Get outta town.

Houses in Didsbury, Manchester

When you're done spritzing that anti-pollution toner all over your face (guilty), it's an idea to jump on a tram and head out of town, even if just for a day. And that's exactly what Tori and I did. We explored Burton Road and Didsbury in South Manchester for an entire Saturday, and walked a very long way in the process! I could wax lyrical about how much I like the area, but I'll let the 'grams do the talking, and ice cream recommending. 👇 Of course I shoved my camera into Tori's hands to take some photos in front of the beautiful houses in Didsbury, so apologies for publishing more photos of my ugly mug. Feel free to scroll on by. If you know of any more Manchester districts I need to see, then definitely comment below as I'm always on the lookout for more recommendations.

In what would appear to be my monthly "how stressed is Rebecca Cohen this time?" update, this week's not been totally great on the chill factor, but I'm feeling rather positive about the week coming up. I'm heading down to London for a shoot tonight, then hopefully will have a full week in Manchester rather than heading halfway across the country multiple times. Since my last blog post, I've done rather a lot: from heading to London and back in an evening for an awards event, to shooting with Olivia Buckland and Megan McKenna, to We Are FSTVL, to going to Dublin, it's been more than a little non-stop and the bags under my eyes are very evident to prove it. I'm looking forward to chilling with Clare, Laura and Kate over a gin this afternoon, and I hope your Sunday is just as peaceful.

Of course, as someone who's made Manchester my home over the last 17 months, the last few weeks have been very testing. Everyone grieves differently, and as someone who chose Manchester as my home and has only been welcomed, I can only say that the love shown to me has been manifest throughout the city. I've never seen community spirit like it in the face of extreme tragedy, but the city's still a hive of activity and creativity. And the bees still buzz.

What I Wore

The Kooples leather jacket. New Look bee embroidered shirt. And Other Stories jeans (similar). Collective tee. Primark fishnet socks. Adidas Superstars.

What's on Insta

Just because I haven't used it, doesn't mean I'm not v v aware of #wisteriahysteria and check it a bit too frequently to be normal 💜🏡 #manchester #wisteria #doorsofinstagram #green #didsbury #purple #england

A post shared by Rebecca 😈 (@rebeccacohen_) on May 8, 2017 at 12:19pm PDT

When you realise you haven't Instagrammed food for a few days so it's time to whip out your pub lunch from last weekend, yeah buddy. Fish and chips with @unfoldtheday! 🍟 #didsbury #Manchester #mcruk #eatmcr #fishandchips #weekend #food

A post shared by Rebecca 😈 (@rebeccacohen_) on May 7, 2017 at 1:08pm PDT

Exploring more of south west #Manchester with @unfoldtheday today 💙 #fwis #mcr #andotherstories #newlook #ihavethisthingwithtiles #adidas

A post shared by Rebecca 😈 (@rebeccacohen_) on Apr 29, 2017 at 3:34am PDT

Because bank holidays are for eating, amirite? 🍦 #manchester #mcruk #icecream #weekend #didsbury

A post shared by Rebecca 😈 (@rebeccacohen_) on Apr 29, 2017 at 10:42am PDT

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All the girls on the block knocking at my door.

COLLECTIVE t-shirt. Oasis V&A trousers (now sold out, try the new season pair). Nails Inc x Glamour nail varnish.

When you spend about twelve hours a day in the smog and in a bother, you need a little place to relax the moment it's announced "this train is now approaching home". Rainy days often call for a duvet and youtube, but if there's a little sunshine I tend to pop into my garden (hurrah for living outside the M25!) for a while to stop fuming wind down. Of course this calls for a diva outfit change into something a little more comfortable: my favourite ever white t-shirt and these super-comfy, wear-me-all-the-time trousers from the V&A Collection by Oasis. After a few months of staring at these prints all day err' day, I couldn't help but add a few of them to my wardrobe (spot the culottes here!).

A couple of months ago, Asda got in touch and asked if I fancied adding a little somethin' somethin' to our little outside space, so I let my mum take charge of my laptop and she picked this pretty arbour seat from their rather extensive range of garden furniture. It took us a while to find a weekend where my mum, brother and I were all free to put it together, but there is something quite satisfying about saying "I did that" at the end. A few slicks of paint later (note: the paint's a little thin - it'll dry quickly but need loads of layers) and now we've got a little post-late finish sanctuary, perfect for hiding away in.

And breathe.

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My life in print.

