As suggested by...Angela

Yes, it's time for my monthly feature again, the one where you suggest what I ought to wear. My thanks go to Angela for her recent email reminding me that I hadn't worn this cream jacket for a few months. She and I met at the Harvest Festival service at our local church last year while she was here on holiday, and after the service we got chatting about this jacket which I was wearing at the time. Now a regular reader, Angela wanted to see me wear it again.

So far I've managed to wear it in almost every season, even at Christmas when I took part in a feature with other bloggers see here. It's such a versatile jacket, mainly down to the neutral colour, I suppose. Today I've married it up with these wide legged trousers in a very autumnal colourway which I found in H&M in London in February. They're really long which is great as they make me look much taller and more leggy than I actually am, but meant I had to do quite a bit of rooting about to find the right height of shoes. In fact, I've gone with my russet suede platform boots which just about deliver the perfect height.

I couldn't resist adding this photo to entice you to give me the quote of the day...

The next time I post we'll be in June - summer to all intents and purposes - so I hope I can rise to the challenge and finally pack the last of my winter things away. These boots are heading into storage along with most of my beautiful brogues, sob, sob. My mint green and pale pinks ones will remain, along with blue suede babies and some much loved cream ones which are truly showing their age. Hopefully the sun will start to show it's face a bit more consistently and in readiness I will get on with the primping and priming necessary for the bare legs and sandals that are summer on Scilly. 

Jacket: Tabitha. Trousers: H&M (sim). Boots: Office (on sale now) Top: eBay. Handbag: charity shop. Watch: Michael Kors. Belt: Zara.

Linking with

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb 

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style 

Anna x

That Friday feeling

Some outfits have that real Friday feeling; that end of the week buzz which sets you up for the weekend. This is mine. I adore this Boden skirt, the shape, the colourway, the print - all of it. It's a great building block that never fails for me. My blue biker jacket is another favourite piece which never lets me down. Put the two together and I feel on top of the world. 

My other go-to item is, of course, a pair of brogues and today's are my mint green lovelies. You may argue that my yellow Candy Bag is not the best partner for this colour of shoes, but I'm not really one to play by the rules. I pretty much do my own thing, my own way, to please myself. And this is the end result. A collection of much loved pieces put together creating a fab look of the day. And so I shall head off into the weekend with a spring in my step. I hope you too are looking forward to some down time, maybe even a bit of retail therapy, over the bank holiday weekend. Perhaps we can reconvene on Sunday over a coffee and croissant?

Jacket: Toxic3 (TK Maxx). Skirt: Boden. T shirt: charity shop. Shoes (currently on offer at £45): Office. Tights: Dorothy Perkins. Necklace: Daisy Dunlop. Candy Bag: Furla (TK Maxx). Sunglasses: Quay Australia.

Anna x

First anniversary post

Exactly one year ago I stepped out with some trepidation to take part in my first ever photo shoot for the fledgling blog of mine. After months of research, checking out other bloggers sites and content, I was at last ready to step into my own little spot in the blogsphere. The post was short (see here), but fun and a definite indication of the flavour of what was to come over the months ahead. I thought it might be a nice tie-in to feature these signature tartan tights once more in this anniversary post. 

Not one to underplay things, I've gone the whole hog with this today. Age appropriate? Probably not, but who invited the style police to this party anyway? As I said the first time I wore this skirt (see here) -  "Girls just wanna have fun!" 

I think I missed my calling in life. I would have loved to have been a cheerleader with fluffy pom-poms!

These mirror sunglasses are perfect for showing my photographer of the day - take a bow Sasha.

Details of today's outfit are like this - leather jacket: Lulu and Red Boutique (charity shop). Skirt: Green Envelope, Los Angeles (TK Maxx). Petticoat: eBay. Polo neck: charity shop. Shoes: New Look. Tights: old. Necklace: M&S. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia. 

To be honest, I'm amazed that it's a whole year that's passed. I had only planned to continue for about 6 months, just as a personal challenge, but was still brimming with enthusiasm and ideas so have carried on. And now after a year, I'm still not done. I've noticed that there are other fashion bloggers who have run their blogs for years and years, but I worry that I may become repetitive or a bit blah after a while, and therefore I can only say, enjoy it now as I have no idea how long I can keep this up! 

