waiting, waiting, waiting. Oh, and something slightly nautical.

 This morning involved a very early start and a trip to the US immigration office to sort my visa out, followed by a long wait, which gave me chance to catch up on a big batch of British Vogue magazines that my mum dispatched to me from back home. All I can say is thank f. that I had such interesting reading material else the wait would have been pretty unbearable. 

Long wait over, I was ushered over to a counter where I had to stand and chat to an immigration officer. Now, when i booked the appointment online, I was given a ton of information on what to bring/not bring etc, but I wish they had also included notes on suitable footwear, as my mega heel platform wedges did some serious damage to my ankles as i stood for 40 minutes at the counter waiting for the lady to file my documents. Never before have I longed more for a pair of ballet flats.

Anyway, to my point, and more so to my outfit. My waiting room reading, amongst which featured several breton-esque ensembles, caused me to dig out this somewhat nautical outfit when I got home and had finished massaging my long suffering feet. The Breton top I have had forever, well about 15 years actually (good job it was really loose when I got it), and the jacket was a French Connection find from the Summer. 

Wow, Summer - that seems like ages ago. Come back Sun, where are you??!

Sheer lace print top

Whilst its obviously fun to go shopping and pick out outfits for yourself, it can often be even more exciting to receive unexpected fashion gifts. not only are these items free (yipee!) but they may have been things that we did not notice in the shops ourselves, or something we would not have necessarily chosen / could afford / bothered to try on.

And so then, a big thank you to my beloved for the top which he gave me. I've been drawn to all the sheer items that are around at the moment (yes, even in this cold weather) and so was delighted to receive this sort of floral/lace print top from Urban Outfitters. Desperate to wear it today, I had to team it with some pretty heavy duty additions to keep out the cold. These consisted of a very thick and long (I had to roll it over 4 times) ribbed, knitted snood/scarf from Reiss that i received as a Christmas gift  two years ago, and a thick leather biker jacket, also coincidentally from Reiss fall '08 collection.

Much as I love the Winter, especially the Fall/Winter collections, footwear is a bit of an issue in the chilly weather. I was initially wearing these McQueen platform peep toes (bought in a sale last year at a ridiculously reduced price), until I ventured outside for about half a minute, ran back inside and had to put on some 'sensible' shoes.

P.S Being my first 'outfit' post, I never realized how difficult it is to actually capture pictures of oneself. After much propping up the camera on piles of magazines and shoe boxes, and then running back in place before the timer went off, these were the best I could do!