Outfit of the Day and Today's Buys

Hi everyone!! I hope you are all having a really good start to the week, I've had a great weekend as I met up with my good blogger friend Michelle over at MyFashionable40s. We had such an amazing time despite the weather being torrential rain during the start and middle of the day and from then onward's brilliant sunshine! The day consisted of shopping, eating and drinking- no photos which seems to be our usual ploy as we are normally so busy enjoying ourselves. We both managed to bag some bargains which I'll share in later outfit posts!

Today saw a visit to the hospital to get my younger son's wrist recast as he broke it last week in his sports day. We then went for a buffet lunch in town and a spot of shopping afterwards in Primark. Myself and Michelle had checked out her hometowns new Primark on Saturday but I didn't find anything I liked.

My youngest son managed to pick a few lovely pieces out for our forthcoming holiday and I picked up a sporty style tee in the sale for £1 and a summer parka for £9, which is thin and is in a silky material as opposed to traditional starchy cagoule style material:

My outfit today is a thrifted Gap black blouse which I got a couple of months ago in a neighbouring towns Sense charity shop for £2.99, I'm wearing it with my Gap boyfriend jeans from a couple of years ago from the Gap outlet store at Ashford and my silver Hotter sandals:

I'm trying to grow my fringe out-I'm really not sure if I want to or not-watch the next post to see if it's been chopped back in!!

Due to also running the Race for Life last week things have been so hectic so I've still not been able to get back to regular posting. I do still stop by to read your blogs even if I'm not leaving comments, so I do thank you for your continued reading and commenting too.

I do hope you have a good week ahead and here's to more sunshine ahead!!

My Round Up: Outfit Post, More Thrifted MaxMara and Total Spends for January

Hi everyone! I hope your weekend was a good one, I spent Saturday afternoon in a neighbouring local town thrifting and yesterday afternoon I finally managed to track down a pair of skinny distressed jeans- I had planned to splurge and get the Always Skinny distressed jeans from Gap instore, but when I went in to try them I wasn't impressed with how they had distressed them. Around the distressing was squares of white stitching (?) which to me really spoils the appearance of the overall look- I checked the website earlier and zoomed in on the picture and there is definitely shapes of stitching around the distressing of the jeans online too. So these jeans were ruled out before I even tried them on! I decided to check out River Island and H&M and was pleased to find my pair on the sale rail, reduced from £24.99 to £9.99- I'm sure they will appear on the blog sometime soon!

My outfit of choice on Saturday was my oversized Hype grey sweatshirt which was a Christmas present and I wore them with my Levi's boyfriend jeans and Dune biker ankle boots:

I have a real thing about distressed jeans at the moment, my newly found interest of Pinterest has a dedicated Denim Inspiration board which is chocka full of distressed jeans! I also made my distressed rips and holes a bit larger on these jeans on Saturday too: 

My favourite go to this season, a grey sweatshirt goes with anything and the fleecy lining keeps me just snug too:

Going to town on Saturday the weather was lovely-all sunny and dry. Midway through though, the clouds blackened and the heavens opened-the rain was torrential so it was lucky I had a lift back home! 

My thrift trip was quite successful- I found two items that will be lovingly worn and used and this first one was on my style wishlist for a while too. As soon as I saw this wool blended steel grey blazer by Maxmara from Barnado's charity shop and in my size too, I knew I had to have it:

It's ideal for Spring and Summer and the just the right shade of grey too-not too dark:

It's my kind of perfect jacket to go with all my jeans regardless of the style and colour-with a tee underneath and my footwear of choice this will feature a lot in future outfits- I may already have a lot of jackets but I haven't got a grey blazer so it was definitely worth me getting it.

My second item was a Gap dusky pink leather mini slouch bag for £1 which is just perfect for Spring and will provide a pop of colour with neutral styled outfits.

So with the end of January in sight, I've bought the DKNY bag (£3.99) faux fur collar (£2.49), black bobble hat (-50p), necklace (£3) and earrings (£3) from TU, Windsmoor longline jacket (£10), Gap slim boyfriend jeans (£3.99), a white shirt (£1), Primark checked scarf (£4), MaxMara jacket (£6.99), Gap bag (£1), H&M jeans (£9.99) TOTAL £48.95 for 12 items. 7 Thrifted, 5 Shop Bought.

