Shoe Challenge #9 - favourite summer sandals

I've managed to save another pair of shos for my shoe challenge - which is good as I've got rather a long way to go. I do have a couple of other pairs banked with photos too, so at least I'm making progress! So - here they are.

These are my purple sandals from Office - they are super comfy and I imagine will get a lot more wear over the summer once the rain stops. After all the sunshine in April and May, we have had a LOT of rain in London over the last week - so much so that I am back in tights today.

Here's a close up (although they are a bit the wrong way round - whoops).

Rant - the joys of flat rental

Just when you think that everything in your life is trundling along merrily with not a care in the world, something always comes along to bite you on the bum. This is exactly what has happened to me in the last few weeks.

The contract for the flat my housemate and I share is due to expire at the end of August, and he wants to move on and find somewhere cheaper to live. This in itself is all unerstandable. However, the agency we rent through has given me only until 1st July to find a new tenant to move in, otherwise they're going to remarket the property. This doesn't give me a great deal of time to find someone - it's a pretty unlikely mission to be honest. So, I am now facing being turfed out of the flat I've been renting for the last 5 years because the agency won't give me more time.

Not just that - I have to now deal with the Morons of the World in the quest to find a new flatmate. For every nice and normal person that I hear from, I KNOW that there is going to be some almighty looney out there just WAITING to get in touch. You may suspect I hae done the whole flatmate interviewing thing before, and although it has always been interesting, there are some strange people out there. For example:

• The man who asked me if I was vegetarian, enquiring if I would mind him cutting up pieces of meat in the kitchen. Hence my subsequent visions of axe murdering. 
• The woman who measured the dimensions of the room using the span of her coat. Bizarre. 
• The smiley lady who wouldn't stop SMILING. I wanted to smack her.
• The strange lady who suggested we go out for a drink to get to know each other a bit and then turned up with absolutely no money. Luckily she only wanted a lemonade. 

Then there are the people who never get back to your emails - they send you messages asking questions, and generally sounding interested and then NOTHING. So I spend the next few days obsessively pressing send-receive and composing angry responses in my mind. Manners, people! I'm a reasonable person, I'm not going to mind if my flat is actually not quite what you are looking for, or you've found somewhere already, I'd just like to KNOW.

There are also the ones who make rubbish excuses when you offer them the room, like 'I want to live with more people' or 'it's too expensive' or 'I need to move sooner'. Can these people not READ THE ADVERT?

Anyway, please keep your fingers crossed for me during my hunt, and hope that I don't have any more weirdos/morons/rude people coming to see me about my flat.  

Shoepershoe Challenge #8 - My Mum's old shoes

Back to some of the things I've been worrying about (as mentioned in my previous post), one of the things that has been weighing on my mind is my complete failiure to do any shoe challenges. This is not good as I have a LOT of shoes. I've managed to wear some of my really special ones too, but have failed to get any pictures.

Anyway, here is a pair I HAVE managed to photo.

I get a lot of wear out of these. They're a from Clarks, and they are a hand-me-down from my Mum. Now, as a rule, although my Mum loves shoes nearly as much as me, I wouldn't often be tempted enough to wear shoes from her wardrobe. It's not like it's full of Louboutins. These however have found a happy home with me, and they are unbelievably comfortable. They're also great for those occasions where flats are too flat, but you don't want to wear full on heels. Here's a close up...

 It's also a gratuitous picture of the tattoo on my foot. I'm glad it's summer so I can show it off!!

Back after an extended break...

Okay, so I've obviously been out of blogging action for a while now. I'm sorry. Life got in the way and I decided I was going to make an effort to enjoy it for a change. And I've only really turned on my computer at home to catch up on the episodes of Glee that I've missed (and also any random 'reality' shows regaring Essex and Chelsea - TOO funny). So, in brief, here's a bit about what I've been doing over the last few weeks...

