An afternoon at Ascot

I got the wonderful opportunity to attend Ascot on the 17th October for the QIPCO Champions Day*. Me and a group of other bloggers got the chance to experience the Winning Post package at the Pavillon Restaurant which included a four course lunch, afternoon tea and drinks on tap. The food was delicious, the drinks were a great addition to a wonderful afternoon and the company was delightful.

Dress: Very / Coat: New Look (similar here & here) / Shoes & Bag: H&M (similar here & here)

I decided to wear this dress which I got from Very in the Rochelle Humes collection. It fit like a glove, was figure hugging enough on the bottom half and looser of top so you didn't feel too constricted. I love the autumnal pattern and the hint of purple in it, which I feel really suits my skin tone. I was lucky enough to have a bag and some pretty heels that matched the purple of the dress really nicely to bring the look together. I got the hat very last minute online but I didn't actually like it all that much so I barely wore it but it was nice to have and I threw on this old coat as it was the only one I could find that kind of went with everything. 

Champagne, wine and my favourite flowers covered the table when we entered the restaurant. It was a beautiful sight to say the least, you can't go wrong with a few bubbles.

For the people who decided not to dine at one of their restaurants, there were lots of food trucks to choose from if you got a little peckish. Even this super adorable vintage ice cream van that I was very tempted by.

Our starter was a prawn pate with crayfish, anchovies and a crisp bread. It was nice, light and refreshing for a starter, which just made me hungrier for the next course so I had so snack on some bread in between.

After the starter we checked out the first race. I annoyingly forgot cash with me on this one so I sat out of the first few. It was exciting to watch as the atmosphere is always full of energy and adrenaline, which is what makes the races so great to begin with. 

We then went back for our main which was a delightfully tasty roast chicken, fondue potato and a side of peas, pancetta and kale. There was just enough there to satisfy your cravings and without making you feel too full. Plus I loved that kale was an option on something like this, I really enjoyed it.

I soon found a cash point and put in some bets! I'm not the gambling kind but its good fun for a one off and it really is addictive once you win. I actually won on Solow on the left which was brilliant! I didn't win my money back but it was a laugh all the same.

 To finish our meal was a tiramisu with chantilly cream and a buttery biscuit crumb. I'm not the biggest coffee fan but I do have a sweet tooth so this went down pretty quickly. It was at this point I started to get really full but that wasn't the end of delicious food for us.

The queen of England (taken on iphone)

We then had a cheese and cracker plate to devour which excited me the most. I am a massive fan of cheese and with wine at the table, I had me my very own cheese and wine night. I actually missed a lot of this as I went to see if I had won a mini cooper in a number raffle they had for the whole of Ascot. The chances were like 1 out of 9,000 but still, its a FREE car! 

I sadly didnt win but I ended up being much happier about this as on the way back I got stopped at a barrier and couldnt get through. A few moments later the queen came elegantly out the of entrance. THE QUEEN! This was an OMG moment for me as it was only a few days later I was explaining to my housemates that I would die a sad person if I never got to see the queen in real life, and there she was!! This was a massive highlight to me and a huge tick off my bucket list. Thank you iphone for not running out of storage too, I appreciate it!

When I got over my shock of the day I came back to a beautifully selected Afternoon Tea. Full of delicious treats, sandwiches and tea for us all to share. I didn't think I could eat anymore but as it was there in front of me, I couldn't help myself.

Carolin (left) & Primrose (right)

The day ended with us all having chats around the table and getting to know each other a little better. This was a good way for me to push myself out of my comfort zone and be more confident with myself. I tried my best to chat to everyone and stop myself from pulling my famous RBF and I think I done okay. Thank you so much to Ladbrokes and Victoria and Will from Branded3 for inviting us and making it such a wonderful day. It was lovely to meet you and the other bloggers who attended who I have followed on twitter for ages and some new faces too, they were all so genuine and a delight to talk to.  

Check them out here: Little Miss Katy / Beautyfromthefjord / Style Lingua / StylePetalBlog / CharlieDistracted / CardifforniaGurl / StyleLobster / Paleandinteresting

(p.s sorry if i missed anyone off, that I spoke to I'm the worst with remembering names)

Also congratulations to Primrose for winning best outfit of the day. You looked gorgeous and it was truly deserved! 

I got home shattered from the day but with great memories that I will always keep. I had a gift toopen when I got home that Vic and Will had arranged, which was this amazing tea cup with our names on. On the back it has the date and venue written on it as a beautiful keepsake from the day. I have already used it a lot and I feel the queen would appreciate this amazing gesture too.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my day. You should definitely go with friends or family next year and experience it for yourself, if only to get all dressed up for the day. 

Until next week...Love Khrissie x

British Baking - Chockie Tea

So its the weekend and whats better than chilling out and doing a spot of baking? The good thing about having three housemates is that they can test all my creations for me so I know your getting the best recipes, I am sure they will agree.

