beside the seaside

I think I am meant to live beside the seaside; it is definitely my happy place. I spent the weekend in Little Hampton, Sussex to see some family for the last time before I leave for Australia. I'm hoping the next time I have a picture on a beach it'll be in the sunshine instead of the rain. Saying goodbye to family has made my trip to Australia seem even more real. Although I'm sad I'm not going to see everyone for a while, I am getting even more excited to leave. In 4 weeks at this time I will be settling down to an in flight movie on my way to Hong Kong.

My to do list over the next few weeks is ridiculous. I need to re-write my CV, sell even more of my life on eBay and pack. I literally hate packing! Goodbye sleep, hello zombie eyes and getting shit done.

laura ashley blog birthday

I had a brilliant time at the Laura Ashley blog birthday event with Laura on Tuesday. We were greeted with cocktails in the most beautiful cups and saucers along with some of the best brownies I have ever had. After having a browse of the Christmas collection, we were treated to some wonderful music by Liz Lawrence.

I have always loved Laura Ashley's homeware but never really taken the time to look at the clothes. There was a sample of their wintery jumpers, bags, scarves and cute bobble hats at the event, all which I absolutely loved.

We were asked to pick our 3 favourite items at the event in the chance to win them. The first item I fell in love with is this cute bobble hat (you can see it better here). I have been after a hat like this for ages and I really liked the colour and it fit perfectly on the back of my weirdly shaped head.

The second item I love is the bird cage decoration. I think it is incredibly cute and would look festive handing from any Christmas tree. I love the sparkly glitter and it would look great handing next to some twinkly lights. In fact, if I had this it most likely wouldn't be packed away for Christmas and stay in my room all year round.

My third and final item is the ginger bread house candles. I absolutely love candles and will usually pick candles that look and smell the best. I thought these ginger bread house candles were really festive and would look great burning next to our fire.

So there you have it, my 3 favourite items from the Laura Ashley blog birthday event. I took pictures of pretty much everything and it took me quite a while whittling it down to just three. I had a great night and I'd like to say a massive thank you to my lovely friend Emma for inviting me along. You can read the Laura Ashley's blog post about their party here (with a little picture of me finding out what I got from the 'wish tree').

once upon a time

This is what I wore tonight to the Laura Ashley blog birthday event. I met the lovely Laura and after getting slightly lost (damn google maps!!) we were greeted with beautiful cakes, tea cocktails in vintage cups and saucers and the amazing Christmas collection which is well worth a look.

Playsuit - Primark

Jacket - Zara

Scarf - Edinburgh, Scotland

Bowler Hat - H&M

I am holding a gift from the 'wish tree' and I was lucky enough to get the set of 3 white lit birds which have already found the perfect spot in my room. I had such a wonderful evening.

 

 

if you never try you'll never know

I feel like I haven't blogged or been on twitter properly in ages, when in reality it's only been a week. On Monday I handed in my months notice at work. It's official; I'm leaving a second job to go to Australia! It is finally starting to sink in that I don't have a lot of time at all before I leave.

I hate eBay with a passion. There's always someone who doesn't pay or asks to have their item shipped to a different country when you've specifically stated UK only. As my parents are planning on doing our house up whilst I'm gone, and I could do with some extra cash, I have been going through all my clothes to see what I can put on eBay. I don't think I've thrown anything away for at least 5 years so there was A LOT of clothes to go through. Secret hoarder much! Pretty much everything is going to start at 99p so if you fancy a bargain please have a look at my eBay page. There will be much more going on over the next few weeks so keep an eye out :)

As well as selling my life on eBay I've also got to fill my iPod with some epic tunes, learn how to blog and edit videos/photos from my iPad. It's going to be a busy few weeks so I apologise if I don't blog, comment or tweet much. I've also decided that I will be creating a YouTube account so I can vlog whilst I'm in Australia, so prepare to laugh at my first video in the next few weeks too. So much to look forward to ;)

Playsuit - Primark

Jumper - Zara

no one gets left behind

I thought I'd do an outfit post from #ldnbloggermeet. This my lovely friend Laura who I met at my very first blogger meet over a year ago and we have stayed great friends ever since. I love how many people I have met and become good friends with through my blog, it really makes it all worth it.

 

I am wearing:

Dress - Topshop

Bowler Hat - H&M

Earrings - Broome, Australia

Bracelet - Gift

 

Laura is wearing:

Playsuit - Lipsy

Blazer - Mango
Ring - YSL

lush at #ldnbloggermeet

Lush have been absolutely amazing sponsors of #ldnbloggermeet. Not only the meet that was yesterday, but three out of the four I have organised. We are always lucky enough to try our the newest products and yesterday was no exception.

