My new Adidas trouser suit




Hi there! Yes, it's a rather shocking headline from the woman whose 12 month shopping ban isn't over yet, but hang on, this was hubby's birthday present to me last week. Of course, I did give him lots of guidance. No matter, it's beautiful, don't you think?




Best of all, this two piece by Adidas is still on sale on ASOS now - see here. I have a thing about trouser suits and am always on the look out for another to add to my collection. This salmon pink corduroy number caught my eye when I was searching for Christmas presents and I earmarked it mentally for my birthday. I was delighted to find it had been reduced in the sale when I went back to search for it.




The high waisted trousers are great fit for my figure and best of all the fabric has stretch in it too. I couldn't wait to get out in this lovely weather to showcase it. This is me on the ramparts of Blockhouse Castle, but the view down to the beach below looked pretty inviting too...




The jacket is quite boxy, slightly masculine and for me that needed a bit of softening with either frills or lace. I opted for this lace top from Zara with a vest underneath for warmth. 




That's the problem when you set up your camera and tripod on your own. No-one to zoom in or out ...




Suffice to say I was still having fun!




Silver rings and leather belt are all second hand.




I like the ribbon stripes down the side of the trousers. My leather boots by Besson were from TK Maxx (a Christmas present from Steve).




It was glorious on the beach here. So much so, that I went straight home and put my swimsuit on so that I could swim here in the afternoon sunshine. This was on Monday when I think the snow was falling on mainland UK. 




I swam from Cook's Porth to Cradle Porth and back again. See a wee video from the other beach on my Instagram feed here.

My latest project is some sewing (at last). I'm trying to make new covers for my sofa and armchairs, but it's a challenge to say the least. However, you know me, I do like a challenge! In due course I hope to be able to show you the fruits of my labour. In the meantime, I wish you a super weekend.

                                                                                         Anna x

Share:

High heeled wellies?



Hello my lovely readers and welcome!

Yes, you did read correctly - high heeled wellies. What on earth? As you know I'm not one to hold with the rules of fashion and today I thought I'd share an outfit that reflects a different aspect of my island life. Jeans and jumper were the practical choice for a day of moving and crating art, but add to that the annoying mixture of weather - sunshine and showers with puddles underfoot and downpours suddenly appearing from nowhere - and you end up with me wearing a crazy combination of everything from sunglasses to wellies. 


So yes, this is what I stomp about in on these blustery winter days. The metallic raincoat (Tokyo Laundry) came from TK Maxx and is as waterproof as any wet gear I've ever owned. The purple jeans were preloved and from Gap.


And here they are, my high heeled wellies! I'll be honest with you, I didn't go searching for these. No, they found me. I was on holiday in St Andrews in January when I came across them in a charity shop. I decided to wait and think about them overnight. On telling my sister she informed me that they'd surely be gone by the next morning, a size 6, in great condition and only £6. I took great pleasure in assuring her that no, I'm the only woman this side of the border who would even consider buying them!


My fluffy pink sweater is by Wild Flower and the wellies have no brand name at all.


And just to prove my point about the mixed weather, half way through out photo shoot Fiona and I got caught in a shower. Cue my tartan brolly to the rescue. This has to be my most fashion faux-pas post ever! But hey, I don't care. This was indeed the outfit of the day and you can make of it what you will.


The silver and black rings make great partners even though they come from different sources, one of which was a charity shop. And my old faithful sunglasses are from Quay Australia.




Don't you just love the fickleness of the Great British weather? Dazzling sunshine between blustery showers. Oh what fun!

                                                                                  Anna x

Share:

Caution - colour burst!

This was my outfit today, although the photo shoot is from a couple of weeks ago when we were blessed with a golden day that was just too good to miss. I asked Sasha to join me for a photo session at the end of the day which was perfect for this location, bathing the Old Blockhouse Castle in warm, mellow light.


I fear I may accused of overkill, as it seems to be only a matter of days since I last wore these boots. But honestly, I've been itching to pair them with this geometric dress since I bought it. And these fab pink tights, don't they just work a treat? Yes, it may be a case of colour overload, but hey, I just couldn't resist super charging these fiery colours. You know me - more is more!


When I first started blogging I would never have entertained this colour combination! Neither red nor pink were on my radar at that time and yet here I am totally enchanted by this colour marriage. I see this as real progress and can't wait to see what will develop next.


The dress is preloved, from M&S, tights are old, boots are H&M, sunglasses are by Quay Australia and the necklace and other jewellery is preloved.


It was about 6.30pm and look at the quality of light - how perfect for our shoot!


The islands in the background are the Eastern Isles; uninhabited miniature islands that are skirted with a slick of white sand. These are very popular picnic islands, just big enough for a family. The local boating etiquette is that if there's already a boat moored up, then please move right along and find another spot. 


This was a lovely balmy evening - maybe we ought to have brought a picnic too.


I'd like to promise that I won't inflict these sock boots on you again until the autumn, but honestly until summer, or a least a period of consistently fine weather, settles over us I may have to resort to wearing them again. They're just so blooming useful!


It's okay, I'm all done. You can remove your sunglasses now!  

This week I'll be link with -
Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb
Patti of Not Dead Yet Style
Jacqui of Mummabstylish
Anna x

Share:

Very Yootha Joyce!

Hello again and thanks for dropping by. Here's an outfit from last week that really made me smile. The pink blouse is a vintage piece that's been featured on the blog many times before which is hardly surprising as it's totally fabulous, even if I say so myself.


It's a couple of years since I found this frothy delight in a charity shop in Exeter, but my love affair with it hasn't waned. One of my readers once commented that it reminds them of the British sitcom "George and Mildred", and after a quick search on Dougal (as my sisters and I have renamed a certain large search engine), I did indeed find Yootha Joyce wearing a version of this.


Vintage glamour at its best!


I chose to wear these culottes for the sprinkling of pink within the blooms and these sock boots to pick up the yellow tones too. I found the (brand new) culottes in a charity shop, donated from the retailer because the zip was broken. The British Red Cross shop in Truro benefits from this system where retailers pass on these flawed items which are then offset against their taxes. Everybody wins!


Oh how I love a bit of patten play! Boots are from Primark, trousers from H&M.


Polly and I somehow managed to forget the shot of me with my blue leather biker jacket, ho hum!


Almost all of my accessories are preloved, apart from the necklace which is made by jeweller Charlie Dodge who creates contemporary pieces from glass beads and semi precious stones. Follow the link through to her website here.


Yup, this is me beating a hasty retreat as a tractor comes hurtling along.


And here's where I spent the latter part of the afternoon today. I work until 4 on Sundays, giving me just enough time to scoot off on my bike to find a quiet spot to chill. This is Appletree Bay and as you can see it's rather idyllic. How lucky am I that within five minutes I can be on a deserted beach like this? It's also the beach of choice for me in the mornings for my swim mainly because regardless of whether it's high or low tide, there's always enough water in this bay that doesn't entail me having to wade too far reach deep water.


Summer toes.


The jet boats on the islands are the same as taking a taxi on the mainland plus the thrill of the speed. And that's about it for today. I'll be back again midweek, so do drop in again!

This week I'll be linking with -
Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb
Jacqui of Mummabstylish
Anna x

Share:

My ABBA party!



Yep, here we are, hubby and me having a little pre-drinks party in Nautilus cottage (see here) before we joined the revellers in our local pub for my ABBA party. We moved into this holiday cottage for the weekend as part of my 60th birthday celebrations and invited some of the family around to get us in the mood for the night ahead. 








One or two fuzzy shots are inevitable as the booze was flowing freely!



My niece Zoe (far right here) owns and runs the grocery store on the neighbouring island of Bryher and in addition to looking after her young son, also has a thriving cake making business. My dietary issues mean I can't eat cake and I was worried that I'd miss out on that particular birthday treat, but Zoe delivered this wonderful chocolate cake for everyone else to enjoy.




Zoe copied my pink patent brogues to perfection. They look too good to eat, don't they? Follow the link here to see more of Zoe's incredible cakes as well as seeing her adorable son Emilio. 



And this is Jamie downloading ABBA music at the last minute as plan A had gone awry. He did a fabulous job with only 30 minutes notice, helping with the playlist and putting the sound system in place at the pub in time for the party to start. 


Oh, just one last tweak!



So here they are, all the party goers in their various and splendid outfits -


Ready!




All the shiny, happy people.


All that hair!


All those teeth!








Pucker up!



Ben was a previous gallery assistant of mine, but didn't look half as sexy then!



Have you lost something, Steve?


As the evening progressed, the boys became girls and...


... the girls became boys!




The family photos seemed to be lacking my favourite daughter every time!




Boys in green satin, boys in blue satin - it's not often you see that in our local pub!


  



My poor feet were aching after four hours of dancing in these heels.




Catching up with Polly... 




... and Heather.




And my other gallery helper, Max on the left. What an amazing wig!




Diggin' that man-love!




The smoke machine was working overtime, but that didn't stop them boogying. 




I'm so grateful to everyone who made my evening the success it was. I think about half of the adult island population came and weren't the outfits just fantastic! I'm already thinking that I need another birthday party like this next year - it's the perfect antidote to that post-Christmas slump. Another year, another theme... Any ideas?

I had lots of lovely gifts for my birthday and want to share them in another post. I also managed to fit in a couple of photo shoots while I was in Nautilus, so will feature some of that in my next post later on this week. I gave myself a few days away from work and the usual domestic routines as well as social media, but now I'm back home I need to get back on track. So to my fellow bloggers - I'll be round to see you soon. And to all my readers - thanks for your patience and I hope you thought my ABBA post was worth waiting for.

See you soon!
Anna x

Share:
Created by bo design