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Tag: Lifestyle
Cream Horns and Beauty Products
The best way to celebrate birthdays is with a heck of a lot of cake!
Life’s a Beach|Norfolk Day Three
We woke up after a slight lie in to more blue skies and quickly jumped into the car to head off to another favourite place of ours; Holkham Beach.
Prosecco and Giggles|23rd Birthday Dinner
This week I turned 23 and to celebrate among other things was dinner with my four closest girl friends.
Top – Miss Selfridge|Jeans – New Look (similar)|Shoes – Kurt Geiger|Necklace – Accessorize (similar).
Without getting mushy these girls have stuck by me through thick and thin and I would be lost without them.
We started off with a few glasses of good old bucks fizz before heading to one of my all time restaurants ‘Brocca‘ in St Margarets.
I went for the Coconut and Lemon Crusted Prawns followed by Braised Beef Rib with Parsnips Crisps and Wasabi Mash. Both were amazing but we skipped dessert and headed home for a spot of birthday cake.
I had such a lovely evening with my girls and they made getting a year older slightly easier!
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
Picnics at Painshill Park
My sister and her husband came down to visit for the weekend, which was the perfect excuse for a Saturday picnic at the beautiful Painshill Park – a place we had driven past many times but never ventured into.
We started with the picnic, although there is an excellent cafe which we discovered later. We chose a spot by the lake watched over by some ducks.
Painshill Park was created by the Honurable Charles Hamiltion who wanted to create something beautiful for the public to visit. He created certain follies along the walk including the Turkish Tent, a Gothic Tower and the Temple of Bacchus which has since become a ruin.
It’s such a quirky expanse that you never know what you are going to stumble on next. Perfect for budding photographers like my mum.
Top- H&M|Shorts – H&M|Wellies – Hunter.
The crowning glory at Painshill is the man-made crystal grotto. It’s such a curious little thing but is also rather beautiful.
We finished our day off with a good old cup of tea pleased to have discovered a whole new place which is in London but makes you feel like you are somewhere else.
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
To find out more about Painshill Park click here.
We’re going to the Zoology museum…
As something of a museum geek it was not unusual for me and my museum pal A to be wandering down a backstreet of London towards the Grant Museum of Zoology.
Linked with the University College London the museum is host to around 67,000 specimens. Now A and I seem to be attracted to weird collections – check out our visit to The Natural History Darwin Collection. The prospect of animal skeletons and samples preserved in fluid caught our attention.
Just one room is home to all the specimens with cats and dogs sharing a cabinet and some Dodo bones chilling with a sabre tooth – if Night at the Museum was real then this would be the horror movie version.
After working up quite an appetite filling our brains up with knowledge we jumped on a tube and headed to Camden and my all time favourite seafood restaurant Seawise – read my full review here. I opted for an early afternoon G+T and a lobster tail.
Blazer – River Island|T-shirt – Pull&Bear|Jeans – New Look|Shoes – Topshop|Bag – Accessorize.
If your looking for a fun activity which is free and suitable for all ages definitely check out the Zoology Museum it’s well worth it.
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
Parades, Tea Cups and Dreams|Disney Day 1
*WARNING – There is no glamour or style in this post, I have reverted back into a 10 year old child in the photos*
The bank holiday weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity for my sister and I to hop over to Disneyland for a few days. After a few hours on the train and quickly checking into our hotel – more on that later – we got stuck into the meet and greets starting with Thumper and Miss Bunny.
After much hugging we managed to catch the end of Goofy’s Garden Party Parade where all the characters were out in their spring outfits, before hitting up some of the rides.
I love Disneyland at spring time (check out my photos from last years visit) the extra attention to details make everything even more magical.
Before I knew it, it was time for the Disney Magic on Parade. Yes I did stake my place at the front half an hour before it started and yes I did squeal throughout.
We had worked up quite an appetite so stopped off at The Lucky Nugget a childhood favourite to refuel on some good old fashioned burgers and ice cream – calories don’t exist at Disneyland.
After some (read a lot) of shopping it was time to get a seat for the grand finale. Disney Dreams, which has to be on the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
Very tired we returned back to our hotel excited for the next day!
Check back tomorrow for day 2
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
Easter Sunday Funday
Easter Sunday was a slightly quieter affair than normal, we are having building works going on so the usual huge family lunch was limited to just a close few.
I love bunnies and couldn’t resist these rather kitsch bunny cups from Tesco.
I was left in charge of my new favourite domain the kitchen and with a little help from my mum managed to cook up a little feast.
Roast chicken with all the trimmings followed by mascarpone and passionfruit clouds.
Feeling a little bit over indulged we finished off the day with a walk, before tucking into our easter eggs.
Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend.
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
Pale Girl Problems
As much as I love my pale my skin, my Irish heritage does cause some beauty problems!
1. Finding an affordable foundation that doesn’t turn me orange.
High end brands can be just as bad but most have slightly better shade range however finding a high street foundation my shade has been almost impossible if you are having the same issue here are some high end and high street suggestions L’Oreal True Match in Rose Ivory, Rimmel Wake Me Up in Porcelain, Illamasqua Skin Base, NARS Sheer Glow.
2. Being able to contour without looking like you applied mud to your face.
As with foundation contouring can be difficult for us pale girls with a lot of popular products – Benefit Hoola i’m looking at you – giving us muddy results however I have found a few products which are fantastic which you can read here.
3.Burning even in the English sun.
As soon as the sun starts peeking round the clouds on goes the factor 5o otherwise I will be lobster red by the end of the day.
4. People not believing you’ve been on holiday because you just don’t tan.
I honestly don’t tan even if I do burn I just go straight back to white, so to stop with the annoying questioning about my inability to tan I often opt for a bit of the fake bake. My favourite brand to use is Cocoa Brown. You can create a realistic tan and it doesn’t turn you Oomph Loompa orange.
5. People asking if you are feeling alright when you’re not wearing make-up.
‘You look awfully pale are you alright’ ‘Yep that’s just my face without all the contouring and blush’
Have you encountered any of these #palegirlproblems
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
Savage Beauty|McQueen Exhibition
My mum is a member of the V&A which meant that we got to go and see the beautiful McQueen Savage Beauty a day before it is opened to the public.
We started the day off with a bit of tea and cake in the members lounge which is situated at the very top of the building hidden away behind a two way mirror.
The actual exhibition is a no photography zone and I am sort of glad it is as I think its something that you should go and experience for yourself rather than viewing it from a computer screen.
It’s very hard to put into words how amazing the collection is, the whole exhibition is very McQueen with each room taking on a different theme – one minute you are in the catacombs of Paris and the next you are in a royal throne room. The selection of clothes on display is phenomenal and being able to see the clothes close up is such a privilege. Like I said its hard to describe you can only really understand if you see it yourself.
My mum attempted to put it into words and came out with this:
Exceptional – stunningly beautiful, theatrical, disturbing. And – in a darkened room, dancing to the music from Schindler’s List, Kate Moss in a pepper’s ghost effect dancing/floating in a McQueen dress of clouds of white tulle. Eerie . . .
Which I think sums up a small part of it!
Hat – Topshop|Dress – H&M|Cardigan – Vintage|Pumps – H&M.
We lunched at Le Pain Quoitdien my all time favourite Belgium cafe.
If you can get tickets for the Savage Beauty exhibition go because its just amazing! It opens today and runs until August.
Peace Out and Pixie Dust XO
For more information click here.
What Kate Did Next 