COMPETITION: Gene Meyer Sock-It-To-Me

It's been a while since I last ran a competition so when the menswear accessories brand, Brighterman approached me I snapped up the chance extra quick. Up for offer is a pair of Gene Meyer of New York multi-coloured socks, you name a colour and they'll probably be on there.

Now if you have been following my blog for some time you will most likely know that I have a serious sock problem, i reckon there's a least 50 in my drawer. I just keep buying them, without a doubt my favourite are from Uniqlo. Brighterman are currently stocking a whole range of colours from this brand but I thought you guys would love these as much as I do. These are defiantly suitable for both sexes, come on girls love socks too right. Nice present for the boyfriend too.

So I'm going to keep it nice and easy for everyone, to enter the competition all you need to do it leave a comment box saying you want to be entered and a link to your blog/email/twitter. You can have an extra entry if you Tweet the comp too, just @mat_buckets in your tweet and comment saying you have done so.

The competition will close in 2 weeks time on the 12th April and is open worldwide. Winner will be chosen at random. Thanks again to Brighterman and good luck!

Gifts From Across The Pond

Hollie arrived back from Florida yesterday, with a few presents in tow for me. Three very well chosen coloured Ralph Lauren t-shirts, match shaped post-it page markers and a Salvador Dali key ring from the museum. All very nice surprises and all very much welcomed!

I'm shooting for my final campaign tomorrow so wish me luck guys, hopefully everything goes according to plan.

PS I've got a competition coming up this week, only a small one.

Sitting Still

I sort of feel like this fella this week. Really really still. Workload is heavy as per but I've been glued to one place as I'm in the middle of writing my 5,000 word campaign report. The writing is just half of the task though, it has to have a creative layout, everything should be considered yarda yarda....

The pic was taken whilst I was at the local zoo last Saturday, definitely one of my favourite places in my town. So sorry if all is a wee bit quiet this week but if you need me you know exactly where I am.

In other news I made Voucher Code's Most Wanted Fashion 100: 2011! I came no.7 in the men's category. I would still probably not call it this a menswear blog but hey, that's picky. Thank you to every single person who has ever read a word I have wrote.

Need To Get Organised

I'm not a neat freak, honest gov. But I do like everything to be in its place, it's a weird mix really because I'm not really like this at home, it seems more to be when I venture out. Lining napkins up, straightening flyers up, even putting chairs at a table straight. What the heck is up with me? If you saw my room you would probably think I'm a right fibber but this is the way it is.

When it comes to my work, uni or personal I have became a major perfectionist. For anyone that uses any of the design programmes, my favourite tool by far is the tracking button! This is fine, I consider it a healthy obsession, I spend hours and hours moving around anchor points and text to get everything just right. Then the next day I discover it can still be improved more. Please say there's more of us out there?

I found these images above, by Swedish design company Kontor Kontur. They sum up how I feel perfectly. This comes in the light of me ordering my books by size, I just wish I could have done it by colour too!

Top of my book pile

Saturday Morning Rummage

The sun was blistering through my bedroom curtains this morning so I had no choice to get up early. It gave my time to get in the garden and take some pictures, so I had a rummage through the shed to see what was on offer. Weird thing was, I found a ton of stuff I've never even seen before. I've got a trend project on the go at the moment at uni so I thought I'd see if I could get any images worthy of using for it.

I found lots of bright colours, most of the packaging has probably been in there for like 15 years so everything is either faded or just really old looking. A nice productive start to my weekend.

What's everyone else up to?

All Saints S/S 11 Lookbook

All Saints isn't a brand I would usually take attention of currently but when I was sent over the latest S/S book I was pleasantly surprised at the more subtler pieces. I tend to steer away from the graphic t-shirts, carrot fit jeans and military boots that I associate with the brand but there really is still plenty of stuff to work with. One thing you always notice is the colour palette, they keep it clean and low key which works. It's quiet high street clothing with a healthy amount of detailing. I was also quite surprised at myself liking the leather jacket featured about, I'm not usually into that sort of look but the styling and model choice reminds me of those iconic pictures of James Dean. I'm not quite a Rebel Without a Cause and I wouldn't look even 10% as manly but I can still imagine.

