From this week's weather it would appear that summer is completely over (9 degrees here!) and I haven't kept my blog up to date with what we've been doing. As you know, these posts are really just for me to look back on in the future so if you come here for the fashion updates, skip over this one, clothes will be back next week. Despite the awful weather, summer 2024 has been one of the least travelled but most [...]
I realise that it's still quite warm and if you're anything like me, you're determined to cling on to every last drop of summer (actually it still feels like the first drops of summer but I won't go there!). However there's no denying that the evenings are cooler and it's getting darker much earlier - autumn is on its way. There will be a day soon when you suddenly realise that the wardrobe turnover is due and so today's [...]
The sun is out in the North! It is! So I can either spend the next few hours writing a blogpost which, given the number of out of office replies I get each time I send one as well as the much lower than usual number of comments, isn't feeling very encouraging at the moment. OR... I can take advantage of the fact that both of my boys are at a loose end this afternoon and are up for [...]
It's another quick catch-up today because I'm immersed in trying to write my book and it feels like time's running out - my Inbox is full of emails about autumn launches and Christmas so my quieter summer period is nearly over. I'm not sure how I'm going to juggle things over the months ahead but for now that's a September problem. So just to keep in touch, here's another slice of summer midlife lately. The weather here has gone [...]
Continuing with my series of shorter posts, here's a little summer 24 midlife lately catch-up but first I must just thank you profusely for all of the answers you gave to my question last week. I'm busy going through them and I'm so grateful to everyone who's shared so much, please know that even though it's anonymous I still feel honoured to have your confidence. I will try my utmost to pull something good from everything you've told me - [...]
Happy Friday! It's just a quick post today because I'm pleased to say that I've actually begun the writing phase of the book and now I find I can't stop. I should have just sat down and started typing ages ago but I've been churning in a state of not feeling qualified to do it. However by beginning with a couple of the chapters that come to me easily, I'm now getting somewhere. There is one area where I [...]
I'm playing catch-up today. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we were off for a short break as part of our summer of music project. And I'll start with an apology for the photos - we really didn't take very many because we just switched off and pottered around but I'm pulling together what we have. Our destination was Margate, it's a resort that you hear a lot about but it's a long way from a lot of [...]
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I promised to write a longer post for people who are approaching the empty nest and wondering what's next for their relationship. I'm also being told that if my book is to be fully representative of midlife onwards it needs to talk intelligently and sensitively about sex because it's such an important part of it all. So I'm practicing on you because I always feels like I'm talking to friends and I [...]
It's a quick post today because I'm heading off for a little break as I mentioned last week. The weather's been... well you know... so I don't have any interesting outfits to show you. Instead I thought I'd answer some of the questions I've been asked recently by readers, friends or in interviews I've done. They're a bit random, they cover style, life, books and beauty but hopefully there's something interesting in there for everyone. Questions I've been asked recently [...]
Before we begin, don't worry - I haven't turned into a trad-wife. After a tightly packed few days, total meltdown on the trains saw me stranded in London last week and so I had to take some drastic measures which resulted in an experiment I'd never anticipated - the week my husband dressed me [spoiler - he didn’t do a bad job!]. This is the first of the series of shorter posts that I'm going to be writing over the [...]
Another of the big sales has begun and as with John Lewis there are some great value buys to be had if you're quick. Today I'm taking you through the Boden sale and clearance - what to buy, the great value pieces that will work hard in your wardrobe. Here's my deep dive into the styles that are worth looking at. Dresses Timeless summer dresses I have this linen dress in a brighter red from last year's collection and it's [...]
It's slightly terrifying that we've reached the end of season sales already isn't it? And it's always significant when John Lewis launch theirs because they fire the starting gun for the rest of the retail industry. There's a lot to plough through this year. The bad weather may have made us all grumpy for the last few weeks but it does mean that there are great buys to be had - some are reductions but the real gems are in [...]
I think this will be my last post on the main SS24 collections. We're approaching the longest day so we're growing ever closer to sale season but as you'll have seen from the new TV ad, M&S have gloriously defied the traditional retail calendar with a new release that's bursting with colourful style. And it makes sense doesn't it? Summer has barely shown its face yet in the UK so there's no way that any of us want to see [...]
Midlife travel solo Last month I told you all about my women only trip sailing around Thailand. That post looked at where we went and what we did but there was so much to say that I couldn't finish with what it taught me and that's what I want to talk about today. People set out on midlife travel solo journeys for all kinds of reasons but travelling without Mal wasn't something I'd ever thought of doing before and I'm [...]
I haven't worked with John Lewis for ages - there's a new team in place and so today's post is going be a little bit different. I usually do a summer post earlier than this and I tend to go straight to their own brand ranges because I find they suit all kinds of different body shapes and sizes. The good thing about working with new people though is that they have different approaches and they asked whether this [...]
I've had lots of people requesting a return to the brand specific spotlight posts that I ran in the autumn. SS24 has been a bit of a juggle in terms of work, travel and blog so I haven't had time to put a consistent series together but today I'm delighted to be bringing you another one, this time it's a Me+Em review - Retailer Spotlight. Me+Em - brand background in a nutshell Disclosure: [...]
I think for a lot of midlifers the concept of summer changes, especially when you find yourself no longer bound by school term dates or even edging towards retirement. Time stretches and you can take advantage of booking a holiday earlier or later in the season and actually enjoy summer in the UK. But that of course comes with its own challenges, specifically weather because it's rarely quite as good as you imagine it's going to be. And that's where [...]
Hello, it's just a quick post today because sadly one of Mal's aunties has died so we've been spending a bit of time over in Newcastle with the family for the funeral this week. She had a long and happy life so it's been a bit of a celebration too but obviously it's still difficult for those who were closest to her. I didn't have very long to put a post together before we left but what to wear to [...]
