New Shoes, New Adventure

So I've left the old job and started a new one. Last few weeks have been like a blur, coming back from holiday, finishing up at my old job and saying some very sad farewells, starting a new job and making new friends, its been a roller coaster of a journey to say the least.

I'm pleased to say the new job is going very well, it's always hard to leave somewhere that ends up feeling like your second home, it was almost like breaking up with someone, does that sound strange? Perhaps but that's how it felt.

It's never fun being the new girl but I've tried to get stuck in and being landed with a huuumuungus project of designing the Christmas windows, seems one hell of an initiation project but I'm on it!

The lovely ladies at Warehouse gave me a voucher as my leaving pressie for my fave store of the moment & other stories (yep previously gushed about this store on the blog here). I was delighted at their generosity and skipped all the way to Oxford Street and it didn't take long to have a lovely shiny pair of new shoes in my hand!

I know it's still summer but I'm loving little brogues at the moment and can't wait to wear them when the weather gets cooler. This silver pair will add a touch of glamour to an otherwise average outfit, maybe even aid my disco dancing.....

Cute dresses with masculine shoes are the way forward in my opinion, teamed with some little ankle socks....perfection!

Here are some other cute brogues I have my greedy, beady eye on..... 

Topshop

Kurt Geiger

Office

Aldo Shoes

 

I hope you're enjoying the long weekend 






X 

Croatia Part 2 & Montenegro

Croatia was beyond beautiful and there were too many photos to show you in one blog, so I thought I would write another post about my holiday, you lucky things.

It was fab to take the cable car to the top of the hill and we timed it just right to catch the sunset. I love seeing towns sparkle at night when all the lights come on, it always seems quite magical.

We were determined to have a super chilled holiday. Chris has been working flat out leading up to going away as he finished his graphic design course, and I have managed to bag myself a new, very awesome job - I know!, so it was a well deserved break for us both. A wine and jazz night was then right up our street. It was a man made concrete auditorium which, set high up in the hills, was again another amazing place to watch the sunset but this time it was accompanied with some seriously chilled jazz music. There is something about hearing the saxophone played live that gives me goosebumps - one of my most favourite instruments...and the wine was a good shout too!

We didn't get bored of Dubrovnik but we thought we'd take the opportunity to head over the border (which was about an hour away) to nearby Montenegro. So glad we did, it was even more stunning than Croatia, if you can believe it.

I was the only one who remembered my driving license - queue super nervous husband who barely spoke a word to me the whole way...I promise I didn't nearly crash the car...twice..oops! I blame the other drivers...definitely. It was such a nice coastal ride but being on the opposite side of the road, in a left hand drive and steep drops on the passenger side made it probably not the most fun road trip I had planned. More of a white knuckle ride for Chris. Next time hubby needs to do the driving!

I found it quite a cute contrast seeing all these beautiful buildings with washing hanging out everywhere. You forget that even though it's a tourist area filled with little shops and restaurants, that people do actually live there. You gotta dry your clothes somehow.

Maybe that's where they got the inspiration for a large over-sized washing line piece of art, if you can call it art....

Oh, and there were about a million cats everywhere you turned, too cute!!

We had been desperate to do a white water rafting trip but it wasn't possible so we opted for a sea kayaking trip instead. We were both a bit dubious about this, we were seeking some thrilling, action packed sport but it actually turned out to be one of my favourite days. Even if a lot of hard work.

Apparently we were good first timers - oh yeah - professional kayakers!! So our instructor took us on an extended trip, I'm sure we covered around 20km throughout the day - queue dead arms at the end of the day. I even saw dolphins jumping out the sea - I squealed when I saw them. The instructor (wish I had remember his name) and Chris missed it but when it happened again they saw it too - it was so amazing to see something like that in the flesh. You always see things like that on some nature program but its nowhere near the same as seeing it happen in front of your very eyes. The dream was slightly dashed when I was told, they weren't dolphins, they were tuna - damn! I'm going with dolphin anyway, nobody will know....

A good old portion of fish and chips kept the energy up - this is what I call a good hearty lunch yum yum!

Slightly frazzled preparing for the last leg.

Loving my kayak!

 

 

I told you there were a million cats. This one came and sat right by me, ah bless, shame he was too scraggy to cuddle.

It's always hard coming home after being somewhere so amazing. Oh well, I will just have to fill my time planning the next excursion....

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Croatia Part 1

The Lonely Planet describes Dubrovnik in Croatia as 'it's beauty is bewitching, it's setting sublime' - I cannot agree more!

Chris and I escaped here for a whole week of sunshine bliss, filled with lots of yummy food, mucho activities and plenty of steps!!!

From sea kayaking to mountain biking I endured the 'week with the hubby' kinda holiday, no slobbing-on-the-beach-til-nearly-sunset-then-heading-out-for-an-uber-late-dinner, no I was put through my adventure paces but I can't complain, it was truly stunning wherever we went that I decided I needed a new word for 'wow'.

 

If I could wear my denim dungaree's every day I would!  

On sale at Warehouse here.

The old town is the hub of Dubrovnik, tourists flock here in the masses. The tiny alley ways made it feel like you were navigating through a concrete maze, we turned left, then right, then left until we had no idea where we were. Luckily it's small enough so you come come to the edge of the 'town' soon enough and are rewarded by stunning views across the ocean with a mountainous backdrop.

No holiday would be complete with out some little drama, I'm sorry but I can't help myself. Here I am snapped making my boat driving debut (I know!) and merely missing some poor man who was, up until we crossed his path, having a very delightful swim - oops sorry!

I know, papped in the same dress I wore for the Ibiza wedding - it's my new fave dress for summer

One of our excursions took us to the island of Miljet which was about 1-1/2hr journey by ferry from Dubrovnik. It was worth every minute - it was like a little slice of paradise. The northern part of the island is declared a national park and we rented mountain bikes so we could get around more of the island in the few hours we were there. Which was truly fantastic.....until I fell off the bike - I told you I can't help a little disaster here and there - cue near weeping by the side of the road and severe embarrassment... 

 

The sea water in Croatia is seriously salty, so salty you left the sea with a thin layer of salt that I swore I could scrap off and sprinkle over my chips (don't worry I didn't), you could lay back and let the salt water allow you to float unaided - seriously lazy swimming - I was in heaven.

 

 

 Just across the water from Italy, it was hardly surprising that you could see some evident Italian influences from the cobbled streets, style of buildings...and the ice cream! Yum-mee, I could not get enough of this cold fruity delight (note the big cheesy grin - one happy lass). The hubby was pretty much in heaven too.

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