Cape Cod: Week 2

Hello lovely blog readers,

I have been enjoying my second week of my summer holiday in Cape Cod (East Coast America) which has been as fun as, if not more fun than my first week.

My mother and I decided we needed to stop fooling around and start focusing all of our attention on tanning, much to the disgust of my super tanned and adventure-seeking Dad. So we've spent most of the week soaking up the sun at a big lake near our house. It's been great but I kept getting freaked out by the fish (/sharks/crocodiles/piranhas/Loch Ness monster) which are undoubtedly lurking in the water, despite what anyone says. With my anxiety levels high, a huge dragonfly flew into my face when I was reading on my inflatable, which made my book fly into the water and my screams alarm the entire population of Cape Cod. My book is still soggy to this day. NEVER MIND.

One evening we went to the local cinema, an original picture house built in the 1930's, to see a film called Fruitvale Station. It was so brilliant. It is based on a true story about a police shooting of an innocent civilian, much like the Trayvon Martin case. It was so well acted, the characters were perfectly built up but the ending was so devastating. Even so, I recommend you all watch it.

On Monday (once I had recovered from the emotional trauma of watching Fruitvale Station) we crossed the state border from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and drove to a cute harbour town called Newport. After a day of coffee, bagels and shopping, we went on a sunset cruise which was full of doe-eyed newly weds and loved-up couples, my parents and lonely little me. I was hoping there would at least be a sexy sailor boy to take my mind off all the love in the air, but sadly not (unless you like bearded 60 something cap'ns.) The cruise was beautiful nonetheless. We sailed past Jackie Kennedy's childhood home and the lighthouse built for her to play in (casual), amongst many other million dollar mansions perched above the sea. Then we ate a delicious mexican meal, followed by cookies and ice cream because it is essential that we all put on a minimum of... 10 stone. Any less and we wouldn't have lived the true American experience, now would we?

Pretty window display in a jewellery shop in Newport

Floral dress (worn as top): Zara, denim shorts: Levi

Looking at boats and ting

Pulled pork burrito? Go on then

What a happy little lobster!

The next morning we went to Belle Vue Avenue to see the mansions on the seafront up close, and we went on a tour of The Breakers, the Vanderbilt mansion (one of the richest families in American history.) It was fascinating. It was merely their "summer cottage" but it was so grand, it made Buckingham Palace look cheap. Every ceiling is decorated with real gold leaf, the walls are lined with platinum and there are crystals dangling from every corner. It was very ostentatious, VERY Gatsby, but a great time capsule of America's "Golden Age".

Lace jacket: h&m, silk top: Zara, pink leigh jeans: Topshop

 sparkly sandals: Topshop, necklace: little shop in Newport, watch: River Island

Today we took a boat across to Martha's Vineyard to meet Obama (who's on his holiday here) for a spot of lunch. He didn't turn up (strangely?!) but we had a lovely day anyway. It is such a beautiful island, similar to Nantucket but less polished. There is a great ethnic mix on the island, more so than anywhere else on Cape Cod, which adds character and soul. There are lots of great shops and restaurants that I wish I had more time to explore. We did grab a quick burger at "Nancys" on the seafront, where Obama had been photographed the night before when he was picking up his fish and chips!

Crop t-shirt: Primark, skater skirt: Topshop, 

necklace: as above, watch: Casio, beach bag: Urban Outfitters

Sparkly B! Made just for me.

Only a few days left in American until I come home :( But at least I get to see Baby Charlie Bee!

Have a great weekend!

Lots of love, 

Flora Bee 

x

p.s. This is my song of the week. He has the sexiest voice! Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0_6kEa92Js

Cape Cod: Week 1

Hello everyone!

I’ve trotted across the globe on my family holiday to a CUTE little town on the east coast of America, called Dennis in Cape Cod. We have swapped houses with an American family so I’m currently writing this from the garden of an adorable seaside cottage.

It all began a week ago when we woke up at the crack of dawn to get our morning flight to Boston, however it was more dramatic than expected because my sister in law gave birth to my GORGEOUS nephew, Charlie, after being overdue for 10 days. So instead of rolling out of bed and straight into the car with no chat exchanged (I’m not much of a morning person), my dad ran into my bedroom at the tender hour of 5.30 in the morning shouting, “Baby!!!!!” We all jumped into the car and zoomed to the hospital for a drive-by squidge of the bambino on our way to the airport. It was very hard to say goodbye to them all but we were going on holiday so we couldn’t complain.

