International Women's Day 2020

Yay, I'm back and so are you!

Thanks for joining me today on this, International Women's Day. I thought it quite fitting to include this feature from the April issue of Coast magazine where I've been chosen as the Coast Character of the month. As part of #IWD2020 we are prompted to celebrate women's achievements and challenge stereotypes, therefore here I am blowing my own trumpet. 

International Women's Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual

An equal world is an enabled world.

Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements.

Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

Let's all be #EachforEqual. 

                                                                                 Anna x

A bit of pattern play

Hurrah, it's March!

I nearly shouted Hurrah, it's spring, but I've been reading up on when spring officially starts and the dates are varied. According to the meteorological calendar it's the 1st of March; tradition states it's the 21st of March; astronomers state the 20th, but this year we welcome the first day of spring on Thursday the 19th of March. Anyway, I'm feeling rather perky thanks to the lull in the storms and this very welcome dose of sunshine.

My happy state is not only down to the weather, but this jolly outfit that is a playful mix of checks and spots with a brilliant burst of pink which always cheers me up. A woolly winter coat is still an essential at the moment and this vintage favourite is snug with its buttons all the way up to the neck and longer length - perfect for keeping the drafts out! I bought it in Palermo four years ago when we were on a cruise (see here). This is where the blog acts as a great reminder of these happy times; I'm so pleased to have this visual diary of my life to look back on.

The rest of the outfit is this - pink fluffy sweater and cosmic creepers are both from Enjoy Clothing in Truro; the spotty denim jeans are pre-loved; the brand is Cosmic jeans and my scarf was a charity shop find many moons ago.

Brothel creepers may not be the height of fashion, but these cosmic dazzlers stole my heart when I first clapped eyes on them and I love them still. I don't wear them if it's threatening to rain as they're only fabric, but they're holding up well.

My rings are quite contrasting in style today, but both chosen for their colours. The perspex one was a gift and the other from an airport concession.

I'm so excited to share my new sunglasses with you. A friend of my is a designer of eyewear and gave me a bundle of sunglasses when we met up recently. They're by Radley and you can see the brand new range here.  I'm delighted that I've got a whole new sunglasses collection to wear this year, so do keep your eyes peeled for the next pair...

Thanks for dropping by again today . 

Hope you have a lovely week ahead of you!

Anna x

Tartan and fur

Yay for fur coats in February!

I know it's great to have a bit of spring in the air, but I'm still happy to be wearing fur in February, particularly this one that's still feeling new. Sasha bought me this for my birthday last month and I've been wearing it a lot, although not on the blog. So here's my favourite combo so far - yellow fur coat with my two tone tartan jeans. Oh goodness, how I love this look!

The jacket is from H&M and is soft as a cuddly teddybear. My reflex as I stretch my hand into my wardrobe for a coat is to pull this out and that's mostly because it's so delicously soft. I'm not one for repeat wearing so I do have to force myself to skim past it and am limiting myself to once a week currently. However, I'm aware that it's about to be March and wonder if it's a fashion faux pas to wear one's faux fur then? Hahaha, did you like that?

The outfit reads like this today - Quay Australia sunglasses, H&M fur coat (I couldn't find this one but they have a lovely blue fur coat here), green ribbed polo neck sweater from Primark, ASOS tartan jeans, Steve Madden trainers and yellow leather gloves from TK Maxx.

As you can see spring has indeed sprung here on the Isles of Scilly with the jolly yellow daffodils popping up all ove the place. Over my shoulder you can see the white rollers breaking out by Golden Ball. The winter storms have created some wild displays at the North End of the island.

So, this weekend as the UK prepares to be hit by Storm Jorge (pronounced hor-hay) what are your plans? I hope to get out for a walk if the weather allows or even a swim if it's not too wild and then the rest of my weekend will be dedicated to the gradual de-junking that continues (if somewhat slowly).

I finished reading this lovely book last weekend and it's helped to reignite my desire to take control of my shopaholic tendancies as well as my hoarding habits too.  I'll be attacking a particularly messy corner this weekend with shredder to hand as I plan to reorganise my filing and loosely termed paperwork. Wish me luck!

                                                                                 Anna x

Flower Power - February's style challenge

Welcome to our style challenge for February!

Hello and welcome to our monthly challenge with the Style Not Age Collective. As we hurtle towards March the promise of spring is in the air echoing this month's theme of Flower Power. As usual we've managed to come up with varied offerings, ranging from elegant through to playful as we showcase our very individual style. I do hope we're going to inspire you!

Style Spash Emma has created a chic look with this black and pale pink dress, topped with a stylish felt hat and fur scarf that looks soft and cosy. The big blowsy blooms of the frock are offset by the teeny dotty pattern play. Do please keep me in mind when you're ready to pass this one on Emma!

Jacqui from Mummabstylish looks lovely and also very summery in her offering this month. She carries off this pastel hued outfit with a girlish flair - adorable eh? 

It was Hilda's turn to choose a theme and how fab this choice turned out to be. We're seeing a fair bit of the 70's influence amongst us and Hilda's embracing the look perfectly. See more of her backstory on the her blog Over The Hilda.

This month we're welcoming back the familar face of Gail of Is This Mutton blog. If you're a regular reader you'll remember she was involved in our monthly style challenge called 5Over50, the last one of which is shown here. After spending some time away doing her own thing, Gail was keen to rejoin our monthly collaboration and we are very happy to have her back on board. Gail is featuring her favourite floral bomber jacket with an almost identical print top underneath. Do swing by her blog for a catch up when you get a moment.

Fiona and I had to take refuge indoors this week to capture these photos, out of the wild weather that storm Dennis brought to the island. Bright sunshine was at least a help to lift the atmosphere as we made use of the space within the Pavilion in the middle of its face-lift. 

Even though the wind was blasting across the sea, the view from here was still stunning.

With no musical backdrop, I hummed some inane tune to counter the echoing of my footsteps, dancing around creating fun as is my way. Fiona struggled with fluctuating light levels, blurry shots and backlighting slowing down the process as I sashayed around, oblivious. Point a camera at me and I'm in my element!

Flower Power to me stirs up thoughts of those teenage years when I was enjoying my first forrays into fashion, spending my hard earned pocket money on mini skirts and skinny rib tops, hot pants and suede long fringed waistcoats and tent dresses worn with knee high wet-look boots. This homage to those days was quick to pull together from my wardrobe; the dress was a second hand buy last year, the New Look ankle boots were in the sale last spring and the tights are from a huge cache I have of all sorts of colours and designs.

I've featured this floral tent dress (Zara) on the blog before (see here) and I must admit it is indeed a thing of joy to wear. I recall wearing a similar dress - white cotton in a light waffle fabric, with discs of pink, yellow, orange, purple and lime green with three quarter length sleeves and a ring pull zip up the front -  when I was only about 10 years old. We were going to a family wedding and the psychedelic dress was one of the first fashion buys that embedded itself into my memory bank. It captured my imagination and fired up a lifetime of passion for clothes.

All of today's accessories, including handbag and floral necklace and matching bracelet are second hand. 

The finishing touch for today's look was this ditzy print coat (pre-loved) by Kew. The 3/4 length sleeves and thigh high hemline make this a versatile jacket that looks equally good over jeans.

I'll leave you with this final shot of the view across to Bryher and Samson islands. White tops on the sea show how wild these sheltered waters have been lately. We must count our blessings however, that we're not suffering floods like so many regions of mainland UK are. Let's all hope for an improvement this week!

                                                                                     Anna x