Tag Archives: Wacks

What I’ve been wearing.

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May is the busiest month on our calendar every year.  What with anniversaries, birthdays, the end of the school year, school recitals, school field trips, visitors from abroad etc…it is non stop here.  I’m just coming up for air after an amazing weekend of catching up, eating and drinking with Simon – our friend from University, who now lives in Stockholm.

We  had a very late night on Thursday talking and drinking good wine, and then we were off out for dinner on Friday.  The kids and I hung out in front of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday afternoon, streaming it live via SVT.se, the Swedish tv channel.  This made it even more fun and Eurocentric listening to the Swedish translation:)  I found it all as surreal as ever, but I loved the drama – and in the end the right diva won!  For all you American readers who have no idea what I am talking about the Eurovision Song Contest is the annual competition that rocketed ABBA to fame in 1974.  Here’s Conchita, this year’s winner from Austria, a drag queen with more diva in her than Celine Dion.

Before Simon arrived I had another hair cut and went even shorter – thanks to Chadd I am now sporting a magnificent undercut.  I LOVE it.

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Magno top.jpgJeans – Zara TRF (old) // Shoes – Avarcas Pons // Top – Mango

On Friday morning we headed out shopping and I treated myself to a couple of NARS lip pencils – Yu and Cruella.

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The color of both is so intense and bold and I feel really feminine wearing them with such short hair.

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Dress – ASOS (currently on sale) // Sneakers – Adidas Samoas // Glasses – Oliver Peoples Wacks // Handbag – Marks and Spencer (on sale)

Then Friday night it was off to Abattoir again where Simon proposed to Karin a couple of years ago now!

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Dress – Marks and Spencer (old – similar here) // Shoes – Nine West

Yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the US and my fabulous kids presented me with great handmade cards.  This one from Poppy made me grin especially – there is no greater compliment she could have paid me than describing me as ‘odd’ and ‘risky’…

IMG_5865Today I’m off to watch her recital so decided to wear a dress again.  I started off with the canvas Newburys.

River Island dress.jpgHowever, with the jacket I decided the grey nubuck pair coordinated better – not much in it to be fair…

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Dress – River Island // Boots – Rag and Bone Newbury boots // Jacket – Marks and Spencer

Finally – shhh it’s a secret – but we’re having a surprise disco for Poppy this weekend for her 8th birthday!!  Here’s an idea I stole from Pinterest – all her friends will be VIPS!

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Tweed with spots.

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I was out and about yesterday volunteering at the school.  I got to read to the class – it’s quite intense – a group of 6 and 7 year olds is really a tough audience to please!  Then I spent 2 hours stapling – yes I feel like I have a repetitive strain injury.  It was fun though and interesting to have a peek into their world for a couple of hours, though schools still make the hairs on my neck stand up – I equate them with hospitals for fear factor.  Odd considering how long I spent in academic institutions!

This week I’m trying to wear my winter coats and jackets as often as I can as this cold snap won’t last forever.  Today it’s the turn of the Boden tweed jacket from AW 2011.  I love the pink and green combo of this jacket and the quality is outstanding.  It was a fabulous sale bargain – one of the rare times that I held out for the sales!  The shirt and scarf are also Boden from 2011 – the Limited Edition sassy stitch blouse is one that rarely gets worn as it is silk and I hate paying for dry cleaning!  I’ve decided it’s tragic to keep it hanging in the closet unworn.  The jeans are the Hudsons and of course the boots are the Pistols in mocha.  I just took a look and it appears net-a-porter.com has a bunch of new stock as most sizes are now available.  Taking a day off from the gym today – I can barely raise my arms to get dressed – so the glasses are on, the Oliver Peoples Wacks in blue havana matte.

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Thanks for all your book recommendations – much appreciated!

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Santa at the Zoo.

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It’s been a whirlwind couple of days what with the Thanksgiving festivities.  Now the children are getting older I have to say it is getting more and more enjoyable.  It was fun watching Poppy hooked on the Thanksgiving Day parade while I was getting the turkey ready to go in the oven.  We were all very organized and sat down to eat early at 1.30 – at the request of MM so that he could justify eating leftovers later in the day.  In the evening we cracked open the box set of The West Wing – my those first episodes look dated now – but it was thoroughly enjoyable accompanied by a bottle of Barolo.

