Something unexpected

During my visit at home for Christmas , I had a couple of nice surprise gifts from my mum and one of my friends which I was really happy with. My mum bought me this nice woolly coat and matching scarf from H&M, quite a surprising choice since both my mum and I usually stay away from such light colours so when my mum told me that she got me a new coat I was quite happy, but then she mentioned that I might be a little disappointed with the colour but I wasn't actually, I was quite happy she got me a coat that is not black for a change , I probably passed next to it many times during my visits to H&M and simply ignored it because it's really not a colour I would choose myself but I actually really love it, it's beautiful and elegant and I really love the lighter touch of colour.

My second surprise was this Opening Ceremony letter jumper carrying the first letter of my surname, it was a very late birthday present from my friend who I haven't seen for months and it was an item I really didn't expect but absolutely love. I can't say no to a quirky jumper so I'm pretty much over the moon with this choice of a present!

I think those are probably the most exciting presents I got in a very long time and they both have a bit of a sentimental touch , I think the waves of emotion that carried me through my visit back home are still in full effect even now almost a week after I got back to England.

Routine

Every year, once the holiday season is finally over, I feel like a giant weight was lifted of my shoulder, the holiday season is usually quite stressful for most but for me the worst part of it is the sudden impact on my routine. There's nothing I hate more than having my daily routine broken by the holiday madness, I love the stability of knowing what I will be doing Monday to Friday and where I will be and the holidays always seem to shutter this stability. Celebrating the return to work this week has also meant celebrating the return of safe and comfortable wintery outfits and after spending the week in sunny Tel Aviv where temperatures reached 26 degrees during the day, putting on a fuzzy cashmere jumper on a rainy and windy day felt like the best thing ever. Call me crazy but I always preferred dressing up for winter and after a long holiday at home being able to go back to my comfortable wintery wardrobe and get back into my routine were exactly the two things I needed after this slightly crazy holiday season.

Trusted favourites

Time seems to fly this week and I can't believe it's only two days before my Christmas break officially begins. On Sunday I'll be on the plane back home but so far I have done zero packing or Christmas shopping, I'm writing this while taking my lunch break at work, the clock just struck 6 and we're still looking at at least 3 more hours of work preparing a new project to go live. Although I love moaning, I'm actually enjoying my time at work but unfortunately the crazy hours this week have stopped everything else in my life and all my plans outside work have now been put aside and just as my plans, the daily morning fashion exercise now consists of me picking up just about anything I can find, although I'm quite happy with my outfit today, a skirt and a trusty old men's jumper is probably my favourite items. I know I can pull them out of my wardrobe when my eyes are still half shut in the morning and still manage to get a sort of OK outfit that I won't feel ridiculous in. To challenge myself I decided to wear my chunky pair of shoes which I still haven't really broken into but so far so good. Now all I  have to do is wish that the project we're working on tonight will finally be ready to go live and then I might finally be able to take a deep breath and hopefully finish all my holiday preparations in time.

A little bit of skirt love

It's that black skirt all over again! I'm not going to apologise, it's simply my favourite item of clothing at the moment, the sort of trusty item that you know would pretty much work with any shirt, jumper or t-shirt you choose to wear it with. In many ways, this skirt has replaced the essential black dress for me and allowed me to play around with my outfits after a long period of relying on black dresses only because I was just too lazy to try harder. It seems that I get more wear out of this skirt than any other item in my wardrobe and I can't even imagine what might happen the day I can no longer wear it. If I didn't feel a bit strange about wearing it every day I probably would have but I guess even the best skirt needs a break every couple of days so while I feel like I need to apologise for constantly wearing this skirt, I also think it's a great example of an item that just becomes an easy wardrobe staple you just want to wear it everyday. 

