My festive round-up - part one

Hello and here as promised is my round-up of festive outfits. It's probably no surprise to you to learn that the past two weeks bridging Christmas and New Year are my favourite for the opportunities to dress up. Even the mundane daily trip to the shop warrants a fur coat over jeans during the festive season.

The fur is very old, from TK Maxx, jeans old too, the bejewelled belt was from Amazon a couple of years ago, the cream sweater has a light smattering of lurex threads spun thoughout - it was from TK Maxx last month and Dr Martens were a Vinted buy a few months ago.

Wrap me up in fur and I'm at my happiest, feeling glamorous and believing I'm gorgeous, regardless of what anyone else might think! There's nothing nicer than a cosy fur coat at this time of year.

Somehow this particular outfit didn't make its party debut this time, but Fiona had assisted with a photo shoot ready for an invite to drop on the mat. No matter, it's my birthday this month, so I've not missed my chance...

The lightweight shaggy jacket was from F&F at Tesco - a find while I was doing my Christmas food shop there last month. At £50 it was more than my thrift finds, but I fell in love with it straight away and didn't think twice about adding it to my trolley. 

The sequinned leggings cost me £9 from the Cancer Research shop in Truro last month. The pale gold glitter knitted top was from New Look at the same time and the Kurt Geiger ankle boots were a bargain from TK Maxx during the same trip - a successful shopping session!

The black boots are velvet and the bejewelled bows are like huge brooches, stiff not soft, and make these such a statement. I'm thrilled with them.

This is what I wore to our pre-Christmas drinks party in the Gallery on the 23rd December. Nothing new here at all: the gold lurex cardigan was a charity shop find in London many, many years ago, but a huge bargain at only £6! It's a heavyweight knit which feels lovely.

The velvet jeans are Levi's, second hand from goodness knows when and the cream lace bodysuit was from Vinted some time ago. The bejewelled Amazon belt is making another appearance along with gold leather boots, pre-loved too, from Vinted.

As for accessories, the gold chain necklace was a recent purchase from Vinted, the sunglasses are very old from Radley London, the flower ring was a thrifted piece and my other ring is from Emily Nixon Studio. The whole look is probably a bit understated for me, but sometimes it's good to surprise people and not be too predictable.

And this was my Christmas Day outfit for the lunchtime drinks at the New Inn. I had hoped to make a net skirt like the Claudia Winkleman one shown on my blog previously - see it here. I was definitely up for the task, but the fudge production took presidence. I still have every intention of making it - that's once I can fathom out its creation without a pattern.

Plan B was this tiered frilly net skirt, bought in TK Maxx last time I was there. I added a red flouffy underskirt along with red tartan tights with black patent boots (new from Deichman). The red top is by Hobbs, but amazingly only cost me £3 when I found it in a charity shop in Manchester in September - God I do so love a bargain!

The fake fur and feather trimmed handbag is truly a vintage piece now. I've had it for over 20 years but store it away in its own plastic zip lock bag to keep the moths away. It always earns me compliments every time I bring it out.

Steve took my Christmas day snaps en route to the pub so it was all a bit rushed. As for this one, it's meant to showcase my Vivienne Westwood orb pendant but I fear my bazookas are stealing the scene! I'd bought what used to be known as a foundation garment aka all-in-one spanx to give me a smooth, steamlined look with some of my more fitted party clothes but honestly, I think I'd hoiked my boobs up towards my ears on the first wearing of it. I definitely don't have pneumatic bosoms normally!

This comedy shot of Jamie through the broken window was one of his best oops moments of the holiday. Our front door had swollen up after many days of rain and Jamie had put his shoulder to the door to help heave it open - with smashing results! I heard the crash of glass and snapped his rather sheepish look.

I'm going to finish here today, but I do hope you'll come back next week to see the final three festive outfits I have to share with you, including my New Year's Eve party outfit - a real sequin extravaganza!

                                                                    Anna x

First anniversary post

Exactly one year ago I stepped out with some trepidation to take part in my first ever photo shoot for the fledgling blog of mine. After months of research, checking out other bloggers sites and content, I was at last ready to step into my own little spot in the blogsphere. The post was short (see here), but fun and a definite indication of the flavour of what was to come over the months ahead. I thought it might be a nice tie-in to feature these signature tartan tights once more in this anniversary post. 

Not one to underplay things, I've gone the whole hog with this today. Age appropriate? Probably not, but who invited the style police to this party anyway? As I said the first time I wore this skirt (see here) -  "Girls just wanna have fun!" 

