0h Honey Bee!

Not sure about you but I can't stop wearing the colour Brown this autumn season. Instead of reaching for my usual black outfits I'm stretching right over for my new brown boots and my new brown suede vintage jacket. (Seriously can't stop wearing this jacket!) I think I've already addressed my odd obsession with stripe (Miss Stripe) and as the temperature has dropped slightly I thought I'd team my new browns with a very old wool vintage honey bee skirt that I love to wear. 

I teamed my nicely high waisted crazy orange bee skirt with my trustee black American Apparel polo top.  

And bunged on my new fluffy black beanie from Pop Boutique. 

In the background is the beautiful sea. So peaceful and still here in Leigh on Sea. Can I stay here forever please?

And my new Topshop Magnificent brown boots that make me feel a bit like a cow girl. They are honestly so comfy to wear and the perfect heel height to run around London town in.

With my new all things brown addiction I remembered I had this beaut of a back pack that I bought from Mint Vintage months ago. I kind of forgot I had this bag. Does anyone else find forgotten treasure in their wardrobes? 

TOP: American Apparel. SKIRT: Vintage - Stole from mummy years ago. (Yes I nicked a lot from her) BOOTS: Topshop.  BAG: Mint Vintage. HAT & JACKET: Pop Boutique. 

Thanks for reading. 

My Look

My Style

Flora Maria

xx

What's in My Shopping Bag Today?

I'm not going to give you a spill of how I accidentally fell into a shop and hurt my arm blah blah blah (Previous Plaid & Trench post) or how someone forced me to buy a piece of clothing. NO! I'm going to be honest. I LOVE SHOPPING. I LOVE CLOTHES. I LOVE BUYING CLOTHES. ESPECIALLY VINTAGE CLOTHES. SOME MAY SAY I'M A BIT OBSESSED BUT THAT IS OKAY!! Sorry to shout but I think I just had to put that out there and admit to myself and to you that I am a fashion freak and that is part of who I am.

Pop Boutique

Phew! Right this post is all about my shopping trip today (Wednesday 21st October 2015) into Pop Boutique. Now I knew from the Pop Boutique Instagram page @popboutiquelondon that they had recently relocated in Covent Garden so as I was around the area I thought I'd pop in. (After a meeting (actress post coming soon eeeeek). 

Here is what I bought:

A soft woolly camel beanie hat. 

£6

A black fluffy beanie hat.

£5

Lots of bags. 

Didn't buy any because I already have a few brown bags, but I really wanted the dark brown leather purse bag.

70's Suede coat.

£35

Oversized retro thick knit jumper.

£16

A HOT CHOCOLATE 

patisserie-valerie

(Pit Stop)

My favourite.

A closer peek - The Finer Details.

And here I am posing like a doughnut but if you do fancy going in to Pop Boutique you'll be greeted by Dan who is the shop manager. He is genuinely so lovely, we had a really nice chat about this new blog venture (Hi Dan if your reading) of mine and him loving the new bigger space. He said that Saturdays footfall is the busiest with the shop basically turning into a massive disco (Get your moves ready people). I wish all shops had his welcoming spirit when it comes to making the shopping experience a fun friendly happy one :-)

I'll be doing an edit displaying how I would style these pieces, so look out for that. 

Please let me know if you enjoyed this post as I would to hear your feedback. 

What did you recently purchase on your shopping trip?

As always thanks for reading,

xx

My look 

My style 

Flora Maria

xx

At The Edge of Paradise. Part Three: CHICAGO

So here we are....actually where are we again?...Oh yes Niagara falls. Come to think of it I'm not at Niagara Falls I'm sat on my laptop in London. For anyone just needing a little heads up please feel free to see Part One here and Part Two here. At the Edge of Paradise. Part Three: Chicago (And grab a brew while you at it as it's a bit of honest long post today, eeeeek!)

With a nice kip at Shiva's had we were up at dawn already ready, geared up for the next super destination. CHICAGO! Now as the wife started us off on our duo quest from New York it was only fair that my turn was up. The full reins of the american hot summer open road and the feelings of freedom were all awaited to be mine. Sounds perfect right? Now me being a bit forgetful at times, I stupidly forgot that to get us to Chicago we will probably have to drive on a motorway. Just one little problem I hate driving on motorways. The Route 66 I had envisioned in my mind would be a beautiful long narrow dual carriageway lane not a monster of a broad freeway. Of course the Route 66 starting point is actually in Chicago. (that's the bit I forgot to factor in. Duh!) So basically I really did not want to drive on that American freeway. Having said and thought all this when the wife rhetorically asked 'You okay to drive', I immediately smiled and said yes.

Now sat in the driving seat still in Shiva's car park about to leave we set off. Sat navigation doing it's vital job perfectly positioned at my eye view. Along the smallish roads out of Niagara we go with my inner voice telling me 'I can do this' whilst somehow managing to fight the dreaded embedded demons who were repeatedly telling me 'I can't do this'. The start of Anxiety dooming.
My visual appearance was okay....we were fine. Everything was fine. Away we are now on the actually motorway with the behind fast moving traffic approaching. Wifey then said 'Increase your speed as we will need to change lanes' (Wow I remember this so vividly) and as I'm about to increase my speed my legs begin to tremble, my hands are suddenly dripping wet, my eyes are blurring with heavy lids tightening shut, 
my heart is pumping at a speed I've never honestly encountered before and I physically feel like I'm losing control. To top it all off A MAHOOSIVE BEAST (TRUCK) IS CLOSELY BESIDE US BLOWING HE'S TRUMPET AND I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS. I AM GOING TO DIE, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, YOU ARE GOING TO KILL YOUR BEST FRIEND OVER THIS BRIDGE AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. YOU WONT EVER SEE YOU LOVED ONES AGAIN THAT WARNED YOU OF THIS VERY MOMENT YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! The demons WON. 

A full blown out of body panic attack....I was crying. Now the wife not probably knowing at the time what to do kind of screamed at me saying 'Stop slowing down!', 'What are you doing!'. I think I was definitely below a safe speed and from her seat I was a huge F-UP. My shocking actions now understandably shocking to her. Next thing I know we were off the free way and I no longer had the reins anymore. Phew! We weren't dead however both of us pretty much shaken. Me in bits and wifey pretty much angered by me. I think we just encounter or first proper hurdle (Not finding the subway in Part One: New York seems so minuscule compared to this) and our first let's say altercation now existed.......Minutes passed me now demoted to passenger with wifey in rein back on the open freeway. Silence. None of us talking. My attack now leaving having lasted at a guess five minutes (but felt like an hour) I really wanted to speak to my mum at this point, instead I phoned my dad not caring about how much the call would charge and consideration of the seven hour time difference. I just needed to speak to a love one at this point and I genuinely wanted to go home. 

I spoke to my dad and not wanting him to worry I didn't actually mention to him our near just had death experience. I think the child in me just wanted to hear a familiar loved voice. Dad conversation done and 30 mins of silent driving endured Wifey pulled up into the nearest safest service station and asked me frankly 'What the hell just happened?'. I explained 'I have no idea' and we slowly started to defuse the situation by talking. I apologized for practically ending it all and she listened but still not really fully understanding how and why I did that, which if I'm honest at the time infuriated me. I didn't have the answer because I didn't know myself. Now me and the wifey never ever argue. I think that was the first one in about 60 years, (literally forever) I mean it just something we never did beforehand hence why we would be great travelling parts. I tried to describe that I felt detached from my body and I had overwhelming sense of fear. We sat and spoke for a while with her offering to drive us to Chicago. The clock ticking with 7 hours to go ahead of us (and not breaking our not driving long distance after dark rule) we set off on our not so merry tracks somewhere towards our far destination.

Hours later we reached safely in Chicago. Prebooked accommodation easily found, parking from a friendly passerby found. We made it. All down to Miss Shaziye Ali my best friend who just drove over 7 hours (with a stop off) I am extremely lucky to have beside me along this journey that we unknowingly decided to embark on together. Neither of us could of preempted my panic attack but she not only told me it will be okay she said 'We can do this together' (OMG I'm actually crying writing this). Are we insane? No one is forcing us to delve deep but maybe that situation was meant to happen, maybe an angel is looking after us and maybe they want us to learn a lesson because that situation actually made our friendship stronger. We were in this together and that was that. She could of easily of said well 'Don't expect me to drive the entire trip love!', or told me I let her down but she didn't. Of course inside I did feel like I let her down and truthfully that I let myself down. I failed the first test in the driving seat.

Arrival.The sun had set once we had piled all our belongings into our new amazing accommodation Mile North Hotel, only a bleeding 5* hotel found online through an amazing deal (and still within our room budget). Highly recommending this sweet hotel with a luxury Starbucks coffee shop in the reception (I mean C'mon). The timing couldn't of been more fitting.

Mile North HotelExactly what we needed for the next three nights. A soft bed (sorry lodge Shiva's and hostel Leo House) and thick fluffy pillows. We headed straight to the posh hotel rooftop bar in our raggedy sweaty travelling clothes as we really didn't care what dishevelment had become of us! We politely wanted a drink now! 'Two large white wines please', 'Coming up' said the rather model like bartender. One or two sips later and exhale.....After the best night sleep ever we were off out to explore the town of Chi aka Chicago.

Magnificent Mile

This place felt like an opened american film set. Not one spec of dust or dirt in sight. So clean and polished. Everything perfectly propped in place and huge in our new town. 

Lake Michigan

Late night shooting hoops. Basketball.

Mile North RoofTops.

Night Night Chicago.

Cloud Gate. The Bean - SkiWe drank, danced, walked, ate lots of ice cream, sung in the streets, dined, found a perfect cheap Thai restaurant that we kept going back to, shopped a bit, ate more ice cream, got stuck in with the locals (Lot's of locals striking up a conversation - Where are you from? etc), sight saw and slept. 

Big Fairgrounds.

 More incredible memories made. This post is for my angel and for Shaziye Ali. Finally Route 66 can begin.......Heading Deep down south.

We Were There. 

To be continued...........

A post I know I will look back on when I'm 95 and say we did that.

 Many thanks for reading. 

MY LOOK

MY STYLE 

FLORA MARIA

xx

70s RUST

Everthing's gone a bit RUSTIC

With the sun still shining and the cool breeze still blowing it's fair to say that Autumn is officially here and I'm frigging loving it. Are you? Everything feels like it's beginning all over again and the old rusty leaves are falling. 

My new colour obsession. Now I'm loosely calling the obsession 'Rustic' but I'm not entirely sure if 'Rustic' is the correct colour terminology that I should be aiming for, however that's the striking image constantly leaping out at me as I sit here and attempt to write this post. Basically I'm obsessing over a bit of old rust (I know I'm weird). Rustic; burnt oranges, musty yellows, dark reds, dull peach and light browns. RUSTIC!

I recently saw the delightful deebo9 (who I basically style stalk ) wearing this cute little Miss Selfridge polo number that I thought would knit nicely with my midi Mint Vintage denim skirt to create a refreshing day autumnal look.

I also teamed my new rustic polo with a classic chelsea boot (another obsession duh!) and a sweet little vintage brown bag.

To finally complete the look I opted for my favourite bang on seventies trend round framed brown vintage glasses (Why do I love all this vintage stuff so much???)

Again I like to keep my accessories quite simple but you could easily up the ante with this look by adding a big felt floppy hat or faux fur retro gilet or bold rustic coloured tights (Yaaaaaay for coloured tights).

Top: Here, Skirt: Similar Here, Sunglasses:From Here, Bag:From Here, Boots:From Here Rings:Here 

Thank you for reading.

My Look

My Style

Flora Maria

XX

Plaid & Trench

So something odd happened to me the other day, with half an hour to spare again stuck in central London, Oxford Street to be exact I bizarrely fell into Urban Outfitters. I fell straight into the ladies sale section and once again strangely fell into this yellow/mustard/burnt orange vintage plaid shirt. It was such an ordeal that I'm still recovering from it. (Well my bank balance is) Actually this little original was conveniently on SALE okay shopping sub conscious!

