Merry Christmas!

Heya :)

It's been a little quiet here on the blog lately as we've been having a lovely time exploring Europe

(so far we've been in Berlin and are now spending Christmas in Prague).

I wanted to pop on quickly though to say hello and to wish you a very happy and safe Christmas!

There will be plenty of travel photos coming to the blog soon, but if you'd like to see a few sneak peeks you can check out my Instagram ;)

Happy Christmas!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - Anniversary Celebrations at Meeka Restaurant

Good morning and Happy Sunday!

As usual I'm up at a ridiculous hour for a Sunday (but  I love it) and I'm sharing with you photos from last night. Yesterday was Tom and my 7 year anniversary - seriously how has it been seven years?! - and to celebrate we decided to do our usual thing and go out and eat! We had been meaning to try out  Meeka Restaurant for ages (the menu has been up on our fridge to remind us for months) and we figured our anniversary was a perfect excuse to go out for a lovely meal. 

I wore one of my favourite dresses; white and floaty, this Zara number is always a winner in my books, and as it was a little chilly, threw on this relaxed boyfriend-style blazer. I love the look of blazers but rarely wear them as they tend to make me feel too dressy, but tonight the oversized look of this one felt perfect paired with the feminine dress.

Tom also dressed up a little, wearing a checked shirt from Trenery. I love the colours and it's nice to see him in something other than a t-shirt every now and then ;)

We definitely weren't disappointment when it came to the food (see below for photos). The restaurant is middle eastern/Moroccan style and everything we ordered was absolutely delicious. 

The dishes are designed to be shared so we started with a few plates of Mezze; Pumpkin hazelnut falafel pockets, Hummus 3 ways with Meeka mixed breads, and Dates stuffed with goats feta, candied walnuts, lemon rocket shallot salad and toasted pepitas. The dates were my particular favourite - you had the sweetness of the dates mixed with the savoury, slightly salty cheese, and then the textures added a whole other dimension. The chewy dates were wrapped in a sort of crispy noodle type thing (no idea what it actually was) that added a lovely crunch. Every bite was just. so. good!

We then shared a vegetable Tajine served with Couscous and finished off our meal with a pretty awesome dessert; Meeka Doughnuts stuffed with salted caramel, cardamom sugar, chocolate hazelnut caramel swirl ice cream, hazelnut praline, macaron and rose petals. It was a good as it sounds. The only part I wasn't a huge fan of was the Persian fairy floss which was perched atop the icecream. It looked beautiful, but there was something about the flavour/texture I just couldn't quite wrap my head around. (This was a very minor thing and Tom seemed to enjoy it so it's probably just my weird taste buds!)

In addition to the lovely food the restaurant was beautifully decorated and atmospheric and the service was top notch too. If you're in Perth I recommend checking this place out - we'll definitely be back again. 

So that brings me to the end of todays post. I hope you have a beautiful Sunday!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Outfit:

Dress - Zara

Blazer - Zara

Bag - Jigsaw

Heels - Country Road

Tom's Outfit:

Shirt - Trenery

Jeans - Calvin Klein

Boots - ?

How To Make A Flower Crown

Today I'm sharing with you how to make a flower crown! Perfect for a wedding, fancy dress or just as a beautiful headpiece to jazz up an outfit.

I originally planned to wear this crown for my wedding, however as this was my first go, it turned out a little bigger than I'd intended (I got a tad carried away adding more and more flowers!) so I'm probably going to make one that's a little more delicate for the big day. 

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty happy with how this flower crown turned out, so I figured I'd share with you how I created it!

I've made a video (see below) to go along with this post too if you'd prefer to watch rather than read :)

What you'll need:

1)  Florist Wire 

2)  Florist Tape (I used a mixture of the paper and parafilm kind)

3) Flowers (artificial or real) 

4) Greenery of some kind 

5) Wire Cutters

Step 1

Start off by creating a circle with the wire that fits nicely on your head. I was using quite fine wire so I twisted a few pieces together to give it a little added thickness and strength. I then used floral tape to wrap all around the wire so I had a neat base to work with.

Step 2

Position the greenery and start wiring it piece by piece onto the crown, overlapping as you go so that the base of the crown is fully covered.

Step 3 

It's time to start wiring the flowers. I've seen tutorials that say you're supposed to stab the wire through the top of the flower stem and then wrap it around the stem, however as my flowers were artificial, I had difficulty stabbing it through (and a few of the flowers, didn't even have much of a stem to wrap around), so instead I just looped the wire through the little hole at the top and then twisted it down so I had something to work with when attaching the flowers to the crown. It's difficult to explain so if you're confused you can check out the video and you'll be able to see this step more clearly.

I then used the florist tape to wrap and cover the wire

(I didn't want to be stabbed in the head with wire while I was wearing my crown so I may have gone a tad overboard with the tape!)

Step 4

Now comes the most fun part of positioning your flowers and wiring them to the crown.

For me there was definitely a bit of trial and error in this process!

Make sure to keep placing the crown on your head and checking in the mirror as you go, because the crown looks really different once you have it on your head!

This is particularly important if you're using bigger flowers as you want to make sure you're orientating them the correct way. It's also a good way to check that the wires are reasonably well hidden.

Because I wanted the flowers to be on the back of the crown, I just make sure to take lots of photos with the self timer on my camera as I went along to make sure it was coming together the way I wanted!

... and there you have it! :)

I hope it was helpful and I would love to see your creations if you give it a go!

Happy flower crown making!

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - Sunday Strolls and Lunch at JoJo's

Ah Sunday... how I love you...

Work has been particularly busy lately, so my Sundays have been extra precious. It's funny though because even though it's my one day of the week where I actually have the opportunity to sleep in, I seem to always wake up around 5am (which is earlier than my alarm goes off on a week day!)  I'm not complaining at all - I've said it many times here before, I love mornings - waking up to that soft morning light and birds chirping away (and the knowledge that I don't actually have to get up if i don't want to) is pretty lovely.

One advantage is that I get a chance to do a little early morning blogging :)

So today I thought I'd share these photos from a few Sundays ago. I'd had a particularly stressful week so Tom suggested we do one of my favourite things - go for a long walk and out for lunch.

JoJo's is a restaurant my family used to go to when I was little. It's right on the river and we used to go for breakfast every now and then on weekends. I remember my Dad would always be partiucularly enthusiastic about these family breakfast outings :) There's a jetty that you walk along to get to the restaurant and occasionally you'd see dolphins swimming by... such good memories there :)

Tom and I are usually breakfast/brunch people and JoJo's doesn't open until 12 so we hadn't been together before. This day  though we figured we'd change up our usual ritual of Sunday morning breakfast and go for lunch instead. 

It was just such a lovely relaxing afternoon - good food, a beautiful view, time with my fave person... the perfect way to de-stress :)

This Sunday we're actually having engagement photos taken so I'm pretty excited about that. I have my wedding hair and makeup trial booked today as well so that should be a bit of fun! I can't believe it's been 11 months that we've been engaged (we're a little slow at getting our engagement photos taken) and actually less than 12 months now til our wedding! Time has just been flying away so quickly lately...

I hope you have an absolutely beautiful day Sunday.

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Tea Party at Lucy's

Cardigan - Pull & Bear

Sandals - from Paris

Bag - Jigsaw

Wedding Planning Inspiration

Hello!

I don't know where the time has gone but somehow Tom and I have been engaged for 10 months now! We still have another year to go until our wedding but I'm starting to realise that when people tell you "the time will fly by", they're definitely right! While I do have a few of the bigger things sorted for the wedding (venue, photographer, videographer, and my dress!) I figured I should probably get started thinking about some of the other little details.

The thing is - I'm super excited about the wedding and pretty good at gathering inspiration, it's just the actual planning and decision making part that can get a little tricky! With the rabbit hole that is Pinterest, a myriad of wedding magazines to choose from and an endless number of photos to scroll through on Instagram, it can all get a little overwhelming at times!

I figured today I'd share with you some of my favourite sources of inspiration in the hopes that it might help you (if you happen to be getting married) as well as myself to focus on some of the "best bits" and not get so overwhelmed by the massive amounts of inspiration out there!

Here we go!

The Magazine

By far the best magazine I've come across is Hello May. When we first got engaged I bought a few different magazines, but Hello May has been the one I've found the most helpful and inspiring. It's different to the other glossy mags - featuring more "Real Weddings", less adds (instead they're more like "introductions" to cool vendors), slightly quirkier more unique ideas, and somehow it just has more heart to it. I love reading about the wedding from the couples perspective, how they went about the planning process and their favourite part of the day.

I particularly loved reading this quote by a groom talking about what marriage means to him -

"Marriage means: sharing my food with another human, sitting in the car for five minutes deciding what cafe to go to, going on midnight coconut ice cream road trips, play wrestling until one of us gets hurt, putting on our trackies and watching a kids movie, another coffee date, evening beach swims, cleaning the sink after washing up, learning to appreciate life's beauties, more coffee dates, and being able to wake up every day next to the most caring, beautiful person I have ever met. Did I mention coffee dates?"

I just thought that was so incredibly sweet, and it's nice to see little reminders of what it's all really about - appreciating the amazing person you're marrying!

The Podcast

I'm an avid podcast listener, so of course I had to find a podcast about wedding planning! Aleisha from the Bridechilla Podcast is an Aussie comedian living in London, and as she describes it, her podcast is all about "wedding planning without the bullshit!"

She's been podcasting for about two years now so her back catalogues is pretty huge (I'm still working my way through the older episodes), and she just gives really great advice from deciding on your guest list, to budgeting tips, fun ideas on how to make your wedding more "you", interviews with industry experts, as well as helping to solve any wedding planning problems during her Q&A Thursday episodes. She's hilarious and her podcast reminds you to get excited, have fun, enjoy the planning and not take things too seriously! 

The Blogs

There are just so many wedding blogs out there offering awesome advice and inspiration that I couldn't possibly choose just one favourite. A lot of these are ones I've found through Instagram or through listening to The Bridechilla Podcast and have really enjoyed the brief time I've spend reading them, but that I'd love to delve a bit deeper into when I get a chance. I think there's a lot of fab ideas to be gleaned from these blogs, but I just haven't had the time to really sit down and take it all in! This list is also a little reminder to me to check these out again when I get a chance!

Bridal Musings - A beautiful site that covers everything you need to know about wedding planning

Magnolia Rouge - The photos are just incredible!

Secret Wedding Blog - This is one I heard about from The Bridechilla Podcast. The editor Raj features "mainly multicultural weddings, fusion weddings and interfaith weddings" which are a little different to what you usually see on other wedding blogs. I love it!

Style Me Pretty - do I need to say anything more? :p

The Youtube Channels

Watching youtube videos is one of my favourite ways to just switch off from real life and chill out a bit. I don't know what it is, but listening to someone chat about makeup/fashion (my usual favourites) and in this case wedding planning can be really relaxing. (It also makes doing the ironing way more interesting!)

These girls have shared their wedding planning on youtube and it's fun to follow along with someone who's going through a similar process to what I am now. 

Becca Kay, Hayley Paige, Alexandra Garza, Cider With Rosie, Bride De Force, Alexandra Beuter, Katie and Baby

I also love Forestry Films. They're wedding videographers and their videos are so beautiful and heartwarming. Here's my favourite one.

So there's a few of my favourite places to look for wedding inspiration (otherwise known as ways to procrastinate the actual planning of the day)!
If you have any wedding planning tips and tricks or suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Have a beautiful Sunday!

Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx 

My Style Diary - A Sunday Afternoon Walk

With the weekend weather in Perth still being decidedly wintery, I've been living in cozy jumpers and jeans, and brightening things up to make them a little more spring appropriate with a colourful/patterned scarf. I'm craving weather that's warm enough for me to crack out my beautiful summer dresses (my favourite thing to wear) but at least I've been able to inject a little splash of spring into my outfits with this floral scarf! 

On the plus side - the cooler weather is perfect for going out and enjoying a relaxing stroll around the neighbourhood. I love this time of year (even if it has been a little too chilly and rainy for my liking) because there are so many beautiful flowers about and just so much colour everywhere! From the gorgeous yellow roses in the photo above, to the stunning purple of the wisteria cascading over fences (take a look at my  instagram for that), to the beautiful pinks and whites of the everlastings, there's just so much beauty to be seen everywhere!

Walks are also one of my favourite ways to spend time with Tom - no distractions from technology (except to occasionally snap a few photos or catch a pokemon), just time for a good long chat!

Yup - a nice long walk is definitely one of my favourite ways to spend a few hours on the weekend. 

What's your favourite sunday afternoon tradition?

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Jumper - Country Road

Jeans - 7 For All Mankind

Shoes - Roxy

Scarf - H&M (I think... I've had it for a long time!)

Necklace - Mimco

PS - The blog's had a little makeover which I'm pretty excited about. What do you think of it? I love how it looks so much sleeker (and just way prettier!) I'm feeling much more inspired now, so hopefully there will be lots more posts coming soon! hehe :p

My Style Diary - Beautiful Blossoms and a Pale Pink Hat

Hello Hello :)

I'm currently sitting on the couch watching Gilmore Girls (my fave show ever), and feeling pretty content with things at the moment, so I figured now would be a good time to share these photos of the beautiful Plum Blossom tree that's right outside our apartment. Just look at those beautiful pink blossoms - seeing them every morning has definitely been brightening up my day. 

We're well into September now, but today was the first day that we've finally started to get some warmer weather and that it's really started to feel like Spring. That feeling of warmth in the air and the promise of warmer days to come makes me feel so much more optimistic about everything! ...My mood is ridiculously weather dependant - I'm lucky I live somewhere that is fairly sunny all year round!

