Here we are at the end of Challenge 4-4-4 and, as I used to say to my Mum, 'I'm fiiinnnnnnnnnished!' I liked and enjoyed this challenge a lot. So-much-so I'm it all over again, so it's not technically finished, but I started afresh on Saturday with a new selection of items.

Whilst some outfits weren't in the least bit interesting I liked and felt comfortable in them all and I've relegated a few more items to the charity bag. I've been making better use of the plethora of accessories I have but rarely use. And, other than a long standing date to go charity shopping I didn't buy anything new during this challenge. So it's been a winner all round really.


Saturday
I hit up the charity shops in Bury St Edmunds with Sophie (she bought ALL the jumpers). I bought myself a few new shirts and a skirt. Or two. One of which I nicked from under Sophie's nose, although she did later say she wouldn't be above fighting me for an item she really wanted (she'd totally kick my ass) so I felt OK about it.

Knowing we'd be stomping around for hours I wore my newest Chelsea boots. Last time I wore these a guy came up to me and stroked them up and down. Bit odd as I don't know him terribly well, but hey, whatever floats your boat I suppose.


Sunday
I made my 4th apple crumble in two weeks and a lovely venison stew. Proper autumn food that. Forgot to take a photo though and had to make do with this.


Monday
A nondescript day.

Tuesday
Bad face day.

Wednesday
I chose a shirt to replace the last of the dresses I discarded at the beginning of the challenge, mainly because I bought it on Saturday and wanted to wear it and because I needed something to layer up with my grey jumper dress. Bored of just wearing it with tights or leggings and a scarf, I popped (first time around I wrote 'pooped' instead and I'm still chuckling about it) a pair of skinny jeans underneath along with this shirt. I normally hate wearing shirts and jumpers together, finding them too clingy but with a jumper this big it was never going to be an issue.


Thursday
The last time I'll wear this jacket. I love it and even though I tried it on when I bought it I've decided it's too tight across my stoopid shoulders. Not to worry, it only cost me £4.50 and I know someone who might like it...

The scarf is from this month's My Little Box. I've decided to cancel my subscription to this as it's just not floating my boat, it's nice and all but not 'Wow!' enough to keep in interested (fickle much?). And I have something better I want to spend the money on but more on that another day.

Friday
The final day of 4-4-4. I spent the day in London at the V&A gazing at wedding dresses 1775 - 2014 and some stunning photography by Horst (both are worth a look IMO). My friends tell me that the V&A is the most boring of the London museums but I love it, I can lose hours in there.

I wore my new shirt again, this time persevering with the shirt / jumper combo and after a bit of arm waving and shoulder shrugging I got myself comfortable enough to go with it. I'm now totally loving it. Expect to see more of this.

What have you been up to?

Love

My current challenge of wearing just 16 clothing items is going by so quickly, that I can't believe I'm in the last week already. I did wonder if this challenge was going to be the easiest one yet, and yep, I was right. Some items have barely been worn at all.

In my last update post I wondered about continuing for another four weeks. I think I will. I'll swap a few pieces though, the pink maxi skirt seems unseasonable and the short sleeve top didn't work as well as I thought it would. I'll need to consider the colder weather that's on the way too.

Could this be the start of a rolling wardrobe?


Saturday
My photo an hour day and the first appearance of my chambray dress. Although it's not much of an outfit shot, it is a cute pic of a cat. And as it's my favourite way to wear this dress, you can see it worn here & here (both for challenges I might add).


Sunday - Wednesday
Sunday was a lazy day, perfect for a jumper dress and a scarf. I counted my scarf collection. I have 26 in total, which seems a ridiculous amount to own, and I put a large number in a charity bag earlier in the year.

At the beginning of this challenge I discarded two dresses from my chosen items and on Wednesday I replaced one of them with this long turquoise cardy. I love my short green one but I am getting a teensy bit sick of it.


Thursday and Friday
Two quiet days with nothing much to write about, except to say it turned out to be too hot on Friday for a jacket (not complaining).

Incidentally, I came across this video on YouTube recently - this lady has just eight dresses in her wardrobe. Eight dresses, three jumpers and one jacket. One pair of ballet flats and one pair of boots. That's it. I think I have more than that currently sitting in my linen bin. But I have to admit I like the idea of getting dressed very quickly every morning, safe in the knowledge that my clothes look good, work together and are flattering.

Have a great weekend, the forecast is a warm one!

Love

Joining in with Is That You Darling Photo An Hour, October.

I had no plans other than to get some work done but it actually turned out to be a rather lovely day of what ever I pleased.


6.24am
Andy woke me to say goodbye before leaving for work. My first job of the day was to release our kitchen mouse, he'd succumbed to the lure of cherry cake in the trap at some point overnight and I was finally able to rid my kitchen of our furry friend.


7.24am
My first cuppa of the day was enjoyed while catching up on a few of my favourite blogs.

8.24am
Ironing. Yawn.

9.24am
Work. I'm designing a new logo, and it went really well. After just 45 minutes I was happy with what I'd created and decided to leave it at that for the day. I need to present a few different options and I'll work up some others over the next few days. I like to have the time to create something and then go back and review it. What I like about freelance is being able to work when I'm feeling creative. Some days it just doesn't work and on those days I turn off my Mac and concentrate on something else. I find this to be a much more creative way of working and more time efficient too.

10.24am
I've been making some tree decorations for a Christmas bazaar at the end of November and I've got a lot more I want to make so I set about finishing some of these wreaths (aka curtain rings wrapped in wool and embellished with beads).


11.24am
My fingers got a bit sore from the sewing so I switched to one of my favourite things - buttons. I'm making tree and snowmen decorations. Cute, yes?


12.24pm
Lunch - baked beans on toast - the lunch of champions!

1.24pm
Back to buttons accompanied by the final series of Dexter.

2.24pm
When I'd exhausted the buttons of any more tree combinations I turned my attention to my patchwork quilt. What with one thing and another it's been neglected recently but with fingers still too sore for sewing, I set about cutting out loads of hexagons instead.


3.24pm
To get my daily intake of vitamin D, I made myself a cuppa, grabbed a piece of cherry cake and sat in the garden with a book. My intention was to read but girl cat decided to sit on my book and lick the remnants of cake from my fingers. Eventually she relinquished my book and I sat in the afternoon sun reading with her snoozing on my lap.


4.24pm
Still outside with the girl cat, I couldn't resist some pet selfies...


5.24pm
Made a start on writing this post.

6.24pm
Supper. A bit of a random combination as tomorrow is grocery day. Fish cakes, chinese style rice and broccoli. Andy was still at work so I was eating solo again. Sometimes the life of a farmer's girlfriend can closely resemble that of a single girl, except I have more washing to do and food disappears from the pantry at an alarming rate! And there is mud all over the house.

7.24pm
Beer and TV - The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother

8.24pm
Girl cat likes E4 as much as I do.


9.24pm
I'm so rock and roll I'm in bed before 9.30pm with a book on a Saturday night.


10.24pm
Goodnight cuddles with the boy cat.

What did get up to yesterday?

Love

When this here blog turned four years old I decided to mark the occasion with another wardrobe challenge. I chose four tops, four jumpers (or long sleeved / warmer options), four bottoms and four dresses (although 2 dresses where quickly discarded and are yet to be replaced) to be worn for 4 weeks. This is week 2...


Saturday
Lots of chasing about running errands. I wore jeans, stripe top and added some colour with this scarf, the newest to my collection - I bought this in the summer, smitten with the colour - it's difficult to capture it but it's a pale neon - love it!


Sunday
I sat reading in the sun in just this short sleeve top. I'm getting a little bored of not having a lot of colour so I added a smidgen with this Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine nail paint in Passion Fruit. I bought it to wear in the summer too but didn't get round to it, so before I move over to darker autumn shades I thought I'd give this a go.


