Black Is My New Navy

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Everyone always talks about the 'little black dress' and 'black being the new black' but I've generally always chosen navy over black. I find it a less harsher colour and more flattering to my skin tone. However, lately I've been buying a fair amount of black (and grey and white as it happens) and I thought I would share some recent additions to my wardrobe (even though one of them is tan!!)

I was looking for a new bag for work. Although I love my Zara bag, I found I wasn't carrying around quite so much paperwork, so wasn't in need of the different compartments so much, but needed something wide enough to carry my Filofax. My husband bought me this bag from New Look for Christmas. So far its perfect, and even gets in an A4 notebook which surprised me. The only downside is that the carry handles are a little too short to put over my shoulder so I use the carry strap as well.

Additionally it goes perfectly well with my new faux leather jacket and scarf!. I wasn't truly in the market for a new jacket but I'd been thinking about it as I wanted something a bit more fitted. By chance, just before Christmas I spotted this one in Hollister which was half price. I like the casual-look added by the jersey hood, but it can then be zipped off when needed. It is slightly odd in that some of the seams have this odd wiring in them which means you can bend the collar to how you want it - this sounds good in principle but actually its somewhat damned annoying. I first saw this scarf in Kate's post and decided that I needed to add this to my ever growing collection of blanket scarves.

I also made a couple of sale purchases in New Look, as well as buying two pairs of flat ankle boots. I've been contemplating buying these for a while. I tend to wear heels and worry I look a bit odd in flat boots, but both these black and tan ones look great with a pair of jeans. I even wore the black pair with a dress to work during the snow the other day which meant I still looked smart but didn't run the risk of slipping over.

What do you think to my current faves?

Sundays are for......

Sunday, 25 January 2015

//All bedding from Dunelm Mill//

2. Staying in bed late
3. Long  muddy dog walks
4. Lazy breakfasts in bed
6. Cosy comfy clothes
7. No make up
8. Lots of cups of tea
9. Bacon sandwiches
10. Having a hair-product free day
11. Catching up on blogs
12. Snacking on toasted tea cakes 
13. Binge watching TV
14. Roast dinners
15. Quiet contemplation time
16. Long naps
17. Hot baths
18. Taking it slow
19. Fuzzy Pyjamas
20. Early nights!

How do you spend your Sunday?

When did an opinion have to be everyone elses too?

Monday, 19 January 2015

Last night I was having a chat with some of the FBL girls when a twitter-storm went off. I didn't really want to jump on a bandwagon and seriously considered whether to post this or not, however I felt quite passionately about the fall out over what had occurred.

The ins and outs of the situation, and the who said whats, are neither here nor there really, as that wasn't my concern. What concerned me was that one person voiced their view on something and were instantly faced with a torrent of abuse from various individuals via Twitter. The comment wasn't overly negative, it was just someone's point of view, but the effect was pretty massive.

But this isn't the first time this type of thing has happened. There have been various occurences of One Direction fans, for example, trolling people who have had the gall to voice their opinion on social media; and remember all that stuff over Zoella's ghostwriter a few months back?

If someone is just being unnecessarily nasty, then fair play for them to be called out - but what if you were just saying you didn't like something 90% of the population liked? If all you're friends were a huge fan of Dairy Milk, and you preferred Galaxy, would you expect them to threaten to hunt down your family if you said "nah I'm not all that fussed thanks"? Hopefully not! I might be over simplifying things but essentially this is the reality. So what if you don't like a particular band, or Youtuber, or book or whatever? So what if they have a gazillion followers who think they are amazing? It should be ok for you to say, without the fear that you are going to receive hate mail and of shit through your door, that actually you're not that big a fan - shouldn't it?

Recently the world mourned for those at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a magazine who dared to print what it wanted within the confines of the law. Yet someone took a dislike to this and responded in the most horrific and disgusting way imaginable. We are extremely lucky to live in a country that promotes, the  freedom of speech, "the political right to communicate one's opinions and ideas using one's body to anyone who is willing to receive them." Why then, should that freedom of speech, only be acceptable if it conforms to the opinions of the masses? Yes, there are limitations of this within the law, in essence, anything that can be deemed offensive, but surely in the grand scheme of things, a handful of people saying they don't like something isn't really going to affect much? But why is it that some people do find this, in effect, offensive? I know there are many examples where the voice of one or two becomes the voice of millions, but in relation to a multi-worldwide selling star, I'm sure they aren't that bothered if I say " Hey, you're music isn't my bag and I'm gonna go listen something else." So why should their fans be? Why then, when someone says the same about a blogger or Youtuber, do they get a million and one tweets from a bunch of (usually) young teens hurling abuse for making their opinion public that they just aren't a fan, either of them or something they promote? I seriously worry about the 'pack mentality' behind some of this, and also wonder why their parents aren't monitoring their internet use, when in effect they are becoming cyber bullies.

Cyber bulling and trolling are massive deals. I know some would arguing they are "defending" others. but actually do they need defending? If you walked past someone you didn't actually know, but knew of, and heard someone say "I don't like you," would you stop, and hurl abuse at that person? No you would walk right on by. Despite Youtubers and Bloggers sharing so many elements of their life, we don't really know them. We know the parts of them they want to share, but that's all. Yes completely, if someone if just being plain nasty, then that's different, but just to say, "I'm not you're biggest fan" that's ok. And I have the freedom of speech to be able to say that.

Do you think blogging has lost some of its freedom of speech for far of repercussions?

BBB Book Review - The Silkworm

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

I took the pictures for this book review what seems like months  ago! I had intended to post it before Christmas, however life got in the way. So even if you've had books for Christmas, who says you can't put those Christmas pennies towards another right?

Most people by now are well aware that Robert Galbraith is the detective-novel pseudonym of J K Rowling. The Silkworm is the follow up to the first Cormoran Strike novel, The Cuckoo's Calling.


I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling and was therefore excited for the next installment. I wasn't dissapointed, athough I would say I didn't enjoy it as much as a the previous one. It follows a similar format to the previous book and overall is a really good yarn. I enjoyed how the charcters were developed further. It was good to learn more about Comoran's background, and the development of his and Robin's relationship. 

The difficulty I had was the amount of characters with slightly odd names. I found it hard to keep track of who everyone was and what they had said at certain points - I found myself having to flick back to remind myself of what had happened to understand what was happening. It detract from the enjoyment somewhat, and at times I don't think every character was entirely necessary to progress the story.
The Silkworm is the perfect book for snuggling up on the sofa on a cold miserable day with a hot chocolate.

Have you read The Silkworm?
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