Time to chill with my fans

After yesterday's excitement and a record day on page views I thought it would be nice to say Thank You to everyone who reads my blog.

THANK YOU :) x

I am glad you enjoy it, after all it is about having fun and enjoying clothes and expressing yourself!

Tongue in cheek and continuing my quirky style I thought that today called for my "Fan Print" 1940s style tea dance dress. Hehe

I love this dress though it is one of those "bra challenge" specials, fortunately we have advanced bra technology too! I love the plunging wrap neckline because I think it shows off my decollete, this is replicated at the back too, this is a bonus for me because I think I have a nice back and my long hair is a natural cover up.

The black waist band and the flare of the skirt make this very feminine and it moves beautifully. I'm not much of a tea drinker in fact tea is poison, so the tea part is always a struggle but I love to dance. Just to be different why don't you pull up a pew, sit down. I'll put the kettle on we can have a brew and you can tell me all about it.

Later today I am going to see one of my biggest fans; stand back because we will be doing science. I bought Marv's little boy a Chemistry set for Christmas and tonight we get to play. WOO HOO! Don't worry I am qualified, I am a Master of Science still it reminds me of the line from Force 10 from Navarone, which totally fits with the 1940s theme!

Miller: Don't worry, old chap. Been handling this stuff ever since I blew up the nursery with my first chemistry set. Poor old Nanny.


Dress: 1940s tea dance dress in Fan Print
Shoes: Hobbs

Sit Down

My Niece, Grease and Candlebras

WOO HOO! My Niece has asked me to be her Bridesmaid, how lovely is that :) I am over the moon, it's awesome. My Niece was my Chief Bridesmaid when I got married so I am touched that I get to be her Matron of Honour. It will be great I can't wait to go and watch her trying on all the dresses, and doing the jumping up and down clapping and giggling thing that I do when I get over excited. LOL (Eyes in the sky monkey with cymbals meets a pogo stick).

She has also asked if I will dance to the zephyr with a shamadan (candlebra balanced on your head) at her wedding. I thought balancing a sword was hard! I take my role as the eccentric Aunt seriously.

Anyway to celebrate I watched Grease which put me in the mood for the good girl side of Sandra Dee. I love this as a take on a college/picnic dress. It is grown up girlie girl dress. I like the white collar with the black tie ribbon at the high neck, but it is the V pleat at the front of the skirt that really adds the interest. The tailoring of the check print to accentuate the pleat is very well executed.

This dress just makes me smile! I can sense a carpet picnic happening this evening.

Dress: The Picnic Dress by Tara Starlet

Bolero: White pointelle pin up girl clothing

Shoes: Schuh

Humanity and sarcasm required? Best call The Captain

Today in 1929 Tintin was first published, so here is my tribute to Captain Haddock! His humanity and sarcasm were always a refreshing antidote to Tintin's implausible heroism. I am a fan of both humanity and sarcasm, well as long as it is amusing sarcasm ............

I'm not a tease, I'm just a reminder of what you can't have ;) hehe

This dress was a big hit for Bettie Page Clothing, it appeared on the program Gossip Girl. I love the wide collar and the ribbons that highlight the geometric design  and the matching coloured buttons on the front. The sleeves are short and the pencil skirt isn't too clingy, finished off with white shoes and a belt she looks great. 

They say that men notice women wearing red. When it comes to a red head wearing red, well we just set the world on fire. 

Who wouldn't want me to order them around? With a Captain looking like this I am sure you would pay attention on deck.

Though I would be more an Admiral of the Fleet than a Captain.......

Dress: Captain in Red by Bettie Page Clothing

Shoes: Bordello Mary Jane

Matilda, Gallipolli and a Dance

Today it seems fitting to wear my dress called Matilda.

On the 9th January 1916 the Gallipolli Campaign was over, the Australians lost over 50,000 troops. When the ANZACs returned the song "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" was written to commemorate the sacrifices of the troops. Nearly 100 years later this song still holds true.

"Waltzing Matilda" is a very famous Australian folk song and a "Matilda" was the name given to the pack that Australian farm workers carried on their backs. To "Waltz Matilda" meant to carry your pack of belongings through the bush. 

Matilda is a simple but feminine dress, with a kitten bow at the neck with added interest on top given by the button. The mustard colour seems in keeping with WW1 given the infamy of the chemical and gaseous weapons used. I wear the dress with the name of the song, so as not to forget that WW1 was so shocking in the tole of lives that it was for a short time called "The war that ended all wars". If only this had been true.

