Week by Numbers: Baymax, denim & Year of the Ram!

7 favourites...

1.) Thursday 19th of February was Chinese New Year! This basically means a 2nd Christmas - family, get-togethers and a ton of glorious food. Unsuprisingly, cheat days turned into a cheat week, and runs went out of the window, because celebrations span over days (gotta make those days last bro). And it's one of the very few times a year that our whole family gets together, so it's just a little bit special, plus, there's a tradition of giving those younger in your family a red packet filled with money...I ain't complain' - Bonus!

2.) I finally got round to watching Big Hero 6 (I know, ridiculous for a Disney gal like me) and I loved it more than I thought I would. It was heart-warming, witty, and of course, included a big squishy robot called Baymax - I desperately want him to be real! All the characters have an amazing personality in their own way, but I'm just in awe of Honey Lemon. She's excitable, crazy good at chemistry, and runs around to battle baddies in hot pink wedges. My kinda girl!
Also just look at this bag that lets her combine elements to create different materials - insane.

3.) The next and 3rd book finished this year, is Caitlin Moran's 'How to be a Woman'. I zoomed stright throguh it and became obsessed with her musings, hilarious anecdotes and frantic rants in CAPS LOCK. It made me laugh and it made me think, and just like Caitlin says how she worships Germaine Greer but respects her enough to know it's ok not to agree with all of her ideas, I feel the same about Caitlin.

4.) I've had a couple of interviews this week (yes, I'm still on a major job hunt - it's a marathon, not a race y'all) and with every one, I'm getting more confident and worry less. Life will be stressful and hectic enough when it happens, so I'm gonna 100% take advantage of the fact I can just wonder around a bookshop with no clue of what to get, discover a new book, and indulge in it at a coffee shop. 

5.) The girls that I went to school with sometimes have dinner where we bring a dish each, which means we end up with about 7 different things. This time round, it was Italian night, and I whipped up these parmesan and gruyere cheese twists. They went down a treat!

6.) My brother bought me tickets to go watch Edward Scissorhands, the ballet production by Matthew Bourne, for Christmas, and it was the first ballet I've been to go see. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was so moving and witty, without a single word being said - definitely won't be my last ballet. (Ooh, get me going to the ballet and everything).

7.) I went out for my friend's birthday on Valentine's Day night, and as we were in the queue, a beautiful vision in a red tutu walked by, and my friend Kim whispered, 'Is that Jade from Little Mix?!' And before I could answer, she yelled 'CHASE HER!' and I was running down the streets of central London while holding her hand. Lo and behold, it was her and we were unashamedly excited and completely fan-girling. We were incomprehensible and silly with our compliments to her - nop, didn't say we liked Little Mix's music, instead Kim screamed 'I love your glittery eyes!' and I followed suit with 'I love your tutu, I have it in lilac!' Great job KLo. When we returned to our friends and they didn't understand why we were so excited, we launched into a ramble how 'Move' by Little Mix if our friendship song and this was our reunion....don't know what on earth a friendship song is, but EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE.

3 thoughts...
"Sooo...after texting for a week or two, the first time you decide to ring me is 4am on Valentine's Day...?"

"Where can I get a phone cover that's a fox, complete with swinging tail a la Honey Lemon?!"
"Can I fit another duck pancake in my stomach? Yes!"

1 outfit...

dress:Bellfield, necklace:Topshop

After going from living in denim skirts in my early teens, to hating jeans in my early 20s, I'm re-kindling my love for denim with a dress - might as well go the whole hog and wrap myself in denim-y goodness! And my new fave piece of jewellery is this longline necklace with glistening gems.

Stay happy!

Until next time,

A.x

Week by Numbers: food, resolutions & more food

This week  has been productive and I made plans to see a fair few people, but it's been a bit of a sleeper week. I've just seem to have eaten a lot of good food...

7 favourites...

1.) Will you just feast your eyes on this beautiful masterpiece by Burberry! It took some self-control for me to put this coat back on the rail and walk away from it. If someone wanted to gift this to me, I wouldn't complain. Just sayin'.

