christmas shopping

it's starting to feel like christmas...! oh i know i'm being a little premature, but i'm a bit of a cow when it comes to actually buying presents in december. slow walkers and old ladies drive me crazy at the best of times, let alone when you're in a mad rush to reach the last of something, buy it and wrap it up as quickly as possible! so i started yesterday!

it didn't go too badly. i bought my mum an antique decorational birdcage for her birthday next month - she'd seen it in this antiques store a few months ago and wouldn't buy it because she thought it was too expensive. i asked the manager to reserve it for me and when she went back to buy it a few weeks back, she couldn't because i'd kept it back anyway! she was so disappointed, so i can't wait to see her face when she realises what's happened! i also bought her this amazing book on john lennon for christmas. she adores john lennon so much and when i found this huge book, full of old diary entries and fantastic photographs, i knew she'd love it!

i bought my dad the jackson five back catalogue. he's a huge motown fan and he was one of the lucky few that saw michael jackson at his last concert. he's been looking to get the whole anthology for a long time but now he won't have to :) and just for a joke, i bought him some 'CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS' loo roll from its kitsch... he'll find it funny anyway!

i bought my sister-in-law, my auntie and my grandma the same thing. not terribly inventive, i know, but they are relatively hard people to buy for so i just took the easy way out. i bought them each a set of three canvas prints, of beautiful lilies. they were just £3 in primark! absolute steal! so i was rather pleased with my progress, if truth be told.

it's also my boyfriend's 21st birthday party tomorrow night and we decided i'd give him his presents then instead. so yesterday was a manic rush trying to find something he'd like, because he's very fussy and i don't know him all that well yet... i wasn't terribly imaginative when i purchased a shirt and some aftershave, but i did put a lot of thought into them, thinking about what he likes and his tastes and everything. his christmas present will be a lot more inventive though!!

but the official bargain of the day definitely goes to my dress for tomorrow night. it's a gorgeous strapless black dress with a bubble hem - not usually my sort of thing but it really is lovely. and it was daylight robbery - it was marked up for only £5 in new look! i had to have it! i'm going to wear it with some silver and black lace-covered peeptoes and a grey skinny belt - it should look great! i'll post some pictures on saturday, but i was really so pleased with it, bargains like that hardly ever find me!

i was, however, quite disappointed that i couldn't find a grey, chunky-knit sweater anywhere. i hunted high and low, charity shops and primark alike, but i couldn't seem to find one. i adore the pearl-covered grey sweater in topshop, but with my low funds at the moment, there is no way i'm paying £50 for it! so i thought, if could find a jumper, i could just sew some pearls on myself and make my own for less than £5. but no such luck. rest assured, i will hunt high and low and i will not rest until i find one - a grey knitted jumper can't be that hard to find...!