Dixi Discount

If you've been a follower of my blog for a while you will know I have a good relationship with online boutique Dixi. And once again they're offering my lovely blog readers and exclusive discount code! :)

This weekend they updated their online shop with heaps of new items, after having a short break hunting out gems for us to get our hands on.

If you've not heard of them before I suggest you familiarize yourselves with them now because once an item gets snapped up it's gone for good!

So if you see something you like enter SWEETMONDIXIMJ to receive 10% off any order over £15.

Here are a few of my faves from their current collection...

Also as if they couldn't get any better, they're hosting THE competition of the year! 

For your chance to win a genuine Yves Saint Laurent Arty Ring visit their facebook page, or you can enter through Lily's blog.

Sweet Monday 033

01. Hope everyone had a lovely bank holiday weekend :) what shabby weather it's been! Ugh. Despite this I've had a really good weekend and thought I'd dedicate this post to what I got up to on Saturday.

02. It's my friends birthday next week so we went out this weekend to celebrate. It was a cocktails & cupcakes celebration! After stocking up in sainsburys we made some delicious cocktails. Since my trip to America I've been craving margarita's!! And I have to say ours came out pretty dam good. Next on our list was cosmopolitan, which went down rather well and a lot easier than the very very strong second batch of margarita's! (I think the sugar/salt edging and umbrellas made them even better)

03. Just checked my blog today and I've reached 600 followers! I'm sure it'll probably drop back under by time this gets posted but any who I'd like to say thank you very much :)

04. I watched Blue Valentine this week, have any of you seen it? It wasn't on at any cinema near me when it came out so I got it from lovefilm. I wasn't sure of what to expect but I love Ryan Gosling and he came up trumps again! He's such a brilliant actor. I was hoping for a Notebook style film but it was actually quite the opposite. The early days were amazing seeing him and Michelle fall in love, aww. But wow it didn't half show the troubles of marriage and how can all go so wrong. Was such a sad but meaningful end. Great acting on both parts, it's well worth a watch...maybe not if you've recently got engaged or are planning too!

05. And have a brilliant time at BFW who ever of you are going! I'm so jealous and upset I couldn't get the time off work :( the joys of working full time! I look forward to seeing lots of good photo's!

Here's a montage of my Saturday...

Oh Hi!

Trousers: Primark

Top: Topshop

Cardigan: Dorothy Perkins

Sandals: Matalan

Bag: Vintage

Ring: Topshop

Nails: AA 'Make Up'

It has been 43 days since I last posted an outfit post! I can't believe it's been that long.

Well here it is, long over due. This is the cardigan that I picked up for £5 when I was super cold last month. Such a bargain, it's a size 12 but its really well. I love oversized slouchy cardigans. Comfy! 

These trousers have got to be one of my best buys of late. I got them from Primark when I went to London a few months back but hadn't really worn them until we went on holiday. But I love them! They're everywhere at the moment and I'm rather glad I only paid £12 for these instead of the £35 River Island are charging. 

Anywayssss hope everyone's having a good week! Looking forward to yet another bank holiday weekend?! I AM! I'm going out Saturday for a friends birthday and can't wait. We're hoping to make margaritas! If they turn out well I'll be sure to take some photo's to show you all.... roll on Saturday :)

AA Nail Polish

American Apparel: Hunter, Cotton & Make-Up

I picked these nail polishes up in Vegas. In England American Apparel polishes are a whopping £7!! What a rip off. I've hadn't ever indulged until I went to American where they were only $6 which is £4! And you can get 3 for roughly £10. So of course I took full advantage. I bought these three colours for myself and then a few others for friends. 

On the shelf they looked a bit crap to say the least, another girl was shaking them like mad and when I got closer I could see why. The colour of a lot of them were distorted, the 'cotton' one for instance was a mixture of cream and bright orange all tangled in together from where the colours had like separated. She was complaining but the assistant reassured her they would be fine and that they all go like that. Even so I tried to hunt for the best looking ones just in case. But so far she was right, when I use them there is no distortion or weird bits. 

