Tonight make it magnificent.

Cropped pale blue jumper: £10, Primark. Blouse: £13.50, Miss Selfridge (old). Joni jeans: £30, Topshop. Anna boots: £76.50, Topshop. Socks: Primark (part of pack). Holiday bag: gift, Cath Kidston. Lipstick: MAC Ravishing.

This time last week I was on a train (the novelty of that mode of transport wore of a long, long time ago) heading northwards to visit Claire, Gem, Maria, Sarah and Emma in Birmingham. I can't say I've explored the city too much in my many times visiting as I somehow always end up in Selfridges and the Mailbox, but what I have seen makes me want to find out more about the rest of it. The above photos were taken by Claire just outside the grounds of the cathedral, and I added the typical touristy photo of the town hall - you can't complain about its architecture at all! As I knew we'd be doing a fair amount of wandering around the city, I thought I'd wear a sensible outfit (for once), donning my trusted Topshop anna boots, joni jeans (which I'm actually less than impressed with regarding wear, has anyone else had issues with them once they've been washed?), a cheaper and purposefully less fluffy version of that Topshop jumper, and my "bag that everything fits in" which I've been using since I got it for my birthday nearly two years ago, perfect for carrying pyjamas, playsuits and, um, vodka.

We spent the day wandering round the town centre, before calling into GBK for burgers (come on, we are bloggers) and a catch up. Sadly Emma and Sarah had to leave us after the meal to do important grown-up things like sleep, but the rest of us returned to Snobs for a night of dancing on broken glass and requesting Blondie. Leaving the next morning (read: afternoon) was made substantially better with nachos and orange juice, and I didn't even have any annoying passengers on my train home! This weekend is being spent a little closer to home, as I've just spent the morning making triangular sandwiches ready for a DIY afternoon tea. Thug life, right?

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Home is where the heart is, and I gave it to you in a paper bag.

Penny Lane sign: c/o Out There Interiors. Two-tone playsuit: £39, Miss Selfridge.

As long time readers of my blog are well aware, I left my university city just over four months ago. The time since (minus the graduation ceremony, of course!) has been spent mainly in Essex, with trips to Paris, the Lake District, Birmingham, and Oxford taking up a fair amount of my time, not to mention the heinous amount of money I've spent getting to London and back. Although it all looks like a lark, the photos I upload don't quite reflect the time I've spent adjusting to life back at home and the inevitable job hunt that undergraduates think is never going to happen, but sneaks up on you before you get your rent deposit back. My main group of university friends are all off doing various things, which I love getting updates on via facebook; one's still in Liverpool (jealous!), one has a placement at a school, one has just started her MA, and the other is working hard in preparation for starting hers next year. I hit them with a bit of a bombshell last week (it means I've had to cancel my trip up there next month!), and it's about time I wrote a blog post about it, as it will have a real impact on how often I'll post, and the location of everything when I do: I'm moving to Germany.

I signed a contract saying that I'll be working with STYLIGHT for sixth months from early November, so I'll be relocating to their Munich offices next month. I've got a lot to sort out before I book my flights, which is more than a little daunting, but I'm sure it'll be worth the stress. If any of you have any tips for moving abroad, particularly München/Germany, then I would be really happy to hear them, but I've been chatting a lot to my friend who lived in Stuttgart on his year abroad and to Kavita who's currently out there and both have been the most reassuring sources of comfort I could hope for. I hope there won't be much of an impact on my blog, but it'll certainly be a change from Essex's fields, and Liverpool's brick walls! I'm more than a little bit excited, if nervous, but I'm sure I'll be back before you know it. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to live...

PS, I picked the above two pieces to highlight "home": my first year accommodation in Liverpool was a five minute walk from Penny Lane of Beatles fame (I picked this sign, kindly sent to me by Out There Interiors who sell everything from amazing lamps like Caroline's to stuff for your garden. I, of course, went for something wholly impractical), and the playsuit has become my go-to night out piece (I'm wearing it tonight!), which is something Essex is pretty well-known for.

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Don't try to hide it.

Denim jacket: £63, NW3 by Hobbs, Vintage Wrangler jeans: c/o Brag Vintage. T-Shirt: free, American Apparel. Leopard print boots: £27, Topshop (similar here). Bally bag: £9, vintage. Belt: 20p, charity shop. Watch: gift, Rotary. Necklaces: elsie belle, vintage, Topshop. Lipstick: Topshop Really Ruby.

Well, if your front garden overlooked this, could you pass up the opportunity to use it for outfit photos? Admittedly, walking along the river felt like we were in the middle of a wind tunnel, but, messy hair aside, it's a nice change to my last set out outfit photos. Making like Charlie, I took my Brag Vintage jeans out for a spin in East London, as we headed a little bit further down the Thames to see Everything Everything at one of Nokia's Lumia Live Sessions. I've seen them before, but ironically the much bigger city hosted the more intimate gig in Trinity Buoy Wharf. Getting there by clipper from London Bridge (certainly not something you do every day), Sabby and I bumped into Lucy and her pals before heading to the front to see EE whack their falsetto out like no other, and making sure to get a few photos on the Lumia 820, which seems to have instagram filters as standard - making for more acceptable selfies, am I right? We were guided back home by the light of the O2 (surely I'm not the only one who still calls it the Millennium Dome?) and a certain pair of golden arches, content with a pretty much perfect evening combination of cocktails, live music, and good company. Nothing can beat a good post-gig buzz, and I've got two weeks till Arctic Monkeys, then another till Knife Party, so not long to wait for my next one!

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