Have you ever seen anything so cute? Little Charlie Bee

After a delicious breakfast at Gordon Ramsey's "Plane Food" restaurant at Terminal 5, I bought some anti-sickness pills as recommended by my friend Bianca because they help you sleep (which is the biggest understatement in the WORLD.) I popped one right before I got on the plane and I genuinely don’t remember anything else.  It knocked me out! I slept throughout the entire seven hour flight, I fell asleep on the curb outside Boston airport waiting for the coach, and then for the whole 2 hour coach journey. It was amazing. I’m a sleepy person but that was impressive even by my standards.

Most days have consisted of eating a BIG breakfast at a local place called Grumpys, and then walking to a beautiful white sandy beach and staying there until wine o'clock (also known to some as sunset I believe).

Going to the beach

Playsuit: H&M

However my poor Dad can’t sit still so we have to have alternate activity days to keep him happy. One day we drove to a nearby town called Hyannis, which is where the Kennedy’s have their summer “compound”. However, to my horror, the weather took a turn for the worse and it was grey, raining and not how I imagined Hyannis port to be. How dare it rain when I’m on holiday? So I don’t know whether my judgement was clouded by… well, clouds, or if it really is a dump, but it felt like any old rundown seaside down. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a Woolworths there or a Poundland. There was also an irritating boy playing a pipe. How dare he play his pipe? But all was well when we got back to our trusty beach and the sun came out.

NO FEAR, Daddy Bee packed a cagoule for me! What not to wear: "a cag in a bag"

My Dad loves a car shot. THUNDERBIRD! 

Floral cami: Forever 21. Lace shorts (or chicken knickers as my Dad calls them): from a little shop in Chatham (Cape Cod). Sparkly sandals: Topshop.

Back at the beach!

A more successful day trip was to Provincetown, which is known as the Brighton of the East Coast. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we walked along the colourful Main Street. We were bobbing in and out of the shops and had to regularly stop to rehydrate and focus all of our attention on the people watching.  There was one man cycling along the street in an orange dress, singing and throwing confetti. How joyous!

Beach in Provincetown

Hawaiian shirt: H&M, Denim shorts: Topshop, Watch: Casio

Yesterday, we took a boat trip from Hyannis to Nantucket, which is a small island with a cobbled main street, beautiful clapboard shops and huge yachts all around. We thought it would be nice to hire bikes and explore the island that way. How wrong we were! I forgot how much I loathed cycling. Our ride began on a high road, with us cycling on the wrong side of the road, oblivious to the other cyclists on the nice, safe cycle path. Even when the cars were pointing to the cycle path, we thought they were waving. “Hello! Well, aren’t all the motorists friendly!” It wasn’t until a truck stopped next to us and shouted, “Get on the cycle path!” that we realised there was a queue of traffic waiting for us while we were blissfully unaware. I wasn’t blissful, I was out of breath and aching, but we cycled to the beautiful Madeket beach eventually, where I slept solidly for two hours. After the horrendous journey back to Main Street, we settled at a waterside bar called CRU and that was blissful. We ate a delicious dinner at "Met on Main" and had a gorgeous waiter with an accent we couldn't place at first, but after interrogation from my overly friendly Dad, it turned out that he was from Yorkshire!

Orange dress: H&M, Sparkly sandals: Topshop

Ring: Cow (Digbeth, Birmingham)

Note to self: Never get on a bike again.

Perfect spot for nap time!

I hope you’ve all had a lovely week.

Here is one of the songs I’ve been listening to again and again on the beach. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWGyuluedpM

Lots of love,

Flora Bee

x

Busy Bee

Hello y'all.

I apologise for being so quiet on the blog front. I keep thinking "OH I'll write about that!!" and then forgetting shortly after. But here I am! Ready and raring to recount to you what I've been doing with my past week...

SO I had my second and final week working in the publicity department at Little, Brown the publishers which was as brilliant, if not better, than my first week. I was kept busy with lots of tasks including creating press releases, flicking through all the papers and magazines (FUN) and posting books off to famous people! (I resisted the temptation to memorise their addresses and stalk them.) Then, halfway through the week I was lucky enough to meet JK Rowling #nobiggy !!!!! I say "meet" when really I mean stand with her while she spoke and I stared. She was great! She came into the office to thank everyone for handling the pseudonym drama and for loving and promoting her novel before they knew it was hers. She was very charismatic and friendly and introduced herself by saying, "Hi, I'm Robert." AND she wore huge platform heels! I was beyond impressed with her.

Most days after work, I had the pleasure of seeing my friends from Uni and we did a lot of eating and drinking. One night, 5 of my gorgeous Birmingham girls and I tried out Shake Shack in Covent Garden which is a hyped up burger place that's apparently a HUGE deal in America. The burger was the most delicious thing in the world but you had to queue up and order and then queue up again when it was ready. I can't be bothered with all of that. But the company was wonderful. After our burgers, we walked to South Bank and drank pimms on the roof terrace of the royal festival hall, which was so lovely in the sunshine. Another evening we ate burgers (again!) at Bukowski Grill in Brixton market, which was cool. One night, I didn't eat a burger! My parents came up to meet my brother, his wife and I for dinner and we went to Newman Street Tavern which was beautiful inside but the menu was so limited which is always a bit awkward. But it was lovely to wine and dine with Mama and Papa Bee.