These photos were taken last weekend when it was still pretty chilly though. I haven't featured this jumper in a blog post yet but it has been one of my favourites that I've just been living in all winter. I love the light grey knit fabric and that little crossover detail at the front that just adds a bit of interests (you know I'm all about the little details). I've also been really enjoying wearing this muted pink/blush coloured hat which I picked up on sale in Topshop while on my girls trip to Sydney earlier in the year. I always love seeing people in hats but rarely wear them myself, so I'm happy to say this has ended up being a good purchase for me! The colour adds a nice feminine touch and it goes well with the greys/whites/blacks that make up most of my winter capsule wardrobe. I really need to swap out my clothes and transition to my Spring Capsule soon, but until today things have still been pretty chilly so I just haven't  gotten around to it yet!

Anyway, I think I'll continue watching Gilmore Girls now. I'm starting from season one in preparation for the new reunion season coming out in November. Anyone else excited about that? I can't wait!

Hope you're having a lovely night!

Lauren

xxx

Top - Dotti

Jeans - Country Road

Necklace - Mimco

Hat - Topshop

Bag - Jigsaw

Shoes - Country Road

Thirteen Little Things...

Hello Hello :)

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to lately, but to be honest, I've been feeling pretty down in the dumps over the past month or so and I just haven't felt up to it. Nothing terribly bad has been happening, but I've just been really stressed at work, dealing with a number of quite negative people that have left me feeling totally drained. 

I'm usually a pretty happy, optimistic person, but being blamed for things that aren't your fault, or questioned about your intentions and skills (when all you are doing is trying your best to help people), really does get you down after a while.

After having a mini breakdown the other day, I decided I just have to move on and not let those negative Nancy's get to me anymore. It's much easier said than done (particularly for someone like myself who takes everything to heart), but I'm slowly getting there.

This blog is my "happy place"  - I want to spread positive vibes and for my little corner of the internet to be a fun, uplifting place to visit, so now that I'm in a better mindset I figured I'd dip my toe back into the "blogging pond" by sharing something that's been helping me to feel a little better, even on a pretty crappy day. 

I think the saying "There's something good in every day" is really true, and so even when I haven't been feeling the positive vibes, I've been trying to look for the little things that make me smile. It might be the tiniest thing that only lasts a few moments, but if you look for it, there's always something good in the day to be grateful for.

So here are just some of the little things, that have made me smile lately...

1. Seeing a rainbow on my drive to work. I like to think of this as a sign that it's going to be a good day!

2. The beautiful cherry blossom (of is it a plum blossom?) tree that's blooming outside our apartment. I see it as I head out the door on my way to work and it always brings a smile to my face.

3. The fact that it's just that little bit brighter in the mornings now as I'm waking up. I'm so excited for Spring - it's always feels like such a fresh start and that everything picks up once September rolls around.

4. A big hug from my Nonna - she's a little lady but gives the best hugs, and on this particular night, I really needed a good hug. It didn't exactly fix the situation that was stressing me out, but it definitely helped me feel a whole lot better about it all.

5. Sipping a hot cup of tea in the morning as I get ready for work (or even better when Tom brings it to me on the weekend when I'm still in bed). There's something pretty amazing about the power of simple cup of tea.

6. Our little apartment (okay so I guess this is actually a pretty big thing!)  - it's really coming together now and feels so cozy and homey. I feel so lucky that we have this space to call our own.

7. Snuggling into freshly washed sheets - one of the best feelings ever!

8. Watching The Bachelor - I originally only started watching it so I could chat to people at work about it and feel a bit more in the loop, but I've actually really got into it and now I'm hooked. It's nice to be able to just escape reality for a little while and enjoy some light hearted entertainment!
(For the record, I think Nikki will win - she seems like such a sweet, down to earth girl and they seem perfect for each other)

9. Listening to the rain while I'm snuggled up inside - I don't think this one needs any explanation, the sound of rain is just so relaxing... 

10. The fact that I can now do proper dead lifts at the gym! I never thought I'd be into lifting weights, but I actually really enjoy it! It's all down to the fact that I have an awesome personal trainer - Matt at Smart Fitness. He's one of my friends from uni so going to the gym just feels like a fun catch up with my friend. If you're in Perth and after an awesome PT you should get in contact with Matt!

11. Watching my orchid that I repotted a couple of months ago growing. The flowers are just about to blossom (for the third time now) and it's so exciting! Tom says I sound like a proud mother when I'm talking about my orchid... I've never kept a plant alive for this long before, so I guess I am a proud plant mum! ;)

12. Going for a walk in the sunshine - even if it's only for ten minutes during my lunch break - it can really help to brighten up the day.

13. Picking Tom up from the airport - my favourite part of the week. He's coming home tonight and I'm so excited :)


After writing that list I'm feeling pretty good about things right now (the fact that it's Friday night is also probably helping with that!)
They're just simple things, but when you look for them you realise how many good things there are. They don't exactly fix all the other things going on, but when you're feeling grateful it's much easier to deal with the harder stuff (at least it seems that way to me).

What little things have been making you smile lately?

Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx