Wednesday Wish List: Dolly and Dotty

Hey guys,

I hope you're all having a great week so far- even if you've just gone back to the daily grind after the Christmas break. 

My week's been pretty boring. I've packed away the Christmas decorations for another year, found places for my Christmas presents, and am slowly trying to have a Spring clean so I can start the year afresh. I have too much stuff cluttering up the place. I'm not making much progress, as I've caught my Dad's cold and feel like shit, but I'll get there. It's not going anywhere.

When I've not been spring cleaning or trying to take blog photos during brief intervals of sunshine on the dreariest of winter days, I've been drooling over pretty dresses from Dolly and Dotty. It's hard not to!

I only discovered the brand just before Christmas, but it was pretty much love at first sight. They sell the most beautiful rockabilly or vintage-style clothing, in a wide variety of styles, cuts, colours, and prints. The best part is, everything is affordable, and they cater up to a UK size 24.

I bought my first Dolly and Dotty dress last month, the dark green Lola swing dress, and absolutely adore it. I'm so impressed with it that I'm currently coveting about 99% of their dresses, so I've decided to dedicate this week's wish list to some of my favourites. I've chosen fifteen to show you, but you can find more of my favourites on my Style Wish List board on Pinterest.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15

If I had to narrow down my favourites further, I'd have to choose the Evelyn retro cherry swing dress (#2), and the Lola swing dress in peacock blue (#3), both of which I hope to add to my wardrobe soon. They're both so beautiful. I'd love to collect a variety of their dresses, though, and I have a feeling my lone Dolly and Dotty dress won't be alone for long. 

What's on your wish list this week? Do you own anything from Dolly and Dotty?

My Christmas 2015

Happy New Year, you lovely lot!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and are having a very happy New Year so far. How did you all spend it?

I didn't do anything much to see in the New Year. I left my bed long enough to watch a movie and have a takeaway with my sister, and crawled back home to bed soon after the new year began. I'm so rock 'n' roll! I haven't straying far from my bed today, but I'm fine with that. I've been so exhausted this last week that I've felt like a living zombie. I've been drifting in and out of naps, and in between I've just felt so dazed. I'm actually relieved the Christmas madness is almost over for another year so I can relax and recharge, and life can get back to normal.

I wrapped a shed-load of presents this Christmas!

I'm so behind with my blog posts and comments, but I'm going to do my best to catch up over the next few days. I've got a couple of Christmas posts to blog before I start on the new year reflection and resolution posts, but I hope you guys won't mind too much. I'm starting with how I spent my Christmas today. Warning: it's very word and photo heavy!

So, I had a lovely, albeit very quiet Christmas at home with just my immediate family- my parents, and two sisters. My brother-in-law was back in Dubai for Christmas after his R&R earlier in the month, and my Dad was full of cold, so a quiet, chilled day at home suited most of us. Everybody else had been to the larger, louder family gatherings before Christmas, anyway.

I spent Christmas Eve afternoon with my sister, Marie, running a few last minute errands, and baking up a storm in her kitchen. Well, she baked; I mostly sat at the kitchen table getting cuddles from Mia (the dog), while taking charge of the Christmas tunes. Blasting out songs and putting cake cases in to tins totally counts as baking, right? Right. Bake Off, eat your heart out! We baked three batches of fairy cakes- chocolate, vanilla, and coffee and walnut, and headed home once the last cake was iced, around 6pm.

My Mum put a little Christmas Eve buffet tea together, but I was in so much pain from being out of bed all day I ended up taking a plate up to bed, got in my PJs, put on some festive TV, turned myself in to a human burrito, and barely moved for the rest of the night. Aside from the pain, it was almost blissful!

On Christmas Day, I woke feeling sick, so I ended up hitting snooze for an hour and a half before dragging myself out of bed at half nine. My parents were already up exchanging gifts, and Marie had come over at the crack of dawn so she wouldn't have to spend Christmas morning alone. We had to drag my younger sister, Sarah, out of bed, and then the present-giving and opening commenced.

This is the pile of presents my parents gave me. I was given a new Kindle, and lots of other little things I'll be revealing in a 'what I got for Christmas' post, hopefully tomorrow.

