Friday's Finery

Hello again! So, here's Friday's outfit - a fabulous jumpsuit from The Finery. It was on the mannequin in the window of the British Heart Foundation shop in Penzance when I was there in the spring. The colours are so eye-catching that it stopped me in my tracks. I was heading to catch my flight home and was carrying my holdall, whilst wearing a jacket that unfortunately had a stain on the front. I mention all of this because it's perhaps why I was spoken to the way I was...

I made my way to the back of the shop and found an assistant steaming clothes in the back room. I asked her what size the jumpsuit in the window was and she said it was a 12. Great, I responded, Can I buy it? At which, she looked me up and down, clocked what she thought was a bag lady and snapped, "It's £20!". "Great" I repeated and she stomped off to retrieve it. Never judge a book by it's cover, eh? To my utter delight, the jumpsuit turned out to be brand new with the labels still attached. I don't buy from The Finery myself, but checked out the website and can see another jumpsuit in the sale in baby blue...

My lace top is old, from New Look a couple of summer's ago, but works well under this neckline. The jumpsuit came with a long sash in the same block colour as the hemline, but I changed that up for a stretch belt in purple. 

None of my accessories are new. Why does that make me feel so virtuous? Probably because last week's outfit was almost totally new I suppose. Anyway, apart from the £20 jumpsuit the rest comes from my closet and jewellery collection. Even the sunglasses are old, by Radley London.

My silver and white sandals (Topshop) are very old indeed and were even passed on from my daughter a few years ago.

Fiona did me proud again with our after work photo session. Some of you may recognise that I didn't venture far from my workplace to get these in the bag. 

                                                                         Anna x

Floral Converse boots and purple agapanthus

Hello again! How's your week been? I've had the day off today and even though the weather wasn't perfect, Steve and I took ourselves off in our boat and headed out to the Eastern Isles. White sand, clear turquoise water and a few glimpses of the sun as we lazed on an uninhabited island were enough to create our very own chill zone. A couple of beers with our picnic and we pretty much set the world to rights in a few hours.

And so on to the outfit of the day. I've recently bought a new pair of Converse boots which inspired this look. The floral boots are on sale from Office currently (see here). Increasingly I seem to be wearing flats for work and these are a bright and breezy way of lifting an outfit out of the doldrums.

Aren't they totally funky and great fun too!

I've paired the boots with with these patterned wide legged crops from H&M (pre-loved) which I've had for a couple of years now. The white floral top was from New Look in a summer sale, but not this year. Setting the whole shebang against the purple agapanthus is a riot of colour, one that will be over very soon, hence I was keen to capture the flowers while they were still in bloom.

I picked out accent colours of pink and turquoise for my statement rings, adding my favourite Quay Australia sunglasses for another jazzy aspect. My sea glass pendant is a tiny blue droplet made by Drift jewellery out of sea glass I collect from our beaches.

The pressures of work are gradually calming down now meaning I'm more able to fit in my wild swimming again. I'm back at the ever-so-heavenly Cradle Porth in the shots below. 

I'm so lucky to have the chance to swim in these clear waters all year round. I feel the mental health benefits are almost more important to me than the physical ones. My solitary swims in particular take me to a calm place; a welcome state of zen, an escape from the norm and into a watery world where my senses are devoid of sound (with earplugs in place) and are taste and sight oriented. The delicate shades of sea greens and aquas lull me into dream world where under sea creatures like bold little brown crabs fend me off and purple globe jellyfish pulse their way on by. Nature unwinds me, undoing the knots of tension in my shoulders and emptying my buzzing brain. I emerge refreshed and revitalised, ready for the next challenge that life may throw my way.

Anna x