Saturday on the farm: A lifestyle post.

Hello

Today we visited a little farm near our home in Hampshire and thought I would share some of our family photos from our freezing but lovely day out with you guys.

Today we had a lovely day out at Millers ark farm which is just on the outskirts of Basingstoke. Although the weather is still absolutely freezing we really wanted to get out for some Saturday fresh air. We have visited Millers ark before during the last spring lambing season and we really enjoyed cuddling the new babies. As it's lambing season again we were really excited to return again this year.

As you can see from our family pictures, the farm allows a lot of interaction with the animals. Every pen had a staff member ushering you in to stroke, hold and brush the animals. This has to be our favourite part as most farms don't allow you to do this. This constant interaction makes the animals extremely friendly and tame, preventing those tears when animals have a little nip.

After all the excitement and a thorougher hand scrub, we visited the lovely heated barn they had for a sausage bap and cake. The food was so welcome as our hands were slightly frozen by this point but overall we had a really lovely day. Definitely recommend a visit if you are ever around the area.

What I wore today

Dress: New look

Cardigan: Primark

Boots: Primark

Coat: F&F

Belt: Primark 

Hope you liked our pictures. We had a lot of fun cuddling some baby animals. How have you been spending your weekend? 

Gem xx

I belong with you... : An out fit post.

Skirt Topshop/ Vest Primark / Tights Primark / Cardigan H&M / Collar Primark / Boots Primark/ 

Hello ♥

Happy Monday. Today me and the family are having a bit of lazy day due to horrible sickness but are still trying to have a productive day. As it is snowing here in Hampshire (again!) i thought i would take some pictures outside. Although a pain in the arse, snow is actually really pretty and makes great photos. I found this red skater skirt hiding in my wardrobe with the label still attached this morning so I thought it is about time i wore it. I love wearing a pop of colour with black. It just makes a simple outfit stand out. 

What are you all up to today? 

Gem x

What to wear on a date, day or night.

Hello ♥

Today is the first day i become a more organised and routine blogger as you may have seen from my previous post. Every Wednesday i am planning on posting hit and tips on  'What to wear' . Today i have chosen to help you with some ideas on what to wear on a date. With Valentine's day coming up, i thought this was the perfect time to write this up.  I have put together a couple of affordable outfit ideas to match the different types of dates you may go on. 

Miso Flower Blouse £30 Republic/ Crafted PU mini skirt £30 Republic / Shoes £27 Charlotte Russe / Clutch £20 Miss Selfridge/ Rose earrings £6.35 Mod Cloth/ Heart key pendant £5 Republic

Maxi skirt £25 River Island / Vest £25 Zolando / Blazer £50 Topshop / Sandals £38 Blowfish at Zappos / Trilby £20 Fat Face/ 

Black quilted biker £39.50 Dorothy Perkins / Tweed Skater dress £50 A-wear/ Riding boots £25 New Look/ Fur scarf £7.00 Dorothy Perkins/ 

Peplum £25 Lipsy / Disco Pants £28 Republic / Wedges £24.99 New Look / Clutch £14.50 Rare London/ 

Black lace body con dress £32 River Island / Heels £48 dsw.com / Bracelet (Part of a set) £8.50 Miss Selfridge / Clutch bag £12.99 New Look /

I hope this post gave you some ideas on what to wear on a special date, day or night. What are your plans this Valentines day? 

Gem x

My top three wedding outfits for 2013

Hello ★

Today i have been spending some time trawling the web for wedding outfits for the upcoming wedding season. I have a few to go to this year, including my sisters in the summer, where i will be her bridesmaid. Eek so excited. Also we are planning on arranging our boys to be christened around august time. So much shopping to do! I have narrowed down my favourite shop as Phase Eight. Their dresses and accessories are so elegant. Its about time i started dressing more lady like at my age. Below are my favourite three outfits i have put together from this store. Each completely different. Which one is your favourite?

Pretty in Pink

Dress £140/ Necklace £30/ Fascinator £59 / Clutch bag £49 / Bow peep toe shoes £99 / All Phase Eight/

Vintage Bell

Blenheim print dress in the sale for £65 / Fascinator £59 / Sling back shoes £99 / All Phase Eight/ 

A little bit of Dita

Polly wrap dress £79 / Hair clip £25 / Clutch bag £49 All three from Phase Eight / Mary Jane platforms £25 ASOS

Lace collars: An out fit post.

