Wow, we've reached the last Friday before Christmas and while I'd love to say I'm off until next year it's more a case of see what happens. This outfit dates all the way back to the cusp of November/December when we went out to the farm to pick up our Christmas tree. It was a cold day and I was pleased at the opportunity to wear my hat, scarf and gloves for our festive activity without overheating. This dress was one I bought from Kezzie's sale a while ago which is suitable for winter layering and suits tights and boots.

I sewed the hat into a better state of repair earlier in the year, finally. Perfect for saving me from a bad hair day.

 In a rare turn of events you may notice that my nails are painted. I picked up a dark plum and a teal with the intention of feeling dressed up for Christmas events. In typical Sophie style I had to trial it, chipped it badly all over, repainted and then after a day or two it was ruined again. Took the whole lot off, except the stubborn residue that clung to my dry skin. Ran out of time to paint my nails for the Christmas do and back to square one.
But I hope to do better this weekend (I wouldn't hold your breath).
 My lovely boots I swear I'll get re-soled every year then completely forget.
I'm hoping to pop up a post Monday but we shall see. In case I don't, then I wish you a very merry Christmas!

Take care,
Sophie

I'm a definite fan of red these days, it's a colour which is so bright, bold and cheerful plus it seems to be a bold neutral which goes with most other colours too. Do you embrace red, or shy away?
Sophie

Oh

 

It's been cold.

I mean the very dead of winter:

the days it starts with a frost so hard it looks like snow has fallen overnight

the days the mud is frozen solid and can be tripped over

the days the ice on puddles is so thick if stamped on will be more likely to break your foot than crack

the days your breath steams like silent clouds

the days that fingers, toes and noses feel numb

Is this the first time you've seen my cream jumper? I've worn it a few times and love the way it goes with jeans and skinnies so well. You know how much I enjoy a roomy jumper. My green tartan super skinnies are an absolute favourite but I have to say they were not doing such a great job of keeping me warm – best left for milder days...

I found this pink tartan scarf which has been one rotation ever since. You can't have enough tartan scarves...

Have a good weekend

Sophie

Imagine my glee on Christmas day when I opened a parcel from one of my longest standing blogging friend Kezzie and found this fantastic shirt from Lands End! What a find; it fits an absolute treat, roomy without being too big, with a fabulous feather print. My penchant for a rural style really shows through in the colder months, blouses, jumpers, midi skirts.... I'll take the lot. This skirt is one that I love as it's quite different from many other skirts you see around and also stands out in my wardrobe; I'd call it an almost A-line midi with more than a hint of kilt. I queried Chris' thought's on the outfit later in the day and after a brief pause he said I looked very Scottish which I'm taking as a compliment.

No time to stop, must fly.

Sophie

Dressing nice for winter is much more of a faff than at any other time of the year if you ask me; the temptation is to reach for jeans and a massive jumper and be done with it but that's not much fun for me. The answer is always to start with a thermal vest and tights then just wear whatever you feel like! On this occasion I decided that these acid wash scallop edged shorts were exactly what I wanted along with this quite masculine jumper and my now treasured tartan scarf. It's become a mission to find another tartan scarf in a charity shop, ideally in another colour wave but not the Burberry stylie kind, though you wouldn't believe how blinkin' hard to find what I want. Seriously, it's like some swine has nipped in everywhere ahead of me and snuffled out exactly what I want and rendering my visits entirely fruitless.

Wearing most of the jewellery I own, including gorgeous bracelet from Alice , which I'm loving!

Sophie

Can you believe it's the first post this season with a tartan skirt? I KNOW! My beloved collection of these awkward length pleated skirts is about to come into it's own with some thermal tights – Bob's your uncle. That day I was undecided on the red or the blue skirt so I asked the opinion of my esteemed consultant (husband) and after the very briefest of dithers he chose blue. Things have moved on; roll back 18 months and he assured me he wouldn't be seen dead with me if I wore these skirts, even he has warmed to them.

