Super excited and honored to be mentioned by the Daily Mail in the UK as one of the best of the other blogs in their article on School-gate Icons featuring my blogging buddy Avril at SchoolGateStyle.com, along with other great bloggers – what a privilege to be in such great company!
I’ve never been so happy to be called ‘unpretentious’!
Given my trip back to Blighty is now just over a month away I thought I’d have a quick peak at the Marks & Spencer’s website. M&S and Boots are the two stores that I miss most over here in the States – they are so quintessentially British. No matter that M&S takes an occasional bashing, I am still a die hard fan. I inherited a love for all things M&S from my Mum, and whether I’ve bought knickers and bras, oversize men’s cardigans or my first career suits, I have loved everything from M&S that I have ever owned. I remember walking into the Marble Arch store and being flabbergasted at the choices available versus our little store in Bury (which isn’t so little these days). M&S have dressed me for every occasion from my church confirmation to my interview for my first City job to friends’ weddings. I can’t wait to get back in there! MM still laughs at my story of a business trip to Paris when I was the junior member of the team and I had to collect lunch for everyone – M&S butties for goodness sakes – in Paris!!
In the 12 years I’ve lived here M&S has had it’s ups and downs and has diversified it’s offering significantly. The Limited collection is still pretty new to me but here are some items I have my beady eye on, again some are very ‘British’ and I like to wear things that you can’t necessarily buy here in Lenox Square Mall.
I love this crown print jersey tee – very patriotic and a great on trend color:
Anything with animals on always grabs my attention and this very English Bull Dog print tank will look great with a fun pair of shorts.
This bird print shell top is again very on trend and similar to a lot of prints I’ve seen on ASOS online. I have to get my hands on this:
Finally I adore this bird cage print tee and it’s in the sale at 12 GBP (no idea where my pound sign is on my keyboard)! I might have to get Mum to pop in this week and see if she can pick it up for me. My only quibble with it is that I wish the print ran along the back of the tee too.
Finally I’m lusting after this Per Una necklace:
It’s very similar in style to the chunky heart necklace I’ve just been looking at in this month’s issue of Lucky magazine on Gia Coppola:
Hmmm maybe I better start thinking about keeping some space free in my bags? The kids won’t need to take much with them will they?
We met with our contractor the other day. He came with his crew to get some last minute measurements before delivering our final quote. We’ve been in the house for just over 4 years and to be honest the work is really more cosmetic than necessary. We are having a new master bathroom, replacing the remaining carpeted floors with hardwoods and adding granite and a new back splash in the kitchen. Much to my delight I have also managed to squeeze in a new walk-in closet into the design! Well they might as well while they’re here and doing our bedroom floors right? Our current closet isn’t small – certainly not by UK standards, but MM is gradually surrendering more and more space to my ever increasing collection of clothes. I’m not very good at getting rid of stuff – or maybe I’m just getting better at choosing clothing I love and cherish for longer?
My current overcrowded closet space (not including my shoe closet or the winter clothes now in storage downstairs!):
The pool at the Y opened yesterday – summer is officially here! Going to the pool with a 4 and 6 year old always requires preparation, though MM has it down to quite a fine art these days. Snacks are required so they can refuel on peanut butter sandwiches, watermelon and strawberries, plus of course pool toys, sunblock, towels and changes of clothes. It’s never a case of just ‘nipping’ to the pool – proper planning is required.
I got to try out some of my new summer arrivals for the first time too. I really like the Boden towelling hoody especially in this candy stripe – though I’m not a fan of the big white buttons. I may just cut them off as I think they look a bit cheap. It’s currently in the sale at $66.30 which I think is a bargain given the quality of the fabric – it will last many summer seasons. If truth be told it probably is a little too warm to wear here in Atlanta over a bathing suit. I think it’s much better suited to a blustery Mediterranean beach but I’ll have to wait to test that theory until after the new floors, bathroom and closet!
Yesterday I wore the ruffle trim tankini in Bluebell bud which I adore and wore on our trip to Tybee Island at Spring break. Today I’m wearing the Apple stripe for the first time – I think I prefer this color but it is a close call. I’m very glad I bought 3 colors in this suit – plus I have the tankini tops and the bikini tops so I will get maximum wear out of them. All the pieces are currently on sale and all but the navy stripe are available. I was hesitant to photograph myself in a bikini for fear of attracting the ‘reader’s wives’ followers but hey I’m here to show you how items of clothes look on real women so here goes – although I did opt to keep my shorts on:)
I hope there aren’t too many Cinco de Mayo hangovers out there today. I enjoyed a couple of margaritas with my healthy chicken burritos last night so it’s back on the wagon for me today.
