December: Photo An Hour.

With all the fuss and overly decadent relaxation that comes with Christmas, I almost forget about this month's Photo An Hour. I'm so pleased to have done all twelve months, I think it's really done me good to accomplish this little self-set goal - unlike that silly Project 365, I attempted back in August.

These were taken around a week ago around a last-minute (only time we actually had) Christmas shopping trip, great idea to pick the last Saturday before Christmas, right?


8am // Light just poking through for our early start.


9am // Off to brave Reading.


10am // Greeted by this adorable cuddly toy stall on our arrival to The Oracle.


11am // The Salvation Army brave the wet weather to play some festive tunes along Reading high street.


12pm // Picking Ed's for lunch, we had to wait far too long for our hungry tums even if it was delicious.


1pm // Lunch arrives to fuel us up for the last leg of our Saturday shopping nightmare.


2pm // Back to Newbury.


3pm // We went home via The West Berkshire Brewery to get some more personal gifts for Moon's family. I think it might be worth a tour when we have some guest.


4pm // Popping into Newbury for one last thing, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find an address book. If you were after a cycling journal though, that's much easier...


5pm // The day's haul, definitely didn't do too badly(!)


6pm // All tuckered out.



7pm // Wrapping presents while watching Surviving Christmas (the weirdest Christmas film of all time) // My little helper, no one loves wrapping paper more than her.


8pm // Cracking open some celebratory cava for our Fauxmas dinner of tasty roast chicken.
It's been pretty fun to set aside a day each month to do a Photo An Hour, but it has felt difficult at times, particularly when I've been feeling uninspired here. It's nice to have it wrapped up and I'm looking forward to finding a new similar project to start in the new year. I still want to do these sporadically, but one every month has made me realise that although I like the result and accomplishment, the rigidity does feel a bit stifling.

What I Wore: Who Does Your Hair?

Here's what I wore last weekend to go shopping. I've since cut my hair a little so it's less lame. Not very exciting but I need to tell you that those trousers are the most comfortable ever and I'm doing everything I can to stop myself from buying ten in every colour.

This was the day I was taking fashion inspiration from my style-guru boyfriend. Exactly why I need to get myself some new cute dresses promptly. I do like this outfit though, it was really comfy and the colours make me happy that autumn's well and truly here.

Hair bow: Gift
Necklace: Found
Vest: New Look
Shirt: New Look
Trousers: New Look
Shoes: Converse
I might need to look in some other shops at some point because even my socks were New Look...


This bow was a cute gift from my #PhotoSwap2012 partner, Alejandrina. Hopefully I'll be able to share these with you soon as I've sent my photos to Alejandrina now and her photos are currently being processed. I'm so excited for the results! You can find out more about the photo swap over at For The Easily Distracted.


We actually left the house like this. :3

Getting and getting.

This photo sure makes me look small, I'm pretty sure I'm not actually that small.
Although I've passed the age of getting presents from every person I've ever met, I felt truly spoilt on my birthday this year. I got so many surprises as well as so many things I wanted. I know some people don't think of their birthday as a big deal and generally I suppose I don't go as crazy as some other people I know, but I like to feel spoilt and get nice things, it's not like it's my birthday every day.

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These light switch faces were a secret gift from my best friend sent with my birthday card, she's so thoughtful. I first spotted these in the window of Maiden back in November, now I have two classy light switches in the kitchen, they've been already become a hidden talking point. My prized gift was my Nikon One, I hope to take it on a few adventures this weekend but it still feels like I'm cheating on my D90, I guess I'll just have to alternate. Also pictured are my new kitchen knives, not the most glamourous of gifts, but probably the most needed.Note the kind birthday card from aforementioned best friend.


Gift from Moon: This was a surprise and something I wanted, it's from Tesco of all places, but I love it, and it already goes with my kitty cushions. I've been loving Cath Kidston's soldier designs and this comes very close and the rest of it is my favourite color ♥.


Gift from Moon: This pin is from Cath Kidston and compliments my new cushion so well.


Gift from Moon: Sadly I don't have this anymore as it was a bit big and no longer in stock when we sent it back. It's from Cath Kidston too, I genuinely wish I could have kept it but at the size it was it was kind of unflattering and a shame to waste such a nice dress, I loved the alternative take on polka dots.


Gifts from Moon: Moon and I are sometimes weirdly in sync, I happened to be browsing 'Drive' posters just a few weeks before and this beaut landed in my lap, all the way from America in a pretty frame. It's one of our favourite films, definitely has potential to easily become a classic. He also picked me up a vinyl of Wall of Arms by The Maccabbees as they're my favourite band and it's my favourite album - we do have a lot of vinyl for people who don't have a record player but this is a perfect piece of artwork and I love the scale.


Gift from my sister: This is actually my third name necklace, I've not had the best luck and they always seem to break on me. Hopefully this one won't, I love how huge it is.




This was a jokey gift from my Gran filled with cat toys for Doll, it's quite a useful tin though and appropriate.

