Guilty pleasures: Audrina Patridge

I started by watching "Laguna Beach - The Real OC" which soon progressed to "The Hills" starring Lauren Conrad. Then Whitney Port got her own spin-off show in "The City" and finally Audrina Patridge has the imaginatively named "Audrina."

It's currently on the tv channel Really on freeview. It's all about Audrina and her celeb life style and her totally crazy mum (or mom probably) who I'm sure is high on something.....she seems to slur every sentence! It's totally cheesy but somehow I can't stop watching it.


Star of "Audrina"



Audrina Patridge

She is so skinny and pretty - totally jealous!  I'm sure it's a little easier if you have a stylist, personal trainer, hairdresser, make up artist etc

Anyway, I digress...... My love of terrible American tv started with the film "Clueless" which is currently on tv at this moment! I've always secretly wanted to be an American cheerleader.....Don't judge me.

You know already that I love Made In Chelsea. I've moved on a little from Millie Macintosh to Louise Thompson. Her style is so cute and Jamie is my favourite out of the boys!



Louise Thompson - Made In Chelsea

 There aren't many pics available of her - but this one of her sequin collar is pretty cool! She doesn't look too happy though.....

But my favourite Made In Chelsea look is from their various trips to "the country." They do British Chic style so well! I sadly can't find any decent pics of this. Think tweed, Barbour jackets and Hunter wellies and you are somewhere close.

What is you favourite tv show? Have you seen 2 Broke Girls yet? Soooo funny...

Styling my brogues!

Howdy! I don't know how it started but all of a sudden I had a passion for brogues. I don't think I even liked them before this week.....!

About a year ago, a girl came into the shop where I work wearing some amazing silver, leather brogues with skinny jeans. She was effortlessly cool. Then recently I stumbled across these gorgeous brown brogues with ribbon laces from Nordstrom:



"Paxton Oxfords" £39 from Nordstrom


Reasonably priced until you factor in the shipping costs of about £20! They have so many lovely pairs though.....sigh.
Another place that I found lovely brogues was Clarks. But they were £50. A little too much for a passing fancy. Then I found some Bertie ones for £44.99 in TK Maxx. They were also lovely. However, I finally settled on these from the Topshop sale:



Black suede brogues £15 from Topshop (sale)

They are really comfy and were reduced from £32. You can get them on the website - they are called "magician."

I'm currently wearing them with a nautical inspired dress and grey tights.



Brogues and a dress!

Do you like them? When I pinned the Clarks ones on Pinterest, my Dad asked if granny shoes were in fashion and said I should look in charity shops as "that's where elderly, deceased people send their shoes."

Thanks Dad.

Pearl Peter Pan Collars

Evening :) I decided to put a little effort into my outfit today....doesn't happen often!


Peter Pan collar necklace from
Miss Selfridges.



Dress from New Look, belt from Peacocks, boots as usual!

Sometimes my outfits come together really well, like today. Other days it just isn't happening. I bought this necklace ages ago but never found anything to wear it with......until now!

I was also having a pretty good hair day and had some time on my hands so I put in my Headkandy hair extensions....



Headkandy hot toffee hair extensions

I still haven't really perfected the art of putting them in, as my hair is quite fine. I struggle to hide the clips - and no one wants to go out with seriously obvious hair extension bumps!

And from behind...



Headkandy hair extensions

Mostly, I'm just so impressed that the "hot toffee" colour is such a perfect match for my own hair colour!

Other than prancing about in my bedroom, I went to town and had a yummy muffin and cup of tea in Starbucks. Starbucks is my happy place. It used to be Borders, but they went bust. Boo hiss. Actually, there used to be a Starbucks in Borders. That was the ultimate heaven...




Starbucks tall tea and blueberry muffin



Well, time to head off for dinner....and there is a kitten under my arm which is making it hard to type....

P.S I was not about to name this post "pearl necklace" - that would have been an entirely different sort of post!









Some days are better than others

Well, after a stressful couple of days, today was pretty good. I got a pay rise and two new followers for my blog! What more could a girl ask for?

I'm planning on maybe doing a little baking tomorrow so if I do, I'll let you see the results! I fancy making buns. Unfortunately, I'm hugely indecisive so it takes me about 3 hours to pick a recipe, and by then I can't be bothered with the whole thing. Also, I might be a little bit of a control freak and therefore I don't like to let people help. They might do it wrong.....

I'd love to make something else with peanut butter and chocolate but my boyfriend refuses...so I'm ruing my diet by eating one of these:

Peanut butter nutter ChokABlok ice creams from Tesco

Mmmm....heaven.

Oh, and by the way, I tried my new Tresemme styling spray (see previous post) and it does seem to have made my hair shinier. And it smells good, so for £3 you can't really go wrong!

Off to watch Gossip Girl. Catch you laterz...

John Frieda Full Repair Or Kerastase?

My poor hair has been feeling as frazzled as I have recently. After my last post on how I'm such a positive person, lots of things have been sent to try me this week! I think I dealt with them fairly well but the results are clear to see on my poor, picked at skin and my also picked at split ends.

I had my hair cut recently in an attempt to deal with the split ends and move to the next stage of long hair but I can still see them and they keep breaking higher and higher. My hairdresser was telling me about Kerastase products and I've always wanted to try them but had been put off by the price! I've had a quick look on line and to be honest, I wouldn't know where to start.....

I've also heard a LOT recently about John Frieda Full Repair and as the range is small and the prices manageable (2 for £7.50 in Superdrug I hear) I will probably take the budget option and try these. As I've said previously, I'm always looking for that "miracle" product that will change my hair and ultimately my life....but so far, all I have is a drawer full of unused products!

Yesterday, I succumbed to Tresemme's Smooth Memory Spray as it was reduced to £3 in Sainsburys. This is a prime example of me buying the budget version of what I actually wanted - Moroccan Oil. But I tried it last night and it did make some difference. Then again, I did spend more time on blow drying my hair, so that could have had something to do with it!

So, any advice? Should I bite the bullet and fork out all my money on something that might not work? Or buy another "cheaper" version which also might not work but has saved me money? Real life dilemmas people. Real Life.

Tresemme Salon Sleek Straightening Spray

This book changed my life

I wouldn't say there are many things that I can honestly attribute to changing my life......I'm always looking for that wonder hair product that will transform me into a model, or that holiday souvenir that will become a "trendy vintage find" etc but realistically, it never happens. However, this book that my mum bought me a few years ago has changed everything about the way I live my life.


Don't sweat the small stuff omnibus - my Richard Carlson

You can buy it from Amazon - I've got the omnibus edition which covers money, work and general day to day life.

You could say that in the past I have been stressed and anxious and even depressed about things that were probably not that big a deal. That's not to say that anxiety and depression aren't serious illnesses.....but there is a way out and there is a way to change how you live your life.

Here are some of my favourite strategies from the book: (in my own words)

Self fulfilling prophecies:

How many times have you thought "I've got a really long day ahead tomorrow, I'm going to be really tired." Well done. You have just decided that you are going to be tired tomorrow! Don't live in the future, you have little control over it......

Living in the future:

Is this "problem" only relevant now or is it actually going to ruin your life ? By this I mean : is the thing your worried about going to be a big deal next week, month or year? Or will you have totally forgotten about it by then? And if the answer is yes, then it probably isn't worth worrying about. Sounds simple. It is.

The biggest disaster:

Have you ever thought "this is the best thing that will ever happen to me" or "the worst thing ever"? How do you know? You don't. You don't know what will happen in the future so how can you know that you are having the worst ever day? Things might get better, they might get worse. It's how you react that matters.

Putting it in perspective:

It's all small stuff!!! That's what you really learn from this book. Obviously you are still going to have bad and good days, but the bad days won't be such a big deal and you'll appreciate the good days that little bit more!

I love this book! It might not work for everyone....but maybe give it a try?

P.s........



Via Pinterest



If Made In Chelsea was a blog....

If Made In Chelsea was a blog, it would be The Londoner

A gorgeous girl with money to spend? Check. Dining out in all the best Chelsea restaurants? Check. All the latest fashions? Check check check.

She has a beautifully designed blog that she updates regularly with pictures of her latest outfits, the best food and even her homemade recipes. There's something for everyone, especially if you love Made In Chelsea like I do!

All pictures from The Londoner (link above)

Guinea pigs and banana pancakes

Hola! I just thought I'd stop by and let you know that I've joined Pinterest! You can find me here!

I've been pinning lots of lovely things including (but not exclusively) long wavy hair, 50's style interiors, peacock nails, cats and guinea pigs. So if you like any of those things then stop by and have a look!

And by the way, can anyone shed any light on way people are suddenly typing in "Moo moo dress" and finding my blog? Have I missed something?



Baby guinea pig - pinned on my Pinterest.



Messing about with Picasa

I'm always looking for ways to improve my blog and boy, does it take time!! At the moment I've been checking out photo editing programmes. I've looked at alternatives to Photoshop like Gimp but there are no obvious tutorials and I think I would be there forever working it out.......

I've just found Picasa and it seems pretty easy. What I like most so far is that you can make a "grid" or "collage" of your photos. I hadn't so far worked out a way to get my photos side by side without faffing around with HTML so this is perfect for me!



Primark Maxi Dress, New Look Sandals,
 Ann Summers Witch Costume, Playing Draw Something.

Above is a quick overview of what I have been doing this week! I love my new Primark maxi dress- it was only £13. My new sandals were an exchange for those tan wedges a few posts back. The witches costume picture probably shouldn't be on this family friendly blog.......but it's not that revealing! It will probably go back to the shop. And lastly, like the rest of the world, I'm obsessed by Draw Something. Such a great way to waste time......(If you want to play against me, I'm under the username girlfrommars79)

I've also been messing around with the colours on various photos (like on the maxi dress pic above.) I think some of my pics look a bit washed out sometimes so mainly I've been darkening them and upping the contrast. Like this one below...



Tablecloths in Turkey

I think I posted this a couple of days ago in my holiday photos but I like it so much better with the colours vamped up! Anywayz, none of this is probably very interesting for you, but I wanted to explain what I've been up to. I swear I spend more time reading blogs and learning blog stuff than actually writing!



Maxi Dress, Primark.

Expect to see this dress A LOT.

I've just found a tv programme on Choccywoccydoodah (cake shop in Brighton) on Really so I'm off to watch that! Crappy tv programmes are my guilty pleasure.....


Girl Crush: Claire from "I Think I Just Blogged Myself"

Every so often you find something that you can really relate to. I was searching Google for a new girl crush that I could post about as it seems writing about girl crushes directs a lot of traffic my way! I somehow stumbled upon a new blog called "I think I just blogged myself." You can find it here

It's a cleverly written and often witty blog by a girl called Claire Maxwell who has lovely hair. I'm currently crushing on long, wavy hair and hers fits the bill!



Also, she is desperate to get a cat and she has the same mug as me! (Well, near enough - hers says "obsessive compulsive" and mine says "out patient".) She suffers from O.C.D and anxiety - something I can sympathise with thanks to my battles with stress and depression in the past. She seems to have instagram which suggests that she has an iphone so therefore I'm totally jealous.....

I love her blog so I hope she stops by here and finds something that she likes. And then maybe we can be best friends. Or not. She might think I'm a stalker......

Anywayz, check out her site. Do you ever come across someone that you just click with?