Hello my lovelies,
It's been eons since I last blogged, again! Things have been so busy recently it doesn't feel like I've had any time to sit down and rejoin the blogging world - my Bloglovin unread count is ridiculously high right now! I've also not been wearing anything fabulous (and didn't take any outfit photos at my work Christmas do - epic fail) so rather than bombard you with photos of my face I thought we could sit back, have a mince pie and catch up...
At my insistence we got our tree relatively early this year and put it up last Sunday - I'm utterly determined to have a real tree every year as that is what I grew up with and I adore the selection process, hopping around a muddy farm yard until you find the perfect tree! Ours is a little small this year, shorter than I am (which is saying something) but perfectly formed and fits wonderfully into our little flat. I'm sure we need more lights though! The pictures above are of our Disney decorations from Florida, as Disney fanatics these are of course entirely necessary to further our enjoyment of Christmas.
What else have I been up to, other than covering every available surface in the flat with baubles and tinsel? Last week my besties and I spent an afternoon perusing Harrods and trying unsuccessfully to get into Winter Wonderland - the queue was horrendous so we gave up and found a lovely little market in Leicester Square where we promptly boarded the carousel - I think we were all a little disappointed when it ended! I also completed my transformation into a Christmas pudding with this little beauty from Sainsburys, of all places - after rejecting pricier offerings in New Look and Next I'm quite pleased with my little find, it'll be perfect for covering up that food baby on Christmas Day.

This weekend has been a little more of a write-off as Friday night was spent in Birmingham for our work do, so the subsequent days have been a very slow rotation of films, food and numerous cups of tea on the sofa... thank goodness it's only once a year! I'm still kicking myself for not taking any pictures of my outfit as I was so sparkly - how often does one get to dress as a Christmas bauble?! Perhaps I'll try and recreate it for blog purposes...

Next week my siblings are visiting for some more UK festivities and then we'll be off to Luxembourg where I am hoping against hope for a white Christmas! What have you been up to recently? And what are your Christmas plans?

Love Dani
xoxo

Happy Sunday my lovelies!

It seems almost unthinkable that we've hit November already and the days are getting shorter once again, this year has simply raced by... on one hand I'm a bit sad 2013 is drawing to a close so quickly and the days are so dark, but on the other, well, I do love wrapping up in cosy knits and keeping an eye out for early Christmas decorations! How early is too early to put the tree up?!

It was so windy today that I couldn't be persuaded to remove my coat for snaps of my dress, but then it's an effort for people to persuade me to leave the cosy warmth of the flat these days... however a combination of the sunshine and the promise of coffee and new books eventually lured me outside!The wind also made for some, er, interesting hair going on here... clearly I am descended from lions.


This really isn't the type of dress I'd normally wear as it's a bit too tummy-hugging (gotta hide that food baby before I start getting awkward due date questions) but I think it'll look nice under some jumpers as the weather turns colder. I'm envisaging it with my burgundy jumper from a recent outfit post, watch this space!

I appear to have forgotten how to smile. And pose. At this point I was most likely in a sulk due to lack of caffeine consumption.

But then I got my hands on a Starbucks orange mocha (complete with the famed red cup) so all was well in the world again!


I'm now going to curl up under my duvet with a book (and possibly Jon) and pretend I don't have to get up for work in the morning, sigh. I've just raced through all five available books in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, and I'm thinking of doing another book post soon as I've rediscovered my utter devotion to reading again!

Is this something you'd like to see? Have you read any good series recently? I adore recommendations!

Love Dani
xoxo

Wow, my hundredth outfit post - who would have thought?! Let's gloss over the fact it's taken me about three years to do this, shall we? Truth is I get dressed while half asleep most days and only realise I look like a bag lady once I've been at my desk for a few hours... not really worth photographing now is it?!
Despite it still only being October, I'm beginning to feel festive now the leaves are starting to fall and I'm having to dig out my knitwear once again. I actually had to be deterred from buying pumpkins and a holly wreath at the supermarket this morning - it is just some kind of condition I have that as soon as the temperature drops below 15 degrees I start buying mulled-wine-scented candles and twinkly lights. I'm seriously counting down until the day we can put up the tree!

In the meantime I shall try and distract myself with the odd wintery treat here and there, such as this awesome cosy jumper. I bought the white one a few weeks ago (funnily enough on a day when it was about 20 degrees - my mother was in sandals, while I was hugging jumpers in Bluewater squealing IT'S SO FLUFFY) and it's so warm and cosy and bulky but not too frumpy, I just had to have two. They also have a gorgeous powder blue one that I think I'm going to have to add to my wardrobe.


I think this is absolutely my favourite colour for A/W - anything vaguely berry/purple/plum/burgundy and I am sold. It also matches all my lip colours (yes, I MATCH things). The snood is also a new acquisition - it has a very subtle sparkle to it and I don't have to worry about it clashing with any of my numerous coats! Not that it's cold enough to wear a scarf just yet (I removed it seconds after the photos were taken as it's just TOO warm... I want it to be properly cold now!)

Jumper - H&M

Hello my lovelies,

Happy Saturday my lovelies!

I'm not a big fan of chunky, spiky, heavy jewellery. There, I said it. Don't care how trendy it is, if it looks like it could cause someone considerable pain then I tend to keep a safe distance, clutching my pearls. Give me kitschy clock pendants or dainty rose gold any day - although for this beauty I have made an exception.



One of the brands I work with, Fiorelli (@fiorellijewels) recently brought out this sparkly spiky stunner for their AW13 collection and I snapped it up as soon as it was released. Yes, it's spiky, but they're dainty spikes - and I am a sucker for crystals, what can I say?

 It just adds a little bit of an edge to an outfit (not that I am in any way edgy!) and works just as well with t-shirts as it does with little dresses. It does mean I've had to rethink some necklines, but utilising a bit of brainpower when planning outfits is sometimes required, I suppose...

I must say it looks especially spiffing when teamed with my faux-leather jacket and a pink pout - I tend to adopt a bit of a messy-hair/snarly-face when wearing this combination, harking back to my angsty teenage days! In these pics however, I added a bit of a Breton stripe-inspired dress (missing my holiday clearly) and a somewhat groomed ponytail - it just adds a bit of bling to an otherwise plain outfit and I adore it! I'm already looking forward to rocking it with some cosy jumpers, peeping out under a cowl neck or under a scarf...let's be honest, those days are soon to be upon us!

What's your go-to accessory this autumn?

Love Dani
xoxo




*Disclaimer - I do get a staff discount but would probably have bought it anyway, I am that besotted!

...Otherwise known as Paradise.

I cannot believe it has been another month since I last blogged and I'm so sorry! Thank you for still sticking by me during my blog silence!
This August has been a funny old month, with a whole lot of work-related stress which means all energy used for blogging, tweeting or anything productive at all has been depleted by the time I get home each night! It's not all been bad however - a couple of weeks ago my dad kindly invited Jon and I to stay with him in Brittany for a week and it was exactly what we both needed to chill out and forget the world for a while.

I'd never visited Brittany before and had formed an image in my mind that it was a bit like the English coast I'm used to - grey, windy, a bit run-down and full of junk shops. How wrong I was! Not a tacky gift shop in sight (well, until we hit the touristy Mont St Michel), a super cute village with a grocer's, three bakeries and a cheese shop (well it is France), and the most stunning beaches I've seen in a long time. We spent most days walking along the coast, visiting various historical places of interest (including the Bayeux tapestry), dreaming of a wedding in a French chateau (well I did, anyway!) and eating. Oh, the eating. The cheese. The moules. The frites. The pancakes (I adore the savoury galettes they do, we've taken to making our own gluten-free versions at home). The wine! I'd go back in a heartbeat (and hopefully will as we're already planning next year's visit) I can definitely see why people fall in love with the region, it's just stunning... But I'll let you see for yourselves!





The tides were incredible - if you wanted to go swimming without having to walk miles over a moon-landscape then you can only go in the mornings or evenings - Jon and I passed the harbour at 3pm and all the boats were beached! Despite the water drawing so far away it was still lovely to sit by the sea and drink in all the air and atmosphere - just heavenly and so good for the soul.
Naturally we also indulged in some soul food...magret de canard, local fish and naturally some sweet treats were on the menu!


