Tag Archives: Rag & Bone

Preppy in pink.

First there is very exciting news from Boden – this week they are offering a Catch of the Day! Each day, this week, a new category of clothing will be on offer at 25% off! Today the deal is on women’s dresses, and boy’s and men’s shorts – grab them while you can! The drop waist dress that I love is included so it may end up in my shopping cart today:)

Other emails that appeared in my inbox this morning included one from Net-a-porter.com. It can be quite a dangerous thing being on email lists. Sometimes I just try not to look – this morning I looked. Fatal. Rag & Bone have some beautiful new grey nubuck Newbury boots that I am lusting after. I love how they have styled them on Net-a-porter.com with a dress.

I also adore these Rag & Bone brogues in white. Very cool looking for Spring.

At $495 though, for the Rag & Bone brogues, this Boden option maybe better value – plus with the 15% off using my banner ads they are just $142.80. Tempted, very tempted.

Today I’m switching gears with my look. After the 80s look from Friday I’m shifting today to a more refined, preppy look. It’s nice to change it up a bit occasionally:) The trousers are J.Crew café capris that I got for $30 in the sale, and the blouse is Target and absolutely fabulous for $20! The belt is also Target and the shoes are Nine West from Zappos.com – currently on sale at $56, reduced from $69.

So what do you think of the more refined look?

Please don’t stop the music…

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A year of blogging! Who’d have thought it? So there to everyone who thought it was just another of my fads:)

While taking the photos this morning I had the iPod on and it suddenly dawned on me that it was a year since my first post. I couldn’t stop smiling, and then I couldn’t stop dancing…

The skirt is J.Crew, tights are Marks and Spencer, jumper is the Off Duty jumper from Boden and the boots are the fabulous Newburys.

Thanks to all of you for your support, and for embracing my weaknesses, challenging my opinions and reading my waffle – love you all xx

Back to normal.

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So with school going back on Monday I was a bit worried about short tempers and bad moods in our household this week – but all in all I’m pleased to report we’ve all eased back into a routine relatively easily. So far no homework grumbles or getting out of bed complaints (I just huff and puff a bit – hate it!). I’ve started trying to plan my clothes the night before again, as at 6am I am totally lacking inspiration. The only problem is our weather is so wacky right now. It looked freezing this morning so I was planning to wear my Boden Off Duty jumper in grey that finally arrived, but on my way back from the gym I realized it was in the 50s and the forecast is now for the 60s this afternoon, climbing up to the 70s next week! It’s still January!? So back in the closet went the polo neck and out came a t-shirt and jacket.

The t-shirt and jeans are both really old, but really comfortable Gap items that have worn and washed incredibly well. It’s odd – some of my longest lasting items are from The Gap yet I never shop there these days – it just all looks a bit bland to me. The jacket is the oriental print bomber jacket from Zara (no longer online). I love this print and actually own the scarf (reduced to $20) and the trousers (reduced to $40) in it – never to be worn all together mind you! I think it’s the pink, grey and black combo that I love. The belt is Gucci – a present from MM a couple of Christmases ago – the fab news is it fits again! That spare tire is deflating! The boots are of course my Newburys that I keep harping on about…

I started the week in Zara too. Both the cardigan (reduced to $50) and the trousers (reduced to $40) are Zara, t-shirt is the same Gap one as above (washed I promise) and the boots are the Isabel Marant Dickers.

Yesterday I got the Vince Camuto boots out – I’d better wear them often before these temperatures rise! The jeans are Hudson Collin skinnies and the tunic is H&M – a bargain when I got it – I think they were on sale buy one get one free, and I got a black one too. The scarf is a REALLY old Accessorize one that I used to wear for work in The City – see I’ve always loved leopard print! The jacket is Boden‘s leather jacket from Spring 2011.

I’ve been struggling with a cold this week and there are lots of warnings on the news regarding the flu outbreak here – so better late than never I’m off to take the kids for flu shots later – dreading it…send me some good vibes!

Something old, something new.

