Dressed in black he walks alone, a shadow in the night.

Columba cut out bodycon dress: c/o Lashes of London. Leather jacket: The Kooples. Leopard print boots: Topshop (old). Broken bag: Topshop (old). Collar necklace: Miss Selfridge. Nails: Red n Black, Models Own. Lipstick: Kate Moss 107, Rimmel.

Make the most of these photos, because you're not going to see body con or cut out again for a while. When I saw this badass Lashes of London dress on their site, my inner Essex knew it had to make its way to my wardrobe somehow, not quite realising what a big deal it'd be for me to wear it. Then along came Amy, and her more dressed-down approach gave me more ideas for how to style it. Out came the leopard print booties, leather jacket, and other Amy's (from sixth form/Liverpool) lipstick that I borrowed stole from her last night, and I felt slightly more "me". This is definitely an after-dark outfit - all the best ones are! - and although I don't think I'll be in a rush to wear bodycon in the day any time soon, I'm slowly being brought round to its virtues. I do like a good LBD (little black dress, for those of you who don't use hip 'n' cool acronyms), but in future I think I'll be sticking to skater styles - more room for dinner! I'm planning to wear this particular one to Selena's twenty-first this weekend, but it's a bit different to my "just going to the pub" (and then come home at 3am) white tee and skirt combination. They do say that life is like a box of chocolates after all, just maybe they're liqueur ones.

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I don't care how long this lasts, we have no future, we have no past.

T-Shirt: Collective. Shorts: £54, American Apparel. Cheap Monday sunglasses: c/o Surfdome. Anna boots: £76.50, Topshop. Ring: £1.25, vintage. Nail varnish: Heart of Gold, Topshop.

When it comes to buying anything over a fiver, I have a routine. It starts with lust: often a short-lived sensation, which finishes when I see the next must-have; if I leave the shop still remembering it exists, we're onto a winner. Then it's time to go back and ask myself if I really need it. More often than not, I tell myself it's necessary to further my existence, and head straight to the changing rooms. After inspecting from every angle, it's time to ask the internet if it's a good idea (come on, we all have), and after you group of enablers have told me that I need it too, it's off to the tills to hand over my weeping visa. That's what happened when it came to these shorts, and I haven't quite got round to shopper's remorse (the next stage). Soon enough, I was whipping out these Surfdome Cheap Monday sunglasses and my favourite white tee, and dragging my mum over to Writtle sunflowers to take some photos in their natural habitat. And, you know, to get some sunflowers. They're quite nice.

Apart from spending time among my flowery pals this week, I travelled up to Kendal for a long weekend to visit Clarity, and Sita popped over for the day too, - a true university reunion! We spent one of the days in Windermere, wandering along some rather steep hills to Beatrix Potter's house to explore where she'd written Peter Rabbit and, my favourite, the Tailor of Gloucester. Of course it would be my "sensible shoes" which ended up giving me a blister, but it was lovely to spend a while somewhere new and eat a lot of olives!

I did spend the entirety of my Lake District adventures in jeans, but in the spirit of this post (and cancelled Saturday night plans) I scoured the internet for some of my favourite patterned shorts, let me know if you find any more good'uns.

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I've been treading water for your love.

Floral shorts: Topshop (old). Jenna blouse: gift, NW3 by Hobbs. Anna boots: £76.50, Topshop. Fedora: £14.99, Missguided. Sara bag: c/o Biba at House of Fraser. Glasses: London Retro at Sunglasses Shop.

Although Essex may now be known for Sugar Hut and vajazzles, I still associate it with the countryside. One of my favourite independent cafés The Lordship sits in the nearby village of Writtle, so when Jazmine came to visit we headed there for scones and a fair amount of tea, even if hot drinks don't seem to be quite weather appropriate. After we'd cleaned our plates, we headed down the road to the village green, only to be joined by rather a large flock of docks who were certainly big fans of the stale hovis one little girl was throwing haphazardly in their direction. We may not have had any food offerings with us, but we certainly tried to make friends, even if we may have interrupted the ducklings' afternoon nap!

As it was quite hot, I opted for my trusty Luella-style shorts that I bought from Topshop about five years ago, a fedora to deflect some of the rays, and my newest bag from House of Fraser's Biba collection. I've always known about Biba as my mum was a big fan of it when she was little (she describes it as like Topshop, but cooler as they only had one store so it was a big deal to save your money and get your clothes from it), so I think she may be stealing this from me whenever she gets the chance! I love the subtle embossing of the brand on the leather and the metal details. And it matches my watch, so four for you House of Fraser.

Speaking of the countryside, I'm heading to one a bit further north tomorrow, and am gracing Kendal for a few days. I've never been to the Lake District, so this is a first for me. I've been told to bring "sensible shoes", which could be interesting as I'm pretty sure I don't own any. Do let me know if you have any recommendations, although I know we're going to Beatrix Potter's house for sure.

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