Dress £14 Primark 

Chelsea boots Primark

Belt Primark 

My Ebay spring wish list

White shirt / Topshop black jacket / Kitten heels / Blue handbag / Stackable ring, £28 / Heart necklace, £115 / Bib necklace //

Hello ★

I have been a bit of an on line shopping addict lately and on a number of occasions had to tell my husband to hide my card from me. I decided to now wait until the weather warms up to start buying my spring wardrobe and thought I'd do a little wish list of the products i really want for my wardrobe.  

Firstly the studded cowboy boots are something i have been desperate for for a long time now. I have seen many bloggers wearing them and really add a bit of 90s grunge to an outfit. A trend which i am loving right now. The ones featured above are £24.99 and also come in tan. 

The leopard print shirt is just amazing. Anything with cats and a collar, i fall head over heels. This shirt will be great for the spring as it is light weight while covering the arms. I love the price too, £11.34 or $17.99 with free shipping. Actually i can't wait, I'm buying it.. Expect to see it in an outfit post soon. 

The leather jacket was big for autumn winter but i am yet to buy one myself. I love how this one has a fur collar. It is by Topshop but unfortunately has now ended on eBay. I know i shouldn't of featured it but I still want a leather jacket for spring hence being on the wish list. 

This spring/ summer, pastels are set to be the colour of the season. At the moment i am loving mint green. I came across one in Asos a while ago but was far too expensive. Whenever i see something i want but cant afford i always go to Ebay looking for a cheaper version. I found this 'Pippa Middleton' Modalu bag but costs a whopping £145. So lovely but will have to stay on my wishlist till i win the lottery. Also keeping with the pastels theme, i found a cute sterling silver love heart necklace . This is another disappointing expensive find that will only be a wish, costing £115. 

Hope you are enjoying your Tuesday? 

Gem x

A very Casual Sunday

Happy Sunday ★

Sunday really is my favourite day of the week although it would be so much better if we didn't have those bad feelings, knowing Monday is tomorrow. Our Sunday was spent going on a lovely long walk with the dog followed by a coma inducing beef stew and our homemade double chocolate cake. The perfect meal to warm us up. Yesterday i had hoped that the snow would melt a little enabling us to get our car to the supermarket for food but mother nature decided to release more snow on us today. Good for my diet i suppose. The rest of the day has been spent having many snow ball fights in the garden followed by a harry potter film marathon.

My outfit that I am wearing today consists of my favourite winter essential from Animal. It is a lovely plum wool skater style dress. Really warm and appropriate for today. I brought it a few years ago in the sale for around £15. I brought the coat from Ebay but is from Florence and Fred and the bracelets and necklace are from Salt rock.

How have you been spending your sunday?

Gemx

The t-shirt that everyone has.

Hello. ★

A quick blog post for you today. Just received this lovely T-shirt in the post and wanted to show it to you guys.

Yes, I have gone and jumped on the Geek t-shirt bandwagon. At first i hated this latest trend for the slogan "GEEK" t-shirts that everyone seemed to be wearing. However I just couldn't resist buying one for myself. I am actually a massive out and proud 'Geek', playing world of war craft and putting most of my free time on Internet.  I hate myself for going against my own style rules by being a 'sheep' , fashion trend jumper. There is nothing worse than going out and seeing ten other people in the same clothes. So, because of this fear, this T-shirt is only going to worn for the gym, lazing around the house or covered under a jumper. This bottle green version is not the Topshop version but a cheaper version brought on eBay for £10.  Although i wont be showing it off to much, I just for some reason needed one. ♥

The AF Bloggers Budget Challenge: Valentines Edition

Hello ♥

Yesterday i heard about a little blogger challenge over on The Agoraphobic Fashionistas blog. I can't resist a challenge. 

The Bloggers challenge is to find their perfect red dress for under £20 and then to write a post on what they have brought. I have got this entry up quickly because i already had been and brought my 'valentines' dress a week before i heard about this. Is that cheating? 

Anyway this is my lovely beaded neck skater dress brought from boohoo.com. I saw this featured in Look magazine and snapped it up straight away. I have however just realised it cost £22. A couple of pounds over the budget. Not too much though. They are still in stock and also come in Black. 

I was attracted to the cut of the dress and seem to only buy skater or empire cut dresses. I am a pear shaped, wide hipped girl so skater dresses are perfect for covering up my insecurities. The beaded collar really adds something special to the dress and defiantly saves on fussing over a necklace to wear.

Like this dress? Here is the link again: Tia Beaded neck skater dress.
Fancy having a go at the AF Bloggers challenge: Valentines edition? Visit theagoraphobicfashionista.blogspot.co.uk for more information. Hope you like my dress even though it is £2 over budget.

