October in Photos

OCTOBER 

This is my October in photo form. Wanna know more? Then here ya go... 

THE STORIES 

1. I bought my mum tickets to see Miss Saigon for her birthday! It was an incredible show, I highly recommend you all go see it. 

2. Also the theatre we were at had a bar with a balcony, so we spent an hour before the show sitting out there looking at the street below. 

3. I went to Bath City Farm with my bestie Amber. This guy was there too. 

4. Amber, featuring something that was definitely a fairy portal. 

5. Games evening with my housemate. We played Bananagrams (excellent game) and I managed to spell beer, pub and sip, all in the space of about 30 seconds... 

6. Breakfast at a London pub for my dad's birthday. This table is my aesthetic. 

7. A bit later on that day we went up the Shard! The view from up there is incredible <3

8. Also to celebrate my Dad's 50th, we took him to 5 different fine dining restaurants. I've not put a photo from all the places we went because that would take up all the space. This was at The Waterside though and oh my god look at this soufflé. 

9. This is another dinner for his birthday, this time at The Dorchester. This dessert was insanely delicious. 

10. Did you know that under the breakfast club restaurant in shoreditch there is a secret bar? Yeah. It's called The Mayor of Scardey Cat Town and it's hella cool. These were some cocktails we had there.
11. The sign pointing down to the bar! You go through the fridge to get to it and come out through the toilets. Amazing.
12. Looking fly before dinner the other day.
13. Blackwells <3 oh my god. This bookshop. It's so rad.
14. Travelling again.
15. Switzerland has pumpkins that are bIGGER THAN ME.
16. This was my view as I woke up on the first day in Switzerland. Could be worse.
17. Autumn overload.
18. Me by Lake Geneva, Montreax. Switzerland you're so pretty <3

TO NOVEMBER
I love November, it's my birthday month, it's cold, it's dark and it has Bonfire Night too, so I am very much enjoying this month so far and since today is my birthday (turning 20 yo!) it can only can better.

How was your October? Let me know in the comments!

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

Love Chloe x

September in Photos

THE PHOTOS

THEIR STORIES

1. I bought a new bookshelf and that meant I had to entirely rearrange my room. IT IS BEAUTIFUL NOW. 
2. My mum's birthday presents! 
3. We went out for dinner for my mum's birthday and this was my starter - prawn cocktail served in a jar. Yes yes yes.
4. FOO FIGHTERS. AH YES. MY BOYS. MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. I SAW THEM LIVE FOR THE SECOND TIME AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE. 
5. The baes <3
6. Cute coffee and cake with my mum. 
7. Stage one of moving into my room for my second year of university.
8. And stage 2...
9. And stage 3... Complete!
10. The drive to Bath to actual move into my new uni house. Got all the important things, obvs. 
11. Afternoon tea at the Jane Austen centre. It was delicious at it looks. 
12. Scone close up. 
13. I went for a little explore around my new town, and discovered a beautiful view. Is it just me or does this look a little bit like The Shire? (Probs doesn't but I like to believe I live in Middle Earth okay.)
14. I could have taken photos of this abandoned building forever. 
15. Found a cute little path that was lined by trees and it let to this stream! V. cute. 
16. I also found a church and had a look at all the gravestones. They had some insanely old ones in there and it was just really interesting to look around.
17. Cows all stood in a weird line. Um guys what you doing? 
18. This is genuinely the view from my bus stop. And no, it hasn't got old yet.

FIN

And that's it for now! I just want to apologise for the month long break in between blog posts... There area couple of reasons for this; partly that I moved into this new house and had no internet for a few weeks. And also that I just have no motivation to write blog posts. I'm just not feeling inspired to write and I have no good ideas so posts might be few and far between until I get back into the groove (which lets all pray will happen soon). 

Alright, good. Byeeeeeee x

August in Photos

AUGUST RECAP
Whoops might've forgotten that August had ended and that this was thing I do over here. Sorry about that, but hey who cares that September is nearly halfway done now, let's just look at what I did in August.

