Most loved outfit of the week

Hi there! How are you doing? Did you watch much of the TV coverage of the Coronation this weekend? I did. I watched the entire thing on Saturday and then enjoyed the concert this morning as I was doing some hand sewing. It's been a really uplifting time; makes me proud to be British. 

So, this was my most loved outfit of the week at work last week. I received so many lovely compliments on this trouser suit. Hurrah for the Iris Apfel and H&M collaboration of a year ago! This is probably only about my 6th time of wearing the (almost famous) Pea Pod Trouser Suit, but every time I do, I try to mix things up so that the accessories are different giving it a fresh look. This time I've popped on my Frida Kahlo tee shirt which has the same aqua colour as the suit and looked pretty fab, I must admit. The other addition are my new boots from MOMO in New York, recently bought on Vinted. They were brand new, with the labels on, and I saved $200 buying them second hand - result!

The tiny patch of aqua on the toe of the left boot was all it took for me to know that these would be a dream pairing, well that plus the ornate design and little pearls too. I'm thrilled to have these in my shoe collection. They are made from old sari's which appeals to me for its recycling.

The pearl belt is my go-to piece to wear with the suit, simply to match the pearl pea pods. I found it on Amazon and think it was a great buy. I've layered up necklaces, three this time, along with bangles and rings in turquoise and aqua. You'll probably recognise my old favourite sunglasses by Quay Australia too.

On the home front, I've spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend sewing. I'm all a bit OCD about this latest hobby of mine. I've nearly completed my second linen dress, this time in aqua, but am being held up waiting for interfacing to finish the neckline. It's all very frustrating as I know how easy it would be to find this in a shop on the high street if I lived on the mainland, but hey ho, such is island life! In the meantime, I'm finding lots of alterations I can do now which is quite exciting. I'm not sure if the word alteration is a bit grand as sometimes these are more along the lines of a botch job, but mostly they're wearable which is all that matters.

My lovely husband coined a great phrase about me recently, saying I was born audition ready as I appeared in yet another over-the-top work outfit. I love his total acceptance of my need for all that's glitz and glamour. I recounted this to a friend who visited me at work the other day when she said I looked as if I was about to go on stage! The gallery surely acts as my everyday stage, hahaha.

Thanks for swinging by and I do hope you have a great week ahead!

Anna x

Keep on keeping on!

Hello again!

Thanks for joining me today. It was only 24 hours ago in the spring sunshine that Steve and I took these shots in the green heartland of Tresco. I was feeling bright and bouncy in this colourful outfit and delighted to have something to share with you for my next feature. And then I woke up this morning with a real dose of the blues, brought on, I think, by disturbed sleep. Since I was a child I've been a poor sleeper with the slightest of worry impacting on my ability to drop off to sleep. I'm often still awake at two or three in the morning, reading as I try to wear myself or rather my brain out. The lack of mental stimulus currently is what seems to be showing with me now. Much as I can be physically tired, my brain is churning away the moment I switch the light out.

Anyway, I thought I'd follow my own, and often used, advice of Keep on, keeping on. We're all suffering ups and downs during lockdown and a dose of the blues is probably the least of our worries. Loneliness, financial hardship and worse of all, loss of friends or family members all overshadow my down in the mouth days, and yet we ought to be able to reach out to others in similar situations eh? My moods aren't consistent at the moment, but who can honestly claim to be coping all of the time? Lean forward and give me a virtual hug right now and I'll return it with gusto!

When I look at this shot the first thing I notice is how much I need a haircut. It's almost two months since I was last at the hairdresser and wonder how long it will be until I get back again. I'm already toying with the idea of scarves and hairbands as I see so many other woman resorting to currently. 

I need my colours done too!

I decided to add a pair of earrings to my look today as a distraction from the lack of hair style. These are a vintage pair of yellow and white beaded earrings bought from a friend who sells vintage clothes and jewellery online. See her Instagram feed here Madamefifipresents. Annie and I first met in London when we were both attending the casting audition for JD Williams a couple of years ago and have been friends ever since. I'm also sporting another new pair of Radlely sunglasses featuring sweet two tone frames.

As for the rest of the outfit, well you may have seen it all before, but not together. The Levi's denim jacket is most definitely vintage as I stole it from Steve when we first got together over 40 years ago. It definitely has improved with age - a bit like him I have to say! The bright pink chinos are by Boden (a couple of years ago) and the trainers were from TK Maxx last year.

The embroidered runners are by Replay and were a joyful find when I was at the Harrogate branch of TK Maxx. 

I found this fabulous Frida Kahlo tee shirt in Primark last spring and went on to buy five more for friends as well as my daughter. I fancy I was threatening to showcase us all wearing it together but never got around to that. We could maybe try again later this summer if things pan out well?

The glorious handbag was a purchase when I ran riot in London charity shopping with my dear friend Ben. We had a great weekend together, but I must admit his energy outlasted mine and I had to retreat to the welcome comforts of a bath long before the shops closed, but not before we had filled my shopping bags with ample loot. See the spoils strewn across my bed as his house here. The yellow bangle was from the same time and the rings are both pre-loved too.

I'll leave you with this lush and verdant backdrop of Pool Road on Tresco. A month of sunshine and showers has the island looking as beautiful as ever. I'm enjoying my daily jaunts outdoors and took a lovely little video from the beach on Pentle Bay last week - click here to see and hear the theraputic sounds of the sea. 

I'll be back again on Friday with another offering for the Dress Up Friday feature. Please do swing by again - I'd love to hear from you!

                                                                                        Anna x

On feeling blessed

Hello and welcome again!

You join me today as I talk about counting my blessings during this strange time where lock-downs and furlough are now part of our daily life and the only news on TV and radio relates to the Coronavirus. Our world has changed so much in the past months. The pandemic that seemed so distant from us when it was contained in China has gradually seeped into our everyday lives impacting more than any of us could have imagined. And yet in the midst of all of this, there is a growing awareness of self responsibility, care within our neighbourhoods and gratitude to our NHS which is long overdue. More than ever, I feel very blessed to be living on this remote island. A vetting process in place for anyone trying to access these islands, prohibiting an influx of those trying to escape their primary home. The message to stay at home is finally reaching everyone, even those to whom rules don't normally apply. No matter if you're rich or royal or young or famous - anyone and everyone is prey to this new enemy, invisible yet deadly. And so this modern day wartime spirit is continuing to strengthen as we pull together to unite and stay strong.

I'd like to say hurrah for the BBC news coverage which is gradually finding some happy stories to tell us. In in a time where we need to be kept informed, we also need encouragement, recovery stories and ways to keep ourselves physically and mentally fit. Enter stage right the amazing Joe Wicks who single-handedly is dragging the nation up off the sofa and getting our children motivated for their daily workout. 

I'm so grateful to live right here on the edge of the beach. This photo is taken less than 50m from my house: this is the view from my kitchen window, giving me an ever changing vista of island life as the tide comes in and the tide goes out. And talking of tides, I'm so happy to have this opportunity to follow the tide around daily, as I can now swim on the high tide every single day. I love to swim on the high tide as every beach looks much more pretty on a high tide. Today's high tide is at 3.47pm (Sunday) and will be a 5.1m high. I'm mainly governed now by wind direction and sometimes will walk to the most sheltered beach others, if I'm busy, will mean just a quick dash on my bike so that I can be there and back within the hour.

This was Pentle Bay on Thursday, location of my daily swim at lunchtime. I left home at 1.30pm to walk to the beach along the banks, swam from the far end to this point and then swam back. I sat for a while on the rocks, taking photos while I drank my flask of hot lemon and honey. Much as the sea looks tropical, it was still very cold and I had to march briskly onwards towards the south of the island with woolly hat and gloves on as I tried to warm up. I stopped along the way to collect sea glass and pottery pieces strewn along the high tideline. I think I met about four others, rather I saw four others as we all veered away to give each other space. 

By the time I reached Appletree Bay it was almost 5 o'clock. I'd had this idea to create something to post on my Instagram to tie in with the clapping for the NHS at 8pm on Thursdays that's becoming our lovely new ritual. Our local GP practice have recently sent out a message for us here to abide by the rules of social distancing and to stay at home. We're all hoping that the virus won't reach us, but as we emerge from the restrictions I do wonder if it's inevitable that we'll be hit in the second or even third waves. As you can tell, even living in our island paradise, we still feel the same anxieties as everyone else.

Enough of all that now! Let's talk about the outfit of the day. These fab applique jeans cost me £4.50 from a Truro charity shop earlier on this year. I've paired them with my Frida Kahlo tee shirt from Primark last summer and these comfy stretch pink sock boots by Jeffrey Campbell. The cute wool jacket was another charity shop buy last year and works really well to add a bit of funk to this look. 

