Outfit: Brr!

Winter has returned to the Frozen North this week. After almost a month of milder weather I’ve had to scrape ice/frost off my car twice this week and they’re forecast snow for the weekend and/or Monday. It’s cold. Sheepskin lined boots were definitely a good option.

Last night I did the supermarket shopping and I went to Aldi for a big shop for the first time ever. We seem to be spending quite a lot at Tesco each week so I thought I’d try Aldi and see whether it was any cheaper. I was pleased with the price but I’ve yet to compare it with Tesco to see how much we’ve saved, and I’m not sure what the Aldi brands will be like. It all looks OK so we’ll see. I’d definitely go again for the experience though: it was really quiet and the store is pretty small so it only took about 20 minutes to get round and get everything, compared to the 45 minutes plus I’d spend in Tesco.

Brown sweater – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Jeans – Next Tall (eBay)
Tan boots – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Leopard print scarf – H&M
Wooden heart necklace – Scope
Earrings – Ethel Austin

Total Est. Cost £39

Outfit: Full Patterned Skirt

I’m contemplating doing a 30 for 30 during February – what do you think? Would anyone join me if I did one? I really enjoyed the one I did two years ago during February, and it taught me a lot about my closet. I think February is the perfect time to do one – the is not much chance the weather will heat up and should it snow, coats and snow boots can be added as necessary, they don’t have to count in your 30 items.

I was at a loss as to what to wear today, so last night I looked at the inspiration calendar for a little, well, inspiration. The idea for today was full patterned skirt. I only have two skirts that could be described as full and patterned, and both are packed away with my summer clothes. So I substituted ‘full’ for ‘warm’ and picked out this vintage velvet number. I find it best to wear this skirt with mostly black as it’s such a busy print so that made the rest of the outfit easy and all that was needed was a scarf. I watched Fleur’s scarf tutorial on You Tube last night so tried out a new way of tying it this morning. I’m not sure I’ve got it entirely right – another view of the video might be in order.

Last night the young man was late home as he’d been out visiting clients for work, so I had plenty of time to catch up with the second episode of Press Gang that’s on the ITV player from last weekend, and to watch two episodes of Gossip Girl. I’m way behind with that, I’m only on the beginning of season 4 but I’ll catch up eventually.

I just realised this morning that I will have had these boots 10 years this year. They get regular wear and are still in great shape. They are also really comfy for the height of the heels which helps to explain why they get regular wear.

Black sweater – New Look Tall
Velvet skirt – Marks and Spencer (vintage)
Black fleece lined tights – Primark
Silver hoops – gifted
Pink beads – gifted
Pink scarf – eBay
Black leather boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)

Total Est. Cost £85

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #82 and I’m Done!

Here it is, the final pair of shoes in my collection. I’m calling time on the Shoeper Challenge for me now, and I’m all set to start the new challenge, whatever it may be this year. This pair was my December pick with my voucher from Sarenza, and they’re by LK Bennett, still my favourite shoe brand. I have actually worn these already, when we were in London before Christmas. However, it was only down to the hotel bar and I didn’t get a picture so it didn’t count towards the shoe challenge. I chose these wedges because my similar navy blue pair is so comfy, and because I don’t really have any sensible black shoes. And as boring as that may be, everyone needs sensible black shoes at some point so they’re a good thing to have in your wardrobe. I think the patent leather helps to make these less boring and more shiny though.

At the end of the challenge I have saved 82 pairs of shoes and boots, although my current total stands at 79. I have tried to operate a ‘one in, one out’ policy this year and have sold or donated those shoes that only get worn because they have to in order to be saved, or that are particularly uncomfortable or impractical to wear.

Last night I went to step class at the gym and it was packed. You can tell it is January! I am still disappointed about my Monday classes being cancelled but there’s a Bokwa class on Mondays that I might try next week. Otherwise I’m toying with the idea of doing aqua aerobics straight after step on a Tuesday and just going Tuesdays as that will make it a later night.

Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
Red jeans – New Look Tall (eBay)
Black patent wedges – LK Bennett (c/o Sarenza)
Turquoise leather belt – H&M
Turquoise and red beads – gifted
Turquoise scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £52

Outfit: Tuesday Afternoon is Never Ending

Things I like about this dress:
1. It has sleeves
2. It has sleeves that are long enough for my long arms even though it’s not a ‘tall’ item
3. It’s teal
4. It cost 99p in a charity shop
5. The print is purple so purple accessories go great with it

Last night I was supposed to be going back to the gym for the first time this new year and I was quite looking forward to it, especially Zumba class. Our teacher had warned us before Christmas that the timetable would be changing and to check the times, so when I phoned up yesterday afternoon you can imagine my annoyance to find that both the classes I went to on Mondays have been cancelled. Step class is still on on Tuesdays so I can still go to that, but now I’ll have to consult the new timetable and find something else to go to. Gah.

So I spent the evening doing the ironing, fixing a hole in a sweater, watching an episode of Gossip Girl and playing Spider Solitaire on my iPad Mini.

Teal dress – F+F at Tesco (charity shop)
Purple top – Long Tall Sally
Purple tights – New Look
Black OTK boots – New Look
Purple flowers necklace – Dorothy Perkins
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £63

Outfit: Blue Monday and Weekend Recap

Friday afternoon I got home to find a card from Parcelforce saying they had tried to deliver my phone and I could pick it up from the local town’s post office (why not the one in the village I don’t know) from 4.30pm so I dashed off to collect that. Friday evening I had to do the Tesco shop, but I spent the rest of the time playing with my new phone – setting it up, figuring out how to use it and transferring my contact numbers over from my old phone.

Saturday dawned and it wasn’t raining! This was quite exciting as it has rained or drizzled solidly for about the past 3 weeks. I spent the morning doing chores and made two batches of soup, then mid-afternoon we headed out for a walk. We ended up walking about 10 miles and were both a bit achy when we got home. I made a stir-fry for tea and then we watched The Social Network (the Facebook movie) on Love Film Instant which we really enjoyed.

Sunday morning was spent quietly, recovering from the walk the day before. After lunch we went to the young man’s parents’ to pick up some toys that had belonged to his niece when she was little, to take over to my baby niece. My sister wasn’t in when we called round so we popped down to see my parents. We ended up staying for tea with them and then called in on my sister on the way home.

Today is dry again and not that cold so a dress and shoes were fine. I noticed yesterday that my phone’s calendar is linking to Google calendar (unsurprising I suppose as it’s an Android phone) and that Kimberley’s Inspiration Calendar ideas are listed there, so next time I’m stuck for something to wear I have an easy way to grab an idea!

Blue dress – Wallis (charity shop)
Blue sweater – Florence + Fred at Tesco
Grey tights – Tesco
Blue patent shoes – New Look
Grey leopard print scarf – c/o Moodys
Silver glitter belt – local boutique
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £29

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2012 #81 and a Simple Friday

I do enjoy a three day week. I could definitely get used to this. Alas, it will be back to the full five days from Monday but it’s been great to ease back into things with a short week.

Sometimes you just want to wear a sweatshirt and jeans and that’s exactly what I did today. I added in a few pops of red and was good to go.

These boots are another pair I’m unsure as to whether I should keep around, as they probably wouldn’t get worn if it weren’t for the shoe challenge. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just find them hard to style now that I wear mostly skinny and straight leg jeans. The square toes are not the problem: I quite like that they’re different to the other pairs I own. It’s the fact that they are ankle boots but are quite high on the ankle so don’t lend themselves to skinny or straight legs as well as say a shoe boot would, and they can’t really be worn with skirts. However, as I bought them in New York back in 2003 they are one of the oldest pairs in my collection and I am loathe to part with them as I see them as a souvenir of that trip. I will have to make more of an effort to wear them.

Navy sweater – Topshop Tall
Jeans – Topshop Tall (Manly op shop)
Red boots – Nine West (Century 21)
Red belt – Next
Silver hoops – gifted
Red beads – eBay

Total Est. Cost £104

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2012 #80 and a (Belated) Christmas Party

The church choir always holds its Christmas party in early January and last night was the time for this year’s bash. We played some quiz-type games at someone’s house, had some supper (everyone brings something to eat) and then the silliness started. We were all given modelling balloons from which to fashion a hat, and then there was a contest to see who could knock each other’s hat off their heads without using their hands. After that we played Musical Hats – like Musical Chairs but you pass hats round and if you don’t have one when the music stops you’re out. It was a fun evening but I had to leave by about 10.30pm as I had to be up for work this morning – everyone else there is either retired or still on holidays as they work in a school.

When I started naming the current shoe challenge as Shoper Challenge 2012, I hadn’t really thought about what I’d do when the calendar clicked round to 2013. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram though you’ll know that this was my ante-penultimate (hi Dad – I know you like that word!) shoe save and so it will only be a problem for a maximum of 3 more posts. Technically the challenge is supposed to run until a year after you started, but I’m going to follow Shoeper Woman’s lead and finish when I get through all the shoes I currently own. That way I’ll be ready to start whatever the new challenge for 2013 is when it is announced. All this is really a long way of saying that yes, I am aware it is 2013 but here’s why it says 2012 in the title of this post!

On to the shoes (at last, I hear you cry!). This pair was bought around the same time as their blue twins for just £9 from Priceless Shoes. I’m wondering whether I should keep them though, as it’s taken me this long to get around to wearing them. That might have something to do with the wet summer mind you – fabric shoes and heavy rain do not mix and I tend to wear flat shoes more often in the spring and summer, sticking to boots when it’s cold and/or wet.

Black sweater – New Look Tall
Jeans – Topshop Tall (Manly op shop)
Purple flats – Priceless Shoes
Snakeskin belt – local boutique
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £36

Outfit: Thursday

I’ll be more inventive with my post titles next week, I’m still trying to get my mind back into gear after the holidays. Today dawned grey and damp (just for a change) but pretty mild – it was 10°C when I drove to work this morning. I wore my faux leather jacket rather than a winter coat, and layered my faux fur scarf over it just in case it was a bit chillier than expected.

Last night I was very busy when I got home. I chased up my new phone that was ordered before Christmas and wasn’t impressed to find it hadn’t been shipped yet. They have assured me it will ship today, but I’m not holding my breath. Then I baked a cake for a party I have this evening, took down the Christmas cards and did some veg for tea to go with the pork that was in the slow cooker. After tea I did a meal plan for the next week and watched 30 Years of CITV that I had missed when it was shown over Christmas. We had a great time remembering all the TV shows we used to watch as children.

Black polo neck sweater – New Look Tall
Black and tan skirt – Long Tall Sally
Black tights – M&Co
Black and tan shoes – LK Bennett (c/o Sarenza)
Gold glitter belt – gifted
Leopard print scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £71

Outfit: Back to Work (and New Year Recap)

Happy 2013 people! I hope you all had a good New Year, whatever you did to celebrate. We had (another) lazy day on New Year’s Eve as it was raining, again. We wanted to go for a walk but it refused to fine up and in the end we only managed to go round the long way en route to the young man’s parents’ house. We were due there for tea and to play cards in the evening. We had a lovely time with them and stayed up to watch the fireworks on TV at midnight.

New Year’s Day we weren’t up particularly early. We headed out for a walk in the afternoon, having been thwarted the day before, and then called at the Tesco in the village for a few bits on the way back. When we got home I took down the Christmas tree (sad face, I don’t like doing it) and we had a quiet evening in preparation for getting up early for work today.

It was cold and dark when I set out for work this morning, and it was raining. It’s never great to be back to work after a holiday but at least it’s a short week and it will soon be Friday.

Have you made any New Year Resolutions? I haven’t, I never do as I don’t end up sticking to them However, I am thinking I will go on a spending ban for January, February and most of March as my friend S and I are planning a weekend away late March and that is sure to involve some shopping. It’s probably wise to save up a bit beforehand!

Cream and navy stripe top – Forever 21
Plaid shirt – Primark
Denim skirt – J Jasper Conran (Debenhams)
Navy leggings – Tall Girls
Tan boots – Steve Madden (c/o Sarenza)
Cream beads – local boutique
Cream bead bracelets – Diamonds and Pearls
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £102

Outfit: Sunday Morning Coffee

Saturday was another wet and miserable day. We stayed in all morning and I cleaned the kitchen. In the afternoon we decided to have a walk and it stopped raining long enough for us to get to a pub about 3 miles away. We had a drink there and then set off back home. It rained for about 20 minutes on the way back, but then stopped again although it was a bit cold and it was dark by that time.

Sunday morning we had plans so got up in good time and headed into Leeds to meet some friends for a coffee. We went to a little place in The Light which does amazing looking cakes, although my friend and I were very restrained and only had a tiny little Italian rolled pastry thing each.

After we left our friends the young man and I wandered down to Debenhams (in the rain, surprise surprise. The young man was looking for some jeans, which he found in M&S in the end. We had a look at how the building work is progressing for the new Trinity Leeds shopping centre (Topshop is open and the rest of it doesn’t look too far off) and then headed home. I spent the afternoon battling with iTunes and managed to get my music collection transferred onto my iPad Mini.

Cream sweater – Topshop Tall
Grey stripe top – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Jeans – River Island
Tan boots – Ukala by EMU (c/o Sarenza)
Boot toppers – gifted
Wood heart necklace – Scope

Total Est. Cost £84