Monday 9 April 2012

Far from the Madding Crowd

As I mentioned in the previous post hubby and I did three early morning photo shoots out in the Egyptian desert and here follows the first out of ten frocks that we shot, hope you enjoy :)
The Frock:
 This is a fabulous African hooded Dashiki kaftan labelled 'Twentieth Century Costumes' which on googling I found out is a company specialising in supplying period costumes for films, television and theatre. 
I bought this frock from a car boot sale here in London before we went on holiday and decided that it would be the perfect thing to bring especially as this was my very first visit to the African continent.
The Location:
We stayed at the The Gorgonia Beach Resort which is set in the stunning surroundings of the Wadi el Gemal National Park south of Marsa Alam on the Red Sea coast of Egypt.
You really get the best of both worlds here with an impressive desert landscape creating a stunning backdrop and the wonders of underwater world just a few footsteps away from your hotel room.
The Shoot:
We shot this frock twice as you can probably figure out from the two different hairstyles I'm sporting. 
Hubby and I would get up whilst the vast majority of the resort residents were still sweetly slumbering in their beds and traipse out into the desert with our gear and set up a little shoot camp at a spot that we liked.
Then we would wait for the dawn to break and once the sun hit the horizon we'd start our desert photo sesh. The sunlight got too harsh after about an hour or so and the wind picked up as the air started to heat, so you had to work fast to get everything done.
The highlight of the shoot:
Spotting a sand fox spying on us from behind a dune.
**********
There you go the first of ten frocks ;)
Much more to come but first I have to get down to some serious holiday snap sorting. 
I'm exceedingly trigger-happy when it comes to shooting with my beloved camera and I took over two thousand photos over the two weeks we were there and that is not including the three early morning photo sessions...so I've got my work cut out to put it mildly!
Back to work tomorrow, right now it feels like I've been away for ages cause of all the amazing stuff I've seen & done but I bet it won't feel like that once I return to the ol' grind!
After enjoying the serenity of the deep blue sea and the quietness of the desert, it's quite hard to return to the madding crowds of the big shitty.
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


Saturday 17 March 2012

Green is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometers.

In honour of Saint Patrick's Day I've decided to do a a post on one of my favourite colours i.e. Green!
I scoured the offerings of my fave blog goddesses and found gorgeous green outfits galore, feast your eyes on this fabulous lot...

Here's some fabulously green frockage from my own wardrobe...
...and two new garments to hit my vast amassment of vintage clobber :)
A kitschtastic Kermit green vintage 70s jumpsuit labelled 'JOSHUA TREE - California' & a sweet seafoam green 'Dollyrockers' frock...
Hope you are all having a cracking weekend!
 Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx



Sunday 4 March 2012

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


Sunday 26 February 2012

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



Sunday 5 February 2012

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


Sunday 15 January 2012

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



Sunday 1 January 2012

LETS MAKE 2012 THE YEAR OF LOVE!

Last night I had the most wonderful dream.
I dreamt that my husband and I took a trip up to the very north of Sweden.
It was wintertime and we were staying with Sami family in a traditional lavvu.
One evening the two of us went out to see the northern lights and walked out onto a frozen lake.
Above us the sky was like a velvet cloak pierced with a million points of pale light.
The soft glow from the stars illuminated the ice but when I looked down I realized that there was also a faint light coming up from deep beneath it.
The glow suddenly became more intense and seemed to be rising upwards.
All of a sudden we were lifted up and gently spun around like feathers caught by a twist of warm air.
We remained weightless, floating above the ice as it started breaking underneath us.
Through the ice an intense strobe of luminescent light broke free like a missile of energy rocketing straight out into the night sky.
From this extraordinary column of light a being released itself and came towards us.
It looked like the dancing flame of a candle & it radiated positive energy, warmth, love, hope, health & happiness.
The being came up close, spread out and entirely enveloped us; it felt like being immersed in healing warm water, like momentarily being back in the wombs of our mothers, safe and complete.
For a moment we felt the pulse of all creation & witnessed time without end.
Then all of a sudden the being came away and we found ourselves standing by the side of the lake.
The beam of light was still flowing up towards the sky but now we could see that it was a stream of souls coming from deep within the earth, travelling out into space.
Then the beam of light ceased but in the place where it had been pointing towards in the sky was now a bright star.
The hole in the lake rapidly closed over & when we walked out and stood where we had previously been standing, all was as it had been before.
The only evidence of what had taken place was the bright new star shining above us.
A star made from everlasting life energy.
Needless to say after such a beautiful dream I couldn't help awaking feeling tremendously joyful with a heart brimming of hope that 2012 will be the year of compassionate and positive changes in the world.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx