Tag Archive | Rochester

Back to school

Having been blogging for some time now, I felt it was time I went on a course to refine my self taught skills. In October, Medway adult education were running a Saturday class in Rochester and so I enrolled.

I was surprised it ran; so often you sign up to classes and there is not enough interest for them to run. It was however somewhat of a disappointment when I discovered that not only had the teacher not prepared a lesson plan, but everyone in the class; apart from me, had never blogged, but rather just had an interest in starting.

It wasn’t a total waste however, it is always good to meet other writers and I did pick up a few tips. It also gave me some time to practise writing, when we were all asked to write an introduction to why we blog.

Rochester provided a great back drop for a fashion shoot and my outfit for the day was somewhat geeky in style to fit in with the back to school theme.

Skirt, jumper and tights are Oasis, boots are Kookai and bag is New Look. I love a check woollen skirt for winter. The clear lens glasses set of the geek chic perfectly and were a steal from Asos. The Hello Kitty folder is from Paperchase, who have a fab range of back to school stationery.

Remember you are never too old to learn and we can learn a lot from each other. If you get the chance to do some adult education – go for it. Let me know what you think of my ‘back to school’ look.

Flying through the months

Mar11

Can you believe we are already in March? I can’t believe how fast the last few months have gone, it doesn’t seem five minutes ago that we had Christmas to look forward to and now we are faced with lots of cold weather and a long wait until Summer.

Christmas countdown traditionally begins on 1^st December with an advent calendar. Advent calendars were first used by German Lutherans in the 19^th and 20^th Century. Advent calendars have moved on a lot in recent years, with children no longer content with opening a door to reveal a Christmas picture or poem. At the very least they expect a chocolate now and some calendars give toys such as the Lego calendar. Being a big kid, I have never tired of an advent calendar and thankfully I am clearly not alone as there is now a large market in adult advent calendars offering candles or beauty products. This Christmas I decided to try a beauty advent calendar. These range quite a bit in price with the Liberty one costing £250! After some research I settled on the reasonably priced House of Fraser one at £25 as this also had all 24 doors, rather than the 12 some calendars offer – presumably to represent the 12 days of Christmas. It was quite exciting to see what beauty product you would get each day and by far my favourites were a glitter eyeliner, a blusher and one of the lipsticks, all of which I have been using regularly.

What really got me in the festive mood was the Dickensian Christmas celebrations in Rochester on 3^rd December. For this I wore skinny jeans from Oasis with a white pussy bow blouse from Oasis and my trusty New Look faux leather biker jacket. I accessorised with the gorgeous blue velvet flats and handbag which are also from New Look and my subtle take on the velvet trend for Autumn/Winter 2016.

Rochester as I have mentioned many times before in my blog is one of my favourite places. It was also a favourite spot for Charles Dickens and the cobbled streets and old style lampposts make you feel you have truly been transported back in time as you watch the costume parade. We took the opportunity to watch a street performance of Miss Havisham’s story before warming up in the pub over lunch.

Santa’s reindeer even popped down!

There was a photo opportunity with Fagin.

We then made our way to the Christmas market and fun fair. The market was a bit of a let-down if I am honest as I had been expecting the Bavarian style wooden huts you see in London when instead the stalls were in marques and a lot of the items for sale were quite tacky. The funfair was good though and forever the kid I had to have a ride on the carousel.

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I have wanted another piercing ever since I had to let my nose piercing close up earlier this year after an infection so I went and got my rook pierced – part of the ear. It was quite painful after so I went and recovered with a latte and a large piece of cake in Fleur de the.

Number 12 or 13 is the rook

We ventured out into the cold and darkness just in time for the evening costume parade with lanterns. The snow machines were on and we all walked up to the castle where the carol service was held. It was a magical evening and totally set me up for the festive period. We warmed up and lubricated our tired voices with mulled wine in a local pub before heading off home.

The following weekend, my husband and I took our niece and nephew to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. This year marks ten years of Winter Wonderland and each year it seems to get bigger and bigger. It was another cold day and unfortunately turned into quite a wet day too. I had bought a new hat, gloves and scarf set from Oasis and wore a long padded coat from New Look which although less than flattering, is extremely warm – it gives you the feeling of being wrapped up in a duvet!

