A quick catch up!

Hi there and thank you for dropping by! I've been awol for a little while, but thought I'd better get back online to share what's been happening. Christmas was so lovely this year, mainly because none of us got ill. Last year the four of us were hit by a nasty cold/flu virus but the upside is that we spent this Christmas celebrating the fact that we were all well. We lazed around eating non-stop, watching movies and generally feeling very happy with our lot. And then New Year's Eve came around and I went to the pub to have a dance or two. Steve felt a bit bah-humbug and stayed home, but I was keen to see everyone dressed up. The evening was a fancy dress do with the theme being 1920's. I didn't have an outfit sorted so just wore sequins...

I'd bought this dress from Vinted, the brand is Very and cost me £25. The boots also were from Vinted, are beautifully soft Italian leather and were brand new costing me £6 - yes, actually £6! The yellow tights were from Amazon. 

I had my very own kitchen disco to warm me up before venturing out to the New Inn. 

These boots are pretty special aren't they? I've already lined up three other outfits to feature them...

This was me before my New Year's day swim. I'm so enjoying my winter swims at the moment! The cold isn't too bad as yet - it's mainly about maintaining the distance of once across the bay and back which is pretty much as far as I swim on a summer's day. I'm feeling good about this. March is the coldest month, so let's see how I'm doing by then.

I have a new stylist in the family. My great niece, Leila, is due to go to secondary school this year and at only aged 11 she is already passionate about clothes, so much so that she hopes to become a fashion stylist. Over Christmas I invited her to come to see my winter wardrobe so that she could try a few things on and put some outfits together. She turned up looking like a miniature Madonna, all in black in a variety of fabrics and textures including fishnet tights and lace gloves. This was her suggestion for me to wear. The top is new, from Vinted and the fringed skirt is conversely very old. Leila loves cow print, choosing these boots and orange tights to complete the look. 

I love the look she put together for me, especially as it's not something I would have come up with myself. I plan to invite her again once I've got my summer clothes in place so that she can have another rummage. Watch this space!

This was a post-swim shot sporting that wonderful after glow, taken a couple of days ago. The air temperature is pretty cold at the moment as we're experiencing a brisk easterly wind, but I dodged out of the breeze on the western coast of Tresco on Appletree Bay. The first photo of this post is of me enjoying a hot drink as reward for my efforts. I had a beautiful swim along the length of the bay which really looked like a summer's day, despite the chilly sea temperature. Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to look me up. Here's wishing you a somewhat belated Happy New Year!

                                                               Anna x

December is for Dressing Up, our Style Not Age challenge this month

Hurrah and Happy Christmas to us all! I do hope you're having a wonderful time. Our challenge this month has a festive theme and was chosen by Gail. I'm not averse to a bit of dressing up as you may know and so it wasn't a terrrible hardship to push the boat out for this most special of posts. Let's see how the others fared and come back to mine later...

Gail has totally embraced her prompt by pairing lime green sequins with a gold faux leather skirt to glamorous effect! Catch up with her on Is This Mutton blog for the full story.

This is Hilda's Christmas Day outfit which looks not only fabulous but also comfortable too which is very clever bit of Dressing Up. Read her backstory on Over the Hilda blog.

Gold satin and red wide legged trousers are another successful festive take on December Dressing up from Jacqui.  See more from her on Mummabstylish blog.

Pink, silver, glitter and sequins - Emma's brought it all in her Christmas outfit, even a bottle of bubbly! Find out what she'll be getting up to today on her blog Style Splash.

My trouser suit is a Christmas present from my son (under my instructions obviously) and is by Lavish Alice, a brand I've not come across previously. Its silver and gold pattern screams out festive dressing and I hope to find an excuse to wear it soon. 

I've teamed the suit up with a silver and white sequinned top which is very ancient and was a charity shop find. Sparkly rings are also pre-loved and the silver chain necklace was a Vinted purchase recently. I'm wearing classic black sunglasses by Radley London and must admit I felt red carpet ready in this glitzy lot!

I took myself off the Tresco Abbey Garden for this photo opportunity and think it makes for a lovely backdrop to the silver outfit.  My leather boots are old, from TK Maxx and are utterly fabulous don't you think - the brand is Buffalo.

And just in case you're wondering, I didn't traipse the mile from my home to the Garden dressed like this. I made use of the large loos on site to act as a changing room as no-one was around on the quiet Sunday afternoon. It was a two-for-one day as I captured last week's ensemble and this one at the same time.

And that rounds up another year of our Style Not Age challenge. Thank you so much for joining me and my blogging friends and I do hope you've been inspired to maybe try out something you've seen with us.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Anna x

Sequins and camo for daytime

Eeek, it's only another 7 sleeps until Christmas and I'm so far off being ready! But let's move swifty on... Today I'm touting this daytime look that throws sequins on top of camo print in the loudest of colours. As you may know, I love orange, can't get enough of the colour and therefore when I came across these cargo pants on Vinted (new with the labels still attached) I just knew they were meant for me.

The trousers are so practical for work, yet eye poppingly bright and breezy that they yell out fun. I'll be wearing them this week while I do my final preparations to get the Gallery ready for opening. I'll swap out these orange leather boots (Asos) for my baseball camo ones and add a big cardigan for warmth.

My glitter top was a charity shop purchase from years ago and the orange sequin jacket came from TK Maxx a few years ago; I bring it out every Christmastime and it always makes people smile. The padding makes for a lovely snuggly winter jacket as well as being totally glam.

Glitter, sequins and camo meant I could get away with the minimum of jewellery. The classic black sunglasses are by Radley London and orange belt is from Primark.

Well, I suppose I'd better get back to my fudge making again. I've only one more batch to make this afternoon, making a total of over 24 pounds of the sweet stuff for family and friends. 

By tomorrow this will all be wrapped and packed into colourful boxes ready to distribute to my family here on the islands. It truly is the joy of giving!

I'll be back on Christmas day with my style sisters for our monthly style challenge, so if you get a quiet moment over the festive period please do swing by to see our take on Christmas Dressing.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Anna x

Christmas jumper day

Hello again! Did you take part in National Christmas Jumper day last Thursday? Here on Tresco we did and this was my offering. It's not new, but is one of my favourite Christmas jumpers and really, I don't feel the need to keep buying a new one every year.

I think I bought this sweater a few years ago. It's from H&M and maybe needs a bit of debobbling this year. I must admit it was a last minute rush to find it and get an outfit together the other day. My rings are pre-loved.

The rest of the outfit is pre-loved or simply old. The trousers were passed on from my daughter and the white shirt was a charity shop buy many years ago. Sunglasses are old, from Radley London.

What's new however are these rather fabulous cow print boots, a recent purchase from Vinted. The brand is Koi and even though they look massively high the balance between platform and heel make them surprisingly comfortable. I wore them all day without a pinch or tweak.

I topped the outfit off with my oft-seen green faux fur coat, a regular at this time of year. Red, white and green is very traditional, a lovely look for the run up to Christmas. 

How are your Christmas preparations coming along? As usual I'm up to my elbows in fudge making before I can turn my attention to the home front. I've packed up and sent off some boxes to my relatives in Scotland today and will have more ready to wrap tomorrow. We won't be having our Christmas tree until nearer the time; it's down to Steve as to when he can make the time to find one in the woods somewhere. Apart from that we have presents on the way, so I'm poised with fingers crossed that Mr Postman will come up trumps.

                                                                                              Anna x

Dressing up in December

Regardless of the month I'm always prone to a bit of dressing up, so December is no different I suppose. Fur coats are my coat of choice this month and this one, full length and luxurious, is my favourite. It's been hanging behind my bedroom door for weeks waiting for the opportunity to come out to play. Last weekend we had a glorious dry day (for a change) and by the time I had found my photo spot the sun came blasting down too. It was a scorching day for this time of year and an absolute bonus too.

