That Was the Week That Was

Where has time gone? What happened to my life that allowed me one or two blog posts a day? Folks, I have to give you the round up. Essentially I'm selling you a pup with the past and a small insight into the future.

What Storm?

A weekend in Swansea did deliver clouds and a bit of rain but despite sleeping like a cat on a hot tin roof anticipating squalls and fallen trees in our room in Mumbles, zero, zilch, nothing. That Monday was a 20 minute down pour at 8am with barely a leaf out of place followed by sunshine as we drove back up the M4 to London. It was obvious the following day as I walked the dog that a battering had taken place but I didn't experience it. Oh well I had a very nice Joe's ice cream instead.

Halloween

Excitement always abounds in our household when it comes to Halloween and this year was no exception. We had high hopes of the superman costume sent to us by Tesco's Pet Insurance for Patches to wear but aside from the cape it was too small, more Chihuahua than Parsons.

But being a good family dog he happily mooched round with myself and the petit garcon whilst we managed to trick and treat as well as be tricked and treated on. Hence Dracula mummy and Were Wolf son.

Revving Up

As I plan my strategy and think about my clothes fast next year, inevitably I'm lead to a few missing items that seem to have become wardrobe staples. It is exasperating how much I NEED a leather pencil skirt in my life. My research - asking twitter yes or no, resounded in an emphatic yes which has left me with the task of getting in a purchase before the 31/12/13. Who knew leather skirts were such a mind field but my best option is between a Dixie and Suzy both priced at £195 from Whistles (gulp). The rather wonderful reasonable priced £149 M&S Autograph one has sold out. Folks you are warned get in there.

But more importantly is the fact I'm looking forward to working my wardrobe hard and not spending money on clothes. I know my magpie instincts will be challenge but I have a distraction plan in place that mainly entails sorting our my wardrobe and gardening! Apparently gardening is the new fashion.
Plus there is the ever helpful Penny Golightly and her highly useful ebook series  of which How to Live on £10 a Week is a great motivational tool.

Christmas - gah, humbug!

I love Christmas, all the festive fun but this year I'm finding it hard to focus on presents. All I want to do is dress up and drink mulled wine. Are you prepared for Christmas? And please Mrs Fab, Style at Any Age don't answer that because not doubt you are wrapped!

Old love New Ways

I've been a committed blogger since 2008 and before that I attempted to blog a couple of times; most notably in 2000. Yes that long ago when for six months I wrote a weekly soap opera online called Mobile Zone. Next year once I have finished my current and first novel The Star Ferry I will turn it into a book.

Back in 2000 I owned a website called www.mobilezone.uk.net or maybe it was .net.uk? Who knows but every Friday after work I would upload it with some html coding and there it was. I was obsessed by the idea that the internet just couldn't be a place of static pages that sat there. And how right I was except I wasn't a nerd or coder who knew what to do I just had the ideas.

There is often no money in ideas unless you can do something with them in terms of ability, passion and drive. My passion and drive always related to fashion, film and writing. Whilst not bored of fashion I am sort of over it except on a purely selfish basis of things for me. I'm still styling occasionally although of late there has been a flurry of personal styling work but I no longer do fashion shoots due to  the petit garçon. My main responsibility is to bring him up as nicely as possible whilst retaining my hand in work. Having been freelance since 2004 I'm seemingly an old pro at it all now, the juggling, the clients and the motivation to meet deadlines.

Writing has taken over and for that I am really glad. It is what I have always wanted to do and slowly but surely I am moving to working solely as a writer. I hope to get my new website up and running soon but time is the main constraint on this.

Twisted Skirt is my business - a publishing company that will be build slowly and organically. Although I would welcome any submissions from female authors now. Girlynomics is out already on Kindle and I am working on publishing in print which is more complex due to the mechanic of printing and distribution.

Girlynomics

From now on Make Do Style will be edging towards Twisted Skirt so the blog post will be changing, probably very little fashion and a lot more cultural writing.

Which means the dog can lie by my feet and dream, much as I like to do to!

Real Fever Pitch

Folks I lost a week. Last week passed me by as after Olympic fever I had a real fever and although it wasn't scarlet fever I did at one point think I was fading away in the style of Beth from Little Women. I was sure Jo was at my bedside mopping my brow.

I will spare you dear readers the detail but suffice to say I have lost 10lbs in weight and it was not pleasant. A sample is with the path lab to determine if my illness was viral or parasitic. I believe people were complaining about the heat on Saturday but the heat warmed my bones and helped to clear the lingering elements of the illness.

In the midst of all this I awoke from my stupor to the unbelievable spectacle of Assange preaching from a low balcony to a media throng in Knightsbridge. Having escaped the jaws of whatever and being of sound mind and body again, I thought a new fever was upon me such was the ridiculous speech and demeanour of the man or as we like to think of him in this household the rat 'wikileaks' from South Park. If only Lemmiwinks could come along and deal with him. My boiling blood did manage to get me going and I nearly leapt out of bed today as finally, although weakened, I felt normal again. And please I have a whole post brewing on Dame Viv and her involvement!!

