#38

As you may, or probably not, have noticed, I've become a little lazy (again) with the old blog, so apologies for that! However, my friend from Reading has been staying with me the past few days and therefore I have been super busy on tour-guide type duty! I've been having a lot of fun visiting some local tourist attractions that I hadn't been to for years including cheddar gorge and Priddy-a beautiful little village with super sunset-watching hotspots! I completely regret not taking enough photos but I hope the snaps I have for you from today's trip will make up for that. So today we went to *African bongo drum roll*, Longleat! With it being one of my favourite places from my childhood, I was extremely up for going back and checking out all the new exciting things that have been built there over the years. I can't imagine you don't know, but if you don't, Longleat is a safari park/zoo/campsite all-round fabulous place. Animals are well looked after with suitable, spacious enclosures and there are dozens of various attractions for anyone and everyone! This visit was particularly memorable because I tried a few (some scary!) new things, including holding a snake who was far too determined to get it's head next to my hand, complete with slithering tongue! 

Of course this is a fashion blog so firstly, my ootd (outfit of the day):

I'm afraid I was very pushed for time with this little shoot and the camera was playing up a little so they are not of the highest quality. My outfit was slightly boring I suppose today, mainly because we had an early start and therefore there was no dawdling over what to wear. On top of that,it had to be versatile in a variety of weather conditions (England seems to be messing us about a bit with weather at the moment!) as well as being comfy for the long day ahead! So I went safe with my bargain Topshop woollen trousers which have been featured before (I love them okay?), new look slipper pumps, black vest top, waterfall-ish cardigan and Elephant print staple bag (so appropriate!). I know it's not a particularly interesting choice but there you go! Moving on to the really exciting bit, here are my totally un-fashion-related-yet-completely-cool photos from today, enjoy!

Feeding the giraffes! 

Anne the elephant...

African bongo lessons!

 Camera shy Lemurs...

 Nigel the Tortoise...

 Baby Zebra aw...

 Sleepy Rhinos...

 This Camel's got a lot going on...

Bambi's daddy!

 Comfy?

Top quality cuddles from this guy...

 Sleeping Lions...

 Pretty Cheetah!

 Got pretty close to a Meerkat!

 AH!

#37

For some reason, as soon as my hair gets to be reasonably long, I have a compulsive need to chop it all off again! As cheesy as it may seem, for me, doing something different with my hair symbolises a mini new start in life and having it short (literally) takes a weight off my shoulders! It's less 'girly' and less 'pretty' sure, but it's also much easier to brush/dry/style, gives me a sense of freedom and reunites me with me, because short hair is what I feel most comfortable with no matter how 'mumsy' or 'tomboy' I end up looking! And of course, if you know me at all you'll know the majority of my girl crushes have short-mid-length hair! Anyway, I'm looking forward to styling it more and experimenting with it and I hope you like it as much as I do! That's all for now, I hope you're all having a fabulous week so far and I aim to be back tomorrow with at least one new post!

x

styled with...

Tresemme Brush/ Charles Worthington mussed up texturing spray/ Charles Worthington volumising mousse/ Charles Worthington salt spray

#36

Autumn/winter '12 wish-list

Anyone remotely interested in fashion will feel at least a slight flutter in their tummy's when the subject of a new season occurs-it's fashion fanatic protocol. It's a chance to face the even colder/rainier/miserable months ahead with positivity, contentment and confidence. While it'll take at least until the end of September for Britain to give up all hope of having some real summer weather, fashion concious personalities everywhere will have the excitement of having a wardrobe make-over to make the autumn/winter months a little more pleasurable; I don't know about you but I love big, cosy jumpers and boots so autumn/winter fashion is always fun for me!

However, disappointingly, economic hard times are still very much present, so many of us (myself included) are faced with the harsh truth that we cannot go 'all out' on a new wardrobe however much we would love too. For this reason, not only will I be sharing with you everything I love and want for the season ahead, I also plan to do my best to 'autumnise' my current wardrobe and hopefully inspire you to work what you already own into something new and god-awful-weather appropriate!

Firstly though, my ever growing wish-list. If I purchase any of these things over the next month or so you'll know about it! 
p.s. I am on the hunt for a red tartan jumper and a black and white dogtooth jumper so if anyone comes across either of these items I would love to know! What are you after this autumn/winter?

x

METALLIC GEO JACQUARD TROUSERS by topshop

CHUNKY CABLE JUMPER by miss selfridge

BLACK PU HIGH WAISTED SHORTS BY RIVER ISLAND

BLACK STUDDED SLIPPER SHOES BY RIVER ISLAND

GALACTIC COLLAR SKATER DRESS BY SISTER JANE AT ASOS

BLACK CHELSEA BOOTS BY RIVER ISLAND

 RIB BOYFRIEND KNIT BEANIE BY ASOS

#35

Not entirely sure why I didn't just merge this post in with my last one but I'm just taking one more trip back to Corfu (mentally that is) before moving on to new subjects such as the best of the autumn/winter trends as proposed by VOGUE magazine and my updated wish-list to name just a couple! This particular post, is much more fashion related (yay!) than my last, which was mainly done as a means of sharing a little of my holiday with my readers so as not to keep it a totally private matter. 