THE PHOTOS

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

1. This was taken on the evening of our first day in Italy. We were in Rome and hey, turns out Rome does gorgeous sunsets. 
2. Arrived at the villa we'd be living in for the week and made friends with a horse. 
3. Ice cream gang. 
4. There was a festival in our local town of Scala to celebrate their patron saint, St. Lorenzo. It began with a religious procession through the streets, and then a brass band played and they had the most amazing fireworks ever. They sounded like cannons and filled the air with beautiful colours and smoke so thick you could hardly see through it. It was an incredible night. 
5. Pompeii! It was very very hot on this day and there wasn't much shade in Pompeii so we didn't get to spend as long as we liked there, but what we saw was amazing. It's so interesting to see this town preserved in a slightly terrifying way. 
6. "We're just planning our pose!" (Still in Pompeii btw)
7. The whole Italy gang! Kinda miss these guys. 
8. Exploring Amalfi. It's a very busy, touristy town, but it was also very italian and very cute. I particularly love this photo because it's at the end of Amalfi, literally the end. You couldn't go any further.
9. The view from a pre-wedding party we went to. We were Italy for the wedding, only 4 of the 10 of us where going to the wedding (I was not one of the four) but doesn't mean the remaining six of us couldn't gatecrash the party and take full advantage of the free food and drinks. 
10. The Rogers family feet on the last night in Scala :(
11. Last night in Italy here. We went to a fancy restaurant, met two Australian men who worked on CHANNEL 9 AND CHANNEL 11 WHAT? and had complimentary limoncello. Please ignore how dead my face looks in this photo, I didn't look like that irl. 
12. Our hotel room in Rome got upgraded and we had a hot tub and a gym in. our. room. 
13. The Colosseum!
14. Annnnd back to England. 
15. I went to that massive lush on Oxford Street. 3 floors of Lush... no big deal. 
16. THUNDAMENTALS. These guys were amazing and I loved every second of the concert. They need to come back asap. Also not to brag but Tuka, one of the frontmen, liked my photos on instagram. Pretty rad. (I have a pretty big crush on him btw, so y'know.)
17. Hilltop Hoods were the headline band on that night and they were also amazing. I love them and I sang along very loudly, especially when they sang Cosby Sweater. 
18. This was taken in a secret bar in Bristol called The Milk Thistle. It was like one of the prohibition, speakeasy bars. Very swanky. Very cool. 
19. Back to Walkabout in Bristol for bundy and burgers. 
20. Cocktails. I can't remember what was in this but it was really good. It might have been a daiquiri?
21. During a cute little pub crawl in London. This was at The Black Lion. 
22. This was the next pub along, it was called The George and Devonshire. I suuuuck at pool.
23. And at darts. 
24. My sister's moved to Australia and so we had to celebrate her birthday a bit early. This was our breakfast from that day. 
25. Pro fashion tip: make sure your dress matches the flowers of the place you're visiting. 
26. The day before she left we went to Chichester Harbour for a British beach day. It's cute there. 
27. Our feet at the seaside! 

ONTO SEPTEMBER

I hope you're all having a rad September and I hope the rest of it is rad too. 

And tell me how your August was in the comments! Did you do anything fun? Travel anywhere? 

Thanks for reading, speak to y'all soon. Remember to follow me for weekly posts. 

Love Chloe x

How To Cheaply Eat At University

My kitchen last year.

TO UNIVERSITY
So it's getting to about that time where people are starting to go back to school, and for some of you that might mean starting university. I'm in my second year of uni and so I've gained a little bit of uni knowledge during this past year, that I thought I would pass onto y'all.

It's a known fact that students are generally poor and so it can be hard to eat well when you're living on such a budget. However, I ate pretty well whilst living in halls last year, and for pretty cheaply too. And I'm gunna tell you how so you can all go to university and eat like the little hobbits you are.

PORTION
You can use this trick with most food things, but it's particularly effective when it comes to meat. Firstly, when you're in the supermarket look for the offers. I always used to buy my meat in sainsburys where they had the rad offer of 3 of $10 (the dollar sign should be a pound sign but I can't find that on my keyboard so just pretend). That meant I could but chicken, minced beef and salmon all for just $10. YAY. Then I'd make it last for ages by portioning it. So for example, the mince: I would split it into four, put each portion into separate containers and freeze it. That way I got four dinners out of one thing and I wasn't wasting anything. Heck yeah.

BUY OUT OF DATE STUFF
Okay don't actually buy out of date stuff, but look for the food that is going out of date in the next couple of days and is freezable, like bread. I used to buy bread for like 50p because it was going out of date the next day, chuck it in my freezer and boom cheap bread that isn't actually going to go mouldy because it's now frozen. (Please don't buy out of date stuff and then eat mouldy things because you will be very ill.)

BULK BUY
Places like Costco and Makro are the best for when you need cheap food. Bulk buying food that you know you eat a lot (for me that was pasta... I eat pasta so freaking much) will help keep the cost down, because you won't have to keep buying it every day. Same goes for everyday things like toilet rolls, bulk buy them, it's cheaper.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
They're cheap yo, so eat them. Plus your mum will be proud.

