Rollercoaster living....

My life is like a rollercoaster, my children can have me up and down, with their unreasonable demands and comedy moments.  It was only the other day that my son told me he had a broken heart.....he is 3.  I had a panic that it was something he'd heard me saying, but after asking him to explain, and  hearing his explanation of a picnic with Daddy and how he gave him hard pasta that was drunk (YES! Drunk! When I asked what drunk meant, he said it was like wood..) and that's what broke his heart.  I realised then he had no idea what he was talking about and it had nothing to do with me! Phew, still a good Mum!

Everything seems to be looking up at the moment, my friends are great, my family amazing and I'm finally starting to feel like my old self, but in a new way that has more life experience, becoming a mother has everything to do with that. I know that my levels of expectation are higher, and that in all aspects of my life I am not willing to compromise because I spent so long not getting what I want.  Now that reflects in my shopping experiences because now more than ever I can say when something is not right or acceptable.

Last weekend I was very fortunate to be taken shopping by a tall dark and handsome stranger (not really a stranger, but it does make it sound much more interesting).  We started in Selfridge's of all places.  The only time I have ever been there was when I worked there as a style advisor well over 7 years ago.  I just don't shop there, but me being me I came out of the food hall and into the high street departments that I felt comfortable with like, Miss Sixty, Miss Selfridges, Warehouse,  American Apparell, Topshop, Deisel, and Lipsy.

So I ended up in Warehaosue where I saw this beautiful maxi dress ( £50), afer looking at the sizes on the rail (8's and 14' and 16's), I asked one of the Warehouse staff if they had any ten's in the stockroom.  She told me no, that this was a popular dress. That in itself made me want to stop liking it! I still wanted it though!  I asked if I could have the dress off the mannequin because  I know that is always a size ten.  Basically she asked me to wait for her manager to get back, to see if she could get it off the mannequin. Twenty five minutes later she asked if I wanted her to find it in another store (we didn't wait around all that time, but when she saw us again this was what she suggested, good initiative!) She then dissappeared to her stock room.  Twenty minutes later she arrived with the much sort after dress, (manager had been holding the dress for a customer that didn't appear in a size 10.) lucky me....!  An example of good customer service.

I love this dress, the feather print make it look a bit Native American and I love the different colours in all the feathers, lush for the up coming summer. I also picked up a pair of lovely earrings, £8.

We then wondered down Oxford street, and ended up in Aldo,  SHOE HEAVEN!!! I tried a lovely pair of tan leather wedges, which my handsome stranger, when looking at me in them, came over all faint! He is not used to looking at my legs in high heels!  I'm a Hot mama apparently!  Anyway the lovely shoes just pinched my toes a little too much, (I have wide feet).  Now I don't know if any of you out there have been to Aldo on Oxford street recently, but the store is filled with not only shoes, but hand bags and accessories, namely earrings!!  These are my weakness!  So there I was with my face stuffed into their rows and rows of earrings when out of the corner of my eye I spotted this lovely tan hand bag!  When I felt it and smelt it I knew I had to have it. So soft to touch and the smell was, and still is divine! (For those of you who love the smell of leather, you know what I mean!) 

I love the bag, but lets face it I do actually love ehop and verything that I buy! The bag cost £36 which I think is a bargain, when you think of the price of a good leather bag say, in Topshop (around £50 to £100).  So we meandered further along Oxford street (well as much as you can meander, on a Saturday afternoon, peak shopping hour!).  I also must say at this point that my tall handsome stranger is very good and patient at shopping under these circumstances....again lucky me!  We passed many shops along the way, but we didn't pass River Island.  It is my favourite! So we went in, I did show a lot of self control in there, as there was one dress that I loved once I tried it on, and took a picture to show tall dark handsome stranger.  By the time I found him to show him we had already left but I might pick it up another day if I go anyway where lovely to where something like this,  or maybe I'll get it anyway (£39.99) because it is gorgeous!

