Frills 'n' Spills

Patterned skirts/shorts and plain sleeveless tops- the pattern on this skirt incorporated a few colours making it extremely versatile and the light cotton of both the top and skirt was ideal for keeping me cool as I was sight-seeing. I have this Gap top in at least 5 colour-ways and the fit is second to none. I don't know what it is about these ones but they hold their shape after wearing and washing and the ribbed fabric is way more flattering than a plain style... I also had two amazing pairs of patterned shorts but I didn't get any pictures, I will have to dig them out again!

High waisted shorts and neutral colours - These high waisted shirts from Miss Selfridge proved to be a life-saver, the denim is super soft and stretchy, much like my favourite jeans and the higher waistline meant I could eat as much pizza and pasta as I wanted without feeling self conscious. The draped top from H&M also skimmed over any potential food babies whilst paying homage to the wonderful drapery on the local statues and the stripey top is exactly the same top from Gap but in a lovely pale stripe. 

Midi length skirts and dresses- This gorgeous bright skirt has been with me on all of my trips to Italy, the length means that it is suitable for all sights, including the Vatican. Many places won't let you in unless you are dressed appropriately so a longer length skirt or dress is ideal as you just have to wrap a scarf around your shoulders to get in. This River Island dress I found so easy to wear as it is so light and also covers most of my legs, again ideal in the scorching heat. My favourite vintage dress also came along for the ride and again, the colour and cotton combination meant it was perfect for the sunshine. 

Hard working accessories and well fitting shoes: I wore these sunglasses and this bag, every day when I was away. I love the slight cat-eye on the glasses and the bag was the perfect size for fitting in my diabetes essentials and the aforementioned scarf whilst being able to keep a tight grip on!.  also wore my two pairs of Keds (these and these) but typically I don't have any pictures of me wearing them! I cannot stress enough how important it is to have shoes that fit well and I will always love Clarks and Keds as they support my feet whilst still looking pretty, no mean feat, I think you will agree!

My photo pose has become a bit of a running joke with my friends both online and off and now Mark is trying to get in on the action, do you think he is fashion blogger ready?! 

A nice natural photo of the two of us, I definitely need to get this printed off, I have so many photo frames to fill! As you can see I wore a lot of red on holiday (why deviate from a colour I love?!) and hopefully my holiday wardrobe isn't so wildly different to my normal one, just slightly more leg on show ;)

What do you wear on holiday? Do you have a signature pose?

P.S. This post was done in collaboration with Spartoo

♥ This amazing building was just opposite the police station, don't you think the colours and architecture make it look Portuguese?

♥ A little Fiat police car...

♥ Striking a pose outside the Colosseum
♥ The Arch of Constantine- it was so amazing to see this in person after studying it at uni, my Early Christianity module was one of my favourites so this was really awe-inspiring stuff! 
♥ The Colosseum- such an iconic building and pretty much a glorified roundabout ;)
♥ The temple of Castor and Pollux (or what's left of it!) in the Forum. This looked so precarious, it's a good job you couldn't get too close!
♥ The most delicious bruschetta eaten in a tiny pizzeria near the Trevi fountain... 
♥ The Forum- I love how things are left where they have fallen or been excavated
♥ Chilling in the Colosseum... I asn't quite sure what to expect from one of the world's most iconic buildings but it was just very brown. I thought they might have made a bit more effort with the inside (I wanted fake lions!) but the scale was jaw dropping...
♥ A slight fish-eye view of 'Il Colosseo'
♥ La piazza della Minerva- this was tucked around the corner from the Pantheon and when I saw the elephant I was super excited as you can tell from my smug little face!
♥ The Pantheon was perhaps my second favourite touristy site- the conversion from a pagan temple to a Christian church resulted in some rather OTT decoration and it is a strange mix. I am always surprised by how these iconic buildings are surrounded by so many other buildings, I always imagined them to be in acres of space!
♥ The oculus in the dome of the Pantheon filled the church with light even though it had been raining not long before...
♥ This plaque was covered in dust and I loved how the light caught it in the entrance.

