If I Was A Rich Girl

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

I'm sure Charles Dickens was not referring to fashion PR when he wrote these magical words, but alas, the statement accurately applies to my current job and financial situation.

If you haven't already gathered from many of my previous posts, I am currently working in fashion PR. Recently, a lot of people have asked me what exactly fashion PR is so here is a brief description: I work for a PR agency that specialises in bringing niche fashion brands wide consumer recognition. 

What that basically means is that when you see something nice in a magazine that you want to buy, the journalist of the magazine hasn't just placed it there on a whim.. Journos have PR's sending them a million different but great options every single day, months and months in advance (for the monthly's like Elle, Vogue, Glamour, etc), and weeks in advance for weekly's (Grazia, Look, etc).. 

My job is to speak to fashion journalists, stylists and writers on a daily basis to find out what stories they're currently working on, for example: 'winter warmers' or 'party dresses.' Once I know this information, I would then send out options from the niche-fashion-brands that I work with have to suit the brief. And then I would pray with all my power that my brands get picked for the story because they immediately become part of the 'cool-cult' when that happens.

If and when the brands that I work with are featured in these lovely magazines for you lovely consumers to see and then buy, we have done our job well. We have directed you to our great brands in the form of a magazine and in turn brought our brands great coverage and higher sale numbers to help their business grow and blossom!

It's a lovely, stressful, and deeply rewarding job as I'm sure you can imagine. I really could not see myself better placed in any other working environment!

Anyway, as I have to read every single magazine and newspaper every day to constantly get ideas and inspiration of press releases I can create to send to journos to make them aware of our lovely brands, it means that I am constantly seeing beautiful things myself that I want to buy. 

This would be fine if I had a great paying job and no bills to pay, but I have neither of those things yet!

So here is my current wish-list of things I am deeply coveting:

1. If you, like me, believe you're a star.. Then invest in these starry dream pair of heels!
2. I need this chair in my life! It is so pretty and so prefect!
3. I am still obsessing over Laura Gravestock's dainty ring collection. She has the best customer service too! I would highly recommend her 'written' collection to any of you who want to buy a lovely present for someone!
4. I am also always obsessing over Brian Lichtenberg. Every item of clothing he makes is just so cool, like this tshirt. I want to be part of his cool-club!
5. This Givenchy bambi number has sold out in most places but it is still awesome. Unfortunately I hate high neck sweaters so I normally slash the necks off and turn them into a messy off shoulder type of thing but I highly doubt I would be coming anywhere near this £750 baby with a pair of scissors!

In other news, I have also been reading alot and recently bought this, this, this and this onto my kindle.. All the reviews are phenomenal so I am super excited to start reading them!

Talking of reading, I couldn't end this post without talking about the newest addition to my coffee-table-book collection. Karl Lagerfeld - the extraordinaire. I am SO excited for this to arrive finally! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME INSTEAD OF PURCHASING THIS?!

And lastly, this song is amazing, the video is amazing, and Chrissy Teigen is my new favourite human being. She is bare hilare. If you don't know why, read her blog. I love a supermodel who loves her food, has John Legend as a husband, and is fricking funny as hell. Don't you?! It has also confirmed my need to get married in Italy and have the most perfect wedding, just like they did! xoxo

Wonders of the Week

I am still really, really, really loving my job at Iroquois PR.

I don't think I've ever in my life loved a job this much after my second week, but my work-curse seems to have finally broken! But alas, working full time means that by the time I come home, I have just about enough energy sustained to cook dinner for the fella and I, chill out for a few hours, sleep, and then do it all again the next day.

I'm sure this explains why I haven't written a blog post in over a week - I have been using all my creative energy at work! 

This week I have created visual press releases to send to journalists/stylists about how houndstooth is a big SS14 trend, especially when it's an enlarged print in pastel colours. Another big SS14 trend is roman coins (seen majorly at D&G's show), and this is good news for my company because our brand, Gina Stewart Cox, has done a huge jewellery collection using roman coins and tassels so it's extremely relevant. 

I've also been calling stylists to see what stories they're working on and sending anything we have that could hopefully work for them, merchandising the showroom, and creating SS14 trend boards to send to our clients in hope that they'll be able to create similar samples to match the trend. It's been amazing!

In between doing all of this, I discovered Laura Gravestock. As I've mentioned countless times before, I love love love dainty and precious jewellery and this is exactly what Laura Gravestock does at very affordable prices. My favourite is this heart ring:

It is SO similar to these Jordan Askill ones, but only a fraction of the price! Alex bought me one as a 'just because it's Wednesday' present and I couldn't be happier with it!

Another thing I discovered this week was major show-scandal from the Nina Ricci SS14 show which made me laugh a lot. You can read about the topless feminine activists here if you haven't already.

And lastly, on my quest to find a perfect lunch time spot near my work (in old street), I found a subliminal little place called Yum Bun. Here is a glimpse of what they do:

And yes, I can confirm it tastes even better than it looks. The buns are hand-made steamed buns that are so warm, soft and fluffy - just like clouds! You can choose from pork, fish, mushroom, salmon, chicken or beef as your filling, and they all come garnished with some deliciously mouth-watering extras. I went for the chicken which was 'Japanese fried' and came with tartar mayo, chilli dressing, and lettuce. It was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten in my life!

As well as buns, they also serve miso soup, vegetable dumplings, and the best iced jasmine tea ever. They're open for lunch between 11:30am-2:30pm Monday-Friday, and for dinner from 5pm-10pm Thursday-Saturday. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE VISIT PEOPLE! I hope you hear me loud and clear otherwise you are missing out tremendously!

Until next time my lovelies! xoxo

Re-Entry Ticket Back into The Wonderful World of Fashion

A few fabulous things happened in my life this week boys and girls.

First and foremost.. I finally upgraded my old, ancient, and crappy pink Dell laptop that was quite literally falling apart so much so that I had to sellotape bits of the plastic case together. It was a sad time to say goodbye.. But not that sad because in its place I treated myself to a brand spanking new shiny Macbook Pro. 

Naturally I am THRILLED with the upgrade and have given my new piece of equipment many kisses on many occasions because it is perfect and I adore it!

In other news, I started working at a fashion PR agency and I ADORE IT TOO! 

I love it more than I have ever loved any other job that I have done before.. (and yes, I have done a lot). 

I wake up in the morning excited and raring to go, I don't count the hours left of the day, I don't take my full hour for lunch.. And this great attitude is all because I have a reason to be fashion obsessed once again and that makes me feel at home. 

Also, it makes me feel like the three years I spent studying a fashion related degree was worth it in the end.

It's another internship to add to my growing list, but even so it is very promising and my most favourite one yet. The girls are incredibly lovely, the brands we work with are incredibly beautiful, the work we do is very personal because all our clients are niche labels that need the extra push to get noticed, and I get a lot of responsibility from every angle of the business which is always a great thing!

Also, this is Brody and he sometimes visits the office and makes my heart melt.

Anyway, part of my job is to read every single fashion related article in every single weekly/monthly/daily newspaper, magazine and online source to stay in the know. This is so that we're aware of all the current trends, news and gossip, and in turn are able to pitch interesting stories to the press to get our brands coverage. 

This is what I have learnt so far this week:

Carine Roitfeld is still reigning her Queen B status even after leaving Vogue. I am SO excited to watch this documentary film on Friday. I love French (sorry, I mean to say Parisienne) women, I love French movies, and I love French fashion so really it should be a perfect combination of things. Also, it was interesting to see a different side of Anna Wintour's life in The September Issue so I'm hoping this film has the same fabu-effect.

Image from Black Score's Blog

Cara Delevigne is fricking awesome. Here she is holding Harry Styles hostage by making him wear her Black Score balaclava. She was also spotted all over London Fashion Week sporting this balaclava because she is bare hilare and probably the most chilled out model ever.

Black Score is one of the brands we look after and Cara is pretty much a brand ambassador because she loves Simeon Farrar's shit and so do I. Have a look at his shizzle here because it's cool: Black Score

Zac Posen is my new favourite designer and gay-boy crush. He is so hot and so is his SS14 collection.

We are going to see tartan prints, pastel oversized coats, statement/textured/logo jumpers/sweatshirts and pink PVC skirts for a long-long time (but you better hurry because all the best stuff has already sold out!).

And lastly, I read this today and it made me super happy. Peter Pilotto was one of the brands we looked after at Starworks and I covet anything and everything from each season's collection. AND NOW IT'S GOING TO BE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE IN THE UK - WAHOOO!!

Until next time lovely's! xoxo

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni Your Mama Would Be Proud Of!

Like most girls at university, my priorities were to get drunk often, make great friends, be part of memorable experiences, have photographic proof of said experiences, work hard, and eventually end up with a decent degree.

However, my priorities never involved cooking great meals. 

I have a tendency to block out unfortunate incidents from my memory so I cannot really remember what I ate to stay alive throughout my first year at university.. But I know it wasn't good.

However, in my second year of university, I saw the light.

I moved from my university housing in Surrey to London halls (or dorms for you Americano's) where I met a dear friend, Vahini, who gave me my first insight into the wonderful world of cooking. The first thing she taught me how to make was an unnamed dish, (which we later aptly named 'The Vahini'). 

The Vahini was a combination of tagliatelle, prawns, a vegetable oxo cube, Italian seasoning, milk, and a touch of water. It may not sound it, but it was subliminal and so quick and easy to make.

After that day, my journey into the cooking kingdom started and I haven't really stopped since.

On a Sunday, all I really crave is a sturdy home-cooked meal packed with flavour. Since my boyfriend is Italian and his mum is always giving me tips on how to cook Italian food like a real mama (by that I mean packed with a punch), a spinach and ricotta cannelloni is just what we needed to brighten up this rainy, dreary and cold Sunday.

Here's what you'll need to feed four:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion (chopped)

2 garlic cloves (chopped)

250ml chopped tomatoes or passata

300g ready, washed, baby-leaf spinach

1 250g tub of ricotta cheese

1 egg

25g parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons of nutmeg

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

2 vegetable oxo cubes

1 chicken or beef oxo cube

250g cannelloni tubes (about 20 tubes)

125g mozzarella ball (I used Sainsbury's be good to yourself mozzarella to stick to my weight watchers point value, but feel free to use any brand)

100g cheddar cheese (Again, I used a weight watchers brand of cheddar cheese to stick to my points value, but feel free to use any type of cheddar you like)

Salt and black pepper

Step One - Chop up your onion/garlic into a few pieces and put into a chopper.

Step Two: Hit the turbo power button and chop these bad boys into smithereens!

Step Three: Put the oil into a pot and fry the onions/garlic until they're softened. Measure 250ml of the chopped tomatoes/passata and add to the pot. 

Step Four: Heat up water in a kettle. Add all the oxo cubes into the same measuring jug and add 1/2 litre of hot water. Stir and add into the pot.

Step Five: Add your key ingredient into the pot - Italian seasoning and 1 teaspoon of the nutmeg - and keep stirring!

Step Six: While your tomato sauce is bubbling away and letting off some delicious aromas, here's what you need to do as it simmers for 25-30 minutes on medium heat. 

Tear your spinach into small pieces into a large bowl and add all of the ricotta cheese, the egg, 70g of the cheddar cheese, all of the parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt and black pepper. Mix with a fork vigorously. 

You should end up with a mixture that looks something like this:

Step Seven: Use the back end of a spoon to spoon the mixture into all the cannelloni tubes. Don't be too generous in each tube as you'll run out of the mixture too early! Grease a baking tray with a tiny bit of oil or butter and place the tubes into the tray.

 Step Eight: Pour the tomato sauce all over the cannelloni tubes. Make sure all the tubes are drenched.

Step Nine: Add the remaining 30g of the leftover cheddar cheese, as well as all of the mozzarella evenly all over the top of the tubes.

Step Ten: Bake for 35-40 minutes in an oven marked at 180 degrees (mark 4), or 160 degrees in a fan assisted oven. The finished product should be golden and bubbling. 

Alex likes his cannelloni crispy at the edges so we grilled it for the last 6-7 minutes of the cooking time.

 Dig in and enjoy your little taste of Italy - something your mama would be proud of!

xoxo

Discovery of the Day: Stradivarius.Com

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, today I made a discovery.

If you're expecting another prim and proper Kate Spade New York kind of post then I urge you to look away now. 

However, if you like the boho/hipster/urban/cool/fricking awesome look, then this one is for you my friends, all for you.

I have yet to come across anyone who is not a fan of Zara, so I know most of you are going to like Stradivarius. 

Stradivarius is Zara's little sister store and the clothes they stock are rebellious, rule-breaking, and fun.. Just like most little sisters.

The clothes have a cool-as-ice appeal, the prices are much lower than Zara, and they finally launched an online store for the UK at the beginning of September.. So now you can shop in the comfort of your home. What's not to like?!

Here are my faves:

So there you go, the secret is out. Pass it on to your fellow friends.

But keep this in mind: The very last scene in Grease where Sandy is smoking a cigarette and wearing the tight-latex-sexy-black outfit.. This is what you will look like when you shop from this store. 

Well maybe not exactly, but you will look awesome nonetheless.

Wear anything from this website and be part of the cool-club instantly.

Shop Now: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Apartment Envy

My very great friend Lana recently got her life in check.

She did a teaching course that lasted a year, got a job as a teacher within the year, and recently got a shiny new apartment to go with her shiny-new-life.

She is currently in the process of doing up her new flat and wanted some pictures of inspiration, and so pictures of inspiration I have found her.

Looking at all these beautiful apartment ideas made me so excited for Alex and I to eventually get our own place and decorate it together. When you live as a couple, I think you need to find a balance by using neutral colours and a minimalistic theme to balance out the boy/girl vibe.

However, when we do find a place of our own, obviously I'm going to add little details and trinkets to make the place feel more like home! I already know what they're going to be: pink tulips in beautiful vases, candles from Diptyque and Miller Harris, photo's on mantelpieces in art-deco frames, a chic coffee table piled high with interesting and arty 'coffee-table hard-back books', and black and white framed photography used as wall art. 

I love the idea of going for neutral colours but adding a splash of a bright colour in the form of a chair or rug. I also love the idea of using warm-brick walls indoors as it creates such a rustic feel to your home.

Lastly, I am most definitely going to invest in a vintage bar cart, (like this one), that epitomises old-glamour and lures all our friends to come over and get drunk with us.

Here are some pictures that are giving me serious apartment-envy:

(All Images from Weheartit.com)

If these pictures have taught me anything, it's that symmetry is key in making your apartment look gorgeous. Whatever is happening on the left of a couch or a bed should also be happening on the right too. 

I've also noted that cushions are important to dress up nice couches, bookshelves are important to add more character to your flat, and most of all, natural light from windows are super-duper important to let your home shine in all its glory!

When buying furniture for your new place, it's essential to see things in real life so you can measure up and envision it in your space. However, here are my favourite online furniture shops to use as inspiration: Melody Maison,  Live Laugh Love, The Orchard, Graham and Green, and Joy for nice touches to complete your living space.

Can't wait to see how you incorporate some of these beautiful ideas into your new home Lani! xoxo

On Wednesday's We Wear Pink

 Blazer - Vera Moda at Asos. Top - Zara. Jeans - Goldsign. Heels - River Island

My boyfriend and I have been wrestling over the duvet for the last couple of nights in our war against the cold, my legs have not been bared in over a week, I've broken two umbrellas because of the force from the rain, my skin has been wrinkled silly from taking the hottest of showers in the morning, there is too much traffic on the roads from kids being back at school, the first of the golden/red/brown leaves have started falling from the trees, and I have been drinking copious amounts of tea.. This can only mean one thing.

Autumn, we meet again.

I sound like I may be complaining, but I'm really not. Like I said in a few posts down, I really love this transition period. I think people start dressing better in Autumn, (maybe because it's beginning to get cold, or maybe because it's the beginning of fashion week?), no one looks at you like you're an OAP when you order tea, and TV suddenly gets good every night because everyone starts staying home wrapped up in their cosy blankets.

I also like Autumn because it's three of my best friend's birthday's, halloween, bonfire night, and the ideal season to bake apple pies (which is my new favourite hobby - who would have thought!?).

However, like you (I'm sure), there are some things that I too am not looking forward to in the upcoming season/s. The days get darker earlier, the weather gets uncomfortably cold, no one wants to go out and play anymore, and the sky gets a permanent and ugly makeover in the shade of grey-black.

Not to fear mon ami's, there is a light at the end of the tunnel..

The light is that pink is the new black this season. Featured in Topshop Unique and Simon Rocha AW13 shows, pink is the go-to colour to add excitement back to the drab days we are about to experience.

Spice up your season by investing in some pink pieces that will make you feel pretty, girly, and cute. Add a splash of colour to the grey-black days and fit in with the plastics from Mean Girls while you're at it.

If head-to-toe in different shades of pink is too sugary sweet for you, then add just a few items in the colour, for example some gorgeous dusky pink jewelled earrings, or a block-coloured pink handbag, or even pink nail polish to pep up your outfit. 

I added my pink blazer (above) to add some zing to my interview outfit and something must have worked because I got offered the job on the spot. So try it yourself and see if you can make some pink-magic happen too!

Here are my top picks:

 

1. River Island - £15 2. Beautybay.com - £7.82 3. Izabel London - £35 4. Cambridge Satchel Company - £73.50 5. Asos - £8 6. New Look - £24.99 7. Net-a-porter.com - £100 8. Forever 21 - £19.75 9. River Island - £35

Happy Shopping! xoxo