Norwich Vintage Fair!

This Sunday was a most joyous occasion, for it saw St Andrew's Hall in Norwich transformed into a veritable Mecca of vintage delights! I was lucky enough to pay a visit with my lovely cousin, Liz, and we spent a wonderful couple of hours perusing dresses, skirts, blouses, knits, coats, shoes, bags, homewares, and all manner of other retro paraphernalia! Check out this amazing VW camper bearing the vintage fair banner- this could only herald good things...

The fair was running between 12 and 5pm; we arrived at about three, which we discovered was fortuitous as stall owners were starting to reduce their prices. Who doesn't enjoy finding a bargain?! Here are some of the pretty things I found...

Vintage briefcases!

 

Rows of fur coats! I already have a brown one and a black one so I didn't linger, it could have been too dangerous...

 

I thought this little guy was very cute, and looked very comfortable on his flowery cushion...

 

Too many pretty things to count!

If only gorgeous vintage handbags did grow on trees like this...

I really loved this skirt, it was black and gold striped, pleated and shiny (I am part-magpie); what is not to like? I did manage to restrain myself, however. (not fully, though, as you shall see...)

If the excitement of so much gorgeous vintage-ness was not enough, there were also beautiful cupcakes courtesy of Biddy's Tea Room who were providing the refreshments for the day. I, sadly, have given up sugar for lent (!) so I indulged in an Earl Grey to sit and watch the merry vintage shoppers go about their day. (And grill Lizzie about the new(ish) man in her life ;-) ...) These lemonade cupcakes were looking especially tempting, though; loving the addition of the little straws, adorable!

Now, I did hint that perhaps my sojourn did not go entirely purchase-free...

That is because it didn't... I bought two very exciting and wonderful items. The first being...

...This dress! It was a mere £5, and I love the adorable puffed sleeves and candy-coloured stripes. It will look great with tights, a belt and some little ankle boots. And it will be great for summer with bare legs (I hope! Lets petition the nice-weather fairy, everyone!). Apologies for my messy room in the background...

I did also purchase what is probably the best bomber jacket in the world ever. I may go as far as to say it is simply the best thing in the world, ever. I saw it and fell in love, and that was that. We will not mention the fact that it cost me £28 (It should have been £30, I managed to haggle off £2 which eased my conscience slightly...) that I should not really have been spending on bomber jackets, including those which may or may not be the best thing ever... Nonetheless, I can't wait to wear it!

I am not going to post a picture now, in order that you all may be sufficiently prepared within yourselves for its wondrous-ness, I shall wait and post the first time I wear it that you may see it depicted in all its glory... So stay tuned!

Hope you enjoy reading!

Much love, Kate Xx

Feed Zooey cake, stat!

So, I have been spending a lot of time recently re-watching 'New Girl' episodes. This has had the following effects:

1) I have developed a serious girl-crush on Zooey Deschanel. I mean, lets face it, she is gorgeous, funny, has the best hair I have ever seen, she's in 'Elf' which is basically the best Christmas film ever made, and if you didn't actually think she could get any cooler, she sings in a band. And they're good. I think it's true love, folks.

2) I have developed a serious wardrobe-crush on Zooey Deschanel. To the point that I have spent hours trawling Ebay for high-waisted skirts, shorts and pussy-bow tops. I think the picture above illustrates my point: the artful print-mixing, the tiny cinched-in waist, classic red/white/blue colour palette, a good polka dot is always a winner, and those gloves... Wow. 10/10 for originality, overall presentation and blow-dry skillz. She looks gorgeous, I love it. I love her. Zooey, if you're out there reading this one day, I love you and I truly believe we could be best friends. How about it...?

