Love the look

Simple and chic, I absolutely love this look from Asos. As Tyra would say this is H to T modelling, selling me everything from her topknot to those super-cool shearling lined boots. Both the dress and the boots are in my 'save for later' list - however with all this rain making me less inclined to leave the house I have a feeling that they shall be moved to my shopping bag soon enough. £87 seems almost reasonable... but as I sit at home searching for gainful employment I do wonder whether it might be just a little flippant, considering i'm almost certainly going to buy this jacket: (I can't afford Burberry after all...)

HRH Mulberry

Mulberry's new Margaret line dropped online today and it instantly appealed to my inner country lady (I'm sitting here wearing Hunters and a tweed twinset as I type...). Featuring a crest that celebrates a love of all things British (tea, cake, bulldogs) this fabulous and ever so slightly kitsch range is inspired by royal wildchild Princess Margaret herself (the name gives it away somewhat).

As always they are made from irresistible Mulberry leather and finished to an impeccable standard, now the only dilemma is spend a little or spend ALOT?

Above: A pretty entry piece at an affordable £130. Below: A regal investment in royal blue £495. Decisions decisions...

Green fingers are heaven sent...

I have spent the past few days shopping like a madwoman for my impending trip to Thailand, so I am sitting in front of my computer feeling well and truly pooped. I've visited Topshop twice, almost got crushed as we pushed our way through the gay pride loving crowds to get to H&M on Regent St (clearly the best one), Millets once (which is enough), John Lewis, Primark (eek), Office and River Island twice and I honestly can say that I haven't even got half of the actually useful stuff that I need, just clothes. And judging by the size of my borrowed backpack, far far too many of those...

So anyway, to treat myself for all my hard work, I thought that I'd give myself not one but two gifts... On top of the fact I've spent almost £300 on god knows what already!

Above my heavenly angel wings ring reduced to £2.5o at Topshop. Perfect apart from the fact it has already turned my finger green... And below, my super amazing unicorn print canvas tote from River Island (don't hate me). They seem to be having a Miu Miu moment (have you seen the shoes?) and I think that this super-cool bag hits just the right balance between cute and chic. I just need to find out how to take off that horrible silver plaque... Any ideas?

Oh and I almost forgot, I also bought myself a pair of white leather Sperry's.

Gah! Just reading back over this makes me cringe slightly.

Well as I am now without gainful employment I may as well spend my last month's salary before its gone!

Delightful doodle

I was so so pleased when I opened Google today to find that they had a Little Prince dedicated doodle.

This wonderful story is one of my top 10 reads of all time. Combining beautiful illustrations and heartfelt philosophy, I'd recommend it to everyone. Allegedly based on the real near-death experience of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (and his subsequent rescue by a Bedouin boy) this heartfelt read still holds the same magic for me as it did when I was little.

Check it out, you won't regret it.

Says the fox to the prince "We only really see with the heart. The most important things can't be seen with the eyes."

Crystal cupcakes and leopard nails

Feeling questionably patriotic?

The wonderful people at Barry M have had a brief relapse of taste and started selling these three Nail Paints together for the discounted price of £6.50 (a saving of £2.35 ooh!) so that all of us can indulge our inner ladette and support the boys. Don't all rush at once...

Style Icon: Sailor Moon?

Well perhaps not... but as I stepped out in my over-the-knee socks along with a floaty dress, I felt like a cross between that and a Victorian schoolgirl. It takes some guts to go out wearing St Trinians style socks (apparently) and if it weren't for the scruffy boots and boyfriend jumper I would probably have walked around looking like the wrong side of jailbait (especially given the curls and headband combo).

Anyhow... considering I don't really do sexy or elegant or fashion forward I thought I'd post my take on cute.

How much longer can I get away with dressing like a teenager? Hopefully just a little bit longer.

Saturday Adventures

Who watched the football on Saturday? Who was forced to? I found myself coerced into a deal with the Boy whereby if I didn't cringe (too much) at the car flags and put up with the 'En-ger-lund' war cries at the pub, not to mention the middle aged men wearing football shirts that I would be taken on an adventure that morning.

As readers of this blog know, I am a girl who loves an adventure - not the hiking, camping type mind you, I'm much more the stately homes and cream tea type... Following the huge success of our adventure excursion last year, the Boy and I found ourselves the village of Corfe Castle, the beautifully picturesque hamlet that lies at the foot of castle ruins in Dorset. Having landed on the same day as 'Corfest' the usual £6 fee was wavered by the lovely old ladies from the National Trust (after a hefty yearly membership sales pitch) and we were able to ascend to the castle with the happiness only true freedom can bring.

At the entrance of the castle was a small market and makeshift dog show, so after watching the 'waggiest tail' entrants strut thier stuff(and get their bellies scratched), we took a stroll around the stalls. A jar of pickled eggs, chilli oil, tomato chutney and a bracelet later we moved on to a church book fair where I picked up a copy of The Alchemist for 50p - bargain!

