The Meghan trouser from JD Williams

Early October on the islands and we've had some fabulous autumn sunshine. I've been holding out for a sunny day to showcase my fab new trews from JD Williams, not gifted I may add, but bought after wearing them in the advert (see here). The Meghan trouser is the perfect crop length for my height (5'5") and the proportions are just right for my hour glass shape. I love the high waist which fits snugly at the right place too. 

The secret of the great fit of these trousers is the amount of stretch, including the Magisculpt panel around the tummy plus the secret stretch waistband (read more on the website here). These are classed as everyday wear and I have to say that yes, I could wear these every day as comfort-wise they deliver a 10. Sorry if this is sounding like a huge sales pitch, but if you'd seen me waltzing around in them, you'd understand how great they made me feel.

The sleek silhouette of the trouser acted as a plain canvas for me to play dress-up with this vintage frothy blouse. The shocking pink worked in harmony with the cobalt of the trouser which led me to finishing the style story with my pop art shoes, preloved and last seen here.

Johnny, the choreographer on the JD Williams set, had a phrase that he bandied about to prompt the right moves on the day - "super-sassy" - and that's how this outfit makes me feel. 

The slanted hip pockets are real, not imitation, and yet don't spoil the smooth outline of the trouser. Golly, I do sound like a marketing guru here, don't I! My silver buckled belt is by H&M, blue ring is preloved and pink ring was a gift, old faithful sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

Frills and froth are also falling into the remit of super-sassy. I love this vintage blouse, but tend not to wear it too often as I like to keep it as a special piece. The metallic necklace is another charity shop find costing the outrageous sum of £1.

I bought these pop art courts by Chockers in Harrogate in April, a happy find in a charity shop and only worn twice so far. Their story may well end here though, as after the photo shoot, during the course of my everyday work, the heel came off. I've seen this happen as a comedy feature in a movie, but didn't quite appreciate it the same when it happened to me. Luckily I always have several pairs of shoes at work so at least I didn't have to wobble about for long. Next time I go to the mainland I plan to take these to the cobblers to see if he can fix them.

Super-sassy me.

My footnote has to be that I promise you, my lovely readers, that I'm not on commission here. I'm about to order my next pair of these fabulous trousers and can't decide if it's to be the red or the green...

Have a great week!

Anna x

The joy of friendship

Meet my lovely friends Bo and Dave who recently travelled from Portugal to visit us for a long weekend. That's surely the sign of a great friendship when your mates travel for 24 hours just to see you for three nights. We had a busy few days, eating, drinking and generally making merry and yes, we had a lot of laughs too. 

The weather was cool but bright and calm enough for a boat trip. Bo was keen to visit one of the Eastern Isles so that's what we did. It was dead low water as we chugged across St Martin's flats resulting in our fine boatman having to pull the engine up and use a paddle to punt us across the stretch of water that was at times just inches deep. It all added to the sense of adventure, especially when Steve declared that we might not be able to land on Nornour as the low tide had revealed a lot of rocks. We hatched a back-up plan that we would land instead on the nearby stretch of white sandbar and set up our picnic there if necessary.  

But rocks, seaweed and low tide weren't going to scupper our plans! We skimmed around the sandbar and Steve manoeuvred the boat slowly into the shallows of the Eastern Isles. We encountered lots of seals along the way as we pootled slowly through the long fronds of seaweed, picking our way into the shore. They are hugely inquisitive mammals, but are also quick to duck out of the way in response to a camera being pointed their way.

Hurrah, Nornour was ours!

After a couple of beers to wash down our picnic we climbed to the top of the island to admire the view. The autumn sunshine was dazzling and the company wasn't half bad either.

The views are stunning no matter which direction you look.

The Scillonian steams off into the distance, heading back to Penzance.

Bo's photography tip of the day - get down low to find a new perspective. Yep, that works!

So good to capture these special moments.

Time to go home. 

Here's to friendship!

Anna x

Just call me jazzy

Hi folks, just call me jazzy!

I decided to jazz up what was a fickle Friday by adding all the bells and whistles or maybe that ought to be stripes and fringes. Almost everything in this outfit will be familiar to you, I'm sure. Boots from H&M, palazzo pants by Boohoo, jacket is preloved (no label) and sunglasses by Quay Australia. The top is preloved and cost under £3. The necklace is old, maybe from M&S...

The rings too are second hand, and seen previously.

It's been a funny couple of days weather wise here as the warm temperatures have done nothing but produce fog and more fog. The tide and fog have both drifted in and out, although not in harmony, creating travel havoc with those who were trying to fly in and out of the islands. The Scillonian has been bulging to the gunnel's with passengers eager to move one way or the other and was even supplemented by smaller boats being hired to get folks home in time for commitments. 

Somewhere out there is a jet boat coming in to the quay to collect passengers travelling to the mainland some two hours away. Thank goodness that's not me as I dislike being out on a boat in the fog. I know that they're equipped with all the right technology like Sat Nav and radios but honestly it spooks me. I'll just say a quick Hi to my dear friend Angela who left today on the ferry after two weeks on the island - I hope your journey back to Cornwall was uneventful!

My hectic social whirl has passed, friends have been and gone, were wined and dined and life may settle back into something resembling a routine hopefully with the blog becoming less erratic too. We managed to fit in a boat trip to the Eastern Isles for a picnic which I will be sharing with you soon - the weather wasn't warm, but at least it was good enough to make the trip possible and we all had a super day out.

As I shimmy off towards the weekend I'll wish you all a lovely time - family time, party time, shopping time, DIY time or just time to chill - have a super weekend and I'll be back soon!

Anna x

37 wonderful years!

I'm playing hooky today folks! It's our 37th wedding anniversary and I'm taking the day off, catching up on chores on the home front as well as trying to carve out some me/us time too. Anyway, I'll be back soon, but I just wanted to share this photo from our wedding day, 37 years ago today. Steve and I have been through our fair share of ups and downs in that time, but throughout it all we've had a sense of partnership, equals in a supporting role, buoying each other up when the other needed it. Our shared experiences draw us closer and closer together as the years pass and we still laugh at each other as well as together every day. I'm not sure what I did to deserve this wonderful man, but I bless the day that fate brought us together.

Anna x