A true friend indeed!

Sometimes we need a good friend, and yesterday with Polly away on holiday, Sasha running her circuits class and hubby out on gig coxswain duty my blog photographers seemed to be a bit thin on the ground. So thank goodness that my lovely friend Kate is here on holiday, allowing me to take over her garden as the sun dropped in the sky while she was having a lull between holiday activities.

Kate launched into moving garden furniture as I stood by giving instructions. Poor Kate is used to being bossed about by me and yet like a true friend she puts up with my ways.

Sit here, I said, so that I can check the light. And meek as a lamb, she did. A true friend indeed! Kate is staying at North End cottage for the week, celebrating her birthday in the best possible way with boat trips, bouquets, birthday cake, bottles of bubbly and her best friend. 

You'll have maybe seen these separates from a recent shopping trip in Truro see here, but I thought you might like to see the outfit after a hard day at the office. Hahaha - if you've seen the view from my office window you'll understand that it's no hardship at all!

The jumper and trousers were both in the Topshop sale and the mustard jacket is by Boohoo but from TK Maxx at the bargain price of £7.99. The statement necklace was half price in the Topshop sale too and is perfect for this mix of colours.

The patent boots have barely been off my feet since I bought them. They're soooo comfortable with that mid heel not too high and the foot width isn't narrow either making them all-day-long comfortable. Polly and I have a stash of "afternoon shoes" in the gallery for that moment when you return from lunch and realise that a pair of comfortable shoes is the order of the day. These don't need that back up which is great.

However, I'm not averse to a bit of lounging around as my dear friend has cleared the decks for me. Oh goodness, these sun loungers are very comfortable! Call Steve and tell him I might be late home... Now where's that bubbly?

The dusty track along the lane to the cottage had left its mark on my lovely boots, but a quick rub up and they're as good as new.

My charity shop handbag is a great match for these boots.

It was about a week ago that I was at home fighting off a cold virus, more flu-like I found when the backache kicked in and consequently I'm still not 100%. I hadn't really acknowledged that slight bit of depression that lingers on after these bugs, but am currently running on low. I'm missing my sea swimming terribly but know how it could set me back if I swim while I'm still harbouring a cough and sinus pain. Patience doesn't come naturally to me, but I think I'll have to wait until the weekend until I venture into the briny once again. 

Thanks for dropping in again today. I appreciate your company and hope that you've enjoyed the feature. I'll be back at the weekend with? - goodness knows what! It all depends on whether I can find a photographer!

Take care and see you soon!

Anna x

Pastels - our Style Not Age challenge

Hello and welcome to the Style Not Age challenge which this month has the ladies of the collective featuring pastels thanks to Emma. After a bit of thought I decided to showcase my beautiful mermaid coat in its many pastel hues (see the first time here). Steve bought me this for Christmas (it was from Topshop) and I've been waiting to feature it on the beach in true mermaid style. However I had to draw the line at actually plunging into the sea as I fancy these are really sequins and not scales. 

Steve and I went to Borough beach just after sunrise on Easter Sunday and the surroundings looked pretty idyllic. It was high tide and the beach was bathed in a gorgeous soft light. This is such a dreamy beach, don't you think? There are rocks at either end of the cove but its smooth sand stretches from end to end without rocks or pebbles making it family friendly for paddling and swimming. Straight ahead of me lies the uninhabited island of St Helen's which is a prime picnic spot as well as offering a safe anchorage for yachts and beyond that is Round Island with the lighthouse on top of the rugged cliff tops. It used to be manned when I first came here over 40 years ago, but is now operated remotely. The bleak wailing of the foghorn drones on during thick pea-soupers warning boats of the treacherous rocks nearby.

Anyway let's take a look at how my blogging friends tackled this month's challenge and we can come back for a few more beach shots at the end shall we?

Jacqui has entered into the swing of things with her rear view too. But here's her pretty pastel offering from the front as well -

Tres chic ma cherie! Catch the full story on Mummabstylish blog.

Here's another cheeky shot this time from Emma of Style Splash. I love this combination of coral and lilac, don't you?

Hilda is playing full tease here, so there's no choice but to zip right across to Over The Hilda blog to see what's to be revealed ...

I do feel that I have an unfair advantage with what Mother Nature has laid on for us on this perfect cove. The silky soft sand has captured the rosy morning glow and the tide is on its best behaviour with not a rogue wave in sight. 

Excuse me if I look pleased as punch in this fabulous twinkly layer, but honestly this does make me feel rather glamorous in a beach babe kinda way! I did a fair bit of twirling around and generally swooping about in a non-mermaid fashion. Thank goodness we had the beach to ourselves!

My swimsuit was a super find in TK Maxx last summer and was first showcased here. 

The golden dawn obliged me perfectly with this pastel challenge. I do hope you enjoyed this month's feature. Next month it's my turn to choose a theme, so I'd better get my thinking cap on!

As always, I'm so grateful to have these islands as my home, my most beautiful home. To be steeped in this kind of imagery enriches my life on a daily basis. I could never take island life for granted nor walk away from the opportunities it affords me. I do hope that you're able to count your blessings today and find things in nature to bring pleasure to your life too. 

Have a super week!

Anna x

The year of the trouser suit

Hello my lovely readers. How are you today? I do hope you're feeling better than me currently. The photos belie the fact that I'm in the middle of a horrible head cold. I'm surrounded by tissues, paracetamol and throat lozenges as I wallow in self pity. To be perfectly honest I'm really lucky that I hardly ever get colds, but when I do I always feel that it must be worse than anyone else.

