An afternoon with a view

On the 4th August my mum and I went and had afternoon tea at the Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard in London as a special treat. Now as you know I am an avid home baker, and of course I love going and seeing what new baked treats are out there, and where better to find new and unusual flavour pairings than a fancy hotel in London!

At the Shangri-La hotel you are given two options for afternoon tea, one being a Traditional English tea with earl grey scones with jam and cream, egg & cress sandwich, crab sandwich, cucumber sandwich, smoked salmon sandwich, chicken sandwich, egg & mayo sandwich, chocolate and caramel mousse, cheesecake, strawberry & basil cake, Apricot and white chocolate compote and a blackcurrant and violet macaroon.

The second option was the Asian tea which included spiced scones, spiced crab sandwiches, vegetable gyoza, prawn dumpling, duck sandwich, wasabi and ginger cured salmon tartlet, cheesecake, raspberry lychee and rose macaroon, tea and ginger roulade, peanut caramel and chocolate tart and a white chocolate and apricot compote.

It was such a lovely day, with a beautiful view across London, and it gave me many more ideas for new bakes that I need to try out at home. 

Asian Afternoon tea

Traditional English Afternoon Tea

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Exam Results!

On the 13th of August I received my A-Level exam results, and to say the least I was more nervous than ever as these grades decided whether I would get into my chosen university. The excitement of finding out I had got into The University of Reading to do Food Marketing and Business Economics before I had received my results was great and made opening that horrible envelope a little less painful.....I'm not going to lie I did cry a little when I found out I got in! 

I'm not going to post what results I got on here as I feel like that's a little inappropriate or boastful and at the end of the day all that matters is that I'm happy with them & I know that I tried my hardest. Getting the results you want, although not the biggest thing in the world, is such a great feeling and it shows that all your endless hard work has finally paid off. 

It made me so happy to see that most of my friends were so pleased with their results and all of them achieved what they needed to take the next step in their lives, whether that be going to university, taking a gap year, getting a job or an apprenticeship. 

If you received your exam results this year whether their GCSE's, AS Levels or A-Levels I hope you received the results you hoped for, If not its not the end of the world! Letters on a piece of paper do not define who you are or what you are capable of. 

I am so excited to be starting University in mid September and hope that these four years will be as good as my school years. 

Thanks for reading! 

A summer holiday to remember

Last week four friends and I visited the Greek Island of Crete, where we stayed in a small town called Stalis. We had an amazing week away with a few trips into  the well known town of Malia, as well as relaxing by the pool, and taking a boat trip. As it was our first holiday away on our own there were some ups and downs but I don't think we could have had a better time.

A view of Santorini island from the plane

Our hotel was a 5 minute walk to the beach and had three pools, as well as a spa and other activities.....although, we only really used the pool. Most of our trips out to the local town included a drink at our favourite restaurant/bar called 'Akti', which for the record sold THE best waffles.....and the free WiFi tempted us in too.

A view from the hotel of Stalis beach 

Stalis Beach

Akti waffles

Activities pool

Main pool

My best friend Grace and I on Stalis beach

Malia was a 45 minute walk along a coastal road, lined with many shops, restaurants and bars which made it quite a nice walk of an evening. The buzzing atmosphere of Malia did not disappoint however, I did think that the 'strip' would be much larger than it was but none the less we had a great few nights, despite clubbing not really being my kind of thing. We met so many funny and nice people while there, which gave us quite a few things to joke about during the holiday.

Grace, Amy and I on our balcony

Grace and I 

On our final day we visited the beautiful Chrissi Island just off southern Crete. The pure white sands and clear turquoise sea made us feel like we were on a dessert island or in the Bahamas. The island has two beaches one which has more pebbles and 'the Golden Beach' which has white sand. There are no inhabitants of the island, with only two bars for the tourists.

Chrissi Island

Chrissi Island

Chrissi Island

Thanks for reading! :) 

Summer Clothes Haul

In preparation of my holiday to Crete in just under two weeks time I have been doing a bit of holiday shopping (or procrastinating against revision). As usual at this time of year there are so many nice clothes, shopping can get a little out of hand.......

I thought I'd share with you a few of the things I have bought. 

Navy blue sun dress- Primark £5

The first item I bought is a navy sun dress with flower details at the top. I thought this dress may be cute with sandals, or as something to throw over a bikini on the beach. 

Black & white Aztec print 'runner' shorts- New Look £12.99

I have been looking for a pair of casual light weight shorts for a while now and I'm so pleased I found these in New Look. They have them in a variety of colours and patterns, and they are so comfy! I feel like these could be just worn around the pool on holiday or worn out on a day out in town. 

