Outfit of the week #2 - White Floral Dress

Its really starting to feel like summer now! I checked the weather today and its supposed to be hot and sunny all week! Yesterday I spent the majority of the day in the garden practising my photography skills and reading. It was a wonderful day, and during the day I realised I wanted the outfit I was wearing to be my outfit of the week; my white floral dress bought last year toward the end of summer. Due to when I bought it I wasn't able wear it that much, so I was thrilled at the chance to wear it in the hot balmy weather.

Dress - Last years summer collection dress at new look. 

Hat - My Granddads (he left it by accident!)

Footbed Sandals - Next £20 (a great cheap alternative to Birkenstocks)

Watch/activity monitor - Misfit wearables, Misfit shine. Amazon £64.67

I had a lot of fun doing this shoot, all of the photographs were taken using a tripod and self timer on my Nikon D3100. There were a lot of mishaps; blurry images or me not being in the right place or too much light making me pull weird faces! The ones I chose were the better quality images, however I still think some of them could be better focused, and definitely better posed! I felt a bit more comfortable taking these photographs than last time, as there was no one around but me, however I still felt uncomfortable looking through them and editing them, hopefully like I've seen other bloggers say, it will become more natural.

p.s In some of these photos I tried my best to have a straight face, but as I've mentioned before I have a bit of a resting bitch face so I'm not really that mean... its just my face!

Charlotte x

Attempting Everyday Blogging

Since finishing my degree and having more time to blog I decided to start trying to blog every day, I'm not sure if this will become a permanent thing over summer. I have absolutely loved blogging every day this last week and because I've not being blogging that often for the past few months I had a good amount of content stored up in my journal. I'm hoping I keep my creative juices flowing enough to post every day, and if not I will attempt to keep a good schedule going to blog around 3 times a week maybe more! So just a short one today, see you tomorrow!

Charlotte x

Outfit of the Week #1 Mom Shorts!

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a lovely weekend, and if you were working this weekend I'm sorry.

This is a first for me on Charlotte Emma, I'm doing an outfit of the week post! I decided to do it on Monday instead of Sunday, honestly because I had another post planned already for Sunday. However I'm now glad I did because it's the start of the new week and to me the perfect time to reflect on the week passed. (I know Sunday is technically classed as the start of the week, but to me Monday is).

I would just like to apologise for the distinct lack of photographs, I don't know about you but I find it very awkward getting someone else to take pictures of me posing on the street for outfit photographs, so there aren't many! Hopefully as I get used to doing this I will feel more comfortable, but for the moment you'll just have to put up with my shyness! You can probably tell from my photographs that I look a bit uncomfortable, and I know a lot of bloggers that take these kind of photos don't always smile at the camera, but I just couldn't help it, plus I tend to have a bit of a resting bitch face so I just look moody in photographs when I'm actually trying to look aloof or something!

 Yep! I really am that awkward!

I was actually talking when Owen took this, thankfully I look more natural without a moody face!

This was incredibly awkward to pose for! I just really wanted to mix it up a bit, plus I suppose it provides some humour which is good! 

 It was so windy! I swear whenever we get beautiful weather in the UK, its tainted with crazy gusts!

Mom Shorts - New Look

 (They don't have the same ones I had but the link is for some similar).

Ombre Vest top - Tesco 

(Again they don't have the vest top online, but they may have it in store in the sale maybe?)

Kimono - New Look 

(They have a huge selection of Kimonos online, just not this one anymore!)

Converse - Schuh 

Bag - New Look

I actually bought these Mom shorts last summer from new look, but didn't wear them very often because they were a bit big for me. They only had a size 10 and I'm normally a size 8 but when I tried them on in store they seemed to fit alright. I swear this happens nearly every time I try on clothes, they feel fine in store and then, when I actually wear them in real life they feel completely different! However I thought in the spirit of summer I would try them again and lo and behold! They fit perfectly! I was so happy I knew I had to make them part of my outfit of the week, plus they look great on so that's another reason!

I fell in love with these shorts because they honestly do remind me of some my mum used to wear when I was a kid, they were only for walking around the house or sitting in the garden but I remember I used to think how great they looked on her, (This is probably the first my mum is actually hearing of this!). The ones my mum wore were actually just cut off jeans, which is what made them so high waisted, come to think of it I used to have loads of cut off's as a kid because my legs grew so often! This is one of the things I love about style, eventually it comes back around, it's just a matter of waiting. Although now I may never get rid of my clothes just in case they come back in style!

What's your outfit of the week?

Charlotte x

30 Days of Wild Challenge

Good Morning!

If any of you follow my instagram account you will have noticed my using the #30daysofwild along with various photographs of nature. Well I just thought I would do a quick post on what its all about and why I'm doing it, which will hopefully encourage others' to as well! Here are some of the things I've found during my first few days of being wild! 

This is so cute! Although looking back I'm hoping it doesn't have its head stuck! 

Crazy eyes!

Bambi! So rare to get such good pictures of these! 

There were so many lambs around!

Gorgeous flowers found at the end of our walk.

When I took this picture I didn't even realise there was a spider until i uploaded it to my pc!

I love capturing single flowers, especially when the background blurs like this.

I'm pretty sure this horse was smiling at me...

This horse ended up coming over to the fence to greet us, and it turns out it's a racehorse. 

These next few shots were taken in my Mum and Dad's back garden.

I love purple! And this flower always reminds me of Thumper from Bambi.

I'd been trying to get a picture of the black birds in my Mum and Dad's garden all day and finally got it!

So I signed up for it at the end of May as I thought It would be a great way to stop me staying inside; sleeping, watching TV or playing on the PS4 constantly now I've officially finished my degree. Plus I've always loved being a bit wild and I've been wanting to develop my photography skills so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do all of those things, as well as explore Lincoln a bit better before I move back home.

So basically all you have to do each day is something wild, and the great thing about this challenge is, when you sign up for it they send you a starter pack with loads of great ideas in as well as a wall calendar to track your progress! Now you may be thinking this sounds really hard if you have a full time job or other responsibilities. However doing something as simple as going for an evening walk where you live or finding some wildlife in your back garden, under a rock or in a puddle etc. The possibilities are endless! You may discover things you had no idea existed in the realm of your garden!  

I used to think I was a bit limited in the sort of wild things I could do as I live in a city, but after just going for a wander around I've found there is so much I can find! And photograph! I also love gardening and growing my own produce, which I have done in past years. But when I moved to Lincoln I didn't think I would be able to grow anything but after pinning like crazy on Pinterest I found so many pins on alternative methods of gardening that work great in cities! So I spent a fortune in Wilkos buying stuff to garden, I created my own mini garden outside the window of our basement flat. I even managed to keep the little Christmas tree we had alive! I'm honestly amazed they got enough sun, but some how they did! So there we go anyone can do it! Be wild in some way and it may completely alter the way you view where you live, and what your home is capable of growing and cultivating! 

You can sign up for the 30daysofwild challenge here. I hope you have as much fun completing it as I'm having!

Charlotte x

Liverpool & Chester

Me outside the Museum of Liverpool (taken by Owen)

Happy Easter to all! I hope your enjoying your holidays as much as I am. As you can probably tell from the title I took a trip to Liverpool this Easter. It was a great trip and I just thought I would write a quick post on my highlights.

So why Liverpool you ask? Well for one I hadn't ever been before, and it was well recommended as well as being part of Owen's birthday present from his mum and dad who kindly took us. We didn't actually stay in Liverpool itself, but in the nearby city Chester which was where we spent our first day.

Chester Cathedral. Very gothic! (By Charlotte) 

The Cathedral (Charlotte)

Cathedral (Charlotte)

Chester is a lovely city with such amazing architecture which was great as both Owen and I took our DSLR's to hopefully get some good shots of the beautiful buildings and structures. However there was one aspect of Chester that was very bizarre and I feel I must point it out! For all the beautiful buildings and lovely architecture there was always something (usually a big hideous 70's esque building) distorting the view creating a massive juxtaposition in the scenery. Something that shall probably be apparent in my photographs. Just a quick note here, I actually only took photographs in Chester because the wind was so strong at Liverpool I was unable to hold my DSLR steady! So apologies in advance for the lack of photographs from Liverpool.

A Robin outside the Cathedral (Charlotte)

Closer... (charlotte)

It let me get so close! (Charlotte)

I had a few favourite parts of Chester, the first being the wonderful architecture as mentioned, specifically the two story shops that run down the high street! I don't think I've seen anything like it before, I loved it! Every now and again the would be a set of narrow uneven stone steps by the side of one of the ground level shops which would take you up to a sort of sheltered balcony walk way which had its own row of shops lining path. It was fun to walk above the hustle and bustle of the city high street, giving a different perspective on the experience. I also really liked the wall that encased the main part of the city allowing people to get places quicker as well as having a great view. I'll be honest at some parts of the wall I was unable to appreciate the view due to my phobia of heights, however the lower parts of the wall still satisfied my viewing needs! It reminded me of the old castle wall found in York, and was clearly appreciated by students in the city. Whilst wandering around the city, we also came across a lovely little park which had an abundance of squirrels bounding about the bushes. I didn't have my camera out at this point due to the rain but I had to quickly get some snaps of them, thankfully they managed to stay still long enough for a couple of good pictures! (posers!).

