Back to Work..fashion in one post..

I think I have finally recovered from the amazing festival season!! Have been back at work for a few weeks now and it seems so far away that I was at Glastonbury I thought I would get back on track and start-up my “outfits in a week” blog…

So Sunday last week I braved it and wore a pink and white tie front crop front that I bagged at a sample sale; an H&M purple mini skirt and pump, I also wore one accessory that my friend bought me a few years ago – a gold guitar necklace

Through the week I wore leggings a lot and baggy tees; have had a poorly tummy most of the week so was totally aiming for comfort only; but as I work in the fashion industry I have to add a bit of an edge to my outfits!

Thursday I wore an Asos slash oversized Tee with Asos Tie dye Leggings and an oversized bead necklace from Top Shop; of course worn with pumps (I cycle to work and there’s never any room for my heels!)

On Friday my outfit was still on the theme of over leggings/tee combo! I am wearing green leggings from American Apparel, Oversized sequin front Rock tee (sample size 16 – well I do love the bagginess!) and an Asos cardigan.. topped off with River Island worker boots. Such a comfortable look!

I can’t actually remember what I wore on Monday – Wednesday but I Obviously did not deem it fit to post!!

 Saturday we popped into town and I went for TOTAL comfort! Sample Sale mink harems, Asos fringed suede boots & a Sample sale Cropped Hanky Hem vest.

It was my race for life on Sunday so I donned the famous bunny ears & a pink sample sale vest and off I ran! I raced at Heaton Park, which BTW is VERY hilly!! I finished in a time of 34mins or so and ran all the way! very proud of myself for that and I raised nearly £70! You can actually still donate here .

 As I missed a few days last week; here are monday’s and today’s outfits…

Monday: Yellow bodysuit – sample sale

Denim Harems – Asos 

Giant bow headband – Top Shop

Pink/white striped pumps – Primark 

Today (Tuesday):

Navy/White striped crop tie front top – Sample sale

Black Silk Pyjama Pegs – Asos 

Leopard print pumps – Primark 

Anyway that’s all for now peeps! Have fun for the rest of the week and let me know what you think of my clothes and outfit choices!

Julia_hearts_u

follow me on twitter

xoxo

Glastonbury loveliness

Well this time last week I was sat in a field in Pilton supping on a nice cold beer.. good times.

Our Handfasting too place on Saturday and we were sooo lucky to have at least 20 of our twitter friends and followers show up, as well as a number of random passerby’s.

Peter our minister led us to the circle shouting men on the right, women on the left, and urging everyone in the Green Futures field to get involved in our blessing. They all did!

Once everyone had sat down; James and I walked around the circle in opposite directions; high fied when we passed at the top and then stood together at the entrance whilst Peter annoued what was going on.

It was such a beautiful cermony, I was crying at the top of the field before we started but managed to hold myself together..

Below is some of the ceremony…

Now Julia and James are to be married in a years time on the 24^th September and today they wish to acknowledge and announce this commitment, before you all in this wonderful place and to take from this place the wonderful energy of Glastonbury and the support of you their friends to enrich their commitment.

 This is an extremely pure moment. You have set time
aside. There is in these moments a tenderness and
sensitivity that bring us out of the normal flow of
life.
It’s a time for stepping out of routine so that we
can touch the essential.
We seek ceremony when we feel something special is
happening.

I am so happy that so many people got involved, at one point, after the flower girls had passed out the bracelets to the crowd to be blessed which we bought to swap as a token of the blessing; a little boy kissed my bracelet! It was amazing the love and support we both felt.

I kinda want Peter to perform our wedding next year.. we’ll see how that will pan out!! I also kind of  (well totally actually); want to wear my headress and facepaint…

Well we are now well and truly blessed and totally handfasted! We both will now wear our bracelets for a year and a day.. I think we’ll wear them at least until the day before our wedding next year! We have kept the binding cord; which I am going to make a pair of bracelets for the both of us.

more photos can be found here

Thank you for reading!

Julia_Hearts_U

 

xoxo

Glastonbury Excitement!

Not Long to go now!

Our hand fasting at Glastonbury that will be taking place next week and it is getting me all goose pimply! I have since changed my idea of what I am wearing.. read on!

