Oh, Little Denim Skirt, How do I love thee?

Oh, Little Denim Skirt, How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height that my wardrobe can reach ...

Yes, indeedy, sweet people of Blogland.  I am loving seeing how many ways I can style my my denim skirt.  I'm testing how many parts of my wardrobe it can reach. 

Do you ever do that with a piece of clothing?  Find a piece so versatile that there are seemingly limitless ways to style it.  Maybe some black trousers or a skirt?  And obviously blue jeans are the classic styling sponge - just how many ways can you love those babies?

 

Today my little denim skirt went out a-cavorting with the Woolovers shell top in charcoal cashmere/merino and the snuggly-snuggly East long cardi in merino and Gabor ankle boots.

A grey/taupe glass bead necklace finishes it off and though you can't see them, my lovely birthday pressie double grey pearl earrings are under that mass of hair ... trust me.  They are by Claudia Bradby and I'm discovering that they go so well with so much jewellery, including this necklace.


So, dear reader, I think this is what Shakespeare had in mind when he was writing his little sonnet.  He was telling us that when you find an item of clothing you love, there is no limit to how you can find ways to love it, to wear it. 
Did you realise when reading Shakespeare that he was a style guru?  Not a lot of people know that!

Now, can you tell me how many ways you love your favourite item?

A la perchoine.



Pink Floral ... in Winter!

 

 

 

Hi dearies, just thought I should let you know that I went a little crazy at the weekend.

I wore a floral dress.  In winter.  Oh yes I did! (panto season sneaking in there!).

 

 

I was going to an afternoon function.  I felt that I wanted to mix things up a bit.  Sometimes I get a bit samey and I rebel.  Against myself.  And that is what I did.

 



 

Life has been a bit denim-skirt-and-jeans in Pout World lately.  I wanted to stretch myself a little. 
I have a grey East dress that I hardly ever wear despite really liking the colours, the pattern and the fall (that's reference to the way it hangs, not a random declaration of my love of autumn!).

 

I usually wear it just in summer and with a short cardi, bare legs and posh heels.  So I tried it with brown Gabor heeled knee boots and a pink slouchy silky knit cardi from Primark.

Did it work? You tell me.  Please.  Anyway, The Photographer was pleased to see one of his fave dresses getting an outing, so I achieved something.  And I felt very feminine.  In winter!

 

I have to admit I had a bit of inspiration in the (lovely) form of Ana of mrsamericanmade. 

 

 

Meet Ana.

 

 Ana's ethos is commendable, she sources US-made clothes.  I would say her signature look is a cute dress and jacket or a tunic top, skinnies and jacket.  And lots of bootage.  But the main thing I take away from her blog is that she wears florals throughout the year.  She's so pretty and she has superb legs so she can get away beautifully with the skinnies/leggings-in-boots look.  I will leave that look well alone.  You have seen me in shorts, eh?!! 

 

But I thought I could start trying to wear a few florals in winter, just with different footwear to what I would wear in summer.  And layer with a cardi rather than a jacket, for most of the time that is more in keeping with where I'm going.  And where I am in life, for I am of Cardi Age.

 

I hope you visit Ana's site and scroll through some of her back-issues.  She comes up with lots of looks that add zing to the day-to-day.

Now, can you do something for me?  Can you see if you can write a comment on her blog?  I can't. 

It's OK, I've told Ana that I am a shackled commenter.  Not because I'm shy but for some reason when I'm on her blog, I show my technincompetence (like that word? I just made it up.  I can add it to "jacardi" in The Pout Dictionary of Words That Should Exist).

 

And if you write a comment, could you say "hi" from The Pout"!

 

A la perchoine.

 



It Started With A Cushion - Mustard and Grey

It started with a cushion,

never thought grey and mustard I'd be pushin'

OK the work I've done on Hot Chocolate's "It started with a kiss" isn't my finest paraphrasing, but you try rhyming something with "cushion"!  Can you come up with anything better than "pushin'"?  I bet you can!

But maybe it's like "orange", nothing to rhyme with it in the English language.  Note to self: avoid post about wearing orange.

So, inspired by a mustard cushion on a grey chair I chanced upon recently, I started my mustard and grey quest with the grey element.  The easy bit.  Peacock grey jeans. 

They're getting baggy; I'd love to say that's because I've lost weight but look at me!  No, I think the elastane has finally giving up elastan-ing.  I've worn them loads so they've taken a laundry battering and, as was pointed out in a speech at my wedding, I am not the best of laundresses!

