Hello friends! For the first time in a while I remembered Style Imitating Art exists so I’m joining in. This time the inspiration is a gorgeous teapot made by the British Royal Worcester Porcelain Company. My outfit’s connection with the prompt is a bit of a stretch, but allow me to explain…
First, let’s take a look at the inspiration.
As soon as I saw the teapot, my first thoughts was that the pale blue/green colour on the left reminded me of a dress I own. Other than one colour the dress and teapot don’t have much in common though…
So I added accessories to try and make it look more like the art. It’s difficult to tell from the photo, but I am wearing a necklace, earrings and a bracelet.
The necklace (which has featured in an outfit post before) and bracelet reminded me of the teapot’s handle. The earrings feature birds. Nothing like the actual birds on the teapot, but still birds!
Since we were going outside, I needed a hat so I grabbed one that had patterns that vaguely reminded me of the right-hand side of the teapot and parts of the handle. The band around the hat also reminded me of how the teapot is split into strips of colour.
Finally, my shoes (which I didn’t take an extra close-up of) are black because of the black on the teapot.
As for where the items in my outfit came from… for the most part I can’t really tell you. The dress was ordered online years ago but I don’t remember where from. I purchased the hat in Spain (exactly a year ago today, actually) on arriving there only to find I had forgotten to pack a hat. And all the jewellery was gifts. The shoes are a brand called Rieker and I like them a lot. They’re comfortable.
I actually had Jan around to take a photo of me this time, so no awkward attempts at selfies. Instead you get my weird facial expression of “how does one smile for an outfit post, exactly?”.
I’m quite late to the game, but if you wanted to spontaneously rustle up an outfit you have until tomorrow (Tuesday, 18 May 2020) to submit it to Danael on livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com – you don’t have to take a photo of yourself wearing it, a flat lay of what you would wear is fine – then check out her blog Living Outside the Stacks on Wednesday to see everyone else’s submissions.
Posting twice within a matter of days? Oh my! The world must have gone mad! (Actually Jan’s still asleep and I’m taking a break from cross stitch ;-))
I found this on Kezzie‘s blog, and she borrowed it from Emmamereta who got it from someone else. And so the world of blogging goes. I’m not sure these are all questions I’ve never been asked – I think I’ve been asked about the countries I’ve visited and favourite childhood TV shows before – but there were enough interesting ones in the mix for me to want to give it a go.
What’s your favourite candle scent?
I like apple and cinnamon around Christmas and I like fresh linen scents, but not always. Some brands smell nothing like fresh linen
Which female celebrity do you wish was your sister?
Do authors count as celebrities? If so I would love Joanne Harris! Oh, and Mara Wilson (who played Matilda but is now all grown up and voices a character in Welcome to Night Vale)
Which male celebrity do you wish was your brother?
Eddie Izzard, even though he’s the same age as my mum so that would be weird! I think we would have fascinating conversations though.
Do you know a hoarder?
My dad keeps a looot of stuff but he’s not an actual hoarder (like surfaces piled so high you can’t enter the house and refusing to even throw away literal rubbish hoarder). I probably keep too many things that have sentimental value, although I’m pretty good at getting rid of clothes (and replacing them with way too many more…)
Can you do the splits? Nope. I’m the least flexible person in the world. Can’t touch my toes either!
How old were you when you learnt to ride a bike?
6 I think? I know it was in Northern Ireland anyway. I remember my little blue bike 🙂
How many oceans have you swam in?
The North Sea definitely (is that an ocean?). And the Mediterranean in Spain. Ooh, and the Irish Sea in Wales.
How many countries have you visited?
Well, I have lived in England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, so there’s five to start with 😉 Plus: Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Liechtenstein, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the USA, Taiwan, New Zealand, Dubai. I think that’s everything. So 24?
Let’s split this up with a picture… Feldkirch, Austria, where I lived for 10 months
Is anyone in your family in the army?Not any more. My dad was (as was my step-dad).
What would you name your daughter if you had one?
There are a lot of girl’s names I like. I think we’ve maybe narrowed it down to one we would call our daughter, but I’m not going to tell you here because if we do have a child I will not be using his or her real name on my blog for the entire world to see! I will tell you that I love the name Beatrix because that’s one we definitely won’t be using.
What would you name your son if you had one?
I find male names a lot harder, and we have the added difficulty that whatever name we use has to be pronounceable in German and English (which seems to be easier with female names!). I always loved the name Tristan, but I don’t think we’ll use that.
