Wedding Outfit Meltdown!

The event of my week, month and possibly year so far is the upcoming wedding of my brilliant Daddy and his gorgeous fiance Jill which is finally happening tomorrow.

The arranging has been taking place over the year but my main problem has been my outfit. Jill isn't having bridesmaids as this is not your typical wedding - both  have been married before etc! However, as my Daddys favourite girl i have tried to co-ordinate my outfit with the bride's. For obvious reasons i cannot divulge what the bride is wearing - although i can confirm she is going to look stunning! However, i can talk you through my outfit meltdown which has been happening over the last month! (Yes month!)

I first began with the option of a summery dress with a flowered pattern and i came across this beauty on BooHoo.Com. Unfortunately, i cannot bring the picture over to my blog so you can view the dress here. I loved the summery feel of the yellow roses and the heart cut out was so cute that i just couldnt resist. However, when the dress arrived, the 8 was tiny around my waist yet the 10 was too big on my shoulders.

So the search began again!

I trawled some of the shops on Saturday and came across the most beautiful dress in Warehouse. Jordan loved it too and because he is such a wonderful boyfriend, he helped me to buy it as it was slightly out of my price range. 

I love the grecian style of this dress and the jewels around the neckline give it that really expensive feel and also means i don't need to accessorise too much.

The shoe hunt, was not quite as simple. After my recent wardrobe clearout i have not left myself with many shoes therefore some new ones were required. I found these in the New Look sale as they looked perfect to go with the dress!

However when they arrived they were really far too lilac and not as grey as the picture may seem. This sent me into a frantic turmoil as with 2 days until the wedding and my schedule pretty booked up, i would have to find time to hunt for some more! Luckily i shot down the road to my local Outfit Store and picked up these gorgeous feet flatterers for a bargain of £25 from Dorothy Perkins - one of my new favourite shoe suppliers!

The photo really doesnt do them any justice at all. They are a more purple/grey colouring but with a gorgeous gold/metallic shine to them. With my skinny little ankles, they are slightly big at the top, but the laces help to disguise this if i tie them tight enough!

So with panic over and outfit complete, i have just these few finishing touches to accessorise my look.    

Roll on tomorrow - it's going to be a fabulous day!              

Trim Trim!

Once again, my blog post's this week have been sparse! It's a crazy week as i have my dad's wedding coming up this weekend - so lots of organising and preperation has been needed for that! All will be blogged next week.

Anyway, today i just wanted to do a quick post on my obsession of the week! Trimphones.

I saw my first real Trimphone last week when my friend Claire had one delivered to our office. I instantly craved one as they are in true Retro 1960's style and i haven't been able to get them out of my head since!

The Trimphone first came about in the 1960's, they were positioned as a more fashionable alternative to a normal telephone. I think this style has stuck and even today this phone would be a perfect classic accessory to any room - rather than the dull, boyish looking cordless phone we currently have in our house!

The great thing about these telephones is that they come in a massive range of colours so there will be a Trimphone to suit everyone! This purple one would be perfectly matched to my living room and it reminds me of a phone my nana had when i was a youngster. However for those who would prefer a less striking colour i would recommend the red or white ones for a more classic but statement look.

All the colours featured above are available to buy from John Lewis here and cost around £35. You can also pick them up from Ebay for a slighty reduced price which ranges from approximately £20 - £35 or a fraction of that if you want to bid on a true vintage second hand telephone instead.

xxx

Country Girl's view of The Big City!

This week i have been lucky enough to write my 1st guest post! So here it is below. Of course, you can read where is it supposed to be at http://edible-glitter.com/ Hope you all like it.
xxx

I know i'm still extremely new to this blogging malarky, however when i spotted an opportunity to guest blog on one of my favourite reads, i jumped at the chance! @Glitterblog or Edible Glitter for those non twitterers, writes a varied and always interesting blog and so i want to begin by thanking her for this great spot and hope you all enjoy what i have to say.

One thing i am feeling from reading posts in my new blog world, is the feeling that perhaps living out in the country is causing me to miss out on experiences that i might one day regret not experiencing. Dont get me wrong i love Norwich! I love living here, i love that the city is cultural and i love most of all that it is my home. I wasn't born here however, i was born in London - near Heathrow airport although my parents moved me out of the city before i was old enough to remember living there. I have of course made it back for trips, or to visit family and so here are my feelings as to why i love the big smoke that is London.

Number One - The Anonymity. Whenever i head to London, whether for the day or a short break, the second i step off the train onto the platform at Liverpool St - i feel like a different person. In my hometown where i grew up everyone knows everything about everyone. Literally,  everything! In London i love that noone knows who you are and whilst everyone is bustling round, you can just go along with your business knowing that noone cares what you do, who you are, what you want. You can be anonymous, you can be that person who might have to stay a little more reserved back home and thats why London recharges me everytime i go!

Number Two - The Fashion!! Unfortunately i have never been able to experience London Fashion week or any of the fabulous fashion events which occur all over the city throughout the year. I plan too - after all London is in the top 4 of the fashion capitals of the world - i've just never gotten round to it! (shame on me, i know!)  I love shopping in London and i especially love love love Topshop on Oxford Street! I know it's cliche but our Topshop in Norwich is about the size of the accessories section in Londons extravagantly massive store. Speaking of which - the accessories!!! Corsages, scarves (the most beautiful vintage, floral beauties!) tights, bags - oh my just thinking about it makes me think of myself all Carrie-esq in the wedding dress, spinning round and round the rows of gorgeousness.

Anyway back to reality...







Number Three - The Buzz. I don't just mean the atmosphere, as electric as it can feel. I mean, i do mean that - but i also mean how each different part makes me think, feel, smell, different things. I think if i lived in London, i would quite happily ride round on the tube all day and just get off at random stops! I have my favourites though!
North London - home of Camden Town, The Lock, The Market, Primrose Hill. Cafe's and local area pubs and bars feels like a town of it's own - plus there's always the added chance of bumping into Kate Moss or Jude Law! :-) Leicester Square with it's cinemas, it's theatres and restaurants, always vibrant and always so colourful to me, i almost always visit Bar One for lunch or a drink when i'm there and just sit watching people, a favourite hobby of mine! From here it's only a short wander over to Covent Garden - the cobbled streets and the pubs aside (noticing a theme occuring!) This is my favourite part of London during the Christmas Period. The huge tree and roasted chesnut stalls with the haze of lights everywhere, the slight smokey scent in the air... and i'm beginning to ramble like some dreamy kid again so i'll move on!

Maybe one day i will uproot myself and move out to the big city. Maybe i'll stay put here in the sunny, green flatlands of Norfolk. Who knows?! I have family in both and consider both my home in some way or another. For now i'm content with the excitement of planning my next trip down to the Capital of the country we all call home. It can't come soon enough!

Marrakech 2010

This June, the fabulous @CharlyOlivia and I jetted off for a week of girly fun in the sun! Unlike the usual girly holidays destinations such as Ibiza, Magaluf, The Algarve etc we decided to opt for Marrakech in Morrocco. We'd heard of people visiting there before and all the sites we researched looked great so we booked it up and after 6 looong months we were off!

Marrakech is beautiful with all the terracotta buildings dotted around - i fell in love in the taxi ride from the airport! The traffic is crazy - a complete free for all! We only had to cross the road a few times but i felt grateful for surviving that! Even more grateful for the survival of taxi journeys! After a while you become accustomed to the swerving and almost hitting people - however there were a few VERY close calls!

We stayed in the Imperial Plaza Hotel which was about 15 minutes from everything you need to go and see. The hotel was clean, the majority of the staff were friendly and helpful and the pool was lovely!

We spent our days in the sunshine on the rooftop pool. From here you could see across the entire city far into the distance! So relaxing and a well deserved break from normal life!

