Winding down at the weekend

Hi there, how's tricks? I thought I'd show you a weekend lazy outfit this time, just for a change. I had a busy start to the weekend as I was playing catch up with chores at home ready for Sasha coming home, but once I'd done that I managed to have a couple of swims as well as an evening stroll on the beach on Sunday. This is what I wore for a bit of relaxed down time.

These lightweight linen trousers are by Joules and were a recent buy on Vinted. Lots of pockets and a loose fit have boosted them to the top of my weekend-wear chart! I love the mulitcolour floral print which will work with so many options, and this time I've paired them with a new aqua sweater by Miss Carla, bought from Number36 boutique in Penzance. Despite the boxy fit the sweater is soft and lightweight, an easy-to-wear piece that will work well throughout the summer months. A simple white tee shirt and some old pale green suede sandals (by Lazy Dogz - very appropriate name, eh?) were all I needed to complete this weekend ensemble.

None of my jewellery is new. The silver and bead cowrie necklace was from Gallery Tresco a couple of summers ago (and we still sell these now - the jeweller is Julian Warrender). My rings are both charity shop finds and my sunglasses are from Radley London.

I sat amoungst the marram grass and wild flowers to watch the sun drop in the sky and enjoy the sounds of birdsong and the sea as it rustled over the sea shells on the shoreline.

Only a five minute cycle from home and I'm immersed in nature, surrounded by wild flowers and the gentle hum of buzzing bees. Nearby are a pair of Oystercatchers as they chastise me for encroaching on their territory. It's nesting season currently and the bossy little birds won't tolerate any intrusion, especially from swooping gulls on the lookout for eggs. I watched the pair from a safe distance, one of them chasing off the gulls while the other played victim, pretending it had a broken wing as it hoped to lure any preditor away from the well hidden nest. 

Jamie met up with Sasha on St Mary's where they checked out the odd pub or two. Sasha is working from home so that she can attend a local wedding on the island. It's lovely to have here back, even if it's just for a couple of weeks.

                                                                            Anna x

Summer Whites our SNA challenge for May

Hello and welcome again to our monthly Style Not Age challenge! Summer Whites was my theme of choice after what's been a brilliant start to the summer. I would normally hold off wearing white at this time of year, not having faith that the morning sunlight would last all day long, leaving me looking a bit tragic in bright white summer clothes on a dull old day, but the steadiness of the weather meant that I jumped in with both feet and wore this outfit to work last week. But first, let's catch up with the ladies of the collective to see what they've been wearing...

Wowee, doesn't Emma look fantastic in this white lace dress! The brand is Pretty Little Thing and was gifted to her a few years ago when she collaborated with the company. See more from Emma on Style Splash blog. 

Hilda's white skirt is from Cos, a purchase from last year, and her top is old, from Topshop. Catch up on her latest on Over the Hilda. 

Jacqui's dress is by Nomads, gold shoes are from Vinted and matching jacket is from Matalan. Find out all the latest from Jacqui on her blog Mummabstylish.

I don't often wear all white and today's look is no different. The orange and turquoise shimmery coat was a Vinted purchase last year and can be seen here on its first outing. I clearly like to pair this summer duster with my Sunny Days MOMA boots, probably because of the tiny toe end being turquoise too. 

My jewellery is mostly in turquoise hues: the bracelet is a reworked piece from lots of vintage necklaces which I bought from the Gallery last year after coveting it from ages. My dancing girl necklace was another Gallery Tresco purchase from years ago - I love the sparkling beads and the silver dancing girl in a green mini skirt. My gold coloured chain was bought in Accessorize last year and has retained its shine despite not being real gold. The large turquoise ring was a charity shop find and I'm also wearing my birthday ring from Emily Nixon Design. My sunglasses are old, from Radley London.

My white trousers were a recent purchase from Number36 boutique in Penzance. I seem to have a love/hate relationship with white trousers having bought endless pairs of both jeans and trousers over the years and none of them delivering the look I was after. The concern about looking trashy is probably my issue and white jeans always cause me concern. I tried on these loose linen trousers in the shop along with a beautiful pistachio green sweater and fell in love with the whole outfit - I promise you'll see that soon. The trousers have an elasticated back making for a good snug fit, along with the essential deep pockets and I do love the tapered cuff finish at the ankle. I paired the trousers with a white top, newly purchase from Primark and tied the two pieces together with my old faithful stretch belt.

The outfit of the day attracted a lot of attention, particularly from one lovely lady who was here on holiday for the week and made her way to the Gallery every day just to see what I was wearing. One day she even took a photo of the OOTD to send to her daughter. She and I both agreed that the summer duster coat was a mighty fine piece. I really must make an effort to wear it more often this year. Likewise with my fabulous peapod trouser suit which I wore on Friday and had such a great response to it. I'm increasingly aware that I won't be working forever and really must make the most of the opportunity to dress up while I can. 

Many thanks for joining us for this month's style challenge. As ever, I'm so happy to have your comments and feedback about this or any other outfit of mine. So do please let me know your thoughts or even requests to see something again. 

Have a great week!

