Where do I start?

Well folks, this has been a total whirlwind of a week and I am not quite sure where to begin. The beginning I guess. Most of you know, I have been out of work since the end of December, and whilst I've been applying manically for lots of jobs, I've not been getting anywhere. Not even an interview. So, this week hubby had taken the week off work and we were going to decorate the dining room. Monday, while perusing B&Q (the DIY shop for my international readers) my phone went. It was with regards to a job I'd applied for a couple of weeks back, and was what I could only describe as a telephone interview, where I really held my own, I thought. That totally threw me, and I wasn't concentrating at all on the DIY shop, but after a series of rejections I was totally buoyed by the experience.

Later on, back at home, my phone went again. It was a recruitment consultant asking if I was interested in a temporary admin role, about 20 minutes from home, starting Tuesday. Well, yes of course I was interested, it was at a large construction company (ideal), near to home (more ideal) and paid a wage (sold). The only thing is, I couldn't start Tuesday.

You see folks, I wasn't going to announce what the big project I've been working on was until the end of the month, but I think my timescale is going to fall a little behind and I'm as itching to tell you and you guys are to know. We're launching an online vintage boutique. Hubby and I have been working hard at pulling together the boutique, I've met with fabulous Angie at Redressing who was able to give me some really useful advice, and a friendly ear to bounce some things off, and Tuesday hubby and I had an appointment at the wholesaler to pick out our stock. There was no way I could miss this appointment, so I had to negotiate a start day of today (Wednesday).

So, yesterday, hubby and I set off to the wholesalers where we spent over 4 hours carefully handpicking each item to stock the virtual rails of our online store. Seriously, I cannot stop gushing about how beautiful the things we have bought are, and not one of them fits me. Isn't that a bore? Anyway, it was quite a scary step (as Angie predicted) buying our first batch of stock because it's like the real leap isn't it? Nonetheless, I'm so glad we're finally going for this, and of course it won't just be for the ladies, hubby would never have stood for that, he's all for equality in vintage fashion. I'm both excited and scared, and hopefully we'll be up and running within the next month or so, it really is all systems go at Prudence palace getting this up and running. Oh, and if you're wondering what the name is, BeBopaLouLou Vintage http://www.bebopaloulouvintage.com/


Boots - Debenhams; Dress - Vintage; Velvet Blazer - Vintage;
Bag - Disaster Designs; Turban - River Island

 Needless to say, I made sure I rolled up to the wholesalers in one of my finest vintage frocks, I didn't want to look like a novice. I even got to use a third bag from the bag challenge, isn't that good going?


Satchel by Disaster Designs
Bought as a gift for me by hubby a couple of years, probably one of the most practical bags I own.
Still available here

 So, this morning I had my first day in my new job. It's something of a relief to have a wage again, and even though it's temporary it will hopefully keep us rolling over nicely for a little while. It was nice to go to a different office, and the people were really friendly... it's just typical that I've been out of work for almost 2 months, and the week hubby decides to take off to spend with me, I get a job. Nonetheless, I'm happy to be working again.

Up on Deck

Well hello my lovelies, this has been a lovely weekend I must say. Yesterday hubby and I spent the whole day at home because we were having some decking laid in the garden. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the bone of contention that is our garden before, we live on a hill so have a terraced garden and it's just a total nightmare. Anyway, bright and early yesterday work began in earnest and the lads worked so hard that they got it all done in one day, now we have a decked platform to one side of the garden which looks tremendous, and rather like a stage, I might put on a production during the summer months it's that good. I'm now counting down the days to summer garden parties... although there is still work to be done out there.

Lastnight then I had a very relaxing night of bathing and reading magazines... hard life isn't it?


Me up on deck (and bag 2 of the challenge)
Shoes - Office, Bag - Vintage, Dress - Jasper Conran

Today we had a lazy start to the morning and then got nicely frocked up (well I did, hubby dressed up but not in a frock) to head out for our Valentines Sunday lunch.

Hubby and Pru on the decking

You'll notice another bag used in the handbag challenge. This vintage Welsh tweed one cost me a mere £5 with a matching purse in a charity shop while we were on holiday this summer. What a bargain.

Anyway, I know, it's not Valentines day until Tuesday, but on Tuesday hubby and I have something exciting relating to 'the big exciting project' that I mentioned last week, so we decided to go out today instead. A few weeks back Dr. W had recommended a restaurant we'd never heard of, The Courtyard. A little bit out of town in the countryside near Nuneaton it sounded really nice. We'd booked a table there and rolled up this afternoon to this lovely little place, which almost looks like you're going into someone's nice country home.


