Tag Archives: Zara

Sip and See.

Have you ever been to a Sip and See? They are becoming more and more common outside the US I think, but yesterday I felt like a true Southern lady attending my first Sip and See here. They are similar to a shower, only at a Sip and See you ‘sip’ your cocktail and ‘see’ the baby. My great friends across the street, who already have 4 children (their third pregnancy produced twin boys – can you imagine!), just adopted a beautiful newborn little girl. I tell you some people are just wired to be Moms and she is one of them, while I have to search for my maternal genes most mornings! I am beyond thrilled for them and indeed I’m very proud of them, though they insist that although they are providing a loving home and family for their new addition, their daughter has also impacted and changed their lives for the better. I can’t wait to see her grow up and blossom into a beautiful girl.

So yesterday required a couple of changes. I spent the day in the following outfit – these jeans are fabulously comfortable so I’m not sure why I haven’t worn them since our blogger meet up back in February! I started the day in white heels but the heat soon made me regret that decision.

Trousers – Zara (old) // Top – Zara (old) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old)

Later that evening, for the Sip and See, I took advantage of having an occasion to wear my Ted Baker Allysia dress that I got back in the sales at the Trafford Centre. My new Boden clutch was the perfect accessory and I wore my Tory Burch Eddie flats to respect the host’s floors!

It’s a big day tomorrow – I turn 42!! I LOVE birthdays and I’m so excited to head out for lunch with the family and then dinner with my fabulous Husband. Another year, another year wiser? Maybe not, but who cares!? I’m having fun and that’s what counts!

De-cluttering

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So we are all back at school now and I am left wandering around the house wondering if I will ever get it straight and tidy again. I’m definitely not Type A when it comes to house work – something has got to give, and with parenting, working and blogging it’s the house that falls down the priority list. It never gets that bad – I manage to stay on top of it and I would never consider a cleaner – there are other things I’d rather spend my money on:) It’s the clutter that drives me mad though. Barbies, legos and cars in particular…grrr…

As I was criticizing my kids for their clutter I began to realize we have plenty of our own! We’ve just converted a room in the basement into an extra ‘play room’ for Poppy and Hugh. It was a room that went unused previously – in other words it became storage for all our books, cds and dvds. As I was down there today, picking up the trail of popcorn, left by the popcorn fairies apparently, I had an epiphany! Sell all the dvds and cds and make some extra pennies! Why on earth we still have these archaic stacks and racks of cds and dvds I’ve no idea. In many instances I’ve done what I did upon the extinction of vinyl – I have imported or re-bought music on iTunes. As for movies I never buy dvds these days – I download and stream them all so I can watch them on my iPad when traveling. Anyway that’s how I am going to spend my weekend de-cluttering, and dusting off and selling all my shiny little discs on musicMagpie. Just don’t tell the children – they’ll only want to spend my earnings on Barbies, legos and cars!

Today I’m back in the office for the first time in 6/7 weeks – it seems a little odd, but I quite like it. It’s nice to be able to talk to grown ups, and feel like I’m getting dressed for something other than running errands. It was raining this morning, in fact throwing it down, hence the slightly fuzzy closet photos today:)

Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

Fall arrivals.

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I get so excited when the Boden previews are launched – then EVERY season I regret placing a preview order. They arrive way after everyone else’s orders that were placed at the beginning of the full season launch, as the orders are always shipped from the UK. Remind me next time not to bother with the preview orders. Anyway mine just arrived today. To add insult to injury one of the large boxes (mainly my son’s Fall trouser collection) was damaged – it may even have been tampered with – and the Canonbury leopard clutch that I had sneaked in the order was missing. There is now a delay on the clutch and I won’t have it in time for my birthday dinner this weekend – sob!

The disappointment was eased a little by the fact I adore the other two Boden items that arrived, the Canonbury clutch in pink, and the stripy merino sweater in pink.

The clutch is about the same size as the folded leather clutch from last season – but this season’s has great compartments inside – much better for organization. It still comes with the detachable strap and the wrist strap so you can use it as a cross body bag or a clutch. Now if only the leopard print clutch had made it!

The stripy merino jumper is a lightweight, box shaped jumper. Great for transitional weather. I love the colors and the elbow length sleeves. The button back is okay – I think I’d prefer it plain like the front though. This is a US 8 so I’d say it fits very true to size – it is slightly shorter than some may like.

Now for some fun with shoes! I am completely smitten with Zara’s new season collection, full of masculine silhouettes. I was torn between two pairs of boots so ordered both to compare. They are what I would call Fall boots – they aren’t really to be worn with socks so they’re the type of boot I can wear here till it gets really cold in late November.

