Athleta | Poppy's Style

With tropical storms/depressions passing through the Atlanta Metro all week, yesterday continued with dark clouds, heavy rain and warm temperatures. The weather in the UK looks far preferable and I never thought I’d be saying that sitting here! So what to do on a grey Friday? Why what else but head to the shops? Just for a browse mind.

Actually I had a top to return to Athleta. Their return policy is fabulous. I bought a sweater a while ago, and I’d worn it a couple of times but found it a tad itchy. It had sat in my closet taking up space so I decided to test their ‘anytime, any reason’ policy. They gave me a full refund yesterday! Pretty good hey?

So while I was down in Atlantic Station I popped into H&M for a browse. I left with nothing. Nothing I tell you. The main reason is that I leave for the UK in a week and a half – I know what I’m packing, well pretty much, and I can’t add anything to that pile. With heading to Cyprus after Bury, I’ll be out of the country for a bit, so there’s really no point in having a ‘new’ item hanging in the closet unworn. Travel is great for curbing my spending – until I get to the Trafford Centre that is.

I did however spot some gorgeous items on my wander through H&M. I just wish they wouldn’t try and cram so much on the racks – it’s so frustrating trying to find a size in there! As they still don’t have online shopping capabilities here in the US here are some snaps of my top picks if I were buying.

This dress was the perfect nude blush – the pattern is hard to make out here – but so subtle and girly for summer.

LOVE this embellished top – perfect with white jeans.

Okay so I’m going to say Marant again – but these jeans are very Marant – gorgeous embroidery on the legs – if it was the Fall I would have bought these.

I love the Divided section of H&M for cheap and cheerful tees – this animal print tank is lovely.

How perfect! Neon and animal print shorts – a great weight fabric too.

I have several of these tank dresses that I use for layering in the cooler months – they are great under sweaters with skinny jeans. The new colors they had yesterday were lovely – yet more neon.

This t-shirt is so me – pink and grey, what’s not to love? Why the pocket – why, why, why do we need pockets on our boobs? Gap and J.Crew are guilty of doing this too – please NO pockets. Just $10 though – I could have picked the pocket off at that price I guess.

This maxi skirt was divine – lovely light weight jersey for the summer – but only XS left in our store here. If I see this in the UK I think I’ll buy it.

After H&M I nipped into The Gap. As I’ve mentioned I am completely enamored with The Gap at the moment. Their neons, cuts and fabrics have led me straight back to their door this summer after not buying from them for nearly 5 years. They just got so boring with their chinos and white shirts.

Currently they have a tonne of t-shirts and shorts on sale, and all weekend in the US there is 25% off online. My favorite this season are still their sunwashed t-shirts that are now in the sale. Gap do fit big though, and even with my boobs I’m a small in their t-shirts.

Browsing done, I headed off to get the kids from camp and take Poppy for her dentist appointment. We have the best pediatric dentist ever and after two new sealants Poppy was still grinning. My lovely Husband finished work early and we all trooped off to try Yeah! Burger on the Westside – my favorite spot in Atlanta. It was perfect. Great food, great margaritas, great company – sitting on a covered porch as the torrential rain passed over. Another steamy summer afternoon in Atlanta.

So I like to work out. I also like to ‘dress the part’ and ‘look cute’ while working out – if possible when sweating buckets, huffing and puffing and as red as a beetroot – I don’t do ‘low impact’. My favorite brand of work out gear for some time has been Lululemon. They do fabulous fabrics for wicking and support, great colors, cute prints, and I LOVE their skorts. Over the past few months though there has been some concern over their colors ‘bleeding’ in the wash. There have been LOTS of comments on their FB page and their CEO even addressed quality issues. I have noticed the trim on a couple of my beloved skorts that have changed color:( Now I’m not ready to abandon Lululemon, but the quality concerns and their more mainstream presence i.e. seeing everyone in the same gear, has made me question whether the extra cost is worth it at all.

So I ventured out the other day to Atlantic Station to investigate the Athleta store. I always receive their catalog and to be honest haven’t paid it much attention till now. Flicking through it, what really appeals to me is the variety of clothing they offer – not just capris and tanks for gym wear – but they also have – dare I say it – ‘lounge wear’ and ‘travel attire’. Don’t shoot me, but here is why I love it. Sometimes I do just want to hang out at home in sweats – BUT not sweats that have a brand emblazoned across my butt, or elsewhere for that matter. I still want to look cute in my, here we go again, ‘lounge wear’. As for traveling – there is nothing worse than sitting on a 9hr transatlantic flight in skinny jeans, no matter how stretchy they are. But I refuse to wear sweatpants and Uggs. Plus on my trips abroad – especially for summer vacation I love to have something easy to throw on that can be packed rolled up, and will not reach it’s destination completely creased.

They don’t have too many bricks and mortar stores right now (though owned by Gap I expect real estate will be no problem, and they seem to be popping up stores where ever there is a Lululemon close by!). The one here at Atlantic Station is HUGE. It is beautifully merchandised, has great spacious changing rooms, and the staff are fabulous. Nothing was too much trouble. No pretentious yogis here.

These Allegro pants were what I really wanted to try. They are super light weight, have a great stretchy waistband and I walked away with a black pair. Ideal for travel and at home. I love them. As a note I got in a US 4 bottoms and size small tops so I suggest they fit on the larger side!

I also love these capri skorts – the ‘seamless skirts got legs‘ – and will be trying them as soon as they are in store.

Their dresses are also great – especially for hot Atlanta summers and for summer vacations. I have my eye on this ‘Twist and Turn maxi‘ for Cyprus this summer.

On another note – my paranoia about the sun is growing annually. I’ve heard too many horrifically sad stories recently and so I plan to be more guarded on the beach. I have completely fallen in love with their rashguards. Perfect protection, and also pretty darned cute too!

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As for today, well it seems a long way to go till beach weather that’s for certain. I’m wearing the Boden velvet trim blazer from 2011, Boden Must Have Jumper in blackberry layered over an H&M tank, Hudson skinnies and my Newburys. The scarf is also Boden from 2011.