Lifestyle,  Style and Beauty

Good Vibes Only: Weekend Trips & Simply Be Dresses

Simply Be

It’s been a while since I’ve written a catch up blog post so I’ve thought I’d stop by to share my shenanigans of late, as well as some outfit photos from a recent trip to Durham. Let’s dig in…

Autumn awesomeness I enjoy walking Polly much more in the A/W. During the summer I’d come back from walks sweating buckets, even on the mild-ish days (attractive, I know) but now I can enjoy the crisp mornings with my jumper, jacket, hat and scarf and enjoy the walk instead of focusing on my body temperature. It must be an age thing. Polly seems to prefer the frosty mornings too. Northern girls, through and through.

Weekend trips Our friend couldn’t make a recent trip to London so offered us tickets which of course we snapped up. We had such a great time exploring our favourite spots Southwark, Bloomsbury & Kensington. We saw Amadou & Mariam at the Troxy, we ate great food at The Breakfast Club and took in the sights too. There will be a whistle-stop guide coming up soon.

P.S If you missed it we also went to Durham the other week and fell in love with this northern historic city. The cathedral was something else.

Dressing up My version of dressing up is wearing an actual dress. Since October was completely written off by being ill, I’ve enjoyed making a bit of an effort this month (apart from working from home days when I ditch the makeup and wear all the comfy things). Tunic dresses like this one from Simply Be (full outfit details at the bottom of the post) are ideal for this time of year, simply teamed up with tights/leggings or your favourite pair of jeans. They are easy to dress up (especially with the tie-sleeve detail) with heels and jewellery and for day time wear, with a chunky cardigan, boots and a bright red lipstick. I love the polka dot print and tie-sleeve details on this dress in particular.

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Outfit details: Dress c/o Simply Be | Ankle boots from TK Maxx | Necklace from Modo Creative | Black Jeans from New Look (old)

Bathroom makeover I’m so pleased to be finally finishing our bathroom makeover with new tiles from my friends at Tile Mountain, and just in time for Christmas. More on the blog very soon! Is everyone else loving getting on with DIY/home projects in the run up to silly season?

Polly being awesome Polly reminds me every single day just how brilliant she is and last week was no different when we met with my parents (which can sometimes be a tad stressful depending on how they are; Dad has Alzheimer’s and Mum, depression). Dad has never been interested in dogs, or animals at all (which is weird as he grew up on a farm) but he has really taken to Polly and she was a great focus for him at lunch last week. Adult conversations, are unsettling for him so it was comforting to see him enjoy stroking and talking to Polly as well playing with my niece and nephew. It’s simple things like this, that make the hard stuff better. Polly, I love you.

First fire being lit We haven’t done this yet purely because the pennies we spend on fuel is basically like burning money (our open fire doesn’t heat the room brilliantly). Having said that, once the bathroom is done, I will be buying our winter’s supply, purely for aesthetic reasons. It’s one of my favourite things at this time of year to see the OH pottering by the fire with Polly by his side. Me? I’m lady muck, sprawled on the sofa with a sherry in my hand. Ahem.

Other great things: watching Blade Runner 2049 (cinematically stunning), reading this article on 4 Things To Do When You Have Too Many Ideas by the brilliant Simple & Season, the return of Blue Planet (giving me all the feels), and listening to Billie Holiday whilst I work from home, this veggie recipe from BBC Food and buying Nigel Slater’s new book, The Christmas Chronicles. Oh my.

So, how have you been?

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