Outfit: Visiting With Friends Part 2

Friday morning we awoke at our friends’ house and had a leisurely breakfast. I played Junior Monopoly with the children (which I hadn’t played before and which is actually quite a good game) and then we all went into the garden and played Hide and Seek.

The young man and I set off around lunchtime and stopped off for fish and chips on the way back. We had a quiet afternoon in the house, playing His and Hers again and watching Wallace and Gromit on TV.

Red and white stripe top – H&M
Black polo neck sweater – New Look Tall
Jeans – New Look
Tan boots – Barratts
Silver bead – George at Asda
Silver earrings – Funky Junk Jewellery

Total Est. Cost £77

Outfit: Thursday 28th December

On Wednesday we just had a quiet day around the house. I didn’t even set foot outside so I didn’t wear any shoes, so consequently didn’t take any pictures. It was wet and rainy and I spent the afternoon catching up on reading magazines by the fire. I made a beef and Guinness casserole in my new slow cooker and it was a great success – I will certainly be putting the slow cooker to good use once we’re back at work.

Thursday we were up and off to visit some friends down in Lincolnshire. We stopped for a packed lunch in the car (as it was still raining) and then carried on to our friends’ house. The young man is Godfather to these friends’ daughter, and the children were pleased to see us as they always are. They have a log-burning stove in the front room meaning the roaring fire was a pleasure to sit in front of. We ordered takeout pizza once the children were in bed and then had a game of His & Hers – a new board game which our friends had given us for Christmas.

Navy & white polka dot dress – Topshop Tall
Navy top – H&M
Navy tights – Tesco
Tan boots – Barratts
Tan belt – River Island
Silver beads – George at Asda
Silver and diamante necklace – gifted
Silver earrings – Funky Junk Jewellery

Total Est. Cost £125

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #97 and a Chinese Buffet

The day after Boxing Day (December 27th) I spent some time sorting out the gifts we had received over Christmas. We got up late so I made lovely creamy scrambled eggs for breakfast (which the young man said weren’t cooked enough) and discovered that the way to make them so creamy was to add double cream – not very healthy but OK once in a while. In the afternoon I took a walk to the local Tesco so I could enjoy my evening out with a clear conscience that I had done some exercise. I drove over to the other side of the city to meet up with most of my family – my cousin and his wife (who are working out in China at the moment and who are home for Christmas), my parents, sister, brother-in-law, aunt and other cousin – for a Chinese buffet meal, which was delicious.

Apologies for the terrible pictures, I didn’t have long to snap pictures before I went out, but I think you get the idea. These are the jeans my sister got me for Christmas, and the scarf was a Christmas gift from my mom.

The shoes were bought with a voucher from Sarenza. They are to replace the silver flats I binned in Australia which had become totally worn out.

Black shrug – Long Tall Sally
Black cashmere sweater – Florence + Fred at Tesco
Jeans – Next (gifted)
Black and silver scarf – gifted
Silver glitter belt – local boutique
Silver and black flats – JD Martin (c/o Sarenza)
Whitby Jet cross – gifted

Total Est. Cost £38

More New Shoes

(NB. This post was scheduled ahead of time so may not make entire sense if I have already worn and blogged some of the shoes I mention.)

When I returned from holiday I had two vouchers to spend from the lovely people at Sarenza. This enabled me to order three pairs of shoes, and they have all now arrived. (Don't worry, I've also put 3 pairs in my eBay pile, so my shoe total has not actually increased that much recently.) I will wear them in due course, as they will all need saving in the Shoeper Challenge (and I’m really not making that any easier for myself, am I?) but I wanted to post about them because, you know, new shoes are exciting.

First up is this pair of silver flats by JB Martin. This is not a brand I had come across before but the shoes seem very well made and have a lovely thick sole, something that is often lacking in flats. I chose these because I had binned my previous pair of silver flats in Australia – they had been worn to death and were scuffed and the sole was splitting from the uppers. The new pair are a fabric upper (lots of protector spray will be needed) with leather linings. I’m sure I will get chance to wear them over the Christmas holidays.

Second is a pair of shoes by Georgia Rose. They are quite different to anything else I have in my collection, and the white on the uppers might mean they need to be saved for nearer the spring. However, they also feature red and you can’t go wrong with red shoes.

Finally, speaking of red shoes...

Following the demise of my first ever pair of red shoes last year, I had been wanting to replace them with a pair in a darker red (I have some bright red heels but sometimes I want a darker shade) so when I spied these beauties by LK Bennett I snapped them up. I have never owned LK Bennett shoes before, but I knew they make larger sizes so I had a look at what was on offer from them. And they are a favourite brand of Princess Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, who walks a lot in them so they must be well made. This pair is patent leather with a leather lining and a leather sole and they are sure to come in over Christmas, being such a perfect shade for the season.

