And if I recover, will you be my comfort?

During that brief, unexpected period of sunshine we had last week, I had a sudden burst of motivation to start looking at summer clothes online. Sadly, the sun disappeared before I'd had a chance to actually buy anything but even so I've carried on having a nosy at the holiday collections in the shops as for once I can actually guarantee that I'll see at least a little blue sky and sunshine this year when I go to Corfu with two of my friends. I haven't been on a proper non-festival based holiday (festivals definitely don't count as a 'holiday' anyway as I always feel like I need a week to fully recover afterwards!) in a few years now so I'm extra excited for this one. I've never been to Corfu before, so if anyone has any recommendations on things to see or do there then hit me up! So far, my only requirement for the trip is to go to a water park because I appear to have similar interests to a 12 year old when it comes to keeping me entertained.

Since I've not been on a proper holiday for a while, I'm fairly certain it means I'm entitled to some new summer clothes. When I'm just staying in England I never really see the point in actually splashing out on real holiday clothes as there's such a brief window where you can wear them, especially when that window inevitably seems to happen when I'm stuck at work, melting at my desk. As much as I want to fill my suitcase with pretty new clothes, I don't want to spend much money as by the time August rolls around I'll be on the cusp of becoming a poor PGCE student living off my student loan (gahhh, those two words make me feel a bit ill whenever they creep up on me). Luckily, Primark and New Look are looking as though they'll save me as there's loads of cheap and cheerful gems in their holiday collections. Perfect. 

Here's a little selection of some of the stuff I've got my eyes on for all you nosy people out there.

1. playsuit 2. crop top 3. giraffe print bikini 4. sunglasses 5. floral dress 6. tan sandals 7. chino shorts 8. black and white playsuit 9. polka dot bikini 10. black sandals

Recover- Chvrches

Summer girlfriends, house in Jamaica

Friday turned out to be the perfect day to take an afternoon off work. Not only was the sun shining, but the new flagship Joy in Leeds was having its much anticipated and weather appropriate beach party opening event. Ever since I found out about Joy moving into the old Urban Outfitters store I'd been getting a bit over-excited about it opening- the shop is huge! I love looking at all of the pretty prints and cute homeware in Joy and so the idea of it moving to a shop that was at least double the size of its old Leeds store meant only one thing to me- TWICE AS MUCH TO LOOK AT!

I joined the queue at exactly the right time, being about the 197th person in the queue, as the first 200 visitors got given free summer themed goodie bags. Amongst lots of other little treats (including a pair of novelty sunglasses with a giant palm tree and flamingo on the sides...) I was really excited to see a sample of a new Bumble and Bumble surf shampoo and conditioner... can't wait to see what its like, although I am concerned that I'll fall in love with it and decide I have to buy the full sized ones. My bank balance is scared already.

I also had a stroke of luck when I joined the queue as I ended up being stood just behind the lovely Sophie from onetenzeroseven who was the person who'd made me aware of the event in the first place. It was really great to finally meet another blogger (especially as it made me feel a bit less silly taking pictures of EVERYTHING in the shop as there were two of us snapping away with our DSLRs!). 

The shop was incredible inside, they'd put so much effort into making the shop look really pretty with pictures everywhere as well as a wall of old fashioned cameras which I absolutely loved. Plus there were Hawaiian flowers everywhere (including on all of the shoppers who'd queued up for the opening!) and a pop up cocktail bar serving mojitos so it really did feel like a summer beach party inside. If only shopping was always like that!

Jamaica- Theme Park