blue stripes

Image borrowed from the Anthropology website

Followers of my twitter account (top right, if you're reading this on my actual page) may remember me moaning a few weeks ago "where are all the long blue&white stripy maxi dresses hiding". Well, after extensive searching, I have located one. One. Seriously. There is a dearth of maxi dresses which are long enough. And I'm not excessively tall. 5 foot 8, actually. There are plenty of taller girls than me. 

My search took me far and wide, across the high street and across the pond. This one from Anthropology appeared quite early in the search, but, at £118 plus postage, it wasn't exactly cheap. It wasn't the first dress that I ordered. That honour went to one from ASOS. It's sitting here, waiting to go back, because, despite the photo promising floor length on a model they claimed was 5 foot 9, it barely skimmed my ankles. In the end, I took the plunge and ordered the Anthro one. I got a (modest) pay rise at work, so decided to treat myself. 

It arrived, promptly, last Friday and I immediately detached the blue top. It's not that it's bad per se, but I just prefer the dress plain. It's heavy jersey fabric, grey and navy striped, and hangs beautifully. All the way down to the floor. I wore it out on the Saturday last weekend and it was cool in the heat of the day but also warm (with a cardigan on top) when it cooled down in the evening. 

Sadly, it looks terrible on the mannequin on the Anthro website. It was only because, by chance, I noticed Rebecca wearing it in her post of maxi dresses for maternity wear that I realised it actually looked nice on a person. I don't really understand how with styling like they have, they can represent a dress so poorly. The photo is actually doubly misleading - the top is nowhere near that sheer either. It's more like a proper, off shoulder, jersey tshirt. It's not connected to the dress either, save for a little string, so that (if off shoulder draped jersey tops are your thing) you could wear it separately over a vest and jeans. 

Anyway. There you have it. Things are out there, if you're prepared to overlook terrible photography/styling and pay lots for it. £118 is a *lot* for a jersey dress, when all is said and done. Thankfully, I am very pleased with it. I just hope it survives washing...

Monday

Husband had to be back in London this evening so he got the bus whilst I was still at work. This meant I didn't have to drive to Taunton so I traded my ballet class for a walk along the coast path. Endless blue skies above moorland, stubbled fields alternated with meadow grass, hedgerows and wild flowers, the sound of the sheep calling to each other competing with the bird song from the multitude of wetland and sea birds. The wind whistling in the long grass. And then home, to Delilah, who sat on the sofa for just a minute, before leaping on to the dining table and stealing the remainder of the cheese off my plate.

Introducing

Delilah

Rescued Monday, with us Friday evening.

Doing everything in twos: two miaows, two pouches of food, two visits to the litter tray.

She's sniffed every inch of the house and declared the back of the sofa on a vintage blanket to be her favourite sleeping spot, already stretching out in some comical poses. 

Delilah means (among other things) uprooted. We hope that today marks the end of her uprooting. Dare I say it, she seems quite at home already.

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iphone snaps by me

Weekend

Friends. Wine. Vodka. Cosy fire. Lazy brunches. Long late suppers. Blustery walks on the beach. Browsing in second hand books shops. Drinking coffee. Lazing over the Sunday papers. Cupcakes. Candlelight. You would have thought it October half term, not May, except that it was light til after 9pm and light again at 5am. A wonderful weekend which I did not want to end.

The perfect lazy anecdote to a long week which included an unexpected drive to Exeter to collect the husbabund when a First Great Western failure meant he couldn't get off at Taunton, being a very busy bee at work and starting a new ballet class to bookend my week of dancing.

(photo by me)

I will be back oh so very shortly with tales from the baby shower for sister in law last weekend, including finally sharing the hand painted invitations that we made. But, in the meantime, I have a favour to ask.

I am currently putting together a present from husband and I to the baby and the parents. We have bought a few things for the baby, including the rattle/teether above*. But, baby has a lot of presents (seriously, a whole basket full of clothes and so on and baby's not even here yet. Baby's sleeping basket has 3 or 4 rabbits already). I would like to get something for baby's mum and dad too. Which is where you guys come in, specifically those of you that have had babies. Please suggest present ideas [and not, cook them dinner, or watch baby whilst it sleeps - those are great ideas but given I will be baby's Auntie, we will be doing plenty of that anyway.] I want the material shit you can't live without when you have a week old which won't sleep. (Or whatever). If no-one suggests anything good, then they'll be getting the Snotsucker I found on Amazon a while back.

Seriously, Nosefrida The Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator had the best review

"if i was a professional booger sucker...and it was my job to suck the snot out of noses 8 hours a day, i would insist on using this thing. but i would want a longer tube, and a holster. "

but they might already have one.



*baby is due in 4 weeks. I am wondering which will arrive first, baby or the rattle...
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Photo by Little Alouette

Weekend

I'm back. Briefly.

Spent a wonderful weekend on the Devon/Dorset border at my sister's hen party with my two sisters (we were all wearing mad sunglasses) and a bunch of the bride to be's friends. We drank lots of champagne, ate many cakes and sat down to a Mad Men inspired afternoon tea, laughed lots, told tall tales and ate a picnic lunch at the beach. We made A a veil which made her look like a nun at a rave and I won the hula-hooping contest.

Photos to follow soon but both my camera and my phone batteries are dead.

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Photo via East Side Bride (it reminded me of a *much* better dressed version of me and my sisters this weekend) of Cacharel Spring 2011 via Sara Williams via seesaw via The cherry blossom girl)

Pea and Mint Soup

R [by text] "Your soup was way better than mine"

M [telephoning, laughing] "what did you put in it?"

R [sadly] "peas and mint. chicken stock."

M "where did you get it?"

R "Tesco"

M [smiling] "should have gone to Waitrose"

M made fabulous pea and mint soup at the weekend. I thought it was the answer to all my evening meal dilemmas. I bought the ingredients and set to work. My kitchen is covered in green puree from the blender where I tried to pour it into bowls. And it tasted *nothing* like the soup M made. I blame Tesco. Come on Waitrose, open a supermarket down in Somerset. Or at the very least, offer home delivery.

I had thought about serving this at my sister's hen party this weekend. On the basis of my efforts this evening, no bloody way.

[image from Tesco. Of course]

EDIT. Turns out once it was chilled and seasoned, it tasted great. Who knew.