The first is the suede pointed shoe boot. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea and I am still undecided. I really want to love them. They are proper winkle pickers – with the pointiest of points, but I do feel a bit dressed for Halloween in them…I think they will look fabulous with my tartan cropped trousers or with grey skinny jeans and a slouchy black jumper. Bear in mind I am trying them with shorts here – not how I would ever style them!

The second pair are the sling back boots. Much less aggressive looking and a nod to all the cut out boots we’ve seen this year. They are fabulous quality and have a little western thing going on with the toe. I think they will be amazing once the soften up.

Both are in my regular Eur 39 and fit great.

So there you go – boots and jumpers while it’s 85 degrees outside!

We’re going to the zoo, zoo…

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Blimey it ain’t half hot mum! In the mid 90s today and of all days we decide to head to the zoo. With just about every other family in Atlanta it seemed! It was fabulous though – we know the zoo like the back of our hands now so we took a leisurely stroll around our favorite spots including the tigers, wart hogs and pandas. We were very excited to hear a panda has just had twins – the first to be born in the US in over 30 years! I even let Hugh and Poppy ride on the carousel which I normally avoid due to queues:) They’ve promised me a relaxing evening tonight in return…we’ll see…

Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

I’m in the 0.1%

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I’ll admit I have been in two minds about sharing this in a post. My blog is after all about fashion, family, friends and fun, not alopecia. I’m sure there are many blogs (I haven’t looked) dedicated to people like me who suffer with alopecia containing lots of medical information and support, but that’s not why I am talking about it. I decided to share after reading a couple of comments regarding how ‘happy I always look’, and words like ‘self-congratulatory’ being mentioned in forums. I’ll admit that I am a tremendously positive, upbeat person – I’m a Leo after all, with a lot to be happy about – but now you know I have my little issues to deal with too! I am real, (relatively) normal, and I sometimes lose patches of hair.

To be honest I don’t really think about it that much and I just tend to get on with it when I have an ‘episode’ – what else can I do? Worrying over it can just exacerbate the problem. I actually consider myself tremendously lucky that I can always conceal my patches of hair loss, and, to date, it has always grown back.

I first lost a patch of hair back in 2009 around Thanksgiving. I’d had an enormous blow out with a work colleague and I was LIVID. Fuming in fact – so much so I cursed him out on the phone. He was actually my employer at the time but I felt so let down by him I no longer cared what I said so I told him exactly what I thought. The following morning I woke up to discover a bald patch the size of a quarter at my hairline. I was devastated. I didn’t actually link the two events until after I had visited my dermatologist. I initially just thought I was dying – I was so gutted by what I saw in the mirror. Since then I’ve had a couple of patches of hair loss each year and my dermatologist (who is amazing!) has always reassured me that it is purely my body’s reaction to stress, or an autoimmune response. I never consider myself to be under much stress – I don’t think I’m a worrier – nor do I feel anxious – but stress triggers can be minimal. There’s never any real rhyme or reason, and certainly no warning that I’m going to lose some hair. It always occurs in the same place – on the front right hair line – except for once when it was at the nape of my neck at the hairline.

This time I think the the loss is associated with my body’s stress from travel and jet lag. I am guessing that all the prep and organization that goes into getting the family out of the door and on a transatlantic flight has taken it’s toll. Fortunately a quick visit to the dermatologist for a cortisone shot in the scalp, followed by regular applications of clobetasol always seems to stop it in it’s tracks. I’ve already decided that if it ever progresses I’ll wear my bald head loud and proud. My Grandad was bald as a coot, and my Mum suffers from psoriasis – so maybe it is an inherited autoimmune issue? Who knows! Regardless I am at peace with the fact that alopecia areata is now part of my life. There are far worse things that others are dealing with every day.

Now you see it, now you don’t!

I’m really enjoying my outfit of the day today – some of you will loathe it – others of you may be on the fence – but I love it. It’s the light denim jumpsuit from Zara. Super comfortable and I even got the seal of approval from Poppy who gave me a ‘wow Mom that’s so cute’. On second thoughts maybe a 7 year old’s approval shouldn’t be listened to by an almost 42 year old! This is a Medium so it is generous for Zara sizing.

Regardless here it is in all it’s glory.

Jumpsuit – Zara // Sandals – Nine West // Necklace – Target (REALLY old) // Belt – Target (REALY old too!) // Bracelet – Susie Ho

Rain, rain go away.

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So Georgia has apparently had 25% more rain fall than usual this summer. It’s always extremes here – extreme drought or extreme rain! The peach crop is suffering with enormous swollen peaches that are having their sweetness diluted – who knew hey? I am suffering with frustrated, cranky kids…roll on school.

