Style Not Age - Kimono my House.

Hello and good to have you join me today.

What have you been up to?

It was my daughters birthday on Friday, so instead of my usual dancing we had all the kids over for a takeaway and a couple of drinks.  As you can imagine with 7 kids running around, it was quite hectic and VERY loud and busy.  

On Saturday after mowing both lawns David and I had a date at a local restaurant.  We'd got vouchers from the kids for Christmas and this was our opportunity to use them.  The Firepit at The Cave in Boughton was every bit as good as they'd told us it would be.  We decided to have the taster menu and added a further dish which, fortunately we managed to devour.  Let me tease you with our choices - 

Voodoo Prawns, Sugar Snap Peas, Panko Black Sesame Monkfish, Marinated Beef Strips, Smoked St Louis Cha Sui Pork Ribs, Tempura Fried Sweet Potato, Charred Tenderstem Broccoli followed by Chocolate Mountain (amazing) and Strawberry Lime Pavlova all washed down with a bottle of champagne and an interesting cocktail called a K Pop Martini - you must check out my Instagram post featuring this alluring drink.

It's the last Monday of the month which means only one thing ... the ladies from Style Not Age are sharing their ideas on a topic challenge set my Gail.  She's suggested we all style our kimono's for the title ...

Kimono My House!

Reviewing my Zuvi Hair Dryer - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there, and welcome to the blog.

Did you have a wonderful weekend?

I seem to have been busy over the past few weeks and you may have caught one of my experiences last week when I went for a Punt on the River Stour.  the kids have been round lots too and have been keeping me very busy, along with the gym and dance classes there wasn't much time left.

The other Saturday I went to a friend's house who lives up the road.  It was the annual croquet tournament and you can read all about my lovely afternoon sharing what I ate and who won here.

David and I had a wonderful afternoon with lots of laughs, drinking and advising how to play the game which got funnier as the day went on!

Are you a "leave your hair to dryer naturally" type of person, or do you religiously dry your hair with a hairdryer?  I'm the latter and am always interested to hear about & use new products - so I was delighted to review the Zuvi Halo Hair Dryer * which has been inspired by nature.

Items marked with * have been gifted to me - this is a sponsored post.

White and Green, what I wanted to wear!

Morning all.

Well what a weekend that was.  

Saturday was the family party, we were worried about the rain making an appearance, and yes you guessed it poured all afternoon!  Mum had booked a bouncy castle for the little ones, and they did manage to play on it ... in the rain and they were all soaked!  We all crowed in my mum's house - fortunately she has two big reception rooms which we made good use of, my only worry was the cream carpet that was in one of them!  We'd all taken a dish or two each and we had so much food there was something for everyone.

I'd made a coronation chicken with wild rice and a lemon tart.  Both, I'm pleased to say went down really well.  There was also: chicken drumsticks, tortilla, salad, potato salad, coleslaw, pizza's, cold meats, a fish dish, crisps & dips and lots of other delicious plates of food.  Mum supplied the drinks of which there was copious amounts (I didn't have too many - do I get brownie points?)  She'd also got some big outdoor games that some of the children played inside, but to be honest they just like playing together and made good use of the rooms getting quite rowdy at times (I blame the sweets they had).  There was also ice cream in cones and lots of sprinkles to squander - fortunately none left any marks on the carpet, so all in all it was a winning afternoon.

Today I thought I'd share what I wanted to wear to the party, but figured with the weather not being great and the fact kids would be having ice cream - Neopolitan - probs wouldn't be a good choice eh!

Tilletts Clothing Jogger Set - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Morning my friends.

Hope you're all great and enjoying the month of July.

The weather here in the UK has been very strange. Still quite hot most of the time, but with thunderstorms and rain to contend with what to wear has become quite a conundrum. I even put on a jogger suit the other day as the rain had dropped the temperatures and it felt quite chilly!

We have a big family party on Saturday in my mum's garden, so I hope the weather plays nicely and stays dry for us all, or it's going to a big squeeze in her house!  Mum tries to have a get together every year, but that doesn't always work, but this year most of us will be there to enjoy lots of lovely food (we all take a dish) plenty of drinks and fun times with the kids.  She's got some giant outdoor games, like connect 4, and snakes and ladders which will keep them entertained, but when they are all together, they seem to play their own games so everyone is chilled and has fun.

I haven't got any plans for Sunday, I just would really like to get in the garden and have a nice BBQ, I've not had one this year and my garden furniture hasn't had the chance to shine this year.  I want to feel the sun on my legs so I can get a bit of a tan.  In past years I had a few sessions on the sunbed early in the year, but with no holidays to get ready for this year I haven't bothered.  My legs are an embarrassing pasty white, and I've been meaning to get the fake tan on, but for various reasons that hasn't happened either!  Do you fake tan, or do you get a lovely golden glow naturally in the sun?  If it's the latter, like David I'm extremely jealous! Lol.  I'll let you know on Monday if the BBQ happens.

Today I figured I’d show you the aforementioned jogger set I’d been kindly gifted by Tilletts Clothing. You may remember some of their other items I was also gifted like these fabulous pearl embellished jeans, this Barbie pink bag and my snuggly gillet.

Items marked with * have been gifted to me, however these are 100% my own honest comments.

My Afternoon Playing Croquet.

Morning everyone.

How are you?

I've had another super weekend.  It was the croquet tournament on Saturday.  David & I play with two other couples nearly every year , although we've not done it religiously over the past few - especially when covid was happening, but this year we managed a date which was last weekend.

Have you ever played croquet?  It's a really fun outdoor game which uses balls and mallets.  The aim of the game is to hit the ball through rings in the grass and finally hit the center post - the first one to do so is the winner.  I've not played it very much and am not very good at playing so you can read on to find out where I came - it's not very impressive I have to admit.

