Earrings!

Earrings - don't you just love them? I think they can make an outfit.

I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 16 - my mum wouldn't let me! Once I did, I began a love affair with earrings that continues to this day. I have hundreds of earrings ( about 400 and counting) and some of them are more than 25 years old. I display most of them on this metal grid and I sort them into colours so I can find what I'm looking for. I like dangly earrings best and source them from charity shops. car boot sales, chain stores, market stalls, e bay and some are gifts. Whenever I visit somewhere new I try to buy a pair of earrings as a memento.

I bought myself this in the sale at Debenham's in January (£5.00) and I display my most dressiest earrings here. I love the little blue birds on the tree. I have a few dressy earrings that have post backs and they live in this silver box I found at a car boot sale.

I also have dangly earrings that have post backs and are difficult to display, so they live in this box (a Secret Santa gift from my working days). I also store my real silver earrings in a different compartment in the same box. As an extra precaution against tarnishing I keep the individual pairs in mini plastic bags. I hate cleaning silver, so this minimises the need for it.

Finally, stud earrings with post backs are stored on this clever contraption but I'm running out of space...luckily I don't wear studs very often!

Every so often I have a cull and get rid of some earrings which frees up space to buy more. Below are some of my favourite earrings and why......

A present from my brother , Mark, who brought them back from Spain

99p from E bay!

Charity shop recent purchase

Christmas present from my partner some years ago

Another charity shop find but lost one

Present from Grandson from Lanzarotte

Present from best friend over 25 years ago

Present from my daughter 

Bought these in Bath where we had gone for the weekend of my 50th birthday. They were £30.00 but I had birthday money to spend!

Going grey

Going grey seems to be a big decision for older women. My mum died at 76 and was still dyeing her hair up to a couple of months before. In a society where youth is worshipped, the spoken and unspoken advice to try and look as young as you can for as long as you can, places a lot of pressure on women. Judith of Style Crone here  has decided to let her hair go grey; she's in her 70s and found it a difficult decision to take.

I never really thought about grey hair much, until recently. I started dyeing my hair myself in my 40s, mainly to enhance my natural medium brown hair, then to cover some of the grey. I began to get it professionally coloured once a month in my 50s. I remember asking my hairdresser about letting it go grey and she said it was a horrible (her words!) grey at the back and that it takes about 10 years for hair to go white. That put me off, I can tell you.  A couple of years later I decided to bite the bullet and go grey because I was sick of worrying about grey roots coming through and sick of paying for having it coloured. I also began to see more and more pictures of older women with grey hair looking fabulous; Emmy-Lou Harris and Jamie Lee Curtis being two wonderful examples. I remember telling someone (a man) I was letting my hair go grey and he said "What do you want to that for?" As if it was a really silly decision...I'm happy to say he's changed his tune now and no, it wasn't my OH!



It's been the best decision, hair wise, I've made in a long time. It was last coloured in December 2014 and it has now been almost 11 months. It's a nice sort of silvery grey at the front and the back is darker. I've worn my hair short since 2009, and, as I have Alopecia Areata I'll be keeping it short.  Luckily, I have pretty thick hair, so the bald spots are relatively hidden.  I wash and condition it using shampoo and conditioner for grey hair, and get it cut every month. When I wash it, I use a styling smoothing product (it's curly hair with a tendency to frizz) and when it's dry I use Moroccan Argan oil; just two or three drops, and massage it through. This gives a nice shine. I've used the Argan oil for a few years now (tip from same hairdresser who is actually pretty fabulous); I used to buy it on line for about £4.00 but then I saw it in Savers - the very same oil - for 99p! Guess where I buy it now? The instructions on the bottle say to apply it to towel dried hair but I put it on dry hair, I'm nothing if not a rebel! I nearly always wear make up and in particular I wear red lipstick which goes fabulously with grey hair and helps inject a burst of colour into my face because going grey can sap your skin tone, apparently.

If I ever had any doubts about going grey, I no longer do. I have had so many compliments on it often from complete strangers that I bump into in the street or shops or the bank or the charity shops. At a family party in Ireland in the summer a woman, I had never met before, stood beside me at the bar taking photos of my hair on her phone to show her hairdresser! Despite all the compliments, I would still have maintained my grey hair even if I didn't get one compliment because if there's one thing I can't be bothered with as I get older is colouring my hair!

Have you gone grey yet? Do you think you will? Or are you dyeing until you die? Do let me know, I'd be so interested to hear your views.

Changing weather!

Its been foggy and grey for the past couple of days. The dampness you get with fog makes it feel colder than it really is. Apparently our temperatures are higher than average for this time of the year. To this end I find I'm still wearing lighter weight jackets when I go out or gilets. In the photo above I'm wearing a gilet found in a charity shop, a tunic found in a charity shop, scarf from charity shop, leggings from Sainsbury's TU range and red boots from an on line retailer. My red earrings are also a 50% off Sainsbury's find! My bag was found in a charity shop. I think it's very 50s but it's from St. Lucia and I have no idea how old it is.

Talking of red boots - when I went to the food bank this morning, where I volunteer in the warehouse, 3 out of 5 women volunteers were wearing red boots! Coincidence or what? Or do women of a certain age have a penchant for red boots? I know if I could afford to I'd buy the same red boots in a range of colours - I love desert boots, so comfortable....

I nearly forgot the bag.......

Vronni's Style Meanderings: This is me!

Vronni's Style Meanderings: This is me!: Hello and welcome to my blog! I've been inspired by reading other blogs particularly those to do with fashion and style and though...

Some recent crochet projects

I've started crocheting again since I retired almost 2 years ago. So far, I've made 12 blanket/throws, a bag and I'm currently working on  some crochet heart bunting for my daughter. Then I want to make a couple of cat caves for grandson's 2 cats and then I'll start another throw - an African flower one is what I have in mind. I'll keep you posted!

This is me!

Hello and welcome to my blog!





I've been inspired by reading other blogs particularly those to do with fashion and style and thought I'd have a go myself. I'm a retired 60+ women with a joy for life. I love reading, art, stylish clothes, food, music, walking and crochet and of course my family!

I have shopped at charity shops more and more as I have got older. It's been about 20 years since I started shopping this way and if I want anything at all (except food!) I now head straight for the charity shops. Where I live in Bedford we have about 15 charity shops in a relatively small area, but I do so enjoy visiting other places and checking out their charity shops too. Charity shopping is exciting - you never know what you're going to find. I also love car boot sales and jumble sales, although I've noticed the jumble sales are dwindling and are pretty infrequent now.

In the photo above, taken at Magheragh Caves in Co. Donegal this summer; my tunic, necklace and gilet are from Irish charity shops. Skinny black jeans from Primarni and shoes from local shoe shop in Bedford.

My style tends to be smart casual as I no longer go to work, so I like tunics over trousers/jeans/leggings, dresses and maxi skirts and the occasional pencil skirt. I have a lot of clothes, mostly charity shopped and at present have vowed not to buy any more clothes until 2016. There are a couple of caveats though - I will buy clothes if they are on the pound rail and if I find something absolutely fabulous!