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The weekend after my birthday we headed 'home' home to Dorking, and after a trip to Brighton, we spent the Sunday morning at our favourite car boot in Rusper, we hardly ever go away empty handed as was the case this time.

As soon as we got home I had to put her on the shelf, she sat there for a good 5 minutes.
We have far too many books and DVDs and it's been annoying me from the moment we unpacked them that they had to sit on just one shelving unit together, so we picked up this for just £5 and it doubles nicely as a side-table. We couldn't resist this vintage 1930s Thermos for £3, we're thinking to give it dual use as both a vase and as a plain ornament.


Before


After/Now.



So satisfying to see all my books in one place.



For Reading, although the weather ended up not really permitting it and I was covered in a jumper nearly all the time, a few of us decided Hawaiian shirts would be a good idea. I got these from 'To Be Worn Again' in Sydney Street for £5 each, a bargain, and I'm looking for any excuse to fit them into my everyday outfits.


I yammered on about these after my first visit to Porta in Brighton. It's a tiny person necklace, it was in the sale and just £14, I had to have it after searching everywhere with no joy.

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Have you received any nice gifts lately or bought yourself anything nice?

'This one's for you', 'No it's not'.

Yesterday was lovely, Moon and I spent most of the afternoon in our favourite city, Brighton. Everything about Brighton is lovely, it's like it's got completely different laws, not sure if that makes sense or just sounds incredibly pretentious, I don't mean it to be pretentious.
I love Brighton, it's so laid back, and it just feels like there's more to see, and it's by the sea, so that's a plus. I'd love to get the chance to move there one day.

The day began with opening Moon's birthday presents, I bought him a couple of cute books, some Oreos, Moustache Elixir (it's a drink) and a pair of wicked-cool Vans, a bit different from what he usually wears but I think he likes them.




Doll was super impressed with the wrapping paper, apparently it was really tasty, as well as being a great place to hunt.
It got to half 11 pretty quickly and we zoomed off down to Brighton, stopping just outside for Harvester. We had planned to go to this cute vegetarian place that we've been saying we'd go to forever, but we've promised to go next time and hopefully Harvester won't call again. It did hit the spot though.


This must have been the biggest cucumber.



The second shop we came across, the first being AHA, where I picked up my cat-print canvas bag, was Porta, everything in there is amazing, the jewellery, the bags, the scarves. It's got a slightly vintage feel and the displays are beautiful, even incorporating a dolls house. I'm excited to head back down there once I've got some cash, just so I can buy everything. They had the most adorable tiny people necklaces and pins, which I wish I could show you!

Just looking at Porta's window display has me drooling, each necklace is great. Surprisingly I spotted Modcloth's famous What's the Story, Winston?' pug necklace, and they had a few variations including a bear and even a bunny, kicking myself that I didn't jot down designers.



Even walking down The Lanes provides a visual feast, so I was pretty happy window shopping really.



Pleased to see this sign in Get Cutie, it's nice that they are happy to warn people, but also pretty funny that they have to.


Boy Parker


The entrance to Snooper's Paradise.


Snooper's Paradise was looking particularly great yesterday. They've clearly done it up a little and there's now a lot of light coming in so it's much less dingy. I mean, that was undoubtedly part of the appeal but it's nice to have a bit more room to move. I'm not sure how allowed I am to take photos, but I only took a few anyway. There was so much interesting stuff, I couldn't resist.





I'm seeing a lot of doll house furniture around at the moment. Some of it is so intricate, it could almost be literally miniaturised versions.




They've really done up the upstairs of Snooper's Paradise, which now stocks vintage clothes, shoes and accessories and is probably one of the most beautiful rooms I've seen in ages. Didn't snap it, but take my word.


This is the collection of Studio Ghibli books stocked in Dave's Comics, so great.



As I mentioned, there was a lot of window shopping involved yesterday, while passing this barbers, we spotted this ultimate lad, how comfy and cute does he look?



It was such a shame that it was such a gloomy day yesterday as by comparison the day before and today were brilliant, at least it wasn't absolutely freezing though.



Rounding up our day in Brighton and attempting to get back to the car park before the price rolled up to £18, we took a stroll along the seafront, which is full of lovely places to look at and take photos of.



Here I am sitting in a boat.
Jacket: New Look
Dress: New Look
Necklaces: Primark, Accessorize
Bag: River Island
Tights: Dorothy Perkins
Shoes: Primark

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When we got back to Moon's we had more Chinese food - we had it again for tea tonight! - and cake. I picked up these cupcakes from the Cloud 9 bakery in Brighton, it's where I got my birthday cupcakes from when I was in Brighton for my 21st birthday, they're a pretty great bakery, even making cupcakes on request. I just picked up two banana, a white and chocolate and a belgian chocolate, I had the banana and it was delicious.


I've had a really nice couple of days, I wish we could do more things like this without it needing to be a special occasion, hopefully I won't have to wait much longer, it was pretty great to just hang out.