Return to the world of blogging - The Outfits of Disney 2013!

Hello my darling readers!

So it has been half a year of no blogging - I have to admit, I am feeling a little out of practise as I type this!

I better explain what has been keeping me away from my beloved blog for all this time - teaching! Now I know there are a lot of teachers who blog frequently alongside completing their teaching duties who I am hoping to follow in their footsteps next year, however, this year I was completing my training which took up all of my free time with evidence folders, QTS tests, and constant planning. 

Yet, it all resulted in this, my exciting news... I am now a qualified History teacher! It has been one giant ball of stress, exhaustion, and panic but it is now over and only a few weeks ago I graduated my course as a qualified 'good/outstanding' History teacher. I have secured myself a position as a tutor of History at a sixth form college for September which means I now have six (well five...) glorious weeks to just relax and get back to blogging - yay! 

My returning post will be on one of my key highlights of this year - my romantic getaway to the Bahamas & Florida with my boyfriend, and the resulting purchase of my first DSLR! (Canon E100D)

 

Castaway Cay

Being the Disney addict that I am, I convinced the boyfriend to save up with me and go on a Disney cruise/holiday in the Easter holidays. It was an incredible experience on the Disney Dream and if you haven't had a chance to try a Disney cruise, I seriously recommend it! I have never felt so completely pampered in my life, and being completely Disneyfied as I am, having a whole holiday infused with Disney Magic was glorious. 

With the weather being as beautiful as it was, it gave me a chance to spring out the summer wardrobe again and although some of these outfits are old (and I mean, old) favourites, I got to throw some new ones in there too! So here are just some of my favourites:

 Shift dress from Dorothy Perkins

Halterneck dress from Abercrombie & Fitch

Dress from H&M

Unfortunately, I was wheelchair bound for the majority of this holiday due to a knee injury that had occured just before we went away which hindered the outfit shots somewhat! However, I still got to meet some of my Disney favourites like the big child I am!

(This is one of three pairs of Mickey ears I own...)

And for anyone who has had their interest sparked from this post, here are some pictures of the stunning Disney Dream which was huge & ornately decorated with an Art Deco feel. It had its own theatre with West End style shows, swimming pools, spa (with excellent treatments albeit expensive), several restaurants and its own water rollercoaster called the Aquaduck! Plus being able to eat as much as you want whenever you want led to me gaining a decent amount of weight but also being in food heaven...

 Adults Only Jacuzzi with glass panelling & floor.

 Pirate ears.

 Firework show in the middle of the ocean.

 Towel monkey!

 Sample of breakfast with Mickey waffles!

Would you consider doing a Disney Cruise? Do you have your favourite holiday outfits?

Love,

A Weekend in Canterbury.

Wow it has been a long time since another post! I'm going to be honest with you, I literally have just become a sloth over the past six weeks holiday and despite having taken tons of photos for blogposts I just never got round to the actual blogging... I'm ashamed. Anyway, I'm back (not in black) and blogging! 

At the beginning of the hols the boyfriend was a complete sweetheart and booked for us to go away for a weekend to visit our university town, Canterbury. We were incredibly lucky as the weather was fully on our side and it meant that we got to spend the day wandering around Whitstable Castle & Beach nomming on some ice creams AND I got to debut the summer wardrobe - winwinwin!

 

Dress: H&M; Cardigan: New Look; Belt: Boohoo; Shoes: L.K.Bennett

 Pretty lily shoes!

 Supporting Tom Daley's dive in: Official 'Team GB' t-shirt; Next Paralympics Scarf; Skirt: New Look

 Nom! The essential Chinese takeaway the entire time I was at uni. Glasses: Bvlgari.

 My uni halls - Dress: New Look; Shrug: Topshop; Shoes: H! by Henry Holland; Bag: Next

 Us at Whitstable Castle/Beach

Dress: Vero Moda; Cardigan: New Look; Pumps: Primark; Bag: Next

It took me around an hour or two to choose these outfits - I hate not being able to pack my entire wardrobe every time I go somewhere! Does anyone else have this complex? I need one of those Mary Poppins bags clearly. Anyway, because we can never be too sure with British weather I had to pack outfits that could easily convert with the rain to look good with tights - luckily, the tights remained stashed away! Nevertheless, despite the massive amount of dithering when it came to packing there was one item that had been packed straight away -  my new LK Bennetts. Since buying them a few months back I have been looking for the ideal occasion to debut them to the blogging world, and a romantic dinner seemed it. 

Signing off now as it is my first week at my new school so early nights are needed, but more blogging will occur - especially focusing on both the Olympics & Paralympics!

What do you like to pack for a weekend away?

Love,

That Touch of Mink Polka Dots.

Good evening lovelies. At this moment, I am tucked up under a blanket with a warm ribena trying to gain my voice back - this is the first day off since I returned to work after my operation and I'm so frustrated that I had to take it! Alas, trying to control kids at school with mime discipline would not go down quite as well as shouting 'Be quiet!' a hundred times a day, so I camped out at home and thinking what a perfect time to blog!

A little while ago I bought a gorgeous dress from H&M as a treat and although I have posted about it in  my Work Week Outfits in Instagram posts, it didn't quite express my sheer adulation for this dress. 

Dress: H&M
Tights: M&S
Pumps: Primark
Belt: New Look.

So what is it that I love so much about it? Well, being a woman on a budget my dresses generally need to be quite versatile so that I can wear them to give the illusion that I have more outfits in my wardrobe than I do. It is also the 'create a whole different look for the weekend' idea that makes it necessary for them to be versatile, because sadly my work & weekend wardrobe seem to be merging more and more at the moment.This dress has that. With the neutral mink colour and cream/white polka dots, it goes perfectly with browns, pinks, navy, cream cardigans & pumps. Perfect! 

It was also the whole design of the dress, going for the vintage feel with the cute mini dress style and full skirt, with the mix of polka dots and capped sleeves - pretty much combining everything I want in a dress into one adorable package. 

Price wise, I couldn't complain - it is made of quite thick material so it's not a thin summer dress and I will easily be able to wear this in winter with black tights (as shown in the picture), along with no tights in summer. For £19.99 it was quite the steal in my opinion as I have seen similar dresses in other stores that are charging at least £25.

However, the dress is not perfect (but it is preeeeetty close). The only thing for me where it could be improved would maybe be the length, to have it around half an inch longer, but its not a huge issue for me (as shown by buying it). What the good thing is about the skirt of the dress is that its longer in both the front and back, with it being a little shorter on the sides. The back of a dress is an issue with me as it tends to come up shorter making me paranoid everyone can see up my skirt - something Miss Manners would not approve of. 

Well that's it, my review for one of my top favourite dresses. I'm going to try and get a couple more posts done tonight as I should be away this weekend for my three year anniversary with the boyfriend, so want to get my blogging in now :)

Do you like to have dresses that work both for winter & spring, or do you like a whole seperate wardrobe?

Love,