I never met my Great Uncle Cyril, he died at Gallipolli 60 years before I was born; This one is for you. Gran and Auntie Doris never forgot you and neither did we x

Dress: Matilda by Bettie Page Clothing
Shoes: Kurt Geiger

This song is about far more than a moment in history. It's about how history repeats itself and the great sacrifices that are made during war and how futile it all is if we fail to learn from our mistakes.

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Bonus shot of the dress 

from October last year

Github.........Hardcore forking action ahead

WOO HOO. My first software release is under my belt in my role, and it went fantastically well - My boys got a round of applause. We had a good laugh as only techies can. 

One of the things I love about IT are the things that you get to say :)

Promiscuous packet sniffing - I want to know what data you are sending over my network where it came from and where it's going, and whether it's been altered

Penetration Testing -  Where am I vulnerable to compromise and attack?

Hardcore Forking Action - similar to copying a code base, but not quite

and the classic

"Did you just finger me?" (look up the unix command)

And they say techies don't have a sense of humour! LOL

Drag me! Drop me! Treat me like an object!  (OLE and OOP at their best)

But the real reason we love to be geeks is because this is our day:

unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more,fsck,fsck,fsck,umount, sleep.

All of which reminded me of a Mae West quote.

Today's dress is named after the infamous aforementioned quote, the buttons make this dress so interesting and so difficult to photograph!

I like the piping around the Peter Pan style collar and the detailing on the sleeves. The buttons snake down in a curve and end in a pleat which is just lovely.

Dress: Curves in Black by Bettie Page Clothing

Shoes: Kurt Geiger

“Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided.” - Mae West

Feeling French. Taking the pain of chocolate with the Foreign Legion

Goodness - The pain of chocolate or as the french like to say pain au chocolat for an indulgent breakfast and yesterdays Matisse print inspired me to pick one of my dress with a french name. Let me introduce Francois. She has that risque but not revealing cut of french clothes. 

The bow on the dress at the front is detachable, I think it adds a fun, flirty dimension that makes me smile. I really love the way the little blue collar stands out on the large white peter pan collar which frames the shoulders beautifully. I carried the white buttons to the waist through to my shoes.

Fun but elegant you really can't go wrong with navy and white. I am going to team it with a white pashmina/shawl for the office so that my shoulders are covered but you can still see the contrast of the blue and white collars.

Here's to Francois and facing the torture that is the pain of chocolate :)

The song chose itself because of the chocolate indulgence, we should heed it's words "No I don't regret anything" - we say in English only regret the things you didn't do, not the things you did. I'm with the French on this - Don't regret anything. Maybe I should confess I am also with the french when it comes to knickers, coffee and champagne too!

Dress: Francois by Glamourbunny

Shoes: Schuh

Naughty face ...yum yum chocolate

You can't help but want to dance round the kitchen eating naughty but ever so nice pastries and drinking strong coffee to this, well unless you are the French Foreign Legion. I don't think they would let you have breakfast on the parade ground whilst you were singing it! They probably don't let you dance either. Edith Piaf dedicated this song the men in the French Foreign Legion when they were in Algeria and they adopted it. 

CLASS TUNE - An Anthem

Edith Piaf 

No, I don't regret anything

The French Vera Lynn

No, nothing at all

No I regret nothing ( I don't feel sorry)

Not the good things people have done for me

Nor the bad, it's all the same (equal) for me

No, nothing at all

No I regret nothing

It's paid for, wiped away, forgotten

I don't care about the past

With all my memories

I lit up the fire

My troubles, my pleasures

I don't need them anymore

Swept away my love stories

And their troubles

Swept away for good

I'll start again from zero

No, nothing at all

No I regret nothing

Not the good things people have done for me

Nor the bad, it's all the same for me

No, nothing at all

No, I regret nothing

Because my life, my joys

Today they begin with you

Abstract it's more than an art or thinking

It is a way of life .......abstraction....simplify the complex.

The phrase "think outside the box" along with other nuggets from Management for Dummies 101 has always amused me, I find myself wanting to say "What box?". You don't need to tell an abstract thinker to think outside the box, that is what we do without trying.

Saturday was spent deep in abstract thought writing pattern recognition templates using regular expressions; so I think I have patterns on the brain today. It's my inner geek, I love crazy prints because it is all about spotting the repeat and seeing the pattern. It is just like programming, or science. 

This dress is based on prints by Matisse who along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp are considered the "modern art" founders. In his day Matisse was considered to be fauve (a wild beast). We all have our inner wild thing, it is what gives us passion and drive. It's our engine :)

Dress: Frenchie Halter Dress In Matisse Print by Bernie Dexter

Shoes: Aldo

Wild Thing - The Troggs

PSY meets the beverley hillbilles: gingham style

This dress is affectionately known as my Ellie-Mae dress in honour of Ellie-Mae Clampett! The Beverley Hillbillies were so funny. Granny was class :) The dress is really called Belle and she lives up to her name. 

