What I wore in Venice

I've blogged about what I ate in Venice and posted a photographic summary of our trip, so now it's time to blog about what I wore in Venice. I really love the steady stream of content that presents itself after I've been on holiday.

I checked the weather forecast religiously for about 6 weeks before we went away to make sure I packed appropriately. As the weather was set to be a few degrees warmer than back home, I took a couple of denim jackets to wear over my day dresses rather than taking any big coats. I also packed some nice dresses for the evenings along with my new favourite baby pink jacket. I took a raincoat just in case, but we didn't see a drop of rain for the whole holiday so it stayed safely inside my suitcase.

Once I'd made a final decision on all the clothes I was taking, I decided which bags and shoes to pack. Are you starting to realise why it takes me so long to pack for a holiday? I took far too many pairs of shoes considering we only went for 5 days, but I did wear them all at least once so I don't feel too silly.

I've linked to the items photographed below wherever possible, but most of them are either years old or out of stock by now. During the writing of this post, I realised that only one of the items below was bought at full price which made my thrifty heart very happy.

Day outfits 

Every item that made up this outfit was massively discounted... 

the dress and boots cost £15 in total! 

Denim jacket, dress and boots from New Look, and bag from Kate Spade New York. 

Denim jacket and ankle boots from New Look, 

dress from ASOS, and bag from Kate Spade New York. 

Denim jacket, ankle boots and dress from New Look, 

and bag from Kate Spade New York (bought with my Ebay profits!).
I used this bag as my hand luggage bag to save space in my case. 

Denim jacket, dress and boots from New Look, bag from Kate Spade New York. 

Evening outfits 

 

Jacket and dress from New Look, bag from Ted Baker
(one of last year's Christmas sale bargains).

Dress and shoes from New Look. 

The dress was a massive bargain a couple of months ago at £10.  

Dress and shoes from ASOS, bag from Kate Spade New York. 

I've got the same dress in white because I like it so much!  

Dress from New Look. You can't see it clearly in the picture, 

but it's delicately glittery and I love it.  

I think I've finally run out of holiday content, so there might be something completely different on the blog next week... 

What I wore in New York

I've been meaning to blog for a while about what I wore in New York. However, I must admit that my main motivation for publishing this post today was the lack of time and opportunity to take photos for any of my other potential posts. Roll on the lighter evenings!

While I'm busy admitting to things, I thought I'd talk about the military operation of me packing to go on holiday. It starts with a big Word document (set up immediately after we book a holiday) which details every single piece of clothing, every accessory, every toiletry and every miscellaneous item I'm planning to take with me. The packing itself usually commences about three weeks before we leave. Although part of me is very jealous when Neil somehow manages to pack his suitcase in 25 minutes, I do secretly enjoy my long-winded and highly organised packing process.

The photos of me in New York were all taken outside, so I'm only going to detail my coats, boots, hats and scarves because that's all you can see. To complete my outfits, I took a pair of jeans, a few jumpers, warm dresses, leggings and tights, along with some nice dresses for the evenings. I packed light on shoes and bags (for me), but definitely didn't pack light on hats, scarves and gloves.

I've linked to the relevant items where I can in the photos below, but most of them are either sold out or not in existence any more.

Parka from Dorothy Perkins, scarf from Joules' Ebay store, and
black boots from Shoe Zone 

Kate Spade hat from Ebay, scarf from Joules, coat from Debenhams,
bag from Kate Spade and boots from Ugg

Hat from New Look, scarf and gloves from Asda, coat from ASOS,
and bag from Kate Spade 

Hat and gloves from Accessorize, bag and scarf from New Look

The hat was a gift from Italy, and the scarf is from Primark 

Hat from New Look and scarf from ASOS 

Hat, scarf and gloves from New Look, bag from Kate Spade 

Is your packing process a bit like mine, or do you pack like a normal person? 

Christmas sale bargains

It's become a bit of an annual tradition for me to blog about the bargains I've treated myself to in the Christmas and new year sales. You can read last year's post here in case it passed you by.

