In seach of the Kingdom of Kush

Holiday frocks number five & six make a delightful duo...

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The Frocks:

This pair of vintage frock beauties were both eBay buys. 

The green one I bagged last year and the fuchsia one I bid home in back January.

I was beside myself with glee to find one in a different colourway.

The dresses are labelled 'Richard Shops' which was a British high street staple brand back in the 60s & through to the 90s.

I reckon this pair are from the 70s just like me, who knows maybe they were the "must have" frock of the year I was born?!

Although the print is sublime and the colours have more zest than a barrow load of Jamaican limes, the thing that really makes the dress is the fabulous three tier skirt, I blooming well love it!

The First Session:

We were finding it quite hard to shot these two frocks on the first day cause the wind was playing silly buggers with the tiers of the skirt and exposing the plain white lining underneath.

The Second Session:

On the second morning we went to a different spot that was a bit more shielded from the wind.

I waxed lyrical about how I thought it looked like the surface of another planet but hubby soon brought me back down to earth by proclaiming that it reminded him of a quarry.

The sand was still a bit damp from the slightly nippy desert night and the sun was yet to rise properly so the pics didn't come out as "warm" as the ones from the first shoot did but I still like them...

poetic planet or sorry quarry, no matter ;)

The Truth Will Out:

I brought a lot of clobber with me this time cause I knew that we weren't moving halfway through the holiday as we have done on previous magical mystery tours.

 What can I say, I love having a plethora of frock options at my disposal. 

Although I did spent most of the day either in a bikini or my 3mm Mares wetsuit I did push the boat out at night when we went for dinner and drinks.

The only frock that didn't get an evening outing was the fuchsia pink one of these two.

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Frock seven fell from maxi dress heaven...up next!

Hope you are enjoying my little holiday wardrobe bloggy show and tell ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Back in Blighty!

This years magical mystery tour took us to Egypt.

Loads of snorkelling & scuba diving in the Red Sea, desert walks and early morning photo sessions in the Wadi el Gemal national park, a visit to Luxor and a boat ride on The Nile.

The holiday highlights for me was swimming with a humongous Napoleon fish & seeing dolphins at the Sataya reef and also getting to swim with turtles and a massive eagle ray at the resort reef.

It's been a fortnight jampacked with excitement, adventure and really wild things ;)

Hubby and I traipsed out into the desert in the early morning hours on three occassions to watch the sunrise and to take some photos of the ten fabulous frocks that I had brought with me, more of that to be featured on the blog very soon.

Happy Easter to you all :)
Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Bringing you boot sale bounty, whatever the weather!

It's been a long day for me as I was up with the lark to go hunting for treasure.

When I looked out the window this morning I have to admit that I was rather doubtful as to wheather or not it would be worth my while but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.

The seller numbers always dwindle dramatically when the weather is crap but sometimes it's nice to have a more manageable number of stalls to peruse.

In the summertime when the fair-weather booters are all out in force this particular boot sale can be quite daunting and you are usually totally shaggard from rummaging after only going round half of it.

 The car boot sale season is still in its winter lull but come next month it should start getting much busier.

One of the sellers decided she'd had enough and left a whole heap of damp shoes behind.

Thankfully it wasn't pouring down but it did drizzle ceaselessly. 

Everything was a bit damp but that doesn't bother me cause I mostly buy clothes & fabrics that are washed when I get home anyway.

The HARDCORE car booters...they'll rummage to the bitter end, whatever the weather!

So what did I come away with?

Well, well...some pretty neat stuff actually!

A couple of decorative brass dishes, an awesome vintage 70s kermit green jumpsuit, a vintage Delroy Fabrics catalogue, a vintage 60s psychedelic print mini dress, a pair of vintage 70s flared jeans, vintage 80s leather boots, an African print shirt & some African print fabric.

I'm very happy with my scores, especially the funky-ass jumpsuit ;)

Two more things to share before I sign off for this time, namely another outfit...

DVF floral silk blouse, Vintage 70s dress labelled 'St Honore', Crushed velvet booties, DIYed necklace & Indian earrings

I got this lovely Diane von Furstenberg silk blouse from last weeks car boot sale and the quirky cut dress I bought from my vintage dealer friend.

Last but by no means least, look what I got through the post yesterday...

My "diving license" certification card, yay!

All I need now is a holiday to somewhere warm that has reefs & fish in abundance ;)

Have a great start to the new week peeps.

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Underwater Love

I've not been very active on the blogging front for a bit cause I've been learning how to dive.

Hubby and I decided to give ourselves a PADI open water diver course for Christmas and we booked it for early February. 

Two weekends worth of classroom time, confined water dives in a pool and finally the qualifying open water dives which took place at Wraysbury lake last weekend.

I am very proud to declare that both hubby and I are now qualified PADI open water divers, which means that next time we go on holiday we can hook up with all those cool peeps in wetsuits and go diving...HUZZAH!

We fell in love with the underwater world during our snorkelling excursions in Thailand the year before last and have been talking about progressing to diving ever since, it just felt like the natural thing to do.

I've already scored a "new" wetsuit, fins & mask on eBay, the actual SCUBA diving gear is rather expensive so that will have to be hired until we can afford to splash out.

 I can't wait until our next magical mystery tour i.e. holiday abroad...

This is what started it all off, snorkelling in Thailand 2010...

This was me last weekend at a rather chilly Wraysbury lake doing the 

'tired diver tow'...