In conclusion.... great two weeks.

Here is what I wore to work...

Monday

White linen shirt: uniqlo, "Leigh" jeans: Topshop, blue ballerina pumps: French Sole, watch: River Island, bracelet: gift, bag: Mulberry

Tuesday

Lilac wrap blouse: River Island, khaki pencil skirt: h&m, necklace: Topshop, bag (I bought from camden market when I was about 13!)

Wednesday

White silk top: Zara, pale blue "leigh" jeans: Topshop, bag: Mulberry

Whacked a pair of earrings on for my evening plans!! 

Earrings: Accessorize

AND a sparkly clutch!

Clutch bag: Accessorize

Thursday

Black t-shirt: h&m, trousers: Uniqlo, black court shoes: Primark, pink tote bag: Accessorize

Friday

Long sleeved white top: Primark, blue skater skirt: Topshop, chunky chain: River Island

Thank you for reading my long rambling post. Have a great week!

Lots of love,

Flora Bee

x

P.S. enjoy this song. I never tire of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dX_APaTSB8

My after school adventure to Hackney

Hello all,

I've nearly finished my first week at Little, Brown the publishers which has been really interesting. The office is buzzing because they published a JK Rowling book under a pseudonym and it's all come out and the press are going WILD for it all #bookyscandal

So I've kept busy during the day, but even busier after work trying to see all my lovely london based girls before they go off on holidays and years abroad!! Last night I went to a microbrewery opening on the canal side in Hackney. Never in my life have I EVER felt more mainstream as I did there! It was hipster central. I went straight from work in my little flowery dress too... Perhaps the hipsters thought I was wearing it ironically. Either way, it was lots of fun! We sat on a barge in the sunshine, eating delicious pizza, drinking beers brewed on-site and listening to a strange little band of two who had an accordion and a Mary Poppins bottomless bag of percussion instruments.

You should all go to this place, its called Crate Brewery and it is really, really cool. 

Here are some pictures!

(Just look how much fun was had....)

 (SO much...)

(My new favourite band)

My inappropriate attire 

Dress: Asos, bag: Mulberry (My mums!)

Goodnight!

Lots of love, 

Flora Bee x

My song du jour

Hello everyone!

I hope you're having a lovely monday and you haven't all melted like an ice lollies. 

I started work experience at Little, Brown the publishers today and I was worried I would collapse with exhaustion and heat stroke (maybe I'm being a tad dramatic?) but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the swishiest office in the world, with air con blasting from all angles. I had a great day and everyone was lovely and welcoming. (Pictures to follow later in the week)

Anyway, goodnight all. Here is my song of the day from one of my favourite youtube channels fhinq. I can't get enough of it. Enjoy! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBCBriYggTc

Lots of love

Flora Bee 

x

Wimbledon Winner

HUGE congratulations to Murray!!!!!!! Hurray! I am so pleased, despite knowing nothing about tennis, I am assured that this is a huge deal, and so I shall celebrate accordingly.  Although I must admit, from watching brief bits of coverage from Wimbledon, it wasn’t the tennis that caught my eye; it was Andy Murray’s girlfriend! Her name is Kim Sears and her gorgeous, super glossy mane of pony-like hair is astounding?!  Whoever blow-dries it possesses magical powers, surely. Kim has showcased a few beautiful outfits over the past few weeks, mixing Mulberry with casual denim and a few statement brights, and has earned her place as Wimbledon’s best-dressed girl.

She stood out in a canary-yellow Ted Baker sundress on Wednesday, yet dressed it down with a Levi denim jacket (which is a BIT of a shame. But if it was chilly I’ll let it slide, just.this.once.)

                           

On Friday she looked casual yet chic in dark jeans, a light knit jumper and a classic trench coat. Great look.

The following Monday she wore a beautiful floral dress from Zara, at just £49.99. However, sadly it’s sold out online, which I guess is to be expected after being worn not only by the gorgeous Kim, but also presenter Holly Willoughby.

                     

The following Wednesday, Kim looked fantastic in a bright orange blazer paired with fun monochrome floral trousers.

                                   

Then, she saved the best until last (in my opinion) wearing a pretty mint green crochet dress to the finals.

                       

All of these gorgeous outfits were paired with her favourite Mulberry Willow tote and that blow dry, so really, what could go wrong? Oh and then her boyfriend won too - bonus!