How to throw a hen do in Barcelona

WOW the blog is in full travel mode but this one is slightly moving over to my new blog section launching soon about WEDDINGS – if you don’t follow me on social media the first question is why not?! And please follow me on Instagram and twitter but secondly is you might know that I am engaged and am in up to my eyeballs in ‘WEDMIN’ as all the cool kids say. 

I have already had a tiny melt down but this hen do to Barcelona came at the perfect time and as it was planned down to a T – not by me! I thought I would share how to throw a hen do in Barcelona which would hopefully share some good tips on how to throw a fabulous hen do. 

1.     Book your flight early: I flew with Norwegian which is always a fave as a budget airliner as they have so many added extras, this time I had the extra leg room…yes please! They fly from London Gatwick to Barcelona all year round for as little as £34.90 one way and usually you get free WI-FI as if I didn’t google the words ‘Any new Love Island news’ or 'Teen Mom' enough. Why not BOOK NOW.

2.     Download all songs with the word Barcelona in them: You have Ed Sheeran, “Barcelona” and  "Barcelona" by D.Kay & Epsilon “Sometimes I feel Like I am in Barcelona...”  these tunes were on repeat for the entire weekend.

3.     Hop over to Airbnb: and snap up a roof top beauty with a pool and a Jacuzzi, because why not?  You can host all your besties with views to die for.

4.     Pack light but well: when all you really want to drag around a city is a small and light travel bag the new Kipling Super Hybrid 1 being on 4 wheels its easy to take anywhere and looks super chic with grey soft fabric. The key items I packed was:

-       Rose Gold Ray Ban’s from Duty Free

-       Gucci Sunglasses

-       2 x Zara dresses

-       Primark heels
-       New Look, Bae swimsuit
-       Havaianas Flip Flops

-       Wedding magazines (although I didn’t get a chance to read them!)

-       Boohoo denim shorts

5.     Invite the Mummies: Hen do’s are not just for your gal pals, Mums are great to have at your side at a hen do apart from being pretty crazy themselves they get stuck in with the cleaning at 8am while you are in still in bed and sort out the BBQ on the first day!

6.     Sports day: Utilise the beach it is only a stop or two on the metro (taxis are a nightmare FYI) so take your besties armed with a number of blow up items such as Limbo stick, footballs, sacks for sack racing of course. Be prepared to have most people on the beach try to get involved and film you from every angle - felt like a super star! A must is to get everyone in your party singing Spanish songs I think that is what drew the majority of attention. 

7.     Wine tasting: At the apartment we had a local wine taster come and tell us all about local wines and drank a fair bit comparing two whites, two reds and two fizz using all five senses. 

8.     Tapas street: Head to Blai, an amazing street lined with tapas bars you can nip in and out of them. You literally take the food from the bar - you just pay for your sticks at the end. They also do some snazzy cocktails too.

9.     Eyescream: Eyescream & Friends this was a recommendation I had before I left. As soon as someone mentioned ice cream with eyes I had to go and check out this instagramable location. This is shaved ice cream and you get to pick two toppings, white chocolate and jelly bears of course! 

10.  The W Barcelona: this hotel looks a dream with an infinity pool. Now I wasn't staying here but they did have a pretty snazzy bar on the beach called Salt Beach Club which you could either stare up at the residents at the W or at the beach while sipping a fancy cocktail or a bottle of Cava. It had a very Marbella / Ibiza feel.

11.  Sausage and Cava Bar: Can Paixano (La Xampanyeria) is the perfect pit stop before you head home. I am going to warn you it is small and popular so you have to squeeze through but with affordable fizz in an authentic location, who could say no?

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Gifts for your Bridesmaids

Hello Lovelies,

So I thought I would actually start talking about my wedding, the blog has been a bit neglected as I am finding everything a tad stressful yet I have basically got NO WHERE and I am actually drowning in WEDMIN or however you like to call it I like to call it 123821389 different companies trying to sell products for a ridiculously high price and there is FAR too much choice…and BREATHE.

Anyway let me talk about something I have actually ticked off my to-do list: picking my Bride Tribe or Bridesmaids.

Tip: Pick your bridesmaids early as you need help lots and lots of help. I have had friends who even added to their bridesmaids later down the line as there was so much to do.

So at the moment I have four bridesmaids, my Sister, Cousin and two best friends. I wanted to do something instead of just asking them all via text. I got these adorable ‘scratch’ cards from Not On The High Street so you could hide a secret message within the gold foil balloon and of course mine was ‘Will you be my bridesmaid?’ the inside is blank so you could use this card for anything and it is only £3.90 which is the price of a normal card nowadays.

