The Winter Tag!

The lovely Andrea at CousCousandcorkWedges has tagged me in The Winter Tag.

The rules of the tag are:

Share 12 random facts about yourself.

Answer the 12 questions.

List 12 bloggers you wish to tag and pass the tag on by letting them know you've nominated them. However I've decided that my Winter Tag is open for anyone who wishes to participate as being such a busy time of year you may well decide to take part before or after Christmas on this one!!

My 12 Random Facts:

1. I've just started a new job-hurrah!! I am now officially a library assistant and I work in different sections and different libraries within my borough-plus, I actually love it too as I get to work with adults and children and do a variety of different things each time I'm there!

2. I love Made in Chelsea-it's my guilty pleasure and I love how my eldest son pitches up with me every episode to tune in!

3. I have a scarf addiction which seems to be growing each week-it doesn't matter if it's vintage, a boot sale or charity shop find, a high street or designer buy I show no preferential treatment to whichever one catches my eye!!

4. I also have a jeans addiction- 27 pairs at my last count-gulp! I love skinny jeans, bootcut, straight, slim and flares as well as coloured jeans too!

5. My favourite flavour tea is Twinings Lapsang Souchong, it's really smoky and I love it strong and hot. 

6. I love music- all genres but my favourites are late 70s pop and disco and classical music.

7. I love reading too but I just need more time to get into my books- if I'm relaxing I still tend to surf the net a little too often!

8. I went on the Orient Express for my mums 75th birthday to Deal- it was an amazing experience which I would love to repeat!

9. I don't do ornaments- I really am not a knick-knack or bric a brac type of gal- it could be having a small house with two boys was generally the main reason but now they're older I still don't hanker over having items like these dotted around the house!

10. I don't like cooking and prefer to let hubby do it, but when I do my favourite meals to make are curries and roasts.

11. I love potatoes-jackets and roast ones are my favourites.

12. The last time I had my hair cut short was the last time I will ever have it short- I sort of regretted it and it seemed to take an age to grow out too!

And the questions:

1. What are your favourite things about winter?

I love choosing what winter coat or jacket I'm going to wear and it gives me an excuse to stockpile my scarves!

2. What is your favourite winter outfit?

My black and white tweed oversized wool jacket, skinny jeans and Dune biker ankle boots with a sweater underneath and of course my scarf du jour!!

3. What is your favourite winter food?

Home made soup and home made shepherds pie.

4. What is your favourite winter drink?

Mulled Wine!

5. How do you like your make up in the winter?

I only wear blusher and that's the same year round!

6. What are you hoping Santa brings you?

I wouldn't say no to a nice bottle of perfume!

7. What is your favourite winter scent?

I love the smells of comfort foods cooking in the oven.

8. What is your favourite winter memory?

When everyone bundled up and made a beeline for the garden to build snowmen and throw snowballs!

9. What is your dream way to spend a winters day?

Under my fleecy blanket on the sofa, with some classical music playing and reading my current favourite book.

10. What are the first 3 things that remind you of winter?

Starting to wear gloves and hats, layering up and making up hot water bottles!

11. What is your favourite winter song?

I love hearing any hymns being played on the radio, especially Christmas ones.

12. Finish this sentence.....If I could have one Christmas wish it would be....

To be somewhere hot for a change!

I hope you enjoyed reading these random facts about me and please let me know if you do the tag in my comments so I can come and check you out too! Wishing you a great week ahead!

Marks & Spencer Autograph Leopard Print Boots and Some Issey Miyake

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, I had planned to stay in Saturday afternoon after publishing my last post which said I didn't have anything planned, however mid writing that said post my eldest son asked if I fancied an afternoon up West and as I hadn't seen the Christmas lights I thought why not? Well returning home that evening, my bank balance was noticeably lighter, what with getting his Christmas present- a Michael Kors watch no less which he is contributing more than half to and I also treated myself to a totally gorgeous, couldn't leave the shop without it, Dune Mongolian wool shawl/scarf which left my neck naked when I put it down and walked out of the shop without it, trying to be good. 

I very rarely buy anything brand new from shops, I would say my wardrobe is 95% thrifted from charity shops so it generally takes something special from the High Street for me to part with double figure funds. I've been after one of these type of shawl/scarves every winter that goes by and as soon as I'd left the store I couldn't stop thinking about it and high tailed it back and got the sales assistant to cut the tags off so I could wear it straight away!! So that's really an early Christmas present to myself which I am so pleased with and I'll be showing it off on a post later!!

Back to my outfit post which also contains a new buy-these Autograph ponyskin leopardprint wedge boots from Marks & Spencer which I got a couple of weeks ago when they were doing 20% off- I had spied them online and the same day I was in town they had one pair in my size left on the shelf, so yes, another High Street purchase but at least I didn't pay full price!! I am also wearing my beloved vintage thrift find wool waterfall cardi-jacket by Issey Miyake which was another Salvation Army charity shop find for only £2.50 a few years ago. I love this, it makes an appearance every winter season and I also wear it over my black leather biker jacket as an extra layer:

I'm wearing my light wash thrifted Levi's jeans which are a firm favourite for me this season and here is a close up of the boots- I'm generally not a lover of high heels, but these have an insolia built in sole and are really quite comfortable as they have been designed to redistribute your weight from the balls of your feet and I just love the pointy heel and of course the ponyskin leopardprint!!

My clothes and accessory budget for this month is well and truly smashed and I really need to try and not see anything else that I love- I have been extremely tempted by Michelle at MyFashionable40s who recently got a gorgeous woolly fleece from Uniqlo which is a perfect winter style piece to have, but I just sadly can't justify buying it at the moment, not with the Car Tax due at the end of the week too ;-( 

Still, I need to start busting out what's already in my wardrobe and on a future post I'll be showing you a really fabulous thrift find from the Summer, stay tuned!!

I am linking this post to the lovely Claire Justine for Creative Monday do be sure to check out her blog if you haven't already, she's been nominated by Candis magazine for her lifestyle blog which is really well deserved!! Wishing you all a really great week ahead, whatever you are up to!!

Thrift Inspiration..........Coloured Faux Fur for Winter

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a good week, my week has been fairly hectic but hopefully most of the weekend should be quite relaxing with no plans- just how I like it, so I can just do anything or nothing!

I thought I would show a recent thrift find and alternatives to mine that are available online or instore at the moment. Faux fur is a really big presence for this season and it comes not only in traditional black and trendy leopardprint, but all different colours too. Here are my picks of my favourite colours of the moment:

BIBA dove grey short faux fur coat, £118.30

ASOS baby blue faux pelted jacket, £80

ASOS teal longline faux fur coat, £80

ASOS berry batwing faux fur, £85

A couple of weeks ago I found this really cute navy faux fur jacket in a neighbouring towns Haven House charity shop for just £15. It's collarless and is perfect for wearing with roll neck jumpers and scarves and is super cosy and soft too!! 

The lining is in a contrasting purple and blue pattern and being navy means it's going to be so versatile and go with a lot of items already in my wardrobe.

Is coloured faux fur on your radar this season? Do you already have some coloured faux fur in your wardrobe that you've started wearing already?

Wishing you all a really fabulous weekend and hope your plans or no plans go as scheduled!!

Thrift Inspiration.....Short Sleeve Chunky Knit Jumper

Hi everyone!! I hope you are all bearing up now the Wintry weather is setting in-apparently we are in for some real icy cold weather over the next couple of weeks so now is the time to dust down those winter knits and get them to the front of your wardrobe.

The majority of my jumpers that I have are all long sleeved, but I do have the odd short sleeve jumper, that being my Sonia Rykiel thrifted jumper that I bought a few years back at the now sadly gone Help The Aged charity shop for only £2.49. It's great to wear over silky blouses, chambray denim or a thermal long sleeve top. Short sleeve jumpers are so versatile and stylish and make a welcome change to the normal long sleeved versions and what I'm liking about the current versions are they are cut like oversized tees, making them perfect for layering and cosying up in. Here are my favourite picks of short sleeve jumpers that are available now:

Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, £235

French Connection jumper, £69

IRO Kailey Jumper £259.50

Sonia by Sonia Rykiel jumper, £250

So I found another short sleeved jumper to add to the wardrobe recently- a lovely hand knitted aran chunky knit which is oversized and cocoon shaped and was a bargainous £4.49 from my local Salvation Army charity shop:

I chose to wear it yesterday with my Uniqlo heattech long sleeved top from last year, my All Saints jeans that I got from the boot sale a few months ago for £3 and my new tan Chelsea boots:

I'll definitely wear this over my light and dark wash chambray shirts in the style of Laura of the WIT blog and with skinny jeans too- it really is a cosy buy and being short sleeved and oversized means I don't get too over-heated and stay snug at the same time.

Do you have any short sleeved jumpers in your wardrobe for this winter- is it a look you could or would try? I do hope you enjoy the rest of your week and stay snug and warm whatever you get up to!

Outfit Post: Fluffy Tartan & Leopardprint with an Unintentional Pout!

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely weekend, I didn't really get up to much, but I had a fabulous lie in on Saturday morning till past 11am- indulging in some Classic FM, two red velvet cupcakes and a steaming hot mug of coffee-courtesy of my boys as my breakfast in bed, well it's got to be done every now and then!!

I've been using some of my thrift budget to get leather boots re-heeled and coats dry cleaned in preparation for Winter.  It's great to buy new or thrifted items for this coming season but it's also important to look after what's already in the wardrobe and this helps to prolong the life of existing pieces and bring to life forgotten items that have languished at the bottom of the closet waiting to be repaired or professionally cleaned. I'm on at eldest son to put aside some of his wages to take a few jackets to the cleaners at the end of the month to save him wearing other jackets over and over again. 

Anyhow, my outfit for Saturdays chores in town was as follows:

My trusty black and white tweed coat that I thrifted a few months ago has proved invaluable and I'm wearing it so much lately. I'm also wearing my newly thrifted faded Levi's jeans and a couple of new items-a fluffy tartan Primark scarf which I totally love-it's so cosy and big and was just £5. I'm also wearing some Topshop leopardprint chelsea boots that I found on ebay last month for less than £20 and are like slippers, just so comfortable and add a fun pop of colour too! My grey sweater is a fairly new thrift find too and was from my local towns British Heart Foundation charity shop for just £3.99 earlier this month.

I had to add this photo, when I saw it it made me laugh as I was really not intending to do a 'pout pose' but as it's not too contrived I thought I'd show it, lol!!

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and the lovely Claire-Justine for her Creative Monday blog hop. Do try to check out both of these wonderful blogs, they are so inspiring and regularly share so many other creative and stylish bloggers from all around the world!!

Wishing you all a great week ahead- be warned, it's getting colder so wrap and layer up nice and toasty!!