 I double checked my Glastonbury bag last night (I packed about a month ago) and I am set the fact that I have packed some awesome clothes, but also very practical! we have also bought a new tent (it is green! I am decorating it with bride and groom balloons and things) and new sleeping mats, as James left our mats at Glastonbury last year! the ones we have bought this year are great – they come with straps so that they roll away easily!

 My festival rucksack contains..

 1 x pack a poncho

1 x straw Trilby

1 x pink sequins fascinator

1 x pair denim shorts

1 x grey tie dye leggings

1 x evil Spiderman hoody

1 x grey marl cardigan

1 x long African print skirt

1 x bikini

1 x pair of green wellies (yet to be embellished with jewels)

1 x pair pale blue plimsolls

1 x football vest (to watch England on Wednesday)

3 x tops (black and grey in colour)

1 x vintage turquoise polka dot dress – for the handfasting

1 x navy blue feather cape – for the handfasting

1 x sequin jacket

and obviously enough panties, bras, long socks and leg warmers!

leather festival waist bag (not a bum bag  – honest)

face paint, makeup and hair accessories

sparklers

travel johns (to save us from late night/early morning porta-loo trips)

she wee (to save my legs from the squat)

scarf

and that’s about it apart from baby wipes, loo roll, food and drink etc! I think I have it all covered… oh well what I don’t have I can buy!

 Our handfasting extravaganza is all underway, the lovely Peter has written a great ceremony.. a snippet is here..

We stand here now with all these blessings gathered for you

 Here upon this ground beneath our feet that hears the sound of our music,

 it holds our dreams, our hopes. This very space will bear witness to this life enhancing experience.

Here in this ancient landscape beloved of mankind that retains a tremendous ethos and character, we sense and draw upon the spiritual strength that lies within this earth

 (Please turn and face one another)

 It is indeed one of life’s finest experiences when a
chance meeting grows into a permanent bond of love.
This meeting and this growing are what bring us here
today.

 I won’t spoil the rest of the ceremony, but It is likely you’ll have to literally carry us off into the festival!! Don’t forget your wellies, ribbons, noise makers (vuvezuelas welcome) and blessings!

 Hand Fasting ceremony to take place in the Green Futures field, at 1pm Saturday 26th June

 I hope you have a great festival peeps!!!

 Julia_hearts_u xoxo

A little weddingy Blog

With thoughts of my hand fasting at the forefront of my mind, my wedding next year has never seemed so far away!

I am getting married September 24th at Raven Hall in Ravenscar, near Whitby.

Back in February I was searching for a dress to wear for my hand fasting at Glastonbury on Ebay, and I came across a beautiful La Sposa designer dress, only worn once. The bidding was somewhere around £70, for a dress that I know cost the first bride near in the region of £2000 this seemed such a bargain! I ummed and ahhed on Twitter, and finally caved in and started to bid. I kept losing out to higher bids and went to bed defeated.

In the morning I saw that the dress didn’t sell to anyone as it didn’t meet its reserve. So once again I went back to Twitter and it was suggested that I email the seller to see if she would sell to me privately.

It seemed like she was happy to sell the dress for £300.. about £200 more than I had readily available. I tweeted that I had lost out on my dress and went back searching, happy in the knowledge that I was going to the wedding fair with my Mother and sister at the start of March!

Anyway the next day I had a direct message on Twitter asking if I would be happy if my twitter followers came together with a few quid each, to raise the money I needed to buy the dress! Of course I said, as long as no one would be put out, that would be a lovely idea!

Anyway a few weeks went by, and one day, when I was down in London doing customer fits, I had a text message saying “I have £300 burning a hole in my pocket..” WOW what an amazing act of kindness (this seems to be happening a lot recently) ! I emailed Gabrielle (the seller) again and we arranged a time that week when she would re-list the dress and I could buy straight away… I GOT IT!!

