Viva Espana

I hate packing! It gives me anxiety which means I usually end up taking way too many clothes, shoes and medication for any possible misfortune or illness! How are you supposed to know what you will be in the mood to wear next Tuesday?! Or if you’ll have a headache or cystitis on Thursday?!

This year I had to get organised as we were off for two weeks in sunny Spain with no extra baggage allowance for a second week! I definitely would’ve been paying the extra weight charge if I’d let my anxiety help out with the packing this year! The only way I could rationalise fitting my life in a 20kg suitcase for a fortnight was to imagine I was in work and building a trend into a package for a wall or fixture!

Ok, so where would I start if this was work? A key piece, an essential item that could not get left at home that could inspire a capsule wardrobe. A colour story based on my key piece, outfit builds, day to night pieces and accessories! Other considerations being temperature and comfort.

The key piece I chose had to be my (previously blogged about) Deep End Club “give a damn” t-shirt, obvz! “It’s from New York you know?”

So my colour story became black and white, and since I’d already bought two pairs of red sandals and a red pleated midi skirt for the summer, red became my highlight colour, along with accent tones of blush pink and cream.

The prints I chose were polka dots and ditsy florals, teamed with cream lace detailing across tops and shorts and white broderie angles tops. I had block colours in black, cream, white and red to wear with my printed pieces, and black on black crocheted detailing to add texture.

I packed several separates that I could mix and match so that I wouldn’t have to wear the same outfit twice! I took only one dress and one playsuit as I knew it’d suit me more to mix and swap pieces to make different outfits for the night and day.

Well I guess the pictures speak for themselves! There are more over on my Instagram account including boomerangs of swishy skirts and windy hair!

Glitter bugs

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The stars and planets must’ve somehow aligned in my favour and brought The Maccabees to Cardiff for my birthday, (well the same week as my birthday) although they could not have lined up the universe majestically enough to make Orlando fall in love with me and whisk me away! But we did see Felix walk right by us and we were stood in front of Hugo for a while!

The Maccabees kicked off my birthday celebrations with my friend and I dining out prior to the gig. We opted for a build your own burger at Cardiff hipster hangout Buffalo. My lovely friend Sophie is a food blogger, but the food was nothing to write home about so I guess she won’t be posting about it! Our burgers didn’t even make it to Instagram!

In my last blog I mentioned that I was in this glam rock retro mood and I’d spent a weekend camped out in my living room watching Glastonbury. Being too much of a girl to bear the gross bathroom situ and no hair straighteners or wi fi for over 24 hours, going to a gig is the closest I’ll get to a festival!

This summer’s hottest festival trend has been glitter make up, not wanting to miss out on this, Sophie and I hit up Boots and got ourselves some glitter pots and a primer from NYX. After doing our research on YouTube and a home practice run, we were ready for getting sparkley for The Maccabees! Not wanting to walk around all day like glitter bugs we headed to the ladies in Buffalo and got stuck into the glittaaahhh!!!

We went for the cheekbone and eyelid area, not quite brave enough to go all out forehead and cheeks and unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of any star shapes or big chunky glitter.

I loved being a glitter baby! I want more excuses to be a sparkle queen!

practice run

snapchat glitter dog

pixie xo

snapchat: pixie_porch

Monochrome

Lately I’ve been interior crushing on Scandinavian black and white style homes on Instagram and Pinterest. When I first moved into my house my living room was grey, black and white with my lovely mid century tree print wallpaper. Now I’ve layered many colours on top with cushions and accessories and the addition of my blue eames rocking chair and the yellow woven moon chair I rescued from a charity shop!

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Now I’m sat here staring at a mustard yellow wall and my Orla Kiely lampshade like whyyyy? Why didn’t I stick to a nice monochrome look with touches of wood, which I could now add a splash of copper to with accessories and some cute industrial type bulbs to keep it fresh and relevant.

I asked Paul at half seven this morning if he knew how to peel wallpaper off, to which he replied with the question “what wallpaper are you scraping off now?!” When I said the kitchen Orla Kiely paper I had a lecture about leaving it there since it cost a fortune! Then my mind wandered to the kitchen units and tiles and I think I would really like to just start again which then leads me to thoughts on moving house and starting a whole house over! Deciding this was probably my favourite idea, I left the wallpaper and yellow wall alone! But I still had a hankering for a little IKEA trip and some on trend black and white pieces. So off I went feeling inspired!

