Milan In Outfits

As you may have seen in my previous posts here and here I recently went to Milan for a couple of days (I'll stop banging on about it after this post I promise!). I wanted to show you all what I wore while I was there - the weather was beautiful and sunny, but not too hot so the perfect temperature for walking around and enjoying the sights! I also felt like I had to up my chic game a little because, well, Milan isn't it?

Day 1

Okay so it was maybe a little too hot for black long sleeves and a sleeveless cardigan, but I absolutely dig this outfit if I do say so myself so I didn't really mind paying the price of being a little hot; I actually surprised myself putting it together because who knew I was such a fashionista? (I'm joking by the way, I'm not an absolute cringe).

Evening 1

As you can see by my evening outfit, which I was not at all cold in, my daytime outfit was definitely too many layers. Anyway, I adore this orange top and this was a perfect smart casual outfit for a wander along the canal for food and drink (and then more food, obviously).

Day 2

I may have forgotten to get a photo of my outfit on this day so my apologies to my friend for just cutting her out of this one, but I'm sure she won't mind. It was a little cooler on the second day so this was the perfect combination; I love a denim shirt as a cover up and felt much more chic than I actually am with the high neck vest poking out of the top.

Which outfit is your favourite?

Amy x

Two Days in Milan

You might have read in last Sunday's post (here) that I went to Milan for a couple of days last week with some friends and in this post I wanted to share some pictures of the trip as well as recommendations of things to do if you fancy going yourself!

I went with two friends from work and we chose Milan simply because it was the cheapest place on Skyscanner (anyone else love going on Skyscanner and searching for 'Everywhere' as your destination? Yep, that's how it happened). We were there for two nights and almost two full days, which actually was enough to see and do everything that we wanted to so it'd be a fab place to go if you're after a cheap weekend break. Here's what we got up to...

The Duomo // The Duomo is a beautiful building, the highlight definitely being the roof terrace - the roof itself is beautiful as are the views you get from it so I'd definitely recommend going to the top if you're able to (I believe there is a lift at least for part of the way, but we braved the steps #thighsofsteel). The inside provides the usual cool respite from the heat outside (one of my favourite things to do abroad is cool down in a church).

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and la Rinascente // There are two shopping centres off Piazza del Duomo worth a visit; the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is just beautiful especially the glass roof and la Rinascente is lovely for lunch as it has a roof terrace with a choice of three restaurants with a view of the Duomo and piazza. I wouldn't recommend actually doing any shopping in either of them though unless you're a millionaire!

Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione // Down the road opposite the Duomo is the Castello Sforzesco which is well worth a see and out through the back is Parco Sempione which is such a pretty place to stop and have an ice cream!

Navigli District // The Navigli District is a system of canals, alongside which are lots of restaurants, cafes and bars so it's a lovely place to go for a coffee/meal/drink. We wandered down there at about 6pm and stayed until 10pm so that we could experience it both in daylight and at night time.

Those would be my main recommendations for things to do although there is obviously a lot more worth doing and seeing on top of those! As you can see from the pictures the weather was absolutely beautiful for us and I'll share some of my outfits in a post soon!

Have you ever been to Milan or if not would you like to?

Amy x

What's in my Hand Luggage?

A post about hand luggage can only mean one thing...yep I'm going on holiday! I'll actually just have got back from Milan by the time this post goes live, but I'll have extremely important things to do (such as sleep) so more on my actual holiday next week when I've woken up. It's a slightly spontaneous trip with two work friends and I can't wait! 

Now, when I say hand luggage, I mean this is the only luggage we're taking as we got this holiday as cheap as we could. We're only going for a couple of days so that's obviously completely manageable, it just makes squeezing in all those liquids (and shoes) an interesting challenge. 

My case is one of those nifty little ones on wheels and it makes me feel a lot cooler than I am! It was £13.49 from Argos which I'm pretty pleased with, although I'm sure I won't be saying that when it breaks on first use. But enough about the boring case, here's what's in it:

I'm taking two pairs of shoes, as well as the ones I'll be wearing to travel in. My leopard print pair are for walking around in during the day and my lace up flatforms are for drinks in the evening (as long as the weather is nice!)

Because we don't really know what the weather will be like I've packed layers and am taking outfits that will work with an extra layer over the top if it's cold! I've also packed a nice top for evenings. 

I can't go on a plane without some form of entertainment so I'm taking a book and a magazine for the flight (although I'm really hoping that I'll be able to sleep!) and I've also got an Italian phrasebook, which will hopefully help us slightly while we're there and don't understand anything anyone is saying.

It wouldn't be hand luggage without the ugly plastic bag of liquids included would it? Luckily I didn't need to buy anything new apart from the mini deodorant and mini toothpaste as I already had minis from gift sets and sample sizes of things, which I always save for such occasions. I also had free samples of moisturiser, shampoo and foundation already which was very handy! I'm also taking some anti-bac hand wipes because you never know when you might need them!

Going away means I get to use my lovely little Cath Kidston make up bag, which has got all my non-liquid make up products in. I'm also taking a separate little plastic bag with my jewellery and little extras in like cotton pads and a nail file. Prepared eh?

I'm taking two bags - one bigger one for the plane, which is from Accessorize and another smaller one for walking around during the day, which is from Primark. Obvious essentials are my passport and some Euros! 

I can't wait to show you some photos from the actual trip, but until then, ciao (I actually had to look that up in my phrasebook! Great start Amy...)

Amy x

Please Don't Accidentally Body Shame

I've seen a fair few posts about body image recently and I feel like sometimes they fall into one of two categories that seem to oppose each other. Some people are championing curves and saying that skinny models are unrealistic and unhealthy, which in turn has spurred skinny people to write about how the fact that skinny is now viewed negatively makes them feel bad about themselves. To me, this is madness. It's almost like people are writing posts about body image designed to make people feel better about themselves but in the process body shaming others - say whaaaaat.

Body image is a tough subject to write about because how can you make every single person of every shape and size imaginable feel better about themselves by telling them all the same thing? You can't really. So I'm not going to try and make people feel better about themselves with this post, because chances are if you feel bad or self conscious about your body then reading a blog post isn't magically going to make you feel better about it. I'm not even going to try and persuade you to accept who you are because I'd be a massive hypocrite seeing as I don't really want to accept my body the way it is. The thing is, absolutely everybody has hang ups about their body whatever their shape or size (if you don't then boy would I love to know your secret!).

I'm all for trying to raise body confidence and in no way do I want this to be a negative post - I just want people to think a little bit more when writing about body image. I know it's hard to get the balance right and it feels nice to try and make other people feel good about themselves, but if it's making a different group of people feel bad about themselves in the process it's not ideal! At the end of the day it's about how you feel in your body rather than what it actually looks like so don't body shame others who are probably just as self conscious as you.

I hope this post hasn't come across as really negative, it's just something that's got me thinking. Does anyone else agree?

Amy x

A little change to my posting schedule

Recently I've found that I've had so many ideas for blog posts that I'm having to put them on hold for aaaages until I can actually post them as I've only been posting twice a week. The simple solution to this problem is...I'm going to start posting more often (hurray!).

So from now on I will have a new blog post up on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. I'm going to try and make my Sunday posts a bit more lifestyle based so I'm excited to share some of those with you!

I'd also just like to say a big thank you to all of you who read my blog - I didn't think that anyone would actually ever read it apart from my parents so thank you for all your support!

Amy x