Let It Snow

[Jeans - Topshop, Boots - River Island, Sweater - Illustrated People, Faux-fur rimmed Cardigan - H&M, Earmuffs - American Apparel]

It's been snowy and icy for over a week here, which is madness as this is the first time snow has stayed on the ground for more than a day or two in my town for over 10 years! My boyfriend made a snowman, complete with mohawk, and I got good wear out of my American Apparel earmuffs, which were a birthday present from the boy.
Now I'm off to shop the "January" sales, although I am going to try to restrain myself from buying anything I don't need. Lets see how well that goes..!

Anyway I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! =]

And She Was 22.

[Dress - Topshop, Necklace - Primark, Ankle boots - Topshop]

On the 20th I celebrated my 22nd birthday; I feel so old now, haha!

I had two lovely evenings this weekend; Saturday I spent with the boy and our friends, as it was his birthday on the 17th so we decided to have a joint meal and night out between his 22nd and mine, and that was lots of fun! My actual birthday on Sunday was spent with my family, who took us out for a lovely meal =].

These photos are from Saturday night, for which I bought this rather sensible, warm Topshop jersey dress. Definitely a good choice as it was freezing cold. Actually, it has been freezing cold ever since and we have been graced with crisp white snow for once! Fingers crossed for a real "white Christmas"!

Eight. Oh.

Spent a busy weekend in Newcastle seeing family and celebrating my grandmother's eightieth birthday with a family dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was so lovely to see my cousins and everyone; I don't get many opportunities to go up and visit these days, especially since I work on a Saturday so don't have a full weekend spare normally. Thankfully I managed to bag this one off work, got my hair cut (it was getting out of control, I was finding it hard to see out of my left eye due to the size of my fringe, haha) and sped up the the North East ready for the celebrations!

The necklace I have on here is one of the items I bought from my one and only time shopping at Forever 21 (in Dubai), and the ring is also from Dubai - from one of the silver souks in the old town. The stone is amber, and I absolutely love it. It doesn't have a smooth finish, and there is tiny bugs and a mosquito set inside it, which I just find so amazing!

Gold Rush

[Top - Donna Karan, Leather skirt - 3.1 Phillip Lim, Necklace - Emma Carroll, Leather gloves - 3.1 Phillip Lim, Shoes - Lanvin]

I find that creating party outfits for the festive season is the best way to feel Christmassy... That and listening to cheesy Christmas hits of course!
We have put up our Christmas tree at home and it really does make the room so much more cheerful having a 10 foot tree covered in white lights and baubles at the window for that one month a year =].

I would really like a good pair of leather gloves. These 3.1 Phillip Lim ones are perfect, though I am obviously on the look-out for rather cheaper ones! Any suggestions?

Oversizing

I am imagining all of the things I could carry around with me if I owned this Chloe Hedda.
I am one of those people incapable of leaving the house without everything I may possibly need. Anyone got a headache? I will have painkillers. Need a tissue. Don't worry. A pen? Got one. Lipsalve? Of course. Notebook? Always....

Even on a night out I couldn't contemplate taking out a teeny-weeny clutch bag (no matter how gorgeous looking they can be) because I need all of my essentials with me. In fact, my friends have had various nicknames for bags of mine in the past, including "Mary Poppins' bag" (remember the scene in which Mary Poppins' opens her doctors-style bag and pulls out a tall table lamp?! Well, this is how my friends view my bags).

Long live big bags and their ability to hold everything useful!