Summer has arrived, hurrah, the light at the end of the tunnel, the best months of the year are here and finally sunshine and it is still only just June.  Now obviously I won’t get too excited, it is the UK after all, we can’t trust it will last, so we just have to act very quickly on it when we can.  Now if you are anything like me last week 4 full days pumped with nothing but sunshine and heat, you spent cooped up inside at work, but then Saturday hit and the sun said goodbye….typical!  So I have come up with my little plan to Capture the summer, and sprinkle summer holiday moments into my day, when the weather allows and when I can.    So follow me and take some of those favourite parts of sought after summer holidays in the Med and taking a moment to drop them into your average hectic weeks…. And before the pessimists of this world poohoo this with, How can I do that? How can I fit these in?  Honestly it’s tried and tested for the most craziest of schedules……You may just need a bit of an imagination though!

Find a Little Nook with a Good Old Book.

I love a good book or 5 on a holiday and always vow to continue the joy on return home, but I always succumb to the dreaded phone, social media and endless re runs of The Big Bang Theory, and all the excuses.  Too tired to concentrate, find it hard to get into….bla bla, all lazy answers…..I’m constantly buying books but they end up just being piled up next to my bed.  When I am away, morning, noon and night, my head is in a book.  So in order to find that holiday feeling without even getting on a plane, some good old discipline is required, no lap tops in the bedroom, no phones, social media, just you and a book for the odd twenty minutes or so in a day, on your lunch, on the train, or before you drop off at night….and there you have it ‘escape’, even if it is just for fifteen minutes!

Dining Alfresco

Dining outside on holiday is my most  favourite thing, the fact you can pretty much do it every night too, add some fairy lights and well….like come on- amazing!…..But at the moment at home, I’m into breakfast alfresco…I’m not naturally one for an early alarm, I’ll do anything for 5 mins more in bed, so you can imagine my breakfasts are speedy as hell, but just taking my cup of coffee and fruit yogurt (oh so exciting)  outside feels like I have something more than just work.  Not that work is bad, work is good, but just to feel the sun, get some fresh air before jumping in the car and being inside all day can make a world of difference.  Obviously the mornings are pretty hectic and different for all, I’m sure my commuter friends and mum friends will be the first to tell me there is no such time for such indulgence …So do it at lunch or grab a jumper and eat your dinner alfresco, even if you are dining solo, you may not have the view of the French Rivera but you have the fresh air, and well  I did say you may need to use your imagination…..So just take it outside!

Be Bare Faced and Beautiful:

To be honest the reason I tend to eliminate make-up on holiday is because it does just end up melting into my ice cream, it doesn’t sit as well and well it is just too darn hot to be plastering it all over my face.  Okay, it is always a little bit nicer to be make-up free when you’ve got that sun kissed skin, but it is also so much easier, slightly liberating and comfortable,  and you really know you are in a complete chill out zone, when your make-up bag is somewhere in the bottom of your suitcase and you are not at all interested in finding it.  So let’s bring a bit of that to the everyday, chill out and if this is impossible just do it on a Sunday…

   Go au naturale, let your skin breathe, give your eyelashes time to grow, give your pores  a break… and well if you do bump into someone, you’ve got your huge sun hat and sunnies on right? So you’re covered!

Fruits of Summer

Strolling around a French market or an Italian piazza, I’m the one taking photos of the grocery stand, they just ooze delicious-ness and have so much colour, we just don’t get that over here.  In Isla Holbox, I loved wondering around the main square where there were pineapples, coconuts, huge fruits galore everywhere…So we may not have the best source for this, and of course it is good to be mindful or the right times of year for certain products, but summer brings the best fruits and those that can be grown on home soil, or at least not so far away… So I fill my kitchen with these colours, have them out on display in pretty little bowls, (much to Wes’ dismay of clutter) so I feel like I’m in a Farmhouse in the South of Spain, not my tiny galley kitchen just outside London!

Just Wear The Dress

Last week I posted a photo on Instagram of my new favourite dress, with the caption, waiting for an event to wear this, to which a lovely friend wrote, just where it anyway! ….And there it is.  It’s a bit like those books, I buy at a plenty.  I’m saving them for the 2 week holiday I may book in August, but why wait? Why save them? And why not just have a Carrie Bradshaw moment and swan around the garden as if you are in The Tuscan Hills? Take a walk to the supermarket in a breezy dress as if you are walking around Seville, or put on your favourite jumpsuit while you are just running errands, feeling like you are on a Greek Island.  Those dresses are bought for wearing in the sun, it doesn’t matter where that sun is, or what you are doing under the sun, it makes you feel nice, it makes you feel summery and well those jumpers and boots will be back on in the blink of an eye…..So just wear the dress!

……So if you can just try one holiday capture a week, that will be enough to get you to the ultimate holiday booked at the end of the summer.  Fit in as many as you can and as often as you can, because just like the summer, it all comes and goes so quick, so you might as well just take those 5 minutes and indulge in all things to slow you down and remind you of balmy summer days ………

                                                       …….Of course the weather, well I can’t help you with that, but like I said you may need to use your imagination!

Thank you for reading x

Jewellery: And Other Stories

Dress: Topshop

Bowls:  Oliver Bonas (On sale)

Mug : Anthropologie

Raybans: Asos