shameless

I have lots of exciting new acquisitions which I want to share with you all, but that will have to wait as today I am going to be a bit shameless.

In order to make room for my new stuff, I have decided to not only clear out as I do periodically anyway, but also try to sell my old stuff for the first time. Who knows how it will go as I am totally inexperienced in this field. Anyway, I currently have a dress up for sale which I love love love and posted about on one occasion on this blog, but have never worn. I am probably going to add a couple of bags and bits and bobs over the next few days so I'll let you know if I do. But please have a look at my current listing because I have this fear that it is just going to lay there buried under all the other shiny and professional listings by hardcore ebayers.

CLICK HERE



Update:

click HERE too! And here and here and here.

promise

It's been a while guys, I know.

I know I promised things would go back to normal.

I don't break my promises.

But you see, promises don't have an expiration date. And right now, I am just pouring all my words into everything else until I find that I have none left to type up on here. So I'm going to have to prolong the fulfillment date for this particular promise.

Until then, I have a couple of questions for you. Your answers will help me with one of the things I am pouring all my words into so that there will be more of them for this blog, so really it's in your best interests to answer!

What is the last thing you were promised?
What is the most important promise ever made to you?
What is the biggest promise that someone made to you that they broke?

so much...

For everlasting serenity.

I have been too embarrassed to pluck up the courage to post this last week.

I failed abysmally at the unruffled calm thing I was going on about.

I even failed to keep the things I lost unfound, finding every single thing I was talking about here the day after I wrote about losing them. Even in my successes I find failure!

I went shopping alone again today, which did not bear the fruit of any furry gilets, but a couple of botched christmas presents which I am convinced the recipients will hate.

I failed all of the above in the most comfortable leggings known to womankind.

Hence why I was too embarrassed to post.

generator

I actually have quite a few things I'd like to write, but there are at least three other writing projects which I need to deal with before I can write a proper post and not feel guilty. Le sigh.

Anyway, I have a bit of a problem with one of these pieces which needs to be resolved. I have been writing a story for quite some time now, probably over six months. The main character's name was never set in stone, but I soon started writing things which might not make sense with another name. The main example of this is when the character compares herself to a fictional character with the same name (although I could of course remove it).

This was a name which just felt right with the character. It wasn't too rare or exotic, it felt a little immature and naive and somehow lost, even though the meaning of the name doesn't have anything to do with being lost.

You're probably wondering why I can't just disclose the name so you can help me find an alternative, or stick to it?

Well you know when you meet someone and at first you quite like them? And then you realise that you really, really don't? Well...

So now of course this name is tainted for me. It has lost all the connotations it had in my head already. Trying to think of an alternate, I toyed with the idea of a name with a literal meaning/derivation which is about being lost, searching, wandering. I used behindthename.com. My favourite find so far has been Perdita, which derives from Latin meaning lost, and was invented by Shakespeare for one of his characters. This seems perfect as my character also has some writerly connections. Maybe Dita as a nickname, or is that too Dita Von Teese?

But is it too blatant? If you write, do you like your characters' names to have meanings? Or do you just go for something that seems to gel? Any suggestions for me?

Other names I am considering:

Beatrix
Lucille
Saira
Ophelia

But none of these are as normal as my original name! Maybe, instead, something completely unrelated in meaning but more similar to the original name:

Molly
Polly
Milly (Camilla/Camille)

(can you guess what the original name is? I don't know why I don't want to post it so much, it's not like this person would ever find this blog!)

the september issue

Today I woke up and found myself in total shock that it was September.

My disorientation may be due for the fact that I slept for about 16 hours, or that it was the first night I had spent clean and on a bed and for more than 5 hours for five days.

I just cannot believe that it is already September.

September is generally a month of transition. In the fashion world, the September issue is always the fattest. In Judaism, the new year, Rosh Hashana, is in September. For students September is the month they enter a new year. But for me the end of August and beginning September is even more transitional as I am starting somewhere new, and so, a few months ago I considered putting this blog on hiatus for a month when September came. I thought that I would have plenty of time to decide.

And now September is here. This may sound melodramatic, but I really feel like this long weekend has been the most transitional one of my life so far. So I need to dedicate some serious time to adjusting, thinking, living. I don't know if that leaves enough time or headspace for blogging.

So this morning I decided to put the blog on a month's hiatus. Pretty much immediately, I noticed something I wanted to post (out of interest, The Sartorialist's photo of a homeless guy, which I was sure that I'd seen before, wasn't sure I agreed with morally, and reminded me of all sorts of other reasons I don't like Scott Schuman - a whole post in a pair of parentheses, now that is impressive).

Now I am wondering what is better: to take a complete break from the blogosphere for a month, or to continue to post sporadically when the mood takes me, but with less commitment and little time for commenting and therefore probably very few comments (which I wouldn't blame anyone for, obviously!).

What do you think?

exploiting your resources

I feel a little bad having lapsed a bit in blogging ferocity, and now coming on here and doing a SOS post*. But I have a feeling that the small questions I have asked myself today would be ones you could very easily answer. So I am going to put one to you today, and maybe one tomorrow too. I have been readily exploiting my resources at work anyway, doing that obligatory helping myself to certain resources; helping myself to teabags aplenty; helping myself to a notepad from the stationary department once when I had an idea I just had to write down, and I'd left my notebook at home. Most relevant to this post: helping myself to workouts in the basement gym whenever I can. If I am going to miss anything about that work, it will surely be the cross-trainer, the exercise balls, the dumbells and most of all the 2x weekly aerobics class.

Today was my last aerobics session working on abs and arms. I was determined to at least try to memorise the exercises which do not require equipment I don't have; of course now I can only remember the ones which use balls and bells (although of course I have absolutely no idea what they are called...). Actually that's a lie; I can remember the push-ups and the planks perfectly well. How could anyone ever forgot those nightmares?

Lying on the floor when I got home, hoping that somewhere in my muscles there might remain some memory of the exercises I did barely 3 hours ago, I instead remembered the fabulous gym bunny bodies that I know quite a few of you lovely readers are blessed (read: work damn hard for) with. I wondered: which abs/arms exercises do you do without exercise equipment? I vaguely remember something about putting your arms behind your neck, lifting the shouders off the ground and doing some crazy shizzle with your legs... alas that is as far as my recollection goes. And if you do do these exercises, do you do them with a trainer so that you don't break your back as I probably would end up doing? How on earth do you have the memory to remember all the moves?

*basically a label for posts which fall under the category of cheekily exploiting my readership and asking questions with the entire selfish purpose of getting the answer; no interesting debate etc etc, just you saving my soul with your knowledge. Click here to see all posts in this category - it's never too late to reply!

words

Recently, my mind has been feeling very blurry. In fact, trying to articulate it now, I am finding it almost impossible. Of course, I have been frantically busy and occupied with life's events which leaves me feeling a little dazed. But there have also been plenty of long, pensive, whiled away hours in which I careen between feeling intensely and oddly blessed, completely despairing and then just bored as I realise I have been spending hours doing nothing much.

I seem to have been rendered incapable of doing anything productive, only thinking and then being unable to translate any thoughts into anything tangible. I don't know if you've noticed it in my posts, but I am writing them much more slowly, with less urgency as my mind meanders along the sentences. I find less and less of what I write making any sense, and having to go back and rewrite. It takes time, time which seems to be evading me, and so I have missed a few days' posts.

I can think of a number of reasons for this. I think that recently I have just been over-stimulated in terms of excitement and opportunities in a very short space of time, and before I was working very hard and getting very stressed, and now I need to do all that again but I can't seem to get my mind back to normalcy. There are too many intense thoughts in my head already. I did a regular writing exercise today where you have to start my writing 'I remember...' and continue for 15 minutes and of course, what came out, but half an hour of painful writing about the person I am constantly, constantly thinking about. This was completely useless and in fact probably detrimental and I thought that that half an hour would have probably been better spent writing a thoughtful post on this blog, but I come on here and all I can write about again is the melting pot of nonsense cluttering my mind.

I thought about posting what I had written for my post, but it felt too personal. I don't want to save it really, but I suppose that even if I was not writing with any clarity or craft, there might be some good bits which come out of using strong emotion.

Paradoxes are always the most painful. Bittersweet aches a thousand times more than plain sadness, but is more addictive than the purest happiness. I sought every extra second to see you, and then pored over every single second as I tried to read your thoughts. Did you hate me, forget me, or worst, not care? My mind wished we had never met. My heart could not contemplate that thought.

Our paths grew closer with the power of words; thousands of words, witty words, some angry words, prosaic words, beautiful unforgettable words. And now these words, this life which seems to be the only way to continue to know you begins to steal my time. Hours while away on this pointless task, and again it is only in my dreams that anything could ever come of this. Maybe you want me to come back into your life too, or maybe you’re just bored and enjoying the novelty of the internet. I don’t know, but now my dreams are nightmares. Now my memories are obliterated by a vision of the paths of our future reaching closer, closer, knocking occasionally against each other’s sides, and then careering off in completely opposite directions, never to be fully intertwined again.

Then I realised that I was writing like a walking, talking, hormone spouting cliche. And I realised that I needed you guys, writers who understand the power of words. You understand how to use words to make people laugh, touch people, inform them, help them, sooth them. I don't know exactly what I know I need you for, maybe just as a reason to be able to write this post for something. Maybe I'll put this under the tag 'SOS' because as clever people, older and wiser, you'll have some sage advice to hand out.

I don't know. I'll write to you when I do.

The Venetian Tube

Whilst raiding my sister's storage for components which might be able to make a saint's costume (halo - nope, cross - nope, wings - nope) I did manage to find this absolutely stunning Venetian-esque mask:

Somehow, I need to find a way to make it part of a costume of a London Underground Tube station. Any ideas?

Seemingly random plea

Update: got it, and anyway don't need it anymore. In fact, I was actually asking for the wrong part. The part I needed was available in the preview, I just hadn't realised it. If you care.

Dear readers, I give you so much. A new post every (almost) day, filled with magic and delight...

Anyway, basically I have a seemingly random request for you! I need a copy of pages 107-108 (conveniently excluded from Google Book Search's preview) of Jean Anouilh's Five Plays - that is the part with Antigone's speech to Creon.

If you have a copy of this lying around which you can scan in, or if your Googling skills are superior (!) to mine, I will of course love you for ever and ever and ever. You may in fact be elevated to a saintly status. You never know...

Thanks in advance!!!!

Beauty Rookie

I do love the glamour of make-up (continuing the Dita von Teese theme, just look at these photos of her working out fully made-up) but in all honesty, I'm a bit of a rookie when it comes to it all.

I have plenty of nail varnish, which I apply plentifully and I am getting better at doing it evenly and neatly. But look closely and it's a non-top coated, natural-cuticles, unbuffed mess. I'm a sucker for any well-marketed skin lotion; I have a MAC cleanser which pulled me in with its 'shot of caffeine' but I didn't realise it's for removing make-up and I just don't do foundation. There are plenty of varying moisturisers which I apply on occasion. I threw out my four-year old mascara and now I apply black liquid eyeliner and mascara, when I remember. I wear contacts, but sporadically.

When I got my red lipstick on Christmas I was delighted and wore it every day that I actually went out and didn't stay at home in my pyjamas all day. It looked great at first, but as the day would wear on I'd peak at a mirror and spy an embarrassed mouth, red around the edges and all dry and flaky. So much for long-wearing and moisturing, I thought. But now I'm starting to think that maybe I'm just not using the right products in addition to the lipstick, or I'm applying it wrong, or making some other blindingly obvious rookie mistake. 'Duh, you should have bought the super-strength-glosstastic-money-money-sealing-coat-arama obviously', I hear you say in reply to my stupidity.

Or maybe something along that lines. Help me out?

Reading list

I currently have an extremely long reading list, but it mainly comprises of history textbooks, science textbooks, Ancient Greek epic poems and infuriatingly allegorical novels which require a whole set of highlighters at the ready to disect, analyse and really butcher.
Apart from that, I also have quite a few classics which I ought to read, including the Bible. I'm getting a bit fed up with all the religious references in books, art and films going completely over my head due to a lack of religious upbringing.

But I'd quite like something a little more entertaining to follow up my latest read, the puzzling Special Topics In Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (which I'm planning on posting about in the next few days). I have a little list of books currently at disposal, but unlike normally, none are jumping out at me. Here is my potential reading list:

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

In 16th-century Istanbul, master miniaturist and illuminator of books Enishte Effendi is commissioned to illustrate a book celebrating the sultan. Soon he lies dead at the bottom of a well, and how he got there is the crux of this novel. A number of narrators give testimony to what they know about the circumstances surrounding the murder. The stories accumulate and become more detailed as the novel progresses, giving the reader not only a nontraditional murder mystery but insight into the mores and customs of the time. In addition, this is both an examination of the way figurative art is viewed within Islam and a love story that demonstrates the tricky mechanics of marriage laws. Award-winning Turkish author Pamuk (The White Castle) creatively casts the novel with colorful characters (including such entities as a tree and a gold coin) and provides a palpable sense of atmosphere of the Ottoman Empire that history and literary fans will appreciate.

I got this out from the library a while ago and started it, but I was reading it really slowly so stopped and decided to go back to the beginning at a later date. It's now shamefully overdue but the multiple narrator identities and Turkish background mean that I'm determined to read it.

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

An an 1835 novel by French Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac. Originally published in serial form during the winter of 1834–35, Le Père Goriot is widely considered as Balzac's most important novel. It marks the first serious use by the author of characters who had appeared in other books. The novel is also noted as an example of his realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext. The novel takes place during the Bourbon Restoration, which brought about profound changes in French society; the struggle of individuals to secure upper-class status is ubiquitous in the book. The city of Paris also impresses itself on the characters – especially young Rastignac, who grew up in the provinces of southern France. Balzac analyzes, through Goriot and others, the nature of family and marriage, providing a pessimistic view of these institutions.

I got this as a gift a few months ago, and delayed it because I'd just finished an old European classic and wanted a break. My list of French classics which I have read shamefully clocks in at exactly 1/2 a novel but I am always left wondering if I should wait until I am fluent enough to read them in the original language... yeah right.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The second historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

A long while ago I received a pretty set of English classics from an English teacher who had bought them for her son, who preferred JK Rowling to Dickens; she assumed I might appreciate them more. I still haven't read a single one (Wuthering Heights also features) but when I decided that it was time for some Dickens a few weeks ago, I couldn't get past page 5. But I should probably try harder.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

A psychological thriller and satirical novel. The story is told in the first person by fictitious serial killer and Manhattan businessman Patrick Bateman. The graphic violence and sexual content generated much commentary at the novel's release

I read Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero and the Rules of Attraction a few years ago, and I was probably a few years to young (I must have been about 13). They scarred/scared me a little but now I'm sort of intrigued by this one sitting on the bookshelf. Plus Christian Bale is sexy and I don't want to watch the film before reading the book.

Which one would you choose, and what are you reading right now?

Inherited Characteristics

Update: done! Finding the right colour was an ordeal, but I managed it (read comments for more details if you're really interested)

So today was the day of almost-last-minute present shopping and Biology revision.