 It's "cidre", not cider! Also loved the wizard on the bottle!




Suffice to say we arrived home somewhat heavier than when we left, although every bite was worth it! I'm still craving those delicious mussels, and I really miss having a fresh baker's nearby (although my stomach probably isn't missing it!)

How was your August?

Love Dani
xoxo

Hello you lovely lot!

Hands up who's missed my awkward selfies? Jon abandoned me today to spend time with a friend, so I had to resort to setting up the old tripod and trying to work out the dynamics of focus and the self-timer. This experiment has confirmed my early diagnosis - I need a remote. 
It was another scorcher (I actually got burnt, oops) so out came another Dorothy Perkins jersey dress - hey I told you, I have LOTS of these - this time with no sleeves (gulp). I did start my day with a cardigan but it was just unbearable, so the world just had to endure the sight of my arms. Sorry not sorry.





Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Necklace - erm, Dorothy Perkins
Lipstick - Topshop Brighton Rock (dabbed on)
Watch - DKNY

I promise I do not work for or get paid by Dorothy Perkins in any way. I just throw a lot of my money at them. I even picked this dress up without trying it on because I was sooo confident it would fit. And it does! Although the top can be a bit loose (I swear this usually never happens, I usually have the opposite problem) so I'd probably have got away with a 12, but oh well, you live and learn.
It also has pockets (bonus!) and I like that the straps are quite substantial - no accidental bra strap flashing here, thank you!
It's been so blissful having a couple of days off week this week - thanks to the weather it's really felt like a holiday! After snapping these I went off to Westfield for a couple of hours to pick up a few things and made a couple of purchases I'm looking forward to sharing with you! It got super busy after a while though (well, when isn't it busy?) so I spent the remainder of the afternoon finishing the latest Neil Gaiman book (it's a good 'un) and listening to the Game of Thrones soundtrack. Seriously, "Rains of Castamere" gives me chills! If you're a soundtrack music nut like I am, then I'd definitely recommend this beautiful violin mix of a few of my faves - it's simply beautiful! The artist is Jason Yang and you can find it here. This guy is so talented I could cry!

Do you have any soundtracks you adore? Hit me with your recommendations, I love discovering new music to love!

 

Hello my lovelies,

Hope you're all having a good week so far! My Twitter timeline is full of people complaining about the weather, so I'm just going to get out there and say it - I love that it's actually hot in July! Sure, 30 degree heat isn't fun when you're in an office 90% of the time, but I've been able to eat lunch outside and walk to work without a jacket and it's AWESOME. I could definitely get used to this!
It also means that all this year's graduates don't have to plan around unpredictable weather - when I graduated two years ago I had two outfit options depending on whether it rained or not and it made the day so much more stressful in my opinion. Thankfully, the weather held out for my cousin Naomi's big day today and I didn't have to dig out the old black opaques (in hindsight not the best thing as it was super windy down in old Canterbury).
 Whilst waiting for the actual graduates to finish taking official photos, we snuck around the back of the cathedral to my favourite photo spot... I loved having my own graduation pics taken here (which you can see in this post) and eventually took some of Naomi as well! Of course, it was the perfect opportunity to snap some outfit pics - well, what else would you expect?


I am actually obsessed with these Dorothy Perkins dresses, they're so easy to throw on and really comfy too. Am tempted to do a post on them as they seem to be a "thing" now - stay tuned...

I always consider it a successful day when I can get some nice shots of Jon and I - hurrah for couple photos! There are always ridiculous out-takes though (is it just us??) - this was because Jon tried to get me to give him a piggy-back. It didn't work. 
I always love going back to Canterbury - I have so many good memories of this place and it really does feel like home to me! It's particularly lovely in the sunshine, and so nice seeing all the graduates in their robes with their proud parents. It genuinely doesn't feel like two years have passed since I was one of them - where does the time go?! If you do visit, take some time out from the High Street (although it is BRILLIANT) and take a wander down some of the back streets - there are some fab independent shops, pubs (there are over 600 in the surrounding area!) and beautiful tranquil views like this around every corner:

 Ahh. I can haz more Kent time, please?