Melbourne Travel Diary - Day 1

Helloo :)

So I've finally found a bit of time to sit down and put together the photos from our trip to Melbourne. I can't believe a whole month has passed since we were there - time really has been flying by so crazy quickly this year... 

We arrived in Melbourne super early on Thursday morning, and after dropping our bags off at the hotel we started exploring. We were both in a slightly zombie-like state, thanks to night of very little sleep, but it was fun strolling around as the city was slowly waking up and coming to life. 

We found a cozy little cafe to sit down in and enjoyed a lovely breakfast and a cup of coffee that Melbourne is so famous for. 

After breakfast we decided to have a wander over to the Queen Victoria Market. The stalls were still being set up as we arrived and it was great just strolling around as all the fresh fruit and vegetable stalls were being set up. 

How cute are these cat face bags... my favourite is the grumpy cat!

Tom stopping for more coffee... 

There were so many cute cacti for sale! Unfortunately I couldn't buy one as we wouldn't have been able to bring it back to Perth, but a cactus or two is definitely on my list of things to get for the apartment!

After spending a good few hours walking around the Markets, we then headed to have a look at the shops.

I hadn't been to Melbourne since I was about 10 years old so it was lovely just being able to walk around and take it all in. It's such a pretty city with a mix of beautiful old and new buildings. I love that there are trees around in the middle of the city, and for some reason the fact that the taxi's are all yellow makes me very happy! :)

By this point Tom and I were both feeling pretty exhausted so we headed back to our hotel.

The view from our room was pretty awesome!

After a quick nap (we pretty much hadn't slept all night so it was necessary) we were ready to head out for dinner. 

We went to Mamasita, a mexican restaurant that just happened to be up the road from our hotel. The food was delicious and I definitely recommend it if you're visiting Melbourne and love Mexican food!

So that was our first day :) 

More photos to come!

Have you been to Melbourne? What are your favourite things to do there?

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - Black, Grey and a Little Bit of Tie-Dye

Hello Hello!

Gosh it feels like ages since I've sat down to write a post! Life has been rather exciting lately and I just haven't had time to blog (well, the lack of blogging is also partly due to boring things... like having to write job applications... ugh... but let's focus on the fun bits)

The weekend before last, Tom and I took a little trip to Melbourne and spent four lovely days exploring the city. I hadn't been there since I was about 10 years old, so it was a great little adventure and felt awesome to just get away for a few days. Once I sort through all my photos there will definitely be a Melbourne post up, but for today I have an outfit to share with you.

These photos are from our last day in Melbourne. We spent the morning at the Queen Victoria Markets before catching a train to Lygon Street and visiting Brunetti's, and then just strolling around some pretty residential streets. We did so much walking over those four days - it really is the best way to explore a place. 

With all the walking we were doing, I obviously kept the footwear very comfortable and my cons got a good work out. It was also chilly enough to pull out this beanie which hasn't been getting much use in Perth yet (it was a beautiful sunny 25 degrees today... definitely not beanie weather!)

A neutral colour palette is always best when travelling so I stuck with my failsafe black jeans and jacket, adding a little bit of fun with this scarf. I love that it's pretty neutral, but also adds some interest with the cool tie-dye pattern.

A cross body bag is another holiday necessity and my usual black Jigsaw bag did the trick. I'm a little disappointed with this bag though because I've only had it for around two years and at the airport on the way home both straps broke! They'd been looking a little worn but I wasn't expecting the stitching to completely give way as it did... luckily it held out until we were heading home!

Anyway, I hope you've been having a fabulous Thursday! :)

What are your holiday outfit essentials?

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Jacket - Forever 21

Jeans - Country Road

Shoes - Converse

Jumper - Dotti

Scarf - gift from a friend

Bag -Jigsaw 

The Foodie Post - Tropico North Beach

Today's scrumptious looking food photos are from a restaurant called 

Tropico North Beach

After seeing many mouthwatering, hunger-inducing photos on Instagram (thanks

@BreakfastinPerth

) we decided it was about time we checked this place out.

So on a rather rainy Sunday morning, Tom and I headed out for a drive and met up with our usual brunch buddies to test out this much hyped breakfast spot (they also do lunch and dinner, but as you know I'm all about the breakfast food!)

With a great menu to select from, a lovely atmosphere and amazing food that tastes just as delicious as it looks, we weren't disappointed. 

I struggled choosing my food (there were so many yummy sounding options), finally settling on the

Sourdough toast, smashed avocado and lemon curd

, on the proviso that I could also share Tom's

Banana bread with spiced banana, honeycomb and vanilla meringue

. Both were delicious and it was particularly good to have the mix of sweet and savoury so I'd definitely recommend sharing if you can! 

Their

Pineapple, coconut and raspberry smoothie

 was also very yummy and tasted basically like a non-alcoholic Pina Colada (which is always a good thing in my book)

Our friends had the

Tropico breakfast trifle

and the

Waffles with strawberries, dried grapes and mascarpone with a side of crispy fried chicken

(sounds like a weird combination but I had a bite and it was yum!) as well as the

Mango, passionfruit and raspberry smoothie

and they seemed very happy with their choices. 

Good food and good company - a pretty perfect way to spend a Sunday morning :)

The only downside that I found was you really need to get there early or you could find yourself waiting a good half an hour for a table.

For us it is a bit of a drive, and considering how busy it gets, it requires a bit of pre-planning in order to avoid anyone getting too hangry (something that we don't often do when going out for breakfast - it's usually a last minute decision) so Tropico won't become one of our regular hangouts, but we'll definitely be going back again at some point (there's still so many things to try!)

If you can plan ahead or don't mind the wait, its absolutely worth the drive and I definitely recommend checking it out!

I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know if you've checked out Tropico and what you thought of it.

Also, on a different note, does anyone have any recommendations of things to do in Melbourne?

Tom and I are heading there next week and would love some suggestions!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - Winter Is Coming...

Hello Hello! :)

Considering the title of this post I should probably start out by admitting that I have not actually been following Game of Thrones very closely at all! I've watched episodes here and there, but to be honest it hasn't really grabbed my attention and I'm not really too fussed about it right now (don't hate me for it!)

I'm sure it'll be one of those things where I discover way to late what I was missing out on and wish I'd seen the light sooner (as my best friend did with Harry Potter) but for now that's just how it is :p

Anyway... 

Winter is definitely on its way and the weather was pretty wild in Perth over the weekend (yes it does actually rain here once in a while). I love the rain but I'm not so fond of the cold that comes with it, but it has given me the chance to pull out my cozy winter knits and scarves. I particularly love this white quilted jumper that I picked up on sale at Dotti a few weeks ago. I have the same one in grey and wore it so much last year that I figured I may as well get the white version too. I'm in the process of editing my wardrobe to include only things I truly love and will wear all the time, and this lovely soft jumper fits the bill perfectly. 

Another new love (yes there are a few new things in this post but they were all things I needed I promise!) are these pointed black flats. My ballet flats were looking a little worse for wear so a new pair has been on my shopping list for a while. When I saw these on Instagram (in a photo by

@stephvdm

who also has an awesome blog -

Le Fanciulle

) I just had to hunt them down. They're such a classic staple piece and that's what I've been aiming for with my wardrobe lately - stick to the classics and you can't go wrong!

I hope you're having a fab Thursday!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Jumper - Dotti

Leather Jacket - from Hong Kong

Jeans - Country Road

Necklace - Colette by Colette Hayman

Ring - Asos

Shoes - Country Road

Bag - Jigsaw

PS: Seeing as I was a bit of a downer about the whole Game of Thrones thing, I thought I'd try and end on a more positive note and share with you a show I

have

been loving. I highly recommend 

House of Cards

 - it's awesome and very addictive! 

Style Inspiration - Pink Coats

As a lover of pink, a pink winter coat has been on my wish list for quite sometime, and while there are a myriad of beautiful coats on Pinterest, in real life, the perfect coat seems to be rather elusive! Finding the right cut, fit and shade of pink is not that easy, and being slightly "vertically challenged" I try to go for the shorter styles which tend to be few and far between. 

Nevertheless, I'm hopeful that my perfect pink coat is out there somewhere, just waiting to be found!

In the meantime I'm just drooling over these stunning ones :)

Let the hunt continue...

All images via Pinterest (click on the photo to be taken to the image)

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