My mind would rule my heart.

Vintage check blouse: £6, via Ark. Asos petite shorts: £28. Warehouse lace up flats: £29 with staff discount. Karen Millen patent mini bag: £5, via sample sale (on sale in black and cream). Rotary watch: gift. Topshop 'Really Ruby' lipstick (discontinued :( but similar).

Looking for a lovely, relaxing weekend full of chilled café stops and calm walks along the river? I wouldn't rate Cambridge all that highly (come on tourists, do you need to be in packs of fifty???). In naïve fashion, I'd nagged my mum to go there for about six months as I hadn't been since January 2012 (second photo) thinking it'd be, in the words of that Cards Against Humanity card I couldn't get rid of yesterday, 'sunshine and rainbows'. Don't get me wrong, Cambridge is a beautiful city and I always love visiting, but a sunny Saturday in August is prime slow-walker time and tested my patience more than you'd believe. Unless, of course, you've seen me stuck behind someone who can't use a self-serve till at the supermarket... #21stcenturyrage

As you'd expect from watching all eight Harry Potter films, Cambridge is filled to the brim with beautiful architecture, independent shops (tell me more about this fudge kitchen's free samples) and a load of punts. As far as recommendations go, the shops on Rose Cres are the nicest and the everyman cinema is worth visiting, but on this trip we mainly just wandered around keeping my Moves app happy, rather than spending all the money in Jo Malone/antique book shops. Because seriously, if the above bookshop had been open, I would have spent some serious money on the first edition of Wilde's Earnest. If you know someone who's studying there and are a student too, then I'd definitely recommend staying with them as you get into the colleges free/discounted/pretend to be studying there too more convincingly, as some of the colleges are upwards of £10 to enter at the usual rate, and I'd rather spend a tenner on postcards at the Fitzwilliam Museum. If there weren't quite so many people around it'd be a much nicer place to visit, but, crowds aside, there's no better place to feel smug that you can pronounce the name 'Gonville and Caius' correctly.

Back to Essex, and I'm going to spend today indoors, sparing a thought for the poor souls at V festival in the rain down the road (haha, jk, suckers).

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I go to loud places.

Pussybow blouse: c/o Monsoon. Vintage suede skirt: £8, charity shop (similar). Clarks sandals: Cloggs. Ralph Lauren sunglasses: Sunglasses Shop. Rimmel Kate Moss 08 lipstick.

The Seventies called, it wants its wardrobe back. As someone who's unfortunately gifted in the brassière department (trust me, it's not as fun as TOWIE would lead you to believe), there are loads of styles which I thought were firmly 100% out of the books for me, pussybow blouses being one of them. Frills on top of all that? I don't want to look like a back to front stegosaurus. All hope was not lost, however, when I spied this lil number in Monsoon whilst my friend was present-shopping on Oxford Street - its silky shape, paisley fabric and subtle tie-neck make for some throwback style I can totally get on board with. Teamed with one of my best charity shop finds (suck on that price tag, AC for AG), this might just sway me from sixties-dressing. Just the once...

PS, love Hadleigh's weird (and unexplainable) obsession with sheep. Those books are classics in the making.

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We've got so good at pretending.

Dahlia stripy co-ord: £35. Clarks sandals: via Cloggs. Vintage saddle bag: won in Claire's giveaway. Emerald and white topaz ring: c/o Gemporia. Michael Kors Paige sunglasses.

It feels like forever ago (crikey) that I was doing my Art A Level, but four years on and I'm still as much of a fine art fangirl as I ever was, so when a trip to the scenes of John Constable's art works was suggested I grabbed it with both hands, and made sure that there'd be cake somewhere along the way. There's a National Trust spot at Flatford Mill which is where John Constable grew up and honed his skills before becoming a member of the Royal Academy, and after your walks around the area lapping up those Suffolk views there's a tea room (cake) and gift shop (cider) for you to while away an afternoon in. We skipped the aforementioned tearoom upon seeing the queue in favour of the Essex Rose in nearby village Dedham because neither could we pass up an opportunity to try another Tiptree tearoom nor be away from our beloved Essex for too much time in one go. You may have seen my instagram of the pastel coloured buildings, but if you missed it just know that Dedham is the prettiest little village around, and I'll definitely be bombing back up the A12 sometime soon.

For our little country excursion, I decided to debut my first ever co-ord and I have to say I'm rather taken by the trend. I picked up this stripy co-ord in the Dahlia sample sale (although I'd argue that it was just a sale with a few random bits and bobs on an extra rail, but never mind), and I'd like to think it looks okay on, even if the top's a little long #shortgirlproblems. After this small victory of trying something new and it working, I've been on the hunt for my next matchy matchy set. Despite being overwhelmed with the new season stuff at Oasis (you guys are gonna love it), right now Ark have got a load of co ords new-in that are really catching my eye, and I'm planning to pick up this top and bottoms set in store when I pop up to Liverpool next weekend. Because if I can get something that suits me and I feel happy in, it's totally fine to buy an entire wardrobe of them, right?

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