At last it's time to tell you about my sudden but very exciting journey sailing around Thailand - women-only trip of a lifetime. There's such a lot to say that I need to split it into two instalments. Today I'll tell you about the trip and what we did, then next month I'll talk about how it felt to travel with people I hadn't met before and the lessons I learned. So let's begin. Sailing Around Thailand - women-only [...]
Another new season try-on today with a look at the continuing evolution of White Stuff. A few of you have been saying that you're missing the retail insight posts that I ran back in the autumn so I'm going to go a little deeper into the the brand background on this one. As you know, I've been following their progress for a while now, ever since they undertook what they called their "quiet" rebrand in 2021. As a retailer [...]
I'm busy playing catch-up and so my Boden edit for April is running a little bit late but at least it's now warmer than when we took these photographs last weekend. We were in Newcastle with a bitter east wind blowing and I've assimilated to Geordie life pretty well but not their capacity for short sleeves and sandals in sub zero temperatures so some of the outfits had to be kept inside! It's a great feeling knowing we've finally made [...]
I'm back from my travels and my head feels a bit like an old fashioned camera film - full of undeveloped moments. I need a bit of time to process them so I will write about my trip and also about the intense (and wonderful) experience of spending a week with strangers who have now become friends - but not yet. I've had a lot to catch up on this week, not helped by the fact that my brain is [...]
Hello, as promised the charity sale starts today raising funds for Blood Cancer UK. It's been over two years since I've done one so there's a lot of stuff! I often get a few grumbles when I do this so I'd just like to point out that nobody who writes about clothes can ever wear all of the clothes they're gifted. They're often the compensation you're given in return for featuring a brand on your site and I only ever [...]
Now that our minds are focused firmly towards better weather I'm bringing you another new season try-on today, this time focusing on new styles for spring from John Lewis. So let's have a catch-up on what's been going on there since I last covered them in October. As you probably know it's all change at the top with the return of Peter Ruis as executive director. He first joined the store in 2005 and was responsible for the huge fashion [...]
And so it's time for us to think about our spring wardrobes. Despite the weather's grimmest efforts this weekend I'm convinced that we're going to have a good summer this year - it may be wishful thinking because we're remaining solidly in the UK but I'm sending it out there! Today I'm delighted to be looking at the new season drop from M&S. They're a brand I haven't focused on for a while - as you know that's because [...]
There are times when you settle into a flight home and wonder if you've even been away. And there are others where you've done so much that you feel as if you've completed an episode in the story of your life. That's how our journey through the Valencia region of Spain was, even though we were only travelling for ten days it felt like a month (in a good way I should add!). In a short time we experienced so [...]
Meteorologically at least it's time for Spring 24 - first thoughts about the trends. The buds are bursting, the birds are singing and the new collections are starting to drop. This winter feels as though it's been a long one and although we still have a little way to go, I'll be very glad to see the back of it. So today I'm looking at Boden's new collection which has an opening offer of 15% off with code Q2Y6 (until [...]
With it being Midlifechic's 10th birthday a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd delve into the stats to see what my most popular post has been and ever since I wrote it over five years ago, it's been the one about finding the best bra for your breast shape. Of course it's all a bit out of date now so I thought it was time for a refresh - after all there's no point in moving on to new [...]
It's a bit of a cornucopia today - I don't know about you but I'm starting to feel the winter blues so I'm looking for spring wardrobe lifts that work now. Starting with clothes, I'm not ready to think about buying anything major yet in terms of outfits. The new collections won't arrive for a while but having seen the trends and some of the retail previews, I have a good idea of what I'm hoping to wear this year. [...]
It feels as though the year is slowly opening its eyes doesn't it? My grandma was an incurable romantic and she insisted that Valentine's Day was the day when every bird found its mate. Obviously nature isn't quite as well programmed as that but some are pairing off already - the owls in our garden have been busy for ages and now the herons on the canal are catching up. It does feel as if hope is there, even if [...]
We've made it to February my friends and a huge thank you for your enthusiastic response to the meet-up. Mal confiscated my phone on Friday evening to stop me thinking about it so I was over the moon to see that it had sold out on Saturday. For those who've asked, I've managed to add five more places, they've just gone live - link here. I'll move back to the subject of clothes next week but today is another post [...]
My goodness thank you so much for all of your input after last week's post. If you haven't been back to look at the comments on the tougher aspects of midlife and how to deal with them, do take a few minutes to read through them. They show that we're living through it in a completely different way to the generations before us and so we're having to work things out as we go along - but it's helped me [...]
I'm going to carry on addressing some of the issues you shared with me in last October's survey today. For everyone who's asking, I will talk about style and run the retailer spotlights again but not at the moment when the shops are short on inspiration and we're all wrapped up against the snow. So today is all about the difficult parts of midlife that nobody prepares you for - the rough comes with the smooth - and how to [...]
I'll be completely honest with you - my mojo is still lounging on a sofa somewhere in December 2023, refusing to join me in the stark grey light of January. I feel like I've had a classic new year's week where everything's been a struggle - the world of retail feels like a moonscape at the moment - barren, cold and definitely low on oxygen. There's nothing fun coming up in my diary, it's cold and dark and everyone I [...]
Well it's back to it this week with a big happy new 2024 to you. How does it feel? Are you full of fresh starts or is it a bit like having a bucket of cold water tipped over your head? I have to say I'm in the latter camp - the dates didn't fall well this time did they? It was almost as if I hurtled straight from the sparkle of New Year's Eve into the grim reality of [...]