So back to the topic at hand, of course I made some purchases while out there! I adore delving into new and exciting cultures so buying things from Greece rather than my local Topshop was trės exciting! 

I picked up this ring in Corfu Town (the creatively named capital city of Corfu) in a tiny little shop/stall on a dainty and rather narrow street which was more or less full of other mini-shops selling knock-off Louis Vuittons's, so it was definitely a case of finding a rose amongst thorns. The jewellery in Greece was exquisite; of a higher standard than our high-street shops and much, much cheaper. The owner of the shop was an adorable elderly lady who made sure we knew the price of everything she had on sale. She even helped me try on nearly ALL the rings before I decided this was 'the one'. The fact I made this purchase from such a lovely Greek local in a somewhat whimsical shop makes it a really special find. I adore the colour, shape and attention to detail almost a little too much (I often find myself admiring it all over again!), I just wish I could have bought home the whole collection!

This bracelet was a more touristy buy, it's main feature being the Greek eye, whose duty it is to ward off evil. At just 3 euro it was what I like to call a cheap-and-cheerful purchase! It was definitely one of the nicer of the designs with it's extra accessories which make it more accessible to British fashion and my everyday style. I always seem to indulge in good luck symbols from varying cultures and have a quite random appeal to certain cultural designs in all areas of life (hence the elephants-also a symbol of good luck, the Buddha's I own and the Chinese symbol for good fortune which I repeatedly get tattoo'd in henna on my left wrist whenever attending Glastonbury festival) so this bracelet was more than welcome in my collection of 'non-Britishy' possessions. Disappointingly, since returning to England and stalking all major high-street shops' (plus a few boutiques') websites, I have come a cross a few designs using the Greek eye as the main focus of the jewellery! Whether my bracelet remains unique or not though, I think I'll be wearing it for some time!

I'm not one to care about bad pictures of me being online (if I was it would be a bit late to start fussing over it now!) however, I feel I should tell you in this image I am 100% without make up which is why I look a bit...groggy, shall we say? Since my holiday I have been avoiding make up entirely and just could not bring myself to apply it for one tiny photo, so apologies for that! Anyway I bought this pashmina in the same shop as my ring, and again, it is now very special to me. The authentic and beautiful paisley inspired stitching caught my eye immediately, and then when I noticed the small strips of multi-coloured oddball stitching with minimal sequin detailing, well, It was love at first sight! I then of course went to pick it up and just like that, I knew I had to have it. I've always had a soft spot for pashmina's since my dad and step-mum used to bring them back for me from their exotic travels they take with work, but I had never found one so beautiful before. For this post I sort of just flung it around my neck on top of what I was already wearing but I plan to incorporate it into my 'proper' outfits at any chance I get, so look out for that! I'm excited about the fact that 1) I haven't seen many detailed pashmina's around recently and 2) no one will have one which was sold to them by a friendly little Greek lady on a narrow street on the island where Johnny Depp and Madonna have both holidayed!

x

#34

Two days ago I reluctantly landed at Bristol airport after a two week holiday in Corfu, a breathtakingly stunning Greek island. We sunbathed, swam, took boat/day trips and spent many an evening sat in the local bars and restaurants that lined the harbour (which provided sparklers and fruit with all cocktails, funny bartenders, hideous and yet wonderful music, Greek dancing and karaoke-my best friend and I are guilty of singing Reach by Sclub 7 accompanied by the rest of the not-entirely-sober bar!). We were all a little on edge before the holiday considering the not-so-secret economic chaos Greek have got themselves into, but the euro held up and surprisingly most shop/stall owners and businesses were kind, helpful and put no uncomfortable pressure on us to buy their goods. In general, the Greek people were upbeat, kind and very friendly; noticeably more than the British in fact despite their economic state! I can't say the same for the Greek lady (with a top lip in need of a good waxing) who pushed bunches of flowers into our arms trying to force us to buy them, then proceeded to stroke my face and call me a 'sexy lady' but hey, it's an experience right? And we certainly laughed about it after!

England kindly greeted our return with temperatures 20° lower than that of Corfu and patches of rain since then! This wonderfully dull country has found me sinking right back in to my tweeting/texting habits which were honestly not missed at all in Greece (boohoo!) but admittedly it has been nice to see/speak to my friends and family again. I was also very happy to get my babies back and yes, when I say 'babies' I do mean my cats-don't judge me okay?

 Anyway enough of my rambling, I'll do the second half of this post in pictures; this is just a very small selection of about 400 photos taken while we were away but I thought these were the blog-appropriate ones! They may be a little small but if you click them they should appear in a larger form!

αντίο (That's goodbye in Greek, see if you can pronounce it!)

 The family home of the owners of 'Ferrari'/The villa owned by the Rothschild's where Johnny Depp had been staying four days before/ sex on the beach cocktail/ siesta-ing/ Corfu Town/ swimming in Corfu Town Harbour/ yummy food/ a sea urchin/ The view from the monastery we visited/ The kittens living at the monastery/ 'diving in' off the boat/ paleokastritsa x4/ Corfu Town street/ intense uno-ing/ high school musical/meditation style pool jumping!

 x