Mini Seasons of Opportunity

Hi there, m'hearties!

It's getting a bit brrr over here, though remarkably our temps are about 4-6 degrees higher than mainland UK, which is hovering around 0c today.  So we haven't had the UK's snow but we've had a few hail showers.

It's dawned on me lately that our seasons have mini seasons within them.  Each on its own has an array of weather suiting different types of outfits.

We're around 6-11c in the next week, then I expect the temperatures to drop in December.

A couple of months ago I made a mental note to get out my khaki utility jacket for autumn.  Then before I managed to kick that mental note into action, lightweight jacket season had been and gone.  Dressing opportunities are like Black Friday bargains, I've discovered.  Blink and you miss out.

My khaki jacket experience made me realise that I have to strike when the mini season presents itself.  No blinking.

Right now, sweater dresses are ideal.  But they won't be in a few weeks.  So I am striking out at these beauts during the sweater dress mini season.

Are you feeling the love for sweater dresses right now? 

For an early morning airport run I slipped on this old Monsoon winter white sweater dress.

And that's exactly what happens with sweater dresses.   Slip them over your head and you are done.

It's a dream of a still-loved dress.  So comfortable to wear and just look at that colour!  You don't get much more neutral than winter white.  So just about any accessorising goes.  Here, chocolate knee boots and opaques.

A cashmere paisley scarf with furry pompoms creates a snug outfit.

And whilst the temps are relatively high, I did more slipping on, firstly with this long East merino cardi, also in chocolate brown.

Then it got messy. 

I wanted to try the dress with an old suede jacket, also chocolate brown.

There's a limited mini window to wear little jackets like these.  They're really too warm for indoors but in a few weeks time I will freeze if I go out the door in this little shortie.  So, as with sweater dresses, I seized my mini season window for this jacket too.

Then it got really messy.  Bearing in mind I was doing an airport run and one has just one window of opportunity for making it aboard planes, in true Pout form I wanted another wardrobe tweak.

"I wonder what the jacket looks like with some furry neckage?" I said, curiously.

"No" said The Photographer, "No more pictures, we're outta here".

Now I am a stubborn Pout.  So I wound the furrage around my neck ...

... and started taking selfies.

The Photographers next comment is unpublishable.

The Photographer works to mini window rules too, it would seem. 

My mini window of opportunity had just slammed shut.

A la perchoine.



Scarfage And The Caramel Sloppy Joe

This popped up in m timeline.  Can you see me?  Can you guess where I was, this day in 2008 ?!!

Covered in scarfage and suffering from sinusitis.  Nothing much changes.  Sinusitis is still a winter visitor.  As is an abundance of scarfage, though I've never quite reached this level of coverage again.  But I keep trying ...

I started with a caramel coloured long cable jumper from M&S and black Peacock jeans.

I tried my furry leopard print with my caramel jumper. 

I don't wear this jumper too often because though warm it's not very flattering ... well see how long it is and how baggy it is around the belly!

It's a bit like the Sloppy Joe jumper worn back in the very early 60s (they weren't flattering then either!)  Remember Sloppy Joes?  You're probably far too young to remember them and I'm definitely showing my age.  So for those who aren't pushing late 60s or above: they were jumpers so revolutionary, something never seen before.  Big baggy chunky jumpers (and occasionally cardis too), when previously ladies' jumpers had been extremely fitted.  Dainty.  Fully fashioned as they were often described.

These days, fashion keeps repeating itself in a 20 year cycle.  When is someone going to introduce something new?!

I tried it with just a black bead necklace (East I think). Naah, it's February.  Looked too cold.

Would a silk scarf in a mix of blacks and browns work?

Again I tried braving it without a scarf so that my amber heads would show.  Naah, freezing!

Then out came some truly cosy warmth.  A cashmere wool scarf in a lovely brown paisley mix from The Cashmere Shop, with little furry pompoms.  I've just spotted that it was one of the scarves I was wearing back in 2008.  What a coincidence is that?!
So, scarf still intact but I spontaneously combusted in the jacket (epic story!), so that's long gone.

Snug around the neck, so cosy.

Tadaah!  Cinderella is finally happy with her scarfage!

It's that time of year when I find it very difficult, nay impossible, to leave the house without a pile of scarf around my neck.  Sometimes two - is that what they call layering?!  I find it difficult to take it off indoors too. I feel so bare, so exposed, so uncared for without one. 

Our temps are around 10c at the moment, so I haven't quite reached those dizzy heights of my Grand Canyon scarfage,  but the wind chill factor does bring down the temp down a few degrees.  And living on an island, we are not short of a strong wind!

How about you?  Is neck cover essential in your neck of the woods?  Indoors as well as outdoors?

And did you ever wear a Sloopy Joe, BITD?!

A la perchoine.

Her Royal Blueness

Hello dahhlinks!  I have some exciting news.  Yesterday, after my no-spend January,  I made an investment buy.  To qualify that last statement, it is a pensioner investment buy,

 Royal blue jersey top from Dotty P.  In the sales.  £5, thank you very much!

I don't have any Royal Blue so this was an exciting purchase.

It's debut was on Thursday, a night out with the girls.
February = cold.  Cold = neck cover.  My scarfage was a furry pompom cashmere scarf from The Cashmere Shop, in pretty blue hues.  It wasn't my scarfage of choice.  I left that to The Photographer With Fashion Views.  My choice was a blue and pink floral infinity scarf.  His was this one.  I let him win.  I am so kind to him.

(And then the flash worked!  Now you can see the royalness of this blue.)



This sort of top needs scarfage at this time of year, otherwise the neck looks so bare, so pale.  I imagine that in the summer with white jeans and a tan I'll get a lot of mileage out of this top.  And I have plans for it right now too, but that's for another post ...

(doing a sort of Funky Chicken dance here, methinks!)

Gotta show you the top's feature.  Its arms.  They're like a stocking with a ladder, a run.  A meshy panel runs down the outside and I think it looks quite cheeky.  What do you think? 

Cheeky?  Or do I have to do a lot more before you start raving about my cheekiness?

So where did I take my Royal Blue?

(Food shots warning!!)

To The Pony, La!  The Pony Inn is just a few minutes drive away.  I have the Pad Thai with prawns. Yummy. And a nice Sauvignon Blanc to wash down that scrummy bowlful.

 And here are shots of some dining companions' food.  Left, a salmon on croute with an amazing sauce, saute potatoes and mange touts. Right, a super-tender peppery chicken dish, served with sweet potato wedges and a little carrot and spring onion salad.
They too were yummy.  How do I know?  They offered me tasters, because they knew I would be writing about the food.  What I have to do to fulfil my duties as The Pout ... !

So, lovely friends, great food, the wine flowing, and a new Royal Blue top.  Not bad for a cold February evening, peeps!

Are you having cosy nights out with friends?  Or cosy nights in?
Do you find it hard to doll yourself up to socialise in winter?  I  do!

A la perchoine.