January always feels a bit gloomy in lots of ways so it's been nice to brighten it up with some discounted treats. I usually do the vast majority of my shopping online throughout the year because I find it less stressful, but I actually ventured in to Cardiff for some of the purchases below. There's something very satisfying about buying an item in-store and being able to use it straight away rather than waiting for it to be delivered.

I had £250 saved up in my eBay profit account so I decided to use that for my sale shopping. Using my eBay pot instead of dipping in to my current account made everything feel like even more of a bargain!

Let's find out what I bought and how much I saved...

This beauty from Kate Spade was my biggest treat to myself. I was on the lookout for a pink bag to replace one of my old ones so I was delighted when this one popped up in their sale. 

Saving = £146

I always end up buying a few things from the New Look sale over Christmas. This year I bought a pair of heels, a dressy dress and a jumper. 

Saving = £39

I ran out of proper hot chocolate just before Christmas so I popped in to Whittard to top up my stash. The pretty tin was a bonus. 

Saving = £5

I had quite a few gifts from Lush for Christmas so I didn't go mad in their sale, but I couldn't resist this bath melt at half price. The solid perfume was an impulse buy at the till because it was cute, yellow and also half price! 

Saving = £7

We went to Bridgend's McArthur Glen at the beginning of January and I picked up this cute polar bear jumper in Next. I also bought a pair of jeans for £8.99 (!) on the same trip, so the epic saving I made on those is included in the figure below. 

Saving = £40

These shoes were a complete impulse buy from Dorothy Perkins as I couldn't leave them behind when I clocked them in my size at Leckwith's Outfit store. They're so beautiful and sparkly! 

Saving = £12 

It's been a while since I bought a hoodie from Animal, so I treated myself to one a couple of weeks ago. It's a nice neutral colour and goes perfectly with my classic Ugg boots. 

Saving = £23 

I'm really pleased with my bargains and feel as if I bought a nice variety of items. I've also already sold a few things on eBay this year to make room for my new purchases and started replenishing my eBay profit account in the process. 

So, how much did I save in total? The results are in... 

Total savings = £272

Total spent = £236

I stayed within budget and actually saved more than I spent. That's the kind of result I like!  

It's all yellow

Wearing yellow used to be a big no-no for me.

I used to think I could never wear yellow because it clashed spectacularly with my hair. I also happened to be in the yellow team in both primary and secondary school, so anything remotely yellow always reminded me of dreaded sports days. I've always been terrible at any kind of competitive sporting activity so sports day was consistently my least favourite day of the year.

It's not difficult to see why I didn't used to be a yellow fan... 

Fast forward a few years and I've suddenly become a big fan of all things yellow. I stopped caring about things clashing with my hair a long time ago, and yellow is such a lovely sunny colour which always cheers me up. In the past I would have hastily scrolled past any yellow items while browsing my favourite websites, but now I've actively started seeking them out. 

My very yellow dress and shoes for this year's birthday meal. 

This yellow dress and matching flip flops were perfect for our

holiday to Walt Disney World earlier this year.

 

I even chose a yellow MagicBand for this year's holiday! 

I couldn't resist buying this denim jacket from New Look, and these shorts from ASOS were an excellent find just before our holiday. 

I bought the dress on the left with this year's birthday money and the one in the middle with last year's birthday money, both from ASOS. The playsuit on the right was a bargain a couple of weeks ago from New Look. 

My rapidly growing yellow obsession hasn't stopped with my clothing. We've been redecorating the house over the last few months which has resulted in a major overhaul for several rooms, and the guest bedroom has ended up with a yellow and grey theme. It's beautifully bright and sunshiny and I love it!  

I've obviously got a selection of Disney teddies for every colour coordination under the sun. 

My Winnie the Pooh shelf looks perfect on our yellow wall. 

Any other yellow fans out there? Please send me your recommendations! 

