End of year purchases : )

Hello dolls, how is everyone today? Hope everyone is still on holiday, and if you have gone back to work, it's nice and relaxed for a bit!

I met up with the girls last night, one friend back from working in Moscow and one friend down from Manchester, it was lovely to catch up with all the goss. I stayed over my at my best friends house last night and today we headed off to Lakeside for a day of shopping. We got there around half 11 and it was surprisingly easy to get to and park, no traffic to speak of. The shopping centre itself wasn't too busy, and only got busy later in the day just before we left.

I'm pleased to say I came away with a few bargains! As I hate sales shopping so much and rummaging through dis-organised displays, we stuck to the few shops that we know do sales well, and keep on top of the mess. This was only a few shops, and then we stuck to the full price merchandise in the less organised shops. Below is a little selection of some of my fave purchases : )

Jimmi Jams pjs from Boots - it infuriates and delights me simultaneously that  Boots put their entire Christmas stock in the sale just after Christmas! I always have a good look and stock up on anything I might need for the year such as shower gels, bath bubbles, face cream etc, as well as all my Christmas cards, wrapping and tags for next year! I picked up these pjs because I loved the cute slogan and bunny print, and thought they were good value at £14.

Close up of the pjs, and my own cheeky bunny making an appearance in the picture!

Aaah love : ) I have wanted a comfy pair of black wedge boots (although they look grey in the pic!) for ages  and saw these today in Debenhams. I was shocked they had a size 5 as being a common size, they often sell out quickly. These boots are by Faith and originally cost £60. They were reduced to £30 : )

Another style of boot I have been keeping an eye out for recently is the Chelsea boot. These  boots fit the bill perfectly and look a bit vintage I think. They are by Red Herring and were reduced by 70% - £60 to £18! Both boots are leather which is an added bonus : )

Rubbish picture, these jeans from Zara are really nice- skinny, navy blue colour with gold zip detail to the ankle.  They were only reduced by six pound but were still a good bargain at £19.99.

Pretty pleased with my purchases, especially the boots, they should see me through a few winters to come and will work with so many outfits. In terms of good sale shops, I found Zara the best, with the majority of stock being in the sale. Unfortunately a couple of items I wanted were not in my size so I shall have to be eagle-eyed and visit a few more Zara branches to see if I can get hold of them.

Has anyone else had any successful sale purchases recently? XOXO

Date Night

Hey dolls how are you all?? Today is Friday and that makes me sooo happy! This week was my first full week back at work and blimey did I hit the ground running!! I had a really enjoyable week and I really like all my new classes, but being back at work is very tiring!

Tonight I went for a drink after work with some work friends which was great fun, catching up on all the gossip (something we used to do a lot more but are always too busy for now!) When I got home, hubby told me that he was taking me out for a meal to celebrate our anniversary which is on Monday. It is not our wedding anniversary, but the anniversary of when we first became a couple. I guess we should only really mark the occasion of our wedding anniversary now we are married, however, we have been a couple for 8 years now and I think that is worth celebrating! We decided to go to our favourite Indian restaurant in Ashford, Zarin; we first discovered this amazing restaurant when we moved to Ashford and it is now our go-to for delicious Indian cuisine. The food is so tasty and flavoursome and the portions and service very good as well. Tonight I had a lovely chicken Dansak with pulao rice, muteer paneer and a naan. Yum : )

Strike a pose!

I wore my Zara sheer blouse, River Island high waist check shorts with a brown belt (also River Island), black tights and black patent pumps with a bow from Topshop (I was planning on wearing heels but I wore very high knee high boots to work today and my feet couldn't take any more!) To accesorise I wore a gold ring and my new gold necklace with a stag's head from Primark.

Hope you all have something fun planned for the weekend, I am looking forward to a nice lay in tomorrow morning!! xoxo

Cocktails and Karaoke

Hello sweeties, hope you are all well and have enjoyed the weekend! We are lucky in the UK as we have a bank holiday tomorrow, hubby is certainly pleased at the extra day off! I have had another fun filled weekend, last night I had a big night out in London with my best girlfriends, to say goodbye to Anna, who is off on her law secondment in Moscow in a week! I am certainly paying for it today though, no headache as such but just that off feeling you get when you have had a heavy night on the tiles! At 25 I should be able to handle it but alas, it seems not!

We started our night in Loungelover, an eclectic bar in Shoreditch filled with giant vases, chandeliers, stags heads on the wall and disco balls! We had booked a table and enjoyed table service, making it easy to sit and chat. The cocktail menu was extensive and delicious, certainly worth the £9.50 a cocktail in my opinion! We also ordered a couple of rounds of spring rolls and my friends tried to educate me in successfully holding a pair of chopsticks... disasterous to say the least, think i'll stick with a fork or fingers in the future!!

We ended our night at Karaoke Box in Smithfield and had so much fun! We had booked a private booth and spent an hour and a half singing classics with great gusto... may just apply for the X Factor as a result! ; ) Two more cocktails down, nachos, and cheesy garlic bread and it was time for home (2 0 clock is more than late enough for me these days!).

Just a few snaps from our night out! I wore my emerald green Zara skirt (blogged about here) with a plain black vest top from Topshop. I accessorised with simple studs and my H & M statement feather necklace. I wore my black patent Carvela heels which are gorgeous but not amazingly comfy. Still, thank goodness we are working girls and can afford cabs everywhere! ; )

Hope you all had fun weekends too xoxo

A day in the City

Hey sweeties, hope you are all having a lovely week : ) Today was another sweltering hot day in the UK and I decided to spend it in the capital. I had arranged to have lunch with one of my best friends which was very fun, not to mention delicious! We went to a restaurant called Plateau which is a gorgeous fourth-floor restaurant, looking our over Canary Wharf. We both had amazing spinach and mozzarella stuffed tortellini for our mains, and I had a set vanilla cream with strawberries and basil jus for dessert. Divine! I spent the rest of the day shopping, flitting between the shopping centre at Canary Wharf and Oxford street. It was pretty busy but I was determined to shop well, buy myself a few treats and make a mental note of the new season trends beginning to filter through!

One of the shops I was most impressed with was H & M. Now, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with H & M. I find some seasons very strong, full of got-t0-have-it purchases, and other seasons quite poor. Spring/summer 11 was pretty good so I was kind of thinking autumn/winter 11 would not be so good but I am pleased to report that I was wrong! The main trends I noticed today were muted autumnal colours such as burnt oranges, browns and dark yellow, heritage items such as tweeds, checks and padded jackets and gilets, metallic fabrics used in jumpers and cardigans, and a strong continuation of oversized jewellery, in rich golds and jewel tones. I was a bit of a kid in a sweet shop in the Oxford street branches, as they have so much stock that is more current than any other branch I have visited, and I am so ready to start working on my A/W wardrobe! I will save my purchases for another post but I will show you some of my favourite pieces from the new collection:

From top to bottom:

1) Pendant bracelet £7.99 - A lovely example of how chunky, oversized jewellery is still leading the way.

2) Chiffon blouse £24.99 - I love the wide turn-up sleeves of this top, I thimk it would look fab worn casually with jeans and chunky beads.

3) Oversized chiffon blouse £14.99 - A fantastic price for such a gorgeous piece, I would tuck this into bright shorts and wear with wedges.

4) Heritage jacket £19.99 - A fantastic price for such a key item! I really want this in my autumn wardrobe, I love the suede elbow patches!

5) Cable knit jumper £24.99 - Chunky knit styles are all over the high street at the moment. I cannot imagine buying them yet in this weather but come September, I will begin to invest.

Hope you like my selections, let me know what you think! xoxo

Outfit of the night

Hey sweeties, just a quick outfit post today from last night. As mentioned in my previous post here, I went out last night with my best friends for a spot of dinner, cocktails and a good gossip. I love our catch ups and cannot go a week without a meet up with at least one of my best friends!! We went to a lovely restaurant called Wildwood that serves gorgeous freshly prepared food. We spent a glorious couple of hours chatting and working our way through 3 delicious courses. Afterwards we decided to drop into one of our favourite bars in Maidstone, MuMu. We ordered cocktails including the MuMu tea cocktail which was prepared in a teapot and served in traditional English china tea cups!

Outfit-wise, I decided to wear my black Armani Exchange vest top with a new Yumi laddered jumper over the top. I wore this with black leggings that I picked up with my shopping in Tesco the other day (thankfully they only cost £6 - they are not particularly good leggings and will now be saved for Zumba class - in future I will stick with American Apparel leggings which are brilliant!) I belted the jumper in with an orangey-red belt from H &M, and wore one of my new H & M scarfs (posted here) casually over the top. I wore my emerald green Zara wedges, my gold H & M headband and a black Chanel bag (sooo gorgeous and one of the benefits of having a best friend with a zillion designer bags!)

I have also added a picture of my friend Nikita with me as she looks so great in her printed maxi and denim shirt tied over the top!

Hope you all had fabulous weekends!! Until next time xoxo