I can't get enough of these summer florals!

It's summer at last, so there's no need for me to apologise for this overdose of all things floral. The foundation of this outfit is this pair of magnificent billowing trousers. At £5 from New Look many summers ago I knew they were going to be worth it. I had them relined with a lovely swishy fabric as they had a stretchy lining which didn't enhance the grandness of them at all. Now, when I move about the gallery in my swishy pants, I exude an air of the VIP, which of course I am, being the manager. 

Any minute now and we'll hit July and August, our busiest period of all at work. It's a crazy mix of the most wonderful and most terrible of times - wonderful, as it's the culmination of all of my winter planning, and terrible, as it's so very busy that I have very little time to stop and enjoy it. Our exhibition period sees Polly and I like speeded up versions of ourselves; hanging, selling and taking down paintings in our very own groundhog day. But we love it, every single minute and make sure we laugh at ourselves as we unpack, hang, sell and re-wrap repeatedly in a flurry of bubble wrap and fragile tape over the most hectic 60 days of the year. We host 6 exhibitions in those 60 days, yes that's one every 10 days and they flash past us so quickly that one day, we look up at each other to discover that it's suddenly September. Crazy!

In the midst of all of this I try to ensure we get time to recharge our batteries and my favourite way of doing that is to hop onto our little boat and take off to a quiet beach somewhere. We took our friends Anna and Charlie off to an uninhabited island last week during that amazing heatwave and for us all it seemed like a day in paradise.

Not for us, those sandy sandwiches - no, we're terribly posh with our table and chairs to host the finest of fare. A huge coolbag stashed underneath to keep the refreshments cool and we're good for the next few hours. Now what else did the maid pack?

Just drop us over there, my good man.

The boat comes with this rather dashing boatman. All at no extra charge.

Please join me on Friday for the 5th instalment of my black trouser challenge. Today's outfit details are - trousers: New Look (very old), blouse, belt, clutch, bracelet, rings and sandals are all charity shopped, sunglasses: Quay Australia, green pearls: Almost Perfect.

Anna x

As suggested by...Veronica

It's a while since I ran this feature, so here we go with a pair of tights sent to me by my blogging friend Veronica. She posted them on her blog, Vronni's Style Meanderings, here. Somehow I was lucky enough to inherit them as a fabulous colourful addition to my wardrobe. Veronica wants to know what my secret is as to how to stop them falling down as they did on her. The answer, as many of you will already know, is the magical powers of big pants, a la Bridget Jones of course! Ever since I was a teenager I've worn big pants over my tights to stop them falling down. I can never work out if it's because my tights are too big/too small or if it's cos my thighs aren't like drainpipes, which causes them to always fall down, but hey, the problem is easily solved with granny pants. I'm such a glamour puss!

It's wonderful to have another spring-like morning for our photo shoot. Polly and I are getting back into the swing of things with our usual heckling and back chatting being the soundtrack to the ritual. I plan to turn the tables a few more times this year and capture some of Polly's outfits for you to see too.

My ensemble today comprises of my corduroy jacket from H&M, a Boden skirt, Ralph Lauren fairisle top, H&M paisley blouse, shoes from M&S, sunglasses from Sainsbury's, rings from a charity shop and green fresh water pearls from Almost Perfect. Many thanks Veronica for the fabulous tights which really added that extra zing to the whole look.

I'm off to the mainland tomorrow on business for a week, but will be scheduling a couple of blog posts, the first being for Sunday. Hopefully I'll manage to find something to help me break my shopping ban while I'm away (I'm giddy with excitement at the very thought of it). Harrogate is a great stamping ground for me, so fingers crossed that the ladies of the town will have cleared out their wardrobes leaving all sorts of goodies for me to find in the local charity shops.

See you next time!

Anna x