The Dark Knight Rises, exciting times ahead and clothing Dilemmas

I went to see The Dark Knight Rises yesterday, I really loved it and I heartily recommend you all go to see it! If you liked The Dark Knight, you love this too, even without Heath Ledger.

Onto the exciting times ahead:

I've been wanting to visit a club called Slimelight in London, since I first heard of it when I was a very little babybat; It's a goth club that has been running since 1987 and plays a mixture of Trad goth, EBM and other electronica over 3 rooms and has members worldwide. In the past I have never had the opportunity to go but I'm finally going next weekend =]

This is part of the clothing dilemma situation:
I'm currently in a tizz going 'OMG! What to wear? Everyone there will look so awesome! How am I going to live up to that???'

So watch this space for clubbing outfit ideas!

The other half of my clothing dilemma is something I really need opinions on:

I went shopping with my mum the other day and she took my into Topshop. I normally don't shop there unless I get given a gift token because it's expensive and a lot of the time I struggle to find anything I would wear.

But this time when I walked in, I saw this:

I got so distracted by the adorable collar and sleeves that I didn't notice the price, or the fact it wasn't actually a dress, but a playsuit until I got into the changing room!

I was pretty upset; I don't wear shorts. Ever. I would feel really self-concious showing that much leg! I did however try this on; I was already in the changing room so thought I might as well.

I like it, I think it's adorable, Wednesday Addams-esque and it did suit me; at least the top half did! I'm still unsure about the shorts! Maybe with very opaque black tights it would be OK?

So I need your opinions, before I spend a practically obscene amount of money!

How do you find the confidence to wear something you'd normally shy away from?

Is it worth the risk that I'll buy it and then never wear it?

Is it ever justifiable to spend this much on an item of clothing when your income is low?

We are not amused

The title of this post is inspired by the facial expression in this picture:

This picture was taken when I returned from my night out, where I had been celebrating my first pay-check with alcohol in fairly large quantities (hence the red face; the first sign of drunkenness for me is flushed cheeks).

The cause of my annoyance?

This:

The dress I am wearing is by Spin Doctor, it's one of the few pieces of goth branded clothing I own (because mostly I can't afford branded clothing). I have worn it 5 times.

I have a wardrobe full of clothes a decade old and then a newish dress I paid quite a lot for splits at the seam! I know this is damage is easily fixed and in the grand scheme of things is no big deal, but I chose this dress in the store because the other one in my size had split in exactly this place, so I believe it is a design fault. This disappoints me because I really love the dress (skull cameo print!!!) and I've only ever heard good things about Spin Doctor.

Sigh. Time to get out the needle and thread eh?

Tomorrow I am going to sit in the park with friends and enjoy some free music so maybe I'll mend the dress there; if it's not raining =]

What I'm wearing:
Dress: Spin Doctor clothing
Cardigan: New Look sale, 3 quid. I tied it up because the drapey shape didn't flatter this outfit.
Grey tutu: New Look kids department many moons ago.
Fishnets: No idea where they are from.
Grey tights: Primark, 2.50 I think.
Celtic Cross necklace: Present from my ex's mum, from Cornwall.
Choker: Claire's Accessories with Ram pendant (yay aries) I re-used from a broken charity shop necklace.
I'm wearing a length of ribbon in my hair.
And my new shoes =]

Decorating can be distressing...

Since I finshed my undergrad degree and moved in with my Dad I've been slowly decorating my room.

The walls are  deep red, the woodwork is black. Can you tell that I got a bit over-excited about being allowed to paint, because I no longer had a landlord breathing down my neck?

I had to buy a new bed too, because it was that or sleep on an inflatable mattress all year. I ordered the second cheapest Argos bed; having slept on the cheapest Argos bed in 2 student houses, I thought I'd splash out and get one that looked nice =P.

When the bed arrived I realised that the bedknobs I had imagined to be silver, were in fact antique brass style. Not usually a colour I go for, but it looked so nice with the red walls that I decided to run with it. I found the candlestick in a chairty shop for 3 quid, and the lamp was from Homebase in the sale.

I even added some brass handles to my new wardrobe (which deserves it's own post if I ever finish it), they were also from Homebase, 3.79 each. The butterfly handles were from Urban Outfitters (3 quid each in the sale). The heart was made my my friend Pip.

Getting carried away with the whole decorating thing, I decided to swap the very ikky old white plastic lightswitch and plug sockets for brass too. I found some cheap from Wilkinsons.

When they arrived they were just too shiny, so I decided to distress them to match the rest of the room. I attempted to remove the protective coating with acetone nail varnish remover. I then gave them a good scrub with salt and lemon juice. The results were disappointing; it only worked in small patches, creating very dark spots. This is because the damn things aren't actually brass at all; they are steel with a brass coloured finish. So instead of a nice patina, I was just getting rust.

In the end I just decided to use a very fine grade sandpaper to dull the surface a little. It's hard to take a good picture of it though.

I think they look OK, and will probably age more quickly to a good finish than if I had just left them alone.

If anyone has some tips I could try before I go ahead and wire them up (or rather Dad does, because I am not to be trusted with electricity) I'd be very grateful.