Honey, I'm home!

What a nightmare of a week.

I've had the most awful time with the family I was au-pairing for in Spain and decided to come home a month early. It cost an extra £160 to change my flight but I was out of there within 24 hours, although with a horrible, awkward environment once they knew I was leaving.

Don't get me wrong I have some great memories too and I'm sure there are loads of lovely families out there but this time I just had bad luck.

On the plus side...I'm home! And I had quite the little pile of eBay parcels waiting for me on my bed! It was SO exciting, along with the bumper sales parcel from Dorothy Perkins I mentioned in my last couple of posts. I bought a Holga camera that I had been hankering after for ages, got the red flash version in the starter kit all brand new for £24 which I think is alright!

And a MOUNTAIN of cheap, but lovely new clothes - can't wait to wear them all!

So this is just a quick note to apologise for neglecting my blog recently and to assure you that posting will resume very soon! (and outfit posts suitable for Scottish weather - yay!)

Tomorrow I will do a bumper "Look what I bought" post with pictures of my goodies!

For now I need to go and celebrate!

The Birds and the Bees

Ha! Made you look! It's just a bird print top, no bees remotely involved.

So this is the other top I bought in the Dorothy Perkins sale, it was reduced to £12 and it's so lovely and unusual. I think the colours will be great for Autumn and I love the bird print.

There's something so cute and quirky about a bird print in my opinion!

Love the puff sleeves too! Can't wait to try it on in a few weeks!

I reckon I'll wear this with a black or denim skirt and my staple bright red shoes and black tights, with a black blazer or cardi if it's chilly.

Aaaah another satisfying purchase!

Also, I would like to apologise for what feels like a rather boring blogging debut! I have noone to take outfit photos for me here and don't have access to most of my clothes for another few weeks. September onwards will really be the time to read my blog as I'll be able to show you a bunch of my favourite outfits and hopefully won't have to take photos on my camera's timer whilst balancing it on the TV!

I also don't really feel comfortable in summer clothes. Shorts and tshirts or vests and skirts have never really been my thing and seeing as that's mainly what I'm wearing here, I don't want to write outfit articles because I don't feel these outfits reflect my personal style and, of course, I don't want photos of me without my safety blanket cardigans and tights!

I'm not really confident with my size 16/18 figure and don't want everyone to see a load of flesh when they click on my page!

I'll see what I can do though, I'm getting gradually more confident as I get used to having my legs/arms out so I'm sure there'll be another outfit post or two to come!

Does anyone else ever get a bit camera shy come summer? Let me know!

Wellies!

Now I realise it's a bit early to be buying my festival wellies for next year but when I saw these on eBay, I just couldn't resist!

They are from Marks and Spencer and cost about £25 new I would reckon. I bought them for £7 delivered (to my home address, so yet another thing I won't be seeing till September!)

The girl was selling them in blue and pink but I decided to be good and only bid on one pair. Although I'm a self-confessed pink addict, I reasoned with myself and decided blue will probably go with more things.

Don't you just love the lace detail??

Can't wait for Rockness and T in the Park 2011!

(Also, I don't know why my pictures sometimes jump to the side instead of staying in the centre but it's REALLY annoying! Anyone know why it's doing that?)

Look what ELSE I bought!

Following on from yesterday's "Look what I bought" post, I thought I'd show you a bit of online sales shopping I've been doing since I'm missing the actual sales at home.

I managed to be good (by my standards!) and only ordered from www.dorothyperkins.com despite receiving the newsletter updates about 70% off sales from ASOS, Miss Selfridge and New Look.

(I did, of course, check their sales out and they are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G but I have to try and save SOME money!)

So here's what I bought from Dorothy Perkins...

From top:

Floral Tunic Dress, reduced from £25 to £7

Oatmeal crochet trim cardi, reduced from £25 to £15

Grey bow print cardi, reduced from £25 to £15

Clocklet necklace, reduced from £12 to £3

and Suede black bow shoes, reduced from £20 to £8.

So I saved myself £59 on RRP!

I also bought a Wildlife trust bird pattern tshirt which is soo cute but I can't seem to upload the picture so I'll save that for another day. Don't worry, you will see it!

Unfortunately, I won't get to see this stuff till September as it was delivered to my parents' home. (I stupidly forgot that Dorothy Perkins do European delivery)

Then again, I won't be needing cardigans here!

Have you bagged any sales bargains recently? I love hearing about other people's purchases so let me know!

Look what I bought!

Don't you just love coming home from the shops and showing whoever's about what you just bought? Especially if it was on sale and you feel that I-just-got-a-BARGAIN pride swelling?

Now imagine you're hundreds of miles away from your flatmates, parents and friends and have noone to show your latest purchases to until September...

Well, that's where you come in! This is definitely going to be a regular fixture - showing people stuff I've bought, clothes or otherwise, brings me so much pleasure. And feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Here's what I bought today...

One thing I have to say for my time in Spain; I LOVE Spanish shops and their sales are incredible! I bought this lovely red cardigan for 3.99EUR. Yeah, you read that right! I just checked the conversion rate for today ('cos I'm a bit of a geek) and that works out at £3.36!

Can't wait to wear it when I get back to Scotland!

I think I might have seen similar tshirts to this at home but I love it! You will soon learn that anything with flowers is alright by me! I love the clashing of pink and red. And yes, if you look closely, you will see that lovely red sticker says 3.99EUR as well.

This is my absolute favourite though...A quirky bird, polka dot AND floral print scarf! Three amazing prints in one! I like the sinister crow in contrast with the bright flowers and polka dots.