Planning my Disney outfits #2

My regular readers and Instagram followers will already know that I blogged about my first planned Disney outfit a few weeks ago. As it's been a busy week and I'm running low on inspiration for new content, I thought I'd share another one! 

The idea for this outfit started when I found this much-coveted Mickey ice cream cone tshirt on eBay a few months ago. I kept spotting it all over Instagram after it had long disappeared from Primark, and I somehow found it on eBay at an even cheaper price. 

I knew lots of the accessories I already had would go perfectly with the tshirt as I own a LOT of pink things. However, I wasn't too sure what I should wear on the bottom half. I thought something pink or white might make me look like a marshmallow, and I didn't want to go for anything too dark as I thought it might clash. 

Enter these denim shorts from New Look! 

As is usually the case with all my clothes, these were discounted in the sale and just happened to be available in my size at the right time. Denim shorts are always handy because they go with anything and, as a bonus, the baby pink detail on these shorts means they're ideal for this outfit. 

I already had the perfect pair of Mickey ears from Luby and Lola which meant I wasn't tempted to buy yet another pair for this trip. I bought the baby pink bag when we were on honeymoon in Rome back in 2014, and the pink sandals were a Venetian gift from my in-laws a few years ago. And, just like that, another outfit was sorted! 

Keep a look-out for more outfit posts in the next few weeks as our holiday gets closer and closer...

Planning my Disney outfits #1

We're off to Florida in just under ten weeks and I've been busy planning every possible aspect of our trip. At the risk of sounding a little TOO organised, I've been planning since approximately August last year.

One of the holiday planning tasks I really enjoy, particularly for our holidays to Walt Disney World, is deciding which outfits to take for the two weeks. I love making sure I'm colour coordinated, from my clothes to my shoes to my bags. As a happy coincidence, since becoming slightly obsessed with Mickey ears over the last couple of years, I've now got even more things to coordinate!

The idea for my first outfit started when I impulsively bought this beautiful Beauty and the Beast themed Danielle Nicole bag from the Disney Store (now available on ASOS here). I'd wanted this bag for years and couldn't resist it when it suddenly became available on the UK's Disney Store website.

Although I was a little worried that the bag would be too small, I found that I could easily fit my phone and purse into it which is all I need for park days and evenings. So step one of the outfit was complete! 

As I love both Beauty and the Beast and floral patterns, I thought I'd hunt for a few more themed items to go with this bag. I had my eye on a floral playsuit from New Look, but it was constantly out of stock in my size. However, when I was browsing the sales just after Christmas, my size popped up and the item was drastically reduced. I made sure I put it straight in my basket as it was the ideal match for my new bag. 

I had the perfect playsuit and the perfect bag, so I obviously needed some ears to finish off the ensemble. I love Luby and Lola's Mickey ears and had spotted a beautiful red rose pair on their website, so I eagerly waited for their Etsy shop to re-open and placed my order for this beautiful pair. 

A photograph could never capture the beauty of these ears! I love the deep red colour of the satin bow, and the black background is slightly glitzy which adds that extra bit of Disney sparkle. 

Lastly, I realised I didn't own any red flip flops even though my collection seemed to feature every other colour under the sun. I bought a red pair from New Look which, again, happened to be reduced. I think you'll all agree that they finish the outfit off beautifully! 

I never feel as if my outfit coordination is completely 100% on point (ugh, can't believe I just used that phrase), but on this occasion I think it's perfect! I can't wait to wear this outfit in May, and I'm looking forward to pairing this bag and the ears with a few other outfits too. 

I don't think any of my other outfits will live up to this one, but I might still blog about another couple of holiday clothing ensembles in the next few months. Watch this space! 

My post-Christmas sale bargains

I very rarely buy anything at full price. I've always got lots of website links for potential purchases saved on my phone, and I either wait for them to go down in price or for a discount code to swoop into my inbox. This means that the post-Christmas sales are a highly exciting event for me!

I always save a certain amount of money throughout December to make sure I've got enough to spend in the sales after Christmas, and I also had some Quidco cashback and eBay funds to spend.

