Two birthday bashes

Hello again, and how's tricks with you? Recently my sister-in-law, Gill, celebrated her 70th birthday and we had a lovely family gathering to mark the occasion. Do you remember Polly who was my gallery assistant a few years ago? Well she and my nephew David had a baby six months ago - this is Mose in the photo. We had a very long and lazy lunch party for Gill, with delicious food and an endless supply of champagne.

Gill's children had clubbed together to pay for a week of luxury in the newly converted Blockhouse Cottage which was the childhood home of Steve and Gill so you can imagine how the memories came flooding back for them. They had such fun reminiscing about the good ol' days while they told us stories about their time growing up on Tresco.  

This was what I wore that day. The jacket was a purchase from Vinted, trousers are old (from ASOS) and the River Island top was also from Vinted. 

I love the combination of peach and lilac together. My jewellery is all old too - necklace was from Debenhams many moons ago and the perspex rings are pre-loved. 

The white patent leather boots finish off this retro look perfectly. What a great excuse the party was for me to dress up! Luckily for me, the next evening we were invited to join with the family again to celebrate my birthday. Gill's birthday is the day before mine, but I was happy to turn up to sweep up the crumbs from her party table. We had drinks that evening outside by the fire pit which was a great start to the celebrations. From there we had a running buffet followed by a beautiful birthday cake made by my neice Zoe of Bryher Bake Box fame.

Zoe had been very clever in managing to decorate my cake in the same colours as my birthday evening outfit.

The rose gold ensemble matched my cake beautifully. My rose gold shoes were from, yes, you guessed it, Vinted as was the sweater. The Iris skirt is from Eleven Loves, but is all sold in out this blush colour. You can find a berry version on their sale page here. 

Evening indoor photography isn't my forte, but I wanted to showcase this fab tulle skirt regardless. I recently showcased a cream skirt so very similar to this one, but this really is a different one.

Note the cute tiny shoes beside me. These belong to Raffy, one of my great neices. The week was a great opportunity to catch up with all of Steve's family who had travelled to Tresco for the houseparty. They raved about the on site spa facilites and yoga room which they used every day, in fact they raved about the whole experience!

And this was another shot from my 66th birthday. After the picnic lunch with Steve, I had a bit of downtime that afternoon and then swam on the high tide as the sun was setting at about 5pm. All in all, I'd had a pretty perfect day. 

                                                                    Anna x

Another week, another trouser suit

Hello, how are you? Did you watch Eurovision? I'm afraid I opted out this year as I didn't think we could possibly repeat last year's success. Instead I went to bed for an early night with my book. I've just read The Lovely Bones for the second time and was so pleased that I had forgotten most of it, apart from the perfect murder weapon. I'll put it back onto my book shelf now that I know I can reread and enjoy it again.

This week's favourite outfit was yet another trouser suit and this one is from Boohoo, but I bought it from Vinted last year. I'm a huge fan of the trouser suit as you know - the brighter the better - and what could be better than grabbing a bargain for a brand new buy? I paid half the list price for the still-with-tags-on purchase which gives me a real rush of pleasure. I added my Orla Keily handbag to compliment the psychedelic print to good effect, don't you think?

The white ribbed vest was new last year from H&M and the white patent boots are from Deichman. Orange and white make such a fresh look and one that you can bet I'll be wearing often this summer. Weather-wise we're still waiting for summer, but at least we're getting the odd sunny day which does give a sense of hope. 

I've made a couple of adjustments to the trousers by way of taking up the hems and also sewing down the front pleats to give a smoother front, but seeing them here I think I probably could do with taking a little more off the length otherwise they'll get dirty and scuffed over time. Get me eh! Talking as if I know my way around a sewing machine now.

I went with my gold coloured chain belt and necklace (both old from Primark) along with orange resin rings (pre-loved) and my John Lennon type sunglasses (old from River Island), to complete the outfit. Feedback was good again this week with lots of flattering compliments from customers.

Apologies to those of you who are waiting to see my finished orange dress, but I still need to make adjustments to it. I've discovered that the length of the bodice is too long which means I have a lot of unpicking and resewing to do. It also means that the second version of the same dress in aqua will have to be redone too. I'm on a steep learning curve at the moment, but I suppose that's the whole point. So, sit tight and I promise I'll showcase it as soon as I'm finished.

I've been to the dentist this week as well as the hairdresser, but not much more than that to report. Somehow I managed to be two hours late for my hair appointment, but luckily I was still fitted in! I written the wrong time down in my phone, so I suppose that's more a senior moment than anything else...

Thanks for dropping by. Please leave me a comment if you can as it's lovely to have your thoughts and feedback.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Bring Me Sunshine our SNA challenge for April

Hello and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge as chosen by Emma from Style Splash seen here sporting this sunny yellow frock M&S. She's styled it with an across the body bag in blazing orange and blush pink sandals - see more on her blog.

Gail has gathered her favourite sunshine colours together in this bright and cheery outfit. Like most of the UK the weather still had a cool edge hence socks, scarf and hoody to ward off the chill winds. Catch up with Gail on Is This Mutton blog.

A wonderful splash of golden sunshine comes from Jacqui of Mummabstylish in this sunray pleated dress. Rain nearly stopped play for her as she tried to get out to take photos but she managed to capture this between the showers - see the backstory on her blog.

Hilda wears a veritable rainbow of colours in this co-ord by Never Fully Dressed. That's the best thing about a two piece isn't it - no worries about matching items or colours - it's all done for you! Catch up Hilda's latest on Over The Hilda blog.

My offering for this month's challenge isn't what you (or I) quite expected I'm afraid. The promise of my first ever home made frock didn't materialise when the matching petticoat flummoxed me at the last jump. The orange dress would have been perfect for this month's challenge too, but hey, such is life! For those of you who aren't on Instagram here's the latest photos of both frock and petticoat -

I'm still tweaking the neckline of the dress as it's not quite sitting flat, but I've got a couple of things I can do to hopefully resolve this. I've had lots of feedback to say that I could wear the petticoat on it's own as it's so pretty and I may now fully line it to give me that as an option. I'm finding that the more I sew the braver I'm becoming about these tweaks. Hopefully by next week all will be ready for the big reveal. I've ordered a new necklace and footwear so fingers crossed it'll all be fine for Monday...

My stand-in outfit is this bright pink trouser suit bought last summer from Primark, but never worn before. I think I mentioned at the time that I'd at last found my perfect pink trouser suit and this is it. I can't believe that something so stylish and surprisingly good quality could found on the high street for only £42!

The satin blouse is from Zara (last season) and my white belt is from Amazon, white patent boots from Deichman and favourite sunglasses are from Quay Australia. The pink of the suit is verging on neon which meant I got quite a reaction, but that's no bad thing.

There's nothing new jewellery-wise - rings are both pre-loved, as is the brooch and the necklace was bought from Charlie Dodge a couple of years ago. 

At least my photos are fulfilling the remit of Bring Me Sunshine on this bright blue day!

Anna x