Category Archives: Family

Halloween celebrations.

As with Christmas, Halloween celebrations seem to creep earlier and earlier each year. I’m often buying Halloween costumes (yep buying – I am not a crafter – though I may surprise you this weekend) late in September, to avoid the slim pickings that are left in the penultimate week of October. I think Halloween is growing on me – I don’t mind watching the children enjoy it – but it is still one of my least favorite ‘Holidays’ – just a smidgen less despised than Valentine’s Day.

Fortunately my Halloween celebrations began with a new delivery – though some of you may think these trousers should be relegated to a Halloween costume. I love them. I present to you the black Mango pleather/denim combi trousers. These are the black – but yes I have the blue denim too. The pleather is lovely and stretchy.

Colorblock jumper – Zara (similar here) // Knitted jacket – Zara // Black pumps/court shoes – Zara (old) // Sneakers – Golden Goose // Trousers – Mango chaps

I wore them last night to our local Halloween party where the children dressed up and rode a bucking pig. Oh yes indeed, you read that correctly.

This morning was Fall Festival and this afternoon we have a Halloween party across the street. It’s the perfect Fall day for hanging out with friends. I promise a photo later with my Halloween costume:) For now here’s what I’m chilling in.

Jumper – Boden Off Duty Merino jumper // Jeans – Diesel Fayza Jogg Jeans // Sneakers – Golden Goose

One last thing – here’s me trying on the beautiful Zara woolen wraparound coat. I have this in a Large which I think is similar in sizing to a UK 12/US 8 – it is gorgeous and so soft.

Enjoy your Halloween celebrations this weekend! I’d love to know what you go as for some inspiration for me for next year!:)

15 years of sh*ts and giggles.

18 Replies

15 years ago today I walked into a hotel room filled with fabulous friends and family to marry the man I still love and adore today. No one makes me giggle like he does, or challenges me intellectually like he does, or makes me feel as sexy as he does. We started married life as we continue it today – setting out to laugh often and fight rarely, take risks and avoid ruts, respect and not take for granted. Love you honey.

Two of these photos are our first dance to “Love Me Tender” – the other two are when we cleared the dance floor to “Satisfaction” – easy to spot which is which:)

In the excitement of the day I still haven’t decided what to wear tonight. It will probably be dictated by a loose waistband as we are having a fancy five course dinner with wine. Stay tuned on instagram for updates!

My outfits over the past couple of days have been dictated by the cooler weather here. It is perfectly autumnal in Atlanta at last!

Boots – Rag & Bone Newbury // Jeans – Zara (old) // Tank – Pipali tank AllSaints (old – this season’s tank here) // Cardigan – AllSaints (old – similar this season here)

Jacket – Next // Jeans – Gap (Just $17 now!) // Shoes – Nine West (in the sale!) // Top – TopShop camisole // Necklace – H&M (old)

A visitor arrives.

5 Replies

The children are VERY excited this morning. Grandpa arrives tonight. Poppy has very kindly said that “he doesn’t need to bring presents – just his love” – I’m sure Mike will be relieved!

We’ve got lots of fun activities planned for the next 10 days. Lots of great meals out, swim meets, shopping and NFL games! I love it when we have guests – we do so much that we wouldn’t normally do. The weather has turned perfect too just in time – beautiful blue skies with clear, crisp air. The slightly cooler temperature prompted me to get my new Zara cut out booties out of their box for the first time. I love them – they are gorgeous leather, with a great heel height and a funky ankle strap. I may now officially have too many boots – is that possible?

Boots – Zara // Top – Zara (old) // Skort – Zara

After the boys of summer have gone.

18 Replies

Labor weekend is traditionally the ‘end’ of summer – though we get at least another month of summer-like weather. Having said that we have woken up this morning to torrential rain – the garden is a mud pit – so much for our pool plans today. Hey ho, we’ve still had a fun packed weekend to say farewell to summer with a bang.

On Friday I caught up with a friend for lunch who I haven’t seen for probably eight years or so. We used to work together, then she moved to D.C. to study law. It was great fun to see where the years have taken us and we talked and talked as you can imagine! I can’t wait to make it a regular lunch date.

Trousers – Zara harems (old) // Shoes – Zara // T-shirt – Gap (old) // Scarf – J.Crew (old) // Bag – Boden clutch

Saturday started early. Every year on Labor weekend the weirdest people flock to Atlanta. I have a strange affinity for these weird folk. They are the Dragoncon delegates. Downtown Atlanta becomes populated by Klingons, wookiees and stormtroopers for the weekend. Fantastic fun.

