Proud Mary

Mine and Chaz's first dance was to Ike and Tina's Proud Mary.  So show me anything remotely related and I love it.  I stumbled on these wonderfully colourful, Moroccan towels on one of my many Pinterest  sessions and am now coveting everything on their site.

www.proudmary.bigcartel.com

Blushing Bridesmaid

 In my ongoing quest for the perfect wedding outfit, Ive failed to share the fact that I am also looking for a maid of honour outfit.  For  myself.  My sister in law Ruth, is getting married in September in France and she's left me to my own dress devices.  Completely un-Bridezilla-esque her only input is there's to be no upstaging.  No Pippa Middleton skimpiness.  Though her last mutterings were something about sewing a fat suit into my dress.  As wonderful as it is to basically have a free rein, the possibitlies are almost too endless.  I cant even work out where to begin; Long, short, floaty, slinky, a meringue?  Should it be white, pink, cream - or maybe blue to go with the bridesmaids?  

I know what I don't want.  Which I guess is better than nothing. Obviously it's up to the brides but I put my foot down at anything in burgundy/orange/brown/purple taffeta. 

We've been looking at some slinky Ghost numbers which are pretty and obviously bridesmaid-y - nothing crazy, good merge-into-the scenery type frocks and I'm sure that's where we'll end up.  However, I did recently find thee other spanners to throw into the works.  Not really very bridesmaid-y.  Their only qualification is that they're pretty.  And one has a hint of blue in.  The black paint splashes don't really help my cause.  

Here are the three Christopher Kane visions.  AND they're in the sale.

And below, words fail me.

Big fat gypsy bridesmaids in action.

Erdem Wedding

So the quest for the perfect wedding outfit continues.  The look I'm going for changes on a weekly basis.  Two weeks ago it was lady like chic and the week before that it was practically gothic.  (Completely based around my favourite dark plum, Chanel 'Lune Rousse' lipstick.)  Gyspy/flamenco is weirdly another reccuring fave.

This is the latest Erdem  resort collection which I'm feeling quietly hopeful about.  Its got a little bit of everything - long, short, floaty, skimpy, plain and patterned.  Something for every one of my moods. Thinking about it, it doesn't really help narrow anything down.  At least I've got it down to one designer though.  Definitely progress.

Images via honestly WTF

Rock On

I was never very good at science at school.  I quite liked Chemistry; the bunsen burners, pretty crystals and all those tiny glass bottles.  I loathed physics so much it made me hyperventilate.  And my biology teacher was so dull that even the die hard keenos were bored to tears.  My newest obsession is making me wish I'd sat up and paid more attention to Mrs Mole.  I'm not making it up, she was actually called that.  

So my latest fixation is with rocks.  The beautiful, unpolished, colourful, sparkly variety. I've been doing a spot of research and cant get over the fact that these incredible specimens are naturally found like this.  There's been no man made interference, not a bunsen burner in sight.  It all came about after I saw one of Adina Mills's rings on Pinterest.  Which of course have sold out and now every free second I have is spent trying to hunt one down.  I'm quite tempted to have a go at making one myself.  My ebay rock delivery is sitting patiently in front of me;  what could be better than a bit of rock craft on rainy monday morning?

Lumitrix

When Chaz and I got married we had a wedding list with a company that went bust a couple of months before the big day.  Long story short, anyone who'd bought us something lost their money - and we lost all our presents. The silver lining was that lots of our friends went off piste and gave us paintings instead of the usual knives and forks.    We've got a lot of weddings this year and I've decided their wedding presents will be something arty.  My first port of call will be Lumitrix for one of Matilda Temperley's tribal photographs.  

Lumitrix is a fab company that takes on relatively undiscovered, brilliant photographers and offers A1 size prints of their work.  Each print is just one of 500, so limited editions and not sillily expensive either.  Perfect wedding present material. And if you want, they can frame them too for you. 

The above photographs are all by Matilda Temperley

Limitrix are offering Willow Rose readers a 10% discount with the code LUMIWILL10 

 www.lumitrix.com

Part one of the weekend

The first half of the weekend was a pure joy.  The Cubs and I went to the Odd and Cabbages and Roses summer sale that really was like living in my dreams.  They ran around in the bluebells while I pottered among the Indian tents in the garden selling Cabbages and Roses, stripy cushions, Indian quilts,  Odd oddities, ice creams and various other vintage treasures.  The Cubs needed feeding so we left empty handed but I managed to come  back the next day to rectify the situation.  I left much happier second time round with a pair of stripy Cabbages trousers - reminiscent of Marni circa 2002. (When it was good) And a ravishing quilt from Angus Buchannan.  

I'm already excited about next year.

The last half of the weekend couldn't have been more different if it tried.  One word, flood. I'll save that joy for when I've finally dried out...