London Fashion Week AW12 Day 1

Polka dot shirt from Primark

Blouse with embellished collar, coat, skater skirt, pink socks and Chelsea boots from Topshop

Bag from Warehouse Via ASOS

So yesterday was the start of London Fashion Week and my was it a good day. Friday's are always the busiest day for me, I go to a few shows, wonder around the exhibition at Somerset House and most importantly I catch up with my blogger friends. I started the day by meeting Jazmine at Waterloo before going to the Bora Aksu show with Michelle, Rebecca and Ashley which was gorgeous but I'll do a proper review on that later. After the catwalk buzz I met Josh from We Are Social who kindly gifted me with a Clothing at Tesco fashion week survival kit full of useful things like sweets, make up wipes, accessories. Thank you very much! after being laden up like a bag lady the 4 of us checked out the Topshop Newgen exhibition. It was great to see and feel the clothes up close and the Newgen designers never fail to impress in terms of creativity. After resting my tired feet and people watching around Somerset House I headed to the Orla Kiely presentation with the girls where we spent far too long watching the models dancing to a live band and devouring champagne and cake. Whilst we were there we saw Elle, Jen, Gem, Lily and Kristabel so it was a bit of a blogger fest which is always a good thing. After bumping into a few more bloggers including Rachel, Sherin, Carrie, Lucy and Selina, Michelle and I headed to Goldsmiths Hall to see the Basso and Brooke show only to be turned away because the place was full i.e. a PR mess up! Not all was lost though. The 2 of us made it over to Byron in Covent Garden to have dinner with Sarah, Hayley, Amy and Christina which was so much fun. Wine, burger, tequila shots and bloody good company is definitely the best way to finish a day. FYI my celeb spot of the day was Lydia from TOWIE who was looking beautiful in a gorgeous baby blue dress.

Are you enjoying fashion week x

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Lunch Time Lust 1

 

I adore these Topshop sandals so much, they are my dream summer shoe but at £110 I won't be getting them any time soon. If they're still available come the warmer months I may indeed splurge. I'd wear them with everything; from rolled up skinny jeans with a breten top to a crisp white dress and red lipstick. You could wear them with a black gothic look or even go Amazonian goddess with a flowing maxi. See, they are PERFECT!

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New York New York! Take 1

About time I got around to sharing a few more pictures from my recent trip to New York. In the week I spent there I did an insane amount of sight seeing and for the benefit of not over loading you guys with a ton of information I'm going to split this post in two.

On our first night we went for dinner at our local diner Jackson Hole and ate enormous burgers. Mine was so big that it looked like I'd barely touched it but trust me I ate a lot. This was a common thing with meals, my word were they big. After the burgers we went out to buy beers, Lucky Charms for breakfast and plenty of American snack food like Snapple and potato crisps. We rented an apartment (Stay the Night) on the Upper East Side between 5th and Madison, right next to Central Park. Because it was on 93rd street it was a fairly quite area, which was perfect for out late night excursions and early morning starts.

Our first full day was spent wondering around Midtown and getting a feel for the city. A lot of museums and tourists spots are closed on a Monday, which meant the queues at the Empire State Building were insane. Instead of wasting time in queues we checked out some less busy places such as Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building lobby and several shops including HBO where I bought far too much True Blood merchandise. We also checked out Times Square, the Rockefeller Plaza and Barneys where Lady Gaga's Workshop was based. That evening we ate at the delicious Turkish restaurant Sip Sak and ventured to the Lower East Side to check out some bars. Whiskey Ward and the rock n' roll karaoke at Arlene's Grocery were definitely two of my favourites.

On Tuesday morning I braced the cold for a quick run around Central Park. It was incredible and I wish I could go running there every day. After walking through the park we made it up the Empire State Building without a single queue for the most perfect view of the city. We also went on an extremely interesting (and free) tour of the NY Public Library which I'd definitely recommend. After a deliciously cheap Mexican at Ariba Ariba in Hell's Kitchen we spent several hours at the American Museum of Natural History which was incredible; dinosaurs, whales and elephants oh my. Dinner included cupcakes from the amazing Crumbs Bakery (it's best to ignore the calories on the labels) followed by fantastic stand up comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade and cocktails at Nurse Bettie.

Wednesday was a busy day, first thing we did was to take the free Staten Island ferry to get a view of the Statue of Liberty. I was gutted that the statue was closed for renovation because I was really looking forward to going inside. After we got back on Manhattan we wondered around Wall Street and made our way over to Ground Zero. The first time I'd been to New York it was only a year or so after 9/11 so the place was extremely different from back then. When I first visited I remember it being very quiet and empty, it was basically an area of empty land surrounded by chicken wire. Now it's a busy construction site, but with the memorial in place it will always be an area to reflect and remember what happened even if it's in the heart of the busy financial district.

We popped our heads into Century 21 for cheap Converse but left disappointed. I really wouldn't recommend this shop, despite the bargains. To me it's a cross between Primark and TK Maxx but amplified to hideous levels and I vowed to never go back, but if you like yourself a bargain and can put up with the mess it's probably worth checking out. We headed west to the restaurant Little Owl for a delicious lunch which also happens to be underneath the building used for the outside shots of the Friends apartment and definitely worth visiting. After walking through Washington Square Gardens we spent almost an hour in the Strand book store which claims to contain over 18 miles of books so if you like books you must check out this place. They also sell lovely merchandise... Before heading back to the apartment we went to see the Maurizio Cattelan exhibition at the Guggenheim. I love this gallery, the architecture is inspired which make the exhibitions a really special experience. I really loved the Kandinsky painting that were also on show and if you only get to visit one museum in New York I'd definitely recommend this one.

That evening I went for a run across Williamsburg Bridge with Bridge Runners. This was a magical experience as I love running through London at night so wanted to experience the same thing in New York. The run was hardcore but I met some lovely people doing it plus I got to see the city at night with all it's lights on, stunning! After the run we headed to China Town (Great NY Noodletown) for my only disappointing meal of the week before finishing the evening at the slightly peculiar bar Home Sweet Home where an amazing band (can't remember the name) were playing and the bar was covered in taxidermy.

I think that's enough for now but I will be updating with a second post soon x

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Saturday Stuff 1

Dress from New Look

Just a quickie post this evening as I don't normally blog on a Saturday but I wanted to share some amusing photos. Today I went to get my hair cut and coloured at my new salon the Witches Hut on Clapham Common. My hairdresser Frankie left Headmasters so I tracked her down to this independant salon which has a really funky vibe too it. However, I got stuck in terrible traffic and was an hour late for my appointment so in the end I only got it dyed. This wasn't such a biggie as I'm trying to grow my hair, I'm just happy my terrible roots have been fixed. My hair is now even more ashy than normal, it's almost purple and a bit Tavi circa 2010/2011 but I love it!

Finally bought myself a Spirithood using the 25% student discount ASOS did for 48 hours. I've wanted one for so long but have been a litle reluctant to fork out £99 so with the cold weather a foot the discount came at the perfect time. I got the red wolf and I absolutely adore it, so warm and snuggly. I also bought myself some lol-able sunglasses from ASOS and a new oyster card holder from Joy.

It's snowing here, wahoo x

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Spots

Jumper from American Apparael

Denim shirt, necklace and boots from Topshop

Dress from H&M

Hat and tights from ASOS

Wore this on Sunday to chill in Brixton with my friend S. Ended up changing shoes before I went out, couldn't bare heels twice in 2 days so wore my creeper brogues instead. Love these tights, but they aren't the best for the cold weather at the minute. I bought myself this statement necklace on Saturday after being inspired by Jen and all her lovely jewellery, it really makes a plain jumper stand out.

Went to the ZOMG Bloggers Bash last night which was a lot of fun. I really enjoy hanging out with my favourite blogger gals and it's made me really excited for the London Lunch now as even more people I know will be there. I'm going to the Wolf and Badger event in Notting Hill on Thursday evening, is anyone else is going along?

Have you been up to anything exciting lately x

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Box bag

Coat, dress and boots from Topshop

Cardigan from H&M via eBay

Belt and bag from Primark

Necklace from Stolen Thunder

How much fun is this bag, it's like a mini suitcase? I bought it just before Christmas and think it's the cutest thing. I don't often go to Primark, I'm one of those people who never find anything decent in there (maybe I should go more often) but I was chuffed to find this and I don't think I've seen anyone else with it which is another nice thing.

This is a replacement cardigan for one I had previously but lost during my work party in December. It's the perfect length for dresses so I was pretty annoyed to loose it but I found the exact same one of eBay for a few quid so all is good now!

I wore this outfit yesterday to do some shopping on Oxford Street, I picked up a few things and have my eye on some lush boots. Quite surprised I lasted the whole day in my heels, but to be fair I was hobbling home by the end. I had a lovely veggie lunch in Beetroot Cafe which I highly recommend and I also nabbed a couple cupcakes from Lolas too.

I've had a really nice time chilling this weekend. It's my first easy weekend since the beginning of December and I've tried to make the most of it i.e. catching up on telly! Last weekend I was in Liverpool and Birmingham the weekend before so it's nice to relax at home for a change.

Have you had a good weekend x

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