TheWellingtonBoot.com giveaway winner!

Thanks to anyone who entered the $15 voucher giveaway for TheWellingtonBoot.com!

I have just selected the winner, using a random number generator, and I'm pleased to announce that the winner is comment number 14, 'Miss Congeniality'!

I will be sending an email to you shortly :).

Sadie xxx

Dungarees

For my birthday, I received a generous £30 voucher from my friends (thanks guys)! I was pondering how to spend it for about a month, thinking I should probably buy something for my impending 'year abroad' work placement, but in the end I came away with these dungarees. I've wanted a new pair of dungarees for ages - I do have an old ill-fitting chambray pair, but these ones are much smarter (very APC, don't you think?). Anyway, after buying them I wore them for 4 days straight. That is a testament to how comfy and easy-to-style they are!

I wouldn't have naturally thought to pair them with this shirt, bought at the vintage shop I mentioned previously for £4, but by some happy accident they found themselves together when I was trying on my 'purchases of the day' to show my housemates. I rather like the combination - I feel like I should be on the set of 'The Good Life', especially with my rather wild-looking morning hair and 70s satchel.

On the subject of hair... I'm definitely due for a hair-cut soon... haha. The reason it's so volumised is because I'd just blowdryed it properly, in a hope that its 'settled state' would be a little less flat than usual. My hair doesn't like to co-operate though.

This may well be the last thing I buy from a proper shop for a very long time... I've had what could be described as an 'ethical fashion epiphany' since reading Lucy Siegle's To Die For, and now feel like I should be doing more to help stop morally corrupt practices in fast fashion production. But more on that in a later post.

In other news, I have just been accepted as an official blogger for Oxfam Fashion - which is basically my dream job!! I am really really pleased and excited about the next few months! If you are interested, you will be able to find my articles here - I'd highly recommend visiting their blog for lots of vintage-related goodness!

And finally - don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Sadie xxx

P.S. I forgot to explain the backdrop to these photos: I live in a large mass of student housing, where builders think it is fine to just chuck all of their rubbish into pathways. Along with the 'classic' stolen traffic cone, I thought it would be a nice unusual setting, to indicate how unglamorous my lifestyle actually is...

Win a $15 voucher for TheWellingtonBoot.com!

Since starting my blog, I have teamed up with jewellery maker Fern Martin once a year to host a giveaway for her online shop, The Wellington Boot. This will be the third year that we've hosted the giveaway - how time flies!

This year, Fern is kindly giving away a $15 voucher to be spent in her Etsy Shop!

I'm always happy to help out independent jewellery makers, who always produce goods that are much more unique and far better made than items you can find on the highstreet. The Wellington Boot certainly ticks all the boxes for me - an online shop filled to the brim with quirky little pieces, all at very affordable prices - perfect for Christmas presents too!

Here are some of my favourite pieces...

How to enter...

Competition Now Closed

To enter, all you have to do is have a look around The Wellington Boot's Etsy Shop and comment on this blog post naming your favourite item! Please include an email address or link to your own blog, so I can contact you if you win.

The winner will be picked using a random number generator at 9pm on Sunday 30th October.

Good luck! :)

Sadie x

Out and About

On Saturday, the boy and I headed into town to have a look around the vintage shops. Digbeth in Birmingham is filled with hidden gems, and on our trip we discovered a shop we had never seen before - a great find as it was filled with extra cheap items (£4 for a blouse... yes please!). I'm a bit fed up with vintage shops charging extortionate prices, so this was a very welcome addition to my list of shopping haunts. The shop had some very pretty displays, including a row of russian dolls keeping an eye on customers from a central table, a pile of retro suitcases, and even an old Biba bag. I love finding places like this on roads I wouldn't usually wander down!

I made a few purchases in Digbeth (no doubt to be featured in a blog post soon!), then we headed to the dreaded Bullring to spend a voucher I received for my birthday. The Bullring is a complete no-go zone on a Saturday... I struggle to comprehend the amount of money that must change hands there in an hour, if the queues for the escalators alone are 15 people long. Seeking a bit of tranquility, we popped down to Selfridges for a nose around at all of the interesting food on the ground floor, as well as a quick look at the really expensive handbags next to the champagne lounge...

Anyway, on our way out, and with the enthusiasm of two excitable young children, we decided to try out a sushi bar! We were watching the conveyer belt go around for a good 15 minutes, waiting for some Vegetable Tempura to pop up, before a kind soul pointed out that you can just request for something if you ask a waitress! Dur. At least the wait allowed me to take (far too many) photos of the conveyer belt. It was very entrancing.

Note to self: brush hair before having photo taken on expensive camera!

If anyone wanted to visit the vintage shop, it can be found at 91 Allison Street, Digbeth, Birmingham. I'd highly recommend it! There is a good little vegetarian café on the same street called Warehouse Café - another favourite of mine.

Sadie xxx

P.S. Stay tuned as I have a giveaway coming up at the end of this week!

Une fille comme tant d'autres

I've been experimenting with a new photo location today! Naturally, I'm far too scared to actually take outfit photos in a public place - it takes me so long to actually compose a shot using a tripod (take a shot, have a look, move a bit, take a shot, have a look, move a bit more... I'm sure you all know the drill) that I don't think I'd be able to cope with the amount of stares I'd receive. So my new back garden will have to do! It's actually rather picturesque - the only draw back is that sometimes the leaves like to balance on your head just as the shot is taking, as is seen below.

As my UK readers will know, we've just had an 'Indian Summer' here. Although I was grateful for the heat, it isn't quite as enjoyable when you have a 2 hour accounting lecture in the hottest room on campus... cue short attention span/almost falling asleep. Despite this weather, I somehow managed to get tonsillitis and a cold, which has left my voice a few hundred octaves lower... hoping it will get better soon!

Anyway, today it was absolutely freezing cold and rainy - good old temperamental Great Britain. I decided to don my favourite vintage pinafore dress along with my River Island coat, in an outfit combination that makes me pretend to myself that I'm in a Francoise Hardy video.

In other news - I've just started a Blogger of the Week feature in my university newspaper. You may recognise my first featured blogger as Liv from whatoliviadid.com - whose blog I can highly recommend! If any of you have any suggestions of other good student bloggers, please do let me know!



Sadie xxx