The Weekender!

Posted in Style, Travel by Jenna Louise

February payday is just around the corner & you have booked a cheeky little weekend away with your loved one, the girls, a family break or you’re away with work (boooo!).

You don’t want to carry a suitcase because it’s too big for just your undies & a few outfit changes, but you ALWAYS end up with 6 small bags & another full of your toiletries! (come on girls, I know this isn’t just me!).

I’ve put together a collection of weekend bags to cater for all weekends & all budgets! Weekend away playing bingo with Granny Joan? Romantic Birthday city break with Mr Perfect? Wild Hen Do with the girls? You’ve come to the right place!

Family Weekend

The lovely Cath Kidston is a very cute way to travel away with the family. Great for throwing everything in & putting in the car, it’s waterproof & will hold all of your essentials for that one night away.

This is their foldaway overnight bag & at just £40.00, you’ll have Aunt Susanne ordering one as soon as you arrive. With matching travel items available here, it’s a nice little item to have stashed away!

Festival / Camping Getaway

Your going camping or to that festival you’ve been planning all summer, but you want to look the part? ASOS have this little beauty to answer your prayers!

The printed canvas design on this Mi Pac Weekend Travel Bag will have you fitting in immediately & with a removable shoulder strap, it’s easy to lug around to the campsite showers. It’s also wipe down which is perfect for those festival spillages!

Was £34.99, now £25.00. You can get it here!

Romantic City/Countryside Break

Your man has just told you to pack a bag for the weekend. He’s whisking you away to a log cabin/weekend in London. For no reason. This could be it. It could be your big proposal. Do you really want to be taking that tatty old holdall that you’ve had since your last school trip to Devon?!

No! This is your big day. This is your future husband we’re talking about here! You NEED something to scream ‘LOOK AT ME! I AM IN LOVE!’

Even if your weekend turns into a big flop (his big ‘surprise’ was his promotion at work. Yuk!), then this little beauty will make up for EVERYTHING!!!

The Louis Vuitton Keepall collection is everything. It’s something I look at and I go weak at the knees. The David Beckham of weekend bags if you like. Starting from around £805.00, this little baby will last you a lifetime!

Activity Weekend

It was January, you needed to get fit, you & the girls had too much wine. Next thing you know, you ended up booking yourself on a ‘health retreat’ activities weekend. Running, biking, swimming. You name it, you’ve signed up to it.

Well now it’s March & you’ve realised that A) You’re never drinking again and B) You actually own no sports gear whatsoever. In the hope of at least looking like you know what you’re doing, here is your perfect companion to help get you through the weekend!

This Nike Brasilia Large Holdall can be picked up from Argos & at the moment there is £8.00 off! Get it online here!

I promise, if you turn up with this, Sporty Steve the swimming instructor will be thinking you’re fit as a fiddle from the get go! Also a nice option to have stashed away for when you do choose to join that gym you have been promising to join!

Working Weekend

So, you said yes MONTHS AGO to that email that went around the office about that conference in Manchester.

I know, I know, WHY?! But you did (silly!) and the only weekend bag you have is that big fluffy, faux fur number with the pompoms that is fine for those girly sleepovers, but hello! you’re an independent professional woman (or that’s what you want your boss to think!), well up steps River Island.

A firm high street fave, this is the perfect option to board the early Train & check into the hotel ready to greet Rob from the desk opposite, who you have never spoken to, but find yourself sharing the whole weekend with.

This is black, quilted & is big enough for everything you would need for the weekend. Did I mention it’s only £65.00?

With matching wheelie case & makeup bag available here, you can’t go wrong!

Shopping Weekend

You & the girls have booked a hotel in the city of London & are going to shop until you physically drop (preferably into a large mojito!).

This Radley large weekender is perfect to take for the whole weekend but also handy to stash away your shopping bags during the day.

With the pretty pink colours & the signature dog design, this will soon become a firm favourite in your collection! Prices start from around £90.00 & you can see a familiar version here.

Hen Do / Party Weekend

You’re planning a weekend clubbing or you’re flying out to Ibiza.

Another perfect option by River Island. It has an adjustable shoulder strap & with its black snake print design, it’s fun & a bit more ‘out there’ compared to your work or romantic weekend getaway bags!

Large enough for a few outfit changes & even enough room for a bottle of champagne, at £65.00 this will be a firm favourite for your girlie weekends! View this bag here!

The All-Rounder!

There are some things in life that are just perfect for any situation.

Like, a Chanel perfume or a Clarins mascara.

You can add Longchamp shoppers & travel bags to that list. These are absolutely perfect for anything.

Versatile & stylish, these will last you forever.

Starting from around £53.00, Selfridges have an amazing collection in all shapes & colours.

Check them out here!

