Tag Archives: Express

Officially obsessed with boots.

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.

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:)

How did it get to Friday?

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The days are whizzing by right now. With the children back at school, a new magazine at the printers and a hot date with Duran Duran on Sunday I haven’t even noticed this week pass. Poppy had her first ‘test’ at school today and all the drills during the week paid off – she is thrilled she got 10/10 for her first spelling test! For her treat we have all just dined on tacos at our local Mexican – lots of fun was had! It’s great now it’s cooler here too as we get to hang out in the garden for an hour or so before bedtime – nothing wears them – or us – out more than hula hooping and jump ropes. Not recommended after a margarita.

Today started with a good run around Chastain park – it was certainly cooler but that humidity is a killer. I’m off there again tomorrow with my running buddy – I haven’t seen her for weeks so it will be great to catch up. My post workout shower has taken on a whole new meaning now I have full body sprays and a rain shower – I think our water bills will be doubling.

Before I collected Hugh from daycare I popped into our local DSW. They now have all their Fall boots in and wow – there are some stunners this year – I picked up this Vince Camuto pair for $150 which won’t get worn for months but now I am lusting after the taupe too. They are a great worn in look leather – really soft – and will look great over my copious pairs of skinny jeans – unfortunately I don’t see them on the website to link to.

With the cooler climes today I opted for my Gap boyfriend jeans, white Express tank and white oversize Zara shirt, with my leaf green Tory Burch Eddies, complemented by some green Target wooden beads that rarely see the light of day.

Now I have a question for you – WHAT do I wear for cocktails followed by an outdoor concert with my teenage icons?

Answers please!:)

Ready for Fall.

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Oddly, given that it’s still only August, leaves are falling in the garden and the temperature has dropped due to lots of rain – it feels great. The long summer months here always have me pining for Fall, especially now all the September magazines are out crammed full of fabulous Fall clothes and boots. From what I have seen we’re in for a real treat this year and I have already ordered my winter coat from Zara as I know this will disappear fast:

It will hang in my closet for a few months yet but it is lovely – more like a chunky knitted cardigan than a coat, with leather quilted sleeves – perfect for Atlanta winters and really edgy looking.

I eventually moved my mirror upstairs last night so I am now taking photos in my empty closet! MM and I have decided to take a breather for a month before embarking on the closet fixtures and fittings – we’re feeling a little overwhelmed after the renovations! Today I am wearing my Express blush Zelda jeans, Zara cat top (a bit of a rip off from Victoria Beckham’s cat print dresses) and Zara off white jogging blazer, along with my nectarine Tory Burch Revas. It’s lovely being able to do hair and make up all in one place again even if I do have to run downstairs to get my clothes:)

Make the most of your assets!

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Now there may be many who say, with 2 days to go before you turn 41, loud prints could be verging on the mutton dressed as lamb look. But not me. This summer I have fallen for loud prints, especially trousers with loud prints, in a big way. It comes from acceptance. Acceptance that I will never have a 21″ waist thanks to 2 children and my love of wine, but also acceptance that my legs are pretty darn good from running. It’s very un-British to want to show off (and I don’t mean bragging), or to even say you think you look great, but maybe some of the American confidence is rubbing off on me.

My pants today are not for wall flowers that’s for sure! I have seen them on bloggers all summer and admired how fabulous they look with their youthfulness and tiny statures. Then while browsing the Zara website the other day I saw the last pair on sale for $20 and snapped them up knowing full well they’d probably be returned to the store. Well last night they arrived and they are fabulous! It was utterly joyous this morning putting them on after a good run – I couldn’t stop grinning. I felt full of mischief this morning sitting in my car knowing people had no idea what I had on my legs!

Here they are in all their glory – the Zara tropical print pants:

I am wearing them with a white Express t-shirt, black Zara jersey blazer and my nectarine Tory Burch Revas which coordinate perfectly!

I know some of you will loathe them, but I hope others will be inspired to show off your best features and accept that we can step out of our comfort zone regardless of age!

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!

#NBCFail

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The Olympics have started – hooray!!! NBC are covering them – boo!!! I have watched NBC religiously since landing in the US and watch Bri-Wi every night at 6.30 – my 30mins with the US’s version of the ‘rest of the world’, but NBC you have disappointed me so over the past few days.

1. The Opening Ceremony was NOT shown live, then the recorded version shown Friday evening was filled with ad breaks, and NBC omitted several pieces of the show including the full musical line up, plus most importantly and most insulting, the tribute to 7/7 was omitted – now if the BBC ever omitted a tribute to 9/11 we’d be hearing about it to kingdom come.

2. Every night Brian tells me at 6.30 there will be no spoilers and all the main events will be shown in the prime time coverage – BUT – he then says something along the lines of “but this news has already rocketed around the world so we’ll tell you now anyway…” and then proceeds to tell me about the Chinese female swimmer whose race I haven’t even seen yet…#MajorFail

3. Ryan Lochte is an irritating s.o.b. who happens to be a pretty good swimmer – I don’t need to see his grill or his shoe collection again – or him tossing a 650lb tire for that matter.

4. I know we’re in the US and not everyone is aware of the UK geography, but when it comes to Manchester it is NOT ‘just a bit North of London’.

5. And yes I know it is US coverage but there are other countries taking part that we’d like to see something of…
I could go on and I am trying to rise above it and enjoy the Olympics, but take a look at the tweets with #NBCFail and you will see I am not alone in my grievances.

Rant over.

This should be the last week of dust and dirt in the house – the electrician has been, the painting is done, the shower door hung and all that remains is for the door pulls on the vanity to be added and the mirror to be hung. Thrilled is an understatement – I can’t wait to get into our new master suite. While the work has been going on I’ve also done a bit of rearranging in the other areas of the house and yesterday we completed the sitting area in the kitchen with two fabulous IKEA Tullsta leather chairs – for $199 each they can be used and abused by the kids as much as they want – and they look brilliant. Definitely glad we opted for the off white in the end as I think the black version would have closed in the area a little too much.

Today it’s pretty miserable weather – rain, heat and humidity – but I’m taking advantage of wearing my white jeans for the month before Labor Day. These are the cropped Zeldas from Express – currently just $29.99, worn with my new Blighty boatneck from Boden, bought in the sale. My red lipstick today inspired me to wear this scarf – another H&M bargain for $3! Not sure how well you can make it out but it has fabulous red lips all over it – I love it! I finished off the outfit with my red Tory Burch Revas for an additional splash of color. I love the Blighty boatneck – definitely more of a sweat shirt and I sized up so I can layer it in the Fall – not reduced quite as much as I’d have liked in the sale but enough to have bought this dusk one and the quail egg one.

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!

How many skinny jeans does a girl need?

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5 years ago I would never have imagined that my staple wardrobe piece would be my skinny jeans. I always wore boot cut and felt way too paranoid to wear such tight fitting jeans. They brought back memories of pinstripe and bleached skinny jeans from the early 80s that I had to fasten lying on the bed, sometimes using a coat hanger hooked to the fly to get enough leverage to fasten the damn things they were so tight! Then after putting on weight with my pregnancies the word ‘skinny’ just was not enticing enough for me to want to try them. Then once I started running it became apparent that my legs might be an area of my body to enhance rather than conceal and now my Hudsons are my ‘go to’ trousers. I’ve since been branching out into colored jeans and printed jeans though I tend to spend far less on these as I don’t think they’ll be around forever.

I’m still waiting for the leopard print and snakeskin jeans from H&M to make an appearance in my local store – I’m hoping they should appear soon as the snakeskin ones have even been featured in the August issue of Real Simple.

In the mean time I found some delicious pink jeans there for $30! They are super soft, stretchy and REALLY comfortable – they looked fab on Saturday night when we went out to dinner with friends. I wore them with my Zara floral jacket, Zara top from the sale for $25, Banana Republic nude Jacky pumps from 3 years ago (?) and my Steve Madden ruffle clutch. I loved the outfit and it felt so summery – a great jacket does wonders for a pair of jeans. Thrilled with my new shorter haircut too – O’Neil is a genius:)

I’m still looking for the perfect blush/nude pink and have seen these here at Express but I think they are overpriced compared to elsewhere, so my brighter pink ones will do for now. I think a blush color will be perfect and could be worn into the Fall whereas the brighter pink is definitely more summery.