Thursday, 31 July 2014

Thoughtful Thursday: Imperial War Museum


Outfit: Zara dress (S/S 2014), Topshop sandals, Zara bag and sunglasses from T K Maxx by the brand 'Marilyn Monroe'

Today's Thoughtful Thursday post is a little bit different, as I felt urged to write it after my weekend antics. Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a self-confessed nerd. I don't try to hide it; my parents have photos of me at the age of 4 or 5 sitting butt-naked on our patio in Lanzarote with a Maths Letts book rather than playing with a light saber like my brother. My favourite make-believe game was playing a teacher so I could 'mark' the student's (also me) spellings and maths sums. At the age of 11 or 12 my favourite part of the weekend was going to the library and stocking up on 5 books, and then staying awake, using my phone as a light, reading into the night. That's right, I'm a nerd.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

How To Prevent / Cure the Dreaded Holiday Peel


Whilst Morocco was amazing, and being a sun-worshipper I absolutely loved a week in the hot sun, my skin didn't thank me. Despite being careful with sun cream and lathering on body moisturiser after my shower every night, I ended up with an awful case of the holiday peel. And I mean awful. Unfortunately Katie didn't escape it either. I think it was a combination of having the hammam, which meant all the skin exposed was fresh, new skin, and also the high level of aircon that we had to have which really dried our skin out.

Monday, 21 July 2014

Graduation


Despite finishing my degree and getting my results back in the Summer of 2012, I still hadn't got around to graduating. For most that seems bizarre, as usually graduation is a set day a few weeks after results, organized by the University, and everyone plans for it realy far in advance and everyone attends. Oxford works slightly differently, as it is the student's responsibility to book a day, and you can graduate up to 10 years after finishing your course. My friends and I are very disorganized, and so didn't get around to booking our ceremony until this year, on July 12th.

Saturday, 19 July 2014

The Modern Pantry

A few weekends ago on a Saturday, I booked a little surprise for Katie as a post-birthday treat – a table at The Modern Pantry for brunch. I’d only heard good things about the place, and it came on Time Out’s top 10 places for brunch in London. I LOVE Time Out; they rarely get it wrong when it comes to food places.

So on the sunny Saturday morning we hopped on the tube to Farringdon and walked to Clerkenwell. I have to say, there isn’t much in the area and it’s absolutely dead at the weekend, but The Modern Pantry is set back a little bit from a main road. It’s got tables outside which would have been perfect for the sunny weather, but we got a table upstairs by the window. It was lovely and cool, and nice and bright and airy. So far so good.



Thursday, 17 July 2014

Thoughtful Thursday: Coz I'm happy...



The other day, I came across an article where the journalist was set a challenge not to complain for a whole week about anything. The weather, her colleagues, her partner, her annoying mother, her tight friend, being hungover...anything. The journalist found it incredibly difficult, but found that after a week of not complaining she felt so much better about the world, and almost 'refreshed'. It made me conscious of the amount I found myself complaining...and I realised it's actually rather a lot. However, aren't we all guilty of it - that little bitch about an annoying, lazy colleague, or the crappy July weather, or the train being delayed? Sometimes I found I was even bored and I just wanted to rant about the latest thing to annoy me! Therefore, in the last couple of weeks I've tried very hard to ensure that 90% of the things that come out of my mouth are positive. Here are the things I've learnt...

Monday, 14 July 2014

Morocco Part Two

Katie and I decided that we couldn't visit Morocco without doing ANY sight-seeing, and despite being sun-worshippers, there is only so much sunbathing in 38 degree heat you can do (read as: we started peeling very badly). Therefore, one morning we got up a little earlier to avoid the midday sun and headed into the centre for a little bit of culture.

First up we visited the Jardin Majorelle, otherwise known as the Yves Saint Laurent garden (as he bought it many years ago and reformed it to its beautiful state). It is full of plants and flowers of every different colour and shape, from all around the world. You didn't know where to look!



Saturday, 12 July 2014

Currently Loving: Swedish street style

One of the biggest things I love about London is the street fashion. You don't need magazines, or even blogs, to find out what's 'in', all you need to do is stand outside Oxford Circus Topshop and it's like your own free fashion show. London fashion is like nowhere else in the UK in my opinion; it's very fashion forward and people are much more daring – there is much less of a 'copycat' attitude in the way people dress (I'm sorry but when are leggings, crop tops, Nike Air Maxes and frilly socks going to die?) and people are more experimental. One minute you'll see someone in head to toe black leather; draped in silver jewellery, the next you'll see a pastel pink playsuit with heeled sandals. In London, fashion never gets boring.

Thursday, 10 July 2014

Morocco Part One

Since mid-April, I've had the 'holiday itch'. You all know what I mean – when life all gets a little bit much and you spend your days day-dreaming about lying on a sun lounger, margarita in hand, soaking up the rays. These thoughts were becoming a daily occurrence (oops) and so Katie and I decided to book a week getaway to Morocco.

Morocco…probably not your usual holiday destination? When I told people that's where we were heading, we got the usual 'be careful' and 'their culture is so different' and 'make sure you do this that, the other etc.' However, Katie and I are both travellers and it's a part of the world we hadn't yet explored. Add that to the fact it was GUARANTEED hot weather and we found an incredibly good deal, we went right ahead and booked it.

And I loved EVERY minute of it. We arrived on a Saturday evening to the hotel called La Maison des Oliviers (after a 3.5 hour flight catching up on the latest Glamour mag) and BOY was it beautiful. There were flowers and water features everywhere you looked…