A Boden Favourite

Welcome to another week! Hope your Monday is going well so far.
I wore this Canterbury tunic when the weather was nicer and in the hope for better weather, I dug it out again today and did some close ups for a change to show off the beautiful pattern.

I'm a big Boden fan and once this tunic was reduced to £20 in the clearance and I'd seen Joanna wear it so well over on Poppy's Style, I had to have it.

I had been looking for a stone coloured cardigan or shrug to wear with it and my clothes swap provided me with this Bravissimo shrug that matches perfectly and didn't cost me a penny.

My First Swap Outfit

This is a floaty Warehouse wrap tunic I picked up at the clothes swap on Thursday. It was one of the items for sale as it was brand new. Totally fell for the shape and the print and knew I had a green vest that would be perfect underneath. So £15 later, it was mine!

Embarrassed pose at the garden centre....not a fan of garden centres myself but they do a great breakfast! 

School Gate's Swap Shop!

At last, I hear you say....I'm here to tell you about my swap party :)
First things first, if you ever organise a clothes swap and want to record it for posterity, appoint one of your guests to be the official photographer. Several times, I went to find my camera and every time, I got waylaid...to top up drinks, help with styling, tidy up the empties, etc, etc. I didn't get a single drink all night and before I knew it, people were leaving and it was 12.30am! So...here are some photos from before the event kicked off, featuring about a third of the clothes as some of the girls had delivered in advance...

Let's pretend that it's springtime!

Firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister Siobhan...my fashion inspiration from an early age and another champion shopper and bargain finder. Wish we lived closer to each other though our husbands are probably glad we don't! Have a great day sis!
Meanwhile, as the gales blew and the rain chucked it down, I took out a couple of summer purchases that I have been gazing at and wondering if I'll ever get to wear.

The first is this flowery top from Great Plains - officially called the Macciato Dancing Lupins Print Top. I got it in the French Connection shop in Belfast but you can also see it online here (but for some reason, not on the Great Plains website)

Wearing with my Tesco coloured jeans and my second summer purchase - these suede sandals from TK Maxx...

A Child-Free Shopping Trip!

Today's photos are of an excited mama as I headed into Belfast for a couple of hours of child-free shopping! Children are seriously bad for retail sales. The amount of purchases I abandon and shops I never get inside when I bring kids with me...and don't start me on fitting rooms. But none of that was an issue today...

Styling a Red Blazer

Claire sent me some pictures today of her new red blazer. Now, she had emailed me a week or so ago, telling me she was buying one and while I liked what I saw on the link, I thought it might not be as versatile as navy or stone...but Claire has proven me wrong with four gorgeous style-ups of her new jacket...

Look 1:

White Jeans

M&S Metallic Jumper

Pewter Pumps

 Look 2

Zara Top (similar)

Primark Linen Trousers

Converse Trainers

 John Rocha Bag (TK Maxx)

Losing my Marbles...

I had to smarten up a bit today so I wore my Tesco Coloured Jeans in bright blue, a H&M white shirt, a Room31 Fashion Black Jumper and Black Ankle Boots.

 Accessorised with my coloured Marbles which I don't ever 'lose' - it's just sometimes, I forget about them and don't wear them for ages! (my mental marbles are lost every day!)

Thursday's Wish List - Oasis

Oh what a lovely hour I've just spent virtually shopping on the Oasis site. Here's my pick of the day...

Coral Sandal - £45
I would wear these with skinny jeans - denim or coloured and also with cropped trousers. Lovely pop of colour and a chunky enough heel for running after the kids!

Orange/Red Tote - £25 (sale)

Windy Days & Wedding Bags

Being blown away at the front door today in my new Dorothy Perkins number! I actually bought this for next winter - thinking it would look good with black opaques and a long cardigan but when it arrived yesterday, it was much floatier than I thought and quite nice for this in-between weather.

I'm wearing it today with my black H&M cropped cardigan (similar), a black skinny belt (similar), French Connection skinny jeans (similar) and Clarks ballet pumps (kind of similar). I've talked about the pumps before. This colour is so versatile - I wear them more than my black ones! 

Also today, I took a walk down the Lisburn Road as my sister in law is looking for a handbag to match a pink floral dress for a wedding. She's wearing nude patent heels so ideally wanted a coloured bag. I called into Moda Shoes and found this beauty - modelled by mini-me. 

I love the Chanel vibe going on here and this size is better than a clutch for a wedding as you can fit more into it...yet it's dainty enough not to take-over the outfit.  Texted the picture to SIL and she immediately headed to Moda to buy........a totally different bag! But an equally lovely one. The pink in this one wasn't quite the same as her dress unfortunately. Have a great Wednesday!

Feels Like Winter Again!

I am back in my ankle boots again <sob> but trying to resist the winter woolies! So today's outfit is my bright and flowery blue dress which I've worn quite a lot recently (here and here)...paired with a white cardigan:

The dress is from Harrison Boutique on the Lisburn Road in Belfast - it was part of their Winter sale stock and a bargain at £20. Cardigan is from New Look (currently on 2 for £18), belt from Accessorize, jeans are my French Connection skinnies and the Ankle Boots as above.
Here's a little close up..

Your Best You - My Trip to Dublin!

Last week I was invited to Dublin to take part in a photoshoot for a new style & image book called 'Your Best You'. The book comes from the team behind the Irish fashion programme 'Off the Rails'. The presenters of this RTE programme, Sonya Lennon and Brendan Courtney were looking for Irish women of all shapes and sizes to come and have hair and make-up done and to give soundbites for the book...I didn't need to be asked twice! So at the ungodly hour of 6.30am, I got on the train at Central Station, Belfast...make-up free!

 

I used to live in Dublin so enjoyed taking in the sights again as it's been 3 years since I last visited. The picture of a certain Bank headquarters is for my ex-work colleagues. It used to be reason why I travelled to Dublin every week, so it was nice to walk past it this time!

It was a gorgeous day so I walked down to Ha'penny Bridge and through Temple Bar, bringing back memories of student shopping there way back in the early 90's. So many of the vintage and secondhand shops are now restaurants.

A Tried & Tested Combination

In lots of ways, I'm a creature of habit and this includes fashion, believe it or not! I tend to find looks that work for me and that I like, and I do a bit of a Jackie O on it and buy all the colours in one item. I guess, you'd call it finding your style and it's not a bad thing as long as you don't get too set in your ways.

So today's a good example of one of my favourite combinations - patterned top, cropped cardigan, necklace, jeans. Here's a close-up..

Boden & Bootcuts

Happy Friday! I hope those of you with kids are still enjoying the Easter holidays. It's hard work when the weather is so unpredictable but at least there was more sunshine than showers yesterday...

so we're out in my mother-in-law's garden for the pictures and I'm wearing Boden bootcut jeans & a Boden short mac. We've had the discussion about Bootcut vs Skinny before.
I think you need a good pair of both styles in your wardrobe but in the case of boot cuts, heel height is everything...they need to skim the ground.

Thursday Wish List - Fabulous Independents

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know I'm a big fan of Room31 Fashion, an independent fashion retailer which offers amazing value on quirky original pieces. So on this week's wish list, I've celebrating some independent fashion businesses.
Firstly Sugarhill Boutique with their kissing swans...I'm in love with this pattern!

Kissing Swans Top £36

Also comes in a green colour way and in two dress shapes...

Because you just can't have enough.....

Scarves....following on from yesterday's zebra scarf feature, Catherine, a friend and blog follower, sent me pictures of some other animal print scarves in the shops at the moment...

Lola Rose Poodle Print - House of Fraser £55 (yikes...but so gorgeous!)

Lola Rose Flamingo Print - House of Fraser £55

Buttermilk & Zebras

How I love my bargainous H&M buttermilk coloured jumper that I got the other day! 

I'm not really built for jumpers. They add inches to my frame so I'm always on the look out for fine knits that hang nicely. I also like a bit of interesting detail. So this £7 bargain ticked both boxes. And the bonus is that it matches my Primark Zebra scarf...

Long Line Jumper - H&M £7
Leah Leggings - French Connection
Zebra Scarf - Primark £4 (similar one in ASOS)

It is a Bank Holiday so I'm...

even if style never takes a day off, sometimes bloggers do...enjoy your Bank Holiday & see you all tomorrow!

Happy Easter!

Some Easter fashion to suit all weathers...have a lovely day!

Ted Baker Tote Bag £35

Borderie Top - Next £30

My love of vintage burgundy...

I blame the nuns - they made me wear a wine uniform for 5 of my teenage years. Strangely, it's not put me off the colour at all - however, I draw the line at v-neck jumpers, a-line skirts and wooly tights..

So it's a no shopping post for the Bank Holiday weekend. It's all about old faithfuls that have been in your wardrobe for more than a few years. 

I'm in Dublin today...

....doing something very exciting that I hope to be able to tell you about next week. So I'm sorry there's no update - too much going on but what fun I'm having!

Thursday's Wish List - French Connection

A Thursday selection from the fabulous French Connection. Apart from the beautiful pink handbag that starts off today's wish-list, everything is from the current sale stock. Sizes are limited so get in there fast if you see something you like!

Tassel Tastic Cross Body Bag - £80
This Tunic would look great with denim or white skinny jeans..

New Boots

Never thought I'd be posting this after last week's heatwave! But the weather is back to typical Irish dismal so we're all dragging the boots back out.  
To cheer myself up, I went into Belfast to look for a bargain in the sales and that's when I saw these beauties in River Island...

Reduced to £30, I was so tempted. You may remember I bought ankle boots not so long ago but I wasn't sure if I'd wear them that much so I got some inexpensive synthetic ones. I've ended up wearing them quite a bit so was keeping an eye out for some good leather ones.

Physio & Ikea

Busy day today and I spent the first half wearing very unattractive tracksuit bottoms & trainers for a trip to Ikea & a physio appointment so I'm just sharing my second half outfit. 

Wearing my Boden navy cardigan (all sold out - similar on link) this afternoon with a couple of Gap vests layered underneath. To pull the look together,

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Room 31 competition this month. I've just drawn the winner - congratulations to....

SOPHIE GRINT

Sophie wins £25 to spend on fabulous fashion in Room31. Be sure to let us know what you spend the money on Sophie! 
Thanks to Ruth from Room 31 for sponsoring this competition and thanks to everyone who entered - we had a great response.


I'll be running another competition after Easter...I've got something very special in mind so keep an eye on the blog and on Facebook for more information.

So I did a bit of shopping...

Not like me at all, I hear you say! Come and see what I got in the only Victoria Square shop that I can afford to buy more than one item - H&M.
Firstly, I had been on the look-out for white skinny jeans as someone told me summer is coming...(after tomorrow's snow apparently)

Available in lots of other colours - £14.99

I also got this great jumper at the bargain sale price of £7.