2# What I Wore Today

Yep. This one's been on the back burner for a while now, so this isn't exactly a 'today' issue either! The whole phrase eludes to a far more proactive person than myself, but it highlights a genre of fashion posting anyhow!

This look is a lot more unconventional, for me anyway. Being a tall, very tall person, I tend to steer away from anything that exaggerates the length of my body, long coats, long skirts. However, with this, I have gone for a long skirt. I have so many posts on my Pintrest of winter layering, and the long skirt is one of my favourites. I love how you can team it with long cardi's, jumpers, socks, socks with stockings! So much potential for colours and texture. Of course the trend in these aspects is wollen and muted greys and pastels. It's just so cute. A variant between Russian country and japanese lolita. Unfortunately my wardrobe is lacking the exact items or colour scheme to pull off this look perfectly, but hey ho.

I think I have achieved a relatively 70's vibe this time. The jumper is quite tight fitting and is a multicoloured and patterned piece. I have border-line gone too far with the long skirt, which is also patterned and draped. The cut is simple though, and being a much darker colour than the jumper, I think I can get away with it. My favourite addition to this outfit is my layering of stockings and woolly grey socks (excuse the slight dirty picture, I'm just making it easy for all the pervs out there). It's a detail that most people won't see but you feel better for knowing it's there. I wore flat, black ankle boots to carry off the vintage vibe, and kept to one bracelet for accessories, which I think picks out the gold and greens in the overall outfit. Seeing as there is a lot of pattern going on, I kept my hair straight and brushed out, and opted for neutral make up, with nothing more than my favourite eye flick. I'm just not a heavy make up kinda gal!

Jumper | Made by my Granny | FREE
Skirt | Charity Shop | Roughly £3
Stockings | Primark | £1.50
Socks | H&M | Gift from friend
Shoes | Outfit | £15
Bracelet | Oliver Bonas | Gift from friend

A Fairy Trap

I was given some potpourri from my mum at Christmas, yes, apparently I'm old enough for potpourri now, but instead of just putting it in a bowl, I decided to be a little more creative. Inspired by something I found off Pintrest, I decided to create a little fairy light installation. Here is my how-to for anyone who wants to make one of these for their rooms :-)

I first got a large vase that would work well with fairy lights inside it and also was a good colour scheme with the potpourri I had. In this case I found a lightbulb shaped vase from Matalan for £10. The glass was thick with a bubble effect worked into it, and was also slightly tinted, which I thought would help make the fairy lights more ambient.

I found a 10 meter roll of fairy lights, in warm white, from this ebay store, for £9.99 free postage. I thought 10 meters might be too much but it worked out perfectly.

When putting the lights in the vase, start with the tip end of the fairy light cord, rather than the plug end. Put a few in and then sprinkle some of the potpourri. Repeat process. This ensures the potpourri through the lights is properly mixed in. If there are any large statement bits on your potpourri, for example mine had a pine cone, leave it till last to put in otherwise it just gets lost. I learned that the hard way!

To finish off, get some small squares of fabric, I used green netting and floaty purple stuff for added texture, and place over the top of the vase like how it is on a jam jar. Secure it with some elastic bands round the top. To cover the elastic bands, get some string and wrap around the bands a few times and then double knot it and tie into a bow. I chose string instead of ribbon because I thought it would look more 'earthy' and 'rustic'.

This could be done with lots of different colours and not just potpourri. See what you can come up with...

Enjoy your 'Fairy Trap'!

Some obvious tips for Interviews

I had an interview recently, and although I wouldn't go so far as to say "I've got the job!" I received good feedback and commendations on my level of preparation. This confused me, in the sense that the employers seemed genuinely surprised and impressed that I came prepared! This has been exclaimed to me a couple of times before in previous interviews, and makes me wonder what exactly other people think is a good way to turn up for interviews. Surely they don't all just turn up with nothing!?

So, on the off chance anyone is reading this and thinking "yeh, why would I worry about things like that?" or "why do I never get a second interview?", I have put together a list of must-haves. Please don't assume that I think myself a perfect example, hey, I'm still jobless, but just in case it could better your chances, I hope someone might find it useful.

1) Write some questions

Do your research! Look at the company website. Find out what they do, get a feel for their brand and 'what they are about', think how this might affect what they are looking for in an employee etc. Write some questions down! Read the Job Description, make notes next to it, and ask questions, even really obvious ones. Chances are you'll get most of them answered in the interview, but having written them down shows that you are interested in finding out more about the job role and the company. It's just proactive. All qualities which employers tend to look for. Even if the job is a really simple, basic one, just write some questions. It helps. I got a temp job purely because I asked questions, and I had even turned up late to the interview - which I DON'T recommend by the way, I'm just trying to prove a point.


2) Print out stuff

Be prepared! Or at least LOOK prepared. Seriously if you turn up with a little folder pack, with a load of stuff printed out, even if you haven't really done much preparation, it makes a hell of a difference. Appearance is everything, in all aspects. Just print out anything relevant. For example, spare copies of your CV, the Job description, the email confirmation they sent you for interview, a map to the location...this all might sound a bit extreem but I'm telling you now, it makes all the difference.


