From spring to summer SNA challenge

Welcome to another Style Not Age challenge! This month I chose the theme and came up with From Spring to Summer, a timely notion, don't you agree? My Lucy and Yak dungarees fit the brief perfectly as I wear them most weekends - they're perfect for wearing to do the housework, go for a walk or just bumble about. 

Jacqui has chosen this lightweight cream lace jacket as her transisitional piece and very pretty it is too! Catch up with all of her week's events on her blog Mummbstylish here. 

A sporty cardi comes from Hilda, again the perfect layer to carry you from one season to another. See more from Hilda on Over The Hilda blog post here. 

Another cardi, this time a short sleeved one, comes from Emma. The cute crochet cardi comes from TK Maxx and I wish I could just pop there now to find it! See the full post from Emma on Style Splash blog. 

This weekend was my big summer clothes changeover and lucky for me it was a perfectly sunny day on Sunday to get them all washed and hung out on the line. My garden is right beside the road and the rainbow collection was the talking point for many passers by. I spent the afternoon weeding our garden wall, cutting back all the wild brambles and unwanted plants. I enjoyed lots of conversations about my colourful clothes, my blog and the day job which allows me to express myself in these bright colours and many a flamboyant outfit.

I did have one woman stop and ask me if I was having a clothes sale and what a unique idea it was for a shop front. I shall keep that in mind for when I finally retire and need to move all of my working clothes along. 

The outfit of the day shows nothing new. The dungarees I've had for few years now, the long sleeved tee likewise and my sandals are by Heavenly Feet - these I can agree are indeed heavenly as they are so comfortable. 

Nothing new with my accessories either - the sunglasses are by Oliver Bonas, gold chain from Accessorize and rings are both pre-loved. This is my ideal outfit for the weekends, easy to wear yet colourful enough to show my personality. Many thanks for joining us once again and I look forward to catching up with you again soon!

                                                                    Anna x

11 years ago it all started... (part 1)

Hello and welcome to this mega post where I'm celebrating 11 years of blogging. Thank you for being here, no matter if that was right from the start or for joining me along the way, it's been a joy to share my life in photos with you. This first image is from June 2015, a month after the blog started - see the full post here. As I've been gathering images together over the past few days, I've been surprised at all sorts of aspects of myself - it's like seeing myself through the eyes of someone else - and golly there are some fab photos I'd forgotten about as well as proof of my body dysmorphia. Heck, I was positively skinny in some of these shots! And others show me beach-body ready - blimey if only I'd known at the time instead of being so self-critical and believing that I was fat. In the words of Baz Luhrman - In 20 years time you'll look back at yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how fabulous you really looked. You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

The perfectionist in me is disappointed that I've lost my hard drive containing a huge volume of photos from those early days, therefore I've had to return to the posts to snatch photos for many of these. Apologies. I'm featuring this image (see the full post here), again from 2015, as it received one of the highest of views throughout the history of the blog (19,373). I expect those were from bots, but feel free to take a look if you're interested.

July 2015 sees me writing about These Arms, and when I return to read it, I have to applaud this 57 year old version of myself for her honesty and as always, the need to draw attention to her flaws before anyone else could. If you have a moment, then please do read this one as it's a lovely post, even though I do say so myself - here it is. 

Moving on to 2016, in February Steve and I went for a cruise which did receive a lot of views so I'm featuring it here in case you'd like to see it. The posts before and after this one show the entire holiday which was pretty wonderful, despite my husband's initial reservations about being stuck with a whole load of people and no chance of escape! For a man who has spent all his working life in the big outdoors, working mainly on his own, he really is perfectly happy with the silence of his own company so you can imagine how challenging he thought it would be to spend a week held captive with over 2000 guests out at sea. Looking back he really did incredibly well.

Please note that I had taken my own advice and was allowing the world to see my imperfect arms without it spoiling my enjoyment of this rather fabulous evening gown. 

In March of 2016 I shared my first Ping Pong Post, an idea I had birthed along with a couple of my blogging friends Ann and Samantha. We ran with this for several months and it did increase my viewing figures accordingly. Do take a peek at this one if you're interested.

In August of 2016 my lovely friend Mel sent me The Travelling Yellow Skirt and that post received over 8000 views! The story of the skirt is worth a read or maybe just look at the blue sky and the desert island on the beautiful summer's day on Scilly. 

In October 2016 I showcased an artist who in turn wanted to showcase me. The post added variety to my blog and I must admit I found the experience to be most exciting, especially as it entailed me dressing up in various outfits to have my photo taken! Read the full post here if you wish. 

March 2017 saw me on staycation so that I could invest some time in myself, namely to improve my swimming. Despite this being a very niche blog post it still had over 3000 views and a healthy number of comments. Stretch, Roll, Popeye can be read here. 

Our summer exhibitions played a large part in my working life prior to Covid and therefore it's only right that I should feature one or two in this mega round-up. The outfit above is from the 5th of August 2017, a typical summer's eve when we laid on the best opening night we could for the artist in attendance - in this case it was for Jenny Ulyatt. Catch the whole feature here. 

This bubbly snap captures the best of my life and my joy in dressing up. It comes from my 2017 round-up which really has to be featured to give a flavour of my life at that time. See My 2017 Highlights here. 

I'm going to skip 2018 and 2019 for the moment and will come back to these years later. Turning 60 was a big deal, not from a number point of view, but because it brought me a series of opportunities the like of which I could never of imagined possible. 

By 2020 life had taken a strange turn with the arrival of Covid into all of our lives. I continued to dress up despite being furloughed as it helped me retain a self of myself. Life was topsy turvy for all of us, but at least I could play with my outfits and derive a sense of pleasure for what was a semblance of normality. Easter Chick was typical of the sunny and wonderfully deceptive sight I conjured up in April. 

By July we were all able to return to work as we attempted to find the new way forward learning to live with this deadly virus. I was keen to get back into the groove which I think was perfectly reflected in my outfit of the day - read about My Signature Colour here. 

September 2020 was a great month for beach days and this shot shows me with a beach body to be proud of - I can say that now with the perspective that only time can give. Heck, not even my lovely husband thought to say how fab I looked in this bikini! At the time I was, as I have been for most of my adult life, under the impression that my figure was too curvy, too flabby, too pale - as ever I was so out of touch with what I really looked like. Sad, but true. Anyway, the post is jolly enough and does capture our idyllic island life perfectly - see it here. 

I was happy to be seen in Scottish national dress in my blog post of December 2020. The outfit was a quirky twist, quite far removed from the notion one might have when the word kilt is mentioned. I loved this look - see the post More Christmas Style Inspiration here. 

I fancy that you may be wilting after this very long feature and therefore I'm going to sign off now and will pick this up again later next week. On Monday it'll be time for our Monthly Style Not Age challenge so if I've not worn you out then perhaps you'll swing by to see what we're up to. Thereafter I'll continue with my 11 years of blogging round-up and I'd love you to join me for that. 

                                                                            Anna x

Colour me orange

Hello lovelies! This was my favourite outfit from last week - the one that seemed to garner the most attention and compliments. A beautiful spring day with a fabulous blue sky deserved an equally fabulous outfit.

Fabulous, but nothing new here. I'm gradually culling my wardrobe, keeping only these hardworking pieces that I know I love and will continue to wear often. After gathering clothes for goodness knows how long, I'm on the big dejunk that happens later on in life (yes, this applies to me as I knock on the door of my 70's).

Orange is such a happy colour, a true burst of joy for me. The jacket was a Vinted find, the dress was from New Look many moons ago, belt was from Amazon and baseball boots were from Primark. If you happen to visit Tresco this summer then it's highly likely you'll see me wearing this as it's a real feel-good outfit.

The jacket is one of my truly interactive pieces, prompting lots of comments. Mostly it's referred to as my Sargeant Pepper jacket or my Freddy Mercury jacket - I'm perfectly happy with either of these.

The orange perpex rings are indeed old, but are perfect pairing for this look.

The chunky necklace always gets me compliments and suprises people when they hear it was a buy from TopShop when they were trading. (Boo hoo, I do miss TopShop!) My sunglasses are from Quay Australia and really are ancient.

The cream woven baseball boots look deceptively smart and yet come from Primark. A flat shoe is always all-day comfortable and this was a long day, ending with a drinks party at work.

I do rememeber watching a programme over 10 years ago, called the Fabulous Fashionistas which definitely impacted on me and the idea of creating my own fashion blog. One of the ladies spoke about her outfits saying if she had a favourite that she would often wear it for several days consecutively, up to a whole week in fact. This is one of those outfits that I could wear on repeat without tiring of it.

Thanks for joining me and I hope you have a lovely week!

                                                                    Anna x

Polka Dots our SNA challenge for April

Hello again and welcome to our Monthly Style Not Age challenge. Emma plumped for Polka Dots this time which was a tricky one for me as my only polka dots come in the form of these poodle polka dot brogues. So let's check out what the other ladies came up, shall we?

Jacqui is showcasing her new jumpsuit from Peacocks - a great addition to her wardrobe for its versatility. Check out Jacqui's backstory on her blog Mummabstylish.

Emma is a lady after my own heart as most of her outfit has been bought from Vinted, therefore we know it'll be a bargain as well as the greener option. See more on Style Splash.

Hilda styled her polka dot shirt with well cut denim jeans and accessories in leopard print for a very sleek look. Do swing by her blog for more about her outfit on Over The Hilda blog.

My entire look was bought on Vinted, but the joy was in pulling the various elements together to create this casual but fun look. The shoes are by Irregular Choice, a brand well known for the outlandish and over-the-top fashion. What can be more fun that poodles and polka dots!

The yellow cotton sweater is by Zara, a boxy shape with long sleeves and chunky cuffs. The blue and yellow trousers have no label, but the pattern echoes the polka dots nicely.

Preloved rings and Radley sunglasses complete this casual look. Steve did the honours with the photography this week...

 ...but Fiona wasn't going to be left out and appeared stage left with the perfect goofing about photobomb. 

Seconds later our neighbour's cat followed suit. Maybe my fault for choosing to pose on one of the busiest corners on the island! So that pretty much winds up this month's challenge. I do hope you've enjoyed our efforts and if you did, please leave me a comment.

                                                                        Anna x

Prints Charming, our Style Not Age challenge for December

Hello again and welcome to the last Style Not Age challenge of 2025! Emma's idea for this month's theme is Prints Charming, one that was easy for me to pluck from my wardrobe thank goodness, especially with all that's going on at this time of year. 

This fabulous two piece is from the Iris Apfel and H&M collection from a few years ago. Emma sat tight and waited for it to appear at a reduced price on Vinted - clever girl! Catch up with Emma on her blog Style Splash. 

Leopard is Jacqui's signature print of the moment. The coat is from George at Asda worn with cream jeans and black sweater topped with yet more leopard print in her scarf. See more from Jacqui over on her blog. 

Hilda's chosen tiger print in the form of these wide legged jeans from M&S for this month's challenge paired with a tiger motif tee shirt. Read her back story on Over the Hilda. 

My outfit is all old, shopped from my closet and yet still fulfills the brief. The red duster coat was an amazing charity shop bargain yonks ago costing a mere £3. I featured it in December 2020 when life was oh-so-different as we were emerging from lockdown. See the feature here if you missed it. (Golly didn't I look young then, slim too?!!!!)

The trousers are from Vinted and blouse is a vintage piece. 

The tartan boots are decidedly old, bought from M&S, but goodness knows when.

I hope you're enjoying the windswept look from this set of photos. I bribed my dear friend Fiona to help me with a mega dose of blog photos (as yet to be aired) - a large schooner of sherry and some of my homemade fudge kept her onside as we traipsed outside repeatedly with more wind and less sunshine for each outfit. 

I'm such a big fan of all things ornate: this Chinese jacket with hand-sewn embroidery is a real joy, a valued item in my clothes collection. Increasingly I'm moving lots of pieces on now, realising that the large volume of clothes aren't serving me well. Moreover, many are too small now - a truth I find hard to admit, but know that I must in order to cull the excess I've gathered over the years - these are only jamming up the works, stopping me from seeing what I can actually wear rather than hope to wear. My daughter came up with a wonderful solution to the decluttering problem. Sasha now lives on the mainland and is time-rich as opposed to me being time-poor. Ironic really when you consider that I live in paradise and she in Manchester. Anyway, I now send her a box of clothes about once a month and she uploads them onto Vinted to sell and after a certain length of time, if not sold, she redirects them to her local charity shop so that she's not bogged down by them forever. The money she makes is going towards her deposit for a flat. Win/win!

None of the accessories are new either. Rings are pre-loved and sunglasses are by Quay Australia. 

Apologies if you're a regular reader and have been noticing my lack of posts of late. If I show you why, you might understand...

For the past month it's been like a veritable fudge factory in my house. Juggling work and fudge production has been a real challenge and yes, probably some form of madness, but I do sincerely love the joy of giving and in particular giving my homemade fudge to family and friends. If yours hasn't arrived then sorry, you didn't make it onto the list...

My next post will be a mega feature of all of my festive outfits, some worn, some still waiting for their Cinderella moment, but all are blog-ready for your delectation. I have a few days off coming up around the New Year when I'll be dedicating some time to pulling a blog together for you. Apologies for the neglect, but I do appreciate you dropping by and also for your lovely comments. I hope you've found some time to rest and relax over the Christmas period and wish you every happiness for 2026!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year! 

Anna x