I love the cross-stitch style wrapping paper Marie wrapped my presents with. She gave me the Urban Decay Vice 4 palette, which I bloody love!

I wore my cosy new Elf Christmas PJs until midday, fat thighs an' all.

After the presents were all opened, I sat down and made my Christmas crackers while watching Elf, felt nauseated again and had to lie down on the sofa for a while. I ran out of time to make table favours, and didn't have time or strength to work my magic on the dinner table before Christmas dinner, like I always do. It didn't really matter at the end of the day, but there were so many things I couldn't do this Christmas that the old me did with ease that it really bothered me and I got really frustrated. Even after four and a half years, I still forget I have limitations now, and I hate them with a passion. And yes, I'm so boring, and need to get a life!

I changed in to my new green Lola swing dress from Dolly and Dotty before lunch (this one), and dressed it up with red accessories. I didn't manage to get a clear photo of myself in it because it was pissing down with rain all day, and so dark and dreary, but I looked like a Christmas elf! I'm going to recreate it really soon for an OOTD.

I tried out some false Christmas nails on Christmas Eve night, but they were a bit of a disaster. I lost one within half an hour, and three or four came off before eleven the next morning. I was gutted because they looked great before they all came off.

We sat down for dinner early afternoon, and had turkey with all the trimmings, played Christmas tunes, laughed using silly Christmas photo booth props, and sent chocolates flying across the room as we pulled crackers over the table. We had my blackberry and apple trifle for dessert, except this year my Mum had to make it, and then crashed in front of the TV for a few hours. I had a chat with my bestie on the phone, and afterwards I got ready to head over to Marie's for a few hours, as she had to get home to the dog. 

We left around 5 or 6pm, but went for a long drive to spot Christmas lights before heading back to hers. Everywhere was so quiet and calm. We were going to have a few drinks and break out the board games, but we ended up just vegging in front of the TV with some snacks, and the Mia dog. I think I stayed until about nine or ten, when I couldn't deal with the pain anymore, and needed my bed. I headed home to bed and turkey sandwiches, and chilled for the rest of the night.

To most people's standards, including ours, it wasn't the most exciting way to spend Christmas, but we still had a lovely couple of days together. Apart from my brother-in-law being away for Christmas, we got to spend some quality time as a family, ate delicious food, gave great gifts, laughed, and found some time to just chill. What more could anybody ask for?

I had a lovely Christmas, and now I'm ready to start the new year and see where it will take me.

Happy New Year, everyone!

How did you spend your Christmas?

My Christmas Novelty Bags

Merry Christmas everyone! 

How was your Christmas? I had a lovely, albeit very quiet, Christmas at home with my family. I got spoiled rotten, ate lots of delicious food, spent some quality time with my family, got cuddles from the Mia dog, and dressed up really festively in a fabulous new dress! I couldn't ask for more than that!

I feel absolutely shattered today, though, and can barely move, so I've spent my Boxing Day in bed watching festive TV, napping, eating a few Christmas chocolates, and going through photos I've taken over the last few days. It's a hard life! I'll be blogging more about my Christmas in the next couple of days, once I've edited my photos, but in the meantime, I thought you might like to see my little collection of Christmas novelty bags before I pack them away for another year.

I currently have four Christmas bags in my collection, which were all purchased in the last thirteen months. Three of them are novelties, and the fourth features a festive print.

The Christmas pudding bag came from TU at Sainsburys last Christmas, and if I'm remembering correctly, it was only about £12- and an absolute bargain. It's a cross-body bag, so I it's the perfect bag to use for Christmas shopping and running errands to leave my hands free for all those shopping bags. Plus, most importantly, it  makes my festive outfits look pretty damn awesome!

Last year, I also bought the red and silver bauble clutch, which was from New Look for less than £13. At the time I'd never seen a novelty bag quite like it, and I still think the design is really fun and eye-catching. It's definitely a conversation starter, that's for sure! It's also surprisingly roomy for a clutch bag, and fits everything I might need for a night out. (Not that I get to have many of those these days!)

The snowman bauble was also from New Look's Christmas collection in 2014, but I didn't buy it until earlier this year. I think I bought it on sale from ASOS for about £5! I just couldn't resist it. I haven't actually had a chance to use it yet, but it will definitely add a touch of whimsy to my Christmas outfits when I do. I mean, c'mon- it's a snowman faced bauble bag! How awesome?!

