Little Cotswolds Cottage with Joules

Sometimes living in London can get a bit much no matter what you do 9 to 5. A couple of weekends ago myself and three friends (all with phenomenally different careers; one City professional, one journalist and one stable manager) were all very ready to get out of town. We'd heard about Little Cotswolds Cottage through Instagram and by chance picked the hottest weekend in the UK so far! Needless to say we were more than ready for a weekend of peace, quiet and Prosecco!

shoes, Joules (available in several colours)

The cottage was everything we hoped it would be, and more! Beautifully renovated and felt like a home away from home. It has two bedrooms so was great for a little girls weekend. We caught up over our first Aperols of the year, but after busy weeks were all very excited to get into the fresh, white sheets upstairs (ooh and this bath in my room) ...

Marks and Spencer Floral Dress

dress, Marks and Spencer / bag, Gucci / shoes, Gap / sunglasses, Max Mara

My god, how has Easter come and gone already? I feel like it's totally crept up on me and neither me or my wardrobe was ready for it! I took a big look at my "summer stuff" and it's all too "hot weather." Spring in the UK is sweating profusely in a sweater one minute, shivering in shorts the next! So, I've been on the hunt for things that work no matter what the temperature and floral dresses seem to be the most obvious winner...

Celebrating The Everyday

Followers of my Instagram will know I've spent a large chunk of the Easter weekend indoors working  (quite a bit of it on this very post). Running your own thing, whether it's a a freelance workload or your own business is hard going and it's very important to appreciate the simple pleasures of the every day. So when The White Company got in touch and asked me to get involved in their Celebrate the Everyday campaign it seemed very fitting.

jeans, The White Company / linen shirt, The White Company / trainers, The White Company

I thought it was fitting to get my little ball of happiness involved. I've had Lopez for nearly six years and he's very much the calm in my storm. Whether it's being curled up on the sofa for a cuddle or bouncing down the street towards the park, nothing makes me happier than seeing him with that big silly (slightly wonky) grin on his little face. 

Giving River Island A Go

So this week was crazy, eh? How are we at Easter? It was January five minutes ago! We're really not doing much this weekend; bit of home, bit of friends, bit of family. Most definitely chocolate and a roast dinner on Sunday - although I'm still desperately attempting a keep-fit regime so I'm going to be trying not to go too far astray...

shirt, River Island / trousers, River Island / sunglasses, Kate Spade / bag, L.K.Bennett / shoes, L.K.Bennett

As part of my competition with intu (details here, you can win over £1000 worth of vouchers to shop at places like ASOS, Topshop, Marks and Spencer and Missguided) I wanted to style out how I'd spend the winnings. River Island is the majority of their centres, so I thought I'd give the brand a proper try. In truth, aside from the odd thing I've seen via magazines I'd not shopped there for about 5 years. Turned out it was much more successful than I thought...

my trousers in various colours = red / black / beige / taupe / white

The brand do still have the cropped, bright, stretchy stuff that makes any girl above the age of 25 (or trying to be) shudder. But once I'd got through that I found some amazing stuff. Firstly, I was pleasantly surprised by their trousers. Rather than the cheap, sweaty fabric you might expect these are thick, well structured and I feel like a million dollars in them. I don't really like my thighs, but the frills at the bottom almost balance them out - and they are slightly cropped meaning my ankles are on show (slimming). They're from their Limited Edition range, and you can find them in lots of colours as above.

How To Visit Gstaad For A Weekend

As followers of my Instagram here know, I popped over to Gstaad for the weekend a few weeks ago. Knowing little about the area other than it being excellent for skiing I was really curious to check it out from a perspective of a non-skier (I'm not the best, and given our trip was so quick I thought I'd let Gus have a day to bolt down the mountains without worrying about me). After a few busy weeks my agenda was simple, relax and relaxation, and when I looked up our hotel, Le Grand Bellevue, I had a feeling it might just tick the boxes...

bag, Gucci / belt, Gucci at Vestiaire Collective / shoes, L.K.Bennett / jeans, Topshop / tee, Topshop

Win A £1000 Shopping Spree

Not sure about you but this time of year makes me want to rip up everything in my wardrobe and start again! I've just finished a ruthless closet edit which involves 3 bin bags going to charity (Mary's Living And Giving in Hampstead), a big eBay sale and a few friends doing quite well... I then set about trawling Pinterest and the general Internet to find what I need to buy for Spring 2017. At the same time, Intu Digital got in touch and asked me to promote their £1000 spring shopping competition - so I thought I'd marry the two and shop from retailers at their centres across the UK to show you how I'd spend the money!

jacket, River Island / jeans, Gap / tee shirt, Topshop / shoes, L.K.Bennett / bag, Celine at Vestiaire / sunglasses, Max Mara

Intu shopping centres are across the UK, you can find out where here. The centres have all my favourite brands but the prize vouchers are available to shop online at retailers including ASOS, New Look, M&S, Missguided, Topshop and Superdry. I don't often do competitions on the blog but thought this one was great, and you lot would really enjoy the prize...

Needle and Thread Floral Dress

dress, Needle and Thread / shoes, River Island (limited edition) / sunglasses, ASOS / bag, Celine at Vestiaire Collective

Monday was a beautiful day so I dragged Emma to Hampstead to get her to help shoot some outfits for me. It was so much fun shooting with a (unbelievably patient) mate, and I feel so much better having shot a lot of looks as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with holding down two roles - I am trying very hard to steer the blog back to being the out of hours activity, but it's really hard when I love it so much.