I set myself a £100 budget and since the weather has been so nice this week decided to make a cute seating area for the back end of my patio. And here it is…

I got two white chairs, a white side table, 2 striped cushions, 2 black cushions, a faux sheep skin in grey, a stripey blanket and a cute Wee Willy Winky candle holder in black and wood all within budget and all fitted in my tiny car! The temperature has drastically dropped the last two days but I’ve still made Paul sit out for tea and biscuits, remarking that the cushions and blankets are there to make it cosy and the tea will keep us warm!

The lovely cactus LED was a birthday gift from my lovely friend Sophie, and the faux plants are IKEA ones I already had. The little rattan stool is Sainsbury’s along with the black string lights. Next stop is B&Q for some real plants and hopefully I can steer myself away from the decorating aisles!

Pixie x

Give a damn

I had a week off after we packed up and shut down the shop, before I went over to work out my notice in another store. I probably should’ve done something constructive like finding a new job! But I mainly watched Netflix and the BBC Glastonbury coverage in my pyjamas! It was the week of the EU referendum and the appallingly shameful Brexit result which has now resulted in all the leading politicians involved in the vote campaigns resigning and leaving the young people who’s majority vote was to remain in the EU bewildered as to what the future will now hold. I watched Matt Healy give a particularly insightful speech in the middle of The 1975’s Glastonbury set (from the comfort of my living room obvz) touching on the subject of the older generation voting in a future young people don’t want. “Glastonbury stands for everything that our generation fucking wants. Compassion, social responsibility, unity, community, everything like that. Fucking loving people. And I think that when you stand on a stage like this, in front of so many obviously beautiful, intelligent people, it’s difficult to say nothing…”

With that in mind and feeling like I gave a crap about politics enough to make an educated visit to the polling station for the first time in a long time, onto the Glasto pyramid stage struts Alex Turner wearing the ‘Give a damn’ t shirt Alexa Chung was also photographed wearing, accompanied by scouse hottie Miles Kane for The Last Shadow Puppets set. Wow! I just love the pair of them and the energy of their relationship. They’ve changed and grown up since the last album in 2008 when they were sporting turtle necks and Beatles haircuts, but the vintage inspired vibe is still going strong. I read some pretty scathing reviews of the new album when it was released back in the spring, calling it a pastiche and an in joke between a millionaire rock star and his pal, implying that they are not taking the music they create together seriously and that it’s fuelled by arrogance and ego. The both men were personally attacked for how they behave in interviews and conduct their lives. I don’t think it’s true that The Last Shadow Puppets were conceived out of arrogance and boredom. It seems to me that two very talented musicians met through their careers and made an amazing creative and personal connection. Since the Glastonbury set they have played Manchester Castlefield Bowl with a guest appearance from Johnny Marr of The Smiths, yes THE Smiths!! How can they not be recognised as a seminal indie band of the noughties through to now with the approval of a founding member of the group that created indie music?!

Regardless of the attitude they give in interviews and acting aloof and self indulgent, the music and lyrics they put out there really inspires and influences their fans. That said I am totally feeling the retro Scott Walker, David Bowie-esque tunes and stage presence. I’m completely captured in this dreamy bubble of vintage, 60’s mod revival and 70’s kinda laid back glam rock vibe with some unashamed beautifully decadent dance moves on Turner’s part! As for Miles Kane, he is undoubtedly Britain’s best dressed male, and seems to have gone from gormless to oozing sexiness in his tight trousers and loafers!

