lot nicer in real life, and are really comfy. I even wore them shopping (I never wear any sort of heels to shop) and even though I was glad to swop them for bowling shoes a few hours later they were fine really.

Next, t-shirt and jacket from H&M, £3 and £5 respectively. The jacket has a rip in the back but I'm hoping to fix it with my new sewing machine...

They don't go well together, but are very cute seperately.

A £3 scarf from Evans:

And lastly, 3 skirts from Dorothy Perkins, one was £35 and two were £25, for THREE POUNDS EACH! Pics to be added of those soon because I forgot to take them, silly me. [Edit - Skirt pics added, sorry they're not great]

My New Years resolution is not to buy so many clothes though (all this was from last year!). I am doing well with buying mostly charity shop stuff, but I just can't resist a bargain, and although the above stuff are things I did need (obviously in the style sense, not like I only need clothes rather than air and water to survive), I buy things just because they're a bargain not because I need them. Last year I did well with almost completely weaning myself off Primark, so hopefully I'll be even better this year.

My other resolutions are: to lose weight - I started a second month of bootcamp this week, it's evil, especially as I did it in the rain for the first time and ended up shivering on the bus on the way to work for 45 minutes, but I can feel and see it working.

And to learn to sew. I set up my sewing machine yesterday, it was suprisingly tricky, because the instructions assume you know what the parts they talk about are, which I don't as I'm a complete beginner. It might also have been hard because of my cold making me very stoopid, anyway I decided to leave the actual sewing till I feel better so I don't end up breaking it or sewing my hands together!

Oh and I read all five Emily Barr books over the holidays and she's a fantastic author. I'm going to do reviews of them in my book section soon.

EDIT: You can read the book reviews here.

Danni x