It fit me perfectly and I was so happy that I had to look no further for my dream dress…

Ok so date, venue, dress all sorted…pretty happy with that until I saw some shoes in a bridal magazine. I was instantly set on getting some statement shoes, I headed to the Irregular Choice website and saw them… they are fantastic! they are all floral with a clear heel, with huge flowers across the front… AMAZING!!! Another stroke of luck thought Twitter, sent me a discount card to get them!! WAYHEY! 25% off and they are now mine…

can you believe all this?! anyway as far as decorations and everything else go, I am keeping a fully loaded scrapbook that I add to weekly! big thanks to Rock and Roll Bride – where a lot of my ideas stem from!!

I can’t wait until the big day next year!!!

Handfasting News!

I seriously cannot believe the power of the internet..

Only yesterday I was tearing my hair out and wondering if our dream handfasting ceremony was going to take place.. After realising that we could not afford the money needed to pay for this, we had decided on doing this the free way, with our friends as ministers!

Set on this we went about looking at websites to be ordained etc.. I saw that I had a direct message on my twitter account, it said ‘check your email’.. so I did and I still cannot believe what I saw

I had a message that read ‘You’ve got funds; £100 -No Buts, No Returns’. I replied instantly with a big thank you and told my fiance James what had happened.. I still can’t believe that someone has been so kind to give us the money to pay for this special day..

 thanks to www.lightonlife.co.uk who will be doing the ceremony

I just wanted to say thank you very much – you know who you are and I am so grateful, as is James

xox

A little bit naïve and a lot skint!

Afternoon Blog Land!

Some sad news

The lovely people from the Green Futures Field got in touch today to discuss the up and coming Hand Fasting that I have been planning to have whilst at Glastonbury this year (see more on this here )I spoke to Peter (who was adorable and really excited by my ideas) who would be residing over the ceremony. I explained to him how James and I are getting married next year, and as a lot of my followers on twitter came together to raise the money to buy my wedding dress, I thought it would be a nice idea to have everyone together to celebrate our up & coming nuptials (when James decides to properly propose) and to thank them for all they have done for us this past year! I have asked all the lovely twitter peeps to bring ribbons to signify the union, and to wear wellies (well you have to be prepared at Glasto!)

However… As is always the way (I knew at some point money would come in to play) I was informed that this would cost money. He kindly reduced to price to £100 but even that is too much for us to pay at the moment. Only yesterday I was ranting on twitter about how skint I am and can barely afford Glastonbury itself!

So James and I have decided to do things the free and easy way, by doing the ceremony ourselves somewhere in the festival, I have after all made my dress.. I am still having my ceremony face art courtesy of Vanity Van which will look amazing!

So, if all our lovely twitter friends and camping buddies still turn up somewhere in the festival (stone circle anyone?!) and have a mock ceremony? It would be great if we could find someone who in a non-religious way to officiate the ceremony, and also if our friends could say a few words to make the moment special..

Let me know your thoughts – they are all greatly appreciated!!

Blog you later

Julia_Hearts_U

xoxo

Hen do’s… festivals and CRAZY hair

As promised here is my update on last weeks Hen activities with the lovely Bride to be Victoria! We surprised her on the Wednesday night with wine and nibbles, and answered the door in a very ‘that episode out of friends’ way shouting ‘I DO!!’. We all wore our take on bridal wear – some had fantastic dresses (Wai Mun, Stacey!) and others like me winged it with simple jersey dresses.

Hen's what dress as Brides!

Well mine I have to say was fab – being that it is my hand-fasting Glastonbury festival dress! We had such a great time, but I fear staying up until 2.30

when we had a 5am flight to Croatia was not the best of plans! Needless to say we were some very tired Hens but had such a wicked time in Croatia! I feel honoured to be able to share the experience with my new friends through the lovely Victoria!

