February Playlist: We live in cities you'll never see on screen

My playlist seems to suggest I've been partying this month when in fact I've done the opposite. Perhaps numerous uni deadlines and long evenings in the library has leant itself to escapism through music. 

Song About Love is the none up-beat song I've been listening to a lot this month. With the lyrics of a indie ballad and less of a country feel than some of his other offering, this will be the one to put his second album on the map.

I've loved each of Rudimental's offerings so far and Powerless is not different. Becky Hill's vocals are flawless, she was a contestant on The Voice and I have no idea how she didn't win. 

Lorde can do no wrong in my opinion. Her Brits performance of Royals earlier this month was flawless but Team has more of a electro-dance vibe taking her music to a whole new level. 

What have you been listening to this month? If you blog your playlists I'd love to know about them so leave a link in the comments.

Lucy ox

Guilty Pleasures.

It's Sunday evening, I should be relaxing after doing a few household chores and prepping for the week ahead. Instead I'm off to Tesco to buy a family size bag of cheese balls and dusting off my 'Keep Calm & Stay Reem' mug ready for the first TOWIE episode of Season 11 tonight. Yep, that's right. I LOVE the only way is Essex. I love the terrible tans, awkward moments, cringe worthy 'acting' and bitchy cat fights. I know it's terrible but TOWIE is one of my guilty pleasures.

It got me thinking about my other guilty pleasures and so I thought I'd share a few with you and maybe some of you will have the same ones and make me feel a little less guilty about them?!

I'm a 23 year-old who loves One Direction and I am completely ashamed of it. I'm ashamed I own all their albums, I'm ashamed I follow them on twitter and I'm ashamed of defending them every time somebody in my presence makes some sort of 'manufactured egotistical boyband' remark but I just can't stop loving them! I've been to see the movie, have a picture of Zayn on my desk and even a 1D eyemask (this was a gift, don't judge too much). I haven't been able to justify paying extortionate prices for their tour tickets though so I do have some boundaries which are definitely reassuring.

Now this one is more of a guilty crush, you know those guys that you really shouldn't fancy but you do? Or those ones you're attracted to for the most bizarre reasons?! Well For a few years now I've had the biggest crush on the comedian John Richardson. You know the grumpy, OCD guy from 8 Out of 10 Cats? Yeah him. For years he didn't have a girlfriend and would tell tales of spending nights in alone without friends as they all settled down. Something about this guy I find unbelievably attractive. There's definitely something attractive about a guy who can make you laugh.

Will you be watching TOWIE tonight? I'd love to know if you have any guilty pleasures?
Lucy ox

Lame crushes

Something that's recently dawned on me is how easily I fall for guys. I'm not talking about head over heels in love, trying to get them down the aisle by any means possible, I'm talking about having a crush on a guy. I can pretty much develop a crush on most guys for the most bizarre reasons and for some reason I've decided to share some of the funniest.

He complimented my handwriting

He let me get on the bus infront of him

When it rained he offered me his coat

He claps during the opening credits of friends

We support the same football team

He knows my subway order off by heart

He complimented me on my nail art

He wears checked shirts

He held open the door for me

He looks good in a black leather jacket and plain white T

I could think of so many more but I'll keep them quiet.. for now. What silly reasons do you have for crushing on a guy? My current crush reminds me of Sebstian Kydd from the Carrie Diaries haha.

Happy Friday!

Lucy ox

Thai Red Curry Prawn Wrap

I absolutely love this recipe, it can be adapted depending on how much spice you prefer and is so quick and cheap to make. I often have it for lunch but sometimes substitute the wrap for rice and have it for my evening meal. Here's what you'll need to make it:

• Garlic clove
• Spring onions
• Thai curry paste
• Prawns (if frozen, thoroughly thaw fist)
• Coconut milk
• Fish sauce
• Mixed veg (I use a stir fry mix from Tesco that includes red cabbage, Sugarsnap peas, carrots and tender stem broccoli 
• Tortilla

On a medium heat sauté a crushed garlic clove and a handful of chopped spring onions in a wok or frying pan.

Once softened add a heaped teaspoon of thai curry paste and stir. I always use red but if you prefer something less spicy then green will work just as well.

Add the prawns, I find 6-8 are enough but that depends on the size so use your culinary instinct and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the prawns are cooked.

Two tablespoons of coconut milk is now added and can be used to reduce the heat of the curry paste. At this point, a teaspoon of fish sauce with it, throw in your mixed veg and let it simmer on a low heat until they're tender.

In the meantime, heat the tortilla in the oven or microwave.

When it's ready, plonk the curry onto the tortilla, wrap it up in such a manner that will prevent fall out and gobble it down.

I usually put some fresh spinach in the tortilla before folding it but that's just because my idol is Popeye.

Lucy ox

Style Inspiration: Skorts

Style inspiration: Skorts by lalala-lucy showing how to wear a skort skirt

River Island cami tank top / Cameo Rose skort skirt / Jeffrey Campbell black platform booties, £145 / Marie Turnor leather clutch, £170 / Wet Seal cluster necklace, £7.47 / Topshop moisturizing lipstick, £9.56

With spring on the horizon we can finally think about pretty pastels, wearing shorts without tights and not having to take numerous layers out with us only to have to strip them all off when we get to our over heated indoor destination.

I always choose my outfits by first selecting a base colour and another to compliment it to form the base. As I can't pull off too much pastel I always opt to pair them with black garments and this flowing lilac cami sits beautifully with the structured skorts. 

This floral necklace keeps the outfit on trend for spring whilst the platform boots give the outfit an edge I always aim for. Overly feminine outfits just aren't me and I'm always pairing pretty dresses with leather jackets to tone it down. I'm in love with lunch style bags, at the minute I only own one but I'll be hopefully adding to my collection soon. This ivory one is perfect to go with most outfits.

I'd keep my make up natural, just adding a set of lashes and eye liner for definition. I'd tie the look together with a pink lipstick that lies somewhere between a natural and pastel tone. This one from Topshop seems perfect but I've never tried their lipsticks so may have to investigate :)

Have you got any outfit posts featuring skorts? I'd love to see them. How excited are you for spring? I cannot wait!

Lucy ox

Restaurant Review: Frankie and Benny's Leicester

As far as I'm concerned you can't go wrong with an American-Italian restaurant and Frankie and Benny's was always a favourite of mine when I was younger.

A couple of months ago I was extremely excited to see that they were opening in my university city of Leicester and so I vowed to visit after Christmas. True to my word I've been twice in the past week (judging forbidden) and I was not disappointed!

Lunchtime on a Sunday isn't the best time to go if you're looking for a quick meal, I had to wait 20 minutes before being seated but the staff were really friendly and went out of their way to make sure we were seated as soon as possible. In the mean time we waited in the bar area. Although I played it safe with a diet coke I watched the barmen prepare a fair few cocktails and they seemed to go down very well with some brave Sunday lunchtime drinkers.

Whilst waiting I browsed the menu and was impressed with the 2 courses for £11.95 offer that's available all day Sunday to Friday. You can pay a little extra and have three courses for little over £14 but me and my friend decided one of us would order starter and a main and the other a main and dessert. 

For starter we shared warm dough sticks with a garlic butter dip. I'm going to make a statement now and it's a pretty bold one.. I prefer them to Pizza Express' dough balls. They were warm soft inside and big enough to wet your appetite for the rest of the meal. If you don't like garlic butter you can choose a philly cheese dip instead but I'm quite the garlic addict so this was perfect in my eyes. You get four per serving and a generous amount of dip.

I chose the 'ultimate hot dog' for main. The sausage was wrapped in bacon and on a bed of pulled pork in the bun with BBQ and cheese sauce. It also came with more than enough chips, a small corn of the cob, coleslaw and fried onions. To say it was delicious would be an understatement. The sausage and pulled pork were perfect but there was so much I had to leave the bun although I wasn't too bothered about that. F&B chips are my favourite so I made sure to leave some room in my increasing full stomach for them.

My friend had a meatball calzone and for review purposes (tee hee) I had to have a taste. It's filled with full size beef and pork meatballs, slices of pepperoni, mozzarella and bolognaise sauce. Although I preferred the hot dog, next time i'll choose the calzone. One bite was not enough!

