AN INSTAGRAM CHRISTMAS - CHRISTMAS DAY EDITION

1. 

The starting line up for the Peter Pan Christmas Day race at the Serpentine Swimming Club in Hyde Park. My Aunt's friend was taking part. We drank champagne and cheered him along at 9am in the morning. SO much fun. 

2. 

The end of the race. It was a balmy 13 degrees but the water was freezing. I saw one man who swam (and must have been 75 at least) tucking a hot water bottle down his trousers when the prize giving was happening...

3. 

What a cake. It's almost enough to make me want to do it next year. I have to keep reminding myself that I hate race swimming. 

4. 

Christmas pancakes. 

5. 

The table all set and waiting for my cooking skills. I love setting the table because it gives me a chance to use all the things I buy from Zara Home for my perfect life that never get used because I eat all my dinners in front of the telly. Typical. 

6. 

The obligatory Christmas outift - Zara sequin dress

7. 

Table detail 

8. 

We brined the turkey this year, very Waitrose. 

9. 

Christmas dinner 

10. 

We have a tradition of 'after dinner' gifts - this was mine from my Mum and Dad. An old Spear's party game from a charity shop. They spent more on getting new magnets for the tails than the game itself. It is a thing of great, great beauty. 

ON THE SALES

It's that time of year again, when everything I'm wearing is courtesy of this flagging economy and the need to mark down or put things on special offer!!!

And yet again Twitter has been overcrowded with people saying they wouldn't buy things in the sale and wouldn't buy anything that they wouldn't buy full price. Blah, blah, blah.

I. DO. NOT. UNDERSTAND. THIS. MENTALITY. 

I'm not paying £135 for a luxe jumper unless it comes with a free puppy but at £70 I might even if there is no furry animal included. Again I'll buy H&M jeans if they are £7 -£10 because at that price I can crop them, dye them or make them into shorts come summertime. I won't do that with full price Topshop jobbies. And likewise with my favourite sale purchase (a pair of studded Valentino kitten heels) £600+ isn't going to happen but I swooped on them the very second they were marked down to the £300 mark and I obsessively checked they still had them in my size every single day before the sale started. I think sales are all part of the joy of fashion, giving you the opportunity to try things you might not usually make a beeline for at full price, allowing you to take more risks. It might just be me but so many of my favourite purchases were sale whimsies. 

Rant over. 

Jumper - Whistles 

Jeans - H&M

Boots - H by Hudson from Poste Mistress

AN INSTAGRAM CHRISTMAS

1. Homemade paper decoration

2. Star Christmas Tree biscuit tower project

3. Muji model reindeer

4. Santa pub crawl outside the British Museum where they were all singing carols

5. Magic Snow

6. My Christmas Tree - a 7 footer that takes over the living room. Oops. 

7. Zara Home place mats and reindeer from Tiger. 

8. Old Christmas carols sheet music cover

9. Vintage and very kitsch decoration from a charity shop 

10. A slightly Christmassy living room 

11. Getting supplies in...

12. Christmas berry lights in the living room

GIRAFFE JUMPER

I've been gone for what feels like ages. After finishing work for a month break I was relishing the chance to do all sorts of things but instead the lurgy I'd been battling for the last week of employment came back with a vengeance and I've been incapacitated for the best part of a week and half. BORING. 

All I have to show for my time is lots of used tissues (and the red, dry nose modelled in these pictures), empty Sudafed packets and a renewed ability to watch Law & Order: SVU repeats...oh, and this new jumper. 

Jumper - River Island 

Jeans - J Brand 

Boots - H by Hudson

NIKE AIR MAX 90 HYPERFUSE NEON

I am all about the Nike Air Max 90 these days. I've been searching for a pair of these in my size (UK 5.5) but to no avail. There are a few sites that look very dodgy that stock them but I'm not prepared to risk it. I'm not massively good at trainer hunting...designer shoes I know where to ferret around, trainers I'm at a loss. Any tips, sneaker heads?

NEON NIKES

I was on the hunt for bright trainers after spying a girl wearing a pair of florescent Nikes in New York last month (I say spying, it was more like walking into a door in a state of extreme shoe lust) but either the colour was wrong or the style wasn't right. During a late night depression filled trawl of the internet I stumbled across the Nike iD site and my dreams were answered. Why have I never got my trainers made to my specifications before? It's such a perfect service, they arrived in about 3 1/2 weeks and you can even get them personalised. Sold. 

Jumper - Whistles 

Trousers - J Brand 

Socks - Tabio 

Shoes - Nike iD

CHRISTMAS LIST

CHRISTMAS LIST by mustownmore featuring lace up boots

COS AND CONVERSE

I had two shoe options to wear with this dress (okay, technically I had 100s of shoe options) but I decided on the clash of a pair of Converse. I like how it made the outfit a tad more 90s grunge. 

Dress - Cos 

Tights - M&S

Shoes - Converse

FIFTY DAY SHOE CHALLENGE - DAYS 29-50 (+1)

These were the last 22 days of my Fifty Day Shoe Challenge, plus a pair of pink Converse I wore on day 51 as a little something extra. I haven't worn some of these shoes for ages so it's been a good chance to have a dig about in the shoe room, boxes, drawers etc full of pairs I almost never wear. 

L - R

1. Nike, Chanel, Russell & Bromley, T.K.Maxx

2. Bertie, T.K.Maxx, Paul Smith, Topshop

3. eBay, B Store, Nike, Aldo 

4. River Island, Handmade in Marrakech, H by Hudson, Converse

5. Moroccan boots from Topshop concession, Office, Sam Edelman, Giuseppe Zanotti 

6. Primark, Charlotte Olympia, Converse

GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI THIGH HIGH BOOTS

Thigh high boots to the office? In this case, yes. 

Jumper - Marks & Spencer

Jeans - Topshop 

Boots - Giuseppe Zanotti 

HATS

Over the years I have amassed a decent selection of hats, if I do say so myself. Woolly hats, mind you, I don't suit the formal kind (wish I did). I love what a nice knitted hat does for a winter outfit but I do hate the dreaded hat head. Is there any way to solve that annoying hat mark on your forehead or the flattening of your hair?

1. H&M tam o' shanter

2. Bobble hat from Interstate, Endell St, Covent Garden 

3. Primark wool beanie 

4. Peruvian knitted hat, gift from my Mum when I was but a teen. 

All pictures taken with Instagram