Double Pearl

Hi peeps!  I hope you've not been hit too badly by Storm Angus.  I've had minor issues but nothing to write home about.

But moving swiftly on to nice stuff.  What do you think of these lovely double grey pearl earrings? Gorgeous, huh!

Lovely Son and Daughter in Law gave me them today.

I am over the moon with them (and so is my ginormous ear!)

These earrings will go with sooooooooooo much.

They are by Claudia Bradby and  I love them.  They will be treasured and I am so grateful to have received them from some very special people.

So, what does a girl have to do to get given such a lovely present?

Well, she has to dress up warmly on a sunny crisp November day and stroll along the pier.

She has to stop to admire the marina, now in winter quite empty of boats.

She has to go to one of her fave restaurants and eat a delicious full English breakfast with her truly wonderful family.

All an absolute pleasure!

Then sit back and receive lots of gorgeous cards and presents of 

Vintage champagne, chocolates and these lovely earrings.  

Oh, and she has to have recently gained a year in age, but that's just semantics.

A la perchoine.

Poshing it up

 Hello my lovelies.  

Today I give you a lady who lunched, and with a handbag!

I continue to up my dressing (IMHO) in baby steps.  But a birthday lunch with a friend saw me escalating the ladder SEVERAL steps with blazer, posh pearly jumper, jewellery and a proper handbag!  That’s FOUR  whole rungs of that ladder!

And yes peeps, I finally withdrew momentarily from the security of the cross body.  It’s an age thing. 

 When I was younger I partied till the cows came home with a handbag and it always returned home with me.  These days an attached crossbody has a greater chance of making it home with this dizzy old pensioner.  I’m comforted by its tethering.  So being left in charge of a loose handbag was quite a risk!

Do YOU feel that way about handbags now that crossbodys have made it a doddle to get the bag safely home?  Or is it just doddery old me?

.

@marksandspencer blazer

@zara pearl jumper

@guernseypearljewellery string of pearls @claudiabradby double pearl earrings

@jonesbootmaker handbag

@marksandspencer cream/gold flat tied

.

Hubs was so impressed with my poshed up look that he said my next outing would probably be in a BALLGOWN!

Watch this space!

And here’s a summary of my dressing up journey to date. 

A la perchoine , 

Mary xxx. 

WIW Wednesday

So I continue my week playing my "as if" game.  Acting as if I'm a professional blogger with a posting schedule.  As if! I hear you exclaim, for you know full well that consistency is definitely not my forte.  But hey, I'm a hobby blogger who fits in her posts around her busy pensioner's life!

So, it's Wednesday and of course you've popped in to the blog expecting pics of what I wore the previous week … don't I always post that each and every week, consistently (haha, having fun with this role play!).  Joke!
But seriously folks, I thought it would be nice to do a post of what I wore each day for a week.  It's a good discipline for me to take regular shots and I hope you enjoy it too.

I was without The Photographer, so it was selfies all the way, every day.

Day 1 - Tuesday

Took TP into hospital for open surgery.

Ultra Violet cardi, white skinnies, pewter sandals and multicoloured beads (all M&S) and a V T from Peacocks.

I played around with my Accessorize silk scarf.

A beautiful scarf takes a plain outfit to a whole new zingy level.

Day 2 - Wednesday

Continuing with colour, it was cool enough for a twinset.

This ultra soft Cashmillon set was bought in the M&S sale.

Only a bigger cardi size was left available - so I'm calling it a slouchy fit, but truth is it's just too big!

The s/s sweater is nearer to size.

I'll tell you this scarf's story in another post.


Day 3 - Thursday

(Clearly an updo is mandatory when wearing orange!)

H&M linen drawstring skirt and Wallis cami under slouchy orange cardi.

I'm so pleased I bought these skirts in both stone  and white 15+ years ago, I have had so much use out of them.  They're like little playmates who I hang out with in the school summer holidays and our friendship deepens with every year.

That scarf again!  It goes so perfectly with this soft orange colour.

Something happened to this outfit in hospital.  That's for another post.

I hooked out this necklace and earring set a few weeks ago to wear with my pink dress.  Turns out it goes with orange too!  I'd fretted a little about jewellery to go with my soft orange and it's not a colour I've worn since 1967, but rather magically, the colour of the outfit is reflected in the cubes.

Day 4 - Friday

Next aqua asymmetric top, white Peacock bottoms.

Cashmere cardi, Jones of New York, bought 2009 in Arizona.

Top tip.  Buy cashmere in a hot place, they really knock the price down as they don't get a lot of buyers for woolly cardis, strangely.  I got this one for £17 in Macy's knockdown sale!

I had a hygienist appointment that day and she commented on this top and was really surprised that it comes from Next.

I like to keep my hygienist happy and always dress smartly for her.

(Bought TP a couple of pairs of shorts PJs whist I was in town, perfect for the hot ward.  Must share them with you, he loves them!)

Day 5 - Saturday

I eased off the colour on this day.  Perhaps it was my mood (yesterday had been a bad day for our patient), or perhaps it was the weather. 

M&S mum jeans, Woolovers cashmere/merino cardi, Next chunky heels.  T and leather lariat necklace, Peacocks.

And you may just be able to see my Claudia Bradby double pearl earrings in grey and my Wink leather plait bracelet with pearl drop.  Matchy-matchy eh?!.

