Outfit of the Day - Perfect Summer

Outfit of the Day

Warehouse 1980s dress, / John Lewis three quarter sleeve top, / Converse canvas flat shoes, / Fiorelli handbag,  / Goldmajor sterling silver amber jewelry, / Orla kiely umbrella, / Breo Ladies Zen Watch-Blue Watch B-TI-ZEN4 | the Watch Hut,

When The Mads wrote about a wonderful competition they are running in conjunction with The Watch Hut to design an Outfit of the Day, I was brimming full of ideas in my mind as I had just returned from a wonderful day at the Ladies' Singles Finals at Wimbledon and thought it would be great to put together an outfit for that occasion, but that would be smart yet casual enough too for lots of other events, from lunch with the girls, a walk to the pub on a summer evening, or even to taking the kids to school.

All my selections for clothing come from John Lewis as the prize is JL vouchers so I'll be ahead of the game if I am lucky enough to win!  :)


Who doesn't love a multi coloured dress?  So easy to wear, no mixing and matching of tops and bottoms to worry about, no waistbands digging in, and yet with all those colours, easy to match with lots of other items already in your wardrobe too. This 80s inspired dress is from Warehouse is a bargain at only £42 and it will look great all day long, with any marks I manage to make on it with food or drink spillages masked by the lovely pattern.  I've teamed it with practical and sporty cream coloured converse as there is always loads of walking to be done at Wimbledon, and of course, a pretty umbrella because you can never trust an English summer!  A pretty pastel blue shrug cardigan will keep the chill off as the sun loses its heat later in the day, and I'll be able to stuff all my tickets/programmes and other paraphenalia in this gorgeous tote bag from Fiorella.  The finishing touches are this sporty blue watch from Breo at the The Watch Hut and a cute pair of amber earrings. 


This is my entry for the Watch Hut competition

Istanbul - the Jewel in the Mediterranean Crown

There is one place in the Mediterranean that stands out above all others for me and that is Istanbul.  I first visited there in my teens (rather too many years ago than I care to remember!) and was entranced by it's exotic vibe - where East meets West.  The mighty Bosphorus divides the city where trade and tourist boats jostle for space and impressive mosques have their minarets jutting up into the sky, including the impressive Blue Mosque, the only one in the world with six minarets.

I heard from Love Chic Living that Cunard are running a special competition focusing on their Mediterranean destinations and knew instantly that I would be writing about Istanbul and the fabulous memories that it evoked.

I put together this Pinterest board that brings together the highlights of visiting Istanbul and some interior design features that could easily be incorporated into your house and garden.

Follow Rose T's board Istanbul - Magic from the Mediterranean on Pinterest.

It was important for me to include the incredibly beautiful mosques on my board - they are one of the enduring memories of my trip and whilst many other Mediterranean destinations have faded from my mind, I still remember these (and their stunning interiors) vividly.

Another memory that I wanted to include on my board is the large use of blue in Turkish interior design, from the beautiful intricately detailed tiles to the amulets used to keep the evil eye at bay and gorgeous glass lanterns (the latter being perfect for lighting an outdoor eating area).

I remember visiting the bustling Grand Bazaar and getting lost amongst its many lanes and rows, marvelling at the brightly coloured bowls, fabrics, lanterns and ephemera on offer.  I was only there for a short time and in my teens wasn't particularly interested in finding chic pieces to bring home to furnish my living spaces, but NOW, gosh, that would be a different matter!  I think I could spend days in there just browsing and enjoying the sweet tea offered by the vendors whilst haggling for bargains.  Just look at the brightly coloured slippers, rugs, bowls etc that could be slipped into your suitcase and enjoyed back at home.

I love the food in Istanbul - meze (small plates of delicious morsels) is my favourite way of eating and the flavours from the herbs and spices used are incredible.

Finally, I had to include a pin of a Turkish Bath.  The whole experience of being washed and pummeled by a slightly overweight Turkish man is one that will stay with me forever but my goodness, I felt good afterwards! Those I have tried outside of Istanbul have been mere pretenders - go and experience the real thing.

One thing is for sure, now I have written this blog post and created my Pinterest board, I REALLY want to go back to Istanbul again so I'm off to check out whether I can cruise with Cunard from Istanbul, now that WOULD be perfect!

My homemade #Shelfie!

The "Selfie" has become ubiquitous in life these days, but what about the "Shelfie" - taking a pic of your favourite shelf in your home that displays something about YOU?

Tots100 are running a fabulous competition in conjunction with Victoria Plumb asking just that, and I knew straight away which shelf in my home I would be blogging about!

My #Shelfie

I actually made this shelf unit myself at school (over 30 years ago!!) and it languished in a storage box for a number of years.  I started to bring back "little treasures" from our worldwide travels as memories and had nowhere to display them effectively until I remembered my lovely handcrafted small shelf unit.  Out it came from that storage box and I've been adding to my collection ever since.  I love finding just the right treasure to bring home to display.  I see them every day and they evoke wonderful memories!  My absolute favourites are on the top middle (a beautiful bronze elephant from my trip to India when I was lucky enough to spend a day working with elephants in Rajhasthan) and bottom left (a stunning handmade tango couple which reminds me of tango lessons we had in Buenos Aires)

Victoria Plumb are also running a fun Great British Home quiz where you can find out what you home style is - apparently I am Glamorous!! I'm not 100% convinced of that when I look around at all the kids stuff lying around but clearly it must be what I aspire to be!!  ;) 

My very own Epic Adventures

When my favourite outdoor store Blacks announced that they were running a competition in conjunction with the travel company Explore.co.uk to find the best WILD, FAST, PANORAMIC or EPIC travel adventure photos, I knew that I had to have a go so I spent a wet Sunday afternoon going through all my travel pics to choose the ones to enter in this blog post.

Let's start with EPIC

Jumping for Joy at Macchu Picchu

I'd been wanting to visit Macchu Picchu for over 20 years and finally made the trip there in 2012, spending 3 days up in this magical place.

What's more epic than the Great Wall of China?  the only man made structure visible from space, we were able to visit "far from the madding crowds" and enjoy trekking for miles along the wall without seeing another soul, incredible.

Far from the Madding Crowds

Four "watery" epic shots now, each completely different but linked by H2O which seems to be a prominent feature in many of my trips!

First, an epic trip to the great white wilderness of Antartica, next swimming to the very edge of Victoria Falls in Zambia; diving amongst a huge shoal of fish in the Red Sea and finally, watching lava flow into the sea in Hawaii.

FAST

Penguins are SO ungainly on land, but incredibly fast and agile in the water.  Capturing this shot of one flying through the air involved alot of luck and many attempts!

Out on safari early one morning, we came across a group of impala refreshing themselves at a watering hole (there's that H2O again!) when they were spooked by a passing elephant and made a hurried exit.

Finally, I was amazed in Vietnam by how many of one family could fit onto a moped, unusually, most of these had some sort of helmet!  as for the traffic in Vietnam, it's fast and furious!

PANORAMIC

I love being "on top of the world" - here on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town

...and here, Halong Bay in Vietnam

Finally for panoramic pics, I had to include another one from my trip of a lifetime to Antarctica as we crept through the iceberg laden Lemair Channel.

WILD

More watery photos.......

the first 2 were taken whilst scuba diving and could probably also be classified as epic - we were surrounded by a school of sharks in the South Pacific and wild dolphins in the Red Sea

and we were stunned when this whale surfaced right beside our boat near Cabo in Baja.

Two naughty "teenage" elephants were having a play fight in Chobe, oblivious to the rest of the herd

Walking along a deserted beach, we were amazed to see this seal capture an octopus, play with it for ten minutes before enjoying it's meal.

Looking back at the categories, it seems that there's alot of crossover when photos could have appeared in epic and wild, or fast and wild etc.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my favourite photos from my travels.

p.s.  I couldn't resist including this one, what an "epic" souvenir this would be!  ;)

#WishIWasThere !

Alfresco Holidays are running a fabulous competition to cheer us up during this grim stormy weather we are currently having.  They want us to look through our summer holiday snaps and choose one to enter into their competition on the theme of #WishIWasThere.

