In which I have a new-but-not hat and an award

I apologise for the graininess of these photographs. I am not really sure what happened, but I didn't want to waste them. It seems like we got the focus all wrong. But hopefully the hat is alright. I have had this hat for years but I used to think it made me look like was going to a funeral in it and so only ever wore it to a costume party. However the hat is another part of my new year's resolution to use more of my wardrobe. It also looks quite good with a grungy look, smartening up torn band t-shirts with a nice hat. I hope to be wearing it a lot more from now on. I am really enjoying finding ways to wear clothes I had pushed aside.

So I got a blogger award. And it's the first time I've had one so I'm happy and want to do all of the things!

Instructions are to

• Nominate some other new bloggers
• Let them know you have nominated them
• Share 7 random facts about yourself
• Thank the blogger who has nominated you
• Add the Versatile Blogger Award to your post

Other bloggers that I'm nominating:
These are all great blogs that deserve some love. Please go check them out!

• Art, Clothes and Contemplations
• This is not the Six Word Novel.
• A Closet of Chaos
• Fashionicide
• The Taxonomy of my wardrobe

7 Random Facts About Me:

1. I believe in honour. I get a lot of this from ji'toh which is the code of honour followed by the Aiel people in the Wheel of Time books. I read them at a formative time in my life and the code of those people is stuck. There is a focus on shame and honour there and somehow this has absorbed into my brain and people actually hear me say 'It wouldn't be honourable.' I hate shame above most things. And my stubborn pride gets me into trouble. However, I am not like the Aiel people in having the ability to run through deserts or fight with a spear.

2. On my first date with my fiance we did the mentos and coke thing.

 

3. I collect comics. I am currently really into Fables, Saga and Fairest.

4. I  have synesthesia with words and colours

5. I am ambidextrous. I do things with whichever hand I decide first. New things, like tennis or ironing come along I have to try it with both hands for ages. It makes using the Wii really difficult cause in new games I suck until I have figured out which way I do it. I write with my left hand though. 

6. I am really good at Tetris

7. I really love to cook. Love experimenting and making delicious recipes and the satisfaction of feeding people and seeing them love it. Though sometimes I hate how stereotypically feminine that enjoyment is. Not like loving clothes or anything... uh. 

In which I am all diced out

I've just been on a mini-holiday to a gaming convention. When I pause I hear the sound of dice rattling in my head and when I close my eyes I see their shiny marbled sides rolling across a table. When I got up to go to work it was a strange action to leave my dice bag and pencil case behind. For the last four days I have lived and breathed games, and it was So Much Fun.

And that was partly because of one bonus addition to the game set: the sea!

Wheeee!

 I used to live by the sea and, although I am a terrible swimmer, I like to think of myself as some kind of water-baby. I always feel so happy by the sea. I love seeing that final horizon. The straight line that always could be the edge of the world. The feeling that you could get into your coracle and ride ever-East to Aslan's land... or South as it would be in this case. So I got that wonderful thing of combining my outfit pictures with me skipping in the waves. (And wearing my new hat.)

There are a lot of pictures of me just skipping about in the sea like delightful child.

Oh waves? I see you, thinking you will catch my heels. I dismiss you with a glance and a hop.

Also, please pay attention to my brand new hat for the collection. A pink bowler from Camden.

Kiss.

The rest of the time was spent playing endless games. It was a convention for home-brewed games, long fermented in imaginations and finally tapped into four hour chunks. I played six of these four hour games in three days. You see why I see dice constantly? 

My character from Squadron UK, a super-hero game set in Birmingham.

A typical table set up.

It was really good to have a break from it all, and completely abandon the internet. Didn't take my laptop and didn't check my phone for 3 days!

In which there are product reviews and sunset

Cliche as it may be the soft evening light of sunset has to be the best part of the day. Everything looks a touch more beautiful in that light, and even the shadows seem brighter. It is not often that we get a moment like this, where is is warm and I am out in the evening, with a camera and wearing something pretty so I am really pleased with thse photos. Last week, when we had our flirtation with an American-style summer, me and my boy took these photos by the cathedral after sitting in the park drinking frapaccinos. I have had this dress for ages but I hardly ever wear it because it is very short which means no bending down to pick anything up or walking in front of people on stairs. It is also really weirdly fitted around the boobs with these odd bits of fabric that have to be tucked in to stop me from looking like I have triangle-boobs. It's from inlovewithfashion and I wouldn't really advocate buying it for anyone else, because it is also a bit tight and this is their sizing guide:

LOVE SIZE GUIDE: SMALL/MEDIUM FITS 8/10, MEDIUM/LARGE FITS 10/12.

Their dresses only come in S/M or M/L and apparantly a large extends only as far as 12. And as I am 12 and their dresses in M/L are a little uncomfortable their sizing is Ridiculous. How small do they want people to be? It's like I'm shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch or something. 

Now that my little rant is over I want to balance it with some product praise. Unlike a lot of fashion bloggers I don't have a vast repertoire of new clothes. This is partly because I don't have lots of 'disposable income' as it were, but in fairness it is to do with priorities. I also spend a lot of my money on Playmobil and Lego, and second hand books, and cakes and smoothies. So sometimes I feel a bit bad for wearing the same things in all my photos. In particular, if you look back on years of photos on this blog, in summer I am always wearing the same shoes.

 

These sandals. I bought them from Next four years ago for a trip to Texas. I have worn them all summer ever summer since. I don't even own another pair of sandals, that's how much I don't fit the fashion blogger stereotype. They have a cushioned bottom that has molded to my foot and has never worn out and so they are all I need. I have worn them in the sea and left them outside in 30 degrees heat and climbed mountains in them; they have never broken or got holes in or torn or become mildly uncomfortable. Sadly I just checked out their site and I don't see anything like them available. Sorry guys. But there we go. In my opinion Love = not so comfy, Next = sofa soft.

I will leave you with more shots of me in the sun. Oh and remember how I said I had found The Hat? Well I really wasn't exagerating. :) 

I know, I wear my engagement ring every day so there is a limit to how many outfit photos I can have of it, but it looked lovely and shiny in the sun.

I tried to get a romantic photo with the heart handbag between us. It didn't exactly work, but I hope you get the gist.

In which I have found The Hat.

I always thought of myself as being a big hat-girl. I mean a person who has a lot of hats rather than that I, or the hats, are big. In fact I’m pretty small.

Anyway. At the start of university I remember a friend joking that maybe I didn’t have hair as he had only ever seen me with a hat on. Although that has changed a little (partly due to confidence switches. I used to hide my face under hats, now I am less confident about the hats themselves). I have five berets, a couple of trilbies, various summer hats, costume hats and a few posh vintage hats. Then along came the internet, specifically fashion blogs. I thought I was into berets, but I only have five different ones. Not enough! Lauren has even more! The bloggers I follow have hats like these: 

Roaslind, Clothes, Cameras and Coffee has a seeingly endless supply of vintage clothes, but I especially pine over her hats.

Lauren, Someone Like You, introduced me to the concept that I may need more than five berets

Annika, The Pineneedle Collective, wears this gorgeous hat in most of her posts at the moment. A constant reminder of how cute it is.

Across the internet I see people with the most beautiful of vintage hats, combined with the courage to wear them. I have some outlandish hats, including a vintage train driver hat, that I feel self-conscious and silly wearing them.  However I have found myself the Hat of Summer. In a charity shop I saw this beautifully bright har with blue fake flowers and a turquoise ribbon. It is exactly what I was looking for. I feel cute and colourful rather than odd and it matches my turquoise nail varnish perfectly. These things are important. I also like that I can wear an all grey outfit, pop on the hat, and I feel cheerful and interesting. 

 

On a very different note, I read a news article online recently about how keeping a blog makes you less attractive to employees. It was rather odd because the employer writing it had some strange ideas about how your blog reflected you. In one example her gave, someone had a blog about tinkering with computers, but was applying for a humanities job. The employer said he feared they would “lose him to the computer department”. How strange that as a an adult you would believe that a hobby in a different field implies incompetence. To get back on point, I have been very careful to not mention work on this blog. I have mentioned when I have been unemployed, because unemployment is an all-consuming constant state of depression and guilt. It is hard not to mention it.  However, I want to have a career at some point and so mentioning work at all is problematic, if I listen to this guy. It is not just mentioning what I do now that is an issue, but a future employer might fear that I would ‘gossip’ about them on here if I set a precedent. Yet, on the other hand what about things I am proud of and want to share? But more importantly, things I am learning and knowledge stemming from my work that is important? You see almost all the jobs I have had have been in the public sector (NGOs, charities) and so I want to share some of their work because I believe in it, whilst at the same time respecting work/home divisions. It is a tricky one.

So I have decided to just mention related stuff without making a big deal out of it when it comes up. But what do you other bloggers think about it? Do you stick to your chosen blogging topic or mention your work life?

In which I talk about hats and unicorns

I know it has been ages since I last blogged and I shouldn't feel too guilty about that but I do. I just haven't felt motivated to do it. I don't know that I have a great deal to say and I am feeling kind of useless at the moment.

Heroics, sleuthing and jewellery are not going so well at the moment. I have been trying to achieve many things and my ambitions seem to be slipping away from me. The problem is this causes me to be less motivated, not even wanting to get up and respond when I hear sirens and pick up my satchel full of origami and join the fight. We all know that even Batman gets depressed and I'm no where near as gloomy as he is so I should be ok soon.

In the mean time I managed to do some outfit pictures seeing as there was some interest last time. I am afraid they are not amazing because it was a little chilly and I was concentrating on being warm. Mostly I want to show off this hat.

I really really love hats. I don't wear one when fighting crime because I think it would fall off. I don't know how Rorshach's always stays on. Anyway I have quite a collection of hats. This one has to be my favourite. It is deep green felt with a little felt bow on the side. Wearing it makes me feel happier.

Oh and I live by the sea. I think it's pretty cool.

I was going to do another picture but I thought I looked too creepy with my mask on so left it.

I also bought this! From this place. It is on my mantelpiece right behind me right now!

Yes. A unicorn. Unicorn's rock. The end.