Tag Archives: AllSaints

Wet, wet, wet.

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Yep the rain has arrived – it has rained since yesterday afternoon here and it shows no sign of clearing up soon.  Sitting here on the 9th floor it feels like I’m in the middle of the rain cloud.  At least I can at last get wrapped up and truly enjoy my knitwear:)

These jeans were cheap – just $22 from Target and they are currently reduced to just $18 – they are a great fit – though it is a bit weird buying junior sizes – I never know what size I am as juniors always fit tiny.  These jeans however have so much stretch in them I ended up in a 5!  I love them – the background of the snow leopard print is a soft blush pink with grey spots.  They look very similar to the H&M ones I was lusting after and never found over here.  The pink top is a Zara sale purchase and I’m wearing my favorite AllSaints Cerulean cardigan.  Accessorized with Sam Edelman Louie boots in taupe rose and my necklace from Macy’s that I wore on our anniversary night out – the grey color is really versatile and works well with many items in my closet.

What did you all think of Dexter last night?  To be honest I’m a bit sad that Debra now knows – surely he can’t carry on – unless Debra ends up on his table?

Homeland is DVRd for tonight:)

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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!

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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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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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Duran Duran – OMG!

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They were just unbelievable.  I screamed like a 14 year old and loved every minute of it.  Fortunately there were plenty of other nutters there too who got just as carried away as I did.  They played most of my favorites and some new ones too, plus they played ‘Girls on Film’ which apparently is unusual, and ‘Notorious’ was just brilliant.  They certainly have plenty of energy for their age and John can still play that bass like no one else – he’s still hot too – I think I yelled ‘I love you John’ a couple of times much to my friend’s embarrassment.  My Husband did well with the tickets and we were on the side of the stage where John was – perfect.  I have to say that Simon needs to be careful – with his beard he’s starting to look a little like Ricky Gervais.  You can read a far better written review here from The AJC.

I decided to go along with the 80s theme and wore pink and grey much to MM’s amusement.  The jeans and scarf are H&M, t-shirt is an old Diesel favorite, and the boots are the the Bonny Cubans from AllSaints.

Yesterday was a real struggle after too much fun and wine and somehow I discovered I was covered in bruises – I think I was leaning over the seats in front of me to get closer…I nearly did a bit of stalking as @ThisistheRealJT was tweeting about eating BBQ down the road…but I decided that at 41 harassing my teenage crush was not the way ahead.

I think Fall has arrived early here – it’s gorgeous outside, lovely and cool, so I am urging the onset of cooler weather by sporting my Frye Jenna studded boots – I am just in love with these.  Frye seem to be doing a great job of coming out with some great on trend new boots and they continue to diversify from the cowboy boots and Campus boots that they are famous for.  I will be a Frye fan forever.

I had to take my photo in the bathroom at the local supermarket today as the painters are back in to put a last coat on the new windows.  Not the best style runway ever but it serves a purpose.  With my Fryes I’m wearing my Boden quail egg skinnies (in stock at just $49 in the clearance!), an Express snake skin print t-shirt and my favorite AllSaints Cerulean cardigan.

Now back to some form of normality – the birthday celebrations have come to a close:)

 

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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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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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Zara hits the nail on the head yet again.

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Much as I love blogging it has had its pros and cons.  Cons mainly being I am always verging on being skint from seeing and buying gorgeous clothes modeled by my favorite blogging friends, and pros being that I have been exposed to lots of other fabulous brands that I may not have ventured to try in the past – basically resulting in the con.  Thank goodness for eBay hey so I can constantly recycle my closet!  Anyway my favorite new retail lust is Zara.  I’ve always known they were in Atlanta but never bothered to venture in opting to stick with my trusty, quality brands like J.Crew, Boden, AllSaints and H&M.  Zara is a tad pricier than H&M but is always spot on trend and being a trouser girl they always seem to have plenty to offer for me.  I love how they are constantly rotating their stock.  Their sizes are hit or miss but I’m learning to figure them out so I can order online with a little more confidence and benefit from items that haven’t been tried on 20 times, plus they offer free shipping.  In the past week or so their new collection has been filtering into stores and online, and I ordered these fabulous TRF snake print trousers which arrived yesterday.  They are DIVINE.  They are a gorgeous blend of neutral colors – lots of taupe, blush and nudes which means you can wear them with anything from a white shirt to a pink tee.  They have ankle zips and, on my legs, finish neatly at the ankle.  I can’t tell you enough how thrilled I am with them not to mention they were just $59.90!

I just ordered the snake skin shirt – not to wear with the pants – that might be overkill – but as I love the colors and pattern so much I thought the shirt would be great with jeans – black or blue denim.  I am truly embracing the animal print trend this season – though I can’t avoid it even when only Bet Lynch and I are wearing leopard print.

Today it is hot, hot, hot and I’m taking it easy in the air conditioning.  I find this heat really exhausting so I don’t plan on doing too much today except for a fun dinner with the family and then watching the Olympic Games opening ceremony.  Staying in has allowed me to enjoy the comfort of jeans again and I am wearing my Primark floral jeans – best bargain of the year at 5 GBP, along with a sale bargain from Zara – a lovely pink linen t-shirt which incidentally will look great with the new pants!  All paired with my trusty Tory Burch musk Eddie ballet flats – the best nude shoes I have.  Here’s to a fun weekend y’all and yes I’ll be cheering Team USA and Team GB – I think that is allowed:)

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6 months and counting…

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So it is now 6 months until the Miami marathon.  I’ve spent a few hours this week figuring out a training plan – mainly following Hal Higdon’s Novice 2 plan.  I also plan to do a couple of halves between now and then – I just wish it wasn’t so damn hot right now.  I dropped my car off for a service yesterday and took advantage of the 6mile journey to run home – blimey it must have been 90degrees at 8.30am – I needed that coconut water afterwards!  I’m also trying to adapt my diet without being overly obsessive or restrictive – cutting out alcohol (well at least between Sundays and Thursdays!), more fruit, more juices (beetroot, celery and ginger is a favorite), zero fast food and more protein.  Now  just need to incorporate some yoga into my schedule every week for a good stretch.

I have an update on the Express jeans I was lusting after the other day – with the magic of CRM and shopping cart technology Express must have seen I kept loading my cart with the light pink jeans but not actually hitting ‘order’!  Low and behold yesterday I got an email offer from the for jeans at $29.99!  Jobs a good ‘un – pink jeans now on their way to me:)  Promo code was 1626 if you’re interested in them too – it seems to apply to all their jeans right now – not sure how I managed to restrain myself and only order the pink pair!

I’m now officially over living in the basement – clutter is everywhere and I’m finding it impossible to keep tidy…but there is light at the end of the tunnel – the tiling is almost done, the painters are in the the hardwoods get finished next week – so with any luck we’ll be done at the end of next week!  Of course the painting and work that has been done is so sparkly and fantastic that it makes the other areas of the house look a little tired…we’ll get to them eventually once my son has stopped slamming his Tonka truck into every wall and baseboard!

Thankfully my fabulous Husband was around this morning to take on the duty of photographing me.  After a couple of days in tunics – sorry no photos – I opted for my fab J.Crew green chino shorts – these are 4″ but I noticed they had some 3″ and 5″ lengths in the sale online in other colors.  I’m wearing them with my AllSaints vest, H&M linen jumper and fabulous Sam Edelman Louie tan suede boots.  Ankle boots with shorts has to be one of my favorite looks from this summer.

We’re in full preparation for the return to school in a week hence the folder of sight words and reading on the table!

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