from head to toe

From a young age I was obsessed with the musical Annie. Y’see my brother, at the tender age of eleven, had the much coveted role of Daddy Warbucks in the Lugarno Public School production. I was a little star struck by the glamour that is a primary school musical and longed to have the part of Annie. I was all of eight years old and not even part of the school choir, nor a particularly good singer and I didn’t even audition! And let’s not even get into how confusing it would have been to have my brother play my adopted father. Suffice to say my Broadway dreams ended that year.

But I did pester my parents into buying me a copy of the movie on VHS, which in the year 1994 was a tougher task than you might appreciate. My thanks to them was a nightly bathtime performance, ranging from Maybe to Tomorrow and back again. And even now if I’m feeling nostalgic Owen might be privy to a heart-warming rendition of I Don’t Need Anything But You… but I try and keep that to a minimum.

One of the best songs – and sentiments – from the movie version of Annie was You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile. Check it out (ps cutest orphans ever, who taught them to shimmy?! I’m looking at you Carol Burnett.

And while I like to believe I subscribe to message of the song, I think I often have a case of chronic bitch face. And to be honest, I’d like to think I’m fully dressed when smiling, frowning, pouting or giving a serious case of stink eye. I don’t particularly want to worry about being “naked” by these standards, when I’m hysterically crying during A Walk To Remember.

But I digress, the whole point of this post was that I wanted to post an outfit I would love to buy had I not just spent all my money in a foreign country and signed up for a mortgage. And the reason I thought of this song in Annie was I knew they used the line “Head to Toe”… except in hindsight line is actually “it’s what you wear from ear to ear, and not from head to toe”. SO sure, this might be going against the whole premise of the song – but let’s pretend somewhere between head to toe there is a smiling face shall we?

Dress: This cute as a boot dress is from Vanilla & Lace. I actually have this dress in a different fabric and can I tell you how supremely impressed I was? The fit is gorgeous and the quality was incredibe – and to think it’s all handmade for that $60 price tag? Amazing! Buy it buy it buy it. I’m thinking this mustard version may have to find its way to me.

Brooch: I think a this brooch set from Made By White  is unbelievably sweet! These ladies can do no wrong in my book.

Shoes: I’m not a short lady and in fact I’m probably taller than 95% of my friends. But I still enjoy a high heel as much as the rest of you. In fact, maybe more because I have cankles and heels help them look a little less… cankley (yup that’s an adjective. Just ask Richard Morecroft.. okay don’t, I might look silly). And these funkis look like they would do the job nicely!
Headband: This headband from Sunshine & Carousels is dreamy. And pretty reasonably priced too I might add.

Oh and make sure you add that smile somewhere in there... that way the start of thi blog post kind-of-vaguely-but-not-really, links to the end. Tadaaaaa!