What I Wore 12th March

Steph organised a shopping trip to Manchester Arndale in March so I thought I'd pop along. It ended up being a lot more difficult than it should have as trains from my house to Huddersfield were cancelled due to problems at Sheffield, but I managed to get to Huddersfield and then across to Manchester Victoria. I know that the station is close to the Arndale so it was ideal for me. I met Steph and Kelly and we immediately decided lunch was in order!

I'll post more pictures from the day in my next couple of posts, but I thought I'd post what I wore. I was rifling through my wardrobe trying to find something which would be warm enough, long enough, and comfortable enough for travelling and shopping. I pulled this dress out, unsure which it was. I didn't recognise it AT ALL, and it still had the tags on! I must have bought it in the Yours sale as it had a sticker for £15 on, but I don't recall at ALL when I bought it! Weird!

(No that does not mean I have too many dresses!)

I love the colour, it's a gorgeous vibrant purple. I'd just redyed my hair black so the purple looked good with it! I like the raglan sleeves, too. I think it was supposed to have a belt (it has belt loops) but didn't have a belt so I added this ribbon and tied it in a bow. It is a really lovely dress so I'll definitely wear it again soon.

I took this photo in Evans, hence the bright lighting from the mirror

Lee took this at home for me, better? Possibly not, but you can see the dress!

The Body Shop visit in Leeds - March 10th

I was invited along to The Body Shop in Leeds in March for the launch of their British Rose collection. I went to the launch of the Virgin Mojito collection back in June last year so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. I arranged to meet my friend there which was nice. There were loads of us, which was really lovely. We were welcomed with drinks - Prosecco or Shloer - and Thornton's chocolates. The staff were lovely and polite right from the start and told us about the new British Rose collection which contains organic roses grown in Herefordshire. We were divided into three groups and my group went first to the skincare range.

We got little samples of loads of products on the backs of our hands to try, and the knowledgeable staff told us about the products. I find lots of things good about the Body Shop. Their product ranges are expanding all the time. They don't cost loads but you feel like you're getting a quality product. Their staff are enthusiastic about working there and about the products. I love it!

I couldn't stay for the whole event because I had to go and eat a delicious Italian meal (it's a hard life!) so I left Gillian enjoying a makeover, collected a goodie bag, and headed out. But here's some photos anyway

Starting the skincare demo

Some of the gorgeous make up and bloggers!

I liked this Fountain of Youth stuff. I don't tend to use a lot of skincare, but this seemed light enough

Here's Gillian having her makeover, they were using the British Rose palette which was really beautiful and definitely worth the £20.

This was the box in the goodie bag! There's some samples of skincare (which is great to try before shelling out), a small coconut shower cream, a pink grapefruit body butter which smells divine, and a British Rose handcream which is the perfect size for my handbag!

Thank you for having me!

Books of the month - March

Here's what I read in March. It was a bit of a rubbish reading month for me, to be honest. I started a couple of things that I just couldn't get into, so I don't count them here. If I finish them, I'll count them.

This is a Young Adult novel about a society in which anyone who's found morally lacking is branded for life with an F. It's a fairly standard dystopian novel. You can read my more in-depth review here.

This is a YA novel about a girl who gets pregnant, and the new boy at her school volunteers to pretend that he's the baby's dad. You can read my more in-depth review here. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either.

I love Peter Robinson's  DCI Banks novels, and have read lots of them over the years. This is a collection of short stories, some of which include Banks and one of which details why he went to Yorkshire in the first place. I've read this before, but I think it must be around 5 years ago and I didn't remember much of it. I liked it, it was an easy read after two disasters that I didn't manage to finish.

I love Rainbow Rowell's novels, so I bought this novella as a treat for myself. It's a very cute story about a girl who goes to camp outside in line for the new Star Wars film. Rainbow is so good at creating characters - each of the three main ones are very well drawn. You can read my more in-depth review here. 

I fell in love with the TV show Grantchester, so when I saw this popping up on NetGalley I requested it. It's a few short stories about Sidney Chambers and Geordie Keating, but not many of which I'd seen in the TV show. It was a little awkwardly written and stilted, but I did enjoy it. 

And that was March in books!

What I Wore 8th March

8th March turned out to be a really good day for me because I got my MA result back and I GOT A FIRST!!!! I've never got a First for anything! I'm really happy, obviously. I felt so sick, I couldn't believe it!

I had to go to Sheffield for a meeting so Lee came with me and we went to the Rutland Arms for food. I love the Rutland, the food is cheap and delicious, and they have some veggie and vegan choices too.

Anyway this is what I was wearing. I bought this Joe Brown's dress in the sale from Simply Be recently. It's strapless, so more of a summer dress really, but with a cardigan over the top it's more than fine. The straps are adjustable, and there's shirring on the back too. It's fully lined and IT HAS POCKETS! I love a pocket! Basically, it's a really good quality dress.

I love the pattern. I was also wearing my Dr Martens!

Holiday crafting

This is the last post about our holiday I promise! It was actually lovely, we did a lot of relaxing and chatting to each other which we don't always get a lot of chance to do. I did some writing and a lot of reading and also some crafting.

I like cross stitch, I'm good at reading patterns and I find it really soothing. We bought this kit in Cleethorpes last year and I started it in January, intending to give it to Lee for Valentines Day, but it didn't happen. But I got it finished! I don't know what he'll do with it, it needs a frame I think.

When we arrived on holiday I'd only done the right square, so this was after a bit more work.

And here it is finished on the Friday! They're all things from Super Mario, I like the Fire Power Flower (bottom right) best myself.

While I was cross stitching, Lee was doing a jigsaw. I didn't touch even one piece of the thousand here, he did it all himself over the course of the week. It's so relaxing!

What I Wore 3rd March

We went out to the pub on the Thursday of our holiday, just the pub in the village where we were staying. There was only two other people in there, and they were also staying in the cottages we were in! Still, it meant our food arrived very quickly.

I have worn this skirt only once before, which is a shame because I really like it. I bought the top last year too, I wear it sometimes for work (you've seen it before here). I thought they'd look nice together and I was right - I'll have to wear this outfit again. I wore my tattoo print Converse, too, which I really should wear more often because they're fab!

I like the colour peach, can you tell?

I'd love some plain Converse too, but these are so amazing!

Visit to Southwold

We didn't want to do much on the Thursday of our holiday, as we were going out in the evening. We had breakfast and lunch at the cottage and then set out to Sothwold. I knew we'd been last time we were in Suffolk, and I remembered the pretty beach huts. The pier was being regenerated then, and it's now a really thriving little place that I definitely recommend a visit to. Lee didn't remember it at all! I don't know why I bother taking him on holiday sometimes!

The sunshine was absolutely beautiful, we both needed it 

Looking down the length of the pier

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George Orwell spent time in Southwold as a teenager and later in life, and an artist made this mural in 2014, I love George Orwell so I thought it was great

Orwell himself

Quote from Animal Farm

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. The sea is definitely my cure all!

How cute are the beach huts?

Enjoying a hot chocolate in the sunshine

The sun glittering off the water - it was perfect!