Warm, white winter dress (not for weddings)

Things have been truly hectic lately- I am moving to Bristol next week (cannot believe it!) and so have been thinking about things like finding a place to live, wrapping up stuff at work, finding suitcases and boxes for the shoes and dresses, stressing out...

Rather luckily though, I have managed to find a place to live in Bristol which I really like. It costs an arm and a leg (which is apparently par for the course on Bristolian property market) BUT the bedroom is massive and comes with two big wardrobes and a cute dresser table with little white mirrors. The girl who I will be living with seemed to think that I was quite normal until I announced that I will be moving in with Harvey the Hedgehog. She was rather baffled but generously did not withdraw her offer to share her living space with me, so Harvey and I will be officially living under a new, Bristolian post code as of next week. Exciting!

In the midst of all this craziness, there hasn't been that much time for prancing around in dresses and taking pictures of myself- I did manage to get some though on a reasonably nice, sunny day. I am absolutely and completely in love with this white dress- although when I wore it work a couple of weeks ago, one of my colleagues said that I looked like I was getting married... (just because it's white???).

I am not tying the knot just yet but will continue to wear the dress- it's such a cute, flattering shape and I absolutely love the print at the bottom and the jewel detail by the collar. It looks equally nice with skin coloured tights and with thicker, black ones. Another bonus is that the dress is made from quite thick, warm material, so I can actually wear it in winter without freezing to death. This is different from my usual habit of wearing dresses that are definitely not appropriate for British winter, just because I cannot bear to put them away and leave them alone until the summer. I would never really get to wear anything exciting, right? Apart from this lovely, warm, white winter dress that is.... 

Enjoy!

 Dress

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

Bowleaze Hill 

Hello!

The last two weeks have been insane with lovely Ofsted inspectors descending upon the college and various other upheavals. I do have some exciting news though- I am moving to Bristol next month! I don't know where I'm going to live yet or how I am going to fit all my shoes and dresses into a new place, which is likely going to be significantly smaller than my current place... So I'm going to have to take some deep breaths and stop freaking out and try to sort it out step by step.

Last week felt absolutely insane and so yesterday I decided to take a little trip to Bowleaze Hill in Weymouth and visit The Lookout Cafe  on top of the hill. It was rather excellent and I scoffed a big fresh crab baguette and a mocha (is this a weird combination?) whilst enjoying a rather stunning view over the cove. It was quite a nice, bright day and the coastline looked fabulous.

I then went outside to take some pictures and swiftly realised that it was also very windy, which made taking even semi-decent pictures rather difficult. I look pretty wind-swept in all the photos but maybe this isn't such an awful thing when you're wearing a full midi skirt. This beauty arrived last week and I just had to give it a spin. The spectacular belt which you can see in the pictures and which goes so beautifully with the sparkly shows is unfortunately very old... I got it at Primark a million years ago and it's probably one of my favourite accessories ever.

Also, there was an insanely cool old car on the hill and I just HAD TO have a picture next to it. I have no idea what it is (my motor vehicle knowledge is very limited) but doesn't it look kooky? And in my books, kooky is always a good thing.

Shoes
Skirt
Cardigan
Bag- old
Belt- Primark, old

Shoes

I shall be back to report on the new developments in my life soon.

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

Fairytale skirt and glitter

Hello lovelies,

Only a short post today as I have returned to work today after two weeks of mostly lying on the sofa, eating choccies and browsing the sales. Being a teacher due to return to work after the Christmas holiday, I naturally woke up at 3.30am last night and lay awake in my bed thinking about marking and lesson plans until about 6am, just before my alarm went off. I was slightly relieved to establish that this happens to about 98% of my colleagues, at the end of every single holiday.

But anyway. I did not come here to moan at you about my sleep deprivation, I came here to tell you about the most magical, fabulous skirt I have purchased in a long time.

I am not sure that the pictures I've got for you today do it justice, as I had to make my boyfriend take pictures of me inside the house in the 20 seconds we had spare before jumping into the car and rushing off to work. I then decided that these photos weren't quite enough and so took a few by myself in the 2 minutes I had between returning from work and throwing myself at the fridge (has everyone's appetite gone absolutely mad over Christmas???). As such, I can only apologise for the lack of stunning Dorset scenery in this post. But hey, you get to see my desk you lucky things!

In all honesty, I am completely, totally and utterly in love with this skirt. It is made from quite thick material and keeps me wonderfully warm at this time of year. It has got beautiful, intricate embroidery in deep rich colours. It has got a little cinched waist and a big full skirt with lovely silky lining... oh and did I mention that it's on sale? I think I might mark the date I found it online and celebrate it every year as an ultimate winning-at-fashion-and-probably-life day. Honestly.

I had lots of compliments on the skirt today which eased the return to work somewhat. I wore it with an H&M jumper and purple heels from New Look. It looked just as good with a black crop top but I had to find something a little bit longer to make it a bit more office-friendly.

Oh and those fabulous flowers at the end. Do you know what is even better than flowers and glitter?

FLOWERS WITH GLITTER ON THEM.

Have a fabulous week! 

Skirt

Jumper- H&M similar

 necklace

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

On sartorial and culinary delights (plus a bit of hedgehog)

Not so much of a proper fashion post today, as I am just back from Christmas in Poland and getting ready for work tomorrow.
Poland was lovely and very snowy and I got to do lots of nice things like walk around the woods in the snow and go to the opera in Wrocław where people sung in German about their untrustworthy spouses and how much they liked Champagne. It was good.
The journey back was a little difficult as I went a bit shopping crazy in Poland without giving much thought as to how I am going to bring back the shoes and dresses and coats... (are you surprised?). You'll be relieved to know that I did manage though, and all the presents and new purchases will no doubt soon be appearing in my fashion posts.
Harvey the Hedgehog got unexpectedly ill just before Christmas and had to be taken to the vet. He is ok now but he needed special foot baths twice a day for a little while and his little paws need to be moisturized twice daily too. Luckily he seems to be back to his usual grumpy self now...

So a couple of bits here for you tonight- my snowy walk in Poland in my lovely New Look coat and mum's fur hat. My new wonderful patterned tights which got taken for a spin in Weymouth's new Pan Asian bar where I tried a chili infused vodka with chocolate milk. I bought the tights in Poland (they are manufactured by a Polish company 'Gatta') for about 5 pounds... They're really beautiful and I totally fell in love with them! I am really pleased to see that Gatta now ship abroad although why do the prices have to be so much higher...

And finally my little spiky Havey who is now nearly 3 months old.

Faux fur coat (on sale!!!)

Tights (pleased to see Polish Gatta now ship abroad!)

Oh, and speaking of new places in Weymouth (yipeee!)- there is a new lovely Spanish place called 'La Casa Espanola' which has just opened by the harbour bridge. It's run by actual Spaniards (yay!) who make the best tapas I have tried in a long time (double yay!). We nearly ended up ordering about 3 times more than we actually needed but luckily the kind man who took our order managed to convince me that I wouldn't actually be able to eat about 8 different dishes. I had some rather excellent calamari and vegetable croquetas and some patatas de sol (or potatoes of sun...) accompanied by lovely, sweet sangria. I shall definitely be back soon!

These are all the sartorial and culinary joys for today as I am now off to enjoy a vegetarian Sunday roast dinner and check up on Harvey the Grumpy Hedgehog.

Much Dorset love,

Your Red Haired Gal

xoxo

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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.