Wardrobe Fortnight

Although I have been relatively busy, I have in the main been lazy, which is why I missed wardrobe weekly last week. Hey-ho, two for the price of one this time round!

Tuesday

 I met my bestie for dinner and theater (Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown - the musical - I don't recommend it even though I adore Tamsin Greig!) so I wore my pretty new dress.

 My girl was wearing the same asos dress but in a different print from the standard range!

Dress 24 - Asos Curve

Leggings 20 - South / Very

Boots - Primark

Wednseday

 I've had this dress for a while, but it's proper vintage and is therefore thick and synthetic so I had to wait for cold-ass weather before I could wear it!

 I like a good granny dress!

Close-up of the print. Ace.

Dress 24 - Vintage (via ebay)

Leggings 20 - Primark

Boots - Yours Clothing

Thursday

 Me? In a crop top? On a Thursday?!

 I decided to layer up and I didn't want to be too boring with all this black on, so a bit of a crossword seemed like a good idea!

Black turtle neck - cut off an old dress!

Crop top - Very (customised)

Trousers 24 - Yours

Boots - Asos

Friday

 Casual Friday.....

 .... cold Friday more like!

Jumper 20 - Primark

Jeans 22 - Dorothy Perkins

Boots - Crocs

Sunday

Out for a roast dinner with my beau!

Dress 24 - Lovedrobe

Leggings & Cardi 20 - Primark

Boots - Asos

Monday again

 You may not know it from my expression, but any day that I'm wearing this dress is a good day!

 This is one of the George Graduate collection pieces from when they actually went above a size 20. It's such a shame that they've gone backwards and don't do size 22 & 24 in their special collections :(

Dress 24 - George Graduate Collection

Boots - Crocs

Necklace - Primark

Tuesday again

 Ooohhh lordy there be some frost on the ground!

 Tuesday was day one of the 'I'm 33 now' celebrations, so I wore my newest dress!

 I think the pattern on this, and the stretchy jersey, and the long sleeves. It's SO comfy. I do so love a long sleeved jersey dress!

 It gave me a good excuse to wear my beloved swarovski meteor earrings that only come out on special occasions.

 Glittery crystals and minerals....

 On a jagged rock. Had them for years, still love them!

Dress 24 - So Fabulous via Very

Leggings 22 - Very / South

Boots - Simply Be

Wednesday

 BIRTHDAY TIME! I got a juicer and I love it! I tried smoothies for a while, but they give me terrible indigestion if I have them regularly (I guess my gut doesn't like excessive amounts of peel and pulp!) so I wanted to try juicing. So good - I can buy a shed load of fruit and veg from the market for less than the cost of a fresh juice from the shops. I made us a homemade version of Prets Green Goodness and it tasted identical.... but probably only cost us 50p each!

 It was so cold on my birthday that it gave me a good excuse to wear my snow boots.

 And I like this dress, so I wore it again - I think big chunky boots look best with short, full dresses or skinny trousers, so this was what I went for.

Cute embroidery!

Dress 24 - Asos Curve

Leggings 20 - Primark

Boots - Crocs

Thursday

 It's been ages since I wore a jumper over a shirt. I think it's because it reminds me of school, but you know what, I really liked this outfit.

I love my coated jeans from Dorothy perkins - They're very comfortable and are really generous for size 22.

 I wore my bespoke Black Heart creatives earrings for the first time this week. they're ace.

 The boots are really old.
I always wanted some Ugg cardigan boots, but they were so expensive and seemed pretty impractical so I got some Bear Paw boots from TK Maxx instead - cardigan legs, suede shoes. the soles aren't as good quality-wise but they're mega snuggly and are big enough to stretch over my huge legs!

Shirt 24 - George

Jumper 20 - Primark

Jeans 22 - Dorothy Perkins

Boots - Bear Paw

Earrings - Black Heart Creatives

Friday

 You know, I can't wait for the mornings to get lighter again, then I will be able to see when two colours match!

 This was a comfy outfit that I didn't think much about. I just wanted to be warm!

Jumper 20 - Primark

Dress 24 - Lovedrobe

Leggings XL - H&M

Boots - Crocs

Saturday

 So I went out with my fella on Saturday and nothing that I had planned to do quite worked out, so I forgot to get any outfit pictures! These shitty snaps will have to do! I'm wearing my old wrap that I've had for maybe 4 years?! I knew they'd come back in to fashion.... they're classic!

We went to Bird in Hoxton and wow we were full afterwards! I've always wanted to try chicken and waffles - some proper soul food! The waffles are spongy and full of flavour and the chicken was really really tasty. the coating was very thin and very crispy.... I have no idea what the coating is made of, but it's not like a normal better, and it's not breaded. It's really really nice and not dripping with grease like some fried chicken I've had in the past. The fries are tiny and addictive crunchy and chewy. the fried pickles are nice but we didn't finish them because there was SO much food! My tip is to order the chicken and waffle burger then split it between two, because as you can see, it's basically two burgers!

Jumper 24 - George / Barbara Hulanicki

Jeans 22 - Dorothy Perkins

Boots - Crocs

Coat 24 - Evans

Wrap - Primark

A Parsnip at Christmas

How appropriate that my 200th post is a festive and joyful one! Now the the main Christmas events are over and I'm back at the flat with lover-boy I can sit back and relax to write this post...

