With Summer approaching lots of us are thinking about getting into shape and magazines start giving you tips on getting that 'bikini body' I don't buy into the whole bikini body thing, surely you just have a body and put a bikini on it, bikini body. Right? Anyway I digress...

A few bloggers got the opportunity to try out a gym local  for a month, courtesy of MoneySupermarket.com in order to see whether they feel like it's worth the expense as part of the Gym for the Win initiative.

Living a healthy lifestyle means eating the right foods AND exercising as party of your weekly routine. I have the food bit covered (apart from gin and cake on weekends) and have charted my struggles with this on my other blog Where Are My Knees. I'm close to -6 stone since the beginning of my journey with Weight Watchers but I hit a bit of a plateau at the end of 2012 and haven't lost any weight since.

I had always been put off by the gym, I tried it at uni and quickly became bored and stopped going. Also my weight loss motivation was never to look super athletic, I just wanted to be size 14/16 so I didn't have to shop solely at Evans or ASOS Curve anymore. Now I'm a little older I'm far less worried about clothes much more health focused and I know that I really do need to dedicate a little bit of team each week to getting into shape.

The price of the gym had always put me off too, gyms near work in Cardiff can cost around £50+ a month and have lots of fancy features that I would never use and always seemed like a waste of money. £50 is a new dress, a big night out and a new nail polish or £50 towards my buying a flat fund. I found that my local council run gym offered gym, pool use and classes for just £30 a month and it's less than a 5 minute walk from my house so I was sold.

I hope you're all feeling refreshed after a long weekend. I spent it with friends drinking cider and eating cake which is one of the best ways to spend a Bank Holiday don't you think? I also managed to watch Mulan, Hugo and Matilda on Saturday in my pajamas whilst eating ice lollies, 25 going on 5.

I wore my new Kelly Brook for New Look dress to the pub on Sunday and I love it! It's perfect with my denim jacket for a casual look and I can wear this with sandals in the summer or heels on a night out. I bought it when it was full price but it went down by £20 in the sale so I returned it and bought it at the cheaper price. The £20 covered my night at the pub on the weekend so well worth the effort returning it.

Do you work in a corporate environment? Do you have a more laid back work place? Do you live in fear that your trousers will get covered in book dust (maybe just us library workers), or do you get to work from home and force yourself out of pyjamas?

I never really know what I should be wearing to work. I'm a lot younger than the rest of the full time staff at the library who like to wear black trousers and a blouse. Most staff my age work part time because they are still students and they obviously dress like students. I feel stuck in the middle, I want to look professional but also not age myself prematurely by wearing smart but dull clothing. I find myself wearing a smart dress one day then my converse and Fred Perry dress the next. I try and tell students to be quiet during exam time and want to have a bit of authority but don't feel I can when I'm wearing a Horrors band t-shirt.

I do a fair amount of lifting and I'm always under the desk pulling cables and things to fix computers but I also work at the information desk and attend conferences. It really is very tricky. There is a great blog where you can check out all the cool things that librarians and library professionals wear here and I've even submitted an outfit myself but I'm still stuck.

I've had a bit of a search and started to put together a capsule wardrobe for work, what do you think?







Dress: Reiss Shoes: bonprix Jacket : Dorothy Perkins Skirt: Warehouse Bag: Zatchels Shirt: eBay

I would probably add a a nice bright coloured t-shirt to this to wear with a cardigan and the skirt and I already have a few block coloured dresses I can wear with a blazer. I think the key thing I need to do is add some print and colour so my personality comes through and I wont end up looking like a corporate bore.

Hours of googling 'workwear' and 'What should a twenty-someting wear to work?' have led me to believe that the following are office necessities:

• A dark suit - Great for interviews and meetings or those days when you have important visitors at your work place.
• A white shirt - You can wear this with some smart jeans to dress down on a Friday or pair it with a pencil skirt for a super smart look.
• Black trousers - You can never have too many of these and cropped ones look great in the summer with some heels.
• Smart shoes -  The shoes I picked from bonprix (above) are perfect for work; smart, practical and a great price. If you stand a lot during the day or walk around a big building then you might want to stick to a low, chunky heels or flats. 
• Structured handbag - You need a nice big hangbag to fit your diary in, lunch and and files or folders that you take home with you at the end of the day. A shabby tote bag isn't going to give off a good impression but you can really have some fun with your bag and go for bold colours.

I picked up this dress on the weekend when Dorothy Perkins had a 20% off sale (they always seem to have them don't they?) and I love it. It comes in all different colours so I had a hard time choosing but I thought the stripes were nice and summery/nautical. I love the shape on this dress, the neckline is very flattering and it fits very well. I may invest in another colour too as this dress is pretty versatile. The thick straps are great, I hate it when you can see my bra straps underneath which isn't classy at all.

This dress was a bit of a post holiday blues cure purchase, after nearly two weeks off work the prospect of returning to students in full swing exam madness was terrifying. The bright flowers on this dress certainly perked me up and I wore this to a library conference on Friday. I did wear it with a cardigan because if you work in a library a cardigan is practically uniform and I had to cover up the open back which makes it a tad sassy for daywear. I wore this with flat shoes but I can't wait to wear this with some heels on a night out and pair it with a bright clutch bag.