Today I learnt about inherited characteristics, and their reasons: deoxyribose nucleic acid, otherwise known as DNA.

Today I bought my mother some nail varnish I thought she'd been wanting.

Today I realised that I'd bought the wrong colour, Damsel in a Dress instead of Sole Mate.

Today I remembered that my intense fussiness when it comes to gifts is shared with dearest mother through my inherited picky allele.

What do I do??? Yes, they are incredibly similar colours... but DiaD is much more purpleish than the red-tinted SM. I might g a chance to purchase the right colour tomorrow, but it's out of my way and not certain. What woud you do?

yay...nay...wahey - REAL LIFE VERSION

So, following on from last week's dream jacket post, I present you with two jackets which I actually own:

This first one was a last-minute pick up at the Vintage sale last week. But it was less than 10 pounds! Still, it's too big. But it's also cashmere! Still, it's beige.

Obviously I can't return it, but I do have a male friend (I think it's actually a man's jacket...) who wants it. So I could give it to him. Or I could let it wallow in my wardrobe on the off-chance that I will wear it. What say you?

This second one I purchased today; it's £25 down from £45! But it could go down more. Still, it's pretty! But I own similar stuff which is warmer and not made of linen mix. Still, it's checked without looking ubiquitious! But I'm not 100% sure that it's flattering.

This one I can return, but I'd have to go to the shops this weekend or maybe next. And I'm hving more troule deciding because I could get £25 back. I'll definitely wear it but I'm not sure how long it will last and if it will be warm enough. What say you?

T'internet

I don't want to fall into the trap of posting too many links in the form of posts, but this is a really interesting article about generating traffic on websites.

The Guardian - the most popular story in the world

Actually, thinking about it, Blogger is part of Google so it might have a different system. So typing 'Obama decides to quit tomorrow' might not actually work.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised how little I know about how much my blog actually works. As time has progressed, I've picked up things like the gadgets on the side, the organised labels, the RSS feeds (I recently accidentally removed these and my readership plummeted), systems for storing images. But there's still plenty that baffles me: how do I widen the body of texts, being completely computer code illiterate? And another thing: how on earth do I get that thingy to work which tells me about the traffic my site is generating and all those stats? Mine is just so stubborn.

I'm supposed to have an A grade qualification in ICT, which I passed less than 6 months ago. Yet I still only use blogger on the most rudimentary level. Once or twice I've wondered what would happen if the site crashed? One of the first things they teach you in ICT is that you don't own data unless you have it saved twice. In two different places. But does this blog have a back-up? No - I don't even know how to make one.

So I'm asking you: do you know anything about how your blog works? Or have you, like me, grasped some of the consequences, but are left completely in the dark about the rest? And do you have a back-up?

Note: when writing this post, at one point the page froze and I spent a moment or two thinking why, why, why didn't I SAVE?

Comment is Free

UPDATE: I think it was me who took myself off of google reader feed. Oops. Fiddling around with settings!

(for those nonplussed by today's title - Comment is free is The Guardian newspaper's commentary blog)

When I started this blog, I was adamant that I didn't care if I didn't attract a single reader; it was for me, only for me and I would do no publicity-whoring or 'plz add me 2 ur blogroll thnx' type comments. But as I slowly started to get readers, my posts started getting comments on - one every few days. And to be honest, these comments are probably one of my most favourite things about blogging. It's easy enough to write a piece every so often, but when you have the promise of interesting, funny and thought-provoking replies, that is the main motivator to continue writing on a daily basis.

Getting 7 or 8 comments on one post is pretty average, or even low for many bloggers but when I get that high a turn-out, it makes me extremely happy. I suppose I've always been the type of person who best responds to praise... not sure if that's a good thing, but it's true. I don't aim to have a worldwide super-famous big time blog; I actually think it would probably scare me into quitting and in all honesty, I would be delighted with only a handful of readers, who made regular and interesting comments. I appreciate every single one of them - at this point (before the post gets too whiny) I want to thank you for that!

So this time last week, when my post got not a single comment, I was a little down-hearted. For the rest of the week, I've been getting a slow drip of replies - one or two per post. On the one hand, I was delighted to hear from less regular commenters but on the other I felt greedy, wanting more and more and more.

However the decrease in replies didn't spurn me into writing faster, networking more furiously, creating an ad campaign. Conversely, it's had an in fact worrying effect; I've been writing less. I suppose it all comes down to motivation, as I said before. It appears that comment is more than free, to me anyway, it's also immensely valuable and indispensable.

So, here I am shamelessly reminding you dear readers - feel free to comment! No, let me amend that - please just comment!

43 Greenbacks

One major gap in a map of where I have travelled to would be the USA. I have visited Canada, although memories of Toronto and Muskoka have become vague and fuzzy over the decade. Anyway, despite the fact that I have never stepped foot on the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, I still have 43 greenbacks in my possession.

Hey, get me with all my nicknames! It's almost as if I was a born and bred American. But since I'm not American, have never had the opportunity to visit and the exchange rate is so damn low, the $43 that my grandfather has obstinately gifted me over the years in place of actual gifts or maybe pounds has not been spent. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, I love having a little bit of variety in my purse: pounds, dollars, a couple of euros and maybe even a Turkish lire or two. However a problem does appear when I do have dollars, euros and Turkish lires but the pounds seem to have miraculously vanished and I want that new top.

So, next week my father is flying to Tennessee for some sort of important meeting and I thought I might send the greenbacks over there for a little bit of international shopping. Only, although we do all love our fathers, I'm sure all of you can think of several instances where his choice was a little different from what we expected (cue: memory of the Christmas when my mother got fed up, and sole present was a miniature wooden duck). And as I know many of my readers are American, I was wondering if you could possibly suggest a couple of items which a Londoner might buy with $43 (although I'm sure that number could be supplemented a little if need be) in the USA.

Update: I'm such a newb that I counted the dollars wrong, I actually have $47 as my little sister pointed out.

Scarier than Halloween

Blogs all around the fashion blogosphere have recently been inundated with Halloween posts; it really is the perfect formula if you think about it. Fashion bloggers love to dress up. Halloween is the festival for dressing up. What could be more perfect?

However I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was a witch at the age of 10 (with some pretty awesome black lipstick and gothic necklaces) but anyway... it's just not my thing. In fact, as Halloween has come round this year, I've been frightened by far more scary thoughts than zombies, witches and even gory movies.

It was around the beginning of October that I fell in love with, and bought my very most favourite leather jacket. It was in a concession called Numph in Fenwicks and as soon as I tried it on, I knew that it would have to be mine despite it costing more than £100. This may not sound like much for a leather jacket, and indeed it really isn't. But for someone living on babysitting money it's pretty much as expensive as clothing gets. But I never regretted this purchase, as I have regretted many almost-as-expensive purchases. It has a beautiful lining (it's in the top picture) it's in my most favourite colour and wear it very frequently.

Doesn't looking at it just make you feel happy?

Me and my jacket on the Eiffel Tower

I, maybe foolishly, imagined that this would be the kind of item which would last me many years. So when it started showing some signs of wear and tear, I was very distressed. The zip is a little creaky, but more worryingly the leather is fading at the seams, and is quite flaky. I don't know if this is just what I should expect from a jacket. Or was its relatively low price to blame - so should I just resign myself to the fact that it is slowly dying? Or can I do something to revive it, like buying some protector spray or cream. Google, normally my saviour, isn't throwing up anything other than information on how to protect shoes, or bags. Doesn't google care about my jacket???

So, I leave you with this. I hope that you can spare a moment from your frightening Halloween celebrations and help me in my scarier situation. Thank you.