On a serious note how could I not of purchased this piece. I just love a good old plaid shirt. Ok so I may already have four or five various patterned shirts in my wardrobe, but I've never seen plaid in this shade of yellow before, so different and I've always found plaid so comfy to wear, soft on my skin and extremely versatile to style (key for me), layered up in winter under a jumper and a thick coat or thrown over a summer dress in warmer climates. I know I will wear this staple for years. 

If I'm completely honest I always feel a bit weary of buying so called 'Vintage' in certain high street stores due to the inflation on price especially when I know I can hunt for a similar garment for half the price in a vintage flee market, vintage shop, bootsale or charity shop. I do find that your buying more into the trend on the highstreet but hey ho this is a renewal piece from UO Vintage section. 

To create my scruffy tomboy look I've kept the detail quite causal and simple with a body con ribbed mini skirt which is a staple piece I bought from Urban Outfitters a while ago, thick knit tights and a low ankle suede pointy boot (For me the more worn the boot the better (which I also can't live without eeeek!)) again from Urban Outfitters, my H&M big old heavy duty black bag that's perfect for carrying my life (yes in a bag). I stuff so much rubbish into this bag and it's kindly done me so well since I received it as a Christmas gift last year, it's been to Dublin and all sorts as hand luggage too. Great size and perfect for the 'Getting ready at the gals nights'. 

The Trench Mac is an original vintage piece that I stole off my mum many moons ago. The true length was draped down to the ankle which I regrettably had shorten and altered to fit my size. I'm very fond of it and again lasted me years. The right Trench is such an investment coat that will never ever appear other than elegantly perfect thanks to the cut, fabric quality and small detail in the design. 

Shirt:Similar Here, Skirt:Similar Here, Boots: Similar Here, Bag: Here

Do you have a classic trench or plaid shirt? If so how do you style your's?

Thanks for reading, 

My Look, 

My Style, 

Flora Maria

xx

BODY CONFIDENCE

Where do you get your confidence from? 

Is a question I got asked recently by a friend when she kindly gave me a compliment over an outfit I was wearing that day and went on to tell me that she could never ever wear my outfit as in her words she 'Doesn't have the figure for it' I then replied with 'Of course you bleeding can', she then went on to ask me 'Where do you get your confidence from?' Which is never something I contemplate over and got me thinking......Where do I get my confidence from?

 I remember throughout my teens over fear of not being exactly like Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce I would wear two or even three pairs of jeans to gain a bigger bottom size (which of course never worked). I just didn't care for my athletic boy like figure. I really desperately wanted a big booty and was confused as to why everyone around me seemed to have one including my two best friends. The hourglass woman like figure just wasn't mine. Now I can only laugh at my naivety and innocent inner angst. 

Naturally that time in my life happened (I heard about it) where I refused to constantly pick holes at my reflection. When I can now honestly look in the mirror and be completely thankful for all that I have. I'm healthy and I'm alive. I'm not body perfect and that is more than okay with me. I don't have that need for anyone to give me self worth.

Hat: Similar Here, Blouse:Similar Here, Dress:Here, Boots: Similar Here, Chunky Oversized Cardigan: From Here

The older I get and throughout life experiences I began to notice how time is extremely precious (Another thing my elders would preach to me about and I didn't quite understand whilst growing up). I just got to a point of not wanting to waste time overly worrying about what others may or may not think of me, what there perceptions of me are. Nah I haven't got the energy for that. I rather put all my energy into making my life a happy one by doing the things that I love and striving to become a better person. 

Being a Londoner on a daily basis I get to see lot's of different people express themselves through art or wacky quirky little outfits. The wackier the better! As they really do inspire me.

Over time I've learnt to love the skin I'm in. True beauty doesn't have an age, size, shape or colour. We should embrace each other's differences as we are all fabulously beautiful in our own unique way which I think we should support each other on rather than dampen. Don't get me wrong at times I hate my body but I don't think I wouldn't be human if I didn't have them days. I gain my motivation  from the real people around me rather than a glossed up untouchable magazine. I am a big silly dreamer but I'm also a realist and it's all about finding your own inner happiness within yourself.

Where do you get your confidence from?

I gained my inner body confidence by no longer fighting my body and instead got happy by simply embracing it!

My Look

My Style

Flora Maria

xx