Today I thought I'd try something new, so after fiddling around in the Polyvore creator for half an hour I came up with the (somewhat unoriginal) idea of doing a series of 'how to styles'. This essentially does what it says on the tin, in that I style a particular type of clothing item each time, hopefully in a variety of inspiring - or at least mildly interesting - ways. I'm starting with patterned shorts, purely because it's summer.

1. My number one rule when styling patterned bottoms, whether skirts, shorts or trousers, is to keep it plain on the top - unless you're looking to live on the edge by combining patterns, which can go disastrously wrong if not done skilfully. Hence why I've paired these gorgeous jungle print-cum-tapestry shorts with a simple cream blouse. The shoes more or less match the shorts in terms of colour, while the bag adds a different shade to the palette. 

2. This outfit is a little more 'edgy', because of the beret if nothing else. The bold primary colours complement each other as the pattern of the shorts picks them up in a subtle way. I love the velvety texture of the top and the high neck, even though personally I would find it irritating to wear. To be honest I don't know which decade of fashion this would fall into, but I feel it has a distinctly 70s vibe, as it reminds me of something my mum might have sported in her teenage years.

3. By all means keep it plain on the top, but plain doesn't have to mean a cotton tank top - this shiny silver strappy top works perfectly well to complement the tones of the shorts. Metallics aren't always the easiest to wear as you can easily miss the casual mark and look like you're on your way to a disco, but it's never a bad thing to experiment.

4. You can never go wrong with combining neutral tones as they don't necessarily have to match, so these shoes, bag and top work well together (I think). I love the pattern of the shorts, it's kind of an earthy paisley print that makes me want to run into a pile of crispy autumn leaves.

Thanks for reading!

x

I had my last exam yesterday, which means this is officially the first day of the summer holidays for me! I still have to go back to school for graduation next week, but I'm really looking forward to that actually - I'll probably do a really emotional post about leaving school behind blah blah blah. Now that I have more time on my hands, I can dedicate a lot more of it to blogging and hopefully come up with some interesting and creative ideas for posts. Having said that, I'm proud that I managed to more or less keep blogging through the entirety of the exam period!

Today I wanted to talk a bit about a fashion/lifestyle newsletter I signed up to a month or so ago, the Newsette. Someone on Polyvore sent me a message asking me to check it out, so I googled it and easily found the website.

It basically does what it says on the tin: it's a newsletter with four main parts (things to do, things to know, best pics on instagram and some sort of list of tips or must-have items) that is completely free of charge and drops into your inbox every day. 

The first section is short and generally comprises a link to another website, and ranges from anything from frizz-resistant hairstyle ideas to how to eat healthy at Dunkin' Donuts. This is followed by a few somewhat frivolous news items, mostly to do with celebrities, viral news stories or videos, or general current events, each with a link to find out more if the brief summary catches your attention. The 'best pics on Instagram' section is a nice visual element, often featuring well-known bloggers such as Kristina Bazan (who seems to be featured in every other edition). The last section is a bit more miscellaneous, including features such as music awards highlights, fashion must-haves, tips for flawless skin, smmer bucket lists, hairstyles, most buzzed about beauty products and lots more. You can find examples of past issues on the 'archives' section of the website.

Basically, the Newsette is the ultimate accessory reading material for your typical Starbucks-going American girl: it comes straight to your smartphone 'before you grab your morning latte'. It's light-hearted, fun, takes about a minute to scan through and gives you a few little windows into the worlds of fashion, makeup and the internet. Given it's completely free I think it's worth a quick sign up, just for the knowledge that something short and sweet will drop into your inbox every day.

The only actual criticism I have is that it's so American-orientated: mine arrives mid afternoon, which roughly corresponds to early to late morning in the States, which isn't a problem in itself but the whole 'before you grab your morning latte' is slightly redundant. I think it would be a nice idea if each subscriber could set their time zone and receive the newsletter when they want.

All in all I'm glad I took a couple of seconds to sign up to the Newsette - click here to go to the website for more information.

Recently I was casually browsing the Urban Outfitters website (read: procrastinating revision) and I got completely sucked into their 'apartment' section and particularly the decor. I know the majority of it is overpriced and I could probably achieve the same effect myself with a little DIY, or find similar items for much cheaper at vintage markets - but I can't help my inner tumblr girl loving every bit of it.

