A sax in the snow

You may remember that a while ago I ordered a black Gunne Sax dress from Etsy. It arrived just after Christmas but I didn't get around to taking pictures of it until yesterday.

I brought it because of the lace collar (my lace addiction is a serious problem right?) and it's potential for use in Dolly Kei style ensembles, but when I woke up and saw the snow I knew I had to take pictures, and thought it'd keep the outfit simple and warm-ish! I was only outside for 2 minutes and that was enough!

I even persuaded Ash to be my photographer! So a big thank you to him. Unfortunately I had a hard time standing up/walking in the snow which was so deep it covered my Docs right up to my frilly boot covers, so this is the only non-blurry picture!

I was really happy because I'd just found out that my brother's wife gave birth to my second nephew last night!

He was born at 10:01 pm on 17th January, weighing 7 pounds and 15 ounces =]

They have called him Lucas Karim Wall.

This makes me extra happy because I helped them pick the name. My brother is a huge Star Wars fan, as is my older nephew Logan (Ahmed Wall, he is the LAW!), so I said you should name him Luke as a joke! I think Lucas will have his name shortened to Luca though not Luke, which I think is a nicer name anyway! Also avoids the Luke Wall sounding like Luke Warm issue =P We're considerate in our family!

So now I have a nephew named after Star Wars to go with my nephew named after Wolverine =P (my brother denies that's why they chose the name, but they chose it after watching X-Men so he's lying =P)

Expect pictures when I can go and meet him - hopefully next week!
(advance apologies for me going all mushy - I'm reallllly not maternal or broody but my nephews manage to overcome this and make me coo like a mother hen anyway)

I return from the grave, but not unscathed...

Hello to all of my readers, I have a netbook again and I'm back to blogging! How I have missed it. I've been reading posts on my lunch breaks at work, but not being able to leave comments or reply to the ones I've had has been hard =[. Thank you all for sticking around and awaiting my return =]

Yesterday I got my lovely new netbook, but It's going to be a while before I return to full functionality; it came with Windows 7 - but it turns out to just be a starter edition which means I can't do a lot of things (including change my desktop wallpaper for some reason!), I'm going to try and invest in a full edition as soon as I can.

I also don't have any photo editing software at the moment, except Paint, which is a tiny bit too basic (even for someone that still uses a version of PaintShop Pro that was made for Windows 1998 =P). So you'll all have to bear with me a tiny bit!

After my long absence I thought the most appropriate post would be the pictures I took in Cathays Cemetery, which was really beautiful, very serene and well tended with some stunning memorials. I apologize for the poor lighting in these pictures; December light on a rainy day isn't the most interesting!

Main entrance gate

Anglican and Dissenter's Chapels (sadly the Catholic chapel has been totally lost)

Some of the memorials in the oldest part of the cemetery, notice how many obelisks and other kinds of pedestal tombs there are.

 Memorial to Frank Baselow, the statue is thought to represent his young wife and child.

Memorial to Sydney White which features 2 angels and a statue of Jesus as a shepherd.

I will be returning to Cathay's at some point in the spring to finish my recording, so I'll take more pictures then when I hope the weather will be a little better; we only managed 3 hours in the cemetery each day on this visit because after that our fingers were too numb to hold the tape measure or write anything down!

This week I'm hoping to post some pictures of my Christmas crafting projects and show you all some of the lovely gifts I received yesterday!

Winter wanderings

This is just a quick post to warn you all that I'm going away this weekend. I'm off to Cardiff with my other half to do some more cemetery research =] I'll be studying Cathays Cemetery and I'll make sure to take lots of pretty pictures for you all! If I don't freeze to death that is. It's getting awfully cold to be meandering in graveyards, after this I might have to postpone further field-trips until March!

In the meantime here's a picture of some owls:

The one in the middle is called Ezio (OWLditore, can you tell my boyfriend loves Assassin's Creed? He came up with it and I thought it was genius) but I don't have names for the other 2 yet.

Suggestions anyone?

Winter outfits

I'm not a big fan of taking pictures of myself, but I like to record my outfit ideas. Therefore I usually just lay the outfit out and take a picture.

Here are a couple of outfits I wore when the temperature dropped below zero this winter.

This first outfit was designed to juggle a difficult task; a visit to the hospital to see my nana (who is still hoping I'll grow out of this 'phase'), which involved getting 3 buses in the snow, and then clubbing. This was my solution:

My white skirt with key and lock pattern, with a black lace skirt underneath, a black poloneck jumper, my black velvet jacket and a black and white striped bowtie. Also my new hat from Bella D'luna who I met at November Nocturne. It's simply lovely and very comfortable, because the comb holds it very securely. Visit her etsy shop here.

Beneath the black poloneck jumper I wore a black strap top with lace overlay (for slight additional warmth in the day and perfect for dancing in).

Also this skirt combination would not be warm enough with this secret weapon:

my grey cable-knit skirt, which makes any outfit winter-proof =]

Ovbiously I also wore my winter coat and my doc martins (with lace edged boot covers). I even made some matching bows from some ribbon and safety pins.

I also swapped the feathered hat for my beret whilst in the snow =P


Run-down:
Lock and key skirt: H&M £7
Black lace skirt: New Look. Present from my mum
Grey knit skirt: Primark £10
Black poloneck jumper: Warehouse. Present from my mum
Black velvet Jacket: Vintage. Present from my mum
Boot covers: Accessorize (+ added lace trim). Present from my auntie.
Bow tie: Came with a cardigan I've had for years.
Hat: Bella D'luna
Black lace top: Oasis. Present from my mum

As you can see my mum has awesome taste in clothes =]

This second outfit is one I wore to the pub on a chilly evening with an old college friend.

I've had this jumper for a few years, but I rarely wear it because of the fact it's kind of chilly at the back! I decided to try wearing it with my corset dress and a long sleeved black top underneath. I added the magic grey skirt, a black lace petticoat, black pearl-style necklace and my key necklace. Obviously this was also teamed with my docs, the lace edged boot covers and my winter coat.

Rundown:
Black and grey striped jumper: Religion via TK Maxx £10
Black corset fronted dress (I wore it backwards): H&M £7.99
Black Lace skirt: same as above
Grey knit skirt: same as above
Boot covers: same as above
Black pearl necklace: Next. 16th birthday present.
Key necklace: This is a collection of antique keys, I have found over the last 6 years. Mostly from wardrobes adandoned on the pavement (yay studentville)