Elsi Gumier postcards

These postcards have been around the house for as far as I can remember; My mum received them after my great grandmother died. However, I never really paid them much notice until recently. I found them in a pile and considering how old they are I thought it was quite sad, so I retrieved them and decided to look at them properly for the first time.

Below are photos of each postcard, with the writing on them underneath each photo with notes (in brackets) by me to try and provide a little more information.

 "Alegrías (a type of flamenco), 91"

 "Bulerías (another type of flamenco), 88"

 "Cidade Do Funchal, Madeira (a Portuguese archipelago), Florista, Portugal"

 "Andalucía (Andalusia, a Spanish autonomous community), 96"

 "Madrid (Spanish capital), 93"

 "Andalucía, 33"

 "Viana Do Castelo, Minhota, 14, Portugal"

 "Grønland (Greenland, autonomous country within Kingdom of Denmark), Danmark (Denmark)"

There is a serious lack of any information on this "Elsi Gumier" on the internet. When I tried to google them, all I could find was another blog post trying to find out who they are (here) and people selling them on ebay and etsy. It seems as though the postcards date from the 1950's going by some of the listings that I found. Also, when I decided to research the origins of the name "Elsi" it seems as though it is mostly used in English, Spanish and German speaking countries (but it used in many others, as well) and the surname "Gumier" is of German origin. So by that evidence I'd presume she was German. However, most of her cards seem to be based on either Spain or Portugal in one way or another, which suggests that she is either Spanish or Portuguese, so ultimately I have no idea.

I have decided to take a couple more photos too, after noticing that Elsi uses two different signatures, and also to compare a possibly damaged/blue postcard with one that isn't blue.

 (It took me ages to realise that their surname was actually "Gumier" as I misread it as "Yurnier".)

The background and skin tones are the most noticeable differences, with the card on the right being a lot more blue than the card on the left.

So if anybody out there knows more than I was able to find out about Elsi Gumier, please comment and let me know! Also, if they know if the blue is some sort of damage (I personally believe it is sunlight damage) let me know.

Before I finish this blog, I'm going to write a little about the picture frames that these postcards are in. When my mum received the postcards, they were already framed and she has never removed them from the frame. I actually did remove a postcard to see if I could learn anything about the frame, it is an "Elsinore" frame which was made in Denmark. When I tried to google this however all it did was find some expired ebay listings and a framing service of the same name in America... I have no idea if they're linked or not however. Any information about the frames would also be awesome, however, so if you know anything, again, please comment.

Around Hardwick Hall

I've not updated properly for a while and I know I'm a bit crap at blogging (sorry!) but I'm hopefully going to update more often again, soon. I'm just very forgetful and disorganised... It's no good, no good at all.

Before I get started, I will tell you now that we didn't actually go to Hardwick Hall, but explored some of the grounds around it, no, not the gardens. Sorry to disappoint! However, the area we explored was lovely, and so full of life. There were so many animals from lairy geese to lazy cows and all in between:

Sorry that you can't see the heron very clearly, I tried to get closer for a better photo but it flew across to the other side of the pond after a few more steps... Probably to get away from me.

One of my favourite things about this time of the year though is the plant life, I love to see the world come alive in all different shades.

 If anybody knows the name of these flowers/can identify them, please let me know what they are. :)

And as I put it in the title of the post, why not include a glimpse of Hardwick Hall, as well? If you love cows, this photo will be doubley awesome.

Well, that's all! I hope you enjoyed these photos and that you're all having a wonderful summer (it is summer now, right?). Bye for now!

10/05/2013 Wishlist

I've been inactive again! I'm awfully sorry, my excuse this time is that I'm at my boyfriends and he doesn't have a card reader, which means I can't upload pictures, which means I haven't even taken any and this blog has been collecting dust. I've decided to revive it a little with a wishlist, as I've spent the day fantasizing about nice relaxing summer holidays (you know the sort, white sandy beaches, clear blue sea, beautiful weather...) this wishlist is slightly holiday themed, I hope you all like it, and hopefully I'll be back to posting as normal soon.

I don't usually like pink but I think these heeled sandals are just adorable.

Via Asos 

Apart from that strange piece of bling (which is hopefully removeable!) I just love these shoes and the colours on them.

Via Irregular Choice

Ok I know these aren't exactly keeping in with the theme but I've really wanted a nice pair of cowboy boots for a good amount of time. It's a shame that they cost so much, though.

Via Asos

I really really want a bandeau top with a bow on it like these beauties just for sunbathing in. Aren't they adorable?

Top: 2BeRoxy on Etsy

Middle: CarnavalBoutique on Etsy

Bottom: Shake, Rattle and Retro on Etsy

Give me any (or all) of these pairs of sunglasses and I'll be happy!

Via Sunnyspex on Etsy

To be fair, underwear shopping is ideal for any occasion, and I really really love this set, and Dita, but that's a different story entirely.

 Via Debenhams

Same with dresses, great for all occasions. I really love the pattern and collar on this one, and it's red, which just makes it more awesome.
Via Asos

Aaaaand no holiday set is complete without a suitcase to pack everything in, and this one is perfect!

Via AM Florence on Etsy

Again sorry for the inactivity, and I'm also sorry for what is, to be honest, a rather lazy post. Hopefully I'll be able to get a card reader soon and return to how I was blogging before. Until then, I suppose I will just do the occasional wishlist.

Bye! x

Product Review: Cakes & Cocktails Lipbalms by Fairypants

Before I go in to the review, I'll do a little introduction to who Fairypants are and how I came across them. They're a Chester (UK) based shop that sells clothes, jewellery and lipbalms. I came across these during a vintage fair at Chester and ended up buying a couple of rings and a lipbalm from them, the people who served me were incredibly friendly and helpful. This is their website.

I decided after buying one lipbalm that I actually wanted to do a little review of them and decided to buy two more, however, I don't usually live in Chester so I ordered them. I had no issues with the service and they arrived rather quickly. Hooray!

I also liked the decorated envelope, complete with a thank you sticker.

Inside the envelope there were two sweets, a load of heart sequins, some business cards and the lipbalms, which were in a separate paper bag (the leopard print one in the picture!).

Anyway, enough of cute packaging and onto the lipbalms! The website claims that the lipbalms are vegan, and after a quick google of the ingredients I found that they indeed are, with the main ingredients coming from shea, almond and jojoba. I decided to get the "Amaretto & Cola", "Banoffee Pie" and "Strawberry Cheesecake" flavours.

Although the colour of the Amaretto & Cola flavour lipbalm was alarming to me, none of the balms alter the colour of my lips, and instead leave them with a slightly glossy sheen. It's not at all sticky and leaves my lips feeling rather soft and moisturised, which for me is awesome as my lips get dry quite often.

However, I also decided to smell and taste each one, because I figure that's the most appealing part of doing flavoured lipbalms... Right? So, here goes.

Smell:

Strawberry Cheesecake - It smells slightly of strawberries and slightly biscuity, very sweet.
Banoffee Pie - Very much like banoffee, it makes me feel rather hungry when I smell it. My favourite one.
Amaretto & Cola - Definitely amaretto and those jelly cola sweets.

Taste:

Strawberry Cheesecake - Neutral.
Banoffee Pie - Very slightest hint of toffee, but mainly neutral.
Amaretto & Cola - Ever so slightly neutral but again mainly neutral.

So overall the lipbalms feel great, can go with any look or go over lipstick due to not changing the colour of your lips at all and smell amazing! However, I would not recommend eating them, cosmetics that are not for eating, who would have thought it? At least they don't taste absolutely horrible though!

Walk around an abandoned mill

So I ended up not going to that alternative fair. I had nobody to go with an I couldn't bear going on my own. Oh well I suppose, there'll be more and hopefully I'll have a bit more courage or somebody to go with this time...

Anyway, that doesn't mean I've been doing nothing (although for a lot of the part I have!), and I did go on another nice walk and get some pictures. This time I went to an old mill and unfortunately I couldn't take quite as many pictures as I liked because it started getting dark earlier than I expected it to... By the time I was heading back it was almost impossible to see. However, it was cool getting to see the bats flying above me, cute little things that they are.

First daffodils I've seen this year, hopefully this means that spring's arrived.

I believe it used to be a cotton mill after a bit of online research, I could be wrong though.

At this point it was already incredibly dark so I had to use my flash for this, but this is where one of the fire assembly points for the mill used to be, it's now really overgrown and difficult to access. (I think it was supposed to be off limits too, but part of the fence didn't have any barbed wire over it so it was easy to scale)

No outfit post because truth be told what I was dressed for convenience as opposed to dressing nice.

Anyway, sorry for being inactive, I plan on picking this blog up again, I'm dreadful at keeping up to date with these!

So it's been about a month

Sorry about the inactivity! I've had a lot on my plate including sorting out university and a string of illnesses (and unfortunately I am still ill, waaa!) but hopefully I will be able to start blogging normally again soon. This isn't going to be an outfit post either because one of the illnesses I've got has resulted in some rather unsightly red patches on my skin, and the chances are I won't be doing any until it has cleared up. I am hopefully going to an alternative fair this weekend however so I'll blog about that and I am also planning on doing a product review soon.

In order to cheer myself up I have made some oreo truffles (recipe here, it's incredibly easy, also cheap supermarket soft cheese works just as well as Philadelphia and if you don't have a blender manually crushing the oreos until they're fine crumbs them mixing them with the cheese works fine too) and decorated them a little. They look messy but they taste amazing! I keep sneaking to the fridge and having a couple of them, as I do every single time I make them... My boyfriend quite likes them too, and he doesn't even like sweet stuff or chocolate.

I'm aware that this blog is essentially a "look what I've been eating" post, and that the only thing missing here is instagram, but I promise this won't be a regular thing... Also, to be fair, they were pretty damn good.

Snowy Sunday!

This post could also be called cold Sunday or really really muddy Sunday. So, on Sundays, my parents like to take the dog for a walk, and invite me along. Sometimes I say no, but today I said yes and went with them. We pretty much spent the entire day there, and the scenery was fantastic!

My dad told me to bring the camera to try and take pictures of the dog, but he's actually incredibly camera shy, so it can be pretty difficult to get him, I usually have to take one from quite far away and just zoom in lots on the camera, otherwise he just runs off. I think he doesn't like the little red light that shines from it when it's focusing. It can't be that he's insecure of how he looks, because he's a beaut, even with his silly odd eyebrows! He loved the weather though, and I swear he never runs out of energy, he just keeps on going and going and going and going...

I've had it pointed out to me that I dress to match the colour of my hair, and this outfit is no exception, I never really think about matching my hair though, it just happens. Also, my dad found my headband infinitely amusing and kept calling it my "bunny ears" because of how they stuck up, and after a while I caught myself calling it that as well. I'm not actually much of a fan of this photo, but it was getting colder and my parents were trying to hurry me up, so I didn't have time to try for a better one. Oh well.

We ended up staying until the sun set, and by then I'd lost the feeling in my feet and wind was blowing right into my eyes... Getting back in the car with the heating on felt like heaven!

I really wanted a nice hat to wear, like a cute bowler hat or something, but it's hard to find one that I like and fits my head because I had a rather big head. I suppose I'll have to keep hunting until I find one.

Headband - Topshop

Coat - Next

Jumper - ARK

Belt - Crank Vintage

Skirt - Topshop

Boots - Peaklander (FYI, the website starts playing a video as soon as you go on it)