The fate of a dress...

I am quite particular about clothes; I have said before, I like certain things from certain places and have been known to covet a dress for months. If I really, really like it, I will chalk up all sorts of elaborate reasons why it must be mine and have been known to asset-strip our house and sell on eBay in an effort to earn to secure some item or another. It rarely backfires and I have got to the point where I am so sure of an item's suitability that I then keep it for years. I have dresses in my wardrobe that all have a story; I recall each purchase and keep each dress for years and years.

via pretty stuff

Playing in this fatalistic dance most recently is a velvet evening dress from Sienna Miller's own line twenty8twelve. I spotted it last year and could not afford it. I knew I would love it and it would love me, but at the time it was not a possibility. Then I forgot all about it and the seasons changed and that velvet dress was no longer at the forefront of my mind. Now the weather has turned and again velvet seems appropriate. This is where the immediacy of e-commerce takes my breath away. I remember a time when there was no Internet; there was no way to track anything down unless you had seen it, locally, with your own eyes. So google found the dress and wait, it was in the sale (it's so last season, you see). There was only one left. It was in my size. Need I go on? That dress was meant to be mine...

...said dress...

So it's on order - a leap of faith as I have never seen it in the flesh. I just know that it's my cuppa tea. And most of all I like that it took me a year to be able to get it. There has to be a life lesson in there somewhere.

I write this somewhat self consciously in the knowledge that the debate (battle) of differing opinion rages on whether serious and intelligent women can be interested in fashion. Are dresses just frippery? Does wanting this particular dress make me less of a serious person? Does this sort of dress-coveting make me vacant or shallow? These are the questions...but meantimes I'll be waiting for the postman...

via pretty stuff

Things of beauty...

I write a lot about my children and my life and my home but rarely about my husband. Odd, as he is of course such a big factor in my life. At the moment he is working very hard and Monday to Friday has become a time when we pass each other in the hallway and I think...how long ago it seems that we were away together on holiday. I miss him. It's a double edge; half of me wants to support him utterly and be the dutiful corporate wife. The other half of me wants to say - was this the deal? Did we choose this? We hardly never see each other!

I loved the comments I got this week, especially those recommending new blogs to read. It was wonderful to cast that net and get such a response. Almost without fail I loved them all - so I guess that shows we all like the same thing. One though was particularly notable as the writing is just...heart-achingly good. It's this blog and as the writer Meg says, she likes to pen notes to the man she will marry. Don't think she's met him yet - but it got me thinking, if I was writing to my husband many years ago what would I ask for?! Certainly one proviso would be time together on a fairly regular basis! Isn't it ironic that we marry for love and then work hard for the future and in the process spend less and less time together?

Atleast it's the weekend and that means family time and chilling out and togetherness...

photograph by olivia graham

via copenhagen cycle chic

London...this is where my husband always seems to be...I miss him...

via skona hem

via luna and chloe weddings

via here

I like this; a bit much for the school run maybe but still...via crush cul de sac

photograph by aaron delesie

photograph by elizabeth messina

via atlantic pacific

photograph by emma lee

Its how I feel,,,via better than fine

Things of beauty...

A Friday comes around again; I must admit my grasp on what day it is is slipping, life lacks routine at present. I am learning to embrace the sensation of waking up and wondering what on earth is happening each day.

I have read alot about 'Mindfulness' lately and prior to this new-found knowledge on the topic, my understanding of it was quite basic. I thought it meant stopping and noticing the moment. It can equate to that but it's also, I discover, a much wider doctrine that genuinely means stopping and breathing and attempting to 'just be'. Easier said than done I will tell you! I have been catching myself though, at certain moments thinking 'take this in; this moment, this sensation, this place' and try to momentarily capture the strength of that emotion. We've spent some evenings at the beach this week and I find these moments pour in much like the waves...sunset on the water (a moment), children's squeals as they jump in (a moment), a chilled coolbox drink on a warm day (a moment).

Meanwhile my husband and I had the privilege of attending a ball this week at Goodwood House which, I have to say, was pretty much the best party I have ever been to! Despite being dressed up in Jane Austen-esque regency costume (me in empire line, he in satin pantaloons!) we partied the night away in the most oppulent surroundings. I am here to say that I am becoming mildly obsessed (re-obsessed?) with 80s music; the band just played and played and I never left the dance floor. I love the 80s...! Danced and danced and danced some more - and now my feet still have a reminiscent ache.

And so to things of beauty...

via pretty stuff

Loren Hope designs via pink preppy lilly lover

love this cake...via style me pretty

via crush cul de sac

via this flickr...photograph from Red.co.uk

via Country Living

via crush cul de sac

via bippity boppity boo

My latest mantra: 'Let it go...'

Things of beauty...

As this is published, we will shortly after be making our way to Wimbledon. I have never been before, let alone enjoyed the benefit of corporate tickets. Strawberries and cream anyone?

And so I leave you with a mood board of English loveliness. Incidentally, did you see Alexa Chung's comments on blog 'mood boards' in British Vogue? She incurred the wrath of the blog population by stating that blogs are 'ridiculous' and that blog mood boards are passé...well, even my hackles rose! She later reneged her view on Twitter. But a selection of images here nevertheless...

via lets drift away

via cannelle et vanille

English hedgerow....lovely cow parsley by me

...anyone for tennis?

from Vanessa Arbuthnott

photograph by Jamie Beck

via brown dress with white dots

 

via toast

...a Sussex meadow by me

via dustjacket attic

via lets drift away via vogue

a show of mother-love...painting by Jessie Wilcox Smith

Here's to a lovely weekend...