Summer is here!

Hi there! How's it going? Here's me, smiling into the evening sun as I revel in the beauty of this wonderful show of agapanthus. I've been doing a lot of early morning walking of late, and this is one of my routes along the road beside Tresco Heliport. Every morning I've been taking note of how many flowers have burst into full bloom and on Friday I decided I needed to capture them as soon as I could. Agapanthus really do mean summer to me, a genuine indication that we're seeing the island at its most beautiful.

My outfit of the day was this lovely embroidered summer dress from Warehouse (bought on Vinted). I really have a thing about embroidery at the moment and so wish I had time to practise some myself. I've even gone as far as buying stencils and threads, a beginners book too, but heck, I simply don't have the spare time. Those of you who've followed my blog over the years will know how I find it challenging at this time of year, trying to balance all the elements of my life; work, home, swimming, walking, cooking, cleaning, laundry, paying bills, writing the blog, taking photos for the blog, making time for family and friends and so the list goes on. Anyway, in an ideal world I'd be sitting in the sunlight sewing away on an embroidery project with not a care, but that's simply a fantasy.

Someone recently remarked that this was my Little House on the Prairie dress - how right they are! I love it, the style is simple and feminine, but most importantly it's the perfect backdrop for all of the sprigs of embroidery, especially this oversized collar. It has an elasticated waist and sleeves, is fully lined and washes and irons like a dream. I've accessorised the dress with a pink stretch belt (old), two pre-loved rings, my Radley sunglasses and my new watch from Storm (gifted). 

My floral embroidered shoes were a recent purchase from TK Maxx in Truro. I bought this multi colour pair and also a lemon/yellow pair. Steve calls them my Jesus sandals which slightly deflated me, but I suppose they are very similar and maybe not as glamorous as I perhaps thought they were. 

Jesus sandals? Methinks not. They're from Rocket Dog and are rather lovely!

On Sunday we joined our family on Bryher for the birthday celebrations of two local babies, one of whom is Mose, son of our nephew David and Polly (my ex-assistant at Gallery Tresco). Polly has just finished her maternity leave and is now back working in the HR department on Tresco. Needless to say I miss her terribly but she's now part of the family which is such a bonus. Little Mose is a darling and is doted on by all of us and his Bryher relatives; cousins, aunts and uncles and his next door neighbour, Grandma. 

Island life on these summer days seems like a dream. It still amazes me that this is where I live. I'm eternally grateful for the journey that brought me here and for the luck that befell me when I landed on the magical island of Tresco and met Steve. 

                                                                            Anna x

Time for a catch up!

Hello and thanks for dropping by! It's been a busy few weeks so today I'm going to share some of that with you. As you'll have seen on my previous post I've been heavily involved in the Island Haven fundraiser - see here. That took place a week ago, but it was a fairly demanding event which seems to have taken its toll on my energy levels. But, on to the photo of Steve and I above. We don't often go out socialising but on Saturday there was a farewell party for Steve's line Manager Diana and we joined the throng to wish her well in her new role. After the gathering Steve dashed off to collect Sasha from St Mary's in our boat and I decided to take some shots of not only my outfit but mainly of the lovely show of flowers on our garden wall.

I was so keen to capture these before they started to wither which is exactly what's happened in the past few days, so it was a lucky move. The agapanthus are just starting to come into to flower so it was great to get them both in bloom.

And so, to the outfit. It's actually my favourite outfit of the moment. The trousers (River Island) and jacket (no label) were both recent purchases from Vinted. I love the clash of patterns that don't really clash but compliment each other well. I've had lovely feedback about the outfit when I've worn it both out that evening and previously to work - "very Pucci" was one lovely compliment. The vest top is old and my boots were from Vinted earlier in the year.

The evening sun was dropping in the sky creating a lovely golden light so I carried on for a few more shots until the rabble arrived...

The drinks had run freely at the leaving party and these locals were delighted to photobomb my session. It was all great lark for them as you can see - they were heading to the pub to continue the celebrations as the local Steam Band were playing, but I gently declined the offer to join them. Blimey, I must be getting old!

My necklace was a purchase from New Look last month when I was in Truro, the belt and rings are old as are my sunglasses. Talking of my trip to Truro...