What’s the worst grade you got on a test?
I got all Ds for my A-levels. That’s pretty bad.
What was your favourite TV show as a kid?
Button Moon when I was really little. Later I loved The Raggy Dolls, Byker Grove, SuperTed, Dangermouse, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (although I guess I was a teenager when I watched that).
What did you dress up as on Halloween, when you were 8?
I don’t think I did? I only remember dressing up for Halloween once as a child, for a party in Northern Ireland and we moved back to England before I turned 8. I know I never went trick or treating.
Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight books?/em>
All the Harry Potter books (the actual series, not Fantastic Beasts or whatever other spin-offs are out there), none of the others. I’ve been advised not to bother with Twilight.
Would you rather have an American accent or English accent?
Definitely English! Sorry Americans, but I find a lot of your accents annoying
Did your mother go to university?
She did, in her 40s! To become a nurse (you go to university for that in the UK – I know in other countries it’s not a degree). So proud of her.
Are your grandparents still married?
Both my grandfathers are dead now, but they would have been I’m sure.
Have you ever taken Karate lessons?
No.
Do you know who Kermit the frog is?
Are there people that don’t?
What’s the first amusement park you went to?
Not sure, but I was fairly young when I went to Thorpe Park and Chessington so maybe one of those?
What language, besides your native language would you like to be fluent in?
Ukrainian! My granddad was from there and I would love to be able to speak his language. Other than that Spanish. And I would like to achieve native-speaker fluency in German but that won’t happen (my German is pretty fluent but not enough to be mistaken for a native speaker).
Do you spell the colour grey or gray?
We have to translate into both British and American English and I’m forever getting confused over which spelling to use in which language! But grey is the British spelling, so in everyday life I use that one.
Is your father bald?
No, far from it.
Do you know triplets?
Yes. My grandma used to child-mind them.
Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook?
I don’t think I’ve seen The Notebook.
Have you ever had Indian food?
Yes! LOVE it!
What’s the name of your favourite restaurant?
I don’t have one. I like to try different places.
Have you ever been to Nando’s?
Once, because I met a friend at The Gate in Newcastle and it was chucking it down so we didn’t want to leave the building! It was okay but not amazing enough for me to understand all the fuss.
Do you belong to any warehouse stores?
No.
What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender?
I have a vague memory of being told I would have been a Philip if I was a boy, but I may have imagined that. (Mam, am I right?)
If you have a nickname, what is it?
Bev. Fairly boring. Sometimes Bee.
Who’s your favourite person in the world?
Jan. Is that really soppy? Other than that my friend K and my godson.
Would you rather live in the countryside or city?
I’m not a fan of big cities, but I’m not sure I would like to live right out in the countryside – unless I learned to drive. But even then being forced to drive everywhere would be a pain. I like where we live now – it’s within walking distance of the city, but also within walking distance of a farm, the woods, etc. Best of both worlds.
Can you whistle?
No.
Do you sleep with a night light?
No.
Do you eat breakfast every morning?
Umm, no. (Sorry mam!)
Do you take any pills or medication daily?
Yes. No, I’m not going to elaborate.
What medical condition do you have?
None that I know of.
How many times have you been to the hospital?
I was taken to A&A for stitches when I fell down the loft ladder as a teen. Other than that never as a patient (except for being born in hospital).
Have you ever seen Finding Nemo?
Yes.
Where do you buy your jeans?
I don’t actually own jeans any more, but the last pair I had came from C&A.
What’s the last compliment you got?
Umm… about two weeks ago someone said they liked the dress I was wearing. Huh, I had to think about that one.
Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning?
I remember quite a few, especially if I wake up in the middle of the, I tend to have vivid dreams.
What flavour tea do you enjoy?
Tesco chocolate flavoured black tea. I also like Orange and ginger, spearmint and Alnatura’s Sunshine Tea, but technically those are all infusions 😉
How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Between 10 and 15, I think.
What religion will you raise your children to be?
None. They will be allowed to choose for themselves once they are old enough to make a decision. They will also be able to choose for themselves whether to formally enter any church and thus have to pay church tax if they end up living in Germany or Switzerland. I highly object to people having to pay church tax because their parents made the decision to have them christened as babies!
How old where you when you found out Santa wasn’t real?
7 or 8 I think?
Why do you have a blog?