Anna x

Say Yes to the Dress, our SNA challenge for April

And here we are again, at the end of another month and ready for our Style Not Age Challenge! Say Yes to the Dress was chosen by Emma as this month's theme so without further ado let's see her style offering...

The pale lemon dress is by & Other Stories, shoes are by Coast and Emma's handbag was purchased while on holiday in Abu Dhabi. Emma's cat, George managed to photo-bomb all of her snaps - see more on her blog Style Splash. 

Hilda wore this beautiful red dress to a skincare event held by Image in Ireland last week. Her stylish blazer is by Cos - catch up with her full story on Over The Hilda blog. 

To use a well worn phrase, sorry Jacaqui, but doesn't she look pretty in pink! This dreamy dress is by Ambrose Wilson and would be perfect for any glamorous occasion - see her backstory on Mummabstylish.

I wore this frilly flamenco style dress last week to an island gathering and my dear friend Fiona took these photos before we arrived. The dress has been in my wardrobe for a while, just waiting for the right occasion and this was it. 

The orange satin dress looks like the perfect party dress but wasn't without the usual Anna's Island Style drama. I had tried it on briefly when I first bought it a couple of months ago, but on Saturday I had been cramming in quite a lot of things and had just come back from a sea swim half an hour before the party was due to start. I had a quick shower, dried my hair and popped on the dress, only to find that the cleavage was ridiculously revealing. I'm not a cleavage kinda girl, so that sent me into a spin. Being satin the fabric was too delicate to accommodate a safety pin to hold things together so I rummaged through my underwear collection to try to find a solution and came up with this white bodysuit. It solved one problem but introduced another, that being the huge swathe of lace across my derriere that was now showing diagonally across my bum cheeks through the delicate fabric. Honestly! I added an underskirt to try to smooth things out, but it by no means solved the problem. By this time I was late meeting up with Fiona and also needed to find a lightweight coat to cover up my secondary wardrobe malfunction - first world problems I know, but honestly!

The dress has lots of lovely details, including the deep cuffs and tiny buttons on the sleeeves. I'm wearing my most beautiful Emily Nixon ring along with a ring from a friend.

My bejewelled sandals were another wonderful Vinted find recently and are surely going to be perfect for the months ahead. Pink and orange feature heavily in my summer wardrobe meaning you might see rather a lot of them in due course!

My gold coloured leaf necklace is a vintage piece I found in a shop in Penzance last time I was there. My sunglasses are old, by Radley London.

Despite all the drama, I do love this frilly satin frock and hope to find a style soloution for the next time I wear it. The event on Saturday was my ex-assistant Emily's island hen-do, located in one of the holiday cottages. I'm afraid I didn't get many photos but here's one of the welcome she got as she arrived to find us all wearing masks of her husband-to-be, Bruno.

And here's her reaction...

 

With legs that go on for miles, Emily is looking as beautiful as ever - she was a catwalk model at one stage in her life which probably is of no surprise. The party went on until late although the bride-to-be was in bed before midnight. Emily and Bruno are to be married on the mainland on the 9th of May.

                                                                        Anna x

Wear Your Greens our SNA challenge for March

Hello again, and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Every month we take it in turns to choose a theme for us to portray in our very own way. It's fun to see how differently we approach our subject reflecting our own personalities. This month Jacqui came up with Wear Your Greens so let's start with her, shall we?

Jacqui's outfit in fresh green and white is from Primark with shoes from New Look. As ever, Jacqui exudes a healthy glow, her smile the finishing touch in this spring green feature. Read her back story on Mummabstylish blog.

Emma's suit (from Monki) is a fabulous mix of green and fuchsia, the contrasting colours popping against each other.  The pussycat bow blouse is from The Hippie Shake and handbag is Fenella Smith. See more from her on the Style Splash blog.

Hilda has shopped her wardrobe for this month's challenge. You see her here in her favourite role as Grandma to baby Nova - the best accessory ever comes from Hilda! Catch up on all her latest news on Over The Hilda blog.

I bought this rather fabulous trouser suit from Vinted. It's by Joanie Clothing and can still be found on their website here. The print is called Art Nouveau in this glorious green and coral colourway. I bought it as new, still with tags attached for the price of £75 and it currently retails at £160. The Joanie website is a wealth of vintage style clothing and is well worth a browse.

My coral chiffon and ruffled top was also a Vinted find, but from last year. The pairing is a great match colourwise and earned me a few compliments on the day. Fiona and I took ourselves off to the beach just 100 metres from work to capture this flamboyant look. She said the print was very William Morris and I have to agree with her.

My cute little circular handbag is by Dune. I bought it from TK Maxx a couple of years ago and it's been a useful addition to my bag collection - when you need a yellow bag, well no other colour will do!

It's a year now since I bought these floral Dr Marten boots (from Vinted). I've worn them such a lot but they still look pretty clean and smart, don't you think?

Dressing up for work is the best perk of my job. I do so love playing to the gallery ('scuse the pun) day after day. Wearing my greens will forever come to mind about this suit as it was the first time I've worn it, but most definitely won't be my last.

