A sparkly skirt, shiny shoes and a silver bag for a day in the shops...

Boden jacket, Warehouse jumper, Topshop skirt, Dune shoes, Oushka bag, H&M necklace

 

When a friend and I were out running last night we were talking about clothes. I know. Shock horror, can you imagine that?  Amongst many topics we discussed, we were talking about how re-working older pieces with newer bits and bobs can make all the difference.  

 

Today I was working with a lovely lady for a third time. Knowing what a fan she is of all things sparkly, I wore this navy sparkly skirt which I bought from Topshop last year. It's not old but not new either, so it sits somewhere in the middle. However I have had the navy Boden jacket for about four years now and the Warehouse navy jumper with sparkly shoulders, for even longer. The Dune shoes are new this winter as is the (much used) silver bag - so it really was a case of mixing something old with something new and a few bits in between. 

I knew that it wouldn't be long and at last the Christmas jumpers have started to arrive in the stores. The Primark ones have been around for a while and I love the one in the men's section with the built in Santa belly. However luckily it's just been pipped to the post on my list of "Desirable Christmas Jumpers" by this Warehouse sequin Robin jumper (£42). I know that there are Christmas jumper detractors but I LOVE them and anyone who doesn't is, and I know I'm going out on a limb here, is a misery pants.

When I was getting dressed this morning for some reason my printed scarves from the last few years just didn't appeal to me. I'm not sure what it was and no doubt they will again but I think that it's because secretly I'm harbouring a desire for a fur scarf. The trouble is that most of the ones that I have seen in magazines have been hugely expensive but then I came across this one in  Next (£20) and somehow everything just fell into place. So that's one for the Christmas list then.

I'm back in the shops again tomorrow and for the rest of the week so I'll keep my eyes open for some other gems.

Updating a piece from last winter with bits and bobs bought over the summer...

Jack Wills shirt, Dune boots, New Look jeans, Topshop T-shirt, Accessorise bracelets.

As I think is pretty obvious, I don't do glamour in Wales. Not that it's not a glamourous place - far from it - have you seen Catherine Zeta-Jones, or Katherine Jenkins, or Catherine Middleton? (OK so she's not strictly Welsh, in fact she's quite possibly not Welsh at all but she's married to the Prince of Wales' son and she lived on Anglesey for a while). No, it's just that a) I am always under instructions to "pack light" which means that everything has to work together and b) we tend to be walking on the beaches, lighting fires, crabbing off the pier and chilling at home, so heels and dresses don't really fit into my lifestyle over here.

Now let's face it, a checked shirt is never going to set the world on fire but checks are a huge trend this season - from scarves to shirts, to coats and even shoes. Here are a few of my favourite checked pieces this season:

Warehouse checked cape £30 which I really like as it's a relatively inexpensive way of adding something to your wardrobe which is warm, practical and which will give a lift to an existing jeans/coated jeans and boots type outfit.

This Jigsaw cropped checked shirt (£59) is 100% cotton and comes in burgundy, which is having a huge revival this season, or blue. Easy to wear with black, blue or grey, it's a nice alternative to a denim shirt for a weekend look - especially for those who aren't fans of double denim.

And at New Look there's this orange checked scarf for £9.99 which I first spotted on a friend who was out watching the half marathon. She observed that only I would notice a scarf after 11 miles, the last of which was uphill, but it was so lovely and I was so desperate for a distraction from the discomfort that it was a welcome sight (as of course, was she.)

And the orange scarf sort of leads me on to this beautiful orange sky which greeted me a couple of mornings ago, having been woken earlier than I would like to have been by the youngest.

All of which completely misses the point of this post which was to talk about how things that you may have added to your wardrobe over the summer, can be used to re-work pieces that you may have had last winter.

In the above photo I've added in my favourite Topshop yellow T-shirt and a stack of bright bracelets from Accessorize, both of  which pick out the colours in the shirt. It's not revolutionary but it's worth having a rifle through your wardrobe, taking out something that was OK last winter but perhaps not quite as it should have been and see what else you can add to it to make it work a little better - or in a different way. Just a thought for a rainy afternoon!

I love this jumper which I've seen on several people. I think that there's something wonderful about wearing a jumper with 1970 written on it....unless like me you happen to have been born in that year - in which case it's not necessarily something that I would choose to advertise.

If ever an excuse was needed to wear (high street) cashmere....

Outfit: Cos jeans, Next shirt, Dune boots, H&M jumper

 

This was the fourth  attempt at what transpired to be terrible photos so please forgive me. I know, I should be sacked as a blogger! The first ones were taken inside and were so orange, as a result of the roaring fire that we didn't really need but which the pyromaniac 12 year old wanted to light, that I looked like I'd turned into Katie Price. The second lot were taken with the youngest indoors and me outdoors, so that she didn't get wet but they were so dark that everything that I was wearing looked black. The third lot had bags of rubbish in the background and the fourth lot (above) well I don't know what the six year old had been on but I wouldn't mind some. Hic!

The purpose of the outfit - so far as there is one - is to fill you in on the H&M cashmere jumper (£49.99) which I bought a few weeks ago. There's lots of high street cashmere around from H&M, to M&S, Boden, Jigsaw and Tesco. Last year I had a grey cashmere jumper from La Redoute and it was great, so it's not something that you need to spend a fortune on. Although having said that, all of my cashmere is high street so I don't really have a comparison to make and maybe others would disagree.

I really like the colour of this jumper and its slouchy fit and our youngest likes me to wear it when I give her a cuddle before bed because she finds it so soft. So that's a fantastic excuse for wearing cashmere if ever there was one! But seriously, for anyone who finds wool too scratchy or stiff, cashmere could be the answer. In fact Mr SG is wearing a cashmere jumper today and he never wears jumpers because he hates how scratchy there are and for someone who could not give one jot about clothes, that is praise indeed.

Double denim and a statement necklace

 

[New Look jeans, Dune boots, Gap top, Boden jacket, necklace pressie from friend]

In my last post I wrote about just managing to hold things together on the home front and how I knew that, when I'd left the wet washing in the basket for so long that it went stinky and it had to be re-washed, it was time to have a few days off from blogging.

Well a friend made me feel much better because she said that they couldn't actually do any washing in their household because they had run out of washing liquid. And things weren't looking too good on the loo roll front. Glad to hear that I'm not alone.

Today I ran the Birmingham half marathon. I don't think that I was actually overtaken by the smurf but at times it was close and getting around the Sumo wrestler was tricky but do-able. I wanted to say a huge thank you once again to all of you who donated to Cancer Research UK and also to friends and people I know who cheered along the way. It all made a huge, huge difference at times when things were hard.

After the race we headed to Pizza Express to re-fuel. Mr SG had dropped in to the pub after cheering me on so was unable to drive which meant we were left with the choice of walking there: "It will be good for you, you're meant to keep moving after a race aren't you?" (Mr SGs helpful contribution to the discussion), or with me driving.  Oddly at that stage walking didn't hold any great appeal. The above shot is what I wore when we went out - flats and all manner of stretchy, comfortable things.

A grainy shot of me at mile 12 doing some bizarre hand gesture of the waving variety - I think! 

Topshop printed trousers with (yet more) sparkles.

 

Ooooh golly, it's such a busy time of the year work wise that I don't have time for my usual ramblings - which is probably a relief to many.

I bought these Topshop printed trousers before the summer holidays but I hadn't got around to wearing them. However  since buying my black pointy Dune shoes (these are great Halloween shoes!) it's made wearing quite a few outfits just that little bit easier. With a block heel and strong style, they go with lots of things and together with a navy sequin jumper from many moons ago, I really liked wearing these trousers.

There are lots of printed trousers around this season - lovely ones at Zara and H&M too. At £14.99 the H&M ones are a really good buy. They are 98% cotton and 2% elastane so they have a nice feel plus a little bit of stretch. Amusingly - or so I thought - they are called "slacks" on the label, which is what my Grandma always called trousers. I know that I've said it before but for anyone less sure of printed trousers, a dark background with a lighter print is more flattering.

And there's these great H&M  cashmere jumpers (£49.99) which work really well over a printed trouser as they offer a little "bottom coverage" without being too loose and baggy. I've linked to the page so that you can see the different colours. The one that I have just bought is a pretty peachy/light coral colour which will pick up the same colour in the trousers. H&M also have a lovely grey cashmere cardi and a round neck jumper style too - so it's worth taking a look if you fancy a little bit of cashmere but at a more reasonable price.