Monday
Cold, wet, windy, dull and generally miserable weather. The only thing for it was a long sleeve t-shirt and a woollen poncho. And slippers.


Tuesday
I met a friend of coffee, the weather was dull and rainy again but I wanted to feel a little bit dressed up (this coffee was the highlight of my social life this week), so I popped on my black jeans, embroidered top and mac with a pretty necklace and sequined flats.


Wednesday
A quiet day working from home = grey jumper dress and leggings. I didn't think it was ever going to stop raining!



Thursday
Green :) I also tried the braided tuck up-do from my messy hair post. Not an exact replica but I liked it none-the-less.


Friday
Back to the grey jumper dress and the necklace that my former colleagues called my 'Mr T' necklace. Finally it stopped raining and the sun came out for a while.

Another week over. Again it's been pretty easy and there are items that I'm still yet to wear. I'm wondering if this could be a rolling challenge? I could swap out some of the items every 4 weeks...? Let's see how I feel at the end of week 4 ;)

Love

Lucy asked these questions a while ago, not tagging anyone but inviting those who wanted to to answer her questions to do so. I liked them, so here are my answers...

1. What is your favourite place in the world?
Home. It sounds so boring but it's my sanctuary - the place where I feel most free, relaxed and safe.

2. What was the last new food you tried?
Boquerones, as part of a Spanish platter in Cafe Del Mar on my birthday this year. Basically, it's fresh anchovies, marinated in a mixture of vinegar and olive oil, and seasoned with garlic and parsley. It was OK, my friend seemed to like it more than I did, so I let her eat most of it and munched on salted almonds instead.

3. What is currently top of your shopping wishlist?
A holiday. I had a 4 day break in Cornwall recently for a friend's wedding. I came home with a hankering for a longer holiday. Not having to worry about making the bed, cleaning the bathroom, buying or cooking food and going to work is my idea of heaven right now.

4. What are you currently reading?
A Cup of Tea, A novel of 1917 by Amy Ephron, which is my chosen book for Alex's A Blogging Good Read for April 2015. I took part back in September 2012 and no one really liked the book I chose so I hope this one gets better reviews! I'm really enjoying it.

5. Who would play you in a film of your life?
Goofy.

6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A mobile hairdresser, driving from one appointment to another in a black mini. I don't know at what point this changed. It's nice to think that, even then, I liked the idea of working for myself.

7. Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?
I think it's possible. I refuse to believe that we know all there is to know about the universe.


8. What animal do you think you most resemble in looks and personality?
Has to be a cat - big eyes, like to sleep a lot, would eat constantly if allowed and fussy about the people I befriend.

9. Who's your favourite Corrie character?
Erm, is Betty still in it?

10. Have you ever seen a ghost?
No, but I believe that, like extra-terrestrial life, it's possible that they exist.

11. What is your proudest achievement?
Working for myself.


My questions to you, should you wish to answer them. Let me know if you have, I'll pop over and give them a read.

1. If you could have anyone (dead or alive) write a guest post for your blog, who would it be?

2. If you could live the life of someone else for a day, who would you be?

3. Name something that you wish you were really, like really, good at.

4. What was the last film you watched, was it any good?

5. What childhood possession do you wish you still owned?

6. If you were to bury a time capsule what would you put in it?

7. If you could rid your life of one thing, what would it be?

8. Would you rather be trapped alone on an island or never allowed to spend a single moment alone again?

9. Who's blog do you take most inspiration from?

10. How did you find out that Father Christmas doesn't exist?

11. What's the first thing to come into your head when I say 'beauty'?

Looking forward to seeing answers to these!


Love

First up, thank you for all the kind comments on my previous post. I hesitated a little before I hit publish but I should have known you'd be kind and understanding. I feel better about things, having decided to talk it over when the right time presents itself.

So, week 1 of challenge 4-4-4.

I guess I should start by listing the items in the challenge?