My trip away was, to all intents and purposes, to fit in three minor health checks but I built that into a four night mini break in a lovely little apartment in the heart of the city. The accommodation had been newly refurbed and was all greys, black and white - very cool and modern indeed. I mooched about the shops during the day and watched movies on Netflix in the evenings with a TV dinner on my lap - what a fab treat it was!

Funnily enough, I pretty much wore the same outfit during my visit. The linen trousers were uber comfy in that easy slouchy way that I didn't wear anything else, but I did change my tops over. The clothes shown above were laid out once I got home, but I took some while in the flat to show you too. 

Brand new leather boots from Zara, found in the British Red Cross shop where they receive end of line goods from Zara all year round. These still had the labels on and were greatly reduced. 

I went into Poundland to buy a brolly when it started to rain one day, had a little browse in the clothes department and found this fab summer hat. It's the perfect colourway for my summer wardrobe. My question is this though - how come I paid £6 when it's called Poundland?

My fave top and the one that I paired up with my linen trousers the same day I bought it. Anyway, I've had a lovely time at the shops as clearly I'm lacking in shopping opportunities in my life generally, hahaha! 

Last, but by no means least, this was my proud mum moment as Jamie, captain of the Tresco Cricket Team, shared his joy at winning the Triangle inter-island tournament on Sunday. I could boast about how great his organising skills are in both planning and on the day arrangements to make the tournament run smoothly, but honestly he'd rather I didn't. Suffice to say that he's in his fifth year of leading the team and is hugely popular amongst them and all the visiting teams. Well done Jamie for doing a stalwart job!

                                                                    Anna x

Dressing up for the Island Haven fundraiser

Better late than never! Here's this week's highlight, our Island Haven fundraiser, not the shopping spree catch up as promised. Anyway, on Wednesday Gallery Tresco hosted a fundraising exhibition which was also a raffle - every single painting we had on display was donated by professional and amateur artists in aid of the charity, and every single raffle ticket won a painting. 

 

The concept of a Patchwork of Paintings was the brainchild of local mum Duffy Bloomfield-Crowe who was also very hands-on in hanging the art and running the event on the night. We had a hectic 24 hours putting everything in place but on the night it all went amazingly well and we sold 92 raffle tickets meaning 92 pieces of art found new homes resulting in over £7000 being raised for the Island Haven charity. Read more about what the Island Haven means to the residents of the Isles of Scilly here. 

Here's the dream team from the night - to my right is Rachel my Gallery Assistant and on the wall from left to right are Duffy, Hannah and Jasmine. Along with Agnes from Marketing and Lorraine who was helping behind the scenes we had a great show of girl power as these bright and capable women hosted the event without a hiccup. Jointly we were like a well-oiled machine and I felt very proud of our achievement by the end of the night.

Dean Whillis, the Timeshare Manager, was on the team as our honourary girl acting as Master of Ceremonies as he played the vital role of guarding and pulling the winning tickets.

Duffy and Agnes selling the final 40 tickets outside of the Gallery at 6pm on Wednesday - how lovely to have perfect weather for our waiting queue!

Rachel getting ready to pack up paintings as they're allocated and alongside is Fiona next to her very generous donation of this huge diptych of the eastern side of Tresco.

And finally, the outfit. The top was a charity shop find for £3 last year some time; the skirt I found on Vinted in the spring and just knew I would find a reason to wear it. The brand is Coast and it was brand new, still with the labels on and is lightly strewn with silver threads. It has a single layer of net but I decided to add another net underskirt which I'd found again on Vinted. I had to chop 6 inches off it as it was a bridal underskirt, but that worked fine. 

The shoes are brand new, again from Vinted, from Karen Millen. I love the diamante buckle! I was unsure as to what to wear on my feet until lunchtime that day when I scoured the top of my wardrobe where I have boxes and boxes of shoes - these were a wonderful find as I'd bought them about a year ago and yet again knew they'd be useful as some stage and then packed them away and forgot about them.

I decided not to add a necklace as I felt it would have cluttered the the look, but did add some rings as a finish to the outfit. Neither of these are new.

Please do take a look at the link through to the Island Haven and make a donation if you can. The charity has raised enough funds to buy a house near Treliske Hospital in Truro. Treliske is the main hospital where islanders are referred to or in emergencies flown to for treatment. When Steve and I were in the early days of our marriage he taken ill with a mystery illness and was flown off to Treliske. His mother and I followed on later in the day. We had to find somewhere to stay late that evening which added to the stress of the situation. The Island Haven House will act as a safe place in these circumstances. The funds currently being raised are for interior renovations to refurb the five bedrooms so that they can offer sanctuary to islanders who need to undertake long term outpatient treatment or who, like us, arrive without time to organise accommodation. The Island Haven website can be seen here.

