Life and Baking - A Reflection

Life and baking can be a game of two halves.

Sometimes life is an absolute pleasure.  

An amazing half term in glorious sunshine having fun with the grandkiddies.  

A cosy Sunday lunch for a family birthday celebration.  

That was life last week and I definitely don't blog when I'm having so much fun!

Sometimes life can be sad and difficult.

And just when I planned to write up a blog last weekend, sad life happened and my time was immediately allocated to pressing matters which needed dealing with immediately.

So what I'm saying here is that there will be times in a hobby blogger's calendar when blogging is put on hold and these last few days have been such.

But I'll share some of the nice stuff with you.  

Baking.  My baking game is one of two halves too.

Success.  And failure.

First, the rip-roaring success..

Merengues.

GD made these little clouds of yumminess

<

using this cook book.

She's been going through the book in the school holidays and I'm always excited when I see her walk into my kitchen with The Unicorn Cookbook under her arm.  Every single thing we've tried has been delicious yet easy to make.  I really recommend this cookbook and what a great no-brainer pressie this makes to help engage children in cooking - Yumminess and UNICORNS in one!!

Dressed for the part!

Oh and just in case you go looking for the recipe in the book,  the actual recipe was for a piled up pavlova but we thought it would be easier to eat and share with the family if made as individual merengues.  

And it was!  OK, GD and I may have had a bigger share than the rest of the family but hey, isn't that the cooks' prerogative?!!

And then there was the den building whilst we engaged ourselves in our baking.

GS built an amazing Den City!  It was an all-mod-cons den with a secret extension under the kitchen table.  All manner of conveniences were amassed in there, including a water-filled bowl to create a bathroom area.  Ok granny did baulk a bit at this convenience,  but there was zero spillage!

So this is pretty much what my kitchen looked like last week.  Den City and merengues.  Not a bad place to be!

Then, the failure.

I made a birthday cake for the family lunch.  A birthday girl must have a cake, eh?  She is diabetic so I hunted around for a recipe. 

I chose this one, link below.  

It uses prunes to bring some of the sweetness to the party.  The rest comes from regular demerera sugar - but I decided I could  make it even more diabetic-friendly by replacing that with sugar substitute.

Here I should remind the reader that cake baking is absolute chemistry.  It belongs in the alchemist's corner of the kitchen.    I know that.  

I thought I was clever enough that I could adapt the recipe ...

The day before the lunch I set about making the cake and with hindsight I'm glad that I set out early on this journey.  The cake was an epic fail!  I got the sugar substitute to sugar conversion wrong - do not yet this at home as it was a solid as a rock.

It put me in mind of Mrs Cropley's* culinary experimentation.

Initially I thought I could double the sweetness in the ricotta frosting and mask my cock-up but I woke up in a cold sweat at 5am and resolved to draw a line under my failed alchemy and start again.  I then went back to sleep, peaceful in the knowledge that I had a plan B. 

 And thus, Sunday morning found me squeezing in some time around my chicken roastie lunch to put plan B in action.  

And phew!  Following the recipe to the letter, the cake was yumminess itself, deliciously moist and moreish.

Do try it, it's delish!

Italian-chocolate-ring-cake. HERE

So the lesson here is that in cake making DO NOT DEVIATE.

And when it goes rock-shaped, bin it and start again!

*And remember Mrs Cropley!

Now please tell me you've had cake fails too!

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

Retirement Dressing - Leoprint and Leather

Hello my lovelies.  How's it going?

I'm guessing you're busy like me.  There seems to be so much going on right now that I can barely find time to string a few paragraphs together on paper, figuratively.  But here goes ...

This post creates a bit of a dichotomy.  It's not sure which way it's headed.  It has a dual identity.

It could be about the versatility of a classic black leather skirt.  It could be about the versatility of animal print, which can be considered a classic print.  It's probably both, truth be told.

A plain A line leather skirt is infinitely versatile.  I'd have shown you exactly how versatile if I hadn't accidentally deleted 105 photos a few days ago.  Fortunately I'd already copied the animal print themed shots onto this post.  All the others showing how beautifully a variety of jumpers with the skirt can create casual or posher looks are lost forever so you will just have to trust me - a black leather is the very top end of versatile and a perfect piece in the retirement wardrobe.  I reckon I could live for a month just wearing this skirt ... now there's an idea for a post!