The tops
Short sleeve black and white stripe top  /  long sleeve navy and white stripe top  /  white embroidered top  /  grey jumper

The bottoms
Distressed skinny jeans  /  black skinny jeans  /  bootcut jeans  /  pink maxi skirt

The long sleeves / warmer options
Green cardigan  /  longline tweedy jacket  /  khaki mac /  black poncho

The dresses
Chambray dress  /  grey sweater dress...

The final two options were this khaki dress and this navy dress, however I've decided against these.

The navy one because it is a summer dress, looks fab with sandals and bare legs but not tights and boots. And the khaki dress because I put it on and though 'yuck!' and promptly put it in the charity bag (one less item in the wardrobe can only be a good thing).

So, these last two items remain 'open'. I'd like to add two more dresses but I think warm tops would be a better idea. But I'm undecided as yet.

Week One
Saturday, day one. An easy outfit of top and jeans with a few bracelets.


Day two, not a pretty sight. All I could manage was jeans and a jumper and a comforting scarf.


After an impromptu evening out with some old college friends on Saturday night (20 years since we started our degree course together!!) I didn't get out of bed until mid afternoon on Sunday and only got dressed so that I could drive to my Mum's house for a roast dinner. What is it about a roast that can diminish a hangover so effectively?

Day three, Monday, Monday.
Feeling slightly more human I had a meeting so out came my new-to-me longline jacket, a bargain at £4.50 from a charity shop. I promise a better photo next time.


Day four was a quiet day spent in green. I love wearing long sleeve tops under things with 3/4 length sleeves, I don't know why, I just do.


Day five, Wednesday, saw some colour and the first outing of my new top - £9 in the New Look sale.


Thursday and Friday where spent working at home, the first dress of the challenge making an appearance.


So, the first week is up. It felt pretty easy although the thought occurred to me that if it turns really cold I'm going to have to break some rules or spend a lot of time covered in goosebumps. Take a guess at which one I'll choose?

Hope you've had a lovely weekend.

Love

It was my birthday just over a month ago, and in all honesty I thought I'd be receiving an engagement ring. It was a thought that occurred to me a few months before, a thought that, once there, stuck in my mind and wouldn't go away.

I've never been overly fussed about getting married, always seeing it as something we would do 'in the future'. So, I can't explain why I had a feeling it would happen, I just thought it would.

When my friends started to get married (well over a decade ago now), one after the other, after the other, I had no real hankering to join them. I've always been the one to do everything in my own sweet time, preferring to do things at a time that's right for me and not just because it's 'the norm'.

The day of my birthday I was given my presents and we had a hasty breakfast before he had to leave for work. And then I cried. I cried rather a lot, and it was only then that I realised how much I wanted him to propose. Since then I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

We've spoken about marriage before, talked about where it could be, how many people we would like to attend and in the past I've said that I'd like to be married before I'm 40. Forty seemed like a long way off then. I'm now 39, one month and 4 days old. I don't know where this feeling came from and I can't put my finger on why it makes a difference.

I don't want to nag him into it, I'm not the nagging kind. A friend of mine suggested an ultimatum. Again, this isn't my style. Apart from anything else an ultimatum would leave me questioning his motives. I want him to marry me because he wants to marry me and for no other reason than that.

And so I wait quietly and time ticks on. I wonder, not only about where the hell all of this came from, but also about why it suddenly matters so much more than it ever did?

Love

I've long given up on the idea of neat, not-a-hair-out-of-place hair. I was forced to embrace messy hair years ago out of exasperation, it rarely looked anything but a bit of a mess! Normally, I wear my hair down but I fancied trying something a little different, so when I came across this super simple tutorial on Pinterest I was smitten and keen to try it out. I plaited, pinned, and popped in a pretty comb.


Despite being on the messy side, it felt really quite elegant. Inevitably I'm now on the hunt for more interesting, but easy, hair tutorials. This Braided Tuck tutorial has been added to the list of styles to try, it looks pretty easy and a nice one to just do-and-go, but more interesting than your average ponytail.

Do you have a go to up-do?

Love