2.) I went for dinner with my friend Hannah at Bounce in Holborn (where you can play ping-pong and drink cocktails -winner!) I had a earl grey gin & tonic and spiced crab mac 'n' cheese, and OMG it was insane. As if I didn't love macaroni and cheese enough.

3.) Then the next day, I went for breakfast with my friend Sarah - who I've known since I we were 7-year-old scallywags - and had this feast of food in skillet: sausages, bacon, peppers and poached eggs with all the chives you could ever want. And the place was just a log-cabin dream or coffee and fireplaces. If you're in Angel, got to Elk in the Woods. You won't regret it.

4.) I haven't really done New Years Resolutions since I was about 15 and decided it was a good and sensible idea to lose 5 stone. (FYI. Not good. Not sensible.) But when a friend asked me if I had any, and I said no, but wanted to make some changes to my life, I realised that I subconcisely did. I want to spend less money on stuff, and more on doing things. Why did I have another spree on ASOS why I could've gone on a city break with that money? Why don't I go to gigs more? - I love the atmosphere at gigs! I've got some getaways planned already that I can't wait for!

5.) To go along with that, I want to use my DSLR again more to capture these adventures. It's been neglected the past year as I pick up my phone for ease, but my god, that camera takes some beautiful pictures.

6.) Hummingbird Bakery recipe books are one of my faves. Fantastic recipes with just as fantastic imagery. And that is where I picked up the recipe for these for. Peanut butter and jam spiral cookies. All future cookies should include peanut butter.

7.) I had an interview, and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I hate intern culture, but I know me as one person won't make a difference by standing up against it.

3 thoughts...
"How have I not watched 'The Office' until now?!"
"I hate David Brent. But. Can't. Stop. Watching..."
"OMG 2015 IS GOING TO BE SUCH A BEAUT!"

1 outfit...

jumper:H&M, tutu:ASOS, bag:Skinnydip London, headband:H&M

I've been keeping a secret identify from all of you. I'm actually a sugarplum fairy, complete with star-studded headband.

Stay happy!

Until next time...

A.x

CARAxDKNY

As the new week begins, I spent the past few days back at home, with family and as always, lots of food.

But last weekend was a whole other story.

I was meeting my friend and former roomate, Hannah (Who's been featured on this blog many a time!), for a late lunch, as she had an event to go to first, and work at.

Next thing, my phone rings - ringtone being 'Boys Don't Cry' bu The Cure, natch.

"Hey! So, we're having an event for Cara Delevinge's new collection with DKNY. We can't post anything on social media at the moment, but do you want to come? There's cocktails!"

I immediately jumped on the tube.

When I got there, I was greetd by beatboxers, cocktails and champagne aplenty, angelic singers, and dancers whose bodies may as well have been made out of liquid.

Hannah was running around, snapping away, and doing her thing - it was really cool to see her in her element, working her lil bum off!

I felt an odd sense of motherly proudness!

The even was kept under wraps and drove up lots of excitement, with teaser tweets from Harvery Nichols, and Cara posting cryptic clues on her Instagram - it was like a fashion scavenger hunt!

 When she arrived, it was absolute mayhem.

And the goddess herself was just as beautiful, and pulls just as many ridiculous faces in real life, as she does on social media.

And despite the look of absolute shade that I'm throwing at Cara here, the fact is, I actually love her and her power brows! But this photo does make me laugh, every time haha.

The collection is the perfect mix of the effortless style of Cara, and the New York chic of DKNY - it just oozes 'cool'. I'm completely loveing the bomber jacket with the embroidered lion on the back - RAWR!

After the mayhem, we went to China Town for dim sum, which I always love!

We chatted jobs, careers, life, and food.

Always food.

We then decided to do something as silly as the both of us - we went to a Japanese photobooth.

And it was everything we could have wished for and more.

With me as a lover of all things kawaii, and Hannah fawning over all things asian, this couldn't be more perfect.

I wish I had a video of us scrambling around in the photobooth - we were climbing up frames and throwing on wigs.

Afterwards, we scribbled on animal ears and donned unidentifiable Japanese and Chinese symbols, to create our works of art.

We were taking it much more seriously than we probably should have done.

But what emerged wwas a sparkly (literally) masterpiece! - I absolutely love it and all it's ridiculousness haha.

Images: mine and Hannah's

It makes me smile every time I see it!

This past weekend was quite the contrast. I lounged around in my bed while reading. I had tea and watched Strictly with my parents. I baked till my heart's content.  I shared laughs with my brother and sister-in-law. And stole lots of cuddles off my lil nephew.

I think having a balance is so important.

Through all the fun and event-filled weekend, you also need time to wind down with the ones you love, because fun times usually also equals hectic times too!

What have you been up to this weekend?

Have you been chilling in, or going out?

Stay sassy & stay happy!

Until next time,

A.x

Flippin' Heck!

Yesterday was Pancake Day. One of the best days on the calender!

I went round to my friend, Cat's house, and she was the best hostess! 

Since moving into halls for my postgrad course, it was so nice to be in a proper home that felt lived in and loved. It just felt completely calm and homely and after a fragile morning due to a few too many cocktails the night before, it was just what the doctor ordered!

She made tea, she had bacon sizzling away and an assortment of pancake companions laid out ready.

Not only that, but we didn't just cook using your standard frying pan, no siree. She had a mini pancake stove ready and it was the cutest and most fun thing!

I had every combination possible. Nutella. Bacon and syrup. And my favourite which is a classic, lemon and sugar. I think my blood stream is pure pancake batter now! 

With the softest cat I've ever met to cuddle, a pot of tea to keep pouring, and relaxing times with fantastic friends, it was just pure bliss.

What did you do for pancake day? What your favourite topping?

Hoe you're all well,

Speak soon.

A.x

No rest for the wicked...

Here's my life recently through the filtered lens of Instagram..

(Warning: contains an unhealthy amount of food porn)

1.) anyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessed with the Great British Bake-Off, so when I met my fave, Howard, with Cat, my heart wouldn't stop fluttering 

2.) indulging in a good, proper, greasy feast after my law exam...the first exam I've taken in four years... 

3.) in desperate need of a hair cut 

4.) any cocktails that come with flowers and Parma Violets is a thumbs up in my book 

5.) while the boys are away, the girls will play! Girls night out! 

6.) a trip back home always means stuffing myself full of Papa Lo's delicious cooking 

7.) Sunday afternoons in the Lo household means family congee & noodles 

8.) enjoying driving my lil' Cuffbert car back at home 

9.) rare occasion of being in possession of a £50 note 

10.) enjoying the fresh air and walk through the park after a good session at the gym 

11.) my Halloween alter-ego of a wols-attacked, bloody Little Red Riding Hood 

12.) flat fancy dress effort for Halloween 

13.) how has Kim not been part of my life until now?! 

14.) splurging out on some of y favourite food, sushi time! 

15.) these 2 beautiful ladies, Hannah and Iyesha, from my undergraduate uni course, came to visit and stay! 

16.) bacon and pancakes, the breakfast of champions! 

17.) ending the weekend in the most perfect way, spending Sunday in my favourite pub with a proper good roast with proper good company

I'm @amylo_92 on instagram, go and follow me or comment so I can check some of your instagrams out, as I'm always on the hunt for new ones to scroll through!

Hope you're all well,

Speak soon,

A.x

Recently...

Life's been a little but hectic since I've moved to Sheffield. A new city and new course has made time just absolutely fly by! The course is great too but just a lot of work, but thankfully, I've also got some new housemates and friends who are great and I get on with brilliantly :) So I'm sorry my blgging's been a bit on the quiet side! Instead if leaving it high and dry, here's a little update of late via my instagrammed life:

1.) went for a morning tea at Emma Bridgewater with my mum and this polka dot aga is now on my wishlist for my future dream home 

2.) fell head over heels in love for Christopher Bailey's SS'14 collection for Burberry 

3.) I got my craft on and added some sparkle to my Vans trainers 

4.) spots and stripes feeling like a liquorice all-sort

5.) crammed into the car ready to move up to Sheffield 

6.) spending some quality time with my gorgeous nephew 

7.) having some scrummy dim-sum with the family 

8.) settling into my new room with some pretty lights and photos of friends and family 

9.) falling in love with the city of Sheffield 

10.) a killer salad I made for dinner of bacon, chicken and avocado 

11.) unwinding after a day jam-packed of lectures with Breaking Bad, hoc late and a trusty cuppa 

12.) shorthand is taking over my life 

13.) being a fresher for the 4th time 

14.) having after-uni cocktails with Kim 

15.) flat 29C together for a night out for Imogen's birthday 

16.) loving the graffiti at my new local vintage shop

I'm hoping I'll get a bit more time to go back to regular blogging when everything settles down a little and I get a better grasp on my course.

Hope you're all well,

Speak soon, 

A.x

This Week...

1.) my dedication to the gym & working out continued
2.) completely indulged in a Harry Potter marathon at over the weekend 
3.) chilled out in bed in my cool-ass space pjs from Cath Kidston
4.) got my head down to tackle shorthand
5.) gave into the craze and made a ramen burger
6.) had a break from studying and enjoyed new issue Vogue with tea
7.) shopping spree, as I convinced myself that new city & new uni means new clothes...
8.) bought the cutest and coolest bottle opener to magically open my drinks!
9.) had my hair cut and done, and really wish I could give myself a blowdry at home
10.) with my girls, out for dinner & drinks with friends for Brammer's 22nd birthday
11.) whipped up a fish pie for the colder evenings
12.) one of those nights where I couldn't fall asleep and before I knew it, it was 3am...it sucks...

I love doing these weekly updates using my instagram photos! I hope you enjoy them too!

Hope you're all well,
Speak soon,
A.x

Liebster Award!

Fantastic news!  I've been nominated for the Liebster Award, which helps to promote smaller blogs (under 200 followers), and thank you Vanessa for being so kind and nominating me :)

So now I've been nominated, here are the rules for receiving said award:

1.) People nominated musy answer the questions that the tagger has set for you, and create a new set of questions for the people you've tagged to answer

2.) Choose 11 people to nominate, and link them in your post

3.) Go to their page and tell them!

I've been loving reading people's answers and think these questions are really interesting and fun to answer, so away we go!

1. Who is your favourite actor or actress?

It's hard to differentiate favourite actors and actresses who I think are brilliant at what they do, like Johnny Deep, and then there's those whose's personalities I just quite like and gravitate towards. 

But I'd have to say, as all-rounders, whose acting I think is 2nd to known, whose films I like, and whose personalities I think are great are, Jonah Hill, Jason Segal for actors, and Helen Mirren and Emma Watson for actresses.

2. What is your favourite word in the English language?

Soliloquy. It's such a pretty word, spelt beautifully, and it's meaning is just as gorgeous.

3. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?

Ahh, this is so hard!  I love food way too much!   It's going to have to be a 3 course meal, beginning with a starter of a plethera of oriental delights, with sushi and dim sum, which not only is part of my heritage but I also just love eating these little bitesize parcels of deliciousness! Main would have to be a good-ol' Sunday lunch, complete with stuffing, mountains of cauliflower cheese, and a big crispy Yorkshire pudding drenched in gravy, it just shouts out homely, British comfort to me, and is like a gigantic big hug :)  Then for dessert, it'd have to be a toss-up between a silky and creamy panna cotta (I love Italy and Italian food!), or an indulgent NY cheesecake (not gonna lie, I could quite easily eat a whole one, complete with a side order of guilt!)

4. Which one of your Blogspot posts are you most proud of?

Probably my blog post on inspirational women. I just felt really empowered one day, and thought to do a post like this, before realizing how many women in my private life and those in the public life, are so amazing and inspirational to me, and I found out so much more about some of them also from a dab of research.

