general sleep-related issues.

Can't sleep tonight; haven't been sleeping well at all really of late. So i'm blogging instead. My boyfriend's staying at mine tonight for a change, but he was at Creamfields festival this weekend so he is a hungover mess and is literally pouring sweat. He looks simply feverish. Like Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen when she has smallpox/scarlet fever or whatever she is infected with!!!

So I thought I would leave him to cool down in bed and come into the front room. It was just as well really as there was a semi-large spider marauding the room and I had to rescue my mum from it. I caught it in a glass and put it outside, no spider-killing for me!! I also watched a well weird 60s TV programme called Doctor Finlay's Casebook or something like that which was the pinnacle of bad Scottish acting! 

By the way, did anyone see Creamfields? It was cancelled due to extreme weather, it ended up looking like this.

I don't even wanna know what kinds of waterborne diseases this swimming man is probably picking up in this picture...

So last night I sleepwalked... This is the first time I have ever done this (to my knowledge), and it's actually really freaked me out! I had an inkling something might have happened when this morning I couldn't find my phone anywhere even though I put it on the side when I went to sleep. I ended up ringing it and could hear it for ages but was nowhere to be found. In the end I found it pushed right under my bed between the bottom of the bed and the carpet, at the foot end of the bed! How weird! THEN this evening when I was tidying my room I found a freezer bag, full of water, with a knot tied in it, at the same end of the bed as where I had found my phone!

I am not a sportswoman and I haven't sprained my ankle recently so there is absolutely no reason why there would be a bag full of melted ice (I assume that's what it is) in my room. The only thing I can think is that I got up in my sleep and for some obscure reason put some ice cubes in a bag, brought it back to my room, and did something with my phone and the ice...maybe at the same time? Maybe not? WHO KNOWS. But I am 100% I did it in my sleep which is pretty impressive, but very strange!

Apparently stress is a big contributing factor to a person's nighttime goings-on, which would also explain the crazy dreams i've been having recently. Like, I wake up exhausted because I haven't stopped dreaming all night, right through to the moment when I wake up. I don't have any particular residual feeling from these dreams, like they aren't scary but they aren't good, they're just dreams.

Does anyone else have any weird night time habits they would like to share? Or could anyone suggest why my mind is so active at the moment! I'm really interested to find out.

Anyway next time I post I promise it will be something interesting/funny/clever/cool and not weird ramblings about sleepwalking and Dermot Oleary's pectoral muscles. HA!

X factor #1

Is it me or has Dermott Oleary been working out?

lyf sux

Yeah so today i'm in a really bad mood. Probably because I had the worst sleep in MONTHS. I just couldn't sleep at all...tried everything (and I mean everything), but my body was just not having it. As a result of this I lay in until half 12 midday and now i'm out of whack and i've got work in LIVERPOOL tomorrow at 8am which means a 5:30 start, but it will be earlier cos (a) my boyfriend won't give me a lift because he wants a lie in before Creamfields (which is fair enough I do pester him for lifts all the time), and (b) i'm too skint to pay for a taxi so looks like i'm gonna be walking babes!!!

        Oh and i'm also in a bad mood cos I had beans on toast for breakfast and even though I cooked the beans properly they were all hard and crunchy. This has happened a lot recently, to the extent of putting me off beans. SORT IT OUT HEINZ!

I was literally lying around stressing all night about loads of things. I know what they all were but i've already decided i'm gonna dedicate some separate blog posts to the current issues in my life so i'm not gonna go off on one right now. I wouldn't go off on one anyway but I think whoever reads this (if anyone does) who is around my age they will understand some of the stresses of twenty-something life. HA!

IN OTHER NEWS... I can't decide whether I should cut my hair into a longline bob! like, just brushing my collarbones type length. I used to have shorter hair and when I look back I do miss it I think it looked good, but i'm scared of taking the plunge to chop a couple of inches off!! I just need more of a style, at the moment its just mid length brown hair...

It's a bit longer than this at the moment (apologies for disgusting picture of me!)

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Jack Wills love a bit of Royal Paraphernalia...as do I! This cushion is a must buy, when I have more money obviously. Last season they had a limited edition one with a hand drawn image of the Queen on it, and £££ issues meant I completely neglected to buy it. I'm looking for it on eBay but if any of you see it pleasssse let me know :)

Has anyone else got any lovely Royalist soft furnishings/crockery/etc they would like to share? Check out my Instagram for my collection of patriotic mugs!!

AllSaints A/W12: rich leather, heavy embellishment, fine silk and beautiful accessorising

As you might have guessed, the picture of those lush boots I posted on here last night was courtesy of AllSaints! They're called the Hero Thigh Boots, and they retail at £275. I love them, they're probably the most seductive boots AS have done in a long time and really complement the sexy, sophisticated aesthetic the brand are aiming for this season.