ACTUALLY COOK
Buy cookery books, take cookery classes, get your chef friend to show you simple recipes, I don't know, but actually cook things. When you're cooking your own food it's probably going to be slightly healthier (well depends what you're cooking really but it's probably better than takeaway pizza), and you won't be spending your money on takeaways every day. Plus, if you just learn to make really simple things that smell amazing, your housemates that can't cook will be hella impressed, which is a bonus.

GOOD LUCK
Some of these tips might be obvious, but if you're student going to uni for the first time then hopefully this helped you out a little bit. Uni is pretty rad, don't worry.

Thanks for reading! If you have any other tips for surviving in the kitchen then leave them in the comments.

Love Chloe x


BONUS TIP
Be careful with knives. I stabbed myself in the hand whilst cutting an avocado and had to get it glued up in hospital. It was disgusting and hurt like hell. Also v. embarrassing because I was wearing stupid socks and had a lot of medical people in my room trying to help. So yeah, don't do that. 

The Great Bookshelf Tidy of 2015

My bookshelves before and after I'd sorted them out.

BOOKWORM ALERT

I jut counted my book collection and I have a ridiculous 264 books, and that number is just going to keep growing and growing (especially since I don’t even have all the books I need for uni yet!). So as you can probably gather those 264 books take up a hell of a lot of space in my room. Which is why I was in desperate need of a new bookcase. So I bought one, my dad built it for me, my mum and I reorganised my room to be able to fit it in, and the end result was my beautiful new reading wall. I’m slightly obsessed with it. 

Pre-tidy! That's Chet Faker on my laptop... his singing accompanied me.

THE SET UP

I organised my books in colour and genre shelf by shelf, so for example I have the non-fiction books on one shelf, which includes travel books, memoirs, biographies, that sort of thing. I have the young adult/teen shelf which ranges from Northern Lights by Philip Pullman to my John Green collection. And so on and so on. 

And after! <3

TOURS

I already have a bookshelf tour up on my youtube channel but since then I’ve bought heaps more books and completely reorganised, so I might do another bookshelf tour again to update y’all on how things are in my book world. But until then, I filmed ‘The Great Bookshelf Tidy of 2015’ which is now live on my channel, so if you wanted to watch that then there’s a link down below. 

QUESTION TIME

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How many books do you own? And what’s your favourite? I’d really love to know, talking about books is my all time fave thing to do. 

Thanks for reading! Remember to follow me for weekly posts!

Hope you’re having a rad day. 

Love Chloe x

Australian Jams

I'M A MASSIVE HIPSTER
Hi, my name is Chloe and I'm a hipster and proud. It's probably my hipster tendencies that have led me to listening a ton of Australian music that nobody else in England listens to, well that and it's really good. So I thought I'd compile a list (because who doesn't love a good list) of my favourite Australian artists. Here we go...

ONE // ILLY
Illy is the artist who originally got me hooked on Australian music last year and I have to thank him for that because it’s been a good year of music for me. Illy is a hip hop artist, with the distinctive sound of Aussie hip hop present in his music. My love for Illy started with the song Tightrope, and after learning ALL the words to that so that I can now rap along with it perfectly, I started listening to more of his music. My top 3 songs of his are: Tightrope, It Can Wait and Where Ya Been. (To the people I lived with last year, I’m not even slightly sorry for rapping loudly along to Where Ya Been.)

TWO // CHET FAKER
Chet Faker is definitely the height of hipsterness. It’s the sort of music you’d hear in a dark, probably wooden coffee shop that’s full of people with top knots, tattoos and beards and it's very cool. His music is a mix between alternative and electronic (but please don't take my word for that because I'm really bad at determining music genres...). He has done some amazing acoustic renditions of his songs too that are actually (if possible) more beautiful than the originals. And his cover of Sonia Dada's You Don't Treat Me No Good (on triple j for Like A Version) is just incredible. My top 3 Chet Faker songs are: To Me, Talk Is Cheap and I'm Into You. 

THREE // HILLTOP HOODS
I just saw the Hilltop Hoods do a show in Camden and so my love for them is extra strong right now because sweet jesus they were good. Hilltop Hoods are a hip hop band made up of Suffa, Pressure and Debris and their music incredible. My love started with the song The Nosebleed Section and has progressed from there. When they sang The Nosebleed Section at the concert I sang along so loudly and loved every minute of it (also I was in the nosebleed section of the venue so it felt quite apt). My top 3 Hilltop Hoods songs are: The Nosebleed Section, Cosby Sweater and I Love It. 

