Harrogate - the final instalment

As promised, here's the third outfit that I wore at the trade fair last week. The dress is quite old (by Nine West), polo is from Primark, tights and belt are old, shoes are by Office, my handbag is by Ted Baker, rings are preloved and my watch is by Michael Kors. I thought this van was the ultimate in accessorising! 

House by Hazel is run by Hazel Holland who is the wife of Tom Holland one of my gallery artists. I do like to make an effort to co-ordinate my outfit with Hazel's fabrics at least once over the show period. It's lovely to catch up with them every day during the fair as we have lots to chat about and generally have a bit of fun too. Tom and Hazel are based in Penryn in Cornwall which means I can pop into Tom's gallery on my way to the dentist to see how the paintings for his next show are progressing. This will be featured next month on the blog.

After my three days at the Trade Fair it was time to cash in the gift voucher from my sisters.

Sandra and Dianne had travelled down from Scotland to join me in Yorkshire so that we could have a brief catch up. Their promise was made good with these crisp Scottish bank notes along with a suitably sparkly purse. We had a busy day visiting my regular charity shops as well as discovering five new ones I'd been unaware of. I had a ball; them maybe not so much!

They even supplied me with an extra shopping bag for the occasion!

Do not adjust your sets - this is terribly out of focus! I know that neither of my sisters would wish to be featured on the blog, but I thought this one would be better than my efforts at soft focus. We had great fun together and even though we're all in our 60's now I will always be the baby of the family, meaning that I still benefit from their wisdom. 

And this is the haul! I'm afraid I couldn't find time to take individual shots of these, but have itemised them as - 6 jackets, 2 handbags, 7 pairs of shoes, 1 matching skirt and top, 2 dresses, 2 skirts, 1 pr culottes, 3 blouses, 4 prs jeans, 1 cashmere sweater, 2 shirts, 1 rash vest, 1 cummerbund, 1 hat and lots of lovely jewellery. The majority was charity shopped, but some things were from TK Maxx in both Truro and Harrogate. I featured some of the shoes on instagram - here's the three stars of the show.

I can hear the outcry of "Where will you put all of this?", but worry ye not! This weekend I have three days off work and will be applying myself to the big changeover. During this process I'll be (ruthlessly) culling what hasn't been worn and these will be laundered, ready to be sold on eBay. One of these days, I plan to feature some of these pieces here and link through to my eBay page - you may wish to buy the odd piece or two ...

Anyway folks, it's been lovely to chat. I hope you've enjoyed seeing the last instalment of my mainland adventure. The last word has to be to Sandra and Dianne - a big thank you for my fabulous day out spending all that lovely lolly!

Anna x

Here and there

Hello again! I'm both here and there today, in that my photo shoot was taken here on the island, but I'm actually up there (in Harrogate) where I'm wearing the same outfit.

The vintage tunic was £3 from a charity shop in Truro. The sales assistant told me it had only been on the rail for an hour which somehow makes me feel even more lucky to find it. Where's the logic in that? Goodness only knows! Surely I'd be more lucky if it'd had been there for a month and was still around when I arrived?

The Ted Baker handbag came from the same shop; it was £23 and worth every penny in my eyes. It shows a little bit of wear and tear, but I can forgive it everything because of the fabulous colour. I'll be wearing my red/black/lilac woollen coat (last seen here) over this ensemble while I'm in Harrogate and know this bag will be the bizz.

I've had the orange satin disco pants for quite a while and yet have only worn them a couple of times. Not easy to leaf into everyday wear, I suppose, but I'm thinking that now I can play the eccentricity card whenever something falls into the "questionable item" category. Crossing into my 60's surely promotes me from crazy lady into eccentric lady - hurrah!

All of today's jewellery is pre-loved, so hurrah for that too!

I don't know if it was just the power of this outfit or that I'd had a particularly lovely swim this day, but I was feeling so well, and so very me. Do you know what I mean? How some days what you wear really reflects your inner self - in this case, my inner joy. I bubbled and grinned from start to finish, so much so that I have earmarked this ensemble for a photoshoot that I have to submit for a magazine later this year. More details of that in due course...

The big platform helps to offset the height of these heels making them all-day-long boots for a change. Bought from Office a couple of years ago, they're not wearing too badly considering that they're real suede. I love the ginger colourway too!

My velvet trench (pre-loved from Hobbs) has had another makeover with some new retro vibe buttons. 

I'm writing this a week in advance, so I do hope that nothing has come along to change or scupper my plans. Hopefully I've arrived safely in Harrogate and have enjoyed my first day at the British Craft Trade Fair. It's a three day long trade fair where I usually find some new artists and makers to supply me with new products for the gallery in the year ahead. 

I'll be home again on Friday, but have another blog post lined up for you on Wednesday, so do please come back to see what that may feature. Until then, have a lovely week!

Anna x