                                                                        Anna x

What a lovely surprise!

Apologies my dear friend for not showing up last week, but life overtook me and some things just had to give... But hey, I'm back and want to share this fabulous top/tunic/mini dress which landed on my doorstep the other day. It's come from a friend who I complimented when she wore it to a drinks party recently in the Gallery. I feel bad that I laid it on so thick about it being exactly my colours and how we could maybe timeshare it...

Anyway, just the other day I had a card from Nicky telling me I had a parcel on the way and bang, here it is! It is indeed just my colours and is a perfect summer addition to my wardrobe and, I hasten to add, it's not her one, but a brand new one that she's sent me. I ironed it and put it on at end of the day to capture these shots down on Pentle Bay just as the tide was coming in. There was a light breeze, but it was a glorious evening and a joy to get outside at the end of the day.

I paired the tunic with my old Boden trousers and didn't that work well. The tunic is by At Last... a brand I've never heard of before and it's called the Annabel Cotton tunic - I can't find this colourway, but here's a fabulous orange paisley version. Did you check it out? If you did you'll understand how guilty I feel at being sent such an extravagent gift - all because I was so cheeky!

I added one pink and one orange perspex ring along with a gold coloured chain and Radley sunglasses as my simple accessories.

As I moved further along the beach the cloud dispersed and the wind dropped whereupon I decided to shed my trousers and try this as a beach dress.

I do like it worn like this - what do you think? It might be the perfect beach cover up for my boating trips too. Talking of which, our boat is on the water and we've already had our first trip to the Eastern Isles, so all that hard work over the past two summers has at last paid off!

And that pretty much rounds it up for me this time. I'm trying hard to keep a good work/life balance, but as ever it's a challenge for me. Some people seem to have nailed it by the time they get to my age, but I'm still running around like a scalded cat some days and having to take to my bed straight after dinner at other times. Thank you for coming back to see me, I do appreciate your company.

Have a super week!

Anna x

French girl style, our SNA challenge for May

Hello and welcome to our Style Not Age challenge which this month has been chosen by Gail - French Girl Style being her prompt. This wasn't something that easily came to mind, so I did a bit of online reseach and found two themes, ruffles and cowboy boots - this is my resulting look. Let's see how my fashionable friends tackled this one...

Gail's suggestion led her to showcase a typical gamine style of dressing - slim, boyish and elegant. She carries this off perfectly in her skinny jeans and masculine cut jacket. See more on her blog Is This Mutton. 

Elegant comes to mind again when I look at Hilda's French Style offering. Red and beige work well together in this chic look. See more from her in Over The Hilda blog.

Emma is certainly oozing that certain Oo-la-la here, don't you think? Her jacket is by Kooples, a French brand so that kicked things off well. The entire look does say Parisienne. See more on The Style Splash. 

Wide legged trousers and a fitted jacket say French girl style for Jacqui. Neutral shades echo that Parisienne elegance too! Read her back story on Mummabstylish.

My interpretation of French girl style is clearly not in the same vein as the others, but I'm never one to run with the pack am I? I'm delighted to have the opportunity to wear this ruffled delight again and pairing it with these white textured cowboy boots by Allsaints gives the whole look a stylish edge I think.

My cream jeans jacket is by Jack Wills which I've customised with a sprikling of brooches. I've added a neutral belt for definition and also the give a finished look - the leather belt was a charity shop find. Tonal rings are both old and the diamante crusted shark's tooth necklace is also old as are the Radley sunglasses.

The backdrop to my photoshoot is the beach path where I come off of Green Porth beach, my favourite swimming spot of late. It was the perfect corner to catch the evening sunshine and was quite private too which helps when one is posing in front of a camera on a tripod as one pulls various poses and facial expressions.

My final nod to French Girl Style is this bag by Christian Dior - Sasha passed it on to me, but I fancy it was from a foreign marketplace rather than the Champs-Elysees. I do hope you've enjoyed this month's challenge and maybe we've given you a dash of inspiration too!

Wishing you a fab week ahead!

Anna x