So let's see what happens when leather and leoprint mix.

It has all the makings of a Bet Lynch barmaid look but done right, I think we can swing it in the direction of Retired Lady does Left Bank!

Take a Leoprint blouse

A black cocoon cardi and blouse in grey, black and ecru.
Maybe for lunch in a smartish restaurant?


Next up, a leoprint shirt

A longline print shirt, worn loose.  Supper with friends?

Then belted for a more vampish look.  Perfect for a date night methinks, TP would love this!

A black jumper slipped over the shirt creates a more casual  twist.

If you're unsure about how to dress for your night out, a jumper creates Bohemian-arty smart casual.  Then simply take off the jumper and stuff it in your bag if you feel the need to ramp up the vamp!

 What about animal print knitwear?

Take a cheetah print knitted tunic and wear it as it comes to create something akin to 1920s style line and proportions. 

Perfect for smarter daytime wear.  Like a family lunch.

And again a waist cincher belt creates more of an after-dark look.

Another animal print jumper works just fine as it is, no belt trickery required as the line and length are a perfect balance for the skirt.

So what's my point here?

Well, what I'm trying to rather hurriedly get across today is that when putting together some smart casuals at this time of year, a simple black skirt forms the perfect alternative vehicle for a whole range of smartish jumpers and shirts.  Step away from the jeans and trousers, haven't we had our fill of those by now this winter?  I know I have!

And if that skirt is leather, it brings a slightly edgier feel to the outfit, gives an outfit a Left Bank touch.   I don't think leather should be ruled out as we get into middle age.  Provided the skirt isn't too short or too tight, it works in the retirement wardrobe, IMHO

But here's the thing.  This skirt is coming up for its 20th year soon.  If it were made of fabric, I don't think it would have lasted this long.  It would have got to look a bit tatty, worn and tired.  Leather actually improves with age (rather like us, eh ladies?!).  So buying a good quality leather skirt in a classic line and neutral colour makes for a good investment over time.  

Do you have one?  Maybe one you'd forgot about, like I had with this little beauty?

And then there's the animal print.   I quite surprised myself when I put this little suite together.  I didn't know I had this much.    Perhaps you've experienced leoprint creep into your wardrobe these past few years too.  It's infinitely versatile and manufacturers seem to like to roll it out, so perhaps you'll find you actually have several shirts and tops too.

Try them with a skirt instead of your usual jeans or trousers.  It may be my mind playing tricks on me but it is my humble observation that switching to a skirt turns our favourite animal prints into something a little more, er, dare I say it, sophisticated?  A little closer to the parisienne style many of us hanker after?

Then add a waist cincher belt into the mix and we're talking a whole new ball game for the humble black skirt and leoprint top.

N'est pas?

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope you're spending the day with those you love 💕,  loving your self 💞 and loving life 💗.


💖

Aren't these a pretty colour?

Here's the card I made up for TP

Recognise the picture?

Yes, it's the Valentine's morning of my dreams, posted when I was BEDROOM DREAMING, HERE.

I kinda thought I wouldn't awake transported to that dream bedroom and to the flowers and that breakfast in bed ...

So here's one I prepared earlier!

Yes, I prepped up flowers and Danish pastries (TP has a very sweet morning tooth!) yesterday when TP was out.

I hid the flowers and pastries in the bedroom next door, then sneaked out for them whilst TP made the early morning coffee.

And the coffee was certainly early (pensioner early!)

Bertie the cat was super excited this morning, perhaps because Valentine's, or Catentine's, is a big thing in Cat World*.  

So by 6.21 a.m. we succumbed to his exhuberance and coffee was a tad earlier the normal.

(*Actually TP just thought Bertie wanted his breakfast and as loving and romantic as Bertie is, I rather suspect TP is right on this one.)

But this is a chance to show you my grey wall.  

From the moment it was finished and everything was put back in place, we've been  asking ourselves kicking ourselves as to why we didn't paint it darker sooner.   Everything comes alive and looks sort of richer and classier against the dark grey backdrop - the brass wall lights and sockets, the painting ... 

and the old brass bedstead! (The little hanging pouches are there in an attempt to minimise the rattling). 

Since I first saw the bedstead showcased by the grey I have been mumbling that it looks really pretty now and maybe we don't need a whizzy new bed after all.  

You can imagine how this is going down in the Pout household ...!!!

It's now a bedroom for for a pussycat.

