Friday 30 April 2021

Joy Seeker




Hello my lovelies!

To say I was super-excited is an absolute understatement.



This beaut on the right came into my world, and with it one mega blast of excitement ! 


I’ve told you previously how much I’m sold on the idea of morning smoothies.  
In fact I was even seen clutching my smoothie bottle in my last post!

I have a Breville blender here in Guernsey and one in Sussex, as I just cannot be without this quick fix smoothie machine. 
Both are pink. 
The pink goes perfectly with the grey and raspberry colour scheme in the Sussex house.
But in the blue, black and copper kitchen in Guernsey, not so much.  

 
Then this came into my world.   
A version in sexy black and rose gold. 
And it has totally found its rightful place in my kitchen. 


Together with my toaster it makes the holy trinity of black and rose gold kitchen gadgets. 


Now I know this may  does all sound quite shallow and certainly insensitive in the context of our lives right now, but sometimes I need to get back to a simple and shallow place to ground and uplift myself, to find solace, and this discovery took me to that much-needed place.  Momentarily.  So I wanted to share this with you. 


I’m not going to lie, this recent lockdown hit me hard and it’s left me sometimes struggling to feel joy. 
And I’m wondering how you have been faring in lockdown? 
Have you needed to uplift your spirits? 
Does finding a shallow place work for you as it sometimes does for me?

Where do you find your joy?


I’d like to hear of your experiences, if you care to share - I need some inspo because I’m running out of black and rose gold kitchenware aspirations!!



 Meantime, back at the ranch, I’ve been finding joy in listening to this on Alexa. 

Joy Bringer



Hugs, Mary x. 






Saturday 24 April 2021

Wearing Real Clothes!


Hello my lovelies!

I thought I’d be open and transparent and show what I’ve been wearing from my 
Real Clothes Capsule.  

There’s nothing new or exciting here, so if you’re looking for fashionista stuff you’d best move on as I won’t be off-the-wall inspiring or selling you stuff here today!

But if you’re looking for everyday outfits to maybe get you out of lockdown loungewear then this may help you on your way. 

 So with that warning, here’s 
What I’ve been wearing. 


Cashmere asymmetric jumper and light wash jeans. 


Jewellery!  


Grey cashmere merino cardi and shell top with white jeans. 


My second jab outfit, easy slip off brown cashmere merino cardi over a brown cami, white jeans. And jewellery again!

I haven’t been wearing jewellery during lockdown so I’m re-training myself. 


These were hasty shots, the lighting was bad and the outfit was boring. 


But I’m guessing a white long sleeved t, chunky cardi and jeans is something we all wear so this definitely falls slap-bang into the Real Clothes category. 


As does this, striped top, white jeans and comfy pull-on summer weight shoes.
We all wear this right?


Grey and white again, this time a paler grey cashmere v neck over a black vest, and yup, a pendant (jewellery!). 


Ok this pic of an outfit shown previously above popped up , but no matter, it shows how comfy and therefore just how happy I feel in something as classically casual as this combo.


The denim jacket (Gap) came out several times these past few weeks, as the weather has been sunny but there’s been a chill in the air. 


This was worn for my first out-out since January. 


I deliberated long and hard over what to wear for this significant event, then told myself to snap out of it, you’re going to a pub Mary, wear something that’s YOU!

And this certainly is ME. 


As is this.  Brown long sleeved top and white jeans.  
I love brown and white together. 


As I said earlier, there’s been a chill in the air some mornings.  This old lambswool cardi got pulled out a few times, so snug.  
The boots are so comfy but I’ve hardly got out of my flat furry boots this year and so few of my boots brought down from the attic have got an airing.  
Have you found that too?


And talking of outer layers for a chilly day, this waterfall biker does the job too, it’s just thick enough to take the edge off the day, but not too thick as to be bulky, which makes it a good indoors jacket too. 


Ok I did say you’d see nothing new, but these sweatpants were bought at the beginning of Lockdown 2.0, so this qualifies as new in my world. 


Oops the grey and white sneeked in again here.  But no matter, I did wear this type of combo several times in the past month. 


That plain old outfit again, but I can use this Blogger upload fail to talk about jewellery again.  It started creeping into my Real Clothes Capsule (RCC) and this pendant deserves a mention.  
It’s a stone I found on a beach in Denmark.  Along this stretch of Sjællands Odde small pebbles with a single hole can be found (don’t ask me why!).  I collected a few and when I returned home I threaded leather through them and gave them out as pendant souvenirs to family and friends, and kept a couple for myself.
A happy treasured memory of a place that I love and a memory that I can wear around my neck. 


This pendant was my aunt’s.  It’s another memory around my neck.  It was handmade by her employer, who gifted my aunt many beautiful pieces of silver jewellery.  I inherited a few pieces with her passing. 

Love jewellery with a story.


The colourful necklace and bracelet worn here were both charity shop finds.  They may have a history but it’s not mine to tell. 


Long brown merino cardi.  This came out a fair few times.  Warmth without having to wear a jacket which would feel sooo last season!


Ok just a mention about this combo,.  Camel and red.  I visited a 94 y.o. aunt (bright as a button and sooo smart).  She was wearing camel with a soft rust top and her outfit was nicely accessorized.  
Next day I felt inspired to recreate her outfit but with what I had to hand in my RCC.  This was it.  
Very ladylike I thought, well apart from the silly side pony tail!


So I mentioned jewellery with history.  On my first out-out I decided to wear the family silver!  
Here’s a layered mix which includes a silver leaf pendant of my deceased aunt’s, and a lovely heart drop which has a pic of my grandchildren impregnated on the flip side.  Jewellery with stories.  So lovely. 


Oh gawd.  This outfit has popped up AGAIN in my feed.  What more can I say?  
Oh, this.  I first saw a camel and red mix in my Honey magazine as a teenager.  It was demonstrating an American preppy outfit, and I’d never seen these two colours together in an outfit before.  
So 60 years later I tried it.  

I’m a cautious dresser and much deliberation sometimes goes into an outfit beforehand.
Ok my pub outfit took a few days of deliberation, but 60 years ...?!!!


Stop with the incessant repeat pop ups, Blogger!


Oh lord all mighty!  The grey and white again.  What can I say to make this pic look relevant and intended?
Well how about this.  These shoes.  They are new too, bought in lockdown with the sweatpants.  And I love them.  They’re from F&F via Next and they are the most super comfy and light footwear for this time of year.
 ⚠️  if you’re thinking of buying this kind of shoe, I suggest you think about sizing down. 
I sized down in order to stop them slipping, for they have no fastening and I thought the elasticated top edge  might sag with wear.  
Good move Mary, the size is perfect and the fit is snug. 


Repeat alert!  Blogger! This has to STOP!!!


And I can think of no further captions for this much-repeated outfit pic.  Sorry. 


And because Blogger determined this erratic and repetitive pic feed today, let’s leave with this low key repeat outfit. Pretty much my lockdown uniform.  
Black jumper and joggers, a khaki scarf to match the khaki utility jacket I wore, and those comfy shoes!


I apologize for the ennui you may be feeling right now as you’ve seen colours, pieces, and whole outfits on repeat here today, but that’s what you get for when an RCC and Blogger collide!

The good news is that I’m putting together a new RCC 
as towards the end of this post it dawned on me that I’d pretty much been wearing browns white grey and black for weeks on end.  
I need to add Colour to my Real Clothes Capsule!  
Real Clothes Colour Capsule.  RCCC!




So tell me now, if YOU were to show the reality of what you wear day to day, and maybe as you too come out of lockdown, would your outfits be similar?



Hugs, Mary x. 



 

Saturday 17 April 2021

About Guernsey - Seafood




Hello my lovelies! 


So summer is here (ish) and with it comes lazy days of sitting out in the garden, often enjoying an extended lunch in the sunshine.

And my summer lunch of choice is one that centres around seafood as the main event - is there a better way to enjoy eating out al fresco other than with tasty morsels of bounty plucked fresh from the sea?

Living on an island we are spoilt for choice when it comes to fresh seafood, though my holy trinity of treasures from the sea is and will always be crab, lobster and prawns. 


Firstly, although this one is not an al fresco dish per se, let’s just put this one out there anyway.  

Crab Fettuccine. 

I must include it in pole position as it is one of my all time fave ways to eat crab.  And it’s TP’s too!

The sauce includes all the naughties, cheese, cream and brandy, so this is a dish definitely best saved for a special occasion. 