We visited the magical ice kingdom which this year had the theme of an Arctic Adventure. This is an awe inspiring sight whether it is your first visit or not, with incredible detail on each of the ice sculptures. There is also a slide made of ice which once again brought the kid out in me and ice thrones which of course kids love due to the connotations with Disney’s Frozen.

The boys enjoyed the bumper cars whilst my niece and I went on the swings. Later my niece wanted to go on a roller coaster. There was an extremely long queue but the wait was made slightly more entertaining by a kind of fun house along the way. The ride was a disaster as she was so scared and I felt so helpless when she asked me to make it stop. You would have thought that would have put her off rides but she still wanted another go on the swings before we left!

Putting up the Christmas decorations is always for me traditionally accompanied by listening to Now that’s what I call Christmas and sipping on snowballs. This year I finally persuaded my husband to put lights outside – something I have always wanted.

We hosted Christmas day this year for the first time and had my parents and my husband’s parents over. I wore a black lace dress from Oasis and sparkle tights also from Oasis and accessorised my hair with a flower band which I got at London Fashion week and is by Her Curious Nature.

We had a really nice day. I really enjoyed setting out the Christmas table. Dinner was lovely and I got some wonderful presents – my favourite being a shoe design course! Look out for a blog on that in the next month or so. We played Cranium which was a laugh and watched the Christmas tele and before you knew it, it was all over for another year!

Boxing day was spent at Mum’s with my brother and his family. For this day I wore an Oasis jumper with a basic black mini skirt from Asos and purple Uggs that I got in New Zealand a few years back.

Between Christmas and New Year my husband and I visited Scotney Castle and decided to become National Trust Members.

New Year was spent with friends. I always find New Year rather depressing as it is another reminder of what you have not achieved and a time to set resolutions that you invariable break way before the end of January! I guess I can at least remember 2016 as the year I finally got promoted to a PA. We also finally finished decorating our bedroom. It was so nice to get rid of the grey striped wallpaper that was there when we moved in.

As with every other new year, I once again set my usual resolution to lose weight and decided to try the milk diet which was the diet of choice for 2017. The full diet suggested you eat nothing and just drink 4 pints of full fat milk a day. That seemed rather extreme so I went for the modified version where you drink a glass of milk before each meal with the aim of then eating less. I did see some positive effect from this, loosing 3lbs in the first week but as per usual it was the same as most fad diets and I had given up within 3 weeks.

January always seems to drag so I was glad when we got to the end. The final weekend in January; Saturday evening was spent at a Fawlty Towers evening which was a great laugh. For this I wore a black pleated skirt from Asos, a gold stripped crop top from Kiss Kiss Heart in Rochester and accessorised with shoes I purchased at London Fashion Week by Alexander White and an Aldo clutch.

That Sunday we had a trip to London to see the Play that Goes Wrong. The end of January of course marks the start of the new year for the Chinese and this year is the year of the Rooster!

February saw a return to my early twenties with a night out at a club on Tottenham Court Road for a friend’s birthday. I must be getting old as I was quite taken aback that they wanted to scan our ID before letting us in and by the fact there are now bouncers on McDonald’s on the Strand! I am also way too old for the torturous 2 hour journey home on the night bus! Having said all that though it was a fun night. I reworked the outfit I wore to the Fawlty Towers evening this time accessorising with gold Oasis t-bar shoes and a gold clutch.

So now 2017 is well underway and we have certainly seen some cold weather. Easter is late this year meaning that Summer feels even further away but there are some exciting things coming up so keep looking out for future blogs.

Embellish, Embellish

Jan15

Ever since I did my first shabby chic furniture course at the Vintage Dove, I have been keen to do the advanced class which goes into decorative techniques rather than just the painting. Many times I had been signed up, only to hear the course was cancelled due to lack of interest. Finally I got on the advanced course at Paloma in Rochester last October. Rochester as I have mentioned before is my favourite place and what makes it so are Kiss Kiss Heart, Rocket and Paloma – three shops all run by the same people. Ruth at Paloma, is trained by Annie Sloan and runs the courses at Rocket in Rochester. Annie Sloan brought out a range of chalk paints in 1990 and has gone on to write many books on decorative techniques. The Telegraph describes her as one of ‘Britain’s most influential female designers’.

We started with a blank plank of wood and painted a third of it in a colour of our choice, I chose Old Violet, and the rest white.