A la perchoine,

Mary x 💝.

What I've Been Wearing Lately

Hello my lovelies.  Are you starting to feel the joys of spring yet?  I am!  I'm filled with hope and joy for what is just around the corner.  Spring is coming!

Before I get on to my week's clobber I'd just like to tell you a little story.  This week I visited someone.  She looked gorgeous.  She was wearing pieces that she clearly liked and had chosen herself and had either taken from her wardrobe or had bought herself with no outside influence.  The outfit reflected who she is.   She looked sensational and I was so pleased for her because she exuded confidence - and as they say, there's nowt as sexy as confidence!

So my message here is simple, staying true to who you are inside creates an effortless look and you feel sensational.   Yes, you can get inspiration from others, but still aim to be and look like the real you.

And here, shopped from my wardrobe I give you my humble offerings.  Mostly neutrals again so I'm hoping some colour will sneak into my outfits in the next ten days as we bask in the gorgeous weather heading our way.  10-13c and nothing but sunshine every day!

You'll see that I'm knee-jerking out of jeans and into skirts as the weather warms up.   Not fashionable midis but old wardrobe staple A-lines.  But skirts all the same.  I'm ready for spring and the slow seasonal switch into lighter, brighter clothes - I hope spring is ready for me!

V. old machine-washed suede skirt, leoprint blouse (Primark, £4!), black cocoon cardi and leather/patent booties.

Winter White sweater dress, everything else grey.  I do love grey and white at this time of year, as a (dare I use the word?) transitional  colour combo.  There, I've said it - my first "transitional"  of 2019 !

And after a week or two of tucking success, I finally found a tucking that doesn't work!  This long  split-sided  cashmere mix jumper looks better hanging over my old black leather skirt, IMHO.  Do you agree?

I think the long line of the jumper over the skirt is better balanced and creates a relaxed, almost Left Bank look.  Again, that's IMHO!

Then a few days later I wore that black leather skirt (yes, again -  it's been my skirt of choice!).  I wore it with the leoprint blouse and a cocoon cardi again, but this time the colours were reversed and I just had to do a multipic because it looked like a negative version of the first outfit.  Is it just me who enjoys discovering little things like this?!!

But I guess what this is saying is that I'm drawn to this style and these colours right now and it's starting to feel a bit like my signature look!

Levi shirt over grey polo jumper and jeans.  What can I say about this OOTD other than I thought I was dressed appropriately to go to B&Q (our Home Depot) to buy bedroom paint.  Then came the painting and the scruffy clothes, which I will spare you for humanitarian reasons.

And after a couple of days of painting and room de-cluttering (as one does these days), I treated myself.  I threw off the scruffies, showered and got into a black column and a bright cobalt  cardi.   I felt human again!

So how's your week been?

Have you been pulling out some spring skirts?

And have you caught the Marie Kondo bug?  It really says an awful lot about our western world eh, that the desire to de-clutter homes and wardrobes is sweeping whole nations.  

Is this the beginning of the end of our consumerist society?

Discuss!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

I'm still playing catch up replying to all your kind comments, please bear with me, x.

March Madness - The Guest Bedroom

The Guest Bedroom Makeover.

Another box ticked in March.  Almost.

Much March Madness has been going on in my home.  

I summarised in my previous post how much attention I've given Chez Pout during the month.  

Here's the guest bedroom, the focus of recent attention.  It's an almost finished room but I just had to share it with you NOW!

The scheme is blue and white and a light putty colour.

The Room Before (pics from about 5 years ago)

The room is long and narrow. 

It was bitty and a bit bland.  It lacked "identity".

I changed it round a bit a few years ago, after these shots,  but only a little and I knew it was unfinished work.

The glazed door at the end goes through to the ensuite shower room - it was a wardrobe run when I bought the house.  That changed pretty soon after moving in!

A double wardrobe was built on the right of that using one of the old wardrobe mirror doors (just in sight on the right).

The Makeover

So, the room was long overdue a revamp and I had to decide what elements would drive this project.  That was the easy part.  

1)  the large Japanese islands oil painting.  It's big and doesn't fit in any other room.  I had it in my bedroom in my previous house and as I've had it for 27 years it ain't going nowhere!

2) the blue velvet Victorian nursing chair, which belonged to TP's grandmother.

These two items were the key drivers.  So blue was the colour for this room, obvs.

