Sieze the day!

The sun came out today making it a no-brainer for Fiona and I to capture some images for the blog. We finished work and wandered along the road towards the quay at New Grimsby to escape from the brisk north wind. Tucked in behind the hedge we dodged across the road and onto the last patch of sand as the incoming tide swallowed up the beach.

I've been itching to wear these new boots since they arrived in the post last week. Rain and yet more rain meant it's been impossible to get outside for blog photos, so today's bright sunshine was too good to resist. I've paired the neon bright flatforms with a yellow ribbed body underneath my soft green tweed shorts suit (from Primark). Boots, tights and body are all from Vinted. 

I can't explain the appeal of these chunky workwear boots as my latest passion. My son did question how these and my orange ones have become my style statement of the moment and I really can't answer that; I just know that I love them!

Nothing new accessories-wise this time. Necklaces are old/pre-loved, as are my rings and sunglasses, but that's not to say that they're not well considered to match the outfit of the day.

Fiona had a bit of a surprise as a wave suddenly swept round about her - luckily she was wearing her wellies!

 

I chose orange as my other accent colour today. The handbag is by Oliver Bonas and the coat is one of my new winter buys - it's by Superdry and was brand new from Vinted at a cost of £60.

Fiona kindly told me that I look like a bright orange caterpiller. She may be right, but the coat is all about keeping warm and if that means I have to sacrifice some style in order to keep cosy then so be it!

                                                                    Anna x

Homage to Iris, our Style Not Age challenge for March

Earlier this month the designer, decorator and style icon, Iris Apfel died at the age of 102, leaving behind a wealth of imagery to inspire the fashion lovers amongst us. Her viewpoint that "colour can raise the dead" sums up her dedication to powerful dressing. Iris enjoyed finding a bargain and never paid full price for her clothes or jewellery, trawling shops, flea markets and bazaars for unique pieces to add to her immense collection. To quote the Guardian Obituary, "She is the most decorative sight in each shot, her ensembles put together with complex cadenzas atop an underlying, tailored, structure - they are like jazz - not a statement, but a conversation."

A chestful of jewellery was her most favoured look and one that I've taken to heart for this month's challenge. I felt I simply had to choose Iris as our theme this month for all the right reasons. She stated that money couldn't buy personal style - according to her all that mattered is "attitude, attitude, attitude". Curating her clothes and improvising an outfit was her daily ritual, a joy, resulting in a 'zingy pzazz' unlike any other. 

I love Hilda's interpretation of this month's theme - I'm sure Iris would have approved too! The colourful shirt is fabulous adorned with bangles, beads and baubles in excess. See more from Hilda on her blog here. 

Another splash of colour in these citrus brights comes from Gail in her sporty homage to Iris. Catch up with all the latest from Gail on her blog Is This Mutton? 

Jacqui has taken a monochrome twist for her homage to Iris. Beads and bangles inject that signature pzazz to her dress and boots combo. See Mummabstylish for Jacqui's latest news.

Emma is sporting her Iris Apfel suit from the H&M collaboration (which I too proudly own) plus matching slippers topped with a fabulous jacket and Iris earrings. What a fitting homage to the Queen of Style! Emma carries the look off with true panache. See more on her blog The Style Splash. 

I bought this new suit with today's feature in mind as the colours and pattern are as bold as you get. Purchased on Vinted for the bargain basement price of £10 I thought it tied in with Iris's shopping philosophy too. 

The leather boots were also Vinted bargains at only £6 leaving me feel rather pleased with myself. I only managed to wear them for a few hours, but I felt they were essential to finish off the outfit.

Dressing fancy and fancy dress could so easily be confused, but hopefully I don't cross that line with my outfit of the day. I wore this to work last week to our first Timeshare drinks party and it did garner me some compliments rather than raised eyebrows.

