Sunday pursuits and a Monday meet-up

Welcome back to the Shropshire travelogue, which has now reached episode # 5. As the adventures I'm chronicling here today are now well over a month old, a bit of time-travelling was required to relive them all. So, once again I'm thankful for the effort I made to at least jot down a couple of lines in my diary each day, and there's definitely more than just a modicum of truth in the time-worn adage that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Take this one for instance, for which we stopped at the top of our lane on the morning of Sunday the 16th of June. For once the weather gods appeared to be with us that day, treating us to a blue sky floating with fluffy cotton wool clouds and bathing the rolling green sheep-dotted fields in glorious sunshine. It instantly takes me back to that morning when, breathing in the scents of Summer in the countryside and listening to the soothing soundtrack of bleating sheep, I felt on top of the world.

After our outing to the Ironbridge gorge on Saturday, we wanted to stay a little bit closer to home on Sunday. Just as we'd done on the in-between Sundays in both 2022 and 2023, we'd planned to drive over to Ludlow, about half an hour up the road from the cowshed. However, as our journey would take us through Craven Arms, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the English Heritage owned Stokesay Castle, tantalizing glimpses of which can be caught from the A49.

It wouldn't be our first visit to this picturesque fortified medieval manor house. In fact, we first came here on a rainy day in July 2008 when we were holidaying across the county border in Herefordshire, while our second and penultimate visit was on a glorious Summer's day in June 2019.

What we hadn't reckoned with on on this sunny Sunday, on which highs of 18°C had been forecasted, was that we had to share the property with a coach party, who were just making their way towards the entrance when we were parking our car.

Stokesay Castle was constructed at the end of the 13th century by Laurence of Ludlow, who at the time was one of the richest men in England. It remains a treasure by-passed by time and one of the best places to visit in England to experience what medieval life was like.

With so many people milling about the property, it was virtually impossible to take a proper photograph of the17th-century timber-framed gatehouse leading into Stokesay or the beautifully ornate carvings in its frame. The photograph on the top right was taken at the back of the gatehouse in a rare moment when nobody was passing through it.

The same problem awaited us in Stokesay's great hall which has remained virtually unchanged for more than 700 years. The fine timber roof and staircase (the latter not pictured, as I gave up trying), with treads cut from whole tree trunks, all show the same carpenters' mark from 1291. 

Too swift to determine whether they were swallows or house martins, we were nevertheless captivated by the birds who were clearly treating the castle as their domain, freely flying in and out of the windows in order to feed their hungry offspring in their intricately built clay nests.

Inside the solar - or private apartment block - one is bowled over by the overmantel, intricately carved with fruit, flowers and figures. Once brightly coloured it still has some traces of the original red, green and gold paint. The two-storey solar has one of the few post-medieval alterations to the castle, having been refashioned in the 17th century into a fine panelled chamber.

We ended our visit with a stroll around the castle by way of the moat walk, taking in views towards the North Tower and Great Hall, with the occasional glimpse of the surrounding Shropshire Hills.

For further reading, I urge you to have a look at Aril's blog (here), as she serendipitously posted about her visit to Stokesay Castle earlier this week.

Before continuing to Ludlow as planned, we enjoyed a car picnic, and made some quick outfit photos. I was wearing a cotton skirt I'd bought in an Outlet shop back in February, combined with a green and blue Breton top from H&M by way of the charity shops. My fuchsia belt and wooden discs necklace were bought on the high street, while the pink, flower-patterned sneakers were a lucky find in a Shrewsbury charity shop in June 2019.

It's only a 10-minute or so drive from Stokesay to Ludlow, where we managed to grab one of the last parking spots going. We were just about to put our money into the Pay and Display machine, when we were reminded by a couple passing by that parking was free on a Sunday. Duh, of course! We ended up talking to the lovely couple, who'd just travelled up from their home in Somerset the previous day and, like us, were staying in a holiday cottage called The Byre!

We went for a stroll around this gem of a town, found treasure in the handful of charity shops which were open on a Sunday and browsed the Antiques and Collectors fair on Castle Square, where most of the brooches were found.

I'd been on the lookout for Emma Donoghue's Slammerkin for ages and couldn't believe my luck when I happened upon a pair of pristine Clarks Wave Walks, which might be in the running to replace my beloved but slightly battered Cloudsteppers. The Big Biba book was picked up from Castle Bookshop.

Having done our rounds, we were in need of a sit-down and some sustenance, which we found in the café of the newly refurbished Assembly Rooms turned arts and community centre on Castle Square. Which comes highly recommended, by the way.

Before rejoining our car, we couldn't resist popping into St. Laurence's Church, Shropshire's largest parish church and often described as the "cathedral of the marches". 

I'm not surprised it was among the 18 churches given a five-star rating in England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins (1999).

My main reason for popping in was to swoon once more over the church's magnificent collection of misericords or mercy seats. Misericords are medieval choir stall seats designed to be raised during services, so that the occupants had to stand. If they became tired, they could rest their bottoms against the small ledges protruding from the bottom of the seats: a small mercy of the heart (or misericordia).

St Laurence's has a total of 28 of these, one of the largest collections in a parish church. They date from two periods: the construction of the original choir stalls in about 1425, and the remodelling of the stalls in 1447 when the Choir was extended.

We had an early night on Sunday, as we needed to be up early-ish on Monday. 

We were relieved that it looked set to be a mostly dry day with some sunny spells thrown into the mix as another blogger meet-up was on the menu that day. I had suggested the National Trust managed Dudmaston Hall due to its manageable distance for all of us. This time, apart from Vix and Jon, we would be joined by my blogging friend Claire and her husband Gareth, whom we'd met for the first time last year. 

We were the first to arrive but had only just stepped out of our car when Vix and Jon's red Citroën C5, Patrice, trundled up the drive, closely followed by Claire and Gareth in their red Beetle.

Lots of hugging ensued, after which we proceeded towards the entrance, where we arranged to join a tour of the property's art collection at 11.30. Finding our plans for a stroll around the garden thwarted as it only opens at 11, Claire and Gareth suggested going for a walk, which turned out to be the delightful Dingle Walk we did back in 2019 and 2023. It was here that the ominous looking sky decided to rain down on us. Thankfully, it was only a mere and very short-lived drizzle! 

We made it back to the house with only minutes to spare for the Cocktail of Art tour during which Alison, our lovely volunteer and guide, walked us around Dudmaston Hall's art collection, pointing out favourites and giving some background information on the artists. 

Dudmaston Hall houses one of the most important collections of modern art in Britain, started by Sir George and Lady Labouchere - who inherited Dudmaston Hall in 1952 -  in the 1950s while Sir George was working for the British Embassy in Brussels. 

The collection includes works by Barbare Hepworth (top right) and Henry Moore (bottom left) amongst many others. I'm not sure the boys were quite as impressed by the works of art as us girls!

Photos on top left and right courtesy of Vix

With the tour finished, it was time for a spot of lunch, which at around 19°C we were lucky enough to be able to have outside in the orchard.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house for a visit to the rooms proper.

The girls were drawn to the fabulous collection of antique fans. No fear, we didn't raid the display cases for the ones we are holding. They were laid out alongside some leaflets explaining the language of the fan. According to Vix, I'm wishing to get rid of you here. Sorry about that!

Dudmaston’s story spans almost a millennium, lived in by the same family through inheritance and marriage for over 875 years and never sold. 

After years of diplomatic service, Sir George and Lady Labouchere moved into the property in 1966. 

By this time it had been decided that the estate would be given to the National Trust, which was completed in 1978 with the provision that Lady Labouchere’s descendants could carry on living at the estate. Lady Labouchere died in 1996, followed by her husband George in 1999, but members of the Hamilton-Russell family (descendants of Lady Labouchere’s cousin), remain occupants of the house to this day.

Vix, Claire and I kept snapping away, often captivated by and photographing the same things. We all swooned over the yellow Nina Campbell wallpaper in one of the bedrooms.

By then, gaps of blue had appeared in the sky, and we were raring to go and explore the gardens. The usually fabulous view towards the house was marred by a giant marquee, which thankfully disappeared once we'd descended the steps into the rockery to arrive at the edge of the Big Pool.

There are several sculptures by the artist  Anthony Twentyman (1906-1988) dotted around the garden. One of them, called Space Frame (1985) was featured in the BBC 2 series Hidden Treasures of the National Trust last year. As it was fenced off, I refrained from taking a photograph this time around, but the link will take you to the one I made on our previous visit.

