Well here we are on 'Brexit Day' at the end of what must have been one of the craziest weeks in British history. Our business is feeling the impact. We work with a number of Sci-Tech businesses that are being badly hit by the loss of European funding, the stalling of potential global funding and the inability to get innovations passed in the absence of a governing system. As a result, some people we know are facing the loss of [...]
I've been compiling Mother's Day gift posts for as long as I've worked in retail and as always, this year they're everywhere. So when Marks and Spencer approached me to put one together for them, I pushed back. But then they asked me to go beyond the clichés and do it with a difference and after spending some time looking through their site, I felt that I could. So, today I'm thinking about Mother's Day and the gifts that you [...]
Before I start, I have to say thank you to Nicky Keep who sent me a picture of the above jumper when she was shopping in Sainsbury's - I rushed straight out to find one! It's my last day in the office and I'm hoping to log off for two whole weeks so that means that this is probably the last post of 2018. I haven't really had a chance to look back at the year yet but I feel [...]
Hello, its a post of two halves today because this week has taken an unexpected turn. I'll move onto that later but I want to start by telling you about the dinner party that I mentioned we were hosting last weekend. You see a little while ago I was contacted by a company called La Belle Assiette. I hadn't heard of them before but they're an online chef service. Their website covers most of the UK and it enables you [...]
I do find the new retail calendar weird. Mid-season sales in the third week of September would have been unheard of a few years ago but of course retailers do smaller drops throughout the season now to meet the demand for perpetual newness. So, I have two of these new drops to whizz through with you. They're both from retailers that tend to sell through quickly and in my eyes, these are the best pieces from the latest collections. Hush [...]
I thought I'd take a breather from the madness of new season so that we can have a quick catch up. Today I'm bringing you a post of recent outfits, try-ons and a midlife lately catch up which has ended up being more introspective than I intended but that's what happens when I have something on my mind. So, as far as the weather is concerned, we seem to be sliding quickly into Autumn here but every so often, summer [...]
And so here we go, the last taste of high summer on Midlifechic before we move on to Autumn. That means we should talk a little bit about beach holiday style before we move into cosy jumper and boots territory. So here's my beach holiday packing post mortem. Packing for a beach holiday - conclusions As an experiment, I packed differently this year. You may have noticed that about 95% of my holiday wardrobe focused on dresses. Once I'd worn [...]
Hello, I'm back and I've already been down to London but I'm itching to blog again so I thought I'd divide our Kalkan summer holiday into two parts. You see we didn't really do much in the first week which means I have enough time to give you part one today. So, seeing as the forecast is bad for the Bank Holiday weekend, I'll bring you a taste of sunshine. Before I get to that though, let me tell you [...]
I've been interviewed for a few magazines and websites recently. So, given that quite a few of you said you'd enjoyed the FAQ post I did last year, I thought I'd pull some of the questions together just to fill the gap while we're away. I've added some of the questions that I'm asked regularly by readers too so it's a bit random... but welcome to the inside of my head (my family would tell you that it can be [...]
And so the world of style blogging is hitting its summer lull. As the sales are in full swing and the storybook sunshine goes on, I can feel my mind turning away from its usual fascination with retail towards the things that matter more. I'm very aware that for our family, this will be our last calm summer for a while. We have no important exam results to anticipate and when autumn comes, our status quo will continue with everyone [...]
Hello, I'm back. My schedule is still slightly disrupted but it's good to be blogging again. Let me tell you all about our trip to Valencia which turned out to be very simple and very relaxed - just what we all needed. This is one of those posts that is a bit of a personal journal as well as a midlife style blog. As you know, one of the reasons I write is for any future great, great grandchildren of [...]
This morning I am feeling every one of my 51 years which could have something to do with the fact that I decided to party like a 15 year-old in celebration of my 51st birthday. I haven't stopped all weekend and my brain is dead so I'm going to let the pictures do the talking and share a bit of my birthday joy with you. It all started on Friday night when my sister and brother-in-law popped over with presents. [...]
It's my birthday tomorrow which means I've been 50 for a whole year. Like most people I still reel slightly when I have to write my age on a form but other than that, I feel great about it. I've just had one of the best years of my life, not because anything particularly remarkable happened but because everything finally started to make sense. I noticed this new feeling of 'rightness' when I was chatting to my auntie on her [...]
(Note to confused overseas readers - Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday is on 11th March in the UK) I've always maintained that Mother's Day is my favourite day of the year. It's better than a birthday because you don't get any older and it's a celebration of the incredible task that we undertake as we help our children grow into decent human beings. For the last 20 years I've been lucky. On Mother's Day my nest has been full and [...]