Mind you the amount of water I need to drink each day to replenish my body is ridiculous. I actually scared a shopper in the supermarket car park today as I swigged from a bottle of water, standing outside the car and then gaily got in and drove off. I realised when I got home it must have looked like I casually sunk some vodka and then drove off. I only buy (very occasionally) glass bottles of water not plastic ones and from a distance I can see that maybe it was quite vodka bottle like.

As well as a few groceries, I bought a heap of magazines as we are off on holiday to Pembrokeshire next week and the weather in Wales is mainly on the wet side. It is an eclectic mix and I am only missing a copy of Elle to add to the pile, which handily has a free eye pencil too.

I also had to pick up something from Mr MDS in M&S and after a week in bed felt the need for some new items not associated with fever and ruination. I opted for that Carrie Bradshaw look from SATC the HBO series of vest top and boy shorts to be worn with black bra and pearls of course.

lingerie vest tops & shorts from M&S

I was actually grateful to Sky Moives one afternoon last week as I hauled myself onto the sofa, had tons of cushions and a blanket to snuggle under and watched SATC2. It was the easiest viewing ever and my only moment of elation was when Wendy Brandes earrings made their appearance.

Shortly I will be rebooted sufficiently to get to grips with the forth coming season and pick out some winners for your budgets.

Endurance or durability

 On Saturday night I went to my sister's 40th birthday party. Having saved up my money to get her a lovely present from Tiffany I had no money to splash out on an outfit so raided my wardrobe for an outfit. I selected my sparkly Isabella Oliver 365 Collection S/S11 dress and wore it with Primark faux spanx leggings and my Zara gold sparkly shoes. Of course I accessorised with my favourite Belle Fleur Stella and Dot ring and the black limited edition Chantilly lace cuff. I love how my Isabella Oliver dress is such a durable number.

I had to wear leggings as it was too cold to go without and actually I would have needed a fake tan but I rarely bother. My sister loves a spray tan whilst I'm more a pink blusher type gal. I recently read somewhere that leggings were a fashion faux pas. Luckily I'm made of stern stuff and always ignore such ridiculous proclamations. Over the years many a fashion editorial has tried to kill off Ugg boots, pashminas and gilet's but it seems paying folks just won't be told what to do!

 

 I did do my hair, hence a closer shot to show tonged curls!  It was a good fun evening in the pub next door to her house, it was hired out for the evening and full of us dancing to old school rave tunes and Take That. Not long after midnight I was totally danced out and found my duracell batteries had run out. Sadly I had to give up the ghost which meant saying goodbye to my parents who seemed to have more endurance than me (mortified) however Mr MDS has already bowed out and I found him asleep watching Match of the Day in my sister's house. Equally my parents live next door to my sister so they didn't have far to trot either.

The next day en route home we spied a gorgeous old Merc on the M40. Again its design has endured and it looked so beautiful. I think my wardrobe needs to be more of the durable and elegant kind. I still need to mix fashion items in but in a less overt way.

And a couple of days later I found my old Anya Hindmarch bag. Remember the craze to get one of these. I thought how timely I found it when I could appreciate the fact that 7 or more years later it was still a functioning useful bag which looked good.

I'll never be a second hand junkie or total thrift queen but slowly but suddenly with thoughtfulness and pausing...all my purchases and choices have durability or can endure fashions fickle peaks and troughs.

Skirting the issue

As much as I have to make a massive effort this year to clear my student debts completely, I cannot do another post peddling my wares (well I'll have to do one later!). Pearl of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom and I could bore Britain with our educational sacrifices and the worth of it all despite our student debts. Which reminds me don't forget to vote for Pearl in the Company Style Blogger Awards.

Ironically both Pearl and I were awarded our PHd and MA respectively in the worst economic times. My employment options are further confounded by the delightful petit garcon and then personally I have no idea how I would work for a company as I have been freelance for so long. I'm lucky that a couple of my clients love me so much they indulge my desire to look after the petit as my first priority whilst understanding I need to earn some money. Therefore I work from home with the occasional venture into central London for style assignments. This year I set myself the tough task of clearing the remainder of my student debt. I self funded my course fees, the course and all my living expenses. I minimised the debt by a few big styling jobs but in short I hammered a credit card. It is this credit card which I need to tackle now rather than the minimum payment option.

Stella and Dot as an additional source of income has been a lifeline, more so to do with the social nature of it. I try to work twice a week with a jewellery trunk show and it is like going out!. It is hard work and effort but when I get paid weekly the difference it makes is enormous. Hence my peddling of my wares.

Even when I'm in my hard work mode I do need a break and there is one fashion garment that always lifts my spirits - the skirt! A skirt is often the hardest garment to pull off but when you do the joy is next to nothing (in my world). I love a frock but they are the easiest item to throw on and then complete the look with. A skirt is an issue - a style conundrum. You can kill a skirt by getting it wrong. When you wear a skirt it is the main feature, everything else is merely the chorus.

This coming season's offering are a wow! Lots of print, pencil, a-line and full skirt frippery. From short to maxi the choice is enormous. Here are some of the emerging high st offerings and this is only the start...

River Island black print pencil skirt £25

Topshop Large Spot circle skirt £38