Travelling tales

Just in case you've dropped in for a progress report...

My travels continue apace and currently I'm in the pretty seaside town of St Andrews having a lovely bit of R&R with my sister. If you'd like to see where I've been and what I've been doing, then click here to see my Instagram page for all the latest news.

I'm having great fun with friends and family and am busy making plans for more travelling soon. Exciting times ahead!

Anna x

A tale of two jackets

If you picked out the colours of the sea today and turned them into a graphic print, you would end up this dress. 

I'm so pleased to have found this in the recent H&M sale. The fit is great, (providing I don't put on another ounce) the colours are so good for my skin and hair tone, plus it makes me feel very smart for work. It also has a real spring-like feel to it, thanks to these fresh, aqua colours. 

At the start of the day my entire outfit looked like this -

This lovely turquoise jacket was a gift from my sister who was having a clothes sort out, and lead to my feature here. As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was in a quandary as to which jacket was the right one to wear with this lovely new dress. However, we're still being thrashed by a bitter North wind, so I decided that this woollen jacket was the better choice. Polly and I dashed out to brave the wind while the sun shone and I even steeled myself for long enough to ditch the jacket and get some dress shots. 

Given that the view you see here is the very same view as from the gallery where I work, you'll agree that it's a pretty stunning panorama to have stretching out in front of your desk all day long. The tide comes in, the tide goes out, but at different times every day. The boats come and go; more of them in the summer, down to just the odd one or two in the winter; sometimes none at all if the weather is too ferocious to be out on the sea. The other day a client remarked to me that she couldn't really find the right word to describe the exact colour of the sea here. It's true, the sea colour is affected by cloud cover, rocks and seaweed lurking just below the surface, and the depth of the water - all add to the conundrum. That's why it was so clever of Polly to line me up against the backdrop of the sea today; this dress pretty much encapsulates all the colours of the water here.

As the day progresses the temperature in the gallery rises, until by mid-afternoon it can be really quite hot; so hot that we have to pin one of the doors open to get some cooler air circulating. Provided there's no wind, we can often open both doors without any danger of the paintings being rocked off the walls. Today was a one door only day due to the strength of the wind coming down from the North. At five o'clock I had to pop home for a change of shoes. Trading over, I needed a bit more comfort while I rounded up all the end of day chores, climbing to and from my office, and that meant putting on these babies. 

I'm aware that if I were a city dweller this combo of trainers and work wear would be de rigeur. All that power walking to and from work couldn't be achieved in high heels, which is where my personal commute wins hands down. The 200m dash can be completed in the highest of heels, even if I have to spend the next five minutes recovering at my desk. These nifty trainers just happen to tone in beautifully with my dress, and you'll notice the thicker wool jacket has been replaced with my mint green faux leather jacket. I'm rather keen on both variations of today's outfit. What about you? Do you prefer one to the other? Let me have you thoughts x

Woollen jacket: Jones, New York. Dress: H&M (sold out). Tights: old. Handbag: charity shop. Trainers: Salomon. Faux leather jacket: Vero Moda (TK Maxx). Watch: Michael Kors. Rose gold bangle: Kate Spade New York. Turquoise multi stone ring: Primark. Opaque ring: New Look. 

Linking with 
Lucy Dawn of Fashion Should Be Fun 
Shellie of The Fabulous Journey

As suggested by...Karren.

Today I thought I might introduce a new feature to my blog which has come about thanks to one of my readers. She classes herself as a "lurker", but felt the need to comment to give me some feedback. Well, I'm delighted to convert you to becoming a commenter Karren, and also to accommodate you with your suggestion. Karren wanted me to pair up my beautiful Micheal Kors boots with my leather jeans and a short jacket. Initially I thought this was a bit too racy for me, but I then realised that if I actually have these items in my wardrobe then I'm surely a bit racy anyway! I've no idea if this is what she had in mind, but I kinda ran with the idea of rock-chick seasoned with a liberal dash of sparkle.

This entire outfit flies in the face of age appropriate dressing which I find totally liberating. Since starting my blog nearly a year ago, I can say that I'm increasingly becoming more myself. What? you may well be asking. Let me explain. In the run up to launching my blog I followed lots of fashion blogs and also did a lot of reading and researching into all sorts of aspects of self development. One very useful book was "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. This contained an abundance of wonderful, empowering advice, but the one phrase that struck a chord with me was her advice to herself to "be more Gretchen". I took that to heart and have used it daily to help me redefine myself if I feel I'm losing my way. I still urge myself to be more *Gretchen at times when I think I may be in danger of becoming a lesser version of myself through emotional or physical neglect, or even by being swayed by outside influences which are not to my benefit. So, what I mean to say is; the freedom to have somewhere to express myself through my outfits has enabled me to explore my heart's desire and be my true self. Clothes and shoes I may have previously looked longingly at, I now pluck off the rack and try them on. You, my readers, and fellow bloggers have played a massive part in my fashion liberation, and for that I thank you. I'm neither a slave to trends, nor am I aspiring to be a trend setter, but I know what I like and I know how I like to look. The joy of the platform that is my blog, is that I may share my whimsical outfits, and racy get-ups with you from behind the relative safety of my laptop.

*Yes, I know I'm probably meant to say "be more Anna", but the power seems to come from what her name reminds me to do, thanks to the book (it's also more comical when I say it out loud). I contacted Gretchen once my blog was up and running, and told her how influential her advice had been. She was indeed happy to have helped and said she would become one of my first background followers - my readership figures seem to reflect a fair few of these amongst you.

I have two more "As suggested by..." posts already lined up where I'm responding to fellow bloggers suggestions. Please do feel free to pop your suggestion in my comments box, whoever you are. Anything you've already seen on my blog can be paired up with anything else (within reason) according to your fancy. I'm interested in having different viewpoints and ideas to work with over the next few months. My other new feature "Ping-Pong Post" is going to become a regular monthly feature and there's no reason why "As suggested by..." can't be too. Please come along and join in. See you all again on Sunday x

Jacket: Micheal Kors. Top: H&M. Trousers: H&M. Boots: Michael Kors. Necklace and rings: old.

Linking with
Cherie at Style Nudge
Jess at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy 

Tartan - it's in my blood!

The first photos for the new blog and the British weather is doing it's best to spoil our fun. Getting dressed up for work is a great excuse to keep expanding my wardrobe and throws up some surprises even for me. I've paired up much loved tartan tights with this amazing vintage handbag that I found in a retro shop in Ireland a few years ago. And thanks to the Fabulous Fashionistas I treated myself to these Dr Martens when they showed me I wasn't too old to wear them. Rain clearly didn't stop play this time.

Dress : charity shop. Shoes : Dr Marten. Tights : old. Handbag : vintage. Green pearls : Rose Cecil.