Back to the Blog! - FSS and an OOTD

As I write I'm sitting in my house... in the living room.... on a comfy sofa watching all my favourite recorded TV! (currently the Bachelor-I know car crash TV but I can't help it!) Seems dull but I'm in heaven!

This year has been quite turbulent (one redundancy, three jobs, a couple of months unemployment, nowhere to call home for six weeks, living in B&B's/driving far too many miles.. oh and buying a house... stressful? ...nah!) ...but finally.... we are settled! It has taken us a while to accumulate enough furniture and appliances to make our house a home, but we are almost there! The only real beast left to tame is somewhere to store clothes, something most of you folk will identify with!

Anyhow what have I been up to lately?! A couple of weeks ago I went up to London for FSS organised by the lovely monkey.  I had a great time talking to some of you girlies and finding some of my old clothes new homes. I hope they are now happier being worn rather than gathering dust in my wardrobe!

I found FSS so interesting, it was good to see clothes by different labels and check out the different fits. It was also really interesting to see the different people there, I must admit I did more talking than rummaging! One observation I made is that the smaller sized end of the table was much more colourful than the bigger end! (story of our lives eh?!)

I came away with a few bits and pieces, along with a bag for the charity shop! (as there was too much left at the end for one monkey to manage!) I threw an outfit together yesterday with a top I procured (although interestingly this top was among the things I picked up for the charity shop!)

Jeans @ Evans

Top @ ASOS Curve (via FSS)

Necklace @ Accessorise

Shoes @ New Look

Jacket @ H&M

I talked to Sally who won Lauren's Torrid competition and I ended up gushing over that lovely striped blazer back at plus London. I was quite annoyed with Torrid, yet again something with so much promise never materialised on their website, anyway to cut a long conversation short Sally offered to post me the blazer and I am the most excited gal ever! She is a true star, and I am a lucky gal! Hopefully I will have a stripy outfit post for you soon! 

I am hoping the blogging absence has come to an end, I have a new sewing project on my mind but will share all when I manage to pull something together!

Hope you are all well! Bye bye for now,

Tweettacular!

I've had a bit more time on my hands this week and have finally joined Twitter! I have been following some of my favourite bloggers.

I think it might be more fun If I had a follower or two myself, then I may even tweet! (he he how technological am I?!)   I am wendy_cakes_ (two underscores, damn someone being a bit quicker on the old username front!)

Pop along and say Hi!

Some Bargains Just Can't be Ignored!

So I've been pretty good and resisted lots of nice things lately but some sale items just can't be passed up! I feel like a very lucky girl to have snagged these:

Shoes@ TK Maxx

Horay for TK Maxx and the red price tickets!

Good News! Finally Somewhere to Build a Nest!

Wohoo! Good news! After six months of accommodation turmoil (and about six years of saving a deposit!) we have exchanged on our little house! I'm so relieved! Finally somewhere to build a little nest all of our own!

As for nest building this brings me to my new hobby. Which I've promised myself I'm not going to get carried away with and go hobby obsessed! So for now its more of a project than a hobby! My mum has taught me to knit, eek! Now I have friends who can knit fantastic things, things that are actually designed to fit the human body! As for me I've never been able to knit, I can bake and sew but knitting has always been like trying to eat soup with a fork! (as a far as nemeses go I think I got off quite lightly, knitting)

Still, inspired by re-runs of 'Kirstys Homemade Home' I have picked up the knitting needles and am knitting us a blanket!

See...

OK so I should probably come clean and say the white ones not mine! When I say I am knitting a blanket I am performing some rudimentary knitting and roping my mum into doing me some beautiful patterned squares.

Here's another one of her gorgeous stitches (Rice Stitch)

Pretty Cool eh? I'll keep you updated as to how my blanket is going! I haver a feeling it may not be ready for this winter!

I will post some pics of the new house when we get in. Hopefully we will be getting the keys next week. After that it's just the small matter of finding a job to pay for things!

A current OOTD!

Still here! and life is still very up in the air, I can't wait to write a post with some good news in it, alas for now I will have to settle with showing you a good dress instead! Although I must add that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting ever closer and we remain cautiously optimistic! 

It's not often that I show you something that is still available to purchase! (usually too slow with OOTD's) I bought this dress from New Look recently (with a gift voucher- still being careful with cash - given the current ubiquitous sales that's not easy- grr!). 

The earings are from Accessorise and were one of my few sale purchases, I think they were £1.60 but they look much more expensive than that -well I think so!

Dress @ New Look

Jeggings @ Evans

Cardi @ New Look

Earrings @ Accessorise

Anyhow this dress is great, the bust line is very flattering and the fabric is very floaty and feminine. The rose print is really pretty (although it confused a bee/wasp yesterday who crawled inside it and stung me on my back - my first sting ever beelieve(lol!) it or not!) The slip inside is independent of the dress (but has connecting poppers) and has adjustable straps, although the fabric is very synthetic I don't have a particular aversion to it but I know some folk do. Back to the print; the pink, red and peach tones in the roses act as a good bridge between black and brown, hence the brown bag (I say hence the brown bag, at the moment it's my only bag not in storage!).

Here's me doing a bit of a mermaid pose! 

 The location for this 'shoot' is Hornsea, a small sea side resort on the beautiful East Yorkshire coast. We have some fantastic beaches in Yorkshire, sadly the East coast is eroding very quickly in places, Hornsea being one of them. The huge rocks at the top of the beach have been put there in an effort to slow the loss of land, I hope they work. My photographer was my mum who it turns out is pretty good behind the camera!