Light blue high waisted pom pom shorts- Miss Selfridge £24 (In the sale originally £30)

Pom pom clothing seems to be really 'in' at the moment with most shops stocking a variety of tops, cardigans and shorts in this style. I loved that these were high waisted and they look extremely cute with the little pom poms at the bottom. I hate it when shorts are too revealing, so although these look quite short they are perfectly fine when on. 

Light blue denim skirt- Miss Selfridge £28

I think this skirt is my favourite purchase, with it taking me back to my childhood of wearing this kind of outfit. It is high waisted (again) and have two small pockets on the front with undoable buttons down the middle. I cant wait to wear this with a pair of sandals and maybe a stripy top on a day or evening out.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S top (because who doesn't love friends!!)- Primark £6

Now this top isn't very 'holidayish' however, I thought it was only right that I bought it considering my massive 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S' addiction, and thought it might be nice to wear on the plane. 

Burgundy scallop edge top - Primark £5

Peach scalloped edge top- Boohoo £10 

Scallop edge tops and skirts seem to be another item that is 'in' at the moment with both of these tops being available in multiple other colours. I love the flowy loose fit of these tops, and the style means that they can be dressed up for a night out or worn casually in the day. 

Stripy 'Hello' top- Topshop £22

I absolutely love stripes so when I saw this cute 'hello' top I just had to have it. It is part of a new range in Topshop called 'Tee and Cake'. 

City stamps travel document folder- Paperchase £4

I'm one of those people that likes to be very organised so the fact that I booked the whole holiday for my friends and I meant that I'm responsible for all the paperwork that comes with it. Now this is a very daunting responsibility for me however, it has meant that the organisation freak within me has appeared. I could not resist this travel document folder, it has three sections within it 'documents', 'passport' and 'tickets'. My friends are most likely going to laugh at me when I get this out at the airport because of how organised I am but at least I'll (hopefully) have all the stuff they need!

Black patterned rucksack- Primark £10

I wanted a bag that was suitable to take on the plane as my normal hand bag is a bit too small to fit some plane essentials in. I've wanted a rucksack like this for a while but didn't know if it would suit me but I thought I'd just go for it. I love the patterns on the pockets, and feel that its a great size to fit everything I need for the flight in.

Pastel colour beach towel- Next £12

As I've never been on holiday on my own before I needed to get some boring bits like a beach towel. It is surprisingly difficult to find a large towel that does not have some silly slogan on it at this time of year however, I found this lovely pastel coloured stripy towel that is huge to say the least. It is perfect for wrapping up warm after coming out of the pool or sea on holiday.

'Innocent' lipstick- Topshop £8

The final item I purchased is the 'Innocent' lipstick from Topshop. I've bought a few lipsticks from Topshop in the past and have loved the pigment in them and the range of colours they supply. I have already got a dark red and a bright pink however, I wanted something more natural that I could wear in the day. Although, quite light this lipstick looks so natural and goes so nicely with the peach scallop top above.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post!

School Leavers & A trip to Brighton

So last Thursday (21nd May) was my official last day of school, and it was oddly satisfying to walk out of the school gates for the last time however, exams are fast approaching meaning I've got a few more weeks till the real end of school (forever! weird hu?!) 

On Friday we had a Leavers Tea, it was such an amazing day with cringey (but cute) speeches, embarrassing picture slideshows including pictures from year 7 that will always haunt us and a chance to get our prom tickets and leavers hoodies. Of course there was celebrations after including a (short) pub crawl, which was a bit problematic due to us all wearing our old school uniform, but it was fun all the less. I'm now looking forward to exams being over and celebrating the end of school with prom and a trip to Crete with my friends after.

This week is half term which unfortunately at this time of year means that it is full of revision however, as a little break my mum and I took a short trip to Brighton. We had a nice little lunch in Jamie's Italian and had a wander around the lanes with many a trips into each cake shop for baking inspiration as well as a well needed trip into a kitchen ware shop (sad I know) where we definitely made many excuses to buy things we didn't really need, but the little old fashioned milk bottle and paper straws did make use feel very Pintrest!

Cupcakes- Raspberry & chocolate, chocolate rolo, caramel, victoria sponge, red velvet and Oreo

Harry Potter 'Sorting hat' cake and 'Drive me wild' wildlife cake

Flower wedding cake

'Catwalk Cakes' shop in Brighton

 Thanks for reading!