"". 2019 Is Almost A Wrap | Is This Mutton?

Fashion for the over 50s with books and beauty

Search This Blog

Sunday 29 December 2019

2019 Is Almost A Wrap

A sparkly star jumper and jeans rounding off the Christmas season for over-50s blogger Gail Hanlon from Is This Mutton?
Well, it's almost over - Christmas 2019 and an entire decade.  Just New Year's Eve to go, and to be honest, Mr Mutton and I am usually in bed before midnight.

I took a break from blogging this month.  It was all getting too much.  Work is very full-on at the moment; there were a couple of US trips not too far apart, and the inevitable cold that follows from all the germs on the plane.

A brother-in-law died unexpectedly in December, in India, and one of the lovely sisters who runs my gym died, both in their 50s.  It makes you think how precious life is, and how we need to embrace it and do what we want to do.

I was seriously thinking about not blogging anymore because it takes a lot of time, time which I am constantly nagging myself should be spent doing housework / yoga / walking or gardening,  whichever task I'm feeling guilty about neglecting.

I'm also conscious that we shouldn't be buying so much "stuff," and people are quite judgmental now about women (and bloggers) buying clothes.  While I agree we should be more thoughtful about what we buy, and where from, let's not forget the fashion industry in the UK is worth 26 billion pounds with 800,000 people employed.

A lot of people who don't get blogging and think it a worthless vanity pursuit think that we do it because we must be very narcissistic. I'm quite introverted and I enjoy blogging as a way to show my "other" side, as well as making me feel less like a ghost, someone who glides through life without being noticed.

I also like flying the flag for women over 50 who are marginalized by society and either pigeon holed as grannies or "mutton dressed as lamb"  should we dare to wear anything short, clingy or low cut.

And I love the community of like-minded women that support each other, in the blogosphere and on Instagram.

Reviewing The Situation


So after Reviewing the Situation, as Fagin would say in Oliver!, I decided to carry on blogging, but more on my terms.  Working with brands is wonderful but I put a huge amount of effort into researching and creating the posts, so as a hobby blogger I'm going to stop working with brands unless it's one of my regulars or a clothes/beauty brand I really adore.

I'm going to do fewer "shoots" as I call them, with several pictures of one outfit.  I want to be a bit more relaxed about it all.  Instead, more posts about what I've been wearing day-to-day, which are more popular, and my "Five for FriYay" type posts where I write about five things that I'm liking. I'll also carry on with Sentence a Day - next one is published on 7 January - as it's a good forcing function to make me do things and get out and about.  My Christmas will be covered in that post which will feature December.
Is This Mutton, style blog for the over-50s, on December 2019
Today's outfit is a pair of old jeans from M&S - they remain my favourites - and last year's Christmas jumper, also from M&S.   I'll be back on Wednesday with the return of #WowOnWednesday.

If your New Year's Eve involves a party, a pub or fireworks, enjoy!  I will be glad to see the back of 2019 and look forward to putting up my new David Bowie calendar for 2020. I suspect New Year's Eve will be spent with Henry Cavill and The Witcher, with maybe a cheeky glass of champagne. Until then my friends, bye for now!

Sharing this post with Claire Justine, #sharealllinkup at Not Dressed as Lamb, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style,  Style with a smile at Stylesplash, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, Linkup on the Edge at Shelbee on the Edge, Red Carpet Link Up at Glamadventure, Muttonstyle, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style and #BloggerClubUk or #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings.


For More Mutton


Stay in the loop: follow Is This Mutton? on Bloglovin or Feedspot. I post extra goodies on the Is This Mutton? Facebook page. Check out the Is This Mutton? Pinterest boards, including boards on other bloggers in fab outfits plus beauty, jewellery, hairstyles and fashion picks. Is This Mutton? is also on Twitter.



SHARE:

1 comment

  1. Yay for your way forwards. As you know its what I love and do too. Real 'stuff' is the future and less adsie. I think the requirement to put #ad etc changed what readers want to see.

    ReplyDelete

Blog Design Created by pipdig