Black & Brown

What I'm Wearing: 

Taupe and white striped tee from GAP

Taupe cardigan from Soaked in Luxury

Brown skinny leg pants from Cheap Monday (ASOS)

Black wedge boots by London Rebel from ASOS

Freshwater pearl earrings & bracelet from Sorrento, Italy

Black patent leather Appear watch c/o Phosphor

I'm still in "housing limbo" but I get the keys to our new home this evening, yay!  These pictures were taken in the sitting room of my mom's house...sorry about the flash but today is SUPER dark and gloomy so there wasn't much natural light at all :(  

I'm wearing my sister's top because my clothes are all still in storage and I don't know where everything is but I am really trying to get back on board with these outfit posts!  I miss doing them and am looking forward to getting back into a routine once we're moved into our new house.

Albi in the sunroom -- such a cutie! <3 

Stay Stylish!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, filled with lots of yummy food!  And if you don't celebrate I hope you had a great Thursday! 

As most of you guys know, although I've lived in Ireland since I was seven years old I am originally American and my family lived in the US for some time which is why we still celebrate.  In all honesty, Thanksgiving has always been one of my favourite holidays!  I love spending time with family, cooking and preparing great food and giving thanks for all that we have.  Even when life seems tough and things aren't going the way we'd planned, there is always something to be thankful for!

I know, it's a Christmas candle but we couldn't resist the cookie flavour!  The one next to it is a pecan scent from TK Maxx.  My mom's place-mats and napkins are from Williams Sonoma (last year). 

My crazy family :)

This year we celebrated at my mom's house (like always), which was really not a surprise since we're staying there temporarily until we get the keys to our new house next week!  Yay!  My mom made the turkey and green beans, my sister Emma made the stuffing, baked corn and pumpkin roll for dessert (check out the recipe on her blog!)* and I baked vegan cornbread which surprisingly turned out to be a success!  I got the recipe here.

*I just checked out my sister's blog and burst out laughing when I discovered that almost all our photos are the same, hahaha!  Needless to say we're sharing pictures ;)  Having said that there were a lot to choose from, obviously we have the same taste - lol!

Stay Stylish!

Celebrity Make-Up Tutorial!

Since I am still technically in house-limbo and it's very difficult to film/edit/take proper photos at the moment with our stuff all packed up in boxes, I thought I'd share this make-up look that Karim Sattar did on me last month!  He did a more natural daytime look using the brown eyeshadow palette from The Body Shop Winter Trend.  These pictures were taken the morning after The Body Shop's Christmas Launch, and I was so honoured to have Karim do my make-up once again! 

You can watch the make-up tutorial here, and don't forget to check out more of The Body Shop's Winter Trend products here!  I will (hopefully) be back soon with more regular posts soon...I promise!!   

Stay Stylish!

Bloggers in Real Life!

Hey guys!  I'm sorry I've been so MIA on my blog lately -- we're actually in the process of moving after all of the house drama we were having these last three months and it's been super stressful so I haven't been online much.  However I am really excited and honoured to have been featured on both Ashley from the Shine Project & Casey Leigh from The Wiegands blogs as a part of their Bloggers In Real Life series.  Below is a little more about this amazing project -- and I thoroughly recommend you check out both girls' blogs, they put so much effort into them and are really sweet!  Thank you, Ashley & Casey for featuring me this week!

Creating, sharing, and inspiring connects us all together. Every day we are drawn to blogs that make us feel something, and we take a little piece of it with us. Behind every one of our favorite blogs, there's a person. A person with real emotions, fears, goals, and weird quirks that we never really get to experience first hand. We've brought together your favorite bloggers to give you a more intimate take on their lives, so you can catch the little details that make them who they are. Every Wednesday, we'll be capturing the lives of the people behind your daily reads in a way that you wont experience anywhere else.

So get ready. We have lots to share! xoxo

Each week on Casey's blog, you will hear a more personal story about one of your favorite bloggers.... why they are the way they are, stories on loss or happiness, struggles or triumphs...we want to have them share the happiest moment of their life, or a time that they grew stronger because of an enormous trial placed in their path.

On Ashley's blog, they will be sharing any advice they have for you readers. It can be about fashion, being a mom or wife, how to grow your blog, how to start your own business, etc. Whatever their niche is, you will hear their expert advice!  Read my personal story HERE and my advice post HERE.

Animal Print

What I'm Wearing:

Brown cardigan c/o ApartStyle 

White v-neck tee from Primark

Khaki skinny leg pants from Primark

Tan suede boots from ASOS

Gold & taupe animal print scarf from Accessorize

Gold & faux pearl earrings from Accessorize

Gold Scorpio necklace from my dad

Vintage gold bracelet bought by my sister in Newport, Rhode Island

Black patent leather Appear watch c/o Phosphor

This scarf was my birthday gift from my sister, Erika!  It's soooo pretty and although it's my first time wearing it I can totally see how this would work with many of my future outfits!  It has elements of gold and taupe/cool brown so it would work well with a lot of colours.  

On the moving front, something absolutely AMAZING happened today.  We went to check out a "maybe" option in an area close enough to my mom but it ended up being too dark in a not-so-great neighbourhood.  (When we got out of the viewing, we walked out of the house only to witness a group of little boys throwing themselves onto and banging the windows of our car -- they were tormenting Albi & Sina who were waiting inside :/  Poor things were terrified and it was kind of the last straw and deciding factor for us!)  So, we decided to make an unexpected visit to my mom's house where Jonathan quickly checked out the lettings website to see if anything new had come up.  Literally EIGHT minutes prior one of our "dream houses" had popped up -- a modern, 4 bedroomed semi in our ideal location/area, and guess what?  It was within our budget!  This is the area that we eventually would like to buy in -- Jonathan called the letting agent straight away, and I think he was slightly taken aback with our promptness, lol!  We are going to see it on Thursday and I will be going there with my deposit in hand!

Please cross your fingers that we get this place, it would mean so much to both of us and it's really put everything into perspective...I truly believe that if we do end up here it was worth all the headache & problems we've been having with our last two places.  Everything happens for a reason, right?!

Albi & Sina right before going for their walkies :)

Stay Stylish!

Mushroom

What I'm Wearing:

Mushroom cardigan w/black sequin trim from Soaked in Luxury

Black basic tank top from Heatons

Black Kate jeggings from ASOS

Lace-up wedge boots by London Rebel from ASOS

Gold 16" XO necklace c/o Designs by Farah M (Free shipping code ANNAFS)

Black patent Appear watch c/o Phosphor

Freshwater pearl earrings bought in Sorrento, Italy

(Spotty socks peeking through - hahaha!)

This cardigan was another birthday present from my mom -- the colour is what I like to call "mushroom" and I ate a mushroom pizza for dinner today so I guess you could say I'm in a mushroom mood...hahaha!  I do love the black sequin trim on this cardigan, it makes it a little bit fancier - I wore it on top of my black Vila dress from LoveClothing when I went to the opera for my dad's birthday. 

An update on the housing/gas situation, after 3 months of living in a crappy house with no gas (heating, hot water or stove to cook on) I've decided to stop paying rent until the letting agency/landlord does something about it.  But essentially, we've made the decision to move...again.  We've been busy house-hunting the last couple of days and fingers crossed tomorrow's one will be the right home for us!  It sounds promising so we'll see.  Also, our gas/electricity company called me today after many cross emails from me (I woke up this morning freezing cold and in a terrible mood, after having slept in my dressing gown for the 2nd night in a row) they finally apologised for the 3 month delay of this mysteriously long-winded process of unlocking the gas supply, and credited our account with €80.  We decided not to bother switching the gas on here (there's also a €79 fee to do so, um...so not our problem!), as we should be out of here in a matter of days.  I'm disappointed this place didn't work out but at the same time I feel like it was a blessing in disguise.  I don't feel like we ever really "settled" in this house...though how could we with so many problems!  I am looking forward to a more long-term home where we can happily put up our Christmas tree! :)

Stay Stylish!

Festive for Fall

What I'm Wearing:

Cardigan by Vila c/o LoveClothing.com

Cream ribbed tank top from Primark

Brown skinny leg pants by Cheap Monday from ASOS

Tan suede boots from ASOS

Gold XO necklace c/o Designs by Fara M

Gold & faux pearl earrings from Accessorize

Vintage gold bracelet bought by my sister in Newport, Rhode Island

This look is inspired by one Kristin Cavallari wore to the pumpkin patch last month (pinned here)!  I fell in love with her beautiful draped knit cardigan and had to find a similar one of my own.  Thanks to LoveClothing I did!  It's not identical, but it's exactly what I was looking for.  They also have it in grey if you're more into cool colours.  I wanted something festive and warm for the autumn!  LoveClothing is one of my new favourite shopping sites, as they carry a lot of the clothing brands I like as well as catering to both men and women (great for Christmas gifts!).  They also deliver to over 100 different countries and offer free shipping to orders over £30.  I was super impressed with their efficiency too.  My items came right on my birthday, less than a week after I ordered.

And how cute is my gold XO necklace?!  This was also a birthday gift from one of my lovely viewers & blog readers, Farah who happens to be a super talented jewellery designer!  I have always wanted a necklace like this, I love the simplicity and elegance of it and you can layer it with other pieces if you wish.  I didn't have anything that really went with it so I wore it alone, but I think it looks adorable!  The XO necklace is made from 16K gold-plated over brass pendant and chain and it's quite short at approximately 16 inches.  Farah has been kind enough to provide me with a promo code for you guys, just in time for Christmas!  To get free shipping up until December 25th, just use the code ANNAFS.  You can check out Farah's blog here, and Facebook page here!

I wore this outfit while walking the doggies on what became a crisp, sunny autumn's day -- my favourite kind of weather!

Stay Stylish!

Disclaimer: LoveClothing and DesignsbyFarahM items were sent to me for consideration to review.  I was not paid for my blog post nor am I affiliated with the companies in anyway.  This is my 100% honest opinion, as always :)

A Night at The Opera

What I'm Wearing:

Long grey cardigan from Numph (buy it online here)

Navy blue ribbed tank top from Primark

1969 Always Skinny jeans from GAP

Charcoal grey calf boots from Dune

Silver necklace from Agatha

Silver Mumbai bracelet c/o JewelMint

Black patent leather Appear watch c/o Phosphor

This cardigan was a birthday present from my mom -- I absolutely love it!!  Though strangely enough I seem to have some sort of knack for wearing the one piece of clothing NOT featured on the brand's website...lol.  I managed to find this on a random German website if you're interested!  I really love the ruched shoulders and pockets, so cute!  

Today was my late dad's birthday and every year we try to do something to celebrate.  For the last three years it's been a bittersweet time because as you guys know, my birthday is the day before and people always said I was his birthday present!  So as much as I enjoy my birthday the day after is always a bit sad.  This is also the reason I was so happy to discover that Sina's birthday was the 2nd, now I can share my birthday time with someone special once again :)  So this year, we celebrated what would have been my dad's 73rd by going to the opera!  We saw Puccini's Madama Butterfly, very moving and beautiful!  And no, this isn't what I wore this evening, these pictures were taken earlier in the day ;) 

Stay Stylish!