Easter weekend on Tresco

The sun shone down on Tresco this Easter reminding me how beautiful this little island paradise is. The view is from the Sea Garden Cottages, namely from the patio of Shrimp where I was visiting friends. I regaled them with my memories of being a (hopeless) chambermaid 45 years ago at the Island Hotel here in these grounds; I was besotted with this view and thought it to be the most idyllic sight I'd ever seen, so much so that I spent far too much time staring out the window and not enough time cleaning. The truth is, I still find it mesmerising. Anyway, the figure in the distance is one of those I was visiting - more recognised for his voice than his physical self.

Yes, it's the Radio 2 DJ legend that is Johnnie Walker! Johnnie and his gorgeous wife Tiggy are regulars to Tresco, this most recent visit being to celebrate Johnnie's 78th birthday. Doesn't he look well on it! Johnnie hosted a birthday dinner at the Ruin Beach Cafe where he was joined by friends for an evening of good food, fine wines and lots of tales about the music business. I quizzed him as to who has been his favourite musician to interview to which he replied James Taylor. You can't argue with that.

This was Monday's work outfit showing nothing new, simply a mix of pieces shopped from my closet as they say. The main feature is this rather fabulous coat by Clements Ribiero which I bought about five years ago in Manchester from TK Maxx. It's three years since I wore it last on the blog here and yet I do so love it!

I've mixed designer with high street fashion to give my own style. The sweater is from H&M, trousers from Primark and the gold leather Chelsea boots are so old I can't recall where I found them. The boot cut trousers are maybe a tad short, but I've seen girls wearing wide cropped trousers so thought I could get away with this too.

Nothing new  with my accessories either - the gold chain necklace was from Zara, rings are old too and sunglasses are from Radley London. 

External photoshoots are always tricky whether it's due to the weather or someone popping into the shot or the camera almost getting blown over which was the case here. I'd dodged about the island trying to find a quiet spot out of the wind before the gale arrived, hence the varied backdrops. Today it's been raining for most of the day with winds gusting up to 70mph and tomorrow is forecast to be more of the same. We were lucky to have it so good for Easter. I had a lovely swim on Easter Sunday on Green Porth beach - see my timelapse clip on the Instagram link at the top of the page.

Many thanks for popping by. Have a lovely week!

Anna x

Look what I got for Christmas!

Happy New Year to you, my dear readers! I hope that you've had a lovely break and managed to stay well. We've had a super family time over the past couple of weeks and it's been one of our best Christmases ever I would say. My daughter's boyfriend came over from the mainland for the festive period, adding to our excitement as this was the first time we've met him. Suffice to say that he's an absolute gem, a real find and such a happy addition to our family.

So, this amazing vintage leather jacket is what Steve bought for my Christmas. Of course, I made sure that wishlists were passed on to everyone, and this is what I directed Steve to. Many moons ago I had a patchwork leather blazer that I passed on to a friend and this reminds me somewhat of that. The jacket was from eBay, bought at the end of November, leaving just the right amount of time for it to get here in the midst of the postal chaos.

I love the variety of skins used to create this very unusual jacket; the animal print, embossed hide, diamante studs, floral prints, tassel fringes and leather ruffles all go to make it quite unique. It's like wearing a piece of art. Oh my goodness, how I love it! 

I teamed the jacket with an old gold sweater (from H&M) and these funky new jeans (Primark). 

The gold leather Chelsea boots are very ancient (from River Island), but much loved.

I took myself off for a Boxing Day walk to burn up a few excess calories and also test drive the bomber jacket and see how it fitted. It's fab, passed the test with flying colours! 

I stopped to enjoy the view. I wasn't surprised to see lots of people out, stretching their legs after all of those Christmas Day calories. Family groups with dogs, couples out walking and driving past on golf buggies, all passed by below my hilltop perch in the half hour I sat there.

Today's jewellery features another Christmas present - the necklace (Zara) was from a girlfriend and is a perfect accessory for this look. The gold coloured flower ring was a Christmas pressie from her too, a couple of years ago. The other gold ring was a charity shop find. The sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

Apart from family meals together we had a pretty low key time over the holidays. We met up with our extended family for drinks one night which was another excuse to dress up, but no pics of that. I did manage to get some shots of the day that I dressed for work as my favourite Christmas movie, Elf.

This was very well received by all of my customers at the Gallery that day, resulting in lots of laughter and appropriate comments.

And this was my outfit for NYE at home, where I did have my very own kitchen disco while hubby snoozed in front of the TV.

I did full on glitz for that, wearing silver and gold sparkles, sequins and glitter. None if it was new, but all fulfilled the need for full on glamour on the home front!

And finally, here's some swimming shots from the festive period. The first was my last swim of 2021.

And below is the venue for my New Year's Day swim. Green Porth was tucked out of the westerly wind affording just enough protection to make it look nigh on perfect.

I was joined by two islanders, Rebecca and Emma for the swim which was in aid of Mental Health Swims. Photos from each of us earned donations from Speedo. Somehow a group swim always feels better, dare I say even warmer, as you have the lovely distraction of chat and laughter throughout.

Not drowning, just waving!

And that pretty much rounds up my past week or so. It's been great to have some time away from work and to relax in my pj's for a change. I do hope you've had a lovely break from the norm and that you managed to spend some time with your nearest and dearest. Sending you lots of love and good luck for 2022 from my island home.

                                                                                         Anna x

Satin bomber jacket

I bought this jacket way back in September on one of my big shopping splurges see here, but seem to have forgotten to get organised enough to show it. This shoot is from the reign of Polly, so the shots will still be of the highest of standards you've come to expect of her, and me (creepy laughter heard dimly in the background).

Since I made my purchase, the satin bomber has become ten-a-penny, but I forgive the masses for falling for such an adorable piece of transitional dress, and trust that no-one has come across one as delightful as my bronze, embroidered example (again - rah-ha-ha-ha-ha!)

The dress was a present from Sasha for Mother's day, last seen here, and is fabulous with the jacket don't you agree? The embroidery echos the print of the dress really well, the gold boots carry on the metallic theme. That's about it for this mid-week offering. Hope you're all recovering from the Halloween ghouls and ghosties, and that you've finally managed to scour off the last of the black eyeliner. My eerie laughter will soon die down too.

Details - dress: H&M, boots: River Island, jacket: TK Maxx, rings: old.

Anna x

Fogbound in paradise

The tourists were seeing another side of our paradise island today as we were surrounded by fog. Or maybe not seeing, was more to the point. When a warm weather front collides with a cold one over the top of these tiny islands, then inevitably we'll be shrouded by fog until the pressure changes or some high winds blow it away. However, Polly loves a bit of fog, as the dreamy, wispy backdrop helps to make colours pop, which was perfect for this floral dress.

I have worn this dress once before but not styled quite like this. So let's draw back, start at the beginning and see the full effect shall we?

Yes, it's time to air this red petticoat again. I think we may suffer from a bit of over-exposure to it this month, but I can't help that I'm in love with this red floufy (Sheila's word) delight (a customer declared it delightful today). We have an exhibition coming up next week and I think I may be pairing this petticoat up with a lacy offering in a very feminine, overdone way for that dressing up extravaganza.

My new yellow Candy bag is so right with this dress. Not only is it a great colour match, but the size is spot-on too. It's cute and just rounds off the whole look perfectly.

Heck, that was a whole lot of photos wasn't it? Polly did such a great job, and those colours surely did pop, that I had difficulty leaving some of these out of the mix. This variation is another hit with me, but maybe not with everyone I came across today. I suppose I might have blended in better if I'd been sashaying down Carnaby Street, but here on my little island home I certainly drew more than a few glances. As I've said before, I really dress to please myself. It's a bonus if others like it, and a real bonus if they actually say something nice. That's the wonderful thing about running a fashion blog. I don't feel like an oddity or out there any more. When I check out some my favourite fashion bloggers strutting their stuff, why I look positively tame by comparison. Check out Sheila, Suzanne or Melanie to see what I mean. 

Friday's post is going to be another first for me, but you'll have to drop by again to find out what that means. Thanks to those of you who have emailed me with your ideas for my feature "As suggested by..." as it will be your turn soon. I now have the next three months lined up and would love it if you keep your thoughts coming. I'm so pleased to have your feedback and will enjoy getting these things out and re-styling them with something appropriate for that month. This month also heralds my first anniversary of blogging and strangely I'm struggling as to what to wear! Yes, laugh, please do, at the irony of this! I have a couple of things in mind, but am not sure which way I'll go with this. I've still got a little while left to give it some more consideration. Perhaps I need to take the pressure off and just treat it like any other day. Phew, that feels better already. Thanks for dropping by and I hope to catch up with you all again on Friday x

Jacket: Lulu and Red Boutique (charity shop). Dress: Vintage: Charity shop. Petticoat: eBay. Tights: Enjoy Clothing. Boots: River Island: Handbag: Furla. Watch: Michael Kors. Rose gold bangle: Kate Spade New York. Blue rings: charity shop.

Linking with 
Jess of Elegantly Dressed And Stylish 
Cherie of Style Nudge 
Sheela of Sheela Writes