Cardigans, Catch ups and Caramel Shortbread

With the stress of dissertation finally behind me I'm at last able to attend to my much-neglected social life and enjoy catching up with some equally neglected friends! Today I met my lovely friend Ciara for a cuppa and cake catch up in Newcastle's Cafe Royal.

I'll admit I'm a bit of a cafe snob (I do work in pretty much the best cafe in Sunderland after all!) but Cafe Royal never disappoints and is by far my favourite cafe in Newcastle! I love love love this place! The decor is chic and understated, all white walls, lovely one-off prints and dark leather banquettes.The staff are super friendly and service is prompt without making you feel rushed, we stayed till closing time but there was no pressure to leave! The cafe menu (there's also a lovely bistro upstairs) is extensive, offering the usual array of teas and coffees, plus smoothies and freshly-squeezed juices, a range of hot and cold sandwiches and a positively mind-boggling and doubtless waist-expanding selection of cakes, scones and pastries. Today I was torn between the Pear and Chocolate Frangipane Tart and the individual Apple and Blackberry Upside-down Cakes but in the end went for my usual - one of the out-of-this-world Caramel Shortbreads!  Along with a pot of Earl Grey tea this came to just under £6, so not greasy-spoon prices but not the Ritz either! 
Cafe Royal, 8 Nelson Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne  NE1 5AW, open Monday - Saturday 8am till 6pm. 

I also popped into Urban Outfitters while I was in Newcastle and fell in love with these lovely woolies! Perfect for Autumn, plus they were in the sale! Yay!

From top: Pins and Needles Ivory, Black and Green Over-sized Cardigan, was £48, now £20. Sparkle and Fade Fine knit Cardigan in Wine, was £38, now £18.

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P.S. I also got a sample of Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua and Bobbi Brown's Long-Wear Even Finish Foundation which I'll be trying this weekend so check back for reviews very soon! :)

New shoes, baking, art and general waffle

A VERY belated Happy New Year!

So I know I've been an unbelievably lazy blogger of late...actually since December! An evil dissertation proposal and the general hectic-ness of the festive season are my only excuse...I started 2012 with the best of blogging intentions...

I intended to post about Sherlock and the general amazingness of Benedict Cumberbatch (His name for a start!)

...the gorgeous new Jo Malone Blue Agava & Cacao Cologne (A Christmas present from my very generous Mama)


...the beautiful BBC adaptation of Sebastian Faulks Birdsong (loving Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Posey)

 my bargain January sales mini haul (courtesy of Urban Outfitters and Topshop) ...and Lorraine Pascal's yummy White Chocolate Fudge Cookies and Nigella's scrumptious Carrot and Walnut Cupcakes (just some of the goodies I've been baking!) I'm afraid they were demolished before photographic evidence could be taken! 

Alas...somehow I never quite got around to any of that! But today I'm getting back on the blogging-bandwagon...

Introducing my latest ASOS purchase...gorgeously Spring-like lilac Hi-Tops...I must admit to feeling slightly Fresh Prince when I wear them, but who doesn't love that show anyway! Continuing my Spring wardrobe update, I spent last Sunday hacking up some old Tees...

A few weeks ago I went to a preview party at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art where they're currently staging two shows featuring the work of American artist Andrea Zittel and British artist Elizabeth Price.

Andrea Zittel's Lay of My Land is an exhibition of two half's. The main space focuses on Zittel's work at A-Z West in the Californian desert and the Utopian structures she calls 'Wagon Stations', which explore what humans need for survival in different ways...I'm going to admit that this is the kind of contemporary art that I don't get...however the other part of Zittel's exhibition is more up my artistic-street...

...these crocheted works, which include garments, pictures and streamer-like strands which loop across the room are beautifully and intricately constructed and speak of the baron desert environment in which they were produced!

 Here showcases Elizabeth Price's immersive video installations which use digital moving images, text and music. Again, I have to admit that I really have no clue what these works are about...User Group Disco could be about how we categorise objects and how everyday objects impact our lives...at least I thought so until Ah-Ha's Take On Me started playing and then I was lost again...Choir seems to be about the architectural features of a Church Choir, which I get...how that relates to an fire in a Manchester Woolworth's in the 1950s I don't know but it sort of doesn't matter! These works, shown in a pitch-black room with the volume turned up to the max, are totally immersive, surreal and disorientating...which I suspect is the point!

Lay of My Land runs until 20th May and Here until 27th May 2012 at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

And finally...cos I've waffled on enough...I went to see The Woman in Black last week...if, like me, you're sick of horrifically gorey horror movies and fancy less blood and guts and more truly terrifying scares then this is the movie for you...just don't go alone!

L
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Urban Outfitters opens in Newcastle!

In case anyone in the North East of England hadn't noticed, the long-overdue Urban Outfitters finally opened in Newcastle last Friday (hear woops of joy from fashion-diehards across the region!) When the budget allows (or they have sale on) I'm a massive Urban Outfitters fan and so I popped in to check out the new store early this week...and its exactly what I expected - consciously cool, diverse and slightly over-priced! The festive season has some what dented my bank balance so despite being tempted by a gorgeous floral-patterned velvet body that looked like my Gran's 1970s carpet, on this occasion all I bought was a book which will be going in someones stocking come the 25th! Can't wait for the January sales though :)

Urban Outfitters Newcastle

139 - 153 Grainger Street

Newcastle Upon Tyne
Tyne And Wear
NE1 5AE

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