Decisions, Decisions

UPDATE: I'm rather proud with myself, because despite my obviously flighty and passionate attitude to fashion, in this case I've allowed practicality to reign. Being a fashion victim just isn't cool. I think I'm going for the navy coat, which has two sets of pockets, mainly for that reason. What can I say? I reckon that the fake pockets really would drive me insane. (although there's still time for me to change my mind...)

Last week, I went looking for a coat and came back with a bag. This week I came back with two coats. Now I need to decide which one to keep! Can I please have your help?

This first one is navy blue, a staple colour in my winter wardrobe. It is smart, warm, inexpensive and fits very nicely. The only issue I have is the belt, which I don't like. This could either be cut off or tied in a bow. Another thing is that it is EXTREMELY similar to my old, grey coat, which is also from Zara. Maybe also a little non-descript. Still - it's an extremely useful coat.

The second coat is a little more exciting and a little more pricey (but not much). It's from Topshop, so there are fears of seeing it on every other person on Oxford St in a couple of months. But god, the oatmeal colour is divine - although will it get dirty quickly? And you can see a glimpse of the stunning purple lining in the hood, which is naturally oh so important. The sleeve and back detailing are fantastic. But is the cut a little less classic and flattering? Also, the pockets are fake which may be liable to drive me insane.
Can you see my dilemma??? Please HELP! And no 'keep both' please ;)

All dressed up...

You may or may have not seen this post in its original form, entitled testing and at various stages of its existence featuring tiny photos, pixellated photos, and finally this. I am very proud, because I have finally figured out how to re-use pictures in my picasa web albums on my blog. SO economical - I have only used up 6% in almost so many months... well not quite, but you know...

However I suppose I have to be economical in one way, because in terms of completely unneeded evening wear, I am happy to splurge and acquire as many unsuitable dresses as possible. Almost a year ago I was willing to spend £50 on a dress (it was in sale!) for its sheer beauty and impracticality, as well as the fact that it reminded me of one of my favourite films. It doesn't matter that I haven't yet worn it; I am still loathe to spend a couple of pounds on some decent socks, which I wear every day.

Fortunately I have come to the decision that being all dressed up with nowhere to go is indeed a sorry state of affairs, and with nobody I know willing to go and get married so that I have somewhere to wear a posh frock, I am just going to have to accept that I will be grossly over-dressed and wear one of my posh frocks to the theatre. No you did not just misread my sentence, I did say one of my posh frocks; plural. Because not only do I own the evocative £50 bargain, but two other equally all dressed up dresses although these are slightly more excuseable since they were free courtesy of the old stock in my lovely aunt's dress shop. Nevertheless, I am faced with a problem. On average, I find myself with enough courage to take the plunge and go out 'grossly over-dressed' around once a year. But I have three options to choose.The first is the one I actually paid for, justifying my purchase with ideas about dressing it down with thick tights, a black top underneath and some chunky black boots (plus it comes with a detachable slip which ironically I've actually worn loads!). Yep, that failed. Still, there's a chance this dress could be saved from the realms of eveningwear and converted to extra-special daywear, on account of the slightly less dressy material..

The middle dress is the one I have had the longest, hence is the most neglected. It is also the single big-brand that features in my wardrobe, other than spectactles and nail-polish, which I don't think really count. It is... whisper... Burberry! I could also go around with the label sticking out, which would be quite nice too. On the downside, this one is the only one to have been worn out, in public, when I went to see a film 'grossly over-dressed'.

The last one is my most requent acquisition, which suggests that maybe she should get a quick airing, before she becomes stale. Don't ask why this is the only dress with a gender, perhap it's the fairy-like quality which makes me feel like she isn't quite right for the dirty and polluted city centre on a chilly winter's day.

So here I am, all dressed up and not quite nowhere to go, but not ENOUGH places to go. I think I'll just gaze at my pretty dresses a while longer and try to forget the misery. Maybe you could help me choose?