Saturday 6 November 2010

Pondering Investments...

In our house, one thing that often comes up is whether saving or spending is a better idea... While I like saving, and do so regularly, my best friend is a spend-now-save-later type who doesn't always understand why I like to save a third of my (not substantial) monthly income rather than spending it on going out and items that I have a momentary yen for.

I may be a fashion blogger, with a wardrobe obsession that many think must equate to a large number of clothes, but really, I don't spend on new things very often. I tend to enjoy "rediscovering" my own wardrobe... And my mother's wardrobe... And my grandmother's wardrobe...

I tend to spurt buy charity shop bits and pieces when I'm feeling in the mood for the buyer's high, but my internet shopping habit often leads to spending more on returning items than those I keep! My boyfriend finds this slightly odd, but - thank goodness - puts up with it...

My style is more dependent on treating life like one play after another that requires sets of costumes, than on fashion trends - though I do enjoy fashion week's spectacles, and take note and inspiration from the stories they tell and the ways other people interpret them... 


I am also an inveterate magazine buyer, though once again, it's the stories spun, and the interplay of colour and light an texture that attract me, not the "current"ness of an outfit. Not that being fashionable is something I look down on. On the contrary, I wish I could make my costuming a little more directional sometimes! ;]

For me to actually buy something new, physically in person, it is usually presaged by at least a week, up to a couple of months, of musing and mulling over any gap in my wardrobe and debating quite how much I love, and would wear, an instant style crush... Case in point: Sophie Hulme for ASOS Pigeon cardigan:

Image 1 of Sophie Hulme for ASOS Pigeon Cardigan

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping when I'm in the mood, but I do tend to go through quite a guilt complex process with buying things for my wardrobe. It often equates to it being easier to not buy something than go through the annoyance of beating myself up for it after and have to spend time returning a week or so later.

Odd huh.

However, at the moment, I'm battling with a conundrum. Do I save my savings from the past couple of months, or do I spend on one thing I've been yearning for for a while now...

A Mulberry Bayswater bag, in yummy chocolate brown, that will enable me to abandon the less-than-chic tote bags I relied on throughout university and that still do for day-to-day when a smaller handbag just isn't practical...

 

I've been thinking about it for ages, and I think that after Christmas, I might just about be ready to take the plunge. But is it worth the uncomfortable feeling I'll get having spent the money I'd been putting aside for my own security?

What do you guys think?

Xxxc

Sunday 31 October 2010

Weekend of Weekends

Evening!

So I'm currently relaxing in bed after a lovely Sunday, waiting for my boyfriend to realise it's bedtime... =D I have to get up at 7am these days, so it's getting ready for bed-time at half ten. Who'd'a'thunk-it?!?!

What have you guys been up to this weekend?

I managed to make a trip back to London on Friday night with Boy, and had a lovely, relaxing time there, 'til we headed back this afternoon. My parents are in Jamaica for two weeks, so I had promised to pop back and visit the cat, and dragged Boy along so he could come with me to have lunch with my Godfather...

So, after a late night on Friday, we got up early on Saturday to head to Blackheath for lunch at Cafe Rouge, which had a excellent "gluten free" menu (yay Celiac), and were happy to also remove any traces of potato and lactose from my food! (My stomach basically hates me...) It was a lovely meal, and two of my favourite people got on very well!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Blackheath Gallery and at the funfair on the Heath. Boy won me a big cuddly leopard at the shooting range (and got rather a fan club of gun obsessed, small boys). 

Then we headed to the Southbank for dinner and an amazing film at the BFI - It Happened One Night... 1934, Clark Gable falling in love with Claudette Colbert. Amaze!!!

I particularly loved the fact that they fell in love with each others' brains as well as being attracted to each other... Oh, for that quality in a mainstream rom com of this decade! 

Colbert wore some absolutely gorgeous clothes, particularly an awesome white silk pyjama jumpsuit in the first scene... And then she promptly dives into the sea in it to escape her father! =D I can't find an image of it via google though, so I'll have to give you one of her in his pyjamas instead!!! Images from http://www.matttrailer.com/it_happened_one_night_1934


I've never been a particular fan of thirties fashion, but I'm kinda rethinking that view now... I mean, how cute is her hat?!?!


Brilliant film. AND Boy enjoyed it as much as I did!

So after that, we had a lazy Sunday morning, which involved not getting up 'til gone 11, eating a massive brunch, and then driving back to Cambridge - after saying a tearful goodbye to the cat!

The rest of the day has been spent watching Glee, reading Vogue and painting my nails... Ah bliss. Oh, and I cooked dinner and did the laundry. Hmmmm. I'm an adult now. How dull! ;] 

Work tomorrow!!! G'night!

Xxxc