My Style Diary - Feeling Feminine in Floral and Chatting About Personal Style

Hello!

So these photos are a little late (they were taken on Christmas day!) but I just had to share them as I am super in love with this gorgeous dress! I absolutely love the beautiful floral pattern, the colours (which are so very "Lauren") and the cut, with the fitted bodice and full skirt (and there's even a bow on the back!). It's just one of those dresses that makes you feel so feminine and pretty (and it's perfect for twirling around in!)

Since I've been experimenting with capsule wardrobes, I've realised that there seem to be two distinct sides to my style.

One is the super girlie side that you see in these photos (pretty floral dresses with a slight 50's feel are my faves), but then I also love the really laid back, relaxed look of a t-shirt and jeans or denim shorts. Two very different looks, but both are still very "me".

I guess that's the fun thing about fashion - you can play a little, chop and change and experiment until you find what works for you, and that doesn't just have to be one specific style. 

It's fun to be able to show a little bit of your personality through the way you dress, and there are so many different aspects to our personalities, so  our "personal style" doesn't just have to be one defined look. It's whatever you feel fab in, whatever makes you feel your best!

For me, sometimes that means dressing up and wearing a beautiful dress, but other times it means a t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans.

I've always admired how some people can have a very well defined style that's consistent and just completely "them", Ally from

The Vintage Valley

is specifically who I'm thinking about right now (You should check her out if you haven't before - I absolutely adore her vintage style!) but I've finally realised that for me that's never going to be the case. I need a bit more variety, and that's ok!

What are your thoughts on "personal style"? Do you have a specific kind of "look" or is yours a bit more of a mix of different styles?

Anyway, I rambled for a bit longer there than I thought I would:)

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Princess Highway from Dangerfield

Wedges - Aldo

Bag - Jigsaw

Watch - Calvin Klein

 PS - Just had to share a pic of us together - it was the first Christmas in our new place so a pretty special time!

Beautiful Houses in Hobart

One of the things I loved about Hobart was all the beautiful old houses.

I have a bit of a thing for older houses, and could quite happily have walked around the streets for hours, just admiring them. With their gorgeous shutters, cute little verandas and colourful front doors (many of which were adorned with beautiful wreaths), they all just had so much character!

The B&B we stayed at, 

Amberley House

 (the second last photo) was a lovely old building. It was a really comfortable, cozy place, and I'd recommend it if you're looking for somewhere to stay in Hobart for a few nights. 

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Lauren

xxx

Hobart - Salamanca Market and Mona

Hello!

I have some more Hobart photos to share today :)

Tom and I arrived in Hobart on Friday night, and after dropping our bags at our hotel we went out for dinner at a Greek restaurant called

Mezethes Greek Taverna

(which I highly recommend, although make sure you're very hungry if you decide to go with the set menu - there was a

lot

of food!)

The next day we made our way to the iconic Salamanca Market which is open every Saturday (we'd planned our trip specifically so we'd be there when it was on). With nearly 300 stalls, there's a huge variety of products on sale - food, jewellery, woodwork, flowers... but by far my favourite thing was the raspberries. They were the sweetest most delicious raspberries I've ever eaten and just thinking about them now is making me hungry! You must try them if you go to Tasmania!

After strolling around for a good few hours, we then caught the ferry to

Mona

- The Museum of Old and New Art.

That was definitely a very interesting experience! Anyone who has been there before will know what I mean - some of the pieces of art are... how would you say it... an "acquired taste"? 

It is definitely worth visiting though!

My favourite piece of artwork was actually the trampoline that was outside the building. 

Apparently it had originally been placed inside the museum, but I think it is now in the perfect spot - right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the water. You're actually able to jump on it (which is the whole reason I loved it) and it's a pretty incredible feeling (and just a lot of fun) being able to look out onto the water while bouncing around on this big trampoline!

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for today!

I hope you're having a great Saturday :) 

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Style (and Travel) Diary - Breakfast at a Bakery and Strolling Around Hobart

Hello hello!

So this is my first post for 2016!

I hope you had a great New Years and a lovely start to January.

I'd been planning on doing a New Years Resolutions type post, but to be honest I haven't actually gotten around to writing down anything specific just yet! I have a few ideas floating around in my head though, so they may end up making an appearance soon (better late than never right?)

Anyway...

Today I have a few photos from Hobart to share! As you may have noticed if follow me on Instagram, one of Tom and my favourite things to do together is go out for breakfast, so of course finding awesome places for breakfast/brunch is a top priority when we're on holiday!