 

 

I'm away for a couple of nights in Wales with some friends over the weekend so I'll blog when I get back. So far I've packed a Onesie and my trainers - an interesting sartorial combination if ever there was one.

Jumpers of the striped, and Christmas, variety!

I'm writing this in the sun, sitting outside a café waiting for someone and I can't see the screen at all, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm typing - which probably means that it will make way more sense than usual.

I think that there are a lot of us out there who have a bit of a thing for stripes.  Well that is unless you're my sister. Wide stripes give her migraines so if you're wearing them, she can't look at you which is all a bit disconcerting - especially if you happen to be her boss.

I first wore this jumper when on holiday in Guernsey but it's been too warm to wear it since. Actually it was really hot when we were in Guernsey so why I was wearing it there I have no idea - but what's new?  I bought it from Reiss in the sale, at a point in time when I felt that it was a reasonable amount to pay and since then I've pretty much stashed it away. Here I'm wearing it with Zara boots and Jigsaw jeans, together with my Clover Oushka silver handbag which is now on sale, with 50% off, making it £77.50. I love a metallic handbag as it goes with just about anything. It's the same with metallic shoes too. Quick and easy styling is definitely what it's all about.

For anyone after a metallic handbag there's also this lovely one from Boden. It comes in bright coral too and as someone on the hunt for a bright bag, this is definitely a contender. But we all know what I'm like with my lists of things that I could do with, and things that I actually end up buying. Knowing me I'll probably end up with the metallic one.

One thing that was on my list and which I didn't go off piste on, were some navy ankle boots. Given that practically everything that I own I have in navy, I'm not sure why I didn't have any navy ankle boots but it was a glaring gap (OK, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration - maybe it was more of an amoeba sized gap) which I filled firstly with the Boho boot from Boden

but which I replaced with the Petra style of boot from Dune (£89). These also come in  black, natural and tan for anyone who likes the style but not so much the colour. Our eldest looked at them and said "Oooh I like those, they're the kind of boots that Harry (Styles) wears. " Now given that he's a 20 year old bloke and I'm a 40 plus female, I couldn't work out whether that was a case for keeping them or not. But I like them, so I am.

I'm not one for embracing Christmas earlier than is absolutely necessary - and certainly not before bonfire night but today I did make one Christmas purchase. Last year I felt bad that our youngest missed out on the Christmas jumpers and ended up with a Primark one from the boys' section. It wasn't the Primark bit that bothered me, more the boys bit. So this year, and for once slightly ahead of the game, I've been and bought her jumper (also from Primark). And here it is.....

I may also have bought her a "Frozen" t-shirt because who needs to be stylish when you're 6? Or at any age for that matter. And if you should ever hear that I was seen standing in Primark holding a Frozen t-shirt up against myself to see if it would fit, it was a lie.

You know how you can go orange from eating too many carrots? Well do you think that the same is true of Wotsits? I think that I may have over-dosed on them. Tomorrow's photos could prove interesting.

Sparkles - you can never get enough of them (that's my excuse anyway)!

H&M shirt, Jigsaw jeans, Dune shoes

Having taken a good look through my wardrobe a few weeks ago now, I started to make a mental list of the things that I needed to add to it. As you might imagine this list changed on a daily basis, depending on the weather, what I saw, what I liked and so on. But one thing was very clear - although I needed to add more tops, I DID NOT need any more pale blue ones.

So what did I add? Yep, a pale blue top - the H&M  denim shirt with sparkly gems (£29.99), to be precise. Having written about it the other day, I thought that it would be good to share what it's like in real life. In fairness I ordered it not knowing whether I would keep it or not but then I decided that I liked it and now it is firmly ensconced amongst the other pale blue tops and shirts that reside in my wardrobe. I will wear it with jeans (wow, radical), coated jeans, printed trousers, a tube skirt and full midi skirts too. So hopefully it will earn its keep.

Thank you to those of you who have added your name to the guest list for the Jigsaw event that I invited you to yesterday. We've been talking about it for a couple of years now but finally it has been signed off. Yippee! An official Jigsaw invitation will soon be out but for now we just wanted to ask people to save the date. Hopefully I'll see lots of you there for what will be a really fun event.

