Jubilee dresses

The Queen's Jubilee is fast approaching and the stores are jam pack with jubilee memorabilia, which reminds me I must find a princess outfit in red, white and blue for my daughter to wear to school tomorrow. She does have a lovely skirt in red and blue that I bought from Boden a while back so that will have to do, just have to find a white top now.

While you may not always find a dress with the colours you are looking for try improvising and use the jubilee coloured accessories.  By adding royal blue accessories like a belt, scarf, hat, necklace and earrings, polkadot rings or blue sandals even to this red and white strip dress you certainly cannot be accused of not being a royalist. 

The jubilee street parties are also on and many of you are sure to be getting the barbie out on the weekend if not attending someone else's barbecue garden party.  It promises to be a festive weekend all round with many online stores offering mega discounts and online offers.  If you are looking for your own jubilee dress to wear then here are some bargains you just cannot resist.

Boden - 25 % off all menswear and 20% of all womenswear including free delivery.  Offer ends tonight so get shopping for that jubilee dress.

Debenhams- up to 60% of furniture and beds. 20% off all home, 20% off dresses, 20% off men's polo and tee shirts, 20% off all designer kidswear, 255 off all womens sandals

Clothes and appliance shopping in one

There's lots to argue about when trying to agree on a house you both like and when you do move in, there are further rows about whether or not you should totally update the bathroom or reuse perfectly good bathroom suites.  But one thing we both agree on is the fact that we need a dishwasher like yesterday as we are both tired of having to wash dishes manually.  What a chore when you are preparing meals twice daily for four.!!!

As usual I have been online looking for bargains not that there is much to be had when it comes to appliances as the competition is great and the margins small.  I must admit it is one of the things I am fearful of buying online unless it is from a reputable seller.  When I think about appliances my first port of call is Curry's or Comet but while browsing the new in categories for Marks and Spencer and John Lewis I realised that they are not only fabulous shopping outlets for clothes and fashion accessories but are great online one stop shops  for purchasing appliances.

I have had a look in the stores and online and have finally decided that I want a heavy duty reliable dishwasher brand like Bosch or Siemens with at least an A++ rating and using not more than 10 litres of water.  This is especially important as we are metered here and this plus the energy efficiency can save us a bundle in the end. Like my clothes I prefer to pay a bit more up front to have it last me a lot longer.

I think we have been procrastinating as we do need a new kitchen but rather than wait until a new kitchen is fitted, I'm just going to go ahead and get myself a fully integrated dishwasher which can easily be integrated in the new kitchen when it comes.  For now I'm simply going to slot my integrated dishwasher into place and use as it could be months before we agree on a new kitchen.

Crossover dress with copper jewellery

Moving house is always a great time to de-clutter in theory. But this is far easier said than done when you are a hoarder like me. There I was having to make split second decisions on what's staying or going as we had to pack in a mad rush. I got rid of quite a lot in the end though in hind sight I felt it would have been far easier to just get the packers in even though I'm not always comfortable with strangers handling my stuff.

Clothes on the other hand is probably one of the easiest things to pack when moving as your clothes are simply transferred on their hangers from your wardrobe to the movers wardrobe boxes and drawers from your chest of drawers are simply transported as is.  Yet because I knew I had a luncheon date at one of Birmingham's finest a la carte restaurant, Edmunds,  a few days after moving, I left nothing to chance and took the precaution of packing my intended outfit this crossover dress by Autograph separately.  I also packed my brown high heeled leather sandals and fashion accessories to avoid the mad panic of finding the right head scarf and jewellery to go with this dress.  My biggest dilemma was deciding whether to wear my copper jewellery to accentuate this ruched wrap dress or my unique pearl jewellery.  In the end, on the day I opted for copper earrings and my bali girl copper bracelet as it was a gloriously sunny day out.

Stripes are such a timeless favourite, which means that this autograph cross-over v-neck striped drape dress will certainly be hanging in my wardrobe (when it's constructed again) for a long time. 

Ruched orchid print dress

Today is the kind of day when you get up and open up all the curtains in the house as you think that such booming sunshine outside can only mean that all is right with the world and we are going to have a bit of spring weather and a cracking hot summer.

This mornings mail just came through the door and what do you know - yippee a wedding invitation!!!!!!  Not until June though which gives me ample time to put an outfit and accessories together. I am always blessed to get myself an invitation to a wedding every year and I do so love weddings but can't help but agonise about getting my wedding outfit just right as after all it is a camera ready moment especially if you are caught on the wedding video and pictures.   

I like to think of it as a historical moment as once you are caught in the wedding video or wedding photos its not likely that they will be thrown away any time soon or ever at all. Plus these days you never know where these photos will end up as you can find yourself tagged in a photo on facebook where the person posting the photo looks absolutely fabulous and you like something the cat dragged in.

It's nice when I can simply wear an old wardrobe favorite but can I take the chance that I won't be double tagged on facebook at two different events in the same outfit.  A bit vain I know but I like to keep my look fresh and unpredictable.  At least the only thing predictable about my outfit is the fact that it will be stunning and unusual even if stunning simply meant a piece of unique jewellery to add tremendous depth and glamour to my wedding outfit.  With this orchid print dress, which is fabulous for concealing stomach and other bulges, all I'm going to need is my munique rock crystal bracelet if at all.  Just have to decide on which colour shoes now. 

Tribal prints and ethnic wedges

Everywhere I looked today I was treated to delightful ethnic and tribal prints in varying designs and styles. Bright and tropical colours were the order today as it was a whooping 24 degrees out today. Is this the start of a hot summer? Too early to tell really but no harm in getting your summer wardrobe ready in anticipation of those impromptu barbecues and holiday essentials not to mention the London Olympics which is sure to inspire some impromptu barbecues and "limes", to use a Caribbean term. A "lime" is simply people getting together to relax and enjoy each others company.

I am always amazed how once the season changes our clothes changes to match the foliage around us a bit like a chameleon I imagine as we take our inspiration from nature. While bright, bold colours is a unifying factor when it comes to fashion we can differentiate ourselves in the styles and prints that we chose to bring out the best in our fashion personality and body shape.

Ethnic wedges like these Lois Ikat print strap cork demi wedge however is an accessory that is totally missing from my wardrobe and something I simply must remedy as I am finding so many fabulous wedges in tribal prints to choose from online.  These chunky cork wedges are a great alternative if you shy away from colours and print or simply want to try your feet at ethnic chic and glamour.  So when I'm not wearing my gorgeously flat rose leather summer sandals I will certainly be lengthening my legs in one of these stunning wedges.