What I'm Wearing: Check Shirtdress

This is a bit more casual and sloppy look than my normal outfit posts, but I was quite hungover and I just wanted to wear something really comfy. Also wearing the headscarf meant I didn't have to wash my hair, this made for a pretty good 'feeling delicate' outfit. I know it's not the most flattering shaped shirt in the world but I'm not always concerned with the idea that I should look like the slimmest version of myself at all times. There is a really great article that discusses this pressure to always look 'your best', often times at the expense of self expression or feeling comfortable. I like dressing the way I want, on some days that might be a waist hugging dress, other times it's my knee length Beno jumper with clompy boots, what's important to me is feeling happy in my own skin and having fun with my clothes.

I got the shirt for only €5 in a mad 'everything is a fiver' sale in The 'Design Outlet' on William street. They also had jeans for only €10 that I very nearly bought, but after reading this article on how to get great pair of jeans I didn't give into the temptation of the bargain. When I was really honest with myself I could see that they were nice on the ass and legs but the waist was way too low for my shape, I never would have been comfortable in them. 

Runners- fake converse from Pennies €8

Sunglasses- Pennies €3

Shirt- The design outlet €5

Belt-Pennies €3

Nail varnish-L'Oreal (602) free from my friend Casha 

Ring- from the Milk Market, it crazily only cost €1!!

Head Scarf- free, I made it from a scrap of fabric and I made the button clips myself

Earrings- free to me as I made them, but I normally charge €10  

Whole outfit only €20( or €30 if I was to buy the earrings from myself??!)

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What I'm Wearing: Red and Black Dress

I tried to do a what I'm wearing post about this dress before but the photos were pretty awful so I didn't want to post it, and since I've posted a few less than lovely pics of myself already that's saying a lot for how bad they were! I bought this dress in The Edge, where I also got this dress, to wear on Christmas day. As it's made of t-shirt material its super comfy, which gave me lots of room to stuff my face with festive tasty things. Funnily enough I ended up going out for dinner the day I took this picture too (in Marco Polo, and it wasn't too bad either).

Dress: The Edge €30
Shoes: Schuh €110
Ring: My own design, retails at €5
Haircut; Free, I did it myself on Tuesday and just paid €6 in my local chemist for the dye, can you tell I'm flat broke at the moment??

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What I'm Wearing Series

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What I'm Wearing: Retro Floral Dress

I wore this new dress out the other night for John's birthday, a little dressy for a Tuesday night but it's new so I REALLY wanted to wear it. I was sick a few weeks ago and was unable to go for lunch with my Mum while she was visiting. So instead she popped over with a voucher for The Edge and told me to buy something nice, aren't Mothers amazing? The Edge is my favourite clothes shop, it's the only place in Limerick to buy alternative clothes, the prices are great, and it's in the Milk Market so I'm there every week(which is pretty dangerous).

It's a really well structured dress so it holds and sucks in all the right places. It's a little shorter than I normally wear but the netting makes it seem longer. It was a total steal at only €29! This is the first time I've gone for this retro looking hair style, but I'll definitely do it again as it was super easy. I took this pic before putting on my red lipstick, with that the ensemble looked very retro.

Dress: The Edge at an amazing €29
Earrings: Vintage from Alexia McInerny at a vintage fair for €10
Shoes: Leavys for €10 plus red ribbon in Hickeys €2
Tights: Polka dot tights in Debenhams €6

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What I'm Wearing: A Bow Blouse

I'm feeling a bit brave after my week of sickness. All last week I wore horrible but very comfy clothes, I couldn't wear a bra most of the time because of my tattoo, which I meant was wallowing in frumpsville. I woke up feeling human today and I wanted to wear something girly. 

I'm loving the bow blouses I've been seeing lately but I wanted to buy a good quality vintage one and not one on the high street. I was delighted when I found this royal blue/purple one at the Friday Flea Market, and because I'm a trader I got it for a bargain at only €6! These blouses do have the potential to be become boring conventional office wear, which really doesn't suit me. So I decided to do something a bit daring and dress in all one colour(apart from the fact that I don't have a blue belt of shoes). I find it pretty funny that I have to go to the bank today to sort out a business account for the shop, John thought I was dressing up for them!