 There wasn't much to be said fashion-wise about my faux Christmas with my boy, but we did wear our fetching Christmas jumpers (for an hour or so before we overheated in a big way!)

 Woolly leggings and Christmas jumper - both from Primark YEARS ago!

I roasted a goose, nom nom nom! I think everything we had was home made with the exception of the bread sauce (M&S!). I made giblet gravy and of course roasting a goose provides a large amount of goose fat which is the best thing for roasting spuds & veg, and is also amazing for Yorkshire puddings. Oh and by the way, I made a panettone stuffing which I loved so much I could have just eaten on it's own! It was so easy - I blitzed a mini pannatone, then added onion, fresh sage, top quality sausage meat, smoked bacon, orange zest and a squeeze of orange juice. The sweetness of the brioche-like bread and the candied fruits in the panettone went so well with the goose - would work really well with any game-birds, particularly duck!

Typically I forgot to photograph the goose before hacking it up, but look, it's all brown and glossy like the ones they pull out of the oven on TV!

What a lucky girl I am - I got the Swan / Evans glove print top and skirt I had really wanted, along with Russell's new DVD (both of which I was expecting) but then he pulled out a little Swarovski box with a beautiful crystal necklace in the shape of a little cloud! Such a surprise and a particularly sweet one, not only because it's an unusual design, but because my boyfriend just doesn't understand why me / my sister / my mother are so fond of Swarovski jewellery. He really doesn't get it at all but he bought me something from there anyway, so this is even more special to me!

I just couldn't get a decent picture of this (it's quite small!) but here is one I found on the web. I really properly love it! It looks beautiful on but the chain is a bit tight on my fat neck, so I will have to extend it a bit to wear it comfortably. Why they have to make the chains so damn short I'll never know!

 And then it was time to go to the shire for Christmas with the family. I am finding it harder and harder each year to leave my boyfriend for Christmas, so what with that and the 7am phone call from my hysterical mother about the trains (you can always rely on the British media to turn a strong wind into a hurricane and for the trains to use any excuse for providing a shit service!) I was not in the Christmas spirit on Monday. Despite what Network rail and the news were saying, I got to my home town with absolutely no issues at all, and got to the end of the day having forgotten to take a OOTD snap. Everyone was in bed and the only full length mirror left in my folks house is in their bedroom so this is all I could manage! I wore my swan combo of course!

I woke up to this! I had fancied some chocolate on Monday night, and couldn't believe my parents didn't have any in - I'm not being a brat here, I know my Mum and Dad don't really eat much chocolate any more & I never expect a stash of cadburys when I visit throughout the year, but this is the first Christmas EVER that they haven't had a tin or box of chocolates sitting around, so I was surprised! My dad offered to go out and buy me some but I told him not to worry (so sweet!). Then my mum went and got all this! They are so amazing!

I can't even begin to tell you how evocative the smell and taste of my mums watercress soup is!

 Christmas Eve dress! It's a tradition that we have Christmas eve at my sisters place, and she cooks up some yummy grub (particularly some Nigella party food... nomnomnom!)

 Dress 22 - Anna Scholz for Simply Be

Cuff & XL 100den tights - Primark

Boots - Simply Be

I think the trick for Christmas is to wear stretchy clothing that you can sit comfortably in, so here is proof that this dress is ideal for face-stuffing - it expands as I do!

This is why I needed room to expand! I made the eggnog, and my god it's so freaking delicious! Gonna make some at new years for the BF to try. Boozy custard, a total winner!

 Then suddenly it was Christmas day!

My mum did a corking Christmas dinner as always (her sherry trifle in particular is a goddam masterpiece!) so again I needed to wear something comfy.

 You will probably remember this Bon Marche dress (now sold out) from a few months ago when I first got it. You might also recognise it from Nancy's Christmas post as she is a genius and wore the same dress! Check out her post here If you want to see the dress on a different body shape. I knew this was my Christmas day dress. It's comfy, stretchy and red velvet is the most christmassy thing ever! It's also quite classy and as my 90 year old gran was with us I wanted to wear something she would like.

 Gran really liked it and said she might keep staring at it because it was her favourite colour. My Aunt went bonkers for it too, so I guess it was a winner with everyone! I love it, and wore it comfortably all day, even after eating enough to feed a small family!

Silly girls taking pictures! Thanks to my sister for taking the snaps! I'm wearing a tight bra and some tights pulled over my belly, but no shape-wear (hence the bulges!) but I embrace my love handles, there's no hiding them frankly!

 Entertainment came mainly from this little lad.

 My nephew is so cute.

How is he not even 2 yet? He is so grown up!

4 generations of Parsnips! Merry Christmas y'all!

 Boxing day was a bit of a comedown because my sister has given me the most horrid cold (MEANIE!), but hey, I ate nuts, wore a fluffy jumper (until I overheated!) and then took my dad to the cinema.

Jumper 20 & fascinator headband - Primark

Chinos 24 - Yours clothing

LOVED the 2nd instalment of the hobbit. Smaug looked beyond amazing (I think he might be a real dragon!). Then just like that, Christmas is over! I'm not back at work until the new year though, so I'm still keeping up the holiday feeling! I hope you guys had a nice Christmas too!