Marks & Spencer launched their new collection yesterday and I was so happy to see a real focus on quality and style in the pieces.I'm a big fan of their current Limited Collection and it looks like we will be getting more clothes like that, exciting stuff!

M&S’s are making lots of upgrades to improve the quality of their clothes, having clearer and more compelling brands and aiming to be more fashionable by incorporating key trends from the catwalk into their ranges. The London Calling trend (my personal favourite) including red and black checks, leather and animal prints and the Modern Elegance trend with its simple tailoring, luxury fabrics and muted colours are both influenced by high fashion. You will start to see the changes from late July, when the new Autumn/Winter collections launch in-store and online.

John Dixon, Executive Director of General Merchandise said: “This is our focus going forward that will reassert our position as a leading, premium fashion retailer.” Do you think they have achieved that with this collection?:



I'm most looking forward to seeing the Best of British range which will use Scottish cashmere and Yorkshire cloths. A lot of high end companies like Vivienne Westwood and Chanel already use these types of traditional materials so it's great news that high street stores will also be making use of them. It's nice to know that all garments will be manufactured in the UK too.The new collections mark the launch of a three year partnership between M&S and the British Fashion Council, which puts more emphasis on British design and talent. The Best of British collection will be available from the 10th October.

My favourite items from the collection are a predictable mix of leopard print and tartan with 60's/rock and roll theme. I was obviously going to love the skirt, can't wait to get my hands on it.

1. 
   (all from ASOS)
   
   
   I've always had a thing about casinos. I think I watch too many movies with a casino theme like Ocean's Eleven (and Twelve … and Thirteen) or Croupier with the simmering Clive Owen, plus I'm a bit of a sucker for James Bond films. 

“...Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings.” - David Bowie

On Thursday I went to the David Bowie is exhibition at the V&A in London and was more that a little blown away. It drew from Bowie’s personal archives and over 300 objects were selected to try and show what shaped David Bowie and how he has shaped modern culture. I am a pretty big Bowie fan so I was always going to love this exhibition but I think any music fan could go along and appreciate how important a figure he is. It was very multi-disciplinary with art from Andy Warhol, Fritz Lang movie posters, press from moon landings and fashion creations from the likes of McQueen.  I also got to learn a few new fact about Bowie, he had a tiny 26½ inch waist and his one eye is permanently dilated after a playground fight as a child.

I've got a serious case of post holiday blues! I've just got back from a wonderful holiday in Amsterdam with some of my best friends and I'm more than a little sad to be back home and back in work. I had planned to see and do loads of things but the weather was too good to be stuck indoors or queueing for museums so I spent most of my time in the lovely parks and eating my own body weight in waffles and ice cream.

My friend Jack lives in Amsterdam with his partner and has been doing an internship there for a few months so I was really excited to catch up with him. (He has his own website about his film making here)
We were also there to celebrate Craig's birthday in style and I think Amsterdam was the perfect place to do that. we went to a club called NYX that had a DJ in the loos (a tad insane) for his birthday which seemed like the cool place to be.

Most people have already made up their mind about Amsterdam before they arrive and yes, there are a lot of Brits there for stag do's and it does have seedy areas but Amsterdam is really pretty and I managed to have a relaxing holiday there.

It's nearly that time of year again when you have to think about putting on your best outfit to help celebrate the lives of friends and family coming together or celebrate the end of exams with your classmates. 

Weddings used to be super formal but now it's becoming more popular to go for something a little more fashion forward and fun. Church Weddings tend to be more formal - go more traditional with occasion wear but you can still nod to the trends. I would add a blazer for the ceremony to smarten things up a little.
A city wedding is the perfect chance to go all out and dress to impress and so is a summer ball. I used to pick up my summer ball dresses in the January sale in Monsoon, I was really keen and planned ahead to save cash when I was a student.

Now that I'm in work I'm more likely to go for a fancy item of womens designer clothing, the photos from the wedding will last a lifetime and I want to wear something special. I would be tempted to hire a dress for the day from a service like Wish Want Wear, something showstopping for a fraction of the price of buying one.






*collaborative post

I've just set off on an extra long weekend to Amsterdam to celebrate Craig's birthday and to visit a close friend Jack who lives and works there. I've got loads planned so expect 1000s of photos of canals, parks and museums when I get back. I won't be abound for a few days but I'm sure I will be updating my twitter and instagram, cue lots of shots of tulips and me drinking beer.

I hope you all have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend, I've got my fingers crossed for some nice weather.

This is definitely my favourite Saturday night outfit for dancing in. I wore this out last Saturday and typing this up and seeing the photos is bringing back memories of the Dirty Pop night that I go to 'I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now' Taylor Swift singalong anyone? I only like Taylor Swift between 12-3 on a Saturday night. That makes it acceptable, right?
I don't normally shop at French Connection but I tried this dress on and it's just so swooshy I couldn't leave it there. Its animal print but in a weird coral and navy combination that I've not seen before so a nice twist on all the other leopard print things I own. If I ever wear something girly I feel the need to toughen it up so I usually pair this dress with my studded clutch and some boots.