Haul!

I'v picked up a fair amount of stuff this month, so I thought I'd do a little haul. I tried to photograph them, but in the terrible weather we've been having, there is very little natural light so they came out extremely grainy and poorly lit. I found photographs online where I can to replace them, although I've had to use my own where I couldn't find one on the net.

I go to my favourite charity shop, Compton Hospice, at least once a week with my nan, and afterwards we go to their little coffee shop and have a bite to eat. I got these things from there this month:

picture source: http://www.asos.com/
knit dress, thrifted (originally Oasis) - £4

flats, thrifted (originally Faith) - £3.50

Blue dress, thrifted (originally New Look) - £1.25

picture source:  http://www.ebay.com
bag, thrifted (originally Torba) - 75p

floral coat, thrifted (originally Next) - £4

"16 Start Tracks by The Spinners" LP
Elton John, "Greatest Hits" LP
Paul McCartney, "Flowers in the Dirt" LP
Bee Gees, "Children of the World" LP
All thrifted, 50p each

I took the opportunity to do a little shopping on both the occasions that I visited Liverpool in the past three weeks. As usual, there was a lot of charity shopping, and a bit of sales shopping.

burgundy lace dress, thrifted from British Heart Foundation - £4.50
originally Affair Clothing

Navy and green bow dress, thrifted from British Heart Foundation - £4.50
originally Just Ginger

glittery gold loafers, Primark, £6

mustard yellow lace tights, lilac tights
£1 each, Topshop sale

picture source: lyst.com
socks, Topshop sale, £1

picture source: lyst.com
socks, Topshop sale, £2

I went into town with my mom and my nan this week, and we bought a few things, including bits and bobs for when I go away to university in two weeks time (!).

dress, River Island, £15

peace sign necklace, thrifted, £1.49
Buddha box, Evolution, £3
Thai Buddha, Evolution, £2
ring, thrifted, 50p
heart necklace, thrifted, 50p

Rolling Stones mug, Primark, £4

cute pencils, Poundland, £1

Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean book, thrifted, 85p

Bear doorstop, Evolution, £7.50

Surely that bear deserves some sort of award for world's cutest door stop? And lastly, a sweet writing set from a garden centre that I visited for lunch today.

Peter Rabbit writing set, Codsall and Wergs, £3.99

And that's about it! In other news, I got the grades I needed to get into university! I move into my flat in the centre of Liverpool on 8th September, which is scarily close.

Bee

x

No one, I think, is in my tree.

Do you ever feel that the passing of time is occurring so swiftly, so unnaturally? It's beginning to feel as if whole episodes of my existence are contained within the frames of a film, moving on to the next in such rapid succession that they are rendered unnoticeable.

August Recipe: Lemonade Scones

I've decided to do a monthly recipe feature, and this is the first! This recipe for Lemonade Scones is super quick and easy, but delicious all the same, especially served with jam and clotted cream.



Ingredients
350g self raising flour
60g caster sugar
125ml lemonade
125ml double cream
Pinch of salt
1tsp milk

Makes between 4 - 8 scones depending on thickness

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 220 centigrade / 430 Fahrenheit (210 centigrade/410 Fahrenheit for fan-assisted)  and line a baking tray with grease-proof  paper or a baking sheet.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt together.

3. Pour in the cream and lemonade, and mix well. A dough should begin to form. If it is too sticky, add more flour until you reach a nice consistency, which is neither too dry nor too sticky.

4. Place dough onto a clean work surface which has been lightly floured and knead.

5. When the dough is nicely combined, push it out until it is a round shape of about 2cm thickness.

6. Using a scone cutter, about 5-6cm diameter, cut out as many shapes as you can and place them on the baking tray. Combine and roll out the leftover dough out again to get as much from it as possible.

7. Lightly brush the tops of the scones with a little milk and place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until they turn a light golden brown on top.

8. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Outfit details:
Dress - Therapy at House of Fraser
Apron - thrifted
White tights - Topshop
Boots - My mom's! (Matalan?)
Headband - Primark?

Wishlist #1

Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise not to tell?

We are standing by a 

  wishing well.

                                                                                 

I've been lusting after a pair of cat eye sunglasses for ages, so when I was browsing the sales section of Topshop in Liverpool and saw this lovely pair (baby pink with glittery sides!), it was love at first sight! But alas, my purse was far too empty and as such, I went home without them.

Bee

x

Liverpool (this is not here).

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Liverpool for the third time. In typical Bee fashion, the purpose of my visit was to gauge the size of the wardrobe I'd be storing my clothes in when I attend university there in September.

Now, as a Beatles fan, I wanted to visit their hometown wearing my obsession dedication, but I didn't want to look a typical tourist in one of my many Beatles t-shirts. My solution? A not-so-subtle nod to Sgt Pepper :)

My mother and I were shown the show flat in the accommodation building that I'll be staying in, Cambridge Court. The building next door, which is also university accommodation, happens to be a former hospital and guess which iconic 20th century musician and peace activist was born there? How cool!

Image source:  http://openplaques.org/plaques/8183

I then took a little walk to LIPA, the performing arts school which is housed in the building that was once Paul and George's school, Liverpool Institute. At this point, it had gotten quite cold so I put on a cardigan and my boots had begun to hurt, so I changed into a comfy pair of Dorothy Perkins flats.

 I saw Paul's childhood home (as well as the Beatles museum, the Cavern Club exterior and Penny Lane) the first time I went to Liverpool, but I couldn't find John's, so this time I hopped on a bus, determined to find it. Coming from such a small city, I was shocked that it could take forty minutes on the bus to get somewhere still in the same city.

As silly as it sounds, seeing Mendips in person really set in the fact that John was a real person, not just a legend. I already knew it was so, of course, but I couldn't help thinking - the little boy who grew up here was murdered. It made me so sad. RIP John.

Mendips is much grey-er in colour than it looks on these photos, however. We ran out of time really quickly, so a fleeting look at Strawberry Fields was all we could manage after this. I couldn't get the whole gate because there were people in front of it, and the photograph of me is truly awful in quality, but it's the only one I have.

Tomorrow, I'm going on a day trip to Liverpool (tried and failed to think of a 'Day Tripper' joke at this point), but by myself this time. It's also results day tomorrow, which means I'll finally find out whether I've got the grades to confirm my place at LJMU or not. I don't usually worry about this kind of thing, but I absolutely bombed that exam. Wish me luck!

Bee

x

'sgt pepper' dress - primark (thrifted)

boots - new look

cardigan - select

"I've never heard of a beautiful witch before..."

For a college art project, I decided to create a stage costume for Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. It was a bit ambitious considering the short amount of time we were given and the miniscule budget, but I did it in the end! My college rented out space to display the best of students' work for the Art Show, and my dress was featured, alongside some photographs I took of my lovely friend, Micka, modelling it. Here's a little peek at our photoshoot. I even made the wand - picture me using terrifying metal cutting machines and saws in the 3D department doing this. Yikes!

In case you were wondering how the dress actually looked, I also took this full length picture. I'm pretty proud of it considering the closest I'd ever come to making my own clothes was primary school sewing club, in which we simply threaded thick wool strands through foil with holes in it! I didn't follow a pattern, just bought the material and tried to make it look as princessy as possible. Do you think Glinda would wear it?