Monthly Archives: August 2012

The renovations are done!

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Sorry I haven’t posted for a while – I’ve been celebrating:)  My lovely family gave me a fabulous birthday weekend and to start it all off the contractors departed on Thursday – hooray!  I’ve captured a few before and after shots to share with you.  We’re still in the process of moving back into our room and until the closet is finished I’ll still be running up and downstairs for clothes.  We’re thrilled with the results though and we are woken by sunlight flooding through our new windows every morning – it’s fabulous!

Before and after stairs to our basement t.v. room – no more carpet covered in apple juice!!

Closet before and after – thrilled to have a walk in – just have to build it out now!

Before and after windows and hardwoods – love my wall of light!

I was a tad nervous when I saw this back in June when I was in the UK!

Before bathroom:  small windows, separate toilet, no tub and poor use of space!

New bathroom!! Open, bright, new windows and a tub!!


Believe it or not I haven’t used the tub yet but my plan tonight is to have a long soak with some bubbles!

I’ll be posting more later to tell you all about how 41 feels and how I celebrated over the weekend!

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Make the most of your assets!

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Now there may be many who say, with 2 days to go before you turn 41, loud prints could be verging on the mutton dressed as lamb look.  But not me.  This summer I have fallen for loud prints, especially trousers with loud prints, in a big way.  It comes from acceptance.  Acceptance that I will never have a 21″ waist thanks to 2 children and my love of wine, but also acceptance that my legs are pretty darn good from running.  It’s very un-British to want to show off (and I don’t mean bragging), or to even say you think you look great, but maybe some of the American confidence is rubbing off on me.

My pants today are not for wall flowers that’s for sure!  I have seen them on bloggers all summer and admired how fabulous they look with their youthfulness and tiny statures.  Then while browsing the Zara website the other day I saw the last pair on sale for $20 and snapped them up knowing full well they’d probably be returned to the store.  Well last night they arrived and they are fabulous!  It was utterly joyous this morning putting them on after a good run – I couldn’t stop grinning.  I felt full of mischief this morning sitting in my car knowing people had no idea what I had on my legs!

Here they are in all their glory – the Zara tropical print pants:

I am wearing them with a white Express t-shirt, black Zara jersey blazer and my nectarine Tory Burch Revas which coordinate perfectly!


I know some of you will loathe them, but I hope others will be inspired to show off your best features and accept that we can step out of our comfort zone regardless of age!

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Styling our Primark jeans!

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Knowing that my blogging friends, Avril (SchoolGateStyle.com) and Beth (StyleGuile.blogspot.com), had also fallen under the trance of the Primark floral jeans this summer, we thought it would be fun for the three of us to collaborate and show you our interpretations of styling for these floral wonders!

As you know I really am new to the Aladdin’s Cave that is Primark as we don’t have them in the US, but I made a child free shopping trip there when I was back in Bury in June.  I love skinny jeans but I have to admit I was pretty terrified by the floral jean trend.  Any pattern for that matter, on jeans, just seemed wrong.  Talk about u-turns!  I nabbed these jeans at just 5 GBP (about $7.50!) and fell in love with them as soon as I wore them. For the price they are great quality and a fabulous fit, plus given all the colors in them they go with a variety of tops – though I definitely advise keeping the tops simple.  The jeans themselves have green, purple, pink, taupe and black in them and I have worn them with tops in all these colors.

Here’s how I styled them back in June in England, I love the casual look here – I wore an AllSaints tank and H&M taupe linen jumper which coordinated great with the jeans.

And here is how I wore them more recently with my pink Zara linen t-shirt from the sale:

For this post I decided to go for a slightly dressier look – though I love that it can easily be a fun, relaxed look without the jacket.  The jacket coordinates perfectly – it’s the Boden tipped blazer in blossom – currently in the sale at $88.80 though other colors are cheaper.  It is fabulous quality and one of my favorite Boden purchases this year.  Under the jacket I’m wearing a simple men’s Gap white t-shirt, with 2-3 year old H&M pink beads.  My Tory Burch musk Eddie flats are my favorite shoes for these jeans – nude and simple.

I absolutely love how Beth, Avril and I have all styled them differently – who would have known that statement floral jeans would be so versatile!

