July 2015 sees me writing about These Arms, and when I return to read it, I have to applaud this 57 year old version of myself for her honesty and as always, the need to draw attention to her flaws before anyone else could. If you have a moment, then please do read this one as it's a lovely post, even though I do say so myself - here it is.
Moving on to 2016, in February Steve and I went for a cruise which did receive a lot of views so I'm featuring it here in case you'd like to see it. The posts before and after this one show the entire holiday which was pretty wonderful, despite my husband's initial reservations about being stuck with a whole load of people and no chance of escape! For a man who has spent all his working life in the big outdoors, working mainly on his own, he really is perfectly happy with the silence of his own company so you can imagine how challenging he thought it would be to spend a week held captive with over 2000 guests out at sea. Looking back he really did incredibly well.
Please note that I had taken my own advice and was allowing the world to see my imperfect arms without it spoiling my enjoyment of this rather fabulous evening gown.
In March of 2016 I shared my first Ping Pong Post, an idea I had birthed along with a couple of my blogging friends Ann and Samantha. We ran with this for several months and it did increase my viewing figures accordingly. Do take a peek at this one if you're interested.
In August of 2016 my lovely friend Mel sent me The Travelling Yellow Skirt and that post received over 8000 views! The story of the skirt is worth a read or maybe just look at the blue sky and the desert island on the beautiful summer's day on Scilly.
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In October 2016 I showcased an artist who in turn wanted to showcase me. The post added variety to my blog and I must admit I found the experience to be most exciting, especially as it entailed me dressing up in various outfits to have my photo taken! Read the full post here if you wish.
March 2017 saw me on staycation so that I could invest some time in myself, namely to improve my swimming. Despite this being a very niche blog post it still had over 3000 views and a healthy number of comments. Stretch, Roll, Popeye can be read here.
Our summer exhibitions played a large part in my working life prior to Covid and therefore it's only right that I should feature one or two in this mega round-up. The outfit above is from the 5th of August 2017, a typical summer's eve when we laid on the best opening night we could for the artist in attendance - in this case it was for Jenny Ulyatt. Catch the whole feature here.
This bubbly snap captures the best of my life and my joy in dressing up. It comes from my 2017 round-up which really has to be featured to give a flavour of my life at that time. See My 2017 Highlights here.
I'm going to skip 2018 and 2019 for the moment and will come back to these years later. Turning 60 was a big deal, not from a number point of view, but because it brought me a series of opportunities the like of which I could never of imagined possible.
By 2020 life had taken a strange turn with the arrival of Covid into all of our lives. I continued to dress up despite being furloughed as it helped me retain a self of myself. Life was topsy turvy for all of us, but at least I could play with my outfits and derive a sense of pleasure for what was a semblance of normality. Easter Chick was typical of the sunny and wonderfully deceptive sight I conjured up in April.
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By July we were all able to return to work as we attempted to find the new way forward learning to live with this deadly virus. I was keen to get back into the groove which I think was perfectly reflected in my outfit of the day - read about My Signature Colour here.
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September 2020 was a great month for beach days and this shot shows me with a beach body to be proud of - I can say that now with the perspective that only time can give. Heck, not even my lovely husband thought to say how fab I looked in this bikini! At the time I was, as I have been for most of my adult life, under the impression that my figure was too curvy, too flabby, too pale - as ever I was so out of touch with what I really looked like. Sad, but true. Anyway, the post is jolly enough and does capture our idyllic island life perfectly - see it here.
I was happy to be seen in Scottish national dress in my blog post of December 2020. The outfit was a quirky twist, quite far removed from the notion one might have when the word kilt is mentioned. I loved this look - see the post More Christmas Style Inspiration here.
I fancy that you may be wilting after this very long feature and therefore I'm going to sign off now and will pick this up again later next week. On Monday it'll be time for our Monthly Style Not Age challenge so if I've not worn you out then perhaps you'll swing by to see what we're up to. Thereafter I'll continue with my 11 years of blogging round-up and I'd love you to join me for that.
Anna x
