Spring?

This is going to be one of those 'I'm just checking in posts' because tomorrow I leave for a conference in Christchurch and don't get back until late Thursday night.

The shoes are a birthday gift from my older sister - yes, my birthday was in May, but I haven't even told my mum what I want for it yet. I'm really bad about gifts and figuring out what I want, as you can tell. I saw similar shoes on a website last year when my sister was staying and I mentioned that I thought they were really cute and that I was wanting a pair of white, vintage-y, mary janes. So she got me these! They are very high, but cute and I love them!!

Last week I sent off my first Etsy orders which was rather exciting and I've also made some more skirts for a much needed shop update next week, when things get back to normal. Though I'm not sure for how long they will stay normal for, as September is our Awards Month. Which basically means we have lots of fancy dinners to organise where people receive fancy awards for various fancy (and not so fancy) things. There are a few other small-ish events taking place as well, before we wind down in October and then start planning for next year.

Ah next year - you are so close...

And I'll tell you what else is close - SPRING!!! Yay! Oh how I love you Spring. The days are noticeably longer, the flowers are out in bloom and soon it will be warm-ish and guess what, its still technically winter for another whole week...

XX
Jen

PS) I am dreadfully behind on comment replying, and those awards of mine are still sitting collecting dust, I haven't forgotten, this week, this week!!...

Being A Spy...

Yes, today I am a spy!

This post is entirely inspired by the fact that I have finally found a trench coat I love that isn't that awful shade of putty which makes me completely washed out.

I think if I were to be a spy or an investigator or a detective, I'd like to be a mix of Poirot and Miss Marple. I've been watching Poirot lately and I love it - the set, the costumes, the drama and intrigue, and they are still making them - the last one I watched was Murder on the Nile starring Emily Blunt. And in my humble opinion, it's definitely best to be a spy in the 20's-30's.

David and I were chatting the other day about Poirot and how most of the time, it starts off with him being on holiday before a murder mysteriously happens. I personally think it's Poirot doing all the murdering because he's bored on holiday, but David thinks its Hastings doing it because he always seems to magically appear when ever a murder has occurred. What do you think?

Also, when I was doing a bit of internet research on Poirot, I found out that they have made games where you are Poirot himself and you get to do all the detective work, find the clues and discover the culprit. I have an over whelming urge to buy one and spend a weekend engrossed back in those years, wearing my trench coat and solving the mystery...

"Shhhh, I think some one is there!" said Jen the spy as she reached for the door handle. The door creaked open slowly and it was at this point she wondered where her magnifying glass was, because no real spy went anywhere without their magnifying glass!

"Oh, its just the cat, and a mannequin!" she chuckled, a little embarrassed.

And with all this talk about spys and detectives, David is currently tutoring a paper on Detective fiction as well, so all this spying seems fitting!

There is also something a little exciting that I'd like to share with you all too, I was over the moon to learn that Mod Cloth had featured the outfit I'm wearing in the post below on their blog! I had no idea until a few people mentioned it to me - thanks ModCloth!!

Also, I have been given two awards which will make their way to new homes next week.

Right, better get back to solving clues on my sewing machine...

XX
Jen

Back...

*This little bag is another 'So Obviously Rex' bag that I found - it even has a little key to lock it.

No matter how much I poked and prodded at that darn little sickness to stay away, it decided that lingering in the shadows had now become boring and that It wanted to play now, thank you very much!

So the rest of my week went something like this - Wednesday, after napping on the couch after work, I went to bed at 8.30pm, Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday and then Friday (the busiest and most labour intensive day of the whole week) I went down like a dog. And the worst thing was that I couldn't not come into work, it was my Fashion show that night and there were things that needed to be done. So I lumbered around, feeling sorry for myself, sneezing, coughing up vast quantities of stuff you don't want to know about and not really eating because the thought of it made me feel terrible.

The night as a whole though went really well. There were lots of people, lots of entrants and lots of lovely creations gracing the catwalk. David also bought me a cute little kitty painting called Fat Cat from the art exhibition that we were also running that week - a picture to come once we have found him a good spot on the wall, to call home.

I then basically spent the whole weekend in my Pj's watching Ghost Whisperer episodes - lovely.

I'm still not 100 percent, but I'm getting there. I'm looking forward to my mid week break where I plan to sew and sew - I 've mentioned before that I need to finish the rest of my custom orders and make some more stock for the shop!!

XX
Jen

Just Saying Hello...

* Dress - Vintage
* Cardi - Vintage
* Shoes - Thrifted
* Cat - Thrifted

This was one of two shots I got with Mocha before she decided she didn't want to be photographed. I thought cats liked being photographed?

Where has the time been going? It seems I work all day, go to bed and then get up for work again. This is another busy week which includes my fashion show on Friday and then finally next week I'm planning on taking a few days off.

I've been fending away sickness for weeks now and feel a few days off work will do the world of good - although, we all know that as soon as you take a break after being busy for weeks, you crash and burn. Hopefully not this time...

No shop update this week either sorry, but I am working on my very first order which should be winging its way across the ocean early next week. And in light of my first Etsy order, I'm going to do my first ever give away too, but more on that later.

I have a few posts lined up for when the busyness subsides, but for now, just a quick post to say hello.

XX
Jen

Still Busy...

Thanks for all your lovely comments about the dress - I am currently hoarding a mass of little vintage summer dresses, and I really want to wear them but need to figure out how to make them warm. I have a terrible habit of buying for the wrong season, which I think I've mentioned before - I like buying summer things when its winter and winter things when its summer. The only problem with doing this is that I want to wear everything straight away and then when the weather is suitable for the things I've bought, I tend to forget what I have in the first place.

Does anyone else do this?

I'm still a busy bee at work right now and will continue to be until the end of next week. There has been very little sewing for the shop, but I plan to make some time this weekend as I have some custom orders that I'm very excited about doing - they are my first customers after all.

XX
Jen

August...

Can you believe this little dress still had its original shop tags on it when I got it?

It's August already, and to be truthful, I am counting down the days until summer and the end of the year. I don't think it's my imagination, but it is definitely lighter in the mornings, and the weekends have been teasing us with beautiful sunny weather. It's now only one month until Spring is officially here - so bring on September I say!

I went to see Coco Avant Chanel last night, and I'm a bit sorry to say that I really didn't love it. I'm by no means a film critic, but I really don't think it did Coco any justice. The ending seemed rushed, there was maybe 2 minutes of the film dedicated at the end to showing her making actual garments and then all of a sudden she was at a fashion show and the film ended. Much of it was about her early life, and if that was what they wanted to focus on, then they really should have cut the final scenes and just had a little paragraph at the end explaining what happened when she actually built her fashion empire.

I don't want to put anyone off, I'm glad I saw it, but like I said, I was dissapointed. But then again, I am one of those people that can get caught up in the hype of a film and then be drastically let down when my exceedingly high expectations aren't met.

I did however, also see Ponyo which was gorgeous and one I recommend you see. I also saw Cheri, which I didn't have any expectations for, and quite enjoyed. The ending was strange, but the costumes and set were lovely.

Right, that's enough of the film critic in me babbling...

XX
Jen