By night we were led to all the cities hot spots with Charlottes trusty guide book. Remember Miranda in SATC2 - not a patch on our Charly with her fab prepping! Evenings normally consisted of tasty meals followed by drinks and the weekend was spent clubbing in Africas biggest nightclub Pacha Marrakech. This houses two stunning restaurants - (although you may need a personal loan to enjoy more than one course) along with a terrace bar which is filled with Morrocco's finest until after 1am when everyone heads down to the main club.

My favourite place of all our restaurants was a little cubby-hole restaurant which is run by a French family and is situated just outsite the Souks. From its open air first floor table area you can see the local Storks nesting on top of ruins and houses and down below you get a great view of people going about their daily business.

   

Here you could get the most gorgeous Tagine for just a few quid! A well deserved hearty dinner ladened with the added special touch of homecooking - scrumptious but incredibly difficult to finish a whole one!

The main square is a place you have to see. This place is more filled with people than you could ever imagine in one place but is well worth the hustle and bustle! If you do visit the square make sure that you are as covered up as possible considering the heat which stays humid until the early hours of the morning! The local men on the stalls like the Western woman - from Hannah Montanna to Gazzelles, we were called it all! I also do not recommend choosing to sit near children as a safer option - they are street kids and if you make the mistake of pulling out cigarettes - like we did - you will be chased and chased until you drop them for the scavenging beggars to collect from the floor!

The stalls in the market are amazing - spices, orange juice, clothes, jewellery and homeware galore! I would have loved to have bought a real Morroccan lantern, yet with my restricted RyanAir baggage allowance all i purchased was a traditional shisha as a gift for Jordan.

 
Marrakech is a place well worth a visit, the culture alone is something to experience! I would most definately recommend taking a guide book which includes a map as even the local taxi drivers are "unsure" as to exactly where you want to go. Some other amazing places we visited were CafeArabe which served well presented, tasty dinners and had a sultry atmospherically lit terrace bar above the restaurant for after dinner cocktails. This place was so impressive that we actually went there twice! For a true Morroccan experience including dinner, drinks and traditional dancing - head to a supper club. There are plenty around the city and the guide book will point you in the right direction of the best ones. 

This is a perfect city for either a romantic getaway for two or a fun in the sun holiday for friends! The weather is lovely, the pools are in abundance and there is no shortage of things to do and see!

xxx

Everyone can enjoy a garden!

With the weather, rather irritatingly changing for the worst over the last week, i have been unable to enjoy our garden that i have been working so hard to make a little tranquil heaven over the last few weeks. This has resulted in my attention being turned to the indoor garden that is my bed of herbs!

This was originally JLowe's idea, "lets grow our own herbs" as the supermarket bought ones tend to shrivel and die after a couple of days in our fridge! I was apprehensive at first, i am so impatient - why bother waiting months for them to grow when i can pop out and in 20 minutes be adding fresh herbs to my dinners!? I agreed to give it a go and i have actually been suprised with how excited i have been getting! I used a basic terracotta tray and a few packets of seeds from a local DIY store to originally plant them. I opted for 4 or 5 packets of seeds - if one didn't grow there would be a much higher chance of the other's growing! I planted the seeds in a row - lemon coriander, basil, mint, thyme (I actually can't remember exactly what i planted - just adds to the fun though!) After just a few days the coriander and basil were waaay in the lead and are now a good 5-10cms tall and i have used the lemon coriander leaves in a dinner! I am genuinely pleased with this, i honestly thought we would be waiting months for any leaves!

Planting seeds, whether they be herbs, cress in the eggcup or flowers is astonishingly easy - for those of you with children it could be a great pastime for the upcoming summer holidays - after 6 weeks there will be results! Plus, once they have germinated you can transfer them to some really gorgeous pots to keep around the home. These are a few which i have come across and love!

These pretty herb pots from Marks & Spencer come with their own seeds and sensibly priced you can create some fabulous flavours for less than £10!