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Phew I made it to Friday – my last day home alone with the children. Seriously, I admire all stay at home mums/moms/dads – their job is so much more difficult than going to the office. As a treat for our last day together I took us all out for a late lunch at a local taco restaurant. It was fun and the skinny margarita was a nice treat for me.

Organizing my new closet has reminded me of some lovely pieces I have that have been stored downstairs since the renovations started. I found this lovely J.Crew jumper yesterday from 2010 – it has a lovely slit neck and is 100% cashmere. I have to admit it looks far better without a t-shirt underneath but it was freezing yesterday and I felt the need for an extra layer. It’ll look even better after I lose the last few pounds around my middle. I’ve been in the gym every day this week and and can feel it starting to have an impact – I’ve even signed up for a free weight orientation next week – I’m going to start pumping iron!

Anyway – the J.Crew jumper is the something old – the something new are the Newbury charcoal suede boots. No I have not broken my New Year’s resolution already – they have in fact been in my closet for over a month unworn. After buying my leather Newburys and loving them to bits – I actually vacillated between the Isabel Marant Dickers and these suede Newburys. I ordered them both and darn it ended up keeping both. There is something really special about the Rag & Bone Newbury – which accounts for it’s immense popularity. They are incredibly comfortable and worn with these black Gap jeans they made my legs feel like they go on forever. Even though they are ‘charcoal’ they are much more of a ‘black’ suede and I love the contrast of the wooden heel.

Before heading out I put on my Boden Chic leather biker jacket and my H&M sparkly scarf. Lovely and toasty.

Mr. UPS turned up in the afternoon with my fabulous sales haul (again bought before the end of the year!). It was like Christmas all over again!

My Vince Camuto fawna flats are just gorgeous! If you are in the US I encourage you to order on the Vince Camuto website – I discovered an Extra25 code off sale items! I had initially ordered them from Nordstrom – but one pair was canceled before shipping due to lack of inventory and then the pair that arrived were really disheveled looking – not happy but they are responsive on Twitter so the CS is making up for it. These are the ones that arrived directly from Vince Camuto – with the code they were just $33 each! Obviously I ordered the croissant color (pink/silver) too and they are on their way.

Caramel fawna:

Cloud fawna:

I’ll post on my other bits and bobs soon but needless to say the J.Crew velvet jeans are gorgeous as are the Hudson Leeloo tuxedo jeans that I found reduced on Zappos.com!

Happy weekend!! x

A Christmas to remember.

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Firstly I hope Santa bought you everything you hoped for?

We have had an amazing week. Christmas Eve was filled with love and friendship on our annual family visit to Church. It’s a tradition I established a couple of years ago as I have great memories of singing carols as a child, both at Church and school. Attending a public school here though means there is very little carol singing, if any, as we have all this separation of Church and State etc. So in order for the children to appreciate the story of Christmas I have started taking them to Church on Christmas Eve. The real miracle is that even MM – a true agnostic – comes with us and belts out a couple of carols. This year we were also joined by friends and that made it really special.

For Church I wore my H&M dress, Boden chic leather biker jacket from last season and my black Isabel Marant Dicker boots. I can’t see the dress online right now but it was recently in the sale here in store for just $10 – yes it’s synthetic and I wouldn’t stand anywhere near a naked flame in it – but I think it’s really fun and can be worn for a variety of occasions.

On Christmas Day morning Santa was good to all of us – leaving us 4 tickets for a flight that lunchtime to NYC! SO exciting! Fortunately, Santa had tipped off Mom and Dad beforehand, so we had time to do a little under cover packing. Note to self: don’t try to go to Church, pack bags and wrap presents on Christmas Eve again.

Of course one of the joys of traveling Christmas Day is that there is no Christmas Dinner to cook. My little ones were thrilled with their alternative Christmas Dinner and a trip to their first NYC McDonald’s!

We anticipated that the weather was going to be colder up there but bl**dy hell it was freezing. So much for me wondering which jackets to take. In the end I made the right choice with my Patagonia Downtown Loft puffer – it was perfect for navigating the Rockefeller Center with the rest of the New York tourists.