On our second day in Hobart (the first day we ate at our B&B) we found a lovely little bakery called Jackman & McRoss.  The breakfast was pretty good, Tom had just a standard eggs on toast, with some spinach thrown in, while I had a kind of breakfast fritatta. The highlight though was the almond croissant, which I think is the the biggest almond croissant I've ever seen! (The photos don't really do it justice!)

After breakfast we went for a bit of a stroll around Hobart (taking many photos of the gorgeous houses along the way- more coming soon I promise!) and then hopped in the car and headed off to our next destination.

Outfit-wise it was (as usual) a very simple affair - white quilted jumper, navy jeans and comfy shoes. I really am loving this navy and white theme at the moment! It was thankfully not as chilly on our second day (the first day in Hobart was absolutely freezing!) so this combo was perfect!

We only had a couple of days in Hobart but I really fell in love with the place.

I definitely plan on returning one day.

There will be another post about Mona and the Salamanca Markets heading your way in a bit - I just need to get around to sorting out those photos!

Hope you're having a lovely day!

Lauren

xxx

Jumper - Dottie

Jeans - Country Road

Necklace - Mimco

Watch - Calvin Klein

Bag - Jigsaw

Shoes - Roxy

An Amazing Year - Looking Back on 2015

I really can't believe that this is the last day of 2015.

December seems to have whizzed by in a flash, and I'm a little sad to see it go, as this year has been a really great one for me!

2015 was the year of some pretty big, life changing moments, and I have some incredible memories to look back on.

Lots of exciting things happened, from big things, like Tom and I moving into our own place together, to smaller things, like finally discovering podcasts (how did I not know about them before?! They've made my drive to work

so

much more fun!)

I love looking back at the year and remembering all the amazing things I have to be grateful for. Here are a few of the highlights from 2015...

*Starting off the year with a relaxed picnic in King's Park with some of my closest friends

*After a long hunt, Tom and I finally bought our first home!

We love our little apartment and have had such a great time moving in together and making it all home-y. We've still got a way to go before it'll be "finished" but I've been loving the process.

*A long weekend trip to Melbourne for my birthday

(The first time in years that I wasn't working or studying on the day!)

*Discovering "minimalism" and the idea of more simple living.

I've been on a decluttering and downsizing kick this whole year and it's something I plan to continue for years to come. I definitely wouldn't call myself a minimalist by any means, but I've had a huge shift in mindset and it's been pretty life changing. Thankfully Tom's been on board too and it's been so great to share this experience together. I've been inspired by a lot of blogs, youtube channels and podcasts so I'll hopefully get around to putting together my own post about this soon!

*Tying into the more minimalistic lifestyle I've been slowly adopting, I'm loving the fact that I've downsized my wardrobe and have been happily living with a capsule wardrobe for the past few months now. I still probably have a few too many pieces in my wardrobe, but I'm definitely finding it's much more manageable now! I was worried that streamlining my wardrobe would be problematic from the fashion blogging side of things, but I haven't found it to be a problem at all (although I will admit I've been a bad blogger and haven't been posting as much as I'd like lately). I actually think there might be a few changes coming to Lauren Loves Laughter next year, as I'm planning on sharing a lot more about capsule wardrobes and how I've applied this more minimal mindset to other aspects of my life.

*I finally dove in and decided to try my hand at

Youtube

.

I've only posted a few videos so far, but I'm happy to have finally overcome the fear of putting myself out there and gotten started on it, as it's something I've been wanting to do for a while now.  It's just another fun, creative outlet for me and hopefully something I'll continue in 2016!

*Tom and I celebrated our six year anniversary!

It's been an awesome six years that seem to have just flown by. I am so lucky to have such an amazing, funny, kind, (not to mention incredibly good looking) guy by my side.

Ok... enough of the soppiness!

*An awesome holiday in Melbourne and Tasmania to end the year.

Taylor Swift's 1989 Tour was amazing, and we then had a lovely relaxing holiday in Tassie. I totally fell in love with the place - the adorable old houses in Hobart, the winding roads and gorgeous small towns, the delicious food (particularly their raspberries!), the amazing view from our accommodation in Swansea, and an amazing day spent trekking around Cradle Mountain.

It's been a good year :)

I have a feeling though that  2016 is going to be equally fabulous (if not better) as I have some exciting news up my sleeve (but you'll just have to wait for that!)

I hope you're 2015 has been just as amazing!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx