Bill's & Brunch in London

I was just flicking through my camera roll on my iPhone, looking back at all the photos I took during my time in London when I suddenly got the urge to type up a blog post! I've been revisiting some of my old posts recently, mostly the more lifestyle kinda ones & feeling really glad that I took the time to document parts of my life. I love that feeling of nostalgia when you see photos of a particular event & reading back over some of my previous posts brought back so many memories that I had completely forgotten about. It's spurred me on to continue publishing more personal posts actually, sometimes I worry about sharing loads of stuff on the Internet, I dunno why really tho.

When I arranged to stay with my Sister in London we didn't make any official plans, in fact we never do really & find it much more enjoyable that way. There's no stressing over whether we will make it to certain places on time, we go with the flow & see where we end up! The day I arrived I mooched around Oxford St as I wanted to get a new outfit for the Oliver Bonas Christmas Preview, so I browsed in Topshop, H&M, all of the usual places (obviously had to snap the floral arrangements outside of Liberty!) and then I headed over to the LUSH Oxford St Store which I've been dying to visit. It was crazy busy but I purchased some of the items that are exclusives so I'll be popping up a post in the next couple of days! After that I hopped on the tube & went over to my Sisters flat to drop my bags off & decide where to go out for dinner. We ended up going to Bill's because neither of us had actually ever been, we shared a bowl of Pea & Mint soup and then we each had a burger. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty disappointed with my meal, the burger was really burnt (I asked for medium rare!) I don't understand the hype at all! I did however enjoy a Peach Bellini & I loved the way the restaurant was decorated. After our food we went for Cocktails, we ended up getting a Detox one made up of Kale & Spinach, just to try something different really & it was pretty tasty actually! We stayed out for a couple more hours, I don't see my Sister often so it was nice to sit & chat about life & things & properly catch up. 

My second day in London was spent having a late Breakfast at the Cafe Hannah works at before getting in a car & going over to the OB event held at their Marylebone store. After the event I took a trip over to the made.com showroom as we have ordered a sofa so I went to check it out before heading over to Shoreditch to have a little explore. We went in & out of loads of different shops, mostly little independent ones selling cute stationery & homewares, then Hannah noticed a T2 Tea store so we went in & ended up whiling away a fair chunk of time. We were busy testing out different teas & tisanes & actually won one of the Pumping Pomegranate Tisanes! The Iced Teas they had out to sample were so refreshing after walking round London all day, the Apple Crumble one was tastyy. I saw a teeny tiny miniature dachshund too, so of course I squealed & couldn't stop smiling. I always have a little goal whenever I go to Shoreditch to see how many cute dogs I can spot, Shoreditch is the best for dog spotting haha & I saw a Frenchie too! Little side note... When I lived in London, before I had Tilly Pug I'd go Pug stalking & I'd be guaranteed to meet one hanging around the Brick Lane area!  After our little tea stop I realised we were close to the Beigel shop, I used to love getting a cream cheese beigel after a night out in Shoreditch so I had to stop & get one, for old times sake! Then we grabbed a Monmouth Coffee & hopped back on the Tube so I could pick up my bags from the flat before setting off on my mammoth bus journey (because of the Tube strike) over to Euston to catch my train back home to Liverpool. Whenever I visit London I always have the best time & it makes me feel so thankful that I had the opportunity to live down there for two years, plus I still have the opportunity to visit whenever I feel like it thanks to my lil sis!
Do you enjoy these kind of posts?
L x

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london snaps

 Liberty have the most beautiful flower arrangements outside their store, it makes me want to spend a crazy amount of money on fresh flowers!

I can't go to London without having a cupcake from Lola's!

Met this adorable Pug called Summer, if you know me you'll know that everytime I see a Pug I have to get a photo of it, the amount of random pug photos I have is enough to confirm I am certainly one crazy pug lady!

Salmon Carbonara at Vapiano's - delish!

Posing in Monki's fitting rooms, so glad I bought these pretty shorts!

Whenever I go to London I always find myself taking loads of photos but then never actually publishing them. Rather than them remaining in the depths of iPhoto I've picked out my favourites because some of them are just too pretty to be forgotten about! I also never really post photos of myself or anything about my days out, but I love reading about what other people get up to so I thought I'd throw in some mirror selfies & food pics too! L x

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3-2-1

You might have noticed the new Three Mobile advert on TV that features a pug wearing a knitted birthday cake hat to promote the launch of their 3-2-1 pay as you go tariff. As I have my own cute little pug I was asked to take part in the campaign & answer a few questions!

 

I don't really like picking favourite songs but I have a few that I could never get bored of, no matter how many times I have them on repeat!

Howlin' For You - The Black Keys 

Well Limitless is probably one of my favourite films & this song makes me happy!

Get Lucky - Daft Punk

Anything by Daft Punk is good in my eyes, Get Lucky was such a summer tune but I know I will still be listening to it for months!

Say My Name - Cyril Hahn

An amazing remix of Say My Name by Destiny's Child, Cyril is incredible at creating music, go have a listen (:

This was really tough for me, as London is my favourite city ever & living there for 2 years gave me a lot of opportunities to explore & discover new places to go. To be honest I love London as a whole from walking along the Kings Road in Chelsea pretending I'm rich to searching through the rails in the east end vintage shops found on Brick Lane, fighting my way through the busy crowds on Oxford St or venturing around Camden Market, having picnics along the canal at Victoria park or enjoying the festivities going on at winter wonderland in Hyde Park, watching the entertainers perform in Covent Garden or avoiding pigeon poop at Trafalgar Square, watching the London Eye rotating at snail pace whilst standing by the River Thames or even popping by to wave to Liz at Buckingham Palace, it really is the best city in the world to me!

I know I cheated here & uploaded more than two London photos but I couldn't help myself! I will say though that currently somewhere I always recommend is Portobello Market on a Saturday. Portobello Road is lined with pastel coloured houses, vintage treasures, freshly baked pastries & cakes & beautiful bouquets of flowers, it's a lovely place to look around! Another of my favourite London locations is a night out in Shoreditch, you'll find plenty of trendy cocktail bars & clubs that play decent music (in my opinion!) without the hassle you can be exposed to at bigger night clubs in central!

& here is my baby Tilly pug (:

L x

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the breakfast club - spitalfields

A good few months ago now Dom & I decided to finally visit The Breakfast Club & see what all the fuss was about & it certainly lived up to its expectations & more! 

When we arrived at the Spitalfields branch we expected to be stood in a queue for at least half an hour, going by what we had heard anyway but to our surprise there was absolutely no waiting time. That was possibly because we went at a really odd time of the day at like 3pm or something because we are forever late to anything & it's perfectly acceptable to eat breakfast in late afternoon right!?

I opted for the fruit pancakes, without cream (yuk!) & a latte whilst Dom chose 'The All American' which consisted of eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, streaky bacon, pancakes & maple syrup along with a mug of tea. I can't even tell you how good the pancakes were, like seriously I wish I could eat them every single day. They were perfectly fluffy & sweet but not too sweet & honestly just so delicious.

The cafe itself was filled with vintage memorabilia, mismatched tables & chairs giving it a true 80's vibe. I didn't get any good photos of inside really as I only had my iPhone & lighting is quite dull so because I'm no pro at photography I decided it wasn't worth the hassle but have a little google & you'll see what I mean! Plus I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere, listening to The Black Keys & enjoying my pancakes!

I really enjoy sharing these little lifestyle posts on my blog & they will probably become more of a regular feature. I'm one of those people who loves to look back on what I got up to so it's a perfect way to document these moments (:

Have you ever been to The Breakfast Club?