Yesterday we headed to some friends for their annual post Thanksgiving party that includes BBQ and a fun jam band.  The kids had a blast and let off some steam and I talked and talked all afternoon.

This morning we were up at the crack of dawn for a visit with Santa at the Zoo.  Now I know Santa is a busy guy at this time of year – but come on 8.30am??!  At least we had cookies and hot chocolate to warm us – it is freezing here today!  I’m now enjoying some alone time while everyone else is at the park riding their bikes.  It’s bliss – I’ve got the coffee pot on and Radio 2 playing and I may go and hold the sofa down for a minute or two:)

Poppy was very excited to select her perfect outfit for Santa this morning:

Hugh joining in the fun, somewhat under duress:

The all important lists which were an exercise in patience for Mom:

Hugh explaining to Santa that he is just going to stand next to him – under no circumstances is he sitting on his lap – smart boy:

Me wrapped up for the first winter day in Atlanta – my new Boden Iona coat which I love, over my Boden Must have jumper in blackberry, layered over a Hampton t-shirt (mine is a 2011 version), my Hudson skinnies, Frye Phillip studded harness, and snood/infinity scarf what ever you call them and wrist warmers are from H&M.  The bag is my ever loyal and trusty YSL Roady (couldn’t find a link to mine with the sting ray handle).

Believe it or not I didn’t buy anything on Black Friday – even though I had lots of fabulous offers arrive in my inbox – some of Net-a-Porter’s were very tempting – but I resisted.  Did you get anything?

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The Fourth Doctor.

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The thing about blogging is that when you have so many stylish friends in the blogging community, almost every day, in someone’s new post, I see an item that I want too!  The other week it was Avril at SchoolGateStyle.com.  I have rediscovered my passion for scarves since knowing Avril – and not only does she have a great selection but she wears them well.  My Nana taught me how to knit when I was little – I wouldn’t know where to start now – but I distinctly remember knitting a ‘Dr Who’ scarf – I was the Tom Baker generation and a big fan of the 4th Doctor…Anyway before I digress into complete geekdom the point is Avril was wearing this fabulous 8GBP scarf from Matalan here the other week.  A quick email to my Mum and Bob’s your Uncle – a week or 2 later I have one too!  Thanks Mum:)

The colors are perfect – this year’s burgundy with navy, blush, yellow and grey – and it is SO long!  I wore it the other day to the park with my AllSaints sweater, from a couple of years ago, layered over my Boden velvet henley in rose that I just love – it’s really soft and fits great.  The jeans are my Hudson Collin skinnies and the boots are the Frye Jenna studded.  The specs are my lovely Oliver People Wacks in matte blue havana.  A great outfit for a cold day – only problem was that as we stood cheering Poppy on, successfully riding her bike with no training wheels (UK – stabilisers), the sun was beating down and the temperatures rose to 70 degrees – no one else, oddly enough, was in their Dr Who scarf:)

Have been studying other ways to pose in front of the camera – as you can see my current favorite is ‘Looking at your feet’.

I’ve just released the turkey from an amazing smelling bag of brine and herbs.  It’ll be going in the oven in an hour or so and then I can open a bottle of bubbly:)  HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y’ALL!

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Supper club.

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Close game for the Falcons today but exciting and perfect watching on a grey day.  The photo session was postponed due to threat of rain so we walked by the river with the dog and the kids raced their bikes.  I then did my Trader Joe’s shop so I have a kitchen full of yummy treats – including a massive NYC cheesecake that I will try not to devour in one go tonight while watching Homeland and Dexter!

Last night MM and I started our Fall supper club.  We are the only members.  Each week, once the children are in bed, we take it in turns to wine and dine each other at home.  It’s lovely – it’s an evening each week where we turn off all screens, put on some good music and converse while cooking and eating – it’s like dating again and I love it.  Last night I cooked carbonara – who can resist the smell of bacon and garlic?  The food was even better after a couple of glasses of a fabulous Malbec.  I’m looking forward to his choice of menu next week – he’s a far better cook than I am!

