Brighton

 

Brighton has always held something special for me. I'm not even sure what it is about the place, maybe the memories of exciting days out with my Auntie, Grandma and cousin when I was 11 and meant to be in school, or because apart from London and our local town it was the first place I went to with my friends without adults, not to mention my love for the sea and shopping.

I got very excited when I found out my dear friend Julie would be visiting from the United States and even more so when she told me she would be staying in Hove, ten minutes from Brighton. We arranged to meet up on Wednesday the 25th.

We met at Brighton station after a quick journey and set out to explore the arty streets and lanes. Within five minutes we came across the kissing policemen by Banksy. 

I took a few photos of my favourite street art that I saw, I love the mermaid.

 

 

 

 

 After looking in a few vintage shops we stopped for lunch and shared a fish finger sandwich and chips. Julie gave me a lovely book of t-shirt transfers - which I will experiment with soon! It was so lovely to catch up and people watch. We then went to a massive antique imporium which had a photo booth with a props box which got us pretty excited!

It's become a bit of a tradition that whenever Julie and I meet up we eat chips and cake (not on the same plate!). Two of our favourite foods! So for cake, Julie had found an amazing old fashioned tea shop called the Blackbird tea room. It's like stepping back in time the minute you step inside, with its pre-war decor, 30's music and vintage floral china. We sat at a window table and had Asam tea for two which was made with tea leaves unlike so many places these days. I had a chocolate, almond and orange cake while Julie had a slice of Bakewell tart both came with fruit. Two ladies came in and sat at the table next to us with a beautiful dog. I couldn't resist taking her photo.

Its my birthday next week so Julie gave me an early birthday present - the second gift of the day she always spoils me! This necklace is so beautiful, I love the colour and the laser cut design is so cute.

After tea it was time to start heading back to the station. We said goodbye knowing we'd meet up again before Julie goes back to America. I had a fantastic afternoon.

Dress: Topshop via ebay
Shoes: Clarks sale
First necklace: homemade by me

 

Cake Glorious Cake!

I love cake, everyone who knows me will tell you this. I love baking it and most of all I really do love eating it! So when I saw the My Waitrose cake competition I was very interested. The competition asked for photos of  homemade creative cakes and all enteries were to be put onto their facebook page for everyone to see.  The enteries would be judged and the owners of a select few which were seen to be the best would win two tickets to the waitrose cookery school in London for an evening course in cupcakes and decorating. The rules said you could enter as many different cakes as you wanted so that is exactly what I did! Time was passing by so last week I assumed I wasn't successful, which is fine as I don't normally win, plus there were so many amazing cakes entered. Then today I got a call from Fiona at the waitrose cookery school - I won! Me, miss-never-win-anything-anderson actually won! The news is just what I need as I've been feeling ill and have had an awful week. It's just reminded me that I am good at things and there's so many good unexpected things in life. The course isn't until November so I've got something to look forward to. There's so question about who I'm going to take with me, my mum helped so much with these cakes - she did most of the baking, I do most of the creative decorative side. She's already emailed almost everyone on the plannet to tell them how proud she is of me, so it'll be lovely to share it with her.
 Here are the photos that I entered.

 

 

Emma Xx

These are a few of my new favourite things..

I wanted to share a few of my new favourite things. The first being these amazing Chelsea boots by TopShop. I was having a look around, wasting time before a hair appointment and then I saw them, sitting there in the frickin sale section. Yes. This seasons rightly named "Ultimate Chelsea boots" for £25! I didn't hesitate at all, I've wanted some Chelsea boots for years and as the only thing wrong with these is a tiny scuff which is hardly noticable at all. After owning these boots for a few weeks I can honestly say they are comfortable, well made and also from high quality leather. The retail price is £65, ok I would never have bought them for that in my current financial state but I'd still recomended them to anyone.

 

My second favouite new thing is this dress by French Connection. It is the sparkliest dress I have ever owned! The skater style and heavy rose gold sequins make it move in such a way I would be happy to swirl around in circles all day. I bought it brand new on eBay for £15, maybe my best bargain of this year, the retail price is £165. I hope to wear it for my birthday in October if I can find something fancy enough to do or over Christmas and new year. I really do love eBay!

My third favourite new thing is a trio of rings. I've wanted some midi rings for a few months now, I see them on blogs and instagram a lot and think they look lovely on. I bought these rings in Miss Selfridge for £7.50 which I don't think is too bad. I like the fact that they are different sizes one small, medium and large, it means I can wear them on different fingers. They remind me of one of my primary school teachers, Mrs Ronnie who used to wear as many rings as her fingers would allow. I think these 3 with two normal rings is plenty enough for me though!