Guilty as charged.

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I buy too much.  I’m a hoarder.  I buy things because I like them, not because I think I will wear them or use them.  I think I’ve been aware of this for some time but since I’ve been trying to reduce the number of items hanging unworn in my closet I have been stunned at just how much I have bought.

I am an online shopping addict.  I love the buying experience online – I can browse, compare prices – so I think I’m getting a bargain, my size is almost always available, I know it won’t have been tried on by 500 people and all I have to do is click a button and I’m done.

This weekend I made a vow to myself to 1) stick to a monthly clothing budget and 2) be more discerning about what I buy.   I’m already putting this into practice – having returned all my Boden preview order for the Fall I know there are just 2 items that I really would like to reorder – both knitted tunics – and neither will be worn here till November.  I am determined to wait till November to order – I know it’s a risk but by then I may have reappraised what I need/want and changed my mind…if I buy them now I could end up with 2 more tunics hanging in my closet unworn.  I think this is how I’ve ended up with so many rarely or never worn items – I buy them in the preview before the weather is appropriate to wear them – so I either forget about them or have moved on to another item I want!

Here’s one of the tunics I ordered and returned – it’s the Boden smocked tunic dress and it is gorgeous – so soft and works perfectly as a dress with tights and boots.  Fortunately there is a long wait right now for my size to be back in stock so that is helping me to stand my ground and wait to order until it is cool enough to wear it.

The second is from the Winter preview – and it is the bottle green collared tunic.  I am actually just in love with this photo too – it makes me think of Twiggy every time I see it, not to mention the setting reminds me of my old haunt Notting Hill.

I will wait to order I swear.  In the meantime I am going to try and go cold turkey and stop browsing the Zara website and Zappos.com – let’s see how it goes.

Fall arrived here this weekend – we’ll still have temperatures up in the 80s each day but this morning I actually had to wear a jacket at the bus stop – it was in the low 60s – just gorgeous!  I took Tennyson, our boxer, for a long walk – another promise I made myself this weekend – I will walk him every morning!

I’m wearing my Hudson Collin jeans, Zara animal print t-shirt, Zara black jersey blazer and my Tory Burch black patent Eddies.  I love wearing a jacket with jeans – and these jersey ones are so comfy and easy to wear.

To those of you who are helping me purge my closet I want to say a huge thank you and USPS are going to be busy with shipments of fabulous items all day.  I am trying to be ruthless and have posted more items over the weekend on my Facebook store.

 

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Poppy’s Style Closet Store

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Just a quick note to let you all know that, disenchanted with eBay fees, I have opened a store front on Facebook!  Enjoy and I hope you find some great bargains!

http://www.facebook.com/PoppysStyleCloset

Flourescing.

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The tooth fairy came the other night.  Poppy has already lost the two front lower ones but now the first top one has gone!  She was actually very brave and gave it a tough yank herself to get it out – she was determined to get that $5!  I remember the days it was just 10p per tooth – showing my age again I guess.

It seems a long time since I wore a dress/tunic which is unusual for me so today I popped on last year’s Boden chic linen tunic.  Given it’s a very flat grey/silver color – the same color as the sky here today – I decided to elevate it with a bit of neon – not sure if I’ve overdone it with the lime J.Crew scarf, pink J.Crew cardigan and pink Tory Burch Revas?  So funny too – I walked into the office and my colleague, who I have converted to Boden, is wearing exactly the same tunic with black leggings and a black jacket – it’s the new Halcyon Media uniform:) Sorry for the fuzzy photo – was too much in a rush this morning and too tired again after another late night listening to Bill.

Give me strength this afternoon – I have a 2hr session at the Y with swim team followed by gymnastics for Poppy – which means instead of sitting on my backside watching, my guilty conscience will force me into the gym – 2hrs in the steam room may be preferable:)

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Officially obsessed with boots.

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Fall is my favorite season.  Mainly for the weather – it stays in the high 70s here through till November normally and we’ve had many a Halloween where the children have been sweltering in their costumes – and it is perfect once the humidity dissipates towards the end of September.  You can’t beat a gorgeous, crisp Fall day in the Georgia mountains.  However, another key reason for loving Fall is all the fabulous boots that I can start wearing.  I have always been and will always be a boot fan.

Many of you who have been reading my posts for a while will be familiar with my outrageous Frye obsession.  Though I am pretty miffed with them right now due to their recent partnership with Coach, I am still loving some of the new Fryes that have been released this Fall – many embracing the studded trend.  My favorite are these Jenna boots in gray that I have already treated myself to and wore the other week.

They also do a tall version but I think I prefer the shorter version – but maybe that’s because I already have the Veronica slouch which is similar but without studs.