Alongside this I also gave each bridesmaid a personalised fragrance that reminded me of them in some way or another Victor& Rolf, Flowerbomb, Dior,Miss Dior, Elie Saab, Le Parfum and Gucci Bamboo you can get these personalised with a name or a message (up to 66 characters) via The Perfume Shop engraving service which I just fell in love with the idea for it to be a personal gift.

I have also compiled some other fabulous gifts to give your bridesmaids below:

1. Bridesmaid Makeup Bag, Etsy

2. Personalised Water Bottle, Etsy

3. Personalised Bracelets, Etsy

4. Gucci Bamboo, The Fragrance Shop

5. Bright Ideas Studs, Kate Spade 

6. White Havaianas, Havaianas

7. Secret Message Scratch Card, NOTHS

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15 dreamy buys from Kate Spade

Hands up if you are a Kate Spade fan…ever since my parents moved to America, Kate Spade has been a firm staple in my accessories and homeware collection. Yesterday was the first time I had actually stepped foot in one of the UK stores on Regent Street and oh my, it is BEAUTIFUL, I wanted everything!

I was at the store to celebrate the launch of MONOGRAMMING which you now can get the majority of the leather items monogrammed with initials in silver or gold. I got this cute tiny little bag or ‘wristlet’ with FLK.

I also got the most extreme organiser I have ever seen, the Cameron Street Agenda in Navy, it has a calender, birthday, addresses, notes and to-do lists – perfect for all the wedmin I have to do.

As I was in the store I thought I would share some other items that ended up on my wish list of fifteen Kate Spade best buys. 

Just click on the image to SHOP! 

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How to make An instagram worthy wall

Making my garden pretty was a struggle. From taking photos nearly every day as part of my job, I obviously want my home to be a hub of pretty places where my photos could take place. When I bought my house there was this horrible brick wall, the people before me had kids and I always thought the brick wall was so dangerous there were loose bricks just placed around. I believe there used to be a shed and obviously the old owners thought they were super smart by just knocking it down themselves and then just LEAVING IT…WHO DOES THAT?! 

Anyway, rant over, long story short we have been in our house over 6 months and it’s still a job that needs doing, we have planted pretty plants all over the garden and even have a little herb and vegetable patch. Our patio has this lovely large corner sofa from Wayfair and we brought a barbecue for the bargain price of £30 in the sale from Homebase which Adam was pretty chuffed about but the brick wall was still annoying me. 

So why complain about it when I can do something about it. I first picked out some exterior paint from Sandtex part of their Fine Textured Masonry Paint range in Pure Brilliant White, you get a pretty decent size tin (10Litres) for £24.99 and the paint would have been able to do the back of my house, I literally only used a tiny bit for the wall, it went on very easily using only a little paint and the wall only needed two coats for a really thick coating. 

As the masonry paint is dirt resident and waterproof I shouldn’t need to worry about re-painting for a while, which is a relief seeing as it took me so long to get around to it in the first place. I decided to use the fine textured masonry paint range due to it being able to cover fine cracks – it’s not a perfect wall and unless I want to spend a few hundred on getting it rendered it will have to do, but I actually like that it’s not smooth and you can see the brick outline. 

Now I could have just covered the wall in flowers to try and make it pretty, but the pop of white paint from Sandtex has really turned my boring wall into an Instagrammable background for I am sure many OOTD’s to come. Although ‘Pure Brilliant White’ is not the most interesting colour, as my garden is already filled with colour from the green grass and flowers it actually makes it stand out. It feels like I have just injected a pop of colour into my garden without an actual colour. The other colours I was debating about was Plymouth Grey (grey/purple hue), or Terracotta which are all great to revive surfaces, sheds or upcycle furniture.

Next up will be my boring shed which I am thinking of using Bay Tree from Sandtex. After all, everyone needs a sage green shed, right?! 

Anyway when the paint was dry, I popped over to Squires, garden centre, a shop that has taken many pounds from me – I never realised I would be sucked into a gardening shop! I brought a climber to go up one side of the wall called Silly Cow (no joke) or Passion Flower, on the other side of the wall is a wisteria but when I brought it I didn’t realise it would take like 10 years to actually grow!!!

 It is incredible that a pop of paint has really transformed my garden into a stylish spot.

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