Dessert was one of those tough decisions that you have to make in life and after ten minutes contemplating what to order we settled on the salted caramel cheesecake. It's served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and sprinkles of chocolate honeycomb. I'm not a massive salted caramel fan so I wasn't crazy about this but the cheesecake was nice and I munched up all the pieces of chocolate honeycomb. 

I'll definitely visit Frankie and Benny's again in the future. The food was delicious but it was the atmosphere that will keep me going back. The decor gives a lovely relaxed feel that caters towards adults and families alike. The toilets were clean to a very high standard and instead of music playing in them, there was a 'learn Italian' disk playing. It's those little touches that really keep the atmosphere constant throughout the restaurant that I love.

I never say this lightly but all the staff were helpful, polite and efficient. The restaurant was extremely busy but all our needs were catered to and when we needed assistance we were seen to straight away. 

Do you love Frankie and Benny's as much as I do? What's your favourite dish?

I'll be back with my second review from their breakfast menu soon so watch out for that.

Lucy ox

Quotes to live by

I find so much affirmation and inspiration in quotes I read in books, hear in films or find online. Here are some quotes I take with me through everyday life and find especially empowering as a female.

Do you have a favourite quote? I'd love to hear it. 

All of these quotes were sourced via pinterest and can be found on my 'quotespiration' board here.

Lucy ox

Following your dreams

Via Pinterest

When I was in school and somebody would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up the answer was always the same. I didn't care so long as it paid well. If you asked me that same question now, the answer couldn't be more different. I want my days to be filled with a job that ignites the fire in my belly, fills my voice with passion and makes Monday mornings seem less than hellish.

A few weeks ago I realised I was letting something I really dislike doing get in the way of something I love. I've been so bogged down studying for a course I constantly feel I'm blagging that I forgot there's something in my life that makes me happy and people have actually told me I'm quite good at - writing.

Exam dates had just been released and I was making a not of them along with my other deadlines when the realisation hit me. 'I'm on the wrong path' I thought to myself. But what could I do? I'm too far into my journey to reverse, there's too much traffic to do a U-turn and if I continue to follow the sat nav I'll never reach my desired destination.

I panicked for a little while, sat on my bed in a complete state of worry that I was going to end up in a miserable rut when I realised that if I didn't like where I was heading, the only way to reach a different destination was to reconfigure the sat nav.

After countless hours of researching career databases, job requirements an company profiles I found myself with what just might be a feasible career path to follow. Granted the journey is a little long, the roads may be uneven and I'm well prepared for a few uphill starts, I know it will be worth it.

They say you must follow the path to happiness. I disagree. You have to create the path to your own kind of happiness regardless of where that may be or how difficult it is to get there.

Love Lucy
ox

Primark haul: January 2014

I love reading Primark hauls so thought I'd do one of my own. I haven't bought too much lately just needed to stock up on more essential bits for the new year

How adorable are these owl and floral print tweezers?! I had a brow emergency and was very reluctant to pay a lot for some tweezers that I'd probably only use once. When I popped into Primark I fell in love and they were only £1 for a pack of two!

Yup, like everybody else I caved in and bought this. It's so beautifully soft and warm. I have a feeling I'll be wearing it for the duration of winter. It cost £10 which is a bargain compared to similar ones in Topshop.

I've had my eye on this top for months and I was so happy that my Mum kindly bought me it. The Beatles are one of my favourite bands of all time and baseball style T's are definitely my thing so ya know, match made in heaven and all that!

      

I received the green one for Christmas and bought myself the red one. They're a bargain at £3 and are prefect for those student nights out where you don't want to make too much of an effort but can't exactly rock up to the club in your converse, leggings and hello kitty PJ top (I would if I could).

Flowers? Check. Oversize? Check. Bargain? Check. I didn't buy into the daisy print tees last year. I couldn't find anything that was truly me but I think this top will look gorgeous with some casual skinny jeans and a chunky statement necklace. At only £5 I couldn't resist. I want to wear it now but think I'll wait for spring.

What have you been buying at Primark lately?

Lucy ox