Meow! Roar!

I love getting post! Now that I have a full-time job, it's a good job that I'm not that bothered about waiting a little while to get things that I've ordered, the last two Saturday mornings have seen me visiting the local delivery office. It's so nice to get post when it's something you really like though, sometimes it feels like receiving gifts.

Last weekend's delivery was particularly good and it's been a little while since I've done a blog like this so I figured I'd share with you what I got. Although I'm pretty pleased with these 'gifts to myself', I'm really making a conscious effort to be good with my spending and it's been working out okay so far. It might be because I've been 'doing more' (and my dumb car) but I've been trying to work out how things seem to be harder now than they were when I was working at the cinema and it kind of has me stumped.


First up is this cute tote and purse set. I have reading blogs to thank for this one as after seeing the little one on Wish Wish Wish, I got a major case of cat-bag envy feels. As you can imagine I was only too delighted when I saw the set on ASOS Marketplace came with a large white cat tote too - had to have! This is definitely one of those times where it was worth looking up on eBay as I found this for nearly £10 less from this seller. I'm really glad I got it for the the cheaper price, firstly because I could never truly justify over £20 on a tote bag, how ever cute and secondly because although they're super cute they're pretty cheap-feeling and arrived really creased.

I can't wait to use them but I'm not risking it until the sun is properly out. I'm a little undecided over what to use the smaller bag for as I'm an 'everything needs to go in one bag' kind of girl and I could just about get my purse in it. I'm thinking about using it as a make up bag as my current one is a little tired but we'll see, that grumpy face is too good to waste!



My real-life funny white cat

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To celebrate the launch of their brand new website, the lovely Designosaur were offering great discounts on some of their necklaces, another offer too good to pass up given that I've been coveting their dinosaur necklaces since spotting them in Porta last year. I've been admiring their pieces on their Etsy page for ages, but I have to say their new shop looks fab and I'm looking forward to seeing even more from them.

They're already stocking in a few shops in Brighton and London and even The Natural History Museum (one of my favourite places in the whole of London). They've just announced their awesome lucky dip boxes which promises higher value than the retail price you pay and is guaranteed to include dinosaur EVERYTHING! ♥



This might be my new favourite necklace, I was worried when I first looked at it that it would be a little short but it's perfect and goes really well with collared things. Triceratops are my favourite dinosaurs too - then Brachiosauruses because their name is fun to say.


Because of the new shop, I also got this neat ring as a free gift. Moon won't be pleased because I always pick kind of stabby rings, but this one is so cool, I think it's worth it.


Already pride of place on my necklace rack.

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The last bit of lovely post wasn't for me, but I thought I'd include it because it's pretty cool. As I mentioned, Moon's Dad did a sneaky move to Northern Ireland over the Easter weekend and we're visiting him over the May Bank Holiday. As a moving in gift I found this British Railway poster for the town he's moved to online, I really like the design of these posters and I've seen them around for various places. As it's a new home, I figured Moon's Dad would like some art and we were pleased to confirm with him over E-mail that he really likes this and actually bought one for Moon's Nana while wanting one for himself anyway. We're hoping to pop it in a nice frame for him but as we're flying this time, it's probably a better idea to wait until we drive and take the ferry.

Travel Posters Online has a great selection of posters from all over, if they weren't so huge I'd buy one for everyone I know who lives in each different place. I love the nostalgic feel and I sure hope Portrush is as pretty as it looks in the picture. Despite going to Ireland a lot when I was younger, it was usually Belfast when we were in Northern Ireland because that's where most of my family was so I'm getting more excited by the day.

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Have you received any nice post lately? Do you like unwrapping things you've bought online like they're presents too?

Never enough time for a duvet day.

...says the girl who only rolled out of bed at quarter to 12 this morning. I do genuinely feel a lack of relaxation in my life though, hopefully I will have some friendlier hours this week and I can spend less time thinking about being in bed. I'm only making this a quick one to share some snaps from Saturday, when it was a bit nicer than it is now, who would have thought these were taken just three days ago and that it's supposed to be June! As a British person, it's definitely instilled in me to complain about the weather but I have found that I do it a ridiculous amount on here, so I'll just say that the weather was adequate on Saturday and leave it at that.



Doll has been behaving particularly strangely over the last few days. I wonder if it's her hormones settling down, but she was sat watching us eat, how a dog perhaps would, and even ate a plain piece of bread. She's been super affectionate too, which I love, but love less at 5am.
Aside from being super tired all the time, I've got to pop out and pick myself up a new phone later as I lost mine between the car and the flat on Friday night and some lamo has picked it up and rather than be decent and bring it back has decided to keep it. I'm also having steak tonight, and catching up on some much needed tidying and the latest episode of Girls (my creys that it's the season finale next week!). For what was left of this morning - and for most of this afternoon - I've been preparing for an interview I have on Thursday and taking some poorly designed online assessments for the one recruitment agency in Newbury that I'm not signed up with.