I’m currently lusting over the Phillip harness studded but I can’t decide which to get – the short would look great with skinny jeans and my All Saints jumpers, but the tall are slim enough in the calf to wear with a knitted dress and tights – and I love the impact of the zip all the way up the calf.  They both have a great flat heel too, perfect for chasing after children.

I am also loving the Vince Camuto Autumn boots that are sitting waiting to be worn at home.  After buying them at DSW I discovered them $60 cheaper on the Vince Camuto website so I ended up returning the first pair to DSW and getting the black and taupe for *almost* the price of one pair:)  I justified it don’t worry!  The taupe by the way is very much more of a taupe color than the ivory that is depicted on their website.  I’ve never worn this brand before so will be interested to see how $100 boots hold up compared to my Fryes.

Finally these are on my hit list too – but how many pairs of boots does a girl really need?  They may be a little too similar to my Frye Shirley strappy boots to justify this one.  Again at $100 they are a great bargain.  I love the straps and buckles and both colors look fabulous on the Nordstrom website.

As it is past Labor Day now I think can get away with wearing light weight long sleeves and boots so today I am wearing my Express blush Zeldas, a Zara zip back top from the sale that was only $15, my H&M scarf, which only when I came to wear it for the first time today did I realize that it was actually a snood, all polished off with my Ash Thelma wedges which are coming into their own in the wet drizzle that Isaac is leaving us with.

A tad tired today after staying up to watch Michelle Obama’s speech – I have to say I thought she was incredible – passionate and sincere – she looked stunning too in a Tracey Reese dress and J.Crew pumps.

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I love the 80s

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I hope all you US folks had a great long Labor weekend – we certainly did – very relaxing with a baseball game thrown in there for some good fun too.  Most of it was spent around the pool which in turn leads me to one big gripe I have living over here – why are so many Americans uncomfortable with nudity?

I really think next time around I need to come back French or Scandinavian or similar.  Leaving the pool on Sunday we were reprimanded by the lifeguard for changing our children by the pool instead of using the nasty changing rooms (someone must have had a party in there the night before).  Another swimmer had complained about us.  Now feel free to disagree, but anyone who is offended by a 4 and 6 year old changing discretely by the pool has some real issues.  I’m neither a prude nor a frequent visitor of nudist beaches, but when in France I often sunbathe topless and the last thing I want is for my children to have any hang ups about their naked bodies, or anyone else’s for that matter.  I want them to retain their innocence and cavort naked when they please – in the appropriate setting of course.  Unfortunately this is not the first time I have encountered this kind of concern about nudity here.  Once in the Y a woman complained to another lady changing her 3 year old son in the ladies changing room.  The complainer actually said it was ‘like pornography’ – I stepped in irate that anyone could suggest this about a naked 3 year old.  I was so angry I was almost in tears.  Please get over it – we all have the same bits, relax and stop imposing your hang ups on everyone else.

We were lucky enough on Sunday evening to head to Turner Field to watch the Braves.  MM and I used to go to the baseball quite often before the children arrived.  It is a fun spectacle – great for people watching and enjoying a hot dog and a cold beer or two.  Sunday was the first time we had taken the children and in Chipper Jones’ last season it was an important game.  We all had a fabulous time with great seats close to home plate.  We left at the 7th innings as the children were getting tired and the Braves were heading for defeat…unfortunately we missed a cracking final innings when the Braves won with a home run from Chipper!

For the game I wore my J.Crew chambray spotty shorts, AllSaints Tilly t-shirt and fab Ash Thelma wedges.  It always surprises me how comfortable these shoes are.

Once again I am loving the 80s and today I feel very Nik Kershaw with my baggy Top Shop pants and Zara jacket with rolled up sleeves.  Even the Sam Edelman Alvin loafers have a retro feel about them.  I’d fit right in back at Live Aid.

One last note – I’ve just had a vent on one of the posts on The Frye Company’s Facebook page.  They have just released some boots in collaboration with Coach.  Why oh why would they do this??  It is a dangerous partnership if you ask me with my marketing head on.  I cannot believe that their research tells them the same people that buy Frye buy Coach.  I am so disappointed – Coach has become a masstige brand and I fear the halo effect will reduce the credibility of the Frye brand…What do you think about brand partnerships?

 

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It’s my Friday.

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Thursdays are my Fridays – I’m very lucky to have Friday as ‘my day’.  If the rain steers clear tomorrow I plan on trying to run 8miles for the first time in months.  I have a half coming up in October, which on the calendar looks really close now!  Then it’ll be time for the half at Thanksgiving and before I know it Miami will be looming…can I handle it?  One thing is for sure I am eating like a horse again with all this running.  My resolution is to at least try to eat like a healthy horse.

Have any of you ever responded to a Facebook offer?  I was a little skeptical when I first saw ‘xyz has just redeemed and offer at abc’ appear on my news feed but today for the first time I acted on one and bought a necklace.  I have been looking for a while at the J.Crew bubble necklace but there are some things I just won’t spend $150 on – costume jewelry is one of those things.  I’ve found lots of copy cats on eBay and Etsy.com but still some of them are $30 and above, and seem a bit risky to chance.  Well today I saw an offer at Lovely Lola Boutique and with shipping the necklace is just $14.90 – so I ordered 2!  You have to make a separate order for each necklace but at $14.90 it seemed too good to miss and well worth the risk…I’ll keep you posted when they arrive – though it sounds like it’ll be late September as there are just two girls packing and shipping!  This is not an endorsement as I have no affiliation with them – so fingers crossed that the necklaces are as fab as I hope!

The pink one would have looked great with my outfit today.  I’m wearing my green J.Crew shorts (in the sale at $35), an old H&M top, Zara off white jogging jacket and my Frye Carson button shorts.  Had to dash out of the house this morning to carpool so the photos were taken in the office bathroom!  Sorry!

This morning as I dropped off Hugh, one of the teachers at daycare told me I looked a different person from when I was taking Poppy there 5 years ago…I have to agree I don’t recognize that person anymore either.

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He’s coming!!

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SO excited!!  Jack White just announced new tour dates and Atlanta is included!!! MUST remember to buy tickets when the are released this weekend – he’s playing at the Fabulous Fox so it will be an amazing night – I MUST get tickets!!  Giddy with excitement:)

Moving on – you all know how much I love to wear a scarf these days and Avril at SchoolGateStyle.com has been really helpful with some new ways to tie a scarf – well now Mint Velvet, who I discovered when I was back in the UK in June, have released this fabulous video with 10 ways to tie a scarf.  I love this video – it is the perfect speed – not too slow so that you get bored, and not too fast so that you have no idea what they are doing – watch it – it will inspire you on your scarf wearing days!  Personally I love the plait.

http://blog.mintvelvet.co.uk/10-ways-to-wear-your-scarf/

Even MM loves a good scarf and he has several that he has acquired over the years.  I think it began as a way to replace his bandana that he wore in his student days.  For me it is great – it’s a whole new array of gifts for me to choose from for him and Mr. Porter have a great selection – Paul Smith is my favorite designer for a good men’s scarf and this is a Paul Smith scarf he’s wearing here last winter – at the OK Cafe with Hugh and his long hair:)

Today I’m wearing my Boden Limited Edition silk feathers top from a couple of years ago – I love it – I rarely wear it and I don’t know why – it’s so easy to wear and can be washed so it’s really easy to care for. I have paired it with my Hudson jeans and Sam Edelman Louie boots in rose taupe – they coordinate with the top perfectly!

 

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Solo parenting.

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I know I often sing the praises of My Fabulous Man but here goes again.  He really is one of the best parents around.  As he was moving the office last night it meant an afternoon and evening of solo parenting for me…Now the children are great and mostly well behaved but it is tiring parenting alone!  For those of you who are single parents you all deserve a medal as far as I am concerned.  From homework, to dinner, to entertaining, to bath time, to bed time – (even reading with my stubborn 6yr old can be quite exhausting when we have to restart every paragraph to get it error free, she’s such a perfectionist) – I missed MM’s calming influence and jolly banter.  I was thrilled to see him this morning, as I was fast asleep when he arrived home around midnight last night.  Even after a late night he was busy making Poppy’s lunch this morning – I do love him and appreciate him, probably more than he knows.

So we’re in the temporary new space today until our permanent new office is ready in about 2 weeks – they’re busy painting and building out the floor plan for us.  It all feels very grown up – 9th floor with a view of Atlanta and floor to ceiling windows…how did I get here?  Fortunately we have internet today – unexpected as it’s normally the first thing not to work in a move – so I have already ‘christened’ my new desk with a bit of online shopping.  I have bought the All Saints Dita tee dress in black/chalk.  It looks divine and there are knitted versions of this cut too that I have my eye on for the colder weather.  It looks perfect to be worn as a dress or with skinnies as a tunic – a black leather jacket over it will look fab.

Today I am wearing my tropical Zara pants again – not sure if the protocol is the same for these as with seersucker and white – they may have to be stored after Labor Day this weekend.  I paired them with my H&M coral linen jumper and black Nine West ankle boots from a few years ago.  As you can see I had a ‘prop’ this morning – my gorgeous boy:)

 

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Office move.

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So today is hectic – we’re moving offices.  I had no idea what a hoarder I am but I’ve just been through my desk and found proposals and presentations from years ago…it feels so good to get rid of it all!  Purging my desk is as therapeutic as purging my closet.  It’s pretty exciting to be moving – another indication that Halcyon Media is on the up and up – a new magazine and a new office all in the same month!  With more sales staff and interns it’s going to be fun to have more space for us all…I’m so proud of MM – I have to keep reminding myself that he and his partners built this business from scratch – I’m so used to it now that I forget the stress and risk involved 7 years ago when he went solo.  It makes me laugh how care free we were back then – he quit his corporate job to start Halcyon the week before Poppy was born – nothing like jumping in with both feet hey?!

I watched the news intently last night as Isaac is on his way.  Sadly it looks like New Orleans is right in his path – and Isaac looks set to hit land on Wednesday 7 years to the day since Katrina hit – can you believe it?  Shit luck for New Orleans – I hope Isaac steers closer to the the Florida coast even if it means Atlanta will get a good dousing, anything to spare New Orleans again.

As I remembered it’s a Bank Holiday today in the UK, it gave me another opportunity to look back over the years.  Between ’95 and ’97 MM and I were partying hard in the streets of Notting Hill.  Fabulous times even though we didn’t have a penny to our name.  We lived in a run down flat on Ledbury Road but critically it had a balcony and we could spend many hours watching the party in the streets and dipping our toe in when we felt like it.  It’s crazy to think how many people we crammed into that one bedroom flat!

Hard to believe it’s Labor Day 2012 next week!  We’re not heading anywhere but I’ll be at the pool again for sure all weekend assuming Isaac has moved on by then!  Today I’m making the most of the sunshine today before the rain arrives and I’m wearing my gorgeous fennel Boden Florence tunic – it was a great sale bargain at $26.40 and I love the color – there are still plenty left too.  I’m wearing it with an H&M scarf and my Tory Burch Emmy sandals.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for NOLA.

 

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Free therapy.

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Some weekends just turn out to be so much superior to others.  Not that the others end up as bad weekends but for some reason this weekend has just been…well…perfect.  Odd thing to say given that on Friday night I was up at 3am with a 4 year old refusing to sleep and 2 dogs with weak bladders.  Fortunately Friday had been a great day so it made the to-ing and fro-ing on Friday night more bearable.

I have to start with a confession – I cheated on my hairdresser.  After years of going to the same salon I have been introduced to a new salon by a friend.  Both Poppy and Hugh have had very successful cuts there recently and I really like the ambiance.  It’s a lot less pretentious than some of the big salons here and the senior stylist is also the owner so it feels a little more intimate and relaxed.  Given the success of the two trips with the children I decided to dip my toe and try a color and cut there myself.  I’ve given up trying to color my own hair and am now resigned to spending crazy money keeping the greys at bay.  I daren’t risk hair dye in the new bathroom!  Anyway I have to say it was a good trip – I did feel a ridiculous amount of guilt being in a different chair, but the owner of  A la Mode, Chad, was great and happens to be a runner and cyclist so we had lots to talk about after the Lance story had broken that morning.  Just wish the salon wasn’t called A la Mode – sorry just seems a tad cheesy to me.  I’m moving towards this style that Ginnifer Goodwin rocks – it reminds me of the 90’s – I just need to get mine a bit longer on top then we’ll get the trimmers out!

The afternoon was spent at the pool again – we’re trying to hang out there as much as we can before Labor weekend and the weather is just perfect here right now – the calm before the storm I think as Isaac is on his way.  MM and I had the perfect evening – great music and great, simple food – a fine Chianti, rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and crusty bread – we sat outside in the summer evening watching the kids play – it was brilliant.

Yesterday was a bit mad with parties, swimming lessons and pools so an early night was in order but that, quite frankly, meant my run this morning was AMAZING.  With the perfect weather and the perfect running pal I didn’t even notice the miles.  It’s like an hour of therapy each week but free – I have the best routes to run on and the best conversation around…I feel on top of the world right now.  As a treat we’re off to the OK Cafe for pancakes then back to the pool – nothing too taxing today!

Here was my outfit briefly yesterday before the bikini – my Zara t-shirt which I adore – pinks and greys and animal print and just $20!  Worn with my Hudson jeans and Sam Edelman Louie‘s in rose taupe – I saw from a press release that they are increasing the number of colors these come in including ivory and gold – they are gorgeous and so comfortable.  While we’re talking about shoes if you are in the US check out 6pm.com – they are owned by Zappos.com but have GREAT prices!  They have my Carson button Fryes at half price and they aren’t seconds!

 

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