Hugh wasn’t that impressed by the early start:

Darth Vader must have heard about the Death Star – he looked a little dejected.

I didn’t get a full outfit image that day – I assure you I didn’t dress up – though I’m tempted for next year:) I wore the same as here though – the grey Asos t-shirt dress – with my Golden Goose sneakers (similar here).

On Saturday evening we went out for a wonderful dinner with friends. It was a long, lovely, indulgent evening with lots of great conversation. To commemorate Labor weekend I wore all white.

Boots – Canvas Rag & Bone Newbury boots // Shorts – Zara skort // T-shirt – AllSaints vest (old) // Jacket – Zara (old)

These days Poppy and Hugh can’t resist getting involved in the photo taking – budding bloggers I tell you – though Hugh ain’t that impressed by his sister trying to steal the limelight:)

Last night we headed to the Braves game. It’s such a fun thing to do with the children now they can sit through nine innings. The music, the games, the food all take precedent over the actual baseball game – a good thing really as we lost. Poppy is now an expert at gaining enough attention to get us on the big screen with the FanCam – twice last night! I really need to make more of an effort for Braves games with the amount of exposure she is getting us! We were even lucky enough to have a free post game concert with Big & Rich. Baseball really is the best value when it comes to family entertainment – fours hours of relaxation and fun for $10 each!

Top – Boden Breton // Shorts – J.Crew (old) // Sneakers – Converse (old)

So today we may have to change plans – the rain is still falling. I fancy a good movie day curled up with my gorgeous family – sounds good to me.

My 42nd birthday!

24 Replies

I had the most amazing day yesterday – packed full of everything I love – from a good, leisurely work out, to great burgers and margaritas, to a wonderful dinner out, all in the company of my wonderful family.

My Husband is becoming quite a pro at choosing great birthday cards. As one of my friends said it really is a gift to have the patience to search through sappy cards for the perfect card for the recipient! If you haven’t seen the Honey Badger viral video this won’t mean anything to you!

After an indulgent glass of prosecco we headed off for a leisurely lunch at our favorite burger joint. It was hot as hades here yesterday so I decided to wear my TopShop cami for the first time. I really do love the cut and fabric of these tops and I’ll be buying more – they drape perfectly with no clinging. I was switched on to them by lovely Eve at AllWornOut and Jane at MyMidlifeFashion. Fortunately TopShop is now easily available here from Nordstrom! The creases fell out as soon as it was exposed to the Atlanta humidity!

Top – TopShop Cami // Skirt – J.Crew Factory (old) // Sandals – Zara

Later that evening my Husband took me to The Optimist for the first time. What an amazing restaurant. It was busy so the service was a little tardy but we were in no hurry and I relished my oysters! It’s a huge, open restaurant and I loved the noise created by the acoustics. In a strange way it reminded me of Harrods food hall or even Quaglinos, though I haven’t been there since the early 90s!

I felt fabulous in my Zara flowing jumpsuit (sold out but similar here). I actually bought this and returned it once thinking I’d never wear it – but it was such a perfect fit I re-bought it and I am so glad I did! I went full ’70s for this baby of August ’71 with big hair and white heels (now on sale here!).

So that’s the birthday done and dusted for another year – here’s to a great one – and happy birthday to all my fellow Leos!

De-cluttering

8 Replies

So we are all back at school now and I am left wandering around the house wondering if I will ever get it straight and tidy again. I’m definitely not Type A when it comes to house work – something has got to give, and with parenting, working and blogging it’s the house that falls down the priority list. It never gets that bad – I manage to stay on top of it and I would never consider a cleaner – there are other things I’d rather spend my money on:) It’s the clutter that drives me mad though. Barbies, legos and cars in particular…grrr…

As I was criticizing my kids for their clutter I began to realize we have plenty of our own! We’ve just converted a room in the basement into an extra ‘play room’ for Poppy and Hugh. It was a room that went unused previously – in other words it became storage for all our books, cds and dvds. As I was down there today, picking up the trail of popcorn, left by the popcorn fairies apparently, I had an epiphany! Sell all the dvds and cds and make some extra pennies! Why on earth we still have these archaic stacks and racks of cds and dvds I’ve no idea. In many instances I’ve done what I did upon the extinction of vinyl – I have imported or re-bought music on iTunes. As for movies I never buy dvds these days – I download and stream them all so I can watch them on my iPad when traveling. Anyway that’s how I am going to spend my weekend de-cluttering, and dusting off and selling all my shiny little discs on musicMagpie. Just don’t tell the children – they’ll only want to spend my earnings on Barbies, legos and cars!

Today I’m back in the office for the first time in 6/7 weeks – it seems a little odd, but I quite like it. It’s nice to be able to talk to grown ups, and feel like I’m getting dressed for something other than running errands. It was raining this morning, in fact throwing it down, hence the slightly fuzzy closet photos today:)

Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

We’re going to the zoo, zoo…

5 Replies

Blimey it ain’t half hot mum! In the mid 90s today and of all days we decide to head to the zoo. With just about every other family in Atlanta it seemed! It was fabulous though – we know the zoo like the back of our hands now so we took a leisurely stroll around our favorite spots including the tigers, wart hogs and pandas. We were very excited to hear a panda has just had twins – the first to be born in the US in over 30 years! I even let Hugh and Poppy ride on the carousel which I normally avoid due to queues:) They’ve promised me a relaxing evening tonight in return…we’ll see…

Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

Rain, rain go away.

3 Replies

So Georgia has apparently had 25% more rain fall than usual this summer. It’s always extremes here – extreme drought or extreme rain! The peach crop is suffering with enormous swollen peaches that are having their sweetness diluted – who knew hey? I am suffering with frustrated, cranky kids…roll on school.

I just took them out for lunch to get us all out of the house, and now we’re home they have immediately started screaming at each other, arguing over which movie to watch. Telling them ‘in my day I was happy to have a movie to watch’ oddly doesn’t seem to have much impact. I might have a goblet of red now they seem to have called a truce.

We’ve all had our back to school haircuts and I’m now sporting a true bob. Gone are the sun bleached, dry ends – my hair now feels lovely and sleek with no grays in sight – thank you to the lovely Lauren at Plum Salon. We made her earn her money yesterday with 3 haircuts and a color!

By the way I did ask him to smile, not grimace.

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

And so it draws to a close.

14 Replies

After almost 4 weeks in Northern Cyprus our vacation is over. It is bitter sweet – I’m excited to get back to a routine and see our dog, but I’ll be sad to leave this beautiful place. We have seen more than I ever imagined, eaten fabulous food and met some wonderful people.

On Sunday we went out to our local restaurant for the penultimate time. Remind me to never drink raki again – I’m not sure why I ever thought it was a good idea?

Sandals – bow cage sandals from Marks and Spencer // Trousers – Mango // Tank – H&M

See if you can spot the errors in the meze menu – regardless of how it’s spelled it tasted amazing I promise!

Nasty, nasty raki.

On Monday we headed out for a drive, via Bufavento and Five Finger Mountain, towards Kantara again. Just when I needed it most, we serendipitously stumbled on the most perfect restaurant nestled between the mountains. They served the coldest Efes and the tastiest Lamaçun – perfect for a girl still suffering from the effects of raki!

Dress – New Look (Just 9 GBP in the sale!!)

So today we must pack our bags and lie on the beach one last time soaking up the rays of the Mediterranean.

I probably won’t post till I am back in Atlanta, and we’re taking our time getting there with one last stop at my Mum and Dad’s. In the meantime you might notice that James Perse are having another sample sale – there are some amazing discounts – you can access it via the banner ads on the right. Also Boden have released their Fall collection!! For free shipping and 15% discount, again use the banner ads to the right. Enjoy!

Beer is for breakfast.

7 Replies

The heat means I am wearing little more than shorts and a bikini each day. So in the absence of outfits here’s a quick round up of a fabulous trip we had yesterday up to Kantara Castle, the third castle after St. Hilarion and Buffavento.

It’s another venue we visited back in 1998. Back then we had a photo taken at the very top of Kantara by a friendly English man who was ex-military and was revisiting where he had served. I remember it vividly as MM still mocks me for the denim dungarees shorts that I wore that day. Funny how I have a River Island pair lurking in my closet today. I should have bought them with me to fully recreate the shot, as all our honeymoon photos, in fact most of our photos pre-2000, were ‘lost’ along with other belongings in the move to Atlanta. Insurance doesn’t pay out for the sentimental value of goods unfortunately.

We started the day driving up from the sea to Kantara. We stopped in an idyllic village where it only felt right to have a cold Efes in the shade, smelling the pine in the heat, 11am isn’t too early for beer is it?

We then made the climb to Kantara castle itself – I certainly sweat the beer off! The sun was beating down up there. It is well worth the short climb though – Kantara is my favorite of the three castles and in my opinion offers the best views down towards the Karpaz.

To reward ourselves we drove down the other side of the mountain to the ‘armpit’ of the Karpaz, in order to revisit Bo gaz. Fifteen years ago we had two magnificent dinners there – sitting on plastic chairs, on a dusty sidewalk down to the harbor, surrounded by what seemed like a thousand cats. The town is now significantly more developed, with more ex-pats having discovered it’s charm. We still managed to find some fabulous fish and octopus though – and the cats!

The shorts that I have almost been living in, as they are the softest denim and so comfortable, are old selvedge denim shorts from J.Crew – there are similar ones here. The t-shirt has become a favorite – it is the essential t-shirt from Gap in diva pink – just $12.99 now.

I wore the same shorts the other day with a Gap tank and Zara sandals ($49.99 in the sale).

A lazy day on the beach is in store for us today – I’m going to soak up every minute of our last week here!

Poppy's Style

My blog about fashion, family, friends and fun.

Category Archives: Family

Halloween celebrations.

Colorblock jumper – Zara (similar here) // Knitted jacket – Zara // Black pumps/court shoes – Zara (old) // Sneakers – Golden Goose // Trousers – Mango chaps

Jumper – Boden Off Duty Merino jumper // Jeans – Diesel Fayza Jogg Jeans // Sneakers – Golden Goose

15 years of sh*ts and giggles.

Boots – Rag & Bone Newbury // Jeans – Zara (old) // Tank – Pipali tank AllSaints (old – this season’s tank here) // Cardigan – AllSaints (old – similar this season here)

Jacket – Next // Jeans – Gap (Just $17 now!) // Shoes – Nine West (in the sale!) // Top – TopShop camisole // Necklace – H&M (old)

A visitor arrives.

Boots – Zara // Top – Zara (old) // Skort – Zara

After the boys of summer have gone.

Trousers – Zara harems (old) // Shoes – Zara // T-shirt – Gap (old) // Scarf – J.Crew (old) // Bag – Boden clutch

Hugh wasn’t that impressed by the early start:

Darth Vader must have heard about the Death Star – he looked a little dejected.

Boots – Canvas Rag & Bone Newbury boots // Shorts – Zara skort // T-shirt – AllSaints vest (old) // Jacket – Zara (old)

Top – Boden Breton // Shorts – J.Crew (old) // Sneakers – Converse (old)

My 42nd birthday!

Top – TopShop Cami // Skirt – J.Crew Factory (old) // Sandals – Zara

De-cluttering

Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

We’re going to the zoo, zoo…

Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

Rain, rain go away.

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

And so it draws to a close.

Sandals – bow cage sandals from Marks and Spencer // Trousers – Mango // Tank – H&M

Dress – New Look (Just 9 GBP in the sale!!)

Beer is for breakfast.

Colorblock jumper – Zara (similar here) // Knitted jacket – Zara // Black pumps/court shoes – Zara (old) // Sneakers – Golden Goose // Trousers – Mango chaps

Jumper – Boden Off Duty Merino jumper // Jeans – Diesel Fayza Jogg Jeans // Sneakers – Golden Goose

Related articles

Share this:

Boots – Rag & Bone Newbury // Jeans – Zara (old) // Tank – Pipali tank AllSaints (old – this season’s tank here) // Cardigan – AllSaints (old – similar this season here)

Jacket – Next // Jeans – Gap (Just $17 now!) // Shoes – Nine West (in the sale!) // Top – TopShop camisole // Necklace – H&M (old)

Related articles

Share this:

Boots – Zara // Top – Zara (old) // Skort – Zara

Related articles

Share this:

Trousers – Zara harems (old) // Shoes – Zara // T-shirt – Gap (old) // Scarf – J.Crew (old) // Bag – Boden clutch

Hugh wasn’t that impressed by the early start:

Darth Vader must have heard about the Death Star – he looked a little dejected.

Boots – Canvas Rag & Bone Newbury boots // Shorts – Zara skort // T-shirt – AllSaints vest (old) // Jacket – Zara (old)

Top – Boden Breton // Shorts – J.Crew (old) // Sneakers – Converse (old)

Related articles

Share this:

Top – TopShop Cami // Skirt – J.Crew Factory (old) // Sandals – Zara

Related articles

Share this:

Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

Related articles

Share this:

Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

Related articles

Share this:

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

Related articles

Share this:

Sandals – bow cage sandals from Marks and Spencer // Trousers – Mango // Tank – H&M

Dress – New Look (Just 9 GBP in the sale!!)

Share this:

Related articles

Share this: