September, I'm coming for you!

September can be a funny month. The start of a new term, children moving onwards and upwards, a chill in the air meaning that autumn is on its way and most of all, change. I've concluded that humans don't like change very much.

Don't make me go home!

During our last few days in Guernsey I was sort of dreading the return home, to life and a daily routine. And then I re-visited the "roundabout" as per my earlier post and I decided that either September could rule me, or I could get my schizzle together and tackle it head on. So before I left Guernsey I started to get my act together and I sent just one or two emails of things that I knew needed doing around the house, just to get the ball rolling. Little steps and all that.

So in no particular order these are things that I'm going to tackle and this is what I have in mind to do - a list of New (school) Year Resolutions - if you like.

Stuff around the house:

I've contacted a local handy man. The tap in our downstairs loo needs fixing, plus I have pictures to go up. I'd like to re-grout the bathroom floor and buy a new blind for the bathroom too. Even knowing that those things are in hand have made me feel better.

The girls have both tidied their bedrooms and the car is full of stuff for the charity shops. I've been through my wardrobe and sorted my clothes out, meaning that I now have a better idea of what I have and what I'd like to add. That too is a weight lifted.

There's a chair I'd like re-covering, and I'd like to replace the blind in the spare room as well as get a new sheepskin rug for it - so those things are now in hand. 

I've booked the decorator to come at the end of October to paint one of the bedrooms and also the bathroom. We've been in this house for nearly 13 years now and neither room has been decorated since we arrived. How bad is that?!

So that's it for the house for now, other than needing a new desk chair. It's GCSE year for our son and he will be sitting at his desk a lot. Oh yes, he will! 

Stuff to do for me:

Get a hair cut. I purposefully haven't had my hair cut for ages but now is the time to go for the chop. That will make me feel a whole lot better. 

Think about having a spot of botox. I've never really seriously contemplated it before now but I might just investigate it. It may not go any further than that but there's no harm in looking. 

Get back to eating 3 proper meals a day rather than summer type food. I love home made soups and stews and with the marathon coming up, I need to keep on top of my nutrition game even more. 

Plan my winter wardrobe - but that's worthy of a blog post in its own right!

Back from holiday and contemplating the jobs (and washing!) to be done

Stuff to do for work:

Say "yes" to more things that I'm invited to do. Historically I've felt that every minute of my working day should be accounted for - it stems from having time sheets as a lawyer. But I need to get out and have more fun at events, socials, networking and just in general.

Manage my work streams better. Being freelance I have lots of different "arms" to my work from personal styling, to fashion and commercial styling, TV work, blogging, working with brands and running style events. I'm never quite sure that I'm top of all of them at all times.  Any tips would be gratefully received! 

Get on top of my social media. My profile pics need updating, my Pinterest link doesn't work on my blog and there are a million and other one little things that need attending to. 

Get back in the shops pronto so I that I can fully suss out the new season's collections in preparation for all the personal shopping I have coming up. 

Sort out all my paperwork and maybe do my tax return before the end of October, rather than waiting until the end of January. 

First day back at work - judging the Midlands Media Awards. Excuse the knackered plant pots. I'm going to go and move them RIGHT NOW! 

Stuff to do for the children:

With Flo heading off to University, there are a lot of things that I need to do with her. We need to shop for bits and bobs, get her meningitis C vaccination organised and I need to help her with her bank accounts and finances. 

So that's my list of tasks for the month ahead. Does anyone else have anything that they want to add? Is there anything that you routinely do in September? (Please don't mention Christmas!!!) and which makes you feel a whole lot better. Oh but of course I forgot the most important thing. September traditionally means new school shoes....so a new pair of shoes must feature in there somewhere! 

It's that dress again!

Dress: & Other Stories, Sandals: Jigsaw, Belt: Cos

Who hasn't seen this dress a million times on various bloggers? I've also seen it on lots of people out and about. In black, in cream, it has been a winner for many with its midi length and "helpful" sleeve plus that little bit of pom pom detail. So sorry to be a bit boring... hopefully the tan accessories will help - a little. I was in London today and I took a look at & Other Stories, hoping that there would be an updated version this season, which there wasn't. Maybe next year....

