Monsoon goes.. cute?!

Fusion Areetha Dress - £65

I'm not going to lie - I've always associated Monsoon with expensive floral maxi-dresses and dresses to wear to a wedding.  However, I've just discovered their Monsoon Fusion line which is super cute and is making me lose the willpower on my cost-cutting run up to London Fashion Weekend.  I also love the way the stylist has mixed all the pieces in different ways to make it all interchangeable.  Check out the whole collection here! 

Suzie shorts (£35) and jumper (£38)

Tallulah dress - £60

Amelia Jacket - £55

Elise Shorts - £45

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And the award for best dressed at the SAGs goes to..

Emma Stone in McQueen!  Yay!  I love this dress because it's a different length for an awards show, Emma looks SO happy and it's so pretty!  (It also reminds me of the dress I wore to A's engagement party!) 

Honourable mentions for..

Jayma Mays (Glee)

Ariel Winter (Modern Family)

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Teen Vogue Forever

I'm 20 in April which means I will no longer be a teen and will officially be a 'grown-up'!  Because of this I have come to the conclusion that my collection of Teen Vogue must draw to a close before I become more overrun with magazines than I already do.  Teen Vogue was my first toe-dip into fashion and realising that it was what I wanted to do. My first issue was November 2006 which I read cover to cover in my express music class (we did the exam in a year so we got a year of frees!).  I loved the creativeness of the style and the thought that everything on the pages would maybe come to the UK one day and I would already know about it.  This also started my pastime of complaining about how cheap everything was in the US, lusting over Covergirl makeup and strange looking technology not available in the UK.  Teen Vogue was also where my love of Marc Jacobs started when I realised that whenever I picked out something I liked, it mostly turned out to be by Marc.  As I organised my room a few weeks ago I started looking back at the old issue and made me reminisce about what I thought about each issue when I bought and read it.  It's going to be weird to stop buying.. 

My first issue. Kirsten Durst - November 2006

I had no idea who she was but I adored the colours on the covers!  - April 2007

I was on my lunch break and could not decide if to buy the Ashley or the Mary-Kate cover!  It took me forever to decide! Ashley Olsen - December/ January 2007

I loved this shoot - prom dresses and a beach = bliss!  - Anne Hathaway September 2007

And so my addiction to Gossip Girl began..   Blake Lively - March 2008

The young Karlie and Chanel - flawless then, flawless now. - February 2008

Wowsers!  Taylor Momsen with CLOTHES on.  Totes wanted her hair in this shoot..  then my Mother talked me out of it.. - September 2009

  

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My shoe and glass collections grow..

Today I went into town for lunch with my BFF and couldn't resist nipping into the end of the sales (I hope!) for a quick look.  I ended up with a pair of blue boots from River Island (£15) and a glass mini vase from TKMaxx Home (£3.99!)

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To IKEA.. and beyond!

After much pleading and little planning I ended up in IKEA on Wednesday armed with my IKEA family card for free drinks and an empty stomach for the masses of hotdogs I planned to consume.  

Inspiration for my newly empty back wall

A 500 Days Of Summer reference for my nerdiness

The drawers I eventually bought for my desk

Pretty retro bedroom alert!

 Overall I ended up buying 2 sets of drawers - one for my desk and a large chest of drawers for all of my everything, drawer organisers and batteries.   Oh and 3 hotdogs :) 

Spotted on the way home.  WANT!

The BEFORE picture.  (Please don't judge me)

Masses of nails and stuff for the small set of drawers

Removal of magazines

Mini drawers added to my existing desk

My finished desk (sorry about the light, it was getting late when we eventually finished)

Red corner

Inspiration Corner

My life and the current book I'm reading

The finished room complete with Tom's Rocky hoody.  Woo hoo!

