Life's a beach.

Mersea Island Beach Huts.

Whether you consider it the seaside or not ("it's a river!" "It sits on the estuary!"), I still count anywhere that's sandy and has beach huts as a trip to the beach. Obviously not your slightly warmer whip out a bikini and take some cliché snaps for the gram beach, but a take some mysteriously windswep photos by the pastel coloured Mersea Island beach huts beach instead. And I'm totally OK with that.

After seeing 500 (probs not an exaggeration either) photos of the Mersea Island beach huts on Louise's instagram, I suggested a day trip to the sorta-island, sorta-not with my mum, with the promise of a LOT of seafood. It was definitely one of those "why have we never been before?" trips, with good vibes as soon as we got over the causeway and parked up. We initially had a wander around the high street to look around the gift shops (fave) and buy some bread (also fave), before heading to the edge of the island for some food. We didn't manage to get a table at the Company Shed which we'd only heard good things about, however we were more than happy to end up at the West Mersea Oyster Bar. Obviously not the best place to go if you're not keen on seafood, but as someone who bloody loves the stuff we shared one of their platters so we could try a little bit of everything, and it comes highly recommended.

We quickly managed to take some outfit photos before the wind made me shout "abort", but I hope you enjoy these snaps and have a chuckle at my windswept expense.

What I'm Wearing.

Lacoste striped top. Missy Empire raw hem jeans (trust me, do not size up in these, hence the belt!). Cath Kidston red polka dot bag. Adidas superstars. Charity shop belt.

What's on the Gram.

Because who doesn't like to be beside the seaside? 🌊 #essex #merseaisland #sea #seaside #weekend

A post shared by Rebecca 😈 (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 25, 2017 at 11:05am PDT

Spent yesterday at one of my favourite places. Wishing I was back there today 💕🌊✨

A post shared by Louise ✨ (@louiseeeeeeeee) on Jan 3, 2017 at 8:27am PST

Read more

Isn't it boring when I talk about my dreams.

Primark coat: £30 (old). Topshop french bulldog top: £18. Vintage suede skirt: £8. Vintage bag: 50p. Topshop frill socks: gift. Chelsea boots: c/o Ted and Muffy.

After a weekend spent on a lot of forms of transport, my head's been all over the place; until I've had my flat white from Pret on the way into work, at least. Call it Network Rail Jetlag (or something), but I've spent this week looking a little bit like the crazy tongue out emoji, but we've made it to the weekend - hurrah! So, while I recover and try to act more like I've got an ounce of sanity in there, I thought I'd take a tip out of the last shadow puppets' lyrics and talk about some of the dreams I've had, most of which have little logic to their name.

When I was little, I used to dream a lot about being in mazes. Not necessarily a nightmare scenario (although those happened too), but there were a lot of twists and turns, which I like to thank for my now second-to-none sense of direction.

When in sixth form, I used to be surrounded by people all shouting my name, vying for attention. Thinking back, that seemed to happen when I woke up too. Bloody whatsapp.

More recently I've found it more and more difficult to remember what's going on in that noggin pre-7am. If it were to be reflecting real life it'd probably be a series of colour-coordinated calendars and google docs, but from the strange snippets my brain's decided to cling on to there are locations a lot like Munich's Hofgarten and a lot of walking. Give us a shout, if you fancy decoding that.

And there was that one time I dreamt about being friends with Miles Kane and Alex Turner, but then I read a few more Shortlist interviews in real life and realised that probably wouldn't work out okay.

brb, sleeping for a full eight hours.

Read more

Cressing Temple Barns.

J.Crew jumper: £3.50, charity shop. Jack Wills blouse: £4.50, charity shop. Oasis jeans: £27. Oasis chelsea boots: £41 (similar). Savannah Miller for Debenhams fedora. M&S bag: £43.

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans, said a dreamer that one time, and you're never really going to have much of a life if all you do is stick to small-town familiarity and keep on keeping on. In an effort to make the most of being near to most of my friends, I spent a lot of January working on making sure I managed to see everyone, meaning the impending Move Date creeped up on me. Among all the good stuff (read: pizza), I had the arduous task of heading to the doctor's in Braintree. Obviously no one enjoys a trip to the hospital (or if you do, enjoy getting that checked out), so I tend to bribe myself with a post-appointment trip to Freeport and buy everything in Hobbs. Unfortunately their tills weren't having any of it on this particular day, so without the adrenaline rush of bankruptcy we decided to get our thrills elsewhere and head to Cressing Temple for the first time.

In that awkward "oh god, country lanes" style of avoiding things, we'd never made the journey East of Braintree. Turns out, it's not as bad as we feared, and made it to Cressing (home to Jamie Oliver's dad, apparently #namedrop) in less than 10 minutes. And boy, weren't we glad we made it. I didn't expect much, but Cressing Temple Barns are beautiful. Two absolutely massive barns built in the 13th century seemingly plonked in the Essex countryside, and a walled garden to die for - who would've thought this was just a half hour drive from where we lived? Of course, a diversion isn't a day out without a trip to a Tiptree tea room, so we headed to The Barns for a couple of slices of toasted heaven.

It just goes without saying: take a little trip to somewhere new, 'cause you might just find a new favourite.