Gem x

Wearing Neon. Yes or no?

Hello ♥

So it looks like neon is going to be back for spring/ summer 2013. To be honest i think it will always be around especially during the warmer months. There is nothing like adding a bit colour into your look to match the cheerfulness of summer. 

I am very guilty of matching my wardrobe to my mood and to the weather. I wear a lot of deep colours such as reds, burgundies, browns and greys in the autumn, in the winter i seem to lean towards black, and then as soon as spring/ summer arrives you will see me wearing a lot of pastels and bright colours. Although i tend not to put myself in head to toe colour but instead to add a bit of colour pop to to my look. For example if i am wearing blue jeans and a casual white top, i like to add a neon belt or a coloured clutch/ handbag. I added a little example of this below, which shows how to follow the neon trend and still wear a simple LBD just by adding a few accessories. 

Neon - Turn Off the Lights! by latoyacl featuring cork handbags

This season i fancy being brave and treating myself to a pair of colour pop jeans like the ones below. I love these and think these will be gorgeous with a little white vest and sandals. I also fancy treating to myself to a mint green pair. Mint green is defiantly my favourite colour at the moment. The jeans cost a whopping £140 from mytheresa.com but most high street shops stock jeans of a similar nature.

Magic by asya-1 featuring travel handbags

I am also loving colour pop neon skirts. When i saw this one i fell in love although I'm not to sure i will be brave enough to wear it or if it will suit my pale skin. May have to get a few spray tans for it to look any good on me. This beautiful neon number is a bargain £16 from allyfashion.com although sadly i think it has now sold out. 

Think Neon! by bklana featuring black shoes

So what do you think? will you be adding neon to your wardrobe? will you go head to toe in this trend or are you like me and like to add a few neon accessories?

 Gem x

What I wore on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you had a great time with family and friends. Me and my family had a wonderful day and were very spoilt. Think I ate too much but that's what makes Christmas. What did you all get for Christmas? Leave me a comment below, I'm a nosey little blogger! I got some lovely makeup, lady Gaga's perfume, a vintage radio and many more. I will upload a post on all my presents soon.  

Yesterday we spent all day at home as the British weather is awful at the moment. I still made a slight effort though in dressing up for the occasion. I wore a silky red dress from Topshop (brought last year) with my black tights. In my ear is a cuff from Topshop, and I'm wearing Red lipstick from Rimmel. Please excuse the blurry pictures. After twenty attempts of getting my son to take my picture this was the best one.

 

 

Barratts Christmas Giveaway.

Today, I was excited to receive another email telling me about an exciting giveaway. This time it was from Barrats shoes asking me if I was interested in entering their giveaway that they were holding.

The Prize is in two parts and worth £100.

The first part of a £30 giveaway is over on Kel Loves blog. <go and say hi.

The second part is worth £70 and is open to bloggers only. To enter this giveaway, you have to create an outfit post for a festive occasion. The outfits should be designed to fit one of a range of Christmas situations which can be either:

*A walk in a winter wonderland
* Christmas party
* A shopping Outfit
*Christmas day outfit
* Or anything else festive you can think of.

The clothing can come from any website you choose, but the shoes must come from Barratts. Also, don't forget Barratts have their own range or bags and accessories, so you can also use these in your outfits!

Since i have already created a party outfit, I thought i would do a long day of Christmas shopping outfit:

Christmas sweater, £63 / Black skirt, £48 / Studded handbag, £25 / River Island / Winter photography Snow photography Woodland forest Minimalism..., £25 / Tuxedo Black Artificial Christmas Tree For Sale - Treetopia / Faux Pony Leather Collar, £28 / christmas, £13 / New Arrivals | Hot Topic, £12 / Christmas Tree Pattern Socks

For my Long Shopping Day outfit I wanted to make sure the outfit would be completely comfortable, shoes being the most important ones. I tried wearing heels once on a long shopping trip and had to be helped home by my poor friend. Never again! 

I chose a pair of simple black Creepers that cost a bargain price of £25.00. Feel these look amazing and are so cosy on your feet.

The rest of the outfit comes from the wonderful topshop. I found a stunning Christmas holly jumper for £50, and paired it with a cute leather skirt. I have also added a ox blood collar which costs £22.00 to add a little more style and detail.  I chose a cross body bag which is ideal to free up those hands so you can carry more shopping bags! Finally, I had to add a cute Christmas pudding beanie I found in River Island. It costs £15.99 and found it to be such a cute little find.

Hope you like the outfit.
Gem