My thanks to Fiona for risking getting her feet wet on the rising tide. It was the 5 o'clock rush hour and we were in the midst of buses meeting the Firethorn and guests returning from a day out - the rush added a buzz to our shoot.

Many thanks to you for joining us once again. Did we inspire you to Wear Your Greens? I certainly enjoyed this one - hope you did too!

                                                                           Anna x

My little ray of sunshine

Hello lovely! How are you? Last week I had a little Orla Kiely moment when I wore my new Orla raincoat and dress to work accessorised with my Orla handbag. It was a drizzly start to the day which gave me the perfect opportunity to don the lightweight raincoat for its first trial. The coat was a Vinted buy recently, a note of resignation to the fact that even in springtime it rains, but maybe I don't have to be kitted up in full wetgear.

I love the iconic prints of the Orla Kiely brand for their homage to the fashion of the 60's. The strong, bold prints and colours are the epitomy of joyful dressing. 

My Stem Leaf print handbag was a present from a girlfriend and has been a constant favourite of mine over the past years. Read about the iconic design and the talented designer here. 

My fabulous dress was a recent buy, again from Vinted, in response to the gloomy grey days that seemed to be wearing me down. Winter depression has plagued me over the years and one of my ways of battling through it is to drench myself in colour. Today's look is indeed all about colour drenching with yellow being a wonderful antidote to the damp morning when I opened the blinds.

A yellow dress clearly called for yellow tights (by Snag) and yellow suede boots (ASOS). 

I donned my bright yellow necklace to compliment the look along with my Radley sunglasses. Grey hairs abound currently as I wait for the appointment to have some colours sprinkled over my tresses and oh golly, I can't say anything about the jowels and saggy neck apart from the fact that I'm 67 and am not inclined to be doing much to hide the years. This is the true passage of time showing on me now and much as I would accept a magic wand to turn back time, it's not really an option.

And so, as I stand here on my self-imposed confessional, I have to say that my fitness levels have dropped significantly over the winter. I've not had a swim since September and my walking has been sporadic to say the least. However, I find that the brighter evenings are helping to motivate me to get out after work into the evening glow for a brisk walk of the island. I have a lap that takes an hour which dovetails neatly between finishing work and preparing dinner. As for swimming, well I've had various legitimate excuses to stay out of the water and the final one being that I'm waiting for the horrible easterly wind to abate before I throw myself back into the sea. But trust me, you won't be seeing any swimsuit shots for some time...

The outfit isn't for the faint hearted, that's for sure, but it certainly kept a smile on my face. The look could almost be a rousing call to arms, to encourage everyone to don a sunny colour in defiance against a dull weather day. Feel free to join me!

                                                                        Anna x

Are you a lemonader?

Hello there! I'm so happy to report that the veil of depression has lifted and it's business here as usual. I'd forgotten how quickly I sink into despair with any (small) physical setback. It only took some kind words of encouragement to remind me who I really am - a strong willed, capable and resiliant woman - and I was on the way back up. My sister Sandra sent me this link from Saturday's Guardian about Lemonading. What particularly struck a chord with me was this; (Lemonaders) infuse quality and enjoyment into everyday experience. This does indeed summarise my aim in life and could be my mission statement.

Another reminder of who I am came from a friend who prompted me to go back through my Instagram feed as if it were someone else. She pointed out that the images are not just of my outfits but of my joy at living where I do and squeezing as much happiness out of the everyday as possible, joy which others might overlook. The view across a bay, although familiar, is still a source of absolute delight for me. I can find pleasure in the smallest of things from a tiny shell found on the shoreline to the first page of a new book which holds such promise. Gratitude is an eveyday ritual, to be repeated often as these pleasures arise.

And so, on to the outfit. The sun shone sharply on Saturday, shaming me into getting out of my pit of despair and wallowing in the mini drama I was inhabiting and to look beyond the comfort of the sofa. I needed to shower and find some joy in colourful clothes. This is what I came up with - a bright medley of soft shades of pink, purple and coral with a dollop of turquoise to finish it all off. You'll laugh at the fact that I opted to walk to my intended photo site wearing this gold jacket as I believed it to be low key compared to the feather jacket thrust inside my tote bag.

The feather jacket was from Vinted last year, costing £5 - ridiculous but true! The jeans are from Primark, blouse and waistcoat are both from Vinted, as are the fabulous patent boots.

The cotton waistcoat is by Erika Classics Clothing in case you wanted to search for it. I've got a penchant for patterns of all sorts currently and this one ticks all the right boxes for me. I have a pair of pink trousers that will work really well with this as the weather heats up.

Simple accessories this week - sunglasses (old) from Radley London and my new ring by Emily Nixon along with silver and gold band (it says In Heaven On Earth) by Diana Porter.

This was colour therapy at work here, that's for sure. I'd moped around in grey old joggers and a brown wooly jumper for over a week so it was almost transformational to not only get outside again, but to feel bright and confident in gorgeous colours and textures. Of course, we all have times when illness and/or depression take us over, but that light at the end of the tunnel has to be pursued when it shows itself. I'm so grateful to be on the mend and to have had loving support at a time when I needed it.

                                                                        Anna x