For Autumn/Winter 2012, AllSaints are trying not to move away from the classic style they are renowned for, but create an up-to-date and sleeker aesthetic that gives a more Premium look to their collection. Think fine leathers, silk, laser printed Italian cottons and fine knitwear accessorized with leather hardware or threaded with metallic fibre.

The brand aren't neglecting the old styles they are so well loved for, so don't worry!! Dresses such as the Diaghilevi dress, £250, channel the signature hitching and draping AS is known for, and the Damisi Boots also remain in the collection, although they now appear in just the two classic colours as opposed to the wide variety that has been seen over the last few seasons.

The most exciting part of the new season collection, in my opinion, is the accessories range. The brand have produced a beautiful selection of purses, wallets, totes and envelope bags that are either heavily encrusted with sequins and beads, or crafted using hair-on calf's leather. Everything has a luxe feel and look, and for the amount of work that goes into the brand's embellished pieces, they come at a very reasonable price, ranging from £45 to £195.

These are a few of my favourite pieces so far from this season, focusing on mostly accessories:-

Clockwise from top left: Boyar Thigh Boots, Kubrick wallet, Polanski wallet, Elissa wallet, Warp scarf, Solstice shirt, Emerald shirt, Hero Thigh Boots.

I've selected some of these items because I think they make a really good capsule wardrobe. The Solstice shirt, for example, would look great with a pair of legging/skinnies and either the Boyar thigh boots or the Hero's, for a transitional day to night look. If it was a bit chillier/windier, which it deffo is at the moment, the Warp scarf (which is gorgeous on and an amazing bargain at £65 for a voluminous scarf), could be wrapped around the neck for a bit of extra warmth/style!

I also LOVE the Ellil Cape Cardi, which is almost like a reverse tailcoat! The leather buckle detail finishes it off perfectly; i'll be wearing mine with a basic vest top, good thick leggings or skinnies and the Boyar thigh highs...

WOW

Domestic Fantasist.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that i'm obsessed with homeware, houses, interior design and just generally anything domestic. This obsession seems to be growing constantly, to the extent where last night I stopped outside two houses on the way to my boyfriend's and took photographs of their Façades. 

I just think there is something really exciting about the way a house is decorated; how the outside is presented, from the colour of the front door to the way the garden is designed and whether there are flowers and herbs in little pots around the front door (a personal favourite of mine, especially in Edwardian terraces where there isn't necessarily a front garden but the front of the house is adorned with lots of pots, varying in size, filled with lots of lovely little plants and flowers). I also love hanging baskets, especially the one above which is overflowing with beautiful red and white pansies.

I've got a real thing for front doors too...they HAVE to be real wood, no double glazing for me no sir-ee. I will accept double glazing in the form of two panes of glass to a window with a wooden frame but I really want to avoid (when I finally move out) anything other than that. I don't care if it means living in an ice bucket in the winter! On the colour, I like most colour front doors (you can't paint double glazing either and it doesnt come in a very big range of shades!!), but the ones i'm really drawn to are pastel in shade, like this pale mint green one above. I also love pink, lilac, duck egg blue, fresh pale green, etc, you get the picture. Stained glass is also a BIG bonus. 

I also find you don't really get houses like this anywhere other than small middle class villages in semi rural areas of England. Cheshire is heaven for a middle class domestic fantasist like myself. People aspire to live in houses like this, that's why they're so expensive. A 3 bed terraced house in Stockton Heath, where I live, is usually on the market between £180,000-£210,000. I know it's extortionate but I'll be honest I really don't care. You're paying for the beauty of a classic home, not some hideous, symmetrical, pale-bricked townhouse or semi that's been thrown up in about 4 months!

Re-blogged from James and Claire Move to Himley

I just think it's a really wonderful thing when people take real pride in their home. It's something that's dying out...not necessarily being houseproud but just making that effort to cultivate a sense of identity through decoration and interior/exterior design.

And as for interior domestic fantasising...

Re-blogged from Interior Book

I love the rustic style of this kitchen, and wouldn't say no to spending a lot of time in it. I prefer, however, the eclectic look, like this. That kitchen is reallly not big enough for my culinary habits; the one above it probably a better size. It's pretty much perfect, I would just probably keep the surfaces as they are but instead of grey walls go for powder blue or butter shades, at the moment its far too dark. Maybe I would paint the floorboards or maybe just stick to the walls and the radiator etc....

re-blogged from Be The Current

LOVE tiles in a kitchen/bathroom area. The more the better.

Re-blogged as before

I'm constantly torn between loving organised mess and minimalist chic. Both living spaces here I adore, I love grey- it's one of my favourite colours, especially to wear, and pink obviously. there is just the right colour balance in both these images, to stop either space becoming overly girly or overly grey and masculine. I'm not sure yet, however, if i'm a real fan of exposed walls/concrete etc, as seen in image 2. It's all very inner-city minimalism, which I think we have established I am not. Living in the city has never appealed to me, and will probably continue not to, so image 1 is probably more of an attainable aesthetic. I love the Mediterranean influences in the mirror and rug.

