buy it now

Only two posts ago, I was lavishing praise on the wonder of eBay. That was before I realised that I fail, miserably, at winning anything on that site. All that catches my eye is so desirable that it goes for extortionate prices, or so hideous that I realise I have no idea what possessed me when I clicked 'watch' and thence receive countless notifications that 'the item you have been watching has been relisted'. Hmm, yes, no surprises there.

The other day, though, I finally succeeded when my friend practically forced my hand to click 'Buy it now' on her birthday present. I myself don't smoke and never have, so I certainly don't wish to condone it. But when we saw how awesome they made Julianne Moore and Colin Firth look in A Single Man last month I wondered if even I might succumb to the allure of cigarettes, as long as they were pink.


Don't worry; I haven't. I am not that impressionable. But I get why for someone who does smoke these are like the holy grail of amazingness. And if I can associate myself with someone who has then, then surely some of that amazingness has to rub off on me. So we bought some pink Polish cigarettes, which I highly doubt will ever arrive but if they do, I will have achieved at least one eBay purchase. And thus cigarettes will have provided me with the ultimate success. But only because they're pink.

*Please note that this post was totally tongue-in-cheek, mum.

sweat

This long summer just gone, I was really fit. Exercise was the most thrilling part of my routine, and the most active part of my adventures.

Then real life took over, real life with hard work and hard thinking and little sleep, early mornings and dark nights, cold and comfort eating. Recently, I have come to realise, I can no longer think of myself as fit or in shape.

Yesterday I started a new lifestyle of exercise. Yes, I am busy, but that doesn't mean I don't have an hour to slot in my day at least half the time to something which will make me feel so much better. I waste at least a couple of hours a day. So my plan is this:

-Organised sports club on Mondays (boxercise, FYI, incredibly fun!)
-Outdoor run on Tuesdays, the day I finish school early
-Cross-trainer on the treadmill on Wednesdays
-Run on Saturday, Sunday, or maybe even both!

I have already completed day one and two of the plan which feels great. I almost didn't go for a run today because it was so cold, but at the last minute realised that was stupid. I warmed up quickly, but my neck was a bit chilly so I am thinking of making an investment in my fitness. It worked with the new running trainers I bought in June.

The dregs of the sales still remain in quite a few sports shops. I am thinking of ordering this:

How could I not stick to my exercise plan when that would mean such pretty pinkness languishing in my wardrobe? And more interestingly, do you have an exercise plan and how do you ensure that you don't cop out?

introducing

A recent new feature on my blog is the tag 'the power of pink'.

If you choose to explore all the posts which are tagged under this category, you will find a plethora of observational and entirely scientifically sound evidence to prove that the colour pink has powerful mood-enhancing properties.

That's why for a while now, my blog background has been unwaveringly, uapologetically pink.

But recently, as a backdrop for richly autumnal mornings and dark black nights, the pink began to jar. That is to say that I, long time fan and die hard advocate of the power of pink, was beginning to grow a bit sick of it. The sweetness of it all was beginning to set my teeth on edge.

(Similar things have happened in my life with overdoses of Weetabix, Friends episodes and the colour green. I find it hard to know when it's time to stop)

I wonder if, like with homeopathic remedies, pink and other things we love in life are more powerful the more dilute they get. Maybe their rarity is part of their charm, or they are so strong that they can becoming overpowering, or they only work on a small scale (like a tiny digital image which would get all pixellated if you tried to enlarge it).

So I have scaled back on the pink. The blog picture has been replaced... yes, I know it's still pink! But this is hot pink which I very rarely dabble in and am therefore not sick of yet. And I know the mauve I chose for my background is basically a darker sister of the baby pink I had before, and the blog titles are pure unadulterated pinkness.

As I said, I am only scaling down; diluting not removing. I still love pink.

perfect day?

Today everything has been perfect for me really. A super quick commute; no traffic. My working day finished 2 1/2 hours after it started. I took out two good DVDs from the library, finished a great play and bought a trashy magazine which came with a great gift. I chatted to some fabulous friends, both in person and on the phone. I got home and there was a parcel awaiting me.

All through that, I felt too drained to actually revel in the fact that this Friday the 13th was actually a bit of a perfect day, but not tired enough to go to sleep. So now I feel like a bit of an idiot having not gone for a run when I had the chance and not going out tonight.

I almost don't deserve my good chance.

On the penultimate day of this blogging challenge I set myself on Saturday, I show you this:


Both are hotter pink in the flesh. You know how I feel about pink if you have read even a third of the posts on this blog, and in fact, since my search function doesn't work, I am going go create a special tag for all posts which reference the power of pink!

What you see, in flashed-out pink, are my Etre gloves from LibertyLondonGirl's giveaway! Thank you to both Etre and LLG! I am très excited about this! And I love them a lot a lot a lot! As you can probably tell from multiple exclamation marks!

And matching them serendipitously perfectly is my new nail polish which 'tho not as free as the gloves, came free with a £2 magazine that I would otherwise no way have purchased. Still, nail polish for £2 instead of £10.50 and a fun hour's read. In fact, I am sort of tempted to buy the magazine three more times for the other colours. Anybody fancy a free copy of Glamour, without the nail polish?

Hmm, this week's posts have been much longer than the snapshots and witty one-liners (which I am still deluded that I can produce, even though people keep telling me otherwise...) I was intending. Maybe that's why I have been so unproductive this week.

pink/blue

What do you think about when you choose what colours to wear every day?

As I have recently got more into my wardrobe again, I have been experimenting with clothes which I haven't worn in a long time and begun to remember what makes me feel good. I am noticing that the relationship between colours and with clothes and how they make you feel is all but simple.

I am slowly beginning to abandon blue, which will be a shock to anyone reading my blog as you know that I am a serious navy wearer. Of course my navy jeans and I will never be parted but I am sick to the back teeth of electric blue.

I am moving more towards greys and greens. Grey makes me feel like me and green makes my eyes look good (although right now I don't have much of it, apart from one khaki jacket).

I have replaced blocks of colour with colourful accents. Blocks of bright colour make me feel like a five year old.

The therapeutic properties of pink will always remain close to my heart, but I have to make it look edgy. I just feel like a princess-y girly-girl otherwise. But pink on the lips is compulsory.

White is just the opposite of me. For years I struggled with the elegance of beige and camel and snow white, willing it to work for me. But it just doesn't work. If I ever get married, maybe I'll wear red. That's a colour which makes me feel strong, and which I don't have nearly enough of.

Black. Oh, black. Black always seems to get such a bad rep for being boring but when I wear it I boring is the last thing I feel. As long as I don't wear it with denim.

to go green?

Today whilst out searching for a pair of boots to wear this Autumn/Winter (on which I could write a whole separate odyssey - just shout if you have any interest in hearing about that) I was dragged into the shop Fornarina.

This is one shop which definitely isn't my style. Hideously expensive, polyester and euro-trash I think you could probably sum it up by the fact that Lindsay Lohan is the face of Fornarina. Still, it was an interesting visit. For one, one of the shop assistants turned out to be someone I vaguely knew, which was fun. Secondly, I found myself drawn to a vivid green leather jacket with huge sleeves which I simply had to try on, even though I knew I wouldn't buy it. Because

a) It was £300
b) It was Fornarina
c) It was green!

I'll admit that these reasons get mildly more unreasonable and prejudiced as we go along. Truthfully, I would have probably forgiven the label. But I seriously cannot remember the last item of clothing I owned in the colour green. When I think of that colour I only have hazy recollections of having a whole wardrobe comprising of different shades of khaki, apple, jade and neon green. Apparently, it suited me. Oh, and the running shoes I bought a couple of weeks ago have some green on them, but they were the only colour on sale; I promise I did ask if they had pink.

Maybe I just over-dosed on it as a child. Maybe it's a force of will thing; a rebellion against what I was involuntarily dressed in. Thinking back, I can remember having some sort of complex about people not believing that my eyes are green, telling me that they are hazel, and me believing that this must be because they were comparing my eyes to my bright green top, which could never realistically occur in nature. Then there's the time I came into school with new red glasses and my lovely friend pointing out to me that they clashed with my green clothes: 'Red and green should never be seen without a colour inbetween - apart from on a Christmas tree!'

Either way, as you can see, none of my reasons probably made much sense.

Anyway, I tried this jacket on. For those who are curious, click on this link to see it on a model on the site.

And ohmygod I suddenly realised why my parents were obsessed with colouring my outfits in green and why my mother still hasn't stopped buying me green scarves every single year. Seriously; I am not being vain; I am normally the epitome of self-deprecation (yeah, you can ignore my blog name for a moment here...). My eyes were popping with colour. My broken-out skin - so spotty this weekend I had to be dragged out of my bedroom door - was somewhat calmed. My hairwhich people have been recently commenting has got much darker, looked more ginger than it has in years!

Wise colour lover Sal of Already Pretty blog wrote a post on colour recently where she claimed that colours can have an extreme, serious impact on how you look. My fashionista aunt was recently telling me that in her shop she always focuses on choosing a colour for a client; that it is a million times more important than anything else, even cut and style. I always poo-poo this idea. It's hard enough finding something that flatters my figure with my bordering-on-body-dysmorphia paranoia when it comes to mirrors. It's probably even harder satisfying my picky to the extent of scaring-people-away-from-buying-me-presents-pickiness taste. So I just stick to common colours like grey, black and blue (and pink! never forget pink! the feelgood properties of this colour are so extensive that you can always find something in pink!) most of the time.

But I loved this green on me so much that I am seriously considering reversing the ban on green. There is, of course, the slight problem that I have just bought three tops none of which contain green, and today a grey pencil skirt, and somehow I doubt green boots will have the same effect. Maybe I'll just start by wearing of those green scarves.

top-up

This weekend (which is when I wrote this post, deciding that at least one pre-scheduled post whilst away was necessary if I was going to make any attempts not to be a completely lazy blogger) I finally managed a succesful shopping trip.

By succesful, I mean a trip where I return with clothes which I had at least vaguely planned on buying, which I like and which will be useful. By succesful, I mean the anti-thesis of last weekend's shopping trip where I returned from a search to top-up my wardrobe with three pairs of new knickers, albeit very nice knickers which were 3 for £6.99, and a book for £1 in a closing down sale. There were a couple of times this weekend that I began to waver a little; I came very close to buying some gorgeous neon nail polish from Essie, and then later some sparkly rings in Ollie&Nic.

But I was strong.

I came away having quite literally topped-up my wardrobe, on several levels:

• All three items I bought could be worn immediately; in fact, as I didn't go straight home but spontaneously stayed over at a friend's house, I did wear one of my new items the next day - a black t-shirt with gold studs on the shoulders.
• I set off shopping with the vague idea of a new look for Autumn/Winter - something a bit edgier with drapy blacks and greys and coarse fabrics. Of course, this is never going to happen in my wardrobe, as evidenced by the violet cowboy shirt and stripy pink jumper I bought. These definitely negated the dark edginess of a black t-shirt.
• And of course, on a punny level, I did top-up. All three purchases are tops of some sort which will be perfect for adding tons more possibilities to my wardrobe. With my black top I can be dark and edgy. With my pink stripes I can be warm and cute (I did try to get navy but they didn't have my size... it's fate and the power of pink*). With my cowboy top, I am finally conceding to plaid (again, I did try to get a black and grey flannel shirt but I was just too hot).

And best of all, now that my wardrobe is entirely top topped-up, I can now begin to top it up with dresses (to layer under the cowboy shirt), top it up with cute skirts (to wear with the stripy top) and top it up with boots (to wear on my feet...)

*you'd find tons of evidence testifying to the therapeutic power of pink on this blog, but the blog search I have installed doesn't work at all. You'll have to trust me on this one for now, despite a current lack of scientific proof. Or you could tell me why the hell my search isn't working??

hot pink feet

I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with it, but the arch of my right foot has been incredibly sore this past week. I attributed it to running in ancient cross-trainers, and wearing a pair of entirely unsupportive ballet pumps.

What can I say, any excuse to go shoe shopping.

Anyway, so yesterday I bought a new pair of shoes actually designed for running! My budget was tight, but I still managed to find a pair which are relatively multi-purpose and closer to cross-trainers, which is exactly what I was after. I've still yet to find an aesthetically pleasing pair of sports trainers which don't cost £1,000,000 but the hot pink tick on my new pair helps a little. You can't see it so well in this photo, but it really is hot pink.

So this morning I went running, but my foot is still sore, so that probably wasn't the best idea. Still, I can't stand staying still. So I decided that maybe the shoes I wear the rest of the time are part of the problem and headed off to Covent Garden aka Shoe Heaven. Literally, every other shop there sells shoes, and every fourth shop there is a shoe shop.

After an exhaustive seacrch, I found a comfortable pair of flats which were neither orthopaedic in appearance nor £1,000,000. But one size was a smidgeon too small the size up way too wide. I was on the brink of tears leaving them behind, but what has to be done has to be done. When I got home, however, I Googled the brand (I found the shoes not in the brand shop but a shoe boutique) and guess what, they do half sizes! And guess what else, they do hot pink!

So hopefully soon my feet will be less sore, my shoe collection larger and, of course, much more hot pink.

Pink, red and purple

I have been in a bright mood lately. As the weeks race past and spring has begun, life seems unusually full of possibilities. Even if I haven't slept very much, energy levels feel higher than normal.

And, in reflection, I seem to be becoming more and more attracted to my favourite bright, cheerful, girly colours: pink and purple and (with today being Red Nose Day) the obligatory splash of red.

I actually first noticed this colour scheme a couple of weeks ago when the new series of BBC drama Mistresses, a highly unrealistic and indulgent look at the ridiculously dramatic love lifes of four friends. One of the characters, Jessica ('Style File' here), who is the most fashion-conscious, has been wearing some lovely pink and purple ensembles which reminded me that for once, I actually have the items which could complete a similar look. So out came the deep pink naiks, gorgeous new bag, bright pink t-shirt over purple vest, and purple skirt. I could have added some purple tights, pink shoes and my cardigan which would have perfectly matched my nails. But that may have just been going slightly overboard.

Then there's the card I was making from 9PM to 12AM, when in my sleep-deprived state I was drawn to the pinkest possible shades. Out came pink file paper, floral light pink fabric, shiny red card, rose tissue paper, magenta beads, purple sequins, lilac paper, pink thread, red stars, glitter. In my mind, pinks and reds and purples are not weak, silly or effeminate. They are strong, passionate and beautiful.

On this blog you can find proof of the power of these colours. Shopping experience has even provided me with evidence of the therapeutic qualities of pink. Red lipstick is proven to beautify the palest, driest lips. Purple... with a beautiful bag in this royal shade, what's not to like?

The lovely birthday girl for whom I made this card and took out in this outfit isn't even that into pink, but it seems that I am.

Cheaper than Therapy

This blogging lark is cheaper than therapy. You know what else is cheaper than therapy (but more costly than blogging...)? Shopping!!

In my experience, the therapeutic element of shopping is intensified when combined with SALE PRICES and HOT PINKNESS.

I also almost bought



and a hot pink pointelle cardigan from a Topshop concession with heart buttons and two metallic bow brooches.

Sensing a pattern yet?