More of my favourites - tweed, paisley, fairisle and florals.

As I write I'm in a state of flux as I have, and still am receiving all of the shopping which I used as self medication whilst I was laid low with the flu over Christmas and New Year. The distraction, nay sheer escapism, of seizing lots of lovely sale bargains was indeed a balm, but reality bites as I now have choices to make. I had this great plan that I would photograph it all for you my dear readers and then document what I was keeping and why. But, as we know life rarely goes to plan. I've already returned the first consignment, the contents of which did have me asking myself "what on earth were you thinking?" and the second and third deliveries are awaiting their fate. I will however, share the details of the latest spoils - two pairs of over-the-knee boots (ahem, no sniggering at the back there!), three pairs of ankle boots, one pair of Mary Jane shoes in snakeskin - stunning, but a tad high, one pair of gold high heel sandals - very good price and useful for forthcoming cruise, two sequin dresses (well only one really, but in two sizes), one patterned sequin skirt, gold slim fit trousers, gold polo neck jumper, glitter tights, gold tights and even tights with bows on. If you can see a theme running through the clothing, I suspect it's because I seemed to be working along the lines of if I can't party then at least I can be ready for the next festive party season. So, wish me luck as the evening draws in and I begin to tackle this shopping binge. 

Anyway, with regards to today's offering I can say hand on heart that nothing here is new or even new-to-me. I'm shopping my closet as fashion bloggers say, with great success and a fair bit of delight as long forgotten pieces are rediscovered. Take this wonderful tweed jacket from the now defunct Racing Green. When my children were toddlers I used to get the RG brochure drop onto the doormat every so often. It set me dreaming of a time where I would have the money to buy such exquisite clothes. Well in a round about way I have to thank my children for providing me with the money. My husband captured our little lovelies on film doing a bit of impromptu slapstick where one good hit deserves another and long story short we received a cheque for £250 from the TV show "You've been framed". My wonderful and generous husband insisted that I should use the money for a treat and hey presto I bought my Racing Green jacket. 

The rest of my outfit is from various charity shops apart from the beautiful olive leather and suede boots which were a purchase from Russell and Bromley a few years ago. I'd drooled over them for some time, but held out until the January sale when I happened to be in Exeter and finally had a chance to try them on. At a £100 off in the sale they were still £199 but I knew I would love them forever, and I do. 

Jacket: Racing Green. Jeans: All Saints (charity shop). Fairisle vest: Ralph Lauren (TK Maxx). Blouse: New Look (charity shop). Boots: Russell and Bromley. Green pearls: Almost Perfect. Handbag: Accessorize. Perspex ring: gift. Brown ring: East.

Linking with
Not Dressed as Lamb 
Not Dead Yet Style 
Kremb de la Kremb 

100 posts - time for a touch of glitter and glam!

Today marks the 100th post to my blog, and what better reason could there be to bring out a bit of sparkle to celebrate? (It has been said of me that I'd get dressed up for the opening of an envelope...)

The jacket, along with the trousers, has a glitter thread running though it so was a perfect pairing with the ornate stretch belt I bought for the Christmas party.

And what a joy it is to bring out these fab booties once again!

Sometimes you can feel like the cat who got the cream. Apart from the windswept hair of course! I'm always impressed with other bloggers who take outdoors photos yet don't have a hair out of place. My defence is that I'm keeping it real.

When Sasha came home for Christmas she showed me the spoils from her recent shopping trip, but warned me that I would want to steal a pair of her trousers before even revealing them. Well yep, she was right. A couple of days later I went on line and found them at H&M before they sold out. Apologies, darling, for airing them before you probably have, but you must take all the credit for these beauties. I love boot cut and flares as they help balance out my fulsome thighs. Well, they may not look too fulsome to you, but I've missed my sea swimming for the past couple of weeks and am feeling post-Christmassy and lacking a bit of tone.

The good news is that even though I missed out on some of the party season I now have a holiday to plan for which means putting together a capsule wardrobe. Steve and I are having a couple of weeks off the island in February, one of which will be spent on a cruise of the Mediterranean. I've already bought my dress for the Captain's party, so the rest is easy. We've been on a cruise before and I had to laugh when I discovered that a large portion of my wardrobe comprises of cruise wear! Hosting exhibitions (nine of these every season) means that I've collected quite a few glitzy, floaty outfits meaning I didn't really have to lash out on a lot of new garb. I'll be taking these new trousers for those less formal evenings when I'll maybe add a sparkly camisole or perhaps this frilly blouse. I'll give you all a sneak preview of what's getting packed before I go, then hope to post regularly on Instagram while I'm away with a proper catch up on my return. In the meantime it's business as usual with posts on Sundays and Wednesdays until then.

Jacket: Next (charity shop). Trousers: H&M. Blouse: charity shop. Belt: eBay. Booties: Michael Kors (TK Maxx). Necklace: Dorothy Perkins. Smokey quartz ring: old. Yellow ring: Martin James.

