Wedding Wear, our Style Not Age challenge for July

Hello again, and welcome to our monthly style challenge! Jacqui's come up with Wedding Wear for the theme this time and this was what I wore, not to wedding, but to recent event here on the island. But more on that later...

Jacqui's dress is by Girl In Mind, and is what she wore to her daughter's wedding shower the other day. I could see this would definitely work for a wedding too! Catch up on all her latest news on Mummabstylish. 

Hilda's Rixo dress is what she wore to a wedding, and she looks sleek and elegant as always. See more from Hilda on her blog Over The Hilda. 

Emma's pretty blue and white summer dress is by the brand Izabel and her pleated shoes are from Calla Shoes - catch up with her holiday news on her blog here. 

This is what I wore to a fundraiser we held in the Gallery on Saturday night. The co-ord is by Zara; I found it on Vinted last year and for some reason I keep forgetting about it. The pyjama suit always gets me lots of lovely compliments - I suppose it's quite different from my normal loud colours and yet I do love the botanical design. The cream mules are by Zara too, found in a charity shop some time ago.

The giant moth is fab isn't it? All in all, it's a bit more of an understated look than I usually opt for, but I do like it - I just need to stop hiding it in the back of my wardrobe!

My rings are preloved, rather ancient too, but work well with the look I thought. I need to remember to change things up from time to time as far as my jewellery goes.

The silver heart and pearl necklace was a gift from my sister a while ago and works really well with this. The blue sunglasses are my go-to of the moment - from Oliver Bonas last year.

Our fundraiser was in aid of the Woodlands Recovery Project, set up since storm Goretti left its mark on the island, causing devastation and uprooting over 300 trees. Our fundraiser was thanks to the generosity of the Gallery artists who donated artworks to be auctioned for the cause, raising over £28,000 in less than two hours! We had a great evening with lots of tension and laughter along the way.

It's a massive project, one that my husband and son will be working on for a long time to come, but it has to be viewed as an opportunity for change; a chance for new planations of different species creating a fresh perspective on Tresco's woodlands. Read more about the project and how you can help here. 

                                                                            Anna x

We're having a heatwave!

Hi there! Oh my goodness, how wonderful it is to live by the sea in the middle of a heatwave! A sea breeze makes the high temperatures so much more tolerable and for that I'm very grateful. I'm managing to fit in my daily swims around work; the water temperature is also a blessing as it's still cool, with the odd warm spot. I'm currently swimming along the length of Appletree Bay and back which takes just over 30 minutes. This year I've ditched my previous routine of wearing earplugs, cap and goggles where I would swim out on breast stroke and back on crawl. But this year I've swapped that for a heads-up breast stroke and the simple reason is that it gives me a more relaxing swim as I'm not always checking for boats, paddleboards etc - this way I'm seeing everything all the time and can swim around/away from any interruptions.

And so, on to the outfit of the day. The dress is broderie anglais, light as a feather, therefore perfect for the current heatwave. The buttons don't go all the way to the hem therefore I added these colourful shorts underneath. The brand is called Budgy Smuggler and these are booty shorts - see them here. The print is called Techno Parrot.

Orange and blue are a fab pairing and the multicoloured shorts add another wonderful pop of colour. 

I found these fab fluffy sandals on Vinted last summer, but somehow they didn't get many wears. We have a holiday coming up soon and I thought these might work as crazy slippers. When I wore them to work recently Rachel greeted me with "Morning Barbara!", aka The Good Life. Consequently I'm veiwing them as more like posh slippers rather than funky sandals.

The blue sunglasses are from Oliver Bonas, bought last year. They're my go-to glasses currently as I just love the cheery colour which really makes a statement. My beaded necklace with gold discs was bought a few years ago from the Charlie Dodge jewellery range which we stock. 

I'm suddenly a convert to shorts under dresses. No worries about inadventently flashing one's knickers; instead these booty shorts show that I have nothing to hide!

Steve and I had a bit of downtime here on Saffron Bay after work the other evening. There's a magic hour between 6 and 7pm when the beaches empty as everyone is making tea for the kids or getting ready to go out for dinner. It's the best time to find an empty beach to call our own. A bottle of beer for Steve and a bonus swim for me before we head of home and we've rounded off a working day nicely!

                                                                            Anna x

Summer colours

Hi there! Many thanks for dropping by. My previous post was rather curtailed by a technical hiccup between my phone and my computer. Long story short, I have new phone and all is well. My summer outfit was captured by my friend Fiona just before she took off for a summer break abroad. I do wonder why she went as the temperature is crazy-hot here on Tresco this week. 

Our photo sessions are always a mixture of catching up with each other's news plus the obligatory telling off by her as I'll be speaking as she's trying to take blog photos. My speaking face isn't as acceptable as my smiling/laughing face so I really don't mind her telling me to shut up.

And so, on to the outfit of the day. The jumpsuit was a charity shop buy sometime last year - it's by Boden and is a great summer piece. I think the shirred neckline is actually meant to be worn off the shoulder, but that just doesn't work for me, so I wear it comme ca and it looks fine as far as I'm concerned. It's a lightweight cheesecloth fabric which is perfect for the current heatwave. The paisley print in orange and pink would have been a personal design choice if I'd made it - it's fabulous!

The jumpsuit does have a shirred elastic waistline too but I'm always partial to adding a colourful belt whenever I can. This pink stretch belt was an Amazon buy for some time ago. 

Worth mentioning of course are the pockets! What's the point of a jumpsuit if it doesn't have pockets? Anyway, as a work outfit it really comes in at a 10/10 for comfort. 

And talking of comfort, these Rocketdog sandals are well up there too for all-day wear. I fancy these will pop up (yet again) purely for that very reason.

Jewllery-wise I'm all about Emily Nixon this week. My first birthday ring has been joined by my second birthday ring - both are 18ct gold with sapphires and diamonds. See her full collection here.

My necklace is also by Emily Nixon, but is now a vintage piece, bought over 10 years ago before her latest reinvention. It's rose quartz and amethyst with silver flake spacers. I recently had it cleaned when I was visiting Emily's new studio in Penzance. The spacious three storey building has recently been remodelled to house all of the aspects of her jewellery business and it's well worth making an appointment to see the stylish showroom if you're in the vicinity.

My sunglasses are by Oliver Bonas and are my go-to pair regardless of the colour of my outfit. I do love the pop of blue! So that's just about it for this week. As I sign off there's a bit of bustling about in the kitchen as Steve gathers together his essentials for watching England playing in the semi-final of the World Cup. I fear it all may be for nothing and consequently I'm about to scoot off for my second swim of the day - it's always a joy to have high and low tide at 5/6/7 am and pm meaning I have the chance to fit in two swims! It's truly been a scorcher of a day here meaning the gallery was like an oven despite both doors and skylights being open. But hey, I'm really not complaining!

Enjoy the wonderful weather!

Anna x

Technical glitch

Hi there! I'm pondering as I sit in the early morning sunshine... My phone and computer are at odds at the moment meaning I'm unable to send my blog photos from one to the other. Never fear, I'm off to the mainland tomorrow and I plan to visit my local phone shop to ask for help. In the meantime, please accept my apologies and these two beach shots as a small solace for my lack of posting this week. Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon. In the meantime, that's me, post-swim on Pentle Bay with not a soul in sight. Counting my blessings too as I ponder the trials of modern technology - if it's possible to have such opposing thoughts at the same time...

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Anna x

Summer loving, having a blast - our SNA challenge for June

Hello again! Here we are with our monthly style challenge and this time it's all about the summer outfits that we wear over and over. It'll be no surprise that my most worn summer outfit is my beachwear! Every day I scoot off to the beach for my daily swim and this is my uniform for those summer months - shorts, shirt and flip flops are de rigeur for me. My city dwelling friends have a different take on this so let's not waste a moment in seeing how they tackled this one.

Hilda's stylish offering is this lightweight co-ord of balloon trousers and matching top - a great way of keeping cool in the recent heatwave. Read more of her news on Over The Hilda blog. 

Another keeping-cool outfit comes from Emma in this lemon fresh dress from Vinted. Emma shopped her closet for this look - see all the details on her latest blog post Style Splash. 

Jacqui chose this loose summer dress for keeping cool this summer, and very pretty it is too! Read all her latest on her blog post Mummabstylish.

This easy-to-wear outfit serves my purpose for a quick change on the beach - the orange linen shirt is by Ichi, a recent purchase from TK Maxx, the floral linen shorts have an elasticated waist, perfect for ease of changing; they're by Papaya, bought from Vinted last summer and have proved themselves to be a summer essential.

My beach bag was a purchase from my trip up to the top of Table Mountain when I was in Cape Town over eight years ago. Who'd have thought that there would be a retail opportunity at the top of a mountain! My sandals are by Rocketdog.

I managed to drag Steve away from his Sunday chores to be my photographer of the day. We stopped for a while after my swim to enjoy having this tiny beach to ourselves. It's called Cradle Porth and is one of my favourite places to swim. The view looks across to St Martin's on the left and out to the uninhabited Eastern Isles to the right. I love the sense of getting away from it all, despite being only a 5 minute cycle from home.

