Outfit: Cream and Red

I have had this dress laid out to wear since Monday. However, as I was in my jeans due to the epic snow the past two days it’s taken until today to put it on. At least I didn’t have to think about what to wear today! This dress is polyester so it’s quite warm and I layered up with a wool sweater and my Primark Super Cosy fleecy tights. I am regretting only buying one pair of these as each time they are in the wash it means I can’t wear them. I will definitely have to get some more next time I’m near a Primark.

Last night I made it to the gym for Step class. The hill out of our estate was much improved by the time I got home from work so I felt OK about driving out again in th evening.

Red and cream dress – vintage (Sid and Sammy Vintage, Manly)
Cream sweater – Bench (eBay)
Black tights – Primark
Black patent wedges – LK Bennett (c/o Sarenza)
Silver hoops – gifted
Cream and silver beads - New Look

Total Est. Cost £79

Outfit: In These Shoes? I Don’t Think So

There was a little more snow overnight but the main problem this morning was the ice. The compacted snow had frozen and as I didn’t fancy being the first to try the hill on my estate I worked at home to start with and then headed in to the office. I had to clear the 4+ inches of snow off my car first though!

And don’t worry, I didn’t go out in the snow in these shoes. I stashed these in my bag to wear at the office and wore my trusty Hunter wellies to go in.

Last night I didn’t get to the gym: my car was blocked in and the snow was already freezing when the young man got back. Fingers crossed I can get to Step class tonight and perhaps I’ll go to the gym tomorrow instead of yesterday. We had a quiet night in last night watching TV in the end.

Grey sweater – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – Vila (I Am..... boutique)
Zebra print flats – George at Asda (eBay)
Blue scarf – gifted

Total Est. Cost £79

Snow Day!

I’m working from home today so no picture as I was working from home and wearing pretty much what I wore yesterday (the polo neck is black today). Here’s some pictures of the snow instead.

This was our street first thing this morning: hence why I worked at home today

The young man cleared our drive around 8am before he went to work (he has a 4 wheel drive and works much closer to home than I do): this was how it looked by 9.30am

I took a walk to the village at dinnertime and it was very quiet everywhere. I was wandering along, looking for the top of a road to go down and could barely see where the road was as it just blended in to the pavements and grass either side. It hadn’t been gritted and there were kids sledging down it. I walked down and when I was almost at the bottom a car started coming down. Well, it slipped and slid sideways part of the way, and the driver looked very relieved when she made it to the bottom in one piece. Yes, it was a woman driving and no, she hadn’t cleared much of the snow off her car. Muppet. I got what I needed from the village and headed home and was doing fine until some knobhead boy racer in a Vauxhall Corsa came flying down the main road sending slush spraying all over me. So thanks for that, whoever you were.

This is a colour photo, I promise! Trees at the other end of the village

Normal service may or may not resume tomorrow: it’s snowed pretty much all day today so it will depend whether we get more overnight as to whether I go in tomorrow or not.

Weekend Recap

It snowed. That’s about all you need to know really. Saturday morning the young man went out and cleared both the cars but as you can see in the Instagrams round up below it was covered over again within 15 minutes. We went for a walk Saturday afternoon, just up to the retail park as I needed some bits from Boots and the young man wanted to go to Currys. We went back the long way round and called in on the young man’s parents who were snowed in.

Sunday morning it snowed again so we stayed in all day. I sat by the fire and watched about four or five episodes of Gossip Girl which was great. Sunday night we put Return to the Blue Lagoon on Love Film. I wore pretty much the same thing all weekend: tights under my jeans and lots of layers on top (and obviously I put on my wellies when I went out). These pictures were snapped on Sunday.

Black hoodie – Long Tall Sally
Black and cream stripe polo neck – Uniqlo (charity shop)
Jeans – Vila (I Am..... boutique)
Leopard print slippers – George at Asda

Total Est. Cost £96

Over To You...

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The Week in Instagrams...

l-r:
The young man's car on Saturday morning, which he'd cleared the snow off not 15 minutes previously
Tea in my favourite cup (which was a present from my little sister when she went to New York)
New shoes...

Hunter wellies in the snow on Friday lunchtime
Snow on a dry stone wall on Friday
Tuesday's tea: toad in the hole with onion and apples in the batter

The back garden on Tuesday evening
Boot slippers in Ikea, almost named after my mom
It was minus 5 on Wednesday morning

Review: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain

I had read about the Clinique Chubby Sticks and heard that the colour wasn’t that good with them. When the new Intense ones came out I was really tempted to try them, but at £16 a pop I decided they were too expensive for what is essentially a lipstick. I did a quick search online to see whether anything similar but cheaper was available, and that’s when I discovered Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain.

The Revlon product is currently on offer for £5 (regular price £7.99) at Boots so that makes them much more affordable. I am quite impressed. The balm stain doesn’t moisturise as well as real lip balm (I won’t be giving up my pocket tin of Vaseline any time soon) but they are pretty effective at hydrating your lips and the colour is fantastic. It coats your lips but doesn’t go patchy or dry like lipstick can sometimes do. It tastes of peppermint when you first apply it, which I wasn't expecting, but it isn't a problem and the taste only lasts a few seconds.

I bought the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain in Crush, which is a lovely deep purpley-red (image here is Lovesick) and I have the Rendezvous classic red shade on my shopping list for the next time I visit Boots.

(Disclaimer: I purchased this product with my own money and was not paid to write this review.  I just liked the product and wanted to recommend it to my readers.)

New Shoes...

So earlier, I instagrammed this:

And then I got grief from my little sister and friend on Twitter for not revealing what was in the box. So here’s a sneak peak, since more snow is currently falling and I don’t think I’m going to be able to wear them for a while given that they are suede. They arrived this afternoon (I went for lunch, the parcel I'd been waiting on all morning showed up - works like a charm every time) and are my January pick with my voucher from the lovely people at Sarenza.

Esprit Lexa Wedge Trainers

Outfit: Snowy Friday

Well the snow arrived. Earlier than forecast too. It started around tea time and by the evening we had quite a covering on the street. It had stopped by bed time though and the roads were clear this morning so I went to work as usual.

Yes, I know it’s Friday and I am allowed to wear jeans, but really when it’s as cold out as it is a wool dress and fleece lined tights are warmer. Especially when you put a sweater under the dress, a cardi over it and over the knee socks over your tights. Add in some ugg boots (my nod to casual Friday) and I’m pretty cosy actually.

Grey cardi – New Look Tall
Grey wool dress – Kew 159
Grey sweater – River Island
Black ‘super cosy’ fleece lined tights – Primark
Black OTK socks – Long Tall Sally
Tan Obi belt – ASOS
Silver hoops – gifted
Tan boots – Ukala by EMU Australia (c/o Sarenza)
Boot toppers – gifted

Total Est. Cost £74

Sarenza Pinterest Competition

Fancy winning yourself some shoes? The lovely people at Sarenza are giving away a £100 voucher to spend on the fabulous shoes on their site. All you have to do is create a Pinterest board of some shoes and you could be in with a chance. Click here for all the details on how to enter!

Outfit: Before the Snow?

It’s supposed to snow tomorrow. Consequently I decided that I should do a supermarket run after work today rather than tomorrow night as I’d planned in case I can’t get out tomorrow. So off I went to Aldi.

Last night my parents came over. My mom and I went to Ikea to get some bits to child-proof her house as she will be looking after my niece one day a week when my sister goes back to work at the end of next month. When the young man got home we all went down to our local pub for tea. We had a lovely meal and then went back to our house for a cup of tea.

It was minus 4 out this morning when I set off to work, but weirdly there was no frost. Maybe there wasn’t enough moisture in the air for frost to form but at least it meant no scraping.

Brown sweater – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Black cord trousers – Topshop Tall
Tan boots – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Leopard print scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted
Wood heart necklace – Scope

Total Est. Cost £56

Outfit: Layers

Minus 5 outside this morning people. Fun times. Fortunately I had layered up accordingly. Under the sweater you see here is a thermal top and under that, a vest. Those are not tights you see on my legs, they are over the knee socks. I have thick tights on underneath them. The scarf was designated as part of my outfit so that stayed on all day. And I was STILL cold to start with this morning.

Anyway, other than layering up this was an attempt to pair this skirt with something other than pink and black. I took a good look at the pattern last week and decided to pick out the grey and blue elements of it today. I think it would have worked better if I wasn’t so bundled up though. And if this sweater wasn’t a bit big now, forcing me to add the belt for a bit of shape. Next time: green and purple. Maybe.

Last night I went to the gym for step class, then cleaned the bathroom and vacced when I got back. Just an ever-exciting Tuesday night at my house.

Grey sweater – Long Tall Sally
Velvet skirt – vintage M&S
Grey socks – Long Tall Sally
Grey tights – Tesco
Grey boots – Mustang (c/o Sarenza)
Blue infinity scarf – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted
Blue Obi belt – ASOS

Total Est. Cost £52

Outfit: Icy Tuesday

The snow is still lying on the ground and overnight it froze so that made for some interesting conditions this morning. The roads had been well gritted though and so there were no problems driving to work.

I forced myself to go to the gym last night – since my Monday night classes were cancelled I’m not really sure what to now. There’s a class called Tabata at a reasonable time but I’m not sure what that is. Does anyone know? Have you done it? Last night I just went in the actual gym and used the cross trainer and the treadmill. I discovered my MP3 player’s battery was flat when I got there though so no music other than the rubbish the gym was pumping out. Gah.

Today’s outfit was partially inspired by watching Ingrid’s latest video on You Tube last night. She was bundling up for winter and put on an infinity scarf. I knew I had one of those that the lovely Erin made me for Christmas a few years ago, and that it is super cosy, so the outfit grew from there.

Blue sweater – Topshop (charity shop)
Navy cords – Long Tall Sally
Blue patent shoes – New Look
Infinity scarf – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted
Blue beads – Ethel Austin

Total Est. Cost £52

Outfit: Preppy

I had high hopes for a snow day today but there was little more than an inch outside when I got up and the roads just had a dusting so I set off to work as usual. I did wear my wellies to commute though as more snow was forecast for the morning and indeed arrived. It was thawing by home time.

This shirt is the one I got in a charity shop on the High Street near work one lunch time last week. It is an Yves Saint Laurent shirt and it’s a man’s one so it is lovely and long in the body and in the sleeves. For £4.99 I couldn’t leave it in the shop.

Pink and blue stripe shirt – YSL (charity shop)
Grey sweater – New Look Tall (eBay)
Grey wool skirt – Gap
Grey rib tights – H&M
Snakeskin shoes – Matalan
Cream beads – local boutique
Cream bead bracelets – Diamonds and Pearls
Cream bead earrings – gifted

Total Est. Cost £52

Weekend Recap

How was your weekend everyone? Mine was pretty good. Saturday morning I got up and made bacon muffins for breakfast (that’s just English muffins toasted with bacon in them, not some fancy cakes or anything!). I made some leek and potato soup for dinner (we had more home grown leeks from the young man’s dad) and cleaned the bathroom. After dinner I headed into town to meet my sister and a friend and see Les Misérables at the cinema. It was fantastic! Some of the singing is questionable but they have stayed very true to the stage version and the music is just as awesome as it always is. Go and see it.

After the movie I headed home and make pork burgers for tea. The young man and I spent the evening watching Yes Man on Love Film instant.

Inspired by Jen and her lovely long locks, I got out my hair extensions again this weekend. They're only a little bit longer than my own hair now, but they still give some extra length and a bit of added volume.

Cream stripe sweater – H&M
Jeans – Next Tall (eBay)
Tan boots – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Cream scarf – gifted
Cream and silver bead cluster – New Look

Total Est. Cost £36

This morning there was a dusting of snow on the ground but I had to get up and head to church as I was on Sunday school duty. I wrapped up warm and my class spent the morning drawing around each other to make life-size pictures of themselves.

After dinner the young man and I took a walk through the wood to a local pub. We had a drink and then walked home again. It was really cold out and it started to snow as we were walking home, but only tiny flakes and only a little bit.

Yes I have spent the whole weekend in the same boots. Well, I changed them for my walking boots this afternoon, but other than that. They are faux-sheepskin lined and very warm, even warmer with my furry boot toppers on them. The wedge heel makes them really comfy and the soles are chunky rubber so they have good traction should it have been icy this morning.

Grey knit dress – New Look Tall (eBay)
Grey thermal top – Tesco men’s
Grey rib tights – H&M
Tan belt – ASOS
Tan boots – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Boot toppers – gifted
Whitby Jet cross – gifted

Total Est. Cost £34

The Week in Instagrams...

Clockwise from top left:
Thursday's tea of bacon and mushroom risotto
Soup - leek and potato and leek and parsnip
Flowers and fire at my sister's house
Charity shop find
Tuesday's boots
Sunday's outfit