What I've Been Wearing Lately

Hi peeps!  Can you believe that we'll soon be seeing March's dust as we head in April?!

The thought of April looming sets me in panic mode.  I'm going on holiday then and we have cat sitters coming to stay to look after Bertie the cat.

Now, you know what it's like when you have people staying - you invite them into the rooms in the house that are fit for presentation.  You have control of what they see.

Having people stay whilst you're away is a while different ballgame, as they will be rummaging around in the kitchen and bathroom looking for the potato masher or the loo cleaner, so EVERY cupboard, drawer and shelf must be fit for inspection.

YIKES!!!  

Being a lazy person, I generally only deal with the stuff I can see and turn a blind eye to the rest.  Having people come to live in my house means that for the whole month before I am systematically going through the house.  

Washing and ironing bedding (the latter only happens at these times!).  

Clearing and cleaning out cupboards.  

Doing all of those little repairs that we've put off doing. 

Actually getting round to some of those queued up room makeovers!

I think you're probably getting the picture of how March has been for me.  It's been an enforced gigantic spring-clean!

You may have wondered why I've been slogging away at my room makeovers so ardently and not posting many outfits - this is the reason!

I've comforted myself in the knowledge that I will return from holiday to a house that passes muster and thus gives me the whole spring and summer to potter around in garden and play around on the beach.  That's the theory.  

It's hard work and I'm exhausted, but it gets me to look at my home through the eyes of a stranger and there's a huge benefit to doing that.  Because things actually get done!

Ok this loonnnnnnnng intro is my way of saying that most days I've been in scruffies.  I mostly have forced myself into presentable clothes for funerals.  So I don't have much in my WIBWL arsenal for you!

A funeral in a cold  snap.  

Black frock coat, black skinnies,  fur muffler.

Drinks with the neighbours.  

Bejewelled berry chunky jumper and coated jeans.

Staycation at a local hotel, a lovely gift for our November birthdays (I'll do a separate post on that).

Zara blouse and black coated jeans.

Popped into town to buy a duvet for guests - (M&S, it's super soft!)

A lovely orange/coral gilet  from Peacocks.  

I'm starting to see the attraction of a gilet, perfect for providing a quick easy layer  between-seasons.

Girlie meal with Sis and cousins.  

Black lace trimmed jersey top (bought in Y2K so 19 years old and still going strong!), only slightly distressed blue jeans and a biker from Primark.

And that's it folks!  The rest of the time I've been in leggings and Ts. 

I'm looking exhausted, I realise that, but I've promised myself that for the first few days of my hols I'm going to sit around (hopefully in the sun) doing nothing more taxing than catching up on your comments, reading the posts of my blogger mates which I've neglected of late, and getting re-trained in wearing nice presentable outfits!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

What I've Been Wearing Lately

Hi my lovelies, are you feeling the love for spring yet?  It's around the corner, honest! (see what I did there, I  !'ed!!).
The daffs are out along the hedgerows but sadly none have popped up in Pout Gardens yet.
But what I find amazeballs-uplifting at this time of year is the winter phenomenon of the days drawing out.  That first day in early January when I look out of the window at 5 p.m. ... and it's still light.  That event in our seasonal cycle fills my soul with child-like enthusiasm, joy and hope.  So, if you live in the northern hemisphere, I defy you to not feel that love for upcoming spring right now!

Now, on to the matter in hand.  The important stuff.  Outfits.
My weekly Wednesday roundup.

Let's start with a coat.  It's been cold  (yeah, it's January, what were the chances?).

This cosy camel car coat (Dotty P) has been much in play and with winter white scarfage and taupe boots (Jones) I think it creates quite a classic look for winter eh?

More classic dressing,  black jumper and jeans.  The necklace is a jumble sale find from the 90s and worn with the dangly earrings (also from the 90s) .  This fancy jewellery took a plain classic jumper and glammed it up a little,  n'est pas?

I'm getting a bit repetitive with this week's round up as some of these outfits charged into my JEANS AND A NICE TOP POST, HERE   But these are my outfits of late so I make no apology for this as is is what it is.

But the  beaded top leads me to where I took the outfit ... to this table laden with yummy nibbles!  Drinks and nibbles at the neighbours' house.  "I'll keep it simple" she'd said when she invited me.  When I arrived to this sight, I immediately whipped out the camera 📷.  "Well, this is simple, for me" she said.

 She's an amazing cook, so just imagine what she rustled up for her "simple" supper last year - READ ABOUT IN WINE WITH THE NEIGHBOURS, HERE

With the benefit of Insta hindsight I realised that my January had been one long grey, black and winter-white knitwear fest, so I remedied that.  I added a bright blue summer cardi to go to Bro's house for birthday cake and coffee.  Which was fine as his house is toasty-warm during the day, unlike Tight-Pout's.  So later in the day a HUGE extra cardi layer was added to this ensemble, rather than turn on the heating off-timer!

My message here is clear and two-fold: 1.  A simple addition of one item of bright colour can liven up a bleak January outfit, and 2.  If your house is cold, go to someone else's!

Winter white Monsoon sweater dress, brown suede waistcoat (machine washed, Terri!) with brown tights and accessories.

I did a flat lay of my accessories on the waistcoat backdrop as I wanted to show you my old boots.  These brown leather Gabor boots (together with their black rellies) are simply 

the. comfortable-est. boots. I have ever walked in.  

They are more than 15 years old and 

I. have. never. repaired. them.  

Add to this their butter-soft suede bang-on-trend mustard lining as seen in this pic and you have the loveliest boots this side of The Pecos!

Liberation Themed Ball - doesn't TP look good as a spiv, ladies?!

And finally!  I've been doing a challenge on Insta this month and this day's subject was "midi dress".  I really couldn't be bothered to go hunting round in the archives for a midi dress that I didn't really want to wear that day anyway (and I'm not sure I even own one). So I cheated and used a photo from more than ten years ago (it's ok, I fessed up to my cheating!).

The dress was charity-shopped, and I have to say it ended up being much used as it really was a quite lovely dress.  All other items are "model's own".  I was particularly innovative with the "fox fur stole" - I simply left my faux fur collar/scarf thing draped over my shoulder.  I think it worked.

And Vronni, check out the headscarf!!!!

So my dears, that concludes this week's round up.  And what is of note in today's post is that my !-exclamation mark is demonstrably back in Pout World!!!!

I think it was facing up to a blogging crossroads on my blogaversary that got me feeling quite empty yesterday, quite lacking in puff, and finding nothing to, well, exclaim about. 

But, Tomorrow is Another Day and we  would be wise to remember those Hollywood-immortal words on a meh day, eh peeps?

Cr: Anne Cummins

Let's wake up tomorrow and smell the spring daffs!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.