My 'Cherished Trinket' Wishlist

I recently came across Cherished Trinkets, a gorgeous vintage inspired jewellery which is handmade by one very talented lady! I am in love with her items, and I'm making a wish list entirely around her collection as I will definitely be making some purchases in the near future!

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1. Freshwater Pearl Earrings

2. Beautiful Swallow Necklace

3. Pastel Petals Hair Slides

4. Alice in Wonderland Bracelet

There seems to be a fairly quick turnover of the collections that they offer. There seem to be new items all the time as the pieces are made to order. I love this, as it means that your choices are fairly unique so you probably won't find it on many others. I can't get over the prices either, considering they are all hand made they are so reasonable!

Changes!

I was fed up of how basic my blog looked. I wanted a simple design, but I felt it was so generic and hardly customised. So I spent some time this morning making a few little changes. My HTML skills have gone a bit rusty, but luckily these guys' straight forward advice helped me out!

The only thing I'd like to do now is put my own customised page link images under the title, but I am struggling with it. Any thoughts?

Hope you all like the changes I've made!

Dawson's Creek

I don't know where I was in the late 90s, or maybe we just didn't have this show in the UK, but I have literally just discovered it. At first I thought what a major cringe fest it was and was convinced I would never watch it again. But somehow I did. And it remains a major cringe fest. Half the time I want to turn it off, and the other half I am genuinely intrigued.

Has anyone else seen it? Is it just that watching it 10 years too late is having an effect I wonder? I'm only on season 2, and I can't quite believe it managed to run for 5 years. Clearly it has moved me enough to write a whole post about it... so over the top, but somehow believable.

I will continue to ponder about it I guess!

I'm also in TV love with Pacey, aka Joshua Jackson. I can't work out whether that's weird or not. What do we think - is he a cutie?

My Cath Kidson Wishlist

New house, new everything!

I'm moving to the North of England at the end of September so I'm day dreaming a bit about the new things I'll have to buy to move up there into my new house or flat. Although I'll only be there six months I'm picturing pretty tableware, bedding and other home accessories. Cath Kidson is currently my favourite place to buy all kinds of "stuff", so I had a look through their home wear items to see what I'd pick!

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1. 4 Tea Mugs - £15 

2. 24 Piece Cutlery Set - £60
3. Cut Roses Reversible Duvet set - £45
4. Rubber Duck Bath Towel - £24
5. Trailing Floral and Dotty Tea Towels - £12

I really shouldn't, but I might just have to go to their Cardiff store to have a look and see if I can grab a few things! I'm also completely in love with their jewellery. I love this bow necklace, but at £28 I may unfortunately have to give it a miss this time!

Shopping trip!

I'll be starting a pretty busy summer job on Monday, so I thought I'd pop into town and get some things I've been wanting for a while. I spoilt myself, but I did it pre-emptively with the knowledge that I will get paid soon and have my old house deposit coming to me :)

I mentioned in an earlier post about getting a Pandora, so that was my first stop! I love their bags and presentation so much! I got the teddy bear and the London bus to add to my new bracelet, and when I got home I put the graduation charm on with them!

Accessorize still has a huge sale going on, and I can never walk past that place without going inside. I picked up this gorgeous PJ camp set for £5.50 from £20! How could I resist?

I use Bare Minerals make up range and have done for a while. I love their Prime Time primer, although it is a bit pricey, but luckily they had Duty Free prices in Debenhams today! I also thought I'd try their blemish treatment, as everything else works so well. I hope it's as good as I expect it to be. They also invited me to the Swansea department's 3 year birthday party next month, with fantastic discounts and freebies!

It's almost time for me to insure my mum's car to practise on! I'm so excited but incredibly nervous. I loved buying these though, it's a big step forward!

After all those lovely treats I arrived home to see that the Links charm I forgot I'd ordered in their huge sale had arrived! It's an Olympic one, and I wanted one from the range because it's a one time event, I was so pleased that it was so much discounted as well! 

I also bought a little something for one of my best friends who I haven't seen in far too long. I won't post it here yet because she reads this and I want it to be a surprise! Check out her blog here!

My 'catch up drinks' essentials

Living away from home for the last 5 years, there have been many occasions when I've gone out for an evening of catch up drinks. Once again my minimalist style comes through!

1. Skinny Jeans: Staple wardrobe piece. No explanation necessary!

2. Flowery tank top: I think this one has lips on it; the favourite in my wardrobe is darker with flowers, I like having a little something to brighten up a plain evening outfit.

3. Black blazer: I had mine about 7 years ago to wear to a Christening. I have no idea how it still fits but somehow it does. It's from Bay Trading (who have gone bust now I think!?) and I roll the sleeves up because it has a lovely pink silky lining.

4. Heels: There's a reason there are tiny heels on these shoes. For one, I can't walk well in heels at all, it's rather embarrassing! But also, I do think that a little heel is quite classy, so I tend to stick to them.

5. Small cross body bag: My favourite kind of bag for a night out. Oh how I wish I had this beautiful Marc Jacobs one!

6. Earrings: Something sparkly or dangly. I have a lovely colourful pair, but most of the time I wear pearly droppers. I need to branch out in terms of jewellery, everything I have is so low key! I like these above, but I don't have anything like them!

My 'summer shopping trip' essentials

My style has always been pretty minimalist, and although I love pretty printed clothes I rarely actually wear them! I love this combo for a day of shopping, especially right now when it's nice and warm as it should be in July! In fact, this is exactly what I wore out today when I went shopping with the exception of the earrings!

1. Polo shirt: These simple polos from Tommy Hilfiger are fab, especially in bright colours. I bought a few when I was in the US as they are so much cheaper over there! They are such good quality though, and last for ages. There's a few left in the UK sale too!
2. Black cut offs: I'm really not a skirt wearer so in sunny weather cut off trousers work brilliantly for me, they are comfy and casual. I've had mine for ages, they are thin black fabric from Topshop, but ASOS also have a great selection.
3. Converse: I live in mine. I think they are fantastic. Not much else to say!
4. Sunnies: This is my favourite sunglasses ever, they suit me better than any I've had before. Now the sun is out it's time to make full use of them!
5. Le Pilage Bag: I've had mine for years and it's finally starting to look like it needs replacing but they last forever. They aren't cheap but it's well worth it because they are perfect for just about everything, and roomy enough for shopping! Longchamp also offer personalisation now which I love - I might have my initials on mine if I ever get a new one!
6. Earrings: I'm useless with jewellery, I wear my watch and that's about it! But I really like putting pretty earrings in when I remember. I like Miss Selfridge at the moment. 

Paris, je t'aime

I'm missing it and craving it so much.

Pictures credit WeHeartIt

Spice Up Your Life

A big part of me is thinking the Spice Girls should give it a rest now. I used to love them, I went to see them twice when I was younger, once I followed them to Paris. Complete obsession, and when they split up I was devastated. Now though, there is so much talk about what they might or might not do, it's all become a media circus, and I don't know about you but I just don't care any more.

There've been headlines like this one for ages. Will there or won't there be a West End musical? There's been so much rubbish about it I've even gone off the idea. As much as I loved them I think they are ruining it for themselves, and I know the media hype everything up - who knows what's actually going on - but if they are going to continue, they may as well get on in the public eye at least!

Put your future in good hands; your own!

Graduation has been and gone, sorry for the delay of a post, but the pictures were on my mum's fabulous camera which she took away with her and only just brought back. It was such a great day and although I was incredibly nervous, everything went so well! We had a lovely champagne reception afterwards at the university and then my parents and I went for a very posh meal to celebrate! It was great to do something altogether!

I can't believe I am now a graduate! The last 3 years went by so quickly. I was getting pretty sick of London and student life and a lot of people up there by the time I was finishing, so it was certainly time to move on to the next phase, but overall it was a fantastic time. I didn't even want to go there in the beginning- I almost convinced myself to retake exams and take a year out, but I'm so glad that I did end up there, everything happens for a reason!

Charmed I'm sure!

The UK seems to have gone crazy for charm bracelets in the last couple of years. There've been at least half a dozen new, lovely charm bracelets coming from various companies. I don't know if the craze has spread worldwide though.

I had a gorgeous Links of London bracelet like this one (below left) from my mum a few Christmases ago. I've been receiving the charms as gifts and slowly building it up (on the Links bracelets they dangle off the little silver links). My mum recently got one from a different make and started collecting charms herself. I love the Pandora bracelet (below right) and charms she has, they are a lot different to Links. For my graduation my Dad bought me a charm I really wanted, but he got it for a Pandora not a Links. It was the perfect opportunity for me to grab hold of a Pandora and start making my own to be a bit different from the Links one!

    

I have a little bit of present money from graduation, so I'm planning on getting the bracelet, and a few more charms. I'm already very familiar with their charms as I've always loved the brand, and a few friends of mine have the bracelet, so I've picked a few to go on it.

This is the lovely little graduation one my dad got me!

And these are a few I really want. What do you think? Does anyone else have a charm bracelet... or two? I must sound so greedy! But I really like this idea, because one means a lot because of each person who has got me a charm for it, and the new one will be something that I've made for myself that includes important things to me.

The teddy is because I'm still a child at heart and have always loved my teddy and still have many! The bus is for my 3 years in London, it's still a really special place to me. I really want to get the friends one for my best friend who I just went to America with, I think it's really sweet! The British Rose charm is for a military charity, and makes me think of British history from the Tudors to the World Wars. I want it because it's about all the history I've been studying for the last 3 years! Finally (so far!) Paris is probably my favourite place in the world and so it needs to be on a bracelet I make for myself.

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination"

- John Lennon 

The last few weeks have been so exciting; holidays, graduation, birthday, parties, starting to drive... Now that it's mostly over I'm feeling a tiny bit deflated. Reality is kicking in for the next 2 months and then there's huge excitement again when I start my new graduate scheme job.

For now though I'm working locally as I usually do in the summer. This time it's with children which is a lot of fun (but tiring!) with some really lovely people. It's odd to be back in a routine since it's the last summer of freedom, but hopefully there'll be more exciting things to come throughout it and especially at the end before I head off again.

"Television: chewing gum for the eyes"

- Frank Lloyd Wright

That may be true, but there's still no denying it's addictive. I've just learned how to track shows on Sidereel, but unfortunately for me there's not a lot to track at the moment because all the great US TV shows are on hiatus for the Summer!

I'm addicted to these right now:

Weird thing is I'm actually not a TV junkie. I scared myself realising just how many I'm waiting for! I do have a life I promise, but there is just such awesome American shows around right now. What do you guys stateside do when everything turns off for the Summer? Over here there's rarely anything decent on anyway so when it has a break it's not really like missing anything. Having said that, Downton Abbey might just top everything...!

So to sum up, that guy's quote is very very wrong when it comes to these!