Tequila cocktails and shoes

This weekend, to celebrate our 14th year of being together (in just over two years we will have been together half my life!) we sent the little girl for a sleepover at my parents' house and had a rare night out. We got dressed up, headed out for some food and, like all parents of non-sleeping toddlers, were tucked up in bed by 11pm.

We made like we were on holiday, allbeit in North Leeds, drinking tequila cocktails and eating Mexican food.

I wore my new Topshop sundress and was delighted to rediscover my vintage yellow Bally sandals with turquoise heels which I bought from a charity shop in Harrogate years ago. Colourblocking: how very 2011! (NB I have no idea why my floor looks this yellow - it isn't actually that colour!). Shoe verdict: very pretty but incredibly hard to walk in.

Dress: Topshop

Jacket: Gap

Bag: Paddington Market, Sydney (gift)

Earrings: Kirribilli Market, Sydney

Shoes: Charity shop in Harrogate c. 2008 (I can't remember how much I paid, but it will have been under £5)

When the going gets tough...

We're in the middle of a very bad week. It's a bad week that is likely to continue for another fortnight but then can only get better, so really it's more of a bad month. Right now I'm tempted to go to sleep and wake up in three weeks' time when everything is over, however that doesn't seem to be an option that's open to me.

Instead, I've been doing what every sensible girl knows is the only thing to do in these circumstances: bargain hunting. I'm pretty pleased with my haul, which is all for my 18-month year old.

Charity shops are such fantastic places to buy books and toys, particularly as you can often find brand new things that have been donated either because they were duplicate presents or because the child has grown bored of them. I buy the majority of my daughter's toys from charity shops, nearly new sales and Ebay. The main things to check for are that they are still in good condition, no bite marks (!), no missing pages in books, no faulty bits or missing pieces (jigsaws). My daughter devours books and loves to hold them herself and practise 'reading' them to her teddies and dolls. Obviously this is to be encouraged but it does mean that often the books don't last for as long as we would have hoped, so it makes sense to buy them second hand. If they are favourites (erm, hello EVERYTHING by Julia Donaldson who must be RICH beyond her wildest dreams!) we buy a couple and keep a 'good' copy.

My daughter loves Dick Bruna's Miffy, the iconic little white rabbit. I remember being a big fan when I was young too. There must be something about the simple black and white drawings with primary colours plus the story lines to which every toddler can relate that makes the books big hits with little girls (and little boys too). We've had six of the books on rotation at bedtime for the last six months or so, and all three of us know them off by heart. We found another six to add to our library in the British Heart Foundation shop in Headingley for only 95p each. They are in pristine condition too - unwanted gift? Surely not, how could Miffy be unwanted? They must have been duplicates...

We then found this brand new Miffy backpack for £5 in the Martin House shop in Headingley. They have the cutest Easter display with little chicks, ducks, rabbits and birds. The backpack came filled with Easter eggs and a little Easter card. Apparently they get lots of brand new toys donated due to the fact that the charity is a children's hospice so it's always worth a look, as well as being a wonderful cause. We're putting it away until Easter Sunday.

Finally, we found this wooden alphabet and numbers toy in the Wellfair Shop on Moortown corner. It was only £3 and is in pristine condition. My little girl is now calling it 'new toy' and as she's such a big fan of letters she's really enjoying playing with it.

Not bad for a couple of mornings spent mooching and having coffee in the suburbs of Leeds.

Bunting! (nothing to do with the 29th April)

So it's been quite a while since I last posted something. I can't actually believe it's been six months - where has the time gone? It's now Spring, thank goodness, and we've been having a few days of beautiful, un-British, sunshine.

I have some good excuses though for not blogging, one of them being that we dropped our camera in the park at the beginning of February and so I wasn't able to take any photos for a couple of months until we finally bought a new one a couple of weekends ago.

This is not strictly a wow-what-a-charity-shop-bargain post, but it does have an element of vintage in that two of the fabrics I used were second hand: the royal blue spotty fabric came from a vintage fair in Saltaire absolutely years ago and the navy floral print cotton is from an old dress I cut up.

I've been meaning to make bunting for my little girl's room for about eighteen months, ever since she was born in fact, but just never got round to it. I'm really pleased that I finally stopped procrastinating and finished it as it looks great in her room. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I could have actually bought it cheaper...not even including the hours I spent on it. However, it's bespoke! And that's a good thing, right? It's also a bit wonky (as with all my sewing) but that only adds to its charm. Just don't look too closely (surely no-one looks at bunting too closely anyway?)

I used the following fabrics:

Harlequin Distant Shores in cream (also used for the Roman blind - I bought metres of this when I was heavily pregnant. I also have plans to make a bean bag and a quilt - maybe in three years' time I'll have finished these?)

Blue spotty vintage cotton

Blue floral cotton from an old dress

Red stars cotton (Leeds market bargain)

White with strawberries cotton (ditto)

Red and cream stripey ribbon bought from the Hen House in Southwell

Bunting is so easy to make, I wish I'd made it a few months ago as my little girl is going to be moving into her big girl's room in the summer and I'll have to make a load more.

Flowers of London

I've been a bit quiet as we were hit by a bug here at Opshop towers. However I'm relieved to confirm that normal service (whatever that is) has now been resumed. Last week was half term and I spent a few days down in London with Mr Opshop and the little one. We stayed with our lovely friends who live in a pretty little house in Teddington with a very patient cat. Actually it's a different cat every time as they foster kittens (ahhhhh) and fortunately the current lodger was not frightened off by a very intrigued 13 month old toddler. They seemed to get on very nicely in fact.