Love a good old sweet shop! (Charlotte)

The Next level of shops balcony walk way (Owen)

A view from the Upper walk way shops (Owen)

A View from the wall (Owen)

Another view from the wall (Charlotte)

From the wall again (Charlotte)

An archway I liked! (Charlotte)

Squirrel in the park posing! (Charlotte)

The same squirrel posing again! (Charlotte)

Loved these window graffiti art (Charlotte)

I actually thought there was a cat at one point! (Charlotte)

Both evenings (we were only there 3 days 2 nights) we ate out in Chester. The first evening we ate at Barton Rouge, a lovely contemporary Indian restaurant. I had my usual dish from an Indian a Dopiaza, as its not too spicy but very tasty! I'll not go into a lot of detail as this isn't a review post, but the service was great, as was the food and atmosphere so if your in Chester and love a good Indian I would recommend it. The second evening we came back from Liverpool to eat in Chester as we couldn't agree on where to eat apart from a grill house we had come across in Chester the day before named blackhouse grill. There was so much to choose from on the menu and I ended up going for the steak sandwiches, they were very nice but came with cheese on, something that wasn't in the description on the menu which wasn't bad for me but Owen ordered the same thing and is mildly allergic to cheese so he had to request another one. The service however was very nice again and the atmosphere was too, especially the live pianist playing in the background.

Now on to Liverpool! We spent most of our time in Liverpool being blown around by the blustery wind, as well as in museums, galleries as well as the occasional shops and caffe Nero's! I really enjoyed the Maritime museum we visited first, especially the basement floor exhibition: seized! The border and customs uncovered. I mean the amount of things that people tried to get through customs is unbelievable and the ways they tried to do it as well, it was really shocking and interesting to find out. I also really enjoyed the other exhibitions based on a number of different ships from Liverpool, one being the titanic exhibition they had on. However it was almost shocking to read about and see the amount of other ships that sank around that time and the amount of lives lost that aren't really talked about in comparison to the titanic, such as the Lusitania. I would definitely recommend going to see the Lusitania: life, loss legacy exhibition if you get the chance it was very interesting and deserves as much recognition as the titanic!

The Pump house (owen)

New and old (Owen)

Kind of obvious what this is! (Owen)

Me being battered by the wind outside the Gallery (Owen)

We also visited the museum of Liverpool while in Liverpool (who would have thought it eh?) which again was very interesting. Owen and I both enjoy museums but also don't feel bad if we skip through some of the bits we are less interested in because otherwise I find I will get sick of museums very quickly so some of the exhibitions we kind of skipped over, but the bits that really caught our attention we focused on more. One particular part that interested me was the Liverpool overhead rail way, it reminded me a lot of the overhead rail way situated in Gotham from the batman comics, it just seemed to me a bit of a futuristic idea, which I didn't expect to find as part of Liverpool's rich history!
The open eye gallery was another of my highlights from this trip, they had two floors filled with photographs taken in Japan after the war, I especially enjoyed one of the pictures that had women stood next to each other with some in modern clothes and some in traditional clothes, very juxtaposing and interesting to see in such close proximity.

Obviously some shopping occurred whilst we were in Liverpool! We mostly spent our shopping time walking around Liverpool one. Not many of the shops lured me in as I didn't have much money to spend but I had to find the Cath Kidston that I knew was there from my Google maps searching the day before! I only bought one item from Cath Kidston which was on sale, a little flask that I could use for hot and cold drinks mainly for use at uni, as all of my others leak! It was reduced from £22 to £11 so not too shabby!

So pretty! (Charlotte)

Thought id pop the bag in there too! (Charlotte)

(Charlotte)

On the final day of our trip we ended up at Cheshire Oaks the outlet shopping centre. I absolutely love outlet shopping places and this one was definitely one of the better ones I've visited. I could have gone crazy buying all sorts of bargains but had to refrain from lack of funds! However I was determined to purchase one item: An umbrella as it had been raining on and off the whole time we had been visiting Liverpool and the surrounding areas. I managed to get a lovely handbag sized telescopic umbrella from Radley! I love Radley but I haven't yet made a purchase in one of their shops so I was quite pleased by this find, and it was only £9 from £22! Owen also managed to get some awesome new running trainers from the Nike store which were reduced to £66 from over £100 so if your planning on doing a large amount of shopping/spending and are in the area I would definitely recommend you visit Cheshire Oaks. I mean the giant M&S alone is awesome! Plus there are a number of my favourite chain restaurants dotted around. We actually had breakfast at Frankie and Benny's their which was so scrummy! and inexpensive, plus you can get really cheap refills on not only tea and regular coffee but also cappuccinos!

Yay! Radley! (Charlotte)

Proof that it is actually Radley! (Charlotte)

(Me again)

final pic! (Charlotte)

Oh just one more thing about Chester, if you go into the main Debenhams their be prepared never to leave again! That place is like a bizarre maze designed to trap women in the shoe section! And you know what happens to women in the shoe section, we can't help but buy things!

Did you go for a quick break this Easter holiday? Let me know in the comments :)

Charlotte x