SO! There you have it! What are you waiting for?! GET PACKING! x

16Jul2015

Vacation: Marbella Day Five

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

Our last day had arrived!

With 3 hours sleep, we made sure every alarm possible was set so we could enjoy our last few hours in Marbella!

I had planned a boat trip over to Marbella Old Town at 11am, so we made sure we were ready!

A beautiful walk down to the Port saw any hangover drift away!

The boat ride over to the Old Town was a highlight of the holiday. It was a perfect way to spend our last morning in Marbella.

The views were utterly magnificent & I found myself pinching myself several times!

Clear blue skies for miles & a beautiful sea breeze found ourselves feeling very lucky indeed!

After around 35 minutes, we were dropped at the beach. A little walk through shops, cafes & restaurants saw us in the Old Town.

We love it here in the day time!

The orange tress & the cute little shops are a must for us when in Marbella!

We brought lots of lovely things to remember Marbella by & then stopped for some lunch.

There was a singer in the square who was singing lots of beautiful love songs.

It was like being in a film and we felt quite emotional that the holiday was soon coming to an end!

After an amazing few hours, we got the boat back to Puerto Banus where we did some last minute shopping before catching our transfer back to the airport!

We had a late flight back to East Midlands, but with no delays & a good flight, we made it back to England with a lifetimes worth of memories.

The holiday was absolutely perfect & I feel so lucky to have spent such a wonderful 5 days with such beautiful people in an utterly remarkable place!

Now I just need to book my next adventure…

12Jul2015

Vacation: Marbella Day Three

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

By Day Three, we well & truly felt like we were home!

We had planned a girlie shopping day for today & we were so excited!

We had breakfast & walked into the Port around 10am.

We did a little walk along the beach, visiting some shops on the Port as we strolled along!

We then stopped off at Piucaro for lunch. This was one of my favourite places.

The views were utterly remarkable. Sitting overlooking the sea with a bottle of wine & fantastic food was perfect. At that moment, I realised this is what working hard is all about.

After lunch & with the sun still shining, we were excited to hit El Corte Ingles!

Just off the strip, it has the best Zara! We spent an age in there trying everything on & then we found some wonderful independent stores outside.

The Spanish girls selling their beach dresses, playsuits, day dresses etc were gorgeous! We loved walking around the little stalls & ended up buying a few little dresses from there.

Everyone is so friendly in Marbella!

We then walked back to the resort & had a few hours in the sunshine before getting ready for night three!

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a cocktail before dinner.

I love it in here. It’s just a fun place to go for a cocktail!

It’s always busy, which makes for a great atmosphere before heading off on your evening!

We then moved on to dinner at the Belvedere.

This place was beautiful!

The views overlooking the beach were gorgeous & the food was delicious.

We went to our favourite little bar on the strip for champagne & cocktails & then found ourselves in Funky Buddha/Seven nightclub.

This place was stunning inside, with amazing VIP areas.

We found ourselves in here until closing which was around 4am.

I had a feeling Day Four would include a relaxing pool day after tonight!

10Jul2015

Vacation: Marbella Day Two

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

Hello & welcome to day two!

After a perfect sleep, we got up bright & early to enjoy breakfast in the sunshine!

We had done a food shop on our first afternoon & stocked up on bread, meats, cheeses, fruit & yoghurt so we could enjoy our breakfasts on our balcony!

We then got dressed & ready for a pool day!

The pool area at the Vasari is beautiful.

It’s so quiet & peaceful, with palm trees & bright flowers that moving from the pool is a hard task!

We grabbed some morning smoothies which are made fresh at the pool bar. I went for fresh mango. Perfect in the sunshine!

At lunch time, we grabbed a salad & a gorgeous glass of wine at the pool bar.

With temperatures hitting over 30 degrees, we were in pure heaven! Our holiday tans were officially started!

After a fantastic pool day, we got ready for a lovely little evening in Marbella Old Town.

Marbella Old Town is a firm favourite of mine & I love eating here!

Less commercialised than the strip in Puerto Banus, all food is traditional Spanish.

With the old churches & restaurants lit up in the evenings, it’s just the most beautiful place.

We chose a restaurant on the corner & sat there for the majority of the evening.

With the candles twinkling & the white wine flowing, we were so happy.

After our meal & around 1am, we grabbed a taxi back into Puerto Banus.

With nothing really closing until the early hours, we decided to go to the Shisha Lounge on the edge of the Port.

Overlooking the sea & underneath the stars, we sat there & relaxed with a cocktail & some apple flavoured shisha.

I do not think we had ever been so chilled!

Around 3am, we got a taxi back to the Resort ready to grab some beauty sleep ready for Day Three! x

6Jul2015

Holiday Eve at The Hilton

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

So it’s the Eve of your holiday. You have been counting down the minutes, days, weeks & months to this moment and your excitement levels are off the scales. Sound familiar?!

Well, me & the girls had the same excitement so we booked ourselves into a hotel to start off our holiday in a relaxed & fun way.

We chose to stay at The Hilton’s East Midlands Airport Hotel. Our flight was from East Midlands Airport very early the next morning so it all made perfect sense. We managed to get a great offer on the Holiday Extra’s website & I would highly recommend them.

The Hotel was wonderful. We headed off around midday & checked in just before 2pm. We grabbed some lunch at the hotel bar/restaurant & then went to check out our room.

As we were going on holiday, we had packed all our swimsuits etc, so we decided to take full advantage of the pool & spa area that the Hilton has to offer.

We spent around 2 hours lazing around in the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna, before showering & heading back to our lovely room.

We had pre-brought food & a bootle of prosecco & had our very own little pre-holiday slumber party!

With a 3am alarm call for the morning, the spa was just what we needed & we headed off to bed feeling so relaxed!

It was a perfect way to start off the girlie holiday!

If you do want to check out the Hilton at East Midlands Airport, then you can do so here

Make sure you come back to see Day 1 of our Vacation!

25May2015

Vacation: Mykonos Day One

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

So the time had finally arrived to go on our little Vacation. I had been counting down the weeks ever since we booked this getaway way back in January!

Having never been to Mykonos before (and Greece only once, way back in 2007!), we decided to do a bit of research on the island. It quickly became very clear that Mykonos is extremely popular with the A Listers and after researching hotels, we instantly fell in love with The Belvedere Hotel.

We flew with EasyJet (who were amazing) and arrived into Mykonos from London Gatwick at 10:15am & was greeted with sunshine and our driver. The airport is 1.6km away from the Town & so it only took us around 10 minutes to arrive.

We then checked in & thankfully our room was ready right away. After nearly crying at how wonderful the views were, we got straight into our swimwear & started off our tans!

The layout of the pool area was stunning & had a Miami beach type vibe. The white beds, pillows & orange towels were my best friends during the whole holiday! (That and the food!).

After a certain time, they play music around the pool, which gives it a more chilled atmosphere. You can also play this music in your room – and with speakers in the shower, you can also listen to it there!

After a few hours getting acquainted with Mr Sunshine, we then grabbed lunch at the award winning hotel restaurant. Run by Executive Chef Nikos Zervos, who joined the Belvedere team from a two star Michelin restaurant, we quickly became obsessed with the food & actually ate there for lunch most days.

After being recommended the famous Spinach Pie Salad, I was NOT disappointed!

Paired with a Lychee Martini & a Cucumber Crush, it was the perfect lunch!

About 6pm, we took a walk into Mykonos Town.

With everything on the Island within a 30 minute walk, it was a lovely evening stroll where we stumbled upon lots of cute little stores run by the local Greek population.

Mixed in with these stores, you have designer stores which include Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Victoria Secrets & watch shops offering Rolex’s & Cartier watches etc.

After getting lost in the long & winding streets and looking at the pretty stores, we found our way back to the Hotel where we chilled out on our balcony before dressing for dinner.

We were very lucky as from our room, we could watch the sunset which was truly amazing!

Whilst soaking up the sunshine earlier in the day, we made reservations at the Belvedere Restaurant for 8:30pm.

With it being our first night, we thought it would be nice to eat on our doorstep. The views and setting at the hotel at night time was the most perfect thing I have ever seen & I was so happy we chose to eat here on our first night!

We got back to our room around midnight, where we found a movie channel on our TV.

With a smile on my face, I couldn’t wait to wake up for Day Two!

*be sure to check back in the next few days to see what we got up to on Day Two!*

Hotel: Belvedere Boutique Hotel Mykonos

Flights: Easy Jet

1Apr2015

Mini Break: Barnsdale Hall Hotel

Posted in Lifestyle, Travel by Jenna Louise

With the stresses of work, & the awful British weather, we were in need of some R&R!

The British countryside truly is beautiful so where better to go? In the sunshine it’s stunning. And even on the coldest, wettest winter British days, it is one of the nicest places to sit in front of a log fire & sip on tea all afternoon (plus a slice of cake!).

Based in Rutland Leicestershire, Barnsdale Hall Hotel is situated on a picturesque lake , with log cabins, lake views & bigger apartments/holiday villas to rent with big groups.

We arrived at lunch time & grabbed a coffee in the brasserie before our pre-booked spa treatments at 2pm. All leisure & spa facilities were included in the stay (& you received 25% off spa treatments).

Daniel settled on a full body massage & I chose an Indian Head massage. After an hour of pure bliss, we sauntered back down to the brasserie, where we embarked on the biggest scones we had ever seen!

