Chocolate Tones - Chic & Stylish Linkup.

Morning everyone. 

How are you?

Well we’re supposed to be having a heatwave but although it’s still sticky hot here it’s been cloudy all day with a stormy vibe. We had a little bit of rain yesterday, but nothing major and definitely no storm!

I took a trip into Canterbury Matalan earlier this week, I was on my way to an appointment (I’ll spill the beans soon) and I grabbed the opportunity with two hands to do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately the new season pieces haven’t filtered into my local store yet and the pickings were slim but I did come home with a couple of pairs of trousers, two tops and some underwear! You can see my TikTok reel here where I shared all my findings. 

So my outfit, which I wore yesterday, featured a pair of trousers I bought & loved. 

That was a fantastic weekend!

Hello my darlings,

Hope you’re well. 

I’ve had a fan-tastic weekend and to be honest really needed it!

Both David and I worked hard at our youngest son’s house clearing a very overgrown garden. We filled a skip full to debris having chopped and cut lots of trees, shrubs and plants that had been left to multiply! We were both exhausted and returned home to chill in the garden. David suggested we head off into town to have dinner so almost reluctantly we both got ourselves ready for the taxi ride to Canterbury which took us to our restaurant. Salt Steak House served various steaks, chickens with delicious side dishes which all sounded divine. I picked their ribeye special which came with chips, salad and a portion of bread. I have to say I was very good and only had half the chips along with the steak and salad, at no point did I touch the bread! 

We settled on a bottle of champagne which went down very nicely indeed. Once finished we both passed on desserts, so after paying the bill headed off to one of the many pubs in the city to have another cheeky glass of fizz. This one lacked atmosphere so once we’d finished our drinks we made our way to my favourite venue which served Porn Star Martinis - what a delicious cocktail and one I’d throughly recommend! Do you have a ‘go-to’ cocktail?

Sunday was another lovely day, somewhat more chilled with a spot of grass cutting and dinner prep for a roast dinner. It was only going to be David and I but my eldest daughter popped round with her family and decided to stay for dinner, we managed to make the chicken go round a couple more mouths, it’s amazing how adding more vegetables and a packet of frozen Yorkshire’s will make a meal stretch further. 

Izabel Sundress - Chic & Stylish Linkup.

Good morning. 

How’s it going?

All good here albeit still very busy!

I think it’s a culmination of gym, grankids being on holiday and doing the AirBnb work! But the weeks seem to be flying by at a scary speed. Can you believe we’re nearly in the middle of August!

Do you recall I looked after my son’s dog? I loved it and she was so good for us. I did nearly lose her once when she escaped the garden when I turned my back! She was so quick and I nearly had a heart attack thinking I’d have to tell them she was lost or worse still! Gulp, in an accident! Fortunately all was well and she’d gone down the road and was running around someone’s garden. A very kind couple gathered her up and came looking for us (luckily coming in the right direction)! So I kept a very good eye on her after that and put her on the lead at every opportunity! Not that she liked that! But I had to keep my sanity going! Do you look after anyone’s animals? Let me know if you do and if you’ve had any mishaps too! So she’s back at home safe and sound now, I’m planning on having the grandkids at some stage so fingers crossed I won’t have to worry about losing either of them!!! lol. 

I had a nice sunny day yesterday, so took full advantage of it taking these fab shots in this pretty sundress. 

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

July Review

Hello and welcome to Mummabstylish. 

What have you been up to?

So the bad weather didn’t arrive over the weekend (I’m sure they only ‘scaremonger’ us)! So I got the grass cut, both front and back, strimmed the edges and trimmed the willow tree. It’s at the entrance and when it’s so long it makes driving off hard to navigate! Now I’m not saying it’s the M25 down our road but I like to be able to see what’s coming along.  The garden looks nice and tidy now, and the pots are all in full bloom which is lovely. Shame it’s not been that hot to sit out in! David was working at our daughter’s house getting the garden ready for laying turf and also preparing a hard standing for their cars. It’s coming together nicely so before long the whole house will be finished - jeez I hope they don’t put it up for sale now! 😂

Can you believe it’s the beginning of August? This year really has flown by! Why is this year any different from previous ones? I think it’s because I’m so busy nowadays, the weeks roll into one and before long it’ll be Christmas. 

Now as it’s the first Monday of the month it’s time to look back at July’s posts to see what I’ve been wearing. 

Welcome to the July Review. 

Way back at the beginning of July I took you to Cornwall. I shared my adventure down there with my sister and mum whilst we visited my uncle. Do have a look at what we found on our day out to Charlestown. 

A New Teddy Blake Bag - Chic & Stylish Linkup

Hi there. 

Hope you’re all okay. 

Apologies again for a late post, life is so busy at the moment and I’m finding it hard to get everything finished!

In-between seeing the grandkids, going to my gym classes, doing my housework and ironing/cleaning the AirBnb I’ve been looking after my son’s dog. We’ve got Hallie for a week and it’s been lovely. She’s such a good dog and like most doggies doesn’t want much. I’ve been walking her every day which has been really nice. That’s one of the things I’ve missed since losing my little Candy and Roxy but I’m still not replacing them any time soon. Dogs are such a tie aren’t they!

I met an old friend today, she emigrated to Oz about 17 years ago and although I’ve seen her twice since she left it was lovely to catch up again. We went to a local pub with some other friends and had a super lunch washed down with a glass of spritz. Time soon ran away with us and we had to draw the lunch to a close before all of us headed off in different directions but I have to admit our chats were just like old days and ran smoothly as if we’d never changed! I had a delicious Caesar Salad which was just the right amount, I always cook in the evenings so didn’t want to have two meals! That would be greedy and would have filled me uncomfortably up!

