The Forest and The Sea

I love a vacation... but then don't we all ;P
A couple of weeks ago I spent a long weekend with my family and the doggies at a luxury cabin out in the forest wilderness.  To Blackwood Forest we headed!

It was a nice little place to head out to.  Within the UK and not too far; plus we wanted somewhere to take the doggies with us.  We were able to drive to all the little towns and villages nearby, including the seaside!  It's so strange to have days of barely any reception on your mobile.  How do people get in contact with each other??  I've turned into such a social media type.

You have to take a photo of the vintage beach huts!

Perfect footwear for the hard to walk on sandy beaches...

Day one was all about going to the beach, the doggies loved frolicking around in the sea.  But oh what a mess they were with all the sand!  Later we had some local grub at the pub which was super yummy.  The rest of the long weekend was full of flea markets and general looking around in the nice sunshine.

Giant fishes in the stream - you can just about make out the shapes here.

Came across this amazing wallpaper in a house that someone had opened up for the day as part of the days event to set up stall. Ingenious! 

Look how happy my Dottie looks :D 

The event even provided a vintage bus ride to and from the nearest car park.

My brother, sis and her husband with the doggies.

We were at the Cockleman stall for some yummy seafood. 

Loved those glasses but I have to hold off until I have my own place as I have no where to put anything.  It's all in storage at my sisters house.

My sis and the doggies hanging out by the hot-tub which I didn't per-use.

As I was trying really hard not to buy anything for the reason mentioned above I only came away with one item.  And it was a good choice as I will be using it so it's not stored away and out of sight!

A good sized basket weave box handbag perfect for the summer.

So that was my summer holiday.  A break for some sunny days and fresh air with the family.  No more Sweden or Spain's High Rockabilly for me this year but hopefully next summer I will be attending more events again!

This little cheeky monkey thought she was still on holiday after we got back!

Toodles for now,
Alison xxx

My High Rock-A-Billy Style

Heyhey!

Carrying on from my last post on High Rockabilly I thought I would do a separate one of my wardrobe.  These seem to be my most popular write-ups along with my photo shoot posts and it did take me quite a while to pull my outfits together.  Don't you just hate not having your full wardrobe on access when you need it the most?!

Here is a list of my entire luggage... 5 Dresses, 2 Two-Piece sets, 7 Tops, 3 Skirts, 6 Shorts/Pants, 2 Playsuits, 17 pieces of Lingerie, 4 sets of Bikinis, 7 Handbags, 6 pairs of Shoes, 5 Head Scarves, 2 Sarongs, 2 Fans, a Belt, lots of Hair Flowers & Accessories, Tongs & Rollers, 3 pairs of Sunnies, some Jewellery, a Parasol and heaps of Cosmetics/Products!

This happily came in under my luggage weight allowance.  I was pretty pleased with what I had achieved.  There wasn't too much I didn't use and I needed the choice!  Unfortunately I didn't photograph all my outfits so there are a few missing but there are still plenty here to show you.


Wednesday - Day of arrival

A quick freshen up and change of outfit after landing for our first night out.

Simple wife beater and high-waisted denim shorts with my tiki wedges.

Thursday - First Day of the Festival!

No capture of my beachwear but here I am for the pool party.

This two-piece is another of my tailor made outfits. Nice and bright!

In the evening I wore my Vivian of Holloway favourite blue Hawaiian sarong dress.

This was teamed with my Miss L Fire clear lucite handbag.

I wore a lovely up-do for this outfit.

You can't quite see the two rolls at the front here.

Friday - Day of Photo shoot

In the morning I went off to do a photo shoot by the beach.

Later for the pool party I dressed-down. It was so so hot and I was a bit tired!

One of my all-time favourite tops from Mode Merr.

Parasol became pool parties best friend...

In the evening we went out for an Indian meal before partying.

I wore my bespoke Leopard print Cheongsam dress.

Saturday - Hillbilly BBQ

Attending the Hillbilly BBQ in some leopard print hotpants and an off-shoulder top.

The party was by the pool but I'd feel odd eating a BBQ in my bikini!

This chair was surely designed for pin-up posing no?

My poolside attire - half bikini, half hot pants since I don't actually swim.

I managed to wear two of the bikini tops with shorts. Not bad.

(Apologies for the bathroom pic) I didn't get a full outfit shot by the pool.

