Outfit: Stripes and Florals With a Bright Umbrella

After a week of beautiful spring sunshine, I was rudely awakened by the wind and rain yesterday morning. But every cloud has a silver lining and it meant I could use my new umbrella which was a brilliantly thoughtful gift from someone who knows how much I love yellow and who knew I was without one.

My children and I called in at my parents' home for coffee and cake mid-morning and then headed into my home town of Preston for a bit of shopping.

An excursion to Ikea followed, during which I bought two clothing rails and lost two children. Well, they lost themselves really after wandering off. There was no phone signal so it was slightly worrisome, but at 14 and almost 12, they are old enough not to panic and sensible enough to wait for me by the exit.  

My parents have been frequent visitors to my new home and have been helping me with various DIY tasks such as putting blinds and mirrors up. However, they have numerous other demands on their time so I decided it was time to invest in some power tools of my own to enable me to do at least some of the jobs myself. So next we went to B&Q. Genuinely, I was as excited buying a drill as I would have been buying a handbag. Well, almost...

We listened to the Grand National during the drive home because we each had a bet on. My horse, Many Clouds, (chosen because it put me in mind of one of my oft quoted sayings, every cloud...), won, which took the day's excitement to a whole new level. I'm still buzzing today in fact. And so was my drill. I've managed to put three shelves and several hooks up and I'm actively looking for more.

So yesterday's outfit was a practical one with a pop of colour and a hint of spring. I love combining stripes with florals and my daisy scarf from my accessories boutique afforded the right amount of warmth on what essentially was a day in and out of the car.  (We have sold out of daisy scarves in blue but we do have them available in mint green, pale yellow and jade.) My pale yellow Clarks brogues were perfect and I got complimented on them twice which is always lovely.

When it rains, look for rainbows...