In which there is pastel hair and pondering

This one means a lot to me. 

I really like fashion. I love forming an identity with my clothes and feeling confident in them. I love scrolling through pinterest or tumblr or asos and being inspired by it. And this year I feel more and more sure of what my own fashion is. I know exactly what I'm looking for now, and who my inspirations are. (And though we look nothing alike, and I am never as fabulous as her, Arabelle Sicardi is one in particular: Check her out). As a result I've also cleared out more than half my wardrobe this year, which has been very satisfying.

And feeling confident in my clothes makes me increasingly more substantial, more present in the world. I just feel so real here.

I wrote before about how much having a pixie cut made me feel 'more like myself', and now I've gone and dyed in with pastel pink and purple, I love it even more. I get that same feeling of 'this is who I am'.

For so long I thought I wasn't the right 'type' to like fashion, (not just that I wasn't cool at school -I am so over that hangup) but also that I am majorly interested in politics. I spend a lot of time reading (and working on) the serious issues in the world. Sometimes I am weighed down by it all - by the horrible things happening in my country, by our politicians, and around the world. And the shame and guilt of who we are, my complictness is the mess we have: it gets to me. I think, who am I to delight in such silly things as clothes and make-up? But actually, there's politics in both. There's a whole lot of politics to everything. But there's also power to it. Because when I feel that these clothes are me finally being who I feel I am inside, it means I can be stronger and better when it comes to campaigning for a better world.

And it is always ok to take of yourself too.

So it's just a simple outfit, but a whole lot of feelings.

 

In which I'm all about that sunset

I went to a wedding and took a bajillion pretentious pictures of myself in the sunset. Because I felt awesome, and that's what I do. I had the best time at the weekend. The wedding was beautiful and intimate. The weather was amazing, despite being in Wale,s which is pretty often wet and windy. I stayed in a hotel on the sea front that was cosy and lovely and the light streamed into the room. And I met some wonderful people, and enjoyed a delightful amount of wine looking over my university town. So you know, all the positive adjectives were happening.

Also isn't Buffy dramatic? What's going on with Faith eh?

What's the you say? You know exactly what's going on because you watched all 7 seasons when you were 12 and what on earth I am talking about? 

Well, then. I guess some of us have some catching up to do! Yep. Basically that. For the last month of so I've been watching Buffy having missed it when it was actually 'a thing' and it is now on Netflix. It is such a good show! I get why all the people love it now. But I keep making the mistake of thinking it's a comedy because of all the repartee and humour and such, and then people die and my jaw completely drops. It just keep doing hugely dramatic things and then I'm like 'but but but, this is meant to be funny!' I just don't learn. Also, I love Spike, poor poor unappreciated Spike.

I really like the composition of this photo and the little bit of sun poking through the beams, but my face is just disappointing.

There was sun in my eyes ok? I couldn't actually look forward of I just look like I'm dying.

The wedding took place at the National Library of Wales which is just a fantastic location, And where I wrote my under graduate dissertation.

We went up the hill in the little victorian built vernicular railway, which I actually find kind of terrifying, but I distracted myself with taking pictures of the sunset over the sea.

View from the cart.

Actual shot of the Bride and Groom, the really important people on the day.

P.S. Nope, still not in Japan - that's Thursday! I did manage to fit in another blog post in the end. Now I feel a little bit like that thing when you say goodbye to someone and then you have to walk down the street together, but you've already hugged and then you are like ummm, do I hug again, or did that count? So don't worry guys, no hugging is required.

In which I'm off very soon

 

Once again it has been a little while since I blogged. I've been wanting to so much but I have been feeling so busy, and so stressed as result. I have been having headaches every day for a few weeks which, as I'm sure you can imagine is kind of maddening. And then today that classically awful thing happened where my computer lost something I'd been working on. You know, I've been using computers for a wee while now and yet even with all my knowledge and experience I actually have the classic file disappearance problem. Having searched in every possible place and used all the fixes it seems that the computer decided it didn't matter when it last did updates. But that's enough of that.

I decided to play a little Civilastion to calm my brain, because I do love starting worlds off, explording and conquering. And then Isabella declared war on me and I'm like 'Really? Come now AI, I'm having a bad enough day'. But now I've got their little chariots running away with their tail between their legs I though it was about time I tried to see if blogging would reduce my stress.

I've got a bunch of pictures of a random ruined building I visited with my parents. Although the most interesting part of that visit was the hardest to capture on my camera, and that's the pair of kites flying over the ruin. Although to us they were incredibly low, my lens couldn't capture them. So I have a few ubiquitous, look at this fallen tower in the spring light photos.

I took a few outfit photos recently, but I think we were a little out of practice and none of them came our particularly well. It didn't help that my hair was looking ridiculously long and weirdly lopsided. What I kept though are my new shiny shiny shoes which you can't quite see the full glory of here. But these shoes change from gold, to purple to pink in different light which is frankly amazing. And then this little Wolf & Moon necklace I got in a sale that matches the shoes so well. That designer's work is all lovely, and having found a local shop that sell them I shall be going back for more.

What I've really been wanting to take good photos of is my new haircut! I got it cut a week ago, and I've spent my time since then: fluffing it up, playing with hair clay and pulling faces at myself in the mirrored walls of the elevator at work. It's amazing how happy having short hair again makes me. So I have pretentious selfies and that's it.

I shall trying and get some proper outfit photos taken this weekend as I am going to away to a wedding tomorrow, so I might even wear something pretty. However, I don't know if I'll get the photos up after that in time. In time for what you ask?

Well, Thursday next week or 来週の木曜日I shall be flying out to Japan! That long awaited trip is finally here. I don't intend to take my laptop with me so I doubt I'll be blogging. I will however, be taking many many photos. I bought a new memory card just for the job! And even a book on photography... except I haven't had time to read it.

So in a few weeks you'll have nothing but photos of cherry blossoms and shrines!

In which we cannot get in

We are lingering outside this gate in all the photos because we actually wanted to go into the park but the gate was locked! In the middle of the day on a Sunday, so we had to to stand forlornly by the entrance and take our pictures there. What are they hiding from us? Yes, technically we could have found another park, but it was freezing and I wanted to be done and having hot chocolate. There were a lot of 'Ruth is very cold' pictures in this set up. I love this grey skirt but the wind flapping about it by my legs was less than pleasant. When Andy and I got back from our trip we were all, under the blanket, hot drinks, hot water bottle, heating on and let the snuggles commence! And then I felt ill for the next day, and my office heating wasn't working, but that's another story.

There's a whole lot of new things in this post. New skirt, new shoes, new jacket, new shirt. I love this outfit so much. This skirt was actually second hand from a friend's swap party. I'd never been to one before and it was amazing! People bought whole suitcases along. I couldn't believe that people even had enough clothes that they could get rid of so much. I got some sweet things though, including a small box of Lego (can you believe it! How lucky for me!), a really great graphic biographic novel of Kiki, the muse of Montparnasse, and this elegant skirt.

The jacket is more of a January present to myself which I count amongst the other splurges I am buying as 'for Japan' items, thinking it'll be just right for the spring and match all the cherry blossom.  Like I am thinking of getting this document holder, but can't decide if it is sensible as well as pretty, or just a thief magnet.

Anyway,  I have been wanted a leather jacket for the longest time, but couldn't find the right one. I even wasn't sure about this, whether the pink would clash with my red hair as the laws of colour say. But it seems to do ok. What do you think? Can red and pink be in harmony or have I just gone colour blind here?

 Stupid wind hair

 

Outfit details
Shirt: ASOS
Jumper: ASOS
Jacket: River Island
Skirt: Second hand
Flowery tights: ASOS
Necklace: New Look
Boots: Office

In which I'm basking in the summer sunset

Trying to make the most of summer evenings before Autumn hits and walks in the park after work are no longer possible. We had to dash to make it before sunset, and we had the most beautiful glow in the sky for some late outfit photo taking. I did not actually wear these shorts to work - although I did it one time with tights. They are definitely a little shocking, and I had one lady give me a weird look which I hope was just envy not disapproval. Because my butt looks amazing. Yeah, I said it. I mean I'm no Nicky Minaj, but all the same these shorts make me feel so freaking cute. :P

 

 

 

And that was my Tuesday night. It's good to just go out and have fun posing and being narcissistic sometimes. :)  And yes, I did just watch Anaconda and think it was brilliantly fun.