FOUR // THUNDAMENTALS
Thundamentals were supporting Hilltop Hoods at the concert and it was for this reason that I started listening to them, and after to listening to Got Love just once I fell in love. Their songs are so catchy and are full of lines that make me laugh (or in the case of Noodle Soup every line makes me laugh because what even is that song). They're another hip hop band made up of Tuka, Jeswon and DJ Morgs. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I listen to Thundamentals every day, I love them. Oh and their cover of Matt Corby's Brother is incredible and when they started singing that at the concert I was so stoked. Tuka, who is one of the front men, has some really good solo tracks too, I particularly like Tattoo by him. My top 3 Thundamentals songs are: Brother, Smiles Don't Lie and Got Love. 

FIVE // MATT CORBY
And finally we have Matt Corby. Now this is solely for his song Brother because it's so beautiful and I adore it. Unfortunately I can't find many of his songs on youtube so my knowledge of Matt Corby isn't very extensive, but I do know that he has a beautiful voice that has the perfect amount of huskiness to it. I guess I just need to search harder for more of his music. He does a gorgeous cover of Lonely Cover by The Black Keys though. (Plus he has the man bun and beard thing going on so y'know).

AN EXTRA SHOUTOUT GOES TO...
I feel like I should also mention triple j, which is an Australian radio station and it's thanks to them I know of all these beautiful covers and they've helped me discover so many new artists, both from Australia and around the rest of the world. Oh and Matt and Alex's breakfast show (that I actually listen to at 8pm because of time zones and that) is a constant source of enjoyment for me and they've provided me with many an evening of giggles and good music.

FIN
And that's it! These are the people I'll be listening to on a daily basis (I actually listened to all of them whilst typing this) and if you haven't heard of them then you need to go change that ASAP. There are links to all of them below to help you with that.

If you have any music recommendations for me then feel free to leave them in a comment below. I'll be taking both Australian and non-Australian recommendations ;)

Thanks for reading! Remember to follow me for weekly posts (except last week... sorry).

Have a rad day.

Love Chloe x


HAVE SOME LINKS YO

• Illy // https://www.youtube.com/user/Illyofficial
• Chet Faker // https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLcSym6gRtQqhxLZHvAwuDg
• Hilltop Hoods // https://www.youtube.com/user/Hilltophoods
• Thundamentals // https://www.youtube.com/user/thundamentalstv OR https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC5ASBr1UBE8BafxRO6lt1g
• Matt Corby // https://www.youtube.com/user/MattCorbyau
• Triple j // http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/
• Me on bloglovin // https://www.bloglovin.com/people/chloerogers5-7586623
• Me on youtube // https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGiddyElf

July In Photos

THE PHOTOS

THE STORIES BEHIND THEM

1. An open air cinema screening of Anchorman that I went to with my best friend, Amber. It was on the roof of a car park and was insanely cool.
2. Amber from number 1 was an extra in a little film that was shown at the cinemas! This was the premiere event for it. Amber is the one on the right, that's my sister, Jade, on the left and me in the middle.
3. At the rooftop cinema again, they gave us bags of retro sweets! 
4. And coffee.
5. We were seeing The Breakfast Club that night... I looove that film <3
6. The tickets to see Hilltop Hoods in august arrived! AHHHHHH.
7. My mum is a teaching assistant at the primary school I used to go to and at the end of every year they put on a play that the year 6's perform in. This year it was Alice in Wonderland and they made the hall look amazing. 
8. That night was also my parents anniversary so we went out for dinner afterwards. I had chicken breast with pasta and it was delicious!
9. My sister and I bought my parents a hamper of goodies for their anniversary and this is some of it. It had cheeses, crackers, breadsticks and some other little nibbles in it. Also scones that we ate at a different time, but were equally yummy. 
10. The stunning view from a pub lunch with my godmother and her children. 
11. My OOTD from that lunch. I bought this lovely dress from H&M :)
12. I'm clearly a professional chef, can't you tell by my pyjamas. 
13. Top Gun and angel delight night <3
14. I baked some breakfast bars, they were deliciousness.
15. Another open air cinema, this time it was at a fancy college I live near. It was so so cute! 
16. Coffee and scarves to keep me warm during the film. 
17. We were seeing Dirty Dancing that night, and I fell completely in love with the film and Patrick Swayze. 
18. I decided to be brave and try the blueberry spice drink at Wagamama, it was actually really nice.
19. Just about to devour a cupcake.
20. Look at them.... mmmmmmmmmmm
21. I won a competition run by Penguin in June and my books arrived this month. Most exciting mail ever.
22. The books I won!
23. Lunch at a pub before my parents went away for a day. This was a salmon and creme cheese roll and it was delicious.
24. Rum and coke with my sister. I look like a floating head :')
25. THEY HAVE OPNED A BOOST SMOOTHIE BAR IN A TOWN NEAR ME AND I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. They taste like Australia <3
26. It was national cheesecake day in America and I had to get involved because cheesecake. 
27. My very yummy lunch from the last day of July. Quinoa, tuna, cucumber and tomato, yummmm. 

FIN

How was your July? Let me know in the comments :) 

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for weekly posts. And follow me on bloglovin too for even more blogging fun!

Love Chloe x

Nirvana Spa Haul #2

SPA DAY
Last year I wrote a blog post about my day at Nirvana spa, showing you what I'd bought whilst there. When Christmas came around this year my dad once again bought my mum, sister and I day passes to Nirvana spa and so after spending eleven and half hours in a constant state of chill at the spa, it's time for me to do another post about it.

We arrived at the spa just before 10am as my sister and I had a floatation session at 10. The floating is amazing! The pool is filled with water and salt from the Dead Sea which means your body floats in it, and the minerals from the water is great for your skin. The room itself is gorgeous, with a ceiling that has lights on it that look like stars and paintings of the different star signs around it. We floated for half an hour and I felt amazing afterwards.

Reading in the tepidarium.

The rest of the day was spent in various hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms and pools, and just generally feeling great. One of my favourite rooms there is the tepidarium, which has heated tiled chairs for you to relax in, and the only noise is a water fountain in the middle gurgling away. Other than that it's silent. We also had lunch, dinner and a cheeky slice of cake with a coffee during our time there, which all tasted amazing.

It's a health spa so cake is healthy right?

MY HAUL
The products they sell at Nirvana spa are beautiful, and I haven't used a single one that I don't like. So obviously I had to buy some things during my day there (also they had some new products that I couldn't not buy). Here's what I picked up there:

FACE MASKS

I'm a big fan of face masks and when I saw that they now had their own brand ones I had to buy them. I bought the deep cleansing mud mask, the radiance boosting mask and the professional peeling mask (which is three of the four masks they now have... you could say i'm slightly addicted to nspa products). The mud mask cleanses, the radiance mask moisturises and the peeling mask exfoliates. I can't wait to cover my face in this stuff!

SKIN GLOW MUD MASK

Another mask next, this one is the mud mask that contains clay and charcoal which helps to clear pores and draw out impurities. I always pine over the Glam Glow mud mask, but at £45 I really can't afford it. BUT then nspa came to the rescue; this product that looks exactly the same and only costs £7. I have quite a lot of blackheads on my nose (gross, I know) that I just can't get rid of, but I'm hoping this will help out with that. And even if it doesn't, it's still a mud mask so it's hardly going to go to waste.

OIL FREE MOISTURE GEL

I always have a bottle of this in my makeup collection because it's amazing. I have oily skin and this helps to moisturise my skin, but without adding any extra oil, which in my book equals perfection. It's not greasy at all, smells like a spa and just does the job. I can't get enough of it. 

NIGHT REPAIR CREAM
This is my holy grail product, and I gush about it all the time over on my youtube channel. It instantly improves the condition of my skin with just one application. It's so thick and creamy and oh my god, it's just amazing. I don't think I could live without it. Go buy yourself a tub right now.

OKAY TIME TO STOP FANGIRLING ABOUT NSPA PRODUCTS
I had the best day at Nirvana and I can't wait to hopefully go back again soon! But in the mean time I will be constantly recreating my spa day at home using these wonderful products.

Thank you for reading! Remember to follow me, and follow my bloglovin' page too for even more blogging fun.

Hope you're having a rad day.

Love Chloe x


YO, HAVE SOME LINKS

NSPA: http://nirvanaspa.co.uk
MY YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/thegiddyelf
FOLLOW ME ON BLOGLOVIN: https://www.bloglovin.com/people/chloerogers5-7586623

Smoothie Bowl Love

ALL THE LOVE FOR SMOOTHIE BOWLS
I've been really digging smoothie bowls recently. They're packed full of goodness, taste amazing and are great for getting those all important instagram likes, so I thought why not dedicate a blog post to them.

THE RECIPE
You can put basically anything in a smoothie bowl, but here is what I do most mornings to create mine...

• 1 banana
• 1 red apple, chopped (obvs, or it'll break your blender)
• Natural yoghurt, I usually put about tablespoon in, but I just pour it in until it looks about right
• Raspberries or blueberries, again just until you're happy with the amount

I chuck that all in my nutribullet, blend until smooth but still quite thick, and then it's ready.

THE TOPPING
My topping usually consists of a handful of granola, I have a super yummy one from Sainsburys that has raisins in which I love, and then whatever fruit I have leftover from the smoothie, which is normally just a few pieces of apple. I had some pieces of plum on top and in the smoothie once though and it was pretty damn delicious.

AVOCADO
I love avocados so much that I once stabbed myself in the hand cutting one and had to go to hospital to get my hand glued back together, and I was actually upset about the avocado going to waste. So obviously my love for avocados runs deep (you could say its in my blood... get it? Because I bled... okay, sorry) and because of that I want to try an avocado based smoothie bowl, but I don't really know where to start with that, like what else do I put in? If you know any yummy recipes, then let me know in the comments! Thank you <3

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for weekly posts.

Have a rad day!

Love Chloe x

Pub Lunch OOTD

LUNCH WITH A VIEW
Yesterday, with it's beautiful blue sky and warm sun rays beaming down, was the perfect day for a pub lunch... which is lucky because that was my plan for the day. The family and I drove to a pub that was just outside of Henley where we met my godmother and her children for an afternoon of good food and catching up. This pub had the most amazing views by the way - countryside and hills for miles.

Not bad, huh?

THE OUFIT
I've been really digging the nature patterns this summer (me? nature? nooooo... *hides all the plants in my room*) and so when I spotted this dress in H&M I had to have it. It's such a nice fit on me and since it's light-weight and flowy it's kinda perfect for hot summer days.

FIN
And that's it for today. I just wanted to say sorry for the lack of blogging last week, I just couldn't find the motivation to write anything for some reason. But hopefully I'll be back on track now. I think it's the heat, I don't cope well in it.

Remember to follow me for weekly posts!

Hope you're having a rad day.

Love Chloe x

YO, HAVE SOME LINKS: 
Dress (in the sale now, so it might be limited!) - http://www.hm.com/gb/product/91370?article=91370-B&cm_vc=SEARCH

June Favourites

JUNE
It's that time again where I look back at June and tell you all the things I loved. Click the video below to see my favourites from last month, including Jurassic World, Catfish and The Bottlemen, my new posters and a couple of beauty things, like my amazing new Soap and Glory eyebrow kit <3

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me for weekly posts (plus more sometimes!).

Hope you're have a rad Saturday (or any other day if you're no treading this on the actual day I posted it...)

Love Chloe x

A Severe Case of Wanderlust

THE TRAVEL BUG
I've always been a lover of travelling and discovering new places, but it's usually about this time of year that I start craving a holiday. So I thought I'd tell you the places in the world that are top of my wanderlust list right now...

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
While I am wishing that I was in Melbourne at the moment, just know that I'm ALWAYS wishing I was back in Melbourne. It's my favourite place on earth. I'm actually going back in December for Christmas and New Year, but I wouldn't say no if you offered me a holiday there right now. Melbourne was the best place, you've got the city itself which has excellent shopping and a rad selection of restaurants and cafes to stop you from ever going hungry. But there is also so many opportunities to explore the Australian countryside with the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island only a few hours away. When I was in Australia I had the chance to feed wild rosellas, feed kangaroos and meet koalas (we couldn't hold them, so it was of a stroke and photo deal) and it was incredible. I just want to be back with amongst the wildlife!

Degraves Street, my favourite place in Melbourne.

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
Slovenia isn't the classic holiday destination but don't let that put you off. I'm actually writing a book at the moment that was inspired by the coffee shop lined alleyways and the suspicious amount of origami dragon graffiti in Ljubljana, and I think it's for this reason that I'm craving the city. I keep remembering little areas I visited, like the dragon bridge and the castle you could reach via a funicular. And then there's the restaurants - the one that did the best pad thai I have ever eaten, the ones all by the riverside that twinkled at night because of the candles on the the tables, and the quiet, little wine bar tucked away next the cathedral that had amazing cheesy snacks on offer. OH AND THE CAFE IN A BACKSTREET THAT WAS SO NICE. I love Ljubljana, and I'm also about 700% sure there is some sort of magic going on there.

This is the cafe that I just had that all caps outburst about. 

PARIS, FRANCE
I want to go back to Paris in general, the Eiffel Tower never gets dull, but this wave of wanderlust washed over me when I was getting a mug out for coffee (yes, the wanderlust is getting out of hand). The reason for that is because the mug I was using was a birthday present from my 16th birthday which I celebrated in Paris, and so when I got the mug out I suddenly remembered opening it in one of Paris' cafes and found myself wishing that I had a cup of Parisian coffee in front of me instead of waiting for the kettle to boil. Also there's this one picture of me in Paris from about two years ago that I love and it always makes me wish I was back there.

Squinty and wind swept, but this is the photo that always brings a fresh wave of Paris based wanderlust with it. Taken about 2 or 3 years ago.

ICELAND... ICELAND
The reason I haven't specified anywhere in Iceland is because when I was there I went to a lot of different places around the country. Our base was Reykjavik but we then travelled around to see the geysers, waterfalls and beaches (I was on a geography school trip by the way, so we were mostly travelling around to learn about how things were formed and all that jazz). Iceland is the most stunning place and I really want to see all the amazing things it has to offer again. Plus I need to explore Reykjavik more as we only really had a few hours in the afternoons to look around the city, so I know I missed out on a lot of things it has to offer. And also I would have loved to go on a whale watching boat trip, so I need to go back to experience that!

Meet 15 year old me. I thought I was hella cool. I wasn't. The glacier behind me was though. 

This was taken a national park in Iceland and it was beautiful there. The sun was rising which was crazy considering it was about 10am already... Iceland is weird like that. 

Reykjavik from above. 

BACK TO REALITY
That's it, and I think it's probably time to come back to real life and get on with completing my to-do list for the day :( Have you ever visited any of these places? And what countries are on your travelling bucket list? Let me know in the comments, I love chatting about travelling so it'd be great to hear from you!

Thanks for reading, make sure to follow me for weekly updates.

Love Chloe x

June In Photos

STORIES BEHIND THE PHOTOS

1. We discovered this tea shop called T2 and they had Australian tea in there (it's an Australian company so not really that shocking but STILL). Now I hate tea but this place made me want to like it. 

2. Cinnamon doughnuts at one of our favourite local Italian restaurants. 

3. Mocktails at Bills with my dad and sister. I can't remember what this was but I know it was very yummy. 

4. Picnic lunch on the train to Bath with my mum. 

5. We went on a tour of the Bath Abbey and you got to go on the roof of the abbey and boy, was it cool.

6. My dad met us the next day for a delicious full english breakfast at the farm shop. Gunna miss this place over the summer holidays. 

7. We went to see Carl Donnelly at a comedy night and it was so great. He makes me laugh almost dangerously hard. 

8. Waiting for the pizza man to arrive.

9. KEYS TO MY NEW HOUSE. KEYS TO MY NEW HOUSE. 

10. This is Hall and Woodhouse, a new restaurant/bar in Bath I've discovered. It's amazing. And look bunting! 

11. Me and Jade (my sister) at the Roman Baths. Despite living in Bath for a year this was the first time I've visited the baths since I was very little. It's pretty rad. 

12. At Bills again, this time for curry and more of that delicious cocktail from before. 

13. Summer at my house means fire bowls in the garden. 

14. Pub lunch in the sun. (This was a lovely lunch BUT I should have been at the Foo Fighters show in wembley, except Dave Grohl fell of stage and broke his leg so it got cancelled. That MAN.)

15. Wearing a cactus t-shirt and admiring the flowers at the garden centre... is it obvious that I really like plants? 

16. We visited Castle Coombe for Father's Day, and it turns out they filmed Stardust there which is a film I adore! 

17. Castle Coombe again. This place is adorable and I want to live there. 

18. Bookshop crawl! 

19. Mocktail break at Revolution on my bookshop crawl. 

20. Of course I visited Mr B's during my crawl. Fave place <3 

21. Post crawl coffee. 

22. Also we met a deer. Bit weird. 

23. Me and Jade took a selfie exactly like this one when I moved into uni, now i'm moving out of uni. That went very quickly. 

24. We discovered this rad garden centre in Bath. 

25. Officially moved out of halls now. Bye little uni room :(

26. All empty! :(

27. Avocado on toast and coffee. Classic me.

AND ONTO JULY

And that't my June in photos. June was a pretty rad month, and if Dave hadn't broken his leg it probably would have been my best yet (I say probably but I mean definitely, I love the Foo Fighters that much.) Luckily Dave Grohl is my favourite human in the universe so I don't mind too much, plus there's always next time. 

How was your June? Let me know in the comments. 

Remember to follow me weekly posts. 

Thanks for reading, 

Love Chloe x

#IBW2015 Bookshop Crawl!

