The Birds Wore Masks

Here are some of the things I'm lusting after this week:


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This Asos skater dress is soooo pretty & very me! Anyone got £25 laying around so I may purchase it? Pretty pleases? With cherries on top????
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I came across this the other day on Etsy. It's so intricate and awesome!!
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Another Etsy find. So cute and very doable.
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I love the print of this dress. I haven't been able to find a dress with this print that suits me. This is a smock which I'd usually stray away from but I think it could work.
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I also think this is awesome. I came across it via Pinterest. Such a cool idea!



What d'ya think?xx

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I've been after the bird print tea dress that came out in H&M a couple of years ago for absolutely ages now. At the time I believe it retailed for £29.99 which I'm too cheap to fork out for so decided to wait until it went into the sale or at least on eBay. Well that didn't happen because that person from Glee wore it and BOOM everyone wanted my dress :( I've been periodically stalking it on eBay but it's always gone for ridiculous prices or been in the wrong size. Well finally it's mine. Nabbed for £6 something including P&P and it's sooo pretty!

Not the most flattering of angles (thanks boyfriend) but it shows the dress in it's beautiful glory. Also do note the safety pin, despite the nice fit, it has button fastenings all the way down the front which means that there was a little gap. Not brilliant when with your boyfriend's family but I'd forgotten to bring a camisole top with me and so I had to basically make do and mend :p
It has the mostly lovely puffed sleeves and I like the shape of the hem, not that you can see it here, but it kind of dips and curls. I felt that as the dress is such a statement piece it didn't need to be outdone with any accessories, so I didn't. Though if I was going out on a night I'd probably wear a cute necklace too. It's also a lovely length to go without tights.
  Dress: H&M via eBay, Cardigan: Primark, Boots: Barratts, Tights: Primark, Bag: Nica

If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake...

This may come as a massive shock considering my love for cake but I haven't baked one myself since around the age of 8? That's what...? Nearly 15 years!!! Jeez Louise.

Well today is the other half's birthday and since he's now on a baking kick because he'll be doing a bake sale next month to help raise more money for his 1000km Challenge I felt very much inspired to bake one myself.  That, and last time I ate a shop bought cake my skin flared (still can't pinpoint the allergen though)  so I thought it would be the best option, not to mention cheaper!


  I decided, that since I'm technically a learner I'd just cheat with a ready mix where all you need is to add an egg and a few tablespoons of water. Simple right? Wrong. The cake tins we have are much bigger than what was stated so I found myself in a bit of a flap. In a rare moment of genius I decided to make up a white based mixture and make a slightly bodged marble cake. Using the 4, 4, 4 method.
  The best bit has to be licking the bowls. I did end up with a bit too much mixture overall so a lot of it ended up in my belly. Oops.
  Fresh out of the oven and it wasn't a complete disaster yay :D they were indeed cooked in the middle! 
  I also remembered that we don't have cooling racks (must rectify this) so I used the grill tray and just put some kitchen roll on a plate. You can kinda see the marbleyness (yep, new word right there!) The one on the left did end up a little bit bodged because it didn't quite reach the side of the cake tin but nevermind!
  I forgot to take a picture of the frosting in the middle so here it is sandwiched together. Looks lush!
  Messy, messy, messy but indeed yummy. I also ended up eating rather a lot of this too... don't judge me. It was also at this point that I realised how much better the cake would have looked were it centrally on the plate. Oh well.
Let me bring you to the finished piece. Can I have a drum roll please?


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Ta-da!!! I don't even care that it looks a mess, I'm just pleased as punch that it resembles a cake, and even a NICE cake at that! The Christmas decoration was an essential component into making this cake for the other half. He is a penguin fanatic.

Vintage Style Me

Here are some bits I'm loving this week from Vintage Style Me. They sell a lot of Vintage goodies alongside a load of hand-made pieces which are the bits that have caught my eye the most.

The skirt on the left is currently only £15 in the sale section. The dress in the middle is divine floral print in a velveteen fabric. It's up for £37.49 which is a bit too expensive for my tight budget, but lovely nevertheless! The last skirt is one that has been on my radar for quite some time now. For anyone who knows me may be aware that I have a bit of an obsession with cats and pigeons, so a combination of the two is a hilarious collaboration <3 I have noticed that it is now £22 but only used to be £20 which peeves me slightly. But I will be forever wishful that it may find its way into my wardrobe one day :)

What do you think of Vintage Style Me? Which items do you like?

