Birthdays and a Love Sam Lace Top (aka Buffet Top)

Thursday 31 July 2014



Time is marching on and I am now going to 50th birthday celebrations. Whoa - how did that happen? I remember celebrating friends' 30ths and 40ths but now we are hitting the 50's. Whoa - life slow down please! 

The flowers were for the birthday girl and Leeds Market came up trumps again with some lovely hydrangea heads and lilies. Turned out they were the birthday girl's faves! Result.



As we were making a day off it with some shopping thrown in, I changed from the intended tan sandals to my more walking friendly leopard mid heels. 

H&M Sandals (not good for shopping)

M&S Leopard Shoes (slightly better for shopping)



And I wore my black Love Sam top. 




Love Sam Top, Zara Jeans, H&M Bracelet (in store but sold out online), Mulberry Araline Bag


I call this style of top, a buffet top. An eat all you like kind of top and I have Eileen to thank for alerting me to this when I spotted it on her Instagram feed. I stalked it for a while on Shopbop as the sizes kept coming and going and when my size popped up - I pounced but they seem to have a fresh batch of them again and I'm now thinking do I need the white version too??? Hmmm? Anyway, I don't have much for going out in and this is the perfect kind of dressed up dressed down look I feel comfortable in. I think this is much more what I was looking for when I brought home the Kate Moss boho top which I eventually returned.

And it was just as well I wore this buffet top as it meant I had loads of room to squeeze in lovely stuff like salted caramel hot chocolate, banana loaf, chocolate croissant and scone and cream (shared of course).


#nomnom


And a small champagne cream tea à la Harvey Nicks.

Chin chin!


So, buffet tops! I can't recommend them highly enough! Especially if you're a glutton like me!


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Last Note :

  • Mine is a size small which fits a UK 10.







Simples

Thursday 24 July 2014



Ahhh summer has arrived. The heat is on so I've kept it simple. A simple camisole and and old favourite French Connection denim skirt.




New Look Camisole, French Connection Skirt, River Island Espadrilles


What are you wearing in this scorchio weather?




School's Out

Tuesday 22 July 2014






School broke up today which means I was running around like a mad woman round Leeds Market buying up flowers left right and centre. I came home laden with spray roses, euonymus and mint. Mint but with pretty purple flowers on. All that stuff below pretty much.



The idea was basically to turn that lot in to mini bouquets. Like this one .....




and then wrap it in some nice brown paper with some organza ribbon as an end of school year present for the boys' teachers.




I even stuck some rosemary and oregano from the garden in to continue the herby theme. They smelt divine. Good enough to eat (chuckle chuckle).

I somehow managed to glean 9 little bouquets out of that lot (George kept adding teachers & teaching assistants to the quota!), which I somehow managed to squeeze in that impractical £5 basket which I bought last week :o)


Whistles top (formerly dress), MiH Phoebe Slim Jeans, New Look Slides, Toast Basket


By the time I'd finished, I was just a hot sweaty mess so I changed in to my shorts and tied my hair up with some loom bands as I am total class ... and I have about 1000 of them in my house.



H&M shorts (old)


I think and hope the teachers liked them. My friend who is a teacher who happened to see them, said they beat the tub of Sainbury's flapjacks she received last week.  :o)





Impractical Baskets and MiH Slim Phoebes

Monday 21 July 2014



A tisket, a tasket, £5 for my basket!

Toast Payaho Basket


Ding went my email at early o'clock the other morning! A Toast archive sale email alert! These are good. You can pick up some little gems in these. Like my £69 basket for £5. Lovely bright colour - burnt orange is their description, well made and strong. Strong in that it can take a heavy load but it is also strong willed and unyielding in that the shape doesn't give at all. You basically fit narrow things in this. Which is not good for picnics which is what I decided I wanted to use it for yesterday for a long day of cricket watching. Your sarnies are likely to get squished in this kind of basket but this is sorted by putting them in a container for protection. So quite an impractical basket but hey it would have cost me more to post it back as it came in the biggest box ever, than it would to keep it. So keep it and use it I shall. So there.