Steve took these shots on Sunday during the lovely sunny spell and when I was feeling pretty sunny-natured myself. He steps into the roll of photographer when he can and we always bicker back and forth as I boss him about. My laughing face is preferable to my resting face that's for sure, so I'm happy to have the banter. 

Anyway, this is the year of the trouser suit according to me with this one being the second I'm sharing with you. The first was the glorious pink version I wore on Mother's Day, see here. The white and black checked suit is from Primark, bought separately and as far as I can recall it cost about £30. The fabric is man made and is a summer weight so I expect you'll be seeing it again later with sandals and a colourful tee shirt. Today I'm sporting a simple white tee from Dorothy Perkins from many moons ago.

I'm a big fan of the trend for paper bag top trousers and find them very forgiving with the post lunch tummy syndrome. Sitting high on the waist then that frill plus bow they distract the eye from any secrets that may lie beneath. 

I have a very small weight tolerance allowance which in normal speak means that I only allow 7lbs as my personal fluctuation limit. At the top of that range I'm fat and at the bottom I'm thin. Feel free to call me crazy, but after years of struggling with my weight I've found that this tightening of the belt as it were keeps me on an even keel. Currently I'm at the top of that range, but today in the midst of this head cold I've fallen into that old adage of "Feed a cold, starve a fever". The fruit bowl is my sofa companion - a shrunken satsuma and two wrinkled apples are all that's left.

I chose contemporary silver jewellery to compliment this crisp simple look - silver and onyx rings (old) along with silver chain by Melissa James and my favourite sunglasses from Quay Australia. 

I was torn between wearing my white kitten heel boots or these pink sock boots (from H&M) and decided that pink just added a bit of pizzazz to the outfit. They weren't ideal for traipsing across the boardwalk here though. Steve poked fun at my footwear not being quite the thing for the big outdoors and yes, he was right - this is gallery garb! 

Thanks for your company while I wrote this today. I had to drag myself off the sofa and think of something other than my scratchy throat, runny nose and outbursts of sneezes while I challenged my brain to write a few words. I'll be back on Monday with the Style Not Age Collective as we take on "Pastels". That had me stumped for a while then I remembered a lovely pastel offering for you all. Steve and I had a laugh with the photo shoot for this one too. In fact I can't wait to show you!

Until then, have a great week!

Anna x

New yellow dress for the Easter show

Hello, and how was Easter for you? Did you overindulge in chocolate? There was certainly a great combined effort in our family to eat our entire body weight in chocolate!

We opened our Easter show on Saturday amidst much excitement and bustle. It was a super evening following on from what has been summer-like weather which really helped to bring out the crowd for our opening night party. 

I changed my mind at the last minute as to what I would wear - mainly because it was so blooming hot! I'd planned to wear a maxi dress with sock boots, but thought I might expire in the extreme heat of the gallery. We opened the doors and skylights though and it wasn't too bad after all.

Anyway, back to the dress. I bought it recently in TK Maxx and the brand is Never Fully Dressed. I thought it would be useful for the summer as it's a lovely lightweight fabric with a super silky feel. It's one of those dresses that once it's on you completely forget about it. That surely has to be a sign that it works. No tugging, wrinkling, riding up or itching of labels - no this one is a keeper. The material is very thin though, so I have a half length slip underneath it. 

The early sunshine really caught me out here as I hadn't done any fake tanning on my legs and so I had to find some sheer tights for the occasion. Luckily I have a big stash of all colours of tights and these natural ones were brand new from M&S. The shoes are quite old and were from New Look, but they work really well with the dress, don't you think?

As for jewellery, I'm wearing my favourite, but very old oversized pearls which were from Debenhams many moons ago. The cuff is brass, also old and the rings are the citrine one my husband bought me for my birthday this year and there's also the charity shop silver and enamel one. And yes, my trusted old favourite sunnies are from Quay Australia.

Now that I've worn this pretty frock to an exhibition I shall downgrade it to an everyday dress purely because of the ease of wearing. I don't have enough of these kind of dresses and they really do make it much easier to put an outfit together. 

And finally. Apologies for being a day late with my feature this week. Easter weekend was a busy time, with not only the first exhibition of the season, but it was also my big wardrobe changeover day on Sunday. I spent 7 hours moving suitcases, boxes and assorted bags out of cupboards to be emptied and refilled with winter clothes. It did cross my mind to take some shots of the event for you, but I reckon you've seen it all before. I've still got one suitcase to go through next weekend and that ought to be the deed all done. As usual there were some lovely surprises as well as some not so lovely ones, for instance the shrinking of last summer's trousers whilst in storage is probably not a true thing, but more likely is evidence of me still carrying a couple of winter kilos in places I'd rather not have!

And this is the gallery and how it looks with the current show on the walls. It's not often that we have a plethora of sorbet coloured paintings on display nor do I always match the artworks so very well! I'm wearing some of my latest purchases - trousers, tee shirt and biker jacket are all from Primark and the brocade trainers are by Replay. This is the moment between preparing the gallery for the evening ahead and finishing the day's trading. A final check of everything to make sure all is as it ought to be and then Polly and I scoot off home for a bite to eat and a quick change ready for the party.

I'll be back again on Thursday this week with my first summer trouser suit (as promised) and then on the last Monday of the month it'll be time for our monthly style challenge. For the next little while I'm going to post on Mondays and Thursdays to see if it helps my busy routine. Thanks for joining me again and I do hope you'll still find time to visit on those days!

                                                                                             Anna x