Paradise and a U turn

Today I was whisked off to paradise by my doting husband. We took a couple of hours off work and tootled off in our little boat to Samson, one of the uninhabited islands that make up the archipelago of the Isles of Scilly. Summer has been skirting round us for some time now, interspersed with gales and fog, but by late afternoon we truly felt like it had arrived. 

That's our boat on the left and the yacht in the centre was conveniently moored up in front of us just to add an exotic touch to our view. This shot was after our picnic tea. Steve had indeed sung for his supper by first of all taking some shots for the blog. So without further ado, here's what we achieved.

We spent a leisurely few hours catching up, discussing local news and generally making time for each other. It was good to step out of our normal routine and take a moment to enjoy the life we have here on these beautiful islands. We never take our lives for granted, but we know that we don't get out and about as much as we ought to. So this summer hopefully you'll see more of our picnics and boat trips too.

My own news included the fact that I've been approached to feature some jewellery on my blog. If you're a regular reader you'll know that I've been unwilling to go the way of sponsored posts and collaborations in the past. Well, it seems I'm about to make a U turn. As I'm heading towards my 60th birthday I've come to the conclusion that I can in fact change my mind without loosing my job as blogger extraordinaire! I have to be realistic about my blogging life span and would hate to get to the end of the road and regret not making the most of the opportunities that come along. I'm aware that I'm crossing a line in the sand and that some readers and fellow bloggers may not approve, but this is something that I feel happy about and the time feels right too. I'm sorry if I lose respect or readers as a consequence, but Steve and I chatted today and this really isn't such a big deal in the grand scheme of things is it? I'll still be choosing what I feature and how, so things ought not to look much different.

And finally apologies to those of you who were expecting to see the third episode of my black trouser challenge. It'll be along very soon, I promise!

And suddenly it's midnight and time for me to get off to bed. Thanks for joining me and I do hope you'll keep coming back in the future.

PS Everything I'm wearing today is charity shopped, and I love it all!

Anna x

Flowers and more flowers

If you've followed my blog for any length of time you'll be aware that I hardly ever feature jeans. But hey, it's the weekend and I'm in jeans. Not just any old jeans though - embroidered ones.

So the jeans are new, from TK Maxx and I'm wearing a top that I bought last year when we were in Sicily. I couldn't resist the cheesy pairing of floral top with flowery jeans. Very hippy in my own way, but fun none the less. And then just to get my point home, I've added a very old flowery leather belt as well as my flowery sunglasses. More is more is definitely my message today. Neutral leather strappy wedge sandals are the finishing touch. 

I'm keen to hear from those of you in the know if this is a genuine Pucci piece. I'm one of these people who buys because I love it rather than for the brand, but when I went looking for a label in this, I found I'd done what I usually do which is cut out any scratchy labels. When I googled this it came up with Emilio Pucci, but I wonder if this is an imitation. No matter if it is or isn't, I still love the vibrant pattern.

I'll leave you with some shots that I took this morning before my swim. It was about 8am and the sun was well up in the sky giving some lovely dazzling images. I hope you're having a great weekend. 

Linking with -

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Cherie of Style Nudge.

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 2

If you missed the start of this self imposed challenge then rewind here to see what's driving me. This week I've added another trend from this summer, the never-out-of-fashion gingham. The blouse encapsulates another two current trends, those being frills (oh, I can't get enough of these) and statement sleeves. All of this in one supermarket scoop! 

The beauty of these trousers is that they're the perfect canvas to add a playful touch to. I've combined a bit of pattern play to today's version by way of checks, stripes and the sunglasses, and yet I still feel this has a restrained look (by my standards anyway). No riotous colours or florals here, just plain ol' black and white and yet without dropping into the boring zone. Last week Samantha commented that she thought black trousers would equate to mega yawns and zzzzzzz's but how wrong could she be! These ruffled hems could never be mistaken for boring and certainly lift these black trousers out of the ordinary.

So that's my second version which brings the cost per wear down to £20. I have no idea what I'll dream up for next week, but that's the inspiring bit for me. Creating the new look, surprising myself with a random selection of pieces that somehow bond together to make an outfit. I fancy that I may take another gentle step forwards, nothing too dramatic yet. I'd really like to think that I can entice you to try something a little out of your comfort zone too. For some that may be just popping into River Island to try these trousers on in the changing room. For others, you may send for a pair to try at home so that you can play around and see what outfits you could create. Or maybe you'll just enjoy seeing me playing dress up - well that would be lovely too!

Outfit details - trousers: River Island, blouse: George at Asda (sold out I'm afraid), shoes: New Look, belt, rings and pendant: all charity shopped, sunglasses: Quay Australia.

