Cough cough: Sick day musings Beauty Care

For lots of diverse personal and professional reasons which I won't bore you with here, I have had no time whatsoever to Get My Blog On in the last little while. Today I am at home sick, so in between wishing that we owned one of those massive chest freezers so I could climb into it for a bit to cool down, trying to keep the dog off the bed, and undertaking sporadic epic treks to the bathroom to throw up/re-wet a facecloth to drape across my boilio mug, I thought I'd try and stick a post together.

Now, on account of being majorly feverish and borderline delirious, I reckon that the safest course of action would be to pop up a few pictures. Let's kick off with an Orla Kiely yoga bag:

I don't actually do yoga, but this is a good example of how I am extraordinarily prone to obsessing about things - especially if I can't get them. I *love* this Orla Kiely print in this colourway [it also came in a sort of khaki/mustardy version and just thinking about that is making me slightly queasy] and desperately wanted the shoulder bag, but was a brokety broke broke broke student when it was current stock. By the time I was earning a few quid, not even eBay could come up with the goods and to this day I haven't a scrap of an Orla Kiely print to my name because [in best Andy from 'Little Britain' voice] I want that one.

I am also very fond of obsessing about interior design and home accessories. This is why, more than two years after we moved into our house, it looks like we just got the keys. The sitting room is the only room that's close to being finished, but we only got curtains for it in the last month [and have yet to get little hooks to hang the tiebacks on] and I am only just coming around to commiting to wall decor in the shape of pictures, photos or mirrors. Also, I have historically been Very Much Agin the idea of a mirror over the fireplace, even though it would be nice to bounce a bit of light around the room as the sun goes off it around noon, mostly because I don't want to cover up the gorgeous birdie wallpaper adorning the chimney breast. In the November issue of Livingetc, though, I spotted a bird-shaped mirror. Perfect!

Unfortunately, it also costs a perfect feckin' fortune: £538. Won't be buying a flock of those lads, so...

Heal's do a considerably cheaper [£25] bird mirror but, alas, it's a bit kid-y looking:

[Thinks to self: hmmmm... could I somehow *make* one..?]

In addition to having an obsessive personality, I am an absolute terror for panic-buying clothes and footwear either because there's an Evint on and I've nothing to wear or there are meetings tomorrow and I've nothing to wear or I'm going out out at the weekend and I've nothing to wear. This means that I end up spending more time bringing things back that I do actually purchasing them in the first bloody place, because returning unworn garments, even if it's within an hour of them being bought when you have a flash of "What in the name of all that's good and holy was I thinking?!", is usually a long drawn-out process. One of Himself's long-running jokes is that I've been shopping with the same tenner since I made my Communion, which is just rubbish. I mean, it's not the same tenner, and sure it's been €12.70 since the Euro came in...

Anyway, I have a pair of boots, a tunic dress and a cardigan to return over the weekend - all of which I'm very sad about, because they looked bloody lovely in the shop but then totally ridiculous In Real Life when I got them home. Sigh. I might have a nose at some of the new bits in River Island to cheer myself up afterwards, like this knitted dress and these black patent/white quilted flats:

I find it difficult to wear preppy or ladylike clothes without just looking nerdy, but I was thinking that a pair of black tights with a seam up the back of them would sort this outfit out right and proper. Although they wouldn't be as warm as opaques. And it is brass monkeys at the minute. Gah, stupid shagging weather...