Oh my gosh, these biker boots have been a godsend, I love them so much. By far one of my favourite buys of the year and touch wood a pair that will last a good while. There is little worse than finding a pair of treasured boots wears out before your love for them wears thin. The idea of forking out a fortune for an expensive well made pair does scare me but it has to be said that cheaper footwear is made pretty shabbily these days so it's little wonder they don't last.

Have a great weekend
Sophie

Apparently I went through a stage of wearing very dark clothes at one point in my early teens. I don’t really remember that, perhaps I’ve blocked it out. I did consider going a bit goth in my later teens but to be honest it would have been too much of an uphill struggle with my family so I let that phase pass unexplored. These days I like to wear bright colours and plenty of patterns,sometimes all at once.

I was feeling exceptionally cheerful a few weeks ago and decided to wear red, yellow and orange all in one go, to stick two fingers up at the miserable weather and I think the result is one rather jolly splash of colour well worthy of a smile. This charm necklace was a £1 charity shop find and I've taken to wearing it on every possible occasion since buying it, I do get attached to things.

Skirt, jumper, skirt and necklace all from charity shops. Boots - Internacionale. These pictures are rubbish quality I'm afraid, sorry about that but I did want to share my bright look even if my hair looks a bit odd as well. I'm wearing a little band thing with black and gold thingys on which looks rather lovely but not in my hair. A rethink may be in order.

Sophie

Blouse and skirt - charity shops, boots - eBay, bracelets, knitted tank and necklace - gifts, tights - Primark.

Good friends are hard to find. I am so lucky to have both "met" and actually met some wonderful friends through blogging and Twitter. It came out of the blue really, when I started blogging it was all rather anonymous. I naturally assumed it would stay that way and yet over the months and years I've grown very attached to people I regularly communicate with and really got to know. This Christmas I was very lucky to be given some thoughtful presents with this knitted Hobbs tank being sent to me by Alice, when I opened the pretty packaging I was so excited to find such a perfectly 'me' item! This is something I will truly get much use out of and will treasure for years to come.

I've definitely found my Autumn/Winter signature style and hopefully it's one I can happily stick to for the coming years with only a few additions now I have so many pieces I can put together. Blouses are my new weakness it seems but it is so difficult to miss out on one that ticks all the boxes. This week I mulled over my shopping habits after prompting from a few different sources, questioning how much I buy, where from and how much for. Pretty much everything is from charity shops these days and mostly sub £5 an item, sometimes considerably below. I probably buy too much. In fact I definitely buy too much, my clothes wont fit in my large wardrobe and yet most of them get worn, some frequently. Parting with any is difficult and I'm often raging that I've got rid of something that I really wish was still in my possession. You can't win. On the plus side, however, my spending is all going to good causes, I'm supporting a wide variety of causes from research into chronic illnesses to supporting the elderly and animal care so even if my shopping is a little over the top, my generosity shouldn't be brought into question. Clear conscience.

Sophie

Jacket, jumper and blouse – charity shop, trousers – River Island, boots – Mikaela via Sarenza

I’ll admit it, I have a tartan problem. Every other outfit I wear has a plaid print and it fills me right up with happiness. My Jaeger jacket is an obvious choice to wear with these trousers and the green jumper seems perfect for this tipping point between autumn and winter. I do think greens and browns are just right at this time of year, although if I count up which other colours I feel are just right at this time of year we'd probably have the majority of the rainbow.

It’s a funny old time twix Christmas and new year. Not least because I have a few days off with pretty much nothing pressing to do; all the cleaning has been done before Christmas and I get to chill out and ponder my resolutions for next year. In fact I'm in two minds whether to make any at all for 2014, it seems I either stick to them like glue or abandon all effort altogether with very little in between. Needless to say I absolutely cannot face another year without alcohol. I'll be dedicating a post to that in the coming weeks. What are you getting up to?