5. If you had to be trapped in a tv show for a month, which would you choose?

Well, 1st thing that comes to mind is 'Friends' or 'The Big Bang Theory', because they both are based around a group of people who have great friendships and different, hilarious and endearing personalities, and I think it'd just be a barrel of laughs. But, I've got to say that 'The O.C' also comes to mind because that was literally the show of my adolescence. When I was teenager, I wanted to be part of that show and its people so much, and although looking back, I don't think I'd like to now, the 13-year old within me definitely would be screaming to be driving a sports car to the beach and the mall.

6. Do you have any phobias or philias? 

My biggest fear is of death....(putting a bit of a downer on things here, sorry), and being lonely. I can be alone, that's fine, quiet time for myself apart from others is healthy, but the thought of ending up being lonely, on my own. I know the likelihood of my not having anyone at all in my life is slim, it still strike fear all through me.  Apart from that, there's not much else, I'm not keen on creepy crawlies but I wouldn't call it a phobia.

7. What is your perfect pizza?

I'm a big meat feast love (no innuendo intended), but I am partial to a mushroom, ham & pineapple too.

8. What your favourite item of clothing that you own?

Oh, this is a tough one. My favourite pieces of clothing that I own and love to wear, are my dresses and skrits, but if  I had to pick one item out of the whole bunch, it'd have to be this dress that I designed and that me and my mum made. I made it to go to an opera that I got invited to by my ex-boyfriend and his family, and having never been to an opera before, and there being an outdoor posh-picnic, I was quite excited! With an idea of Cinderella in my head, I made this baby-blue and silver, shimmering halterneck beauty that draped just perfectly. I like that I designed and made it, I like how it actually looks, how it fits one me, and I truly feel like a princess of my own :)

I've also got a bit of a soft spot for this dress from Ted Baker. I love Ted Baker, especially when it does quirky prints like this, all the details in this circus scene are just gorgeous and it's extra special as it's from my parents as a surprise when I won the Schwarzkopf Live Project for the trend I entered for.

9. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What's holding you back?

I wanted to start making Youtube videos about 5 years ago, not even exaggerating. The first people I remember watching were AmazingPhil's vlogs and the VlogCandy's collab channel, and I've tried numerous to making videos, and there's many a draft version stored on my laptop and computer, but I've never uploaded them. As many different ideas that I think of, there's always that voice in the back of y mind as well saying  'who on earth would want to watch me rambling on?!' or 'oh god, everyone's gonna hate me!'. I know it should be about you loving what you do and make, and I have this attitude applied to most areas of my life, but criticism is a hard thing to take, and with an audience of the world wide web on top of that, it's just stopped me every time.

10. If you knew that nobody would ever judge you, would you dress or act differently than you do now?

I don't think I'd dress much differently, although, I would probably end up wearing sparkly dresses and pretty ballgowns everyday! (secret fairytale princess and Hollywood movie-star wannabe!) I love dressing up and think it's a shame when people don't do it more often. There's something quite romantic and nostalgic about dressing up and putting on your top hat and tails, like the vintage days of Ginger Rogers, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. That'd also mean I'd get to wear all those magical, fairytale creations from my favourite designer, Elie Sabb (that is if some genie would conjure them up for me!).

And I already am pretty much my very own bizarre, silly, and giggling self to the majority of people in my life, so I don't think much would change there :)

And here are the questions for all of those I've nominated:

1.) If you were a cocktail/alcoholic drink, what would you be?

2.) What's your go-to lazy, take-away option?

3.) If you had to live in a musical, which would it be?

4.) Who would play you, in the movie of your life?

5.) If you were part of a pack of crayons, what colour would you be?

6.) What do you like doing in your spare time? And what do you actually end up doing?

7.) Create your perfect ice-cream sundae!

8.) If you had you're own festival, who would you have performing and headline?

9.) If your wardrobe could only be filled out by one designer/brand, who would it be?

10.) Who's the cartoon character from your childhood?

Thanks for reading!

Hope you're all well,

Speak soon,

A.x