New territories

I finally felt brave enough to wear this jumper today! It's so hard when you get stuck on wearing a very specific range of colours to suddenly wear something that is so far off from what you're used too. At least this is how I felt when I bought this jumper from H&M and it took me a couple of weeks to actually summon the courage to wear it and feel comfortable in it but I really love this jumper, it's definitely nothing ground breaking but it's making me happy knowing that every once in a while I can actually try out something new and different. I sometimes wonder how my wardrobe would have looked like if it wasn't for my mother's love or dark and grey clothing? I always remember her very strict shopping rules, one was 'when in doubt go for the black' and it's a strategy I adopted fully as soon as I started buying my own clothes and since then found it hard to move away from but I guess this sudden outburst of me trying to bend the ridiculous rules I adopted is a positive change that will help me try and get some more colour into my wardrobe and try new things!

The white collar

I'm a huge fan of collar details, if there is such a thing. It seems like every winter I develop a slight obsession with collar details , last year it was a sharp and crisp pointed collar, two years ago I was obsessed with peter pan collars and this year there's nothing I love more than a good high-neck collar detail. Call it turtle neck, polo neck or roll neck (I can never figure out what's the difference) or anything else, high neck tops and jumpers are taking over my wardrobe this season and at the minute I'm a little obsessed with adding a white roll neck collar under every jumper I wear and I especially like it with this stripy number from Mango which I sort of regretted buying until I added the little extra detail of the white collar.  I do like simple additions like this to help with adding a little bit of detail and interest to what might be a relatively boring outfit.

Winter warmers

Yesterday in between meetings at work I decided to go back to H&M and have another look at the jumper I spotted during my visit this weekend but I had another jumper grab my attention. This lovely fuzzy number is not really the sort of item I would usually pick, especially because the colour is so different from what I'm usually comfortable with but I was in a mood for experimenting and for the last few days I've been trying to convince myself that I can do with a little bit more colour this winter and this jumper came at the right time.

I decided to balance it all and get back to my usual black and grey comfort zone, with a new scarf that I picked up at the men's department, there's nothing that puts me back more in my comfort zone than a warm men's scarf?

Avoiding temptation

I paid a quick visit to H&M yesterday when I met my friend, she was mostly looking for some work wear items and I was just browsing in hope something will catch my eye and of course I eventually stumbled across something, but this one was a little less ordinary (at least for me). It was one of those items which worlds away from anything I would ever choose but I absolutely loved it when I tried it on. Luckily I had my rational friend with me and she immediately vetoed my choice which meant this lovely jumper was left in store, I assume in a way it's good , it's not something I'll feel comfortable wearing on a day to day basis but instead of this eye catching jumper I decided to stick with my friend's rational advice. 

Falling leaves

The weather is turning colder and the streets slowly start filling up with fallen leaves, summer time will soon be over and winter is going to start officially in just a few days so what can be more perfect than this slouchy jumper from Zara with a pattern of grey leaves? It's actually been one of my first 'winter' buys sometime in early august, I actually worn it through the last few weeks of August when the crazy heat wave that hit the UK finally stopped as I couldn't wait for it to finally get colder, I actually started wearing it pretty much immediately despite the fact it was still warm enough for just a t-shirt. I'm really happy with this buy, it served me well so far and I always loved a nice jumper with a bit of a print to break a boring black outfit, not to mention the fact the leaf pattern is just perfect print for this time of the year.

Grey block

I've had a bit of a rough week, actually a very rough week and can't wait for it to be over, so I found myself doing some online window-shopping (embarrassingly, one of my favourite forms of escapism) and ended my window-shopping tour browsing the Second Female website. It's been one of my favourite fashion brands that I discovered when I visited Copenhagen for the first time a few years ago. It's always simple and smart pieces like these that catch my attention. The black and grey seem to perfectly represent my mood this week, and I absolutely adore these the fact that these items can be the perfect winter essentials for a lazy dresser like me who is not a big fan of getting dressed on dark and cold winter mornings. 

Bring on the cold

It's hard to believe but I started this week wearing a light long sleeve t-shirt and now within the course of two days the weather has turned cold and windy and it's finally starting to feel like winter is on its way. 

I have to admit I'm quite excited to finally be able to pull out my jumpers and warm knits, it seems like it's been quite a long summer, at least for a winter loving person like me. I think I always loved shopping for winter more than shopping for summer but unfortunately or fortunately I have yet to spot any winter 'must haves' that I really want so I was quite excited to find this jumper and skirt at Monki a couple of weeks ago and been waiting impatiently to wear them. I do love a nice grey jumper and absolutely love this asymmetric, the cut out detail certainly helps make things a little more exciting. 

Zig-zagging

I spent most of this week in and out of conference and meeting rooms, the dress code was very formal and it seemed as if when a bunch of people who are usually used to wearing whatever they want to work meet in a more formal or business setting they all suddenly become uniformed robots, for the ladies including me it was mostly black dresses or a combination of black skirts and white shirts. Needless to say after spending 3 days   dressed like that I started feeling a little tired and bored and since the weather was still cold and unpleasant the only thing I could think off was this strange somewhat hideous somewhat funky cardigan/jacket .

I have a love hate relationship with it, it's warm and comfortable and definitely looks great over a simple t-shirt for that boho vibe (or whatever you would like to call it) but it was the first time I actually paired it with something more formal, it was a coincidence as I was running out of time when getting dressed  in the morning and decided to just stick with this cardigan and black dress, like it or not, I think by the end of the day with the cold weather I kind of warmed up to it but it's still one of those items I'll always have doubts about. 

Saturday play

Iro printed skirt, Zara jumper, Bershka shoes

I was really looking forward to the weekend, I needed rest and time for myself. I have quite a big week coming ahead and I wanted to dedicate this for some well deserved quiet time, however I was really surprised this morning when I woke up and the sun was shining, which meant I couldn't resist getting out of my apartment and enjoying a few hours in the sun (as much as you can get when it's still only 6 degrees outside). I also felt it would be a good time to try out the Iro skirt my mum surprised me with earlier this week and as usual I teamed it with a simple black jumper to keep me warm. I seem to be stuck with this look , a printed skirt and a simple jumper and some days I feel as if it's become my one and only look recently , which seems to be quite frustrating for me recently as I feel like most outfits just don't come very easily and my creativity is at all time low,  but today I felt this playful combination was right in place. A simple outfit again but in my opinion just the perfect look for a Saturday morning walk outside. 

The perfect shade of blue

I finally found it ! The perfect blue jumper ! I've been looking for one for a few weeks and the perfect one finally turned up!

I already mentioned that lately I've been overcoming my strange hang-ups about wearing blue and I was hoping to find a simple piece that can work well for me, this jumper (actually more of a sweatshirt) is just the right shade of blue in my opinion , it's actually quite a relief to find myself wearing a top that is not black or grey. Although very simple, wearing it today has really made me feel slightly more energetic. I guess I needed a break from all the blacks and greys and this jumper came in just on time to save me from the boring black jumper routine I've been stuck in recently. I wore the jumper with this black and white skirt and loved the contrast between them, it was not just the colours but also the texture , I was a little worried about this over load of colours and textures but at the end of the day it was a good and fun experiment. I'm guessing this jumper will become a regular on my posts as I just can't stop thinking of what other items it would look great with.

Laying low

Today's outfit is the sort of outfit I just pulled first thing this morning without giving it too much thought , which to be honest is the perfect way for me to get dressed as I feel that spontaneous outfits sometimes work ten times better than an outfit I spent too much time thinking about. I think this jumper from Sandro hasn't really gotten the attention it deserved and I can't seem to find a good reason why, I mean it's simple, warm and comfy and doesn't require too much thinking, but I still can't figure out why I'm not using it more often, luckily today's cold weather was a perfect day to wear this and it really didn't require more than a simple black skirt and a good pair of tights. I actually think it's probably better than most other items I tried so hard to mix and match to get into an outfit. I'm just thinking whether the constant need to improvise because of the weather is dragging me into this boring circle of failed attempts at dressing up comfortably or whether I should stop blaming the weather and blame myself for not investing more money in warmer winter items? This is definitely something I'm admitting to failing at. I tried to avoid admitting this for so long only to realise I might be making the same mistakes again.

I'm hoping that in a year's time this winter's experience will be a good memory of what I should be focusing on when looking at my winter wardrobe so hopefully I'll spend the next winter with more practical items.

Uneventful outfit for an eventful day

It seems like peace and quiet are not part of the schedule at the moment, seems like every day I'm waking up to something strange happening and this morning was no different when I woke up to loud banging on my door. It was my next door neighbour that woke up to find his bedroom floor flooded and all the traces lead to my bathroom which meant we both had to wait for a plumber to come over. As I had to get dressed quite swiftly I didn't really have much time to think and rethink what I want to wear, knowing I'll be massively late for work I decided to grab this jumper from Monki that I'm liking more and more everyday and with no time for experiments a simple lace skirt was my first choice to complete this look , it's far from being perfect and maybe slightly frumpy but considering the time limitations and the fact I wore two items I never thought of wearing together I think it wasn't that bad. I didn't have much choice anyway as it was just one of those days in which getting dressed definitely wasn't a priority.  

Full force in monchrome

Zara contrast jumper, Topshop skirt

I couldn't ask for things to get better than they are this Saturday afternoon. I woke up this morning feeling so much better than I did in the last few days, it seems I'm finally starting to shake that flu off and looks like my wishes for the snow to melt and the sun to come out have finally been granted as the sun came out for a short time this morning. 

Feeling slightly more energetic today, I decided it would be good to step outside for some fresh air and to make myself feel even better I decided I'll try out the contrast jumper I got from Zara. Earlier this month I mentioned I was unsure of how I feel about the black and white trend, sure, black and white is simple and easy but I still can't really see myself embracing this trend in full scale and I think this is what makes me love this jumper so much. It's simple, affordable and great as an on trend piece without overdoing it which means it would probably stay a favourite of mine long after the black and white trend is replaced by another trend. 

The blues and the greys - an experiment

Jumper Monki , Skirt Fillipa K, Shoes Bershka

It was Monday's Whistles inspiration post that drove me to pull out some greys and blues from my wardrobe and try to mix them together. I don't really have anywhere to go at the moment as I'm sitting at home trying to battle a flu so I'm left with plenty of time for playing around. I had those two items in my wardrobe that I've been desperate to try out , the jumper from Monki was a recent purchase which was mean to be returned but I think I'm actually growing to like it although I'm still unsure if I'm a little colour blind or whether this is jumper is actually grey with a beige tone or whether I'm completely wrong and it's actually beige? Grey or not I kind of like it and thought it can work well with this printed Fillipa K skirt which I got months ago and never actually wore because of my usual doubts about anything that's blue. I'm actually quite happy about the pairing of those two items and wouldn't mind wearing these two with my studded shoes from Bershka for a bit of a rock n' roll sort of vibe. I only wish I wasn't stuck at home and it wasn't so cold outside as I would love to put this outfit on right now and go out for a walk.

Dressing for comfort - simple prints and warm knits

After a few days of playing around, trying out weather-defying outfits, attempting to make new trends 'work' and in general being a little confused about what I feel like wearing, I'm back to what I usually consider to be the most comfortable outfit. 

The best way for me to get back to feeling comfortable is to wear the simplest items I have. When I think of simple and comfortable I usually look for an item that I can easily wear, this means that I don't need to adjust it, look 1000 times in the mirror to make sure it sits properly or spend a the whole day doubting my outfit. 

Today I chose two items I featured before, both considerably old and spent significant amount of time untouched in my wardrobe. I shared my doubts about the khaki jumper before and wore the printed dress last weekend when I wanted my outfit to feel a little less wintery. This morning when getting ready for work I once again had the urge to wear something light and chose the dress, knowing that it would be far too cold outside for just the dress , I started trying on different jumpers , first it was black, then grey and even a very dark shade of blue, none of them worked and I was ready to put the dress back on the clothing rail until I remembered the khaki jumper I kept having doubts about. The minute I put those two together it just felt right, the dress is light and airy and the jumper seems to work just great with the light coloured print and obviously keep me warm. I'm happy that I have those days in which I discover that two items I don't care much about can work so well together and create a nice, warm and comfortable outfit. 

Strangely fascinating

A few random items that recently caught my attention , absolutely random and with no particular reason as to why (oh well, apart from the  fact I really wouldn't mind having some of them).