It's safe to say that I've picked up some amazing bargains over the last few weeks. I use the post-Christmas sales to stock up on new dresses for work, holiday clothes, and anything else I need/want which I didn't get for Christmas.

I've included links for the items below wherever possible, just in case you fancy grabbing a bargain before they all disappear.

Hunter wellies from Schuh - I've wanted Hunter wellies for ages

and got a children's pair in the sale with a discount of £16 (and a huge £61 discount on the pink pair I saw on ASOS). Hooray for having small feet! 

A floral dress for work, a lacy pink dress and a black midi dress from Debenhams. These three dresses combined cost £39, and I saved £96 on them in total! 

A black and white dress for work, a playsuit ready for Florida, and a pink summer dress.

I saved £32 in total on these items which were all from New Look.

A blue summer dress from ASOS ready for Florida.

At £7.50 with a saving of £17.50, I couldn't go wrong!

Rose gold sequin shoes from New Look - a saving of £11. 

Cosy jumper dress from the Fat Face outlet in McArthur Glen - £25 off! 

Winnie the Pooh pyjamas from Asda - a saving of £7. 

A floral openwork charm from Pandora for my

grey leather bracelet - half price and £10 off.

Bath bomb and gift box from Lush - both items

were half price which resulted in a saving of £10.75. The gift card I had from my brother for Christmas paid for these purchases!

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush tin from Boots, half price with a saving of £5. 

And last but not least, the photo doesn't do this beautiful Ted Baker bag justice...

half price in John Lewis with a saving of £40.

I happily worked out that I've saved a whopping £270.25 in total, which is a lot more than what I actually spent. This makes my bargain hunting heart very happy. 

Have you blogged about your post-Christmas sale purchases? Please send me your links if so! 

A very belated post... our first wedding anniversary!

It's been nearly six months since our first wedding anniversary, so what better time to blog about it? I'll pretend I meticulously planned it that way rather than quite simply forgetting to blog about it until today. 

Our wedding anniversary was on Sunday 30th August, but we decided to start our celebrations on the Saturday evening as that was exactly 52 weeks from the wedding day itself. This also meant we could celebrate for longer (and eat more celebratory food) which is always a bonus. As we held our wedding reception at Cardiff's Copthorne Hotel with amazing food, we decided to go back there for dinner on the Saturday night. Everything I wore was from New Look, of course!

I chose the goat's cheese and balsamic red onion tart to start and it was really really good. I was a bit worried about the goat's cheese as I hadn't tried it before, but it just made me realise that I've been missing out on a tasty flavour all these years! I had steak for my main meal which was also delicious (although not photogenic enough to appear here). 

It was great to be back at the Copthorne a year on, eating in the exact same room where we ate our wedding breakfast with our family and friends. The restaurant was nice and quiet, and I enjoyed a glass of wine while we were there. I also took the opportunity to pose in one of our favourite wedding photo spots! 

On the day of our anniversary itself, Neil gave me a beautiful 'cariad' locket from Clogau to mark the day. This photo definitely doesn't do it justice! He also printed a tiny wedding photo which fits perfectly inside the locket to make it extra special and significant. It has quite a long chain so it looks great with high-necked tops and dresses, and I absolutely love it. 

In the afternoon, we went to one of my favourite places in Cardiff... Pettigrew Tea Rooms! As usual, the afternoon tea was spectacular and I even got to try a new cake flavour - blueberry and orange. Absolutely divine. 

We went to the cinema after our afternoon tea, but I'm afraid I've completely forgotten what we went to see. This is what happens when I don't blog about an occasion until six months later! I'm sure the film was good, whatever it was. 

I obviously used our first anniversary as an excuse to post a few collages from our special day on Instagram. I love a good collage, and I had hundreds of wedding photos to choose from! 

We went to Florida a few days after our anniversary and enjoyed a few special celebratory meals there too, so it was a really lovely first wedding anniversary all round. 199 days to go until the second one!