During the Makeover

We're messy workers.

But you've got to break eggs eh ...?

The Almost-finished Room

We switched the brownware roll top desk for the white glass top desk.  I felt it created a dressing table and determined the mood of the room.  I then painted the limed mirror white and we positioned it to span the desk.  It reflects light from the window opposite and creates the illusion of width in this narrow room.

A surprise bonus were the old bedside cupboards.    Adding the old brass bedstead, surplus from the main bedroom, added an inch of width to the bed, which meant the cabinets now didn't quite fit the already-tight space either side of the bed.  Removal of the bedstead wasn't an option as it had been a b*%%#& difficult to fit, so TP came up with plans to saw bits off the cabinet tops and take out chunks of skirting board.  

I stepped back and paused, had a "ha'peth of tar" moment and said "You know what, I'll buy smaller nightstands!".  And just like that, the v.old cabinets were queued for the charity shop.

 But when tidying up the mess after painting, I happened to shove one of them out of my way, next to the dressing table.  Then as I tidied some more, I was suddenly inspired to see if the two fitted either side.  They did, just!  So they stayed.

I like the run of desk and cabinets and they provide extra storage.  Maybe I'll freshen them up with a lick of paint, maybe I won't.

Similarly, I'm undecided about painting the old chest, but it needs to stay at the end of the bed and to stop it sliding all over the wooden floor on its castors!

The glazed Billys from Ikea are tremendously good storage and a few years ago when they switched walls I had a carpenter build shelves up to the wall.

TP tidied up the dangly TV cabling in trunking.

Yes, that troublesome brass bedstead was so going to be dumped when it became surplus to requirements after the arrival of the new master bedroom whizzy bed, but I thought I'd give it a go in here before it left the house and I liked it!  The brass links to the touches of gold in the picture frame.

TP refreshed three walls with a putty coloured paint and although he wasn't convinced at first, we added a blue wall to echo the blue in the painting and bedding to knit the room colours together.  It balances out the long corridor effect of this room shape and creates a cosy feel.

Everything else was washed and ironed and looks fresh again.

The Deets

Expenses

Valspar emulsion paint (great coverage):

2 pots Sling Your Hook (light putty), £30

1 pot Self Soothing (blue), £15

Duvet from M&S, £35

Nightstands, 2 x £69 + delivery, £147.95 (currently in transit)

Freebies

Leftover Dulux Trade white eggshell for mirror surround.

Bed, bed set, curtains, rug,  etc, existing. 

Desk swapped in to create a dressing table.

Cabinets flanking the desk, no longer fitting the original space and were going to be charitied.

Bedstead a throw-out from the master bedroom makeover and was destined for the charity shop too.

So for a little over £200 and a bit of washing and furniture shifting, the room has been revamped.

My guests will enjoy a fresh spring feel to the room - La Duchesse, what do you think of 'your' room now ?!!

2018 was my year of Light Touch.

I've declared 2019 to be my year of returning things to their rightful place in the house.

I've lived here 16 years and over the years things have been chopped and changed and switched and some are no longer where they are best suited. This white desk is a perfect example of my 2019 Right Place drive - it's natural place is here.

  

Ok this isn't a modern room makeover.   It's not all black and moody and mid last century.  It's traditional.  

You will see that the decor style was determined by the style of existing hard and soft furnishings as I didn't want to spend too much on this room after splurging on a full makeover in the master bedroom!  So it's perhaps a bit "old lady" in decor terms.  But the room had always been hotch potch, thrown together with a bit of this and a bit of that.  It still is, I 'spose, but it seems a bit more cohesive now, more singular in style.

I think a lot has been achieved here for the handful of loose change  and a bit of graft - I've made a silk purse out of a sow's ear and the room is now inviting and pretty.

I hope you like our work!

Do you have a neglected spare room, filled with furnishings that had nowhere else to go?  

A room that could perhaps benefit from taking a step back and a rethink?

It's surprising what can be achieved with a small budget when you focus on a room's identity driven by what you already have.

Some of this room's changes have been purely accidental - The Universe can sometimes be your interior designer!

A la perchoine,

Mary x

Bedroom Dreaming

I have a dream.  Well, a girl's got to have dreams.

And a girl's got to have a dream place to dream.  Like this.

This is where I'm dreaming currently.  Nothing like my dreaming room of my dreams.  So this room's having a makeover.