I think I missed my calling in life. I would have loved to have been a cheerleader with fluffy pom-poms!

These mirror sunglasses are perfect for showing my photographer of the day - take a bow Sasha.

Details of today's outfit are like this - leather jacket: Lulu and Red Boutique (charity shop). Skirt: Green Envelope, Los Angeles (TK Maxx). Petticoat: eBay. Polo neck: charity shop. Shoes: New Look. Tights: old. Necklace: M&S. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia. 

To be honest, I'm amazed that it's a whole year that's passed. I had only planned to continue for about 6 months, just as a personal challenge, but was still brimming with enthusiasm and ideas so have carried on. And now after a year, I'm still not done. I've noticed that there are other fashion bloggers who have run their blogs for years and years, but I worry that I may become repetitive or a bit blah after a while, and therefore I can only say, enjoy it now as I have no idea how long I can keep this up! 

A little more than a year ago my daughter Sasha left home, not for the first time, but for the last, I think. During the time my husband was away with her, helping her set up home and doing all those necessary things, like pushing a huge trolley around Ikea to gather bed and bedding, wardrobes and tables, I was here, alone. I have no problem being alone, but this was suddenly a different thing. This state of affairs was one I had read about in many a paper and magazine. Yes, the empty nest syndrome. Now, I never saw myself as one of those sad, fretting mothers, who spent all her time, twittering around her offspring. There was never any running them to clubs and parties, not for me, not here on this tiny island. But I was aware of the space she had vacated, and that was one of female companion, listening ear, someone to share a joke with, or a moan if need be, someone to tell me if my outfit was too way-out for work or even this small community.

And that's when this wee seedling of an idea really took hold. Sasha and I had talked about me starting my own fashion blog previously. One of my close girlfriends often nagged me to send her photos of my outfit of the day, as she spent her whole life in overalls (such is the life of an artist, eh Maggie?) which I did, with her response always being that I ought to run a blog for women of our age. And now here I am, a year down the line, and loving the joy of sharing my clothes, my swimming and my life with you, my dear readers.

I've discovered that I can't be a fashion guru, or a beauty adviser, an agony aunt, or have a full-on magazine type blog with loads of tips on dressing for your shape or age. But I can show you what I wear, in fact love wearing, and hope that it may inspire women like me, of a certain age, what she can wear if she wants to, to step of our the stereotype of the over 50's. It seems that all I can write about, with any depth or knowledge of the subject, is me. This did worry me terribly at the beginning, as I struggled with the sheer vanity of the "look-at-me" nature of what my blog was going to be. I'm maybe a show-off, but I'm not smug. I'm a very generous person, particularly with other women who deserve compliments for making an effort to look good. I love to give positive feedback to women I come across, be it on a train, in the street, or even in the gallery where I work. I'm pro-women, pro-men too in fact, but I really enjoy making a woman's day by telling her she looks fab. We all like to hear that don't we?

Next, I can't do a round up of my blog without mentioning my health. I have a health page which really was the driving force for writing, sharing and putting my story into print. It's not pretty, or easy to share, but is part of me, in fact, it's why I am such a happy, joyful person. You see, when you've been ill for most of your adult life, (in my case since I was 18 when I was diagnosed and yes, I'm 58 now) then you really, really relish being well when you finally get there. I'm totally well, and delighted about this state of affairs. I work so hard to maintain my good health and I urge any of you who are blessed with a strong constitution to embrace it wholeheartedly. The only bit of advice you'll see on my blog is this - Do not take your good health for granted. Every day of my life I'm thankful for being healthy.

But I can't finish without saying thank you to the blogging community for welcoming me in. My thanks go to Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb whose blog is a wealth of advice and sound knowledge on how to go about setting up a blog and everything else that follows. Thanks also to Kristin, the Highland Fashionista whose writing style inspired me to pen a journal type-blog rather than an info-type blog. And thanks to Sheila of Ephemera, whose daily posts were, and still are, creative fodder for me.

And last of all, thank you to those of you who write to me by email, or in my comments, or make contact through Instagram. But the biggest thank you must go to you, the silent majority for bumping up my page views with such amazing consistency. Thank you for coming back again and again to read about my life on this little island. Initially I thought I would just be running a blog for myself, for no other reason than sharing photos and words with my half a dozen girlfriends and a few of my family. And yet now it seems there are so many of you out there. Thank you so much.

Anna x

Linking with 
Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Cherie of Style Nudge