Chateau de Stylist.

Welcome to My Crib.

Well, grey-skied Manchester this ain't. A few weeks back, amongst the 20% off everything at PLT emails clogging up my inbox, I noticed something slightly more exciting. Booked holiday and a fair amount of repressed excitement later, I was headed off to City airport to catch a flight to Nantes along with Stylist magazine to Chateau de Stylist. Just to clarify, I wasn't invited as a blogger (lol, I barely even blog any more, no chance), I entered the competition they'd been pushing a little while and was lucky enough to be selected to head along too. As Facebook was telling me I'd spent this time last year slumming it in a tent at Glastonbury, I rocked up to a bloody chateau. I live a life of contrasts, it has to be said.

Before arrival, all we knew about Chateau de Stylist was that we'd be experiencing a taste of #ThisFrenchLife and the team would be creating an issue (out last Wednesday, pre-Bastille Day) on site. Little did I know about the five star treatment we'd be receiving. Our room suite wasn't one I was able to give up easily, and had the most amazing hamper of french pharmacie treats ever - with some Bioderma micellar water just in time to replace my kidnapped Garnier version from airport security. We were treated to Chambord cocktails on arrival, before heading upstairs to sample a little french sunset and head to dinner.

Of course, this trip was the perfect excuse to pick up another striped tee, this one courtesy of Topshop's Summer sale, and I paired it with my new love culottes and fit like a glove boots from Public Desire. Because, we were all about adding a little french je ne sais quoi to our time while we were there.

I've got another post on my second day there coming up next week, cos it was impossible to keep all that perfection to one blog post. Impossible.

What I Wore.

Topshop striped tee: £15. Alexa Chung x Marks and Spencer culottes: £39.50. Topshop fedora: £7. Public Desire Lia boots.

Where We Went.

What's On Insta.

Well, definitely didn't wake up here today 😭 #thisfrenchlife #france #chateau

A video posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 25, 2016 at 1:30am PDT

All packed for France with @stylistmagazine @chambordchannel tomorrow (a day early, despite watching the game last night. Somehow.) How's this for an invite? 🇫🇷 #thisfrenchlife #chambord #blue #theeverydayproject #thisjoyfulmoment #thehappynow

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 21, 2016 at 12:39am PDT

Actually can't deal with how perfect this is. Might need another @chambordchannel to make it seem real. #thisfrenchlife #france #chateaudestylist #chambord

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 22, 2016 at 9:03am PDT

Just chillin' at my chateau #cribs @stylistmagazine @chambordchannel #thisfrenchlife #ootd #topshop #marksandspencer #publicdesire #pdbae

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 22, 2016 at 11:33am PDT

Sorry I've been off my Instagram and blog game, I've been having a life (hard to believe, I know) #thisfrenchlife #france #🍴

A photo posted by Rebecca (@rebeccacohen_) on Jun 28, 2016 at 12:48pm PDT

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What do wide-leg trousers and Trafford Centre yoga have in common?

Photos by Clare.

Trying something new.

Last weekend, when these photos were taken, was a weekend of firsts. I know that I can be pretty blasé when it comes to giving things a go (I direct you to most of my activities in life), so this may come as no surprise to you, but these photos sum up two very big (well...) firsts for me.

1. Fast yoga in the middle of the Trafford Centre.

Picture this: email pops up asking if you'd like to give yoga a go. Sure? you think. Why not? you nod. And without a second thought you and Clare (we missed you Laura!) are in your gym kit, headed towards the Trafford Centre. Now, I'm no yoga aficionado - getting there, maybe one day - but I've been to a few classes and sort of know what I'm doing. Add the fact you're in the middle of the bloody Trafford Centre in the mix and things start to get a little terrifying. Of course, when faced with this kind of situation you have two options: drink, or laugh your way through it. Seeing as it was about 3pm, the former wasn't really an option, so instead I accepted the situation for what it was and chuckled my way through the entire session. A massive thanks to Lighter Life Fast for inviting us as, despite my misgivings when I saw its location, I did end up enjoying it. And when I do yoga next time, I'll be able to boss it in the comfort of a purpose-built studio.

2. Wide-leg trousers.
Thought this was a let down after point one? Mate, you don't know the struggle. Since my pair of Tammy Girl flared jeans I LOVED as a little one (I was probably 13, but whatever), I've been a skinny jean wearer through and through. Of course, being a long-time Alexa Chung fangirl, I'd been keeping an eye on M&S's collaboration with the IT girl and headed to the massive one in central Manchester to form my own opinions of the collection on launch day. I took a few bits to the changing rooms, and couldn't have been more surprised with the outcome. The Harry dress, what I'd thought would've been a dead cert, is so see-through I don't know how anyone's managed to convince themselves it's a worthwhile purchase, and the Ada blazer fits way too boxy for anyone with more than a B size boob. But, slap me silly and call me Susan, I was impressed with the Ada trousers. I'm not sure what's happened to me, but in a funny half hour I handed over forty quid and took them home with me. Don't get me wrong, they stayed in my wardrobe unworn for a good fortnight, as I ummed and ahhed as to whether I ought to return them or not, but I thought this weekend were as good as any to give 'em a go. I've worn them as pared down as possible with my new shoes (cue: it must be love, love, love) and my ever-faithful white tee, and you know what? I don't know what I was stressing about: it's all okay.
Top tip: if your wide-leg trousers start to go a little static-y and stick to your legs, spray the inside with a light layer of hairspray and it'll fix the problem right away.