I'm currently waiting for my copy of the book Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverant Iris Apfel and can't wait to feast my eyes on her exuberantly idiosyncratic style.  I was a latecomer to her fan club, but she epitomised all that I aspire to be - bold, bright with I-couldn't-care-less-what-you-think-of-me style where age is totally irrelavant to how one ought to dress. Every photo of her spoke of her joy in dressing up for the day, the pleasure to be had in mixing colours, fabrics and textures, no matter from what era or corner of the globe. I admired her strength, her self-knowledge and complete disregard to the self limiting rules of dressing. She truly was an inspiration and an icon. 

                                                                        Anna x

Hurrah for the sunshine!

Wow, what a difference a little bit of sunshine makes! I honestly can't begin to explain how much the sunny weather on Sunday made to my mood. Not only that, but I took myself off to the beach on Saturday morning to swim on the high tide despite the fact that it was tipping down with rain. The sea was glorious - chilly, yes - but the isolation that the sea offers; the sense of escape and ultimately the watery meditation that the big blue provides is the best therapy ever. I returned to Green Porth on Sunday morning and repeated the whole process with even more delight as I didn't have to struggle to get dressed in the downpour as on Saturday.

I sometimes forget the importance of pushing myself to make time to swim, forgetting that the payback is immediate and also long lasting. From day to day all I need to do is succumb to the restorative powers of the ocean to feel 100% me again. Without this daily regime I do indeed go downhill mentally and wonder if that's similar to an drug addict craving their next hit. Whatever, if you hear me complain about feeling low, please remind me to get to the sea!

The outfit of the day all comes from Vinted. Second hand satisfies my desire to reduce landfill and Vinted is also helping me reduce my own dejunking efforts too - it's a win/win. The top is by Adidas, leggings are by Stronger and the green boots have no brand or labels on them but are brand spanking new.

I love the soft green colour of these and they are super soft and very comfy. I've thrown this look together without too much notice as to if all the colours work together - it's a fun outfit, a weekend play look and I love it!

The rings are old, pre-loved too and the sunglasses are by Radley London. I played on the ramparts of the Old Blockhouse castle, enjoying the space on this brilliant sunny afternoon. What a joy!

The rest of my weekend comprised of batch cooking for the freezer, cleaning, defrosting the freezer and the Sunday roast dinner. Two swims and a lovely walk in the sunshine far outweighed the weekend chores which is surely a sign of me getting the balance right. Many thanks for swinging by again.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Put A Bow On It, our SNA challenge for Feb

Hello again and yes, it's time for our monthly style challenge again! Put A Bow On It was chosen by Emma this time as our theme, one that was indeed a bit of a brain teaser for me. Eventually I remembered this bow tie blouse, added my beribboned boots and that's as creative as I could get this month. I fancy the rest of the style collective might have found this one a tad easier - let's see shall we?

Hilda has shopped her wardrobe for this stylish twist - those trousers are fab! Find the full details on her blog Over The Hilda. 

Emma's opted for emerald green with her bow theme ( a bit of rhyming from me too!) - catch up on all news on her blog Style Splash.

Winter white and mink make for a very stylish soloution to this month's challenge from Jacqui. Read her back story on Mummabstylish blog.

Gail really ramped up the colour fest this month! She found this fabulous vintage bow tie blouse on Esty, shopping her wardrobe for the rest of the outfit. See more on Is This Mutton blog.

Shopping my closet was the way I went too; the leather coat was a find from Oxfam a few years back and has been a great addition to my wardrobe ever since. A leather trench is such a classic isn't it?

My pussy cat bow tie blouse was a charity shop scoop last year. The leopard print cardi is old, from H&M, Levi jeans were a from a charity shop too.

My only jewellery is a couple of rings that are pre-loved, very old.

I've recently traded in my old white patent boots for these Dr Martens. I added vanilla satin ribbon laces to make another bow feature to the outfit.

Things are ramping up this week at work as we open for business again on Friday - EEEK! Ironically, I'm only going to be spending one day this week on my final preparations as I've got training to undertake today and on two other days I'm assisting with the hanging of artworks off-site. I hope be super productive and highly creative on Thursday with the last of my set up, placing glassware, pots and smaller goods and dressing the window too - wish me luck!

