Outfit: As It Begun

So July is ending as it begun. Cold and wet. It was just 9°C when I was driving to work today. I was wishing I’d put a sweater on this morning. Thankfully this dress is quite thick fabric. Let’s hope August can do better weather-wise.

Last night I went to the Hard Core class again. Last week I didn’t feel as though the class had done much for me. Until Wednesday that was, when I could totally feel it through my abs. So I guess it must have been good and went back again yesterday. Doing that class then Zumba after it means I get home just after 7pm rather than after 8pm. Definitely better and it meant I could start reading The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl which someone on the WW website recommended. It was only 1p (plus postage) second hand on Amazon so I bought it and am thoroughly enjoying it so far. Plus I think it’s good to change up your workout every now and then to make sure you are still challenged by what you are doing.

Red and white dress – vintage (Sammy and Sid Vintage)
Black top – Long Tall Sally
Black leggings – New Look Tall
Red shoes – c/o NOW Discount Shoes
Black and silver bracelets – gifted
Silver beads – George at Asda
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £84

Blog-iversary!

Happy birthday to my blog which turns 6 today! Can you believe I’ve been blogging for six years now? When I started I certainly didn’t have any visions of still being here six years later. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of my loyal readers who continue to come back here day after day. Also a warm welcome to anyone who has joined us in the last year. Thank you all for your support – I enjoy blogging but knowing that someone is actually reading this makes all the difference.

Outfit: Partially Dressed

I got downstairs this morning, took my photos, then realised I was partially dressed. Not in a ‘I forgot to put on my skirt’ kind of way, but that I had no jewellery on. I can go for hours without noticing a lack of jewellery, but as soon as I realise it’s missing I feel, well, partially dressed.

We’re back to the slightly grey, slightly chilly ‘summer’ weather today so I opted for long sleeves today. I put on the grey jacket from yesterday with this ensemble today and was glad I had as it was chilly out and chilly in the office thanks to the bane of my life also known as the air conditioning.

Black top – Tall Girls (eBay)
Denim skirt – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Snakeskin shoes – Matalan
Silver belt – Primark
Whitby Jet cross – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £19

Weekend Recap

Well that was a busy weekend! I think I need another day off to relax now. Friday afternoon I went to the hairdressers and got my hair cut. I’ve had some shorter layers put in but until I stop being so lazy and actually make the effort to do a proper blow dry with my Babyliss Big Hair I don’t think you can really tell. However, it looked ace when it had been professionally blow dried on Friday.

Friday night we watched the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, along with most of the rest of the country I think. I was on Twitter and Facebook whilst watching and everyone else on there was watching too. We thoroughly enjoyed the first part and I learned a lot when the national teams started parading in. For instance, who knew there were that many countries that start with the letter B?! I had to Google several of them to find out where they were!

Saturday morning I had a couple of errands to run in the village, then went home for some lunch and then we went cycling. We were out for about 4 hours and racked up 20.68 miles. I could hardly move my legs to turn the pedals by the time we got home, but it was worth it as it earned me a whopping 14 activity points. We ended up on the canal side and had a drink at a pub there before heading back along the towpath. Saturday night we stayed in and watched Doc Hollywood on TV.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early and headed off to Crich Tramway Village to meet my sister and her family for the Mini Meet that was on. My sister and her husband own a classic Mini and there were probably around 100-150 of the cars there yesterday. We had a picnic lunch on the grass then the young man and my brother-in-law went to drive the Mini in the parade. It’s quite a sight seeing all the Minis driving up and down the main street, horns blaring and someone was playing ‘Self Preservation Society’ (from the original Italian Job movie). We were lucky with the weather and other than a few spots of rain it stayed dry.

We had an ice cream from the ice cream parlour and after all the cycling on Saturday I had no hesitation in indulging in a chocolate chip cone with a flake. We all watched the second parade and then rounded off the day with a drink in the pub. When we got home last night I put on a load of washing, made the tea, made the lunches for today and did some ironing. Hence why I could have done with another day off today!

Sunday’s outfit:
Grey check jacket – Topshop Tall (eBay)
Red and white stripe top – H&M
Jeans – New Look
Black trainers – Fit Flop (c/o Fitness Footwear)
Sunglasses – Claire’s

Total Est. Cost £57

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2012 #54 and It’s Nearly The Weekend!

I am so glad it’s Friday! My alarm really surprised me when it went off this morning – for a moment I thought ‘crap, it’s Saturday and I forgot to turn off my alarm’ but then I remembered it was Friday. It didn’t stop me from having another snooze for half an hour though!

This afternoon I’m getting my hair cut and then it’s home for a relaxing evening and perhaps watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Tomorrow I have a beauty appointment and Sunday if the weather holds we might go to a mini rally for with my sister and her husband and daughter so it should be a good weekend.

These shoes were bought for the same show as the white heeled pair I wore the other week. The ladies chorus needed white flats for the end of the second half when we were in nightgowns and mop caps. This pair was also from Priceless Shoes and cost all of £8. I bought a silver pair in the same style a few weeks later and wore those to death – they finally bit the dust in Australia last year and I binned them before we came home.

Brown cardi – Florence + Fred at Tesco (eBay)
White ‘Tall? Me? Really?’ cami – Café Press
Jeans – New Look
White flats – Priceless Shoes
Silver hoops – Claire’s
Brown necklace – Scope
Brown wood bangles – gifted
Brown metal bangles – Dorothy Perkins
Brown leather belt – bought in Crete

Total Est. Cost £55

Outfit: Black and Blue Dress

It’s tempting to think of this dress as a summer item: it’s lightweight, has short sleeves. But it’s also black and it works equally well with a polo neck underneath it in the winter as it does with a cami under it for summer (why did you have to make the neckline so low Dorothy Perkins?). Having said that, I don’t think I’ve worn this since we were in Australia. I wore it the day we went to Summer Bay (Palm Beach). Today I put a blue cardi over it almost as soon as I stepped out of the house as it was noticeably cooler than it was yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon I went to visit my sister after work and my parents were there too so it was nice to see them. When I got home I grilled some pork chops for tea and then the young man’s mum called round to see us. After she left we watched Mythbusters, a show I am slowly becoming addicted to.

Tonight is Tesco shop night so nothing very exciting happening.

Black and blue dress – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Blue tank – Topshop
Blue patent shoes – New Look
Whitby Jet cross – gifted
Silver hoops – Claire’s
Blue bangle – Diamonds and Pearls

Total Est. Cost £47

Thursday Latelies

• Fat free flapjack – it feels like a naughty treat but it’s actually quite healthy. 

• The beeping mechanism in my car that lets me know I’ve left my lights on – I’d have had a very flat battery several times by now if it weren’t for this alarm. 

• Sunshine and warmth – at last! I was beginning to feel seriously deprived by this ‘summer’ so to have had even a few days of dry, warm weather is fabulous.

Outfit: Charity Dress Down Day

It’s Wednesday, I’m in jeans! We’re having a dress down day at work in aid of someone raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society so most people are in jeans today. I did get asked whether shorts were allowed (they are, but only if they’re knee length) but the forecast was for it to be cooler today so not many took that option.

Last night I went to step class and it was hard work! It felt extra warm outside when we were finished, coming out of an air conditioned studio and into the summer heat. I went home, took a shower, then had some strawberries whilst watching Myth Busters and then the 1970s family programme. The 1970s thing became a case of who could shout ‘my mum has that!’ at the TV the most times (me) as we spotted various items from our childhoods, and in some cases that our parents still own. Last week on the 1960s programme they were using my grandma’s plates (Mom – the ones with the blue and black snowflake things around the edge).

Tonight we were thinking of having a(nother) barbeque, but it looks as though it will be cloudy and possibly not so warm, so it’ll be tea as usual then a quiet night in I think.

Pink jacket – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Pink tank – gifted
Jeans – New Look
Yellow wedges – Priceless Shoes
Pink necklace – gifted
Pink bracelet – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted
Yellow belt – charity shop

Total Est. Cost £37

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2012 #53 and Another Sunny Day

I was beginning to fear that I would be losing these shoes under the terms of the Shoeper Challenge () but as the rain has now stopped I grabbed the opportunity to save them whilst I could. These shoes are by New Look, but were bought for the very reasonable sum of £2.99 from a charity shop about 5 years ago now.

So this is day 4 of no rain and it’s lovely and warm again. I took my hat with me today as I went for a walk yesterday and wished I had it with me as the sun was so strong. I bought that hat at the beginning of June (it was £4 in the ASOS sale) and this Sunday was the first time I wore it. I think it’s actually a men’s one as it’s a bit big for me but if I wear my hair in a pony tail it stays on OK.

Last night I went to the Core class at the gym, then did Bokwa afterwards (we are assured it’s back to Zumba next week). When I got home the young man was barbequing so he cooked me some chicken and I had it in a sandwich. I was looking forward to watching the programme about family life in the 1970s but got my days mixed up and it’s actually on tonight. We ended up watching something about what ages skin and how to look younger. The biggest culprit is the sun (unsurprisingly) so this morning I could be found slapping the factor 30 onto my face, a habit I hope to get into and do daily.

So tonight it’s step class then home to watch the family life show that’s actually on this evening.

Navy top – H&M
Beige trousers – Topshop Tall
Turquoise peep toes – New Look (charity shop)
Turquoise necklace – gifted
Silver bangle – M&S (free on 3 for 2 offer)
Silver hoops – gifted
Hat – ASOS

Total Est. Cost £49

Outfit: Summer At Last?

Clear blue skies. Sunshine. Warm temperatures. Is this what summer is supposed to look like? The weekend has been warm and sunny, and it hasn’t rained since Friday. This is progress for the UK, believe me!

Wanting to make the most of the good weather we headed out early(ish) on Saturday morning to go to Masham Steam Rally. It wasn’t as big as the one we’d been to before in Pickering (though I suspect that one was cancelled due to the weather this year) but it was good nonetheless and we spent about an hour and a half wandering around looking at all the vintage cars (some of which were new during my childhood – does that make me officially old?!) and listening to the steam organs playing their fairground-style music. Afterwards we went into Masham itself and had a walk around the town and a look at the market. Next we headed to Bedale and had some lunch in the sunshine in a pub beer garden – something we’ve done about twice so far this year.

We’d decided to have a barbeque for tea so we set off back after lunch and chilled out in the garden for a while before lighting up. We’d bought some sausages and beef burgers in the butcher’s in Masham which the young man cooked for himself – I stuck to chicken and Quorn sausages in order to be more WW friendly. It’s quite easy to keep the points low at a barbeque – chicken breast is always a good option and I had slices of bread rather than rolls and didn’t feel deprived at all. We spent the rest of the evening watching Indiana Jones and then The Happening on TV.

Sunday morning I was on Sunday school duty again and fortunately we are now onto our summer rota where the kids just play games rather than have an actual lesson. I say fortunately because there were two christenings taking place yesterday morning and so there were about three times as many children as we would usually have.

When I got home I had some dinner then washed my car. We spent the afternoon lazing in the sun in the back garden then had another barbeque for tea. I made a quiche for my lunches today and tomorrow and did some ironing whilst watching a programme about the greatest bits of the past Olympics on BBC3. It’s fair to say that the BBC is a little Olympics obsessed right now.

Today I am wearing a vintage dress I didn’t think I’d get to wear on its own again this year as it hasn’t been warm enough for short sleeves recently. I thought it would only come out again with a long sleeve top and tights underneath it (you can’t really put anything over it – look at those sleeves!).  This is what summer dressing should be about: dress, shoes, belt, done.

Tonight I have my usual Zumba class and I’m going to go to something called Core Fitness before it rather than Body Conditioning after it in the hopes of getting home (and getting my tea) a little earlier!

Navy dress – vintage
Leopard print shoes – Atelier Mercadel (c/o Sarenza)
Red belt – Next
Navy heart necklace – Scope
Silver hoops – gifted
Blue bangle – Diamonds and pearls

Total Est. Cost £23

Outfit: Colourful Friday

I bought these jeans and this top on the same day, and when I saw them together I thought they made a pretty good combination. That was back in April though and it’s taken me until now to pair them up. Nice and bright for (yet another) rainy Friday.

It’s the weekend and I have no plans other than Sunday school on Sunday morning (though that’s just supervising the kids whilst they play games as we don’t plan lessons for the summer holidays). It will depend what the weather is doing tomorrow as to whether we go out anywhere.

Black knit jacket – Topshop Tall (eBay) Turquoise top – Long Tall Sally Teal jeans – Topshop Tall Black and cream shoes – Next (charity shop) Silver hoops – gifted Whitby Jet cross – gifted Turquoise and green bracelets – gifted

Total Est. Cost £83