Today I have a recipe for you that is quintessentially British! Its important to be proud of where you come from, because it makes you who you are, from the accent to the humour and quirky ways of doing things. There are lots of things about Britain that I love, one of the main things being tea! On my trip to Asia I don't think I had a cup of the good stuff the whole time I was away, mainly because they just don't make it the same over there. Green tea on the other hand is pretty nice but I love the proper builders tea with a dash of milk and one sugar. (I'm not particular at all!)

This is a really tasty cookie recipe and tastes like your drinking a cup of tea without actually drinking it. Its a weird concept but it really works. I dipped the cookie in tea coloured chocolate to add an indulgent feel to the cookie and to make it feel as if its been dipped in the tea. Everyone loves chocolate so you can't go wrong, but if you have not got much of a sweet tooth you can leave it off.

Ingredients: (Makes 12)
125g butter
3 black tea bags
100g light brown soft sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
100g white chocolate
100g milk chocolate

To make:
1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2/ Melt the butter in a pan or microwave (dont boil). Once all melted add in tea leaves
from the tea bags and mixed until combined. Wait a few minutes for the butter to cool.
3/ Add the sugars to the bowl and mix in the butter and tea mixture until blended.
4/ Combine the egg and vanilla into the mix and stir well.
5/ Sift in the flour and stir in slowly until combined into a dough.
6/ Either roll out the dough into a sausage shape and cut into even cookies or roll into little balls and squash slightly.
7/ Place the cookies on a baking tray, giving enough room between the cookies as they will spread.
8/ Cook for 7-10 minutes depending how soft or crunchy you want them.
9/ While the cooking are baking heat up a pan of water and melt the chocolate in a bowl above the water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl otherwise the chocolate will burn. Melt the white chocolate first, adding in the milk chocolate to achieve your perfect tea colour.
10/ Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before dunking them in the chocolate and allowing them to cool (if you can)
There you have it! Your very own British biscuit!

 

These really are tasty! and if you want more of a biscuit just give them a little longer in the oven. 

Now I am looking at these again I'm going to have to bake some as I have some spare dough left over from making this batch. If you want to refrigerate the dough like I do and make them fresh each time you fancy one then you can. Your friends will love you for it to!

I hope you enjoyed this British recipe and like the taste of them as much as me and my friends do. 

So what do you think of using usual flavours in cookies and biscuits? Do let me know if you make them, I'd love to see some pictures.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Love Khrissie x

Honest Shopping

Happy Monday Guys!
It feels like I haven't blogged in ages but it was actually only last week since I posted! Its been the busiest week but feels like I've been away for a month. Lots of life stuff has been going on lately so I feel I have been off he radar but I'm currently planning to schedule 3 posts a week, covering lifestyle, beauty and fashion in each of those days. I thought I would start with posting lifestyle on mondays, fashion will be on wednesdays and I think beauty will be on Saturdays. I'm going to see how I get on so bare with me while I get my feet on the ground.

So me and my lovely bestie Ellie have been friends for years and we occasionally meet up when we can; which we are sad about as it's not often, but it just so happens that we are now going to live together and we have  finally found somewhere! yay! I'm so happy! It was stressing me out big time and I'm so excited as I'm still living with Nick but Ellie and Rob are joining us too so I get to see her everyday! Best news ever!

Before this all came about we went for some lunch and done a spot of shopping on Oxford Street. Its mental at the weekend but as a tip to you all. Try go a little earlier than mid-day and have in mind what you want so you don't spend too long in shops. We actually spent most of our time in Topshop, you can see my haul for that here. These were some new sunglasses that I got while I was there as they are by the brand Quay Australia who I follow on Instagram and I have always loved their glasses! I never knew they were sold in shops in the UK so when I saw they had a stand I had to pick up a pair. These are quite different from most normal sunglasses but I love them! They are definitely a statement piece which can enhance the dullest of outfits.

For lunch we decided to go to Honest Burger in Soho as shock horror we have't been before. I do love a good burger but I can't eat too much wheat or red meat as my body doesn't seem to like it as much as my tastebuds do. I opted for the chicken burger with cheese and some onion rings on the side. Let me tell you...it was delicious!

I got a lemonade for my drink as lemonade is my favourite drink and so when it came served up in this glass with the cutest straw I couldn't have been any happier. The little things eh! I devoured what I could as there was so much food but I loved being in the little tucked away restaurant sitting at the window seat with my buddy and catching up on life, it was lovely! The whole decor and atmosphere is really nice, I would definitely recommend trying it out if you haven't been before. 

We ended up doing a little more shopping afterwards (back in Topshop and New Look) where I didn't find much else but we decided to have a tea stop as we hadn't had one all day and we were deprived. It was a really lovely day which was as much relaxed as busy. I must meet up with more friends like this over the coming weeks as I hardly get to see them much at the moment. (bad friend award)

So summer has officially ended and now on to Autumn, which is one of my favourite seasons. Dressing up in cosy scarves and coats is my favourite thing and I've already fallen in love with a grey leather-look coat in River Island which I just had to order...naughty me! (seriously in love though)

What have you been up to lately? Are you looking forward to Autumn?