I also love the idea of not using specifically "made for planting" items. How about using pretty teacups or a teapot? For a more unusual look, try using empty containers from your food cupboards. I love the look of the traditional Colemans jars and tins and this mustard powder tin would work really well!

You can use anything you want to grow them in once they are sufficiently established. The beauty of doing this is that everyone could do it if they wanted! You can grow them indoors as i am doing for now, or you can utilise some space or pots in your garden, if you have one! Fun for everyone!

xxx

Never regret anything - at one point it was all you ever wanted!

Hello Strangers,

I am officially back! Sorry for my absense (if anyone noticed!)had a crazy few weeks - all of which i will update you on over the next few posts! I thought i would ease myself in with a post for the fabulous @LottieLoves1 Finishing School - D is for Dreams...

I would say that i am one of the biggest dreamers of all the dreamers out there. I am the McDreamy if you like! (little reference for my #1 reader there!) My life has sometimes felt like one huge dream - some of these achieved and some of them not but all of them spurring me on in someway or another. I am a very spiritual person so i believe in Karma, i believe that everything happens for a reason and i believe that everything which has happened in my life so far has brought me to where i am right now.

As a little girl i would dream about being a lady. Grown up, fancy, purdy like my mummy and of course the day i would be a princess bride in a white dress! I would wander around the house with towels on my head as veils and when i was older, every Sunday, when we went to my nana's for dinner i would wear my mums wedding dress for the entire afternoon - even though it was a little bit big!

As i grew older, i started to dismiss my "dreams" as they tended to change on a regular basis - one week i'd dream to be a Vet, another a firefighter followed by a doctor of some kind. It wasn't that i didn't really want all these things - they just seemed so unnatainable and someone as ordinary as i didn't deserve any of them - so i simply didn't try. My theory was if i was destined for great things, then they would just happen!

It wasn't until my 21st birthday that things changed. After visiting my extended family in Dubai for a holiday, i literally did not want to come home. I had dealt with so much crap and drama over the previous years & being in this electric city really made me see that i needed a change - i needed to escape to rebuild myself again. Of course i did come home, but began researching into ways of moving there permenantly, with the help from my Auntie Lolly who lives there and decided to apply for Emirates Cabin Crew. This meant i would be based in Dubai but would also have the opportunity to see the rest of the world too! Never in my wildest dreams did i think i stood a chance - thousands upon thousands of people apply from all over the world! However, somehow i was selected for interview, got through and before i knew it i was jetting off for a new life in the cosmopolitan sandpit.

I returned back to the U.K after about 6 months. Sounds like no time at all but i achieved everything i wanted, missed my soggy wet homeland & with Christmas looming i missed my family and friends more than anything. I love that my travelling experience is part of my life. It shows me that i wanted something & i got off my backside and went for it! I met so many amazing people, saw so many amazing places & experiencing a different culture and lifestyle whilst being away from my loved ones changed me as a person - for the better.

Today i dream about things which are important to me. I still dream of the princess wedding, just the same as when i was a little girl! I dream of love, i dream to move forwards from my past, start my own family and be happy with everything i do. I have been lucky enough to find the love with JLowe, we both just know this is it so maybe the princess bride will only be a few years away.... :-) This week we began our little family with the arrival of our new kitten, Bella. I already love her so much and despite my fears of turning into crazy cat lady, i feel she will be great practice for the future!

People, if i can achieve things i want then you can too! All you need is determination, independence and a little bit of patience - after all dreams don't come true overnight! Reading http://www.lottieloves.com/ has shown me the incredible strength and determination this lady has to acheive everything she possibly can. My best friend is currently in the early stages of chasing what she really wants to do with her life and i cannot wait to watch her climb to success! These 2 fabulous ladies and I conquered our dreams and i think i can safely say that we will all achieve alot more of them too! If any of you wish to share your dreams - attained or not - then do so! Whether you write them down and tick them off as you go, or just read them for that little confidence boost in the morning...Either way - get them out there and get onto making them happen!!!