*This post wasn't done for any personal gain, I was approached to look over the collection and convey my honest opinions.

To see more of the latest look book click here

Stationary...

....is taking over my life at the moment. In the last week I have thought 3 sets of pencils, a fat highlighter, elastic bands, bulldog clips, 2 notepads, 2 rulers and a big rubber. And that's just this week. I'm also on the lookout for a Moleskine diary but haven't found a colour I like so much. Are the options really only black or red?

Lots of the stuff I'm buying is to use for pack shots for my currently uni project but I'm so going to use it all. Does anyone find they hoard notepads by the way? I have a problem.

Heavy Weaponry

Thursday was our exhibition at uni, we blagged a unit in the local shopping centre and decked it out with our work. The night was a success, the drinks flowed and good times were had. I didn't really take many photos but I wanted to share these shots of my classmate Ashley. She always wears the most amazing jewellery, though she didn't fancy showing her face this time.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Our thoughts are with Japan.

Penfield S/S 2011 Lookbook

I'm really naff at dressing for summer, for a start I hate leaving the house with a t-shirt and jeans on. I need the layers, even if it's a thin jumper/cardigan, anything will do. It's a combination of worrying that I look boring and a self-conscious thing I reckon. I'm going to try and push myself to be comfortable this summer, first on the list is some shorts in green and dark red. The Penfield S/S lookbook is a perfect reference for me I think.

I've never really thought about wearing lighter jackets with shorts as it goes against the rules I usually go by. I hate it when you see someone with a hoody and shorts on, if it's cold enough for you to put one on then it's not warm enough for shorts? Same goes for anything involving a vest, it's a mega no-go. Anyway, I'm really liking the lightweight jacket/shirt/shorts combo, without veering into the pastel territory. Let's hope this summer I can enjoy my clothes for once.

How do you deal with summer dressing? What sort of things do you go for and like on other people?

Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used maple syrup instead)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 1/4 cup Nutella

I saw this recipe a few weeks ago on Delightful Bitefuls and decided to try it, what a way to spend my Friday night hey! Anyways it turned out really well, they taste great (everyone at my work can back me up on this one as they whole tray I took in was gone in a bout 2 hours). The only thing is, they didn't go hard enough, they sort of fall apart if you hold them too long. Does anyone know how to stop this or what I did wrong?

I've been getting into cooking/baking a lot more over the past year but this was my first attempt at cookies. Big pat on the back for me.

Get Rhythm

Wearing - Ralph Lauren check shirt, Gap Chinos, Uniqlo socks, M&S belt, YMC Saddle shoes

The title refers to a Johnny Cash song which I can't stop playing at the moment, it may as well be stuck, but I don't mind. I was pretty pleased with my outfit this week, it's just a variation on what I normally wear but I went wild and tucked my shirt in, it doesn't happen much. Is that weird? (This is Hollie's bedroom by the way)

Hollie is off to Florida for 3 weeks so the next few weeks will be pretty quiet but I have tones of uni work to be getting on with. I'm hoping she will be doing some blog posts about her American adventure while she is there too. By the way, if anyone reading this is interested or works in home ware please get in touch as I'd love to speak to you, for my research. 

Happy Friday everyone.

Norse Project A/W 2011

Well it's finally warming up in the North now, by no means are my winter coats going away but I'm going for less and less layers by the day. But what have a gone and done, started looking at winter lookbooks again! I came across the Norse Projects A/W 2011 collection over on Lineage of Influence (one of my fav menswear blogs) and really wanted to do a post on it because it's very much to my taste. Norse Projects is a brand that have been making a name for themselves over the past couple of years, it's way out of my bracket but these things are here to inspire after all.

Not only do I really like the looks, you can't go far wrong with orange outerwear but the photography is really nice and weirdly calming. For me the first image, of the white on white is really pretty stunning.

Nice photography can bring clothes to life, don't you think?