My imagination has been fuelled by this band and it’s my birthday tomorrow, so I’ve requested a “Give a damn” t-shirt from The Deep End Club, which is a label set up by Tennessee Thomas, who owns a store in New York by the same name. Her BFF Alexa Chung has modelled the collection in a 70’s style shoot around New York. I can’t wait to get mine and wear it with my metallic booties from Office and my peace sign necklace and I’m so into face glitter right now, I’ll definitely be rocking some sparkle!! I’m sure i’ll be posting some OOTD posts on Instagram! I’m going on holiday in a couple of weeks and I’ve been shopping for hols with the same TLSP inspired mood. My holiday outfits will also no doubt be posted on my instagram! Innocence and arrogance entwined! Peace Out, Pixie x

Weekdayz Vintage

Recently I left my car for the day at the Fiat garage, which is near the seaside town Porthcawl which is well known for the annual Elvis fest and huge holiday caravan park. I had to find something to do all day in the kitschy seaside surroundings so I took Val and we had brunch then lunch and a wander around the seafront and fair. Then we stumbled upon a sign for a Vintage clothing store called Weekdayz. I probably wouldn’t have gone in if I wasn’t wasting time waiting for my car to get fixed. I love vintage and retro, we all know that, but I’m always disappointed with vintage shops. They tend to stink and are stocked with irrelevant, overpriced fancy dress clothing. Not this one!

So like… OMG I’ve found my new favourite shop!

This little treasure trove is packed with amazing pieces. Everywhere you look there are more cool old things than I could ever dream of owning! My professional VM eye tells me this store is well laid out, with sections for dresses, ladies tops and children’s clothing with some accessories on the ground floor. Up the stairs to a sort of mezzanine floor is a whole world of 1960’s-1990’s denim and sportswear for men and women and lots of bags, shoes and accessories merchandised on top of fixtures and around vintage furniture near the window, which is styled well with cute pieces arranged on old suitcases and chairs. I literally could’ve spent a whole day inspecting everything and trying things on.

I came away with red vintage Adidas shorts, massive cat eye sunglasses and a 60’s blue fitted jacket with an amazing collar! I’ve since been back with Paul as he had to take his bike to the cycling shop near, and got him to buy me a vintage Fred Perry shirt from the 70’s/80’s and an original silk Harrods scarf. Ive got a week off work and its payday Friday, so i will definitely be back in this week! I saw a pair of yellow Ellesse shorts and a bag I really liked!

Totally worth a little seaside trip if you love vintage! Pixie x

Granny shoes

Mules, glove shoes, shiny silver space man shoes and the nanna sandal are cluttering up my Instagram feed and making appearances at my favourite stores. At first glance they look like the scourge of all the shoes! Maybe because I was young in the 1990’s when mules and kitten heels were the footwear of choice for Mum’s and Nan’s along with witchy boots and daps. Is daps a Welsh word? Val drove me mad every time she called my Nike air max, or converse “daps”. So, ok I’m not talking about daps, that’s for another day!

This 90’s shoe revival has not only got me thinking about how old I am getting but how we appropriate fashion from past decades and how quickly we then discard it as tasteless. I think this is what I kinda love about fashion though. Like you see something that was off the scale old fashioned and minging come back and think “Urrr no way Pedro!” But then you see more of it and realise the fun and irreverence in the way we aquire new fashion retrospectively. I feel I want to say it’s very postmodern of us, but I think it may be post-postmodern behaviour! Anyway, I’ve purchased a snazzy pair of silver boots from Office, they’re a bit David Bowie mixed with Cher from clueless.

I’ve also bought authentic Nanna sandals in red suede with a similar horizontal stacked mid heel as the space man boots from M&S, who I must say are slaying the high street right now! Zara are also currently killing it with the silver shoe trend, Topshop have cute pastel coloured mules and glove shoes, but I think Office have totally nailed the Granny shoe trend this summer.

I’m definitely going in for a glove shoe and a mule next! I’m style crushing on Rachel and Monica from friends lately! I want that grown up 90’s vibe going on! x

Archive by Alexa

In the week that BHS announced it was in administration and I attended my final consultation meeting in work, where I was served my notice of redundancy, I’ve thought a lot about the future of retail and the British high street. I can’t pretend I’m either shocked or saddened by the BHS news, since I have been sent to many decrepit BHS stores in Wales and the south west to support with VM on our concessions. I saw, smelled and heard some shocking things.

