Outfits, Azerbaijan, too many flat breads and Grey's Court.
Hello my darlings, how are you? How has your week been treating you?
*Before I talk about anything frivolous, if you've not already please think about supporting the people of Palestine. If you can, please attend the peaceful protest happening in central London on 25th Nov (or one near you), sign ceasefire petitions (try Amnesty international first), boycott brands that support the war such as McDonalds, Disney and Starbucks. You can also donate to humanitarian charities supporting Palestinians like Choose Love, Médecins San Frontières, Save the Children, UNICEF, or Amnesty International.
I'd like to talk about some silly stuff that's happened this week, not to detract from how serious the conflict is in Gaza, but in the hope it'll be a moment of respite to reenergise you so we can be back working to get a ceasefire.
So without further ado...
Recently I packed the 'threenager,' the one year old and a flask of hot cacao into the car and drove to National Trust property, Greys Court in uber posh Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. As I had the little un's in tow there wasn't much photography but I did capture this gorgeous picture of a corner of the walled garden. With a woodland playground, fab maze and acres of rolling countryside to play in we had a marvellous time. I still maintain £10 a month for me and my husband has been the Christmas gift that keeps on giving. As National Trust members you save so much money!
As I've been feeling a little glum lately there's been a distinct pattern of diving into my wardrobe trying to find things that elevate my mood. Here's a round up of some of this weeks outfits, I keep trying to do a full seven days for you, but never quite manage it!
I can't for the life of me remember what day this was but I do remember it being grey and rainy. I'm wearing my £30 Vinted find of the century a 70s Afghan coat, my eBay £10 cowboy boots and Greek fisherman's hat (I forget how much). The dress was an £11 Vinted find and the belt was £4 from a charity shop.
This outfit was for my first Christmas shop of the year, when I say Christmas shop I mean charity shop snooping and usually a whizz round 'The Works' for art supplies. I do buy my girls some new things like pants, but mostly it's second hand stuff. Even my family is in on it, I know my mom has bought my three year old an amazing Sylvanian set off Vinted!
I'm wearing a traditional Afghan dress bought second hand off Vinted, a Salvation Army charity shopped Indian bag, the bobble hat is borrowed from my hubbies wardrobe and the gillet is from a charity shop years ago!
I think on this day we went for a wintry walk in the sunshine so I donned my vintage 1970s fisherman's jumper, bought years ago from a chazza shop and my Sense charity shop bought Oasis flared jeans. Yet again the Greek fisherman's hat makes an appearance!
Speaking of finds, check out my new to me vintage 70s Indian block printed dress. Its not Anokhi or Phool but I've been eyeing up one of these dresses for YEARS. They usually cost £300+ but thanks to the second hand Gods I snapped this up for £35! It's a size 16, so swamps me, but with a belt it seems to work. I hope I might be lucky enough to get pregnant again at some point, it won't hurt being a bit big (no plans or news to speak of yet)!!
My last outfit was worn for a little walk around town with the family. The jeans are £6 from a local charity shop (I unfortunately can't remember which), the boots are £10 Vinted, the waistcoat is a couple of quid from another local charity shop and the crocheted jumper is donkeys years old from Miss Selfridges.
Aside dressing to feel better I've also been cooking, I recently discovered the secret to making really great flatbread and I've been pretty much making it every other night! Teamed with my homemade hummus and fried halloumi its pretty darn good.
As it's officially cold season I've started making stews again with wild abandon! I particularly rated this olive oil, tomato, courgette and cannellini bean concoction. I added squash which we'd used to decorate the hearth at Halloween and it was delicious!
Please excuse the wonky photo (I was in a rush), but wanted to gush about these two books. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow, as the title suggests, is set in Memphis and follows three generations of North women. This books is IMMERSIVE and you root for these characters in a way that makes it feel personal. It's not an easy read in the sense of the topics it deals with (rape, racism, incarceration) but is utterly brilliant and up-put-down-able. The second book 'Wish You Were Here' by Jodi Picoult is set during Covid lockdown and explores the conflict of a woman being stranded in Madagascar. It has the most unbelievable twist, (I won't spoil), which completely blindsided me and Jodi's writing, as ever, has you by the first paragraph. Utter, blissful escapism.
The above outfits are listed on my Vinted page/sold. I've been having such lovely correspondence with buyers on Vinted I just wanted to say if that means you, thank you and please come again!
Okay, last but not least, why am I talking about Azerbaijan in my title? I've discovered this amazing YouTube channel about rural life there and honestly its been my go to relaxation if I have a spare ten minutes. I've not clicked on the videos of them cooking meat but the ones about general farm life is so gorgeous and I'm envious of their tame crow and kittens!!
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