Ten Things I LOVE About Spring

It's that magical time of year again... that amazing time where the arrival of brighter days, blue skies, spring flowers and just that warmth in the air has me a bit ridiculously giddy with excitement!

There's just something about springtime that feels so fresh and full of possibility and anticipation, and every year I've posted a few photos on the blog and declared my love for the season. This year I thought I'd delve a bit deeper and make a little list of the things that, for me at least, make this such a fabulous time of year. It's nothing groundbreaking, but hopefully it'll help you remember to notice the simple things...

So here we have it - Ten things I adore about Spring

1. The longer, brighter days

- Even if you're up early and heading out to work, at least it's light now when you roll out of bed! Admittedly we are pretty lucky here in Perth, with beautiful sunny days not uncommon even in the middle of winter, but there's just something about waking up to natural light that makes mornings

so

much easier!

2. That warmth in the air

- there's just something about the feel of things heating up that you can't beat. There's that smell of spring in the air, the promise that warmer days are just around the corner, the fact that you can go out without a jumper - it's just so free-ing!

A couple of weeks ago the temperature made it's way up to 30 degrees, and even though I was at work and inside all day, just looking out the window  and feeling that warmth in the air made it feel like holidays were on their way! I guess it's just an association I have from my school days... but it's still a great feeling!

3. Enjoying long walks in the sunshine

 - Spring is truly the best time of year to get outside and enjoy your surroundings. Whether you like long, relaxing walks or prefer to pick up the pace, the weather is just perfect any time of day. I love going for a walk around my neighbourhood in the evenings, spending the morning strolling by the river or exploring King's Park on the weekends, and just getting out for a quick walk around the block during my lunch break. 

4. So much colour everywhere

 - One of the reasons I love going for walks this time of year is that there is just so much colour all around. Flowers are bursting out everywhere you look and there's just so much beauty around! That sounds so cheesy, but it's true!

Tom laughs at me when we go for a walk because I'm seriously like a little kid - all excited about the next pretty flower we come across and having to stop every few meters to examine and photograph it!

The wildflowers are out in Kings Park at the moment so I definitely recommend getting down there if you're in Perth!

5. Spring fashion

 - It's time to put away those dark winter clothes and coats and bring out all the brights! Floral dresses, sandals, shorts and of course those white floaty tops I have a particular penchant for - this is the fashion I live for! I've made no secret here on the blog that I'm not a huge fan of wintery wear, so this time of year is my wardrobe's time to shine. I've mentioned before I'm trying out a capsule wardrobe, and while it worked really well for winter, I have to admit I'm struggling a little with my Spring capsule - there's just so many pretty summery clothes that I love so I'm having difficulty narrowing things down! I might have to rethink the capsule wardrobe idea (for the warmer months anyway), but we'll see what happens and I'll keep you updated!

6. Spring beauty 

- There's just something about pastel painted nails, light, shimmery eyeshadows and bright pink lipstick that brings a smile to my face. Even though I tend to wear this kind of look all year round, it's extra perfect now that the weather is warming up!

7. That urge you get to spring clean

 - I love the rush of energy and motivation I get that spurs me on to have a good clear out, declutter and just generally put things in order at this time of year. I guess it's called "Spring Cleaning" for a reason. This whole year I've been slowly sorting through my things and letting things go in an effort to live a more minimalistic lifestyle, but now that it's Spring (and also because I've just read Marie Kondo's book - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying), I'm feeling extra motivated!

8. Feeling inspired to be more healthy

 - When it's cold and rainy, all I want to do is curl up inside and indulge in a little too much comfort food, but now that the weather's so much cheerier, the thought of fresh fruit, salads and just generally making better food choices is so much more appealing! The fact that all the summer fruits are coming out definitely helps. Hello peaches!

9. Everyone seems to be a little happier 

- Is it just me, or do people in general just seem to be friendlier around this time of year? There's something about sunny days that seems to make almost everyone feel that little bit cheerier, and you can just see it in people's faces and the way they go about their day and interact with people. From people I work with, patients I see, random people you walk past in the street, everyone just seem to be that little bit more upbeat.

 ...and that's always a good thing - "Happy people just don't shoot their husbands..." ;)

10. The promise that Summer Is Coming!

- Even though I'm working now and don't get to enjoy those gloriously long summer breaks, Summer always gives me that "free" feeling.

Holidays (even if they are kinda short), Christmas, long hot nights, beach fun times, ice-cream - all good things to look forward to. ...and the anticipation of it is half the fun! 

What's your favourite thing about Spring?

(Or I guess Autumn if you're in the Northern hemisphere!)

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - Perfect Sunny Sunday

Hello Hello :)

So I'm back with another bunch of photos from a few weeks ago, these ones from a particularly perfect Sunday. 

I don't know if I've mentioned before, but my mood is often hugely influenced by the weather, and beautiful sunny days (particularly when it's been weeks of gloomy, cold weather) always put the biggest smile on my face and make me a bit ridiculously giddy with happiness (does anyone else get like this or is it just me?)

Anyway, these photos are from one of those days where I was just feeling so incredibly happy and grateful for everything. Nothing crazy exciting or out of the ordinary happened, but we just enjoyed the simple things - going out for a morning walk along the river, breakfast at a cafe nearby, visiting our local library for the first time since we moved to our new place and borrowing a few books (on a side note, I highly recommend reading "The Secret Keeper" by Kate Morton - it is a great read!), just my perfect kind of day.

Anyway, I hope you are having a lovely Sunday right now!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Parka - Forever New

Jumper - Country Road

Jeans - Country Road

Scarf - Sportsgirl

Necklace - Mimco

Shoes - Converse

The Foodie Post - A Healthy Chocolate, Banana and Strawberry Smoothie

Hello hello :)

Today I have another "Foodie Post" to share with you!

I literally just whipped up this smoothie about an hour ago, and it turned out rather well (if I do say so myself), so I figured I should document it before I forget the recipe! 

(Plus I had a punnet of fresh strawberries from the farmer's market and couldn't resist the opportunity to photograph them - strawberries are just so photogenic!)

I used almond milk for this recipe (I've been trying to eat a little less dairy lately) and it tasted great! I find almond milk works really well for smoothies and gives them a nice, slightly nutty flavour. I also used frozen bananas so the smoothie would be nice and thick without needing to add any yoghurt. 

The cacao powder adds a nice chocolatey-ness, but needs a bit of sweetening so I threw in two dates which worked perfectly. Obviously you can adjust to taste - this is just what I happened to use today.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

*2 frozen bananas

*A handful of fresh or frozen strawberries

*2 teaspoons of cacao powder

*2 dates

*Approx 300ml almond milk (adjust depending on how thick you want your smoothie)

*Cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Blend together, sprinkle over a little cinnamon, and there you have a yummy, chocolatey fruit smoothie!

Hope you enjoy - let me know if you give it a try :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

PS: You could even turn this into a healthy version of ice-cream if you wanted to just pop it in the freezer for a while!

My Style Diary - Blue Skies and Winter Sunshine

Hello Hello :)

Today's photos were actually taken way back in June, on a lovely warm and sunny winter's day. I've said it so many times before, but we are incredibly lucky here in Perth with the amount of sunshine we get. 

Despite our relatively mild winters, I have to say I am definitely ready for spring. It's been very chilly (by my standards anyway) the past few weeks and the rainy, dark mornings have not been welcome when I'm dragging myself out the door on the way to work. I'm thinking some warmer weather and lighter days will help... just one more month until it's officially spring and it will hopefully start warming up!

This cold weather is one of the main reasons there hasn't been much happening here on the blog lately. I've just been very uninspired outfit-wise because all I want to wear when it's cold is a pair of jeans and the warmest jumper I can find.

I've actually been doing my own version of the Project 333 capsule wardrobe challenge over the past few months and it's actually been pretty easy so far. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it's where you narrow down your wardrobe to 33 items and wear just these for the season (3 months). You can read all about it

here

if you're interested.

I haven't actually cut my wardrobe down to 33 items - being strict about the number isn't really what the challenge is about in my opinion, but I've definitely been simplifying things more than I ever have before and doing it in a way that feels right for me.

You would think that living with such a small wardrobe would be a bit restrictive, but I actually have a good range of options that I know I could put together a variety of outfits with. The only problem has been that I just haven't bothered! I'm going to put in a bit more effort for the rest of August though - I want to see how versatile this capsule wardrobe thing can be!

I'm planning on doing more posts on this topic, but I'll leave it at that for now - I'm off to continue watching The OC -  I'd forgotten how much I loved that show, and it's making me a little nostalgic for high school :)

Have a good Sunday night!

Lauren

xxx

Top - Country Road

Jeans - 7 For All Mankind

Scarf - Sportsgirl

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Necklaces - Mimco

Watch - Thomas Sabo

Bag - Country Road

Melbourne Travel Diary - Day 3

As you can probably tell by now, Tom and I love our food (particularly breakfast food) and we tend to plan our days around where we're going to eat! 

We'd been recommended a place called

Chez Dre

in South Melbourne, so we caught a tram and headed off in search of this French-inspired patisserie/cafe. Located in a revamped warehouse, the setting was perfect and of course the food ended up being delicious! I definitely recommend the french toast if you visit! 

Once we'd stuffed ourselves with food, we had a look around the South Melbourne Markets, and then caught a tram to St Kilda where we enjoyed some sunshine while walking along the beach, before going in search of the famous Luna Park (admittedly just for the photo - we didn't actually end up going inside!)

Then it was off to Chapel Street for some shopping (at least that was the plan). I've already mentioned this in a previous post, but we ended up walking almost the full length of the street before finding the actually "shopping area", so by the time we actually reached this part we were exhausted! - It's a long street!

 It was really fun just strolling around exploring the area though and coming across cute little places we wouldn't have found if we'd just caught a tram. My favourite find was this little bookshop that reminded me so much of something out of Harry Potter. The bookshelves towered to the ceiling and were all higgledy piggledy, and there were cats just strolling around or curled up in a chair! 

We walked through the Botanic Gardens on our way back and it was such a beautiful place, although it was starting to get dark by this point  so we didn't get to fully explore it - we'll be back though!

We ended the day with dinner at

Movida

- a Spanish tapas bar. The food was seriously

so good

and I highly recommend it!

So that's it for our Melbourne trip! I didn't take many photos on our last day (but it was a pretty similar thing - lots of eating and walking around exploring!)

I've actually just bought tickets to see Taylor Swift in Melbourne in December so I'm excited to be going back in a few months (although still kinda annoyed that she's not coming to Perth!)

There's still so many things to see and do there, so if you have any suggestions for next time, I'd love to hear them! 

I actually "vlogged" some parts of the trip too and have been slowly putting the clips together  (my editing skills need a lot of work though), so I'm toying with the idea of putting that video up.

I love watching vlogs on YouTube so I am kinda tempted to give them a try myself... we'll see if that actually happens :)

Anyway, I hope you're having a fab day!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx