Black trouser challenge 7 and my #instarant

Another week and another variation based on these fabulous frilly fancy pants by River Island. No, this isn't a sponsored post, just my personal style challenge to see how many outfits I can create by building on these wonderful ruffled trousers. This week's offering is here -

I was toying with the idea of nude shoes to tie in with the nude and eau de nil shell top, but decided on these wedge sandals as they feature both colours and also are comfortable enough to wear all day long. I bought the silk top in a second hand store in Ireland quite a few years ago and still deem it as a special find. Costing only 20 euros it's down to less than 4 euros per wear now. The sandals were from TK Maxx: the brand is Refresh. The sunglasses were in the sale at Sainsbury's last year, rings are charity shopped and the pendant I bought when I was in New Zealand.

I'm gonna change gear a bit now as I'm brewing a bit of a rant. It's a #instarant in fact. For those of you on instagram I want to ask this question - "Since when did instagram become a dating site?" Blogging and instagram have proved to be a great way for me to build new friendships over the past couple of years. I follow all sorts of interests from yoga and fitness, healthy eating, fashion, sewing, swimming, holidays, all things Cornish, all things Scottish and generally anything interesting that takes my fancy. But recently I've been getting message requests from men of all ages and frankly I find it a bit of an intrusion. "Hello beautiful, how's your day?" may be an acceptable introduction if I were touting my wares on Match.com, but here I am posting fashion shots for the over 50's or pictures of the sunset from my garden. I deliberately include my marital status in my instagram profile in the hope of deterring this kind of encounter. What kind of guy would hassle a married woman? 

Just the other day I noticed that an instafriend changed her setting to private explaining that she's fed up getting inappropriate messages from men. She's baffled as to how her posts on sewing and food can be construed as encouragement for these stalkers. I decline and block these message requests as she too has in the past, but I'm annoyed to think that we are the ones who have to change our instagram lives to avoid this kind of attention. 

I can only imagine that these men are weirdos, a conclusion that I draw from the fact that they don't avail themselves of the convention dating routes. Why chase a married woman who lives on the other side of the world when you could pop into your local bar and chat to a single woman who has joined up for a bit of speed dating? Why indeed. Maybe because the man in question doesn't really want a relationship. Maybe he gets his kicks from chasing the unobtainable. Maybe he's not got the social skills to interact under normal circumstances? Maybe he's got two heads and six fingers and toes? Goodness knows! It's a blooming mystery to me.

Anna x

Easy summer dressing

There can be nothing simpler for a woman to wear in the warm summer months than a maxi dress. This one is hand made, vintage too I think, and is perfect for swishing about and keeping cool. 

Everything in this outfit apart from my Quay Australia sunglasses is charity shopped - well almost everything, as my rings are c/o Gemporia. The handbag is by Topshop and sandals by Capollini. 

Coming up on the blog soon will be the Black Trouser Challenge no7, another summer exhibition outfit from the next show on Saturday, Anna Meets... will be back too after a long break, and we're only a week away from Ping Pong Piece. It's my turn to choose what we style for PPP this month and I've chosen a beach-cover up. 

Next week I'll be taking a few days off to skip over to the mainland for some appointments. If you can hear the alarm bells ringing, then you may be right. Much as I'll try to deny it, I might, just might, have time to pop into my favourite retailer, TK Maxx, to see what bargains are to be had. And yes, I could take a quick look at the charity shops too along Truro's main thoroughfare. All the good work from earlier this year when I sent boxes and boxes of clothes off to the Salvation Army may well come undone over the course of this couple of days. However, I see this almost as a bit of a public service. My purchases benefit many different charities initially and then some months later I send a consignment off to another charity for others to buy, bringing in more money. Why, I feel almost saintly with all of my good deeds!

Anna x

5, 15 & 25

Yes, 5, 15 and 25 are the dates of the summer shows at the gallery this summer. During July and August we host 6 exhibitions in 60 days which is quite a turnaround. Polly and I work harder than ever to keep the gallery running smoothly and looking at its best. Our visitors love attending the opening night parties and we thrive on the additional challenge these nights bring. Without our back-up team of helpers we wouldn't cope and so first of all I want to say a huge thank you to them all, Polly included, for everything they do over these next two months.

At the end of the evening the girls still look as cheerful and fresh as at the start - thanks (L to R) Max, Polly and Ruth for your support!

The show we opened on Wednesday was for Ellen Watson, Ramie Leahy and Imogen Bone and can be viewed online here. Each artist sold work and received acclaim for their paintings which made a wonderful display. The sun shone and our clients spilled outdoors to enjoy the view in between making their purchases. We couldn't have had a better start to our summer exhibition period.

The following evening we had a party to say a fond farewell to a local family. Alex and Nicola along with their sons George and Harry have lived on the island forever it seems and are now making a fresh start in mainland Cornwall. They will be sorely missed and will leave a huge gap in this tiny island community. It's sad to see them go, but we all have our own path to tread. We wish them every success and much happiness in their new life. 

On evenings like this we locals always say how we wish we got together for reasons other than a family leaving or a funeral. It seems to take these sombre events to bring us out en masse and yet we'd all prefer to come along for no other reason than to say hello and how ya doing? Food for thought.

Outfit details - I found this orange lace jumpsuit by Darling in TK Maxx and must admit it was a dream to wear. Shoes are from Primark, necklace was a gift and the other jewellery and belt are all charity shopped. Sunnies are from Quay Australia.

Linking with -

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb

Jess of Elegantly Dressed And Stylish

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 6

Here we have week 6 of my black trouser challenge featuring these fabulous frilled lovelies from River Island. You don't often see me wearing red - last time was at Christmas with this red skirt- but today I've rediscovered this M&S linen top that I bought in a charity shop last summer and this is its first showing.

Red and black may well be everyday wear for most of you, but this is a giant step out of my comfort zone. Having said that, I realise that finding the right shade of red makes my skin come alive. I've previously shied away from reds thinking that they didn't suit me, but that's because I've been trying reds with a blue tone in them as opposed to this which is a tomato red that veers towards orange. The vintage handbag doesn't come out much for all the previous reasons so this is a great excuse to showcase it once again.

Outfit details - trousers: River Island, top: M&S, belt, bag,bangle and rings: all charity shopped, necklace: gift, shoes: BCBGeneration.

On Sunday I'll be featuring my outfit for our first summer show so please join me to see how I kicked things off this year.

Anna x