Lincoln 10K & Cakey Goodness

Sunday saw the Lincoln 10K race which the boyfriend took part in to go towards his 1000km challenge. I think I've only mentioned it once on this blog, but I suffer from severe eczema and so my boyfriend has taken it upon himself to raise both money and awareness for other sufferers who don't have someone like him to support them. He really is such a sweet and selfless person and I'm so grateful that I do have him to lean on when times are tough - which they have been for a very long time now.

    Considering I live in Lincoln, it took us around 1hr and 20 minutes just to get the car parked. Here Shane is trying to stay positive that we would make it to the race on time.  When we finally did get there I took a quick pic of him being (un)lucky number 13. Considering there were 5,500 people entered in the race that's a bloody ridiculously good running number!   Managed to catch him defying gravity :p and also after with both cathedral and castle wall in the background whilst sporting his medal. I'm incredibly proud of him. He reached a new personal best of 40 mins 56 secs. What a champ. 

And what better way to celebrate than with a slice of cake from Bunty's? If ever you're in Lincoln please do check them out. The cakes are all made by hand with lots of love and care to create a slice of heaven that is served as a generous size - perfect for us cake fiends. Not to mention Matt & Jenny, the faces behind the business, are two of the most loveliest, friendliest people you could ever wish to meet! The decor is vintage themed with many knick knacks to feast your eyes upon and everything is served on vintage crockery. What more could you ask for?

Please ignore my face! I look like a bedraggled mess and was suffering a flare at the time but the toffee cake was too good and deserved a thumbs up. Shane devoured their lemon cake and agreed that it was very nom-worthy :D Thanks Bunty's!

If you wish to sponsor Shane's efforts please do so here: http://www.justgiving.com/shanes1000km or you can text "RACE55 £1" to 70070.* At the end of the day what is 1 measly pound to you? If everyone donated £1 imagine how much closer we could be to finding a cure for this horrible, often debilitating, condition. If you want to read more about my own story of living with eczema you can read my eczema blog here. Thank you :)

*All proceeds go to the National Eczema Society to help raise awareness and pave the way in finding a cure for eczema.

It's All In The Details

I've been feeling a little bit experimental recently. Usually my style consists of wearing some form of dress, most notably of the patterned tea dress variety, with black tights and a long cardigan. I love the comfort and ease of this, but lately I've been adding a little more colour.

Tights: Primark, Dress: Primark, Cardigan: Primark, Leather jacket: Bershka, Brooch: Gift I love this gem of a dress. It was only £7 and is of a lovely lightweight fabric which will be perfect for summer days. Akin to this, it is slightly longer at the back, shorter at the front but being the perfect length to parade my milk bottle legs. I've had the cardigan for ages and ages just sitting in my wardrobe feeling somewhat unloved. I have no idea why it isn't a staple. For one, it actually fits nicely and secondly how gorgeous are the details?! Beautiful little gold rose buttons atop a bias binded edging to give more structure and support. It's so soft and very well made. It is however too cold to get the legs out and I'm not sure the world is ready to be blinded by my paleness just yet so I added my marl grey tights. Lovely.

Porcelain Lady

So I'm not really a jeans kind of girl but for some reason today I felt like wearing them. 

  Top: Primark, Jeans: Primark, Cardi: £5 from cheap shop in Liverpool, Shoes: New Look, Belt: Borrowed from Boyfriend
The jeans are too big for me as you can tell but I quite like the way I've executed this outfit despite it being very much out of my comfort zone. I've actually never ever tucked a top into jeans before with a belt on display so this is a rather momentous occasion! I've always struggled with the monumental task of finding a good fitting pair of jeans so that is mainly the reason I steer away from them. However saying this, I think I will purchase some high waisted black jeans in the future as I can imagine they would look so much better to disguise my hugely long torso and perhaps elongate my stumpy little legs.  Let me know what you think :)  feedback into what works/ doesn't is always appreciated!