Secret Santa #1

I joined in quite a few swaps and things at Christmas, and I think that this one was from the swap put together by Char. (If I'm wrong, please do let me know!). I left all my Secret Santa gifts until Christmas Day to open and this was the first one.

I got a gorgeous scarf with flowers on it, an Orla Keily notebook that is the perfect size for my handbag, a chocolate, a Barry M sparkly red nail polish, a little purse, chocolates, and handmade mint chocolate fudge :)

Thank you Santa, I love it all!

What I Wore December 21st

I bought this dress in an Asos sale in either late October or early November, but I was saving it until closer to Christmas and I'm glad I did as I think it's quite festive!

It's got really soft stretchy printed checks, and a soft skirt which falls to below my knees. For my preference it would be about three inches shorter and I may take it up, but I love the checks and the sleeve length. When Asos does things like this, they're bang on.

Silly selfie

I just thought I'd share this photo that I snapped of myself in the car the other day. I recently redid my hair black and really like how it looks.

For years and years I dyed my hair red - my hair naturally is light brown with a definite red flash (my dad's family has red hair) - and I loved it. Then I had it blue and then pink this time last year, and when that grew out I dyed it purple. That didn't altogether cover the bleached parts, so over the summer I dyed it black.

I had black hair when I was a teenager, but not for years since then. I really like it, though, and think it suits me. It makes my eyes look really pale and amazing. I will keep doing it until I get bored again, I'm sure! 

Nail bling

Recently I bought a lucky dip of nail polishes from Nails Inc. They're really good value so I recommend setting up an account with them so you get sent notification of their sales etc. I love Nails Inc for their range of colours and the quality of the polish. 

This is Great Tichfield Street and it's a gorgeous gold with a pink flash. I will definitely use it again. 

What My Mum Wore

Another edition of What My Mum Wore! To remind you, she's mid 50s and a size 18/20. On a shopping trip to Leeds recently she made her first foray into leggings and dresses. She bought herself leggings and a dress, and I bought her a dress that will be a Christmas gift. I'm very proud of her that she picked up things that she wanted, even though she was worried she was too old for this look (she isn't - no one is. Wear what you like!) 

She sent me this picture that she had worn and had a lot of comments about. This tunic was from Evans a few years ago and the leggings are in Yours. 

What I Wore Festive Edition

I'm so behind with blogging! I'm hoping to get a little bit back in the swing of blogging over Christmas when I have some time to get things written. The past few weeks have been very busy and quite stressful, but although I've got another full day at work to do, I'm already feeling festive as we've been to visit Lee's family in Durham.

Anyway, I've been wearing this t-shirt and jumper quite a lot recently, for work, where I've been out for two delicious lunches. The t-shirt was from New Look a few weeks ago, and the jumper was from Simply Be in the sales in January.

The jumper is so snuggly and cosy, but doesn't have stupidly long sleeves.

How cute is this penguin?!

My new tattoos

I don't think I've posted about my tattoos before. I have 7 now; I've got them all over the past 7 years. If I had unlimited funds I would have a million tattoos, I love them.

I had two new ones done on Friday. The yarn ball and crochet hook was something I started thinking about when I took up crochet last year. The lotus flower was something my artist had drawn and had offered to tattoo. I just thought it was really pretty. I don't think tattoos have to have any huge meaning behind them (although it's cool if they do) - they can just be pretty art for your skin.

My tattooist is Nini at The Ink Station in Heckmondwike. My first two weren't done by her but now I wouldn't let anyone else tattoo me. She designed the yarn ball after I said what I wanted. I wasn't sure what colour I wanted, so the two of us stood in front of all the bottles of ink trying to decide! I love the blue/teal colours though.

This is on my inner forearm. I have two more tattoos below it. 

This is on my ankle just above the bone. It's my first tattoo not on my arms!