Today is a day for comfort – Gap boyfriend jeans, a Gap brown tank, H&M linen top and Sam Edelman Alvin loafers.  The necklace is an old one from Target but it’s fun and works well with the casual outfit.  The new glasses are still making me feel fabulous!

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New goggles.

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I am blind as a bat.  Astigmatism and over -5 in each eye means I cannot see a thing without glasses or contacts.  It happened years ago at school and I was mortified.  I had no idea that I was struggling to see the blackboard and I felt such a loser for needing glasses.  I never had the NHS glasses but my first pair were from Boots Opticians and horrific.  Mainly because at 14 I hadn’t done that much research into the spectacle market and really I was so ashamed I had to wear them that even trying them in the opticians was utterly disturbing.  By 17 or so I had my first pair of gas permeable contact lenses that scraped across my eyeball with every blink, but as far as I was concerned red eyes were preferable to glasses.  My how times have changed.

We are now inundated with amazing glasses – which even people with 20/20 vision wear, though I have never understood that.  A variety of daily and monthly contact lenses are available and I even get mine to correct my astigmatism.  Lasik of course is now done routinely, though it still scares the bejeezus out of me which is fine as at the ripe old age of 41 I have been told to wait a few years so my ‘old sight’ can develop before I have it done.

I am a daily contact lens wearer – I love my glasses these days, but to be honest I just find them inconvenient, but with working in front of a laptop so often I need to start wearing my glasses more as my contacts just make my eyes tired.  So as some of you know from my Facebook page I embarked on the hunt for some new cool frames.

I love statement glasses – I like them big and bold and prefer plastic to dainty metal frames.  That being said the dainty metal frames may suit me better.  My current pair are these Oliver Peoples Wacks in cocobolo.  I like them a lot but they are big.

They are also expensive – with lenses we are talking $600.  So I thought I would investigate Warby Parker.  Warby Parker are online only (I think they have bricks and mortar in NYC).  Online glasses shopping is a novel concept – surely you can’t choose without trying them on?  Well Warby Parker have devised a genius model where you can choose 5 pairs to try at home, then model for friends, share on Facebook (they’ll even give you their preference on their page) and hopefully come up with a consensus of the best pair for you and then buy a full set with prescription lenses for just $95!  I could have a pair for every day of the week!  So I chose my 5 pair tried them and not only did most people dislike all of them on me – the one that some did like was one of my least favorites.  So great idea Warby Parker but not that successful for me.

After revisiting my optician I realized I am going to have to suck it up and pay through the nose for my favorite pair.  The Wacks come in 2 sizes and I have the largest size.  After trying the smaller size in black/tortoise I fell in love with them.  They tick all my boxes of style, comfort and color.  Cha ching – ordered and paid for,

Now I am also intrigued by colored frames.  I’ve always played it safe with the tortoise shell as it suits my coloring – but recently I have been drawn to the new aubergine, blue and red frames that are coming to market.  I tried a pair of SALT Brixton frames in velvet purple which I LOVE – but can I carry off purple every day?

I then discovered that the Wacks frame is now done in a beautiful blue color – Havana blue.  So I’ve ordered them to compare with the SALT frames.  I’d love a pair of colorful frames for fun – that can add some pizazz to an outfit!  I just need to decide on the color – plus do I need another pair of Wacks?  I do think that if there is a frame I’m happy with why change it except in color?  I’ll let you know the verdict.  Meanwhile my cocobolo frames are being transformed into sunglasses for me.  Look out for more photos of me with my goggles on:)

Still in the contacts today while my lenses are being fitted and I’m feeling pretty tired after a stressful morning having an old filling removed – I hate the sound of the drill and the smell of tooth dust!  My knuckles were white!  I’m wearing my Hudson jeans, Tory Burch Eddies, Zara owl t-shirt which I love and my Zara jersey black jacket.  Lovely and comfortable for a traumatic morning!

 

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