• Seeing the new boy. I can't lie - there's a new boy in my life and I've been enjoying it.
• Feeling alternately smug about seeing a boy, and then a bit panicked. In regards to the smugness, I find myself sitting and just smiling randomly to myself. It's beginning to annoy me. I think I make up for it though with the random moments of panic of the 'does he really like me/should it really feel so natural/am I going MAD' type thoughts. I put this down to hormones and having had many years of truly appauling boyfriends. Having a normal one is something of a shock.  
• Worrying about the number of grey hairs I'm currently growing. And also the annoying spots I've been getting. It's like I'm a strange old lady/teenage freak. I don't like it. So I've ditched eating bread (this seems to help me with acne) and am going to dye my hair.
• Worrying about the fact that most of the skin on my chin is falling off. I think this might be a direct response to stubble (see point 1)
• Working, working, working. This is not particularly noteworthy, but I'm cranking up a lot of hours in the office at the moment.
• Enjoying the sunshine - it has been unbelievably lovely in London of late, and being somewhat outdoorsy, I prefer to be out and about rather than stuck indoors.

That's really about it, to be honest.

Back to Happy Things and the original purpose of this blog - it made me happy today to open the shutters to my office and see the sunshine and the flowers outside.

 

And I always said I'd never ditch my friends for boys...

Okay, so I'm TOTALLY aware that I've failed to write anything for nearly two weeks. I understand this is rubbish and I apologise. The reason? I've been out with a boy twice and I'm too busy being all excited about it to do anything else.

Obviously, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, as work has been really very busy, my grandmother has gone into hospital (something of a worry) and I've been enjoying the amazing sunshine we've been having in London. However, today is once again grey, and it feels more like a business-as-usual sort of time - I even managed to go to my exercise class tonight instead of pretending I've forgotten.

So - back to the boy thing (as it's much more interesting than my job, or my grandma's sudden losing of the plot). I've known this particular gentleman for a number of years, he's a friend of a friend, and we've always enjoyed a little harmless flirtation. Well, folks, the week before last he finally asked me out. And we went out again this week. I'm annoying myself by being in that whole 'when will he CALL? / how long shall I leave it before I text him / phone: ring, ring, RING GODDAMNIT' phase. I wish I could be cool about it all (and I really hope that on the OUTSIDE I'm managing it, but on the inside I'm hopping around like a rabbit who's had too much coffee.

I think when you've been treated by boys badly in the past (and I really do think this would be my Mastermind Special Subject), it makes you doubly scared of it happening again, and I'm sure that's why I've spent a considerable of time over the last fortnight feeling like a bag of nerves. I kind of EXPECT the worst to happen, and EXPECT to be stood up/lied to and end up feeling surprised when it all turns out okay. This is not a good place to be, people!

Anyway, to give Mr H. credit, he wasn't any of those bad things, and was an awful lot of good ones that I won't bore you with. Did I mention that I really like him? As in really, really like him? And he's definitely been my happy thing for the last week and a half. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this one works out...

Shoepershoe Challenge #7 - I refuse to let my shoes die

Sometimes it's just not possible to say goodbye to a pair of shoes, however much they try to tell you otherwise. This particular pair of boots seem to have a dodgy heel, as on the outing previous to this, the heel one one of them broke through the middle for the second time. The breaking incident (both times) has happened when I'm mid journey, so I'm forced to hobble along with on foot on tiptoe so not to damage the broken heel. Attractive - and a challenge walking with wonky legs.

Anyway, a bit of superglue, and my shoe doctoring skills seem to have done the trick. They look so good with my ubiquitous costume of dress, belt and cardigan!!   

Shoepershoe challenge #6 - another little pair of pumps

Yikes, it's been a while since I managed to post a shoe challenge - lucky I managed to have a few photos to upload! These are  pair of Office pumps with a slightly wedged heel - useful for those days when flats are good but heels are too much. I didn't take a close up as the heels are a bit muddy, and I don't want to be accused ot failing to look after my shoes.

It does look like the majority of my fashion choices are dresses with belts - I must diversify!!