Category Archives: life stuff

The Dressing Gown Coat

28th March 2016
I was so excited to wake up on the morning of Good Friday to find glorious sunshine and mild weather- what a perfect start to the ten glorious days off of work I had stretching out ahead of me! It also meant I could finally ditch the heavy winter coat and break out a new purchase from a few weeks ago (what clothes buying ban?) when I popped in to Cabot Circus with my Mum. I don’t often pay Urban Outfitters a visit but when I do I seem to always end up purchasing some real bargains.

Coat: Urban Outfitters | Jeans: New Look | Boots: c/o Lunar Shoes

Ben wasted no time in pointing out that this coat bears more than a small resemblance to a dressing gown but I personally feel like that’s part of the charm! I love the midi-length, nifty hood and belted detail. I also loved the price at just £15 reduced from £89! It pairs perfectly with the latest addition to my jeans collection (which is frankly just this pair at present) which were another bargain at £8 in New Look due to a bit of a stain on one of the legs that I soon managed to wash out. I’ve been in desperate need of some jeans to wear until I fit back in to my usual selection but as I aim to grow out of them before too long I didn’t want to spend much at all so these fit the bill perfectly. Add in my faithful brown ankle boots from Lunar Shoes and you pretty much have my weekend uniform until it warms up enough to ditch the coat completely.
I hope everyone has been enjoying the long weekend, it’s been a very lazy one here with a visit to my parents and cooking my very first roast dinner which made me feel oddly grown up (and so it should at almost 29 years old!). I still have another week before I’m due back at work with no idea what I might do yet, Ben’s on Easter break from his job in a school and although we had grand ideas of days out and productivity the reality is more likely to be a few sea front strolls and a lot of time on the sofa eating chocolate!

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Posted in life, life stuff, outfits, shopping

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(a cat heavy) Insta-Life lately

18th March 2016
Wow, it’s certainly been a while since I last shared an instagram post with you all, although looking through this selection I can kind of see why. Life has been crazy busy since I moved and yet I barely seemed to have captured any of it on camera- and of course what I have snapped the most is cats, both of my fur babies just seem to love the camera! If you want to see what else I share then feel free to give me a follow…I’m always looking for new people to spy on as well.
Chilling out in front of the fire place
Gotta catch them all!
My little Diva
Blackcurrant and Liquorice cake I made for my Grandad’s birthday
From where I stand
I couldn’t turn down a hello kitty Happy Meal!
The gorgeous Tobias
And equally gorgeous Mae
Dinner at Jamie’s Italian
Little craft project
Princess jelly beans!
My lonely Valentine
Mae the Eastenders addict
So wrong and yet oh so very right
New phone case
TRIOOOOOOO, so happy to see these back
Pretty tasty
All the toys in the world and he picks a tissue
Hi!
Hover over the images to see the caption and let me know below if you’ve discovered any great new snacks lately! Hopefully it won’t be so long between round-ups next time!

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Posted in instagram, life, life stuff

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Gatecrashed

14th March 2016

Whereas Mae was only ever interested in the camera when it suited her I only need to take off the lens cap for Tobias to come plodding over. He’s a beautiful cat (can you call a male cat beautiful?) and he knows it and will sit patiently for ages whilst you catch him at his best angle. On the other hand my little diva Mae will often take an hour of coaxing and pleading to get a handful of half decent shots.

Anyway, this isn’t a post about cats. Not really! It’s an outfit post which dates back a couple of weeks now and features a dress I picked up from Quiz Clothing almost six months ago now and had yet to wear.

Dress: Quiz Clothing | Lace top: Picked up in Holland | Boots: Miista

So much for getting outside to take more photos as Spring creeps in. It feels colder than ever lately and standing outside battling the elements doesn’t seem like my idea of fun even if it is all in the name of better quality blogging.

I really love this dress- the burgundy, black and grey print made the florals perfect for the darker months of the year. I bought it with the intention of wearing it for my Dad’s retirement party but ended up picking something else instead but couldn’t bring myself to return this. Finally it’s been layered up and given and airing and I think it’ll be featuring a lot more in the future.

I can’t post this look without giving yet another mention to my beloved Miista boots. Hands down my most favourite boots that I own, I still can’t believe that a) I snagged these for £6.50 and b) they are super comfortable to wear and easy to walk in!

