I’m turning the tables today and hoping that instead of me writing to you, you will write to me again. As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I’ve spent the last week poring over your replies to the question I asked you about midlife bumps in the road a little while ago. I’ve read, categorised and made notes on every single account – and the experiences you’ve shared have rocked my world. My goodness midlife women have a lot to deal with and there are some of you in particular who will stay in my thoughts because you’ve been through so much, often feeling very alone. I’m glad that some of you said ..read more

Before we begin, don’t worry – I haven’t turned into a trad-wife. After a tightly packed few days, total meltdown on the trains saw me stranded in London last week and so I had to take some drastic measures which resulted in an experiment I’d never anticipated – the week my husband dressed me [spoiler – he didn’t do a bad job!]. This is the first of the series of shorter posts that I’m going to be writing over the summer just to stay in touch while I’m working on other things so here’s a recap of some of the things I’ve been doing and wearing. Wednesday Remember the summer day that was last W ..read more

Another of the big sales has begun and as with John Lewis there are some great value buys to be had if you’re quick.  Today I’m taking you through the Boden sale and clearance – what to buy, the great value pieces that will work hard in your wardrobe. Here’s my deep dive into the styles that are worth looking at. Dresses Timeless summer dresses I have this linen dress in a brighter red from last year’s collection and it’s one that I know I’ll hold onto for a long time. Besides being cool and comfortable on summer days, the thing I love about it is that it isn’t too long and it doesn’t ha ..read more

I think this will be my last post on the main SS24 collections. We’re approaching the longest day so we’re growing ever closer to sale season but as you’ll have seen from the new TV ad, M&S have gloriously defied the traditional retail calendar with a new release that’s bursting with colourful style. And it makes sense doesn’t it? Summer has barely shown its face yet in the UK so there’s no way that any of us want to see autumn clothes starting to creep in (even if it does feel like late October). As M&S continue to work on developing their core ranges there’s a lot to look through on ..read more

Midlife travel solo Last month I told you all about my women only trip sailing around Thailand. That post looked at where we went and what we did but there was so much to say that I couldn’t finish with what it taught me and that’s what I want to talk about today. People set out on midlife travel solo journeys for all kinds of reasons but travelling without Mal wasn’t something I’d ever thought of doing before and I’m so grateful that I had the experience. You see I had, for a while, been noticing that I was slipping. It was a midlife kind of slipping accentuated by lockdown. I’ve found that s ..read more

I haven’t worked with John Lewis for ages – there’s a new team in place and so today’s post is going be a little bit different. I usually do a summer post earlier than this and I tend to go straight to their own brand ranges because I find they suit all kinds of different body shapes and sizes. The good thing about working with new people though is that they have different approaches and they asked whether this time I might like to look at some of the third party brands in store. The ones they came up with weren’t ones that I’d usually feature and so even though they were happy for me to go ..read more

I’ve had lots of people requesting a return to the brand specific spotlight posts that I ran in the autumn. SS24 has been a bit of a juggle in terms of work, travel and blog so I haven’t had time to put a consistent series together but today I’m delighted to be bringing you another one, this time it’s a Me+Em review – Retailer Spotlight. Me+Em – brand background in a nutshell Disclosure: as with the majority of blogs, products featured on Midlifechic sometimes (but not always) include affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, you are helping to support the site b ..read more

I think for a lot of midlifers the concept of summer changes, especially when you find yourself no longer bound by school term dates or even edging towards retirement. Time stretches and you can take advantage of booking a holiday earlier or later in the season and actually enjoy summer in the UK. But that of course comes with its own challenges, specifically weather because it’s rarely quite as good as you imagine it’s going to be. And that’s where the problem lies, finding a realistic wardrobe that lies between the dream of months of perpetual picnics and the reality of chillier (or wetter ..read more

Hello, it’s just a quick post today because sadly one of Mal’s aunties has died so we’ve been spending a bit of time over in Newcastle with the family for the funeral this week. She had a long and happy life so it’s been a bit of a celebration too but obviously it’s still difficult for those who were closest to her. I didn’t have very long to put a post together before we left but what to wear to a festival over 50 has been much requested recently so I’m going to update you with the changes I saw at the one we went to a couple of weeks ago. And of course this isn’t just for festivals, it’s su ..read more

At last it’s time to tell you about my sudden but very exciting journey sailing around Thailand – women-only trip of a lifetime. There’s such a lot to say that I need to split it into two instalments. Today I’ll tell you about the trip and what we did, then next month I’ll talk about how it felt to travel with people I hadn’t met before and the lessons I learned. So let’s begin. Sailing Around Thailand – women-only It all came about so suddenly and the time out there flew so fast that it almost feels as if it didn’t happen at all. Imagine this, flicking through your emails as you’re leaving ..read more