FUN - I am really excited to try this new invention. It smells absolutely delicious and I am excited that it can be used in so many different ways -  as body wash, shampoo or in the bath. If I don't use it all up before I leave, then I am going to take it with me and hand wash some of clothes whilst being poor and living in a hostels.

 

Fair Trade Honey shampoo - I usually hate anything to do with honey; the smell, the taste, the texture. But the Honey shampoo actually smells really nice and I am looking forward to trying it out. I have used Lush shampoos in the past and they have made my hair feel really nice so I am hoping this is the same.

 

Emotional Brilliance in Motivation - I am really looking forward to trying this eye liner. I really like the colour and the brush is really thin and easy to use. There are lots of other beautiful colours in lipsticks, eye liners and eye shadows. I also really like the lipstick in the colour Bubbly.

my final #ldnbloggermeet

Today was the day of my final #ldnbloggermeet... Or my last one for a while. We all met at The Warwick pub just off Regent Street. I held #ldnxmasbloggermeet here last year but decided to go back because it's such a nice venue.

 

I had a great time chatting, laughing and getting to know everyone! It's a shame I didn't get to meet some of you sooner but I'm pleased I got the chance to before I leave. I have laughed so much today my throat hurts and drank cocktails far too early my head is a little cloudy.

 

Once again I was lucky enough to have Lush sponsor the event. We got some lovely new hair care products and glitter eye liner to try out. A massive thank you to Sarah Jane (twitter here) for all the amazing products.

 

Here is a list of all the lovely bloggers that attended with links to their twitter and blogs:

Laura's blog and twitter
Emma's twitter
Nicola's blog and twitter
Lauren's blog and twitter
Chelsey's blog and twitter
Joanna's blog and twitter
Julie's blog and twitter
Hayley's blog and twitter
Annabel's blog and twitter
Becka's blog and twitter
Sophie's blog and twitter
Aysha's blog and twitter
Safira's blog and twitter
Maria's blog and twitter
Mona's blog and twitter
Lodz's blog and twitter
Lauren's blog and twitter

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone that come today for my final shindig! I had the best time and I hope you did too! I always get so nervous before but I really don't know why when people like you come along! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I think of you all meeting up again whilst I'm on the other side of the world. I'll be there in spirit!

I want to say a final massive thank you to the lovely Joanna who surprised me with a leaving gift which bought tears to my eyes! Joanna bought me the cutest make up bag with the great London landscape on the front and inside was the perfect shade of lipstick for me.

#ldnbloggermeet - the bloggers

[source]

 

With #ldnbloggermeet only days away I thought I would re-post the bloggers that will be attending so you can have a bit of a nose at each other's blogs before the day. I am really excited about the day and I am really looking forward to meeting you all. I haven't arranged any talks for the day so it will literally be a nice change to meet up, have a chat and meet the person behind the blog.
The meet is at the Warwick Pub between 1:30 and 4:30pm. More details about the meet is here.
As mentioned here, I only have a few weeks left in England so this will be my last blogger meet in a while but I'm pleased I've organised another before I leave.
 

@aysh_tmb
@laurenella_
@nicolapurkins
@SopheeWebb
@JulieLy15
@emma_oakers
@LauraHolt01
@BelPW
@MdemoiselleLala
@ChelseyPrentice
@rebeccalucyh
@Safira786
@monablogs
@FashionAndMe
@elle_croft
@MsDriftedSW
@LodzTBB

put some music in your food

I first had this meal at a family party. My uncle's family is from Jamaica and they have introduced us to a lot of Caribbean food. I was bought Levi Roots' cook book as a present. I have changed the ingredients and how it is cooked slightly but it is still delicious. The sauce is described as a 'gravy' because it is water based but it's full of flavour from the seasonings on the chicken.

 

Get the chicken ready at least half an hour (I usually give it a few hours) before you are going to start cooking to give the seasonings time to flavour the chicken:

• Juice of one lemon
• half a tea spoon of salt and half of pepper
• two table spoons of Everyday Seasoning
• two tea spoons of Chicken Seasoning

Add a little oil to a pan and start to cook the chicken. Once it is nearly done add the vegetables. I use 2 onions, 3 spring onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 peppers and a chili. Once this is all cooked, add a pint of water. Once the water has boiled, leave to simmer for roughly 15 minutes (I usually leave to simmer whilst the rice is cooking). The you're done.

 

I think the hardest thing about this meal is getting the Everyday Seasoning, but I have found that quite a few Sainsbury's have it in stock.