I feel like I say this on the blog every time I do one of these sort of posts – but designer collaborations are something which I usually feel quite blah about. The quality, the style – most of the time, they don’t feel like they do the designer any good. Which is strange, because of all the collaborative pieces I own, theres only one brand that I felt did badly – Mulberry for Target.

Which is why I present this post with a little amount of reservation. Jason Wu is a designer not much older than many of you reading this, and is known for the many outfits Michelle Obama had worn. I think that all of these elements are why Target have done a collaboration with him. It’s a gorgeously springy type collection, which, quite honestly, I’m annoyed we never get anything this cute in stores.

According to various news stories, the opening day saw hundreds of people queueing up early – its strange how news stories act as if its totally normal to queue for hours for the latest Apple product, but queuing for fashion? Bitches be crazy, yo.

Alex is in Boston at the start of next week, so I’m hoping I can place an order so he can bring it back with him…take a bigger suitcase, darling, I need dresses!

You can see the rest of the collection over at target.com but you’ll have to find your own dress mule ;)

I’ve been a glasses wearer since I was 7. Back then, I only needed them to see the blackboard, but as I got older, I wore them more and more, finally wearing them pretty much full time when I moved to Bristol the first time.

Its not that I hate wearing glasses. I don’t really mind them too much, having spent over 20 years wearing them. But I hate how I look in glasses in photographs – which is why I’ll wear contacts if I’m going to an event where I know I’ll be photographed, and why I end up taking them off for my outfit photos.

On Friday night, I went out for the first time in quite a while, and had quite a fun time with some friends from work. All was fine until we went to the Slug and Lettuce and as we were waiting at the bar, some drunk blokes tried to take my glasses off my face. Wtf?! I freaked out, and ended up leaving early, but its been on my mind all weekend about how I tend to hide behind my glasses quite a lot these days.

Maybe its time to lose the big frames, and have less to hide behind?

Too lazy today to do an outfit post. I tried, but, blah. Have been trying to think about what to wear next month – London Fashion Week has made its way around again, and instead of the one day I managed last year, I’m going to be in London for three days. You may find this odd, but thats (a) the longest I’ve ever spent in London, and (b) the first time I’ve ever been to London and not had any definite plans. I’m incredibly excited, and trying to organise myself to see as many lovely people as possible – I’m hoping to get everyone together on one night for dinner like last time and I’ve been eying up various places that I keep hearing about from other bloggers and never go to – the Diner, anyone?

Above is a little collage of the things I’ve bought lately (or am considering) – a few dresses from ASOS, a dress from COS (I love this, its a similar shape to my many other dresses, but with a strong waistband), a crocheted collar, a gorgeous coat. The shoes, surprisingly, are the only things unbought – I’m trying to hunt down a pair of sparkly brogues – Primark had them on sale for £3, but not in my size – and another pair of shoes with a high, thick, heel that are comfortable. Am I hoping for the impossible?

I’m not even sure yet if I have a pass, or tickets to any shows, but I’m really excited about going, because I know I’ll get to see people I never see. Damn living on the other side of the country!

I’m pretty useless at wearing jewellery, but for my birthday last year (which I got given a few weekends ago – this means I get an extra birthday day, right?), the Wife bought me this beautiful handmade glass bangle (cuff? bracelet?). Its from www.handmadeprettylittlethings.com (which appears to be down at the moment, unfortunately!) but is a blue glass bracelet with a goldish pattern through it.

I can’t normally wear bracelets, because they bash against my desk, but this one is perfectly shaped so it doesn’t annoy me!

Dress: Primark | Jumper: Clothing at Tesco | Shoes: USC | Necklace: Primark

Lazy lazy day today – actually, just a lazy week all around! We hit Yo Sushi again on Friday with some work colleagues – that 40% off voucher is just too good to resist. This weekend has been about working my way through this stack of books and playing way too much Triple Town.

As you may have seen on my post on Monday, I have a pretty orange scarf tied to my bag at the moment. I won the scarf in a Twitter competition as part of Vogue’s Online Fashion Week (this is why I have multiple Twitter accounts, so I can enter lots of “RT to win!” competitions without annoying people on my main account!) and forgot about it until a thick card envelope dropped through my door. Inside was the scarf and a booklet of their AW11 collection.

I didn’t actually know what was on the scarf, but once I opened it out, I couldn’t help but smile – is there anything more perfect for me than beautiful watercoloured shoes?

Until I started writing this post, I didn’t realise that Hobbs create new scarf designs each year, but the ones in this post just wouldn’t have suited me quite so well!

If you didn’t win one, you can still buy the scarf from Hobbs direct.

I realised it had been quite a while since I had done a whats in my bag type post, and when better to do one than when you have a new bag that you want to show off just a little bit? Yes, this is my beeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful new Mulberry bag, bought last weekend after much contemplation. She is a purple Mitzy hobo style bag, with gold hardware. I would have preferred silver or pewter, like my clutch, but I can live with it ;)

Tied to it is a scarf from Hobbs, which I will post about soon. I don’t think you can buy this actually, but the bright splodge of orange looks ace with the purple leather, and orange is the colour of the year apparently!

Inside the bag is too much evidence of trips to Harvey Nichols food hall. I’m a little obsessed with the lemonade by San Pellegrino, and I love these mints by Peppersmith (who get bonus points for their webshop to buy chewing gum called E Buy Gum.) I also bought a new small Bobble bottle*, which is the perfect size for my bag, and stops me from buying bottles of water all the time. (If you don’t know what this is, the black section in the bottle is a water filter, so you can fill it with tap water.)

Theres the usual array of notebooks, diaries, Moo cards and pens and paper, and my iPad is usually in here, but it was on charge at the time. I always have to have a camera in my bag (inside the gold bow case) and the essentials – purse, work badges, umbrella, tea mug, hair brush. Surprisingly, I have a make up bag in here at the moment. Actually putting the make up on in the morning is another thing.

What do you keep in your bag – what can’t you live without?

Dress: Dorothy Perkins, Tights: Jonathan Aston, Shoes: Primark

Whenever Sarah and I get together, we say we’re going to do a series of photos showing all the stereotypical blogger poses. Which we then forget about in the excitement of eating our body weight in cheese and Haribo. I ended up doing this pose…which is actually one of Sarah’s. Sorry dude.

Yes, its another of those bloody circle dresses. I picked this up on the last day of work last year in the sale – it was just £12, but the girl at the till gave me a 10% discount for a stain she noticed on the neckline, which turned out of be water from my umbrella. Score!. The tights are purple houndstooth ones that I picked up for £1 in Boots when I visited Basingstoke for work – it was the most productive part of the day! The shoes are some battered old Primark platforms that were similar to a pair that were in Topshop a few years ago. So comfortable, but they need repairing :(

Alex has been in Seattle this week and got back today so I’ve been all alone again. On Thursday night, I went with a colleague to Nails Inc, after finding out that they were doing mini special effects manicures for just £5. I went for a silver base with a pink glitter crackle, which looked really good, but is already starting to chip. Boo! The offer is on till the end of the month, so its worth a trip!

On Friday after work I met up with Laura and Selina for some Yo Sushi (40% off with this voucher!), gossip and beers. I love meeting up with bloggers, always a lot more gossiping going on offline! I prefer smaller meetups too – much less intimidating. (Of course, if you wanted to do the same, you could use the bloggers map to find others ;))

Dress: H! by Henry Holland | Boots: USC

Back to work this week, and despite the shorter week, it actually felt longer. Sigh. At least the first week is over and done with now, right? A reasonably quiet weekend was needed – we met up with some friends, ate far too much food and exchanged presents. Oh, and I may have spent a bit of money on a bag…I love it!

Alex is in Seattle this week, and since he’s going to be away quite a bit over the next few months, I’m trying to find things to do in the evening and also drop subtle hints of things I wouldn’t mind being brought back for me…perhaps I can place a few orders from Modcloth and Williams Sonoma! What other shops and things am I forgetting about?

Happy new year! We watched the fireworks in London at midnight curled up on the sofa, which is a lot more fun I think than standing outside for 12 hours to make sure you get a good spot! I’m really enjoying reading everyones blog posts about what their resolutions are for the next year – I have a few that I’d like to do so will post that later in the week. This week off has gone by so quickly – I don’t want to go back to work on Tuesday. (Well, I do really, but it’s quite nice to be getting up late and doing nothing)

To start the new year, I wore a new dress – a good excuse as any! My sister had noticed that I was filling my wardrobe up with these dresses, so bought me this berry coloured one as part of my Christmas present. I probably wouldn’t have chosen it myself, but I really love the colour. Belt is from ASOS and boots from USC – basically, this is the same outfit as I wore here, but with black tights!

Link me to your resolution posts! I feel like I should have a few more than the 2 I have at the moment!

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Dresses from AX Paris, Oasis and Motel – not my usual shops to browse in (well, except Oasis) but they’ve got such gorgeous sparkly things in stock at the moment! Even better, these three brands are easy to find on most high streets, so if you are still looking for an outfit for tomorrow night, you still have time!

I never need an excuse to buy more night wear and lounge wear – theres nothing more satisfying when you get home from work to be able to put on something so much more comfortable.  This week has been so nice to be able to wear lazy clothes – I think going back to work on Tuesday will be a bit of a shock! I do want a nice set for the new year – here’s a few of my choices from Boux Avenue, Jack Wills (I know, but I love the pyjama set in their brand colours. At least I wouldn’t wear it out), Fat Face (who always have gorgeous nightwear) and Dorothy Perkins (so much of my wardrobe is coming from there lately – I’ve ended up with 5 of those circle dresses I’ve posted about before!)

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Whatever you do, I hope you have an amazing time!

My first choice, quite predictably, was the sequin skater dress* (down to £45). You may have spotted it in my Christmas wishlist at the weekend and I’m having to resist going into Oasis after work to look at it, because I suspect that I would come out of there with it!

My next choice would be the sequin mesh dress* (down to £30) – a little more subtle with the sequins, but still sparkly. My practical side however is looking at the mesh and thinking that would get torn on a nail or something. (Did I mention I’m clumsy? Like a spaniel.)

Next, the sequin skirt* (down to £45), which made me think of Jen’s recent posts with her lovely sequinny skirt – and if you were thinking “I’d never wear those outfits again, she posted yesterday about how to wear sequins in the day!

Finally, something thats a bit easier to pair up with something more casual (or perhaps to go over the first dress in this post?), a sequin top* (£65) would go perfectly with a pair of skinny jeans and some big boots.

I seem to be making up for things in 2011 though with 5 different parties and gatherings that I’ve been invited to. Wednesday was the Bathcamp Christmas Spectacular, which involved about 54 large Dominos pizzas (ever seen that many pizzas? IT IS A LOT). Last night was my works do, which was fun. Next week, I have a fancy dress party for Kittencamp (am going as a fashion blogger, of course), a gathering at Pomegranate Boutique on Thursday, and of course, the MyStreetChic Christmas blogger party on Friday (Are you going? If not, why not? Get your ticket quick!)

For so many parties, a girl needs a good pair of shoes. And you know me. I like shoes. A LOT. When I received an email from Fleur at VoucherCodes, asking if I wanted to be a part of their blogger road test on party shoes, I emailed Sarah quickly which something like “how quickly can I reply YES YES OH GOD YES without looking desperate”.

These beautiful (they truly are, my photos do not do them justice) shoes are in a similar style to a pair of Miu Miu shoes which you’ve probably seen all over the fashion blogs and Tumblrs.

The ones I have are black with a multi coloured heel*. You can also get them in a red pump with a gold glitter heel* or purple with a black/silver heel*. They cost £65, but VoucherCodes usually have a few discount codes lurking about.

They’re a high HIGH heel, measuring about 5 and a half inches in total, but theres a bit of a platform so its not so painful on your feet. However, these are not really a shoe for dancing all night long in. I wore them yesterday for my works do, and after an hour standing up in them at the bar, I almost ran to the banquette and kicked off my shoes under the table! When I first picked them up from the post office last weekend, I didn’t have time to do anything more than coo at them in the box. When it came to leaving the house, I had a little panic over how tight the front of the shoe was. I persevered though, and squoze my dainty feet into them. Thankfully the gig last week was a sit down one, so the only walking I had to do was to the bar, to the car, and to the counter in Maccy D’s. (I glammed up the Frome branch at 11pm on a Saturday.)

They’re made of suede, so I think they could be stretched out a little, but I would probably order a size up if possible. Being suede, they do need a lot more care than a normal leather pair of shoes, but they’re just so gorgeous not to wear! (When I’m not wearing them, I actually have them on display on my bookshelf rather than hide them away in the shoe box!)

Oh, you’d like a better look at that heel? Here you go.

If you’d like a pair, and you’re a size 6, you’re in luck, because my esteemed companion Sarah is giving away her pair on her blog.

Yeah, you guessed it – suspender tights. I think it all began when Henry Holland did a pair (probably costing about £15 – who can justify that cost when if you’re clumsy like me, you’ll ladder them when you’re putting them on) and of course, the high street has jumped on that bandwagon and made all the different types.

To the right, we have the original pair, the House of Holland for Pretty Polly suspender tights which don’t really offend too much, but at a price of £12, out of my price range.

To the left, these “Gipsy Mock Bow” tights (£7) are the extreme end – overly fussy, unlikely to be mistaken for suspenders (isn’t that the point of them?)

Next, these bow styles – the 3 bow suspenders (£6) and the tiny bow suspenders with scalloped edges (also £6) show the variation. But again, you wouldn’t mistake these for the real thing.

Finally, the hearts – both styles are made of tiny hearts making the “straps”, but where the “Gipsy Mock Heart Suspenders” (£8) (no, I don’t quite know why they’ve included the word mock in this and none of the others) are a bit cheap looking, for the same price, the own brand heart suspender ones at least look like they’ve had a bit more effort put into the design.

Personally, if I wanted the look of suspenders, I would go and wear actual suspenders. Can anyone explain this trend to me?

(Oh, and to finish – the other end of the scale – House of Holland for Pretty Polly’s pearl studded tights are a “mere” £25. I just don’t. get. it.)

Dress: Dorothy Perkins* | Shoes c/o Schuh*

I wore this last night when we went to see Mr B, The Gentleman Rhymer in Frome. A bit of a strange place, but it did mean I got to stay at the ol’ country house (aka my best friends house near Shepton Mallet. I was very restrained and didn’t ask to go to the Mulberry outlet store.

The shoes…oh! I’ll be posting about them more in the week but THEY ARE AMAZING OMG.

Anyway, here’s a festive number from Mr B…you probably know this one though