Fab Hen’s in Dubrovnik

So with that out of the way, two BIG things which are coming up now are Vics wedding and of course GLASTONBURY!! Victoria is getting hitched June 12th and I am really hoping that my frizzled hair will sort itself out for the big day! Sun, bleach and sea salt have not been kind to me, and when we were waiting for our flight back to the UK on Sunday, I combed my hair (whish I didn’t) and lots broke off. I fear that if we had more than 100ml of liquids I could have bought my conditioning mask and protected my do – scarves and no washing had to do… So since we have been back I have only washed it twice, but keeping the conditioner for about 15 minutes a pop.. it seems to be working. oh and I am not using any styling products… Au natural baby… fingers crossed anyway!
Glasto is of course a big highlight this year.. hand fasting… 40 year

Us at Glaso last year!

anniversary… so today me and James made our camping essentials list…

New Tent with tent pegs
Ruck sack for Jim
Sleeping Mats (unless the tent fits our blow up bed)
Sleeping Bags
4 x water
6 x Portable wee wee things
8 x Cans of Cider
2 x Vodka
Stove and gas
UV lip balm
Sun cream
Baby wipes
3 x toilet roll
General Toiletries (toothbrush, deodorant, she wee etc)
Wellies
Beach Ball
Straw Hat
Sparklers
plastic bottle of red wine
plastic cups

I purchased the portable wee wee things (as James likes to call them) and the good old She Wee today from Funky Junk camping website and the she wee website.. good times. anything to save my thighs from squatting and those early morning porta loo visits (bad times).

We’ll be doing our yearly visit to Decathlon at the end of the month for the tent – the other camping stuff will be from the pound shop or from the things we already have..keep it cheap I say!

Essentials for when the rain comes

Anyway, that’s it for now! Blog You Later

Julia_Hearts_u xox

‘April Thoughts & other things’

Last week the lovely Angharad from Edible Glitter asked me to do a guest post on her blog. I was totally honoured and took a quiet moment out of my day to make it perfect..

Still no more handfasting news to update you all on, but rest assured I will be dropping an email to the folks at the Green Futures fields to see if any progress has been made!

Sticking with the weddingy theme – next week I head off to Croatia with my good friend and Bride-to-be of the moment Victoria and pals for her Hen-Do.
We have a little surprise for her, but I shan’t ruin it for her by blogging about it until after the occasion!
I have been having such a dilemma in regards to what to take, as our luggage allowance is only one bag, and he have to take this on board with us! SO in true me-style, I put all my clothes onto my bed, and began the process of separation and elimination. What I was left with was, well, half my wardrobe, and with only a small bag to fill, I whittled it down to..

1 x maxi dress (fashion union)
2 x sundress ( primark, internacionale)
1 x leggings (american apparel)
1 x shorts (mark1)
1 x jeans (river island)
1 x harems (tesco’s)
1 x cardigan (d2)
1 x gladiator sandals (river island)
1 x havianias
4 x tops (H&M, tesco’s, D2)
1 x bikini (river island)
1 x swimming costume (ebay)

so that’s my capsule bag.. I’ll have to squeeze in my smalls and toiletries too! wish me luck!!

blog you later!

Julia_Hearts_U

#OneDressADay feeling low, dressing bright

Rainbow over Manchester

My much beloved Uncle died yesterday, and it is a very sad time for all the

family as he was a beautiful man, and had come to the end of a long battle with a terminal illness. I am never one to wear black in times of mourning,

when my nana died a few years ago we all wore shades of blue, green and yellow to her funeral. It was amazing that we all thought of the same thing..this shows you how strong family can be.

cheering up the day

It is no different this time. Although I cannot be with my family at this difficult time I am thinking of them and being bright in my nature and with my clothes x

#OneDressADay Challenge

So in a rare moment of clarity over the weekend, I realised that I have sh*t loads of clothes…

Bright's in the City

Grr..Tiger Legs

This always comes from working in fashion, you tend to stack up lots of things from various sample sales, etc..also there is the slight credit card frenzy I have once in a while…

Well I was sorting out my clothes, and started to count the number of dresses I own..Totally one for each day of the month and 1/2 way into the next one.

Sure there are a few ‘dressy’ and ‘evening’ dresses that can’t be worn in the day, but you know what…to hell with tradition. Throw on a pair of thick wool tights andbrogues and you have yourself an all sparkling, all trendy daytime look.

Anyway, I set myself a challenge…

Wear one dress a day until I run out…

It isn’t changing the world or anything like that, but it is challenging me to wear things I haven’t done so in a long time, and is helping me realise some things I own look great on the hanger, but alas..not on me..

Lights in the City

TTYL, I have a wardrobe to wear

Julia_Hearts_U xox