And it was on sale too. This time from Zara (fast becoming my new favourite for quirky prints. I also spotted a skirt with some retro looking synchronised swimmers and another with little penny farthing bicycles)

This cost me 5.99EUR (that's £5.05 to you and I) and I can't wait to wear it when I go back to uni!

So what do you think?

First Outfit Post!

Wish me luck...for this is my first outfit post! Unfortunately it's not something super stylish that I took ages thinking up...I'm working full time with kids at the moment don't you know!

I wore this today to go out for lunch with adopted Spanish family and then to hang about the house.

I've fallen in love with this yellow top all over again! I actually bought it in a charity shop a couple of years ago for 99p but have been reluctant to wear it as I didn't think it suited me. Thank goodness I held on to it!

Coming to Spain meant I had to conquer my fear of sleeveless tops and bare legs and so today's post is something I probably would never dare without the addition of tights and a cardi at home.

Dorothy Perkins yellow ruffle detail vest top - 99p charity shop

Floral elasticated waist jersey skirt - 4 euros, Lefties

This skirt was one of my guilty first buys in my first week when I discovered an AMAZING Spanish shop called Lefties. The skirt's a brilliant fit and what's more cost a tiny 4 euros in the sale (6 euros originally though!! what a bargain!) I bought another in black and pink but they had about 8 different colours. Was SO tempted to buy them all!

I can't lie though...I've actually bought a fair bit from Lefties. They have some lovely dresses and I picked up a couple of cardigans for 5 euros each. Everything feels good quality so I'm pretty chuffed with myself! I'm sure I'll be including the dresses and the other skirt (and anything else I might accidentally buy) in outfit posts over the next couple of weeks.

Apologies for my extra shiny cheeks! It's been between 35 and 37 degrees today and heat and myself don't mix very well!

What dyou think? An outfit for less than a fiver! (if we pretend I went barefoot all day, anyway)

Blogging Debut!

Ok, so how do you start a blog? I have been reading other people's blogs for a while now but, like the nine-year-old I am at heart, started to think, "But I want one toooo!".

Also, if truth be told, I am - for the first time in my life - (whisper it!) ...bored.

It all began many moons ago back on the 1st of July 2010. (Well, it certainly feels like many moons) As a French and Spanish student, I was required to spend my third year abroad in Spanish and French speaking countries. So, after an amazing life-changingly wonderful 9 months studying at the University of Bourgogne in Dijon, I had to think about the Spanish part of the year. And, alas, I ended up with a job au-pairing in a town near Alicante. My friends were jealous and I was excited - 9 weeks of Spanish sun and cuisine!

But guess what, all those horror stories you hear of girls au-pairing for nightmare children, no social lives and awful pay... well they're true!

So here I am, not a friend to hang out with, not a drop of cider to be consumed, not a charity shop dress to be snapped up until SEPTEMBER.


And so, my blog is born.


Theme-wise, I think it's going to be a bit of a mish-mash. When I'm back in Scotland I'll definitely want to post about my latest bakes, recent charity shop bargains among the outfit posts (Scottish weather is much more suitable for my dress, cardigan, tights uniform) but while I'm in Spain I can take you through the mere11kg luggage I came with (mainly clothes, of course) and show you any bargains I pick up along with a few I-fancy-myself-as-a-photographer-but-am-actually-rubbish pictures and anything else that takes my fancy.

I guess I'm hoping to meet like-minded people who share a few of my interests (unicorns, eBay, French literature and film, flower prints, owls, Russian dolls, vintage shops, old cameras, crafty things, second-hand books/clothes, red shoes to name but a few)

In my humble opinion, a good blog post always has at least one photo but seeing as I wasn't expecting to start writing a blog tonight (it's too hot to sleep, I started looking at a few of my favourite blogs...decided TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT I start my own) I am somewhat unprepared. However, a quick flick through my tagged photos on Facebook has provided me with a photo or two of recent outfits which (hopefully!) reflect what is to come.

Firstly...

This is me on the left with one of my friends, Nicky. The top was given to me the previous day by another friend who said it suited me more than her. Of course, I'm sure that's not the case, but it IS gorgeous and I had already fallen in love so I HAD to accept. I'm a sucker for a floral print. Also, you can see my trusty Primark satchel which comes everywhere with me and my fail-safe owl necklace which makes anything feel a bit quirkier!


Another night out, another floral number. This dress is from H&M, I actually got it in France, it was 15 euros there so I reckon the UK price was about £12. And my black Zara cardigan which cost me a tenner in the sale and has lasted for AGES. (The nail polish is one of the free Nails Inc. ones in June's In Style and it's definitely my current favourite)

This is my much more relaxed festival outfit that I wore on the final day of Rockness. The first few days were a bit more glamourous with my usual dress and cardigan with flats/wellies but by Sunday I just wanted to wear denim shorts, an oversized Tshirt and my lovely F&F at Tesco fleecey duffle hoody.

This is my much-loved H&M dress bought on eBay for just £2.50.. I love that it's a size 12 when I'm *at least* a couple of sizes bigger but it fits like a dream.

The belt was my mum's when she was a student. I love it so much. It has two birds on the clasp and is made with real, good quality leather and I love that noone else I know will have it. Best of all, it was FREE!

So there you have it! A tiny little insight into who I am and what I like. I apologise for my ridiculous use of parenthesis but I always have so much to add to what I write! I write like I think!

I'll be trying to post as often as possible and even though my shopping until September will be significantly reduced compared to normal (due to geographical location AND severe lack of funds) I'm sure I'll find a thing or two to post about!