The first technique we were shown was gilding. We painted Gold Size onto the coloured part of the board. I chose to create letters and hearts with it but we could have just covered the whole section in it. We could then try gold, copper or silver transfers or leaf. I used the silver transfers for my letters and hearts and then added more gold size to form a border and applied copper leaf to this. I found the transfers much easier to use although the leaf gave a better vintage effect.

The next technique was decoupage. This was the technique I was most interested in and why I was so keen to take the course. Decoupage involves cutting out medium (usually paper) and pasting onto an object before covering with a lacquer or varnish and the name comes from the French word, decouper which means to cut out. It is thought that the craft originated in East Siberia where tombs were decorated with cut out felt.

Annie Sloan Decoupage is a water based glue and varnish. We painted it onto the wood in the area we wished to apply the image to. We cut our image out from wrapping paper and then pressed it onto the wood. We then built up layers as a varnish over the top. It needs about 5 coats to properly seal it and you need to allow 20-30mins between each coat. You can get images from anything to use for decoupage – old pages from books or cards for example. Ruth also showed us an option with napkins though which was very effective.

Image transfer is another popular technique and there are some great websites out there to download images from, particularly ‘The Graphics Fairy’. Images need to be printed out on a laser jet printer rather than an ink jet as the ink needs to resist water. The front of the image is painted with Decoupage medium and then placed face down on the board. Once the glue has dried, use a sponge to put a small amount of water over the back of the image and then rub away the paper with your finger. Remember that if you are image transferring text – it will need to be in reverse to start with in order for it to come out the correct way around.

Stencilling was the fourth technique we were shown. Paint can be put on with a roller or a stipple brush and you can also mix paints as I did.

Finally we were shown the craqueleur effect. Annie Sloan Craqueleur is a two-step process. Once you have covered the area with step one and allowed it to dry; you then paint over step one with step two. You can vary the size of the cracks according to how thick you put step two on – the thicker it is, the bigger the cracks. To really enhance the craqueleur effect you can then apply dark wax over the top.

This course cost £75 and was great value and a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning, I highly recommend it and it inspired me to transform some more furniture using shabby chic techniques.

My mum gave me an old pine dresser which had seen better days. I transformed the top half and then fixed it to the wall as a shelving unit to display some of my china. I began by sugar soaping the dresser to ensure any dust or dirt was removed. I then painted two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paris Grey. To make the piece more interesting and add a further vintage angle to it, I purchased a chic moulding from The Vintage Dove, Rainham and glued it to the top part of the dresser after the first coat of paint and then covered it on the second. Finally I had a mirror cut to fit between the middle shelves. The unit was finished off by applying clear wax.

dresser2

Over the Christmas break, I decided to transform a plain white Ikea chair using Decoupage. I purchased a book of old maps in a little shop in Holt, Norfolk. To enhance the effect I also used some vintage map stickers which I purchased in Paloma, Rochester.

chair2

The old saying ‘one persons junk is another ones treasure’ really is so true. There are no end to the transformations you can perform on furniture and it is a great way to make your home furnishings truly unique. So what you waiting for – get yourself on a course and then let your imagination run wild.

A Mother’s Day treat for Mother and Daughter

Mar19

Mother’s day – just another over commercialised day like Valentines? Maybe, but I wonder how many people know the true meaning of Mothering Sunday in the UK? It was in fact a Christian religious day which fell on the 4^th Sunday of Lent and was when parishioners returned to their mother church i.e. the one they were baptised at. The American mother’s day which is celebrated in May, was created by Anna Jarvis who wanted to honour the peace activist work that her mother had done before she died as well as honouring all mothers, reasoning that they generally do more for us than anyone else. Although the founder of it, she actually protested against the commercialisation of the day, suggesting that sentiment should be shown in hand written letters not through purchasing cards and gifts. Since World War II, when American soldiers came over to the UK, the day here is now more like the American one when people treat their mothers to cards, flowers and gifts but still remains on the 4^th Sunday of lent.

I decided to celebrate it a few days early this year with Mum. I have long enjoyed scouring the variety of kitsch shops that Rochester has to offer so jumped at the chance of being invited, with a guest, to attend an evening at the shop Pink Flamingo to celebrate their 5^th birthday. Pink Flamingo also has another branch in Whitstable and is a ladies clothes, shoes and accessories shop.