Please note, this is not a sponsored post. 

Anna x

5Over50 challenge round 2

Ding, ding! - round 2 of our style challenge is here. The collective have the joyful task of styling up Marvelous Metallics this month and you won't be in the least surprised to hear that this was my suggestion. Metallics feature heavily in my wardrobe and shoe collection, causing me to have a difficult time in choosing which of these to showcase. 5 over 50 are raring to go so let's get on with it, shall we?

The foundation of my outfit is this silver pleated skirt which I found in the sale at Sainsbury's some time ago. My sandals are a great match coming from TK Maxx - the brand is Xti. The tiny sequin bag was a gift from my daughter and seemed like the perfect accessory for today's challenge along with silver rings and bangle as well as my relatively new silver and gold chain which ties everything together beautifully. The simple black sweater was a good backdrop for all the shimmering metallics, and my sunglasses (another find at Sainsbury's) add just a little pop of colour.

Here's Jacqueline from Mummabstylish blog. In complete contrast to me she's taken the minimal approach to her styling of Marvellous Metallics and I know that this may have a much broader appeal - it's not for everyone to pitch up head to toe in metallics. This nod to the theme is achieved by way of the silver handbag with silver chain and a silver link watch too. Her cornflower blue scarf is patterned in silvery white too. See Jacqueline's blog here and follow her on instagram here.

Gail is totally committed to this month's challenge and I'm more than slightly envious of her outfit. The black and gold skirt is really striking on its own, but by adding a gold clutch and boots Gail is indeed embracing the marvellous of her metallics. Rock and chick come to mind when you clock the single earring, black motif tee shirt and dark sunnies. Follow her on instagram here and find her blog Is This Mutton here.

The normally conservative dresser amongst the group has to be Laurie whose classic styling always has me wishing I could be more elegant too. Today however, Laurie has drawn together gold, silver and bronze for her ode to metallics and the resulting look is pretty hot stuff, don't you think? The plain white shirt shows Laurie's expertise at knowing when enough is enough. Find Laurie's blog Vanity And Me Style here and follow her intagram account here.

Last, but by no means least is Ashley from Lazy Daisy Jones blog. The third pleated skirt of the feature is a pale gold version which she has paired up with these gorgeous silver shoes. Ashley chose her favourite colour of blue for her top and incorporated another splash of colour by way of her cute little handbag. Follow Ashley's lifestyle blog here and instagram here.

We'll be back again next month with another style challenge. I do hope you'll drop by to see what we're up to.

Linking with -

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb

Cherie of Style Nudge

Jess of Elegantly Dressed And Stylish

Anna x

Simple summer dress

I'm sneaking in an extra post today as the 5Over50 group will be featuring our next challenge on Monday and I thought you might enjoy a little something in the meantime. June surely means summer and this is the perfect simple day dress with no need to fuss and overdo it. 

Yes, I may have shown you this dress last summer, but not with this cardi which effectively means I'm sharing a new outfit. It's also time to share the fact that I've managed to drop 2lbs meaning I can (just) fit into this slimline dress again. Hurrah! There's no big secret as to how I've done it - eat less, exercise more. The sea is gradually warming up so I'm managing to extend my swims which does make a difference to my metabolism. At this time of year I can sometimes fit in two swims a day and again that helps too. And there's certainly no bigger motivator to lose weight than knowing that I might meet someone on the beach with only my Speedo to give me cover!

In February I featured my efforts to teach myself a better, sleeker freestyle stroke (see here). The main reason for that was to be able to swim longer distances, ie from one side of the island to the other which is a two or three mile swim. One thing that I'd only recently tuned in to about swimming is that freestyle is the most efficient (and obviously quickest) stroke of all and breast stroke is the least efficient (and slowest). All these years of swimming breast stroke meant I was burning up the most calories possible. Speed isn't the focus for me, burning calories is what it's all about and by swimming the least efficient stroke as fast as I possibly could gave the optimum results. But by swapping from one to the other I'm using fewer calories which is a bit of a drag. So now I'm mixing it up by swimming breast stoke in one direction and then swimming crawl on the way back. Wake up you at the back - I'll be asking questions later! Hahaha it's okay, I've finished now x

Outfit details -
Cardigan: Star by Julien Macdonald, dress: TK Maxx, sandals: Refresh, belt, bangle and rings: all charity shopped, sunglasses: Quay Australia.

And here's a few shots of my very large swimming pool.

No post from me on Sunday, but please join me with the ladies from 5Over50 group on Monday to see how we've styled up Marvellous Metallics.

Anna x