Wednesday 30 March 2016

Insta-Happenings

Plenty of cocktails coming your way....

New shoes, new shoes! Yaaaa! I got this lovely metallic silver pair with voucher from Next and a sunny Saturday was the perfect day for a test run - and the result? I love them! They're really comfy and the metallic shimmer is just so perfect.

Coral roses and teacups - don't they just make you smile? Little touches like this are a great way to make a room look extra special and pretty. It's just something a bit different!

A couple of weeks ago I went skiing and couldn't wait to share it with you lovely lot! We jetted off to Andorra to spend some time on the slopes. It was such good fun and we really loved the resort. The sun shined for pretty much the whole week and we really made the most of it. Check out the post, it's a biggie filled with snowy photos.

Glasgow Restaurant Festival kicked off last week and we went along to celebrate at the Launch Party! It was a lovely evening filled with gin tasting and canapé eating. We sipped on cocktails and toe-tipped to the live bands. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Festival has to offer.

And then it was the long weekend! I made my way through to Edinburgh to spend some time with my family, starting with a girlie day shopping. As I was seeing my favourite people I decided I had to wear my two favourite things - stripes and something yellow! I really like the way the bright yellow compliments the blue stripes and the gold coin necklace just finishes it all off.

After shopping you have to get a cocktail don't you - that's the rules. Before dinner we stopped by The Jolly Botanist and sipped on gin fizzes until we met the rest of the crew at the restaurant.

Time flew by and soon it was Sunday. It was also my Mum's birthday! We started the Easter birthday off with bucks fizz and party planning whilst admiring the Spring countryside and big, bright daffs out the window.

We didn't stop on Monday though and went to the amazing Ox and Finch for dinner. You've got to start the evening perusing the menu with a cocktail. This was a gin and aperol mixture and was really light and refreshing. The food was gorgeous too and we ordered plate upon plate, so tasty.

I popped up a wee post about the Glasgow Restaurant Festival so you could find out a bit more about it. The month long celebration of the food scene in Glasgow has events including Pop-Up Dining and Secret Dining. Basically it sounds like a foodies dream!




Tuesday 29 March 2016

Glasgow Restaurant Festival

We kicked off the long weekend in style at the Launch Party for the Glasgow Restaurant Festival.


The amazing foodie Festival is "the first ever city-wide Glasgow Restaurant Food Festival - four weeks of unique dining experiences across the city, all brought to you by Glasgow's best chefs and favourite restaurants." Well that sounds like a pretty marvellous idea to me!



Set in Candleriggs Square, in Merchant City is the beautiful Spiegeltent. It's a gorgeous venue, with red drapes, mirrors and stained glass perfectly complimenting the vintage vibe. We picked up our welcome cocktail and decided to have a wander.


There for the launch party we bumped into; The Gannet, Porter and Rye, Red Onion, Section 33, Makar Gin and the Glengoyne Distillery.



I'd always wanted to give The Gannet a go as I'd heard amazing things about it and the canapés definitely didn't disappoint, they were sublime and I'll be booking a table in the near future! Now, I've visited Porter and Rye before and if you're a beef fan, please, please, please just go, go now. Red Onion had some delicious food on offer and one I hadn't heard about before, Section 33, had some amazing spicy duck. Also, although I'm not a whisky, I had a wee dram at the Glengoyne stand and found myself to quite enjoy the 12 year.
Makar Gin really made an impression.


We waited for our turn tasting and the lovely gentleman from Makar chatted all about the gin, telling us about all the ingredients and giving us a wee taste. He even said he was very impressed with my palette as I picked out the aniseed flavour - get me!



We finished the tasting with a martini for the road.


It was a great we evening for a wandering around the tent and seeing what was on offer. The atmosphere was a perfect combination of relaxing and buzzing and showed off the best of the foodie scene. The live bands were also fantastic and we could sit and toe-tap as we sipped our martinis.
The festival is a brilliant celebration of food and what the Glasgow culinary scene has to offer. From the 24th of March to the 24th of April you can enjoy Secret Dining, Pop-Up Dining and Dining in the City events.


It was a really fantastic and tasty evening and we'll definitely be booking into some delicious evenings over the festival!





Thanks for having us!


Thursday 24 March 2016

Time To Hit The Slopes

An amazing time on the slopes of Andorra!


Not too long ago the BF and myself jetted off to snow-capped peaks for a week of skiing, eating and drinking - bliss. We popped off to Pas de la Casa in Andorra, a little resort in the Grandvalira area. All booked up with Crystal Ski we rose nice and early for  flight to Toulouse, eager to hit the slopes.


Pas de la Casa was a great little resort for a good deal. It's in a fairly big ski area, meaning we managed to whizz down a fair amount of pistes! The actual resort however, isn't the prettiest - but to be honest it doesn't really matter when the views are as incredible as the mountains. It's also a duty-free haven and we pretty much spent a week shrieking about how wonderfully cheap everything was (two beers for €4 in a ski resort!) and it means your money can really go far. Plus it's renowned for a having just a little bit of a night-life so prepare to dance in ski boots!

We got up early the first day and joined the queue for the first lift - here we go!



And after a hard day on the slopes you really need to reward yourself with a pint. It's so good to sit at the top of the mountain, pint in hand, bopping along to the blaring music and watching the other skiers racing down the slopes.





The next day was much of the same, up and down up and down! It's a fantastic area to ski with loads of great runs.They lovely and wide and there's so much room to just blast down. They're also pretty quiet. We could do run after run with the whole piste to ourselves, amazing. And then climb back up amongst gorgeous snow-capped trees.



Of course there was plenty of time for hot chocolate stops.


We found an amazing apres bar too!



You could lounge on big sofas with the DJ blaring out the tunes and cava in hand.


They seemed to specialise in a fizz and berry concoction which was just quite delicious! There was also massive fish-bowls of blue gin. I could while away quite a few hours sitting here, bathing in the sun and sipping on cocktails. Some people were even sound asleep on the couches! However, this particular bar was a wee bit away from our resort, over in Soldeu, so we had to whizz back over.

The sun continued to shine for most of the week - yaaa!

There's something about the mountains on a beautiful sunny day that is just so amazing. There's plenty of breath-taking views that are quite awe-inspiring. They rise up around you, white peaks stretching to the sky and stand grand as they snow glitters on them - just beautiful.


Soon it was our last day - boo!


It was a simply beautiful day. We found the perfect terrace for a spot of lunch.





Music beat away in the background and we relaxed into our seats. Sipping our drinks and watching the slopes. I had the most amazing goats cheese salad - divine. And we gave into the relaxing vibe that the terrace buzzed with.


But soon off we went for the last few runs.


The sun was still blazing at the end of the day so we headed back for a pitcher (or two) of Cava Sangria - which is amazing btw.



I could have stayed here forever....

But soon the sun went down and it was time to ski home, pack up and prepare to head home.


Such an amazing holiday with Crystal Ski, we're already planning on heading back next year!



Monday 21 March 2016

Insta-Happenings

Flowers, clothes and lipsticks - what more do you need in a week?!

It's finally starting to feel like we might all be getting a little sunshine in our lives and Spring is peeking around the corner. Nothing gives you that lovely sunny feeling like sunflowers - and Arran Aromatics pulled out all the stops to make us all smile! How beautiful are their windows!? The big, big, yellow sunflowers made me grin from ear to ear as I rushed through Buchanan Galleries, so of course I had to halt and snap a picture!

I had an amazing time at ROX a wee whiley ago and I thought I'd get round to sharing what I wore for the magical day. Think relaxed shirt dresses, statement boots and some fake-fur for a little sass. This is the ultimate Saturday outfit for a day of wandering around the shops and sipping on champagne.

#tbt time. I was dreaming about the best day ever. When I visited London back in November we had an amazing day filled with Chanel, champagne and cake, basically what dreams are made of. We popped along to the incredible Mademoiselle Prive that included a replica of the famous staircase which Coco perched upon to watch the show below.

When you've got some time to waste at the airport there's nothing better than treating yourself to something pretty from duty free to kick start the holiday. When I headed off skiing I already had plans in my head that I was going to treat myself to a Mac lipstick - and voila! I picked one up in 'Brave', my little sisters been wearing this shade for a while and I loved it so much on her that I had to grab myself a slice of the action.

Another little look at my Ultimate Saturday Outfit. It's all in the little details - a touch of fake fur and some sunglasses for a rare day of sunshine in Glasgow. The little bits and pieces make all the difference to a classic shirt dress and leather jacket.

Happy Spring! It was the first day of Spring this weekend - yaaaa! I love it when the sun starts to shine a little bit more, it doesn't feel like it's always the middle of the night all the time and flowers start to poke through the ground. We found these pretty, little, purple crocus just beginning to appear next to the daffodils in the garden and it definitely got me excited for warmer days to come.




Wednesday 16 March 2016

The Ultimate Saturday Outfit

This is the perfect Saturday go-to outfit.


What to wear when you've got a day of mooching round the shops and catch-ups over champagne and cake - this of course! You might have spied my recent post all about a magical trip to ROX and this is what I wore on the day....



I can tell this dress is going to be worn time and time again! You might have spotted it as one of my recent Favourites and it's just so easy to wear! The shirt dress style is really popular just now, it's been around for what seems like eternity, but I'm beginning to notice loads creeping into the shops. H&M have a fantastic selection and that's exactly where I picked up this camel coloured beauty.


It's so comfortable to wear and the colour is bang on and easy. The tie also pulls you in at the waist a tad, giving you just a bit more shape. And the longer hem at the back makes it just a bit more interesting in shape. I also think it will look fabulous unbuttoned over cami tops and jeans - a two-in-one essential!
It was a sunny day in Glasgow - yaaa! - so all I really needed was a trusty leather jacket. This has had a spot in my wardrobe for a good number of years now and I'm not actually someone who wears their leather, biker all that often (shock horror!) but when I do pull it out I always find it really easy to wear and it looks perfect slung over a camel shirt dress.


Sunglasses on - cos I mean you've got to make the most of it in Scotland!

And the dream boots! How gorgeous are these little beauties?! They just add an extra summin summin to an otherwise everyday outfit. They're more exciting than black boots and make everything look a bit more like you belong on Instagram. Basically I love them. They're pretty comfy too and the heel is just the right height for wandering about all day in.



The fake-fur stole is one of those things that just makes me feel all sassy and fabulous. I found it in the Topshop sale for £7 reduced from about £35 - I mean, come one, bargain right there, how was I supposed to resist!! And I'm glad I didn't. It looks like it was just made to put the finishing touches to this Ultimate Saturday Outfit.


Can it be Saturday again so I can skip about in leopard-print boots and drink champagne please?

Jacket - H&M
Dress - H&M 
Boots - H&M
Fake Fur Stole - Topshop 
Sunglasses - Rayban 
Bag - Mango