Read more

You showed me there was something more to us.

The Kooples leather jacket. Topshop dress: £15. Hobbs boots: £40. Brit Stitch satchel. Catarzi fedora: £25 (now £12 in sale).

There are many, many shades of stubborn.

Generally considered to be a "bad" trait due to quite a lot of spoilt brat connotations, stubborn's got a bit of a bad rep. A good 75% of the time, it's well deserved, but that other 25% needs an apology. Several times over. Seeing as I'm doing this on my phone (why did I book an airbnb without wifi? Or why does an airbnb without wifi exist?) and need something wordy to fill my Sunday morning, let's try to create a magical scale of stubborn, which we may all refer back to in times or need/probably an argument.

0-25% - You're wrong, you know you're wrong, but like f you're going to admit it
Also called "when the penny drops". We've all be there, even Steven Hawking. Most commonly happens when in a state of severe stress/sleep deprivation/skim reading, or all three. It's tough, but maybe just admit at the time you know you're wrong, and take it out on them some other time ("oh, you've finished your drink? Sorry, I didn't notice when I bought this round").

26-50% - You're pretty sure this is the best idea of all time
Shout out to anyone who's ever found themselves trekking to town in the pouring rain as their friend's found the most amazing place for brunch, only for it to have stopped serving at 11.30. No, we don't care that it does the best compote this side of Brittany, or whether the place down the road's fry up is nearly as good, where is my stack of beautifully fluffy pancakes? I feel this may also apply to parents, god help you.

51-75% - You're doing this for their own good, you know
More often than not, this can be applied to some sadistic early alarm (no, I do NOT want to leave my bed today, hard as it is to believe), but is also relevant when people aim to help you face your fears in some ilk, or buy you running shoes cos they heard your new years resolution was to get fit. Very nice of you and all, but that was so January.

76%+ - You're right, you've got the facts to back you up, but nah
This is the adult equivalent of being patted on the head, and told to play with your toys. Bring it up to mid twenties, and it's when you're sat in a strategy meeting and you're pushing for something, but your line manager is being a mouthpiece for the execs; they know you're sense but "I'm big, you're small" and we WILL be doing this.

And then there's the one where there's the dress from topshop you've been after for months, reduced to £15, but definitely a size too small. You get it after Cheese-mas and you actually look like a roll of camembert, but wear it anyway. I'd gauge this around the 47% mark.

Brb, off to wander the cheese section of Booths (look but don't touch).

Read more

Look at what you just saw, this is what you live for.

Zara coat: £30 (old, similar). French Connection jumper: £21.50 (on sale, similar). Marks and Spencer cord skirt: £17.50 (on sale, similar). Oasis heeled boots: £17 (on sale, similar, court heel version).

When it comes to most things, I know what I want. I may be a bit iffy on the 'general life' scenario (job? where to live? what toppings to have on my pizza???), but Actual Things? Got it down. I've never really been one to wildly experiment with clothing, Blair Waldorf bright tights period excluded, and since the age of 16 I've slowly been building a wardrobe of classics that I've been wearing ever since - I've documented a lot of them here. Handily, this means that sales are my thing. Occasionally I'll get caught up in the thrill of bargains and I still haven't donated that red shift dress which doesn't suit my body shop to charity (luv u), but more often than not I'll get something I know I'll love forever for a fraction of the price. And, in my opinion, why pay more when you know you can get it for a little less and save the difference for cocktails and Oyster top-ups?

If you're looking for a list of sale shopping tips (praise be to someone who is more organised than me), then I'd 100% recommend heading to Megs' blog, but in slightly chaotic fashion, here are my things to look out for:

STYLE NAILED
You can have too much of a good thing. Just because your wardrobe is 90% Asos (guilty), doesn't mean you should rule out everywhere else. Instead of trawling through every. single. site. because we've all got Take Me Out to catch up on, just head to Love The Sales which keeps everything in order, so you can browse for whatever you're looking for across hundreds of brands. That perfect military coat will be yours, don't you worry.

A 'WEAR ME FOREVER' WHITE SHIRT
I seem to go through these like no one's business, but one that fits is the most important dress-up dress-down basic that you'll never stop wearing.

A BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER WINNER SKIRT
As documented above, I love me a good A-line skirt. I picked up this one in M&S on boxing day, and it's been popped (heh) on ever since. I like tucking in a turtle neck knit for the kind of ootd which'll suit most occasions with the right pair of shoes - even smart casual.

IT'S A COVER UP
Notice how it didn't actually get cold until well after the January sales had started? Retailers for some unknown reason don't seem to understand that no one's interested in buying their Spring things as soon as January rears its grey head, but it works in our favour as pretty much every single coat will be on sale just as the temperatures dip.

WELL HEELED
Your shoe wardrobe is probably about to hit new heights. If you're anything like me, it's a small miracle if your shoes last any longer than a season or two, so now's the best time to update your collection. Before diving in, just check what actually needs to be replaced (I needed a new pair of smart black boots, and had my eye on these Oasis babes for at least four months), and maybe, just maybe, treat yourself to a pair purely because they're pretty. Because shoes.

Post written in collaboration, but all magpie tendencies my own.

Read more