LAURA ASHLEY AW13 PRESS EVENT

Hello lovelies! Last week I had a little trip to London, as I was lucky enough to be invited to the Laura Ashley Autumn Winter 2013 press event. There I got to see their beautiful new collection, learn about the history of the brand, and catch up with the lovely Charlotte while sipping on strawberry and banana smoothies (mine) and beetroot and celery juice (Charlotte. She thought it was berries! But luckily the juice wasn't as bad as she thought it may be, and was surprisingly refreshing!).

As we browsed the rails of navy blue and burgundy, nudes and khakis, soft pinks and greys, beautiful prints and subtle sparkle, I began dreaming of my winter wardrobe for later this year. Sadly, as summer doesn't seem to be arriving here in England anytime soon, the pieces would even be suitable for now! I definitely will be having a trip to my local Laura Ashley this Autumn, and look out for some of their fairisle knitwear, silky blouses, bold print trousers, statement necklaces and brown leather satchels. I also have my heart set on the cream angora jumper, with the embellished peter pan collar and diamante detailing for Christmas parties!

The homeware section was so beautiful. I would love to have a cosy, country house and fill the whole place with Laura Ashley! Unfortunately, the size of my Victorian terrace and the size of my budget wont allow me to do this, but I definitely have my eye on a few key pieces and accessories to give our little home a bit of a makeover this Autumn. I loved the light fixtures and lamps with beautiful glass elements to reflect the light. They would add a touch of glamour to any room and go with practically any colour scheme and style! Having a soft spot for pastel greens, blues and mint colours, the duck egg range was right up my street! I loved the duck egg hydrangea print wallpaper and bedding combined with the white, wooden furniture. I think it would make such a pretty, cosy, calming bedroom. I completely fell in love with their rose gold furniture and accessories too! They had rose gold dressing tables, lamps, trinket boxes, clocks- it looked so elegant and feminine with their coral range. Something I will definitely be purchasing is their collection of mugs and candles in prints from the Laura Ashley archive. They are bringing back some classic Laura Ashley prints in lots of different colourways for many different items for their Autumn Winter 2013 collection, and these prints used on the mugs and candle holders are just so pretty. I would love to have them dotted around my home! I particularly love the 'Emma' print.

As Laura Ashley are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, we were lucky enough to also see their lovely archive exhibition. It was fascinating to learn the history of the company, and how Laura Ashley and her husband started out by printing floral silk scarves from their kitchen! There were so many vintage treasures to see from the archive, from the 1960's to now, including clothes, furniture, cushions, books and even a china doll! It was so interesting to see how the brand has evolved over the years but always stayed true to its roots. I think this is the reason it is so loved by different generations. I know my Grandmother and my mother are both loyal fans, and have lots of fond memories of shopping there and some favourite items they have bought over the years. I don't think there is any other brand that all three generations of us share a love of like we do Laura Ashley. Next time I am at my parents house, I am going to hunt for some pictures of family wearing their Laura Ashley favourites from the past and share it on the Laura Ashley memories page. The page is a place fans can share their Laura Ashley photos and memories, with a chance of winning a £1000 voucher! You can also enter on twitter using the #lauraashley60 hashtag. I enjoyed just looking through the entries, there are some really lovely ones!

There was also a wonderful Christmas section at the event, but I didn't want to talk about the C-word too much incase you all got upset with me. I know it's only June and the weather has been pretty miserable, but I  had to share these beautiful beaded, sparkley placemats! Aren't they beautiful?? I am considering getting them for our winter wedding, I think they would look stunning with our pastel blue, white and sparkle theme.

I loved going to the press event and the collection was really beautiful. I am so thankful to the wonderful team at Laura Ashley for hosting & inviting me to such a lovely event!

x ♥

OREO STUFFED COOKIES

I thought I'd share a super easy, super tasty recipe with you today. I made these at the weekend and they were amazing! You only need three ingredients & a spare 15 mins & you can make yourself a delicious treat.

To  make 6 you will need:

♥ A packet of cookie mix
♥ A packet of oreos
♥ A cup of water


Preheat your oven to 180°c. To start, you need to make your cookie dough. Instead of following the pack instructions (which were to add 3-4 tbsps of water) I had a cup of water that I was pouring in slowly and stirring the mix until I reached the consistency I wanted. I like my cookies gooey and moist, so I used about 3/4 of the cup of water.

Next, you need to lightly grease a muffin tray, then add about a tablespoon of the cookie mix to the bottom of 6 of the sections. 

 

Place your oreos on top of your cookie mix bases, then spoon more of your cookie mix over the oreos to cover them. Pop them in the oven for 10-15mins. While they're cooking, it's very important to eat any remaining cookie dough & lick the spoon. In my opinion, this is the most important step!

 

You should end up with big, gooey, chocolaty, delicious pieces of heaven! Serve warm with some milkshakes for the perfect treat!

 



Let me know if you make these, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

x ♥

P.S: Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You've only got a few hours left!

A healthier me.

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I love food, I really do, and I eat a lot of it. Having an extremely sweet tooth, unfortunately, I eat a lot of the wrong kinds of foods too. I do love fruit and vegetables, but my biggest weakness is for sweet things. Over Christmas, as most people do, I may have over indulged slightly. Up until last Saturday, our cupboards were full of biscuits, selection boxes, brandy snaps, Thornton's, roses, quality street, cake & Wonka Bars (how amazing are they?! They were from Santa!). But this Saturday, David & I made our way through the very last box of chocolates, and that's it. No more sweet treats in the house. I don't plan on getting any more for a little while either, and when I do buy some, I will eat them sensibly, making the packets last, not scoffing them down in one day!

I am determined to get healthier this year. I don't particularly want to loose weight (although a little toning in a few areas wouldn't go amiss!) but I just want to feel healthier. I want to climb the stairs without getting out of breath, I want to shift my iron deficiency, I want a healthy glow to my skin instead of it looking tired and dull all the time. I want to feel satisfied and full of energy after a meal, rather than bloated and tired due to ridiculously large portions. 

Fingers crossed, if our saving continues the way it is, David and I will be getting married by the end of 2013, and that will be my motivation for a healthier lifestyle. I don't want to diet, I don't want to start going to the gym, and I don't want to cut out any foods. I just want to take a little more thought over what I'm putting in my body, and I want to spend a little more time exercising.

I am starting the 30 day shred again, but instead of completing it in 30 days, I'm going to do it at least 3 times a week. When I did it before I saw amazing results and it really helped shift my baby weight, but as I said, I just want to feel fitter and look a little more toned. I want to walk more. I've started drinking 2 Litres of water a day, which is a massive step for me. I am guilty of regularly going to bed thinking 'oops! I forgot to drink anything today!'.

I received some lovely recipe books from family and friends for Christmas, to add to my growing collection, and I want to start using them more. I do try to cook healthy meals from scratch as much as I can, but I find it so easy to slip into the routine of cooking the same meals all the time. So I want to make something new at least once a week. I was thinking I could make it a weekly feature on my blog, what do you think? Would any of you be interested in that?

x ♥

Patel & Purple

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Our bank holiday weekend was lovely. I am going to do a proper update post soon full of all the pictures I've been taking each day. But for now I'm going to share these outfit pictures!

I know all my outfits are pretty casual and boring at the moment, I'm starting to get better at being organised and looking after a baby without spending the whole time in top knots and leggings. I bought this jumper in New Look on Saturday. I love the fact its practical & comfy but has such pretty colours in it! You can't see it as well as I wanted in the pictures, but it has multicoloured flecks all over it in pretty pastel tones. 

I absolutely love Lily's little outfit here! The top and headband are both from Vertboudet. I love their baby clothes, they are a bit different from your usual pink for girls and blue for boys baby clothes & so so pretty. This actually has shorts that go with it too, but the weather has been too horrible for her to wear them. As soon as the sun comes out though, this is the outfit she's wearing!

Things are getting quite exciting at the moment too... I am starting a new little project I hope to share with you all soon, and we may, hopefully, have a house very soon!! Please send lots of luck our way, we have everything crossed!

How were your weekends?

x ♥