I just took them out for lunch to get us all out of the house, and now we’re home they have immediately started screaming at each other, arguing over which movie to watch. Telling them ‘in my day I was happy to have a movie to watch’ oddly doesn’t seem to have much impact. I might have a goblet of red now they seem to have called a truce.

We’ve all had our back to school haircuts and I’m now sporting a true bob. Gone are the sun bleached, dry ends – my hair now feels lovely and sleek with no grays in sight – thank you to the lovely Lauren at Plum Salon. We made her earn her money yesterday with 3 haircuts and a color!

By the way I did ask him to smile, not grimace.

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

A little bit of sparkle.

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At the gym this morning, while I was dropping the children off at the play room, I realized that I must have missed the memo. The memo regarding the new required summer outfit for the gym – white frilly tennis skirt, pink visor, perky blonde pony tail, and phony smile. Oh and can you tell me where to find the perfect children with their page boy hair cuts and monogrammed smocks? I think I must have become a little cynical while on vacation. I felt like I was in the middle of The Stepford Wives, or surrounded by multiple versions of Patty Simcox. I love Atlanta, but sometimes I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.

So what better to do than embrace my non-conformity and wear my shortest shorts and sparkliest sneakers:) I do cringe a little every time I put on my Zara skort. Nearly every ‘style’ blogger on the planet has a pair and all of them are 20 years younger than me. But you know what – Patty down the road doesn’t know where they are from, or that all the street style bloggers are wearing them, so I’ll wear them with aplomb in Atlanta and not worry about it. Though, for a split second, it did occur to me that it might be a sub-concious desire to conform – in white they do look a little like a tennis skirt.

Skort – Zara // Sneakers – Lame Supergas // Top – Boden Sparkle top (just $23.40!)

I adore the Boden sparkle top – it is perfect – light, and a great shape – an absolute bargain for $23.40 – I have the ivory too. This is a US 8 – I think a US 6 would have been fine too but I like my knitwear a little looser.

For the sake of full disclosure – here’s what I lived in over the weekend. Sweatpants with no red lipstick in sight.

Sweats – Express (old) // Top – Gap

Detox week.

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Okay maybe detox weekend. A week really was pushing it wasn’t it? Especially as I have the children at home with me till next Wednesday when school resumes.

So, I haven’t touched alcohol for 3 days now and I juiced on Saturday and Sunday. Today I worked out like a mad woman, and I have eaten buckets of heirloom tomatoes with sweet Georgia peaches, basil and olive oil and balsamic. Tomatoes and peaches? Weird you say? Delicious I say – try it with some crumbled feta on top too – DIVINE!

After the vacation weight gain thanks to copious carbs – bread and beer are to blame – I’m desperate to lose the extra pounds again. I arrived home to a fabulous pile of boxes from the Zara sale and their new collection, and some of them feel a little snugger than I’d like right now! Only to be expected no? I’m hoping I won’t have to wear anything with a little give in it on the 10th – because it will be MY BIRTHDAY! Yes I actually celebrate my birthday month – I LOVE birthdays and I’m really quite looking forward to turning 42 – especially as my Husband is VERY good at birthday nights out.

As you can see from the photo today my hair is HUGE and has grown so much over the holiday – I’m not complaining but please don’t judge – I’ll be getting it ‘styled’ this week! The t-shirt is from the Zara sale – I think I could have got away with a smaller size but it was the last size in the stock clearance section at just $15 so I’m not returning. It actually feels lovely and cool and floaty but looks a bit boxy on the photos – it hides the vacation muffin top well for now:)

T-Shirt – Zara combination top (no longer online) // Shorts – JCrew Factory bermudas // Sandals – Zara

July 20th.

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We headed off to our favorite beach at Salamis today. I’m sure everyone finds their ‘perfect’ spot when they are on vacation. Salamis is ours – not too far to drive, very few tourists, and a great beach bar that I hope no one else ever discovers. On the way there the children were bickering like mad in the back seat of the car – no wonder – it was hot and they were tired. I told them to ‘grow up and act their age’ – an oxymoron if ever I heard one. It dawned on me that yep they are only 5 and 7 so go ahead and bicker like children.

The irony was that we were driving through Lefkosa at the time. The Northern side of Nikosia. Turkish flags were flying everywhere, and the Turkish military were flexing their muscle. With choppers overhead and jeeps with machine guns flying by us, I began to worry my Husband would develop post traumatic stress. July 20th 1974 is the day Turkey invaded Cyprus to ‘liberate’ the Turkish Cypriots. I’m not going to tell the story here – but if you’re interested you will discover that the Turks were maybe heavy handed, yet provoked and left with few other options.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no bias. Unlike many here I have no allegiance to either the Turks or the Greeks. They were both crap to each other, and continue to be so in many ways. It just saddens me that 39 years later, neither side is prepared to compromise to the extent that even a diluted recognition of the Northern territory looks feasible.