For the occasion I decided to embrace the Americana look seen at London Fashion Weekend and wore my nautical stripe blue, ¾ length sleeve dress by Winser with a denim jacket from Oasis. I then added a pop of red with my LK Bennett wedge sandals and Floozie heart shaped bag. I also added a scarf tied to the bag to give a unique twist, seen by Elie Saab; the scarf was une souvenir de Paris and features the Eiffel Tower. I did my hair in what the industry is calling the grown up bunches as seen at Marni. These are simple to create but look like you have really made the effort. Divide the hair in a centre parting and then leave a small strand from each half loose whilst tying the rest in normal bunches. Then wrap the left over strand around the band to hide it and pin with a kirby grip. I swept a turquoise blue eye shadow from an old Virgin Vie palette over my lids to create the ocean eyes seen by Diane Von Furstenberg this season.

On arrival in Rochester Mum and I treated ourselves to a coffee and cake in Fleur de Thé. This is a beautiful tea room, where all the shabby chic decorative items are also for sale along with refreshments. I had a slice of their Oreo cake and it really was a huge portion that although nice, left me feeling quite sick.

Next stop was Rocket, a shop that specialises in vintage design clothing and I bought a lovely 1950’s style turquoise skirt with white polka dots on. I’m thinking I might purchase one of the taffeta underskirts to really set this off.

We browsed Kiss Kiss Heart, owned by the same people as Rocket but with a greater emphasis on the homeware than the clothes and I liked so many things in there especially a floral Fiorelli bag; but settled for a butterfly shaped ceramic dish.

By then it was getting on for 5pm so we made our way up the high street to Pink Flamingo. On arrival we were treated to a glass of pink fizz and there were some cupcakes decorated with pink flamingos and a variety of sweets on offer.

Pink Flamingo stocks Great Plains London, Cath Kidston and Irregular Choice, amongst other brands. Irregular Choice shoes were created by British born designer, Dan Sullivan in 1999. His vision was to create truly unique shoes rather than the neutral and black shoes that dominated the market. His designs are influenced by his punk rock era upbringing on the Kings Road coupled with his extensive travel around the world.

On this special open evening, there was 20% off anything purchased and a chance to win either a pair of Irregular Choice shoes or a Cath Kidston bag. Unfortunately I wasn’t the lucky winner of either.

I tried on various pairs of Irregular Choice shoes, feeling that there should be a bit of this originality in my shoe collection however in the end I didn’t think I would be brave enough or quirky enough to pull them off. I may pluck up the courage at a future date as each shoe truly is a work of art in its own right.

Mum bought a pair of sandals by Lunar which I had also had my eye on and I bought a Great Plains mint coloured top.

Together we spent over £30 and so received a free goodie bag. The goodie bag contained some Tamaris lip balm and hand cream, some shoe horns and a bracelet.

All shopped out, I then treated Mum to a meal and Prosecco at Pizza Express. My Mum really is my best friend and I love that I can talk to her about anything and she listens and advises without judgement. I can always rely on her to be honest with me, even if it’s not always what I want to hear. However many times we mess up, we can always rely on our mothers to love and forgive us. Commercialised or not, I think it is only right that we celebrate all our mothers do for us – not just on this one day but throughout the year.

Let me know what you did with your Mum on her special day.

Something Old, Something New

Nov11

Nothing can beat that feeling of holding a new baby in your arms, so small but perfect in every way; their whole life in front of them with endless possibilities. I was fortunate enough to have this experience again at the end of September when my new niece was born – the beautiful Georgia Alyssia, sister to Emilia Rose. I couldn’t resist this cute little outfit for her.

Once again as I looked down at her beautiful face, my feelings of broodiness returned. In October two of my friends gave birth to little boys. My best friend is due to give birth to her son later this month. There seems to be something in the water lately but I guess that’s what happens when you get into your thirties – everyone’s life course is changing. Cocktails are swapped for nappies and bottles. I have to ask myself am I ready for that change? On the one hand, I have always wanted a baby and the biological clock is ticking. On the other hand though, I am enjoying seeing the world and splashing out on the latest fashions, especially enhancing my shoe collection! There is no doubt that having a baby changes your life and your priorities. Suddenly that little bundle is all that matters, they come first and your needs are pushed to the back of the queue. Do I feel I have done all I want to do with my life and am I ready to hand over to children for the next 18 years? It is a massive commitment and one which one should not enter into lightly, however if you wait until you are ready, is one ever ready? There is of course another issue; we all take for granted that we will be able to have children – that is of course by no means a certainty and until you start trying, you won’t know.

Anyway I guess you are wondering, what the old is that I refer to in the title of this post? Also at the end of September, I had my first experience of a lunar cinema. This is an outdoor screening of a film – I guess kind of like an American drive through but without the cars. Rochester castle was the venue. Rochester castle is a stunning medieval keep which is 125 feet tall. The historic town of Rochester has a fascinating history and was a favourite of Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations have references to the town. The castle – lit up against the night sky provided the perfect backdrop for the screening. They were showing the much acclaimed 1986 film, Top Gun. I love this film and have seen it many times but never on the big screen. Tom Cruise for me was in his prime at the time of this and Cocktail, pre scientology. We laid out a blanket to mark our spot on the grass and as the film opening credits were rolling, opened our bottle of rose Prosecco. Despite it being fairly warm still in September I can report that it was pretty cold as the night drew in and I was glad of my new blanket wrap, an autumn trend, which I bought from Jane Norman. Another trend seen on autumn’s Prada catwalk was the Prada ponytail which I also tried out for this occasion. Essentially the hair is pulled into a high ponytail and a piece of hair wrapped around to hide the hairband. The ponytail is then clipped to the side with a pretty barrette. After the film we warmed ourselves up with a curry.

Prada pony

Prada ponytail

Whilst we are on the subject of old and new we should be moving house tomorrow so unfortunately blogging will have to take a bit of a back seat as I concentrate on packing and unpacking boxes.

I would love to know which autumn/winter fashions you are loving as well as any advice on the should I, should I not baby question. Until next time……….

Dizzy Heights

Aug9

When I turned 30 two years ago I felt like I had reached a peak with nothing but a large descent into old age ahead of me. I thought that birthdays would simply become more and more depressing. How wrong you can be! Since turning 30 my life has only got more interesting and fulfilling. Yes 30 brings with it fine lines and grey hairs as well as a difficulty in shifting those extra pounds from over indulgence but at the same time a new sense of acceptance of who you are and how you look means there is a lot less anxiety. Suddenly what other people will think becomes less of a restraint and we begin to please ourselves more. What clothes size we fit into or that spot on our face becomes less of an obsession and we make way for simply enjoying ourselves and grabbing every opportunity that comes our way. Having tick boxes is a great motivator but as an article I was reading the other day said, these should all be things we want to do and not things we think we should do at our age. A survey by the Huffington Post concluded we are most happy at the age of 33. With all this in mind I am looking forward to flying through the next 8 years by the seat of my pants and having many new experiences to write about before as the saying goes ‘life begins at 40!’

By way of celebration of my birthday this year I decided that to arrange a big event would be too much like hard work, so instead I had a number of mini parties; the first of which was the preceding weekend.

A friend and I attended Cocktails in the City which took place in Bedford Square Gardens in central London. This event comprises of 25 London cocktail bars coming together with pop up stalls, along with street food sellers and entertainers to create a festival with a difference.

Those of you of a similar age to me will fondly recall Sex and the City – my love of this series deepened my already growing love of cocktails. The exact definition of a cocktail as well as the origin of the word is unclear however the first recorded use of cocktail to describe an alcoholic beverage was in 1806. Over the year’s popularity of cocktails had waned until the mid 2000’s when mixology suddenly came to the fore of fashion again and more and more complex cocktails were made. You can’t help but feel glamourous with a martini glass in your hand.

Our £15 entrance ticket included a guide to the event and one free drink. I headed straight for The Craft Cocktail Company from Bethnal Green for a cointreaupolitan, being that like my nemesis Carrie Bradshaw, my cocktail of choice is generally a cosmopolitan. I was not disappointed with this twist on the classic drink – however it tasted less like alcohol and more like fruit juice which ensured it didn’t last long!