I’m so happy it’s Friday. The end of the school year is taking its toll. It’s filled with birthday parties, ballet recitals, pool openings and teacher appreciation days. I am in constant flux of running errands and driving people around town. Dealing with two separate teacher appreciation weeks for the first time is driving me nuts. Don’t get me wrong I value our teachers and I am in awe of the work they do but this week alone I have had requests from Hugh’s daycare for cash, presents, cards and lunch for the teachers. I’m more than happy to help provide a fun lunch but sometimes I feel I’m being asked for donations every month – and it’s not like we don’t already pay them to take care of our son. Maybe I’m being too harsh but from Christmas bonuses to Valentine’s Day to teacher’s birthdays and teacher appreciation week I’m starting to feel a tad irritated. Plus I then get invited to Muffins for Mothers at 4pm on a Friday afternoon! What working Mom is going to want to do that before a commute home on a Friday? They used to have it in the morning for breakfast when we dropped the children off, which makes far more sense, and I’ve just made the daycare Director perfectly aware of that. OK vent over and done with.
MM had the morning off today and we’ve had the pleasure of each others company in IKEA for the past 2 hours. My daughter turns 6 on the 18th May and her request for some weeks now has been for a more ‘grown up’ bedroom. It’s not childish now but she wants a desk for homework, more storage, and more grown up art on the walls. I’m actually very impressed that she wants these for presents instead of more dolls – which do get played with, but I’m sure Ken is up to something as there seems to be an ever increasing population of them every time I enter her room.
I love IKEA‘s products – I wouldn’t want the entire house furnished in IKEA but we have fabulous bar stools, a couple of beds, storage solutions and some dining chairs from there and they all look great. They obviously aren’t built to last years but they do the job and look pretty cool. What I really don’t like is the IKEA store itself. Even when you enter with a list of the specific items needed I guarantee you will never get out in less than 2 hrs. I’ve even learned a few short cuts through the maze of furniture but still I can’t get out quickly. I write down every code so that I can go immediately to the correct warehouse shelf, but every time there’s an issue – I write it down incorrectly, we change our mind on the way down there and forget the new number, or we mix up items and end up having to search on the computer terminals. None of it IKEA’s fault I hasten to add – always user error. Then of course the flat packs are heavier than lead weights so negotiating them out of the store requires strength and skill, not to mention we had omitted to remove the car seats from my car, so we ended up straddling the back seat unclipping awkward child restraints so we could lower the back seats! Aaarggh! In 90 degree heat and humidity too – yuk! Well all we have to do now is to work as a cohesive team and calmly assemble said flat packs. Normally this involves me trying to instruct MM, getting exasperated with him for having no logical or spatial reasoning, then telling him to get out of the way and let me just do it on my own…all part of his cunning plan. I promise to post photos of this sequence of events over the coming evenings while we try to assemble the desk and shelves quietly once the children are in bed. Or as MM suggested S. and his girlfriend will be here by then and surely living in Stockholm makes one an expert on assembling IKEA??:)
Before the excitement of IKEA I headed to Jenny Craig for my first weigh in. I am thrilled to say I lost a whole 3.8lbs this week!!! I’m only trying to lose about 15lbs in total so I hope it keeps coming off this quickly. I haven’t felt hungry at all due to eating all the healthy fruit and veg that Jenny Craig encourages you to volumize with. I should be fast as lightning on my morning run tomorrow!
Poppy and I before the school run this morning:
I was asked the other day, by Diane, if I have any favorite tunics that I go back to time and again? Well I do try and rotate my clothes but the one that I love is from last summer and it’s the Terrazzo Tunic. It’s so comfortable – I know some really disliked it thinking the print was very 1970’s wallpaper but I am definitely one of its fans! I’m wearing it here with my Boden spot prize necklace from #BodenMondays twitter fun!
To all my readers in the UK enjoy your long weekend and Monday Bank Holiday!
21 years ago today MM and I became an ‘item’. I’d known him for a while beforehand but a romance with him, quite frankly, had never crossed my mind. He is 5 years older than me and back then at the tender age of 19 a 24 year old PhD student seemed well out of my dating league. We met while we were both students at the University of St. Andrews. He was studying for his PhD in Byzantine History and I was doing my undergraduate degree. We both worked in The Central bar where I knew him as somewhat of a ladies man, schmoozing the female punters with his extensive vocabulary, sardonic sense of humor, and couldn’t care less attitude. That was until May 2nd 1991.