The thing is, on my Zooey-search via google images, I came across this picture which disturbed me greatly... Take a look:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Zooey appears to be slightly less of a woman in this picture. A good stone-and-a-half less. I mean, don't get me wrong, she is still gorgeous. And her outfit is very cute. But... Am I alone in thinking that Ms Deschanel looked about 100 degrees hotter in the previous image? And not just because Zooey's silhouette in the previous image is a semi-attainable one for us mere mortals; I actually, genuinely believe she looks better with a bit more meat on her. Which is a big statement from a past eating-disorder-sufferer (that's me, guys) to make! If she and I were best friends in actuality I would promptly feed her cupcakes...

I would welcome others' thoughts and comments on this? I don't know what the chronology of these images is, but I hope the next time I see Zooey on screen she's looking more like this...

Gorgeous! What do you all think?

Much love, Kate Xx

Swishing at The Library

Well, folks, last night was a food-and-swishing extravaganza at The Library restaurant in wonderful Norwich! My lovely friend Gina and I first sampled the delights of the Winterfest menu; you can enjoy two courses and a glass of wine for only £10 per person! Very reasonable, one might say. I went for salmon and hand-cut chips, which was a very large plate of food; definitely not stingy on the chip front! We like this...
Gina went for the vegetarian option comprising leek and potato dauphinoise and roasted veg. She isn't a vegetarian (and never will be!), but unfortunately she doesn't like fish (this is quite a gross understatement... I, on the other hand, adore it, which is partly why I still eat it despite giving up meat...) and the carnivorous option involved lamb's liver, which did not appeal. Her dish was apparently delicious, but not quite substantial enough (a chicken breast would have rectified the problem a treat, apparently), but due to my extremely generous chip-portion we filled her up a bit!

We both were recommended the chocolate tart for dessert. And here it is, in all its glory... wow! It was a definite good shout- very delicious. I have decided to give up all refined sugar for lent, so this was a sort of last hoorah! The only comment I would make on this is that it would have been even more amazing warmed up!
This, we must bear in mind, though, is coming from someone who used to put chocolate gateaux in the microwave... (nb it collapses and the sponge disintegrates a bit. This is something my friend and I used to do quite often and then eat the whole thing. I feel slightly sick thinking about it now!)

Anyhoo, next came the swishing!

The swish was in aid of Leeway , a domestic abuse charity in Norwich, so it was a pleasure to help support the amazing work they do, and even more of a pleasure that we could do this involving fashion!
This is a picture of my haul! I managed to grab 3 dresses, a light coat from Principles and this awesome pair of high-waisted 80s style Gap jeans. I've added the belt and I intend to wear them with a tight or logo t-shirt tucked in and doc marten style boots. Can't wait!

This is a polka-spot Forever 21 dress that fits me quite well. Polka-dots are always a favourite, but I do intend to change these buttons. They are actually a kind of sludgy colour, despite looking like a sunny yellow in the image...

This is another Forever 21 polka-dot dress! This one is a bit larger so it will either be worn with a belt or passed on to someone with bigger boobs than me. Which is not difficult...

Awesome 80s jeans rolled up at the bottom! Am I slightly too excited about  what could be argued is quite an unattractive item of clothing...?

Principles light-weight 3/4 sleeve dress coat. I think its quite exciting and if nothing else the fabric will be useful! I will post pictures if and how I wear it!

Finally a Mango dress still with tags on! It fits quite nicely and the colour looks good on me, I think I shall wear it for going out with a coral lipstick. Keep you posted!

All in all a very successful evening! We did proceed to go home and eat two pancakes apiece... All that swapping is very energy-draining, youknow?

Hope you enjoy! Much love,

Kate Xx

Jumble sales and blueberry muffins!

Well, Last weekend was full of Norwich-based fun and frolics! The first note-worthy event was the bi-monthly Jumble-Up sale on Saturday at the Norwich Arts Centre! This was my first jumble-up as a seller and by golly, twas a fun and joyous occasion! Here's a sneaky shot of my wares, and my very lovely money tin which I was not prepared to sell...

 I have discovered that not only are these events a treasure-trove of thrifty and fabulous fashions, especially if your style is a bit 'vintage', but that you can make loads of friends too! Lots of the people I chatted to are regulars and all know each other, and were more than happy to fetch me Earl Grey and suchlike, which in my book is the basis of a life-long friendship!