The two toned suede belt was from Benetton a few years ago and the rings were both gifts from friends. The blue and pink floral bangle was a £1 wonder from a charity shop

The floral sunglasses were a sale item from Sainsbury's quite a few years ago, but perfect for this floral themed ensemble, don't you think?

I've decided to try my utmost to live in the moment, find joy in the everyday, observing happiness in the most simple of things, count my blessings and not stress about the future. We can only influence our own tiny little worlds currently and I'm trying to keep my own little family unit fed and loved and safe. Beyond that, if I can bring a little bit of pleasure into the blogging world with my outfit of the day, then hurrah!

Take care and keep safe!

Anna x

Flaming June!

Hello and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Flaming June is the theme set by Jacqui and goodness I do hope she enjoys the irony of my offering in this less-than-summery month. When she suggested this topic, Jacqui proffered tips on any fire bright colours from flame yellow through to brazier bright orange and all the way to sizzling shades of red. That seemed to be simple enough I thought. But as we all know, life rarely goes to plan and the minute I started to line up this outfit, well the weather seemed to take against me! Polly and I finally accepted that we'd shoot the gorgeous outfit regardless of the fickle British weather.

I've been trying a new style strategy to counter these grey summer days which is simply to wear bright colours on dull days. The resulting lift in mood has been remarkable helping me counter the blahs with a blast of colour confidence I've not experienced before on these rainy days. My default setting has previously been to wear black or at least dark colours when it rains, goodness knows why, but I've been drawn to these dour shades almost as if I've been reflecting the grey skies. My fashionista friends may have been luckier with the weather for their photo shoots, so let's see how they fared with this month's quest.

As this is Jacqui's challenge I thought we'd start with her and goodness, it's a fantastic start!  Her daughter's wedding and a holiday in Majorca seem to have fallen back to back, so goodness knows how she's found time to pull this great outfit together. Read the back story to the look on her blog Mummabystylish.

Emma never fails to impress me with these monthly tasks and this month she is as cute as ever. Not only does Emma have a great sense of which colours flatter her, but she has the most stunning figure to showcase the outfit too. Emma, this is fab-u-lous! See more on her blog the Style Splash. 

Last, but by no means least is Hilda from Over The Hilda showing she's pretty hot stuff too in her Flaming June ensemble. We've clearly all been inspired by this one! Join Hilda on her blog here to see more of this super outfit.

My fabulous yellow trouser suit is from JD Williams (not gifted, please note) and was on my wishlist for months after I saw Evon wearing it during the trip to Cape Town for the spring fashion shoot. The scene in the TV commercial where she throws those big doors open wearing this suit won me over immediately - I just knew then that I'd have to buy it! The jacket and trousers are actually on offer now see here. 

Evon's silver sandals are still available and also on offer currently as seen here.

My own styling twist for the zingy trouser suit has me wearing these brocade trainers by Replay for a practical workaday outfit. I've injected another burst of colour with my Frida Kahlo tee shirt from Primark. You couldn't get a more summery look could you? Well, maybe if the sun actually shone I suppose.

Polly and I did this photo shoot at the end of the day on Tuesday last week and I fancy if we'd held off until the weekend the weather might have been a bit brighter. However, this weekend I may well be in London, but that my dear friends is another story as they say ...

Accessories comprise of heavy gold chain (a gift from Sasha) and these gold coloured rings are both pre-loved. 

One of the best features of these trousers is the stretch fabric - no tweaking and pinching when they have that extra bit of give in them! I wore the suit all day long and there's hardly a crease to be seen either. This is the first time I've worn it and that was a real bonus to find it after a long day at work it was still sharp enough to withstand the scrutiny of these close up shots.

I'm sure the ladies from the collective will be laughing at my usual out-of-step offering for this month's challenge. I would have loved to showcase this fabulous suit in sunny weather, but life truly conspired against that. The photo shoot for last Thursday's post took place on Wednesday and on Thursday I had a whole lot of packing to do. As I write, my plans are just coming together for a quick weekend trip with Steve to London to see a concert. 

By Monday he and I will be back on the train hurtling back south to Cornwall for an overnight stay in Truro. And when I say Truro, you know what that means - it's my favourite stamping ground for a bit of charity shopping! I'll only have a couple of hours, but goodness, I'm pretty adept at speed shopping as it's one of the skills I've honed to perfection after living on an island for over 40 years. As the summer exhibition period is fast approaching I could do with some new inspiration in the party frock department. Look out mainland, here I come!

                                                                                               Anna x