Saturday was a nice day because Moon was finally able to get some well-deserved rest after a stressful couple of weeks and a fun night out seeing The Maccabees the night before. He made me breakfast, then we did some gardening before heading up the town. I know it doesn't sound that interesting but we've barely had any time to do anything like that in between having people to visit and rushing off elsewhere, so although I was working in the evening, it was pretty great to spend part of the weekend by ourselves.

My 99p Store tomato plants are thriving and Saturday was the day to pot them up outside. I haven't checked on them just yet and I hope they're alright, but I'm pretty pleased that I've been able to make something grow, and grow so well too!



We picked up this strawberry plant while it was still just flowering and potted it up at home. I'm so excited that some actual strawberries are coming through. I hope they're tasty.


We're also growing beans, raddishes, globe carrots and purple spring onions, but none of them are quite through yet. By the looks of things we also might have a slug/snail problem which needs to be sorted pronto.



So this is our garden, it was much better with trees but I quite like it.



We've been taking Dolly out on a lead, I don't want to let her out properly until she's all grown back from her operation and generally I'm just a bit weary of letting her out unsupervised anyway. She seems to have taken to the lead well though, even if it does frustrate her a bit when she's trying to hunt birds.. and flies.


Cardigan: Urban Outfitters
Dress: Yumi
Tights: Primark
Shoes: Converse
I hate these tights, they never stay in the right place but I like the colour too much to get rid of them.


I came back from town with flowers and this dress from Peacocks. The Peacocks in Newbury has just opened up again after being closed down for ages, the selection isn't great and I only popped in to look for tights, which they didn't even have. This dress is awesome though, it's a lovely length and fit, I was a bit stressed out that it was so crinkled though, despite being brand new, not something I'm used to when buying something new from a shop. I know I have enough animal-print things, but the colour and everything else about it, not to mention the friendly £18 price tag were too much to resist.


I hope to plant this out when the weather's nicer again. I got it half-price in Wilkinsons, it will be so nice for the bees.



I picked up these from a market stall and they're still going strong. Daisies are one of my favourite flowers ♥




The last thing I bought on Saturday was a frame for our Pie & Vinyl print, which after much (unnecessary) stressin', Moon framed and hung on the wall. I think the brown makes a welcome change from all the black frames we have around the house and goes so well with the print, I love it, it was definitely worth the extra money.



Anyway, it's time for lunch before being over-sold to by Phone Shop people...

Keep Calm and Arrive Late to the Party.

After coming across what is now my latest desktop wallpaper via Hello You Creatives, I became inspired to write a post about the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' brand which has been growing in popularity for two or three years. I became aware of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' after The One Show featured a story on Barter Books.

Barter Books, a second-hand book shop in Northumberland, discovered a copy of the poster in 2000 and due the image being in the public domain, subsequently reprinted the poster for customers, a trend later transferred carried out by others, mugs bags and clothes soon followed. The popularity of the phrase has been linked to a sense of nostalgia for stereotypical 'British-ness' and the ability to keep going, particularly in the times of trouble from which this 'motivational' poster originates. The phrase has also been transferred back onto recent times of hardship in Britain regarding the current recession.


The design was initially printed by the Ministry of Information in 1939 as part of a series of posters sending the message of King George VI to his people that all capable measures were being taken to defend the country. Only a few of these posters actually made it onto walls and the prints remained largely unseen by the general public until it's discovery at Barter Books. The origins of this iconic expression and it's designer are unknown.

With the popularisation of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' not only came a stream of homewares and clothing but also a seemingly endless amount of phrases playing parody to the original. I for one enjoy the phrase as a simple framed poster, but it has to be said that the Etsy shop, Keep Calm Arsenal really have outdone themselves with their wide range of Keep Calm parody prints.


I can't wait to do some proper nesting and have my very own Keep Calm Arsenal print as part of my interior landscape. Here are some of my favourite related Keep Calm and Carry On images that I found while researching for this post (yes I researched it, I used Wikipedia and everything, just because I'm allowed to now).

(via Google)

(via Matt Jones)

(via IamTh3q)

BBC - Who owns 'Keep Calm and Carry On'?

A wide range of Keep Calm and Carry On merchandise is available from numerous different sources. I would recommend 'Googling' it but I found that Etsy comes out on top, particularly for un-cheesy original parody designs.
Keep Calm and Carry On Shop
Keep Calm and Carry On at Heal's
Keep Calm and Carry On at Etsy