Mother's Day lunch

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mums out there! My kids treated us to a lunch out yesterday at the Ruin Beach Cafe on Old Grimsby. We started off outside but as the sun faded behind the clouds we relocated inside but still with a great view to enjoy. 

Pud of the day was this lovely chocolate desert. Steve didn't so much eat it as inhale it within minutes!

Unusually for me I opted for an all black outfit. Levi jeans and Ralph Lauren jacket plus white frilled shirt are all old. The pared down look was chosen to highlight my rather fabulous new cowboy boots - these are definitely the stars of the show. 

I bought the boots on Vinted last week. They're brand is MOMA New York - the Museum of Modern Art and you can find them here. They are called Sunny Days Ankle Boots and each pair is made from vintage saris and hand decorated with embroidery and beads making them quite simply unique. This was their first outing and I was thrilled with the fit and comfort of these cowboy boots. The sole and inner are both leather and are true fit for their size. These are boot heaven!

I took my lead from the boots with my accessories too - orange belt and scarf are old as are all my turquoise coloured necklaces and ring. Sunglasses are from Radley London.

Workwise I'm happy to report that I ought to be finished in the cottages within the next week. It's a wonderful creative project, but I am missing the Gallery and all that comes with it. If you've been on the island recently and popped in to see me then I do apologise for being awol. As I say, normal service ought to be resumed by next week!

                                                                                      Anna x

Sgt. Pepper comes to Tresco

Hello again! How did your weekend go? Mine seemed to whizz by in a shot with a couple of good swims, a dash of cooking and a laundry catch up and here I am suddenly back at work. Today's 60's look is instantly recognisable, even to my dear hubby who chirped up "Sergeant Pepper" as I appeared for the photo shoot.

So, here we are, it's mid-October and I'm working hard at keeping on top of my mood by using colour therapy. The past few posts will testify that not only is it working for me, but you too, are finding it a pick-me-up. Thank you for that! I'm delighted that something so simple can change my day and make a difference to yours as well.

I last wore this Polo Ralph Lauren military jacket in the spring (see here) and it's been playing the waiting game since then and the trousers made their last appearance on the blog last Christmas (see here). I've always thought the jacket would work well with these brocade trousers, but I wasn't happy with the cut of them. They are actually men's trousers and as such are quite straight legged - or should I say they were until last weekend, when I decided that I wanted to streamline the shape of them. Every now and then I take a crazy notion to undertake some sewing and this was one of those times. It's crazy because I'm not very good at it and even find sewing in a straight line a challenge! But I turned the trousers outside in, tried them on, pinned them to fit, then ran a running stitch down the pins and finally machine stitched them. Ta-dah! The fit is much neater now and makes them much more wearable. Off to work I go!

And if last weekend's little bit of crazy was sewing, then this weekend's was counting shoes. I'm not sure why this came about, but I think it was because I couldn't find a particular pair of shoes and had to go through all of the cupboards, wardrobes, shoe boxes and tubs under the bed. At some stage I've had a comment from a reader asking how many pairs of boots I have and it must have stayed with me. Before I confess to the amount, let's take a moment to reflect on the fact that I haven't bought a single pair of shoes or boots since the last time I was in a shop, which is February. I'm on month 8 of my shopping ban and might have felt slightly smug about that had I not discovered that I possess 183 pairs of shoes and boots in total. (In fact, it's 183.5 pairs as I have one odd boot - a brand new, with the label still on boot - which seems to have come adrift from its partner somehow. My dear friend Ben sent them to me last winter and I've yet to wear them, although the chances of that are looking rather slim currently!)

Note that I don't looked in the least abashed at this excessive amount and that's probably because I'm not. Clothes and shoes, jewellery and bags are all part of my collection of finery that makes my life all the richer. I love them all, and if I don't then I get rid of them. Once I'm done with them I pass them onto charity shops so that someone else may enjoy the fun of them. I could justify my excesses by explaining how I don't smoke or drink, I can't eat cakes or sweets, crisps or chocolate, but really, that's got nothing to do with it. Dressing up is my daily pleasure. It makes me feel more me: brighter and happier with a spring in my step and hopefully it brings a bit of joy into someone else's day too - and surely that's no bad thing!

Anyway, let's have a quick run down of the outfit shall we? Jacket, by Polo Ralph Lauren, brocade trousers have no labels, but cost me £20 from the Oxfam shop in Truro (beautifully curated for a charity shop and well worth a visit if you can get to it). White lace blouse is from Zara last summer, black boots from Topshop (oops, I wore these last time!) and the red leather belt is pre-loved by Tommy Hilfiger. 

Jewellery is pre-loved and my sunglasses are by River Island, although they are rather old by now.

I love the close-up of this, showing all of the ornate details of the outfit. Sometimes my idea of dressing up might be mistaken as fancy dress and goodness, that makes me laugh!

Thanks for dropping by and thank you too if you follow me on Instagram. It's great to know that I'm inspiring you to try new things. Lovely too, to know that you're enjoying seeing the snippets of my island life. Perhaps the blog is a momentary distraction from the everyday stress of COVID-19. I hope you're coping with the latest upsurge if you live in the UK and are managing to keep safe as you go about your daily business. Wherever you are, look after yourself and come back soon.

                                                                                              Anna x

Ralph Lauren military jacket

Hello again!

Welcome to my Friday hook up. I'll confess that this OOTT was from those pre-furloughed days when dressing up for work was the joy of the day. There's no better motivation than knowing that you'll be customer facing and therefore under scrutiny. I have lovely clients who pop in to see me, confessing that they merely want to check what I'm wearing that day! So, no pressure there then. But honestly, I do love the excuse of work, in fact any excuse, to dress up. 

This is the first time I've shown the bargain of the month that I found in February when I was on a quick trip to the mainland. As is my habit, I checked out TK Maxx on this very brief trip and was lucky enough to happen across this wonderful military style jacket by Polo Ralph Lauren. It was the only one in the store as is often the case and to my delight it fitted like a glove!

Regardless of the crazy price saving here, I have always lusted after this style of jacket. I think Victoria Beckham designed one a couple of years ago, but even before then it's been on my wishlist. I see it as a wardrobe staple, one that can be dressed up or down and is an absolute classic in my eyes. You'll be seeing a lot of this in future I promise you.

Barrel buttons and braiding are typical of this type of jacket, but on top of that, the woollen fabric is weighty in a reassuring way, without being too heavy - it remains sleek, is what I'm trying to say. Yes, it's true love, that's for sure.

Perfectly pleasing pre-loved rings.

I bought the off white jeans on the same shopping trip. The brand is River Island, but they were on sale at TK Maxx for £9.99 as opposed to the £40 original price tag. You know how I just love a bargain! Next time I'll style them up with a sweater to show you the neat cut of them including the black belt which ties in with the black contrasting stitching. They're high waisted, neat fitting and will be great for the spring/summer period. I've paired them with my much loved black patent chelsea cowboy boots from Topshop last year.

Yes, here's another pair of Radley London sunglasses, courtesy of my friend Ellie who designed them.

And finally, I think I'm beginning to make headway with all of my chores at home. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed at the sheer number of jobs that are calling out for my attention. So the other day, I decided to break these down into bite size pieces and hey presto, I've tidied the cupboard under the stairs!

I'll leave you with a few beach photos from the past week. I've been following the tide around, swimming on the high tide every day which has  been such a treat.

 

Until next time, stay home, stay safe!

Anna x