 I thought this was lovely! Ros, the vendor of this lovely book was selling amazing genuine vintage stuff from her granny's house! And her very gorgeous two-year-old son was with her and kept us all entertained with his scary dinosaur impressions! Cue 'awwwww'...!

 Shoes, glorious shoes...!

And handbags, my my, this green and navy Chiltern one on top caught my eye straight away! I managed to restrain myself, though. I did intend not to buy anything... But I couldn't resist coming away with a high-waisted Levis sailor-style skirt, for £4, which I have worn practically every day this week, and a long black faux-fur coat that the lovely stall-owner Rose sold me at a discount for £8! How could I say no...?!

Some lovely green dresses! I saw the girl who bought the chinese-style dress (just seen) try it on and she looked amazing!

Making clever use of some wiring to hang more clothes!

Does everyone remember these? I used to collect trolls when I was little! I had one my Gramps brought me back from Denmark on business which started the whole thing. You used to be able to get little ones that sat on the top of your pencil...?

Anyhoo, all in all I had a lovely time and I managed to make a tidy £50 into the bargain selling off some of my old detritus! I will definitely be at the next one with a spending budget for bargains! Prices seemed to be a lot cheaper than even charity shops, the ladies opposite me were selling a rail of (really good quality) clothes for only £3 each and as the day went on they were selling more and more stuff off at 50p! My advice to y'all: get to the Norwich Arts Centre website and find out when the next jumble-up is (psst, its March 2nd) and I'll see you there!

After a night spent in a cardboard box for the YMCA (this deserves a blog post of its own!) on Sunday The Boy and I took a little trip to the Cherryleaf Coffee House on St Giles. I had never been before but had oft' walked by and gazed through the windows with the intention of visiting one day...

This was that fated day!

I went for eggs benedict with smoked salmon, which came on a toasted english muffin. The eggs were poached to perfection, there was an impressive amount of smoked salmon, and the food was all made and brought to table within about 5 minutes! Great if you need a speedy snack, plus the eggs-and-salmon-combo kept me full for hours! It was good, too, how the hollandaise sauce was served on the side, rather than all over the food, as it meant I could add as little as I liked. Look how delicious it was!
My meal was accompanied by a pot of Earl Grey tea, and then The Boy and I shared...

 ...The Best Muffin In The World. 

It was banana, blueberry and maple syrup flavoured. It was moist, sweet and delicious. I am a little bit in love. With a cake... I highly recommend everyone in the world samples this! Mmmmmm. We were chatting to the owner after we'd eaten and apparently she injects the muffins with extra maple syrup after they're cooked for extra sweet maple-y goodness! Wow.

The whole place is actually very lovely and the sort of coffee shop where you could sit with a book and relax. Which is something I intend to do very soon!

I also intend to sample the homemade soup! The day we went we missed out on mushroom and leek. Next time, next time...

What a wonderful weekend in the Fine City of Norwich!

Hope you enjoy reading! Much love,

Kate Xx

M&S Floral Trousers

 Just a quick rundown of today's outfit! Featuring floral chinos from good ol' Marks and Spencer SS12! I got these with 20% off so they cost me something like £14 which was an offer I could not turn down! I've teamed them with a white H&M shirt which I've had for a couple of years, I really like it because it has black buttons! And little frills around the cuffs. And is generally very ladylike, which lets me pretend that I am also. I'm wearing a navy blue wool jumper that I bought in a charity shop for £2 the other day and I love it!

The piece de resistance here is my battered (well-loved) tan satchel! My Grandad rescued it for me from an old lady's house clearance and I adore it! Although I tend to overload it with stuff- the strap has broken twice...
Finally, due to the fact that it is not minus-one-million degrees anymore, I am wearing my pink boat shoes!

Hope you enjoy! Much love, Kate Xx