Columbia Road Flower Market

 Columbia Road Flower Market is possibly my favourite place in London. It's everything I thought London would be, it's bustling with life and soul, and when the sun is shining, there's no place else I'd rather spend a Sunday morning.

Last week I headed east with my sister and wonderful friend Verity, neither of whom had ever been to the market. We started off with a quick Starbucks stop, before taking a slow walk up to the market from Liverpool Street. I was keen to pick up some fresh blooms for my apartment, whilst Verity was after a bunch of sunflowers for some photos we were going to take. 

As always, it was almost impossible to pick what flowers I wanted to take home! I always do a walk of the whole market before making my decision! I settled on two bunches of peachy coloured Everlasting Statice, because I adored the colours, and because the woman selling them assured me they'd last until we move out of the flat! They were two bunches for £5 which was a total steal! 

 We spent an hour browsing the stalls, and left heavily laden with plants! We strolled around to find a spot to take Verity's photos, which took a while but came out beautifully (I'll show you them sometime soon), and I got Leah to take some photos of my outfit too, it seemed a shame to waste the flowers! 

 It was ridiculously hot in London on this particular Sunday (my sister had her shoulders out and got burnt!), so I went simple, and got my pasty legs out! The dress is a recent purchase from H&M, a total steal at £12.99. It's such an easy piece to have in your wardrobe, I can chuck it on with a chunky necklace and feel put together straight away. I paired it with my Kurt Geiger sandals, and necklace from Oliver Bonas. 

We finished off our trip east with yummy street food from Brick Lane Market, and a quick look around Anthropologie! 

 Not a bad way to spend a Sunday! 

The Transitional Jacket

 Transitional dressing is HARD people. Living in London is hard because the weather is ridiculous. Right now it's warm, but rainy and windy. So it's damn near impossible to dress for the occasion.

I was actually in a bit of a clothing funk, not really liking anything in my wardrobe because nothing felt appropriate. I was either hot and sweaty or cold and wet.

INSERT STAGE LEFT: The transitional jacket.

For years, the perfect transitional jacket has eluded me. I've searched for it to no avail. It's been something of a sore spot.

Last year, I thought I'd found the one. It was hanging in Zara and it was beautiful. But it was £140. I didn't have £140.

BUT THEN, last week I came across this beauty in H&M. It's almost identical to the Zara number, but at the mere price of £29.99, it was a steal.

And so that's the story of how this jacket came home with me. Our relationship is off to a cracking start already, I can tell our future is bright.

It fits with my wardrobe theme of black/white/grey/navy, but the pattern makes it totally appropriate to wear in the spring summer months.

The slightly cropped sleeve means you're not going to overheat, but if the heavens open unexpectedly, you're covered.

And I love the length of it too.

It's the perfect thing for jazzing up my 99% jeans-and-tee wardrobe.

And it makes me feel smart and profesh too.

 JACKET: H&M // TEE: MANGO // JEANS: TOPSHOP // SHOES: PRIMARK

A Weekend in a Backpack

This may just be my proudest life achievement. All my things for two nights away in one backpack. I'll pause for you to applaud me. 

The backpack in question is a bargain Amazon find that I love because it's quite petite! I did a full post on it here if you want to see a little more of it. 

I have this handy little wallet from Skagen which houses my cards & phone, so I slipped that and my headphones into the front pouch so they're easy to grab. My phone case is Kate Spade, isn't it gorgeous? 

I managed to strip my clothing down to the bear necessities (see what I did there?), I wore a pair of jeans, jacket & my sunglasses on the day I travelled down, so I packed underwear into a little Cos jewelry bag, two tshirts and a necklace to jazz things up. The necklace is new from Oliver Bonas in stores soon, and I'm obsessed with it! 

I popped a few essentials into an Oliver Bonas Wash Bag, these are such a handy size! I put in my phone charger, moisturiser, hand sanitizer, deodorant & face wipes. I have things like face wash & hair stuff at home so these were just the bits I needed! 

Makeup-wise I stripped things back to reliable essentials, my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, Estée Lauder Brush On Glow BB Highlight, MAC X Ellie Goulding I'll Hold My Breath for base. Eyes kept simple, a mini Gimme Brow, MAC Painterly Paint Pot, an Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Supply & NARS Audacious Mascara, and Chanel's Adrienne Lipstick. All of this fits easily into my Charlotte Tilbury Makeup Bag with plenty of room to spare! 

I'm headed back home for work so I took my Erin Condren Life Planner & Notebook home, which took up a fair bulk of space in the bottom of my bag. I packed my iPad Pro, Canon 550d, Canon G7X, mini Joby GorrillaPod & some spare batteries & memory cards. These things makeup up my travelling work kit and has everything I need! 

And that's it! Are you proud of me? I'm proud of me! 

A Farfetch Splurge

The easiest way to my heart is to offer me some kind of pampering service, so when the team at Farfetch asked me if I wanted to visit DryBy with them back in June for a manicure & pedicure, I of course said yes! I need no excuse for a good pampering.

Whilst sipping on prosecco and being primped, we had a good old chat about the site, and I was very generously gifted a voucher to spend on the site!

I decided to spend the voucher on something I’d never normally by for myself. After the month I’ve had I figured I deserved a treat! It took me a while to make my decision but last week a little box arrived with a pretty tissue paper parcel tied up with ribbon. The delivery was super speedy, despite the International shipping (a steal at a flat £10 rate with no import fees!). There’s such a vast range of designers on the site that you’re guaranteed to fall in love with something (and they do a fantastic sale to - a great place to bag some designer bargains!).

I picked out this beautiful Swallow print scarf from McQ by Alexander McQueen. I’d never normally spend so much on a scarf, but I fell in love with the pattern, and it felt like such a luxurious treat. It’s incredibly lightweight, and in the most beautiful white and navy with peach accents, I feel like I’ll get so much wear out of it since it perfectly compliments my monochrome wardrobe! 

Chasing Light

 I keep heading out of the house armed with my camera to capture the golden hour, and either being letdown by cloud coverage or missing it by just a few minutes.

On this night, Connor and I reached the golf course a few minutes too late, but I got him to snap some photos of my outfit anyway, since there were three things I wanted to talk to you about.

Firstly, this dress. I picked this up for a meagre £15 in H&M a few weeks ago in a panic about the heat, and I'm so glad I did. I love how comfortable and floaty this dress is, and I adore the cutouts on the back! Peaking through you'll see the prettiest bralette I own, an American Eagle number that just begs to be seen!

I picked up this navy saddle bag a few weeks back on a whim in Primark, but I'm so glad I did! It's the perfect size for my everyday bits and pieces, and it goes with most of my wardrobe. 

We eventually admitted defeat and headed into The Kitchen Club for a bite to eat. Delicious pizza, good company, and the fading daylight across the golf course. Could you ask for a better night?