Sophie

Skirt and blouse - both charity shop, boots - JC Erikson via Sarenza

I have found a rather lovely granny blouse to wear with my blue tartan midi skirt to match the yellow check on the skirt. Perhaps I'm old before my time...

So who is ready for Christmas? I've got a few days off to prepare for it (thank goodness) and I can well imagine I'll be busy from now until then pretty much non-stop, except right now. I'm currently on the sofa watching The Holiday, snuggled under a blanket, going through my entire year of photographs picking out the ones to pop on a slideshow for my family when they come round. By the time you read this that will be last night.

Apparently it's now officially winter but on the plus side the nights will be getting shorter from here on in, hooray! Hoping to drop in here again before the big day but if I happen not to then have a good one everyone, Merry Christmas!

Sophie

Shirt and skirt – charity shops, tights – M &Co, boots – Internacionale, undertop – F&F, mnecklace – New Look

This outfit is inspired by a picture sent to me by Hazel last week which immediately set the cogs whirring in my brain.

Source

I wore this in to town for a quick spot of Christmas shopping with Husband at the weekend and it turned out to be a little bit of a strain. The wool skirt clearly needs a petticoat underneath to stop it from clinging to me legs and itself but unfortunately I only realised this once in town so had to contend with that as well as manhandling bags and shoppers. The skirt is one that Hazel pointed out to be on our charity shop marathon way back and I knew I *had* to own it; the colours are amazing, plus it is such a neat length and has the classic comedy giant safety pin.

I knew Husband had to be back home in plenty of time for a meeting (boo) and we kind of got carried away in town with shopping, browsing and a large breakfast at 'Spoons (guilty as charged) so I knew we were cutting it fine. I'm trying to get outfit pictures in the can while out an about so we headed into the countryside, hoping that inspiration would strike and I could just hop out and get a couple of snaps. We missed the ideal spot so I turned down a narrow lane hoping to find a place to park. To my dismay, not only was there nowhere to pull off, the lane ended abruptly and turned into a private drive, so I had no option but to reverse half a mile with someone following me too. I'm not the best at reversing to start with but the lane wasn't even straight so it took an eternity and wasted valuable time. The next lane happened to be far better and brought us out at a tiny patch of woodland I had visited a few years ago and completely forgotten how to find it. Honeypot Wood is the cutest name ever, don't you think?

Naturally I can't possibly drive in these boots so when I parked up in a hurry I had to yank them on in haste and the tongue got stuck down by my toes which was really painful so I had to hobble to a fairly dry area and try to to lose my balance while the shutter clicked away. Turns out these pictures are probably my favourites yet. I shall return.

Sophie

Ps. Don’t forget I have a giveaway you can enter

Shirt and ring - charity shop, tank top - eBay, trousers - River Island, boots - Yull, necklace - New Look, bracelet - gift

Let me say this: there have not been enough tank tops in the blogosphere this autumn for my liking. I get that they're not for everyone but hello, they are just flipping brilliant! I love to wear a shirt or blouse but they can be rather too chilly on their own this time of year so an extra knitted layer is the perfect balance for staying snug without a full blown jumper. It's clever. Let me also give a hoot of joy about these tartan trousers which have been patiently waiting to be worn. The green patterning is a pleasant alternative to the red tartan that seems to be everywhere this year, it's good to see a little variety.

I think I should give a shout out  for these fabulous Yull Chelsea boots that I’ve been wearing pretty much non-stop in the year (you've probably noticed). You can steal my heart with a pair of practical ankle boots, don't you know. I have my heart set on a pair of Fulham boots too, they will be a perfect addition to my boot collection.These pictures were taken while we were out on a pretty wander through the grounds of a local National Trust property a week ago, I took some more photos which will make an appearance when I've had a chance to go through them.

Have I convinced you to get yourself a tank?

Sophie