The parcel that went missing last week contained the LK Bennett shoes and I have to commend Sarenza’s customer services because one message to them on Twitter and they were straight on the case. Sarenza are definitely a company who understand social media and know how to use it successfully.

Outfit: Boxing Day

Boxing Day we got up late and spent the morning pottering about the house. After a lunch of leftover turkey, forcemeat stuffing and apple sauce sandwiches, we got ready and headed to my parents’ house for Christmas Round 2. I was given some jeans by my sister, and a slow cooker by my parents, which I am looking forward to using.

We had a lovely buffet tea and nibbled on chocolates throughout the evening. We had a round of the Logo Game and then drove home.

This dress is a bit big round the top now, but I’ll hang on to it for a while longer and wear it with a sweater or shirt underneath.

Grey sweater dress – New Look Tall
Teal tights – c/o Tights Please
Black booties – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Teal belt – Claire’s
Red beads – eBay

Total Est. Cost £24

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #96 and Christmas Day

Christmas Day dawned and Santa had brought me lots of lovely presents: some leather gloves, some Marc Jacobs Oh Lola perfume, a posh new teapot, some rice bowls for my Denby set and some choccies.

I put the turkey in the oven and set the table. The young man went to collect his parents and aunt, and we sat down to dinner at 1.30pm. Considering it was my first ever attempt at Christmas dinner, and my second ever roast, it all went really well and everyone enjoyed the meal.

Around tea time we headed over to the young man’s sister’s house for a buffet supper and to spend some time with her and her husband and daughter (who is six and was very excited).

These shoes are my second pair of dressy flats and are identical to the blue pair I wore a couple of weeks back. Again, they only tend to come out around Christmas time but I keep them as they make a good alternative to slippers when we are visiting or entertaining.

Lilac cardi – Pilot outlet
Purple sweater – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – Armani (David Jones, Sydney)
Purple flats – Priceless Shoes
Silver beads – George at Asda
Silver earrings – Funky Junk Jewellery

Total Est. Cost £133

Best of 2011: December

And so to December. We were away in sunnier climes at the beginning of the month but once we were back I was able to wear my winter woollies and boots to my heart’s content.

Outfit: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve I was super busy. As we were hosting Christmas dinner at our house I spent Christmas eve prepping veg, cleaning, vaccing, tidying up, washing the good china, making soup and generally getting everything ready.

Mid-afternoon I got changed and we headed off to the young man’s parents’ for and early tea. The young man’s mum and I went to church for the evening service, which always includes a Nativity play and real live donkeys, and the young man and his dad did the washing up then went for a drink at the local club. After church we left the car at home and went to join the fellas for a drink.

These pictures were taken when we got back from the club about 10.30pm, and as it was drizzling outside my hair and boots were a bit worse for wear.

Cream sweater – Topshop Tall
Sequin bolero – Red Herring (charity shop)
Brown denim skirt – John Rocha (charity shop)
Brown rib tights – c/o Tights Please
Tan boots – c/o Deichmann Shoes

Total Est. Cost £45

Best of 2011: November

There were only a few pictures for November to choose from, as we went away on the 12th. Much of the fortnight before that I was forced to work from home as my car was out of action. By this point it had got cold so I was just bundling up in sweaters and EMU boots every day.

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #95 and a Carvery Meal

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa brought you everything you wished for and that you had a lovely day yesterday. I’m just doing a bit of catching up with outfit posts as I didn’t have time to post Christmas Eve or yesterday.

Friday night I met my sister, brother-in-law and cousin for a meal at carvery pub. It was delicious and we all had a good time. After we had eaten I drove out to pick up the young man and one of his mates, who we took home. I had driven almost 100 miles on Friday with all my to-ing and fro-ing!

These fab little booties were a Christmas gift from Deichmann Shoes and I love them. I’m planning to wear them again today.

Teal sweater – Long Tall Sally
Denim skirt – Jasper Conran (Debenhams)
Teal tights – c/o Tights Please
Black faux fur trim booties – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Silver earrings – Funky Junk Jewellery

Total Est. Cost £75

Best of 2011: October

I think outfit-wise, October was my favourite month this year. Despite moving offices and the start of a long saga of car troubles, I put together some awesome outfits. Which one is your favourite?

Best of 2011: September

I am always pleased when it gets to September as it means I can stop pretending to be warm in summer clothes and bring out the boots and sweaters. It also means the countdown to Christmas is on.