With our dinner reservations in the restaurant at 7:30pm, we took the scenic route back to the room to get ready, where shampoo & toiletries were provided. Whilst getting ready, we cracked open a bottle of prosecco & then made our way to dinner.

The choice of home cooked, country food was lovely. I settled on the salmon & crab fishcake which I didn’t want to end! We paired our meal with a bottle of white wine & then made the short walk back to our room.

We got up early on Sunday morning, where we had our Sunday paper delivered to our door. We took this to breakfast at 8am & as I’m not a huge fan of a ‘fry up’, I was so happy to see the amazing choice of pastries, yoghurts, jams, cereals & fruit!

We managed to see the lake & surrounding views of the hotel in its full glory before the heavens opened & we made a run for it!

The hotel boasts a handful of activities with mini golf, floodlit tennis courts, lakeside walks, swimming & a gymnasium being just a few! I imagine in summer time, the hotel will be one of the nicest spots to visit!

To see room rates & availability, check out their official website here!

25Mar2015

Weekend Adventure

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

Amsterdam. Can you do it in one day?

Well, at the weekend, Daniel & I boarded a plane & hit Amsterdam to find out!

I had brought the plane tickets as a surprise for Daniel’s 25th Birthday so we were extremely excited.

We arrived at 9:30am & boarded the train from the airport into Amsterdam City Centre. With this only taking 10 minutes, we had arrived into the centre at 10am so decided to go for a coffee in Dam Square to consult our maps & arrange a game plan for the next few hours!

I don’t know what it is, but the coffee we have in Europe, always tastes better than the coffee we get in the UK!

We decided to have a general walk around the City & after stumbling upon the Red Light District, we felt we needed to get away & do something we know well…SHOPPING!

With Amsterdam’s equivalent to Harrods right around the corner, we decided we needed to visit!

De Bijenkorf is right on the edge of Dam Square, & away from all things drug & sex related!

We spent some time in here & decided to look at the restaurant & champagne bar on the rooftop.

We settled on sushi, Tai & champagne whilst deciding on our next move!

We headed over to Jordaan, which is a neighbourhood in Amsterdam considered to be one of the prettiest.

Full of canal side cafes, scenic views everywhere you turn & A LOT of bicycles!

The bicycles were cute to start with. Then a crazy lady man-handled me & I nearly ended up in the canal. Not so cute.

Overall we had 6 hours in Amsterdam before making our way back to the Airport, (which, is HUGE by the way!).

We felt like we had done everything that we wanted to do & saw everything that we wanted to see.

We felt staying over night or staying any longer would have been too long for us, so we were ecstatic to be back home in our pyjamas with a tea by 7.30pm!

It’s quite crazy what you can do in a day.

We grabbed an early flight from Birmingham Airpot & travelled with Flybe. I would highly recommend doing what we did if you want a real adventure! You can get to most places in Europe in one hour (with Amsterdam taking us 50 minutes!), so what’s stopping you grabbing an early flight & visiting somewhere for a day!

Happy travelling!

18Mar2015

Girlie Day: Leamington Spa

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

The weekend saw me & the girls drive down to Leamington Spa for a girlie day!

Leamington Spa is a town in Central Warwickshire, which means trips to Warwick Castle & Warwick Town are on your doorstep. With trains from Birmingham taking around half an hour, it’s a lovely place to go for a girlie day or a romantic weekend away.

Firstly, we visited the Episode Hotel for a lovely Champagne Afternoon Tea where we had a natter & a giggle over a lot of cake!

The Hotel is within walking distance of the lovely town centre, so of course, we have a stroll to the shops! The town has everything from your usual hughstreet stores, to House of Fraser & cute independent gift shops.

After a few hours in River Island (yes, really), we decided we needed to round off the day with a cocktail!

With an amazing choice of restaurants & bars, we finally settled on Turtle Bay. The cocktails in Turtle Bay are amazing, & with it being happy hour, it would have been rude not to!

I was so upset we had to leave Leamington & could have stayed for at least another day with the girls, exploring the beauty of the Town & maybe even venturing into nearby Warwick!

To plan your visit & to see what’s on, check out their website here!

18Feb2015

Weekend Adventure

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

So it’s Winter, it’s the weekend & you want somewhere cute to go for the day?

Well, look no further than the wonderful Bridgnorth!

A beautiful town in Shropshire, England, situated on the Severn Valley.

It is home to the Castle Hill Railway, which is the steepest and only inland railway of its type in the country.

DSCN0147 DSCN0153

It links the high town to the low town and was used to carry goods and produce up and down the 111ft sandstone cliff back in 1892 when it opened.

The town is a typical quaint, English town full of independent book stores, cafes & tea shops & we enjoyed a lovely Winters day strolling around hand in hand thinking we had stepped back in time!