We simply LOVE Brittany and visit every year.  The food is awesome, we adore the super fresh seafood that's available in nearly every market and supermarket :)

We spend long days walking along the stunning coastline, discovering often completely deserted huge sandy beaches  

 and then home to a seafood feast!   what's not love!!

Valentine's Day menu

The week when Valentine's Day falls is always a special one in our family as my husband's birthday falls on 11th February so we try to go away for the week to celebrate both occasions, usually to a cottage in the West Country where we enjoy long coastal walks with our dogs followed by cosy nights in front of an open fire with home cooked meals using local produce and delicacies.

This year will be no different as we head off tomorrow to the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall (home to the wind damage from last week's storms).  I already have some ideas for what we'll be enjoying on Valentine's Day.

For starters, I will be making these super simple beetroot, ginger and cream cheese timbales, but making them extra special by serving them from heart shaped moulds.  Simply whizz together cooked beetroot (the vac-packed sort, not pickled beetroot from a jar!), a knob of fresh grated ginger and cream cheese.  Serve with black pepper oatcakes for some crunch.

Beetroot & Ginger starter

As we will have been out all day enjoying Mother Nature at her best and will undoubtedly be super hungry, I will buy some local lamb from the village butcher the day before and cook it long and slow in the oven throughout the day to make a wonderful, heart-warming traditional Irish Stew.  I like to serve it with a twist and top it with a Thyme Cobbler to soak up all the delicious juicy gravy. I'll be making the cobbler in heart shapes (instead of my usual Shamrocks) to celebrate St Valentine!

Heart warming Irish stew

I'm not a great lover of desserts, but my husband has a sweet tooth, so I like to make the effort for him and I'll cook these quick chocolate pancakes stuffed with blackcurrants and Greek yoghurt.  Even I have to admit they are pretty moreish!

So there you have it, you know what we'll be enjoying in just a few days time.  I hope you have a great day as I feel sure that we will have!

Maybe one day we'll ring the changes and spoil ourselves with one of Superbreak's Valentine breaks - they look fab!  :)

The moments that mattered - 2013

2013 was a BIG year for me - I turned half a century and decided to celebrate in style all year long in one way or another!  So there were many Moments that Mattered, but here are a few highlights.

Firstly, one of my lifelong dreams had been to go on a horse riding safari, so I took the plunge in April and booked a trip to South Africa.  The week was awesome, being on horseback meant that we could get REALLY close to the animals without them being spooked (as the horses lived out with the wild animals overnight) - A-MAY-ZING!

Zebra watching

May saw my actual birthday. I decided to treat my family and our best friends to a short cruise to celebrate (I had thought about hiring a large house to party for a weekend, but then the idea of catering/cleaning etc put me off, this was the perfect solution!).  We had a wonderful time, memories that will stay with me forever.

Dinner on board

I was then treated to a fabulous weekend at our best friends' house where we took a steam train for dinner one evening, I had a go at indoor sky diving (masses of fun) and they had a wonderful celebratory cake made for me.  Long walks on the beach and there was much champagne consumed!  :)

Happy Birthday!

Another horse riding adventure in June saw me being a cowgirl in Montana, USA, another long held dream. Days in the saddle were followed by nights around the camp fire telling tall tales and toasting marshmallows.

Me and my steed in Montana

Autumn brought yet more travel opportunites, again to Victoria Falls and South Africa, this time with my best friend and her 77 year old mother who had always wanted to visit.  We had a hard time keeping up with her Mum and I only wish that I will have as much stamina and verve in 27 years time!

Betty leads the way

Sometimes, things that make you smile might seem trivial to others, but discovering THE best chocolate icecream this side of Italy was one thing that brightened my life no end on a steamy hot weekend in London in July!  And that they had a loyalty card, buy 4, get one free!

Delicious icecream

Watching my godson get married brought a happy tear to my eye - where have all those years gone to?

One last thing, my dogs.  Every day they give me moments that matter and make me smile - this one particularly sticks out in my memory.  We rarely get snow in Cornwall so had to travel up to Dartmoor to find some and had a fab afternoon throwing snowballs and having fun.

So there you are, a wonderful celebratory year full of Moments that Mattered to me.

This is my entry for the Lloyds Bank Moments That Matter blog competition.