Life as of Late.

How is it that October is very nearly over? Sometimes a pause button is needed to take in the best of times, that would be pretty nifty.

Uni friends and I visited the Tim Walker exhibition going on at Somerset House, whilst we were there the ice rink was being set-up for Christmas...already plan on going back to the exhibition (which lasts til January) and having a little skate too.

Jack celebrated his 21st birthday, he's now an old man I keep telling him hehe.  It's crazy to think he's 21 when we became friends way back when we were 14, as my friends would put it #thatshitcray

My uni town has some pretty cute, old-school sweet shops, and these scrummy blueberry bon bons got me through a very long Monday.

Ran for the train without realising my hair was still in pigtails, thought I was getting strange looks, but I kinda like it.

This shamefully may have happened during the week when I had ran out of bowls to use and was in a bit of a rush, student life right there haha.

An amazingly cute jar of marshmallows that my mum included in her charity fundraising tombola, sadly I didn't win, would have looked awesome in my kitchen.

Well hasn't the weather just been charming this week? I had never seen fog stick around throughout the entire the day before.

Defeated by monstrous burgers at Jack's birthday lunch at The Picture House; monstrous yet delicious  all the same.

One of Jack's presents included a huge jar of 21 of each of his favourite sweets, it went down very well . This is a perfect, thoughtful gift if you're looking for something cheap and cheerful.

Walking through an autumnal tunnel to my parents, one of the best parts of the season has to be crunchy leaves beneath your feet.

First ever trip to Harrods, can I please live there? It's just so quaint and ridiculously charming, if only I had thousands to spend.

It took all my strength to resist buying anything from this lovely little bakery in Knightsbridge, the lemon drizzle looked especially appetising. 

A little bit of print clashing for London town, outfit post to come soon.

My only purchase in Harrods was this tiny, chocolate pizza for Jack, thought it was pretty damn quirky and within my price range haha. Topped with honeycomb and fudge.

Booked tickets to see Skyfall and Mr James Bond definitely did not disappoint, a must-see, if not obvious already haha.

<3

Perfect Evenings.

Hello there strangers! I know, I'm actually the one being the stranger, with starting university this week I haven't had the internet to blog. Boo. But we have now set-up the internet and it's getting switched on next Friday, and for the mean time I'm back in my home town stealing the boyfriend's wi-fi. So before doing anything else I wanted to complete my holiday posts, even if Summer does feel like a distant memory. Autumn has well and truly put it's foot down right? There's that crisp, fresh smell in the air and the hot chocolate addiction has been unleashed for the season -make mine topped with cream with a side of shortbread.

crop top H&M skirt M&S bag The Bridge Company via charity shop shoes New Look

dress Republic

dress Topshop shoes New Look

dress Pull and Bear clutch Topshop sandals New Look

playsuit charity shop bag Accessorize via charity shop belt charity shop sandals America (apologies for the b/room door being open)

It was rather lovely being able to dress up for dinner with Jack, every night felt like date night, and he even he got into the swing of smartening up. 

I'll try to resume to my usual blogger self asap, I miss reading through blogs and taking outfit snaps. Hope you're well and September is treating you all well, the month of new beginnings quite often.

Birthday Weekend.

Hey all! How are you? I spent the beautiful weekend celebrating my 20th eeek! It was an absolute gem of birthday, and I've been completely spoilt throughout. One very happy, lucky girl right now hehe. I just still can't believe I'm 20 years old, I have no idea how I got here so fast!

I was able to stretch the celebrations across the whole weekend, cramming in lots of different things with family and friends. Hence the reason I haven't posted in a few days, so apologies lovelies, but I have been taking ridonculous amounts of photos to show you all!

I love cards. Buying cards, sending cards, receiving cards. So lovely. I ended up with 20 for my 20th woop. 

Presents from Jack. He was naughty and got me Erika Ray-Bans (in love with them) as well as a gorgeous clutch from Toppers and tickets to Thorpe Park. In my friends' words 'He's a keeper.' <3

Oh, Lola by Marc Jacobs, from my parents. My first proper perfume ever, now I feel so grown up. It smells so good!

Some sweet, girly gifts from friends and family.

They know me too well, chocs and biscuits. Sugar monster

I liked the array of colours and gift wrap, the 'Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake' is definitely going up on my wall haha.

 And forgive me, for the rest of the photos are on instagram, it was just easier to grab my phone at most times. Hope you don't mind!

# the Stealth ride at Thorpe Park#Jack and I#cute cupcakes my mum's boss made# my sister made me a birthday jelly#I was getting rather excited about my Ray-Bans#squished cupcake#yep, my parents surprised me with a bouncy castle at my birthday bbq#getting silly crunk#thr dogs are treated like people in our house#bit of poker with the fam#shopping in LDN with the girls#Muma and I#tickets#pear and raspberry cider mm#the most scrummy brunch at The Breakfast Club in Spitalfields#

I feel rather shattered now after all the excitement, think it's time to chill in the sunshine and catch up on some blog reading.  Happy sunny Monday! <3

p.s more to come in the form of birthday outfits and shopping hauls.

If in doubt, wear stripes and lipstick.

 Last night was date night; dinner and le cinema. I didn't really feel like dressing up too much, and thought the lipstick was a good substitute. And like a majority of girls, stripes are my go-to when I just can't decide, these particular stripes are a recent charity shop bargain. I'm not really feeling the hot pants trend, but these little denim ones look great with tights, I wouldn't dare wear them without though. How do you feel about short shorts?

top Miss Selfridge via charity shop shorts Miss Selfridge belt Charity shop bag Charity shop necklace Boot fair lipstick Rimmel 

We went to see '21 Jump Street' , it's so good! And I'm developing a soft spot for Channing Tatum, after seeing both this film and 'The Vow'...shhh don't tell the boyfriend haha.

Stay dandy <3 Sam

Apple of my Eye.

Hey hey hey, hope you are all having a good week. And have stuffed your faces with pancakes. My brain forgot to remind me to take photos, how annoying. But any who, happy belated pancake day. What was your chosen topping? My sister and I had to improvise with pineapple juice when we realised we had no lemons! So pineapple and sugar was my first, chocolate and strawberries my second...mmmm they were so good!

 And after the pancake feast, I decided to give up biscuits for lent. BISCUITS, what a silly idea. As somebody quickly reminded me, tea will never be the same (well, 'never' being a slight exaggeration of 40 days). And being a sugar monster, this will be hard. Keep posted to see if I can do it!

This is what I wore to le cinema last night, Wednesdays are THE day to go to the cinema. And consequently, more often then none our date night of the week, so I can get all dressed up woo. The Woman in Black is so very jumpy, I literally did the two handed nail bite pose at one point.

lipstick Bourjois blazer charity shop, no label striped vest Topshop  apple shorts Debenhams watch charity shop

I love these shorts, I've had them since Summer but haven't worn them much, but the shape is really flattering (yay for the flat tum illusion). The print is great too! The classic black blazer is having a revival moment too, after being rolled up under forgotten clothes for a while.

Apples and Stripes.
nail varnish Topshop in Gone Fishing Mint

You may have noticed a fair bit of my wardrobe is from charity shops, I love charity shops! I have shopped in them since I can remember, and always find little gems. They are like an Aladdin's cave. Planning on doing a weekly posts on charity shop finds, so keep your eye out :) 

Now I am off to have some biscuit-less tea. Stay dandy in the unexpected sunshine, Sam <3

A Happy Valentine.

Yesterday was the day of all things love, and a day that I feel every girl secretly wants to look that extra bit pretty if you know what I mean? Yes, I fall for the hearts and pink cliché too, hmmph.

dress French Connection via charity shop cardigan Topshop belt a shop in Germany tights Miss Selfridge boots Zara

pearl Accessorize heart locket Angels boutique pear Past Times
(turns out they are all presents from friends too)

My boyfriend and I opted for the cinema, and then dinner. The film was great! But being the classy couple we are, take out pizza at home just sounded so much better, especially as it was buy one get on free haha. It was actually a perfect valentine's, especially as I wasn't really expecting much because Jack is an advocate of the day being a huge money making bore. Booooo!

So I was surprised when he turned up with these :)

I also tried to be lovingly thoughtful...my hair down because that's how Jack likes it the most, minimal make-up with a flick of eye liner because Jack likes that too, pink varnish because it's valentine's and everything should be pink because that's the colour Jack likes my nails and a plait to the side because plaits just seem romantic don't they?

Anywho, what did you all do on Valentine's? Thanks for reading, Stay dandy. Sam xx