Mum on the Run - A Friday wish: Please, when will it be warm enough for me to wear this without freezing to death?

I just want to say a big hello and a big thank you to everyone who came along to the event last night in aid of Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer. It was a great evening with lots of chatting and laughter. I would imagine that there were probably one or two sore heads this morning, which is always a sign of a good night out.  

 

Crikey, it was cold today. These photos were taken just after we had arrived home from school, having run all the way back to get warm. We were due to go straight out again but not before the youngest nipped up to her bedroom to get her fleecy hat and gloves, which she needed as it promptly began to hail.

 

The sun lulled me in to a false sense of security before I went out for this afternoon's school run. Thinking that it would be fairly warm outside I wore a mac but that didn't cut the mustard at all and it will be relegated to the "not quite warm enough to wear yet" pile when I am packing for our weekend away in Brighton (which is what I should be doing now so I will quit wittering soon and get on)!

 

As to the rest of the outfit - having had two late nights in a row (I know, rad or what?) I felt that a walk to school would be good so really it went from the trainers northwards, to Hobbs jeans, a couple of lighterweight (ie not warm enough) jumpers, All Saints mac, Gap scarf, Kausar bag.

I think that the late nights were reflected in my pallor - either that or the new make-up that I have bought is too pale for me, which is a near impossibility, so I felt the need for colour, hence the scarf/bag/trainer combo.

Right, I had better go and get on with that packing now. Cheerio and I hope that you all have a lovely weekend.

Mum on the Run - Layering a dress over trousers and wearing a couple of Bicester purchases...

With the impending trip to One Direction (sorry, I can't bring myself to write the whole 1D thing) I don't think that there will be time for a post tomorrow night, so here's a quick one until I return, probably with ringing ears.

 

There's a closer shot of this All Saints dress below, which I bought at Bicester in March, along with the Hobbs shoes that I am wearing. I hadn't appreciated the height of the "scoop" at the side of the dress but let's just say that whilst it hangs in my wardrobe, it will only be worn over trousers. Yeah, says she of the "I don't like wedge trainers" statement.

 

Not being sure how over exposed the outside shots would be, we headed indoors to take a couple more over exposed shots but nevermind.

The leather jacket added warmth, the coral necklace some colour and I was good for the day - until I returned home having seen a friend's freshly painted kitchen and decided that our paintwork needed sprucing up. The outfit of too short, too wide, 9 year old Topshop boyfriend jeans elicited the comment of "nice outfit" from the eldest. Nice outfit indeed. I think that she might find me wearing it tomorrow night when we go and see Harry and the boys.

All Saints dress (above) which also comes in a top and Hobbs NW3 shoes (below)

Mum on the Run - Two days of outfits and planning our trip to One Direction!

See, not a wedge trainers in sight, although the boyfriend jeans seem to be getting a bit of a battering. I fear it's because they are a relaxed fit, which translates to roomy, which translates to comfortable, which translates to me being to eat more toblerone. Fantastic!

 

Spring has finally sprung here. Yesterday when we went out of the front door it was just like stepping off a plane in Benidorm, or somewhere equally exotic. It was a little windy and it rained for the rest of the day but hey, it was definitely warmer. Yipppee. It was the same today too. Two days in a row must mean that spring is here to stay.

 

It was so warm, I wore a short sleeved top yesterday - probably the first time since last September. This is a plain top from Hobbs NW3, which I bought in the sale last summer. It's slightly larger than I would normally have but I didn't want it to be too fitted. As with most simple pieces, it's really versatile in that I can wear it with jeans, under a smart blazer, with a pencil skirt, with a long sleeved striped top layered underneath or worn over a maxi dress. Here I wore it with Gap boyfriend jeans, All Saints shoes and H&M coral necklace, to brighten it up.

 

 

This is a closer shot of my "rocker" belt from Topshop. I had my eye on a Jigsaw one at the time but it was nearly £100 so I went to Topshop for a less expensive alternative. In truth it probably wasn't quite as nice as the Jigsaw one but it's such a long time ago now that I can't remember what the Jigsaw one was like, which I guess is one benefit of the passage of time!

Being a lazy whatsit, I wore the same jeans and shoes today but layered a couple of lighterweight jumpers under this cape, which I bought in the Zara sale at the end of last summer for £10. It hasn't been warm enough to wear until now but (as I keep on saying) today it was. What a great disguiser it is of all things that need disguising! I'm a bit of a fan of a polo neck and it has separate sleeves, which I like.

 

Later on in the day I swapped the shoes for eye wateringly bright trainers when I took the youngest out on her bike - minus stabilisers but which she can't yet ride on her own. Not that my back kills me or anything now.

The trainers were then swapped for wellies when we went in the garden to plant flowers. We now have about 500 000 poppies growing in 1 square cm of soil and when they were watered, they needed mouth to mouth and a life raft.

Along with two of her friends, I am taking the eldest to see One Direction on Wednesday. I've decided that the least cool thing ever is to sing along only to the cover versions they do, in this case "One way or another" and "Teenage kicks" because all that does is show your age.

 

No, the only thing to do is to either sing along to nothing, or everything. This means either a) listening to One Direction songs non-stop for the next two days, because it will take me that long to learn their deep and meaningful lyrics or b) standing there mutely.

 

I have a c) up my sleeve, which is to go and chuck my biggest Bridget Jones knickers at them instead. 

Mum on the Run - All "tucked in" in Hobbs, Gap, All Saints and H&M

This is probably going to be the shortest post in the history of the blog but if I don't finish up here soon I'll have suitcases under my eyes tomorrow, rather than just bags.

 

I look a bit "buttoned up" and a bit "tucked in" in this outfit but as I was once described on Mumsnet as being too "tucked in" it would seem quite apt. That phrase made me laugh, largely because it's absolutely true. As a child I would spend hours tucking my vest into my pants and if it wasn't right, back to square one I went until it was all smooth and as it should be. 

 

I'm wearing a Hobbs jacket, Gap jeans, All Saints boots, Cos collar, H&M jumper and Orla Kiely bag.

Out of interest, is anyone else a fan of being all tucked in or is it just me?

Mum on the Run - Finding Style Inspiration on Dallas - and no, not in the form of shoulder pads!

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely sources. I have had these chandelier ear-rings for a while now and haven't been quite sure how to wear them - that was until last night when we were watching Dallas on catch up. And there she was! Sue Ellen was wearing a great pair of statement ear-rings with a really simple suit and white shirt so....

 

...here we go. I bought this Reiss jacket in the sale a while after Christmas. Reduced from about £225 to £60, I really liked the copper colour woven through it (see below). I wore it with navy Cos trousers and a white Gap shirt.  I had two meetings in town today with a decent walk between them so needed flat shoes and I didn't want to "pretty" the look up with heels, or colour or anything else really. The whole androgynous look was what it was about - well that and the Pat Butcher accessories.

In the same way that someone commented that they didn't think that they would see the words "Ann Summers" and "Sports Direct" mentioned together in a fashion blog (see post from a week or so ago), I'm not sure that anyone would expect to see the words "Sue Ellen" and "Style Inspiration" either but life is always full of suprises. I'm working on having my eyebrows like JR next. It shouldn't take too long.

Mum on the Run - on a trip down to London via Liberty, Anthropologie and for a real life meeting with fashion bloggers I have met in a virtual world

Today I nipped down, whizzed around and scooted back from London all in less than ten hours. A group of blogging friends were meeting and a last minute change of plans on my part meant that I could join them.

 

With an hour to spare before meeting up with everyone I headed, predictably, to Liberty for a look at their flower display...

 

....at their hats which I was hanging my nose over last time I visited....

...and of course their clothes, via a wander through their bag department where, once again, I hung my nose (good job it wasn't runny) over the Sophie Hulme bags.

The appeal of Liberty to me, aside from the beautiful building and great layout, is the fact that rather than stocking designer brands at a few thousand pounds a pop, the brands that they stock, whilst out of my price range, could possibly come within it with a good sale, a fair wind and with a bit of capital injection for a Christmas or birthday present. It's a kind of aspirational/dreamy/in an ideal world expedition.

I have often spied Tucker in the Harvey Nichols 70% off sale. I love the colours and the prints of the pieces.

Carrying on from where I left off with the quilted jackets a couple of days ago, this one is by Isabel Marant, as are the two below.

I'm not quite so sure about the checked one - it looks a little like the acquascutum print, which although I like on some things, this isn't one of them.

I liked this Day Birger jacket though. As with all patterns, it's very subjective but I liked the colours and the geometrical aspect to it and I think that it would be a little more versatile in terms of what you could put it with, than the quilted ones.

I love the brand A.P.C. for its casual French style. With a mixture of stripes, prints and textures in relaxed styles, I could see myself wearing any of these pieces practically any day of the week (in my dreams).

After Liberty, I had a wander down Regent Street to Anthropologie. Lovely colours in the window! They were so spring like, despite the snow that was falling outside.

I have had my eye on a lace fronted sweatshirt for a while now. Topshop, Zara and this one from Anthropologie are all contenders. I like the idea of the practicality of a sweatshirt but the lace appeals to my liking for pretty things too.  Hmmm, I feel a blog post coming on!

I took this photo for my Mum, who loves garden birds. She hates collars on herself but loves birds, so there you go Mum, this one is for you - although I do like it too.

As to the meeting itself, I think that it's fair to say that we were all a little freaked out by meeting the actual, real, 3D people behind the blogs that we read. There's also that feeling of knowing people quite well, without really knowing them at all.  I think that it was most eloquently summed up by Avril from School Gate Style who said that it would all take a while to process.  It was so lovely though to get a chance to chat to everyone. Mostly we just chatted about our families - as is always the case when you get a group of Mums together. We went slightly off piste with a few other subjects too, once the wine had started flowing but some things are best left, for fear of causing embarrassment!

Due to the amount of chatting, eating and drinking that was going on, we didn't really take much by way of photographs but here's one of Natalie (left: Glam Rosie) and Avril (right: Schoolgate Style).

Here's Kat (left: Does my bum look 40 in this) and Fiona (right: Avenue 57)

Followed by Helen (left: The Flaky Fashionista) and Joanna (right: Poppy's Style) Sorry to Sue (Susie So So) and Marlene (Chocolate Cookies and Candies) for not getting photos.

With my attendance being a bit last minute, I had a quick flick through my wardobe last night to see what I could come up with. I had already decided on trousers, flats and of course layers and warmth were obligatory.

This is the print of the Zara blouse that I wore. I picked it up in the sale in the summer but hadn't worn it, so now seemed like the perfect time. It wasn't until I got it home that I realised that it had little gold skull buttons - but I quite like them.

With the photos being taken as we all piled into the car to take me to the station, they were a bit hurried. Actually I don't know why I put that as they always are - but I think that they just look it today!

 

So, here goes as to what I was wearing:

Shoes: All Saints, Trousers: Cos, Fur gilet: Primark (first outing), Leather jacket: Oasis (probably its 101 st outing!), Zara blouse; Orla Kiely bag; Gloves (present).

 

Some of the blogging ladies still won't be home yet. In fact three of them have to go home via aeroplane - two to Ireland and one to the US, so I  must admit to feeling very un-exotic, tucked up as I am back at home. Thanks for a great day out fellow fashion bloggers!

 

 

 

Mum on the Run - One mac two different ways....

I know that it looks like it but when this photograph was taken yesterday morning, I wasn't really looking to the skies, thanking the Lord that the day had come for the children to go back to school. Honestly!

I don't know about anyone else but by lunchtime (not before you note!) I really missed them. I even detoured on the way home from Homebase via our eldest's school to see if I could catch a glimpse of her.

Anyway, given it was the first day of the new term, I thought that I would give my new trench coat an outing.  I had been on the look out for a new one for ages as my Zara one was a bit shabby and I always felt a little self-conscious in it. I had looked at one in the sale in Aubin and Wills earlier in the summer, checked out the Burberry ones at Bicester and also the new season Hobbs and LK Bennett ones but nothing really grabbed me.

I then went into All Saints and found this one in the sale, reduced from £295 to £147.50. What I liked about it was the finish on it. The colour is described as Oyster and it has a slight metallic finish/sheen to it, which is better against my skin tone than a flat finish - especially a biscuit flat finish which makes me look either anaemic or slightly jaundiced. Lovely.

For this first outfit, I was wearing it with a Jigsaw skirt, Hobbs top and necklace, Topshop leopard belt, Zara shoes and Orla Kiely bag.

Number 3 (she who told our neighbours that I was out at the weekend getting drunk and that I had left her in the car on her own whilst I went to Wagamamas for lunch) was in charge of the camera today and refused to take a photo until I said "sausages" - hence the ridiculous grin.

Today I wore it with GAP cords in blue (these are the same style as the berry ones I had on on Saturday. With 30% off at the moment they come in at less than £30), Dune brogues, Ted Baker floral top, same bag!

Here you can get a better idea of the finish on the coat.

and also here too.

I can't find the trench on-line but should anyone be interested in the details, here they are on the tag. Just so that you know, they do come up quite big.

I also had a quick look in Mango today whilst in town and the suede jacket which I showed yesterday is lovely. Very heavy and nicely finished. Next didn't have the heeled loafers in and the best alternative I could find to the Russell & Bromely ones were these Andover high heeled penny loafers in Dune, which cost £75. They still aren't quite there for me but are probably the closest to be had for now.

Hope that you have all had a good day. Do let me know if you find any new season fab pieces!