Staycation for the win!

This has been my absolute lengthiest birthday celebrations ever.

I’ve managed a record of not only having a birthday month but of also carrying it over into the following month. I blame this largely due to my husband being on a stag the weekend of my birthday and thus we used this as an excuse to plan a staycation in Cork city last week.

I’m a big fan of staycations which is probably due to the fact that we don’t live in the city, so for nights out it’s nice to stay somewhere and not have to get a cab home to West Cork or have one of you drive.

Last week we decided to stay in The River Lee Hotel and I’ve been there so often recently that I feel I should move in there at this stage. Just place a small camper bed on the summer terrace of the River Club and I’ll be fine with a cocktail in hand and an English Market tasting platter.

The reason for the stay was that Rob had booked a table at Ichigo Ichi for my birthday and it is definitely worth going there for a special occasion. While it is expensive, it really is an amazing dining experience.

Anyway I had my whole arsenal of night away outfits planned only for the whole thing, only to be scuppered by the cold and the rain. Now I’m generally quite hardy to the weather but I was beyond chilled to my bones, so I had to have a last minute repack. Of course, as you can imagine, I was only delighted with this.

One good thing did come of it and that was that I finally pulled my pistachio coloured military style jacket from & Other Stories out of the wardrobe. You may remember the furore I went through to obtain the aforementioned jacket but then it had been sitting in my wardrobe because it felt too light for the winter cold but was now perfect for the crisp spring weather.

I paired it with a basic striped roll neck and the high waist, wide leg cropped jeans I bought in GAP recently and which I’m still wearing constantly. To my surprise, the jacket is quite warm so I feel like I need to start wearing it even more now before the weather heats up. It’s a jacket conundrum for sure!

While it might seem like I do nothing but minibreak, I do actually do a lot of work most of the time and this week I’ve been preparing for the Opera Lane summer preview. Styling events like this always focus my mind for the season ahead, and while I’ve felt a bit like I haven’t fully been able to get into spring, after pulling looks for this week's event, I am now more than ever ready for summer.

I’m generally all about summer brights and lots of print but there are so many earthy and neutral tones out there at the moment that I’m thinking of re-evaluating my style.

I was also struck the other day by the amount of brown tones that are around and I must say I am here for this new colour trend. It’s a great base for greens and oranges and looks particularly good with a pop of lilac against it. I’m also falling back in love with stripes after a brief hiatus from the print and I’m on the hunt for the perfect summer striped tee at the moment. If anyone finds a loose jersey black and white striped t-shirt on their travels be sure to let me know. Apart from that, I’ll fill you in on the event next week.