My bracelet is actually intended to be a little girls necklace, but after opting to go for a 'B' bee rather then an 'E' elephant (or the 'P' piglet suggestion by the Boy) I thought I'd be fabulously bohemian/ kitsch and wrap it around my wrist, although I still haven't been able to tie a knot tight enough to get it to stay yet. Knot experts suggestions welcome...
After having a lovely pub lunch we headed to the coast and sat on a stone watching the world go by for a little bit...

... And made it home in plenty of time to watch England draw 1-1 against USA. I kept my promise and was on my best behaviour. Of course A bottle of rose was the perfect way to finish taking the edge off the beautiful game.

Doesn't the Boy look lovely in his sunglasses?

New Shoes!

Some say they're channelling Chloe others say Alexander Wang... I say nothing because I don't want too many people to know that they are in fact £35 from good ol' M&S.

Having seen them in a shoes campaign in the wonderful Stylist magazine, I knew they had to be mine. I know I should be saving money to spend on investment buys, but when the highstreet is this good I think that they're a fair investment in a good summer. Beyond? I'll think about that later.
My second pair of shoes is thanks to my lovely mother. Today we took a trip the the retail outlet in Ashford (so so chavtastic but they have a Kurt Geiger so I'm not complaining). My mum decided to buy two pair of shoes and thanks to a fantastic offer, you got a third pair for free. So I picked these bejewelled lovelies.

These shoes should see me through the summer, or at least the month but seeing as how I've now handed in my notice in order to taste freelance freedom, these will have to be the last shoes I buy for a while... I will ignore the horror of this situation by decorating my nails, watch this space.

Just needs the cream

I'm honing my skills... Since investing £25 in a set of nail pens after a fairly convincing sales pitch at Hamleys, I've been playing with them all week. I've run out of fingers (and toes!).

Seeing as its almost Wimbledon season, I thought that strawberries might be wonderfully appropriate... so here they are.

I might start charging soon.

Life's a beach

I don't want to be one of those boring people who go on and on about how amazing and culturally enriching their holidays are, luckily then that my recent trip was to the wonderful Brits abroad city of Alicante. This really is a completely separate point however.

The one simple piece of learning that I wanted to pass on is this:

Despite the exercising and dieting and fretting, the frantic bikini shopping, last minute daily tanning and excessive consumption of green tea... the moment you get on the sand wearing the same old bikini you always do, none of it matters anymore. So my belly is a belly not a washboard, my boobs aren't mountains and my hips are bigger than they should be... so what? I'm in the sun and along with the truly intoxicating smell of my factor 30 I'm happy.

This is what it comes down to at the end of the day. You will always be bigger than some and smaller than others.

Instead of thinking about the wobbling tummy instead I turned my attention to crazy tanned Germans in thongs (a man!) and people taking a dip actually wearing their underwear (seriously see-through) and countless other weird and wonderful things.... and not once did I regret having eaten that fish finger sandwich before I left.

Now that I'm home however, all the old insecurities are back, they are an inevitable part of who I am but at least now I can see that half the battle is in my head... the other half? Most probably needs to get back on the cross trainer.

Florence chic

Yesterday I went to see Florence live at Hammersmith, so I thought I'd make a little Florence inspired tableaux... I totally wore flowered tights and plastic flowers in my hair. Love It.

What to wear to see Florence by Ellie_Girl featuring Monsoon accessories

If you had to...

Seeing as my blog doesn't really touch on the political very often (read: ever) I thought that I'd extend a fun office game to my blog. The rules are fairly simple: if you had to, which of our country's top political leaders would you take back to your castle/bedroom/duck house (delete as appropriate) ?

'Down with the kids' David?


Nick 'Number 2' Clegg?


Or David 'pick me' Miliband?

I know who gets my vote (tee hee) who gets yours?

And people say politics isn't sexy....

Rainbow nails

In my attempt to start at awesome new trend, I've been painting my nails in a rainbow of colours recently. Above is my latest go... a trend worth following if I ever saw one...

C'mon, you know you want to.

Topshop gives good face

OMG's all round... So I'm a week late off the mark but I thought I'd inform everyone just how much I LOVE Topshop's new makeup range. Last Thursday lunchtime about eight fellow fashionistas and I ventured to our closest branch of the holy fashion store to sample the sacred goods. We weren't disappointed. Featuring a range of glitter-filled, rainbow-bright, deliciously gooey concoctions and a nail varnish collection that makes Barry M look gaudy and brash (sorry Barry!) I had to set myself a budget.

So after working my way through the green glitter eye crayon and trying nearly every shade of the mint flavoured lip glosses, including orange which in conjunction with the green eyeliner = not so good, I finally decided on my £15 worth of purchases. A black glitter eye crayon, coral nail varnish and 'Hollywood' pink lipgloss later, and £1 over budget its all I'm going to be able to do not to go back again in a few days for my next hit.

Prices start at a teeny weeny £4 and I have it on good authority that they are being made by the wonderful fairies at the MAC factory (oh yes!) these are well worth the money.