Then I dug deep for the mustard.  I found this ex-work top in the archives. I teamed it with my soft silk grey scarf from the lovely Janice of The Vivienne Files.  That scarf keeps on giving.

Then I found an ex-work jumper.   My, it's bright!  It has elastane in the fabric mix and its resulting clinginess means my jeans zip and pockets show through.  Note to self: try it with grey trousers - come on Pout, you have some of those, surely?!!

Here I tried it with mustard cardi and charcoal Bravissimo jersey top.  I can see immediately from this photo that the top chosen for this look should be lighter, to flow with the jeans and comply with the Column Dressing Rule.  Note to self: try with frilly stripey blouse.

I think the top outfit looks OK, perhaps because of the lovely scarf.  It seems to best capture the essence of my chair/ cushion inspiration.  The others need work.  And what I can see from this little experiment is that serious scarfage is therefore called for.  A grey/mustard blanket scarf would pull these outfits nicely together - leave that one me, dear reader, I'm on the case.

Etsy.com

So, dear reader, I've given you the worts-and-all today.  My work in progress.  Working on how I can put something together in the colours that have so inspired me.

The mustard cushion on the grey armchair.

The pat of butter on the grey dish, spotted by Anna of Mutton Style in one of my pics.

Now, dear reader, do you fancy putting together a mustard and grey outfit?  And maybe sharing it?

And then, following those pics first shown here, my dear Dutch friend told me her lounge in Dutchland is now grey and mustard.

She sent me these pics of it.  Doesn't it look lovely?  And so stylish.  So co-ordinated. 

Our minds must be in sync on colour!

And that lady really does believe in colour co-ordination.  Look at her ultimate lounge accessory ...

... her adorable grey French bulldog Percy, celebrating his birthday this week wearing a light mustard party hat!  She's co-ordinated pet with lounge. 

My, that lady is serious about colour!

So look what I've put together for you on this rainy afternoon, dear reader. 

The behind-the-scenes on an outfit that hopefully I will soon show you in completed form. 

Home décor.  A little Pet Corner thing. 

Where else can you get such miscellany?!!

I'll be back with a briefer post tomorrow.  I know you lead all lead busy lives so I appreciate that you've stuck around to read this rambling post today.

Please pop by again soon.  Tomorrow would be good!

A la perchoine.



Lavender and Grey

Hello.  Still keeping my posts lite.  Giving you a well-earned break from my ramblings.

  But I just have to say this.  I am such a bad person.  We were sidetracked last night with other matters and didn't get to our Skype with American rellies on time.  And today I forgot to take Mr Bertie to his grooming parlour.  What is my brain doing?

In retirement, I've lost the discipline of checking the diary daily.  And even if I do check it first thing, the event is then invariably wiped from my memory banks.  Is this all sounding a bit familiar?

I've not gone hi-tec with pinging reminders.  Pout Life is still encapsulated in a tatty old Filofax, dating back to when they were de rigueur.  That would be the 90s then.  See even my diary is vintage!

But let's do the OOTD and then allow you to go on your merry way.

Old Lady Lavender Woolovers cashmere/merino longline jumper, grey Peacock jeans and scarf, Gabor nubuck ankle boots.

I threw my old East charcoal merino long cardi and then I was snuggly-snuggly to hit one of our local restaurants down the road for a catch up with my Sis and girlie Guernsey cousins.  

Lovely people, lovely evening ! 

What are you like at remembering to do things, to be places, at this time in your life?

I hope you're performing better than me!

A la perchoine.

Grey Frill Cardi

Hello sweeties, thanks for popping in today.  I've given you a few long posts recently, so I'm staying lite for a few days.  Relieved?

I'm still loving more than a bit of skirtage at the mo.  And I'm enjoying playing around with my old denim skirt from Dotty P.

I snuggled into a lot of leopard print scarfage from Next.  So warm.

I made up a little twinset with a frill edged cardi and a shell top, both in Woolovers grey cashmere/merino. I kinda like twinsets.  The shell top goes with a few cardis and jumpers and creates twinsets; a neat, pulled together look - in my opinion, you may choose to differ!

Hey here's a thing, does the term "twinsets" instantly age me?

Are they still around?

Do you wear them?

And there you have it, today's post, done.  Brief, to the point.  

See, I can do lite!

A la perchoine.



How Many Reunions Should A Girl Have?