Enjoy the start to your week.  Can you believe that we are there again already?!

A nod to the sixties with Dune patent shoes and a Jaeger Boutique dress

 

We all know that there's a bit of a 60's thing going on at the moment and it's an easy trend to tap into without looking too try hard. Many will already have some block heeled shoes and if not, there are plenty of them around this season. One option is to wear them with some cigarette pants and a fitted jumper, maybe with a Peter Pan collar or, as I'm wearing above - an A-line dress which is slightly above the knee.

 

Here's how to re-create the look:

 

Take one Boden Ottoman shift dress...

add in a Cos rounded collar mock shirt (£29) - which will give any round neck dress, or crew neck jumper, a 60's feel (don't tell anyone but I was in Bon Marche today with my Mum and they had some lovely crew necks - 2 for £20 no less! Oh and did anyone else realise that David Emanuel, as in Princess Diana's wedding dress designer, did a range for them?? Random!)

and the Dune Affina court (which has a little block heel)....and there you go. Job done!

Of course I appreciate that this look may be the last look that anyone wants to recreate but I wanted to copy one of those recipes at the back of the Saturday supplements which show you how to take three ingredients and cook a five course gourmet meal for 25 people in 10 minutes and you think "yeah right, do us a favour" - but seriously, my version is actually achievable!

And tonight, I will be wearing my....dancing shoes

Remember these days?

Mr SG are off to a black tie event tonight so yesterday morning I pulled out a couple of things that I had it in mind to wear - one of them being these Dune sparkly shoes.

Remember how a couple of days ago I said that there were certain things seemed to go down well with lots of people? Well when these were produced, the girls were like bees around a honey pot. No sooner had I prized them off the feet of the six year old, when the fifteen year old appeared and put them on.

Then there was some sisterly sharing where they opted for one each...

 

Before admiring themselves in them. See what fun we have in the mornings (!!)

 

Personally I would be equally happy in these - my new Saucony running trainers.  Although I have to admit, they're not as sparkly.

A Topshop jumpsuit and a denim jacket....and despite my protestations, winter clothing has got the better of me after all!

 

I bought this Topshop jumpsuit  in November when I was presenting an awards ceremony. Really it deserves to be worn a little more than it has been so today I found a way of wearing it, if only for a short while.

I really like denim jackets on other bloggers but on me - I'm not quite so sure. I've had this GAP denim jacket for years and a few months ago I handed it down to our eldest but for this post at least, I reclaimed it just to see what I thought. Taking away the positives, the combination of the cropped jacket length and the clean black lines of the jumpsuit make my legs look longer than they are. It's a styling trick that can be applied to lots of different outfits. As to the negatives, I'm not convinced that my face matches the jacket!

So then I tried the jumpsuit minus the jacket. The top part is sparkly so it works well for a night-time outfit but really it's not something for every day. It's not the sparkle, rather more the fact that it's not very forgiving if you get my drift, meaning that I need to breathe in a little!  It also really needs heels for their leg lengthening properties which, for someone who currently prefers trainers or flip flops, is a little bit of a challenge. Still, it's earned its right to stay in my wardrobe.

As I mentioned yesterday, I can't quite face the thought of winter yet so talking about winter clothes is out, as is talking about Autumn, or Fall, clothes but transitional? Yes I can do that! Which is stupid really as it's tantamount to the same thing but that's the power of words for you.

So, thinking ahead to some transitional pieces, I can see these Great Plains wild thing trousers (£55) working their way seamlessly into my wardrobe.  Most people have the odd black jumper lurking somewhere and these trousers together with a black jumper or top would make an easy, comfortable and stylish outfit.

And then when I came across this Great Plains manor wool coat (£130) - which let's face it is full on winter, no disguise, I couldn't resist and I had to share it. I love this colour, it's gorgeous and flattering against so many skin tones. A bright winter (oops, said it again) coat is always something to smile about. Lots of ladies steer away from bright coats, fearing that they won't go with many things but I work on the basis that whatever is peeping out of the bottom is likely to be black, denim, navy or grey - all of which work fabulously with brighter colours, so for me that seals the deal.

Re-designing my Peter Pilotto sweatshirt....

 

This top started out as a sweatshirt i.e. it had sleeves. I bought it when the Peter Pilotto for Target collection was launched and although I loved the blue and white print, I really didn't like the print on the sleeves. With a trip to Cornwall and Guernsey coming up, and with its fleecy lining, I knew that it could have a place in my wardrobe but not in its current form. So today I made the decision to chop the sleeves off. And here's how it went:

Get one top and one pair of scissors....

Try on the top and get a rough idea of where you want the finished length of the sleeve to be, then cut a bit below that so that there's room for a turn up;

Use the chopped off sleeve as a measure against the second sleeve so that they end up pretty much the same length. Two minutes later, job done!

Kirsty flippin' Allsop, eat your heart out, you're not the only one who's good with a pair of scissors. (I wonder whether she would think of using the chopped off sleeves as leg warmers though? I feel  a Flashdance moment coming on!)

Bringing you the perfect lace top (and part of a fancy dress outfit!)

Whilst I think that it's fair to say that I probably wouldn't have bought these Karen Millen animal print trousers had it not been for the fact that we were going to an "Out of Africa" party, I really enjoyed wearing them today. I think that it was as much to do with the fit as anything else. They have a relatively high waist, are long enough in the body not to cut me in half, narrow enough in the leg to be fitted but wide enough for them not to catch on my calf.

I decided to stick with the monochrome scheme with a black GAP blazer, cream lace Warehouse top and nude sandals.  Here's an image of the Warehouse top, which is £30.

 For anyone on the hunt for a lace top, there's a lovely one in the Reiss sale which comes in black (£69) or off white (£79). It's a perfect going out for dinner/going to the pub type top when something more than a t-shirt is needed but nothing so fancy as your Dame Edna Everage sparkles.

I don't actually think that the model does the top justice. A little more in the boobage department definitely works well with this top, which is great as flattering tops for ladies with anything more than a little in the bust department can be hard to find.

So the moral of today's outfit?  Don't ignore those gems that you bought for a fancy dress party - you never know when they may come in handy. (Oh golly, the mind boggles. Abba outfit/80's outfit/70's outfit anyone?)

How to style a very full midi skirt...

 

This evening I was working at an event with the accountants PWC. I took these photos at home before I headed out into the big wide world. I'm wearing a flared skirt from H&M (£34.99) with a GAP shirt and Dune sparkly heels. It's a great skirt but it has a big silhouette to it and the combination of that, plus its midi length, means that it needs a fitted top and fairly high heels to make the proportions work. Well it does on me at least!  It's a great price for a statement piece and could work so well for a summer wedding or a ball.

At the event we had the requisite cupcakes...

Goody bags....

Fizz...

 



Flowers...

 



And with my rail of clothes and accessories, we were good to go on our fun filled evening of  style and fashion.

Thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome and for being such a great audience. We had one man in the audience - a Partner from PWC, whose opinion was very much valued and who was very good natured when it came to the cheap laughs at his expense (of which I fear there were several!)

Dinner out in a dress by Jaeger Boutiqe and a Kate Spade bag

We're now back from our time away in Brighton and boy did it rock! We did crazy golf, the big wheel, pitch and putt, we went on rides on the pier, ate ice-creams, visited choccywoccydoodah and did lots of walking along the sea front. I love pitch and putt and play it in much the same way as pool - whack the ball as hard as you can and see what happens. Most of the time it's a disaster but other times the results are spectacular - far and away above one's true skill.

Anyway, on the first night I decided to wear a dress for dinner. After that it was all downhill and in fact for most of the days I wore my running trainers with my outfits - and not even in a remotely cool or trendy way either - just in a nerdy comfortable way.

The dress I am wearing is by Jaeger Boutique, the shoes by Dune and I bought the Kate Spade handbag on my recent trip to Bicester. It comes in lots of colours and was either £68 or £69. There's clearly a direct correlation between the age of your children and the size of your bag - the older the children the smaller the bag. Obviously our children are growing up. It's nice to be past that stage of having to carry colouring things, sticker books and snacks wherever we go.

And at crazy golf the next day (I managed to get a hole in one, although not in the particular hole we were aiming at) there was a ball to match my bag. It was a sign, I was sure.  Of what, I am less sure but it was definitely a sign....