OOTD: Red Kimono

Outfit:

Red oriental inspired kimono: ASOS (similar)

Black longline sleeveless tunic: ASOS (similar)

Black skinny jeans: New Look
Silver leather brogues: ASOS
Wooden boyfriend style watch: Jord*

I can't believe last week was the first time I ventured to the good ol' British seaside this year. With the summer we've been having, being attacked by seagulls, whilst scoffing fish and chips has been the last thing on my mind. Hopefully this Indian summer will be arriving pretty sharpish.  But I popped along to the coast last weekend for a break that was very much needed. A few days away full with lots of laughs, beautiful weather and masses of good food is always a cracking tonic!

I took it as an opportunity to show off my snazzy new wooden watch. I have such a soft spot for a good quality watch so jumped at the chance to own a Jord watch when they got in touch. I opted for a small boyfriend style with a red wine coloured wood - the Cora in Purpleheart and Pearl. What a beauty eh? It looks so classy and elegant. Definitely a conversation starter as two people commented on it when I wore it this day. It's a piece I can see myself constantly having on rotation! Have a peek below to see what other watches they have on offer.

Wooden Wristwatch

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Review: Blossoming Flowers

There's not many better things then receiving a beautiful flower delivery in the post. They'll brighten up anyone's day! When Blossoming Flowers got in touch to see if I wanted to be treated to a bunch of blooms, I decided to opt for the Lily & Delphinium bouquet.

Quite often if you opt for cheap flowers, the quality is reflected in the price. But not these flowers by post! The flowers were gorgeous - not a half dead one in sight! The bouquet last well over a week and looked so pretty on my chest of drawers, adding a little glamour to my bedroom. It was such a shame when I had to reluctantly cast them aside. 

Luckily every single one of you can experience a stunning bouquet of flowers too! Blossoming Flowers have very kindly supplied a 33% discount code for you. Simply enter BGIFT33 at the checkout. Only the flowers by post range is exempt. Gone on, treat yourself! 

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Beauty: New Seventeen Make Up Palettes

Can I just say how incredible is that self portrait?! It's by far one of the best things I've been gifted. The entire thing was made using the new Seventeen make up palettes by Maxine Ayre - pretty snazzy huh?

Onto the make up palettes themselves then! The eyeshadow palette - Easy On The Eye* - has my name written all over it. With eight matte and shimmer powder shadows and four cream, it's great value for money at £7.99. You won't need to use anything else! The neutral shades are great for blending a subtle smokey eye with the shimmers being perfect to rock at night.

I'm all about a red lip so was pretty excited to see the the deep, foxy red in the All Out Pout * set. With classy nudes and bold, vibrant brights, it's perfect to keep in your handbag. It's all about switching up your lipstick to a different shade every hour right? For £7.99, it's an absolute bargain.

I need all the help I can get making sure these dark circles look half-decent. Luckily the Let's Face It* palette has everything I could need for £5.99. Complete with a pink toned concealer, a yellow toned concealer, a peach cream bleach and a setting power, your make up will look spit spot in no time.

Easy On The Eye and All Out Pout palettes are in the shop now. The Let's Face It palette is available from 30th September. You can treat yourself online at Boots and in the larger stores. They'll be fantastic to take if you're planning a cheeky weekend break. Just pack a mascara and an eyeliner and you'll be sorted!

Pop on the Seventeen Blogger Network to see what other bloggers have been saying about the brand.

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Exploring Barcelona: Where to eat

We had some incredible meals in Barcelona but also some shoddy ones too. It really does help to do your research because you won't always find good food on every corner. Here's a guide on where to eat in Barca.

Milk - We'd heard that breakfast wasn't much of a thing in the city. That's not what we wanted to hear so we trekked to this Irish run bar that we heard did a cracking brunch. Well worth hunting out. We ended up eating here twice. Serving brunch from 9am - 4.30pm, the restaurant did a very spicy version of Huevos Rancheros. Despite having to gulp down lots of water, it was delicious. The portions are massive and great value for money. If you've got a sore head from the night before, definitely make a special trip here!

En Ville - Situated in the El Ravel neighbourhood, we very nearly didn't come here. Our original choice was shut during the month of August so we had to go for plan B. This French restaurant was only a few minutes away so we took a gamble. Turns out it was a great gamble. I'm still dreaming about the light, melt-in-your-mouth Roquefort cheese mousse. This fancy little restaurant has gorgeous decor and a brilliant menu. It's not the cheapest but it's amazing if you fancy splashing out. And a break from tapas! If you love your seafood, this place is right up your street.

