Saying No to Jeans!

Like lots of other bloggers out there seem to be at the moment I am so sick of jeans but I'm just not brave enough to wear anything else out of the house yet. Not brave enough because I hate hate hate being cold with a passion. April/May and September are my least favourite times of year when it comes to dressing myself because I never get it right. I'm always too hot or too cold, or I've forgotten that I live in Ireland and it rains a lot, no matter what time of year it is and I've gone out in something flimsy that gets soaked through at the first hint of rain in the air.

Today, I decided, screw it I am not wearing jeans  and maybe it's time to get my pale, milky legs out. I'm not into Fake Tan, I just think it looks silly on me, like I haven't washed so I'm stuck with being pale and interesting instead. Cameras make me look even paler but I've just learned to accept that that's my lot in life!

So I had a bit of a rummage through my wardrobe and decided on my Boden crop trousers, not a million miles away from jeans with regards to covering my legs but a lot more colourful.

Bistro Crop Trousers - Boden
Black Waterfall Cardigan - New Look (similar here)
Black Tassle Ballet Pumps - Oasis (sort of similar here

Necklace - Oasis (they have a similar one in stock here)

The second shot captures the necklace a lot better (Mr HNW and I are having some photography issues at the moment!) On that note, I'd love to be able to do OOTD (outfit of the day) posts. It's one of my favourite things to see on other people's blogs. Seeing what normal women wear going about their everyday business really is the best inspiration for me. The problem is I don't have anyone to take photos during the day while I'm doing things (unsurprisingly 10 month olds don't make the best photographers) and the only mirror I have access to is narrow and in a dark hallway. Maybe crappy photos are better than no photos. I may need to just go for it!

We went into town for a birthday lunch for Mr HNW. We chose to go to Pitt Brothers, an American BBQ restaurant on George's Street. Mr HNW is big into ribs and he was very excited about a meat overload. He wasn't disappointed.

I originally had a white long sleeved top on but then Mr HNW reminded me where we were going for lunch and how saucy ribs can be so I had to do a quick change! I had a pulled pork bun with fries and mac and cheese. It was delicious and J also enjoyed it very much. He eats what we eat now and the mac and cheese in particular went down very well with him. It was pretty baby friendly overall actually, welcoming staff, room for buggies and a relaxed, casual atmosphere.

Of course, I couldn't resist a look in the shops afterwards so, leaving the boys to take J for a walk myself and my friend, Jane had a little mooch around Henry Street. In Stradivarius I came across a playsuit that caught my eye. I've never worn a playsuit before, I'm not sure if I can pull them off or where I would wear it. I tried it on and I'm still undecided. I'm going to have a think anyway and maybe order online if I need to.

I hope you all had an equally lovely Bank Holiday Sunday!

xxxx

Real Nappy Week

Before I go any further I should say I don't actually like the term "real nappies". It is used to describe cloth nappies but I find it a bit condescending, disposable nappies are not "fake". I don't know, maybe I am thinking about it too much or missing the point but it has a bit of a snooty earth mother vibe about it which I think could put some parents off.

Anyway, that's beside the point, real nappy week starts Monday 28th April (so we're well into it at the moment) and is a week where the use of cloth nappies is celebrated and promoted. The best thing about it for me is that a lot of cloth nappy retailers have specials and sell nappies for reduced prices. If you are thinking about trying cloth or need some more to bulk out your stash it's a great time to pick up a few bits.

My favourite nappy of choice at the moment for J is a Bumgenius Freetime. It is an all in one nappy so doesn't require any stuffing of inserts into pockets and they are just the most reliable nappy I've used.

Today, J was accidentally in one for about 6 hours (due to being out and awkward nap times) and it held perfectly. I've managed to pick up a few at a reduced price and also took the opportunity to try out a new brand so we'll see how that goes. Babies shapes and weeing habits change so nappies that did work well for you at one time can be terrible at another time. It's a good idea to have a stash of nappies that cover different brands and styles.

I was going to put together some details on sites that have offers on but I came across this link on Fluffy Mummy that really sums things up so much better than I could.

So, if you are interested in trying cloth or are a cloth addict and want to convert some of your friends, this is a good time to do it!

N
xxxx

Denim Blue Scarf and New Lace Shoes

Scarves are something I've got into a lot more in the last few months. I've always had a stash sitting in my wardrobe but never bothered to get them out and actually use them. There's a few bloggers out there who rock their scarves and this has really inspired me to get myself together on the scarf front.

One thing I've been looking for recently is a scarf with light denim blue colours in it to wear easily with jeans. I've been searching for a bit but came across this one in New Look the other day. 

It's a pale blue colour with gold threading at the edges. The site describes it as Pail Blue Gillter Trim Longline Scarf. I can't decide if that Pail is there intentionally (is Pail Blue a colour? Are buckets generally a blue colour?) or if someone at New Look HQ needs a spelling lesson. Hmm.....

Anyway, pale blue is not generally my colour (pale anything is generally not my colour, sadly) but this scarf has proved very handy. It's great to wear with denim and my gold Warehouse pumps. I can see it proving very useful this summer. 

While I was New Look, I also spotted these cream broderie anglaise pumps for €11.99 (which I'm also wearing above). 

For some reason I cannot find them on the New Look website. These ballet flats are the closest I can find.   I have a pair of navy Toms that I'm living in at the moment so I'm on the lookout for other comfy flats for summer because I don't want to destroy them by wearing them too much. I also thought they would be handy for the weddings I have coming up, my pro wedding tip is to bring flats with you to change into once the dancing starts. It can be a long day to be in a pair of heels. I do love me a good dance at a wedding!

They're very comfortable and make me smile thinking of Summer!

N
xxxx 

Who Doesn't Love A Bargain?

Last week I had a rare afternoon off. J was deposited with my Mum and I headed into town to meet friends for shopping, dinner and drinks. It was just heavenly, as strange as it sounds I felt like a real person again. I think I hadn't realised how much I needed a little bit of time off from everything just for me. So in the future, I'm making a conscious effort to have an evening like that at least once a month. I'm lucky that I have help, Mr HNW is great with J and my mum helps out a lot too. It must be tough with less support so I'm very grateful for being able to get some me time every so often.

I was shopping with a purpose. I even had a little list (how organised!) so I wouldn't go mad and spend money I didn't have. I have quite a few weddings coming up over the next few months and I needed a pair of shoes to go with two dresses I have, as well as my new navy jacket that I had spotted online.

Despite my best intentions, I did purchase a few things that weren't on my list because I really can't resist a bargain. I looooove getting stuff on sale, especially if it's something I've had my eye on for a while.

We popped into Debenhams to have a look at their fascinators (some of which were hilariously massive). My friend wanted to take a quick look at the Mantaray concession, a brand I'd never heard of before. Most of the stock, while lovely, wasn't really my style but then I spotted this gilet on the 70% off rail.

Worn here with distressed Boyfriend Jeans (similar here)
Navy Toms
Grey Luxlight Sweater (on sale at the moment !)

It was reduced from €85 to €25. What a bargain! Especially as I'd had my eye on a navy gilet from Fat Face for the last couple of months and it costs £65. I couldn't justify spending that much on one, especially as I wasn't sure how much wear I would get out of it.

The gilet has a fab fairisle fleece lining and a fur hood. There is one review on the Debenhams website that says it is small fitting but I didn't find that and actually bought it in a size 8. There are other colours and patterns on sale for the same price but I'm a sucker for teal so I couldn't resist.

Even though the weather is warming up (slowly!) I think I'll get a bit of wear out of it before the summer starts. Some days are still a bit nippy so a gilet with a long sleeved top underneath will be perfect. I've already worn it a good bit over the last few days, it's so easy just to throw it on with a pair of boyfriend jeans.

I also popped into town over the long weekend for a wander with Mr HNW and the baba and came across these skinny mini khakis in Gap reduced to €9.99.

They seem to be full price (€39.95) on the website which is strange. The codes and item description matches so it is the same pair of trousers, and the tag (pictured below) has the same information on it.

It's all very strange, I have found with Gap that it is worth going into the store to look for bargains as what is online doesn't seem to match the stock in store. Again, what a bargain! To be honest, I do already have a similar pair from Boden I bought last summer (although they are a lighter colour) but I couldn't say no at that price. The fit is great and even better I bought them in a size 8. It was worth getting them for that feeling alone! All that denying myself chocolate has been worth it.

Worn here with Boden Henley Striped Top

They had quite a big section on sale actually, but nearly all the tops were only available in a medium or bigger and Gap sizes for tops are massive as it is so there were no bargains there for me. Quite a lot of their scarves in lovely bright colours were reduced though, most were 60% off but I resisted!

Finding a good bargain always makes me happy anyway. I hope some of you have found some good bargains recently too!

N
xx

Dressing Your Little Boy

I always think it much be so much easier to dress a little baby girl. In kids shops the girls section is always much bigger and with a much more varied selection. If you have a little boy, you're kind of stuck with jeans/cords/tracksuit bottoms with a long sleeved top that usually has a tractor or boat on it, unless you want to spend a lot more money on kids clothes than I'm prepared to. In saying that, the lack of choice probably makes it easier once you have the clothes at home. It's easy to have them dressed and looking vaguely put-together.

