Weekends are never fun unless you're around here too

Wow... this weekend has been a scorcher! Makes me feel slightly better about the fact that I'm not going on a proper holiday when I can get just as burnt tanned here!

Me and my Cardies (my lovely old housemates from uni) all had a little day trip to Nottingham yesterday, it was great to spend a day just lounging around drinking cider and pimms by the canal (along with everybody else in the city).

The weather was definitely on our side, giving us an excellent excuse to buy an ice cream and go for a paddle in the fountains on Market Square... we were the only people over the age of about 9 in there but it was just what we needed to cool down!

I'm not really confident enough for the whole outfit post thing, being such a newbie to the world of blogging, but here are a few little snapshots (before my skin turned the colour of a post box...) to show you my new mint coloured shirt which I'd bought a few weeks ago to bring a little splash of the pastel trend to my wardrobe. The skirt I'm wearing has turned out to be a definite investment, rain or shine it goes with practically everything in my wardrobe and I'm finding it just can't come back from the washing machine quick enough a lot of the time!

shirt: Hearts and Bows at Ark

skirt: Topshop 

shoes: Next

 rucksack: Accessorize

Hope you've all managed to get out and enjoy the Great British Summer we've been having, I'm crossing my fingers hoping that the sun is here to stay... especially now that I've actually bought some suncream!

I got a love that keeps me waiting

So, I made it back from the Isle of Wight in one (exhausted) piece! I took a few snaps whilst I was there but not as many as I'd expected, partially down to the fact that using a film camera makes me really think before taking each photo rather than being my usual snap happy self, but mostly due to the lack of opportunities to stop for long enough to get my camera out! But now I've got a great excuse to visit more nice places so I can use up the rest of my film! 

I'm especially interested in visiting places if they also sell brownies like this... (its probably a good job this bakery is on an island far, far away from Leeds or else I'd be about 50 stone heavier by now!).

I got home from my trip on Sunday with a purse full of 20p coins, now for you lot that probably doesn't sound that exciting but for me it was a couple of little steps closer to the jackpot. I'll explain... I decided about a month or two ago to start putting every 20p I got into my piggy bank to save up for something exciting that I'd never normally spend money on (I did contemplate saving pound coins at first but realised I'd be pretty poor pretty quickly if I did that!). 

And what do I want to buy when I have a money box full of silver? Why, one of these beauties of course...

  

 

Images from Cambridge Satchel Company

I'm a massive lover of satchels and have been for the last few years, but Cambridge Satchel Company really win hands down with their collection. Normally I've ended up with cheap and cheerful satchels which I've worn to death but have tired of pretty quickly because they just aren't as cute as these! I love how many different colours Cambridge Satchels come in and have decided that when I get one I'm going to try really hard to resist my natural urge to buy a tan or black one and instead get something that's a bit more unique and a statement. The green ones are really lovely, very summery (I might just be drawn to it today given how beautiful the weather is!) but the colour will still match perfectly with my burgundy coat for winter... see- its an investment! 

Well, I've just totted up the total in my money box and the grand total currently stands at £24.70. I'm getting there... slowly. At this rate I should have a bag to call my own by the end of the summer. Or maybe I'll get impatient and start feeding £20 notes to my piggy instead... 

The photos on my wall

I'm going on an almost holiday this weekend to the Isle of Wight, I say almost as I'm technically going for work, but nonetheless I'll be hopping on a plane and ending up beside the seaside which I'm quite excited about.

I'm going down there on my lonesome, and as I'm not the sort of person who enjoys her own company (in fact being on my own is something I genuinely dislike and avoid as much as I possibly can) I felt like I needed an activity for my spare time over the weekend.

Then *ping*, I had  a brainwave! I've been dying to play with my Grandad's old film SLR for ages... I've had it for the last two years or so just sat in my room back home but have only recently got round to buying film for it, and since buying film I haven't been anywhere exciting in the daytime (annoyingly, my Uncle claimed the flash off the camera which considerably limits my photo opportunities!) to take pretty pictures. Hoping for a few rays of sunshine down south this weekend I decided that'd be the perfect chance to get a bit snap happy and experiment with good old fashioned photography.

I've been drawn to lomography for ages and love the cute little cameras aswell as wasting hours looking at the gorgeous photos on the lomo website, so as a treat to myself I ordered the redscale film off the internet to satisfy my fascination without spending loads of money on a camera that is essentially just a colourful piece of plastic.

I'm hoping that this:

Plus this:

Will create some lovely photos like this:

Well, now I've got my activities for the weekend sorted, I'm going to relax and definitely not think about packing in the slightest...  I'm struggling a wee bit with the 10kg luggage allowance as well as trying to fathom out what would be acceptable attire for a weekend of learning the ropes of Ellen Macarthur sailing trips! Any ideas?!

Simple promises you said you'd never break

I've never been the sort of girl to own millions of shoes, in fact, I'm pretty sure that most people I know think I only own one sorry looking pair. For the last two years, my feet have been in a very monogamous relationship with these little leather brogues from New Look. When I bought them I had no idea they'd become the most loved item in my little shoe collection... they were born more out of necessity than anything else, being the only brown brogues New Look happened to have in my size on that day in Liverpool. This story could have turned out very differently if another pair of shoes had been sat there in a size 6. 

Considering they've barely been off my feet in the last couple of years, they've lasted pretty damn well. But sadly, as much as it pains me to admit it, they're almost on their last legs; the soles are wearing away and there's a few tell tale holes appearing on the heels. Obviously, I'm not giving up on my little babies yet, but I have started to realise that they won't last forever *sob*. Its going to take something incredible to fill the void when the inevitable happens, so I've decided I need to start looking for a replacement pair pronto so I'm not left wandering the streets barefooted (or god forbid wearing any of my other pairs of shoes).

So far, I've found a few possible candidates but nothing is tugging at my heart strings yet. I've even resorted to sneaking peeks at pairs I can in no way afford, but even then I know that money can't buy me love (sneaky Beatles quote there... its like scouse tourettes or something sorry!) after all, my little New Look faves only set me back about £25.

1. Office, 2. Asos, 3. American Apparel, 4. Asos

I mean, I like all of these options (particularly the polka dot Asos ones... but an unhealthy proportion of my wardrobe is navy blue already so I need to stop thinking about those altogether) and I think they'd all be quite happy in my wardrobe, I'm just not sure that they are quite worthy of replacing my battered brown pair. Maybe I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy something I'm not quite in love with and hope that with a bit of attention and dedication then a new shoe romance will blossom. Either that, or I remain stubborn and carry on wearing my old brogues even when the sole has completely disintegrated and the fabric has totally fallen apart at the seams...

I know the night is young, but tomorrow we might not be

Live at Leeds 2012... I'm pretty sure it should be rebranded as some sort of hardcore exercise class. We went from the Wardrobe to Milo, then up to the Well, into Leeds Uni (with a little tour of the hospital on the way... no injuries involved, I just wanted to show Charlie where I work!), down to Holy Trinity church, a quick whirl around Leeds Met, into the o2 Academy (twice with a few quick darts past the Example fans in Millennium Square) then down to Cockpit- plus stops for pick and mix and burgers in the middle of all that- I don't think I've seen so many corners of Leeds in the space of a day before. My poor little legs didn't know what they were letting themselves in for! 

But aside from being an excellent form of exercise, Live at Leeds proved to be a day full of brilliant music and the opportunity to explore some new venues I've never been to before. I fell slightly in love with The Wardrobe (despite going in there at lunchtime and only being joined by a handful of people to watch Rupert Stroud... a really great guy to stumble upon!) and will definitely be going there again. Other than that, seeing Spector was by far and away the best part of my day, I've been slightly obsessed with this band since I first listened to Chevy Thunder a few months ago. At first we thought frontman Fred Macphereson was a bit of a numpty (to use one of my dad's favourite words) but by the end of the set we just thought he was hilarious and I loved how much he interacted with the audience, reading out their tweets and all! 

Other than that, Ladyhawke impressed me with her style and general coolness (but I must say she didn't put on much of a show... although we had just watched Spector having a general chinwag with the audience so I'm not sure its really a fair point of comparison) and watching The Subways in an incredibly sweaty Cockpit was an absolutely brilliant way to round off the day, what an atmosphere! 

For £20, Live at Leeds was an absolute bargain, great music in a brilliant city plus the added bonus of having the surreal experience of being surrounded by people sat in church pews drinking beer. Me and my partner in crime Charlie have made our plan of action for next year already if anyone cares to join us!