It started with a lumpy mattress.

I discovered it when sitting on the edge of the bed at 3am one morning, feeling very nauseous and with heart palpitations.  I had eaten late (for me) as the meal finished about 9pm.  And perhaps as distraction from the nausea, I started feeling along the mattress, found many lumps and decided in those wee hours that I needed a new mattress.  Just that, a new mattress.

And it ended with me buying a new memory foam/spring mattress, a whizzy bed, a new carpet and several pots of paint.  And I don't think my bedroom shopping spree ends there either ...

So let's go straight to the bed, for I am excited!  It will be delivered in March.  The headboard is a charcoal tweed.  A welcome change from my rattly old brass headboard.

It has some cunning trickery hidden in its headboard.  Press a button and the bed flips back to reveal a huge storage cave.  This is where all my out of season stuff can be stored.  In one place.  Easy access at the push of a button.  At the push of a button!! - can you feel my excitement?  Can you tell that I'm still finding it totally incredulous?  

It is the bed of dreams.  My dreams.  My pensioner dreams.

So how come I bought a bed when I didn't know I needed or wanted one?  Well, as I mooched around the shop after buying a very comfy mattress, I looked at beds.  As one does.  Does anyone come away with just the mattress?

I'd tried lifting a mattress on a bed with a similar storage arrangement, but manually.  I had to psyche myself up to lifting it, akin to a weightlifter's pre-lift routine and even then I could juuuusssst about lift it, and that was without the added weight of a full complement of bedding. 

The salesman saw my struggle.  Come over here, he said and led me to the push-button bed.  Well!!  I was immediately sold.  I needed that flippy mattress innovation in my life.

Honestly, they should be marketing this as the pensioners' dream bed because it really is designed for oldies like me, surely?  A lady of a certain age who's fearful of cracking an osteo-ed back bone or giving herself a hernia.

So, let's summarise what I've done here.

1. Lumpy mattress led me to buy a replacement.

2. I then bought a whizzy push-button bed with mega storage.  But it didn't stop there.

3. In an instant I knew that flashy bed would be dragged down by my old cream carpet which has suffered the effects of clumsy add-ons (building work), nose bleeds (TP), hair balls (Bertie) and coffee accidents (me and TP).  My carpet steamer has done a great job  on the stains, but I know where they are.  So I ordered a new carpet.

4. I then looked critically at my tired bedroom and decided it needed tarting up a bit too.  So I bought paint.

It was pure ha'peth of tar the whole way through this shopping journey.  You know, don't spoil the ship for a ha'peth of tar?  At each stage I knew that the side would be let down if didn't bring everything up to the standard of my new whizzy bed.

And it all started with nausea after a late-for-me dinner.

Meals out with friends can prove soooo expensive. 

But it doesn't stop with the paint does it?

There are accessories to consider too.

I searched around the shop, snapping at accessory ideas.

I created a rudimentary mood board.  The carpet is in the bottom right corner.  It's name is Icing Sugar - how sweet is that?!

Scroll on a few weeks.  The bed wall has now been painted in readiness for carpet lay day.

And I've spent idle time collecting inspo (all photos from Pinterest).

Panelling (probably 3D effect wallpaper) seems to be a trend.

I like the idea of a classy frame, just a frame, no picture.  I have a similar one .

And I've been in love with the colour combo of black/ivory/gold like forever so I'm drawn to variations on this colour scheme.

I like a grouping of three pictures, though my cottage bedroom ceiling is low so the pictures would need to be smaller than these monsters.

I like the drama and crispness of this room, though I don't think I could ever sleep comfortably knowing a gigantic mirror was hanging a few inches above my head - surely this is a health and safety nightmare?

Nightstands will be a challenge.

Even this seemingly slimline nightstand won't fit in the room's  narrow non-standard gap.  But I have an idea.

I like the look of one long pic running parallel with the bedhead.

But back to my dream.

My dream is to be woken up to this Valentine's Day breakfast and preferably in this bedroom!

Hope you enjoy your dream Valentine's Day next week, my  lovelies!

Join me in a few week's time for the bedroom reveal!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

Cr: Inspo mood photos, Pinterest

What I've Been Wearing Lately

Blogger has announced some changes made to blog sites effective 4 February.  It may affect those following,  subscribing and goodness knows what else.   Certain blogger tools have disappeared overnight.  As a reader, expect the unexpected!!!

