New goggles.

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I am blind as a bat. Astigmatism and over -5 in each eye means I cannot see a thing without glasses or contacts. It happened years ago at school and I was mortified. I had no idea that I was struggling to see the blackboard and I felt such a loser for needing glasses. I never had the NHS glasses but my first pair were from Boots Opticians and horrific. Mainly because at 14 I hadn’t done that much research into the spectacle market and really I was so ashamed I had to wear them that even trying them in the opticians was utterly disturbing. By 17 or so I had my first pair of gas permeable contact lenses that scraped across my eyeball with every blink, but as far as I was concerned red eyes were preferable to glasses. My how times have changed.

We are now inundated with amazing glasses – which even people with 20/20 vision wear, though I have never understood that. A variety of daily and monthly contact lenses are available and I even get mine to correct my astigmatism. Lasik of course is now done routinely, though it still scares the bejeezus out of me which is fine as at the ripe old age of 41 I have been told to wait a few years so my ‘old sight’ can develop before I have it done.

I am a daily contact lens wearer – I love my glasses these days, but to be honest I just find them inconvenient, but with working in front of a laptop so often I need to start wearing my glasses more as my contacts just make my eyes tired. So as some of you know from my Facebook page I embarked on the hunt for some new cool frames.

I love statement glasses – I like them big and bold and prefer plastic to dainty metal frames. That being said the dainty metal frames may suit me better. My current pair are these Oliver Peoples Wacks in cocobolo. I like them a lot but they are big.

They are also expensive – with lenses we are talking $600. So I thought I would investigate Warby Parker. Warby Parker are online only (I think they have bricks and mortar in NYC). Online glasses shopping is a novel concept – surely you can’t choose without trying them on? Well Warby Parker have devised a genius model where you can choose 5 pairs to try at home, then model for friends, share on Facebook (they’ll even give you their preference on their page) and hopefully come up with a consensus of the best pair for you and then buy a full set with prescription lenses for just $95! I could have a pair for every day of the week! So I chose my 5 pair tried them and not only did most people dislike all of them on me – the one that some did like was one of my least favorites. So great idea Warby Parker but not that successful for me.

After revisiting my optician I realized I am going to have to suck it up and pay through the nose for my favorite pair. The Wacks come in 2 sizes and I have the largest size. After trying the smaller size in black/tortoise I fell in love with them. They tick all my boxes of style, comfort and color. Cha ching – ordered and paid for,

Now I am also intrigued by colored frames. I’ve always played it safe with the tortoise shell as it suits my coloring – but recently I have been drawn to the new aubergine, blue and red frames that are coming to market. I tried a pair of SALT Brixton frames in velvet purple which I LOVE – but can I carry off purple every day?

I then discovered that the Wacks frame is now done in a beautiful blue color – Havana blue. So I’ve ordered them to compare with the SALT frames. I’d love a pair of colorful frames for fun – that can add some pizazz to an outfit! I just need to decide on the color – plus do I need another pair of Wacks? I do think that if there is a frame I’m happy with why change it except in color? I’ll let you know the verdict. Meanwhile my cocobolo frames are being transformed into sunglasses for me. Look out for more photos of me with my goggles on:)

Still in the contacts today while my lenses are being fitted and I’m feeling pretty tired after a stressful morning having an old filling removed – I hate the sound of the drill and the smell of tooth dust! My knuckles were white! I’m wearing my Hudson jeans, Tory Burch Eddies, Zara owl t-shirt which I love and my Zara jersey black jacket. Lovely and comfortable for a traumatic morning!

Loving some AllSaints.

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I love AllSaints. Not only do I love their urban styling but their flagship store in Spitalfields is just across the road from my London pad and The Golden Heart, where we have had many a lively night before a curry on Brick Lane. Wearing my AllSaints brings me closer to home and another great bonus is that you rarely see anyone else here in Atlanta wearing it. I tend to order it online as I can get it tax free due to them not having a stand alone store here in Atlanta, but Bloomingdale’s in Lenox Mall has a great concession managed by the fabulous Charlie. If you go tell him I sent you – he will treat you like a star!

