In which there is art and fashion on Oxford Street

This afternoon Andy and I took a trip to Oxford Street. If you're reading this outside of the UK, iIt's one of the more famous streets in London. Where the H&M flagship stores towers, designer clothes beckon, and immense department stores steal your afternoons and betwitch you with macarooms. In the winter the whole place is shiny shiny shiny. Everything that can be is covered in lights, in a celebration of glitz that only just errs on the right side of tacky. I love it.

Andy I spent most of the time today in Selfridges, one of the big department stores like John Lewise or House of Fraser. He'd never been there before so we wanted to soak it in together. It's slightly more real than Harrods. It's almost as though we might actually be buying things there. Wereas at Knightsbrige we like to go in the furniture section and pretend we're really in the market, commenting on how the sofas aren't soft enough for us...

Back to Selfridges. It had so many things my fellow bloggers would love. In particular, a Tatty Devine shop with Tatty Devine crackers! Gah. And I touched a Vivienne Westwood jacket. I even tried on a hat that cost more than twice as much as my wedding dress. It even looked fantastic on me, before I gently put it down on the stand again and backed away in awe. I know, I know, I'm so lame, but I delight in the dreaming. And then I actually bought something from the toy section, so there. :P Even buying a present which was the original purpose of going there.

We've just about got our Christmas shopping done now and I think we've found some really nice things along the way. Although we didn't do Christmas cards. Maybe if I am really good we can do it on my day off. But Christmas really caught me by surprise. I'm trying really hard not to think this weekend about how much is going to have to get done at work in the last week before the break. Eeek.

But one more week and then I'm in Yorkshire with all my family again, and I just can't wait. I hope it snows.

 

 

I really love this outfit. I just bought the jumper on a complete whim from H&M and I feel like a David Bowie backing singer in it. 

Out and about in London we did see a number of strange and beautiful artworks. The mural we spotted to photograph by was down a side street from Selfridges and utterly beautiful. It seemed to be advertising a shop somewhere else. I really love and admire all the work that went into it. I felt like a real model posing in front of that glorious picture I have to say.

 Then in Selfridges there were crazy suspended mirror balls, lifting up and down continuously and casting bubble lights on us.

 An entire shop devoted to crackers:

A toy shop with Monster High dolls out you could actually play with. I stayed there for a little while.

An indoor circus with some sinister costumes:

I a giant shoe sculpture made out of saucepans and saucepan lids:


And a giant pair of headphones surrounded by miniature Santas.

Actually it was all quite an assault on the senses and we both collapsed into watching anime until about now!

How are your Christmas plans going?

In which I reflect on blogging

I have failed at my new year's resolution.

In January I felt all fired up about blogging. I decided that this would be the year that I really commit to it. I gave myself a goal, reaching the relatively small total of 150 followers. But then after a while just crossing 100 would have been enough for me. I really really tried. I got a new layout, I got a DSLR. My photos are better. I write more frequently. I write on varied topics. I got an ad on for a while. I have a pattern of outfit photos then not/toy posts usually. I post regularly, every Tuesday. I comment all over the place. I've really poured out my heart in some posts, shared so much of who I am here.

It's true, I've seen an increase in hits, and in comments. I love the people who do comment and stick with me, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. There are some people who leave really lovely thoughts and I feel like I've developed a comment-relationship with them. However, the fact that I've had more hits but not more followers seems like a sign that this blog is not a place people want to stick around at.

I have avoided writing this because it is such a pity post. However, I feel the need to get some of my stress  off my chest as the year winds down and I reflect on what I haven't done. At what point is keeping a blog like this silly? I am not going to pretend I exist on a plan where external validation is not wanted. When I write something thoughtful about feminism, I like to know that other people have engaged with it. When I put up photos of my outfits, I want to know people like them. When I share my toys, I enjoy people celebrating the cuteness and joy with me.

If writing and posting photos was just for me, it wouldn't be on the Internet. Oh it is nice to have a record of my outfits for the last few years - but my Pinterest page does that for me. The longer I keep it going without seeing interest the more it seems like the world tells me this isn't worth it, that I'm all wrong. I feel like I'm speaking into a void a lot of the time rather than a community.

Of course, I enjoy blogging. I've got a lot more into photography and I like having a place to share the things that make me happy. It's just as the end of year approaches I can't help but feel a sense of failure. There's a number of anxiety issues that accompanies this pity. Am I boring? Am I not pretty enough? Is it my weird teeth?

In my head there are lots of things I still want to blog about - what does marriage mean, why do I hate Lone Ranger Lego, how can I wear that spotty hat that doesn't go with anything...
So I don't feel ready to let go yet.

I keep reading posts that say blogging is dead. I think there should always be room for long-form writing so I still hold out hope. But I am asking these questions now, should I accept that I'm doing this wrong?  Or do I try even harder?

And if blogging is dead, I wish mine had lived a little more first?

On the outfit front... 

I'm wearing a velvet shirt that I found in a charity shop and a scarf that belonged to my Dad, and then everything else I'm wearing is from New Look. Even the necklace and the handbag. Except for the earrings. I made them that morning from my jewellery making kits just to go with the outfit. I haven't done that in a long time!

In which Christmas begins with Playmobil and plastic flowers

 
 Although there is a lot of Lego on this blog, never let it be forgotten that Playmobil was in fact my first toy love, and the one I have a chest full of in our living room. I have a lot of Christmas themed Playmobil I have gathered over time. I love decorating for Christmas and buying things that fit with that and with my toy love is a favourite pleasure. So last year you may remember I set up a little Playmobil nativity scene on our windowsill. I didn't have the official nativity set, instead I built it out of the different sets I had, plus my wise men set that is in the official Christmas sets. But then my in-laws got me (and Andy too really) an early Christmas present to put up now!

We have the full Christmas nativity set, and I was able to add the other pieces I already had to do this massive scene:

 

And why not bring some flowers as well?

It comes with a light up lantern!

Adding sheep from my farm set too, I nearly have a whole flock now.

I love the new donkey! I like to have lots of animal sets, and this is my first donkey.

This is such a good Christmas card cover!

I really love the lush gold wings my little angel has.

Hahah. I snuck Yoda in at the back.

When we were setting this up you should have seen the other silly things we put in as jokes... from twin babies (gasp) to wizards. But other than the flowers and Yoda we kept it fairly normal in the end.

Every year I do something different with my Christmas Playmobil. Probably my favourite still was when I made a Santa in the woods scene, with ninjas and Pirates celebrating Christmas together. I just looked back at those old photos, and wow. They are not worth linking to, how things have changed. :)  That was at university where I had a chest of drawers dedicated to different Playmobil displays. I don't have such a large dedicated space in my house now, but setting up the nativity with my husband last night reminded me how much I love making these scenes. I don't think I will ever grow out of loving these toys.