Toast Payaho Basket (sold out), Uniqlo silk spot shirt (similar here), MiH Phoebe Jeans, Birkenstocks, Zara belt



I thought it might also be a good day to test out the MIH Phoebe mid rise slim slouch leg jeans in the kissing wash. That's a mouthful isn't it? This is another sales score in the Anthropologie sale. Sold out now on there and the MiH site but still available here though not as cheap. Sorry.

Now I have to say, I've had these in my possession a couple of weeks now - I couldn't make my mind up about them as I didn't feel they were the most flattering jean ever on me but when are proper boyfriend jeans super flattering? I also like that they are a good quality denim - soft and comfortable but not in an overly lycra modern comfy stretchy kind of way. These have more of a natural give about them. 

And my verdict at the end of the day in these? I love that they are super comfy, they loosen and soften up with a little wear and are quite lethal in that you would automatically reach for these all the time from a pure comfort point of view. I also like that they don't actually have any rips in them. Yep - that's right - no holes whatsoever. Sometimes, I get a little tired of bending down and hearing my jeans rip a little more across the knee or when I'm putting them on and you nearly put your toe through a hole so these are actually the perfect weekend jeans. And when dressed up with a pair of heels - they suddenly look all fashion. Strange but true.

Oh yes and this kissing wash finish they come in? They are the perfect summer blue without going over the top. Mwah mwah!


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Last Note :

  • I'm not abandoning my high street denim any time soon as I feel there is a price point and a fit factor to suit everyone and basically I like having a choice of denim at my disposal. The thing is, with the sales it's nice to try something a little more out of your day to day reach and see what the hype is all about. So far so good - I've not been disappointed.

  • As you can see, these are not the longest of jeans given that I've done one big turn up on them  and I'm only 5ft 1 and a couple of mm, so they may not be suitable for tall girls who want to do turn ups on their jeans.

  • It's sometimes worth going back and checking on the Anthropologie site to see if any one has returned any of the Phoebe's if you're really interested in nabbing a pair at a good price as I've spotted the odd size coming in and out occasionally.

  • We won the cricket gala! Yay!



We'll Always Have MIH Paris ….

Friday 11 July 2014



Last week, Alex's (The Frugality) words rang in my ears about how when it comes to the sales, it's the time to look at the things you've earmarked or have hankered after but haven't quite wanted to splash the cash on earlier in the season. Like she says, if you spend most of your time in high street, when the sales come round, it makes sense to buy that little special something which now costs the equivalent of a top price high street item. Too right!

So I hit the button on a pair of MIH Paris jeans. Partly by accident. I remembered some time last year that Laura (Wearing it Today) had mentioned some jeans which made her feel amazing and her legs look longer. Who doesn't want to own such a garment of wonder? They happened to be the MIH Breathless jeans and not the MIH Paris ones but for some reason, I'd got it in my head they were the Paris ones and kept them on my radar. So when I saw them reduced huge amounts on the Anthropologie site - hit that button I did. The fact that I bought the wrong pair of jeans is by the by as I still really like the pair that I've ended up with :)


MIH Breathless                                                            MIH Paris


Now why did I decide to go for the MIH Paris jeans? Because it says they are "cropped". And if they are "cropped", then this hopefully means, they will be a regular length jean on me and require no alterations - yay!

And yes, they're cropped - if you're 5ft 4 and upwards. Which I'm not. But sometimes I am … in my dreams. And in my dreams, I look a little like Christy Turlington. Dream big, little Sue, dream big! Anyway, these jeans were not cropped on me. They were long. They weren't even the perfect full length jean on me. So I had to shorten them using that much tried and tested original hem method which I use so often to give them their rightfully "cropped" look.






And I've been wearing them a couple of days to see how they "perform" and I have to say I really like the fit and feel of these. The denim feels a little more substantial than most of my regular high street skinny pairs - they are "holding" me in without feeling overly tight and they haven't loosened up too much at all and started bagging any where. And the slightly straighter leg is a little more flattering on me which is something I always look out for when I am looking at slim/skinny'ish jeans. Crucially one more thing in their favour …. they don't seem to need as much hoiking up as much as some of my other jeans. Yes they still slip a little but somehow I feel like they are still trying to hug my bum rather than trying to escape from it.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, I may not have bought the right pair of jeans but I'll always have MIH Paris (boom boom). 

Sorry :o/

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Last Note :


  • MY MIH Paris crops are in the New Original Wash.
  • These were from the Anthropologie site where they seem to do impressive reductions on some of their designer denim. I've just found out that they had the MIH slouch Phoebes (now sold out) on there reduced down to £60 from £220 approx which is still cheaper than on the main MIH site.  I may have even bagged myself the last pair of MIH slim leg Phoebes on there too or I would have shared the link as when I went back to check, they were sold out (sorry). In fact most of the MIH denim which is on sale on Anthropologie is priced around that mark, so keep an eye out for future sales if you are interested in MIH denim. I know I will.







Park Lane Leather Toe Cap Espadrilles

Saturday 5 July 2014



For all those who like my Topshop white and black leather Chanel'esque espadrilles seen here - here's another chance for you to grab a pair of lookalikes.






I wore mine the other day whilst out shopping in Leeds and had two shop assistants enquiring about them and I had to regretfully tell them that they were sold out.

Well look what I found on the ASOS website. Don't say I'm not good to you people!





Shorts, Sports Day & Crafty Stuff

Wednesday 2 July 2014



Last Thursday, I spent the morning pottering around in my white Uniqlo chino shorts because I thought it would be fun to do so and I also thought if I don't wear them soon, the summer would be over. And at least if you wear white shorts at home - you stand a much better chance of keeping them clean. And then, I pulled out my Uniqlo silk spotty shirt because I was thinking I really should just wear what I like when I like rather than saving it because it's silk. Of course today just happened to be the day I suddenly decided to get to grips with a glue gun for the first time. Don't worry - I put an apron on #sensible








I have to say out of all the shorts that I have - these are possibly the most comfortable I own and they even manage to be flattering despite being white - no mean feat. I'm still not getting on with the white jeans but somehow white shorts don't seem so bad - maybe it's because there isn't as much of them? And as they were so comfortable, I toyed with the idea of buying another few pairs in various colours but came over all sensible and said "I live in the UK - we have bad weather" and didn't hit the button. The silver leather slides? I saw these on Michelle's blog and was quite taken with them. I also think these have a bit of longevity about them as they are a little more elegant than some of the current slides out there and will probably be very useful as a slightly more glam alternative to flip flops on holiday evenings out. My first pair which I ordered in a size 4, came up a little small as my heel seemed to just hang over the back of them so I ordered a size up instead which gives me that little bit extra for when your feet swell in hot weather. It's why they always say buy your shoes at the end of the day when your feet are swollen and warm from a day's stomping to make sure they fit properly and comfortably. Oh and you may or may not have noticed - green polish on toes. This is a bit of new thing for me. I've been experimenting with colours other than grey. And this green is fabulous. H&M Envy. It's like a deep jade and I love it despite it clashing with nearly everything I wear. 

Back to the glue gun. Basically, a little while back I was handed a bag of hairclips, some wooden buttons and asked if I could do something with them for the school summer fair. Errr … ???? 



So I borrowed a glue gun, had a quick rummage through the crafts box and I came up with these instead (because everyone has a few fake orchids hanging around don't they?) :



And just to show willing …. I did some of the clips with buttons. Because not all little girls like orchids and some might actually prefer wooden buttons on lace bows.



And in the afternoon, I changed out of my shorts (which I am thankful I did) and biked it down to  school and was roped in to hold the finishing line at the school sports day. 

Zara espadrilles, Gap jumper (old)


And this is where I am thankful that I wore my jeans and that no one had to look at the back of me in shorts for two whole hours :o/




Susie So So