A little more than a year ago my daughter Sasha left home, not for the first time, but for the last, I think. During the time my husband was away with her, helping her set up home and doing all those necessary things, like pushing a huge trolley around Ikea to gather bed and bedding, wardrobes and tables, I was here, alone. I have no problem being alone, but this was suddenly a different thing. This state of affairs was one I had read about in many a paper and magazine. Yes, the empty nest syndrome. Now, I never saw myself as one of those sad, fretting mothers, who spent all her time, twittering around her offspring. There was never any running them to clubs and parties, not for me, not here on this tiny island. But I was aware of the space she had vacated, and that was one of female companion, listening ear, someone to share a joke with, or a moan if need be, someone to tell me if my outfit was too way-out for work or even this small community.

And that's when this wee seedling of an idea really took hold. Sasha and I had talked about me starting my own fashion blog previously. One of my close girlfriends often nagged me to send her photos of my outfit of the day, as she spent her whole life in overalls (such is the life of an artist, eh Maggie?) which I did, with her response always being that I ought to run a blog for women of our age. And now here I am, a year down the line, and loving the joy of sharing my clothes, my swimming and my life with you, my dear readers.

I've discovered that I can't be a fashion guru, or a beauty adviser, an agony aunt, or have a full-on magazine type blog with loads of tips on dressing for your shape or age. But I can show you what I wear, in fact love wearing, and hope that it may inspire women like me, of a certain age, what she can wear if she wants to, to step of our the stereotype of the over 50's. It seems that all I can write about, with any depth or knowledge of the subject, is me. This did worry me terribly at the beginning, as I struggled with the sheer vanity of the "look-at-me" nature of what my blog was going to be. I'm maybe a show-off, but I'm not smug. I'm a very generous person, particularly with other women who deserve compliments for making an effort to look good. I love to give positive feedback to women I come across, be it on a train, in the street, or even in the gallery where I work. I'm pro-women, pro-men too in fact, but I really enjoy making a woman's day by telling her she looks fab. We all like to hear that don't we?

Next, I can't do a round up of my blog without mentioning my health. I have a health page which really was the driving force for writing, sharing and putting my story into print. It's not pretty, or easy to share, but is part of me, in fact, it's why I am such a happy, joyful person. You see, when you've been ill for most of your adult life, (in my case since I was 18 when I was diagnosed and yes, I'm 58 now) then you really, really relish being well when you finally get there. I'm totally well, and delighted about this state of affairs. I work so hard to maintain my good health and I urge any of you who are blessed with a strong constitution to embrace it wholeheartedly. The only bit of advice you'll see on my blog is this - Do not take your good health for granted. Every day of my life I'm thankful for being healthy.

But I can't finish without saying thank you to the blogging community for welcoming me in. My thanks go to Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb whose blog is a wealth of advice and sound knowledge on how to go about setting up a blog and everything else that follows. Thanks also to Kristin, the Highland Fashionista whose writing style inspired me to pen a journal type-blog rather than an info-type blog. And thanks to Sheila of Ephemera, whose daily posts were, and still are, creative fodder for me.

And last of all, thank you to those of you who write to me by email, or in my comments, or make contact through Instagram. But the biggest thank you must go to you, the silent majority for bumping up my page views with such amazing consistency. Thank you for coming back again and again to read about my life on this little island. Initially I thought I would just be running a blog for myself, for no other reason than sharing photos and words with my half a dozen girlfriends and a few of my family. And yet now it seems there are so many of you out there. Thank you so much.

Anna x

Linking with 
Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Cherie of Style Nudge

May show time!

Yes, it's that time of year again - time for another exhibition at the gallery with the best excuse ever to bring out my finery. This outfit went with me on our cruise in February (see here), but didn't make the final cut when I swanned around the cabin to get Steve's opinion. In fact, we both liked it, but not as much as some of the frocks I had taken along which rivalled this shirt and skirt combo. 

On Thursday we were hosting a mixed show from a group of seven artists. I managed to hijack a couple of the artists before the preview evening began. Nicola Hancox and Paul Lewin both went on to have a great opening night party. Check out their work here.  The Isles of Scilly attract thousands of tourists every year amongst them hundreds of artists, professional, amateur and aspiring, hoping to capture the essence of this beautiful archipelago. The five inhabited islands offer an insight into life where weather and tides influence our every day, where boats are our main mode of transport, where there will be more birds on the beach than humans, and where it's possible to spend a day playing Robinson Crusoe on an uninhabited island if that's your dream. To learn more about these beautiful isles see here.

As you can no doubt tell, the wind was blowing as Polly and I tried to maintain our smiles and ignore our windswept tresses. Our photo shoot was a bit of a rushed affair thanks to the weather, but at least you get an idea of the evening and our ensembles. Polly wears a black lace dress and black sandals both from H&M. My black blouse is from Uniqlo, the skirt is by Anthropologie (I succumbed to it at sale time which helped make it less painful), shoes are my well worn favourites from Primark, clutch is Accessorize (charity shop) and doesn't it match these shoes perfectly? My belt was from eBay, necklace from Dorothy Perkins and rings are from a charity shop.

Linking with

Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Anna x

Ping Pong Post 3

Hello and welcome to the third edition of Ping Pong Post. For any new readers, you can catch up on how this feature came about here. Today's outfit is spawned by this wonderful jumpsuit from Samantha of Fake Fabulous. Even though I own a couple of jumpsuits, it's still a great challenge to style up one that I hadn't chosen myself. The fabric is silky, hangs really well, and the cut is quite slim so is very elongating for my short frame. All in all, it was a super piece to style up. 

First of all let's have a look at what Ann made of the purple all-in-one. Ann is the creator and editor of Kremb de la Kremb which showcases not not only her fashion stories, but also her travel tales and imaginative diy projects such as her handbag featured here. Ann lives in Hong Kong, and therefore benefits from a very colourful and highly decorated environment, meaning her photo shoots are always unique. In our first Ping Pong Post Ann managed to find a backdrop which featured all the colours of our jacket that day which wasn't any easy task - check it out here. She has done another great job in finding this beautiful sky blue background to perfectly offset the purple jumpsuit and also to compliment her gorgeous tan.

I love Ann's styling of this. Sleek, elegant and understated. Well played, Ann. The idea of tying up the hems is brilliant and really gives the jumpsuit a very different outline. 

Ann's outfit details are -

Silver necklace and bracelet--Target

Jumpsuit--Sam's

Clutch--DIY by me!

Satin pumps--Goodwill (US charity shop)

Follow Ann on Instagram

Next up is Samantha wearing her jumpsuit in March before she sent it off its travels. In our PPP2 Samantha showcased a very unique looking fishbone necklace which was most definitely the star of the show - see it here. Today's necklace is another made-to-match piece that sets off the rest of the outfit to perfection. Great choice Samantha. And those metallic green pumps are worth more than just a mention too!

Samantha's fashion blog Fake Fabulous is a great source of inspiration to many. She posts three times a week about the latest trends as well as giving fashion advice on all sorts of dilemmas such as her recent piece on How to avoid looking frumpy as a wedding guest. Her style is cute, quirky and constantly evolving. She has a huge following who love her honest, inquisitive and challenging take on the boundaries imposed on female fashion. Can a woman wear...? is a theme which crops up frequently on her blog as she sets out the argument and then steers the reader through the pitfalls of the item in question, inevitably meaning that the answer is ...yes she can!

Samantha's outfit details are

Jumpsuit: I can’t remember!!

Jacket: French Connection.

Vest top: Charity shop

Necklace: Oliver bonas

Shoes: Marta Johnson

Bag: Linea

Sash: Salvaged from another dress

Follow Samantha on Instagram 

So here we are with my spin on this ferocious jumpsuit. I had to don my highest heels to wear it, but the shoes ended up being the linchpin of the entire ensemble. By introducing stripes to the mix I found a lovely collection of pieces which married up beautifully. See what you think.

My regular readers will know that I love to do a bit of pattern mixing and this clash of spots and stipes means I'm in my element. Although I love to mix things up, I never want to look thrown together. My outfits are always well considered, balanced in both colour and shape so that the whole thing is effective. Even though I might wear some pretty way outlandish things from time to time - this red petticoat comes to mind - even the outlandish has to look polished. Dressing up is my daily pleasure, it's what makes me, me. 

My outfit details are -

Jumpsuit: Samantha's

Waistcoat: charity shop

Tee shirt: Primark

Shoes: M&S

Handbag: "Borrowed" from my daughter

Pendant: from New Zealand

Turquoise bangle: old

Gold bangle: charity shop

Rings: charity shop

Sunglasses: Quay Australia

Today I'm linking up with 

Sheela of Sheela Writes

So there we have it. Ping Pong Post 3 accomplished with each of our own personalities shining through. We're enjoying this new feature and I hope that you are too. On the 20th June we'll all be sporting something from Ann. That particular something is currently mid-air between Hong Kong and the UK and I think may well be a dress. Hopefully summer will arrive about the same time it does so that Samantha and I can do a bit less layering up next time. Until then please do drop by on Sunday for my next post. Thank you for taking the time to visit, and I would love it if you could add a comment to my blog if I've inspired you or sparked an interest. Or perhaps you might to prefer to follow me on Instagram

Anna x