Bicycles, Rupert Bear, the seaside, and straw hats

Today has involved one of my most favourite mornings - a trip to the town where we used to live in order to explore my favourite second hand book shop, charity shops, and garden centre. My hair has just grown enough to allow me to get my fringe back, so I am happily wearing my new vintage-style hats at every opportunity. Something about this one makes people smile at me and small girls say hello.

I went all out in the feeling girly and young again fashion stakes with matching ankle socks, and the universe responded by unearthing two great childrens' books for me and a stripy, heart print jumper for £3. I had to have the Rupert bear book as soon as I saw the Victorian-style clothes on the bears - and all the talk of seaside and ice creams has made me very impatient for our trip to Cornwall!

As you can see, my cat was determined to take part in operations today! Meet Freckles - she's 12, and was adopted by me two years ago. She is a real sweetie!

Skirt and hat (£2!) from Primark, ankle socks and shoes from New Look, pearls from a charity shop.

Where the horses run free

We took a day trip down the busy roads to a place where the horses ran free and green shady alleys were crowded with hundreds of butterflies. We heard the fast thump of deer hooves as we startled one lying just on the other side of a line of trees. We wandered under the vibrant green canopies and felt we could nearly see another world of forest dwellers and faes. I fell in love with purple heather and the giant oak tree. We ate lunch at the site of an old royal hunting lodge and saw no one else all day. It was enough to dream of for months.

Chumming it with Jeeves

Things I wish I could afford to buy this week in lovely primary colours:

Yellow bag from ASOS - great colour, this would make an outfit all on its own.

Black and white brogues from Topshop; I am searching for the perfect brogues, and I can't find any I like as much as these! Might just have to shell out for them...

Collar dress. Perfection. I love an unusual design, and this is just great. Cute, different, so simple...

Miss Selfridge playsuit. Can't justify £40 on this, but it's difficult to resist. I love the contrast of a cute playsuit with a formal retro design.

Scissor, rock, paper necklace from Galibardy: top prize for uniqueness.

Fedora hat - great colour and a bargain from New Look!

If only I could decide what I want most. Trouble is, they all look so good together. I could pretend to be a 20s girl all day in these...

Dreaming...

Why, oh why, do I not live here? I think I might never go out. I think I could daydream endlessly until that book I always wanted to write emerged.

From Kitschy Living.

July was a lovely year.

My new favourite shoes - I had a lust going on for these ever since they first came out, which I managed to resist on the grounds that I didn't need another pair of high heels which, to be honest, aren't the most appropriate footwear for climbing up six flights of stairs with heavy bags full of books in the University library, which is one of my most frequent past times. But... £10 in the sale! Who could say no to such a lovely mischievous green? Feels like my feet are winking at me.

Also. I have the black flared dress in a similar shape to this from Zara, and love it, so I was very excited to find this very similar but much cheaper one in stripes - always a favourite - at Missguided. Happiness.

We're all mad here.

I love this t shirt - a bargain in the sale at Orphans Arms, who are my favourite unusual-slogan quoting outfit, because their clothes contain lots of literary allusions that I love - and definitely think there should be more of! Even better, I got this one in the sale, and the skirt was an H&M buy from Ebay that was only a few pound. So a brilliant way to dream of chasing white rabbits for next to nothing. And that's all I've been doing today - reading, dreaming, clearing out old things, rediscovering old books. Perfect. Now time for a cup of tea to go with that teapot...

Ice and fireworks

Now, it's an ironic fact about my brain that in the dead of winter I'm always complaining that I haven't seen sun for months, and in the summer I long for huge jumpers, autumn frosts, chestnuts, scarves, and curling up on the sofa with my DVD of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (that lovely series with Gemma Arterton that was on the TV a few years ago).

So, the previews of the autumn/winter fashions that are emerging have got me longing for burgundy wool jumpers, purple tweed pencil skirts, scarves, enormous coats, mustard coloured tights, and frozen fingertips far too impatiently. It is lovely to see some colour on the winter runway...

These photos are from Topshop and Primark - I usually hate to jump on the Topshop bandwagon, as I usually don't see what all the fuss is about and generally think that the clothes are overpriced because of the label. Having said that, I might make an exception for those silver shoes and that purple hat. But as Primark's styles look like a country secretary on acid too, I have high hopes for the season in general! Think I might need to start saving now - sigh...

I'm back, after a crazy spring, you'll have noticed. Hope to do a lot more with this blog now. I missed it...