Enjoy your week

Khrissie x

OOTD: Floral Kimono

Kimono / Select Fashion

Dress / H&M

Leggings / H&M

Shoes / Koi Coture (similar here)

Necklace / Primark

Lipstick / L'oreal liquid lipstick in Rose Symphony

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I hope your having a lovely day whatever your doing. In the weekdays I work my full-time graphic design job which takes up a lot of hours in the day. I'm always thinking about blogging in the back of my mind though and so I'm going to try and post an 'Outfit of the day' whenever I can in the week. Its going to be a real representation of what I wear on a daily basis as I really want this blog to be true to me and not too try hard.

Today I just chucked on this dress and leggings as I was having one of those mornings and I wanted to be comfy. I then realised how boring it was and hey presto the beloved kimono came out. Then I added the necklace and it still weren't enough. 'I was colour damn you!' and shining at me were these shoes. They are one hell of a statement but I love them and so did a few of my colleagues (with a few screwed up faces thrown in ha!)

On twitter/instagram I am going to post daily inspiration to try and help you guys out aswell. If its a tip I find or a quote I've thought of etc. We all need a little inspiration in our lives and so I thought this would be a good way to share the love. I'm going to use the hashtag #inspireyou so you can share inspiring thoughts etc too! My ideas book made me think of that :P....

p.s I can't seem to take this kimono off at the moment! I adore it and I can't believe I found it in select!
So if you see me in it a lot, I am washing it ha! but I'm just putting it straight back on, as you do..

Love Khrissie x

The British Tag #tealovers

Hello there,

So I'm a new blogger I have been trying to find ways to connect and meet new bloggers as my friends just don't get this whole 'blogger' thing so it's nice to talk to people with the same interest. After looking at Becky Bedbugs blog I saw that there were weekly chats for lifestyle, beauty and fashion bloggers etc and so I just had to get involved.

On one of these chats we ended up getting onto the conversation of tea and how much we love it, what biscuits if any we like to dunk etc... and so the hashtag #tealover was born! I was so content that this became a thing and so when Emily May done the British tag and nominated me I had to do it!

So here it goes.....

1. How many cups of tea do you drink a day? Any sugars?
I would say roughly 1-4 cups a day! Definitely one in the morning and in then in the afternoon, its definitely an 'Ahhhh!' moment for me when I drink it! 1 sugar please!


2. Favourite part of your roast?
Omgosh! How can I decide? I don't get roasts often but I'm going to have to say roast potatoes! Especially how my Grandad does them, they are to die for! (now im dreaming of them...)


3. Favourite dunking biscuit?
As Emily had mentioned in her post, this came up in our chat #tealovers and I am definitely a bourbon kind of girl! I had a good ol' dunk today actually.. so satisfying!


4. Favourite quintessentially British pastime?
Ooo mine would have to be a nice picnic in the park! I've always wanted to buy a proper picnic basket and have a check blanket to sit on with scones and cute little cakes. Ok... I need to make this happen this summer. I'll let you know how I get on.. a perfect picnic pack up post might be coming your way...


5. Favourite word?
oh this is easy 'darling'.... Darling is a great word! I like to talk in a proper british accent sometimes, just to accentuate part of a conversation. Weird I know but its great fun!


6. Cockney rhyme slang?
To be honest I don't know too many. The one that I have used, in what conversation I do not know is 'Bobby Dazzler'. Like...she's a right bobby dazzler (good looker)


7. Favourite sweets/chocolate?
This is hard to answer as I have a favourite chocolate/sweet then I get bored of it and I move on. At the moment I am in love with Daim bars! omg! and they are so hard to find but a part of Kraft. Before that I was loving Snickers..Mmm especially in Ice Cream format, which is British yay!


8. What would your pub be called?
'The Unicorn' I'm sure it already exists but I have a thing with them at the moment and the royal logo features a unicorn on it so real or not its British..he!


9. Favourite British person?
The Queen! She's amazing and I love all the co-ordination in her outfits, even down to the umberllas she uses. I think we can take some learnings from olde' queeny.


10. Favourite pub/restaurant?
I'm not even sure whats classed as British theses days but I bloody love a good pie and Pieminister do the best pie and mash ever! If you can I highly recommend you check them out, theres a pop up in Camden Town, London if your ever visiting....


11. What British song pops into your head?
Spice Girls 'When 2 becomes 1'.... weren't they just the best girl band EVER!!!


12. Marmite?
Uh yes! Sometimes its just needed on toast in the morning but its best in things like stews and casseroles. It's my little trick when ever I am making anything with mince/lentils as it just adds a kick of flavour which really benefits the dish.

Well that was good fun! You should definitely do this tag as I nominate everyone, no matter where in the world you are. You can create a post and link it to me as I'd love to see your answers or just comment below so I can have a gander.

...and don't forget to tweet #tealover if your a fan of the good stuff too!

Khrissie x