Hubby in the Courtyard

Inside it's all beams and wood floors, and has a very small intimate atmosphere with seating for maybe 50 people max. In addition it's one of those places where you bring your own bottle, so we stopped off for a Pinot Grigio on the way there. We had a lovely little table for 2 in the heart of the restaurant, and when you arrive there are crudites with the most beautiful dip (which the waitress told me the ingredients for, that'll be making an appearance at my summer garden party). We made light work of them while checking out the divine menu. You can have 2 courses for around £25, or 3 courses for £29, and you can have seconds or even thirds on the puddings. The food is locally sourced, and tastes so so fresh and beautifully cooked. I know, I'm gushing over this place, trust me I'm not sponsored by them, we just had such a delicious lunch. We opted for 3 course, and my duck main course was absolutely to die for. The sides of creamed parsnips and braised red cabbage were made to make your mouth water and there are no small portions. There are also options for vegetarians to enjoy too. If you get a chance and you are local, then you really should give this little hidden gem a try.

Waiting for my duck

I suppose I should tell you my embarrassing story since hubby didn't hesitate to tweet it. When I went into the restaurant I noticed a few ladies admiring my dress... it wasn't until I sat down that hubby pointed out I'd left one of the price labels dangling from the side of the skirt. Oh the shame.

Anyway, following our meal we stopped by on one of my friend's, Mrs M, for a cuppa. It was lovely to pop in as I've not seen Mrs. M since finishing work as we used to work together, so it was a delightful catch up, albeit unexpected given we didn't realise until we were at the Courtyard that it was literally minutes away from her house.

After that it was a bit of a rush to get home, walk the dogs, get changed and head out again to the cinema. The Woman in Black is Hammer's (of Dracula fame) latest offering, and it's rare that our local multiplex shows decent films, so we were keen to get there before they stop showing it. The film had Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in the lead role as a widowed lawyer who has to travel to the North East to undertake some business on the estate of a deceased woman. The local villagers are all acting very weird about his arrival, and try to shoe him back off to London without him getting out to the big mansion house which contains the documents he needs to see. I won't give too much away, but it's a proper old school ghost film which I actually loved. It reminded me a touch of one of my favourite films , The Haunting (the old one, not the Catherine Zeta Jones one), and Daniel Radcliffe played a blinder as the lead. If you get a chance it's well worth seeing.

So, all in all I've had a busy but rather lovely day. This coming week hubby is off work, so we're going to set about decorating our dining room amongst other things, but I'm sure I'll have some stuff to update you on in the course of things. Have a great week.

I want doesn't get

That's what my Mum used to say in response to my demands as a child.


It's me!

I'm an only child, and whilst I wasn't spoiled with material things (although I had everything I needed for a happy and healthy childhood), I was most definitely spoiled in the attention and love I got... which is probably why I've grown up to be a pretty confident and flamboyant individual.
Anyway, this post isn't about my wonderful childhood, but is about things I've currently got an obsession over acquiring. Given I sorted out my wardrobe and discovered 7 dresses I haven't yet worn the other day, I really shouldn't be desiring any more things, but there you go. Here they are.

A romantic tutu.

Just lately I've become a bit obsessed with Sex and the City, again. I love Carrie's style, and last week the lovely Abi seemed to intuitively feed this obsession with her post about Carrie Bradshaw's style. Ever since then, I've been totally obsessing about getting a tutu like this one.



Image shamelessly used from Abi's blog

 I adore it, I would wear it with my corset for burlesque nights out, or with a simple vest top for frolicking in the sunshine... I just need to find somewhere where I can get one, and whilst there is a seller on Etsy, I don't particularly want to fork out £80 on one. I thought I'd found a place to buy one earlier in the week, but when I emailed the website they never responded, so I'm not going to buy from them. I'll keep checking eBay. I'm sure to stumble on one eventually. 

A Cheongsam



Image from here

I love oriental styling and design. As a teenager I was mad about these dresses, it was the 90s and they enjoyed something of a revival. I remember I had 2 of them, both rather cheap but they looked nice, at least I thought so. Now, I find myself really wanting one again. These are pretty inexpensive from eBay coming straight in from Hong Kong, so I'm probably going to order one of those for myself.
A Leather Bucket Bag


Picture taken from here

 Shock horror, I want a handbag. I don't have a bucket bag at all though in my arsenal of bags... check, can you see a bucket bag anywhere? No, so therefore I want one. I've been keeping my eyes peeled in charity shops as I know these often come up, so I'm confident I'll get one eventually and cheaply.

A Tapestry/ Carpet Bag


picture taken from here

 Another bag... I know... but again, I don't have one of these and would really like one. You know I love my granny chic.

