My boy lollipop, you make my heart go giddyup.

FLORAL DRESS FROM URBAN OUTFITTERS

SHELL NECKLACE FROM ZARA TAYLOR*

T-BAR FLATS FROM ASOS

It seems I can't keep away from London for all that long before I come whizzing back! Today was our first full day and we spent the afternoon in the lovely company of songstress/blogger Shannon (aka Daisy Rain) and her boyfriend Jack. We snacked in Pret before doing a bit of shopping for our engagement shoot tomorrow! I won't reveal much now, but I can tell you that we picked up a few sweet treats...

Speaking of sweet treats, I couldn't resist popping into one of my favourite shops, Ladurée, to pick up some of my favourite macaroons; pistachio, caramel with sea salt, rose and vanilla. I'm rationing myself, however I wish I could just nibble through all of them as I sit here watching the Paralympics opening ceremony! They're sat there in their pretty green box calling out to me, but I shall resist! I know that if I eat them all now I'll hate myself afterwards, but they're making it very hard indeed - damn their pretty pastel irresistibleness. 

Today I wore this dress that I picked up in the Urban Outfitters sale a few months ago for next to nothing. It's one of my favourite, go-to dresses, and the fact that I wore it to the Yumi casting that eventually led to me winning my Sapphires contract doesn't hurt either! In fact, from now on I may consider it my lucky dress. I paired it with my low key, T-bar flats and some fair tights from H&M - they're so soft and kept my legs snug against today's damp, gusty weather.

Tomorrow is a big day! I'm signing my Sapphires contract in the morning and our engagement shoot is scheduled for the afternoon. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

DRESS OF THE DAY | ACCESSORY OF THE DAY

Rain, sun, cupcakes and kisses in St Ives.

Sorry for my absence over the past few days. I've been in St Ives with my family celebrating my parents silver anniversary, and whilst I haven't been blogging I've been using Instagram more than ever (if you follow me, then sorry for nonsense I've been posting!). We had a lovely time. The sun came out for us yesterday, and we spent the daylight hours getting lost in town, drinking Earl Grey in sweet tea rooms, eating cupcakes on the beach and swimming, swimming, swimming.

It's a good job that I was on a detox last week because it's been a fairly indulgent couple of days! I've had some gorgeous seafood, fish and chips, barbecue ribs, then last night we went back to basics and had a very posh picnic in our hotel room made up of goodies from a rustic little deli we discovered. I'm being good again now - I swear! Although in all honesty we probably earned the extra treats with the amount of swimming we did. Even in the evenings when it was a little cool to go in the sea we'd all pile into the hotel swimming pool and admire the sea views.

On a side note, ignore my heinous roots in these photos. I've just dyed my hair and I'm going to give it another H'suan Wen Hua treatment before we leave for London tomorrow morning. Only three days until our engagement shoot, and four until I sign with Sapphires and do my winners shoot! The week after that I may just get some down time...

But then again, maybe not!

Ps - Do you guys like these kind of posts (dare I call it 'lifestyle') - I've been doing more of them recently and I feel it's a natural direction for my blog. I definitely won't stop doing outfit posts anytime soon, but I may break them up more with this sort of thing. I just wanted to see what my readers thought? Open up to me and I'll definitely be replying to your comments!

DRESS OF THE DAY | ACCESSORY OF THE DAY
 

Act your shoe size, not your age.

Just a quick one today my lovelies. Tomorrow we're all off to St Ives to spend two nights at a fancy hotel to celebrate my parents silver wedding anniversary. This means three things; lots of quality family time, ready access to a heated swimming pool, and two days of amazing breakfasts. It's going to be pretty darn lovely and I'm rather excited.

On an entirely different note - I finally have business cards! The process was over-complicated when the first batch arrived with seven out of the fifty cards having chunky white stripes down the side, however the lovely people at Moo reprinted the entire batch for me free of charge. Now I have ninety cards for the price of fifty, which I can hardly complain about! I'm so pleased with them, Kitty's photo and Paige's logo look better than I could ever have hoped. I can't wait to start dishing them out!