For more details on Beth and Avril’s outfits hop over to StyleGuile.blogspot.com and SchoolGateStyle.com for some inspiration!

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Birthday jeans!

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I know, I know it’s not my birthday till Friday but my fabulous Mum sent me my present early and I’ve been looking at them on the shelf dying to wear them – so I have – 3 days early:)  Knowing how much I loved my floral jeans that I bought when I was back in England, Mum very kindly sent me the Primark leopard print jeans!  They are lovely!  I can’t get over the quality and fit of these jeans for 12 GBP!!  They have a lovely nude background and the spots are almost like brush strokes so not really sure if it’s leopard or cheetah.  Regardless, paired with black they look fabulous.  Total winners and will be worn throughout the Fall into Winter with black boots.

I paired them with my Zara black oversize t-shirt from the sale and my black patent Tory Burch Eddies:

Much as I have fallen in love with Zara over the past few months I am completely bummed with their customer service.  A package went missing the other day with my new trousers – FedEx claim they delivered them – I know they didn’t as I was perched by the door waiting on tenterhooks for the package to arrive!  I’ve even walked around the house a hundred times like a mad woman wondering if they could possibly have been moved by a squirrel with a cruel sense of humor.  Unlike Boden, who always give their customer the benefit of the doubt and refund or resend immediately, on the rare occasion something goes missing, Zara are completely d*cking me around and won’t refund or resend until they have filed a claim with FedEx – aaaarrgggh!!  You wouldn’t believe the time I have spent on the phone trying to talk sense to them.  So two multinational companies who make gazillions every year are holding my $130 until they decide whether they believe me or not!?  SO frustrating – not to mention I don’t have the camouflage or the oriental trousers in my possession…and sadly I still want them no matter how mad I am with Zara.

Look out for tomorrow’s post – a fun collaboration is in store for you all!

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Back to school!

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So we were out there at 6.40am this morning in the dark, waiting for the bus for 1st grade!  Fortunately Poppy was very excited and so wasn’t too grumpy at the early morning routine but gosh I’m certainly not used to it!  Did not appreciate the 5.45am alarm bell this morning.  Of course the bus was late so goodness knows what time she will actually be delivered home today – a bit chaotic with a new bus driver and new bus routes this year.

Hugh has started pre-K too so a big day for us all.  To celebrate the start of a new school year we took them out for lunch yesterday.  Now I have to say we took them to one of my favorite lunch locations – Pizze Fritte – and yes Poppy doesn’t like pizza – so I guess it was a tad unfair, but I also claimed the lunch as my early birthday lunch before Friday – hence the 2 glasses of prosecco…at least Poppy enjoyed her fries:) I wore my Zara butterfly top and blue pants, which can’t be seen here but needless to say I felt very colorful!  Notice how they put families with noisy children in the far corner away from the other patrons…or maybe that table is saved for families with noisy mothers?

This week is hopefully our last week of work at the house…just a few loose ends to finish up and cleaning to do – so bear with me while my morning photos are still so dark and grainy – hopefully next week we’ll be back up in our beautiful, bright bedroom thanks to our new windows!

Today I’m wearing my fab Zara cargo pants, pink Zara linen t-shirt from the sale, AllSaints Itat shrug and Tory Burch pink Eddie flats.  Feeling very comfy on a drizzly Atlanta day.

 

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Wrong season.

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I’m dressed like I’m ready for winter today.  The vitamin C in last night’s margarita didn’t quite do the trick…my head is so stuffed up:(  Woe is me…The weather however is perfect for a cold…if I don’t venture out, it is dark enough and stormy looking enough that I can almost imagine it is only 40 degrees F or so…the sky is a weird magical color making everything look greener.  The heavens will open anytime.  Perfect weather for wrapping up and watching movies while nursing a cold.  So that is what I’m doing!  Even MM has been thoughtful enough to provide a child free environment for me for a while – bless him.

I’m wearing my new blush colored jeans from Express that were just $29.99!! I love them…though they are a little more snug than my others – maybe I should stop feeding my cold?  Wearing them with an old Diesel embellished t-shirt which I love as it is long and has a deep scoop neck great for layering over a white Express tank.  Then I piled on the indulgent ‘I have a cold’ scarf – a $7 bargain from H&M – great nude, black and grey animal print and really soft and light, along with my AllSaints Cerulean cardigan in grey marl, a fab sale bargain, that is lovely and light and a perfect summer layering piece.  All finished off with a pair of shoes that haven’t seen the light of day for 2 years – my Steve Madden sandals – love them and am thrilled to have re-discovered them!

Must put a call out to all my neighbors – a lovely package from Zara was on its way – Fedex say delivered, I say but where?  Not a package in sight….which one of you is wearing my new Zara pants!!?? Grrrrrrr…..In frustration I went onto the website to see whether they were still in stock just in case they don’t show and immediately fell in love with this velvet jacket – ooooohhh it is divine and shall be mine – it is my birthday on Friday after all!!:)  It would work all the way through the festive season too instead of sequins!

 

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School open house…

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I’m grumpy.  Have a miserable cold and I was in bed at 7pm last night dosed up with NyQuil.  Head feels stuffed with cotton wool and I am warm and feel fuzzy – but not the good warm and fuzzy:(  This morning should have been more fun than it was.  We headed off to the elementary school for our open morning to get ready for Monday when term starts.  Last year I was hungover after my 40th – not good for meeting your kindergarten teacher for the first time – this year my senses were dulled due to cold medication…Not ideal for being bubbly and chatty and trying to remember parents’ names from the last time you met them.  I’m sure they must all think I’m weird by now.

Plus I’ve been dealing with the transportation department for our school district.  Lots of issues regarding bus drivers, times and routes – and somehow I managed to be volunteered as ‘bus mom’ for this year.  I’ll be passing that baton on next year for sure:)  So 20 or so calls placed with the Superintendent and the Director of transportation and guess how many returned calls – yup – zero.  Useless.  Not looking forward to that 6.44am bus stop on Monday.

Also Hugh is off today for ‘teacher work day’ so I am parenting 2 hyper children, solo, with a cold…brilliant.  Tempted to sit them in front of Disney all day while I drown my sorrows online shopping…but no supermom here has agreed to take them to the pool…madness, sheer utter insanity – someone cart me away now.

Anyway tried to dress the part of the uber cool, urban mom this morning and probably ended up looking like mutton though I did the mutton test with MM and he passed me.  Anyway as I said all the other parents probably think I’m weird anyway by now:)  So I am wearing my favorite Zara cargo pants and a Zara top bought in the sale, with Tory Burch black patent Eddie flats and a necklace from H&M.

Wish me luck at the pool!:)

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Summer cold.

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So all the temperature extremes are taking their toll – from 95 degree temperatures to freezing cold air conditioning – I have a head cold:(  Or as MM suggested it could be the extreme fumes from the new hardwoods in the bedroom being treated yesterday – we must have all been high as kites yesterday – even with the bedroom doors closed the fumes made their way around the house thanks to the air ducts.  The plumber is here today putting in the new faucets – the finish line is in sight!!

I’m taking Poppy to the hairdressers today for a ‘grown up’ hair cut.  She had a go at cutting her own fringe the other day much to my horror and she flattly denied it – even with the evidence presented – locks of hair sitting next to scissors.  She needs to get far better at hiding her misdemeanors!  Preparation for back to school is in full swing and some counties even went back today…I’m not ready for summer to end.

With that thought I did some reckoning and we’ve probably got at least 12 weeks left of above 80 degree temperatures here – so with that in mind I just checked out these fabulous tropical print pants from Zara.  I’ve seen them on several blogs this season but it’s only now, having adapted well enough to the concept of printed pants, that I felt brave enough to buy them.  They were just $19.99 on the ‘last sizes’ section and I grabbed the last pair of 6s – lucky me!

Today I threw on one of my favorite Boden tunics – these Fab jersey tunics are so comfortable and summery.  They are currently in the clearance and the pebble color is only $31.20 – Egyptomaniac is wearing it here and she looks adorable in EVERYTHING!  This is the moss color and it goes great with navy and pink.  I always pair it with my Tory Burch navy patent Eddie ballet flats.

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