Vintage Vinyl Vouchers

You may remember a recent trip me and fellow blogger (and new BFF) Angelica made to Seven Dials for their special Christmas shopping evening. Sister Is were the ones responsible for the event and ran a few competitions, including a photo competition of the Christmas lights around Seven Dials. I'll give you 1 guess who won...that's right, it was me, again! The prize was £100 worth of vouchers for any of the stores in the Seven Dials area. This was a tough decision, but of course I went the vintage route and chose Pop Boutique. This is one of my favourite vintage shops, it's quite small, but packed full of vintage treasures. Check out the unique vouchers I was sent to spend instore!

These are actual vinyls that play songs. I haven't had a chance to give them a listen just yet, but be sure to follow me on Twitter as I'll share my discoveries for you all there. Not only do Pop Boutique have a few stores dotted around the Country (London, Liverpool, Leeds & Manchester), they have another in Sweden, and you can also find them on Asos. They also have a great mix of genuine vintage garments, accessories, vinyls and the odd home ware items, plus they have their own label of retro inspired clothing.

So, after receiving my vouchers, me and Angelica headed back to Seven Dials, Covent Garden for a jaunt around the streets. Here's my outfit for the day.

This coat is seeing me through a 2nd Winter! It's from Joy and is currently in the sale for just £45, it's also available in the gorgeous dark green. The navy blue bodycon skirt I bought from Forever21 quite a few years ago, but it is still a staple piece in my wardrobe. My checked top was a recent purchase from the New Look sale (similar here). It's made of the softest material and I just love the colours. This burgundy blazer from H&M seemed to really finish the look.

My colourful shoes also seemed to match the colours of the tartan top.

I fell in love with these beauts on the Clarks website but they didn't have my size, so I had to do a bit of searching before I found my perfect fit. They've got a really cute name too - Griffin Mabel. These are the comfiest shoes in the World. They've never given me a single blister and I can walk for miles in them. They seem to be sold out in the coloured suede, but they still have them in the black leather (I also have these too!).

Now for a few accessories.

The necklace was a goodie bag gift from a recent bloggers event. It's from Matthew Williamson's Butterfly collection for Debenhams. It's so perfect for me and my navy wardrobe. The Arcade Fire love Haiti badge I got from their summer stint in London at Hyde Park for the British Summer Time Festival. I think it's fantastic the work they do for Haiti! Finally, the Jane Eyre badge was a random finders keepers from a cafe, the colours suited the rest of the outfit.

Our first stop was Pop Boutique on Monmouth Street to see what I could find to spend my vouchers on. I only ended up buying one item (which will be revealed very soon!) for £15 so I've still got quite a bit left to spend. That's the beauty with vintage shopping, the stock is forever changing and you just don't know what you might find!

After we were all shopped out, it was time for some food, so we headed to The Diner on the corner of Shaftsbury Avenue where we ordered way too much sugary food, topped off with a milkshake each too! I have the sweetest tooth in the World!

We ended up ordering 2 dishes to share, as we couldn't quite decide between them. First up was cinnamon dusted French toast, followed by the stack of pancakes. Both were accompanied with little pots of maple syrup. I had the peanut butter milkshake whilst Angelica went for the very chocolatey Oreo shake. All that sugar made us quite hyper for a good hour, before we slandered into a deep food coma. It was at this point we thought it best to call it a night and go home.

Where are your favourite places around Seven Dials/Covent Garden? I'm always on the lookout for new places to explore in the area!

Thank you all for reading, liking, tweeting and commenting. I know I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately, but if you stick around, I've got plenty more to come :)

Family Fireworks

Evening everyone!

I haven't had a chance to play with my new camera again yet, so in the meantime I'll be using some photo's from my old camera. These will be going back in time, starting with bonfire night! To kick things off, here's my outfit for the occasion.

I've gone for tartan and stripes, again... My tartan trousers are from H&M. I love that they're actually called 'slacks' on their website. These are the comfiest trousers ever and keep me lovely and warm during these colder months. The beautiful duffel coat is from Joy and is seeing me through a second winter. Great news for all you guys as it's currently in the sale for a steal price of £45! They also have it in a vibrant red too. My striped rucksack is from Accessorize. I've had it a while so it's no longer on the website, but they do have this very similar one.

Now for the piece I'm really here to show off. How cute is this whale top?! He's wearing a sailor hat for goodness sake. I fell in love with this little fella in Camden Market. After a little bit of research, I found a t-shirt version over on Etsy and also over at Mero Fashion.

I spent the bonfire weekend at my Aunty's house where my cousins were making their very own Guy Fawkes.

To make our Guy Fawkes, my Aunty had raided her nearest charity shop for some jeans, a jumper and a hat (which my little cousin Violet then decided looked better on her). We stuffed him with lots of newspaper and gave him an old broom stick for a spin. The kids all got to work with drawing him a face on an old pillow case.

Whilst the men of the house got the wood all ready for the bonfire, us girls made some chocolate lollipops.

Delicious!

The men were taking too long to destroy the wood outside, so the kids decided to help. Also my cousin Callan showed me this really cool putty stuff. If you stop moving your hands it turns into liquid!

With the bonfire ready, we just had to wait for darkness to fall before we could start lighting the fireworks. Me and the brother took a little walk over to Gunnersbury park to see what we could find. Quite a lot as it turns out. Pretty birds, a spooky derelict building and a lonely but beautiful looking bench.

We just about made it back in time to say goodbye to Lord Fred (that's what we named him) and enjoy the fireworks. It wouldn't be bonfire night without sparklers!!

I know it was aggeeeeesss ago, but I'd love to hear how you celebrated Guy Fawkes (if you can remember that far back...)

A big thank you to everyone who reads, anyone who comments and to all my new followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It means the world to me :)