Basic Appreciation.

I've found that going shopping with Moon, if he's not in the right mood, can make me feel a little rushed, so it was nice when he was away a few weeks ago to get in a good few hours of quality shopping alone-time. I have been trying to have a clear out, but in doing so, I manage to have gotten rid of kind of tatty but essential things - here is where H&M was my friend.

Maybe I'm growing up or something but I am finding that having a few go-to items is a little more satisfying than flimsy fashion pieces, I'm always going to be a little all over the place though, at least, I'm not ready to be a sophisticated grown up all the time just yet.


1. Cable Knit, £24.99 – I'm totally missing my faithful chunky knit teal cardigan so this was an adequate replacement, and will be great for Ireland next week. It's really soft and comfortable and I can definitely see myself wearing it heaps more once the season changes.

2. Cotton Harem Trousers, £14.99 – I was pretty big on these a few years ago, until I said goodbye to them after ruining my final pair at Glastonbury 2011, so much mud... I can't decide if these are acceptable to wear outdoors really, they're far to comfy to not be day-pyjamas. I'll admit they're not the most attractive trousers but they do for pottering around the garden. I'd love to know what you think about harem pants, and what to wear with them, I'm feeling a little stumped.

3. Green Leggings, £7.99 – Nice to have a change every now and then. I had steered clear of H&M's leggings for a little while because they were really thick and chunky, these ones are pretty nice though and a lot of their coloured ones seem to be like this too, I may have to pick up a few more. I mainly got these because it came to my attention that I pretty much only have black leggings now, anyone else remember when H&M did the coolest crazy leggings, I was all over those.

4. Yellow Skater Skirt, £14.99 – I've been unsure about skater skirts for a while, but this one isn't as short as the rest I've seen usually seem to be. I just really like the colour, yellow is one of my favourites and I really don't think I have enough of it in my wardrobe at the moment. One bad point about this skirt is that it is slightly see-through, which I don't think will be as much of an issue when it gets cooler and I can layer up but isn't something I'm too happy about at the moment.


Have you been stocking up on awkward Summer/Autumn clothing yet, or am I little early?
I blame the unpredictable weather, I miss the heatwave.

I'm in the corner.

(via GIRLS Caps)

So, yesterday... I got a job! I am feeling a little less Hannah Horvath than I was the day before yesterday. This now means I can worry less about where my rent money is going to come from and that I won't be stuck in the flat on my own all day. I'm hoping that the hours aren't too bad as I would still like to get to see Moon on the odd occasion, but I'm sure everything will be easy enough to arrange and for now I'm just happy that I've got a job. I'm playing it up like it's something amazing, but really it's just a customer service assistant role with Vue. So I'm still an undiscovered genius, but now I have less money worries, plus I love the cinema and will now get free tickets for myself and everyone so it's pretty sweet. Tomorrow's my induction day so I guess that's when I'll be finding out more, it seems like it's time for another CV update.
As we're on the subject of job hunting, two additional things happened to me yesterday. The first was receiving the bluntest, rudest rejection email I have had throughout the whole time I've been applying for jobs, claiming my CV was too 'Photography-biased' and that maybe if I tried harder, I might have had a shot, yeah okay. The second was a lovely telephone call from Grace at Give A Grad A Go who provided me with a great morale boost regarding my experience and CV, just before I got the offer to start with Vue tomorrow. Maybe the former was just having a bad day, but I thought it was important to mention GAGAG as I've seen them floating about since graduating and I think they need commending on their stellar advice, service and overall polite manner.

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I'll stop rabbiting on now and get the the real point of this post and that was to tell you that I might have gone and broken my clothes-fast after just under a month. Not a bad effort really, and in my defence, two of the items I bought were in the kids section and therefore super-cheap! You know what though, I might even pop out later and break the fast even more, although this time it's much more reasonable - I need dark, smart things of which I have none; smart, yes, dark, yes, but not the two combined.

Multi-way handbag, £12.49 eBay
I blogged about a similar bag last month and although I ordered it a couple of weeks after that, it only arrived yesterday. I have to say I'm slightly disappointed, but I think it might just need a bit of wearing in, as it's very 'out of a warehouse' stiff right now. It's useful to have anyway as I have a 'good' bag and an everyday bag but nothing for in-between so I'm hoping this is where it will come in, for the price I'm not complaining too much anyway. I'm also a bit excited that it doubles as a rucksack.



Dresses, Both £5.99, H&M Kids
These were a confidence boost, I took a bit of Gem Fatale scrimping initiative and ended up wandering into the kids section of H&M yesterday. I couldn't resist the cute heart print which I've seen everywhere lately, and I figured I don't really have anything block-coloured, so why not break my fast with these bargains (I didn't think they would fit anyway)? I got these in the largest kid-size 14y so that's nice to know. If you want a proper look, they're the same dress pattern as these ones on the website.