There were presentations throughout the day and we chose to sit in on one entitled The Motorcycle Diaries. The Motorcycle Diaries was a 2004 film where two friends travel around South America on their bikes so this session focused on alcohol that is local to South America. I dragged my friend to a front row seat – determined to be front of the queue for any possible tastings. I was invited up to the stage to make a Pisco sour. Pisco is a brandy made in Chilie and Peru and on its own it is horrible, what I imagine paint stripper to taste like. I was instructed to put a small measure of Pisco into the cup – naturally my small measure is probably most people’s definition of large and the guy found this quite funny. I then added lemon and lime juice. The final ingredient which I was rather sceptical of was egg white which apparently makes it a smooth drink. It was then time to shake the cocktail and the people leading the session claimed that your face when shaking a cocktail is your sex face! I then poured the mixture into a previously chilled glass and topped with bitters. It was such a laugh doing this and I got to keep the cocktail afterwards which was actually quite delicious. Various other drinks were made by people and then we all left with a complimentary margarita shot.

By now we were well away and decided that food might be a sensible option. This would be my only criticism of the event as for hot food only pulled pork was left by 3pm which my friend sampled and I had cold chicken with tomato salad.

I found my favourite bar – Trailer Happiness, Portobello Road, otherwise known as the Bacardi bar! When not drinking cocktails, wine or bubbly; Bacardi has always been my spirit of choice. We were given a small balloon to hand to our favourite bar so mine went to them before I even tried my drink. My Bacardi cocktail had a fabulous garnish on it with a banana leaf and a flower.

One of the bars, Barrio had set up a table and paints for you to paint a wall tile that will be used in one of their branches. It was really relaxing to put some head phones on and just let the creativity flow.

Next we visited The Rivoli Bar at the Ritz and indulged in champagne.

Next stop, we visited Loves Company, a Tia Maria stand which had a pop up beach and we relaxed in a deck chair whilst enjoying a salted caramel cocktail.

To finish up we both had a repeat of the drink we chose on arrival. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great way to relax on a Sunday afternoon after a busy week at work. For the event I wore a green dress from Torza boutique with leggings and my trusty oasis flip flops.

The Saturday before my birthday, my husband and I went to our favourite restaurant in Rainham, Eight which I have mentioned on here before. For this I wore a grey polka dot dress which I got from Pink Flamingo in Rochester; it is a little daring for me so I wore a white basic vest top underneath. Grey can be a depressing colour so to lift the outfit I wore my red LK Bennett wedges.

On the Sunday we had a nice family tea at Mums. Mum made me a coffee and walnut cake which is my favourite and she decorated it with an Audrey Hepburn icing plaque as we enjoyed the exhibition the other week so much; see I Believe in Pink blog.

On my actual birthday – I took the day off work as usual (I never went to school on it so why should I have to work it?) and Mum and I went to Rochester. Rochester is my new go to place. I adore looking around the unusual and vintage shops. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant and then rather than ordering pudding went to Fleur de The – a beautiful shabby chic café/shop and enjoyed coffee and scones. I couldn’t resist purchasing 2 miniature cups and saucers with a butterfly motif on them from there.

The Saturday after my birthday I went with my friend to Greenwich. Our birthdays are only a fortnight apart so as a joint celebration we decided to climb The O2. The O2 is a large tent like construction which was built as The Millennium Dome to celebrate the start of the third millennium and reopened as The O2 in 2005. It was constructed with Greenwich’s role in time and date in mind. It has a diameter of 365m (equal to number of days in the year). It has 12 yellow support towers (representing either 12 calendar months or 12 hours on standard clock face). The dome is 52m high at its central point (representative of the 52 weeks in a year). The climb is a 190 metres tensile fabric walkway over the top of the Dome with a central platform at the top with 360 degree views of London. It was quite a challenge as going up the walkway is 28 degrees steep and coming down 30 degrees. The fabric is also quite springy like a trampoline. The views at the top make it well worth undertaking though – you can see Canary Wharf, The Gherkin and the Olympic Park amongst other sites.

Afterwards we ventured into central Greenwich on a Thames Clipper which I had never been on before. These are high speed catamarans and I don’t think I have ever travelled on water so fast; they have a maximum speed of 28 Knots. Once there we got lunch at a pub in the market area and soaked up the cosmopolitan atmosphere. We then discovered a wealth of unusual, quirky shops and visited her friend’s new vintage store, Joli Vintage Living. Look out for a future blog all about this fab store.

There will be one more chance to celebrate at the end of August as for my gift; my husband bought me day tickets to the V Festival so look out for an upcoming blog on that too.

Enjoy the summer!