Contrary to everything in the previous post about trying to be self-indulgent in the sense of spending money on experiences, rather than material things during 2013, well… whoops.

Yes. This happened. A mere couple of days following a blog entry about resisting the lure of a Zara sale, I ended up spending literally every lunch break this week meandering through the rails of its Knightsbridge store. 2 bags, numerous shirts and a few pairs of shoes from Office later and I am already skint without even getting through January!  I don’t know how I’m managing to survive a life in London without an overdraft on my bank account. Anyway, I’m not a good enough blogger to photograph everything I bought, so here are a few snippets.

I’m planning to do one of those What’s In my Bag style entries that have been circulating the blogosphere for a while, so I’ll take a photograph of the whole of the bag in the next few days. For now though, I’m particularly fond of the detail that goes into the bags that Zara retail. Okay, so I know that no one actually sees the inside pocket of a handbag, but it’s the little things that count. I was pretty tempted to go for a Zara tote, but living in London has given me an irrational fear of pickpocketers, and I don’t like the idea of having a bag that isn’t rain-proof so I always opt for a satchel or backpack.

I also bought my first pair of wellies. (btw, I keep trying to type ‘wellies’ into Blogger and it keeps autocorrecting it to ‘willies’, which is ridiculously frustrating on this time on a Sunday afternoon). They too, were a sale find in the Oxford Street branch, and at £45 they can be justified with the amount that it rains in Blighty. Can’t seem to find them online, but they can be bought here.

I didn’t even make it out of the shop before trying on a pair of last season’s Nighthawk boots, which are hands down the best dupes of the Susanna boots by Chloé. Unfortunately, the black leather ones had completely sold out and they only had the red and white versions in my size, which was rather disheartening. I’d started saving for them when they were on the shelves at £80, so to find out they were just £35 meant I ended up scouring every branch of Office on Oxford Street for a pair of size fives. Half an hour later, I found myself practically dancing in its branch in the basement of Topshop Oxford Circus when I snapped up one of the remaining pairs. Although I really like the Chloé SS2013 collection of Susanna boots, which come in a selection of muted blue, grey and nude, I’m pretty damn ecstatic with these black Office ones. And even if I could get away with not paying rent for a month, the Susannas are far too expensive to even be considered an investment (see here). £800?!

…anyway, so after that mishap of spending, I ended up booking a flight to Amsterdam for my birthday in March. I am so happy and excited already that it kind of makes up for how much I wanted to cry on Wednesday night at the thought of how penniless I had inevitably become after booking 3 night stay in a hotel next to the Stedelijk museum for me and my mother. If you read my last post on here, then no, I still haven’t got round to telling her that it’s a holiday dedicated to Johannes Vermeer.

As a result, I’m now tied down to London until I actually board that plane (it seemed way easier to arrange flights rather than a Eurostar ticket) at Heathrow because I can’t afford to go anywhere else for the next 8 weeks (boo!). That said, I’m in Birmingham next weekend for 3 sets of birthday shenanigans and then the week after that I’m in Liverpool which I also can’t quite contain my excitement for. Although, maybe that’s because I forked out for a Virgin train, so now I feel like I’m living the high life, haha.

So, yes. I can’t leave London AT ALL in February because I’ll be too busy living on a diet of 11p noodles from Sainsbury’s and trying to live on next to nothing. Pretty sure this could be a blessing in disguise though as London is the best place to be for exhibitions in February. With a Picasso show at theCourtauld and A ROY LICHTENSTEIN RETROSPECTIVE AT TATE (that needed to be capitalised- Lichtenstein was my favourite artist throughout secondary school, so when I heard about Tate’s exhibition programme for 2013, I nearly wet myself).

I’ve also found another easy way to make the next 8 weeks pass: Dam Style. A blog that documents Amsterdam’s street style is essential research, right? Although after the plethora of checked patterns on there, it’s making me cave in and buy a pair of checked trousers that I spotted in Zara on Friday. Merde.

Anywho, I’m popping off now to catch the Tim Walker show at Somerset House for the remainder of the afternoon.