I'm really impressed with the way it has all turned out but it's not over yet!  I still have to organise all of the drawers and fill the huge white space on my wall!  Until then, I need to watch my new addiction - The Great Comic Relief Bake Off, please note if anyone wants me to judge their cupcakes or cheese scones do let me know the usual ways :)

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RIP My Favourite Starbucks

This is my favourite Starbucks in my hometown of Leicester, five minutes away from university.  I love it because I can sit in the big windows and blog, or sit downstairs with friends and gossip and just relax.  My very first Starbucks was here - I had a tall mango and passionfruit juice drink (yummy) and fell in love with the place.  However I think most of all I'll miss the staff as they always seem to be happy and you can actually have a conversation with them!    RIP Gallowtree Gate Starbucks! Sniff..

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Playsuits revisited.

Summer of 2010 I pretty much lived in my  H! By Henry Holland purple playsuit.  I loved that I could run around Weymouth comfortably, fashionable and most importantly without revealing my modesty.  I bought a River Island playsuit from.. ASOS in December and instantly fell in love with it again when I wore it to see Ghost and to eat amazing Chinese food from Chinatown.  Imagine how excited I am to discover that ASOS now have more in stock!  I want them all!

Lipsy Playsuit - £55

ASOS Stripe Nautical Playsuit - £45

River Island Poppy Playsuit - £45

ASOS Pussybow Denim playsuit - £40

Boutique by Jaeger star print playsuit - £199

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Sequins and Bow-ties - Brad Goreski has got his own show!

I got addicted to The Rachel Zoe project at the start of December and immediately fell in love with her assistant turned style director Brad Goreski.  His nerdy preppy style is amazing (I love a good bow-tie) and makes me want a gay best friend just like him! Whenever he cries I end up in tears like when he realised he was going to the Oscars with Anne Hathaway.  After leaving Rachel Zoe behind to go solo in the styling world he picked up his own show - 'It's a Brad Brad world' which is currently on Bravo.  Obviously the show follows his styling career but also his homelife with his boyfriend and his adorable adorable doggies!   I'm totes jealous of his style and he's a guy!

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"I need to go to IKEA"

Illness has taken me down once again and as usual I've found myself another little project aside from my uni work to take my mind off of my sore throat and back ache.  I adore the my bedroom - the red carpet against the white walls, the black and white posters and my ever so helpful magazine rack but lately something else has been bothering me - clutter!   My room is so cluttered with... stuff that it's becoming embarrassing when people walk in.  My bookcase is full of magazines from 2007 to the present day (and that's just one magazines worth!) and my shelves are full of office bits and bobs that looking at them now are just painful to look at.  I always say that a room should represent your personality and currently mine isn't doing that, so enough is enough!  

The first thing to do was to look in the IKEA book (yes I do have an addiction to IKEA) to find some inspiration and then to the internet to find pretty pictures of rooms to inspire me.  This is what I have found so far..

My next step is what I am currently on right now - producing a list of things I desire my room to contain.

1. Everything should have a place - everything is being thrown everywhere currently and a happy bedroom is a happy Charlotte right?

2. More photos - 2011 was amazing and I have some great photos that make me smile.  As well as personal photos, I hope to add quotes or sentimental ticket stubs to really make the room feel more like me.  

3. Storage is key - The clutter has got to go somewhere and I think drawers are the answer! 

4.  Special places for those special things - My tickets and things I want to keep forever need to be in a special case.  Ditto my shoes, bags and coat need to be organised so I don't have a panic attack every time I lose my Louis Vuitton. 

5.  My magazines must be safe - I refuse to recycle my magazines.  If it's good enough for Anna Wintour to put magazines on a bookcase it's good enough for me!

The next step is to gain opinions from the person that will be helping me with the mini transformation - my Dad.   After showing him fashion editorials and generally talking at him about trends I was so proud a few months ago when he bought me a very useful and perfect new poster for my red white and blue room - a London Underground map. 

 Stay tuned to see how it goes and if my Billy Bookcase falls on me.. 

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