The & Other Stories pom pom dress and let's ponder ugly shoes...

I bought this pom pom trim dress from & Other Stories (£55) quite a few weeks ago now but saved it for our trip to the US. Having worn it on a baking hot day, and shorts on another, I realised how cooling the dress was compared to the shorts - it must be down to the air circulation! I think that this was the day that we also did the tour of the UN, for which we had to dress appropriately, so the midi length worked well.

The whole foot bed shoe trend suits me down to the ground and I wore these Aldo shoes a huge amount.  From what I've read this trend is here to stay and it's likely to get even more ugly. Apparently really ugly shoes make the rest of one's outfit look even more chic. Or, I wonder, do they just focus the attention on the ugly shoes so that no matter how chic the rest of the outfit, no-one notices because it's totally overwhelmed by the ugliness of the shoes? Now that's one to ponder for a Sunday night!

An outfit for a night on the tiles (OK, pizza with friends) and who fancies a Primark cropped top?

[Zara boots, Boden coated jeans, &Other Stories top, Whistles jacket, GAP bag, Whistles gloves]

Crikey me it's cold. Cold in a good way, a proper crisp cold way, rather than a bone chilling damp way, so that's good but it has meant that I've had to resurrect my most duvet like coat from storage. It's not featuring today but it came out last night when I walked to our High Street to have pizza with some friends. It's good and roomy so I can layer a whole outfit underneath, such as this one above, including the jacket which I bought from Whistles last year and which serves me well on days like this. 

So I thought that I'd follow the talk of cold with the skimpiest outfits I'm likely to wear - although just to clarify in case anyone was horrified at the thought, I don't wear cropped tops without something on top of them. This lot is from Primark, which has the most amazing selection of sportswear in at the moment in all different colours. Strategically placed just inside the door and also in our Selfridges, the shopping experience is pretty good. 

I've tested out the vests and one of the cropped tops and so far so good. My temperature seems to have gone haywire when running of late - I think that my jacket has been too warm and the heat hasn't been escaping so I have felt as though I was being basted like a turkey in the oven. However with a cropped top, a vest and one of the Primark hoodies (so good that I returned the Sweaty Betty one that I had ordered and which was 7 times the price) it all seemed a bit better. Anyway, we'll see.

I should add that I've only tried one pair of the bottoms but they were just too low rise. Personally I prefer the thick cotton GAP ones as they offer more support for a bum that's heading south and thighs that are heading both east and west simultaneously - although I will try some other Primark ones but only when I can face taking my trousers off in a Primark changing room. Not that I can quite imagine when that will be.

When all else fails with ideas for a post, just take a photo and write! (Wearing Zara, Whistles, &Other Stories)

[Outfit: Whistles jeans, Zara boots, & Other Stories jumper, Oasis necklace]

Each day after an outfit photo has been taken, I try and think of an angle to take on it when writing the post. Whether it's something to do with the colour of an outfit, a particular trend, a styling trick, divulging a great find or pairing the old with the new, I usually (hopefully) come up with something.

However today I've come up with a big, fat zilch. My initial reaction was that I needed to get my hair cut (that's already booked) and that I look as if I could do with eating a pie or two - but honestly that's just the angle.

I thought about going down the route of how Style Guile was always meant to be very much feet on the ground fashion, which it is, but that would be copping out. Then I was going to talk about how I'm preparing for my 12 outfits of Christmas posts, which gives me leeway to look like a scruffy bum before the sparkles start. That's not so much of an excuse but it's not really a good enough angle. And then I was going to write about how I was just flipping freezing and that I wanted to be warm, which is true but then again it always is, so that's hardly new. Then I was going to link to my lovely necklace (a bargain at £6 from Oasis) but it's no longer online so that angle failed too. So in the end I decided to write about how all my angles for writing a post had failed and in doing so I seem to have written a post. Hope that's OK with you all for tonight!

One thing that I did do though and which I hope may be of some use, was to visit the & Other Stories site, just to see if I could find a similar jumper. In terms of shape (a bit short and a bit boxy) this Wool pearl detail sweater (£79) is pretty similar (although in terms of anything else it's not even remotely similar) and it's also just, well, pretty really. Possibly rather nice for Christmas day I thought.....