I did manage to leave with one top which I love, £16.99, my favourite colour at moment, peach/ coral, and it happens to be in trend at the moment too! The words are so sweet, and I actually mean them.....I live in hope that one day this happens! The fabric is very soft and slightly sheer, it drapes nicely and hides mummy tummy!  ( I know my babies were a long time ago now, nearly 4 years, but it does have a tendency to hang around!)

My last purchase on this amazing day, can you guess, was a pair of shoes!  From Office called Brogue Baby for £60 in tan leather.  They have quite study heels and are in the mid heel category but they are high for me,and guess what.. I love them!  They are they same colour as the new handbag and go very well together.  Actually tan goes with a lot of other colours, and are a good colour shoe staple to have other than black.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          My overall experience that day in the shops was good.  Everybody was polite and helpful and I didn't get stressed with anyone, well expect one guy who was obviously a new recruit in RI. He was painfully slow but polite and trying to be chatty which was also painful and cringy, but that didn't reflect on the service.


I hope that you liked my purchases.  I will be back soon, maybe with an international shopping experience! (I'm going to Lisbon, Portugal for a couple of days.)   I will try and squeeze some shopping time in, whilst I do lots of relaxing and resting, as it is a child free break!

As always friends.....Happy shopping!

Samara

Spring is definitely playing hide and seek

I can't believe that this weather is still as cold as it is. I'm finding it shocking that I still have to wear layer upon layer of winter woollies to keep warm. All I really want to be doing is wearing all my lovely summer clothes and sandals, enjoying the warm summer days, and being out and about in a park or even a beer garden!  So, even though I did buy some winter jumpers for the winter that is about to end, (tongue in cheek, the season that lasts most of the year) my summer wadrobe is ever expanding for the three months that it is warm...and in some more preparation for the summer (and hopefully my trip abroad), I shopped a little more on-line, last week. Tesco Direct and New Look, just in the sale department mind you, 50% of both.  The Tesco's website was much easier to shop on than New Look but New Look has paypal,

This was my Tesco purchase. The shorts were £12 reduced to £6 and are a size 10 and fit really well, not too low on the waist.  They also had a cargo style mini skirt in the same print for the same price, which I really liked but decided not to do the over kill, like I usually do, (one in every colour, or print!). The T-shirt was £7 reduced to £3.50, it is aged 13 to 14 from the children's department! I really liked the horse print on the front, but not too sure about the tassels on the shoulders but I can always cut them off, I did buy a couple of T-shirts for my daughter, that's why I ended up in the children's department!

Anyway, the skirt is from New look and is £5, bargain! (More than 50% off). Topshop have a similar one at the moment that is longer, knee length, in cream and navy and raspberry and navy, both lovely but a tad more expensive! (£32) and lets face it you and I both know that I am a shopaholic and need to make saving wherever I can!

This dress/top is £6 from New Look. I have some navy leggings to wear this with and the scarf I picked up at a Children's play group!  A woman was selling them for £2 and I got it because it can be worn two ways, half of the scarf is blue on cream, the other cream on blue. Two looks for the price of one, sweet!  It is a really simple top but worn with a pair of heels (I wore it with tan boots) it can look really sexy, well that's how I felt....it may have been the heels or the handsome stranger who told me how beautiful I looked....or maybe because the sun was shining.....or a combination of all three is more likely!

This sweet little cardigan was £9.99 from New Look, I'm not sure I have anything to go with it but I love the colour. It comes in black and red too. It has cropped sleeves, it is 100% cotton, and feels really soft. Those are all my on-line purchases that arrived this week.













I decided to have a bit of a spring clean, partly because I said I would show you my shoes, and I then followed through that thought by taking all the shoes out from the bottom of my wardrobe and hoovering out an inch layer of dust from the shoe area! Gross! So I began the task of deciding how to photograph my shoes.  I was going to  place them side by side along the walls of the hall way and then as I placed them out I came across a little problem.......

I think you can see what my problem is....85 pairs of shoes, gulp.  Does anyone else have this many pair of shoes?  I know 24 pairs of them are flip flops and sandals, but there are 61 pairs of shoes shoes', double gulp!   As I was getting them all out of the bottom of my wardrobe I was thinking wow, that is a huge pile of shoes...I had no idea I had so many pairs in such a small space. Most of the shoes were either Topshop, New Look, Nike, Irregular Choice, Havaianas, Reebok, Schuh, Office and Baby Cham.  It seems quite obscene really, but I know it won't stop me buying more shoes especially now I'm looking for black boots with a lowish heel that are comfortable to wear all day for my days out with my handsome stranger!  I love shoes, (almost as much as I love my kids!) they will always be essential in my wardrobe and life.  A great pair of shoes will always brighten your day, when you have a moment look down and smile!

Anyway best fly, I have some more photos to take of some items that I bought last weekend......but that's another story for next time.

Happy shopping.

Samara

I maybe a shopaholic....

This is a statement that I'm sure those of you that have read this blog agree with.  I am starting to realise this could be a possibility.   I do not have 17 credits cards all maximised out, thank god! I do question whether I should be buying that "must have" item on a regular basis.  Also the times that I am strapped for cash, like now,  I just avoid Brixton and any high street.

The trouble is that I am still connected to the internet, which is a nightmare!  The only saving grace of shopping on line is that by the time I've shopped, added all my items to my basket and got to the check out, I then see the total (gulp), in actual figures, black and white.  This is usually enough for me to go back and re-evaluate what I've placed in my "basket", and it that's not enough of a shake up by the the time I've imputed all my bank details for the payment I press cancel instead of proceed!  Phew! Saved myself from the call of the lovely stuff on-line, for now anyway, and the guilt that I some times experience when shopping, when I know should be saving for other stuff, like fixing my car! (You can not wear a car though, unless it is a really great one, which mine is not!).  It is a big emotional process for me shopping and not shopping, but I guess that's my distraction for now.

So in an attempt not to spend money on the only credit card I have (for mega emergencies only!)  I've decided to focus on what I do have in my wardrobe.

This is a dress that I got a while ago, by Louche from Joy.  It's their house brand.  I love the cut of the dress and the stripes seem to be heading all the right directions to hide a multitude of sins.  It also gives you great cleavage.  It is a tulip cut dress so it hides hips and tummy, love it, love it, love it.  I wore it out last Wednesday on a trip to my favourite hang out in Brixton, Satay, with my Mum. They serve great food and even better cocktails. It was a lovely evening and we sat propping up the bar that's why this is not a full length shot!  The evening was interesting as a gentleman approached us, and during the conversation he asked my Mum if she was a fashion designer!  I think she likes to take some credit for my great style and eye for fashion, and I love to give it to her.  (Although I'm pretty sure she became much more stylish when I started working at Topshop in 2002!!! Love you Mum x)

So what have I got at home to talk about!  Lets start where I usually start, accessories! 

   

                      
I do have a lot of bits! I like to be organised so I have a box of bracelets, a basket of hair accessories, a basket of belts and I have used a coat hook rack to hang my necklaces, it stops them tangling and I can see them all.  My earrings are on an old picture frame strung with ribbon and on two jewellery stands.  I try to keep as much as possible on display so that I don't forget what I have, but it does happen!  My family seem to think that I have so many accessories that I wouldn't notice when things get "borrowed", but I do! Everyone likes to think of it as an extension to their wardrobes and I'm always happy to lend.

I can honestly say that I base my outfits around a new pair of earrings or leg warmers or shoes and then work back, which is not the most conventional way of dressing, or maybe it is I'm not sure about that, what do you do?  

So lovelies it time to get back to the finer things in life such as house work and children, but I'll see you soon and next time I'll show you my shoes!

Happy Shopping.

Samara