It's no overstatement to say that I've been overwhelmed by the kind and often moving comments I've received to my follow up post i've-found-my-"!" - the musical, HERE.  Thank you all so much  for taking the time to give me much-appreciated blog feedback.  The great thing is that yours and my thoughts are pretty much on the same wavelength.  I'm now busy working out how to incorporate tweaks and additions to the blog format.  Exciting times!

So whilst I plough on with plans for a way forward, let's have a look at how my week has gone on the outfits front.

The Outfits

I think soft orange and light grey make a super colour combo.

Soft orange seems quite flattering to the skin, even my more mature skin.  If you have any orange stored away, break it out, try it on and I'm guessing you won't rush to peel it off!

And yes, I'm wearing grey jeans even though I told you recently I don't have any that fit.  I should have added " and are the shape and thickness I prefer".   These are within an inch of moving into baggy boyfriend jeans and the denim is a bit too thick for my comfort.  So I'm keeping my eyes peeled for thin grey denim, high waisted slim or skinny fit jeans.  Oh and add to my requirements list a purse-friendly price too.  Too much to ask?  Seen any, ladies?

And I'm very partial to any jeans and cardi combo freshened up with a bright white T shirt or vest.

I think a flash of a crisp white top brings freshness and spark to just about any outfit.  Agreed?

For some years I've been wearing the M&S  Limited Collection's take on these tops.  The modal fabric keeps the tops' nice shape and pristine whiteness through the countless washes.  And they are just the right length and easy on the pocket too.

Outfit Inspo

I put together this skirt compilation and it reminded me how lovely my black leather skirt is.  That sent me on a mission to try out lots of leather skirt looks (more on that in another post). 

So I think it's a useful exercise to look at old pieces in your wardrobe and see if they spark fresh inspiration as well as Konmari joy!

Denim skirt with berry everything else, including knee boots.

I've been on a - to tuck or not to tuck - mission this past week.  Jeans in boots.  Tops in skirts.  I'm finding that I prefer to tuck.  In the main, there are a few exceptions.

How are you on tucking?

I created an asymmetric look here by pinning my waterfall cardi closed with a kilt pin.  I liked the clean lines this created.  The Photographer didn't.  I diplomatically reminded him that his job was just to take photos.  Nothing more.  Or perhaps through gritted teeth it came across as "Just take the blinkin' photo" !

Black jersey top with lace neckline, beige suede skirt, wool pashmina.  All insanely old, and that includes the model !!

I loved this simple outfit.  I think I was channelling Helen Hunt again. 

When you find a good style icon, put her on repeat-wear.

That's what I say.  Agreed?

Black leather hooded coat over black leather skirt, again both ludicrously old.  

This was a good outfit for duck feeding.

Same funnel neck oatmeal cashmere mix jumper over a second jumper.  It was cold.  I doubled go up on necklaces too (not that they added any thermal value) and have continued doubling these a few times more this week, because I rather like this layering that I stumbled upon.

Do you experiment with necklace layering?  Play around a little and find what works for you, it can sometimes bring a new lease of life to some old pieces of jewellery and freshen up an old jumper or blouse. 

And on this extremely cold day I brought out the big guns - and this really thick grey dress/jumper.  A simple fold at the hips  morphs this "dress" into a useful jumper.

If you have any sweater dresses, play around with them a little.  See if you can convert dress to jumper and vice versa . 

This one's meant to be a long bardot jumper

but on my 5'3 and 3/4" frame it becomes a dress!

  It doubles its usefulness in my wardrobe.

I discovered the leverage this jumper offers last winter by having a little play around playing around, see introducing-third-piece HERE and the-loneliness-of-last-minute-berry. HERE



Wardrobe Achievements This Week

Wear of jeans reduced, thanks to 3 old skirts.
Jewellery used more frequently as accessory - a sign that winter is waning and scarves are becoming redundant?)



My Favourite Outfit

It's just got to be my Helen Hunt.  Understated, and may I opine, just a little elegant too?!!  I felt GOOD wearing it and I walked into the coffee lounge with an air of je ne sais quoi.   In my head, anyway!
Do you find yourself walking differently with certain outfits?  Walking with an air of joy? Added confidence?  A certain  "I don't know what"?

And I've just got to ask - what's your fave amongst this little lot of everyday outfits?





A la perchoine,
Mary x.