And last but not least, is my Cath Kidston Christmas book bag, which I picked up on sale earlier in the year for just £7- a bargain considering it was about £18 full price. I put it away to use this Christmas, and I've used it quite a few times already, even if it's just been for boring stuff like going to the supermarket, post office, and popping over to my sister's. 

I didn't buy any new Christmas novelty bags this Christmas, even though I had my eye on several, but if there are any left on sale at the end of the month, I may have to pick up one or two from Skinnydip to put away for next year.

Do you own any novelty Christmas bags? Have you bought any new ones this year?

You might also like:

My novelty bag collection 2015

My Matalan fruity novelty bags

My New Look novelty bags

Christmas Room Tour: My Bedroom 2015

Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! 

I can't believe it's Christmas Day tomorrow! December seems to have flown by for me this year, and there just haven't been enough hours in the day. I've been meaning to blog a little Christmas bedroom tour since I finished putting the decorations up a couple of weeks ago but it's taken me until now to finish taking and editing my photos. Better late than never, though, right?

I began putting up the decorations in my bedroom on the first, but it actually took me an entire week to get everything out- not because I have a million decorations but because the pain has been so bad lately. I could only do a little bit at a time, which got really frustrating, but it gave me a good excuse to over-play my favourite Christmas tunes that week!

I love my little green cut out Scandi tree from Paperchase.

My dressing table is cluttered with all kinds of stuff, but I still found space for a few decorations. I filled my cotton wool jar with tiny colourful glass baubles, and  a tea light holder with colourful gem decorations, and I really love how they look. I'm tempted to keep them on my dressing table all year round. I wanted to get a couple more jars of different sizes to fill with these little baubles, but I never made it down to Hobbycraft in time. I'll have to do it next year instead. I also dotted some frog queen and hummingbird decorations amongst my perfume bottles and trinkets, and strung my adorable Snowman fairy lights over the mirrors. They make me smile every time I look at them.

I got myself some Christmas bedding for the first time this Christmas, which I'm loving snuggling up in every night. The duvet set was just £12 from ASDA, and it's reversible, with the colours inverted on the other side- although, I've only had the white side on show because I like it best. The fleece blanket was a Black Friday bargain that I picked up from BHS for just £12.50! (Half the original price!). It's so warm and cosy! I'll probably keep on using it right through 'til Spring.

I bought a little Christmas tree for my room again this year, a real one from Sainsburys. It was pre-netted so I didn't know it was a little wonky until I got it home, but for a tenner, I really can't complain. It wouldn't win any prizes for beauty, but I still think it's lovely, and it definitely adds some festive cheer to my room. I can't even see the crap side from where I'm sitting. I decorated it with red, white and green honeycomb balls and bells, jingle bell baubles, and some Scandi pegs. I have Christmas decorations in a rainbow of colours, but classic red, green, and white are definitely my favourites.

I love my old heart-shaped jingle bell wreath. I can't believe it was a supermarket find!

My Christmas tea light holders have been getting plenty of use all month. The three glass ones were from Cath Kidston a few Christmases ago, and the wooden one was from The Christmas Boutique last year.

I have two Nutcracker candles sitting on my bookcase, with my bauble novelty bag as a backdrop. The Nutcrackers don't look great up close, but from a distance you can't see the bad paint-jobs. I think they still look really festive.

And last but not least are a bunch of LED colour-changing ornaments that are brightening up my bookcase. The trees are new and came from a local garden centre. The polar bear, green tree, and penguins are old and came from M&S. They fade in to all kinds of colours every few seconds, and they're so relaxing to watch.

And that is how I've decorated my bedroom for Christmas! 

I will hopefully still find time to blog about how the rest of the house has been decorated this year before Christmas is over, but we haven't quite finished yet (things haven't quite gone to plan this year) so we shall have to wait and see.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year with your family and friends, and that Santa spoils you rotten! Enjoy yourself and make sure you have a few drinks for me, since I can't have any on my painkillers! Merry Christmas!

Do you decorate your bedroom for Christmas?