Madonna returns for the 2317th (ish) time - Yay!

One of my most vivid memories as a child was constantly watching Madonna's Immaculate Collection video and prancing around the living room in an attempt to 'be Madonna'.  My favourite was Material Girl and I loved the bit where the guys picked her up  (I would lie on the sofa and pretend that I too was being picked up).  

I also vividly remember using my own pair of colourful sunglasses and copying Madonna in the 'Lucky Star' video as she slowly removed her sunglasses at the start of the video and then put them back on at the end.  The anticipation to put my glasses back on at the same time as Madonna was fierce.  Vintage Madonna will always be my favourite Madonna and I still regularly listen to the classics whilst I'm getting ready as inspiration.

Then the little Material Girl in me grew up and Madonna kinda faded into the background for a while.  Not having cable TV and being a nerd in school made me miss the awesome 2003 MTV VMAs performance with Madonna, Britney, Christina and Missy Elliot.  It's also great to see some of the stars in the audience nearly ten years ago in questionable outfits!   One of my favourite performances ever - I'm such a 90's child!

Of course I loved the 'new and improved' Madonna when she decided to compete with acts half of her age! The catchiness of Hung Up, Sorry and I Love New York kept the 'Confessions On A Dancefloor' album playing for many months through my dancing phase and the even more catchy ' 4 Minutes' made me wonder what sort of moves I could do on a moving conveyor belt. 

Today as I was drowning in sales journals, the new Madonna music video for 'Give Me All Your Luvin'' went live and I really had to ditch the highlighters to take a look.    The verdict?  I'm going to be chanting 'L, U, V, MADONNA!' in my sleep tonight!  I love the song and some of the video but I couldn't help but feel like there were too many theatrics which made her look a little weak and confused..  I also couldn't stop thinking about poor Britney videos where she knows what's going on but has little control.. 

Overall I think that little girl that dreamed of being the Material Girl will always make me love and listen to Madonna and I hope the critics won't slate her too much because we've all had a Madonna moment, right? 

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Happy February!

Motivation for the commute home in rush hour yesterday!

I have decided to declare January as a write off as it was filled with illness, zero motivation and way too much cold weather.    Instead, I am declaring that February will be the month to kick-start my placement and uni prep and generally be more positive!  I'm also getting increasingly excited for my little trip to London in exactly three weeks staying in a newly refurbished hotel, eating Krispy Kremes and visiting LFWend, design museum and of course the shops! I'm slightly worried however at the state of my wardrobe for the coming season - watch this space...

:) 

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Monsoon goes.. cute?!

Fusion Areetha Dress - £65

I'm not going to lie - I've always associated Monsoon with expensive floral maxi-dresses and dresses to wear to a wedding.  However, I've just discovered their Monsoon Fusion line which is super cute and is making me lose the willpower on my cost-cutting run up to London Fashion Weekend.  I also love the way the stylist has mixed all the pieces in different ways to make it all interchangeable.  Check out the whole collection here! 

Suzie shorts (£35) and jumper (£38)

Tallulah dress - £60

Amelia Jacket - £55

Elise Shorts - £45

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And the award for best dressed at the SAGs goes to..

Emma Stone in McQueen!  Yay!  I love this dress because it's a different length for an awards show, Emma looks SO happy and it's so pretty!  (It also reminds me of the dress I wore to A's engagement party!) 

Honourable mentions for..

Jayma Mays (Glee)

Ariel Winter (Modern Family)

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Teen Vogue Forever

I'm 20 in April which means I will no longer be a teen and will officially be a 'grown-up'!  Because of this I have come to the conclusion that my collection of Teen Vogue must draw to a close before I become more overrun with magazines than I already do.  Teen Vogue was my first toe-dip into fashion and realising that it was what I wanted to do. My first issue was November 2006 which I read cover to cover in my express music class (we did the exam in a year so we got a year of frees!).  I loved the creativeness of the style and the thought that everything on the pages would maybe come to the UK one day and I would already know about it.  This also started my pastime of complaining about how cheap everything was in the US, lusting over Covergirl makeup and strange looking technology not available in the UK.  Teen Vogue was also where my love of Marc Jacobs started when I realised that whenever I picked out something I liked, it mostly turned out to be by Marc.  As I organised my room a few weeks ago I started looking back at the old issue and made me reminisce about what I thought about each issue when I bought and read it.  It's going to be weird to stop buying.. 

My first issue. Kirsten Durst - November 2006

I had no idea who she was but I adored the colours on the covers!  - April 2007

I was on my lunch break and could not decide if to buy the Ashley or the Mary-Kate cover!  It took me forever to decide! Ashley Olsen - December/ January 2007

I loved this shoot - prom dresses and a beach = bliss!  - Anne Hathaway September 2007

And so my addiction to Gossip Girl began..   Blake Lively - March 2008

The young Karlie and Chanel - flawless then, flawless now. - February 2008

Wowsers!  Taylor Momsen with CLOTHES on.  Totes wanted her hair in this shoot..  then my Mother talked me out of it.. - September 2009

  

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My shoe and glass collections grow..

Today I went into town for lunch with my BFF and couldn't resist nipping into the end of the sales (I hope!) for a quick look.  I ended up with a pair of blue boots from River Island (£15) and a glass mini vase from TKMaxx Home (£3.99!)

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To IKEA.. and beyond!

After much pleading and little planning I ended up in IKEA on Wednesday armed with my IKEA family card for free drinks and an empty stomach for the masses of hotdogs I planned to consume.  

Inspiration for my newly empty back wall

A 500 Days Of Summer reference for my nerdiness

The drawers I eventually bought for my desk

Pretty retro bedroom alert!

 Overall I ended up buying 2 sets of drawers - one for my desk and a large chest of drawers for all of my everything, drawer organisers and batteries.   Oh and 3 hotdogs :) 

Spotted on the way home.  WANT!

The BEFORE picture.  (Please don't judge me)

Masses of nails and stuff for the small set of drawers

Removal of magazines

Mini drawers added to my existing desk

My finished desk (sorry about the light, it was getting late when we eventually finished)

Red corner

Inspiration Corner

My life and the current book I'm reading

The finished room complete with Tom's Rocky hoody.  Woo hoo!

I'm really impressed with the way it has all turned out but it's not over yet!  I still have to organise all of the drawers and fill the huge white space on my wall!  Until then, I need to watch my new addiction - The Great Comic Relief Bake Off, please note if anyone wants me to judge their cupcakes or cheese scones do let me know the usual ways :)

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