Weymouth colour-blocking (and some musings about Polish Christmas)

So, Christmas is approaching faster than I can keep up with this year. I am off to Poland next Saturday, and as such need to get a bunch of things here sorted before I embark onto that lovely crowded over priced Ryanair flight. Making Polish food. Making other people try my Polish food. Decorating the house. Making sure Harvey the Hedgehog will be well looked after when I'm gone. Banking things. Packing. Christmas shopping (ARGH).
May I just add at this point that whilst Christmas seems to approaching at the speed of light, delivery companies do not seem to be coping with taking on the role of Santa. All of my deliveries (all things for other people, promise...) have been unbearably slow this year. I ordered a dress for my work Christmas party and gave it a week to arrive. It arrived the day AFTER the Christmas party. Sadly I cannot go back in time and wear it, so I am now stuck with a rather gorgeous but hugely impractical short gold sparkly dress. I am not yet sure how I am going to make it wearable to any other occasion than a Christmas do but WATCH THIS SPACE.

This post, however, was not meant to be about a gold sparkly dress. I had to do bits of Christmas shopping yesterday, including a trip to the local Polish shop in search of pierogi. Sadly they didn't have any but I did manage to get some borscht and uszka which I am planning on feeding to my boyfriend on Thursday, before I go away for Christmas. Uszka literally mean 'little ears' and are a type of small dumplings filled with forest mushrooms. You put them in your borscht and believe me, they are DELICIOUS.
Since the day was very sunny, I decided to wear an ASOS dress that I bought back in July (it's still on the website but seems to be sold out at the moment). I promise I don't always wear summer clothes in winter though- I bought this dress when it went on sale because it's one of those rare dresses that actually have long sleeves and are therefore wearable for longer than about 3 weeks of the year. It didn't quite fit me though when I got it but I kept it anyway thinking that maybe I'll squeeze into it at some point- and it's good job I tried before rather than after Christmas. So I wore it to work last week and had lots of compliments. Since this is another budget dress (11 pounds I believe), I thought I would share it with you. I accessorised it with red stilettos (which are a story in themselves as they took about 3 months to arrive in Weymouth) and a red leather hand bag (which was a present from my Mum, and therefore comes from Poland and I am sadly unable to trace it...). I only realised later that I made myself look a little bit like the Union Jack Which is maybe slightly unusual when you're going shopping for Polish things...?

Dress- ASOS
Shoes- Amazon
Bag- Polish present!

I really loved how many sunny days we've had here this year- when I moved to Weymouth last year, it rained pretty much incessantly all through the autumn and winter, which often forced me to wear really fabulous things such as massive rain coats and boring waterproof shoes. This year however, has been very fashion friendly thus far.
I shall be off now to research other Polish dishes and ways to accessorize a gold sparkly dress. Perhaps the next post will feature me cooking Polish delicacies in a short spangly number. Who knows. Until then, enjoy your Christmas preparations!

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

Portland rock climbing in stilettos

Hello, the internet and all you lovely people who may have stumbled upon this blog (is anybody there???).

Here I am, posting the first lot of pictures of me wearing clothes. This may seem like a weird way to spend your time- a somewhat strange hobby to pick up, particularly if you live in a place which isn’t exactly renowned for its high fashion (I do) and you have a full time job being an educator and teaching youngsters about the values of a beautiful, developed mind (love every bit of it).

If, however, you are anything like me, you will also realise that a true love of fashion knows no bounds- and doesn't this sound like quite a statement. Remote location? Excellent. Let’s get shopping online, bewilder my housemate with an onslaught of packages arriving through the door, and then use that remote scenery to take some rather lovely pictures. And fashion… well frankly I cannot think of many things as amazingly artistic and endlessly inspiring. Who said that a teacher in a somewhat remote seaside town in South Dorset can’t look glam? Not me, I can promise you that. It is clear and certain as the fact that I was FREEZING taking off my furry coat whilst standing on some rocks and posing for pictures in the middle of December. This is what happens when you try to give your little white dress a winter spin. However, I loved the monochrome look with the black boots and the old white and black cardigan so much that I just couldn't quite resist it.

I bought the dress from Zara last summer-it was on sale and cost me perhaps £10. Due to its absolute cuteness, it quickly became one of my favourite outfits EVER. I accessorized it with a Primark belt (that’s the things around me which looks like a miniature corset). Wore it all summer- the evidence is the picture of me accessorizing the very same dress with some shades and lavender- I promise you even I wasn't insane enough to try that (and smile!) in winter. Sadly, summer days are now but a distant memory. I wasn't quite ready to part with my lovely white dress though so decided to pop on a cardi (this is a really old one and I have no idea where it comes from… the high street is full of monochrome knitted cuties though), add a pair of knee high black boots- and OH MY GOD, don’t you all just LOOOOOVE knee high boots? I am obsessed… these ones are Kurt Geiger by the way- a furry coat (New Look, currently on sale) et voila! You, Marika, are now ready for wintery rock climbing on a remote island. YES.

I also added an old Zara clutch which handily combines the animal print/ monochrome thing I've got going on here... THANK YOU ZARA.

Anyway, enjoy the pics- and if I can offer a piece of advice, don’t *actually* try rock climbing like I did in those stilettos. In hindsight, I think maybe functioning knees and ankles might be quite helpful for looking glam.

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

And finally, as promised a summery picture of the same dress- taken in Exeter last July.