Butterfly Girl

For almost two weeks I've started a blog post in my head and got no further than that. After a myriad of excuses, the primary being I'm too busy, I haven't got anything exciting to say, I realised I needed to get out of my own way and just bloody write, the damn thing!

So here I am, typing one handed whilst I breast feed my 11 week old baby. Like I said I've been busy! 

Perhaps it seems frivolous to have a whole blog dedicated (mostly) to clothes - there's obviously a lot more to life than what you wear! However, I am a writer and clothes help tell stories, which is why I believe getting dressed, is just another way of communicating. It was during lockdown that I discovered clothes weren't a perfunctory task, but a connection to myself. When the world around me was in chaos, the simple act of deciding what to wear was an opportunity to do something for my mental wellbeing, even if only my husband and baby daughter were going to see my outfit.

Why hippie/boho fashion specifically? Well for me the 60s/70s fashion was escapism when I lived the opposite of free- a bullied, acne riddled teen in industrial West Midlands, UK! Dressing like the flower power kids of a bygone era, was a way of embracing that fearless explorer spirit that ultimately helped me find my courage to be myself regardless of opinion.  

    The title of this blog post is ode to the Butterfly Farm, Stratford Upon Avon, which my family visited last weekend. In celebration of my niece's birthday, we all descended on Shakespeare's homeland for some tropical fun and a meal in the Rose & Crown pub afterwards. 

As it's that intermittent weather here in the UK, deciding what to wear involves layering, I opted for my All About Audrey, recycled Indian Sari dress (a gift from my husband for our anniversary) and my thrifted cowboy boots (eBay). I also wore my shaggy cardigan (you'll see that later) which I recently got from Vinted for £3! 

If you haven't been, the Butterfly Farm is a conservation centre, which allows you to walk around a  tropical exhibit where butterflies, leaf cutter ants and two iguanas roam freely. Its nothing short of magical and at £7.95 per adult and under 3's free, it's a fairly economical day out for us! My almost two year old absolutely loved it after her initial reservations. 

Now it's Mabon, otherwise known as the Autumn equinox my attention has turned to decor and slowly, a room at a time, we're decorating our 150 year old cottage, formerly the dancing bear pub (because horrifically it used to keep a dancing bear in the cellar - eek)! Facebook market place has become my new obsession and I finally was able to score a rattan chair, for a cheeky £20. It narks me that you used to be able to pick these up for practically free until the invention of Instagram and Pinterest but I'm really happy with my find. The plants, cushion, salt light and eye mirror are a combination of Lidl/BM bargains. I buy practically everything second hand, but I'd been given a highstreet voucher for my maternity leave gift so I thought I'll spend it on decor items in stores I never really get to shop in for anything other than food! 

As the dark nights are rolling in I've watched one of my favourite films again, the lovely, mystical rom com Practical Magic, which has given me serious long hair envy. As I'm a mom of young children, I've decided to grow my hair long, as I think long hair looks nice just left whereas shorter styles like the shag haircut I'm growing out, requires lots of faff and expensive haircuts! 

I absolutely love the Victorian House in Practical Magic, apparently so did Barbara Streisand who tried to buy it after the film featured it! 

I'm also in love with the herbaceous kitchen, mine is not far off looking like this, although we've got brown 70's kitchen cupboards rather than white! 

The Owen sister's style is 90's at it's best (although I'm a 60s/70s girl at heart, I do love 90's style as it reimagined the 60s/70s). Check out how swoon worthy Sally Owen's wardrobe was! 

As I like to get the most possible wear out of my clothes, my autumnal wardrobe isn't that dissimilar to my summer one, I just layer up! I recently snagged two shaggy cardigans from Vinted for a paltry £3 and £5 respectively, Vinted is fast becoming my favourite shopping portal! Here's the yellow version I'm loving. 

My 22 books for 2022 has almost ground to a halt thanks to the arrival of my beautiful baby daughter Marina, but despite this I am still managing to read here and there. I've recently finished The Bees by Laline Paull which was a magnificent novel, narrated by a sanitation bee Flora 717. Once I realised this story is supposed to be told from the perspective of a bee it really gripped me and honestly, you'll never look at a honey bee in the same way again. I thoroughly recommend! 

Before I go here's a witchy autumnal vibe playlist I've made for you dear reader which you can access on Spotify here 

It includes such gems as Redbone's The Witch Queen of New Orleans, Dark Lady by Cher, Femme Fatale by Velvet Underground and Strange by Miranda Lambert so something for everyone! 

Until next time 

Love Sophia 

xxx