3) Dress smart, be engaged

Ok, yes, this is a standard as well, but in my last interview, I got commended on my 'professional attitude'. So this covers all aspects. Dress smart. You don't have to get the power suit out, especially if you don't know the dress code of the company, but, by dressing in clean, smart clothing, you're off to a good start. For example, cigarette suit trousers, pretty shirt, clean shoes, cardigan - sorted. During the interview, SMILE. Be engaged in what they are telling you, be responsive. Don't panic if you don't know the answers to everything, just chill, and answer the best you can. After all, there is no point selling a false impression of yourself, they would find out sooner or later. Be polite. That's all it should take.

And there you are. My three step advice on job interviews. If anyone finds this useful, or perhaps disagrees with me, or has something to add, please comment. Now my problem I think I have is with my CV and cover letters, so if someone could do an advice post about those that would be great! Thanks!

RSC's "A Life of Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht

Let me just start by saying I love the RSC. I really do. Their theatre in Stratford Upon Avon is one of the best features of the place. Having lived near there all my life, I have really appreciated being able to grow up and enjoy what they have to offer. Not only that, but they have this amazing scheme called the 'RSC Key', where young people between the ages of 16 to 25 are able to get £5 tickets to shows. Considering normal tickets can cost up to, and way more than, £30/40 these days, this is amazing. I'm just gutted I'm in my last year of this age bracket.

You might expect Shakespeare to be a big tub of heavy lard in terms of how easy it is to consume as 'entertainment', but believe me, give it a go, seriously. The RSC somehow manages to re-interpret each play every time. The atmosphere is great, the stage and art direction is always impressive, and hopefully you get a good set of actors thrown in as well. Well, considering David Tennant is playing Shakespeare's "Richard ii" this season, lets not doubt that one eh!?

The RSC also provide a good selection of non-Shakespeare productions. Last years favourite of mine was the xmas show of "The Heart of Robin Hood," and it wasn't just because the lead was slightly yummy. Ahem. ANHYWAYS, onto my suposed "review" of the most recent play I've seen - "A Life of Galileo," originally written by Bertolt Brecht.

This, as you would guess, is about Galileo. About his lead to the discovery of the moons of Jupiter, proving without argument (you would think) that not everything moves round the Earth and, perchance, we all actually orbit around the Sun.

This play offered an insight into the development of his theories, the build up of unbreakable proof of Heliocentrism, and the preferred blindness of the Italian Catholic authorities at the time. It was not possible that we, humans made from God's own image, could be subservient to another force in the heavens! This then lead to Galileo's forced retraction of his findings, stating they "were false." The focus of the play's morals pinnacled at this point, the writer having obvious concerns for the well being of Science if all great scientists ever went back on their discoveries.

I am glad I saw this production. Considering I initially thought Galileo was part of Ancient Greece and not, in fact, born a few weeks before Shakespeare, this play proved most educational for me. It became border line shaming when, during a scene in the show, Galileo asks why ice floats, and I actually couldn't say off the top of my head. SOMEONE needs to go back to school.

The play had quite a relaxed feeling to it. It wasn't over acted, it wasn't written in deep Shakespearian language, and the acting was really good but not intimidating. The RSC still managed to fit in a little ambiguous danse sequence that they insist on doing in nearly all their shows... sometimes I like it, sometimes I just think "necessary?" This play was enjoyable but I would say that others have had more impacting effects on me, such as "The Taming of the Shrew" I saw last year - bloody great. 

One thing I would say stood out BY FAR was the incredible persona and performance of Ian McDiarmid, who played 'Galileo.' He is the reason why I would recommend this play to anyone. I've never seen such inclusive acting. It was so natural, like watching your most favourite, charismatic teacher at school. Genuinely. And we've all had at least one we can think of. HE was just brilliant.

"One Gold Stride"

I would just like to jokingly introduce a new exhibit in my home, including a friend's artistic review. A gold, spangly thong my mum very kindly got my dad a few years ago...yeh, I won't go into THAT private joke. Anyways. enjoy.

"oh Hi.

I just wanted to compliment your choice of house decor. Your parents must be very proud that you managed to conjure such a poignant and forward thinking piece for the staircase. If you have guests it will be a convo starter; it's a statement think piece that's sure to impress. Bringing up issues of sexism, male sexuality, homosexuality and sexy all in one gold stride. Well done fabs." review by 'friend'

Time for feet!

Hello all you people with foot fetishes/phobias! It's time for beautiful toe nails, arts & crafts style. Get your glitter out, that's right, glitter!

So what I wanted to do was create an 'ombre' effect with the glitter from the top of the toe. It doesn't highlight it too well in the pictures, as I picked quite coordinating colours of varnish and glitter. Start off doing the necessary amount of coats of your nail polish to get a full colour. As it is drying, sprinkle the glitter, focusing it at the top of the nail, fading down. Finish with a layer of Top Coat to seal it all in and ensure a longer lasting look.

Just in case you were interested, the nail polish was from Avon, 'Khaki Flip', which is this great two-tone effect colour, from a bronzy green to purple. The top coat is Sally Hansen "Insta-Dri".

I saw an example of the effect I attempted in a style mag. They used nude colours and managed to achieve a better 'fade' effect, but hey, it takes practice, and at least glitter is ALWAYS pretty (says the magpie). This can be done in all sorts of colours and shades, and is really fun to play with, so let me know if any of you attempt it, and send in pictures!