Party dresses.

1. New Look - £25.99
(also available in navy blue)
2. New Look - £30
3. New Look - £37.99
4. Forever 21 - £19.75
5. Forever 21 - £16.75
6. Forever 21 - £19.75

I'm not usually someone who gets all excited for 'the party season', because I don't tend to go to actual Christmas parties. And I'm not this year, either (my work Christmas party isn't until January, and it's looking like it's going to be beach themed anyway. It was either that, or Olympics themed. Yeah). But with my birthday coming up in less than three weeks, Dan's birthday and New Year's Eve at the end of December, and Dan's PGCE graduation in January, I've got lots of excuses to buy lots of pretty dresses!

While these dresses are sort of a wish list, they're also a realistic list of dresses I might get. I'm not too good with looking at pretty dresses that I can't ever have!
I have a gift card for Forever 21 so when I go shopping there on Sunday (yay! SO EXCITED) I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up a dress for my birthday night out. I love buying new clothes for special nights out a bit too much! It's probably an issue I should look into.

- - - - -

This weekend I'm going to the Good Food Show in the Birmingham NEC with my mother on Saturday, then meeting up with my girl friends in London on Sunday. I'm rather excited. Unfortunately, I've got a split shift (two shifts in one day) in work to get through tomorrow, and probably won't get home until at least 2am because I'm on to stay til finish. So it might be quite the tiring weekend!

Not being orientated.

Today I got up at 6am and caught the train to Portsmouth, because I was told that my Holiday Inn orientation was today. But when I got there, I discovered that, as it turns out, it wasn't today. It had been rescheduled to last week but no one had told my manager or, you know, me. So I was in Portsmouth for no reason. Awesome.

I decided to make the trip worthwhile and grabbed myself a hot chocolate (since it was SUPER COLD) then did a bit of shopping in Gunwharf Quays. And then I came back to Eastleigh on the train and did a bit more shopping there. Which made me feel a lot better about getting up ridiculously early for nothing.

I picked up a notebook in Paperchase, Cath Kidston sticky notes (in case it wasn't a little bit obvious from my blog background, I love Cath Kidston designs) and a pack of 10 retractable Sharpie pens:

I also managed to get a pretty black and white star dress from the teen section (for age 13, if you can believe that. The age 14 was too big for me, wtf mate?) of New Look - for only £6 in a sale, bargain!

While I was in Eastleigh I noticed a sign in the McDonald's window advertising that the Big Tasty is back. Dan LOVES that burger and was super upset when they stopped doing it at the end of summer, so obviously that meant we had to have dinner at McDonald's this evening. I tried the Big Tasty as well, because for all Dan's rave reviews I'd never tried it. To be fair, it was a v. tasty burger. I just find McDonald's burgers a bit too sloppy and messy. Chicken McNuggets are a much safer option for a messy eater like me!

Emma's eBay Purchases - Part 3

Topshop dress. Size 8. 99p + £2.50 P&P

This dress looked super cute in the picture on the eBay listing. And it is in person, kind of. As you can see, it's a tad on the shapeless side. It does look better with a belt added into the mix:

But it's still not GREAT. It's 100% polyester, which means it's not the comfiest thing to wear. This is the second time I've bought a dress from eBay that I liked in the picture, but then not liked in person because I hate how the fabric feels. Definitely a lesson there! Note to self: Always check what material an item is made from!

Still, it has some redeeming features, like the pockets (I love pockets. Any dress is made 50% better by having pockets, true fact), and the design itself:

Pixel flowers? Kind of dorky, kind of cute. I approve.

Emma's eBay Purchases - Part 1

Confession: I am a complete eBay addict.

The moment I have money, I'm on eBay, looking for new (and unnecessary, of course!) clothes to buy. There's something so much fun about buying clothes from eBay! They're so much cheaper than buying instore, for one (I buy quite a lot of Topshop things from eBay, for instance, because as much as I love a lot of their clothes, I refuse to pay the prices they're asking in store). Secondly, there's the fun of seeing how much an item goes for, the triumph of winning, and then of course getting a package in the post!

So I've decided to start a little feature, of sorts, where I post new things I've won on eBay. Because hey, I like to show off my winnings.

I'll start with this Topshop coat that arrived this morning:

Topshop coat. Size 8. 99p + £3.50 P&P.
(excuse the awkward posing - this is exactly why this blog will never be a fashion blog!)

I've been looking for a new autumn/winter coat for a while, because although I already have three, there's still a gap in their usage (one is too 'smart' for just running to the supermarket, one is too short - I don't like having a cold bum! - and the other is a little too big/box-y, so it doesn't quite sit right on me). I was hoping that this coat would fill it.
It kind of does, in that it's quite a versatile coat but it's a little longer than I'd have liked, and it's actually quite tight! I can do it up fine (although, having said that, the buttons are slightly too big for the hole, so it takes a while), but I'm not sure how it'll fare (fair? Hmm) when I've got multiple layers and a scarf under it. I guess we shall see as the weather gets colder.

Coming soon: 2 bags and a dress!