The cream and mocca cow print coat was from River Island, bought by the family for my birthday almost a year ago. I'm not a huge fan of winter, but the upside is to get the chance to wear this fabulous coat again. 

I've opted for a neutral palette for the overall look which is very different for me isn't it? But this kind of neutral works thanks to the glamorous combination of fur and lace. I've shopped my closet for the whole look: lace body and trousers from Zara and boots from Asos.

Nothing new with my jewellery either. The rings are both charity shopped, necklace from Primark and sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

The pleather paperbag trousers are a lovely easy to wear fit thanks to the elasticated waistband. Pockets too make for an ultra casual look.

So, how has your weekend been? I've been busy at home mostly with cooking for the freezer. At this time of year I like to catch up on batch cooking so that I have meals ready to microwave at the end of the working day. Lighting the fire as I come home from work and having a homemade meal ready for Steve makes me feel that I'm making his day more comfortable. I've had a couple of sea swims too, which were good but challenging too due to the recent drop in air temperature. The sea doesn't seem to change much from day to day, but we had a cool Easterly wind blowing on Saturday morning which did make for brisk dressing when I got out of the water. Tomorrow's plan is for another morning swim and then to catch up on some housework and hopefully to get some online Christmas shopping done. Wish me luck!

                                                                                           Anna x

Inspired by Autumn, our Style Not Age challenge

Hello and welcome to November's Style Not Age challenge, chosen this month by Hilda. Inspired by Autumn suited me down to the ground as this was my work outfit from Friday showing my version of autumn delights. Burnt orange is a favourite seasonal choice of mine, but let's catch up with my blogging friends first to see how they interpreted this one...

Well, it looks like Jacqui and I were singing from the same sheet this time with our orange jackets, floral dresses and boots. Her jacket and dress are both from Bonmarche and boots are Clarks, handbag gifted from Teddy Blake. Catch up on her latest news on Mummabstylish.

Emma has shopped her closet for this stylish outfit - jacket and handbag were both from eBay, trousers and boots from M&S and top was from Joanie Clothing. The rich burgundy velvet jacket certainly says autumn to me! See more from Emma at Style Splash blog. 

Hilda's weekend look is indeed in autumnal hues. She too has shopped her closet for the challenge adding the only new item, a bright red scarf to finish her outfit. I love her boots and jacket and will be hopping across to her blog for more details - OvertheHilda. 

Zingy lemon and orange are Gail's autumn colours, and golly how fab they are together! The coat is from ASOS, scarf and top are from Kettlewell, leggings from M&S and boots are from Office. See more from Gail on Is This Mutton. 

Details of my ensemble are: fur coat from TK Maxx, dress from Joe Brown's (gifted), roll neck, old and charity shopped, boots from ASOS, belt from Amazon, gloves (old), sunglasses from Radley London, resin necklace (very old). 

To keep out the November chills at work I donned this extra layer - another autumnal offering by way of this fairisle cardigan (charity shopped last year). A woollen layer is what my mother-in-law always urged me to wear if I ever complained of being cold. It tickles me that I now pass on these wise words to workmates whenever they remark on our draughty workplace.

I'm still breaking in my new orange leather boots (from ASOS), but did manage to wear them all day long this time. The heel isn't terribly high, although the pointed toes do eventually tweak by the end of the day.

No new jewellery here, simply orange rings and necklace from my collection. Stretch belt was from Amazon earlier this year.

Despite the Gallery being closed for the winter, I do still like to make an effort and dress up for work. We have our winter schedule in place which means we have artists' residencies running over the next few months so I do see a steady trickle of them over the course of each week. Me dressing up is another way of conveying the fact that I take my role as Gallery Manager seriously; I do like to still have an air of professionalism about the place. 

Thanks for dropping by for our monthly challenge - I do hope you've enjoyed it!

Anna x