Post title round-up

It doesn’t fit my plans but I’ve got that taste in my mouth again

I lost my ignorance, security and pride

Don’t want to get to a place I don’t recognise, where we’ve all bought the world but left with second prize.

My heart flips when you say “We’ve come through before the dark”.

My heart flips when you say “We’ve come through before the dark”.

 Necklace: a gift. Dress: Lady V London. Shoes: Office via eBay. Belt: thrifted

Andi commented earlier on twitter that she felt like she had blog posts in her head that didn’t seem to want to come out at the moment, and frankly that’s how I am at the moment. It’s a strange thing – half-formed thoughts swirling around, not quite possible to pin them down just yet, but having been blogging in various places for over a decade now, I know that if I let them swirl they’ll eventually settle for long enough for me to turn them into a blog post or several.

In the meantime, I’m afraid I’m conversing more than I’m monologuing. I figure it’s all a cycle.

Don’t want to get to a place I don’t recognise, where we’ve all bought the world but left with second prize.

 Necklace: www.mockinghorse.co.uk. Dress: Fever via eBay. Shoes: Next via eBay

“You just need a bit of white and you’d look patriotic!” was the comment about today’s dress. I have to say, that one had completely passed me by – something about the inclusion of the black had made me completely fail to register the red and white in any sort of patriotic or even nautical sense. Strange how habits stick, isn’t it?

I am, of course, suddenly interested in dresses in red, white and blue. Even though I’m not really one of life’s flag-waving sorts  The politics and governance and monarchy? Those are just constructs. The country, the nation isn’t about slogans or figureheads, to me.

I love my country, but it’s the bones and the veins of it that I adore. The green rolling hills and the wide flats of the fens and the pink-dotted meadows of Avebury and the hedgerow critters and the birds of prey and the quirks of its people.

And with that, time to put the kettle on!

I lost my ignorance, security and pride

 Cardi: thrifted. Top: Wallis via eBay. Jeans: TopShop. Shoes: Dorothy Perkins. Necklace: Tatty Devine

I seem to be easing myself into heels this week, for some reason. Another one of those weeks where I’m glad I work somewhere that allows for a greater range of clothes than many – it allows for the following of moods as well as different expressions of self. And there’s enough facets of me that I never talk about (I guess we’re all the same in that respect) that somehow, it feels satisfying to be able to express at least a few of them visually. Not that I really know what this outfit says to the outward observer – any volunteers for interpreting it?

It doesn’t fit my plans but I’ve got that taste in my mouth again

 Jumper: Dorothy Perkins. Bra: Ariza Poppy by Panache. Yeah, these don’t normally make it on show but what the hell, I’m at home! Jeans: TopShop via eBay. Slippers: buggered if I can remember

Guess who’s working from home today? Still, nothing wrong with a little bit of slouchy jumper and messy hair action once in a while I think, and it’s quite a novelty to be able to blog conveniently at lunchtime. Bar the slippers, I’m still on a par with what most of my colleagues wear on a daily basis anyway – although I normally make an effort to hide my bra at least! Still, I’m sure the birds don’t care.

So, this weekend was a bit of a strange one for me. I actually finally made it along to a knitting group, having found one a while back that met at convenient times for me (bit like when I looked into martial arts classes – they all seemed to be either close to work but hours after I finish or close to home about 5 minutes after I finish work, thus wildly inconvenient!) and plucked up the courage to go along. I’m not very good at New Groups Of People. I tend to find I can get along with pretty much anyone, but for all I expect it would surprise a few people I’m very definitely an introvert – I need time alone to recharge and find excessive social contact, however dearly I love the people involved, leaves me craving an hour or two alone and meeting new people en masse is nervewracking as well as exciting. Getting over that initial hurdle of Scary New Thing is fairly difficult for me – I’m sure I looked deeply awkward wandering over to them and saying ‘hello! you must be the knitterly types I’ve come to meet!’. Of course, as is usually the case, it went brilliantly – everyone was lovely, the conversation flowed, and I’ll definitely be going back.

It’s one thing I lack, really. I have very good friends, but they are geographically rather scattered and between that and them starting families we just don’t see each other often enough. Same goes for my other half’s friends, with whom we used to hang out more than we do. I miss ‘em, but I also miss just having a natter with people on a fairly casual basis. The thing with being an introvert is that it’s my instinct to retreat protectively into my head rather than reach out to people, and then any lonely feelings end up getting compounded. So, I’ve been doing my best to counteract that lately – to explain and own my feelings instead of burying them, to seek out what I need instead of retreating from it, to, well, deal basically. And it’s working. I’ve never actually felt happier or more confident about myself, I feel like I know myself and my capabilities and needs really well now.

Now all I need is for circumstance and the rest of the world to catch up…

Post title round-up

Atom to atom

I love to hear your oralise

There’s something about us I’ve got to do

There’s something about us I’ve got to do

 Dress: Dorothy Perkins. Shoes: Dorothy Perkins via eBay. Necklace: Etsy. Belt: thrifted

Apparently I’m being Dorothy Perkins Woman today! They are rather reliable on the clothing-for-curves front, it has to be said. And this flippy dress, for all I saw someone describe it as frumpy on their Facebook page (Charmed, I’m sure. Though I’m not sure it’s actually possible for a neckline like this to be frumpy as such.) is perfect for the weird overcast-but-humid weather that had the office reaching for the aircon indoors and the brolly outdoors today.

And I’ll stop rambling there, because I have a thousand things in my head that are at the not-quite-ready-to-write stage and when I’m in that mood you only get the superficial stuff which isn’t even that interesting to me, never mind you. Sorry. I’ll get there, I’m sure.