Oasis V&A Collection Kilburn culottes (ish): £5, sample sale. Collective white t-shirt. Primark faux leather jacket: £10 (similar). Oasis loafers: £4, sample sale. Mulberry belt: gift. Vintage bag: 50p, jumble sale. Necklace: from Claire.

If there's one place I look to for peace and quiet in London (other than the City at the weekend), it's the V&A Museum. It may be a ball ache pain to get to from East London, but once you emerge from the underground, there's nothing like the relief of walking through the main entrance under that chandelier and walking among display on display of history hosted in just one building in South West London. So, when someone started the sentence "I'm definitely not supposed to tell you this yet, but" I was pretty bloody excited. In case you haven't heard - Oasis has teamed up with the V&A to create a perfectly printed collection, and I want it ALL.

I picked up the Kilburn culottes in a sample sale a month or so back (I was after the Shoreditch trousers but my rail rummage didn't come up trumps this time) and after the initial 'how the hell am I meant to wear these?!' thoughts, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and just go for it. This much print needs to go with something plain, so my ol' faithful white tee was an obvious choice. A warm brown instead of black seemed like the perfect accompaniment, and one of my best Primark finds finished things off with a little pastel flair. I've picked out a few of my favourite V&A Collection bits below, but do let me know if you've spied anything you'd fancy adding to your own wardrobe.

ps, I'm currently at Glastonbury! Phone free, carefree, and probably not hangover free, I'll be back ASAP, but keep an eye on Instagram for a few snaps on my return.

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I would send you roses.

Laura Ashley trench coat (old). COLLECTIVE t-shirt. Oasis floral shorts. Hobbs boots: £40, warehouse sale. Elsie Belle masquerade necklace: £9. Barry M gel nail varnish. "Apple blush" bouquet: c/o Appleyard London.

From one English Rose to another - it's not every day you get a flower delivery, so when a (rather large) box of flowers appeared in the post room two months too late for Valentine's there was a bit of a stir in the office. We all came to the same conclusion: these blooms are beautiful. I'm not personally one for roses, but this blush half-dozen caught my eye, and I couldn't wait for the lilies to properly open and fill my home with their signature scent (they're currently alive 'n' blooming in my kitchen, right now). With such a pretty posey, I couldn't resist getting the milk bottle legs out in my current favourite floral print shorts for a top to toe look that's accidentally "it's a girl!" appropriate.

Things have been more than a little overwhelming for me recently, so I'm planning to spend as much of this bank holiday weekend drunk relaxing before returning to work on Tuesday. I'll also be heading West after voting on Thursday to visit a friend, so if anyone has any Cardiff recommendations please do leave a comment below, or send me a much-appreciated tweet!

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I've ridden the riddle, I'll do it again.

Vintage Levi's denim jacket: mum's. COLLECTIVE white t-shirt. Vintage dress (worn as skirt): £4.50, via charity shop. Asos woven leather sandals: £25. Vintage Mulberry belt: gift. Rotary watch. Vintage bag: 50p. Skull necklace: c/o Your Fashion Jewellery.

Photos by Jade.

You know a place is pretty special to you when you look this happy after a good four hours on trains. A couple of weekends ago, I headed up north to Liverpool for the first time since my graduation - I blame Munich. It was weird heading back and seeing nuances on a city I knew like the back of my hand, but following Independent Liverpool on pretty much every platform and keeping in touch with my favourite scousers meant that it still had that incredibly homely feeling.

First things first, Jade met me off the train and whisked me off for a hearty breakfast at the Moon and Pea on Lark Lane. She's nice and wears a lot of Zara that I'm not cool enough to be able to keep free of tea stains, so I'd recommend giving her blog a stalk. We did, of course, make time for outfit photos, and she showed me a pastel version of these townhouses - certainly helps to get a little bit of insider knowledge.

After a walk round Sefton Park, I headed off to meet my friends (and the bride to be!) for a lot of wine, italian food, and dancing to the spice girls. I thankfully forgot my camera by the time this happened, but I can honestly say that I haven't laughed so much in such a long time, and I'm glad I was only there for a weekend as I would have developed abs had I been there any longer. It did, however, come to an end, and a traditional breakfast at Cuthbert's was had (duh). There was even time for a quick cuppa at LEAF before my train home, where I managed to pick up one of their "where there's tea there's hope" teapots to have a scouser's brew in from the comfort of my Essex home. Thankfully London's keeping me more than busy, and stopping me from missing this incredible city too much, but I'm sure I'll get the itch to jump back on a train before long.

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