Belt, £6.99, H&M
This isn't super-exciting but I've not been impressed with my belt collection for ages, it was a toss-up between this minty one or the same one in coral, would it be wrong to go back and pick up the other one too, you can never have too many belts when you have as many dresses as I do.


Cropped blazer, £14.99, H&M
I mainly got this because of how 90s it is, but also because I was a bit bored of my other jackets. It's the perfect colour for when the sun decides to show it's face too.

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Thanks to yesterday's good news I'm not half as sorry for these purchases as I was going to be. As it was the first time I'd bought anything in ages I thought I'd share them with you anyway. Have you found any bargains in the kids section before? I'm pleased more than anything, maybe I'll take the time to browse more often.

Tuesday Tabs. #2

I was getting mega worried that after deciding to make this 'a thing' that I then wouldn't have anything to show you this week, but then a ton of stuff made it to the hoarding list within the last couple of days.

Before I begin, exciting news! Yesterday I photographed with an organisation called Body Gossip while they went on an anti-diet march put together by Any Body. It was all about challenging the idea of 'the perfect body' and the importance of self-esteem whatever you look like, pretty empowering stuff. I found out about it thanks to one of the guys I met back in October on the Ready 4 Work walk, Jake. It was really nice of him to think of me, and I hope that he likes the photos I ended up taking, even if my camera committed suicide before the march even began! Photos will follow either later today or some time tomorrow, I've suddenly become super-busy and it's only the beginning of the week!

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SLR camera bag, Pixbag, €54.90

So Moon sent me to this great online German store which sells the cutest SLR bags. They're a bit pricey and my handbag doubles up as the perfect camera bag but this polka-dot case is pretty tempting. I've actually noticed there are a lot more padded standalone casing coming out for SLRs recently, particularly ones with pretty patterns, like the burrito lens cover Petapixel posted yesterday.

(via Goodnight Little Spoon)

This is so much fun! Yours and Theirs is an amazing photography project carried out each week sharing different people's ideas on the same topic. It's really interesting and pretty neat because there aren't so many people involved yet so it's easy to get your head around. This weeks assignment is a toughy as I've never truly believed in luck and am very much a circumstance, 'everything happens for a reason' kind of girl... Check out the Facebook group and blog.

Guest towels, H&M, £6.99

Who knew H&M had such bangin' homewares. I only came across these by chance in the catalogue, definitely something for the Someday Home wishlist, and they come in so many colours.

Shower Mat, H&M, £6.99

The only real question left is what colour scheme I would want...

Lemon duvet set, H&M, £14.99

I really, really, really wish this came in a double size, who even has single duvets when they're an adult? I assume that's who H&M market their homewares for? Why so stingy on you duvet sizes, H&M?

(via 52 Teapots, © Luke Avery, 2012)

Following up his 2010 Sheffield 365 project, Luke Avery has come up with another ritualistic challenge for himself, a teapot a week, photographed differently, for the whole year. He's uploading them every Thursday, I think it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
Follow Luke on Twitter

Beginners, 2010

I would highly recommend this movie, it has everything; Ewan McGregor, a love story, a cute dog, sadness. It's beautiful.

Gemma Correll 'Pug on a Bike' temporary tattoo, Tattly, $5 for two.

(via My Modern Met)

I know it's quite old now but I'd never seen it before and I think it's bloody impressive stuff, so there you go. To promote Dry the River's single 'No Rest', Xavier Barrade of creative agency, Foam came up with this amazing 3D horse poster to mimic both the artwork for the single. I only wish I'd seen one in real life, a great and beautiful piece of advertising.

Diana F+ Camera Mens T-shirt, Cotton Spaceship, £16.07

Not even that into Dianas but this is a sweet tee.

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Link love:

Goodnight Little Spoon — An amazing blog i found at the weekend though The Dainty Squid's Friday Favourites. Bianca is Australian and posts the best crafts, design ideas and collaborations I've seen in ages, she's given me so many projects to think about doing, I can tell that she's going to become a favourite, I'm already a little bit in love with her January Photo Challenge.

Keri Smith's 100 Ideas — Another neat collective project. Keri Smith, creator of the popular 'Wreck this Journal' has listed 100 fun things to do involving drawing, photography and even general collecting. I'm thinking of giving a few of them a go once I've done this 30 day challenge (not that it's going very well), it sounds like a lovely way to de-stress and keep occupied.

Gemma Correll's Flickr — Re-discovering her again, some of her illustrations don't half make me giggle.

Marchand & Meffre — Parisian photographers documenting abandoned spaces within bustling urban and suburban areas. An image from their 'Abandoned Detroit Houses' selection part of their 'The Ruins of Detroit' series was used as the cover for Dry the River's New Ceremony, and the band have since used additional images by them on additional artwork.

Closet Overflow — Ugly jumper overload, and great vintage finds for great prices.