The coverage is really good on them, two coats is plenty. If I'm rushing I can get away with just one! 

I really like the colours that they produce, they're basically their colour range in apparel which I think is a really good idea. And I haven't seen colours similar to it anywhere, not even my beloved Models Own do quite the same shades. I really wish I'd got the burgundy colour 'port' too...I bought a pleat skirt in the same colour, I could've been matchy matchy dam!

Sweet Monday 032

01. Hello! Do you like my funky new ring? Laura sent it me this weekend :) I saw some she'd made on her blog and cheekily asked for one! Thank you hun..another beaut to add to my collection.

02. Thank you to everyone who left a kind comment on my last post. The second interview went well, much the same as the first. Although he hinted that they'd seen someone else and they are now going to contact me in the next couple of weeks. Still keeping everything crossed! I want this job so badly.

03. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was so nice. Friday I spent the night at a friends and we watched 'Going the distance' with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Have you seen it? I thought it was really good, so much so I think I might buy it! 

On Saturday I went to a friend's who I went to uni with, he's got an incredible house in the Cotswolds. We had a really good chinese and a few beers and then myself, him and my boyfriend went shopping to Bicester Village yesterday. I picked up such a comfy hoodie from Aubin and Wills. So all in all a very good weekend :D

04. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself this week with 90210, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill all coming to an end last week. What amazing cliff hangers though?! So I PROMISE I WILL BLOG MORE THIS WEEK! x

Sweet Monday 031

Chris and I in San Francisco

01. Oops I'm a day late! I apologise for the lack of blogging recently, I know I've been a little slack. Since coming back from holiday I've felt a little demotivated with my blog, and I've had a lot of other things going on...

02. As you may know if you follow me on twitter, I've been less than happy with my job in recent months. So my first day back on British soil last Monday, I rewrote my CV and a cover letter and sent around 15 off to different Interior Design companies around Gloucestershire. With a stroke of luck I've heard back from a couple and I met with one on Saturday and am going back for a second meeting this Saturday.

03. With these new job prospects, I've been downloading programs and trying to teach myself the basics in some of the software they use. So last week and this week has been pretty hetic. Along with missing America like mad, life feels a little depressing at the moment. Hopefully if I get this job, things will start to look up!...there's just the dreaded moment I have to hand my notice in. ugh!

04. Hope everyone is well, I have been trying my best to catch up with blogs. I have 3 weeks to catch up on so bear with me. I went a bit crazy commenting all of Laura's posts the other day. Haha. Sorry about that Laura!

Silver Service

London based jewellery brand, Silver Service sent me a beautiful gift last week, this gorgeous skull ring (pictured far right). Made from bone, Silver Service make stunning contemporary pieces, delivering the finest silver jewellery all over the UK. 

Silver Service was set up by Tilly just 5 years ago, whose passion for jewellery ignited a whole host of creative ideas that led her into the design world. The name was born whilst Tilly was traveling in Indonesia, where her experience was the furthest thing from silver service. Combined with the fact that Tilly is delivering fine silver throughout the UK, the name was fitting. 

Silver Service has recently opened a concession in Topshop's Oxford Street branch and is also stocked in Urban Outfitters, 11 Boundary and The Tower of London. Prices range from £15 to £520 and the gorgeous skull ring that I am now lucky enough to own comes at a cool £30. Silver Service is a firm favourite with celebrities such as Fearne Cotton (whose fiance, Jesse Jenkins, photographed their current campaign), Alexandra Burke, Paloma Faith, Heidi Range and Cheryl Cole. I can definitely see why it's so popular, I haven't been able to take mine off since receiving it in the post, in very pretty packaging I may add. 

It's really quite an inspirational story, showing that if you truly want something you can strive to achieve it. Tilly turned down a place at Central St Martins to go traveling to Indonesia, and through a turn of events she now owns her own company which is going from strength to strength. 

I know their are many bloggers out their who design their own jewellery, with Ella Masters immediately coming to mind. I hope this post can inspire those of you out there hoping for success.

You can find out more about Silver Service and view their full collection at their website.

