Hello... again. I've missed you.

Oh dear. I have been most neglectful of my blog of late. My 'vintage journey' has evolved since the last time I posted here and I feel my blog needs to evolve with it. My writing a post everyday was great but I think a tad optimistic especially given I'm a Mum to two very demanding little boys! I also think my posts were very rambly and unstructured and where I was focussing on writing something, anything, everyday I think the quality of the posts were sub par. I have a tendency to go on and on - 'verbose' is definitely my writing style. So, I really need to write something and then spend more time carefully editing & structuring before posting it.

Something I also struggled with was the lack of feedback and interaction through my blog. I know people were reading it because you have stats to look at but there were no comments etc so it was a little demoralising. It's hard to know if you're actually writing anything that people want to read. I didn't start it entirely with that goal in mind but of course I would be lying if I said I was happy that no one read it at all... what's the point in blogging then?! I think that's why all my attention has been spent on Instagram - it's an instant response. A lot of work goes into an outfit (some days more than others) and it's so much quicker to post it on there and then continue on with your everyday stuff whilst still getting that interaction with like minded gals.

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Aug 6, 2016 at 8:11am PDT

I've 'virtually' met a lot of these like minded ladies and have recently joined a closed group on Facebook called 'Yesterday' Gals.' For the most part the 'vintage' world is a very friendly, body positive, female affirming sort of community. There are of course negatives - we're human after all. Some people are very judgy and there is some snobbery especially in regards to vintage repro versus genuine vintage. There's also some people who are very strongly opinionated about the dos and don'ts. My personal opinion is that this sense of right and wrong is bollocks. I dress this way because I love it and it's great if others appreciate it but if people don't like it or have negative opinions on how or what I've done then that's their problem. Don't make it mine!

And of course, there's the walking around my home town dressed this way... the looks are one thing but it's the comments i.e "what the fuck" being the most recent utterance. Cheers dude, you too. I also experienced a very negative experience with a drunk moron, see below Insta post on it. In spite of these things, or maybe because of them, my confidence is growing. Where once I might have stripped off everything before leaving the house (not naked obvs, haha) I now generally think 'fuck it.' Actually, often now I don't even think that much of it at all. Depends what sort of day I'm having though.

To the middle aged, bald, beer bellied man with a bad case of the David Dickinson tan - you have a real nerve shouting & swearing at me in the street. Yes I have green hair. And yes you might be showing off to your equally disgusting mate & have possibly just stumbled from a pub somewhere (on a Monday lunchtime I might add)... But does that give you the right to loudly ridicule me in the street? To be rude & obnoxious to a small, not even 5ft woman pushing her two sleeping children home from town? Did it make you feel good about yourself to publicly abuse a stranger, a woman, a mum who did absolutely nothing to you in the first place? And yes, I swore back. I'm sure I could have ignored you or behaved in a more dignified manner but people like you don't understand that. And because fuck you. I'll wear what I want & I'll colour my hair any damn fucking colour I want. I don't do it for you and I don't need to hear if you like it or not you arrogant, self entitled arse. Go fuck yourself sideways. #effyourbeautystandards #mum #mumstyle #greenhair #iwillwearwhatilike #iwilldyemyhair #fuckyou #angryrant #whoaskedyou

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Aug 1, 2016 at 6:34am PDT

There are also a world of events out there that I didn't know about! The Rockabilly Rave, Twinwood, Rhythm Riot... I want to try them all. There's a 40s weekender coming up at Chatham Dockyards which is actually fairly local to me so I'm thinking that might be the perfect opportunity to pop my vintage event cherry. Just need to find people to go with me and work out what I do with the kids - I actually think it would be a great event to take them to. Just need to convince the husband. I also think my sister would love it. Actually, I would love to dress her up too like when we were kids, haha.

So, in order to reinvigorate this blog I've come up with a few new ground rules:

1. I've decided to try writing a post once a week (possibly two depending on what material I have and how much time I actually get). I want to aim for quality over quantity.
2. Better quality photos. I am guilty of shooting everything with my iphone. It's ok for instagram but I would like to practice and improve my photography with my much loved but ever so neglected Nikon.
3. Get my arse out of the house. I really think it's important to have posts that are more than me being a shut in! It needs to be less diary like and full of more interesting pieces... I'm sure no one wants to read about how I'm having a crap day.

Vintage is for life, not just for Summer. 

Originally this blog was about me going for it over the Summer months before my maternity leave was up. But, due to fortuitous circumstances I'm not going back to the world of work as soon as originally planned. In fact, I'm not going back to my corporate job at all so the future is wide open. Scary but exciting.

I've got plenty of ideas for posts so I just need to get on with it now.

Here's to a hopefully new and improved blog. And an exciting new chapter in my life.

Thanks for reading.

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Colour me Happy & a charity shop hoak

My outfit yesterday was an exercise in brightening myself up on the outside in the hope it would do the same for my mood. And do you know what? It actually worked.

I have a lovely bright red cardigan from Lindy Bop called 'Hartley' which has cute little heart shaped buttons and a heart pattern all over it. I teamed it with some cropped tight black trousers and a black vest underneath to avoid exposing my bare midriff to the world. I've been giving my skin a little bit of a rest from the foundations so just used a dusting of powder. I have been loving my new Benefit eyebrow cream gel as I actually think I look like I have groomed eyebrows for once so that's been going on everyday. To match the vibrant red top I wore my Makeup Revolution lippy in 'Dare' which went really well with it I thought.

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Jun 30, 2016 at 5:02am PDT

I didn't bother much with my hair - just caught it back at the sides with a couple of small black barrettes. It was a mess but I didn't really mind and I wore some small black round studs I've had in my jewellery box forever. And that was that!

I decided to finally go into town and have a look around the big Sue Ryder charity shop to see what vintage goodies I might be able to find. I've been meaning to go for a while but it's hard to find the time - also I am never alone! I brought my youngest son along in his pushchair whilst the eldest was in nursery. Because I had the pushchair (it's a Baby Jogger City Select which is WIDE) I only ventured into this shop as I just knew I would probably never get in and around any smaller charity stores. I did attempt to go to into this cool little shop called 'Trash or Treasure' on my way back out of the town but the pushchair is just too enormous. I managed to have a quick shufty in the jewellery cases but I must go back on my own and have a proper look around.

My mission was to find brooches as it seems to be the one item I'm missing from my vintage get up. Sadly, I failed on this front but I did find a pair of sherry glasses (I'm such an old lady - I love a drop of Harvey's Bristol Cream) for £1.50, a vintage 70s (I think) Lahmy scarf for £2 and a couple of mother of pearl bangles. There was a straw shopper bag in the window which I didn't buy but I can't stop thinking about it so I might have to go back for it.

They've got some fab vintage furniture in there too - there was a fantastic vanity table just inside the door. If only I had the room for it!! They also had one of those old fashioned hood dryers - again, if only I had the space.

I basically need to go back by myself and have a good hoak (as the Ulster lot say). My Granny has always been one for a good poke around a charity shop and I've never seen the appeal until now. And this has got to be cheaper than my online shopping habit, haha. My goal is to do a charity shop trawl around as many of the stores in Maidstone as I can by myself and see what and where have the best vintage goodies. Do some 'thrifting' as I've noticed the Americans call it.

I 'christened' one of my glasses before dinner. It's actually so silly how happy this made me, haha.

Thanks for reading.

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Tea dress and a crisis of confidence

I've been feeling a bit low the last few days and it's been a struggle to get up the motivation to dress up etc. I've also been finding it hard to leave the house. Not sure why I get bouts of this but it does happen now and again. It's really frustrating. I did have a phone call with HR at the beginning of the week which I was very nervous about and which I think might have triggered this. Although the call itself was not particularly scary it does have ramifications in my upcoming work life. I won't know anything for sure until the end of this week apparently but having it hanging over me does create a bit of a cloud.

I did nothing of note yesterday and so there are no outfits or anything to blog about. However, the day before I did manage to cobble something together so here it is!

I originally did my hair like the below -  a suicide roll, old flower slide and a polka dot scarf:

However, I took this all out as was feeling really uninspired and was panicking about going outside with it. Seriously! I feel stupid writing that but there you go.

So, instead I tied my hair into a ponytail, then added a black chiffon scarf and I used my faberoo Babyliss Perfect Curl to curl it.

For some reason I felt better with my hair like this as it's not an exact style I've done before and it felt quite cute and Rockabilly.

I wore an old Dorothy Perkins teal tea dress that I bought eons ago in BHS. I have a lovely pale baby blue cropped cardigan from New Look that looked well with the dress and, as my feet are still recovering from my Miss L Fire sandals, I wore some comfy but ugly slip on black plimsolls.

I managed to drag myself and baby up to the post office in this. Dressing up can be really self affirming some days and other days it can make me feel very self conscious. I really enjoy it but there's those days when the voices crowd me a bit and I start second guessing everything. Sorry, this must be really boring to read!

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Jun 28, 2016 at 6:13am PDT

I also used my new Benefit 'They're real; push up gel eyeliner' in beyond black and some of their new brow products ( they have a new range and now have 9 different products for girls and their brows). I will blog about them another time.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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Bumper bangs or Pompadour

I decided to give this look ago as it's a classic Rockabilly style. I've noticed on Instagram that it's called 'Bumper Bangs' but in my Vintage Styling book (by Lauren Rennells) this look is called a Pompadour.

First thing I have to say on the subject is that it is easier than it looks...!

I've tried this a few times with zero success - this is genuinely the best it has gone. It's not too messy but you can see a lot of the pins, which in an ideal world, would be invisible.

I really like the view from the top though - it looks pretty good and the purple scarf is a nice contrast to my hair and completes the style. 

I cheated slightly by creating a fake rat fill. For those who don't know what this is, it's a hair net filled with your own hair that you sort of harvest from your hair brush. This is then used to pad out the centre of your style. It's kind of gross to be honest and, as I change my hair colour all the time, I'd end up with a multicoloured rat fill. There's something a bit creepy about keeping scraps of your own hair but I know that is the traditional method. Who knows - I might come round to it.

So, the fake rat fill was made with a small bun ring that I tied with plastic hair bands into a tube shape.

The bonus is that hair pins go into it really easy and grip into it well. I don't know if this is something other people have used as I just came up with it while I struggled to create the hair shape. It worked at any rate, the biggest problem being that you can see it if you look closely at the ends of the roll.

I used hairspray to secure it and a tail comb to smooth over the roll and try to tidy it up. The hairspray is quite sticky so it was quite frustrating as sometimes it just stuck to the comb instead of smoothing down as I intended. 

I think this style looks awesome on other people but I don't feel it suits me at all. It's too high up and away from my face - it's kind of floating over me. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it for real, especially not out of the house but I'm glad I tried it. Maybe I need to experiment with it further - perhaps make it larger and try to get it lower on my face...

At any rate I'm glad I was finally able to create one of these because it's been the bane of my hair trials, haha,

Thanks for reading.

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All shades of blue

I'm not going to harp on about the appallingly named 'Brexit' results in the EU referendum. My feelings are fairly well summed up by the below. It is what it is and we'll just have to try and make it work - I just hope all the horrendous things predicted by this move away from the EU don't come to light or we could be in real trouble in little old Blighty.

It did make me laugh though that the below sponsored ad turned up in my Instagram feed yesterday - very timely! My sister is living over there at the moment and if I wouldn't miss the rest of my family and friends so terribly I'd seriously think about moving my husband and kids over there. That might also be a bit of an emotional knee jerk reaction though, haha.

My hair was in dire need of a wash so I caught it back in a messy up do and tied a white chiffon scarf in a bow. It felt quite glam once I paired it with my Tortoise shell style earrings and it was a lovely hot sunny day for once so it also felt quite summery.

You can tell the sun is out here because so are my freckles. I used to hate them but I've made peace with them these days - I used to hate being described as cute and freckles can be pretty cute looking so I tried to cover them up a lot. But in hot weather heavy foundation is horrible! Even with the lighter Clinque CC cream I like to use as an alternative on days like this, it can feel a bit oily in the heat. There's nothing worse than the make-up slide when you've bothered to get made up.

I used a slick & a flick of Barry M liquid eyeliner in the 'forest' shade, which coincidentally matched my hair. I thought it would be a fun and lighter alternative to the darker lines and I find it easier to apply as for some reason it doesn't seem to require the same precision.

On my lips I wore a slightly less rich red lipstick from Make-up Revolution in 'Dare.' It's got a pinky undertone to it and I think it suits my complexion quite well. As it's lighter it is great to wear for day but I do find it comes off easily but as it's quick and foolproof to put more on it kind of cancels that out. I'd received this lippy as a gift so hadn't realised how cheap it was - I really like this colour and if I'd realised how much of a bargain it was I'd have probably bought a ton more of this lipstick in different shades! It's only £1... amazing.

As I was feeling blue about the political results I decided to dress in the shade... See what I did there. I tucked an old stripey sleeveless nursing tunic I purchased on Amazon into a new light blue, tie waist, midi skirt from New Look. As I am uncomfortable having my bingo wings out I always keep them covered up and so a cropped white cardigan (also New Look) went on over the top.

Oh and then the SHOES! The shoes, the shoes the shoes, I'm in love with them.

They're a dreamily soft blue leather 40s style heeled sandal from Miss L'Fire. The blue theme was a good excuse to wear these! They come in other shades but I'm trying to introduce more colour in my wardrobe so decided against my usual black choice.

The only downside of these beautiful items of footwear was that I ended up having to do a lot of walking yesterday and they rubbed the fuck out of my feet. I have blisters on my blisters. It was my own fault though - you don't wear new shoes on long walks. In my defence I thought I was simply going for a leisurely lunch but I ended up walking around Maidstone town centre for over an hour and then had to walk home pushing a pushchair. My feet were on FIRE. I can barely walk today because I have blisters on the soles of my feet. Ouch. I didn't even know you could get blisters there.

But they looked amazing. So it was kinda worth it.

We had a lovely lunch sitting in the beer garden of the White Rabbit. I had a burger and there really is no way to elegantly eat one is there? To be honest, it was that delicious I didn't care that I was stuffing my face. I wore a pair of my favourite sunglasses that I bought in TK Maxx last year.

Blue skies by crikey! ☀️ 🌞 ☀️ #blueskies #bluesky #summer #pubgarden #bluehair #bluehairdontcare #rockabilly #rockabillymum #rockabillystyle #vintage #vintagestyle #vintagemum #retro #retromum #retrostyle #summertime #selfie #sneakyselfie #atlast

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Jun 24, 2016 at 6:04am PDT

I also carried my leather and straw Gharani Strok satchel that I rediscovered in the top of my wardrobe. I bought this little beauty a while ago in TK Maxx as well... I love that shop for accessories.

So that was my day and my outfit. Thanks for reading.

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Jun 24, 2016 at 4:17am PDT

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Pretty in Pink OOTD

Yesterday's outfit was somewhat inspired by the fact it was apparently National Pink Day (who makes these things a thing?). Now, anyone who knows me will know I'm not a big fan of pink on the whole, although I have been embracing it more and more. This outfit it about as pink as I get though!

The top is a finely knitted cream v neck with a pussy bow detailing that I purchased from La Redoute. The skirt has been featured in this blog before and is from Lindy Bop.

The shell pink flower earrings are a New Look purchase and are larger than I would normally go for but I really like them. I used Benefit Dandelion face brightening make-up on my cheeks (pink) and on my eyelids to keep in with the pink theme. No eyeliner today but a couple of coats of mascara and my new favourite NYX 'Eden' matte red lip. It just felt too hot and sticky to have any heavy eye make-up, I could just imagine it slipping down my face gradually as the day went on.

My floral hair arrangement is one I got from ASOS and is on a barrette clip. Annoyingly the clip was broken from the moment I opened the packet but luckily it was nothing I couldn't fix with a pair of pliers. My bad luck also extended to my new top - I noticed as the day wore on that there was a hole under one arm. Especially annoying as it was the first time I'd worn it and I don't have any of the tags or original wrapping for it in order to be able to return it. I'll have to see if I can sew it.

It was a particularly humid day which meant make-up just wanted slide off my face. You'll have to excuse any shininess in the photos!

And as I was taking some photos my gorgeous little pudge woke up from his nap and I couldn't resist getting a few shots with him. He's such a smiley little man!

I'm really enjoying putting together the outfits and sharing them on Instagram. And I'm getting better at venturing out of the house without editing myself - although I have to confess on this day I changed out of the skirt and took the flowers out of my hair as it was so hot & humid but it was raining too so I schleped the double buggy to and from nursery in jeans and rain mac. So glamourous!

A photo posted by My Rockabilly Summer 💋 (@myrockabillysummer) on Jun 23, 2016 at 6:39am PDT

Thanks for reading.

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