Like I say, my personal style is eclectic. It's a mixture of everything. I love these snaps I took of a friend's room- the iconic framed posters on the wall (block painted blue), against the clashing prints of her silver-papered feature wall and her Laura Ashley Blinds. I like organised clutter (my boyfriend hates it, oops). Ultimately I just love drawing inspiration from other people's style, that's what makes my own so unique.

kitchen orgasm

Bit overexcited with the blogging today BUT this is probably the best and most beautiful kitchen in the world. I want, no, NEED.

re-blogged from Rien n'est tout

oh, and how much do you love this?!

source: Weheartit

Lens Love

This is my beauteous Olympus Pen E-PL1 (now out of date, replaced by the E-PL3), which I purchased for a small fortune earlier this year. I say a small fortune, it was actually really good value for everything that I got and it cost me just under £300. Its a really neat camera, in both senses of the word haha. Although an DSLR is very professional looking, and when I see someone toting a Nikon I drool a little, it's not the kind of camera I wanted. This is a hybrid SLR anyway so it does the job of an SLR but without the hassle. Plus it's extremely pretty <3

I am looking to extend my PEN family anyway, with some of these beauties below. I particularly have my eye on the macro and fisheye adaptor lenses. The focus on this camera is great but not too close up, and where other SLRs have a macro setting, this does not and i've struggled trying to get it to focus on really close up images (it took me ages the other day trying to get the perfect snap of that little bee on the lavender in the post below). The fisheye lens is also very exciting, and really really good value. That's the beauty of the PEN, all the attachments are relatively cheap and do the job perfectly for an amateur like me (i'm not gonna pretend i'm anything else guyz!).

So if anyone's wondering what to get me for my birthday (September 21st FYI) or Christmas..?

International Street Market, Liverpool

I was on my way to work last weekend when I was enticed over to the Liverpool International Street Market by the delicious smells emanating from it, and the lively Portuguese music they had playing. I decided to come back armed with my camera and some more money so I could sample and record some of the delights within!

It's really nice to see something like this on an everyday occasion, and not just at Christmas. The market had stalls with all different kinds of food, from across Europe and further afield, and at it's center was a giant Bavarian beer hall and seating area (although parking yourself on one of the museum steps and taking the atmosphere in from there was just as enjoyable).

Although some of the stalls were pretty tacky (fake rings and dodgy 'Peruvian' ponchos etc) and probably weren't real 'Street Market' shops, the market in general was really lovely to just walk around and take in the sights and smells. It was quite grey when I got there but the sun really came out and I did actually feel like I was in some kind of European outdoor market. The prices of the food certainly reflected the precarious value of the Euro at the moment, but I always find myself sucked in to paying £4 for a hog roast roll or a crepe just for the novelty of it!

It finished yesterday and the market has moved on to Cheltenham now apparently but I took some photos anyway. I wish there was more stuff like this all year round in the cities of the North West.

This bakery stall above had loads of beautiful cakes and pastries...there's more on my Instagram account!

This lady and her son made all their own cupcakes from scratch...absolutely beautiful. I am still a cupcake novice really so its my aim to reach this standard by the end of the year!

This hog roast roll was literally to die for!! Not AS nice as the ones from the Manchester Christmas Markets but pretty good. The stuffing wasn't as delicious but the meat was beautiful, i've had like three of these over the last week and a bit!

Standard image of an extortionately priced crepe. I fall for it every time!!

I was so intrigued by the paella that I went back after work for my dinner that night. This seafood paella was amazing, really delicious and the guy even gave me £1 off haha! I will admit I was fluttering my eyelashes at him a bit...

Iconic Style Update: The Bonny Boot

The Bonny Cuban boot is quickly joining the ranks of AllSaints' iconic footwear range, which also includes the ever-popular Damisi boot.

        This style has sold out several times over the past few seasons, and the brand have been astute to keep re-running the boots, although this seasons' style is different to the initial Bonny boot, which had stiffer tassels and less of a worn-in look.

        This season, A/W12, sees the Bonny return, as beautiful as ever, but out of softer, burnished, matte, Italian leather, as opposed to the smoother look of a few seasons ago.

       I can't say how much I love these boots. I am already an AS lover but there is no bias involved here, just pure love for beautiful footwear!

I apologise for bad photographic imagery, these are just a few phone snaps on my bad camera-d iPhone 3gs (iPhone 4s in November yeahhh!). But you get the gist, these are mega boots, and in my opinion very good value at £165. 

They've just gone live on the website, here, but hurry as I assure you they will fly offline in a matter of days/weeks!