Shoes: Black pumps from New Looks €8

Tights: Blue tights Pennies €3

Skirt: Pleated blue skirt with pockets Pennies €5

Belt: Free in a bag of clothes my sister gave me

Blouse: Purple bow blouse The Friday Flea Market €6

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What I'm wearing: A Vintage Dress

I've been rather sick with a horrid stomach bug for about a week, so cabin fever led me to do things like tidy the house, scrub my bathroom, dye my hair and paint my nails...it's amazing what boredom will lead a person to!

I've had this dress for over a year and I've never worn it, part of me loved it, but the other half thought it was a bizarre hybrid of something my mother wore in the 80's and a Star Trek(natives from a peaceful and earthy planet)dress. But I tried it on again recently and realised that the side that loved it won out and and that I would wear it soon. So this is it's first airing!

Dress: In a bag of vintage dresses that I got for free from a friend of a friend...for free!

Belt: Came free with this blue top I got in A-Wear, it's awful with the top, but nice with this dress.

Boots: A charity shop €10

Wow that's an incredibly cheap outfit!

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Polyvore: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by nicedaydesigns featuring canvas boots

I'm quite excited by the trailers for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I loved the books and I own all the original Swedish films on DVD, it looks like David Fincher has kept pretty close to the text, but to be honest I don't know if the new Lisbeth Salander can be as good as Noomi Repace(although I'm mightily impressed by the creepy lack of eyebrows).

Anyhow I made up this Polyvore board in homage to this amazing heroine.

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What I'm Wearing: Desigual

I fell in love with this coat when I first saw it, thankfully I was shopping with my mother at the time and she convinced me to splash out the €100 for it. Normally they cost well over €250, but I got a great bargain in the January sales last year in the Kildare outlet centre. It's a Desigual coat, and I'm obsessed with their clothes, I just can't afford to buy them.

Shoes: Doc Martins €110
Tights: 200 Denier Pennys €4
Long white long sleeved t-shirt part of a dress set I got in Choice for €30, very handy under top to have for layering.
Grey Dress at the Friday Flea Market in the Milk Market €6
Long sleeved cardigan in FCUK sale shop for €20
Scarf free from my sister -in -law
Coat €100 in the Desigual shop in Kildare Outlet Centre
Hat in Claires part of a 5 items for €10
Necklace from Topshop €3


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What I'm Wearing: Peppermint

Over this Christmas I went a little mad making peppermint colour themed cards and I totally fell in love with the white,red, and sky blue combination. This outfit is my take on this smashing mix of colours, just minus the white. Last week I went through town looking at what was left in the sales, I got my lovely brown dress and also this cute red skirt. While I was clearing out my wardrobe I placed this blue top beside my new purchase by chance and I fell in love with the mad colour combo.
The only part I'm not mad about is the black leggings, I would have worn my red tights if they were clean. The top is a little strange as it's basically a circle with a hole for my head and holes for a belt, but the arms are still attached to the body, I know it's probably a bit booby and not flattering but I still love it.

Boots: Red Docs from, Schuh, €110
Black leggings €?
Skirt: Pink and orange skirt, Oasis, €12
Top: long sleeved cardigan, Dunnes, €3
Top: bat wing style top, Awear, €8
Belt: elasticated red belt, Pennies, €4

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What I'm wearing: Brown Wool Dress

I fell in love with this dress when I saw it in the Awear sale, and I was delighted when I tried it on and it fit perfectly. It's nice to get a Winter dress that's warm but also structured with lining, and also because it has long sleeves I don't need to worry about finding matching layers. When i showed it to a friend of mine aftet I bought it he said 'There's a Ruth dress if ever I saw one', so true, look at the buttons, and it has pockets too! They only seem to have the black version on the website, which is quite a bit cheaper at €25,but I preferred the red/brown colour as it matches my hair.