I do still really like the way my room is decorated at the moment (it's white and dark pink with white furniture), but I did it back when I was 12 or 13 so I think if I could completely redecorate it now I would probably do it very differently. One day I'd like to live in a space with whitewashed exposed brick and wood floors, just very simple and clean with pops of colour - so with that in mind, here are my top picks from the decor section:

 Travel Scratch Map, $24

I saw this in the Urban Outfitters store here in Belgium a while ago and desperately wanted one, but when I made myself think practically I realised I don't actually have any spare wall space in my room, since I have built in cupboards, shelves, sloping ceilings etc. But my room at uni will be another story, so I may well pick up one of these this summer before I go.

Magical Thinking Menageri Medallion Tapestry $49

This screams hippie chic tumblr like nothing else but I love it. Purple is my favourite colour and as you may have seen in this post, I've recently discovered a liking for orange so colour-scheme wise this is beyond perfect.

Macaron Box $10

Are these not the most precious, beautifully pastel and iridescent but also massively overpriced little boxes you've ever seen? They're the trinket boxes to trump all trinket boxes and I want all of the colours.

Invisible Book Shelf $16

These are so simple but would look really cool with the right books against the right background. I've actually acquired a lot of bigger, non-fiction books lately so these would be ideal for displaying them. 

Painted Woodblock Wall Shelf $49

I really, really love this. It's so artsy and chic I just can't get over it! The colours of the drawers are subtle but make it look really interesting and thrify, especially with the different drawer knobs. I imagine this is the kind of thing to have in your hallway to hang coats and accessories on, but it would work just as well in a bedroom.

Reclaimed Wood Chalkboard $49

This is similar in style to the previous item but I love the chalkboard element - so useful for writing messages and to-do lists on. The overall vibe is so zen, even though it looks like it's been taken right out of a 1940s schoolroom. 

Magical Thinking Pyramid Shelf $129

Velvet and tassels are all I need in a cushion. I'm picturing a couple of these, perhaps in purple and blue too, all spread out on a sofa in front of the tapestry I talked about above - the perfect zen den.

Magical Thinking Una Curtain $49

There's something witchy about these curtains and I am all about it. The pattern also looks a little bit like a cross between constellations and a kind of geometric print, which I think works surprisingly well.

So that is what I would buy from Urban Outfitters if I had an empty room to furnish and at least $450 to spare, not to mention the cost of actual furniture like tables and chairs and a bed. But never say never, since maybe when I get my own place I'll be able to create my dream space!

x

1. School day

Mia goes to Albert Einstein High School in New York City, and the uniform is described on a couple of occasions as being blue and gold in colour - here's the blue, anyway. Books, pencils, a sturdy backpack and sensible school shoes are all essentials for surviving the school day, especially when you have to go straight from school to princess lessons in the afternoon.

2. Royal engagement

Naturally I had to include some princess-wear here, so this is my take on the pink poufy dress Mia's cousin designs for her to impress her long term crush (and best friend's brother) Michael Moscovitz. Mia isn't the most natural princess, so I feel like she would have benefitted from The Girl's Book of Glamour. A tiara completes the outfit.

3. At the loft

When she's not at school or learning to be a princess, Mia likes to wear her overalls and trusty Dr Martens, and write in her diary. She gets a mobile phone of her very own for her 15th birthday from her parents (bear in mind this book was published in 2001), so I've included a brick here. Notice the detail of the snowflake necklace, a present from Michael also for her 15th birthday which symbolises the Winter Dance when they first declared their feelings for each other.

4. Party at the Moscovitzs'

This is quite a specific reference: in the seventh book Michael throws a party while his parents are out of town, but Mia worries she isn't enough of a 'party girl'. She turns up to a party in quite an uncharacteristic outfit, drinks a beer, and naturally the whole evening ends in disaster. The beret deserves a special mention.

Bonjour,

Well well well, another book haul... Since I have SO MANY unread books I did kind of ban myself from buying any more until the end of the summer at least, but that quickly went out the window when a sudden desperate need to get out of the house and away from studying coincided with the biannual charity booksale at the English shop nearish to where I live.

I can usually happily spend a few hours scanning the crates of books for interesting titles, but it was so unbearably hot that I decided to call it a day after barely an hour. I still left with a considerable stack though! They're priced at 1€ per cm which is really quite excellent as you can get thinner books for a euro, and it all goes to charity anyway.

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

The blurb of The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite begins with the sentence 'decadent, tantalizing Berlin in a Germany torn apart by war at the turn of the twentieth century...' - honestly, what more could you want from a book? That alone won me over, but the actual plot looks interesting too: it's about an illegitimate orphaned girl who finds herself in the glamorous motion picture world and becomes a silent film star. I'm feeling a bit of a Valley of the Dolls vibe, but I could be totally wrong there.