THE BOOKSHOP CRAWL
It's Indie Booksellers Week and to celebrate I participated in the bookshop crawl (I mean of course I did, it's a bookshop crawl). The set date for the bookshop crawl was actually the 27th, however I have to move out of my university halls on that day so I definitely won't have time for that and exploring  bookshops, so I did my crawl on Monday the 22nd instead. As Bath has some of the most amazing bookshops I decided I would do my bookshop crawl there. Here's what I got up to...

BOOKSHOP 1 - THE OLDFIELD PARK BOOKSHOP

I'd never been to this bookshop before, in fact I didn't even know it existed until now, but I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time there in the future. It had a great selection of books and I had a good little browse whilst there.

I came away with 'The Moth' which is a collection of 50 true stories that were each told at a live storytelling event in America, and then put into the book. I originally picked this up because of the oh-so gorgeous cover and then the concept of it intrigued me so much I couldn't not buy it.

I decided that I would find 9 other books to recommend to you from each bookshop I visited on the crawl. The books range from ones I've read and loved, ones on my forever growing To Read list, or books I saw on my journey that I thought looked good. So here are my 9 recommendations from The Oldfield Park Bookshop...

1. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (i love this book!)
2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern (this is my all time favourite book, oh my god, go read it)
3. A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman (in shop spot)
4. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (to read)
5. Tigerman by Nick Harkaway (on my to read list)
6. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger (to read)
7. Who Could That Be At This Hour by Lemony Snicket (to read)
8. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (to read)
9. The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin (to read)

MOCKTAILS AND BURRITO BREAK

Every bookshop crawl needs a mocktail and a burrito break!

BOOKSHOP 2 - TOPPING AND COMPANY

Toppings was the first bookshop I ever went to in Bath and it's still one of my favourites to this day. I love it in there, I could spend hours just browsing the shelves. Whilst there, I bought 'How To Be Bad' by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski. Because Toppings is so fab, they have loads of signed books on offer, and when I saw this book was signed I had to pick up a copy. (Unfortunately I missed E. Lockhart actually being in store by a day! If only I'd have done my bookshop crawl a day earlier!) 'How To Be Bad' is about three girls, Jesse, Vicks and Mel, who are desperate to get out of town and discover their true badass selves. And that calls for a road trip!

And here are my 9 other book recommendations from Topping and Company...

1. The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly (love this book!)
2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (in shop spot)
3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (I adoooore this book)
4. The Song for Ella Grey by David Almond (to read)
5. I'll give you a sun by Jandy Nelson (to read)
6. The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard (in shop spot whilst looking for Pretty Little Liars)
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel (to read)
8. It by Alexa Chung (to read)
9. The Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl (in shop spot)

BOOKSHOP 3 - MR B'S EMPORIUM OF READING DELIGHTS

This is my all-time favourite bookshop in Bath and just in general. I absolutely adore it. It has an amazing selection of books, friendly staff who will always chat about books, plus tea and cake on offer. I had a long browse in here before coming out with 'Vivian Versus The Apocalypse' by Katie Coyle. I've heard lots of good stuff about this book and for some reason never got round to buying it, so I decided now was the time. It's about Vivian Apple (amazing name) who wakes up one day to find a 'New World', or more simply an apocalypse. Her parents are gone and all that's left is her memories of what life used to be like and her friend Harp (again amazing name). And so they embark on a road trip across America in search of any family they might have left. (There seems to be a road trip theme going on with my haul... that wasn't intentional, haha.)

And here are 9 more book recommendations from Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights...

1. Leon Cookbook (to read)
2. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente (read and loved)
3. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (obviously love)
4. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (in shop spot)
5. Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale (to read)
6. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (to read)
7. Jamarach's Menagarie by Carol Birch (to read)
8. The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw (in shop spot)
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Saffron Foer (to read)

BOOKSHOP 4 - GOOD BUY BOOKS

Good Buy Books is a discount bookshop, offering books for half price. However, I didn't actually end up buying anything from here as their fiction section wasn't very big and nothing was really jumping out at me. But it's still a bookshop so that's what counts, right?!

POST CRAWL COFFEE

And then that was it for my bookshop crawl! We had a quick coffee at the Forum Coffee shop (which is one of my new favourites) and then it was time to head home. I had so much fun on my bookshop crawl, I'm in bookshops all the time anyway, but this just added a little something extra to my shopping! If you want to see more Indie Book Week or Bookshop Crawl stuff then make sure to check out the hashtag #bookshopcrawl or #IBW2015 or go to the Indie Bound website here: http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/Find-Your-Indie/Bookshop-Crawl#. I also have a vlog from my day, click below to watch it.

Thanks for reading! And make sure to follow me on here for weekly posts.

Hope you're having a bookish day!

Love Chloe x