Recently, I've been looking for formal outifts for J. We have a number of weddings this year but most are child-free. We are going to a wedding in France in June (so excited!) and J will  be coming with us so I needed something for him to wear then. He'll be 12 months old by then and if he continues the way he is (there is a lot of cruising going on in our house at the moment), probably walking, or very close to it, so I needed something that was still relatively comfortable for him but suitable for a wedding.

I loved these outfits from Mama and Papas:

Welcome To The World 5 Piece Blazer Set - €61 

Welcome To The World 5 Piece Blazer Set -€67

The price is just too much for me though. I can't justify spending over €60 on something he will wear for one day and will likely have filthy within twenty minutes. We have another wedding early next year and I am a bridesmaid so J will need to be all dressed up like his Mama. I'm hoping they'll go on sale over the summer and I will be able to pick one up half price. I'm checking the site every so often anyway so fingers crossed.

Littlewoods have this 4 piece suit set for €37:

It is available from newborn to 7 years (although a lot of the older sizes are sold out) but it seemed a little bit too grow-up looking for my little baba. I wanted something a little bit cuter while he is still small.

In the end I purchased this outfit from H&M for a very reasonable €25. I'm thinking he'll look very French at his French wedding. Also, I thought it was casual enough that he could wear the little trousers and cardigan on other occasions too. I'm taking bets on how long that dickie bow will stay on though, 5 minutes maybe?

I'm dying to see him in it. I'll be taking lots of photos to document the cuteness while it lasts.

If anyone knows anywhere that has good boys wear, formal or not, please share. I'm always on the look-out. I'm telling you, I'd be lethal in the shops if I had a girl!

N
xxx

100 Happy Days

Some of you may have heard of this doing the rounds on Facebook. Basically 100 Happy Days is a challenge where you take a picture every day for 100 days of something that makes you smile and post it on the social media site of your choice - with the appropriate hashtag.

You need to register with the site and you can either use the public hashtag or if you want to keep your contributions a bit more private (which I do) you can register your own hashtag so only your friends/followers can see what you post.

I was really enjoying some of my Facebook friends'contributions, they were all of small things like a bar of chocolate they had treated themselves too, or Spring flowers in the park, just things they had spotted that brightened up their day a little bit.. All the photos I've seen have made me smile too.

I really liked the idea of using a challenge like this to help me appreciate the small things in life, it's easy to let negativity take over when you're busy and there's enough horrible things posted on the internet, it is nice to see more positive things. The idea of taking time to share the things that made your day a little better just seemed like a worthwhile challenge.

So far, I am day 3 and my photos have consisted of J giving me a cuddle on the couch (he's normally too busy for cuddles during the day), some red pandas at Dublin Zoo and J's nappies hanging in the sun to dry (I don't usually have access to a washing line).

According to their website 71% of people fail the challenge, citing lack of time as the reason. As I'm only on day 3 it's obviously easy for my to be enthusiastic but I'd really love to finish the challenge, even just to have 100 days of photos to look back on.

So, here's to another 97 happy days!

N
xx

Navy Waterfall Jacket

I used to be a strictly cardigan girl, having them in a rainbow of colours but over the last year or so I've been steadily getting more and more into jackets and blazers. My grey Mango blazer has been worn a lot over the last couple of months and I recently realised that I had no jacket I could wear with navy - which I have a lot of in my wardrobe currently.

I wanted something light for summer and after some hunting online I came across this waterfall jacket from New Look.

I was in town a few days ago so popped into New Look hoping they would have the jacket in stock (I find the New Look website such a pain to use. I had stuff delivered from there to New Zealand before but for some reason the site does not like me entering an Irish address so I've given up). Luckily they did have it in stock and I snapped it up. It's slightly smaller fitting so I bought it in a size 10 to make sure I had room to layer easily.

Worn here with my new Gap legging jeans, a burgundy top I bought years ago in New Zealand (similar here - on sale as well), denim shoes from Korky's (they are like Irregular Choice shoes which I love - there is a similar pair here with a daisy on them. After looking this up I want so many pairs of shoes. This blog is dangerous!)

I wore this out to the theatre the other night. The jacket is still a little chilly for April so I had a coat on over it but I just love it. It's available in mint and coral as well and I'm very tempted, especially by the mint. My only concern is the material. I had a black jacket from River Island I bought a few years ago made of the same material and you just couldn't wash the jacket at all. The material started to thin at the seams so it looked like it was ripped. I'm a pretty messy person so wearing something you can't wash isn't great for me but for €30 I figured it was ok to take a punt. Here's hoping!

N
xxx