I think that I was probably more tired  than Sergey ;)

All the peeps at Dive Wimbledon were fantastic, especially Anton our brilliant instructor...

If it wasn't for AWESOME Anton's patience of a saint and steadfast encouragement I don't think I would have managed it through last weekend. 

You really couldn't ask for a better instructor, the dude deserves a medal.

You only really notice the sheer weight of your SCUBA kit when you get back up on "dry" land.

I was loaded up with a ten kilo weight belt plus all the other kit, my knees weren't loving it to put it politely.

To willingly descend into +4°C English lake water in the middle of winter certainly isn't everybody's idea of fun but if I was asked to do it again (as crazy as it may sound) I'd do it at the drop of a laden weight belt!

However I have a sneaky suspicion that I'll like diving in tropical waters even more.

Hope eveyone has had a splendid Saturday!

I'm off to the car boot sale later, first one in weeks ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I woke up early this morning to go for a walk with my camera.

I wanted to take a few pics of the beautiful winter wonderland that we've been treated to before the park got mobbed with pissing dogs & kiddies intent on scraping the ground bare making snowmen.

I love snow, it's magical!

It feels like you've just stepped out of the back of the wardrobe and straight into Narnia...

When I returned back home I was greeted by a snowman outside our house...

I was also wildly excited to spot a pretty little robin on the balcony, yay!

I wore my lovely Afghan dress for the first time today...

Traditional Afghani dress (eBay), Traditional Afghani hat (market), Tecnica furry boots (eBay)

By the way if you happen to like my boots I spotted two pairs going for a song on eBay.

There's a small catch though, the seller is offering 'pick up only ' in the Manchester area but if you happen to live there and take a size 4 or 4,5 in boots then you could be bagging yourself a bargain tomorrow afternoon.

Clicking here & here will take you to the auctions.

I bought my pair on eBay a few years ago, they are supremely comfy & warm.

Hope everyone has had a fun filled weekend :)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Frocktasia by the sea

Yesterday hubby and I took a trip to the seaside...

Eastbourne to be more precise :)

The sea air was bracing to say the least so a few people stopped and had a good old gawp whilst these pics were taken ;)

I'm Swedish so I'm used to sub zero temperatures...

I'm a hard-ass viking bint!

Vintage 50s Margot Paynton lurex flocked dress, Indian silk choli top, block & lace layered tights, vintage 80s boots, jet sugarbead hipster belt worn as necklace, DIYed earrings, PAK cosmetics wig and a plethora of bangles.

We had a quick stroll on the pier, when I spotted this...

STRICTLY FORBIDDEN...FORSMIDDEN!

I just had to jump off the pier after seeing that ;)

Thankfully I had a very soft landing...I landed on my arse!

After my impromtu parkour off the pier escapade we went for chips & pickled onions.

I only ever eat chips when I'm by the seaside.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that chips taste far better when your by the sea?!

This winged chip predator was scoping us out as we munched away...

 It was obvious that he meant business so we shared our feast with him to avoid being covered in bird rump spillage.

 

A fabulously frolicksome evening followed a wonderful day...

...we celebrated our friend & X-bandmates big birthday.

Huzzah, he's an old frood now...I'm next ;)

Hope all you fabulous peeps have had an awesome weekend too ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

The Frocktasia Christmas Special

Hope you've all had a wonderful & chilled out Christmas!

Hubby & I spent a few days over in Sweden with my folks and it was absolutely fabulous.

My mum cooked up a storm and we all had several "food hangovers" from stuffing ourselves like little pot bellied piglets...oh, the joy of not giving a toss of how many calories one has consumed in one sitting!

Mum has been studying vegan cookbooks all year and managed to pull off some spendiferous dishes for me, I especially loved the meatless Swedish Christmas "ham" and fishless pickled "herring"...yum!

When we arrived it was snowing but the weather was too mild for the snow to stay put.

We squeezed in a trip to Myrorna where I was thrilled to find a pair of  vintage 70s beak boots. 

I've been on the hunt for a pair of these for years and my heart almost stopped when I spotted the shop assistant putting these out on the shelf. 

She said that they very rarely get them in nowadays and when they do they usually get snapped up very quickly, LUCKY ME!

I was so chuffed with my score that I had to put them on straightaway, they are just perfect.

I was also chuffed to bits will all the wonderful Christmas pressies that I received this year. 

Dad had bought me a stunning traditional Qatari dress when he was in Doha a while back and mum had bought a whole collection of African jewellery on Tradera for me.

I also got some awesome vintage magazines from the 1930s, jam packed with inspirational photos & drawings.

However the best present of all, was spending a few wonderful days with the people that we love!

Hubby & Julbocken (the Christmas goat) in Orebro.

Me, happy as a pig in mud! Vintage shopping at Myrorna in Orebro & finally scoring a pair of beak boots...YAY!

Festive wreath, hand made by my dad.

Amazing Christmas spread, lovingly cooked by mum!

This years Christmas frock! A fabulous vintage 1950s extravaganza ;)

Pressies & sweets galore!

I also came across a very tasty Scottish non-alcoholic beer called 'Nanny State'.

It simply wouldn't be Christmas without Kott-tomten (pinecone-santa).

The vintage magazines my folks gave me.

We've been back home for a couple of days now and I'm gearing up for a January of hardcore eBaying...

the 'TO BE LISTED' pile has officially reached hazardous heights!

Take care peeps...lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx