High street lust #4.

Summer has officially arrived (apparently there's a heat wave in the UK this week) and lots of people are setting off on their sunny holidays. I wish I'd seen the above blue bikini before I went to Greece. I just love the ruffle layer; ruffles are meant to enhance cleavage! The set will cost £24.98 and the top on its own is £14.99.

Cover up your modesty on the way to the beach with white tie linen shorts (£16.99) and a stripe button puff shirt (£12, remove the waist tie). Or for a more casual look, pull on a neon long line vest (£6.99, also available in pink, white, black and striped) and a skinny glitter belt (£9.99). Finish off with plaited detail sandals (£14.99) and circular hinge glasses (£12.99). Load up your things in a fairy print shopper (£14.99) and you're good to go!

Sorry I can't link to each individual item, River Island uses flash for their website. Everything here will cost you £113.92. That's not bad considering you can use most of the items listed here more than once during a one week trip.

Kira kira ☆Doki doki!

One of the magazines I used during my heavy cut+glue sessions this week was the December 2008 issue of Non-no magazine. There were some lovely beauty product shots in there that I want to share with you! I just love the set up. Especially that old school telephone and the nail polishes on the waffle plate.

Inspiration books.

For most of this week I have been sifting through my pile of dusty magazines and flipping through them to cut out pictures for my 'inspiration' books. I currently have three; one for fashion, one for interior design and one for weddings. I do not have my own house and I am no longer in a relationship, so the latter two are really just for fun. But a girl can dream (and hope and wish)!

It actually takes a while to make one decent page in the books because a single magazine usually only has 5-10 pictures that are really 'my style'. Plus, magazines don't come cheap these days. Of course you can use the internet since there is a plethora of amazing images online.

1. Decide what your inspiration book is for - you could have separate ones like me, or you could just put everything in one book and have that as your source of inspiration. A Persian rug could be a gorgeous decor piece, but the patterns in it could also influence your clothing choice for the day. You could have a book full of happy things or places you want to travel to.

2. Buy a pretty notebook - a pretty cover means you'll love the book even more. I have found that spiralbound notebooks are best, especially if you plan to glue in '3D' type things. Something A4 sized is probably best since it would be a shame to chop off the edge of a pretty photo just because it didn't fit.

3. Buy magazines/surf the web - images for your book can come from anywhere. I even have pictures from a dog care magazine. You could ask your friends for their old magazines or even a doctor's office. Please recycle any leftover parts of the magazines! For my interior design book, I also go to homeware stores to get fabric and paint samples. It's all part of the fun (or I am just very sad).

4. Organise your images - it all depends on how you want your book to look. You can sort by style, colour, decade, feelings, seasons etc. It's your book, so you do what makes you inspired.

5. Supporting words and images - I like to cut out words or phrases from magazines which describe the theme on the page. Extra images in similar colour waves or 'accessories' can really help pull a look together. Just look at the image below. Doesn't it look bland with just the four outfits? In the second image, I have added some extra snippets to spice it up. You can also draw or write your own words, stick in gift bows or shoelaces... anything!

6. Have fun - yes, it does take a long time and your back will ache and your fingers will get sticky, but when you are finished, you'll have an amazing unique book.

All images shown are from my own books. Excuse the poor photography and lighting, my camera appears to be dying.

High street lust #3.

Now is the time to run out and get your bargains since the summer sale has started. This week I am lusting after this bright pink mini skirt from Miss Selfridge. Originally £18, it has gone down to £10.

For a fun take on office wear, team the skirt with a pretty assymetric stripe shirt (tucked in) and some 80's patent court shoes. A contrast trim cardi and black opaque tights smarten up this outfit. If you want to take this from work to bar, add some pink disc studs and this awesomely colouful facet stone bracelet (remove the tights and cardigan). With your ladies things stored in a black patchwork X body bag, you can dance the night away without worry. This outfit would have cost you £159 two weeks ago but you can now get it for just £81!

A day in my life - 11th June 2009.

Last week I flew to Kefalonia. It was my last holiday as a student before I start working. I'll be posting some photos on my Flickr soon so you can see how gorgeous it is. You could see the island of Zante from one side of the hotel and mainland Greece from the other.

4am - arrive at the airport bright and early.

5am - Burger King for breakfast. I couldn't resist.

6am - board the airplane. We got seats with lots of leg room.

7am - view from the window. I slept for most of the journey.

11am (local time) - landed in Kefalonia.

12pm - we passed a castle during our coach transfer.

1pm - the coach dropped holiday makers off at five different hotels.

2pm - we had a great view of the ocean from our balcony.

3pm - you can't go far without a car so we walked (a few km!) to the nearest beach. It was only tough because of the scorching sun.

4pm - it was semi-late so our spot was quite unoccupied.

5pm - attempts to cool our bottles of water down ended up with several rescues and salty water.

6pm - packed up to go back to the hotel.

7pm - played around in one of the hotel's three swimming pools.

8pm - after showering, it was quite dark! There were so many twinkling stars in the night sky but my inferior camera could not capture them.

9pm - dinner at the hotel restaurant. Yummy garlic mushrooms as a starter.

10pm - I had swordfish souvlaki (they didn't skewer it) for my main.

11pm - the hotel had some cool light fixtures. Off to bed to explore the island the next day.

All we hear is radio ga ga.

Dress - Miss Selfridge

Jacket - Topshop

Shoes - Clarks

Went to check out the Nokia N97 and play with the new MacBook and iPhone 3G S. I didn't buy anything (well, I bought a pair of shoes). This dress is a bit frustrating since it's fairly thick cotton... but it's short-sleeved. Do I wear it in summer or winter?! The jacket didn't really match but whatever. These are my mother's new shoes. I actually wore her Gabor ones when I was out. My legs look terrible here...

S'agapo!

Dress - Miss Selfridge
Cardigan - Topshop
Sunglasses - Ray Ban
Shoes - Gabor
Boxers - FCUK
Footless tights - Topshop
Suitcase - Sanrio

Returned from Kefalonia (the largest Ionian island in Greece) today. It is a beautiful island with some lovely people. I'd totally recommend it, but make sure you are willing to drive. That's the only way you'll be able to see all the amazing sights and get to the best beaches. I wasn't meant to wear the 'shorts' but I couldn't be bothered taking off my sleeping boxers. Good thing, because this dress is actually pretty short. It also kept revealing my bra. Perhaps I should donate it. Then it got very cold on the plane so I put some footless tights on.

High street lust #2.

This week's high street lust is from New Look. I am a total sucker for sailor-esque garments. The colour block dress with a plain jersey top has been quite trendy and various styles can be seen all over the high street. This version from New Look costs £25, which seems a little steep for them!

You can smarten it up with a red button blazer (limited edition so get it quick), but keep it fun with red wicker-style wedges, dark sunglasses and nail polish. Finish off the ensemble with a big metal strap ring handbag to tote around your summer essentials. This anchor necklace is a small nod towards this outfit's nautical roots. All this will leave you £91.50 short.

What's in my flight bag?

Here's a little twist on the "what's inside my handbag" post. This is the stuff inside my onboard flight bag. My flight is only 3 hours, so I'll probably leave the Nintendo DS and a book behind. I'm taking the iPod to drown out the chatter of my friends (ha!).

The essentials:

- passport - purse with travel money and insurance

- mobile phone

- keys

- glasses / contact lenses

- list of emergency phone numbers

"Luxury" items (things that are easier to replace):

- digital camera

- iPod

- magazine / book

- pen and scraps of paper for scribbling notes

- sunglasses

- cosmetics, hair grips, moisturiser

- empty bottle of water (so I can refil it later)

Obviously, the length of flight and your destination will probably dictate what you take onboard. My bag looked nothing like this when I went to Lapland in freezing February! What things do you take on a plane?

High street lust #1.

I admit it, sometimes I really really like Topshop. Am totally loving these KRUZ-leather lace up shoes. They aren't too girly but they aren't terribly masculine either. £50 is fairly decent for a leather shoe and look at that stud detailing!

Combine with a denim pocket tunic and a patent butterfly crossbody bag. Accessorise with a chain mail headband, silver interlinked engraved bangle, a premium mesh umbrella (for those rainy summer days) and some plastic aviators. That comes to £117, so it's a total of £167 for this outfit. I'd recommend some grey knee high socks too.

A day in my life.

This is an idea that I took from the "A day in the life" community on LiveJournal. Basically, you take a photo every hour or so to document your day. Most of my days aren't particularly exciting though. These photos are from yesterday (5th June).

10am - wake up to do my face.

11am - arrive at Renault/Nissan to do some test driving.

12pm - I check out the other cars whilst my dad talks money with the salesman. He looks a bit like John Sergeant mixed with Sean Astin.

1pm - I have some blueberry tea to ease my boredom.

1:45pm - we get home in time to watch Neighbours and Home & Away.

2pm - yum yum wanton noodles for lunch.

3pm - I do my daily internet stuffs.

3:30pm - my dad attempts to remove the malware on the computer so I play some Pokemon Pearl instead. I'm ready to capture Palkia now. Exciting stuff!

4:30pm - still fixing up my Xero-kun (computer). Suddenly it's pouring with rain.

5pm - I wanted to watch "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" in preparation for my holiday but it didn't work so I watched "Clueless" instead.

6:30pm - my brother arrived home from uni for the day.

7pm - porkchops for dinner; I don't really like pig meat.

8pm - my brother and I went shopping. He went to buy trousers whilst I scoured the shoe shops.

9pm - came home (I bought some oxford-esque shoes) and showered.

10:30pm - tuned into Jonathan Ross with Hugh Laurie (d'aww), Eric Cantona (aww) and Dustin Hoffman (more "awww" than I thought he'd be).

11pm - I wanted some Oreos but couldn't be bothered going downstairs so I ate an Alpen bar that's been sitting in my bag for six months.