Happy Halloween....

Hi All!

 As I am writing this post the wind is howling and rain is bucketing down here, but nothing compared to what  America  has experienced over the last few days:(  I hope that storm has finally calmed down and everyone can stay safe!

Sarah is having her own little party for a few friends later on this evening so she has been busy decorating the house and did a great job too I might add! We wouldn't normally head out ourselves on Halloween but I would imagine there will be lots of fancy dress parties taking place tonight.:)

One trend which works great at this time of year is leather and lace, a good option if someone doesn't wish to dress up in full party costume or might like to head out straight after work..

This is an inspiration board I put together which could work well for a Halloween drinks night out or party...

Shoes/New Look   LaceTop/H&M   Leather Pants/All Saints   Clutch/Dillards   Jewellery/Stella and Dot

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween:)

Anne xx

Happy Weekend ....

Hi all! Wishing everyone a lovely Friday!

 Thank god it is mid term break this coming week as I need to slow down a little, between decorating and making Halloween costumes this week has flown by!

 Sarah has her dance class fancy dress party today and Shane had a college do last night which caused  endless problems all day yesterday getting costumes changed and sorted at the last minute, but all was fine as usual in the end! 

Now whilst I was whizzing around the supermarket looking for Halloween treats, I spied this unusual jar of pumpkin cubes and wondered what I could make with them:)  

 I had been looking at pumpkin spice recipes on Pinterest and was dying to try something different for a dessert.

 I adapted a basic bread and butter pudding recipe to suit the pumpkin cubes and it actually tasted fine (different I might add but tasty all the same). Here is what I used...

1 French Baguette sliced into 12 pieces diagonally

1 pint milk

4 eggs

2 tbsps castor sugar

pumpkin cubes drained and mashed with a little cinnamon.

Blend milk, eggs and sugar together. Butter the 12 slices of  baguette. Glaze with mashed pumpkin cubes flavoured with cinnamon. Place in a well buttered baking dish layered over one another. Pour the milk and egg mixture over them covering well.
 Bake in 180 oven for 40 mins sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with ice cream! I was in a generous mood yesterday so they got Haagen Dazs pralines and cream flavour ... ordinary vanilla or even custard would do just fine!

I'm quite sure everyone has their own favourite pumpkin recipes at this time of year, but I just wanted to give this one a go!

I hope you all have a good weekend! I really need to plough on with the decorating and we are also going to a neighbours drinks party tomorrow night,.

See you all soon
Anne xx

Style Inspiration: Casual Knitwear...

Hi everyone !

Today by popular demand I'm doing a post about styling 

casual knitwear!

 My blog post here on Friday proved to be my most popular one yet and due to a large amount of inquiries about my camel cocoon cardigan I have designed a mood board to recreate the outfit using similar pieces :)
I bought my own cardigan on a weekend trip to Edinburgh last year.

Jeans/Mango    Bag/DKNY   Cardigan/Miss Selfridge   Top/Mango   Boots/Topshop   Scarf/Oasis

I find this type of knitwear so easy to wear and style and I am on the lookout for some thing similar in black or grey  this A/W. Here are a few more lovely styles ...

Gorgeous cable knit slouchy from Zara

A cerise marled number from H&M

 A fab cable knit polo neck poncho from The White Company

I hope this gives some inspiration for those who asked and as always I'm delighted to receive such great feedback from my followers :)

 The only problem with wearing such cosy slouchy knitwear is that you're in danger of never wanting to take them off :)

Anne xx

An Autumn Sunday...

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, a real sunny Autumnal Sunday morning.
Laura and I headed to our
favourite local hotel for a stroll and Sunday coffee.
The grounds there are gorgeous at any time of the year and a lovely place to snap a few photos!
A skirt and heels wasn't exactly suitable attire for negotiating nature trails, but I really didn't want to wear
jeans again yesterday!

I must actually invest in a pair of black wedge ankle boots... I find them far easier to walk in:)
Here is my photographer racing away in front of me
whilst I'm tottering
behind trying to keep up!!

Leather Jacket/Karen Millen   Blouse/DKNY   Boots/Dunnes  Skirt&Scarf/Primark    Bag DKNY  Sunnies/Chanel

And this is my daughter Laura wearing her new green and black cropped boucle jacket
  from Mango.
  I would absolutely love it myself !

Hope you all have a great week.

I need to root out some Halloween decorations over the
next few days!
Sarah has announced to all her friends that the party is at our house this year:)

Anne xx

Welcome To The weekend....

Hope you all had a lovely week! Friday comes around so fast these days! I'm a bit late posting today as I am just back from a morning shopping in Dublin. I wore my cocoon cardigan instead of a coat as it gets so warm in the shops after a while! I am still on the hunt for new long boots and I may resort to buying a pair I like and getting them taken in at the seams. In the meantime this suede tan lace pair I bought last year will do!

I also got very distracted in Brown Thomas today by the Christmas market and I had to hold myself back from purchasing some of the fabulous decorations! Instead I left the store with this new Chanel lipstick in a lovely dark berry colour!

Lastly I want to introduce my latest baking obsession!

 I tried these French Toast muffins yesterday and they were yummy! I followed the trail from Pinterest to this blog for the recipe if anyone would like to give them a go for weekend brunch.These are what were left of mine to photograph before they quickly disappeared lol!

Now I'm hoping for some nice sunny weather to get out and about this weekend :)

Hope you all have a good one!

Anne xx

Decor Inspiration: A Grand Entrance...

Morning Everyone!

