Four days in Lisbon

A couple of months ago I hopped on a plane to spend four days in the city of Lisbon for a friends birthday. After almost being stranded, we finally got the keys to the apartment we had rented, unpacked and prepped to explore the beautiful city. One thing I feel everyone planning to visit Lisbon should know is that navigating your way around it's cobbled streets and steep hills can be tiring, so stock up on water when leaving your apartment/hotel and take appropriate shoes (there was not a heel or wedged shoe in sight ladies!)

On our first day we explored the old town, finding cute little shops with handmade clothes and jewelry and stumbling upon back streets that led to picturesque views. One of my favourite places we discovered that day was in Alfama as we were walking up to Castelo de Sao Jorge. The view from up there was pretty incredible as you could see over rooftops, peering into gardens and getting a real feel for the very relaxed nature of the city. One thing I would definitely recommend also is taking a visit to Pasteis de Belem and choosing from the many options of cakes, pastries and of course, the famous Pastel de Nata (so good that my friend bought six for the flight back to England!)

After struggling with being in London and trying to keep up with the rat race, it was so refreshing to visit a capital city where you could bask in the sunlight, relax and remember how it felt to just... chill. The laid back nature of the city coupled with the incredible views and vibrant night life (think salsa bars and dancing with policemen) makes it a great place to visit if you're in need of a long weekend getaway.

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I know this great little place... // Lincolnshire

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I decided to head a little further up North to Lincolnshire for a day visit. It was pretty spontaneous actually as she called me up the night before and since I've officially finished uni now (ohhhhh yeeeaaaah) I have quite a bit of spare time at the moment. So I decided to put the job applications to one side for the day and went along with her.

Lincoln is just under two hours away by train and the best way to describe it is a sort of hybrid between a town and village.  It's so pretty and I can imagine it being even more stunning during the summer months. We wanted to head to the Cathedral which is about a 10 minute walk from the main city centre and it's situated on top of what is quite possible the biggest hill I've ever had to climb. Ever. One of the streets leading up to the Cathedral is actually called Steep Hill and, let me tell you, it lives up to it's name. At one point me and my friend were half way up and there was a woman walking up behind us who was pretty much wheezing as she was walking up and it just made me feel 1000x more sorry for people who lived at the top and had to do the walk everyday!

This was about halfway up the hill and already the view was pretty incredible.

The Cathedral was HUGE.  The design and architecture of the building was so great you have to just take a couple of minutes to take it all in. 

We also decided to visit Lincoln Castle and climbed up one of its towers to see such an amazing view. I must have taken so many pictures up there but this was one of my favourites, It's of the Cathedral from afar and just shows you how big the building is and also how high up we were.  My camera doesn't really do it justice but if you're ever in Lincoln make sure to also visit the castle and go up one of the towers - it's the best.

I made my friend take a quick ootd photo for me!
Top; H&M // Denim Shirt; New Look // Jeans; New Look

I've never been to Lincoln before and walking around reminded me of when I used to live down in Devon. We lived in a sort of town/village about half an hour away from Exeter that was filled with one off shops and tea rooms that felt quintessentially British.  Living in a main city it's quite nice to take a trip to somewhere a bit quieter.

Where is one of your favourite quick getaway places near where you live?

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Urban Outfitters comes to Leicester!

In November last year I wrote about Urban Outfitters coming to Nottingham and now they have a brand new store opening in Leicester (about 30 mins away from Notts) and it is just all kinds of exciting!! I've come to the conclusion Urban Outfitters are like buses. You know, you wait ages for one and then two come along at once? (yep, great analogy there..). Anyway, I was lucky enough to be invited to the store opening in Leicester last week to have a look round the new store





I'm always amazed at how cool the mannequins are dressed in Urban Outfitters stores, definitely a place for fashion inspiration in terms of layering and mixing prints!



One of my favourite parts of the store was the little homeware section upstairs by the fitting rooms. I'm a bit of a sucker for homeware and random books and quirky ornaments so was eyeing up the Wes Anderson collection book and the fairy lights too so I think I shall purchase them on the next payday!






The store was so lovely and had a great old school feel to it - I think there will be many people spending many hours browsing through the shop floor.  It's located in such an easy to get to place too in the Highcross Shopping Centre so if you live in Leicester or are planning a trip there soon, be sure to pay it a visit! As well as being invited to the opening I was also lucky enough to pick out an item of clothing so I shall have an ootd post for that at some point next week!

Currently, I am loving:

James Bay - Let it Go

Check out my latest YouTube video: The Compliment Challenge 

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Manchester times!

Last week I handed in my Coursework and broke up from uni for Christmas break so I planned to spend the weekend in Manchester visiting my friend Bim who had just moved there for work. I've been to Manchester before but only briefly so it was nice to spend a whole weekend there and take a stroll through the Christmas markets and Art Gallery.  It was also my Birthday last week so it was nice to get away after all the uni stress!

I also met up with fellow blogger Halima over at Fashionicide for dinner while I was there which was nice as it's always lovely to meet bloggers in person! We decided on a Wagamama's and had a lovely evening discussing blogging, parents and er, politics haha!

The next day I dragged Bim over to the Manchester Art Gallery in town. We went on a Sunday near closing time so it was nice and quite and we just had a look round. I love going to Art Galleries whenever I'm in a City that I don't know that well. I don't know a thing about art though - I just like having a look round; I feel like I'm walking through someone's home and having a nosey at their pictures ha!

This was my favourite painting, I wish I could remember what it was called but it shows Egyptian women collecting water from the Nile.

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas break and enjoying the festivities/holidays/time of work

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Urban Outfitters comes to Nottingham!!

GUYS URBAN OUTFITTERS IS NOW IN NOTTINGHAM AND IT'S SO COOL AND EXCITING. 

Cool because, well, it's Urban Outfitters. Exciting because, you have no idea how much people have been talking about the store opening. It's like the highlight of the year for Nottingham shoppers (slight exaggeration? I dunno...) I was lucky enough to be invited along to the press day and went along with Gavina yesterday to take a look round which was pretty exciting! I've only ever been in the one in Liverpool One so it's nice to have one here in Notts that I can check out IN REAL LIFE instead of browsing through their online collection (and perhaps spend all my money in? Oh dear...)

Every time I go shopping I've started paying more attention to mannequins and how they're styled which I never really did before for some reason (I used to just ignore them and think 'oh they're dressed too cool for me to try' haha!).  I love the layering of different colours and textures on these mannequins and as soon as I finish writing up this post I'm going to YouTube how to tie a scarf/turban so I can gain extra cool points (you think I'm joking...)

Apart from loving the Urban Outfitters brand/style I also love love love the general design and vibe of the store.  It's a lot bigger than I thought and myself and Gavina kept commenting on the quite rustic/old school vibe it gave off with graffiti and street style art dotted around. There's also a Vinyl wall and an area full of quirky books and gift ideas (I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of furby's hidden at the back somewhere!) adding  to the whole shopping experience.

If you live in/near Nottingham and haven't done so already then you should probably go and check out the store for yourself, it's so flipppin cool! It's in such a great location too (the entrance to Victoria Centre) and it's opened just in time for some serious Christmas shopping. I'm so glad I got to go along to check it out so thank you to the guys at Urban Outfitters for the invite! I was also lucky enough to pick out an item so I shall do a separate outfit post for that so look out for that! Also, make sure to check out the #UONottingham hashtag on instagram for some pictures from their store opening party last night!

What do you guys think of the store? 

Currently, I've been loving:

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

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