Hollie-Anne Brooks dresses for a girly evening in with mum.

I have the best mother and boyfriend in the entire world. I'd love someone to live my life for a day and just see how kind, caring, sweet and gorgeous my two most important people are. But it's all about my yummy mummy tonight!

My mum called me this morning to make sure I was well and insisted we have a sweet little evening of cooking dinner, painting nails and just being fabulous. It's been such a simple evening of cooking chicken and pesto pizza, watching television and my mother plaiting my hair as if I was three once more. But it's what I've needed and I'm much happier than I was at the start of the day.

The outfit I've styled for today is perfect for a relaxed dinner out or a few chilled glasses of white wine in the spring heat. I've started with this pretty Topshop tunic, added some Current/Elliot jeans and beautiful sandals by Musa. Forever21 provide pretty extras in the form of a bracelet and ring and this simple but chic clutch is Stella McCartney.

Girly evening. by hollieanne featuring Current/Elliott jeans

Hollie-Anne Brooks dresses for dinner with her mother.

My mother celebrates her birthday tomorrow. I'm clearly not going to reveal my mother's age but I've become more and more fascinated by her astonishing beauty and wonderful skin. As one ages, it's dictated that beauty becomes less of a focus but my mother looks better with age.

We went out for dinner tonight and then to the cinema (we saw 'He's just not that into you' and it is well worth every penny- loved it) and sat sharing ice-cream as we nodded our heads in agreement with the characters on the screen who were all going through some sort of melodramatic but realistic love issue in their lives.

Dinner with my mother is always odd, I always feel the need to impress and to shine despite seeing her everyday. Is it just me or does having dinner with mummy always signal a slight success or fail feeling? My mother is one of my best friends but I'll never stop having a certain driving force behind me to impress her.

I've selected a simple but pretty outfit this evening. I often find that the most simple outfits work best. LBD, black clutch and heels? More than fine! And that's just the look I've gone for here. To me, this Fendi dress is perfection as I adore the shape and the detailing of the belt. I've added a Louboutin clutch, some heels by Giuseppe Zanotti and an Alex Monroe 'love' necklace. Finally, it's colour o'clock with a bright Marc by Marc Jacobs cotton trench. Until tomorrow...



Dinner with my mother. - by hollieanne on Polyvore.com

Hollie-Anne Brooks dresses for spending time with her mother.

Some women complain about spending time with their mother. Meeting up in M&S and listening to her go on and on about how you need to settle down shortly and have some babies isn't the idea of a brilliant afternoon for most people, but it is for me.

OK, so my mother is very accepting of MYB (actually, she's thinks I'm not good enough for him- ha!) and she'd never push the issue of children because she knows I'm not maternal and never plan on getting pregnant. But listening to my mum talk about her things and her goings on is utter bliss for me. By the age of 19, my mother had lost her own mother and I find it so difficult to understand how that must have been for her. I'm an only child and my mum has always been my best friend so even if she is "gently guiding" me about marriage and children and the future, I will always love it.

Today we did some lovely high street shopping and then came home to make dinner. I love cooking with my mum, she's an incredible cook. Tonight we had fresh baguettes with humus and Italian meat followed by grilled chicken and ploughman's salad. Yum! We've been painting our nails tonight and sitting watching TV. I love these times.

If my mum and I are meeting for a shopping trip or lunch, I always make sure I look really nice as I want to make her super proud. This outfit is more than mum worthy! The pretty floral dress is by Forever21 and I've added some purple heels from H&M and a corsage (which I own) also from H&M. The clashing colour earrings come from Miss Selfridge, the daisy watch is none other than Marc by Marc Jacobs and this incredibly beautiful necklaces is Yves Saint Laurent. Finally, a Topshop suede clutch to match in with the colour scheme.

Just a final note, the blog will be up tomorrow but early on in the morning. Thursday and Friday will see the blog (most probably) not up and running due to being away with work and not being able to access the Internet. I'll try my best but I'm 90% sure the blog will be down for a few days. Apologies.



Spending time with mum. - by hollieanne on Polyvore.com