My very first ever blog was on MSN spaces and I can’t remember why I originally started it, but I kept it up while I lived in Austria to update people on what I was doing over there. I started this blog because MSN Spaces (which by then had become Live Spaces) had closed down, I had hardly any friends and a lot of free time and I needed a place to get me thoughts out of my head – hence the tag line of my blog. Of course, I could have just written them in my diary, but I had always liked the interactive element of my old blog so I decided to send my thoughts out into the world, although my blog has always been primarily for myself. These days it also serves as a record of things I’ve done. I like to look back on places I’ve been and also remind myself of how far I’ve come over the past however many years (I don’t even what to think about the actual number… when did I get this old?)
If anyone plans to do this, please let me know. I would love to read your answers!
I am still pretty tired from the weekend (visitors and concerts are fun but there wasn’t much sleep involved!) so today’s post is a relatively easy one. I still need to catch up on travel posts, but the idea of sorting out photos is just too much right now!
I stole this post from Kristen who got it from Steph, as these things go in blogging. Kristen said she copied it because 3 is her favourite number. My favourite number is 13 – I just liked the look of this post. (On a (totally irrelevant) side note, a similar sort of thing called “four things” was going round on Facebook again recently and one of the categories was four places you have lived. A girl I went to school with had the town our high school is in as her only place. I can’t even imagine having never lived anywhere but a town of 16,000-ish residents ever!).
Three things I’d never give up
Books, tea, travel.
Three favourite vegetables
Everyone is saying potatoes, but in my world they’re not vegetable vegetables, so excluding potatoes: butternut squash, leeks, aubergines.
Three shows I watched faithfully from beginning to end
That is actually really hard! I watched E.R. right to the end, but not from the beginning (I was like 11 when it started but I only discovered it in around season 7), I watched Dawson’s Creek religiously for ages but never saw the episodes where they had all grown up and left home, I stopped watching Buffy in protest when Oz was written out (what? I’m in love with Seth Green!). I only watched Bad Girls until about series 5 or 6. Basically I can think of nothing! I mean, I’m all caught up on Sherlock (just release the next series already would you!!) but I’m guessing that doesn’t count since it’s still running. Plus I watched series 1 all at once on DVD rather than when it came out on TV.
Three places I want to visit inside the US
Umm… there aren’t any. If I was going to the US I would probably be able to find places to visit, but there are no places I would go to the US specifically to see. And now every American hates me. Sorry!
Three places I want to visit outside the US
Iceland, Canada, Japan (wow, it was hard to narrow that down!).
Three things I always have with me
Residence permit (you have to have it on you at all times), keys, purse (the kind for money, not the container for all your things. That’s called a handbag!).
Three things that are always in my car
Can’t drive, don’t have a car. Next!
Three most recent phone calls were to/from
Jan, the doctor… ummm… probably work.
Three books I read and loved in college
American college, I presume, so university as opposed to sixth form. Um, apart from books I used for research, which I obviously didn’t read all the way through, the only books I read were for my German culture module and I hated all of them, so I’ll have to do books I read while at university but not for university. It’s Okay, I’m Wearing Really Big Knickers by Louise Rennison, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë aaand, ummm, what else did I read around that time? Oh Emil und die Detektive (Emil and the Detectives) during my year abroad for a course I took on detective stories for children. So there is one I read for my studies. Sort of.
Three most often used makeup products
Lip gloss is the only makeup product I really use regularly. Sometimes I feel the urge to use colourful eyeshadow. And that’s it. I own other stuff, but only use it on special occasions so it’s all used equally (in)frequently.
Three things that make me laugh
The Big Bang Theory, my godson (or rather the things he says that his mum posts on Facebook since I never actually see him!), other people laughing at puns/jokes that really aren’t funny but somehow are (the more they can’t stop laughing the funnier I find it).
Three things that make me cry
Any books where anything even a tiny bit sad happens (except The Fault in Our Stars. I am possibly the only person that didn’t cry at that book.), stories about animals doing amazing things for humans, when I’m really, really exhausted and there’s no way I’m going to get near a bed for a long time.
Oh, that was the last category. Why did it have to end on a sad note?!
Anyway, it’s your turn now! Answer in the comments if you don’t feel like doing a whole post on it.
Note to self: There are appropriate places to look for something in your handbag. One of them is not in the middle of the stairs you are currently walking down. If you do choose this time to look in your handbag, do not be surprised when you almost fall down the aforementioned stairs. End of note.
I promised Sleepyjane that I would post a photo of my new quilt cover once I got round to changing the bedding. Today was the day, and so here is the photo.
Why don’t you post a picture of your bed too? We could make a meme of it…
Confuzzledom 