Yes they are a little more expensive than a lot of other high street stores but they have a great sale every 6 months and their knitwear especially is so unique it is, in my eyes, worth it. I also love their tops and I have a couple of dresses too, oh and my leather straight leg trousers are AllSaints too. Yes I have quite a thing for them. Lots of raw edging, exposed seams, asymmetric drapey hems and an industrial palette gives their clothes a great urban vibe, but they are equally wearable, and I have found, in the main, that they are good quality – though I did have a t-shirt that had to go back twice due to the fabric weakening from the dying process – I gave up on it sadly, though I loved it so much!

So today I am wearing my Express blush jeans and Ash Thelma wedges with my AllSaints Pipali top and AllSaints Itat shrug. They are the perfect tops for layering on another beautiful Fall day. I love the skinny arms on their knitwear.

Right now I am wishing the week away as I am desperate for a haircut on Friday!

Amazing Georgia.

Anniversary outfit.

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We had a lovely evening – great food, great wine and great conversation – we even stayed up late listening to music when we got home so I am feeling a tad tired today.

I just wanted to share my outfit from last night – a jumpsuit!! Yes I found one that I actually like wearing and is comfortable and fairly flattering – though I think next time I wear it I will switch out the tie belt for a wide black belt to give me a bit more shape. Believe it or not it was just $35 from Target! It is by Kirna Zabete for Target who I have to say I have never heard of but their prints are gorgeous! The print on this jumpsuit at first glance looks like leopard print but it is in fact little kisses/lips – I love it – it is so unusual. I wore it with a Zara fuchsia jersey jacket for a pop of color. My booties are Nine West pony hair from Zappos – they are fierce – high – but fierce! If you’re interested in these boots – size down – I needed a 7.5 and I am never a 7.5 – normally an 8 in heels – but the 8s were falling off my feet. My accessorizing is going well – I remembered a necklace from Macy’s (similar blue one here) that goes great with the grey and I even remembered to wear my Elsa Peretti Tiffany bone cuff – my first ever Tiffany item bought for me Christmas of 2001 by my lovely Husband.

14 years!

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MM and I have been married 14 years today! I remember it all vividly. The location was The Devonshire Arms, Bolton Abbey, West Yorkshire. Neither of us are from anywhere near there – we just wanted a beautiful location and I was obsessed about having a venue that didn’t look like a conference room – I didn’t want “any metal legged chairs”! We were living in London at the time and we had our hen and stag nights the week of the wedding. Madness in hindsight.

My hen night was at Kensington Place – a great restaurant in Notting Hill – on the Wednesday night. I then traveled North back home with my Mum and sister on the Thursday, whilst the boys congregated in London for the stag night. They traveled up to Skipton on the Friday morning – with Martin, one of the best men, having to side step out of the ticket line to throw up, before getting on the train. I still feel awful for anyone who was in that line that day!

Friday night was spent at the Devonshire Arms. I promised myself not to drink – that promise lasted 2 minutes – and a party ensued as all our guests arrived – some we hadn’t seen for a while. Not a good idea to get carried away on excited energy the night before you get married! I didn’t sleep a wink that night and I remember sharing a room with Jo, one of my bridesmaids. In the corridors I could hear MM and his brother howling and giggling – I knew it was going to be a tough morning!

I headed off at the crack of dawn with my Mum and sis to get our hair done. I felt rough as a badger’s arse but ridiculously excited! The champers at the salon soon had me buzzing again and it was off back to the hotel to get dressed. Now remember this is the 19th September in West Yorkshire – all bets would be on rain and clouds but the weather was stunning! Blue skies and sunshine – in fact a little too warms for some dehydrated folks:) Later I heard it was quite a miracle that MM made it to the ceremony at all. He had gone to work off some of the previous night’s excesses in the gym, having forgotten his sneakers he ran barefoot on the treadmill and went flying off the back of it, then he tried to walk downstairs in his flip flops, spilled his cup of water and went flying again! I’m giggling as I write this – talk about the excesses of youth!

I walked in with my Dad to Pachelbel’s Canon and Simon read The Owl and the Pussycat and we were done! Mr and Mrs – as easy as that. The great thing about our venue was that no one had to go anywhere as we used the same room for the ceremony, the reception and the disco. Our first dance was to ‘Love me Tender’ but I remember the dance floor clearing later too as we whirled each other around to ‘Satisfaction’ by the Stones. There are some amazing photos of MM and his mate dancing and stripping – yes stripping though not naked thankfully – to ‘Bad to the Bone‘ – many chins were on the floor at this remarkable scene – my Dad’s for one.

The following day we made our way back to London elated, and then on the Monday we jetted off to Northern Cyprus where we traveled with back packs and a jeep for 2 weeks – bliss.

After 14 years and 2 kids not a day goes by when he doesn’t make me laugh – at him or with him:) Happy Anniversary my lovely.

The photo on my desk!:

Now off to Bacchanalia tonight for a tamer celebration than 14 years ago!

Today’s outfit is all Zara! TRF blue pants, t-shirt and jersey blazer worn with my Tory Burch Eddies.

An homage to Aerosmith.

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You’ll either love them or you’ll hate them. For me they are a throw back to the late 70’s early 80’s when everyone was pouring a bottle of bleach in their bathtub with their skin tight jeans – well at least we were in Bury! They are the tie dyed jeans from H&M and I think they are fun though not for the faint of heart. It didn’t occur to me until I got to work that paired with my Ash Bowies I am actually resembling someone from an 80s hair band – without the big hair admittedly though I’m close to it thanks to the downpour I walked through to the office. One of my friends at university used to wear something very similar, though his jeans were completely bleached and he wore Reebok white hi-tops with them – classy. His jeans were so tight I often wonder if he ever had a family. Keeping it simple with the loud jeans I opted for my white Express t-shirt and the lovely All Saints Boston cardigan that I got in the sale back in England in June. Loving that I can start to get some knitwear out again.

Yesterday I wore my Zara snake print top from the sale, black Gap jeggings and my favorite Fryes of the moment – the Jenna short studded – they are so soft I love them.

Taking the children for a play date after school today so looking forward to their Mom’s reaction to my jeans:)

Weekend outfits.

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Thursday night was fab – the meet and greet was so much fun and we’re lucky we have a great bunch of parents and a fabulous teacher for our class. I decided to wear my loud Zara snake print pants – they are lush. They have so many colors in them – pink, taupe, green, and the zips at the ankle – I will wear these a lot through Fall and they’ll also look great with boots or my Ash trainers. The shirt is a really old Zara shirt – their basic shirts are fabulous and wear well – they have a similar style this season with an elastic waist which is lovely in all three colors. Of course I have on here my trusty Tory Burch Eddies in Camilla pink – I wanted to wear heels but hate clomping around on someone else’s hardwoods in heels – I never walk on mine in them so why would I risk damaging someone else’s?!

Fall has absolutely arrived here – the weather is stunning. Clear air with no humidity, bright blue skies and stunning sunshine – this is my favorite time in Atlanta. Yesterday was Fall Festival at Hugh’s daycare – pony rides, fire trucks, bouncy castles etc and we had a great time – another family not so much – as their kid got off the bouncy castle with the worse bloody nose ever, poor guy! I wore my new Ash Bowie trainers – just gorgeous soft leather and perfect for this kind of event. Kat over at Doesmybumlook40 has a fab blog on wedge trainers today. She introduced them to me as I see very few Ash over here but Nordstrom‘s do sell them. I ordered mine on Amazon but they do have an online store here too but a lot of sizes are out. These are another pair that I love from Steve Madden – the Hilight available in a variety of colors – a complete rip off of the Isabel Marant style but only $150. Steve Madden has a plethora of wedge sneakers here this season.

I went casual with J.Crew selvedge denim shorts and my Top Shop t-shirt bought back in the UK in June – though I did notice that Top Shop is now available here in Nordstrom – exciting!

Off to spend the day by the pool today so there’ll be no outfit photos this evening:)
A big thank you to all of your comments on the Warby Parker frames too – you can see them all here!

Meet the parents.

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So tonight we have our parent/teacher party. We didn’t go last year so I’m really not sure what I’m in for but basically one set of parents from the class has kindly offered to host a ‘meet and greet’ where all the parents get to mingle and meet the teacher in a relaxed, informal environment. It’s also a potluck where we can take an appetizer, dessert or wine – guess who’s taking wine? Yep me – partly because I want to make sure there is some there and partly because I am rubbish at being organized enough to prepare something to take. As MM and I had to organize a babysitter for the evening we have decided to get our moneys worth and head out afterwards for some fun:) I can’t wait – it feels a bit naughty on a school night!

Given my daughter and her friend have already been to the Principle’s office just 5 weeks into the year (the shame!) it should be interesting! MM is quite proud of her achievements, and after getting 2 yellow lights in 2 days he has suggested encouraging her to just go for it this September and get it all out of her system. As you can imagine I don’t quite approve of this approach – but I’m also quite proud of us for dealing with it in such a relaxed fashion – she is only 6 after all and she has been quite remorseful – at least in front of us! In my eyes they were fairly minor offenses and I’m happy for the discipline to be handed out at school – we’ve obviously discussed it at home and I think she’s got the message. My dentist is also a parent at the school and yesterday she made me feel so much better when she told me she had received 3 calls from her son’s teacher in just one day last week – relating parenting nightmares is always fun and it’s nice to be reassured that we can all be as incompetent as each other sometimes:)

So hopefully I’ll have another outfit shot tonight to share – not sure what to wear at all given it’s relaxed and informal but I go out so rarely it’s always nice to make a bit of an effort:)

Today I decided to wear a skirt – mainly because I wanted to wear my Frye Sabrinas and they look so much better with skirts than trousers – these clay ones are currently on sale at Zappos.com. This is an old J.Crew linen skirt worn with an Express tank and H&M linen jumper. The necklace is an old J.Crew outlet one which I love – it’s like the blue one I wore here.

A quickie.

Remembering.

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I cried this morning. Listening to ‘Imagine’ on the radio just made it worse. As I took Tennyson out for a walk it dawned on me that it was 9/11 again. I immediately had a flash back – I remember it all so well. I was driving to work here in Atlanta, running late, it had just gone 9am and the radio announcer said they were getting reports that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I was shocked but somewhat dismissed it as a dreadful, unfortunate accident. As the morning unfolded it turned out to be far more sinister than that. I remember feeling guilty because I was so irritated when all air traffic was grounded as my sister was supposed to be flying out here on the 13th and I so wanted to see her. There were many people who would now never see their siblings again. Even for those of us who were no where near NYC that day it still feels very raw, we will carry memories of that day forever. So peace and love to all, and we will never forget.

Shifting gears now to something far more trite and inconsequential – clothes and hair.

Inspired by Miley’s new look (totally wrong for a 41 year old to be inspired by Miley Cyrus) and Pink’s hair at the VMA awards (again totally wrong of me) I decided to try and go for bigger hair up top today using a bit of pomade – I quite like it for a change:)

I’m wearing my Zara floral jacket and in attempt to transition it to Fall I wore a darker blue Boden long sleeved essential tee from last Fall. I love these t-shirts – they are so soft and stretchy and great quality. I’m in my Gap boyfriend jeans and my Tory Burch Revas in hibiscus pink – the necklace is an old J.Crew Factory store one that I bought years ago. I’m making an attempt to be more thoughtful about accessorizing – accessories are the first thing to be forgotten about if I’m in a hurry in the morning.

My final order from Zara arrived yesterday – final for now anyway – remember I am going cold turkey. It’s a stunning blue jacket that I just love – it will look great with jeans and tan ankle boots. I love the gathered shoulders too – I know I will wear this a lot. Question is do I get the most out of it and start wearing it now or wait to wear it in October when MM and I are off to a trade show in Louisville (oh the glamour!)? I’m thinking if one really likes something then surely it makes sense to wear it and enjoy it – but nervous about that approach as I know I will want something new to wear come trade show time!

Poppy's Style

My blog about fashion, family, friends and fun.

New goggles.

Loving some AllSaints.

Amazing Georgia.

Anniversary outfit.

14 years!

An homage to Aerosmith.

Weekend outfits.

Meet the parents.

A quickie.

Remembering.

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