Outfit August - Last day - dusky pink swing dress

Hello babes! It's the last day of Outfit August and I've not participated as often as I wanted to, but I've definitely realised I have PLENTY in my wardrobes to keep me clothed without new purchases. I bought this dress at the beginning of the year and I hated it at the time. It hangs a little differently on me since I've been exercising more and I like it more now - it was way too short for my comfort before. Read on for more pics and how Outfit August went for me.

Outfit August - Ice cream dress

Hello lovelies! This Simply Be dress is one of my old favourites - a dress I wear time and time again without getting bored. The photos in this post were taken at Beachy Head, Seaford and Alfriston. We were at Beachy Head the day of the chemical spill - we left about 15 minutes before it kicked off. We were so lucky! Read on for more pics and outfit details.

Outfit August - another tapestry print dress

Hiya babes! I was all ready for Autumn, and then we had the best bank holiday weekend I can remember in years. The weather has been amazing. My dress may not have suited the weather, but I love the warm tones of autumn florals all year round.

Outfit August - Pink harem trousers and breton stripes

Hello lovelies! I discovered these photos on my computer the other day. I take so many and don't post half of them. It's a slight cheat as they're from July, but this is just the kind of relaxed thing I've been living in this month. 😊

Outfit August - Looking to autumn in tapestry print

Hello loves! My cousin gave me this dress when she stayed with me recently. I love tapestry print everything, even though some might say it's a bit 'old lady's curtains'. 😝😝😝 I always associate tapestry print with autumn, and I think I'm ready for Halloween, Fireworks night, fallen leaves and cups of steaming hot chocolate. The only thing I'd like to hang onto from summer is the long days. How I dread S.A.D. each year!

Outfit August - Trick or Treat

Hi babes! Is it Halloween yet? 👻 This is about the time every year when I get really excited about Halloween and start buying Halloween themed clothes. This kind of outfit is where I feel most me - alternative, not fashionable by 'normal' standards, wearing a hodge podge of things.

Outfit August - 16th August - featuring my niece

Hello lovelies!

I'm back with another Outfit August post, and this one features my niece. We went to feed some ducks at a local pond. We took some porridge and we were besieged by wagging little duck bums. I fed some of them by hand and it really tickles when they peck you!

Outfit August - 9th August - Casual looks

Hello lovelies! I've got a few casual looks to share today. I've been walking every day so I've been living in cosy jersey clothes that are comfortable to wear when I'm hot.

Outfit August - 2nd August - Gingham mini smock dress

Hello lovelies,

This is a bit of a cheat for Outfit August - I'd already taken these photos but I haven't published them yet and I don't want to leave them any longer. This dress is out of stock but gingham is really hot right now so you'll easily be able to find something similar.

Outfit August outfit challenge - dig out your hidden gems

Hello loves. I've been doing Outfit August on and off since 2014. It's a month long outfit challenge anyone can join in with - as frequently or infrequently as they like throughout the month. I see it as a chance to root right to the back of my wardrobe and hunt out long forgotten gems. Too often I buy new things and forget about older items, and I'm rubbish at accessorising at the best of times, so it's a chance for me to dig into my accessory stash and put a bit more effort in with regards to that. As a woman with chronic illness I spend a lot of time barefaced in comfy clothes so it's a reason to get made up and dressed more often than usual. Some of the outfits work and some of them don't but it's all part of the fun of experimenting. There hasn't been more than 1 or 2 fashion posts a week on this blog for a while, so I look forward to doing more. It'll be nice to do some ordinary around-the-house shots rather than fancy ones out on location as well.

I probably won't be doing an outfit every day, and even if I do, I'll post a round up every 2-3 days rather than updating daily. It's something fun for me to do, and God knows I have enough clothes, shoes, bags and jewellery so it's time to make use of them. Here are some of my previous Outfit August posts.

Thanks for reading. Leah xoxo

My favourite outfits of 2016

I've picked out 9 of my favourite outfits from 2016, with reasons why they're favourites.

CowCow kawaii ghosts plus size dress

Hiya love bugs! I'm wearing ANOTHER CowCow dress from the American Amazon store. I can't get enough of them! If you haven't seen my other posts, CowCow are an amazing clothing company based in Hong Kong who make dresses from sizes XS-5XL. They do a few kinds of dresses like scoop neck ones and ones with sleeves, but I stick to the basic sleeveless skater dress styles.

Outfit August: Be seen in green and why I wear crop tops

Hiya pickles!

I've got a right lust for everything green at the moment, so here's an outfit I put together to go to the cinema to watch Star Trek Beyond. I liked the film - especially Jaylah (she's brilliant and I adored her makeup!) but it lacked a little something for me. I'm not sure what. Maybe it was a bit heavy on effects and slightly lacking in storyline. Did you see it? If so, what did you think of it?

Outfit August round up 1

Hey loves!

I've been really good at taking photos of what I've been wearing and really bad at sharing them, so here's a little outfit round up for ya!

Fun and affordable plus size dresses from CowCow

Hello lovelies! Did you know you can get plus size dresses in fun designs like unicorns, cupcakes and penguins up to a US size 5XL and for less than £15 each? No? Then read on, my friends!

***See updated sizing info at the end of the post***

Outfit August | ASOS Curve night foil metallic leggings

Hi loves,

OMG, I've bought the best leggings in the world. I'm basically living out ALL my childhood dreams as an adult because when I was a child/teen there was never any fun clothing in my size.

I'm not stranger to 'out there' looks - blue lipstick, undercuts, hell I even shaved my eyebrows off once. (No you can't see the photos, I looked like an alien!) But this might be my most out-there post of them all. Tank Girl and Mad Max are being channeled in this look.

Outfit August 2016

It's August and as such I'll be doing Outfit August again just like I have for the past two years. If you're a new follower it's basically a month long exercise in dressing for fun. I normally use the month to re-wear older things from my wardrobe which need a little more love, or to accessorise more, but its interpretation is entirely up to you. I've fallen out of love with getting dressed to please myself recently as blogging pressures found their way into my head, so this'll be just the thing! There will be no view to entice the attention of brands or sell product for anyone, just the joy of experimenting with different looks and seeing what happens.

When I first started Outfit August in 2014 I used to post daily, but I won't be doing that this year as I have so much going on both personally and professionally. I'm not putting any pressure on myself, so I'll be sharing outfits when I can, and you can join in as frequently or infrequently as you like. Just pop the image (above) at the end of each of your posts. Right click to save it, and if you have any problems give me a shout and I'll email you it. Once I have a list of participants (register your interest by commenting on this post) I will include those links in each of my Outfit August posts. It's for everyone - all genders, all ages, all sizes - and representation from people of colour, disabled people, LGBTQ peeps, alternative folks, androgynous dressers, the little seen chubby men, etc etc are all important so please feel free to take part. Diversity is the bomb.

Participants so far:
Me
Hanna
Christy
Nikki
Becky

You can read through the last 2 years' posts here and here if the urge takes you.
Leah xoxo

Outfit | OMCZ 6 - Skirting the issue

Hello loves,

I'm a little behind with this month's Outside Your Comfort Zone challenge (it's supposed to be posted in the last week of the month) which is organised by Steph (see link below). This time the challenge is skirts, and I'd originally taken these photos for Outfit August, but then my brain went on a mental health rampage and I stopped doing my own challenge. Lulz.

Coincidentally they're both outfits with skirts, so let's have at it! I was going to do a couple of posts about local rock/metal bands past and present, but I'm going to combine the two here. First up my favourite band to have sprung out of Hastings, Soul Sanctuary, who are on hiatus at the moment, but will be coming back with some more material soon. I'm friends with both vocalists in the band and have really missed going to see them live since they've been off the scene, as it always entailed a very drunken, very fun night. There's a video below if you want to check them out, but they are 100 times better live.

I'm wearing:
Necklace, past Bluebirds & Daisies
Bracelets, old/assorted
T shirt, back in the day
Skirt, past season Simply Be
Shoes, eBay



Next up is a band t shirt from a band which were around in Hastings about the same time as Soul Sanctuary were in their heyday, and that band was Our Malevolent Tyranny, or OMT. 5 years ago you couldn't go anywhere in Hastings/Bexhill etc without seeing an OMT sticker plastered somewhere prominent. I only saw them live once, just before they split up (such is my timing!) and they were another excellent live band.

I'm wearing:

OMT shirt, back in the day
Bracelets old
Skirt, past season Yours Clothing
Shoes, past season Evans



I don't know what it is about seaside towns and talent, but Hastings is full of musicians, artists and other such creative types. I love it and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Flowers and analogies

Hiya.

I've been thinking about depression, but not in a 'Woe is me!' way at all. I'm absolutely fine and don't want anyone to worry about me. I really believe that every situation good or bad holds a lesson and I've just been schooled for the better. :)

I feel reasonably happy, or rather there's no particular reason for me to feel terribly sad right now. We're in limbo re: my step dad's cancer, but no news is good news. I have my dad's side of the family staying with me at the moment, and although it puts a strain on me mentally and physically it's good to see them.

I've just thought of a better analogy to describe my depression. 15 minutes ago I best described my depression as carrying around a sopping wet heavy blanket which makes every task harder, but I just thought of an even truer analogy than that.

Depression affects different people in different ways. I've been suicidal in the very distant past, and I've had the kind of depression where everything seems hopeless and every day is a snotfest from endless crying. The depression I've had for the last 7 or 8 years is different, and the blanket analogy helped. But now I see it's not just a heavy blanket that wears me down and makes everything so much harder to do. The blanket analogy only works for dealing with things, not people. When it comes to people, it's like being covered in a layer of something which dulls the senses and makes me unable to feel the same bond or closeness, almost like I've been dipped in wax. Have you ever got hot wax on your fingertips and felt your sense of touch dull as the wax shapes to your form and dries? That.