You can find my recipe for 

Crab Fettuccine  

by following the link above. 




My first crab sandwich of 2021.
I prefer to make it with white bread, it somehow works better for me.   TP choses to disagree.  I usually win.   

I serve the crab sprinkled with salt and white pepper, a smidgeon of vinegar and a little mayo, not too much as it will overpower the beautiful sweetness of the crab, and I don’t want that do I?!



A beautiful seafood platter served for the grannies on Mother’s Day this year. 


I like making a Lobster Newberg dish occasionally but as it is rather rich, my preference is to eat lobster cold and more au natural.
Find my delicious Lobster Tarragon recipe HERE


Crab sandwiches are easy to eat out in the garden, but going slightly upmarket, this is also a simple yet fancy way to enjoy crab al fresco.  
Serve it in tall glasses layered with salad. 
Find my 


Crab cakes are easy to rustle up. 
Find my recipe for


As well as the colour of the bread, I have a firm view that crab sandwiches should be washed down with a mug of coffee.
My rigid rules on how certain foods should be served infuriates TP!

The crab sandwiches seen above seem to have been made with both brown and white bread - looks like I had to find a compromise with TP on this day!


This was a rare event when I had a few crab cakes left over from the previous day, so I served them cold with other goodies from the sea. 
Find out about

Let’s finish off with a peek at these beauts in their raw state. 


Cooked lobster. 

During lockdown last year our local fishermen were unable to land their catches in France, a lucrative market for them. 
Instead their catches were sold locally.  A fisherman living nearby would sell his lobster and crab catch of the day from his front lawn.


My son would occasionally leave a ready-cooked treat on my wall - we were socially distancing at the time. 
He knows how to bring a smile to this old pensioner’s face!


Cooked spider crabs.  
We tend to buy our crab and lobster ready picked, in bags or tubs.  We’re lazy. 


Cooked chancre crab. 


Chancre crab is my preference. 
I find the chancre crab meat is slightly sweeter, juicier and flakier than the spider crab.  And bigger claws equals more crab meat!

So for me, as you can see here, my idea of summer dining is to sit outside with some simply prepared fresh crab, lobster or prawns ... or all three!


What’s your preferred food for a summer meal?


Hugs, Mary x. 

Tuesday 13 April 2021

My Real Clothes Mission



Hello my lovelies!


Right now I’m a girl on a mission. 

A mission to wear Real Clothes. 

We’ve been out of lockdown a few weeks but my head hadn’t yet caught up with that fact and my days have still been mostly sweatpanted.


But now I have a plan!  On Sunday, totally on the spur of the moment,  I randomly pulled out about 10 pieces and decreed these collectively my capsule for the foreseeable.  

Sweatpants are still invited to the party but will be relegated to occasional guest status.  Like when I’m doing some serious house or garden work, or when I simply can’t be bothered 🥴. 


Now the added bonus of wearing Real Clothes is that it encourages me to put on a bit of slap too.  The two seem inextricably linked in my world. 
Yours too?
Sweatpants don’t say makeup to me.  Real Clothes do. 



 My capsule isn’t fashionista, it’s made up of simple everyday clothes that I enjoy wearing and which suit the weather and my plans for the day. 

For example, I started my first day of my Real
Clothes Capsule with jeans and a white shirt.  We all wear that, right? It’s a bloomin’ comfy combo and the classicalest* of classic casual dressing. 
*should be a word 

The day was sunny but chilly and I was out and about so I added a long brown merino cardi (East) and brown heeled boots (Clark’s).  Comfy and warm. 
The boots are about 5+ years old and the cardi nearly 20. 

I felt this outfit was perfect for my day. 
Now no-one’s going to save it on Pinterest but it might be something you feel inspired to wear today, dear reader, as perhaps your dressing has been in the doldrums too and you’re now ready for some real world inspo.  Real Clothes outfits that fit with your day, your lifestyle, and outfits put together with things you probably have lurking somewhere in your wardrobe that just haven’t seen the light of day of late as you, like me,  sweatpanted your way through lockdown!

You’re welcome!

Oh the joy of finding a strategy to get me out of my Lockdown-Lazy Look! 


Hope this helps.


Hugs, Mary x. 


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