New House Things!

I am very excited! I've just had to buy a few things for my new room for my new house that I'm moving into this weekend! I can't wait to take some pictures of it and show you. Although I'm only there for 6 months, so I won't be making any dramatic or permanent changes, it will be nice to add a few of my own things to it! Below are some of the items I've bought over the last few days, and at the bottom are some (realistic!) purchases I hope to make as well, once I get there.

I just love buying new things for my room/house! Don't you? Mostly - I'm obsessed with duvet covers and bedding!

I went to Tesco to get some plates/crockery, and found this gorgeous, but still simple design (below). While I was there though, I came across this pretty bedding! I love pale coloured bedding, but wasn't sure if I should go for all white, so this pastel stripe is a great compromise! The underside of it is white, and the top has the pretty stripes you can see above! I love it!

These are the mugs and plates I chose - how cute are they? I had crockery from Tesco for my student house, but neither me or my housemates took very good care of them, so three years on I needed them replaced, and chose this adorable pattern instead! Needless to say these will be very well looked after!

I saw this in Dunelm Mill for under £5, and I know I have to get it! It's so cute and goes perfectly with my bedding. I love having lots of smaller pillows, although in my room at home they don't really match my bed, so this time I will make sure they do! Keeping in with the theme is this laundry bag below from Cath Kidston. I wanted a little bag to hang on the back of the door/wardrobe, rather than a larger container. I don't have that much room, and mine in uni took up way more room than it needed to! This floral one is £10, which isn't cheap for a cloth bag I know, but I am a sucker for Cath Kidston. I'll see how it goes..! 

The only other thing I think I'll want at the moment is a plain rug. I did see one on my Tesco shopping spree like this one below, for £14. It would be nice just to have something by my bed to cover the carpet and to match my bedding!

My Month: August

Apologies for the August review delay. Rather an uneventful month though in comparison to the last! I have spent so much time working and driving, I haven't really been able to do much else!

I spent a really nice long weekend in Kent, full of sun, BBQs and good company! Then it was back home to work though! I'm really glad I've done a lot of work through the Summer though as it gives me something to fall back on for my move up North (very shortly!). It was nice to have not much else to do as well, as life is about to take a pretty hectic turn!

This is the theme tune to my month though, I just discovered this song and I adore it.

Yummy food

Now that my mum is back home and not working anymore, she's been very busy in the kitchen! We started watching Lorraine Pascale's cooking programme on BBC1 and absolutely loved the idea of everything she cooked, so my mum went out and bought the book! I really recommend it, we've only had it for about a week and already cooked three delicious meals from it. Plus it was about £8 in Tesco - bargain!

I love fish, and the two we've tried from that section have been fabulous! First, a salmon saltimbocca with gremolata potatoes. It's salmon pan fried in pancetta, with a side of crushed new potatoes which have been mixed with lemon, parsley, pine nuts and olive oil. I think it's traditionally made with meat instead of fish, but her new take on it is delicious!

The second one (that we're making tonight), is a prawn and chorizo linguine. Made with chilli and red wine, I just know it's going to have an amazing flavour. It looks delicious, and to be fair - all the dishes I've tried so far really do come out to look just as she says! I'll be sure to let you know how this one went down! The third dish was Tarragon pork steaks, which I can't find a picture of, and I completely forgot to take my own of any of the cooking we've done so far! I am less keen on meat, but these were gorgeous, and had a sauce of mushroom, shallots, cream and mustard. The book is a must buy, the food is top class, and genuinely quite straight forward to make! 

I can't wait to try the next thing! If anyone gives these recipes a go, be sure to let me know what you think! You can also find recipes from Lorraine Pascale's most recent TV episodes online here.

Blog Button!

I made a Blog Button! It's just a simple first attempt but I actually really love it! I hope you do too!
If you want to use it that would be amazing - please let me know if you want me to use yours!

<a href="http://www.beautyandbriefcase.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz66qrxOyxFBkJNXgRFQtOPZnsvPsvf8_ej8lfzsdOLhxZjp5VlpH6PM2Ny7n7-x6_YH-Fjs235Y3Vgbi948i6Oiga0tsdfLcjE1Xk6j1A_BvaHjGPSWBezN3RjuGdLBojncYV5CZVGf7Q/s1600/logo.png"/></a>

My 'Late Summer BBQ' Essentials

This bank holiday weekend I've been in Kent and one of the days we had our BBQ which we do every year on this weekend. Although it's Kent, the weather wasn't as glorious as is usually promised, so it was a case of dressing far less summery than usual! I put together an outfit that was something very similar to this, I thought I'd share it with you because it was a great late summer/early autumn combo for style and comfort!



1. I love this print for jumpers. This is Tommy Hilfiger, as is mine but it's mostly grey with a bit of blue and yellow. I got mine for about $35 (£23) in an outlet when I was in the US. I think they are a bit more expensive buying straight from the UK. I love them though, they are quite fine, and so suitable for this time of year.

2. My Jack Wills jeans were about £60 when I bought them a year ago. I love them, they are so worth the price. I don't usually spend a lot of money on jeans but you can just see with these that they are well cut and fit perfectly.

3. I love a casual brown cross body bag with a sweater and jeans combo like this. It makes it look quite sophisticated. This Mulberry one might be reaching a bit far, but it's beautiful, and exactly the type of thing I mean!

4. I'm not big on jewellery at all but I do like a very simple pendant, especially with a V neckline. The one I usually wear is a simple silver star from Accessorize.

5. Brown loafers. I think mine might be in need of replacing, but I still love them. Must have shoe in my opinion, especially when you don't like heels so much but also don't want to be stuck in Converse (like me!).

Henry Holland

I know we're still in August, but I've just come across Henry Holland, who has a gorgeous range of jumpers in Debenhams that I really want to get my hands on for the Autumn! Moving to the cold North kind of gives me the excuse to get them all don't you think? I've never heard of this designer before, and I have a lot of faith in Debenhams - I love Red Herring, Jasper Conran and Julien MacDonald so I think Henry Holland will be a safe bet too.

1. Green Geeky Cat jumper - £36

2. Knitted sheep jumper - £38

3. Skiing penguin jumper - £36

4. Horse jumper - £38

Find them all here! They also have some fabulous satchels (I love satchels.. watch this space for a post!). I love the green cat one, what's your favourite?

All quiet on the Western Front

Apologies for being so quiet recently. I've been working a lot more in the last few days (and I haven't even started my new full time job yet!) This bank holiday weekend will be a lovely break though. I'll be heading down to Kent for a few days to catch up with my mum's partner's family. Also it gives me the excuse to take and share some lovely seaside photos of what will hopefully be a sunny long weekend!

The weather here has been SO awful, it's depressing looking at the temperatures down in the South East, but I'll be there soon to share it! I did manage to grab some free time after work today to catch up with a school friend. We went to a new coffee shop in our town, it's a proper little tea room although I didn't have cream tea this time! Look how adorable my meal was though!

Everything there is so beautiful, even down to the plates, they were so pretty. I meant to find out where they were from but I completely forgot. I adore the little heart shaped Le Creuset bowl with chutney in it. I just love the brand and I never thought to use them for this purpose before!
They had a champagne cream tea for only £8.50 which I am definitely going to be tempted by next time! What a fantastic local find!

'Meeting your manager' Essentials

In an earlier post I mentioned my trip up North to meet my manager and get a feel for my new office and city. I wanted to get a smart/casual medium, because I had loads of city exploring and house hunting to do afterwards, and I think I got it just right. It turns out you can actually be pretty casual in my new office which is a bit of shame in a way, as I was hoping I needed a super smart look, but this way it works out less expensive at least!

1. Navy tapered cut off trousers. Mine were from Topshop, these are Mango - £30
2. I tucked my cream horse patterned blouse into the trousers. I really like this one too; SugarHill Boutique Merry Go Tie Blouse - £50
3. I'm useless in heels so these are great for me. Mine were a fabulous leather New Look Bargain! They are popular now everywhere though. Franco Sarto Clinic Leather Loafers - £55
4. I don't need to say any more about my go to bag! Longchamp Le Pilage - £60
5. Standard for me, pearl earrings. These are by Givenchy for £14 apparently. Can't quite believe it!