This week I'm trying to give my body some TLC. I'm on a strict detox diet, wearing as little make up as possible, and trying to bring my colour-damaged hair back to life. I've been using Lush's double strength American Cream conditioner, and I've also treated it to their H'suan Wen Hua hair treatment which is packed full of free range eggs, bananas, avocado and olive oil. I'm also making an extra effort to trim my split ends every other day. It's slowly but surely getting back to it's old self.

In other news, a week from now I'll be signing my contract with Sapphires Model Management and doing my first shoot with them! I'm excited but also so nervous. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Hold your happy ever after tight.

VINTAGE LACE BIB DRESS FROM VINTAGE STYLE ME*

SCALLOP DETAIL HEELS FROM NEW LOOK

FRILLY SOCKS FROM TOPSHOP

BOATER HAT FROM NEXT

When Rhiannon from Vintage Style Me offered me a piece from her store, how could I say no? Not only is her store simply spilling over with desirable vintage garments, but Rhiannon herself is a complete sweetie. We've talked on Twitter before, so finding her email in my inbox put a huge smile on my face!

I chose this charming floral number with a lace trimmed bib. I just love thoughtful details like that! When it arrived and I tried it on I instantly fell in love with the shape. The puffy shoulders and skirt make my waist look teeny-tiny by comparison! I couldn't resist puffing out the skirt even more with my American Apparel petticoat skirt. Personally I think it makes the shape even more darling.

I paired it with pink frilly socks (to match the pink and blue florals) and my vintage-esque T-bars from New Look. It still needed a little something else, so I decided to top the whole outfit off with my favourite boater hat.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with the lovely Sophie from Crown and Glory for a coffee and a catch up, I can't wait to see her again! It feels like a lifetime since we saw each other at the Bristol Bloggers Meet-Up. Next week Grant and I are off to London for a few days, and among other things we'll be doing our engagement shoot with the enchanting Kitty Gallannaugh. We've been making mood boards and doing lots of planning - I just can't wait to share the final result with you! I'm sure Kitty is going to make all of our photographic dreams come true.

DRESS OF THE DAY | ACCESSORY OF THE DAY 

A pinch of Cornish pixie dust.

Yesterday the weather was finally nice enough to warrant driving to my favourite beach. Porthcurno. It's lazy days like this, where they sky is blue and endless, the water is crystal clear and the sand sparkles that make me truly appreciate having my family based in Cornwall. I love Bath, and I love London even more, but you just don't get this in the city. Not even close.

We spent all day running back and forth from the sea, diving under waves and swimming through the blue. We took a break to picnic on bread, cold meats, olives, apple turnovers and strawberries before pulling our wetsuits back on and running straight back to the waves (oh yes, I own and wear a wetsuit, but you won't be seeing photos of that any time soon!).

Everything is aching this morning, and my face is still glowing despite my constant application of factor 50 spf. Considering I topped off my day of swimming and diving with a run once we got back home, I am downright exhausted. My body hates me, but I feel strangely satisfied. Who knows, if I keep this up then I may be once of those people who goes for a run every morning once I'm back at uni!

If my life were a book it would be illustrated.

 CROCHET AND TULLE DRESS FROM CHICWISH*

MERMAID NECKLACE FROM CHICWISH*

HEELS FROM DOROTHY PERKINS

HEADBAND FROM NEW LOOK

SOCKS FROM TOPSHOP

I think I have a new failsafe dress, this beautifully crafted maxi from Chicwish. It's ever so comfortable, easy to wear, and wouldn't look out of place whether you were at the beach, shopping or going out for dinner. I have a feeling I'll be getting a lot of wear out of it! Versatility never goes amiss, especially with an investment piece like this.

In my last post I mentioned an old Disney book that I discovered whilst we were clearing out the garage, and here are some of the beautiful illustrations in all their coloured glory! The book was published in 1965 and is part of a set of four volumes (this one is called 'Fantasyland'). It was my dad's when he was little, and in turn he read them to me when I was little. I was always more enchanted by the illustrations than the words - I developed my love of writing and literature when I was just a little older!

Whilst I do love all of the stories included in the book, my favourite has to be Cinderella. I love how the style is slightly different to the actual film, especially her dress for the ball! It's just magical.

A smile costs you nothing.

PLEATED FEATHER PRINT DRESS FROM DARLING*

RETRO SUNNIES FROM GIANT VINTAGE*

KITTY WEDGES FROM SOYOUSHOES*

BOATER HAT FROM NEXT

Today I took my new pleated dress from Darling for a test drive. It's a lovely, classic shape, with a romantic feather print and great movement. It has an elasticated waist with an additional tie so you can nip yourself in perfectly. The floaty sleeves make it feel very dreamy, however I can imagine they would make it a bit tricky to wear under jackets come autumn!

We've been very busy today. In between shooting this and cooking dinner with Grant we sorted out some boxes of old books from the garage and made meringues with strawberries and fresh cream (very tasty indeed - I may just post a recipe!). I rediscovered some treasured childhood books, including some dusty old Disney volumes filled with beautiful colour illustrations from all their classics. The Cinderella ones are my favourite - they're slightly different to the style of the film, yet simply magical. I may have to tie them into an outfit post somehow!

As I've been writing this, Grant and my little brother have been playing vintage Nintendo games beside me. It's hugely distracting and I may just have to join them...

DRESS OF THE DAY | ACCESSORY OF THE DAY

It's alarming how charming I feel.

TEA DRESS WITH BOW | POLKA DOT MAXI DRESS

VINTAGE CROCHET DRESS | CROCHET FRONT SHORTS

Just a quick post about charming brand I happened across earlier today, Jolie Moi. Jolie Moi is one of those stores that is a complete dream for vintage loving girls like me, who covet pretty details, romantic shapes and sugar sweet colours. I was instantly drawn, amongst others, to these darling pieces. Paired with frilly socks, mary janes and a big hair bow, any one of them would soon become the belle of my wardrobe. Plus the neutral colours of the two shorter dresses and the shorts will transfer quite happily into the new season, with the simple addition opaque tights and a soft leather jacket.

As if my wishlist wasn't already getting too big for it's boots - curse you, Jolie Moi!

Say nighty night and kiss me.

KATE LOUISE FORD DRESS FROM AUDREY GRACE*

CREAM HEADPIECE FROM ROUGE PONY*

HEELS FROM DOROTHY PERKINS

FRILLY SOCKS FROM TOPSHOP

When the Audrey Grace Boutique got in contact and offered me a dress for a shoot, it's fair to say I bubbled over with excitement. Audrey Grace is one of those stores that I'll visit from time to time just to gaze longingly at their dreamy stock, praying for the speedy arrival of some excuse to splurge. My current favourites are these Caitlin Shearer dresses printed with sweet treats (check out the 'Ice Cream' number and the gorgeous 'Marie Antoinette'). It doesn't get much prettier than that!

I was so excited when this lovely, somewhat retro dress arrived in the post. I was even more excited when I tried it on to discover it was a perfect fit! The waist nips me in perfectly, and there is plenty of room for my, *ahem*, ample chest. The skirt is beautifully puffy, however I still couldn't resist bulking it out even the more with the help of two petticoats. The volume made it a complete dream to wear.

It really is such a stunning design, and wonderful quality. These photos don't do it justice!

I've got a photo shoot planned for tomorrow, so right now we're hoping for passable weather. The concept is based around vintage wedding dresses and pastel balloons, so it would be gutting if we had to call it off. The forecast is a bit iffy, however the photographer is going to call it tomorrow morning - fingers crossed!

I'm also launching a new feature to end each post, a 'dress of the day' and an 'accessory of the day'. It's an excuse for me to window shop and with a bit of luck it may just inspire someone...

DRESS OF THE DAY | ACCESSORY OF THE DAY