Lastly our main reason for going to the seaside are these little guys:

They are called Florence and Bobby (left to right) they are papillion crossed with Shitzu and they are just gorgeous! They both love running around on the beach but neither of them will go in the water!

Lastly apologies If I'm not responding to comments very well at the moment, things are busy and my internet access is patchy, I do appreciate comments and want to say a big thank you for such positive and lovely comments. As soon as life settles down I will be a much better blogger!

Bring Back the 50's!

Hey folks, first of all thanks for the lovely comments and support in the last post, it really is appreciated I love reading your comments! 

Things are ticking along here and despite everything being a bit up in the air we are surviving! The thing is we are trying to buy a house at the moment, and due to a ridiculous set of circumstances we are currently homeless! Bleigh! Putting outfits together is pretty tricky at the moment, as we are living between Yorkshire Sussex and the boots of our cars, sleeping in B&B's Parents houses and the generosity of friends with sofa beds and spare rooms! Every time I want a necklace or pair of shoes I realise they are 350 miles away in a different county!

Still here is a dress I bought back in April, It is from Evans and is totally awesome! (six months ago I didn't think I'd be saying that!) Alas I can't find it on-line any more but there are similar styles out there on line at Evans and style369(which I still think of as Evans!), its a prom dress with a very classy neckline and gathered waist and tie at the back. This is a size 26 though! -I'm not a size 26, I am a size 20-22 in Evans Jeans- hence I am still reluctant to buy on line. I might add that its a perfect fit though, no alterations safety pins or breathing in required! The fabric is light and the skirt is very full, It's perfect for us 50's wannabes! (The other half and I are into Mad Men at the moment!)

Dress @ Evans

Bag @ M&S

Shoes @ Tesco - £10 and bought yesterday, so if you're quick you might pick some up!

Belt @ Next

Cardi @ New Look (currently in the shops too)

here are some more pics (sorry not good quality on a slow broadband connection)

I hope you lovelies are all getting on OK. I was very sorry to miss BBB, alas with being homeless at the moment getting there was difficult, I came tantalisingly close as I drove through Sussex last Saturday, but not close enough! It looked like fun!

I will try and check in again soon, I have a Ruby Rocks dress to show you, although It's not quite how I thought It would be (the sleeves are a different sort of a cut than I was expecting and I can't work out if they're meant to be like that or the sizing is odd!) Has anyone else ordered the Ruby Rocks Hawaiian print black floral dress what do you think?

Anyway I had better go now I have lots to do! Keep well everyone.

The Magic Dress!

Ah it's been such a long time again! I am still surviving... only just mind you! Life has been a bit on the crappy side lately(as has my internet connection!) in fact things have been stressful and bleigh since plus London :-( ...and that's a long time to be in life limbo. Anyway there is now a little light at the end of the tunnel but before that we are about to enter a month or so of hell! I need you lovely people to keep your fingers, toes and everything crossed for me!

Before I launch into content I have to apologise I can't go to Big Beach Bums :-( I was looking forward to going to Brighton too but life has thrown up some major accommodation issues lately and it's just too tricky :-(

Anyway onto the content I promised, this is a Wendy fashion blog afterall!

I will start with the headliner of the magic dress...

I am so so proud of this outfit! I bought this dress (if you're quick they still have size 22- which is what i'm wearing incidentally) in Monsoon and although it was expensive but it was such a smart buy, here it's dressed down for daytime but it could be so easily dressed up for evening wear (with a red or bright coral or even pink!) which I intend to do very soon!

It's Magic isn't it? I think it's some sort of chevron based optical illusion that shrinks my waist! Here are some more pics:

The Shoes are from New look and they are fantastic to wear but so cheapass that they are pretty much ruined (and I bought them three/four weeks ago grr!) The photo 'shoot'(lol!) was in the grounds of Bleinheim palace, at the moment we live close by (alas not for very long at all!)  

Dress -Selina @ Monsoon sz22

Cardigan @ New Look size 22

Belt @ H&M

Shoes @ New Look

Bag @ M&S

On to other things, I have bought a few bits and bobs lately, because its sort of summer I bought a couple of summer hats:

Summer hats M&S

Top in lower picture Monsoon

I bought this top from Evans: (although this is a size 26! the lady in the shop said that other people have complained that it comes up small and it does!) This is not a great Picture but hey ho never mind!

Top @ Evans

Jeans @ Evans

Shoes @ Rocket Dog

Belt @ Evans

Bag @ M&S

The last outfit I have to show you is from my 30th(urgh! 30) birthday weekend in Brighton, Here I'm doing a Brighton wordsearch on the window of a bookshop! This top is from TK Maxx (alas good things are hard to come by there! But I go in occasionally for a rumage!) I think its a bit 50's in its crazy fruit print! The Jeans are from Evans, they are flares and I am realy impressed with them, they have a little stretch but are not baggy, Sadly I don't have a better photo of them. I am wearing a 22 here.  

Top @ TK maxx

Jeans @ Evans

Shoes @ New Look

Bag @ M&S

Once again I'm sorry for the blog blackout, I shall be back soon hopefully to show you my new Ruby Rocks Purchase! Eek hope I like it and it fits! (again fingers crossed!) I bought on of the new dresses from style 369 I'll let you ponder on which one! I hope you are all happy in life and the world is treating you well, if not I know how you feel and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!