Today I've gone from talking about black clothes to black doors! This was helped along greatly by the arrival yesterday afternoon of a gorgeous glossy brochure on our front mat :) It featured all kinds of stylish new front doors !! I was immediately thinking up lots of ways I could convince hubs we need one badly! Fell on deaf ears I think but anyhow it gave me some lovely inspiration, and here are some fab photos I found via Pinterest ...

The simple green plants enhance the plain black door and white walls...

This black door really stands out amongst the gorgeous stonework and planting...

Loving the black with the gold decor touches here....

Glass panels in this door throw lots of light into the already spacious hallway...

I think you will agree a black door looks very classy and it lends itself well to decorating around the festive period as well! A pot of good paint, new plants and a few well chosen lights can all add a lot to make an entrance more attractive!

Enjoy your day!

Anne xx

Style Inspiration : Black On Black,,,

One colour I tend to wear a lot during A/W is an all black outfit! For me it oozes style and class, more so if your pieces are carefully chosen and fit well...

Some good basic accessories are also key to getting the look right. Here the addition of an unusual black belt takes this simple top and skirt to another level!

The leather pants with a biker style jacket look amazing!
images via

Bag/DKNY   Boots/Topshop   jeans/Paige   Jacket/Ted baker   Wool Cap/DKNY

Have a good week:)

Anne xx

Hello Friday...

Welcome to the weekend!

We had super busy week here which left me with little time to blog! My hubs was off for the week and we had a major clearance both inside and out, so at last I feel my house is a little bit more organised !

 On Wednesday my eldest son turned twenty so of course we had to have the traditional chocolate cake ... where does the time go?

In other news I have felt a dreaded cold coming on so I've been wrapped up in cosy knitwear and drinking tea by the gallon load in an effort to stay warm! Whilst looking at other knitwear options I found this from The White Company They have a fabulous choice of styles and great quality! I wish they had a store over here but they do ship worldwide :) This is one of my favourites from the new Autumn range...

Taupe Poncho sweater £85

They also have a mid season sale on at the moment with up to 30% off some items

Blue long line hooded cardigan on sale for £66.50.

 It's a gorgeous sunny crisp morning here, so I hope it remains like that for the next few days!

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend:)

Anne xx

Style inspiration: Houndstooth

via

Fashion trends come and go each season, but some tend to reappear more often than others and this houndstooth print in particular always pops up again and again. Personally I think a little of the trend such as a skirt or top teamed with plain black can look very classy! My daughter has a lovely pencil skirt she wears to work with a black blazer and tights and it always looks great ...

Skirt/Mango     Bracelet and cosmetic purse/The Limited.com     Coat/Gucci     Top/Raoul

You will find some coloured houndstooth pieces in most high street stores, but for me the classic black and white print remains a firm favourite .

Hope you are all having a good week:)

Anne xx

A little leopard Print ....

What a lovely bright and sunny weekend it was! Saturday morning  was spent looking after my godson for a few hours , then in the afternoon I popped into town for some paint colour cards and came home with this leopard print top from a local store :)

Now normally I would only accessorize with a scarf or belt in this print but for some reason I'm really into it this season! A pair of leopard ankle booties are also on my A/W wishlist.

Jeans/ Selected femme   Bag/  DKNY  Top/Heatons   Boots/Dunnes    Cardi/ DKNY

I wore this outfit for a trip to the local fair yesterday afternoon with Sarah. Here she is eating that sugar loaded cotton candy!! ( how did I ever like that sticky sweet stuff!! )

Hope you all have a lovely week:)

Anne xx

Happy Weekend...

Hope you are all looking forward to the weekend:)

I have had a lovely time this week with my mum , enjoying lots of leisurely coffee breaks, frequent shopping trips and of course the smell of her home baking in the kitchen is delightful.:)

More of the same planned for the next few days :)

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

Anne xx

Some Coat Love and Boot update....

One thing I definitely do not need in my wardrobe this A/W is another black coat! Whilst doing a little switch up the other day I found three styles one I completely forgot that I owned and the other two I wear occassionally during the winter months. I'm definitely more casual jacket and jeans type during the week but on close inspection of new coat styles I may be tempted to purchase one before Christmas! For a little inspiration I came up with these three totally different styles but love each in their own way:)

Pink Cocoon/Reiss    Camel Shawl /Ralph lauren    Cromby tweed/Marc Jacobs

These are all expensive coats but great inspiration for seeking out more affordable similar styles on the high street! Karen Millen and Oasis have some fabulous coats at the moment:)

Now to my boot update. Bad news didn't get tall boots in black that I wanted. After trying on various styles I decided with help from my mother and lovely shop assistants that I would would be far better buying tan long and going for short black ankle boots for skirts and dresses instead!

So I am back on the hunt with a few options in mind now that I have narrowed down my choices. Here is the main contender at the moment I spotted in my local boutique.

And so much for my non impulsive buying but these two came home with me from Dunnes the other day but they will be great for daily wear with jeans and skirts!

Chestnut suede lace ups and black strap ankle booties.

Hope you all have a lovely day:)

Anne xx

Autumnal scenes....

I really love this time of year.From the colours of the leaves changing to snuggling up with a steaming mug in hand by a huge open fire. Adding lots of furry throws and cushions to the decor and of course the aroma of fresh baking from the oven. Here are a few of my favourite inspirational Autumn scenes ...

Rustic decor...

warm fires....

Cosy Toes

Home baking...

Hope you all have a lovely day :)

Anne xx

Photos via