L x

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southbank german christmas markets

I thought I'd share a few quick snaps from the Southbank German Christmas markets I went to a couple of weeks ago, with Dom & our friends. It was a pretty horrible day, weather wise so the images are quite dark. It's absolutely amazing to walk around London and soak up the Christmassy atmosphere, if I'm having a bad day I just hop on a tube and enjoy the pretty lights, the busy streets & the beautiful window displays. I always want to buy so much from the Christmas markets, there are loads of lovely handmade items, yummy treats & festive decorations. My favourite stall was probably the candle one, lots of different shapes, sizes & smells! After the markets we walked over Westminster bridge & of course, I had to take a quick snap of Mr Big Ben! Next week I'm going to visit Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, I went last year too & I believe it's worth going to, I'm obsessed with anything to do with Christmas! 

Have you been to a Christmas Market? What is your favourite part of London during Christmas?

L x

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i'm back!

Dom & I | Drinks | Cute card | Risotto at Strada | Tea & Toast in bed | 

Homemade risotto (obsessed atm!) | Rain hair | Royal Borough | Tower Bridge | Sisters halls! |

Costa cawffeeee | New foundation | A rose I saved from Dom<3 | Current read | Primark shopping! |

Spike shoooeeezzzz | Red pepper dip at Nandos (try it!) | Cute necklace | Mirrorball collection | Cosy |

Journey to London | YSL sample | Cath K shop | Amazing dupe | Waiting for a train to Manchester 

Firstly, I need to apologise for being MIA for around a month now, but for also having two 'Instagram' style posts in a row. I didn't want to return to blogging without a little update though!

So, where have I been!? The last time I posted was the day I moved back to London to begin my second year of university, but even before that I was posting quite irregularly... Since moving back to London I have been alot busier than I planned to be, plus we only had the internet installed on Tuesday night. In a nutshell I have done the following: worked as a student ambassador/been getting to know my new housemates, especially with nail painting sessions in the kitchen!/had an interview/Dom came to visit/various nights out... including Fabric!/travelled back up North/helped my little sister move to London/completed uni work & assessments/& of course I've been shopping! 

I'm currently back up North again because I had to return for a friends 21st last night (they also got engaged, cutest thing ever! I can't believe I'm at the age now where my friends are getting engaged, having babies etc!), I also went shopping with my Dad yesterday & I surprised Abi by visiting her at work! Today I've been to visit my Nana & Grandad & little brother, Harry :) had a lovely Sunday lunch! It might not seem like I've been that busy, but for some reason when I'm in London the time actually whizzes by! I got to see Dom last night for the first time in eight days, which of course I was super super super excited about & I'm really enjoying being back home. London is amazing, but it can be a really difficult place to live in, so I'm thankful to have a bit of a breather this weekend. 

Hope this post is okay as a little refresher, I have tonnes of stuff to blog about so my blog should gain some normality again over the next few weeks!

L x

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my week in photos #4

Regent Street decorated with flags for the Olympics | Gerrards Cross is a lovely place | Meet Maisy the Yorkshire Terrier :) | & here is Abi our other Yorkshire Terrier | Treated Dom & I to a Starbucks lunch | Cloud the Husky puppy - he is super naughty & had roller about in all the mud haha! | Addicted to this Angelica nail polish! | Made a stuffed crust pizza for my baba bro (who is 8 but to me he is still a lil baby!) | Baked these with my little brother too!

I'm so sorry about the lack of posts this week, I've been a little stressed out because I'm sorting out my student house in London. This resulted in me travelling down the country, firstly to Leicester & then onto London the next day, which has been very tiring! I'm not sure I'll get to blog alot next week either as I've gotta go to Leeds, London again & Leeds again at the end of the week... please bare with me! I have lots of ideas on posts, it really is just having the time to compile them ):

I've gone a little crazy taking millions of pictures of my little brother, Conor, & our doggies because on Friday they are moving to Turkey, genuinely so so so sad that they're leaving (my Stepmum wants to live there) which has resulted in me wanting lots of memories. I'm thinking about making a little book for my brother to give him when he is a bit older, full of all the pictures of us! He is an important little person in my life & I have made him promise to Skype me everyday if he can :'(

Anyway, as usual I hope you have all had a lovely weekend - I've started revision for my resits in 12 days :(

L x

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