Berets in the Snow

Well here it is, my first 'outfit post' of 2018.  Less than two miles from our house is a secluded spot in nature, with a small lake and rolling hills.  It wasn't always as idyllic.  The Cambrian Colliery was formerly located on the site, running from 1872 until 1967.  It was a large mine, employing 4,000 men in its heyday, and the railway transported over 700 tonnes of coal a day from the mine.  Mining was an incredibly dirty and dangerous job, and two huge explosions during the mine's operation caused significant loss of life (read more and see a news clip about the 1965 explosion here).  Today there's a memorial, and it's a quiet spot for contemplation.  It's a beautiful place, and far removed from how it must have been.  On a very icy day, it has an incredibly eerie beauty.

I wear this red beret all the time in the winter months, but it seems that it hasn't appeared on the blog very much.  I wore it recently as part of a Christmas elf look, and back in 2015 I teamed it with a green vintage suit.  On a day to day basis, it always coordinates with red lipstick, or my red glasses.  You can expect wintry scenes and lots of my hat and coat collection to feature over the next few months. as it's too dark indoors for photographing nice dresses, and too cold outdoors to pose without a coat.  I did actually have tears rolling down my face at one point in this shoot from the freezing temperatures...

Wearing: Monsoon coat from charity shop, Jones the Bootmaker boots, M&S sparkly tights, Accessorize beret, vintage gloves, thrifted snowflake brooch, bag from husband, Peacocks scarf.

It's back to work for me tomorrow.  I've had just over two weeks off in total, the first being a fun and festive week full of seeing family and friends and eating/drinking, and the past week has been a PhD week.  The weather's been awful, with a few storms passing through, so it's been quite nice to have the excuse to stay cosy indoors for most of the time, drinking cup after cup of hot tea, and taking the time to make nice lunches like spicy parsnip soup.  I've also still been doing my yoga everyday (I'm doing Yoga With Adriene's 'Revolution' 31 day programme) and against my better judgement have decided to do Dry January this year.  My Mum is from Northumberland and told me of a superstition from childhood, that whatever you did on New Year's Day you'd end up doing for the whole year.  Doing yoga, drinking tea and making PhD progress doesn't sound like a bad plan at all for the year ahead now, does it?

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Linking up with: #iwillwearwhatilike, Visible Monday, Passion for Fashion, Fancy Friday