Sweet Monday 030

(1) Cactus at the Botanical Gardens, Phoenix (2) Butterfly (3) Amazing toffee apples in Sedona

(4) Coloured mountains in Sedona (5) My boyfriend and I (6) Lucky charms only $2!

(7) Our hotel in Vegas (8) The Belagio fountains (9) The strip at night 

(10) The Venetian (11) The Hoover Dam bridge (12) Grand Canyon 

(13) My boyfriend and I at the Grand Canyon (14) As before (15) Sunset in San Francisco

(16) Carousel on Pier 39 (17) Golden Gate bridge (18) Lombard street (19) Alcatraz 

(20) My first taste of crab (21) Clam chowder in a bread bowl.

HI!! I'm back! I have no idea where to start with this post. 

I flew back in yesterday and had today to recover, I still feel absolutely shattered! For those of you who don't know, I've spent the last two weeks staying with my boyfriend and his family at his brothers house in Phoenix and then with his other brother in San Francisco, with a cheeky trip to Vegas in between!

It was an incredible trip, I loved every minute of it and really didn't want to come home. I've never had holiday blues like this before, it's really knocked me. Just coming home to the reality of having to go back to a job I don't enjoy is really making me sad. But that's another story, which I'm hoping to sort out fast!

I think although it was a holiday because we go to stay with Chris's family we got a true sense of what life is like out there and it was so good. Just everything about is so much bigger and better. People seem to have a much more relaxed view on life. They don't go to work 9 to 5 to be a slave to the system just to afford rent or a mortgage for the next 40 years. They're laid back, and yeh they work hard, but they also enjoy time and it's not all one big rat race. It's really made myself and Chris think about living out there, along with the fact his brothers want us to more than anything. And it's quite handy that his one brother happens to have 2 empty bedrooms! :) So we shall see what happens, but we're already planning our next trip!

I've included just a few photos from the hundreds that I took to show you the main sights of the 2 weeks. 

The grand canyon blew me away! The sheer scale of it is unbelievable, photo's cannot show the true beauty of it. It's something that everyone has to see at least once in their lives! 

And Vegas...wow! It's one giant theme park! We spent 3 days there, and I think that was enough. I loved every minute of it but it's so full on it really drains you. There's so much to see and do, literally every where you look. We had the best time though! Did  a spot of gambling but sadly didn't win anything. I got to go clubbing on the strip!! Crazy! It was super expensive but luckily we go free tickets and I got soooo wasted! It was really funny, but also really bad as the next day I had to endure a 5 hour car ride!!! Worst hangover everrrrr! 

After a few more days basking in the 100degree heat of Phoenix it was time to say goodbye and head to San Francisco. Again it's a place I definitely want to revisit. We only spent 4 days there which wasn't really enough. There's so many amazing sights to see. The Golden Gate bridge is fantastic and Alcatraz was so good. Really creepy but so informative and interesting. They have some great shopping there too. We went to a street called Haight street and it was full of vintage boutiques at superrrr low prices! I only got two tops but could've bought the whole shop! It was incredible. It was a cross between Urban Outfitters and Topshop but with prices between £10 and £20 and all one offs. If you do ever visit San Fran I'd recommend going to this area. It's the hippy area of town and is home to some beautiful graffiti! 

So in a nutshell that was about it, sorry if this is an essay! I could go on all day talking about it. 

Oh I almost forgot, I ate my very first crab! Yum! We went to Chris's brothers restaurant on our last night and the food was to die for! I wish I took more photo's. Lots of shrimp, crab, beef and chicken. All excellent :D and the desserts were out of this world, cheese cake, backed alaska mmm! 

The last photo is of something called Clam Chowder. I don't know whether any of you have tasted it but it's basically clams, potato and I think leak all in this really thick soup/broth. It tastes so good, not fishy at all! And they serve it up in this amazing bread bowl. I've never been so stuffed before! I think all soup should come in a bread bowl...it makes sense!

Anyway I am off to get some more sleep before silly work tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed this post :) and I will be back into full blogging mode soon.

Love to you all! x