The Magpie Diary

This is a dress I’ve seen being sold on ebay several times. I’ve wanted it but was never quite sure whether it would fit me, whether it was too short, whether it was worth taking the chance, so I didn’t buy it. Until it came up in a fatshionista friday sales post by the lovely Lauren of  the pocket rocket.

I’m a firm believer of confidence. Confidence is key, especially when it comes to pulling of dresses that might be a tad bit short and a wee bit tight. So I wore this dress with my head held high and my back straight and made myself  be comfortable with it. With a cardigan, because it’s autumn and freezing.

In other news : I found a HUGE bright yellow coat at a thrift shop today. It’s going to be all kinds of rad for winter. Now I want a nice big braided belt to wear on top of it.

• Dress – Second hand, size 22 UK
• Cardigan – George by Asda, size 20 UK
• Shoes – Evans

Autumn is here. Damn autumn. I’m getting more and more tired and mornings have turned into agony. I get out of bed wihtin seconds of my alarm going off. I have to, or I’m going to fall right back asleep. Warm scarves, cardigans, leg warmers and boots are my go to items of clothing to keep me feeling warm and cosy.

On this one particular day though, a day for flea markets and garage sales, I was full of energy and feeling happy and optimistic. It was a fantastic day, I found many gorgeous xmas gifts, two more toy sewing machines to add to my collection and a fantastic rya rug, among other things.

• Dress – gift from my mum
• Belt – Evans
• Cardigan – F&F by Tesco, size 20 UK
• Leggings – gifted, from Ellos
• Shoes – Evans
• Earrings – gift from my awesome husband

This blog is turning into a FATshion blog. Whatever happened to the flea market finds? Well I feel inspired and I’ve been better at getting photos taken.

I bought the (in)famous domino dress by Beth Ditto at Evans and I’ve been using it quite a bit. It’s seen early morning flea markets, the insides of grocery stores and now it’s also come with me to work.

I love the way it hugs my body without clinging too much. I used to hate my belly but nowadays I even think it’s a bit sexy. What an amazing transformation.

• Dress – Beth Ditto at Evans, size 24UK
• Cardigan – F&F by Tesco, size 20 UK
• Shoes & Accessories – Flea market finds

This is me today. After work, and going apple picking. And having dinner at mums and dropping of a few parcels at the petrol station. So my hair’s a bit flat and my eyes look a bit tired but overall I look pretty happy and I feel great in this dress.

I really like my legs. From my thick thighs to my chubby knees to my muscular calves and slender ankles. They’re short and kind of stubby, but they’re strong and will take me anywhere I want to go. When I was younger and played hockey (not on ice) my calves almost had a square shape because they were just muscle. People have never complimented my legs, but they’re pretty great!

• Dress – George by ASDA, via Ebay, size 22 UK
• Cardigan – George by ASDA, size 20 UK
• Shoes – Skopunkten, from a few years ago

Alex and I are off to London in just two days and I’m hoping to get some serious shopping on. We’ve mapped out the MUST GO TO stores, checked what stuff we need to get, read all the guides, packed our things and are ready to go.

Lately I’ve been so uninspired with my wardrobe. I’ve worn it all before, in all the different ways you can (probably wrong but that’s how it feels) and have no new and fun accessories to play it up with. My shoes are all boring (despite owning 30-ish pairs…ouch), my bags are all wrong… I’m just uninspired by it all. I need to renew my wardrobe, bring in some fun things that I can play with.

Here’s what yours truly wore to a birthday party about a week and a half ago. I wore some really pretty heels, but then we went outside to the garden and I ended up in a pair of coral crocs, very stylish.

• Dress – New Look Inspire, size 22 UK
• Shrug – Tesco, size 22 UK
• Crocs – ???? What was I thinking?
• Pose – all mine!

This dress. It was hanging on a rack in the corner of a thrift store. My mum had singled it out, and called me over to look at it. She thoguht it was ugly, but I decided to try it on, despite the size tag claiming it was 2 sizes too small. It fit like a dream. A slightly tight, body hugging dream, with a weird print, in a colour that screams of the garish 80s. And I fell in love. I think I need some nice plastic earrings and bracelets to go with it.

I used to be an all blacks girl. My wardrobe was lacking colour of any kind. That’s ages ago now and whenever I look into my (tiny) walk in closet there’s an array of colours to almost blind me. This photo of me is a little bit of a back to the roots for me.

Almost all black!

And nowadays I don’t wear black because it supposedly makes me look thinner. Being thin would make me look thinner, being fat makes me look fat, whatever the colour on my clothes.

• Mini dress/top – Tippy, size XXL
• Cardigan – Tesco, size 22
• Leggings – Beth Ditto at Evans, size 22
• Shoes – Skopunkten