It's not just that I feel a fatigue which takes the joy out of things I normally enjoy, but it takes the joy out of my relationships with people too. I need to have people there for me but desperately don't want to ask, nor do I want any special treatment as I feel like the world's biggest dramatist for feeling this way already. I empathise with other people's struggles but don't want to inadvertently insert my own shit into the mix so I'm keeping my distance from people and thus heightening my feeling of being separate even more. Catch 22.

On Friday morning a lovely bunch of flowers arrived from some of my fellow bloggers. I had a 'They're not for me!' moment with the Interflora lady before taking them in and bursting into tears when I read the card. ;)

That sense of isolation I was feeling was almost entirely on my part, but when you're in the grip of the beast it needs some kind of miracle to see it. Receiving the flowers made me cry, and also made me see I'm a daft arse, but knowing I am and shirking off that which ails me are two very different things.

I can't tell you the amount of photos I've taken for blog posts which will likely never see the light of day. Let me see, there's me with henna on my scraped back hair and little makeup wearing a casual around-the-house outfit and slippers as that was all I had time for that day. There's the beetroot faced and rained on photo set I took when I stupidly decided to walk home on an empty stomach from the dentists sans umbrella in a downpour.

These photos capture the reality of the best of some of my days recently, yet even with my penchant for realism, I can't get two sentences into such a post without boring myself to tears. I have no interest in food other than what's quick and thoughtless and veganism has temporarily gone out of the window. I'm not even internet shopping as the thought of everything tires me, and as such I would feel like a 3 headed freak if I were to admit that to a group of fellow bloggers.

Because I have no interest in buying new or putting together old outfits I feel like I've lost part of myself. And maybe that's the biggest and best analogy to describe depression. You've lost part of yourself and you know it's still in there but you just can't get to it or get it back.

This will pass. Bad things always do. I'm glad I've realised a bit more about the ways depression isolates me from other people. I'm writing this for other people who might be suffering with the black dog, and also for myself, so I can come back and read this at a later date when I may not be so rational.

Again, I'm fine and this isn't a cry for help or attention seeking. I don't know when I'll be back blogging properly, but it'll be when I feel I have something worth sharing. Meanwhile I'll be keeping my head down and trying to peel this wax off/shirk off that blanket. ;)

Take it easy,
Leah xoxo

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who took part in Outfit August. I intended to be so much more hands on and to share lots more of your posts on instagram but it didn't pan out because mental health, yo. I found some great new people to follow and I'm glad of that.

Outfit August 28/08 & thanks

Hello loves,

Happy Friday! This is probably going to be my last post until September as I have family staying from today and I'll be a busy bee. Can you believe it's nearly September?! Holy shee-it. I'm starting to think about my second-favourite C word, C*****mas!

I want to take a little break from blogging anyway, so it's good timing.

Thanks for the kind words on my ranty post. I feel slightly less crap now. Sometimes all you need is a few kind words, you know? (Note to universe - more kind words for everyone!) I should also schedule in a mental health break every 3 months as I seem to feel like everything is too much about that often. I'm wondering if it's my weirdo sensitive/empath witch-juju making me sensitive to the change of the seasons? That had never occurred to me before but now I think about it....hmmm.

When I do one of my wordy, soul-searching posts I most realise how lucky I am to have you behind me. Of all the things I'm proud about with this blog, having a 'tribe' of people is the greatest. Having a tribe isn't about having blind followers no matter what, or anyone blowing smoke up my arse, it's about that interaction between us and people having my back, and it's a blessing.

It's been a lesson about the way I act when I'm in the mental health danger zone, and also about looking closer at others who might be struggling too. I've had several people say they didn't want to intrude when I was AWOL, and then I noticed one of my fellow bloggers was off the grid a couple of days ago and reached out. Maybe it's a lesson to all of us - check in with your people often, even if you think you're just being silly. That reminds me, I need to call my mum. :D
 
Thanks also to everybody who's taken part in Outfit August. I intended to be a lot more hands on than I was so it was a bit of a fail on my part, but massive kudos to everyone who's brightened up my Instagram with your photos every day.

I took these pics when I was visiting family.

I'm wearing:

Hair flower, Peacocks.co.uk
Dress, past season Evans.co.uk 
Leggings, Yours Clothing
Shoes past season Very
Necklace, handmade & round the wrong way anyway ;)

So, what does September bring? Better things, better times, hopefully. Falling leaves, darker evenings, hot chocolate and planning for that C-mas occasion there's no running away from. ;)

I'm also likely to be doing more makeup posts (than fashion) for a while as nothing is floating my boat right now, and even if it was I have no money to buy anything with. I hope to do 30 days of lipstick to get some of those long forgotten pretties swatched and loved again, and I'll just plop a lipstick photo on the end of my posts, much like Christy has been doing on her Outfit August blog posts.

Catch you on the other side, and have a great weekend.
Leah xoxo