Outfit: Wednesday Neutrals

My LTS skirt arrived at last! It only took a week. Damn you Royal Fail! I thought it would go well with red and it does. Red is a pseudo-neutral – it goes with everything but pink and red shoes are always a winner.

Yesterday afternoon I went to a town not far away to get some bee pollen capsules for the young man from the health food shop there. I logged that there are various charity shops there that look worthy of further investigation, and must return to check them out at some point. After tea I went to Aqua Zumba. Our regular trainer must be on holiday as there was a guy there and the class had reverted back to Aqua Aerobics (which I actually prefer). The music was better too, and ended up being a bit 90s-tastic. When was the last time you heard Wiggle It by 2 in a Room? Or Ooh Ah, Just A Little Bit by Gina G?

When I got home I listed another item on eBay (the black bustier top I wore the other weekend in Bristol no longer stays up so it has to go, but I’m on the lookout for the same one in a smaller size on eBay), ironed the many, many pleats in the skirt I’m wearing today as it was all wrinkled from shipping, and then learned how steel drums/pans are made watching How It’s Made once I was in bed.

It is dull and grey again today but at least it is September tomorrow so boots will be acceptable if I choose to wear them. I love, love, love knee high socks right now though – they are the perfect thing for in between seasons as they give coverage and warmth without being thick tights or boots, which, much as I love them, do feel a bit wrong in August.

Black cardi – New Look Tall
Red top – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Tan and black skirt – Long Tall Sally
Black patent belt – free with skirt
Black socks – River Island
Red shoes – c/o NOW Discount Shoes
Whitby Jet cross – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £81

Leather Travel Bag

So remember last week when I showed you the awesome boots I got from Sarenza? And I mentioned that there was a bag too? Well here’s the bag! It is made of gorgeous soft tan leather and is a whole lot more chic than the nylon gym bag I have been using for weekends away recently. It is from the Pieces brand and is just totally gorgeous! It has all sorts of little compartments inside and fold over and zip pockets on the front. Now I just need somewhere to go so I can use it!

Outfit: Back To School Work and Monochromatic Dressing

I can’t believe that there are still two days of August to go. It is dull and grey and breezy outside and not that warm. My office is so cold I am tempted to go and put the heating on.

I bought some navy knee high socks yesterday, and I’m wearing a pair today. Not that you can tell that they are knee high socks because of the length of my skirt, but I promise you that they are. And my skirt is only this length as it is now a little bit around the waist and so sits lower on my hips than it did before. I need to hike it up with a belt next time I think.

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I thought I would try something different with my Obi belt today and tied it in a bow. I like it. I also like wearing all navy rather than all black. I’ll have to try it with grey at some point.

Navy cardi – Next Tall
Navy top – H&M
Navy skirt – Long Tall Sally
Navy socks – Debenhams
Navy suede booties – New Look
Navy Obi belt – ASOS
Blue and black ring – charity shop
Blue beads – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £67

Outfit: Bank Holiday Monday

So, it’s officially the end of summer with the August Bank Holiday, and don’t we know it? There’s a distinctly chilly wind today, and by mid-afternoon the sun had disappeared behind the layer of clouds.

The young man headed off with his mate on their motorbikes for a day at the coast. I did some chores in the morning – cleaned the bathroom, vacced, did two loads of washing. After lunch (and managing to burn two of my fingers on my hair straightners) I cycled to the local mall. I got a couple of pairs of jeans to replace pairs which are now too big, a nude bra to replace one that no longer fits, and some navy knee high socks.

I came home and had a cup of tea, listed the jeans that don’t fit on eBay, and now I’m just chilling watching music television, thinking about having some tea.

Navy and cream top – Forever 21
Denim shorts – Next Tall
Navy tights – Wallis
Blue Converse – c/o Spartoo
Blue bead bracelet – gifted
Silver cross necklace – gifted

Total Est. Cost £46

Outfit: Sunday Shopping

Sunday morning dawned drier than Saturday so I did some washing and hung it on the line. Then I headed into town to meet my sister. I was going to wear my red leather blazer but decided I should get it dry cleaned first, so went for a brown cord one instead.

We had lunch in Subway (easy to figure out the WW points) then wandered around the shops. I bought a few bits – some long sleeve tops (H&M have some fabulously long sleeved tops right now if you’re tall like I am), a bra to replace one that is now too big, and some bits in Boots. I managed to leave my Boots bag in the changing rooms of H&M and only realised an hour later. I phoned them and headed back there and fortunately it was still there. This was some kind of miracle as there were expensive products in the bag (Clinique and No7) and H&M is usually packed on a weekend. However, it was surprisingly quiet in there yesterday and my bag had lain undisturbed.

In the evening we went to our favourite Mongolian BBQ restaurant with my sister and her husband as it was my brother-in-law’s birthday on Friday. We had a lovely meal as always there.

Brown cord blazer – Topshop Tall (charity shop)
White t – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Jeans – River Island
Brown suede flats – Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Brown leather belt – bought in Crete
Silver cross necklace – gifted

Total Est. Cost £51

Outfit: Saturday and an Awesome Charity Shop Find

Saturday morning we had a bit of a lie in, then I headed off to meet my sister. We drove to Ilkley where we met up with my friend from work and her friend. We had some lunch in The Dalesway Hotel, a pub that none of us been in before, but which proved to have excellent food. It was sunny at times, but there were a few torrential rain showers. I was the only one not in Converse pumps but my boots turned out to be the right choice.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the charity shops, then had a coffee and cake in Costa to rest our legs and shelter from yet another down pour. I was crowned bargain queen for my find of this red leather jacket for just £8.50:

It’s from Mango and I wasn’t expecting it to fit as I always find tailored leather jackets to be very narrow in the sleeves, but it fit me fine so I snapped it up.

Saturday evening the young man and I ate in (I made chicken fried rice again, something of a favourite now) and we watched Taken on TV (which randomly featured Holly Valance, who will always be Flick Scully from Neighbours to me).

Navy and white spot dress – Topshop Tall
Navy tights – Wallis
Tan leather belt – River Island
Tan boots – Barratts
Blue beads – gifted
Blue bead bracelet – gifted
Silver bling ring – River Island
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £108

Outfits: It’s Friday, Friday, Gotta Get Down on Friday...

It’s Friday, the start of a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, and guess what? It’s raining! I think (hope!) the weather is set to improve over the weekend, but for today it was out with the boots. The pale jeans are a nod to the fact that it’s still officially (allegedly?) ‘summer’, and the ¾ sleeves are for my rather warm Friday office.

Last night we had tea at the young man’s parents. We stayed there chatting with them until about 9.30pm and then headed home. I frantically ran round making myself some lunch for today, sorting the washing, doing all the things I hadn’t had time to do before I went out (the Tesco shop and unpacking it all put paid to all my time after work).

We watched a bit of How It’s Made on the Quest channel when we were in bed last night (we do this most nights, it’s the young man’s favourite show). Last night’s episode was particularly interesting though as it was bagels (did you know they steam bake them) and vinyl records (how on earth did they discover that you could record sound into grooves using a piece of sapphire?!).

As I missed Boxercise last night, I need to build up some activity points today. As appealing as a lunchtime walk in the rain sounds, I think I’ll play on the Wii a bit this evening – Just Dance and the boxing on the Sports disc should do the trick.

Blue cardi – Ethel Austin
Leopard print tank – River Island
Jeans – Next (charity shop)
Tan boots – Barratts
Cream leather belt – gifted
Cream bead bracelets – Diamonds and Pearls
Giant faux pearls – local boutique
Blue chunky bangle – Diamonds and Pearls
Blue ring – Dorothy Perkins
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £81

Stuff I’m...

...Loving

That Warburton’s small size loaf has the same points per slice as WW bread
Receiving each piece of my autumn wardrobe
H&M for restocking that sweater
New Look for super-speedy shipping

...Not Loving

H&M for that sweater going out of stock in the first place
HDNL for taking SO LONG to update their online tracking
Royal Fail for taking 5 days (and counting) to deliver an item to me

Outfit: And It Was All Yellow

I don’t often wear yellow accessories, but I do love these shoes and the belt goes really well with them. I never wear yellow clothes. In fact the only yellow item I own is an oversize t shirt which I occasionally wear for the gym. But that doesn’t count as real clothes.

Last night I stopped off at Boots on my way home and only bought the items on my list. I always consider this an achievement in Boots as it is so easy to be seduced by their offers. I got home and whipped up a delicious chocolate mousse (from the WW magazine) for dessert. It involved custard, chocolate and egg whites. Who knew chocolate mousse could contain custard? My sister and her husband came over for tea and I made chicken fried rice, to rave reviews. My sister took the recipe home with her to make again for her husband. My brother-in-law brought over some of his vinyl records so we played some of those after tea.

This morning was my weigh in and despite the weekend away I still lost 3lbs! As it’s 2 weeks since I last wore this skirt it was time to try it for size again and it is now loose around the top. I must adjust the belt that came with it (which was too big when I got it – the button needs moving) so I can actually use it.

We are at the young man’s parents’ for tea tonight which is great as I don’t need to think about what to cook, never mind actually cook it. I will miss my Boxercise class though, so I’ll have to make up for it by building some activity points over the weekend. I must remember to charge up the Wii remotes so I can play on Just Dance.

White and black stripe shirt – Next
Black and white spot skirt – Dorothy Perkins
Black socks – Long Tall Sally
Yellow wedges – Priceless Shoes
Yellow belt – charity shop
Green beads – I Am..... boutique
Silver hoops – gifted
Silver bling ring – River Island

Total Est. Cost £60

New Boots

I got a package in the mail yesterday. It was from Sarenza and contained the latest goodies I had ordered as part of the brand ambassador programme. As I am longing for autumn to arrive, I went for a pair of boots. I love the cowboy boots I have and they are so comfy, but dark brown doesn’t work with everything so I plumped for a similar style in another colour.

This pair is by Mustang Shoes and were a bargain in the sale. The colour is called Anthracite and it looked black to me on the site. However, when they arrived the boots are actually more of a dark grey (which I guess the name of the colour gives away) and they are lovely. I love that they have a bit of a heel but are fairly flat. The legs are slim enough to work under jeans, but they will also look awesome with dresses and skirts.

I also got a bag, but as I’ve not had chance to take that out of its wrapping yet, I will do a separate post on it.

Outfit: Colour Blocking and a New Dress!

In addition to the list of 5 things I’ve bought for fall in the past week, I snapped up this dress weeks ago when the new Next Directory came out. I have learnt from experience that if you don’t buy Tall items from Next the minute the Directory arrives they will sell out and you will be kicking yourself and scouring eBay for months. I’d seen this dress in store way back in about June when the new collection first started filtering in and hoped they would be making it in the Tall sizes. They were (and you can also get it in black and tan) so I ordered it straight away. I can’t wait to wear it with a black polo neck underneath and with black knee high boots or my red suede booties, but for now I’m happy with leggings and a shrug. When the dress arrived it was a little snug around the hips but I’m happy to say that it fits much better now.

Last night I was running around like a mad thing – I hung the sheets on the line, washed my car, had my tea and watched Neighbours (priorities people!), cleaned the bathroom and vacced. I had a bit of spare time before I had to head out to the committee meeting, so I put on my Black Lace CD (no, I’m not ashamed to say that I own that) and did some dancing to the party tunes. 20 minutes earned me 2 activity points.

My friend brought her little boy to the meeting as his dad was out too, and so I got to cuddle with him. He will be one in just over a week and I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.

I am excited that my latest delivery from Sarenza should arrive today. Stay tuned to find out what I chose this month!

Black shrug – New Look
Red and black dress – Next Tall
Black leggings – New Look Tall
Red shoes – c/o NOW Discount Shoes
Whitby Jet cross – gifted
Black earrings – gifted
Black patent belt – Primark

Total Est. Cost £53