Back to the present: this weekend's first was Northern Soul's grilled cheese sandwich and I'm never looking back. brb, cheese coma.

What I'm wearing:

Marks and Spencer, Archive by Alexa wide-leg trousers: £39.50. Missguided tee: £8. Public Desire Katie glove shoes.

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When Lord Farquaad went for a picnic.

Striped shirt dress: c/o Bonprix. Public Desire slingback heels. Lips are a weird mixture of a Rimmel pen lipstick thing and Lancome Juicy Shaker (give me a nudge on twitter if you want to know the exact ingredients).

You know when you overhear something, and it just 100% bangs the nail on the head? And then you wait for the exact moment in time to pass the comment off as your own, hailing as 21st century comic genius, while you're at it. Either I tend to hang around where unscouted panel show contestants spend their time, or there's a certain concentration of wit in my local haunts. My absolute all time favourite was way back when I used to spend my sixth form lunchbreaks in Topshop (where else?) and heard two girls skulking among the knitwear stating they "wouldn't pay that if it had been knitted by blind nuns". Five years on, and toppers' price point has only risen - bladdy inflation - but the vocal quirks keep coming. I spied these on Public Desire's instagram and knew they had to be mine, spurred on by both the "Lord Farquaad shoes" and "one pair of shoes closer to my rich trophy wife dream closet" comments. I may look at the shoes with heart eyed emojis, but I can't unsee those connections. Anyone fancy watching Shrek tonight?

Tangent whipped back on the straight and narrow, Laura and I decided to shoot close to home this week, and ended up finding the blue grey wall of my very boring dreams. Bonprix had set the challenge of picking an outfit for a picnic, but as Manchester's lacking in green spaces and I'm lacking in owning anything (let alone a picnic blanket) we settled for a little industrial spin on the theme. For me, Bonprix will always make me think of last-minute "oh crap, we should probably get some food before heading to le Marais" pizza stops at Châtelet les Halles, but turns out they have a massive clothing selection online - who knew?

So, while this post may not contain croissants or animated characters, I hope the above has sufficiently explained why I've gone for that blog post title. That, or I have actually lost the plot. It was only a matter of time.

PS, I know I have a lot of Liverpool readers, so if you're a student there and around next Wednesday Liverpool one are hosting a student event. Get all the details (including info about krispy kreme discount, hold me) click here.

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Aviation in the evening.

Frock and Frill dress (c/o). Public Desire Julia heels.

Dark days are here chums: I don't have internet. It's bordering on Medieval ages, and I don't know whether to just get an Austen approved regency dress, take up cross stitching and be done with it all. In the meantime, I'm rinsing Starbucks' wifi in At Ann's Square and having my (raspberry) cake and eating it too. As they say, I didn't choose the thug life...

In other less dramatic news (perhaps), I headed off to Leeds yesterday to play poker for the first time in years with Ladbrokes and a load of bloggers who's links I'll leave below - sorry if I miss anyone out! I know, I know, it's normally all chintz armchairs and country escapes up in here, but anyone who knows me in real life knows that I'm slightly rougher around the edges (gotta big yourself up and all, most people I know would probably say I spend too much money on absinthe for my own good, but I get to pick the words here, so we're going with that). I haven't really played poker for a long ol' time, but I found myself getting back into the swing of things pretty quickly, and even ended up on the final table against all the odds (only betting joke in this entire post, I promise). I got almost no photos of the event cos a 50mm lens and red lighting do not a good blog post make, but I had a load of fun playing at pretend hangover in the bright Manchester sunshine this morning to take a few lifestyle-y shots. Yet to tidy up the playing cards that I legitimately did drop all over the floor, so you can tell these are proper authentic.

A massive shout out to Frock and Frill who hooked a sister up with this absolutely gorgeous dress that I couldn't stop bloody looking at before putting it on. I'll get some "proper" photos at a later date, but for now feast your eyes on the moonlit balcony shot above, and this lil insta. Also, food snaps are from Friends of Ham which is just across the road from Leeds train station - good luck getting a table cos this place is popular, but the meats are top quality, and it'd be an amazing place to while away an afternoon with a friend and a bottle of wine.

You can see Ladbokes' blog post here.

Anyway, I'm off to catch up on the last week of online delights, but please do click through and check out some of the other Leeds bloggers if you're on the lookout for some new reads!

Ellie | Caroline | Keil | Alex | Bryony | Carolanne | Karl | Matt | Lucinda | Lauren | Carrieanne | Carl | Jessica | Lucy | Georgina | Ellie | Katie | Tina | Sarah

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