Hotel Do - I have to admit I would never have eaten at a hotel on holiday when they're so many restaurants to be discovered. But this was a recommendation to my boyfriend and plus it's situated bang in Placa Reial - perfect for people watching. So on our first night we decided to give it a shot. Connor's source certainly knows his stuff! The food was delicious - I came unstuck and managed to order the smallest portion on the menu. But my Catalan speciality of grilled octopus was cooked perfectly. I really couldn't fault it.

The Benedict - As the name of the restaurant would suggest, you'll find a variety of different Eggs Benedict dishes to choose from. Serving brunch from 10am-4pm, the joint is only open Thursday to Sunday for brunch. The rest of the week - apart from Monday - it opens at 7pm for the bistro/cocktail bar. With such an extensive brunch menu, it can be a bit overwhelming but that's all part of the fun right. I opted for the Mexican omelette stuffed with Spanish sausage, jalapeños, sautéed onions and green pepper served alongside delicious rustic potatoes. Delicious! Most dishes are around the 10 euro mark so it's not going to break the bank.

Bodega Biarritz - The best tapas of my entire life. It only fits about 10-15 people in it and you will probably have to queue and deal with grump staff but it's 100% worth it. Ask to sit at the bar if you can. There will be a lovely lady who will ask you what you fancy from the food at the bar. Choose your snacks - there's also some specials written on the board behind - and the chef will make sure they're piping hot. I really wished we went back more than once. Still kicking myself.

Ocana DF - We were dying to go back to the stunning Placa Reial so did a little research on the restaurants in the area. When I see tacos on the menu, I'm easily persuaded so off to this little Mexican cafe we went. The spicy food was superb. It's quite expensive and you may have to buy a lot of small plates to feel full but it was some of the best tacos I've had. The Taco Tingo De Pollo with Chipotle cream was spot on. One word of advice. Go easy on the cocktails, they're likely to blow your head off.

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Exploring Barcelona

Back in August, I spent a week soaking up in the incredibly hot sunshine in Barcelona. Coming just two two weeks after I was made redundant, it was the tonic I needed. I'd only ever been to the city for a day trip and spent most of that wandering around the magnificent Camp Nou during a guided tour. This time we opted for a week to ensure we had maximum relaxation.

Our amazing apartment was located in a little alley just off the beautiful Plaza Reial - the beautiful 19th Century square pictured above. It was the perfect location in Barri Gotic - just yards from La Rambla and a walkable distance from the beach. We sat outside a few times for dinner and soaked up the atmosphere. There's just something about sitting outside in a pretty square that scream European chic. In London, if you sat outside you'd have rain and pollution to contend with!

I won't go too much into too much detail about what we ate and what we saw as I've got a few more posts dedicated to that. But I will say I absolutely fell in love with Barcelona. I'd heard that it was an unsafe, dirty city riddled with pickpockets but I never felt unsafe for a minute - not even wandering around down roads trying to find a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant! It felt like a rebellious, bustling city that was constantly evolving. A very exciting place to be!

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Old El Paso Restaurante Range

I'm a sucker for Mexican food so when an invite popped in my inbox asking me to come along and try my hand at cooking the new Old El Paso Restaurante range, I bit their hand off. Pun intended. Especially when they mentioned we would be treated to a taco lesson by Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt! Pretty snazzy eh?!

In order to offer you a true authentic experience, the Old El Paso Restaurante team actually travelled around Mexico and sought out the ingredients themselves. They wanted to see what secrets the locals had to make the food taste so delicious. Each taco kit is a speciality from across the country. You'll find Baja Fish Soft Tacos - my personal favourite -, Chicken Tinga, Pork El Pastor and Steak Carne Asada. I tried them all and they're all as mouth-watering as they sound!

We were very kindly given an incredible goodie bag which had all four taco kits for us to try at home. So far I've only been able to rustle up the tasty chicken tacos - the steak ones are for dinner tomorrow! I can confirm the bad boys are so simple to make - you don't all need a Pussycat Doll to help give you some guidance. We scoffed these between the three of us and there was more than plenty to go around. In fact we could have invited a fourth person but we didn't. Because we're greedy.

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Recipe: Carrot and Walnut Muffins

You can't beat a nice slab of carrot cake eh? Especially with some cream cheese icing. Cream cheese icing with orange? Even better! These delicious, addictive muffins were the second part of my Whitworths baking challenge. I loved the crunch of the walnuts paired with the soft sponge cake. While the sultanas helped to keep the sponge lovely and moist. Nothing like a bit of texture to help give a cake extra brownie points. I had to give these babies to my mother to take into worth before they disappeared in my belly!

