Author: girlintheprettydress

Arm Candy

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One of my favourite things about blogging, and following other people’s blogs, is that it opens up a world of style you might never have considered before. I’ve followed Vanessa of Wardrobe Under Construction for a while and I’m always fascinated by her posts because her style is so wonderfully unique and so completely different to my own.

I’ve always felt that my style is fairly ‘classic’, and usually, I feel safer in my style comfort zone. But there’s a growing trend for quirky bags that I can’t ignore… because they are just too damn cute! I spotted them cropping up first on Vanessa’s Instagram but now I find another one to add to my wish list every time I open a magazine. Here’s what it looks like at the moment…

Food Bags

chocaholic

gold

slogans

A Green Thing

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Dress: ASOS | Belt: Oliver Bonas
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk | Boots: Faith

The fashion world goes crazy for fall, but I’ve always been more of a spring/summer girl. I’m learning to love it this year though – and it doesn’t hurt that the sun has stuck around, so I can actually get out and enjoy the scenery as the colours change.

I’ve been spending lots of time with the two critters below – but unlike me they don’t appreciate hot weather. They’re both mountain dogs and they’re much more at home in the cold.

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Corsica

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Holiday Aug 2014 145

Shirt: Mango | Shorts: Warehouse
Bikini (worn underneath): F&F | Sunglasses: F&F | Earrings: Miss Selfridge

So here’s the deal, if you want to visit a Caribbean Island, but you live on the wrong side of the Atlantic, got to Corsica instead.

If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s a French Island in the Mediterranean – just off the coast of Italy. There are various ferry services from France/Italy/Sardinia or if you can’t be faffed with all that (like me) EasyJet fly there. Once you reach the south of the island it really looks no different to Antigua. There are beautiful mountains that stretch all the way down to the white beaches and turquoise seas.

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Top: Rare (previously blogged about here)

We stayed in a villa near the tiny town of Propriano – where the food is to die for. (If there’s one benefit of this being a French island, it’s that everywhere you go you can get Crepes. Yum!) It’s also close to some of the best beaches on the island as well as some of the main tourist attractions, such as the medieval town of Sartene, or the prehistoric site of Filitosa.

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Propriano Harbour

If you asked me what my favourite part of the trip was though, I would have to say Bonifacio. The little town perched on the cliffs is one of the most famous images associated with Corsica, but the only way to see it properly is from the water – because it really does look like some parts are held up by magic. Boat trips aren’t expensive and car parking is included in the ticket price (if you can find the car park – it took us a while!).

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Bonifacio

It’s a steep climb up to the town, and I wouldn’t recommend doing it in the midday heat. (I also wouldn’t recommend attempting to do it in flip flops – my feet really didn’t thank me for that!) But it’s worth it to explore the gorgeous higgledy-piggledy town.

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The prettiest beach side restaurant (at Piantarella).

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The Pretty Dress Guide to Packing for a Beach Holiday

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It’s surprising how much goes into packing for a holiday. I’m not one of those people who can just throw a few things in a bag and go, I like to plan.

Lets start with the shoes: One pair of trainers, one pair of nude-goes-with-everything heels, one pair of wedges, one pair of sandals and one pair of flip-flops. I nearly always end up sticking to sandals and flip-flops once I’m there, but I like to know I’ve got all the bases covered.

The easiest and best way to pack shoes is using a plastic carrier bag. I usually line the bottom of my suitcase with shoes and then pack smaller items around them, leaving a relatively flat surface for the clothes to lie on.

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Converse trainers from BrandAlley

The next staple is the little white dress – dressed up with wedges for the evening or down with sandals in the day.

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Dress: Topshop | Wedges: ASOS

I like outfits that can go from day to evening just by changing up the accessories. (Small hard-case clutches are great for hols as you can also use them for transporting jewellery – or anything else that might get damaged in transit). These are also some of my favourite combinations…

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Dress: Zara | Sandals: Oasis | Clutch: Next

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Playsuit: Jovonnista | Shoes: H&M | Clutch: Textile Federation via ASOS

At the beach I prefer light dresses that you can just throw on/off – maxi dresses are great but the best thing I ever bought, I got years ago from Orion. Their kimono dresses are incredibly light and the material doesn’t wrinkle so they can be chucked in your beach bag with no fuss.

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Orion

I love getting out on the water in a boat (motorboat that is… I can’t sail but I like to pretend I can by looking the part) so I’m a big fan of breton stripe tops.

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Top: F&F | Shorts: Warehouse | Sandals: F&F

And lastly: The Bikinis. I live in these things on holiday. You can never have too many right?

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Clockwise from top left: F&F | George | F&F | ASOS | South Beach via ASOS

When In Rome

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I’ve been meaning to do this post for the past 3 months – but every time I sat down to write it I struggled to do justice to this amazing city.

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St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican City
(as seen from the top of Castel Sant’Angelo)

Two years ago I decided I wanted to go to Rome. I bought a guidebook and everything… then I bought my house. All plans for adventure had to be put on hold whilst I spent my time traipsing to solicitors, banks and building merchants. So this year, as a birthday present to myself, I decided to make it happen.

I flew out on my birthday (word to the wise: if you book a flight on your birthday, make sure it isn’t at the crack of dawn – no one remembers it’s your birthday when it’s that early in the morning!) and I got my birthday wish to stand in the Colosseum. Though I quickly learned that I’ve been calling it by the wrong name all my life – it’s proper name is the Flavian Ampitheatre. It got the nickname ‘Colosseum’ from a statue of the god ‘Collosus’ which used to stand outside the entrance. True story.

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The Flavian Ampitheatre (or Roman Colosseum as it’s more commonly known)
When I showed my dad the photo above he thought it had been empty on our visit – but then I pointed out all the people stood around the edges – they’re just so dwarfed by the scale of this amazing place.

Here’s a little tip though: the Colosseum is amazing, but the Imperial Fora is something else. It’s like walking around a film set. There are literally dozens of palaces, temples, buildings and ruins which have accumulated over thousands of years. It’s mind boggling to think they were created by sheer man power alone.

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Wandering the Fora with my sister.

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Skirt & Top: Zara | Sandals: Primark

The most important accessory for Rome is a pair of comfy shoes. There is a metro system but why spend your time underground when there’s so much to discover on each street? We stayed close to the colosseum – in the very lovely Hotel Duca D’Alba. (The hotels near the train station are cheaper but much further away from the historic sights.) All the main tourist attractions were within 30 minutes walk.

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The Trevi Fountain

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The Vatican City

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The Pantheon was by far my favourite building. When we rounded the corner and came face to face with it, the first thing my sister said about it was ‘There should be music playing, like we’re in universal studios or something.’ Standing in front of it, it really does feel like you’ve just walked onto the set of Gladiator or something.

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Rome is full of amazing things to see, but it’s also shopping and food heaven. We neglected the shopping part of our trip a bit, but not so with the food. La Tavernelle, a restaurant around the corner from our hotel, kept us fuelled with pizza, pasta and award-winning Panna Cotta (seriously – you have to try it!) but the thing Rome is most famous for is the gelato.

There’s a gelataria on almost every street but very few places sell the real-deal. Most gelato is made from powder these days but you can taste the difference – look for gelato made with 100% natural ingredients. This place was my favourite – their dark chocolate and orange gelato made me the happiest girl in Rome.

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View of Rome from the Villa Borghese

Red White and Blue

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Dress: Joy | Necklace: Joy | Shoes: Dorothy Perkins | Bag: TK Maxx

Yay for Summer. And hurray for Summer Sales. I bought this dress from Joy for a bargain price (and it’s still available online here). I love the scooped back, (scroll down for a pic) it’s the perfect dress to keep me cool, yet covered.

Stripes always say ‘summer’ and ‘seaside’ to me… so of course I had to buy an anchor necklace to complete the look (also from Joy and available here). I’ve just booked my summer hols – to Corsica! I can’t wait to get back out to the med and enjoy a week by the sea. I’ve never been before so I’d love to hear any tips you guys have…

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Happy sales shopping! x

Coconut and Lime Cake

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It’s Father’s Day today in the UK and it’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I think my Dad is pretty damn amazing.

In our family we do things a little differently when it comes to commercial holidays. Whenever they roll around the rule is that all cards and gifts have to be hand-made (because it’s the thought that counts!)

It’s fair to say that, over the years, the ‘no shop bought gifts’ rule is something which has backfired on my parents once or twice… There was the time my sister made my mum a pair of “binoculars” by cellotaping two cardboard loo-roll tubes together, the year I got made redundant and each parent just got a hug, and let’s not forget the Mother’s Day when I broke my arm (long story) and we ended up in A&E for the rest of the day. But now that I’m older and wiser I’ve learned to stick to what I’m good at. So this morning I have been baking up some goodies for my Dad – who loves nothing more than homemade cakes (usually of the fruit variety).

This recipe which I found on Delia Smith’s website takes a bit of extra prep but the results are well worth it – it’s a perfect, light, cake for summer.  I altered it very slightly by sandwiching the cake halves with buttercream and just using the water-icing on top. I also had to leave out the dried coconut milk powder (whatever that might be!) but I don’t think it suffered for it.

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Click here for the recipe