Our friends live just up the road so armed with a bottle,  a box of beers, some ice and a homemade tortilla we started the 5 minute walk to their house.  The weather was not nice, it was VERY windy with gusts every so often that nearly knocked us over - it knocked a glass over.  Someone (me) had drunk the contents and I hadn't refilled it .. lol!  It was still warm with sunny intervals so I was thankful it didn't rain like it had in the morning.

I ended up wearing this pretty blue tea dress.  I've worn it once before to The Ritz and had forgotten about it. When my first choice ended up being too big, I searched through my selection and found it again.  It teamed really nicely with my white trainers - fortunately they were the perfect shoe to be playing croquet in.  

Punting on the River Stour - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there.

How are you all today?

How time flies when you're having fun!  I celebrated my 37th wedding anniversary yesterday, and it seems only yesterday we were two naive twenty-year-old's.  Look at us now, five kids, 7 grand-kids, numerous houses, plenty of holidays, cars and good times it's been an absolute ball so far - and it's still going!

We didn't go out for dinner as we couldn't get a reservation - the restaurant is up for sale and we're not sure if they are still open, so decided to have dinner sent in by way of an Indian curry.  to be honest I'dd been out in the day celebrating a friends birthday and David had been hard at work so we were both happy to stay in and celebrate at home. 

I've lived in Canterbury area since I was 11, and as you can imagine living in such a historic city there's plenty to see.  I've visited Canterbury Cathedral twice, both times when you didn't have to pay! There's also the Roman pavement, Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, The Marlowe Theatre and The Kent Museum of Freemasonary to name a few.  The only other one I visited was the Roman Pavement, when I accompanied my youngest on a school trip.  Well I can add one more to my list after my visit yesterday to go punting on the Stour!

I was not gifted this tour, and my comments are my own!

White Trousers & a Hot Pink Crop Top!

Hi there my friends.

How are you?

I’ve had a super chilled weekend which started Friday night with no dancing but an overnight stay from Max. I have to say I was rather worried he wouldn’t settle with me as he’s definitely a grandad’s boy with me not getting a look in! He even dismisses me with a hand most of the time. Anyway to my surprise he was brilliant and we had a lovely couple of hours when grandad went to the pub.  I gave him dinner and watched Monsters Inc! My giving him some sweets and chocolate backfired a bit because he then didn’t want to sleep when we did - he was blowing raspberries and jumping on the bed when we tried to get him to sleep!! Yeah I know! 😱

He eventually went off for the night and was transferred to the other bed when his mum got in from the concert … McFly at Dreamland! She’d decided to stay to make it easier for me.  She needn’t have worried because he didn’t stir all night!  It was great to have them both and has given me a taster because when their bungalow is being extended they’ll be staying with me again … can’t wait!

Saturday we actually went out! Yeah I know get us! We’d been invited for birthday drinks with my brother-in-law at his local and it made a really nice change to get out and relax in good company.  We came home, a bit worse for wear and made short work of the curry my daughter had ordered. My philosophy of drinking water in-between drinks worked a treat and I woke up feeling fine!

With the weather being awful on Sunday, rain definitely stopped a BBQ day so we decided on a roast and popped to the supermarket for a joint of beef which we had with Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and veg. It made a nice change and was devoured by all who came!  

Do tell what your weened comprised of and I’ll end my weekend diary with what I wore to the pub on a very hot Saturday afternoon!

Items marked with * have been gifted to me, however these are 100% my own honest comments

Styling a Vest Top with Wide Leg Trousers - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hello and welcome my friends.

What have you been up to since we last connected?

Not much going on for Mummab at the moment, back to normal with the kids and I've enjoyed seeing them since they came back.  The weather is still pants and quite cold at times and as you can see my today's outfit I've resorted to warmer clothes!

I wore this yesterday.  You see I've wanted to try this style for a while as I've noticed the trend of wearing a waist coat over trousers.  Having not got a waistcoat (yet) I thought this vest top would be a brilliant replacement, so today that's what I'm sharing.

I must tell you about my afternoon first, having been to the gym and then out helping hubby collecting something (I got lunch out of it too), I came home to shower and get ready for some photos, a reel and to enjoy the evening.  I've recently had my eyelash line top up so haven't been able to wear mascara, and yesterday I put all my makeup on with excitement, I would see the full finish of the procedure, which I might add looked amazing.  So I was all set to start my reel when I bent down and managed to get a great long hair in my eye.  It was right across it and no matter how I tried I couldn't get rid of it.  My eyes were streaming and it literally hurt like hell - who'd think a small hair could hurt so much more that an eyelash.  Well eventually I managed to ease it out with a piece of tissue, but the makeup was all smeared down my cheeks and the mascara had blackened my eye from rubbing and watering, I looked a right state and had to reapply everything!  Anyway I sorted myself out and got these super shots ... eventually lol!

June Review.

Morning my friends. 

Hope you have a good start to the week and the month for that matter, yes July already. 

Im a happy lady as all the kids are back home now and I’ve been catching up with all the stories from their week away.  Have you been away yet, or are you off soon? Do let know know where if you have or where you are going!  David and I are concentrating on the house build and it's coming along very nicely indeed.  The roof has been covered in felt and battens so is covered in, tiles will go on next and we need to look at windows.  It's taking shape and looks super, you can follow my journey via my Instagram account Mummabbuilds - do stop by and say hi. 👋

As it’s the first of the month, it’s time to look at what I wore and did last month for the …

June Review.  

My month started with a favourite style of mine, these wide leg trousers made an appearance as the weather remained rather cold and chilly, June has been a mixed bag weather-wise and I hope now we're in July it will settle down and behave!