                                                                        Anna x

Another weekend outfit

Hello again! How was your weekend? Busy? I managed some downtime with a couple of swims and a walk in the sunshine on Sunday afternoon which was lovely. I'm painfully aware that the feel of the island will change soon once we become fully open and that's essential to keep us all in gainful employment, but I will miss the peaceful walks and empty beaches. I also know that once the season starts we're all suddenly 'on' becoming acclimatised to that position overnight. I'm really not complaining, simply saying that the year is most definitely a game of two halves.

I'm sporting my new silver puffa jacket (£10 from Vinted, the brand is Parisian) along with an outfit that's all old pieces - shopping from my wardrobe as the wonderful radio presenter Gabby Roslin says. 

What an absolute joy is was to see the sun! Honestly, we've had rain and fog for days and days over the past couple of weeks and it's all a bit wearing. 

Nothing new with the jewellery either, but these rings and necklace all tone very well, don't you think? Do you have a rummage in your local charity shops for jewellery? It's one of my favourite things when I'm off-island. Even if I'm not in the market for some new clothes (take my temperature - there must be something wrong with me!) I do love to find some hand me down and vintage jewellery. I have mini-pots for all my rings, one in each colourway, from silver and gold to pinks, oranges and blues. My sunglasses are by Radley London.

This may not be my most glamorous of outfits, but weekends do mean comfort for me, that plus practicality. I run about at home doing chores and cooking, making beds and taking out the rubbish, talking of which, I've recently promoted myself to Waste Manager on the home front and what sense of good deed done it gives me! Our waste bins aren't emptied for us, instead we have a local recycling area. In another life I think I might have made a good binman! How tragic am I talking about the rubbish on my blog!!!!!

Very soon my blog will be populated by work outfits, but for the moment, I thought it was fine to let you see me in casual mode. I've been beetling away behind the scenes at work all winter, visiting cottages across the island to check and update art in the newly renovated houses. Hill Top, Doctor's, Nurses and Reading Room cottages have all had new bathroom upgrades, so once those were completed my job was to rehang and exchange art to enhance the overall look - it's a very satisfying part of my job.

Many thanks for dropping by. I do hope that life is treating you well! Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll be back on Monday with our monthly style challenge, so do please swing by to see how that goes. 

                                                                        Anna x

Weekend wind down

Hello and how are you? How was your weekend? We had a mixed bag of weather and I timed it badly just missing the sunshine that I'd hoped would be the backdrop for my photo shoot. I tweaked the brightness on the photos as it was turning showery and grey. By the time I'd taken six shots the rain started!

I seemed to spend most of my weekend cooking, doing prep for meals this week and then catching up on laundry, so pretty much all that domestic stuff that just keeps coming. My outfit is super casual, but worth mentioning are these fab orange boots from Vinted, costing me £12 (River Island is the brand). Hubby thinks I've been influenced by all the workmen that are busy on the building site that Tresco is at this time of year as roads are resurfaced and houses are renovated. 

As you may already know, I love the colour orange, but also I do have a passion for a rugged, chunky boot. This look is not for the faint hearted, but what can I say? I love it!

It really excites me to be able to mix things up from a tulle skirt one week and camo trousers with builders boots the next. How wonderful to be able to change one's personna so quickly and easily. Thank goodness I'm living now and not 100 years ago!

My black puffa jacket has been a go-to this winter - it's so cosy and even has a tog value just like a duvet! The brand is Zara and I actually bought it (new with labels on) from the British Red Cross charity shop in Truro last year. They receive goods direct from Zara that are end of line or returns from online sales. It has a huge hood which came in very useful at the end of this shoot.

And this is the moment it started raining! I couldn't help but laugh as honestly I'd procrastinated for most of the day to get outside and take blog photos thinking that it would be sunny forever.

I quickly whipped off my jacket to reveal the orange roll neck sweater, not new, but perfect for this this outfit. The necklace is by Charlie Dodge, a jewellery range we stock at Gallery Tresco. The orange belt is old too, from Primark.

And quick, it's time to go!

I took shelter for a while and then eventually gave up and walked home in the rain.  Thanks for joining me again! Wishing you a good week ahead.

                                                                                           Anna x