I've recently come across a new brand of swimwear, Ceacea, an Australian brand, but featured in a local shop in Penzance, called Mor Swimmy. These long sleeved swimsuits offer great coverage across the back as that's where I'm prone to getting small areas of skin cancer. I've bought three of them as they were in the half price sale, so that's me set up for the next couple of years. 

The suits are described as surf suits and work well as swimwear as they're bodyhugging, and don't let water up the sleeves or down the neck as so many of this type of suit do. Best of all they sit snug around the top of the thigh and don't disappear up one's derriere!

This was from yesterday's early morning swim on Pentle Bay. I'm lucky to have so many fabulous beaches to choose from; this one is slightly easier to access than Cradle Porth with lots of entry points along the beach. Many thanks for joining us once again for our monthly challenge. I do hope the heatwave isn't proving too challenging for you too!

                                                                            Anna x

That was Father's Day!

We were blessed with perfect weather for Father's Day last Sunday, indeed it was the start of a heatwave that seems to have hit the majority of the UK. Jamie treated us to lunch out at the Ruin Beach Cafe which couldn't have been more perfect. That said, we did miss Sasha, but she sent lots of lovely goodies for Steve to scoff later that day. Jamie's girlfriend joined us and also acted at blog photographer which was a christening by fire as far as she was concerned. But hey, Maddie did a great job!

We enjoyed a long, lazy lunch that somehow spun out to a full four hours of eating and drinking while gazing at this most lovely view. There's something so special about this vantage point - it really does feel like getting away from it all.

Father's Day means a three scoop of icecream day too! 

A few family snaps are essential as reminders of the day. No pressure Maddie to get this right!

My outfit is mostly old, from my closet. The mulitcoloured shirt is so old, it's from the 80's. I've only recently bought it from Vinted and the story is that I used to have this in the 80's when I would wear it over a bikini when Steve and I used to go off in his little boat for picinics. At some stage I must have tired of it and given it away. Anyway, I was thrilled to find it again and I can assure you, I'll not be getting rid of it again any time soon!

Maddie was clicking as I was shouting instructions with Jamie assisting, helping to shield the screen from the sunlight so that she could see what she was doing. Poor Madds, I don't think she'll be offering to help again!

White linen trousers, sandals and handbag are all old.

We've had a week of almost constant sunshine much to the delight of all of our visitors, but we had thunder and lightening during the night and it seems to be a cooler morning as a result of that. 

Coming up on Monday is our Style Not Age challenge so please do swing by again to see our latest outfits.

                                                                                  Anna x

Shopping my closet for a summer's day

Hello again, and how are you? The featured outfit was my Friday work wear, nothing new, but still bright and breezy for the end of the week. I've shopped my closet and come up with a combination that's new which is always a joy to me.

I bought this jacket in TK Maxx in Manchester way back when I was there doing my modelling stint with JD Williams. The size of that store was the biggest TK Maxx I've ever visited and what a great session I had there. The brand is Anja Rock; I do love the retro style, but it's not always easy to incorporate into every outfit. That said, it works perfectly with the orange dungarees.

These fab linen dungarees are by Joss and I fancy I bought them in a boutique in Cornwall, Number 36, a regular haunt of mine when I'm in Penzance.

 

I've paired them with my well worn cream lace bodysuit; I really like the contrast of the slim fitting top and the oversized dungarees. The orange really pops against the cream too.

Nothing new with my accessories either, but that doesn't mean boring does it? The orange perspex necklace was another boutique buy from Penzance a long, long time ago. The colour is a great match though, ideal for this outfit. My sunglasses are by Radley London from a few years ago.

You'll have no doubt seen these rings many time before too, but I won't bother to apologise as that's fine isn't it?

And hurrah for a pair of comfortable but cute summer sandals! These are by Rocket Dog, purchased in TK Maxx a couple of years ago - I bought them in another colourway too as they're so pretty.

Anyway, I've not much more to report this time. Work is ramping up as the holiday season builds which means more customers, more sales and therefore more packing and despatching of artworks. I'm not complaining as this is what we plan all winter for and yet suddenly we're in the thick of it. Rachel, my part-time assistant, is about to return to full-time status tomorrow and it doesn't come a moment too soon. I have lots of admin waiting to be done and it'll be great to do some catching up.

Weatherwise it's a real mixed bag, with very little sunshine and far too much fog this week which has caused a lot of travel disruptions. Thank goodness that I'm staying put for the next couple of months!

                                                                                       Anna x