It is a fun floaty dress for a Saturday, and it is another "two fingers" to the doyennes of fashion who are ageist when it comes to a nice gingham. Apparently it is another one of those things I should have stopped at 30, just like shorts!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a lovely picnic dress, and it is a classic. The red gingham the sweetheart neckline the tie halter, the full skirt. FAB! All I need now is a barn dance or a picnic and some good company.

Dress: Belle Halterneck in Red Gingham by Bernie Dexter

Shoes: Aldo

Pig tails just like Ellie-Mae! (Oooh isn't my hair long)

It has to be Copperhead Road by Steve Earle for this dress, because hey all copperheads have dangerous curves.

Copperhead Road

Rebel Yell! Don't Jolene Me

I love the Americana Cowboy prints from the 1950s, they make me smile. Today's dress is one of my favourites of this genre in Bandana print. It makes me want to twirl around the office. The white flash across the bust adds interest and the lace around the bottom of the skirt makes it very girlie.

It makes me think of the confederate flag (called after General Lee), Rodeos, Little house on the prairie and "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol.

I don't wear this dress very often because people seem to Jolene me in it, and I don't like that. But hey Dolly is never wrong and when a busty blondes sings about "Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair, ivory skin and eyes of Emerald green" then you know everyone really wants to be a redhead :)

I'll save the rebel yell for later on!

Dress: Ginger in Bandana Print Pinupgirlclothing

Bolero: Pointelle in White

Shoes: Bordello

Jolene

 

Rebel Yell

Charm-ageddon. Really you should try it!

Ah yes charm-ageddon :) what fun. It's social technique that I use, you dazzle people with your charm so that you can get away with saying things that no one else could. OOoops! Did I type that ;) Hehe

Today's dress is called Charm she is a lovely rusty brick red. The dress is relatively simple a plain pencil skirt with dolmenesque sleeves  The neckline speaks for itself. It is a late 50s design bordering on the 60s and is very Jackie O.

I think the bow across the shoulders really draws attention to your face and the buttons down from the neck are adorable.

Simple, understated, and straight to the point. Like her name she works just like one ;)


Dress: Charm Bettie Page Clothing
Shoes: Kurt Geiger

'Charm' : which means the power to effect work without employing brute force, is indispensable to women. Charm is a woman's strength just as strength is a man's charm. 

- Havelock Ellis 

First day back, it's got to be atomic

The first day back to work, it is particularly exciting as it isn't the same job I did last year. It is great to ring in the changes properly. One of the advantages of the new job is that the dress code is - you choose it!

It means every day is like Friday :)

There was no way I was going to resist my capri pants was there? I have teamed them with a top called Atomic, and for good reason this baby will blow you away. Turquoise with a black print it is a great combination for my colouring. 

The tie bow at the high neckline makes this fun and flirty whilst also ensuring attention is drawn to your face. It accentuates your bust, nips you in at the waist and shows off the curve of your hips. The overall cut and the short sleeves keep it smart. It is a beautifully tailored blouse.

I am going to finish the outfit off with a black bolero.

Blouse: Atomic Rock Steady

Capri Pants: Dangerous Curves Deadly Dames

Shoes: Kurt Geiger

Atomic - She'll blow you away!

Ah back to self portraits in the mirror, now it's back to work.

Happy New Year, do something that scares you! :)

For example I wore yellow! Look see living proof. Yellow is generally not a good colour for red heads so I am moving outside my comfort zone. In addition I have included a profile shot :)

This embroidered overlay dress is just beautifully made. There is a silver grey underlay with an embroidered overlay of leaves in taupe  beige, brown and dark creamy yellows. It has tucks and pleats at the waste and makes you feel very floaty light. I teamed it with a chunky knitted brown bolero and chunky chocolate brown suede shoes as a balance. 

Happy New Year

Don't lie,

Don't Cheat,

Don't Steal,

and Don't Drink ;)

If you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love, 

If you must cheat, cheat death, 

If you must steal , steal away from bad company, 

and if you must drink, drink deep of life's precious moments.

XxX

Dress: Cassandra Bettie Page Clothing

Bolero: ZuuZuu at Etsy Chocolate Brown Chunky Knit

Shoes: Borrowed in honour of the shoe goddess Bernice from the extensive collection of Marvellous Marv

“I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear.”

—Katherine Hepburn

Sunscreen

Fly