So as I told my kids to act like grown ups – I also wished for the Greeks and Turks to act like grown ups. It is wrong that this beautiful island full of history, love, incredible stories, and kind people be divided. Can’t we just all be friends?

Shorts – DVF The Outnet // Sandals – Zara // T-shirt – Zara (old)

Beer is for breakfast.

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The heat means I am wearing little more than shorts and a bikini each day. So in the absence of outfits here’s a quick round up of a fabulous trip we had yesterday up to Kantara Castle, the third castle after St. Hilarion and Buffavento.

It’s another venue we visited back in 1998. Back then we had a photo taken at the very top of Kantara by a friendly English man who was ex-military and was revisiting where he had served. I remember it vividly as MM still mocks me for the denim dungarees shorts that I wore that day. Funny how I have a River Island pair lurking in my closet today. I should have bought them with me to fully recreate the shot, as all our honeymoon photos, in fact most of our photos pre-2000, were ‘lost’ along with other belongings in the move to Atlanta. Insurance doesn’t pay out for the sentimental value of goods unfortunately.

We started the day driving up from the sea to Kantara. We stopped in an idyllic village where it only felt right to have a cold Efes in the shade, smelling the pine in the heat, 11am isn’t too early for beer is it?

We then made the climb to Kantara castle itself – I certainly sweat the beer off! The sun was beating down up there. It is well worth the short climb though – Kantara is my favorite of the three castles and in my opinion offers the best views down towards the Karpaz.

To reward ourselves we drove down the other side of the mountain to the ‘armpit’ of the Karpaz, in order to revisit Bo gaz. Fifteen years ago we had two magnificent dinners there – sitting on plastic chairs, on a dusty sidewalk down to the harbor, surrounded by what seemed like a thousand cats. The town is now significantly more developed, with more ex-pats having discovered it’s charm. We still managed to find some fabulous fish and octopus though – and the cats!

The shorts that I have almost been living in, as they are the softest denim and so comfortable, are old selvedge denim shorts from J.Crew – there are similar ones here. The t-shirt has become a favorite – it is the essential t-shirt from Gap in diva pink – just $12.99 now.

I wore the same shorts the other day with a Gap tank and Zara sandals ($49.99 in the sale).

A lazy day on the beach is in store for us today – I’m going to soak up every minute of our last week here!

Poppy's Style

My blog about fashion, family, friends and fun.

Tag Archives: Zara

Sip and See.

Trousers – Zara (old) // Top – Zara (old) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old)

De-cluttering

Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

Fall arrivals.

We’re going to the zoo, zoo…

Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

I’m in the 0.1%

Now you see it, now you don’t!

Jumpsuit – Zara // Sandals – Nine West // Necklace – Target (REALLY old) // Belt – Target (REALY old too!) // Bracelet – Susie Ho

Rain, rain go away.

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

A little bit of sparkle.

Skort – Zara // Sneakers – Lame Supergas // Top – Boden Sparkle top (just $23.40!)

Sweats – Express (old) // Top – Gap

Detox week.

T-Shirt – Zara combination top (no longer online) // Shorts – JCrew Factory bermudas // Sandals – Zara

July 20th.

Shorts – DVF The Outnet // Sandals – Zara // T-shirt – Zara (old)

Beer is for breakfast.

Trousers – Zara (old) // Top – Zara (old) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old)

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Bermuda shorts – Zara (old) // T-shirt – Zara (old) // Shoes – Marks and Spencer (out of stock but may be in store)

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Trousers – TopShop // Top – J.Crew (really old) // Sandals – Zara (just $15 in the sale!!)

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Now you see it, now you don’t!

Jumpsuit – Zara // Sandals – Nine West // Necklace – Target (REALLY old) // Belt – Target (REALY old too!) // Bracelet – Susie Ho

Related articles

Share this:

Jacket – Zara (not online but I have seen it appear in stock clearance) // Pants – Mango sale // T-shirt – Gap (no longer online but was in the sale here) // Sandals – Tory Burch Emmy (old) // Bag – Alexander Wang Rocco

Related articles

Share this:

Skort – Zara // Sneakers – Lame Supergas // Top – Boden Sparkle top (just $23.40!)

Sweats – Express (old) // Top – Gap

Related articles

Share this:

T-Shirt – Zara combination top (no longer online) // Shorts – JCrew Factory bermudas // Sandals – Zara

Related articles

Share this:

Shorts – DVF The Outnet // Sandals – Zara // T-shirt – Zara (old)

Related articles

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