Dress: Awear €35
Tights: Pennies €2.50
Boots: Charity Shop €10
Hat: Porkpie hat Claire's Accessories as part of a 5 items for €10 deal
Ring: My friend Benny's stall at the Saturday Milk Market around €6

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Some Early Spring Cleaning

I did a pretty big clear out of my room today, I spent hours going through clothes and deciding what to keep. Part of me hates doing this kind of thing because I'm highly allergic to dust, and something in the fibers of clothes too, it makes me sneeze, wheeze and the inside of my face drives me insane with itchiness. But it had to be done so I persisted. I separated them into 'keep', charity', 'upcycle' and 'barbootsale' piles. The 'Barbootsale' is an ongoing flea market type event at which people sell their stuff, I plan to take a stand at the next one and sell some clothes,jewellery,books, and dvds, it's a great way of making space while earning a few extra quid. I also went through the dvd collection last night and picked out about 20 dvds that I wouldn't mind selling. I think nearer the date of the event I'll photograph everything so I can promote it here and on facebook to build up a bit of enthusiasm. I'm sure of lots of bric-a-brac too that I can add to the stash.

My plan of action this morning was to go through my wardrobe while just wearing underwear and try on every item of clothing to see if it was too big. If it fit I had to be honest with myself, had worn it in the last year, and was I likely to wear it again in the coming year. This system made it easier to part with some random odds and ends that I had been hanging onto. There were a few dresses I let pass by these rules as they were too cool to part with. I don't have a lot of space for my clothes and since I dropped a size this year I found I was only wearing a small percentage of what was in my wardrobe. There were too many clothes crammed into a tiny space, so i didn't even know what was there, now I can see what i have, and I don't have entire sections that I'm ignoring cos they don't fit anymore. Also I discovered that I have an insane amount of dresses and skirts, and maybe a total of 5 pairs of trousers.

I'm still not finished this mammoth task, a particularly mental fit of sneezing drove me out of the room in search of real air. But I hope to finish it my the end of the day. I think I'll leave jewellery till tomorrow, most of it is in a tangled lump, and I need to make some sort of display/system. I found this cool shadow box idea on Lakota's blog(a very cool thrifty blogger) and I think it might be the solution to my storage problems.   Pin It

What I'm Wearing:Orange

I've been off the radar for a couple of weeks now,I had said to myself that I would take two weeks off without doing anything work related. But it turns out I don't know how to do that, blogging isn't work anyhow, it's an addiction!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, mine was great I went home and stayed with my parents, which meant I got to see all my nieces and nephews too, they really are what make Christmas for me, with all their excitement about Santa. But I have turned into one of those Aunty's who says 'You've gotten so big, look at how grown up you are', when I was a kid I never understood the obsession with this sentence and swore I'd never say it. What it really means is 'looks at how fast 10 years have past in the blink of an eye, oh god that makes me feel old!'. Aside from lots of chat about my near approaching 30th birthday( I have 6 months left of my 20's, yikes!), and other sundry talk of marriage/babies/mortgages/negative equity(thank god none of these things effect me!), it was a delightful break!

When I got back on Wednesday I went for my Limerick girlie X-mas night out, we had yummy Indian in the Mogul Emperor followed by a delightful gig from Mick Flannery in Dolans. As it was a girls night out I made some effort to dress up, but since it was freezing and I had just stepped off a train I still wanted to be cozy too. I'm loving this years obsession with orange and wanted to play with mixing some warm reds with this bright colour. When I was home I got a lovely mustard woolen skirt in Topshop on sale for only €22, and it even has pockets! It has a lovely bell shape to it with slight pleating and unusually it has a brown leather waist band(which was a little snug after all the xmas treats!). Also on the same shopping trip I went to La Senza and got 4 bras for only €33, which is a crazy bargain as that's what I normally spend on one bra. Since I'm an FF in a bra it means I can't go to Pennies and pick up a one for €4, normally it involves a trip to Debenhams and me wincing while I hand over a stack of cash. Not only were they cheap as chips in La Senza but they are super cute, I got ones in turquoise lace, cream lace, black with pink swallows, and a beautiful brown lace balcony bra(which I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to wear as it's quite 'heaving bosom').

Shoes: Black bow tie pumps, New Look - €8
Tights: Blue 80 denier tights, Pennies -€3
Skirt: Mustard woolen skirt, Topshop -€22
Jacket: Orange kimono sleeved jacket, Charity shop -€5(best buy ever!!!)
Scarf: red woolen snood from a bag of scarves from my sister-in-law Shell-free
Hat: porkpie hat which I bought to wear as part of a costume a few months back, but now I wear it all the time, Claire's- €2 as part of a 5 items for a tenner sale.
Bag: brown real leather bag, Charity shop: €2
Cardigan: rusty brown/terracotta cardigan, Pennies: €14


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What I'm Wearing:Block Colours

I've never done an outfit of the day post, but I thought I would give it a shot today. I must say I've developed a whole new respect for those girls who do them all the time. How on earth to they get such lovely flattering photos,in good light, while looking stylish and nonchalant?? I had a ungainly dash to get on front of the camera on time, thankfully the tiles helped me figure out where I should be standing to get a full picture. My first attempt was out of focus, so I used a mannequin to focus the camera the second time.

Anyhow to the clothes. I'm a really big fan of all the block colours we are seeing all over the high street, I've always dressed really colourfully, at last I'm in fashion(for one season anyhow!). I bumped into a friend recently and he commented 'you're the only person I know who can wear a bright orange jacket, and I think they are dressing subdued today'...I took it as a quirky compliment.

Green Dress from Limerick Barboot Sale: €5
Blue Runners from Dunnes: €4
Yellow Cardigan from Pennies: €16/14 (I can't remember)
Mustard Tights from Pennies: €2.50
Retro Bag from a Hint of Vintage: €10
Heart Brooch from Nice Day Designs: €10 (obviously I didn't pay myself!)
Wooden Earrings from Farapinalia at the Milk Market: €5

Mad Men Party

Mad Men by nicedaydesigns 

  

I went to a Mad Men themed party at the weekend to celebrate a joint 30th Birthday of some friends of mine.  I seen a few episodes of the show and love it, but I haven't watched it from the start, in one of those series I'll be treating myself to soon. I love the clothes of coarse, and the women look amazingly glamorous without having to look stick thin. Along with the rest of the world I'm in love with Joan, but I also think some of Peggy's outfits are pretty darned cute.
To get the desired look for the party myself and John went on a trek around all the charity shops look for dead mans suits for John. I had a couple of dresses that would have done for the occasion but I wasn't quite happy with them so I had my eye out for something new. We ended up getting a lovely tweed jacket for John which I added some leather patches to, and he wore a cream shirt, brown paisley tie, a brown straw hat, some vintage braces, and olive green trousers. He also had a leather briefcase I gave to him which finished off the whole look. I had bought it years ago in Florence for stupid amounts of money but never used it, I passed it onto John when he started his archaeology Masters this year. I picked up a leopard print shift dress in a charity shop for only €6, a black Jacket I got for €3 in the Friday Flea Market, and some mustard tights and handbag from Pennys. I then watched this tutorial on how to do my hair, a bit of glam make-up and I was done!

It was so nice to see all the men dressed up in suits, normally all my friends are t-shirt and jeans kind of guys. I also made me want to dress up that much all the time, except for the crazy amount of effort it takes!

Sweet Clothes Shopping!

It seems I have replaced sugar with shopping. I have become addicted to 'buying something nice for myself'.This would be all well and good if I had lots of money but I don't! 

At least I'm hunting for them in the sales though, I got these first two in the Awear sale, and the third on in River Island, although mine has grey patterned material instead on white, and it has a lovely detail of buttoning up at the front. I also picked up some nice skirt in TKMaxx during the week super cheap, but I'm way too lazy to take photos of them for you all to see. You'll just have to trust that they are pretty. One is a white with bright coloured flowers on it, simple but perfect for Summer-€9. The second one is a high waisted skirt with netting that has a large print of bright tropical fruit, it's very 50's housewife and I love it-€13 , I just need a green/pink cardi to go with it to complete the look. I also got a cream lacy vest cardi very similar to the third photo here, I think it would look really well over a summer dress-€16. While I was in TKMaxx I picked up a really lovely bra too, at a bargain for only €8 (usually as I'm an E/F cup I've to pay about €30-€40 for my bras).

I'll have to take a break from the shopping for a bit though,as I've more than enough now to keep me going...although I did see a lovely pair of floral and brown hipster looking shoes on sale on the way home today...mmmm..

Dot likes to Polka-New Work

I've been a busy lady today with all the new material I got yesterday. I used some old jeans, and corduroy trousers for the basis of these skirts. The bottom colour of polka dot continues onto the inside in a lovely puffball shape. These are so fun if I must say so myself!