Fancy making these beauties yourself? The recipe below couldn't be simpler! As always, tweet me if you decided to rustle them up. Not even your waistline will regret it!

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Review: Pizza Express

Gosh I am behind with all my posts but a good few weeks back I was kindly invited along to Pizza Express to try out their menu.  Pizza Express is a restaurant I frequent quite often. It's always good value for money, brilliant service and the food always tastes delicious. This evening out was exactly what I needed after a a bad day so armed with my partner in crime - aka Mother Warner - we set off to a branch in the town next door and put the world to rights.

I get my vast appetite of my mother so it was no surprise that as soon as we spotted the table next door had ordered the Classic Italian Antipasti, we opted for this bad boy. Filled with juicy sundried tomatoes, creamy balls of buffalo mozzarella, salty olives, crispy bread, sweet Pepperdew peppers, roasted marinated aubergine, pea and mint pesto and Italian cried meats. It was just as delicious as it sounds! It was more than enough for two people although in reality it was possibility a bit too much. But we both took one for the team and finished every last scrap.

Never one to break a habit of a lifetime, my mum opted for the Pollo Verdure warm chicken salad. With soft dough breadsticks and fresh mixed vegetables smothered in a sweet honey and mustard sauce, it's great if you're after a less stodgy dinner.

I obviously opted for pizza. I never not opt for pizza if it's on the menu. This time I decided to sample the La Regina. A white béchamel base topped with smoked ham hock, juicy black olives, chestnut mushrooms and gooey buffalo mozzarella. The pizza was then finished with a generous drizzle of black truffle oil. Having a tomato free base was something a little different to what I'm used but I was fast converted after a few slices. I loved the rich sauce alongside the salty ham - such a good combination!

Of course, no meal out is complete without a cheeky dessert. The Eton Mess Cheesecake immediately caught my eye and I didn't even have to look at the rest of the menu. The strawberry swirl cheesecake was just the right amount of sweetness and the meringue topping finished it off to a tee. If you have a sweet tooth, this is more than enough to give you your fix! My mum decided to plump for the Honeycomb Cream Slice. Oh man, the layer of salted caramel between the cheesecake and the base was divine. Sweet and salt is just a perfect combination right? I may or may not have finished this off when my mum couldn't eat anymore...

Thanks for such a lovely evening out Pizza Express!

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Why you should do things that terrify you

The comfort zone. It's a lovely little place where you can cruise along at a nice, safe speed and have complete control of your life. But it's also freaking boring.  If everyone only ever stayed in their comfort zone, life wouldn't be as half as exciting.

When I was offered the once in a lifetime trip to road trip around the state of Illinois back in March, I could hardly believe my luck. I got to call that work? But there was a part of me that nearly passed it on to someone else in the team. I was going to have to spend over a week with people I didn't know, in a place I'd never been and it would require me to be on top form the entire time. In fact, I had such trouble sleeping the night before because I was so worried it was all going to be a disaster. As an only child I relish in my own company. Don't get me wrong, I love socialising and meeting new people. But I love nothing more then shutting myself off from the outside world and sitting in my own thoughts. After I went to Glastonbury - despite it being one of the best experiences of my life -, I had to be by myself for a good few days afterwards because I was exhausted at being in other people's company that I didn't know. Other only children will probably be able to relate! But saying yes to that US trip was one of the best things I've ever said. I can't even put into words how incredible that trip was. It sounds cheesy but I discovered things about myself that didn't realise I could do. I came back feeling so proud that I managed to travel to and from another country in one piece. Considering I once left my passport in Boots at Gatwick Airport!

I still remember the very first time I went to a blog event on my own without knowing anyone who was going to be there. Once again I very nearly pulled out when the blogger I was meant to meet up with couldn't go. But I put on my best smiling face, rocked up and made it my mission to chat to the very first person I came across. I was absolutely petrified inside - what if everyone thought I was a complete moron and they couldn't think of anything worse then chatting to me? But I did it and thought on the tube home about how much I got out of the evening because I didn't have one person to hide behind.

You only get one life. It'll be no good if you get to 90 and look back wishing that you took a tight, firm hold of everything that came your way. You want look back at the past and remember all the incredible things you got to do along the way. No one ever had a good story to tell by staying in their comfort zone. Try something that absolutely terrifies you and grab every opportunity with both hands.

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