I decided to clump days 3 and 4 together as day 3 was pretty much a write off as my dad had his wallet stolen on the Metro. You really do have to have your wits about you otherwise you spend the best part of a gorgeous day stuck inside a police station, not really my idea of fun! What I loved most about Rome was being able to visit such iconic buildings with the minimum amount of planning. There was something interesting round every corner and I enjoyed just wandering around as much as visiting 'real sites'.

Have you ever been to Rome? What did you enjoy the most?

♥ St. Peter's, I went last year but we decided to go again as Mark had never been...

♥ Loads of statues lined the square...

♥ One must dress appropriately when visiting the Vatican

♥ The Cupola, which Mark climbed to the top of this year. I couldn't face it again - it is far too warm!

♥ The interior of the Cupola, looking up to the top. Every surface is covered in something, whether paintings or mosaics. I have no idea how they got up there to do it.

♥ This poster is hilarious. Roughly translates to: "Oh, to be that Coca-Cola bottle!"

♥ My amazing owl bag, which I used every day in Rome

♥ Me, back at the hotel

♥ Where we stayed was lovely, and amongst the newer buildings was this 18th century tower which was beautiful...
♥  Hotel buildings- imagine Travelodge transported to the Med...
♥  Beautiful sculptures in Piazza del Popolo- I am always amazed at the detailed carving for things that are 'just' in a public square! 
♥  Spanish steps- considering that this was about 7 o' clock at night it was really busy
♥  Trevi Fountain- a weird angle to try and hide the scaffolding. This year so many monuments had scaffolding up, it must be their year to tidy up!
♥ A rare photo of me and Mark...
♥  Beautiful lamppost
♥  Mark 'throwing a coin in the fountain' (stupidly we forgot to take any photos when he did it for real)
♥  I told you I would come back!
♥  The Victor Emmanuelle monument or 'Wedding Cake' taken from across the craziest round-about you'll ever see. No lanes, about five cars wide... it is true that you just have to cross and hope for the best! 

Another amazing day which was absolutely jam-packed, I figure if you have so much to see, you should really jam in as much as possible right?

 

As you may have guessed, for the past week or so I have been on holiday, sightseeing and sunning myself in Italy. I had a really amazing time and it was nice to explore Rome slightly more comprehensively than last year but unfortunately it means that I have far too many photos to share and Frills 'n' Spills will be full of  self-indulgent photo-heavy posts for the next few days... 

♥ The River Tiber
♥ The amazing parma ham and mozzarella pizza I had at our first pizzeria in Rome, just a few steps away from Castel Sant' Angelo. For the first few days I had parma ham at every meal- Italy is definitely a foodie heaven! 
♥ I wish the UK had the same slim Coke cans, I think they are much nicer! 
♥ 'Broccoli trees' from about half way up...
♥ Castel Sant'Angelo was somewhere I wasn't overly excited about seeing but it turned out to be one of my favourite places. We went in the evening and it was lovely,especially on the terrace at the top...

♥ A nice family photo- we are rarely all in the same place any more so these are few and far between

♥ Just one of the gorgeous views from the terrace, looking towards St. Peter's 

♥ My brother actually smiling! (A very rare occurrence!)

♥ Pretending to be a gargoyle, clearly I was much more enthusiastic! 

♥ Looking across the Pont Sant'Angelo

♥ A statue in the courtyard- I love the contrast of the stone with the metal
♥ Voldemort?!

Our first day set the precedent for the time we spent in Rome- most days we went into the city early in the morning, had lunch in the nicest smelling pizzeria then had a siesta in the afternoon before heading out for dinner and more sight-seeing in the evening. The museums seemed to be open fairly late and many opened later in the evening too so if you oversleep (oops) or want to go out when it's much cooler, you don't end up missing out.

Have you ever been to Rome?