Linking with 
Style Nudge 
Elegantly Dressed and Stylish

Winter turquoise

Turquoise isn't a winter colour as far as I'm concerned, but a couple of things have happened recently which have conspired to change my mind. First of all my sister Dianne sent me this wonderful little jacket which she bought from Jones New York whilst visiting the Big Apple a few years ago. And secondly, blogger Jacqueline from Petite Silver Vixen showcased her version of winter turquoise as seen here which blew my prejudices out of the water. I'd always packed away everything turquoise at the end of the summer as I thought it would look out of place in the darker months, but Jacqueline showed me that this pop of colour didn't look anything other than a breath of fresh air amidst the winter gloom.

The tweed skirt has stitchwork in the same colour as my lambswool sweater (lilac/cerise?) but it's so fine it's not showing up at all in these photos.

The cute handbag is by Hope and Benson. It features a gorgeous green velvet lining.

I couldn't resist this tights/skirt combo. 

Another blogging friend, Kezzie of KezzieAG is a huge brooch fan as seen here and I'm delighted to be able to share one of my few, but rather lovely brooches with her today. It's a Kenzo piece which I came across last year in a charity shop. I've waited so long to find the perfect moment for it's debut - I think it was worth waiting for.

Today there was finally a break in the weather giving me an opportunity to chose a jacket rather than a coat for work. Inspiration for my outfit every day has to start somewhere, so why not with this beautiful fine woollen zip up from Jones New York? Dianne took early retirement a couple of years ago meaning that she is gradually culling her now defunct working wardrobe, much to my benefit. I'm hoping that this will be the start of a trickle of pieces she can finally let go.

So with the theme being turquoise, and the jacket in place, then this skirt was an obvious choice. I've got quite of few of these Boden skirts which are a staple within my wardrobe. I love this tweed version with its giant hounds tooth check, the outline of which is stitched in pink thread, but I'm afraid my photography skills have been lacking in highlighting this feature. I thought about donning a pair of bright cobalt tights first of all, then as I rummaged around came across these ones which were too much of a temptation to ignore. Maybe too cliched for some, but I just love to introduce a bit of whimsy sometimes.

The other obvious I did avoid was my aqua cashmere polo neck that could have taken me back down the road to being overly conservative, so instead I've picked up this pink yarn in the form of my simple pure wool sweater. This was a charity shop find in the autumn and although the sleeves are a tad short, I remedy this by layering up with a thermal top of which I have many colours. Regular readers may well have expected to see this look finished off with my signature brogues, but I thought the green of the skirt lends itself beautifully to these kitten heels from Office - these came via eBay. My cute little handbag is by Hope and Benson and has a soft green velvet lining. With green leather gloves, a flowery scarf to add another print, and obligatory sunglasses to cut out the dazzling glare, I'm good to go!

Jacket: Jones New York. Skirt: Boden. Jumper: Compliments. Thermal long sleeve tee: M&S. Tights: Topshop. Shoes: Office. Brooch: Kenzo. Turquoise ring: old. Pink ring: gift. Scarf: charity shop. Handbag: Hope and Benson. Sunglasses: Quay Australia.

Linking up with
My Refined Style 
Not Dead Yet Style 
Not Dressed As Lamb 
A Labour Of Life

Paisley print and fairisle knit

Am featuring two of my favourite prints today, and if I say they go together then they do.

But I don't think I'd have been grinning so much if I knew how crazy my hair was looking!

These Mary Jane's have been knocking about in my closet for years without many outings, so hurrah for the opportunity to get them out today.

Here we have a mid-week, dressed down look that's so very me. I know I've showcased a couple of over the top party outfits recently, but this is the real me. I've never had my "colours" done, but am pretty sure that I'm autumn as these hues don't drain me and make me feel very at home. The rusts, greens and ochre all bring life to my complexion. In addition I also love paisley, fairisle, tweed and tartan which all seem to tie me to my Scottish roots. Featuring fairisle today means I've pretty much covered all my favourites this winter in one way or another.

This injection of colour is the perfect antidote to the post Christmas slump that can descend after all the festive hype. It's so easy to allow a grey mood to influence your clothes choices. I'm aware that I do have a propensity to wear black and greys quite a lot in the winter months. That's why I often spend an hour at the weekend to root through my wardrobe to find items that are forgotten, overlooked or just plain hidden from sight. I'm such a big fan of colour, yet if I'm in a rush I know how easy it is to pull some black and grey pieces together without much planning. A few separates in bold colours are great to mix and match with these neutrals to give a bit of a lift. My other ploys are to add a pair of bright or patterned tights to jazz up a simple outfit and finish the look with some dazzling brogues. A plain black dress can be transformed by the right pair of patterned tights. In fact it's a really inexpensive way to add personality to an outfit.

My own post Christmas slump has be explained by the fact that the cold I'd been battling was in fact flu. Some two weeks down the line, I had a check up yesterday and that's what's ailed me after all. At least I don't feel such a fraud for all this sleeping, listless laying around and croaking like a frog whenever I tried to speak!

Cardigan: H&M. Skirt: H&M. Blouse: charity shop. Tights: Dorothy Perkins. Shoes: Debenhams. Green pearls: Almost Perfect. Flower rings: charity shop.

Linking up with
Jess on Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Cherie on Style Nudge