what's in my parcel - one

I did say I had some parcels waiting.

The contents of my first one were much longer for. I have a coat fetish - I fully admit it. I love coats. Need Coats?? that's another matter.

My daughter and I were talking about the pale blue Autograph coat in our local Marks and Spencer some weeks ( and more) ago.
She decided as neither of us now go to work that requires wearing a coat like this on a daily basis it would be extravagant to buy this coat no matter how lovely it was. She was of course right. I don't go to work at all and this coat demanded dressing up on a daily basis. But it was lovely. I can't see it online but you may know the one I mean as it was on display at the very front of our Marks and Spencers , possibly in yours too.

I then quite fancied a camel coat. Many many years ago there was a mother who collected her son ( who was in the year below me at school) wearing a beautiful camel coat - she was incidentally a strikingly beautiful woman too. Every time I think of a camel coat I think of her.

When I was in town some weeks ago I tried on the one in Zara - seen also on Fashion Mum of Forty and Style At Every Age. I actually had been and tried it on before I saw them in it. This one. It was not for me, even though it fitted ( and Zara is hit and miss in that department for me)I felt slightly as though I was wearing a dressing gown and TBH the colour does nothing for me .
Note the model does not have it tied, if I had felt I could go through the winter without tying a coat closed it might have helped but possibly that would not be the case.

I then tried a camel one on in Marks and Spencer and to be sure, the colour still did nothing for me, my dream of being glamorous was gone.

I was then leafing through the September Issue of Glamour and spotted A COAT. It was grey and the price was unbelievable, especially for someone on a budget like me.

This one

It's the grey coat at £24.99 from H and M. I stalked the website looking for it and then finally two weeks before I went on holiday there is was. I didn't hesitate, but only ordered one size, and then noticed it would arrive while I was on holiday.

Daughter waylaid delivery - sorted.

I looked at it in Palma - it looked big but it was too hot to start to try on a myriad of sizes  - all European - to decide if I had bought the right one.

When I opened it I was expecting to be disappointed , but was I - nope! Except that the size I had ordered was enormous. But there is a happy ending - The day after I came home I beetled down to my local H and M and got it two sizes smaller , I know its meant to be oversized but there's oversized and absolutely drowning me. It's perfect , I love it. I suit grey, it goes with lots and the price is great. It dresses down as well as  up and I am in love.

Not claiming to be glamorous but hey ho!

Sorry for the very little poor picture. I will get round to taking one of it actually on in a few days.

Goodbye Summer

I was fortunate enough to have been able to have a late holiday in Majorca  where the sun still shines.

So I finally only cast aside my sandals on Sunday 5th October. Sadly the weather has turned a lot colder so I had to pack away my summer clothes too.

But for now here was Majorca last week - 28 degrees C - a bit of rain but mostly lovely.

I did try to travel light with basically a navy theme. Didn't quite succeed. Must do better.
The hotel had a lovely generous wardrobe with lots of hangers. I'm really sad to  pack away my summer things but I came home to some lovely parcels I had ordered before I went. More of those next time.

A little print

Here in Northern Ireland we've been particularly lucky with our September weather , last week saw lots of lovely days although with a distinct chill at the start and end of them.


This has meant I've been able to avoid Autumn clothing for which I am really glad, I have a late holiday coming up and didn't want to put all the summer stuff away. More importantly I didn't want to relinquish my Zara sandals which have been my utter favourite footwear this summer.


Despite the lovely days we have had white trousers seemed so wrong, never mind my inability to wear them more than a few hours without feeling and looking grubby.


So I've resorted to some print trousers I already had. I must confess I have wore black with them quite a lot as I like a block of solid colour with print and two of them have black backgrounds

First up I bought these in the Next sale a coupe of season ago. I originally intended lifting the blue and green colourway in tops but they are hard to match.

Next previous season these are slightly hotter material and do crease but very comfie. I have been wearing these with an H and M cream top as well - Avril from School Gate Style has recently reviewed it and found it too thin but I wear a thin vest or cami under it. It was really good value for me at £7.99 and so far it has washed just fine.

Next this season , these are stretchy and I think are described as harems. The background is navy and I have styled them with a white top and navy cardigan or jumper. The pink again has been difficult to match.

Others

I spotted these the other day on the Zara website and thought they were lovely

These are New look

These all could be worn with a black top and black sandals if your weather is still holding out. They give a lighter look than throwing yourself into full Autumn. I love my boots etc but winter can be so long its good to stretch out a summery feel when you can.

ARe you holidng on to summer. Ours here may be gone this morning as we woke up to rain.

My summer favourites

Sorry if this post also has no photos. My skills on the iPad are such that I haven't discovered how to add any.
For the post I thought I would look back over my summer purchases and chose my five favourites.

1. top of any list my Zara sandals. I wasn't sure if I would get the wear out of black but they have never been off my feet. Priced at 19.99 they didn't break the bank.

2. Next white linen mix shorts. Although we haven't had great weather when it was good these were so comfortable. I'm off to Majorca in 9 days so they will get another outing. They were only 16.99 I think.

3. My Boden linen shift dress for the same reason as the Next shorts. Nice and bright in a subtle way it will be a favourite for a long time to come.

4. Marks and Spencer linen mix peg leg trousers. Loved the comfort of these.

5. Next white sleeveless boxy top, I had 2 in different patterns, they washed well and stayed white, these little cheapies (at 14.99 I think they were) will unbelievably carry through to another summer.

Here I am

It's been a long time. Things happen that make all this seem frivolous and unimportant. But we all bounce back in the end or at least find they prove a distraction.


Enough said.


Back soon I hope with a few photographs and some musings on the end of summer and what my wardrobe's looking like for Autumn 2014.

A bit of boho

I've seen so many boho tops on white/cream and blue on different bloggers this year I at last have decided ,rather late, one is a must have.
Too late for Mango, and wary of sizing, I fell upon one from the Indigo collection at Marks and Spencer with delicate floral embroidery. Then the Boden one arrived in the post.
Here they are. Which would you choose?

A brush with a jumpsuit

I first had a brush with a jumpsuit in the early 80's. They say if you wore it the first time forget it. I couldn't.
I loved my jumpsuits.
The last one was a Marks and Spencer sleeveless jade green one in 1984/5. I wore it throughout my pregnancy, abandoning it I think because it was tricky to breastfeed in.
I had a wonderful black one with sleeves which I think was from Miss Selfridge . This was followed by a torquoise blue from a local boutique and then a magenta one which was probably my least favourite.
At the moment sone people are calling them playsuits.
I gave in. I really loved the tencel denim one as sported by Alex Stedman of The Fugality.
Availabilty and finances meant I rather frighteningly ended up back with a sleeveless one from Marks and Spencer , went into sale, in black tencel (do you know its made from bamboo - keeping an eye out for stray koalas!) It is comfie, my main concern now is not the difficulty of breastfeeding in it but getting to the loo on time.

Will I keep it? Probably.  Youth reclaimed!