Frills 'n' Spills

Believe it or not, when I was on holiday a few weeks ago, I managed to fit my clothes for an entire week into hand luggage. For someone who is  physically incapable of planning ahead, this was quite an achievement! The main thing I packed was maxi dresses, they are perfect for wafting around in and can be easily dressed up or down- perfect for lightweight packing! A quick look at my Instagram feed shows off my love for them (I have been living in them this summer!) and so when the lovely people at House of Fraser offered to send me this Grecian beauty to review, I was thrilled. I absolutely love the hot pink colour and it is super slinky, making it perfect for evenings out or for long lazy summer barbecues. My family and I had a party for my uncle's birthday last weekend and this dress was the perfect outfit for scoffing my face with burgers and the most delicious cake in, you can't beat a bit of eating room! I like the fact that it has a cheeky leg slit too, being covered up has never looked better! The dress does come with a metallic belt but I wanted to match my sandals so I swapped it for my trusty leopard print one instead...

I have raved time and time again about these sandals, they are perfect for wearing to work and they make me feel like I could be one of those immaculate minimalist women on the pages of the fashion magazines even if I am more sloppy than sleek! I felt super confident in this outfit and will definitely be recreating it some time soon, maybe even for my friend's hen do this weekend!

Can you pack light? What are your summer essentials? 

P.S. House of Fraser sent me this dress to review but if I didn't love it, I wouldn't blog about it! 

I never thought that there would come a time when you would find me happily prancing around in a smock dress but apparently that day has come! I found this beauty in the French Connection sale a while ago and I loved it. Realistically it's the opposite of everything that would be flattering on me but that tinge of rebellion makes the smock shape and panniers even more appealing!  The first time I wore this dress, I was craving some sunshine but the novelty has well and truly worn off now and I am craving some cooler weather (don't hate me sun lovers!) Inevitably when I am faced with a looser shape, I try and belt it but I resisted and I actually love this look. Slightly out of my comfort zone but very bohemian feeling. I really like how my hair looked here too, every day when I wake up, I thank my lucky stars that I chopped my hair off!

It is so annoying when you notice something in a photo that you can't go back and fix it; my wonky sleeve is now immortalised on the internet forever! You can see the gorgeous embroidery and mesh panels (less scary than it sounds!) here too. It's this kind of detail that elevates it beyond a lot of my cheaper clothes. French Connection always have the prettiest dresses!

These tan Dorothy Perkins sandals are possibly the comfiest heels of all time, I have had them since uni and they always get pulled out when I am looking for a little boost in my step. The heels are low enough for day time but high enough to balance out all of the volume in my skirt from those panniers - milkmaid chic here I come!

What unlikely looks have you rocked recently?

The Andean bears were the first things that we saw and they were surprisingly small. Their faces reminded me of a monkey's but no one else could see it, am I going mad?!

There were quite a few aviaries and you would enter through a door and then the birds were flying around inside. It took a bit of getting used to as I don't really like things that fly but they were truly beautiful and so brightly coloured!

The reptile house was absolutely boiling so we didn't spend too long in there but I found them fascinating. They had tiny (very poisonous) blue frogs...

Brightly coloured snakes...

There were also Komodo dragons, lizards and iguanas, all of which were incredible cool.

The meerkats were really cool and I loved being able to go into their enclosure via this little bubble!

Flamingos! 

Sitting on the statue of Jambo....

Our camera unfortunately died as we got to the orangutans so we didn't get many pictures but I loved these three; mother, baby and grumpy teenager! It turns out that the 'grumpy teenager' is Gina, who is actually 51 years old!

Jersey is a place that holds a lot of memories for me as it's the place we went for our summer holidays from when I was 2 right up until I was 18. We all went back this year for one final family holiday- there was really nowhere else that we could go! and I had the most lovely week relaxing and getting away from it all. I was having too much fun to take proper photos but here's a selection of my favourites from our trip... 

We stayed at Les Ormes over in St Peter's and there was plenty of room for the 9 of us to stay without spending too much time crowded into one room. I really loved the colour scheme too, I want those turquoise lamps for our new flat! ;)

Behind our villa was a golf course and we walked down one evening, isn't that a lovely view?

I started the holiday as I meant to go on with a hefty portion of Jersey ice-cream but I can never decide whether I prefer black cherry or mint choc chip but here I got the best of both worlds!

Although I have visited Jersey too many times to count, we have only ever stayed ion the other side of the island so it was nice to explore some new places. Grève de Lecq is probably the nicest beach on the north coast and we briefly visited after our trip to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Park (more to come on that soon!) I love the Martello towers in Jersey and this one is particularly cool thanks to its paint job!

We went to the Moulin de Lecq for lunch and it was absolutely divine. Mark had freshly caught moules and I had a stuffed field mushroom with sauteed spinach, white wine and cheese sauce....

You can see how ridiculously sunny it was from this picture but isn't that view just glorious?!

On Thursday we decided to head to Gorey to make the most of the weather as it was a balmy 28 degrees. Mont Orgueil is well worth a visit  if you are visiting but as we have visited before we just stayed on the beach to swim, sunbathe and read instead...

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my bikini photo last week, I never thought I would be sharing a picture of me in my swimwear online (oooer) but I felt really confident that day and thought why the hell not! 

You can't take a trip to Gorey without visiting Enwhistles, they make the best fish & chips in the world. My mouth is watering at the thought of this, that's how good they are! 

It was my brother's birthday on Friday so we went to Pizza Express at St Brelade's Bay which is right on the beach. I cannot recommend a better view for chowing down your doughballs and pizza! 

Despite wearing Factor 30 sun cream, I managed to get sunburnt on Thursday so my outfit called for loose shorts and a floaty blouse. Mark snapped this posey pic after we had eaten our dinner, hence why I look so pleased with myself! 

Despite my last post, I do seem to have a bit of a thing for H&M's striped dresses at the moment. I spotted this beauty when I was in Edinburgh and despite my limited luggage space, I managed to whisk it back home. It is seriously comfy and the crisp cotton makes it the perfect dress for hot days at work. Is it bad that I want to buy the red version as well?! I'm never sure about baring my legs but this year I have been a lot braver and have been getting my legs out at any opportunity ;) This cardigan was such a bargain and it is ideal for these chilly summer mornings. It is too warm for a proper jacket but this cardi covers my arms so I don't look too ridiculous at 6.00 am but bundles down to nothing in my bag- perfect!

Every article that has ever been written on 'how to dress for your body shape' says the same old thing, insisting that wrap dresses are perfect for anyone with curves but I have always been resistant to the idea, probably because of my contrary nature. If someone tells me I have to do something, I'm likely to do the opposite so I have never really been a fan. I like the fact that you can tie this one yourself, so if you have had a particularly large dinner, you can just let out the waist a little bit which is always good! ;) You can get a better look at those stripes in these pictures too. I really love the dress but it isn't lined and is very sheer so I paired this camisole (it's actually a Primark pyjama top!) and my beloved lace trimmed cycle shorts to prevent any blushes at work.

As anyone who has ever met me knows, I'm not very good at wearing heels but Clarks make the best shoes and these Dollar Fizz navy heels are ridiculously comfy. I even lasted the whole day in them this time! Ankle straps on shoes are a bit of a love/hate thing with me. I need the support to manage to wear heels but they always seem to cut me off at the most unflattering point.My ankles are weirdly skinny compared to the rest of my body so anything that makes them look slimmer is a winner for me!