From one English Rose to another - it's not every day you get a flower delivery, so when a (rather large) box of flowers appeared in the post room two months too late for Valentine's there was a bit of a stir in the office. We all came to the same conclusion: these blooms are beautiful. I'm not personally one for roses, but this blush half-dozen caught my eye, and I couldn't wait for the lilies to properly open and fill my home with their signature scent (they're currently alive 'n' blooming in my kitchen, right now). With such a pretty posey, I couldn't resist getting the milk bottle legs out in my current favourite floral print shorts for a top to toe look that's accidentally "it's a girl!" appropriate.
Things have been more than a little overwhelming for me recently, so I'm planning to spend as much of this bank holiday weekend drunk relaxing before returning to work on Tuesday. I'll also be heading West after voting on Thursday to visit a friend, so if anyone has any Cardiff recommendations please do leave a comment below, or send me a much-appreciated tweet!
Unless you've been hiding under a rock and don't follow Oasis on Instagram and Twitter (they're worth a follow, promise ;) ), you might not be aware that we've put our own little spin on the american classic. For once in my life I'm not talking about burgers, even if I did go to Five Guys last night - Oasis teamed up with Keds to create the prettiest pairs of trainers I ever did see. With four different styles to choose from, the English Rose seemed pretty apt for this pale-face, and they've seen me through plenty of hours of events running up and down the stairs at Argyll Street filming a flash mob or two with zero blisters to speak of - toes thumbs up all round!
And if under that aforementioned rock there's no Instagram, this'll be the first set of cherry blossom photos you've seen this year. Most people, however, are probably sick of the pastel pick blooms by now, but how could I resist popping along to Hylands Park whilst the blossom's in full bloom and my new favourite accessories are the shade to match? Wasted opportunity, this was not.
It's when I'm sitting in bed, with a cup of tea nearly too cold to drink, without make-up on and with a grey "Spring" sky outside, that I'm glad I have a massive backlog of photos ready to go. So, the beady-eyed Instagram followers be thinking "but I thought you hadn't been to Liverpool for ages?" would be correct - this was over a month ago, but let's pass it off as a #TBS, leave the eyeliner far, far away, and save the PJ's of the day for another desperate outfit post.
I headed back to my university city on the first fair weather weekend of the year with two unnecessary coats in tow. First stop was Bill's with Jade, having a four hours too late breakfast which went down just like the treat it was. We then popped over to the Georgian quarter (fave 4eva) to snap these photos before I met up with my friends in the Quarter for a catch-up over crumble. We left the sweets behind as we headed into town to avoid the Harvey Nichols beauty bazaar get an outfit for the oncoming evening of green-lit bars and, I quote, "the dungeon". A lot of dancing later, we were waking up to a much-needed Moose before everyone went their own ways. Weekends in Liverpool are always fleeting, but that's just the perfect excuse to head back soon.
Look who's totally bought into the seventies. I may have been born twenty years too late, but the amount I listen to Stevie Wonder ought to make me an honorary fifty year old, even if only down to those trumpets. Take my favourite shades (warm tan, olive green and, obviously, oxblood), a pattern best seen on one of Oliver Tate's dad's shirts, my favourite oversized leather jacket and you've got yourself a combination I couldn't even try to resist.
This wasn't the only throwback of the day - and it wasn't even a Thursday! We popped along to Finchingfield, a quaint, rural village in the middle of bloody nowhere, famed for its pastel houses and listed buildings, with a duck pond and Tiptree tearoom thrown in for good measure. We celebrated the first of hopefully many sunny days with a slice of lemon drizzle over tea, and didn't even have any crumbs leftover to throw to the ducks, it was that good.
Isn't it amazing what you do when all the trains to London are cancelled?
Happy Easter, chicks! Although I hope you're all reading this on Monday as you're far too busy on various easter egg hunts, of course. Chez coco, the lamb's out, the wine's in the fridge (not for much longer...) and there's about triple the amount of chocolate to be found, despite there still being some leftover from Christmas - just us?
I couldn't resist saving this pastel-perfect throwback to Thaxted for the "celebrate bunnies, lambs, daffodils and the death/resurrection of Jesus" day, because if there's ever to be a day fit for warm tones and blue skies this is it. We went for a wander around the pretty mid-Essex village (it's near Stansted airport, if you need a little context) as a stop off on the way to Saffron Walden, and it's quickly rocketed right to the top of my favourite villages list, which has substantially increased in the last couple of months. All those included feature good tea-rooms and friendly pubs, minus points for scowly locals. For this Spring day it was warm enough to layer up with only my favourite Laura Ashley trench coat (it's an oldie, I'm afraid, but this Asos one's pretty similar). I don't own many in-between coats, but am on the hunt for a black/navy mac after seeing Helen in a darker version. I'm pretty tempted by this Oasis number, but I'll be sure to keep you all updated on this riveting affair.
Did you think the end of January would cue the end of these sort of blog posts? For most well-organised, content-scheduled bloggers, that may be the case, but for those of us (i.e. just me) who's blog is more pay as you go rather than 24 month contract these topics come and go as they please. If you're planning to get your New Year Resolutions a more feasible kick up the bum from right about now, this might just be the post for you.
Before you groan, click 'x' (if you haven't already) and swear about the annoying insurgence of fitness-related content on the Internet, I just want to point out that this is more about how I fit a little fitness into my daily routine, rather than going completely gym bunny on you. Because no one wants that when there's pasta to be eaten.
Clockwise, from top left: Clothing at Tesco top, Optrex eye drops, Dove deodorant, iPhone on its last legs, Nike slim fit leggings, the cheapest trainers Sports Direct could offer, Soap and Glory "One Heck of a Blot", Vichy cleanser.
Going to the gym is the most obvious and my least favourite way to react to Nutella. I tend to go twice a week (once mid-week before work, and once at the weekend) to do a mixture of cardio and weights. I would love to start a course at Barrecore, but, until the day I'm earning enough to drop a serious amount of money on the coolest ballet lessons around, I'm on the lookout for something similar near to home. Jazz and I went to a Nicki Minaj dance class a few months back, which is definitely something I'd recommend if you fancy trying something a little different one weekend with the sassiest dance teacher ever.
All hail the blender! Not quite ready to commit to a Nutribullet, I picked up the Breville Blend-Active on a whim when food shopping, and it's a bit of a game changer. I can't compare it to a Nutribullet as I've never used one, but for less than a third of the price at £25 you're getting a rather nifty little piece of kitchen tech. I reckon this'll come in even handier come Summer when smoothies will be high on my list of priorities, but right now I'm using it most days with frozen fruit and almond milk.
Willing to try everything once, I tentatively said yes when asked to review this matcha green tea powder. As a long-time fan of green tea I was all for giving it a go, but, call it a spoiler if you will, it tastes nothing like your Twinings blend friend. You can drink it like above in shot form with almond milk, but I'd recommend mixing it into a smoothie instead as it tastes pretty similar to grass.
This is hardly a 'GET FIT NOW' deal, but if you're in the market for a little bit of inspiration, my favourite fitness ladies are:
- Where are my knees? - A blog with plenty of babin' contributors all telling inspiring stories of how they're making fitness work for them.
In the meantime, here are my favourite pieces for making time spent in the gym more bearable. They might even just about make gym selfies acceptable...