Daughter of Fortune was kind of a spur of the moment buy in a 'is it historical fiction?' *grabs and adds to pile* kind of way, but I think I'll probably enjoy this. It's set in Chile in the 1830s and it's described as a 'rich adventure story', which is never a bad thing. I don't think I've actually read anything by Isabel Allende but I understand it she's meant to be a tip-top historical fiction writer so I'm totally up for this.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Memoirs of a Geisha is one of those books that has always been inexplicably on the edge of my literary knowledge, along with books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Brave New World, neither of which I have read. I just feel like I've been aware of them for a long time, but never really bothered to find out much about. Anyway, the point is that I immediately recognised the title and decided I may as well bite the bullet and give it a try. The story seems pretty straightforward in that the title says it all, but I'm interested to see how it's executed.

Oh look... Could it possible be yet another Tudor historical fiction novel? I admit I picked this up purely because it has the word 'queen' in the title, and was filled with joy when I realised it's about Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. She's probably the one of his wives that I have the least number of books on, so of course I had to get this.

The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein

The Girl with the Painted Face by Gabrielle Kimm

My friend Elisha recommended The Moth Diaries to me a couple of years ago and I mentally added it to my 'to-buy' list, so I was thrilled to spot it. So far it's the only one from this lot that I've started, and I'm planning to review it when I've finished so I won't say too much here!

I picked up The Girl with the Painted Face because I read the title as The Girl with the Pearl Earring at first, which happens to be one of my favourite books. But this is set in Italy in 1582 and the main character is Sofia Genotti, a seamstress falsely accused of theft who joins a troupe of travelling actors to avoid being destitute. I think this appealed to me initially because I was still slightly in the English/theatre/acting zone from my exams but I know I will enjoy this a lot.

The Dark Heart of Florence by Michele Giuttari

The Duchess by Amanda Foreman

I spotted The Dark Heart of Florence at the absolute last minute and I'm glad I did because I'm planning on collecting all the books in this series. I have the second already (and I did a review of it here) and I loved it so I'd really like to get them all and read them in order. Set in Italy in the early 2000s, the series is written by the ex-head of the Florence Police Force Michele Giuttara, who manages to pack his books full of really authentic detail.

I have to be honest, I only picked up The Duchess because I was on the lookout for books with 'queen' and 'king' in the title, and I'm regretting it slightly because I'm fairly sure it's not actually fiction. I probably should have realised that from the blurb which reads slightly differently from your average historical fiction novel, but I saw the words 'a world of decadence and excess' and 'passionate but doomed love' and automatically added it to my pile. Either way, it does redeem itself slightly as it's signed by the author, which I always think is pretty cool. Whether I actually get round to reading this remains to be seen, but at least my collection of signed copies of books has grown by one.

Please excuse the lame title, I've been studying maths and biology all day so my creativity is at an all time low. Anyway. The other day while procrastinating and looking through old photos I rediscovered an entire folder of shots I had long forgotten, taken on my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition back in May 2013 while hiking round the Belgian Ardennes.

As usual, I had designated myself chief photographer and proceeded to take photos of pretty much everything - but for some reason I can't quite explain I had a personal mission to photograph as many crosses, chapels, churches, graveyards, cemeteries etc. as I could possibly find. This meant quick detours into neglected cemeteries while the others had a much needed break, and mad dashes up unnecessary hills to get a shot of a particular cross.

I really don't know what it is about religious monuments and buildings - I'm not religious in the slightest, but I think they can be so beautiful in a kind of dilapidated, eerie way, and I wish I could find out the story behind each one I came across and why it was put there in the first place.

Anyway, I found these again recently and thought I may as well share a few of the better ones here, since after a little editing they came out quite well (one day I'll learn that good photography is not just adjusting the brightness and putting the contrast up to max, but that day is not today).

Every time exams roll round I get an overwhelming urge to spend a few hours clearing out my entire wardrobe, get rid of a lot of stuff and then go shopping and spend a lot of money. But sadly what with revision I really don't have the time to spare, so until I'm free from exams I have to resign myself to browsing websites and imagining what I would buy. So since summer is close-ish, here are my poolside/beachwear picks from New Look:

I find the problem with taking hats on holiday is that they always get destroyed in your suitcase, but if this one survived I'd probably wear it a lot! Hats are really good for keeping your book in the shade when reading in the bright sunshine, not to mention protecting your head from the sun

And that's what I'd buy from New Look if I had the time and money to go!

x