THE DANCE PARTY - VOLUME 4

Hey breakfasters! (I'm trying new post openers out, bear with me) Happy Sunday, hope you've had a relaxing weekend! I started my new job this week so a Saturday morning snooze was a very welcome treat! It's with this that I present the latest edition of The Dance Party - Spotify edit! I've been out of my 60s/70s/80s comfort zone and been a normal human being for once and listened to some more recent and up and coming stuff, so hopefully I can introduce you too to some "bangers" as my brothers would call them! I also love (and I mean LOVE) Kevin Bacon, so any excuse to use Ren McCormack/man of my dreams is more than welcome!

A special dedication to my absolute favourite man of all time Bruce Springsteen, because it's his birthday on Wednesday, I adore him and that date marks four (FOUR!?!?) years since I moved into PeverHell for uni! Listen to The River on Wednesday for full Brucie effect.

Have you listened to anything cool recently?

Cheerio,

Hope x

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY - ROALD DAHL EDITION

It's Monday! It's rainy! It's the first time this year I've thought "I need to buy some gloves"! Hope your days are going well, and if not, Monday brings with it my favourite TV show, University Challenge, so let's look forward to that this evening!
If you didn't know, yesterday was Roald Dahl day, and as he was the man who wrote the books I, my brothers and sister all still adore (my favourite is Revolting Rhymes - Little Red Riding Hood has a gun), I thought it appropriate to impart some of Mr Dahl's wisdom with you on this cold, wet weekday!

On success - 

"NEVER DO ANYTHING BY HALVES IF YOU WANT TO GET AWAY WITH IT. BE OUTRAGEOUS. GO THE WHOLE HOG. MAKE SURE EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SO COMPLETELY CRAZY IT'S UNBELIEVABLE"
- MATILDA

On nonsense - 

"A LITTLE NONSENSE NOW AND THEN, IS RELISHED BY THE WISEST MEN" 

- CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR

On following your instincts - 

"I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, AND YOUR COMMENTS ARE VALUABLE, BUT I'M GONNA IGNORE YOUR ADVICE" 

- FANTASTIC MR FOX

On the comfort of literature -

"ALL YOU TO DO IS LOOK, AT A PAGE IN THIS BOOK, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE WE WILL ALWAYS BE. NO BOOK EVER ENDS, WHEN IT'S FULL OF YOUR FRIENDS" 

- THE GIRAFFE, THE PELLY AND ME

On magic -

"THOSE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN MAGIC WILL NEVER FIND IT"

- THE MINPINS

On a successful life -

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET ANYWHERE IN LIFE, YOU HAVE TO READ A LOT OF BOOKS" 

- ROALD DAHL

On complacency -

"OH MY DEAR YOUNG FELLOW...THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF THINGS IN THIS WORLD OF OURS YOU HAVEN'T STARTED WONDERING ABOUT YET" 

- JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

On enthusiasm -

"I BEGAN TO REALISE HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS TO BE AN ENTHUSIAST IN LIFE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SOMETHING, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, GO AT IT FULL SPEED. EMBRACE IT WITH BOTH ARMS, HUG IT, LOVE IT AND ABOVE ALL, BECOME PASSIONATE ABOUT IT. LUKEWARM IS NO GOOD"
- MY UNCLE OSWALD

On positive thinking -

"IF YOU HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS, THEY WILL SHINE OUT OF YOUR FACE LIKE SUNBEAMS AND YOU WILL ALWAYS LOOK LOVELY"
- THE TWITS

I hope some Roald can inspire you to make the most of your week ahead, and even better if you pick up your copy of Matilda or The Enormous Crocodile. What's your favourite Roald Dahl book? And oh, who's taking me to the museum in Buckinghamshire? It's been on my (Charlie) Bucket list for years!

Cheerio,

Hope x

#INSTADIARIES PART ONE

Bonsoir Cereal readers and a happy Sunday to you!

I hope your weekends have been relaxing and we're all ready for the week ahead - myself included, I start my first grown up job on Tuesday! I know my weekend was fabfabfab, I got the pleasure of being there whilst one of the best people I've known got married on Saturday afternoon and spent it with the squad, laughing far too hard at Harry Potter jokes and dancing at a ceilidh, which I would highly recommend! I thought I'd share a few of my Insta snaps from August/September, including a couple of this weekend! 

1// Yesterday, I was in Norwich with the pallies to celebrate the wedding of Ben, one of my school friends, and his wife Beth. It was sunny, we danced, laughed harder than ever and took a trip down memory lane together, with the phrase "Oh my goodness, remember when X happened?" being said more than ever! I made Rhea take this because I didn't get a full dress shot from graduation when I first wore this dress and I love it and my silver shoes. Both are from ASOS. I took so many photos of us on the day, so expect some sunny wedding themed OOTD posts soon!

2// There they are! Pre-dancing and post romantic vows and speeches, I was so happy to have been a part of such a wonderful wedding. I think I spent all day permanently grinning and cheering, and even found confetti in my makeup bag this morning! Wedding for the ages, and I know the rest of the group of us there are itching for another ceilidh (team, if you're reading this, I know you still have the songs stuck in your heads!). It was a lovely day, gorgeous weather and what a couple! 

3// Think back to last weekend, Cereal fans, I went to London. This may or may not be a shameless plug for that post - if you haven't read it, it's here - but aside from horrendous self promotion, I can't stop raving about Columbia Road market. It was there I found these vintage Private Eye covers and wished I had a little more room in my bag to have fit them! I'm a sucker for a vintage market, and even more so if it's on a street lined with flowers. If you're heading down to London soon or are there and need a little Sunday afternoon adventure, I desperately recommend it, and pick yourself a bunch of hydrangeas and a retro paperback from one of the treasure trove shops along the road!

4// It's no secret I am a coffee addict. I have go-to cafés in Notts, London, Loughborough and Leicester and it's possible Lesta's St Martin's Coffee might be my favourite! I can, and often do, spend hours in there with a book, large Americano and peanut butter brownie. I love the vibe in St Martin's, and the day I took this was rainy and miserable outside, but the mad dash I had from the café to the bus station after wasn't so bad once I'd eaten my body weight in peanut brownies, so good! 

If you fancy, you can follow me on Instagram and let me know what you've been up to in some Valencia filtered shots!

Until next time!

Cheerio,

Hope x

FASHION MATHS

Hi Cereal Fans! As we all know, autumn has well and truly arrived and with it, we're all back to school, work and uni.
As a recent graduate, I had to girl up a bit (sassier than manning up) and find a job and would you believe it, I did! So naturally this means I had to do some working wardrobe research and in true school style, did some fashion maths! Taking a look and notes from the runway, some of my favourite bloggers and street style, I've put together some budget friendly, high street stylish sums for you to solve - 5 marks, show your working out, calculators not permitted.

PRETTY PREPPY

I'm a particular fan of the preppy, bookish look and couldn't be more thrilled to see the good girl, Margot Tenenbaum style hit the runways this season. I especially loved Orla Kiely's A/W15 collection, which was decked out like a vintage library. I took inspiration from the collection's knitwear and tailoring with a twist of the 80's comeback seen at Temperley in the form of some killer silver heels.

Round neck jumper - Zara £19,99
Limited edition collar - River Island  £20
Double cloth trousers - Zara £25.99

SODA heels - ASOS £30

HIGHS AND LOWS

I love the idea of playing with proportions and this attendee of LFW nailed mixing lengths and heights and textures. The ASOS crop top helps incorporate the graphic print trend all over the runways this season and the navy skirt creates a sense of cohesion between the two. I know blue and black should never be seen together but these boots are beauties and I'm a little bit of a rule breaker, who knew?

Crop top with zig zag stripe - ASOS £18
Beau box pleat midi skirt - Boohoo.com £15
Magnificent sock boots - Topshop £79

ARTY LAYERS
Celine, Jil Sander and company all showcased layering as a key style this season and thankfully, it's easy to translate this trend to your working wardrobe. Roll the sleeves up on this H&M shirt and keep your top buttons undone to let this slim fit stripy number show underneath, warm and fashion forward, win win! Paired with skinny fit trousers and a laid back Chelsea boot, this look nails laid back layers. 

Cotton shirt - H&M £19.99

Striped jersey top - H&M £6.99
Workwear skinny trousers - Next £22

Leather Chelsea ankle boots - Next £58

***

There we have it! I know I don't usually foray into the world of styling but loved the idea of working current AW trends into something more wearable and comfortable. So if you're heading to school, uni, work or like me, your first full time role, have fun, work hard and look good whilst you do it. That's what Nicki Minaj would want.
Until next time!
Cheerio,
Hope x

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE I'M A LONDONER...

Hey team! I have been a busy bee this week, writing, researching, GETTING A JOB (finally!) and this weekend I celebrated with a visit to the big LDN. I took a load of snaps, so here's a selection of my trips to Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Brick Lane and the adorable Columbia Road. I want to live in London immediately. 

Me and Salinger on my journey

Covent Garden had their annual cultural programme on and artist Charles Pétillon had filled the market's ceiling with 100,000 balloons and it was like walking through the clouds, dreamy. I didn't know much about him before this installation but it's titled Heartbeat and is meant to bring a playful element to what would usually be a mundane environment and his other artworks with balloons are amazing. So pretty.

True tourist.

I love Brick Lane and banana bread and the two together is a dream come true.

Columbia Road was my favourite, so gorgeous. If like me, you love wandering through markets and like Brick Lane or Camden, I'd definitely recommend Columbia Road. Books, vintage, flowers and sunshine, what could be better? I ended up wandering into Hoxton Mini Press where there was a book launch (don't ask me how I got there) and got offered free Pimms so as far as Sundays go, this one was pretty much perfect. Oh, and a busker singing Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks, I mean, come on!!

Vintage posters on Columbia Road.

Sunny Afternoon.

Goodness gracious I love London. I covered so much ground and still missed so much! Brick Lane was, as always, beautiful and full of the most delicious looking street food and vintage bikes. I forever love Covent Garden and there's still nothing quite like Carnaby Street. Until next time, LDN.

Cheerio,

Hope x