Hurrah for the sunshine!

Wow, what a difference a little bit of sunshine makes! I honestly can't begin to explain how much the sunny weather on Sunday made to my mood. Not only that, but I took myself off to the beach on Saturday morning to swim on the high tide despite the fact that it was tipping down with rain. The sea was glorious - chilly, yes - but the isolation that the sea offers; the sense of escape and ultimately the watery meditation that the big blue provides is the best therapy ever. I returned to Green Porth on Sunday morning and repeated the whole process with even more delight as I didn't have to struggle to get dressed in the downpour as on Saturday.

I sometimes forget the importance of pushing myself to make time to swim, forgetting that the payback is immediate and also long lasting. From day to day all I need to do is succumb to the restorative powers of the ocean to feel 100% me again. Without this daily regime I do indeed go downhill mentally and wonder if that's similar to an drug addict craving their next hit. Whatever, if you hear me complain about feeling low, please remind me to get to the sea!

The outfit of the day all comes from Vinted. Second hand satisfies my desire to reduce landfill and Vinted is also helping me reduce my own dejunking efforts too - it's a win/win. The top is by Adidas, leggings are by Stronger and the green boots have no brand or labels on them but are brand spanking new.

I love the soft green colour of these and they are super soft and very comfy. I've thrown this look together without too much notice as to if all the colours work together - it's a fun outfit, a weekend play look and I love it!

The rings are old, pre-loved too and the sunglasses are by Radley London. I played on the ramparts of the Old Blockhouse castle, enjoying the space on this brilliant sunny afternoon. What a joy!

The rest of my weekend comprised of batch cooking for the freezer, cleaning, defrosting the freezer and the Sunday roast dinner. Two swims and a lovely walk in the sunshine far outweighed the weekend chores which is surely a sign of me getting the balance right. Many thanks for swinging by again.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Thank you for coming!

Hello and thank you so much for coming. Today's post has been delayed for no other reason than that I'm struggling with too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Frankly, I'm exhausted. BUT, I owe it to you, my lovely reader, to say thank you for keeping coming back to check if I'm around. I'm writing this during my lunchtime as by the evening I seem to be too tired to think. The run-up to the new season on the island seems to have drained all my reserves. I'm too tired to swim despite the fact that it generates energy in me. Mentally I can't face anything beyond the essentials in life. I'm so sorry to start in such a downbeat tone, but I want to be honest with you. 

The photos are from Sunday, Mother's Day, which was an absolute joy! I spent some time in the morning sewing the hems of these new jeans. They're by Next, via Vinted, and had those ragged unfinished hems, so I decided to add some bias binding tape to finish them off. You'll see that in the photo below.

I'm pretty sure a professional seamstress would have chosen a yellow tape to blend in but my stock is very sparse, hence it had to be orange. I'm not unhappy with the result to be fair. It's probably what you'd expect from me given that it's my favourite colour.

We went for pre-lunch drinks (with complimentary bunch of daffs for the mums) with the extended family at the New Inn and then went on, the four of us, to have lunch at the Ruin Beach Cafe. The outfit comprises of a jacket that Steve gave me for my birthday, an orange vest top (old) and these jeans with Amazon sparkly belt, plus fab new leather boots from Vinted.

The cute yellow handbag is by Dune, purchased from TK Maxx quite a while ago, but this is its first outing. I love the pretty beaded handle and the size is very cute too. I must love you and leave you now as it's time to go back to work. Thank you so much for coming - it means a lot to me!

                                                                               Anna x

We're open for business again!

Yes, here we go again with another season! On Friday 1st March the Gallery re-opened for business and this was my outfit of the day. No points for guessing where I found this fabulous jumpsuit - Vinted, of course! I've been selling consistently as part of my ongoing clear out and that's given me a bit of a healthy piggy bank with Vinted which helps when I find something as lovely as this.

Sasha introduced me to not only the joys of Vinted over a year ago, but also the Lucy & Yak brand. I'm very grateful to her. My jewellery is all old, the necklace was from Topshop and the rings are charity shopped. The orange stretch belt was from Amazon last summer.

The mustard jacket was a charity shop find from a couple of years ago, the brand is Boohoo. The whole look is very autumnal I know, but these colours do work for me. 

The orange ankle boots are rather fabulous and were from ASOS. I've broken them in over the past year and they're now all-day long wearable, hurrah! I do wonder if this penchant of mine for orange will eventually take over my entire wardrobe and I'll be dressing like a member of Hare Krishna by the time I'm an old dear.

And that pretty much winds things up for this week. I'm busy having training in the workplace as we update our computer systems. The challenge has been made even more, well challenging, given that my trainer is my daughter. Having the tables turned after a lifetime of thinking I can give her the benefit of my knowledge is a very odd situation to find myself in. She's a very bright cookie, as sharp as a knife and a great educator, but golly I'm finding it hard not to feel stressed out by it all. Jointly we're struggling with time pressures amongst everything else, but hopefully by the time I come to report back to you next week I'll be feeling a bit more confident in my skills.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Anna x

Put A Bow On It, our SNA challenge for Feb

Hello again and yes, it's time for our monthly style challenge again! Put A Bow On It was chosen by Emma this time as our theme, one that was indeed a bit of a brain teaser for me. Eventually I remembered this bow tie blouse, added my beribboned boots and that's as creative as I could get this month. I fancy the rest of the style collective might have found this one a tad easier - let's see shall we?

Hilda has shopped her wardrobe for this stylish twist - those trousers are fab! Find the full details on her blog Over The Hilda. 

Emma's opted for emerald green with her bow theme ( a bit of rhyming from me too!) - catch up on all news on her blog Style Splash.

Winter white and mink make for a very stylish soloution to this month's challenge from Jacqui. Read her back story on Mummabstylish blog.

Gail really ramped up the colour fest this month! She found this fabulous vintage bow tie blouse on Esty, shopping her wardrobe for the rest of the outfit. See more on Is This Mutton blog.

Shopping my closet was the way I went too; the leather coat was a find from Oxfam a few years back and has been a great addition to my wardrobe ever since. A leather trench is such a classic isn't it?

My pussy cat bow tie blouse was a charity shop scoop last year. The leopard print cardi is old, from H&M, Levi jeans were a from a charity shop too.

My only jewellery is a couple of rings that are pre-loved, very old.

I've recently traded in my old white patent boots for these Dr Martens. I added vanilla satin ribbon laces to make another bow feature to the outfit.

Things are ramping up this week at work as we open for business again on Friday - EEEK! Ironically, I'm only going to be spending one day this week on my final preparations as I've got training to undertake today and on two other days I'm assisting with the hanging of artworks off-site. I hope be super productive and highly creative on Thursday with the last of my set up, placing glassware, pots and smaller goods and dressing the window too - wish me luck!

                                                                        Anna x