Another day older and deeper in debt ... I owe my soul to the company store

... or the local restaurant.  Following on from my previous post, I had left it to The Birthday Boy to choose how he wanted to celebrate having got another year older. I don't think he gave a takeaway meal a moment of his pondering time.  As I guessed, in a nano second he replied "La Reunion", here.  And by choice also to be served by B,  Our Favourite Waiter (OFW)

And so into said restaurant we went.  Abstemious readers beware, this post gets very foodie!

Firstly, can I just say that I'm drawn to grey and mustard right now - a blog challenge maybe?

And OFW was indeed our server again and he seated us at what is fast becoming "our usual table".

 Here's my G&T against what would have been a lovely backdrop of gentle rolling waves.

But now that the clocks have changed, you can barely see the shoreline, bottom r/h.

Betcha thought you'd escaped the food pics in the previous post.  Sorry!  For on to the food pics we go.  And oh how fabulous was that food!

On to starters.  White crab meat with Pear, Kohlrabi, and Fennel Salad, Avocado and Lemon.

The Photographer had squid served with a spaghetti veg salad with an Asian dressing.

Was this shot taken by someone of Gandalfian proportions?  We are hobbits!



King prawn and prawn in cocktail sauce with Cucumber, Lemon, Bloody Mary Sorbet, melba toast.

I chose another starter for main course, so I added a sneaky side of garlic fries which I shared with my dining companion.

My dining companion ...

... and his brill with puy lentils and warm braised chestnuts.

I love ice cream and I gauge a restaurant by the care they take over choice.  No restriction to chocolatevanollastrawberry here.  I chose maple syrup and hazelnut, my companion chose salted caramel - both served with the bonus of a little mix of fruit and a croquante sliver.



And for BB the added bonus of a candle and a "Happy Birthday" sung by OFW!

What more could we do after that feast but order double espressos.

But we didn't get off that easily!  Coffee came with handmade chocs - coated marshmallow, truffle and a cider jelly.  I'd like to say the diet starts tomorrow.  But it won't.

Now dear reader, I haven't given you a restaurant post recently so I don't feel too guilty about sneaking this one in.  It was, after all, a rather special.

But what I want to say is this.  Some eating out that I do is not so much about the food, but the friends I am meeting up with. Chatting.  I don't pay much attention to the food.

Fine dining is something else.  The food has to be superior to what I could concoct at home.

La Reunion does just that.  From my first forkful I knew that I could not possibly create such fine, delicate, complex flavours.

I love this restaurant.  Perhaps you can tell. And I would be very happy for Les Reunions to continue.  Ad infinitum. 

If  you are in Guernsey, I really do recommend you visit this superb restaurant. 

And the meal was within our "band of affordablity" so phew!,  we do not "owe our souls to the company store or to the local restaurant"!

A la perchoine.

New Stuff and Scarf Dilemmas

Another day older and deeper in debt ... I owe my soul to the company store

That's how the old song goes but fortunately, when The Photographer became another year older he did not owe his soul to the company store or indeed the local restaurant, for I paid for his treat! 

What a happy boy, eh?!

I'd had a birthday recently.  We celebrated mine with cousins and M&S Chinese takeaway food.  It was a lovely evening.  Let's see if that's what The Photographer chose to do.

 

Hey, I want to tell the world that I have something new to wear!

So I wore my new Zara gold metallic top (for the first time) featured recently in A Box With A Past. 

M&S black wool skirt, Limited Collection black modal vest, Clarks croc print block heels. 

 

The Zara top here is asymmetric and has wing sleeves.  Are they features that you like?  They're features I found challenging but after half a bottle of Puilly Fume I was feeling pretty relaxed with this new top.

The Zara ecru jacardi first worn here finished off the outfit nicely.

Please don't fret, there was no night time chilly beach walking involved with this Jacardi outing, just a couple of warm taxi rides!

Hey look, plaid and pearls, again!

But getting me out the door is no mean feat.  First, the Peacocks tartan scarf.

Then, not quite happy with my choice, I tried aTie Rack silk square.  Naah.  Didn't like that either.

 But, as Cinderalla stories always end, the third scarf was "just right".

I (eventually) left the house wearing my new fave, the Zara leopard print.  A Zara hat trick!

Only then, finally, was The Pout ready to get out the door! 

Yes, out the door we went.  No takeaways for The Photographer  - it's fancy restaurants for him!

 

 

A la perchoine.