It's Been A While

 

It's been 18 months since I last posted.

So much has happened which is the reason why.

We have welcomed two more grandchildren.

Lost my only sibling.

Seen the rise and fall of two of our sons' business.

The birth of our daughter in law's new business.

We also have another new grandchild coming this month.

I will return with a happy event.

On Sunday our 9 month old grandaughter Matilda Rose was christened and was a lovely family gathering.

The proud parents and grandparents.

My husband and I dressed up for a change!

Kissing cousins!

Capturing Heidi and Mason beautifully.

Our family getting ready for a close up!

Posing proudly with our son, Sam, his wife, Sophie and the star attraction, Matilda Rose.

 Picture perfect family.

The outfit

Sandals from Ralph Lauren

Dress from Marks & Spencer

Belt is Gucci

Bag is also M&S

First 24 Hours in India

 

Ten years after qualifying as a yoga teacher I finally realised a dream - to travel to the birthplace of yoga.

I have been planning this trip for over 18 months and by the time we landed at Manchester Airport at some ungodly hour on a January morning I was so overexcited I took off this beautiful blue scarf somewhere and lost it.

Hey ho, it was good while it lasted!

I am so nesh and I hate to be cold so I wore a long dress that hid a pair of jeans and a thermal layer underneath.My North Face jacket was in my bag.

After this photo was taken we had two flights to contend with. The first to Doha and the second to Trivandrum which was just 40 minutes from the Keralan fishing village we had chosen as our base.

We arrived at 3.30am to find the hotel porter fast asleep on a table and a lizard lounging in our room.

We were so tired we collapsed in our bed.

But to paraphrase Guy Garvey when we woke we threw those curtains wide and from our balcony we knew that we had more than one day like this for this year.

Howe glorious is that view from our bed?

We wasted not time getting dressed and after breakfast we ventured out for a walk across the bay. This beach is called Lightouse Beach for obvious reasons and it was one of the buesiest beaches around.

It didn't take long to get the bikini out as the temperature was nudging 36 C!

We spent the first day exploring with a few pit stops for refreshments.

We watched the sunset from the bar of our hotel.

Don't you just love those first 24 hours when your holiday stretches ahead and there is nothig to do for the next 14 days but relax,explore and chill. More of that in later posts.

For my first meal out I wore:

Skirt - Monsoon

Sandals - Zara

Bag - a beach in Marbella many moons ago.

Top - crocheted by me.

Bargasms

I have used the phrase Bargasm before as it was a phrase coined by my friend who referred to finding bargains that were as good as you know what!

Before I went on holiday to Portugal in early September I went for a forage through my local charity shops and was so thrilled with my Bargasm Bonanza.

These shorts were 50p and the lace blouse just a few pounds.

There we a lot of Zara stuff in and I snapped up this satin shirt which looked amazing with the BNWT Karen Millen skirt that is making even me (who hates the cooler months) look forward to the cooler days ahead.

Sadly, I had to take thr trousers back as they were two sizes too big although they lookpretty good in the photo!

 I was especially thrilled with this short coat that I know I will  get lots of wear from which came in at uner £1!

Love a flat lay!

The coat has a lovely lining.

I think the piece I will get the most wear out of is this Fat Face denim skirt.

Its a reminder of the skirt I loved and lost here. A bit darker and a bit longer but it has pockets which is the most important.

Still only managing a post a month but at least I am consistent. Happy Secondhand September.

Flowers, Fashion, Family and Frocks

 

It's been another while.

July just flew by in a frantic flurry of flowers, fashion, family and frocks.

Let's start with the flowers.

This year I decided to grow some flowers from seed.

I had never done it before but was inspired by The Floral Project to sow and grow.

I ordered some seeds and the day my son, Joe moved out (sob, sob) in March my first seedling germinated

I have been amazed by the abundance of flowers including Cosmos, Lavatera, Dahlia, Delphinium, Scabiosa, Cerinthe, Erigeron, Cammomile, Stock, Poppies, Calendula, Gypsophelia and many more.

I have started a new list for next year!

Now onto Fashion.

July was the month of the pop up shop.

My sons, Joe and Ben set up Luxe Collective, a pre-loved designer fashion business and they have grown from strength to strength since starting in our spare bedroom.

They now employ over 20 people and are about to move out to their third new building.

They decided that this July they would set up a pop up shop in London next door to Louis Vuitton in Bank.

They have a big social media following - 1.4 mi on Tiktok alone.

But even they were blown away by the queues on the opening day.

I went down to London for a meeting in early July and went to see the shop before it opened.

And last weekend my husband and I travelled down to see the shop just before it closed. We met up with our London based friends, Sara and Niall who we last saw in Gran Canaria in February and had a lovely weekend.

And family!

Although it was Heidi's birthday in June, her party fell on the first Saturday in July which was a lovely sunny afternoon in the garden where her parents had organised for a special visit from some furry friends.

Mason and Heidi are growing so fast, I ca hardly keep up.

In fact I was struck with a photo of Briony holding Mason which reminded me of a photo of me holding her wearing a very similar skirt in 1999.

Finally, the frocks.

I love the opportunity to wear frocks in summer and here are my favourites this year to finish.

I hope its not another month before I get to post as it means the summer will be over!

Tempus Fugit

 

How did it get to the end of June without posting for a few months?

And how did I used to post every day?

Life has been more than a little busy with a full-time business teaching yoga, two grandchildren, an allotment and the usual life admin.

And today Heidi Rose is two years old.

My little allotment buddy is a walking, talking, bundle of energy and I have loved every minute watching her grow.

Her little cousin is not far behind, alhtough he loves dismantling my gardening efforts.

ON the rare occasion when I am not wearing dungarees or yoga pants I do still enjoy dressing up, especially wearing my Vinted buys like this gingham skirt and crochet top.

And if I do get a spare five minutes you will find me in the garden, reading about gardening.

Hope to see you soon,

Jane X

Reunited (And it feel so good)

It's the last day and I am feeling blue.I am not sure what to wear but thanks to this Zara Co-Ord that I bought from Vinted last year I have all  bases covered.

Today we are meeting up with our very good friends, Sara and Niall who by complete coincidence are in Gran Canaria at the same time as us.

They are staying in a nearby resort so we catch the local bus to meet up.

Saran and Niall live in Surrey but we met on this holiday  in 2008 when our son and their daughter had a holiday romance.

We both had four children of similar ages and despite living in Surrey they were all Liverpool fans.

Over the years we met up every summer on Eurocamp sites and as the children have grown older we have remained friends vsiting each other's homes almost every year.

In 2019 we enjoyed a week in Lanzarote together and last year we went down to their son's wedding in the Sout Downs.

They are such fun and we just pick upwhere we left off whenver we meet.

It was a beautiful day to catch up and enjoy the sunshine.

I am sure there was talk of Liverpool's latest (woeful) performance!

And so the sun sets on our winter sun break.

It must be time to plan another.