It was crazy there and if the crowds were overwhelming for me then they must have been for Hugh and Poppy so we headed to Bryant Park instead, which was far more civilized on Christmas night. Another beautiful Christmas tree to see, ice skaters to watch and the Empire State Building lit up above us. What a perfect NYC scene.

Food featured heavily in this trip and that night we headed back to the hotel, weary from traveling and crowds, to enjoy the best Chinese takeaway ever. I see a new tradition beginning.

Boxing Day was icy again, but intent on doing some more tourist attractions for the children’s benefit, we headed Downtown. I wrapped up in the Boden Fairisle jumper, layered over an H&M vest dress, with my AllSaints Delors leather trousers, Zara scarf and Ash Bowie boots – which I have to say were the most comfortable shoes for walking up and down Manhattan – I was thrilled they’d made it into my bag! (Carnage behind me in this photo – a family of 4 in a hotel room…).

It was important for MM and I to pay our respects at the World Trade Center site, but not wanting to go into too much detail with a 4 and a 6 year old, we opted to wander slowly past Engine 10 Ladder 10 and the memorials. Very moving and hard to keep it together all these years later.

We then headed to the Staten Island Ferry. Not only the best way to see Downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty – but the deck of a ferry was also the venue for MM’s proposal of marriage one day early in December, 15 years ago. After telling Poppy the story she now loves recounting the bit about me drinking a beer and eating a hotdog.

After lunch we headed back Uptown, for a bit of culture and warmth, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We indulged the children with Egyptian Mummies then Hugh decided it was time for a bit of a meltdown – not surprising – the poor lad had walked miles. I took full advantage of his meltdown to suggest it might be an idea if I sat with him in the café (read bar) so he could snooze (and I could drink prosecco) – I always have my children’s best interests in mind you see. MM got to wander the corridors of art and Byzantine relics while I ‘parented’ – perfect for all of us I think? Plus the snow began to fall as I sat there snuggling my 4 year old. To say it felt Christmassy was an understatement – I was in heaven!

That night we headed out to dinner to the Bryant Park Grill. I wanted to take the children out for a nice Christmas dinner but obviously the location had to be child friendly and this venue worked out well. We dined on oysters, rack of lamb, and classic New York cheesecake. Don’t even think about the calories. Unfortunately the weather was ABYSMAL and we got SOAKED walking home – but renditions of ‘My Favorite Things‘ kept us buoyant:) I was very relieved that suede had not been my choice of footwear. Instead I wore my Rag & Bone Newburys (in New York what else?), with Dorothy Perkins coated jeggings (now just $29, incredibly comfortable AND they turned out to be pretty water proof!), Forever 21 earrings (similar here – LOVE how cheap they are!), and my tie dye Target Converse dress. On a side note it turns out that Rag & Bone put a lot of thought into designing the perfect boot for New York women – and they really do fit the bill perfectly. Some heel height for a bit of sass, but a block heel for walking between subway stations, and a padded footbed for comfort.

On Thursday we walked miles again. Dressed in my Off Duty Boden jumper (possibly my favorite this season), AllSaints leather Delors trousers, and Frye Phillip studded harness boots with my H&M scarf we headed off for breakfast. After pancakes we started with a bit of shopping in Soho. Bizarrely and quite worryingly I didn’t buy a thing, though I did worship for a while at the Isabel Marant and AllSaints stores. It was also fun popping in places like Uniqlo that we don’t have here in Atlanta. Fish and chips at A Salt and Battery was our reward for lunch before heading back Uptown to Dylan’s Candy Bar – Mom and Dad deserve a medal for braving those crowds.

My absolute favorite meal/experience of the trip was our visit to Balthazar restaurant on Friday morning. It made me wish we could stay and celebrate New Year’s Eve there. MM had taken me there once before as a treat on my 40th birthday trip. It was fun to go back and let the kids know we were eating at the Beckham’s favorite spot:) I bet Victoria doesn’t order what I did – it was perfect with a Mimosa.

So Christmas 2012 has been fabulous and we still have New Year’s Eve to go. I am extremely thankful though that we left NYC as the revelers arrived – I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather NOT be on December 31st than Times Square!

Glad to be back blogging – thanks for all your emails and comments – I have read them all and will reply soon I promise! What do you all have planned for Monday evening – and what are you going to wear!?

Christmas Pageants

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I literally did. not. stop. yesterday. My Fridays can become one of either two things – a leisurely day of pampering and indulgence, or frantically driving from one Atlanta location to another trying to check off a list of ‘things to do’. It’s normally the latter and yesterday was no exception. It started with a spin class. Now I am no regular but ~~I do love it when I go~~ I love the satisfaction of having been – the hour on the bike is pure hell. One of my neighbors teaches the class and she is lovely, but turns into a b*tch on wheels in class – all for the benefit of the participants obviously. Shopping was then followed by a quick lunch with MM – I had earned it and I still had a calorie deficit after that spin class! A hairdresser’s appointment for Poppy was then followed by Hugh’s last Christmas pageant!

His last as he is currently at a church daycare and next year once in public school, with separation of church and state and all that, there will be no nativity. The pre-K class (last year of daycare) always get to do the nativity play so I was very excited to see what role Hugh had. But NO! Hold on there…for the first year ever I arrived to find that the ‘after school’ group were doing the nativity! WHAT?? Our chance of being a Shepherd, a Wise Man or even Joseph snatched from us!! Now after the events of the day in CT. it seemed trivial to say the least, but I was mad as hell! Most of the ‘after school’ group had attended pre-K so had already had the privilege of performing the nativity – so why oh why deprive the pre-K class from their chance of performing it? I’m so sad:( This now means Hugh won’t ever be in a nativity. Now he is definitely not bothered – but his Mum is! I might even join a Church so we can be in theirs next year. Be assured I made my feelings known to the daycare Director.

At least we got to hear about Harold and his Angels:

For the pageant I did a quick change into my awesome Target dress – quickly becoming one of my best purchases of the year – I always get complements and no one can believe it is Target. The jacket is from Zara and has lovely gold and cream flecks in it – perfect for the festive season – size up though – it’s tailored for waifs. The leggings are H&M and the boots are my loyal Rag & Bone Newburys. (Apologies for photo quality – I told you I was in a rush!).

‘Tis the season for competition.

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Every year we add to the list of our Family Traditions at Christmas. In recent years a tradition that has become more and more popular, is to head out for a drive after dark and take a look at all the wonderful National Lampoon style Christmas lights that adorn the houses around Atlanta. It’s a bit like our version of the Blackpool Illuminations that Mum and Dad used to take us to see years ago:) This year it seems our neighborhood has significantly upped their game. A little friendly neighborly competition maybe? There are Antebellum columns wrapped as candy canes, herds of deer lit up, and several Santa legs sticking out of chimneys. One of the easiest (if you don’t mind heights) to set up, and most fun was spotted this morning on our school run – I was in the line for the lights – don’t worry no hands free driving here…just so Santa knows where to go…

It was time for my indulgent morning at the salon again today. Five weeks comes around quickly – one of the drawbacks, or welcome pleasures, of short hair – depending on whether you focus on the money you part with, or on the relaxing pampering that you receive.

I wore my Zara leopard print khaki pants and khaki chunky sweater (not found online), with a long line H&M black vest dress layered underneath. The boots are my fabulous Newburys and the scarf is also H&M.

Given how much time I spend on the Zara website it is no surprise that the inspiration for today’s haircut came from their TRF Lookbook. I just think this girl looks stunning. Her boyish cut really appeals to me and given how difficult the red is to maintain I shared this image with both my colorist and hairdresser.

Unfortunately they were not able to provide me with her stunning, gamine features but I’m pretty pleased with the cut and color. Very happy in fact.

Now time to celebrate the new haircut with a glass of plonk. Happy weekend y’all!

Embracing routine.

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I always know that I’ve had a great break when I wake up wide eyed, bushy tailed and ready to get back into a daily routine. I’m not denying that it was tough getting out of bed at 5.45am this morning but after a strong cup of java I was ready to rock and roll. Now can someone just explain to me why children sleep in when they need to get up and yet get up with the birds when they can stay in bed? My two had to be well and truly peeled off their beds this morning but I’m always thankful when there is no grouchiness – adults and children were all smiles this morning…it won’t last.

