Rodding Around The Christmas Tree

Dress - ASOS

Cardigan - Vintage Engelhorn

Belt - River Island

Boots - Bianco

I've been a little concerned over the last couple of weeks about my unsatisfactory levels of festive spirit this year.  I am usually annoying festive, yet lately I seem to be grumping around like I'm competing for the Scrooge of the Year 2012 title (and yep, that does exist, an official sport in the winter Olympics don'tcha know).  However, I can confirm without a shred of doubt that Christmas has finally arrived for me, no more false alarms.  I'm pretty sure I can thank an afternoon of loudly listening to Rod Stewart's Christmas album for this wonderful turn of events.  Thanks Rod - you've saved the day, yet again.

To support this new festive feeling, and make sure it doesn't run away, I decided to go for a quite festive colour scheme today.  Basically, just the red cardigan, but it is very red so I think that's enough.  I think I've talked about this piece before but in case you missed it, I picked up for a measly £5 in a sale at my favourite hometown vintage store in a one day only cashmere sale.  Yes, that's right, cashmere for five English pounds!  I used to neglect it a little as I didn't like the shape but I'm really enjoying it this winter.

Having decided that this cardigan simply had to be a feature of the day, it seemed a good opportunity to bring out this dress again that I ordered a few weeks ago for just £20 in the ASOS sale.  It is a little summery but I think the monochrome colouring and the pattern, that to me feels so quintessentially British, make it acceptable all year round and a perfect item to layer.  Wonderful.

Now I think about it, not a single item in this outfit was bought full price (with the exception of the tights but as they're Primark-via-mother I'm not sure that can exactly be deemed as an extravagance).  I bought the boots half price in Swedish store Bianco a few months ago and the belt, which is real leather, was a January sale bargain back in 2009 for just £7.  This actually isn't a very surprising realisation given that I pride myself on hunting down sale bargains.  

Speaking of bargains, I ordered myself a pair of the much coveted Office Nighthawk ankle boots for just £41.25 yesterday!  I wasn't sure that they were particularly "me" at first but I think they'll be good to toughen up my quite classic/feminine clothing choices.  I do love a bit of genre-clashing, after all.  If you want the same bargain, pop to the Office website NOW and use the promo code "LADIES25" at the checkout.  This code applies to any Office brand styles so it's the perfect time to order yourself a little Christmas present.

As I type this, I have yet another banana cake baking in the oven in preparation for a pot-luck dinner party I'm throwing with a few friends this evening.  I'm planning to jazz this old favourite up with some lemon cream cheese frosting.  I know this sounds like a strange combination but I have high hopes for it.  I'll almost certainly be bombarding you with pictures of everybody's offerings at some point in the week.

With merry Monday wishes,

Elise.