My January - April 2017 Favourites

Even though April is already nearly over, this will be my very first favourites post of 2017, oops. In all fairness though this has been an absolute whirlwind of a year so far. I don't tend to stand still too long by negatives on here when I can but after lots of stresses around family, health and work it's only now I feel I am resurfacing and getting back on track – with my blog and life in general. Because this is 4 months worth of favourites there are a bunch of them in all sort of different categories; from a TV-show addiction (hello Riverdale) to Instagram, and from making smoothies to newly discovered fashion brands. So without further ado, here are my favourites so far of the year (in no particular order, because choosing is hard).


Wisteria Hysteria

First things first, I have to of course mention the cover photo of this post. Yes, I've succumbed to wisteria hysteria in London (it's an actual thing, just check the hashtag on Instagram or Twitter). This beautiful flower cascading like purple rain over the walls of the mansion houses in Kensington, Chelsea and Notting Hill doesn't only look gorgeous in photographs, but it smells divine too. Last Sunday I spent 4 hours (and over 10km) hunting down these beautiful flowers in Kensington and I plan to do few more trips to West London to photograph wisteria in all its glory before it disappears for another year. A full blog will follow.

Maison Scotch Top

I did a much-needed clear-out of my clothes closets a few weeks ago and came to the sad conclusion that very few things still fitted me (uuuuughhhh). I've been quite rigorous with actually getting rid of stuff rather than holding on to it, meaning I'm pretty desperate to get some new stuff to fill all the empty spaces. One of the brands I've come across and I absolutely love now is Scotch & Soda (also known as Maison Scotch) and I LOVE this striped top from them with the buttons running down the sleeves! It's actually a Dutch brand but I hadn't heard of it before. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it more now though!



Travel

While I haven't travelled extensively in the first four months of 2017 (I've only been to Paris and did day trips to Brighton and Oxford), for various reasons the travel bug has been seriously itching. Not all of you may know this but my first public blog was actually a travel one (aaaaall the way back in 2005 when travel blogging wasn't really a thing yet - if only I'd continued!), when I first lived in Canada for a year and later in Australia and New Zealand, and went to some other places in between. When I moved to England in 2010 my big passions at the time were books and theatre (hence this blog) but over the years this has expanded into more general lifestyle with the occasional travel bit thrown in.

This year I've come to realise that the thing that has felt missing in my life for so long is the travel aspect. For years I was travelling and to then go to just the occasional holidays slotted around work isn't the same. So I've been following lots of travel Instagrammers and bloggers for inspiration, went to Trek America's fab blogging event, and I'm feeling excited to explore new places again. For now you'll start noticing some more travel posts on here as I will start doing backpack flashbacks talking about my journeys between 2005-2010, and hopefully some new adventures will be on the horizon soon.

Smoothie Maker

A smoothie maker has been on my wish list for a very long time yet rather than me getting one for myself (which I should've done a long time ago) it wasn't until I got one for my birthday in February that I finally tried it out. And I have been hooked since! My concoctions so far have all been based on the basic starting off recipe of Greek yoghurt, milk, a fresh banana en frozen food, but I'm hoping to become more experimental as I get more comfortable using it. If you have any go-to recipes, please leave them in the comments below! I shared my recipe for an Easy Banana & Red Fruit Breakfast Smoothie on the blog a few weeks ago.



Riverdale

I've been watching very little television this year, because there just isn't time after long working days, blogging, and events I go to. The only shows I'm not behind on are the half-hour long comedies I watch and I haven't picked up any new shows besides Riverdale on Netflix on the recommendation of a friend (who knows my TV taste very well). It's basically Veronica Mars meets Gossip Girl meets The O.C. and I love everything about it (especially Betty and Jughead).

Mantaray Bag

Another for me newly discovered brand is Mantaray at Debenhams. Very much like I was in the market for new clothes I also needed a new every day bag for summer and I came across this super cute soft blue one that is absolutely massive and so perfect for all the stuff I lug around on a daily basis (including a book and camera). I've been using it for a month or so now almost every day and it wears really well. I hope it continues like this because I can definitely seen myself using it for all of spring and summer!



Kikki.K Mug

Back in February I received a birthday voucher from gorgeous stationary brand Kikki.k (seriously, they're a bloggers' paradise) and so I had an excuse to pop back in! I wanted to buy ALL of their journals and cards and I maaaaay have picked up a thing or two, but my best find was this super cute mug. I seriously don't need any more mugs (I already have more than fit into our cupboards), but this one is so cute, fits right into my obsession with stripes and it's perfect size for tea ♥).



Instagram

Not gonna lie, I've been feeling a bit disheartened with how slowly my Twitter account is growing and so I've been giving Instagram more of a try again the last few weeks. I've started following tons of travel Instagrammers anyway for inspiration, and I'm now playing around with trying to find my own theme/style. I'd love to hear your thoughts and please do give me a follow if you like what you see!

And these were all my faourites from the last FOUR months (I know, I'll do better next time...). What things have you been loving in 2017 so far?