I want - A pretty floral tea dress

Ok, so on a shopping ban means I can look, but cannot buy! Bugger!

Plus it means I am also sorting my wardrobe. I have come to realise that I always admire people who have pretty little simple tea dresses but I in fact don't own many (or possible even any!)

So this week I want a pretty floral tea dress please!

I seriously want this dress from the Matalan Spring 2011 lookbook. It's not on sale yet so I don't know the price but I know Matalan so bet it will be between £16 and £20 like usual.

I think this Bardot Print Tie Back Dress £45 is really sweet. The flower pattern isn't too over powering and the cinched waist would be really flattering.

I also like this Oasis Rose Print Dress £50. Again the floral pattern is subtle as it's nice and small, plus I like the sweet ruffle sleeve.

Obviously I can't buy one of these but I can dream (or if anyone fancies sending me I would be forever greatful! lol)

Daisymay X

Sunday Inspiration

This week my inspiration started as Dance and movement after seeing all the trailers for Black Swan (which look amazing) and watching Got to Dance on TV.

But first check out this awesome little video from the 2 lead dancers in Riverdance

Amazing isn't it! These guys have skills!

So onto the inspirational shots (I apologise in advance for this being an image heavy post). As I said it all started as Dance and Movement and I found this amazing photographer called Jan Masny who has done some brilliant shots with dancers, see all his work here: Jan Masny Photography

But then I found these stunning photos of his

And I instantly remembered this 'Vogue Patterns' set by Steven Meisel! (Vogue Italia 2007)

So this is a double inspirational post, both Dance and Pattern

Do you like? Which is your fav photo?

Daisymay X

Recipe Post -Potato and Vegetable Bake

I'm hoping now that I am back blogging and started to get my time management and writing stuff in order that I will be able to post more recipe posts too. (generally I hope to be able to post more of everything, not much to ask, lol) But there is a specific reason behind this one. Down in Cardiff (and in other places across the UK) the co-op are helping schools and community groups raise money and awareness of healthy eating by providing fruit and veg bags for sale to the community. I am now buying bags weekly from a local school in the hope of eating more healthily and cooking more fresh foods (as well as being less wasteful and more ecologically friendly). So every week I will be looking for and cooking a new veg based dish to use up the items I have in the bags, which will be different every week depending on the season.

So this week I decided to try a recipe out of the Greek Cooking book I had for christmas. I didn't have any meat in the house and didn't want to go out for extra ingredients so found a Courgette and Potato Bake recipe that I figured I could adapt to use the veg I had.

Here is the original recipe: (it feeds 4 as main course or 6 as a side dish)

1.5lb courgette

1lb potatoes

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 large pepper

400g can chopped tomatoes

150ml virgin olive oil

150ml hot water

1 tsp oregano

3 tbsp fresh parsley

salt and pepper

I altered it slightly (ok a fair bit) and decided to cut the recipe down to feed 2 (or just me)

So I used:

2 potatoes

half and onion

half a pepper

1 celery stick

1 garlic clove

6 mushrooms

half a tin of chopped tomatoes

Chopped mixed herbs

50ml water

50ml oil

It's a super easy meal to make.

• Pre-heat oven to 190 C/ 375 F/Gas 5
• Chop all the veg and place them in a overproof dish. Add the water, oil, herbs and chopped tomatoes and mix it all up well.
• Place in the oven for 30 minutes
• Remove from oven and add a bit more water and stir it all well to stop veg sticking to the pan (my potatoes did just a little) Return to oven for another 45mins (recipe said an hour but mine was done in 45mins)
• Remove and serve either as a dish on it's own with some salad or as a side dish.

It was really yummy, super easy and very healthy - plus cheap!

I totally loved it and did manage to eat the whole bowl for my dinner

Do you have any great veg recipes I can try out? I really want to experiment more with my food this year and these bags are giving me the perfect opportunity to.

Daisymay X

Friend Friday: Outfit Selection

Hello ladies, as I am back blogging I thought I should get back to doing my Friend Friday posts too. So this weeks topic is how we chose our outfits. Sadly I feel my answers for this will not be very interesting as I am a wing-it kinda dresser most of the time, but here they are for you anyway.

1. How do you determine what you will wear that day?

Like I have said above, I am very much a wing-it type of dresser. It obviously depends on what I am going to be doing that day (and what the weather is like) but I usually just pull on the first item I feel like then match the rest of the outfit to that. Now and again I will know if I want to try style a specific item, maybe if it's new or something, And sometimes if I know me and Jon are going to do a photo shoot then I may actually think about what I am going to wear. But 90% of the time it's just a what ever goes outfit.

2. Do you plan outfits out in advance for a whole week, month,
weekend?

Nope! Unless I am going home for a few days then I may actually plan a few outfits so I know I have something to wear each day. But not normally.

3. Do you have any specific way of tracking outfits and items already
worn so you don't repeat?

Well if you check on my link bar up top you will find a link for 'The Wardrobe'. On there I have listed all the items I have worn on the blog so far and each item links to the outfits including that item, so I know (and you know) how I have previously worn the item. But very soon Jon is installing a new programme on my laptop that I am getting very excited about. It allows me to photograph all my items and sort them into sections, then drag them onto screen and build outfits and save combinations, hehe, fun! So maybe when I get that I will start organising outfits in advance and actually thinking about my styling a bit more.

4. How do you discover new combinations of items in your closet?
(Trial try-ons? Hanging items together?)

I just try things out. I feel I have a decent idea most of the time about what works with what in my wardrobe, so I can usually match outfits fairly easily. But occasionally I might feel like trying out something new so will just put it all on and if it does than great and if not I change an item. I do occasionally hang items together if I am trying to work an outfit out for something in specific (like my interview this week) but trying things on is always better because of how clothes hang or layer together, which you don't really see on hangers.

5. To streamline the process for 2011 what is one new thing you can do
to cut down your dressing time?

Well planning maybe one of them but I am organising my wardrobe so at least I know where to find things, that I think is one of the main things that slow down my dressing time. I sometimes know exactly what top I want to wear that day but can't find it, due to my overflowing draws and non-existend organisation. Once I have gone through all my clothes (which I intend to do over the next few weeks) I think I will be able to dress it little easier and experiment a little more as I will know exactly what I have (especially wit my new Dress Assistant programme!!).

So now you can see why I didn't think my answers would be very interesting, lol! Did you find them interesting or not (truthfully)? How do you decide what to wear? Are you one of the mega organised dressers out there? Does anyone else have Dress Assistant yet? Or any similar programme?

To see all the other FBFF answers just click here

Daisymay X