There were definitely some mixed reactions to my hot pants.
Not sure why as we were by the pool. Haha.

In the evening I broke out one of my favourite pieces of vintage.

You may recognise this dress from my feature in a certain book ;) 

Teamed with my "new" handbag purchased at Old Style Weekend.

Sunday - Flea Market Day and the Last Day :( 
I don't seem to have any photos of my daytime outfit again.  It was the cutest little vintage top and circle skirt.  My apologies... but I do have the evening outfit!

One of my favourite made to measure two-piece outfits from a vintage pattern.

This is the second time I have worn it out and the crazy amount of compliments I get!

With my Vivienne/Melissa mules & newly purchased handbag from the flea earlier.

I really liked my hair that evening.

Veronica Lake style waves pinned to one side.

I hope you enjoyed my outfits for High Rockabilly.  Some of which you may recognise if you are a regular reader of my blog.  Going on two summer vacations this year has meant less clothes shopping for me.  Although pretty much everything is new-ish (if not new) having only worn them once or twice before.  Thank goodness I have a general addiction to shopping!  There are quite a few outfits missing from my trip, but mostly daytime ones.  I am quite excited to hopefully see some photos from the shoot I did soon.  I shall of course make a post on them.

I want to say a big hi to everyone I met.  It was lovely to meet those of you who read my blog also.  I thought that was really fun!  I will be back with an overview of High Rockabilly next time.  For now, I am thinking about Thursday when I shall be making a visit to The Vintage Patisserie head quarters!


Much love,
Alison xxx

Extra Baggage from High Rock-A-Billy

Hello Lovelies!  I am well and truly back from my holiday at High Rock-A-Billy in Calafell.  I'm currently in my post-holiday blues state with an aching back as a reminder.  No, it's not that bad really.  More of a 'don't want to go back to work-stress' kinda state!  Haha.  It's been so lovely and relaxing having this last week off.

I thought I would start with a post of the goodies I came home with.  Shopping was definitely not on the top of my list for once.  I was trying to be good not to spend too much money because I hope to get a new tattoo at The London Tattoo Convention at the end of the month.  That was a really good incentive to stop me from shopping!  Of course I did do a little.  I can't be that hard on myself.  It was a holiday after all!

As well as the general shops around Calafell there were a couple of stalls every day at the pool parties and a big hall filled with shops at the evening event venue every night.  On the Sunday there was also a Flea Market on alongside the pool party.  This was where it got tricky for me!  My return luggage gained an extra 3kg.

One of the sponsors of the weekender was Sailor Jerry and I was super happy to pick up this tote bag along with my wristband on arrival.  What a welcome surprise :D

From the Event Stalls...

White floral Clip-on Earrings from Bow & Crossbones

See how good I was?  Only one pair of earrings purchased with all those shops there.  Although I am not happy as they have broken already.  It was too late to bring them back to swap as it was the last night.  I have written to them in the hope they will send me a replacement.  I will keep you posted on this.  They also had some lovely coloured plastic and tiki bamboo bangles but as always they were too big for me.  I can never find any to fit my tiny wrists and so am still bangle-less which I am very sad about.  They really do finish off an outfit in my eyes.

As I looked around I didn't dare let myself try on any lovely vintage dresses as to not tempt myself.  There was also a stall selling Re-Mix shoes which is a brand I have been wanting to buy from for a long time now but oh well.  Maybe another time, as it would've definitely been cheaper than shipping them over from the US.


My Flea Market purchases...

A gorgeous 50s Vanity Case!

A lovely Bamboo Handbag which I used the same evening!

I've been hankering after one of these for ages now.

Vintage Houndstooth pencil skirt

Calafell Shopping...

A Decorative Hair-comb and a Pineapple Magnet which I shall turn into a Brooch!

A present for my pumpkins. Teddy bear doggy mat :) 

Always thinking of them wherever I may be.

What with me being a lightweight and the measures of alcohol quite high at the bars I came home with my unopened bottle of rum. Always ready for another party!

That was pretty much it apart from some essentials.  Not a bad collection considering my hold-back on shopping.  I can tell you all my purchases were made at good prices.  I came home with euros to change back to pounds.  It's not often this happens to me.

I will be back soon with more from my weekender in Spain.  A write up of my time there with plenty of photographs and my outfits of course!

Toodles for now,
Alison xxx