Would I be without any of the above? I am quite happy with all my purchases and I'm pretty sure they are buys that will fit in with what I already own- I am trying to make sure that any purchases I get will be instantly wearable with pieces I already have and are not one season wonders either. If they don't get used this season, then I would want them to roll over to the following appropriate season and not be too trend led that it could easily go out of style.

How has your style spending been going this month-have you managed to stay on track with your budget and did you buy items that will truly fit into your existing wardrobe, regardless of how much you paid for it?

I hope you all have a good week ahead, I'm working most of the week from tomorrow, so I hope to catch up with you all soon!

January purchases so far and Jaeger sweater and Levis jeans

Hi everyone!! Thank you all for your kind and lovely well wishes and comments that you've been leaving for me, they are so much appreciated and I hope to be able to visit you all soon with comments by return-I'm just getting over feeling ill and with working too blogging has definitely fallen by the wayside!

I am hoping to do the odd posts here and there as I can't publish regularly at the moment. I thought today's post would be ideal to share as it is mid month and gives a running diary on what I've bought so far this month. I've tried to just stick to what I said in previous posts and just thrift or buy items that I know I will love and make use of, the first being this mini cross body bag by DKNY. A black mini cross body bag has been on my list for ages and I've been looking for a while to find the right one-this one appeared at my local PDSA charity shop in the New Year and was a bargainous £3.99. It's as new and I've been using it virtually everyday for work as it holds my phone and cards and I wear it as I work:

Another purchase was from my local TU at Sainsburys on Sunday and is this lovely glass beaded 3 string necklace which was reduced from £10 to £3-a bit of a dodgy picture, but the colours include vivid purple, blue and green crystal style beads and all in all was well worth the money:

I also picked up these chandelier style earrings, also reduced to £3, which will be ideal for dressing up a tee and jeans outfit:

My next purchase was inspired by lovely blogger Michelle over at MyFashionable40s and whose style is impeccable and very covetable!! She bought her black pom pom hat from Warehouse last month but I was unable to find one in my local one and was pleased to eventually track down a similar one in Marks and Spencer in their Limited Collection section. It was £9.50 but as I had taken back an unwanted Christmas present which was £10, I can credit 50p off my other spends!

The next item that was found on the day of the DKNY bag find was this H&M faux fur black collar which was £2.49 from my local Salvation Army. A faux fur collar always comes in handy for day or evening and will jazz up any given jacket or coat and I've been mentally wanting a black one for ages too, so another item ticked off the list!

So a grand total spend to date this month of £11.98 for 5 items. I'm still looking for the elusive and perfect longline grey jacket but as I'm not thrifting regularly I guess I'll just have to be patient before the right one comes along! 

My outfit post is from Sunday in which I wore a thrifted Jaeger striped merino wool crew neck sweater, my new necklace, distressed by me faded boyfriend Levi's jeans and my new black patent trainers which were a Christmas present from my eldest son:

I cut the hems so they are frayed and also distressed the front with my cheese grater and scissors!

I do hope you are all having a great week so far and it would be great to know what you've been buying so far this month-have you got a great sales buy or have you bought a much needed/wanted item from your style wishlist?

Ralph Lauren Fair Isle and Some Musings on My Blogging Future

Hi everyone!! Please excuse my absence recently, having started my new role as a library assistant I have been learning my trade by being at different libraries within my borough as well as my main local one. I am so enjoying my new job and it's great to work in the serenity and quaintness of the smaller libraries as well as the ever busy main library in which I am doing so many different duties. Being away from work for over a year because of health issues meant I had quite a lot of time on my hands to go thrifting, read and post blogs and of course doing housework at my leisure- now time seems to be running away from me and although it feels work is coming first at the moment, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's great to be in a job that I actually look forward to going to and making a difference too-unfortunately my blog posting has taken a back seat because of this and also because I am enjoying my free time by reading more books and blogs without actually leaving comments.

My blog is six years old in March (!!) and it's been a real journey of building relationships and friendships and a labour of love of showing my thrift finds. I've been extremely fortunate this year to find some awesome items, such as my Chanel jacket and my MaxMara coat and I always get a buzz from finding designer and vintage pieces for next to nothing, but I admit to being disillusioned with the boot sales this year-I've had much more success at the charity shops and without the need to be up at the crack of dawn too!

 As I said before, I am in the process of re-evaluating my work/life balance and I'm not entirely sure how my blog fits in the equation at the moment. It may well be that as Christmas is approaching, like everyone else life and work are priorities but as much as I love thrifting, style and fashion I am not sure if the 'passion' is still there for me to carry on blogging on a very regular basis. I suppose only time will tell, but I think my blog posting will be more infrequent and sporadic for the foreseeable future. I do however really enjoy my blog reading regularly so I will be attempting to comment more regularly via bloglovin.

This may well be my last outfit post of the year, so I thought I'd share a recent look from earlier this week when I wasn't working in my regulation work polo tee and black jeans! I am wearing my thrifted Ralph Lauren Fair Isle tank sweater, Primark chambray shirt, recently thrifted wine colour River Island skinny jeans and black leather studded Dune ankle biker boots:

A close up of my sweater- it is a really cosy top and with a shirt underneath gives just the right amount of warmth on days that are not freezing cold!!

I would also like to say as a given that my blog would not be where or what it is without the constant support, friendship and readers that regularly stop by to either lurk, read or comment- I am so thankful and humbled by the amount of love that is sent my way via the blog and without any of you I would have stopped blogging a long while ago. Even if one person is inspired or enjoys a particular post on my blog that makes me feel so appreciative and thankful and it's honestly been the catalyst for me to have carried on posting.

I do hope to stay in 'blogland' for the forseeable future but things and life do have a habit of changing so it is much a scenario of 'Watch this space!'

I would like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy, Peaceful and Festive Christmas and a Successful and Healthy 2014, God Bless You All xxxxxxx

UPDATED TO ADD-All my lovely comments have inspired to share my post with the wonderful Claire Justine for Creative Mondays and I really want to say a massive big thank you for all of your kind words, support and comments!!

Thrift Inspiration.....Faded Levi's Jeans for Autumn-and Beyond

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going well for you all-there was frost on the car today and apparently it is the coldest day of the season so far, but it's lovely when it's dry and sunny too! Today I am layered up in a vest under a long sleeved denim shirt with jeans (double denim!) and earlier when I was out I had my scarf and coat on. With yesterday's outfit I was in a short sleeved tee as when I'm working at the library I really get warm so as long as I wear a padded or wool coat then I'm good to go!

So as you can see, Tuesday's outfit comprised a black oversized tee by Primark, my leopardprint scarf that I bought last week and seem to be wearing almost every day, a  pair of newly thrifted jeans from a couple of weeks ago and my black ankle leather biker boots which are from Marks & Spencer also from last year:

I've been keeping my eye out for some faded light wash straight legged jeans for a little while now, so when I came across these Levi's jeans for only £1.50 in a neighbouring towns Sue Ryder charity shop they came straight home. I like the idea of wearing faded jeans in Autumn and Winter, it goes against my 'go to' black and indigo jeans and they are surprisingly a really versatile colour too- I'll be wearing them again with light colour sweaters, chunky knits and different shades of denim shirts:  

With Autumn and Winter settling in now, what colours are you gravitating towards this season? Are you a lover of darker palettes or does colour feature quite heavily in your wardrobe at the moment, I'd love to know!!

Wishing you all a great week and don't forget those layers!!

My Weekend & Some Thrift Inspiration...It's a Man's World with Pointed Wedges

Hi everyone!! I hope you've had a great weekend, it feels like it's gone too quickly! Yesterday I managed to fit in some volunteering at my local library at a book sale and received a great stack of books to keep me going for Autumn and Winter and this was followed by a nice fish and chip supper. Today we visited a young relative in hospital who thankfully seems to be getting better after a major operation and this was followed by a spot of retail therapy before coming home for a lovely roast dinner.

My 'new to me' stack!

Sunday's outfit was a new chunky knit that my son kindly gave me (I nicked it!) this Summer that he was gifted. It is amazingly similar to the Acne Clissold sweater but my one is by Danish brand Le Fix, who produced this in their Spring/Summer 2012 collection:

I paired it with my men's boyfriend PRPS jeans and to add some femininity, I wore my black Jasper Conran court wedges- I don't wear these often enough as they are fairly high, but I love the toe cleavage on them and they are nice and pointy!