I was in the university library studying for exams when I saw him sauntering down the corridor in his laissez-faire manner. I kept my head down not wanting to have an awkward conversational encounter with him but in the corner of my eye I could see him approaching. I made a couple of whispered, flippant remarks and he asked if I’d be in the bar later. Well of course I would be – even when I wasn’t working pulling pints of 80 Shilling I was in there enjoying a Newcastle Brown – so I thought nothing of it. Later that afternoon when my brain was overloaded with glycolysis and other fun stuff, I perched myself in the corner of the bar by the water tap – my usual spot. MM wandered in not long after – he lived upstairs so was often popping in for his caffeine fix in between translating Ancient Greek texts. He looked surprised to see me there so early and I was equally surprised that he sat down next to me with his Gualoises legers and ordered a drink. There were plenty of his football buddies around so why would he choose to sit with me? I was just someone he worked with? Our mutual friend S. was working behind the bar and at this stage he offered me a large Moscow Mule – why not I thought – it was a thirsty Thursday after all. Time passed, cigarettes were smoked, laughs were had, the bar filled up and S. kept the drinks flowing. Now it is 21 years ago and the blue label makes it a little hazy, but for some reason we must have started flirting a little and before I knew it MM was standing on his bar stool telling me and every Yah in St. Andrews that he was ‘infatuated’ with me. I was caught quite off guard. Little did I know that he and S. had been together all afternoon plotting some kind of rendezvous with me. It appears he had ‘fancied’ me for sometime – which completely blew me away as, as I mentioned earlier, my romantic radar (which was always operational) hadn’t even detected him as a potential suitor. Well as the story goes we embarked on a very intense love affair walking the beaches of St. Andrews and then of course drinking in the many bars to keep warm. The summer of 1991 led to a separation due to summer jobs and then I went off to Lisbon for 3 months to study. In those 3 months, in the days before easy access to email, he wrote a long hand letter to me EVERY day. I kept those letters for years but they were lost when some containers were stolen on the move to Atlanta.
Through all the ups and downs (mostly ups) of the past 21 years he is still my best friend, the love of my life and he can still irritate the hell out of me!:)
We truly are evidence that opposites attract and you could not pick two people more different to fall in love:
1. He is a Southerner from ‘posh’ Cheltenham and I am a Northerner from ‘not so posh’ Bury.
2. He had traveled extensively and lived abroad, I didn’t visit London until I was 22.
3. He is incredibly well read and still reads The Economist every week cover to cover, I grew up on Enid Blyton and enjoy my US Weekly every week.
4. He was a history student, I was a science student.
5. He is terrified of conforming, I am terrified of not conforming.
6. He’s very secretive, I have never kept a secret.
7. He saves all his money and then buys lavish gifts, I spend all my money on me.
8. He never raises his voice, I yell.
9. He doesn’t ever worry about not making an effort with people or people not liking him, I am a people pleaser.
10. He is Scorpio, I am Leo.
Over the years he has learned to conform a little and I have enjoyed not conforming a little more, so as in all good relationships we have met in the middle – if not a little closer to my side – I don’t like to compromise too much:)
My Man back in 1990 standing in Ajax football stadium with the University of St. Andrews football team. From Left to Right: Martin (one of our Best Men), my Brother-in-law (our other Best Man), and MM in his usual get up back then of ripped Levi 501s, red Converse boots, bandana and oversize cardigan.
Blunderbuss is freakin’ awesome!!!! Jack White is a genius – I cannot stop listening to this album. It’s everything a White Stripes fan is looking for. There’s a great mix of Americana, blues and funk, a great example being my favorite single on the album Trash Tongue Talker – I can’t stop watching the YouTube video – I love Jack! I’m gutted that there aren’t more dates on his tour I’d do anything to be at Hammersmith Apollo, I’m even back in the UK then but it’s all sold out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTW6yKnmO08
I’m praying the weather improves in the UK by June. It’s atrocious there right now and I’m going to have the annual dilemma of packing for every climate. Fortunately the advantage of my Boden tunics is I can wear them with skinny jeans or bare legged so all I need to do now is pick the ones to take from my copious collection! I sneakily bought another the other day – a clearance bargain I say – calm down! I bought the coal Everyday Jersey Tunic early in the AW 2011 season and I have to admit it took a while to grow on me but I always get great comments when I wear it. Here it is with the Boden cashmere wrap and piped shoe boots – seems an eternity now since I had to wear tights!
I looked at the blue one again and again and just couldn’t convince myself I that I liked it enough, if at all, to order, especially as I tend to wear black in the winter and this just seemed too garish. As spring advanced though I found myself musing over how it would look as a dress with bare legs. I definitely think the colors are more summery and by pure happenstance as I was browsing one day, as I often do on the Boden site, there it was – a size 6 with my name on it for the bargain price of $30! I like it a lot as a dress and it will definitely get plenty of wear…now NO MORE tunics till AW 2012!! However you all are free to keep looking as items keep popping back into the clearance section.
Tuesday has recently become one of my favorite days since I discovered Lululemon release their new items every Monday night. One of the first things I do sitting at the breakfast bar with my coffee is to click my bookmark for the Lululemon website and browse the fabulous new colors and prints. My two favorites today are the new pace setter skirt in beachy floral white fossil/black and the swiftly racerback in porcelain – the two will look great together, hmmm I’m convincing myself more so as I write!
I also discovered there is a new Lululemon store opening close to my house – I may just have to nip by there on the way to Poppy’s ballet class today!! Happy May Day!
Poppy's Style 