For now that's it... so when I do go chazza-ing I'll be going with a shopping list... so really my organisation of my wardrobe and cataloguing of my handbag collection has been pretty useful because it means I won't be just buying random bits, I've got a clear idea of what I want. Of course, there's always something to want and I'm sure I could add more to this list, but this is what I'm all about right now.

Out to Lunch

I had a lovely lunch today with 2 lovely ladies who I used to work with. It was a vast improvement on the last time I went for lunch with one of the lovely ladies, and I was horrifically hungover. Thankfully she saw the funny side... and I'll probably never live it down.

It's freezing here, so I maxed out the woolen layers to try and keep warm with the fabby little mini skirt I picked up in the charidee shop only yesterday. It was brand new with it's ASOS tags on, mine for a mere £3.49. Result.

Boots - Debenhams; Socks - Primark; Leggings - Next;
Skirt - ASOS (via charity shop); Top - Charity shop; Cardigan - Charity shop
Bag - Vivienne Westwood

I also took the opportunity to wear the first of my bags from the great handbag challenge. This Vivienne Westwood beauty was my treat to myself after I was made redundant at the end of last year. Not only is it crazy bright and eye catching, but it's surprisingly practical with it's large zipped compartment and various other compartments inside for keeping phones, keys and whatever else you fancy in there.

Hope you are all braced for the impending doom of the snow, let's hope they got it wrong.

Princess Prudence Handbag Challenge

I know, I know, when you read the word challenge you are probably shaking your head because, let's face it, I don't have a good track record of completing blog challenges do I? The Shoeperwoman shoe challenge parts I and II, the 52 New Recipes challenge... I start with the best of intentions but I just never seem to stick with it.

Anyway, lastnight hubby and I were supposed to be going to the theatre in nearby Kenilworth, but the snow came, and came, and came, and then twitter was indicating that Kenilworth wasn't really the place to be driving to in the snow and so, we didn't go. Instead, I decided to catalogue my handbag collection. Now, for many years I've vehemently denied any handbag addiction, but to be honest I don't think I can deny it any longer. I love bags, big bags, small bags, vintage bags, new bags, leather bags, fabric bags... bags, bags, bags.


The full collection in all its glory

So, here is my handbag collection and I'm going to set myself a challenge to use each and every one of my beautiful bags between now and February 2013 (Godwilling we're all still here). Doing this of course doesn't preclude me from acquiring more handbags but of course any new addition must become part of the challenge, and each time I use a bag I'll do a little post about it... where I got it, what it's useful for etc, along of course with an outfit shot including the bag. I'm not going to get rid of any bags that I don't use because, well they are my collection, although I may get rid of bags I get fed up of.


The vintage ones



The Evening ones



The designer and brand named ones



The practical ones



The ones I forgot to put in any of the other collages

 There you have it, and so starts my own personal blog challenge for 2012.

Exploding Heads

Yey, it's Friday. It's been a funny old week, early on I got my teeth stuck into a new project, which of course I'll be sharing with you all in due course. It's filled most of my time this week, and subsequently there's been a couple of days where I didn't even leave the house. My head is just full of ideas and about fit to explode. Yesterday I had to pop out for the first time in 2 days, and frankly I was glad of the opportunity since I'd given myself eye strain and RSI from being 24/7 on the laptop.


Boots - Debenhams; Suede Skirt - eBay; Waistcoat - Vintage Basler
(part of suit); Shirt - Levi's (hubby's); Hat - Gift; Scarf - Vintage Jacqmar

 It's still absolutely freezing here though, so I was sure to wrap up well. They keep saying it's going to snow, but it doesn't seem to happen. I hope it doesn't come tomorrow though, I have tickets for the theatre.

Today I'm going to try and give the laptop a wee rest (and my eye and elbows) and get on with the much neglected house work (bleurgh). Have a great weekend whatever you're up to.

By the way, don't forget to check out the things I'm selling on eBay this week.

February Inspiration

If the long range weather forecast is to be believed, then we're in for a pretty cold and miserable February here in the UK. Freezing temperatures, rain, frost... bleurgh, doom and gloom. My inspiration this month is all about keeping warm, and I'm really feeling layers of natural fabrics in natural and neutral colours. Obviously, Valentines day falls bang in the middle of this month, so you can expect to see a dress or two in the course of things, but on the whole I feel I'm becoming a bit lazy with dresses and happily pulling one on rather than thinking about my separates, so this month I'm going to try and reset the balance with more seperates and less frocks.

Of course, I'm also hoping this will be the month of job interviews too, so expect to see a healthy measure of smart dressing thrown in too... if it all pans out.

February Inspiration by princessprudence featuring printed silk scarves