The knit has a 'bobbly' leopard style design and I love the additional features on the shoulder and the elbow pads. It's really cosy and a perfect addition for my winter wardrobe:

All I needed was my grey faux fur Maine (Debenhams) thrifted gilet over the top and I was set for the day without having to wear a jacket. 

I'll be sharing my weekend goodies in a future post- they are both leopardprint but I do need to get moving on listing my pile of 'to sell' things on ebay to compensate for my new buys!

Wishing you all a great week ahead and I'll be linking this post to the lovely Claire Justine for Creative Monday and to fabulous Patti at NotDeadyetStyle for Visible Mondays-I hope you get a chance to check out these wonderful blogs!!

Dope Plaid Shirt, My New to Me Autumn Shirt

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a good weekend, I'm trying my best to have a semi self imposed shopping ban in that I've thrifted (and bought) quite a few items over this month and now it's come to  the end of the month I'd like to start wearing all my new and existing items that I have in my Autumnal wardrobe.

The shirt that I am wearing below is 'new to me'. My eldest son is not only a freelance photographer he also works full time in a London men's PR fashion company, so does come home every now and then with new items for his own wardrobe. He actually brought this shirt home earlier on in the year and when I realised it would be ideal to have a flannel plaid shirt for the coming season I decided to swipe it and put it in my wardrobe!!

The shirt is by a Los Angeles street wear brand called Dope Couture and is in red and black brushed 

cotton, perfect for wearing by itself or as a layering piece over tees and under jackets. I'm wearing the shirt with my trusty All Saint's boyfriend style skinny jeans, claret Zara chelsea boots and a black Primark tee:

To be perfectly honest, although plaid, check and tartan are totally on trend for this season, I doubt if I would have gone and bought an item in these- I like the trend, but don't love it. For me the best way to adopt this trend was to 'steal' the look from the nearest men's wardrobe and as myself and my eldest are pretty much the same size, I dipped into his!!

Do you borrow items from the men in your life's wardrobes? Some items are ideal to 'borrow or steal' to create a different stylish look- a cosy wool knit is a great piece to have and is perfect with skinny jeans or faux leather leggings!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

All Saint's and Converse for an Autumn Berry Inspired Look

Hi everyone! I hope you're managing to ease yourself stylishly and fashionably into Autumn, I've been picking up a few basic key pieces in Autumn hues to add to my existing wardrobe.

I really love berry tones and decided to get this boyfriend tee from Primark which was less than £4. It works well under my leather biker jacket and winter knits and jackets and provides a nice cheap pop of colour for this season:

I'm wearing my thrifted All Saint's jeans from the boot sale last month for just £3. They are a skinny boyfriend fit and having no lycra content just get more relaxed and comfortable with wear. 

I pulled the whole look together with my black Converses and I put new laces in them to colour co-ordinate with other pieces in my winter wardrobe.

At the weekend I did a wardrobe edit and put away summer dresses and skirts and put winter knits to hand. What with other unwanted clothes from around the family, two sacks of clothing and footwear were dispatched to the NSPCC and I walked a smaller bag to my local Sue Ryder charity shop where I managed to pick up a lovely designer item which is perfect for Autumn and that I'll show in a future post!

I'm really liking berry hues, brown, navy and monochrome tweed colours for this season and rather than buying major items in these colours, I'm adding accessories in these shades here and there to update my wardrobe. What colours are you liking for Autumn?

Afternoon at Somerset House for London Fashion Week in Chanel and Leopardprint

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! As you all may be aware, it's London Fashion Week until tomorrow and although I don't have any shows to go to, I have been living the 'experience' of it through my uber stylish and talented son who not only works full time in men's fashion pr, but is a freelance photographer. He has been fortunate to attend over nine different designer's shows to shoot backstage and some front of house-his highlights being Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith for Hunger Magazine.

Being such a proud mum, I will do a round up post of his wonderful pictures later this week when he has actually finished. Anyhow, it's been great to hear and see firsthand from him the backstage adventures and front of house antics from the view of a photographer and has made my experience of London fashion Week all the more enjoyable even though I did not participate!