Let’s talk bags. I have plenty hanging in my wardrobe but am always partial to a new style and this beauty touched a nerve, a nice one and I had to have it!

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

SNA show us Festival Fashion

Morning my friends. 

How’s your week been?

I’ve had a wonderful weekend. Saturday evening I was at a wedding reception. Imagine how excited I was to find out it was a black tie event which as you well know means wearing a long evening dress! I’ve only worn an evening dress on a handful of occasions and I couldn’t wait to get ready for it. I’d bought a couple of dresses from a company called Goddiva and when they both arrived I couldn’t decided as I liked them both. I kept them just in case I need another for a suitable event, but who knows when that’ll be! They both looked great on and fitted like a glove although this one was a bit too long so had to be taken up! I didn’t do a bad job and revelled at how good it ended up. 

This is the drop shoulder fitted maxi I wore, but today’s post is really all about me and my co-partners for the Style not Age challenge which fell into my hands. I opted for a typical Summertime prompt of Festival Fashion purely because we’re in the height of summer festivals having just had Glastonbury and IOW gatherings with many more coming up including Edinburgh Fringe and the Leeds/Reading events. 

 

Big Florals - Chic & Stylish Linkup

Hi there.

How are you?

Popped into Canterbury yesterday and all the sales are on!  I used to love browsing the rails of the shops to find a bargain and although I love to get something cheap - I hate going through sale rails now! They're always packed with some awful outdated items, hanging off the hanger and all the sizes are generally mixed up or on a hanger showing the wrong size (makes my blood boil)! So for this kind of shopping I'm happy to look online, yes you did read that correctly - I'm turning into an online sale shopper!

I remember this time of year well! Just after the schools breakup and I used to start thinking of holiday clothes for the kids everything was in the sale! I enjoyed finding bargains and scoured the shops for the right sizes and styles for the holiday we always had the end of August. I must add back in the day there were plenty of shops open and had sprawling items just waiting to be bought. Fast forward to 2025 it just isn’t the same. Neither am I though, so it works for me now.  I’m sure most families in the same situation & shop online finding just what they need at the click of a button.  

I wore an old dress into town and got a lovely compliment from a shop assistant who said my bright colourful dress matched my complexion. It was a dreary, cloudy day that was sticky & hot & had notifications of an amber weather warning in the evening, it certainly brighten my day and looking around what everyone else was wearing I might just have brightened other peoples days up too! 

It must have worked because it brighten up in the evening with no sign of a thunderstorm in my vicinity. ☺️

Relaxing in a maxi dress.

Hi there. 

How’s your world turning?

Hope you’ve had a good weekend, went too fast didn’t it!

Although I didn’t do much it was lovely. 

I’d planned to have a BBQ yesterday but the weather had other ideas! We ended up having a family roast which was brilliant. Having been on my keto diet for a few months therefore potatoes and other carbs have been off the menu (unless I’d cheated) so it was a delicious addition to have a couple of roasties along with a Yorkshire pudding with my roast chicken dinner. It’s been ages since all the family go together and although last minute everyone except my son and his family came round. It was a mad house though as the kids couldn’t really play outside (however they did at times)! Do you have big family gatherings? The best times aren’t they!

I was talking about how to slow down a busy life on Instagram last week. How do you like to relax and unwind?

Taking a walk in the countryside works for me when I’m a bit het-up and stressed, so last week and a busy few days I took myself off for a little stroll in this stunning dress. Swishing and swaying in this beauty did make me happy as the photos show. ☺️

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

Long Weekend in L’Escala - Chic & Stylish Linkup

Morning my friends. 

How are you?

First I need to apologise for no post on Monday. You see I got back from Spain late on Monday and quite honestly didn’t have the energy to do a post!

The weekend went by in a flash. We traveled out to Gerona Spain mid day and arrived in the town of L’Escala late afternoon which was perfect. The hotel is one we always passed when we stayed there years ago. It’s mid way between the old town of L’Escala and Riells beach and an ideal position to get everywhere. We’ve got so many memories of this pretty fishing village that’s sprawled out to almost being unrecognisable in some places! We always rented a villa and self catered, well that’s how it started but soon the children got a taste for adult food we ate out. It became quite expensive at times as their liking for filet steak grew each year. The weather is really changeable and we often encountered rain, and boy does it rain there. We had a storm on Saturday night too. The government sent emergency messages with what to do should it get that bad!! Yeah that was scary! 😱 

I bought a couple of new bits for the trip and also took some outfits I’ve already worn. I thought you’d like to see the two new ones today. 

Elie Beaumont Bag - Chic & Stylish Linkup

Good morning. 

Hope you’re all well. 

I’ve had a busy few days getting everything done as I’m off for a long weekend to L’Escala tomorrow. It’s a little village on the Costa Brava coast in the bay of Roses. It’s been a holiday venue for us when the children were small and before that David used to holiday there with his parents back in the 70’s. We’ve seen a lot of changes over the years and I’m sure not having been there for quite a few years it’ll have changed even more! We’re staying in a hotel we used to walk past (we normally stayed in a villa and self catered) so it’ll be lovely to enjoy being ‘looked after’ for a change. Not all the family are coming with us, just Sophie and her fiancé along with James, and Davids’ sister, husband, daughter, son and his girlfriend will be joining us so it’s sure to be a fun few days. We’ve earmarked our favourite restaurants and pray we’ll be able to book a table - one in particular ( we call it “pigs cheeks” for obvious reasons) will be top of the list & I’ll share some piccys if I do manage to get there. 

I’ve got a couple of new bits to take and some pieces you’ve seen before and I’ll share them each day on IG for a little fashion show. ☺️

Thought I’d tempt you with my new bag today. I was kindly gifted this beautiful hobo sling bag from Elie Beaumont so let me know what you think about this stunning arm candy. 🤍

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