Technology

I am a major technology victim and have no clue about some of the gadgets on the go just now. Up until not long ago i was rocking a Nokia 3210 after my blackberry tragically failed me! I had that beast of a phone for the best part of a month and it didn't really phase me- apart from the lack of BBM- i could text and make phonecalls and that was all i was really after. Job done.

I was picking out a new laptop the other day too (I was trusted to do this on my own) and the sales assistant did a wonderful job of describing all the different functions and capabilities of some of the models available. All of this went straight over my head, and i went for "that one. because its red".

However i think i am slowly changing my ways! My friend managed to capture this amazing photo of me in a field using an App on his I Phone 4 and i was totally amazed.

 I couldn't believe such a stunning photo came out of that tiny little thing whose main function was actually a phone... its crazy!

So now, instead of a pair of walkie talkies being at the top of my gadget list (great for festival season) its being demoted to second place in favour of the iphone 4. All they've got to do now is bring out a red one with a walkie talkie app and i'm sold!

Happy Friday!

Nic xxxxx

Peacock Feather

Hiya. Happy Friday Eve everyone, I cant believe its almost the weekend again!

This what i wore to my place of Uni today. :) Im in love with these leather-eqsue jeans i got from AllSaints, I fell in love with them as soon as i saw them they re totally worth the investment and definitely a wardrobe staple!  I may have received some slight purchasing benefits from my friend Emily who is a manager at the Aberdeen store but even without that they are pretty reasonably priced.

I worked in AllSaints for two years and was obsessed with their clothes, they're so unique and completely stand out against all the other high street stuff. I REALLY miss my employee privileges- previews of all the stuff as it comes in, uniform, discount, being surrounded by amazing clothes all the time.... i miss the days!

I have Incorporated a few gifted items into this outfit too, the belt was from my friend Sarah and the bag was from my friend Emily both for my most recent birthday. This cardigan was also a gift from my younger sister Hannah and its a little vintage find with cute little nautical buttons.

I'm a little obsessed with all things feathery just now and thought the vibrant blues and greens in this peacock earring complimented the outfit really well. I had a little photo shoot yesterday with the amazing Sam Brill and Jeremy, I think i managed to incorporate three different feathered accessories into one of the looks :) pretty impressive.

Lots of Love

Nic xxxxx

Vocal Ignorance.

I believe in many things... I believe in God, I believe in Religion, I believe in Science... I believe in freedom of choice, gender equality and I believe in same sex marriage... Above everything else I believe in a person's right to respect for their beliefs and choices.

But for as long as Nicola has been a much beloved part of our lives, we have met a certain amount of adversity and sometimes animosity from some other people. I have known for a long time that there would always be people who wouldn't agree with our choices.

But, to be honest, I never thought I would find someone who would disagree with our choice to keep Nicola alive.

I'm not naive, I always knew there would be people who would argue that her quality of life was not good enough by their standards, or who would think that the pain that she lives with, or the constant medical issues would not make her life worth living...

Yet, to be honest, I never thought I would find anyone who would not only express their opinions quite vocally to my face, but argue the point with me when I politely tried to disagree...

And that is exactly what happened on Saturday night... in front of all my family and several close family friends, at a celebration of love and happiness (my parents wedding anniversary).

My new next door neighbour came over to have a drink with us. I We had met on a couple of occasions beforehand and she has always appeared somewhat nice... yet Saturday night, just out of the blue, she asked me straight to my face why I bothered to keep Nicola alive.

The silence was like nothing I have ever experienced before... and the tension was palpable as every single person there turned and looked at me and waited for me to respond... which was really hard considering that the only response I really wanted to form was a string of obsenities followed by a flood of tears.

Instead, as calmly as I could, I told her that I didn't feel anyone else had the right to judge what quality of life is considered acceptable and that I felt that, despite her pain and her medical needs, Nicola's quality of life was actually quite good and that she was generally happy in the life that we provide for her.

Her response?

To tell me that her dogs are like her children now that her own children are grown and moved on and if it got to the point that her dogs couldn't run or play or do the things that SHE felt were important, she would have them euthanised... and she would do the same for her children.

She argued repeatedly for a good 20 minutes that a life that isn't 'normal' isn't worth living and we should not persist in our desire to keep her alive when her quality of life is not acceptable.

I don't understand this argument... I never have been able to. I struggle to find any reason, logical or emotional, that would give any person the right to take the life of another. I am not God... that choice is not mine to make... I am just a mother.

She is my child... she is my flesh and blood... and I will fight for her life with my last dying breath.

What kind of mother would I be if I turned my back on her just because she doesn't conform to what a bunch of mindless morons incapable of an iota of free and independant thought have deemed to be considered 'normal'?

What my neighbour said hurt. It really hurt... And I know that what she said, even though she probably didn't think there was anything wrong with it, hurt not only me, but my family and friends, all of whom love Nicola deeply. It hurt to think that anyone could possibly look at my daughter, see her smile, see her laugh, see her interact with her sisters and her family, and tell me that her life is worthless. It hurts that anyone could think that any child, regardless of their abilities or needs, is considered less important than any other child, or worse, that they are considered replacable.

Of course, she single handed pretty much ended the party... after that there wasn't much more to be done... I think everyone was a bit stunned. I walked inside and sat in Nicola's room, just watching her sleep.

Now... in the light of a new day, a good day, I know that it doesn't matter what she thinks. Her words may hurt, but I can chose to ignore them, which is what I am going to do from now on. I am not that desperate for a couple of free haleconia's that I would tolerate that kind of ignorance... instead I will chose to continue as I have been doing... to focus my time and energy on giving my children the best possible life I can give them... each and every one of them.