It's the time of year when everyone's thoughts turn to love. Whether you like it or not, you are surrounded by hearts and flowers and meal deals for two. I have been endlessly prodded by retailers to create lists of things we should buy to prove to our loves how treasured they are. And as I've been drafting emails in reply, explaining why I'm not running a "50 things to buy your Valentine" post, it's made me think hard about [...]
Hello - and a very Happy January to you all, I hope you've had a wonderful break. We had a lovely couple of weeks off despite being beset by illness and I'll tell you all about it in a 'midlife lately' post next week. In the meantime, I'm just popping up briefly. The boys don't go back to school until Monday and so I'm trying to be around while they're off. You see we were chatting over dinner one night [...]
I'm following on from my post about leather leggings with a focus on a different type of trouser. You see when I was down in London last week, I gambled on not having to stand up too much in my consultancy sessions. For once, I travelled light without 'street shoes' in my bag. It misfired. I was working with a larger team than expected and so I had to stand to enable everyone to hear (and see) me. We were [...]
As always, it's the small things that get under your skin isn't it? For the last couple of years, as I've descended the stairs I've been aware of a patch of carpet on our landing that has been getting thinner and thinner. Last week, it finally wore through. Of course the £1,000 plus that will be required to replace it is one of the reasons that I've been ignoring it- but it's more than that. The hole in the carpet [...]
I have a late addition to the summer sales for you. Hope will be opening their sale tomorrow (Saturday 8th July) and I have a VIP preview which means you can go onto the site and snap up the bargains before everyone else. In preparation for the new stock arriving, they are having a huge clearout from past seasons and a lot of items are 70% off. It's a great opportunity to buy something of high quality at an amazing price. Here [...]
Today I'm talking about Hush, another of our favourite Midlifechic brands. I've been trying to meet the team there for a while and it has become almost a running joke between us that whenever one of us suggests a date in London, the other can't make it. In the end serendipity played a part when I went down to London for the John Lewis 'Christmas in July' event. I'll tell you more about that soon but the important thing for today [...]
I know a lot of you are facing this as I was last year, the countdown to the day when your son or daughter leaves for university. They will be brimming over with anticipation as you brim with tears of dread. I thought it might be helpful to give you an idea of what to expect, not from an expert point of view, just from a fellow mum who has been through it. It is going to be hard for you, however [...]
So let's get on with the second instalment of "Kefalonia with teenagers." The first week of our holiday flew by. For a change of scene, we hopped onto the ferry that trundled into the harbour every morning and headed over towards the mainland for an afternoon. Prices were about 30% lower than in Fiscardo so we had an especially nice lunch and did a bit of kaftan shopping. The distinctive thrum of a Greek ferry engine transported me right back to [...]
Hello - I'm back, it feels like a long time since I've posted. So - as a lot of you guessed, our mystery destination was Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands. I managed to keep it a secret until a few days before we left when I had to give the boys a small clue in case they read my last post. As it was with you, the one I chose was too easy - Hellas. In an instant they knew [...]
I had an email last week from a reader, Sue, asking about how to have a happy family holiday with teenagers. She said “you seem to manage to really enjoy your holidays with your boys. When my two were little I used to look forward to them being bigger, I imagined that holidays would be more relaxing but actually I find them really stressful. Now that they're both teenagers they just seem to be bored and we end up having [...]
So the sales have started early. Because the weather has been bad there is a glut of clothing that retailers need to offload and temptation is everywhere. I've been through a number of stores and picked out what I think are the best bargains but before we start, let's make sure we set off on the right track. 12 things to remember when you hit the summer sales Don't forget that high summer clothing only needs to be a very small percentage of [...]
Paris is always a good idea - you'll be pleased to know that our trip was good. So good in fact that I've had to break it up into 3 consecutive posts, Paris by day followed by 2 Parisian nights. So, how do you spend two days in Paris when you already know the city well? You revisit a few of your favourite places and make the rest up as you go along. This was our weekend... When we woke up on [...]
One of the interesting things that my new site has shown me is which have been my most popular posts over the last 2 years. Top of the leaderboard is 'chic basics for women over 40'. Unfortunately because it is now so old, most of the products are no longer stocked so today I'm giving it an update. Here are my capsule pieces for a simple Spring wardrobe, the no brainer items that enable you to look perpetually well put [...]
As we come to the end of the year I'm in a reflective mood so I thought I'd share an article about a new year life audit that I read at the hairdresser's. Unfortunately because I took a photo of the pages I can't tell you which magazine it was but it was by Libby Purves and she was talking about a new year walk that she takes with her husband (she said that it was important to do it without your children to [...]
It's a happy day in our house today - it's our wedding anniversary. I have more reason to celebrate than most because my life now is my very own happy ending. As with all good fairytales though, I had to go through a struggle to reach it... ...Shall I tell you the story? Are You sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin... Once upon a time there was a girl who left university with her whole life ahead of her. Even though [...]