Do you have a pet that loves to pose? Or does it have to be on their terms only?

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#HNhomestyling

07th March 2016
I’ve always taken a bit of an interest in interiors- my Mum has been through many a phase over the course of my life, from the sparkly and stencilled radiators to the sudden obsession with painting all of our furniture yellow. I’ve never really had a chance to experiment myself, confined to only a bedroom for so many years left little scope so now I have a whole flat at my disposal it’s been good fun thinking up ways to maximise the space and add a personal touch.

The main thing I’ve learnt in the last couple of months is that nothing need be complicated- the simplest of touches can have the greatest of effects and it doesn’t have to cost the earth either. I was recently contacted by house network and sent a few goodies to help me on my mission and as such I thought I’d do a post on some of my favourite pieces in the flat so far.

I have a weak spot for quirky coffee table books, I think they make a great conversational piece when you have people round as well as learning a chance to learn something new! I do tend to switch up what I have on display at any given time and vary how high I stack them depending on my current mood.
Call me a cliche but I do love a bit of chalk paint on old pieces of furniture. Every piece of furniture we own has been bought second hand and mostly painted up by ourselves. It’s a great way to while away a rainy afternoon and although we have what can only be described as a colour explosion of pieces dotted around the overall effect is warm and completely unique.
Candles are such an easy way to update a room and we’ve gone mad dotting them around on our fireplace. There’s no theme going on, just a real hodge-podge of scents and statement pieces that I’ve fallen in love with, however with Tobias now living with us we’re yet to light any!
Random pieces of artwork and wall hangings as well as plenty of green plants make up our ornamental pieces for the flat. Again it’s a super cheap and easy way to jazz things up and easily changed if you get bored. We have a real mix-match going on (sense the theme here) with most of wall hangings chosen by me whilst Ben is in charge of the plants.
As our flat is quite small vintage style storage boxes have been a life saver, we use a small sized one to host Tobias’ selection of toys so they don’t become trip hazards and the larger one is home to bits and pieces that don’t yet have a permanent place to reside…we’re pretty much there on the organisational front now but there’s always the odd little something, right?
I’d love to hear some of your top tips for styling the home and adding a personal touch…leave them in the comments below!

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Posted in interiors, life, life stuff

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A Spring Wardrobe Update*

02nd March 2016
Guys, we’re in March! How on earth did that happen? To me this signifies the ending of winter and the start of lighter, brighter days (in theory at least) and the time to start planning a wardrobe update in earnest. I’m pretty much on a clothes shopping ban at the moment with a renewed commitment to getting a healthy body back it seems pointless to spend out money now only to grow out of the clothes before the season has ended…sure I might purchase the odd top or dress as these are easy to adjust whilst they are slightly looser but certainly jeans and bottoms just aren’t worth the investment even if I am in dire need of some denim! Good incentive to get my arse in gear and get my healthy figure up right? It’s high time I invested some money in some premium denim as a reward for my hard work.

Anyway, enough about that! I couldn’t resist popping together a wish list showing the kind of things I’m craving in my wardrobe right now…a visual reminder of my mission if you like…

The clothes all come from ASOS which I spent a disproportionate amount of my free time browsing. I can’t actually remember when I last placed an order though- since they did away with the free delivery on all orders I kind of stopped heading there first when I had a tenner to spend…one of the first things I’m going to do when I hit a milestone is place the biggest order I can afford!

I don’t exactly need new shoes, or a bag but they do work whatever size you are so I find myself browsing constantly. Both of these are by Michael Kors at Daniel Footwear. Of course I was already familiar with the bags but Michael Kors Shoes are a new one on me and whilst not all to my taste I do really love these casual grey trainers and a transitional shoe for that time between ditching the boots and embracing the sandals.

I feel like a neutral coloured bag would be a worthy addition to my collection, although I might need to seek out a cheaper alternative! At the moment I take my Mulberry Bayswater everywhere and whilst it is the perfect black bag and so hardwearing it would be nice to a) give it a break and b) have something a bit less heavy looking for the sunnier days.

What’s on your Spring wishlist?

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Posted in life stuff, shoes, wish list

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