Wear the runway trend now...Bright whites at Louis Vuitton S/S12

Images via Style.com

As December fast approaches it's definitely time to get excited for Christmas and the holidays. Inspired by Louis Vuitton S/S bright white is a very hard trend to pull off, but with the festive party season coming up it's a trend that will look great in the cold winter months and will be a colour to pull out once Spring and Summer hits too.

TopShop crop top, Jack Wills skirt, Accessorize ring, River Island leather bag, H&M dress, Dorothy Perkins fur coat, New Look cut out dress, Mango trousers, Forever 21 bag, ASOS sandals

This Week...

1.This photo does not do justice to how adorable this dress is. I went to London on Monday for an interview and before I met up with a friend I headed up to Oxford Street and Regent Street for some window shopping. I popped into H&M and found this gorgeous star print dress, it fits like a dream but alas I'm awaiting pay day to buy it. Can't seem to find it on the H&M website though, but will probably post it as a wishlist item if I don't end up buying it soon. 

2.TopShop was as amazing looking as ever, loved the outfit on the mannequin in the middle. 

3.Settle down on my train with a hot chocolate and did some planning for my NaNoWriMo novel, I'm nearly there!

4.Caught a cold after London, so have spent most of the week with hot honey and lemon drinks and toast.

5.Bought this jumper today, very hipster-ish but I love it! [£14.99 from New Look]

I'm a bit more back on track this week and have managed to catch up on blogging, I'm also very much looking forward to the South Bloggers Meet Up next Saturday, should be good to meet everyone!

Wishlist Item...

Origami Necklace

'Gold Triceratops'

£98 from Anthtropologie

While in London waiting for my friend after my interview I circled round both Oxford Street and Regent Street. If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll have seen my mini-rave about Anthropologie. I've been on the website before and had browsed around but being in the store last Monday really renewed my love for it.  

While having a browse over the website again I found these little necklaces. This little Triceratops is part of the Origami necklace collection, isn't it adorable! And they have plenty of other cute animals too. 

If you ever find yourself in London, do head down to Regent Street and pop into Anthropologie and even if you don't end up buying anything it's a really beautiful store to get lost in.

Getting to the root of the problem: Why I need to stop worrying about my blog...

Image via Google

I thought I'd take a moment from my usual posting to talk about this big ol' world of blogging. Now I would classify myself as a hobbyist blogger, someone who does this whole posting thing for fun...for now at least. 
Because after signing up for the South Blogger's Meet-Up and actually mentioning my blog in interviews and CV's/Application Forms for placements, I'm seriously considering how much I value my blog and whether I can actually stand back and call it marketable. 


Which also makes me question how serious should I be taking this whole world of blogging?
Should I put it out there I'm looking for advertisers? Should I start using AdSense? How are my stats doing? How well am I networking? How much do I do to 'sell' my blog out online and in person? Is my content marketable and are people reading it? How much am I posting? Should I be looking for more blogging events to go to? And if I go to them do I have to make business cards? Because isn't that what my blog is becoming? A business?....
blah blah blah....
And this is when I start panicking. I start looking at other bloggers who have follower numbers in the hundreds and thousands and feel a little disappointed in my own blog. They say you should forget about all this, that views and follower counts mean nothing. But it's easier said then done. 
I'm not gonna lie I've been in a bit of a blogging funk the past week and the whole time I was worrying about what posts am I going to put out? Am I commenting and networking enough to warrant comments back? 


When I'm away from my blog I find myself worrying about it. Which hasn't been the best thing being back at University, upping my hours at my part-time job, socialising and also participating in NaNoWriMo this month. But I can't help it. It seems when I'm not blogging I'm thinking about 'whether I can take a photo or mention this on a post?'. It can drive a person up the wall. 

But last night I really had a stop and think about all this? Is it really worth the worrying? I remembered the initial reason I started up my blog, not to gain a revenue stream or have a massive following. But to just express myself, some of my first posts were about sharing experiences and writing about things I felt passionate about (at that time it was The Clothes Show and X Factor fashion lol what can I say :D). And I commented on other people's blogs because I wanted to not just so they might hit me up and comment back. 


Getting back to the main issue here and what I'm trying to say is it's fine to freak out a little bit. It's good to have a moment and think 'Oh good lord my blog is terrible' because it should refocus you. But after that initial freak out you need to step back and put it in the back of your mind. 
Sure it's nice to mention you have a blog and dream about one day making some money off it. 
But right now? I needed to step back and get back to what I really loved about blogging when I started nearly a year ago now. I loved writing about fashion. I still do, but since then I also found some other loves with art, music, design and even just the web itself. It was all about content that pleased myself at the beginning and nothing else. And it's the same for anyone else in a blogging funk. 
What do you really enjoy about this whole world of blogging? 
Is it the chance to express yourself, whether through fan-girling about something or having a moan? 
Then write, write, write.
Is it the interaction with other? Then go and take a trip away from your own blog and comment on other's posts. Whatever it is, just go out there and forget about numbers, forget about advertisers and forget about being professional and have fun. Worrying is going to do nothing except give me more frown lines, and God only knows I'm getting plenty of those from Uni as it is.


So breath deep with me fellow bloggers...Keep Calm, Freak Out....and then Carry On ;)

This Week...

1/2.What I wore: Dress [from the Clothes Show Live last year], Cardigan & Belt [New Look], Leggings [Primark], Boots [M&S], Necklace [DIY-ed]. I had a presentation on Monday so dress up a little nicer for Uni. 
3.Also felt like rocking my own version of 'model off-duty'. Fake leather jacket & scarf [New Look], T-shirt [Primark], Leggings [H&M], Necklace [Your Fashion Jewellery.com]
4.My NaNoWriMo novel so far....I'm so far off target it hurts =(
5.Chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream for my mum's birthday this week. 
6.What I'm currently doing now, prepping for an interview/trip up to London tomorrow morning...7am train ¬_¬
I'm not gonna lie but I've had a pretty rough week. My family received some really bad news and I've been trying to catch up with Uni work and deadlines too, so my blog has fallen by the way side. I have 3 days off this week so hopefully things will get back to normal and I can fit some more blogging into my schedule. Just gotta keep my chin up I suppose. 

Wishlist Item...

Reilly Dress

£249 from Jack Wills

While work today I started getting a longing feeling looking at all the festive dresses on the shop floor, to compensate I had a gander round the web and found this really pretty blue dress from Jack Wills. It's perfect for those Christmas (oops I said the 'C' word!) parties and can be warmed up with a leather jackets, tights and ankle booties. 

Gotta put this on my Christmas wishlist. 

This Week...

1. What I wore: Cardigan [Primark], T-shirt & necklace [Primark], Shorts [New Look], Boots [M&S]
2/3. It's been a pretty Uni-filled week so I've pretty much forgotten to take pictures [whoops!]. I wore this outfit on Thursday and it was surprisingly mega comfy. I haven't worn the shorts in months and have a new found love for them again :)
4. Got myself some pretty jewellery from New Look.
5. My NaNoWriMo notebook has been a lifesaver when I haven't had my netbook with me to type. 
6. My word count is at the time of writing this is 18k+....I am so behind ¬_¬ 
7. The one song getting me through this week <3 Glee and The Warblers ^_^

Inspired by...Paper Towns by John Green

Those who follow me on Twitter know that I'm participating in this year's NaNoWriMo event, where I have to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. It's a huge task but I'm currently at the 14k mark. Gotta keep powering on!
The reason I'm mentioning it is because I'm using the book Paper Towns by John Green for quotations and inspiration for one of my characters. 

"Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life–dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge–he follows.
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues–and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.
Paper Towns debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list and won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. It is taught in many high school and college curricular, often in conjunction with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which is an important text within the novel."

It's also one of my favourite books by a fantastic author [him and his brother Hank are also YouTube stars with their VlogBrothers channel], so I thought I'd do a 'Fashion Inspiration from the pages of...', focusing on the main female character, the infamous Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Margo in the book is described as having short brown hair and blue eyes, is fairly short with an explosive personality but is physically absent from a lot of the book. She is however ever present in the protagonist Quentin's mind. 

The only physical clues about a real Margo is on two book covers. Leaving my imagination to have a little fun with this feature

In my mind and coupled with John Green's descriptions of Margo's personality, her dress sense would be a mix of practical and indie fashion styles. Simple jeans and trainers are a must for Margo, as well as her 'Dark red-almost black' nail polish and Walt Whitman book. I can imagine her loving the 'Read & Riot' top too. 

And as for the backpack, well you'll have to read the book to find out why she needs that ;)

DSquared Jeans, 'Read & Riot' t-shirt, Fat Face hoodie, H&M Jeans, Nails Inc polish, Ked sneakers, Kain tank top, Walt Whitman book, Backpack

Wishlist Item...

Thakoon Addition

Asymmetric chunky knit over-sized sweater

£380 from Net-A-Porter

With the cold weather, tonnes of work and NaNoWriMo taking up my time the one item of clothing I'm finding myself reach for is my winter jumper. They're great to cuddle up in and definitely keep me comfortable sat in cold lecture theatres at 10am (or in the case of my sucky timetable 6pm in the evening ¬_¬ not cool Uni lol) 
Though I'm now the owner of a lush beige cable knit jumper this year, I'm still on the hunt for a decent, thick,  oversized knitted jumper to see me through the Winter months. But the current cold snap doesn't mean I have to shy away from colours and retreat into black and greys. The red of this Thakoon sweater already feels like it's warming me up just looking at it! The structure of the jumper is also enough to make it stand out and it would look brilliant with leggings. 

This Week...

1.What I wore: whole outfit from New Look for work. 
2.Then took it from day to night with my kimono cardigan from TK Maxx. 
3.The outfit change was for my sister's 12th birthday meal at Frankie and Benny's. Chicken Carbonara. Om Nom Nom!
4.A little shot of the park on my way home. So Autumnal. I love it!
5.What I wore from Bonfire Night: Boots, fake leather jacket and cable knit jumper [New Look], Necklace [Your Fashion Jewellery.com], Leggings [H&M]. 
6.Bonfire.
7.Firework fountains.
8.And sparklers, all while stuffing my face with hot dogs and toasted marshmallows made for a lovely evening  at my parent's friend's Bonfire Night at their house. 

Shake it out

When Uni work, actual work, placement searching, interviews, NaNoWriMo and general life becomes a little too much, I take comfort in the fact that a song can really calm me down and cheer me up.

'Shake it out' is the second single from Florence + the Machine's newest album, Ceremonials [which is amazing btw!] and I've had it on repeat when I'm feeling a little stressed out.

Not only a great song but how beautiful is the music video? All the ethereal dresses, Venetian masks and classic chic interiors all scream 'Florence + the Machine' 

I love it! 

Wishlist Item[s]...printed t-shirts

.1.2.3.4.5.

All from dELiAs.com

I'm such a sucker for printed t-shirt. They're so simple, they go with everything and when they're as cool as these why not have 20 in your wardrobe?! These are some of my favourites from dELiAs, but there are a tonne more on the website. 

I'm seriously considering buying the Hogwarts and Zoolander ones, but that's just me :) 

P.S. This post is dedicated to my little sister, also a big fan of nerdy printed t-shirts ;)

Happy 12th Birthday!