A day in the Dubai dessert

Today marks two weeks to the date that I returned from what can only be described as the perfect winter getaway. Suffering from a little bug, a whole lotta jet-lag and coping with the beach life to work life transition, I think I'm finally recovered and ready to re-live those two magical weeks.

Like any holiday, there was plenty a picture taking so, while I have whittled it down there is still quite a mountain full to get through so I'm going to split this into a few posts. And well pretty much drag out the holiday reminiscing process as best as I can! First up, and our first destination of the trip: Dubai. With only a day and a half ahead of us we opted to get a real taste of Dubai with a desert safari - you know, just your typical Sunday afternoon activities...

Picked up by a 4WD (we booked this trip with Get Your Guide) we headed away from the concrete skyscrapers of the city and out into the wilderness, where there was nothing but sand for miles. I've never been in the desert before so this was an experience on its own but little did I know what was ahead of us. After letting the air out of our Jeep tyres we were ready to hit the sand dunes. In the blink of an eye, around 15 Jeeps sped off out onto the dunes in all directions. Clinging onto the side handle we thrashed our way through the sand with nothing short of a small scream from me and my bestie at every turn. No word of a lie, my heart was in my throat this entire journey. The Jeep was inches from tipping over, on multiple occasions. Definitely not for the faint hearted! But if you can handle those 30 minutes you'll laugh more than you can last remember. After an obligatory stop for pictures we headed to The Desert Gate for the second half of our evening.  We enjoyed a mix of belly dancing, henna tattoos, a shisha corner, camels and even the chance to dress in the traditional Arabic dressing. I loved every moment of this day and spending the evening in somewhere that looked straight out of the Aladdin movie gets 10 stars from me,

 

 

To finish off our Dubai visit we checked out the Dubai Mall and headed to the beach for a lazy afternoon watching a few surfers catch some waves. After a stressful taxi situation leaving us 90 minutes behind schedule we made it just in the nick of time for final check-in, ready for the second leg of our trip.

Get ready to be transported to a tropical Thai-paradise in the next post.

XoXo

Effortless winter outfit

In the midst of grey skies, constant rain and dropped temperatures, I thought the winter sun was gone for good so you can imagine my surprise to wake up last Sunday to a picture perfect (quite literally on this occasion) winter morning. Despite suffering from a slightly fuzzy head following a day out in Edinburgh on Saturday with the girls, I pulled myself together, slapped on a little make-up, and headed out to get some pics. Finding the opportunity to get outfit pictures in the winter can be near impossible with the darker days/general crappy weather so I simply couldn't miss out.

A dress is an effortless way to look stylish in the winter and I love this one I picked up in Forever 21. The fact that it is burgundy - my fave colour of the season - is just an added bonus. Paired with my knee high leather boots and black duster coat, I was good to go.

Dress - Forever 21

Jacket - New Look

Scarf - Zara

Boots - hand-me-downs from my mother dear

Glasses - Quay Australia

I can't believe we've reached the most festive month of the year - roll on the guilt-free chocolate binge, glittery-outfits and bubbles at every opportunity. I genuinely don't think I've been this excited for Christmas in years. I'm heading out to get the last of my Christmas decorations today ahead of decking the house out this weekend. A new home = lots of exciting new decorations which I plan to share with you all next time!

I'm hoping to squeeze in as many Christmas-y themed posts before the big red guy arrives on the 25th so you have any suggestions of what you would like to see, I'd love to know!

Seasons greetings everyone!

XoXo

Interiors update - Next Home

If you're lucky enough to have control over decorating your home I'm sure you are with me when I say home shopping brings nothing but sheer joy and excitement into my life. Home shopping, for me, is generally a happier experience than clothes shopping. Perhaps it's because I'm less fussy when it comes to dressing my home than I am dressing myself, either way, me likes those home stores. A lot.

I have no problem what so ever spending my hard earned cash but for some strange when it comes to spending money I've been gifted I'll ummm and awww for ten minutes before me and my £20 voucher that I got for my birthday three months ago head back home together once again. So, before the house warming money and Next voucher The Boy and I had sitting on our kitchen shelf remained unspent for another weekend we headed to the Next sale to see what we could find. With winter on its way and a curtain-less patio door in our living room it was perfecting timing.

Unfortunately I didn't find any curtains in the sale but I did come across a few other treasures that I simply couldn't leave behind. Lets just say once the spending started I couldn't stop myself until it was all gone.

So, here I share with you my first homeware haul and potentially a little home inspo.

To fit in with our colour scheme, I was on the search for a pair of grey curtains. I came across this satin set with a silk border at the top. I couldn't believe the price - £55!! - and that wasn't even in the sale. Sorry I did't get a picture of them hanging up but hopefully you can visualise.

I'm a sucker for the latest trend and have fell head over heels for the marble and copper trends that have been going about. I spied this real marble frame in the sale and had to take it home with me. I think I only paid about a fiver for this - bargain.

I also picked up these adorable copper bowls. My little cousin gifted us with a set of copper wine glasses that I knew these would go perfectly with. I plan on debut-ing my little bowls next time I have my friends over for a few glasses of wine and nibbles.

I picked up this second frame as I liked the minimalistic style and thought it was quite unusual. I recently went through a traumatising iOS update in which I lost all of my 10,000 photos - yep, 10,000!!, so I've learned the hard way the importance of backing up your photos or get them printed. I prefer the latter so have set myself the task of getting my photos printed and either framed or put into a memory book.

 I happened to have a few pictures lying about the house and these two made the cut. I didn't notice it at first but The Boy and my dad are wearing almost matching stripey tops and most likely the same age in the pictures .....weird!!

I love candles and how they fill a room with your favourite scent but my mum managed to convince me to try out a diffuser. I was never convinced that they would work but I've had it up for a few weeks now and it really does make the home smell fresh all day long.

Last but not least we picked up a pasta drainer. I'm sure anyone who knows me reading this will be SHOCKED to find out that this is not a second strainer I have picked up. That's right, Mrs Pasta-lover herself has lived for five months without the one kitchen utensil she absolutely needs. Lets just say I lost a few pasta tubes down the drain while trying to drain my pasta with a large spoon or pot lid.

I love all of my new home pieces and have already found myself re-routing towards the Christmas home department in most stores. Laura Ashley have some INCREDIBLE home bits that I just need to have. November is an acceptable time to start shopping Crimbo, isn't it?

XoXo