Fashion

Carrying It Forward

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(Jumper Dress: F&F | Leggings: Topshop Tall | Boots: Debenhams | Mittens: Next)

This time last year I wrote about my ‘14 for 2014‘. I’ve never been one for resolutions, but I’d suddenly found myself with a lot of spare time on my hands and it seemed like a good way to organise my spare time into something more productive and enjoyable. So far so good-intentioned…

I started as I meant to go on with Number 1: Blog more – and managed to do this for the first few weeks. Then in March something rather wonderful and unexpected happened… I got a promotion at work. And all of a sudden my spare time started to shrink. So number 1 had to be re-assessed whilst I adjusted to my workload.

A few of the other numbers were also neglected whilst I was enjoying my new role, so this year I’ve decided not to make new resolutions, I’m just going to carry some forward:

1) Blog more
2) Keep a Journal
4) Get back in the saddle and go Horse Riding
5) Dust off the Violin and start playing it again
6) Swim
12) Learn to play Poker (it really can’t be that hard)

2014 was still pretty darn great though. Here are some of the things I did achieve!

Number 3: Read more books. I’m going to post about this soon because it’s something I’ve done with a great deal of enthusiasm.

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Number 7: Bake more. I particularly enjoyed June’s Coconut and Lime Cake:

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Number 8 (Pay it forward. Do more random acts of kindness) was easy to achieve. I started taking my baked goods into work, I fundraised for my favourite causes, and every time I saw a charity box I put any spare change I had into it. I also succeeded with Number 9 & Number 10.

Number 13: See more things at the theatre. I’m so glad I set myself this goal – it’s so lovely to get dressed up and go to the theatre for an evening. Here are some of the shows I’ve enjoyed this year:

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Number 14: Try one new thing, especially if it’s outside your comfort zone (I’m particularly proud of this one) This year I abseiled for the first time – 66 metres! Stepping off the edge was enormously daunting, but ultimately such a rush. As a bonus I also raised a lot of money for my local Mountain Rescue Team.

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Arm Candy

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One of my favourite things about blogging, and following other people’s blogs, is that it opens up a world of style you might never have considered before. I’ve followed Vanessa of Wardrobe Under Construction for a while and I’m always fascinated by her posts because her style is so wonderfully unique and so completely different to my own.

I’ve always felt that my style is fairly ‘classic’, and usually, I feel safer in my style comfort zone. But there’s a growing trend for quirky bags that I can’t ignore… because they are just too damn cute! I spotted them cropping up first on Vanessa’s Instagram but now I find another one to add to my wish list every time I open a magazine. Here’s what it looks like at the moment…

Food Bags

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A Green Thing

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Dress: ASOS | Belt: Oliver Bonas
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk | Boots: Faith

The fashion world goes crazy for fall, but I’ve always been more of a spring/summer girl. I’m learning to love it this year though – and it doesn’t hurt that the sun has stuck around, so I can actually get out and enjoy the scenery as the colours change.

I’ve been spending lots of time with the two critters below – but unlike me they don’t appreciate hot weather. They’re both mountain dogs and they’re much more at home in the cold.

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Longer Length

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Jacket: Zara | Scarf: Purchased at a craft fair | Dress: ASOS
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk | Boots: Debenhams
Unimpressed Cat: Not for Sale

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The tall blogging community recently got very excited when ASOS launched its tall range. A lot of brands associated with ASOS followed suit and there’s now a great range to choose from. Just before the range launched ASOS drip-fed some items into it’s stock and I spotted this longer-length dress – it really is the perfect length for me. Usually I have trouble finding waisted items that sit right with my body proportions – but no such issues with this dress. If you’re 5’10” or over I’d definitely check it out. My cat might not have been too impressed but I was.

 

Red Is The Cure

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“Red is the ultimate cure for sadness” – Bill Blass

I don’t know much about Bill Blass but that quote seems kinda sums up this week. Whenever I’m having a trying time of it at work I like to compensate for my lack of confidence in myself with an outfit that says otherwise. This one works a treat.

I bought this Mango shirt in the January sales and it’s one of those rare purchases – the kind where you wish you’d bought two just in case you wear the original out.

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Shirt: Mango | Jeggings: Marks and Spencer (longer length) | Boots: Debenhams

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Butterflies

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When I turned 24, I spent my birthday visiting a castle in Wales, and in the garden they had a butterfly house. It was honestly one of the most magical places I’ve ever stepped inside, the butterflies floated around lazily on soft currents of warm, tropical air and everywhere you looked there was colour, grace and beauty. The image of a butterfly just spells out spring/summer to me – so here are my picks of the best butterfly prints out there.

(Clockwise from bottom left)
Butterfly print dress – Yumi £22.50
Butterfly print top – Oasis £18
Body wash – Anna Sui (via ASOS) £16
Watch – Olivia Burton (via Topshop) £95
Butterfly print scarf – Oasis (via ASOS) £16
Butterfly print cardigan – Warehouse £40
Butterfly mesh top – Anthropologie £68
Scent – Anna Sui (via ASOS) £31

Swift

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It’s no secret that I am a bit of a swiftie. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to see her live in London. I’d been mooching round the city in the daytime, and had worn the dress below. It being the ‘Red’ tour though, everyone else at the concert was dressed to match the description (and accessorising with fairy lights!) … Anyways I was bemoaning my lack of Taylor-appropriate attire to my sister, when she quite rightly pointed out that I hadn’t missed the boat at all – I was wearing swifts.

So now I love this dress even more. Here’s how I dressed it up recently for a family meal out.

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Dress: Warehouse (Via ASOS) similar here
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk
Shoes: Next
Clutch: Textile Federation via ASOS

And the concert? It was pretty incredible.
Here’s short clip I filmed of Emeli Sande performing ‘Next to Me’ with Taylor Swift.

 

Bouclé

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Before I sat down to do this post, I didn’t actually know what Bouclé meant. I knew what a Bouclé jacket looked like of course – but not what specifically made it that. Turns out it’s not the cut or the style, but the yarn (or, as Wikipedia called it the ‘novelty yarn’). Anyway the point is, that yarn is a lot warmer than you might expect, I was pretty toasty when taking these photos.

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Jacket: Miss Selfridge (similar here)
Top: F&F (buy it here)
Longer-length Jeggings: Marks and Spencer (indigo)
Boots: Primark
Statement Necklace: via Luan Matthews

Winter Rocks

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This has got to be one of my favourite places in the world, and only a few minutes drive from where I live. Though strangely, I don’t visit it that much. It’s such a spectacular view that I think if I went too often, I’d stop appreciating it as much.

But every now and again I’ll just jump in the car and go. Luckily, this time around I had my sister with me who very kindly took these photos – it was so windy I think the tripod would have blown over if I’d tried to self-shoot!

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Coat: George at Asda | Jeggings: Marks and Spencer | Boots: Debenhams

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Quilted Jumper: ASOS

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Bag: Aldo

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