The sculpture Jon and I are posing next to is another one by him, called The Watcher. The photo is courtesy of Vix.

Photos courtesy of Vix, Jon and Claire

We ended the day by going for another, longer walk around the estate, skirting Big Pond, with us girls chatting all the time and only marginally taking in the views. After all, it might very well be another year until we meet again!

After a final drink, which we once again had in the orchard, it was time to say our goodbyes, and to exchange presents with Claire and Gareth.

They absolutely spoiled us with local delicacies, a Bridgnorth tankard, a gorgeous patchwork washbag, lots of lovely jewellery, including a woolly sheep brooch from Ireland, a vintage Berkertex blouse and St. Michael skirt.

I'm ending this post with a view from the cowshed's window that evening. That moody sky really didn't bode well. 

What would the weather gods have in store for us for the final days of our holiday? I'll tell you all about it in my next and final travel post!

A glut of Summer outfits

I've been completely engrossed in writing my travelogue ever since we came back from our Shropshire holiday. So much so that now I'm finding myself running behind on what else has been happening in my life. And what I've been wearing, obviously! Now that we're finally back on track with making daily outfit photos, it would be an utter shame to let them go to waste, so I'm treating you to a veritable glut of Summer outfits in this post! 

I was in the throes of a serious case of post-holiday blues on Monday the 24th of June and not at all looking forward to my first day back on the grind on Tuesday. 

As is often the case upon our return from the UK the weather gods had a minor heatwave in store for us, easing us in gently with highs of 25°C on my final day of rest. 

The maxi skirt, green short-sleeved top and stretchy belt were part of my travel wardrobe but, although I wore the belt on several occasions, for obvious reasons the skirt and top had remained unworn. They were all retail buys which have more than earned their keep in my wardrobe.

The tiny Irish sheep brooch and the ceramic beaded necklace were gifts from Claire, whom we met up with in the second week of our holiday. Travelogue to follow shortly!

As always, the first couple of days back at the office were a whirlwind of catching up with work and as the temperature was nudging 30°C for once I was glad of the coolness supplied by the office air con.

To add insult to injury, Jos had to take the car to the garage for Belgium's equivalent of the MOT, so that I was obliged to bus into Antwerp on Tuesday. To say it felt a bit weird after four years of being chauffeur-driven into Antwerp is a bit of an understatement, but at least the journey was a straightforward one.

I was too exhausted for outfit photos at the end of the day, but here's what I wore on Wednesday. 

The green sleeveless dress, its pattern a purple and red floral extravaganza, was a charity shop find last September and was just perfect for the continuing heatwave temperatures. The wooden beads came from Accessorize - I've got them in a different colourway as well - while the enamelled butterfly brooch was a flea market find in 2017.

Although it was in no way intentional, I seemed to have a bit of a green theme going on that week.

As usual, it was an utter joy to wear this jumpsuit, which came from a fast fashion shop on the high street. Bought in 2018, an incredible six years ago, it's a true case of fast fashion turned slow! 

Pops of orange from my belt, ring and beaded necklace completed my outfit. The tomato red sandals, which joined my wardrobe in 2020, were what Monica would call my repeat offenders, as it seems I wore them three days in a row. 

The temperature had gone down to around 20°C on Friday, which saw us driving to Antwerp for a hairdresser's appointment. While I was at the salon, Jos went for a coffee and a wander, after which we met up for lunch at the recently opened branch of Le Pain Quotidien, a chain of combined bakeries and breakfast and lunch restaurants. We both opted for cheese and ham croissants which we had with our usual cappuccinos.

Afterwards we took the tram for a couple of stops and then walked through the premises of the posh Botanic Sanctuary hotel located in a former convent and hospital complex whose history goes back to the 12th century. Here, I introduced Jos to Albert Szukalski's ghostly figures, relatives of those in the sculpture park.

We were on our way to buy a new Panama hat for Jos from a hat shop called Harbor of Men.

Mission accomplished, we walked back to the city centre through the Botanic Garden, where Jos wasted no time in exchanging the charity shopped M&S hat he was wearing for his new acquisition.

On our way out, we briefly paused for outfit photos. This zig-zag skirt was another one which fruitlessly accompanied me on my travels. It was a charity shop find in the Summer of 2021. In fact, most of what I'm wearing here was charity shopped, apart from the belt, a flea market find back in April, and the Clarks sandals, a sales bargain dating from 2018.

Saturday was a day of sunny spells and a balmy temperature of 23°C.

The dress I wrestled from my wardrobe's groaning rails that morning is vintage, from a label called Carine, which I remember being around when I was a young girl. It's got a gorgeous floral watercolour print and the sweetest cap sleeves which have a little split at the top allowing for welcome ventilation on a warm Summer's day.

I opted for neutral tones for my accessories, which included a Paris souvenir cameo brooch, a stretchy belt with wooden buckle and a wood and polished stone beaded necklace. The slingbacks I was wearing might very well be my most comfortable pair of Summer shoes. They're from the Spanish Art label and were picked up from an Outlet shop in May 2022.

My mind is a blank as to what we did that day, apart from the fact that we dropped off a bag of donations at the charity shop in the afternoon. It would have been rude not to have a rummage while we were there, and we were amply rewarded for our generosity by the charity shop goddesses.

The spoils which ended up in my trolley were two maxi skirts and several patterned tops. I'm actually wearing the drapey black patterned one (above, top left and centre) as I type.

With a repeat of Saturday's weather on Sunday, we thought it was high time we planted up the hanging baskets and upside-down green enamelled lampshades under the awning outside our backdoor. Embarrassingly, we admit that they still contained the sorry-looking remains of the daffodils, primulas and pansies we planted back in Spring since we'd postponed replacing them with Summer flowers until we were back from our holiday.

Needless to say, the choice at the garden centre was rather limited this late in the day, but we still found some scarlet double Pelargoniums for the cones and a cheerful yellow Sanvitalia for the half-basket against the potting shed wall.

A single white Pelargonium with contrasting burgundy markings was selected to join yet another yellow Sanvitalia in the hanging basket suspended from the awning and I couldn't resist buying a pot of pink and purple Fuchsias for the passageway.  

Sunday's dress was the black floral butterfly-sleeved one in the middle, a Think Twice sales bargain back in May.

We were back to grey skies, showers and temperatures barely touching 20°C in the first week of July. The perfect weather conditions to wear some of my beloved but sorely neglected Diolen Delights! Most of my collection was picked up from Think Twice over the years, although lately finding any of these colourful garments has become a bit of a rarity.

Finding one in a charity shop is even more unlikely, but that's exactly where I stumbled upon this glorious 1970s does 1940s number, albeit many years ago. I wore it on Thursday, my final working day of the week, picking a muted sage green as my main accessorizing colour. The brooch with its posy of tiny embroidered flowers was found in a Shrewsbury antiques centre in June 2019.

Friday the 5th of July was another grey and rainy one, with the additional delight of a blustery wind thrown in. This didn't bother me too unduly, as my friend Inez was coming over to help me put together the contents of our flea market stall in preparation for the event, which would take place on Sunday the 14th.

However, the day didn't got off to a good start. While dragging a seemingly endless number of boxes and bags from the built-in cupboard in our bedroom to the spare room, my ironing board, which is stored behind the bedroom door, toppled over and fell against the door, closing it with a bang in the process. As Bess - having a cat's curiosity and all that - was checking out the remaining boxes at the time disaster struck, she took fright and hid under the bed. She'd just come out of her hiding place when Inez, whom she hadn't met before, arrived. Still on edge from the ironing board episode, she hid under the sofa for the rest of the day, only emerging again by tea time. She remained nervy and apprehensive all through the evening and into Saturday and is still wary of the ironing board to this day.

Then, while Inez and I were selecting garments, pricing them and putting them on hangers, disaster struck again. As Jos was putting the rail together, one of the screws connecting the rail to one of the wheel frames got stuck and then broke off. There was nothing for it but to drill a new hole in the frame, which, although it made the rail a tiny bit wonky, turned out to be just fine in the end.

On the rail is our initial selection, with the rest of the clothes priced and put into boxes until space on the rail would become available on the day itself.

All that was left to do now was hoping the weather would at least be dry, so that our work wouldn't have been for nothing. Obviously, all will be revealed in a future post!

I'll be back with another episode of the travelogue next time. But before I go, here's what I've been reading lately. 

I'd just started Asta's Book by Barbare Vine - who is actually British crime writer Ruth Rendell - a couple of days before we went to Shropshire. It took me a while to finish it, as I kept dropping off on the sofa in the cowshed. Nevertheless, I loved it enough to have added another one of her books to my TBR pile. 

James Runcie's Canvey Island - which I'd bought during a previous Shropshire holiday - was started at the cowshed and finished at home, and didn't disappoint either. I'm still reading the 670-page Lucinda Riley novel I charity shopped while on holiday, so the jury's still out on that one.

Have you read any of these and what is your current read?

 

A day on the tiles

It's been a bit of a hectic week since I last posted here, with most of it taken up by the demands of my day job as well as the preparations for yesterday's flea market. I'll be telling you all about the latter in a future post, but for now let's once again set the time machine's satnav to last month's Shropshire holiday.

By Friday morning - we were the 14th of June by now - all traces of the previous evening's stormy weather had gone, although it was still a grey sky which greeted us when we drew the curtains. Fully expecting a repeat of Thursday's rainy weather and seriously under par temperatures, I dressed warmly, adding one of the pairs of Snags from Vix's goody bag, as well as my black and white dotty Phase Eight raincoat. The latter was bought on a similarly rainy day in at Church Stretton charity shop back in 2018.

With my raincoat, at least I matched some of our destination's black and white half-timbered architecture, but with highs of about 17°C, I didn't need all the layers this time around!

We'd chosen Shrewsbury as a shopping destination that day, and as always we were fully planning to make use of the town's excellent park and ride facilities, the nearest to the cowshed being Meole Brace. So, imagine our consternation when after negotiating the rather tricky roundabout at Meole Brace Retail Park we found the car park's entrance closed. After fruitlessly driving around in circles and asking one or two locals for directions, we finally made it to the new entrance to the south of the retail park and made it onto the waiting bus with minutes to spare.

Not expecting delays, we'd once again made a late start, so that it was almost midday when we got off the bus at The Square. From here, we hurried along into the direction of the post office on Pride Hill, as it was due to close at 1 pm. Here, we were faced with another setback in the form of a long and slowly proceeding queue, which was serviced by a single, flustered-looking employee. But there was nothing for it but to play the waiting game - something I'm notoriously bad at - as I'd brought along some books to post to Vronni! 

Then, after a quick lunch at the nearby M&S café, we were ready for a rummage at the town's numerous charity shops. I was on the lookout for long-sleeved tops in particular - note to Beate: it being or supposed to be Summer, there weren't any decent woollen jumpers to be had. Apart from a couple of t-shirts for layering purposes, a short-sleeved jumper and an aubergine Breton top I found these two peasant-style blouses, from Zara (top left) and M&S (bottom right) respectively.

There was also a new-with-tags Cath Kidston bag as well as no less than eight brooches, three of which were picked up from the delightful Mummas Emporium below.

Touted on Facebook as Shrewsbury's latest best kept secret and located  above Vision Express on Pride Hill, it's a cozy café and antiques shop combined. We enjoyed our customary cappuccinos with yummy sticky Belgian chocolate cake, which obviously we just needed to taste.

We then trudged up to the Park & Ride bus stop further along on Pride Hill, where we had a chat with a lovely lady during the rather long wait.

Saturday looked set to be a total washout and it was so dark that we needed to have breakfast with the lights on. When finally at around 10.30 the rain started petering out, we made a dash for our car and entered the day's destination into our satnav.

During the 50 minute or so drive it took us to get to Jackfield, in the Ironbridge Gorge, not only did it stop raining, we were even treated to one or two sunny spells.

Nevertheless, our journey wasn't exactly a smooth one, as it took us on seriously pot-holed roads and through the odd minor flood. To say that we were in need of some caffeine by the time we arrived at the Jackfield Tile Museum is quite an understatement.

Apart from a couple who had just ordered some toasted sandwiches, we were the only customers. However, with only one guy being in charge of everything, it took absolutely ages before we'd been served with our coffees and a shared slice of Victoria sponge. We thanked our lucky stars that we'd had the foresight to bring a picnic, so that we wouldn't have to starve to death while waiting for lunch to be dished up!

Appropriately caffeinated, we then pushed our way through the double doors leading to the museum proper and started our explorations.

We were urged to check out the old offices first, where we made use of an old-fashioned telephone to listen to the accounts of former employees.

The museum is housed within the premises of Craven Dunnill, a working tile factory which is still producing decorative tiles on site to this day. It showcases the British decorative tile industry between 1840 to 1960, the era which was the heyday of Craven Dunnill and its neighbours Maw & Co. 

After giving up its Jackfield premises, Craven Dunnill moved to nearby Bridgnorth in 1950. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust purchased the site in 1983 and tile manufacture restarted at Jackfield in 1989, with Craven Dunnill taking over the business again in 2001.

The museum lies in the village of Jackfield, near Broseley, on the south bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and now a World Heritage Site. It is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

Jackfield Tile Museum is a treasure-trove of British ceramic design, fabulously curated and displayed in period room settings and beautiful galleries where the tiles are clearly labelled, both by period and style.

Like the Victorian Radicals exhibition we visited a couple of days prior, there was so much to take in that this definitely won't be our last visit.

I'm sure you won't be surprised that the Arts & Crafts tiles and ceramics, and particularly those produced by William de Morgan (including Antelope, ca. 1880, above, bottom right) were my absolute favourites.

One of the highlights of the museum is the collection of around 1700 tiles donated to the museum in 2013 by John Scott (1935-2020), who had been collecting Victorian tiles since the 1960s. Apparently, there's a book about the John Scott tile collection, which I definitely must seek out.

The museum also has some faithfully recreated premises, like a traditional butcher's shop (above, top left), a church interior (above, bottom left) and a Victorian pub with its curved tiled bar (below), all showcasing the creative use of tiles in the Victorian era.

The iconic glazed tiles used in several London tube stations — Covent Garden among them — were produced at this site, so it was only natural that this mock platform was included in the exhibits. 

The museum also has a huge room full of historic moulds, which enables the company to recreate the designs and thus assist with restoration works at historical properties. 

Some of the machinery and equipment used in tile-making, as well as the remains of the ancient kiln, can be viewed outside in the courtyard.

If you noticed the absence of other visitors in the photos, this time it definitely wasn't the result of my patience. In fact, we often had the rooms completely to ourselves!

By then, the sun was out in full force and had made short shrift with the remaining rain clouds. As we had our picnic waiting in the car, that's where we were headed, taking pity on the handful of people who were making their way to the Peacock Café.

Before heading to our next destination, less than ten minutes up the road, here's a little hint in the form of one of the tiles I photographed in the museum!

It is in fact the famous Iron Bridge, in a small town of the same name, which lies on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge. The town developed beside and took its name from the 30-meter cast iron bridge which spans the gorge.

Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Its success inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a structural material, and today the Grade I listed bridge is celebrated as a symbol of the Industrial Revolution.

In 1934 it was designated a scheduled monument and closed to vehicular traffic. Tolls for pedestrians were collected until 1950, when the bridge was transferred into public ownership. 

Having previously visited here in 2019, we reacquainted ourselves with the town, photographing the bridge, which was restored to its former glory in 2017 and 2018, from all angles. We even ended up kissing under the iron bridge (a reference to the Smiths' song, Still Ill - here on YouTube), something we neglected to do back in 2019.

After wandering around the town and having a peek in a tiny bric-a-brac shop selling vintage Craven Dunnill and Maw & Co. tiles at eye watering prices, we finished our visit with - you guessed it - cups of cappuccino, before travelling back to the cowshed by way of those potholed roads.

The day ended as it had begun, with torrential rain, which would last until half-way through the night.

And I'm ending this post as it began too, with a peek at my outfit. I was wearing the same denim midi skirt and the same mock croc ankle boots. My blouse is from the Belgian Who's That Girl label by way of a charity shop and my orange stretchy belt - a retail buy - was last seen here on our trip to Birmingham with Vix and Jon.

Although I've obviously got a couple more travel posts up my sleeve, I might take a brief break from them by a catch-up of what else has been happening in my life and what I've been wearing lately. 

See you soon!