As the sun was shining yesterday morning, I thought I would take him for a coffee at Somerset House before he set off to do his shows and we arrived early afternoon:

My intention was for us to have a coffee, him set off and for me to have a wander around Somerset House, take some photos and then do some people watching.  I just got to the people watching after making myself comfortable when it decided to rain-hard! Still, I managed to get some photos before the weather turned:

My lovely son, who was pretending he didn't want his photo taken, hehe!!

A view of the Embankment and the London Eye

Such a hub bub of passer by's, photographers and fashionistas in the business!!

My outfit of choice yesterday was my thrifted Chanel jacket, some new to me thrifted PRPS boyfriend jeans, black wool pashmina, a new Primark tee, thrifted Clarks black peep toe shoes and my leather leopardprint tote by Autograph at Marks & Spencer. I was so pleased I'd worn my scarf, I even had a hat in my bag which went on when the rain came down!! 

The shops at Somerset House had some gorgeous items-my favourite's were the Bella Freud and Markus Lupfer jumpers which I could easily have bought all of them if money were no object and also the wonderful bookshop, where I fell in love with nearly all the bookshelves and their contents. If you're after any designer or vintage book then this must be your first port of call:

As you can see, i was very windswept, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon-especially when I had a sneaky McDonalds before getting the bus back to Liverpool Street for the train home!!

Have you been keeping up with London Fashion Week at all? I like seeing what the designers have to show, but I am not at the point where I watch live streams or apply for tickets for shows. I'm more than happy to take a backseat and view it through my son's camerea lens, hehe!!

Wishing you all a really good week ahead!!

Outfit Post: New Jeans and a boyfriend cardigan for Autumn

Hi everyone!! Well, it's back to school week and summer is still with us-yay!! The weather has been glorious this week but for me a cardigan is still necessary first thing in the mornings and in the shade!

We took another stroll at a different local park yesterday afternoon and it looked like the majority of children were back at school, it was quite tranquil and peaceful for around 4 in the afternoon!!

Yesterday's outfit of choice was a cotton paisley printed top that is a Dorothy Perkins thrift find from the charity shop a couple of months ago.  I really love the colour of it as it's a perfect transitional piece from Summer to Autumn as it can be worn under a cardigan, jacket or denim shirt:

My boyfriend cardigan is from All Saints and was also a thrift find from the boot sale which is a at least a year old now-I'm sure it was just £1. It's in light grey merino wool with 3/4 sleeves, again a perfect item for in between weather:

My new jeans are from River Island and were in the sale-reduced from £45 to £15! As soon as I saw them in my size I knew I had to get these as they have such a lovely side Aztec embroidery detail featuring Autumn's new colour, wine:

To complete the look I wore some metallic sandals-similar styles can be found at HushHush  and they will easily be replaced in Autumn with my wine colour Chelsea boots from Zara which I thrifted at the boot sale a couple of seasons ago for just £2.

Have you started to incorporate new season clothes into your outfits yet?

Outfit Post: Jean Paul Gaultier and Double Denim

Hi everyone! I hope the weekend weather has been kind to you-where I am it's been getting warmer over the weekend and it stayed dry yesterday for the boot sale. It was slim pickings on the bargain front but I did manage to get some All Saints jeans for just £3 which are the perfect darker blue shade for Autumn and Winter. My outfit choice was a mix of double denim and my Jean Paul Gaultier 90s stretchy dress which I wore as a top. This was originally a boot sale find and was only £1 a few years ago:

The Gaultier top is ideal for wearing with blue denim and I wore my yellow neon hoop earrings to go with the yellow in the top. My denim jacket is by Gap and was a charity shop find earlier this year for around £4.99:

I also wore my trusty grey skinny jeans from River Island which are one of my favourite pairs to wear when it's not so hot. Grey jeans for me are an essential in a denim wardrobe, they are a great neutral and work with virtually any other colour for any season too:

I'm currently debating what items I want to invest in for the Autumn/Winter season- a couple more pairs of jeans and some knits definitely feature and of course as soon as I make my thrifty purchases I'll be sure to share them here first!! Look  out for my thrifted All Saints jeans in an upcoming outfit post on LiveToLoveDenim.com

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and the gorgeous Claire-Justine oxox for Creative Monday. Wishing you all a great week ahead too. I know there are some of you that are not even thinking of Autumn purchases but for those of you that are, what is on your style radar for the coming new season?