Day 6 - Sunday

Well, I totally dropped the colour here!  Black silky jersey tunic with chiffon hem and cuffs, 7/8ths chinos, both M&S.

I had Sunday lunch (uber yummy!) with the family before visiting TP.  The day was rainy, so perhaps the rain got to me.

Black/brown/beige pendant, black leather bracelet.

Day 7 -Monday

Got a call from TP telling me he was being discharged!  It's 6 weeks of no lifting, no driving for him … so that's me as designated Slave No 1 for the foreseeable then!

Well I couldn't stay away from Ultra Violet for too long.  Here it is, back again, draped over a sequin graphic T from Peacocks.

Clarks metallic toe flatties.

So I wore this last outfit to pick up TP from hospital.  Technically, the selfies should stop at that point but, you know, I quite like the discipline and I may just pick it up again in a few days.

Perhaps it got me thinking a little more about what I was going to wear, even for those days when I did nothing but sit by a hospital bed for 7 hours!

I've really enjoyed looking back on what I wore and I hope you do too.

Perhaps it's something you fancy giving a go yourself …

A la perchoine.

My Coastal Granny Travel Capsule

 Hello my lovelies. 

I’m still on holiday and enjoying digging into my Coastal Granny travel capsule. 

Here’s a feel for what I’ve been putting together from my suitcase so far. 

What I wore on my hols

The straw hat was absolutely essential as the first week of holidaying by the sea in Sussex was absolutely sweltering.  We hit a heatwave! Temperatures of up to 30c.  

A loose shirt was perfect to allow air to circulate around my boiling body. 

The shirt is old from Zara and is striped with embroidered birds in blue, black and mustard thread.  I’m not sure what kind of bird it is, it’s like an artist’s impression of what a beach bird looks like, but it certainly has a very coastal granny air about it.  

With thin white trousers it was a cool foil for the sweltering day. 

I wore the outfit for a meet up with cousins at Ashburnam 

Christian Trust, what a lovely atmosphere that place has. We ate a ploughmans lunch which was served with a massive cheese scone rather than bread.  Delish.

We then had a wander around the expansive and prettily laid out grounds. 

Although the day was hot, walking around the lake was cooling .  

Next day I strolled along the sea shore where the air again was cooler. 

The sand on this beach can only be seen at low tide.  This was high tide. 

There are some interesting seaside plants along the beach. 

This was early morning and already some had set up camp for the day. 

More plant clumps seen between the beach huts. 

Several hundred beach huts line the shore.  Half are privately owned and half are owned by the council and rented out. 

Quite idyllic, it put me in mind of the emoji 🏝 . 

That evening I went to a cousin for a lovely summer’s evening supper in the garden.  It was another cousin meet up.  This first leg of our holiday has been about cousins, as you will discover!

I wore a white linen shirt, bought from  H&M 20 years ago. 

To complete the classic coastal granny look I added a

string of pearls, a pressie from my family last Christmas, and double pearl earrings, a previous birthday pressie from them.  I’m a lucky girl to be draped in pearls!

So, white linen shirt, blue jeans and pearls.  Classic. 

I went Groove Dancing with a cousin. 

It’s silent disco dancing in the open air by the sea. A group of participants dance to music through headphones for an hour, much to the amusement of the passers by! 

(I’d packed comfy t shirt, tracksters and trainers as the dancercise was pretty-planned)

It was tremendous fun, though I used muscles I haven’t used in years and I’m paying for it now!

Now on another el skorchio of a day I went off piste and strayed away from the CG vibe.  

Grey t shirt and a nasturtium coloured skirt. 

I wore this because it was sooooo hot and this loose clothing drew me as it’s light. 

The grey beads are charity shopped.  The modal t shirt is from Next this year.  The skirt is actually a mini sun dress I bought from Primani 7 years ago.  It has a shirred top so I just pull the bodice down to my hips and called it a skirt!

I topped this casual outfit with TP’s hat. 

I chose this as the temp peaked at 30c again and the skirt and top are loose and cool.  

So it wasn’t a classic CG outfit but it is the kind of thing a granny living by the coast would wear on a very hot day.  Because that is what I did!

I took this outfit on an outing with a cousin to a country farm shop.  We enjoyed coffee and cheese scones in the tea shop.  

Although the outfit strayed from the archetypal CG style I did keep to the Something’s Gotta Give vibe. 

I did my Diane Keaton thing checking out the farm’s market stalls.  I didn’t bump into Keanu Reeves, sadly. 

 But I bought more cheese scones!

And pink gin!

All locally made. 

I’ll post more holiday outfits next week from our new base in Devon. 

And now I’d like to leave you with an added bonus to this post.  

Apparently the Coastal Grandma trend has hit Holland. 

My friend Marianne lives there.  She’d only heard of the CG thing when she read my last week’s post.

She was inspired to raid her wardrobe. 

Blue chambray shirt and white chinos, beach bag and straw hat. 

She draped a jumper around her neck, another element of CG dressing.  

A great start. 

Then she popped on a white shirt and scarf. 

Worn with light blue trousers and a coastal style bag. 

Didn’t she do well?!

Marianne’s verdict: “I love that look. Casual but elegant at the same time. Didn't realise that this style had a name until you mentioned it!!” 

It’s hit the Dutch newspapers too!

How have YOU been coping with the soaring temperatures in the UK, or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere?

For those in the southern hemisphere. I’m sure you’re enjoying the cooled air!

A la perchoine, 

Mary xxx.