Semi Precious Stones

It’s no secret that I’m addicted to jewellery and probably even more so now with all these semi-precious jewels on the go just now. I love this image of this girl fully embracing the Pocohauntus look! Very jealous of her jewellery.

I've been after a Titanium Quartz ring for a while now but had always managed to avoid temptations but as soon as my student loan came in at the start of the month i knew what it was going on! Titanium aura quartz is formed when titanium is permanently bonded with quartz crystals and there is a stunning end result. This is the bad boy i recently purchased:

Pretty amazing really! If we’d studied this in Chemistry at school instead of heating carbon dioxide in a test tube over a Bunsen burner to see if it smelled I would have been well and truly IN. Maybe I’ll write them a letter; i do also recall the acetone being quite handy for removing chipped nail varnish.

I’ve also got quite a thing for turquoise/teal coloured jewels just now, they’re really refreshing and colourful and since i wear quite a bit of black they’re great for spicing things up. I bought this first ring a couple of months back and was pretty devastated when I thought I’d lost it, I ended up buying a new one after putting it off for so long and the old one turned up the next day! So I now have two J

Just to balance off my teal semi precious collection I’ve also invested in these two necklaces and earrings, I’m in love with anything tribal and feathery just now. I knew Pocohauntus was going to be an inspirational female figure some day!

 I had a really nice weekend and i think my boyfriend liked the surprise castle visit it was such a beautiful  place although kinda creepy and eerie. I’m heading down to Cambridge with them family tomorrow for my Granny’s funeral, it will be nice to see everyone but a devastatingly sad day at the same time. Hello hardcore mag session on the 8 hour train journey.  

Lots of Love

Nic xxxxx

God Save McQueen

Alexander McQueen was one of my favourite designers, and probably like many of you I was distraught by the news of his death just over a year ago. McQueen's death was such a shock to everyone as He was at the peak of his career but sadly he couldn't cope with the death of his mother who had passed away just days before and it is believed this is the cause of his suicide.

I bought this t-shirt not long after he died firstly because i loved the design and secondly as i wanted a reminder that i could keep untill I'm old!

Plato's Atlantis was probably one of my favourite collections by Alexander McQueen; it completely blows me away every time I see it. The collection was such a revolutionary asset to the fashion industry as it uses Show Studio technology pioneered by Nick Knight which allowed the entire show to be recorded and streamed to the public live from Paris (you can view the video here). The atmosphere he created was immense and the clothing was exquisite, his death was an absolute tragedy to the industry.

 Here are a few designs from the collection:

Quite recently at a Jungle themed party i tried my best to re-create the Plato's Atlantic look and this is what i came up with :

Apparently you don't get McQueen Serpants in the Jungle... but in my world you do! Sorry that the picture's a little bit blury, it was taken on a mobile.

I was a little bit sceptic about another designer taking over from McQueen and carrying on with the McQueen brand but creative director Sarah Burton has been doing an amazing job and is even rumoured to be designing Kate Middleton's wedding dress.

Hope you have all been having a good week, i'm so glad theres only one more day untill the weekend! I have a surprise planned for tomorrow night for me and my boyfriend, so hopefully it all goes ok! I'll be sure to let you all know how its goes :) Happy Thursday

Lots of Love

Nic xxxx

Blue Skys

AHHH The weather this Weekend in Scotland was amazing (as far as weather during March in Scotland goes) there were blue skies all over the shop- not even one drop of rain. So the sun inspired me to get the shorts back out :) it wasn’t quite warm enough to go without the beanie but I can deal with that for the meantime.

These shorts were a present from my friend Karena who brought them all the way back from Thailand, definitely not an item to be worn after a few summer beers as they are a teeny Thailand size. The feather top was a recent buy from Topshop -for a change ;) and I love it! It’s got a really cool tribal/ethnic feel to it a cool chunky zip up the back which I unfortunately didn't manage to capture in the photos. The beanie is just from Topman - a stable item of my wardrobe during the winter months that I have grown quite attached to.

Most of my Jewels are from Topshop (I think I've got issues, I am addicted to Topshop Jewellery) and the shoes are an amazing "tribute" to the Balenciaga Harness boot that I bought from a shop on Ebay.

I've had such a lovely weekend hanging out with my Boyfriend and seeing friends, ahh and i cant stop listening to The Cardigans- Communication definitely worth a listen :) Hope you all had a nice weekend too.

Lots of Love, Nic xxxxx

Aztec Mad

Its safe to say I’m a little bit in love with Aztec right now, I wasn’t so into it when American Apparel brought out the Aztec bodycon skirts and dresses a while back, but with this Urban Outfitter's knitwear number... its different!

I also purchased this shark tooth necklace from Topshop the other day (I was meant to be on a clothes spending ban but accessories don't count) and I think it could be a good replacement for my lost crucifix for the time being :).

This bag was a gift for my 21st birthday from my friend Emily, and I love it! It’s great for carrying your life around in, but if you need something in a hurry its maybe not so good! 

I thought I would also showcase my Topshop Unique shoes which have been resurrected by my lovely Dad who managed to work his magic and bring them back to life from an almost fatal heal snap incident:

 These photographs were taken by my friend Sam Copeland whose currently studying at Grays School of Art. I am very impressed with her talents and advise anyone to have a look at some more of her snap shots here.

Its an amazing day for once in Aberdeen, the rain's been put on hold for a day- that's right A WHOLE DAY (So far) so I'm heading out for some Friday drinks a bit later on with my boyfriend and some friends. Hope you all have a happy Friday

Lots of Love

Nic xxxxx