I’ve already had a very exciting morning – I’ve just bought tickets for myself – yes just me, myself and I – to head back to the UK in February. The first quarter of the year is always a great time to plan a trip as it is normally quite an uneventful time of year after all the frivolity of the Christmas period. I’ll be spending my time with family and friends and traveling between the North West and London – I cannot wait! There is something so freeing traveling alone. I love my family vacations, but traveling under my own steam, and doing what I want and when I want is very indulgent. Oh and there might be some shopping to do too! Yay!:) It’s going to take me till then to decide what to pack too as I’ll be meeting up with a bunch of very stylish ladies – more on that at a later date I promise!

On Saturday night MM and I had a lovely date night – well it started out lovely. We went to see Skyfall which I have to say was amazing – Mr. Craig with a bit of stubble was quite luuurvely and Javier Bardem was the best baddy ever! We then had plans for dinner – unfortunately a flat tire made it a tad more stressful than anticipated so my appetite had dwindled by the time we sat down to eat. The pinot noir and sticky toffee pudding made everything better though. Oh and the new Isabel Marant Dickers put a spring in my step too. I wore them with some Gap camouflage jeans bought a few years ago – but I love them as the camo print is really dark and very subtle. The sparkly jumper is the Skye jumper from Boden – perfect for a bit of snuggly bling and a night at the movies, and I layered it over an H&M t-shirt dress for warmth. The scarf is also an oldish H&M purchase. Boden, by the way, have 30% off till tonight!

Today ’tis freezing again so I opted for my coated skinny jeans, black knitted tunic dress and scarf all from H&M (and none of which I can find on the rubbish US site), with my Rag & Bone Newbury boots – yes my feet are very happy with me right now – though my pocket book not so much. Better do some work and earn some money before that trip to the UK:)

I’ve had some great emails for Cyber Monday but as I clearly don’t need any new clothes or boots I have not indulged. Have you treated yourself yet?

Feeling brighter.

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I’m definitely on the mend and putting it all down to the beetroot and ginger:) The sun is also shining here. That can’t be said for the North East – some of who were shoveling their cars out from snow this morning. I’m hoping for a white Xmas – MM thinks I’m mad – he’d live in 80 degree heat all year if he could. Me on the other hand – I love my seasons and the sweaters and boots that come with winter.

You all know how much I love my boots and after the Newburys and Pistols this year I can hardly justify any more. The Isabel Marant Dickers have been on my radar for a while – but are they now just too passé? There are so many copies available – far cheaper – and even Boden have now joined the band wagon. I’ve never known them to add a new item mid season like this before – but yesterday the Boho boot suddenly appeared. Now I quite like them – but wish the top was a little lower and more sculpted, like the Dicker, and that the tabs weren’t so big. If anyone buys them let me know what you think of them – I might be tempted to try in the sale if there are still some left!

It’s quite a milestone for the blog today – I’ve bought a tripod! No more blurry iPhone shots! The tripod is fabulous but I won’t tell you how long it took me to figure out the timer on the camera – or how many times I nearly broke my neck dashing into position – suave, elegant, sophisticated – that’s me:) Need to practice that one – I look quite startled too:)

I feel like I’m cheating today as I really am wearing a sort of sweat pant. They are jersey harem pants that I got from ASOS last year – I love them – and to be honest I normally wear them with sandals in the summer – but their comfy waistband was beckoning me this morning. I paired them with the Boden Hampton t-shirt from AW 2011 and the radish Must Have jumper from SS 2012 (available this season here). I love this radish color – it is perfect for all year round. The jersey scarf was a bargain in the SS sale – it’s first proper outing and I love it – so long and soft. So I don’t feel like I’m giving up completely in my harem pants, I’ve styled my hair and I’m wearing my Rag & Bone Newbury boots🙂

I’ve had a couple of emails/comments about my nail polish recently and this is Chanel Vamp – the lipstick it my favorite right now – Revlon Wine with Everything – the perfect subtle red.