Today's dress was another bargain from the rather wonderful Wellfair Shop in Moortown. It's a flowery tea dress and it cost £4. I wore it to go gallivanting round the South Bank, lunching at the Tate Modern and gawping at some art. We even spotted Bruce Springsteen outside the BFI at the film premiere of 'The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town', which I think made Mr Opshop's weekend. I'm able to report that, like all celebrities, he's shorter in real life.

teadress - £4, the Wellfair Shop, Moortown

grey top - Petit Bateau

black biker boots - Dune

necklace - Karen Walker

Tiger feet

This blog has been very coat-focused so far - must be the weather. Today has been all about the fur coat (fake of course!). I bought this one last winter from a charity shop in Shipley on one of my many, many walks while trying to get my reluctant, nap-dodging baby to sleep during the hazy newborn months. Normally, fur coats that I come across in op shops are huge but this one fit really well so I couldn't resist. I haven't worn it that much yet but I have a feeling it's going to be pretty useful this winter. I think it was about £12 - a total bargain!

I read an article recently which stated that there is no such thing as too much when it comes to leopard print and it certainly seems to be having a moment right now. Fake fur coats have been pretty much everywhere for the last couple of years and it's making me regret selling a fantastic vintage leopard print one on ebay that I bought when I was 16 and which I wore for my school's speech day in what I thought at the time to be a pretty big act of rebellion! I must bear that in mind when I berate myself for accumulating so much in my wardrobe.

My dress is also second hand today - it's a wool jumper dress and I bought it for £4 from the Wellfair shop in Moortown which is one of my favourite charity shops. I always find fab clothes in there which makes me think there must be a lot of ladies changing their wardrobes every season. It must be the only charity shop which has a window display in which the clothes are already sold within hours of them going up on the mannequins. The tiger print ballet pumps were, I confess, a Primark find.

fake fur coat - £12, charity shop, Shipley

charcoal jumper dress - £4, the Wellfair shop, Moortown

jeans - Gap

ballet pumps - Primark

A Bout de souffle

The last few couple of days have been so deliciously autumnal. It's a shame I had to work and wasn't able to make the most of them but I'm hoping that the crisp sunny weather will hang on until after the weekend so I get to enjoy it! Autumn feels particularly special this year as I didn't really get outside much this time last year as I was looking after my newborn baby and the year before I was in Sydney in the beautiful springtime.

Today's second hand item is this pink 1960s coat with round marble-style buttons. I wondered if I could include it in this blog as it's vintage rather than second hand and therefore cannot really be classed as a true bargain. It is, however, one of my favourite items of clothing and when I wear it I feel like I could be skipping down a Paris boulevard in a Godard film! I bought it several years ago from The Story of O, a vintage shop housed in a cellar on Hyde Park Corner in Leeds which also happens to be my hairdressers. Oh how handy - last time I had my haircut I also ended up the new owner of a pink sequinned top. I think the owner's onto a good thing there...

pink 1960s coat - £50, The Story of O, Hyde Park Corner, Leeds

vintage handbag - Newtown, Sydney

black patent shoes - marc by marc jacobs

mother of pearl bangle - Selkie, York

resin ring - Dinosaur Designs, Sydney (present from lovely Laura!)

Why SL!

I've always been a big, big fan of rummaging for bargains - be that in charity shops, vintage shops, those masquerading as 'posh' ladies' dress agencies, at jumble sales, fleamarkets, on ebay - you name it! I love the idea that clothes have a history, that someone chose and wore that dress or jacket before me, that someone loved it and had fun in it. I also love a bargain, and that feeling of having discovered something fantastic for just a few pounds.

The past two years have been kind of crazy for me: I took a career break from my job, went travelling, lived in Australia for a few months, came back to the UK, had a baby, took 9 months' maternity leave and moved house 5 times (yes really). Now things are just starting to settle and I'm back working part time. Having bought a family house, decreased my income along with the recession we're all currently enduring I'm finding that my love for second hand shopping is growing even stronger! I'm lucky enough to live in a great part of Leeds which has some fantastic charity shops and vintage fairs. I've set myself the challenge of wearing something second hand every day and posting about it on this blog.

So this gets me to today's entry. I found this jacket last week while browsing the charity shops of Headingley having spent the morning at playgroup and lunch with a friend and her little boy. Headingley is jam-packed with charity shops and is the place to go for a happy couple of hours' bargain hunting. It was on the expensive side for a charity shop - £15 - but it's YSL and I simply could not resist! Who could? Perfect size, silk and cashmere mix, peacoat style in navy blue with brown wooden buttons. Wow! It's really versatile and it's definitely my Autumn coat of choice at the moment. I wore it today for a perfect Autumn morning walk with my daughter, a messy morning at playgroup and a long leisurely lunch with some friends at Salvo's Salumeria (yum!).

So today's outfit:

YSL silk and cashmere mix jacket - British Heart Foundation, Headingley

tan leather belt - present from an aunt when I was about 12

denim shorts - Witchery, Sydney

Breton top - Armoir Luxe

leopard print scarf - Magic Number 3, Saltaire

boots - Dune