Paris Photo Diary & First Vlog

Paris is without a doubt my favourite city, every time I go there it manages to conjure up a magical sequence of time, where I just get lost in the thrill of it all and never want to come back home.
Last weekend was no different, after being way from Paris for eight years I decided it was definitely time for another visit.

 I'd bought a couple of tickets at Christmas for my boyfriend and I to have a long weekend mid-January to lift the early year blues and to go exploring somewhere my guy had never been before (he also fell in love with it by the way...)

So off we jetted on a little propeller plane, that got us there in an hour and so we had four proper days to spend together in Paris. 

I also tried my hand at vlogging for the first time and even got around to editing it and uploading it onto good old Youtube! It was a bit bloody scary to put out there, but now it's done I feel the vlogbug creeping up! We shall see...

Where we stayed

After searching for hours and hours at hotel websites, package deals, Airbnb and so-on we finally managed to find a quaint and perfectly located hotel: Les Dames du Pantheon .

As the name suggests it was right next to Notre Dame and Le Pantheon, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The area is bustling with life, amazing food and quirky little bars and coffee shops.

Our room was just lovely, really wildly decorated with bright colours and patterns, but lit with several yellow calming lights, that complimented each other really well. But the best part was our little balcony that had the most incredible view of the city. Sitting out there in the morning and drinking coffee, was one of my favourite parts of the weekend.  

There are a fair few snippets of the hotel in the little vlog, if you wanted to have a proper look :) 

Where we went

Shakespeare & Company bookshop~ This is my most treasured place to go in Paris, even if you aren't a massive reader it is still a wonderful place to visit. Books piled into every crevice and plants and dried flowers galore. They even have a piano and an old typewriter nestled in amongst the musty pages. It is right opposite Notre Dame and runs alongside the river, so you can read a few chapters on a collapsed velvet seat and watch the world go by whilst doing so. Complete bliss.

Musee du Louvre~ Also a great place to spend the day, wondering around miles and miles of art. My eyes were actually sore from trying to take in all of the beauty in a couple of hours. A little tip is to buy a ticket beforehand, so you can skip the big old queues and get a time slot that fits in with your schedule.

Rue Cremieux~ Hidden away on the other side of the river, is a street filled with colourful houses smothered with vintage shutters and trees. I'd seen a lot of people taking Instagram pictures there and I thought why not jump on the band wagon and take a rainbow picture too!

We also did the more touristy things, like see the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge and eat our way through many a baguette and croissant.

All in all it was a truly lovely way to start the year and I managed to keep my New Years resolution of visting a city a month.

I hope you enjoy the vlog, I would love to know what you think :)

Lots of love always

2018: A fresh new start

As I sit here in my Pyjamas, eating leftover Toblerone and listening to the wind blowing up a storm outside, I can finally begin to reflect on the year. A day too late I know, but the whole Christmas/ New Year period is always such a whirlwind that days blend, bodies bloat and I think it takes a good day or two to let the newness sink in.

So Happy New Year my loves, let us embark on the new but give thought to the old.

Without further ado, here is my 2017 summary....

(Small) Milestones

The year began with a bang, the January cold was softened and warmed by some new kindred spirits. And, after years of wanting to move abroad, they helped me realise the beauty of nature in England and taught me of the trees and the smells of the seasons. To them I was thankful and it changed the paving of my entire year and helped me grow my own roots here.

My plant collection grew, as did my dried flowers. My room is now brimming with old and new life, you can barely move for soil and fallen bits of lavender. But it is exactly how I like it and |I hope my indoor garden can grow even more in the coming months. 

A small moon crescent with stars is now tattooed on my right rib, one of my oldest friends got a twin one with me and it was created by another of my oldest friends, who hand poked the design herself. My first tattoo made me feel elated and I hope to give it a couple more inky pals this year. 

I gained a little more confidence.

My hair got a wee bit more curly.

My friendship circle grew.

I found the most wonderful partner in my best friend. Who'd have thought? But 9 months later and here we are. I blame the Irish accent, it is a killer. 

Travel

I didn't think I would get much of any holidays last year, due to trying to save for a new camera and not having a lot of free time, but I did manage to make it to a few magical places.

Marrakesh being the first excursion back in April. My first visit to Africa and I loved it. The warmth, the colours and the spices. It's a place you can't forget in a hurry, every corner is beautifully decorated and I wanted to carry every single tile and rug I saw back on the plane with me. But alas, a few trinkets and souvenirs had to do. Plus we got to climb the Atlas mountains, which was a truly special day.

Bulgaria was the next place in September, another lovely place and it was a delight to be near the Red Sea.  But I've never drunk so much beer in my life! I was really making the most of those 70p bottles of Bulgarian brews. 

I also really enjoyed wondering around some of the cities in England- Bath, Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool were some of my favourites. I really hope to visit more of the vibrant cities that are a couple of hours drive away this year. 

Outfits

As usual here are a round-up of some of my favourite outfits from the past year. Although I feel like I am still very much a floral dress everyday kinda gal, this year I definitely lived half the week in denim and the other in 80 denier tights. I bought my first pair of Vans and a couple of pairs of dungarees and felt very much influenced by the early 90's. I had forgotten just how comfortable skate shoes can be!

I definitely had elements of a more bohemian Bethan earlier on in the year, a lot of gypsy inspired dresses and bare feet. But as we hopped into Autumn, the berets and polka dots slowly crept back into my wardrobe and now I am a jumble sale of styles. But I am really enjoying the collage and embracing each decade.

Hopes for 2018

So, for the coming year I am 100% going to cut down my hours at work, after doing pharmacy work full-time since 2009, I feel it is time to drop a day. 

Take a photo every day- doesn't matter whether it is a selfie or of a satsuma, I am going to do it.

Read at least one book a month.

Visit 3 places I haven't been to before. Also visit more people.

Cook more- because I am useless at it and love food too much not to learn.

Stretch daily.

Get rid of all the bits and bobs sitting in drawers and old handbags, there is no use for broken fans and 12 pinecones.

Show my face more on this old blog thing ! 

So, here is to this New Year. I hope it brings you all the happiness and kindness you deserve. 

Cheers lovelies!

Lots of love always

Steam Train Station Of Blooms

Top~Zara/ Culottes~Zara/ Shoes~Primark/ Bag~ Market

Hello my dears and welcome to mid-summer,

July is a special month, just over half-way through the year and questioning how much we have achieved, what we hope to gain and often opportunities we wish we had grabbed in the moment. Overall, it is a month full of thought and more often than not, dabbles of sunshine and blue skies.

Drying flowers has continued to be one of my biggest enjoyments, watching them initially give life into my room in a vase and then over time watching them crisp, keep their colour and sit in amongst their petal friends in various wicker baskets around my room. Wow, that was a sentence you needed to take a big breath before saying. I know a great little place that does fresh bunches that won't burn a hole in your pockets and it has become a Sunday tradition to travel there and pick up a couple of varieties on my weekends off.

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a time warp, the steam train station in the pictures above is quite literally like walking out of a book you would read growing up in the 50's. Big, bold vintage signs cover the brick walls and I have never seen a station so filled with colourful flowers and character. You can sit on one of the vintage benches, watch the stream and listen out for the smoke puffing out of the chimney as the train approaches the corner.

Life is giving me lemons at the moment, I can feel the citrus on my skin and am embracing all that it has to offer me whilst I can. Freckles are appearing from nowhere all over my limbs and I feel very lucky to have had a little burst of brightness in my life recently. Long may the positivity last, for everyone.

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer and surrounded by wonderful people and nature.

Lots of love always

Desert Dance

Hello Loves and a big warm welcome to a new week ahead...and a very sunny one at that.

Ever since I was a child I have been very interested in desert nomads, I watched a film about a year ago titled Latcho Drom, which quite literally changed my life. My parents had been banging on about it for a good few years, but it wasn't until I sat down to watch it, that I realised what all the fuss was about. To put it in a few words is very hard to do, but it is first and foremost a French documentary on gypsies from around the world. From India, Turkey, Spain and Slovakia etc, it shows the colourful and beautiful ways in which they live. From about five seconds in I was hooked and it has made my love to travel grow fonder and larger, not to mention the way it has evolved the way I dress. Now all I want to do is build a treehouse, make tea on a fire and live in an embroidered dress for the rest of my days. Oh, and maybe go back to playing the flute again.

This Afghan dress I'm wearing is a vintage piece I managed to get hold of on Ebay. The weight of it is immense, with all of the beading and sheer work that has gone into creating this, dare I say it, piece of art. I remember seeing dresses like this in National Geographic magazines and now that I have one of my own, I feel very privileged to wear it. Also spinning in this dress is an absolute dream and I am pretty sure you could fit a family of hobbits in those vast sleeves.

As I am writing this now, I am watching a lovely sunset, filled with crimson melting into the horizon. Thinking about the next time I can wear my dress and just how much I need to save up for a vintage wagon. Maybe Mondays aren't so bad after all.

Lots of love always

Feeling 1970 in 2017

Glasses~H&M/ Blouse~Zara/ Skirt~H&M

Good evening lovelies,

I don't know about you but sometimes on sunny days, when the sky is the brightest of blues and the smell of warmth is in the air, it just makes me want to buy a campervan and travel the world. Listening to music and picking wild flowers to decorate my van with. A bit weird I know, but sometimes I can't help but want to travel back in time and have a bit of a hippy festival life and make log fires and braid my hair.

So that's what I did a couple of weeks ago, when my best friend from London came to stay. I dressed up as some sort of 1970s-suede and floral wearing- plaits woman. We even did some yoga and danced on the decking to some sweet old tracks. And I loved it hah. Sometimes I love nothing more than a good dress-up session and feeling like a time traveler for the day. 

Don't get me wrong, I love this life and everything in it, but on the odd occasion it's nice to see how the other half live- of sorts. As usual I stood in front of the nearest bush and took a couple of snaps to show for it. 

I am off to Marrakech in a little under two weeks and I cannot wait to see what Morocco has to offer. Please be prepared for some bumper posts on the colour and culture over there. I am half- tempted to take an empty suitcase to fill with market goods, foods and fabrics. 

I hope you have all had a lovely week.

Lots of love always