In the same week I was pleseantly surprised by the launch of Archive by Alexa a collab between Marks and Spencer and fashion icon Alexa Chung involving Alexa pouring through the M&S archives and re working some vintage pieces into modern vintage inspired wearable pieces. Hats off to M&S they totally nailed it! All 33 pieces in the collection were beautiful and online they were all given quirky cute names and a brief explanation of the original garment and why Alexa had chosen it to re work.

Marks and Spencer is such a stalwart of the British high street its quite sad that in recent years it’s seen a decline in profit and received media attention for all the wrong reasons. Millionaire business man Stuart Rose stepped down as chief executive in 2010 as news hit of the chain reporting losses and store closures, this coupled with bad press and a growing reputation deeming the chain a Nanna knickers store, M&S was now seriously uncool to the fashionista crowd. Unlike Alexa Chung, who’s apt laid back style combining vintage inspiration with a cool indie chick tom boy vibe has inspired many young women in the last few years. Often photographed wearing vintage finds and high street pieces from the likes of Topshop and Zara her style is aspirational achievable and affordable. She is a beautiful, intelligent hard working lady, that’s inspired many a hair do, outfit of the day or loafer purchase! Who wouldn’t want to be Chungy! And lets never forget THAT love letter she received from Alex Turner! Shhheeshh! She is one lucky gal!

I congratulate M&S for choosing a relevant British celebrity/style icon to work on a collection for them, and applaud the idea of going back through the archives since the chain is steeped in history and has served us well over many years. I hope the launch was a roaring success for them and attracted the new customers they so need. My Instagram feed was bombarded with images of the collection and inspired looks from fashion forward indie chick types just like me…

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Endeavour

My mother told me to watch Endeavour, and explained that it was an ITV series featuring Inspector Morse of the 1990’s in his early career with the Oxford City Police set in the 1960’s. I didn’t take much notice of what she was saying which is quite normal for me when she’s talking! (sorry Val) Then a few weeks ago it caught my eye on Netflix, and I vaguely remembered Val saying it was good. It’s not good, its bloody brilliant! Stylish, moody and intelligent drama. A visual delight, a quirky brooding intellectual as the main character and intriguing clever murder investigations. Filmed in Oxford as was the original Inspector Morse series, the beautiful architecture frames a wonderfully retro vintage set which showcases some amazing Mid Century design.

In the first series a rich family of factory owners are involved in a line of enquiry about the death of a young girl and their home is visited by Constable Morse and his boss Inspector Thursday. Their home is incredible! A luxury Modern house set in acres of land with floor to ceiling windows and the most wonderful Mid Century furniture. The police station is also a retro delight with black rotary dial telephones, typewriters and acres of filing cabinets. There are charming cafe’s and pubs and beautiful scholastic interiors, but my favourite interior has to be Inspector Thursday’s house.

A white suburban semi with 1940’s style bay windows and a lawn at the front. Inside there’s mustard yellow curtains, psychedelic wallpapers, Ercol furniture and Midwinter china. It’s perfectly nostalgic and adorably retro. It is also where Joan Thursday lives, Fred Thurday’s beautiful, stylish, inspiring daughter. She is a sassy, independent lady with a wardrobe to die for and beautiful locks to boot. Joan has a total crush on Endeavour and she’s got me totally crushing on everything 60’s style over the last few weeks!

I’ve tried to sweep my crappy fine hair up into a glamorous beehive and I’ve resurrected an old pair of pearl earrings that I’m rocking with turtle necks and gingham mini skirts!

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So, if like me you love vintage and retro and a good murder investigation, watch Endeavour!

Pixie xx

Anxiety about anxiety

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When I posted about suffering with hypothyroidism I wanted to raise awareness about anxiety and depression and hoped that if anyone reading it identified with how I felt, they would feel less alone and reassured that there were things to do that would help, and that the feelings were transient and would pass. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who read that post and clicked on the links I provided. Part of the reason I started a blog was to help alleviate the anxiety and depression I was suffering with, but I wanted to journal the positive, creative things that made me feel better rather than talking about the dark place I was in. Well, I’ve been back in work doing a phased return for three months now, and I’m finally starting to enjoy being back at work and I can feel the sassy fun-loving gal I lost somewhere last summer returning! Unfortunately I’ll only be back there for three more months as the store I’m VM for is closing down, which is super sad but I’m trying to stay positive about the situation and we’re not sure yet what exactly will happen to us.

I recently saw an endocrinologist at the hospital and he was pleased with my last set of blood results showing that the levothyroxine medication was working and my other hormones had balanced out and my ovaries were producing hormones again. My broken thyroid gland is not compromising my endocrine system anymore! Hurrah!

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I’m now in a place where I get anxiety about anxiety. Maybe anxious is too strong a word for how it feels compared to how I was six months ago. Apprehension is maybe a better adjective. I’m apprehensive about feeling so anxious again! Recognising and acknowledging the feelings and behaviours is now how I take control of it, but without avoiding too many triggers. Although I’ve eliminated some behaviour and even some negative people I don’t think avoiding things or situations is a good way to live your life. I now try to fill my life with positivity and spend time with sincere people. Distracting myself is a good way to keep calm. Baking, reading, drawing, sewing… Taking photographs, long baths, watching a series on my iPad, knitting are all good ways to distract myself when I feel the ‘Anx’ coming on. Removing my social media profiles helped me to concentrate on myself and getting better when i felt dreadful, and I still limit my usage and don’t have any apps on my phone. I joined a yoga class which was a great help with breathing techniques and centering myself which now i can use when I recognise those warning signs. Guided meditation is a great way to relax and calm down when you feel very anxious or panicked. I’ve never listened to a whole CD, they send me to sleep after a few minutes! Apparently though the subconcious brain still listens while you’re asleep! I’ll add some lavender or patchouli oil to an aromatherapy diffuser and I’m out for the count. I also have a learn french CD that I listen to at bed time, in the hope that I will wake up fluent in French one morning!

My favourite new thing though has to be reflexology. My Mother suggested it to me, as a coleague of hers had difficulty conceiving and sought help to rebalance her hormones and cycle from a reflexologist. With trepidation I turned up to get my feet touched. The reflexologist turned out to be Rachel, who is the most delightful, serene, warmhearted person ever! It’s just incredible what she can tell you about your body from massaging your feet, and she gives great pragmatic guidance. I thoroughly reccommend reflexology, it has definitely helped my anxiety and depression and the endocrinologist asked me if I’d taken anything or done anything different because my hormones rebalanced suddenly after five months of blood tests. The only thing I can think I did new was reflexology! I won’t pretend to know eaxctly what it’s all about so here’s a link with more info…

http://www.aor.org.uk/home/what-is-reflexology

“She was like the moon… Part of her was always hidden”

Prep for spring

It’s March already! Spring is in the air, sort of, well it will be soon! To me this means one thing… Time to prep up the wardrobe! I’ve already been reaching to the back of my cupboards for some well loved classic simple pieces in reds, navy, stripes and mustard! Shirts, sweaters, skirts, tailored bottoms, shorts and knits. Brogues, white canvas daps and penny loafers. Anything nautical, crickety or kinda retro sporty with a clean smartness about it will do me. As for accessories a pair of pearl earrings and a tan leather bag to keep the look clean and fresh.

When I say Preppy Style, for me I mean the classic look that emerged for women in the 1960’s, spearheaded by cultural icons like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jackie O, mixed up with a little tomboy, American Prep student spirit. Last week I bought a chunky cable knit in navy from Urban Outfitters, It’s been perfect for the longer, dryer days since it is still really cold. Ive been wearing it with a red mini circle skirt from Miss Selfridge and a vertically striped cotton shirt in pale blue from Topshop. It also looks great with a Fred Perry polo underneath for a more retro sporty edge, and teamed with woolly tartan smart shorts.

img_0176-1 I’ve seen a few retro preppy style pieces currently on the high street. There are a lot of nautical stripes around. 60’s and 70’s style corduroy and denim skirts with the poppers down the front. Ticking striped shirts that look lovely under sweatshirts and crewe neck jumpers, or tucked into Mom jeans and worn with retro sneaks for a more casual 90’s preppy style look. I have Comme Des Garçon Chucks on my lust list for Spring, they would look great with this kind of look.