All About Abbie - get to know a bit more about me!

This blog is inspired by the wonderful PolkaDot Rach author of Polkadot Stripes blog. Polkadot Rach has got to present a visual CV for her university application that expresses who she is, and she urged us lovely lot on the twittersphere and in the blog world to make our our visual CV's as a way of sharing a little bit about ourselves... so I thought I would take her up on it... here goes!

I used polyvore to present my Visual CV and I split it into three sections... my style, my loves/hates, and my jobs...

My Style by abbiehayden featuring Miss Selfridge dresses

My loves/hates by abbiehayden on Polyvore.com

My jobs by abbiehayden featuring Nike activewear

Beautiful Books from Anthropologie

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a bit of an obsession with books. I have too many to fit on all of my shelves, I have boxes under the bed and boxes in my parents house... and my collection keeps growing! I have a rather eclectic taste in books as well, I have everything from Spanish traditional stories to antique songbooks, and Harry Potter to Pride and Prejudice. My latest list of books for my increasingly large wish list are these delightful little books from Anthropologie.

I love love love these classic books with quirky covers - £12.99. For me, a book is not entirely about content (of course that is incredibly important though) but it is about the look and feel of the book too, and these books are just appealing in every way.

I adore the cover of this book, The Domino Book of Decorating. - £20

I am an avid baker and I am keen to add this little traditional baking recipe book to my collection of cook books - £15.99

Love this cute little guide to vintage! - £12.99

I really must make this book, The Doorbells of Florence, mine! It is so very unique... the book blurb says, "Ring into your imaginative side as Andrew Losowsky's alluring photographs of doorbell panels in Florence inspire stories of the lives of the people who may have dwelled at each address" - £11.99

And finally... I definitely need this for my summer! The lovely Italian recipes for the summer cook book - £24.95

Holiday dresses fit for Italy!

I am a very lucky young lady, I'm off to Italy for two weeks! This time on Monday I will be in Rome and I am incredibly excited. It is my first holiday in about four years, and it is definitely much needed! My aim for this holiday, is to pack nothing but pretty dresses (aside from the swimming costume, naturally) nothing makes me happier than gorgeous dresses and sunshine!

As soon as my last exam was over I decided to go into Leeds and treat myself to a nice dress or two! I have got quite a few casual day dresses so I splashed out on this gorgeous floral dress adorned with pearls from Dorothy Perkins. Perfect for a nice meal out in Rome!

I have been totally lusting after this beautiful blue floral dress from Peacocks since I saw online, I went into the shop with the express wish to add this little beauty to my collection of dresses... but to my dismay they had totally sold out of my size! So I will have to admire this lovely dress from afar...

New house in the old Town...

My parents have moved into a lovely new house in the Old Town in Hastings. The location is absolutely perfect: 3 minutes to the beach, 3 minutes to the country park, 3 minutes from the old town shops, bars and restaurants... in fact, it's more or less 3 minutes from everywhere (anywhere worth going anyway)! The building itself is gorgeous too, it's a listed building and has 4 floors on split levels. Because it is an old house it has absolutely tons of character and it has some lovely old fashioned features that, with a little love and attention, will be absolutely lovely.

This is the view from my little bedroom in the "servants quarters" on the top floor.

The front garden, a view from my bedroom window.

There are a LOT of stairs... you get a little dizzy going from the top floor to the bottom floor!

The tiles in the bathroom - some might say that they are old fashioned, but I love them!

The fireplace in the kitchen complete with pretty flowers :)

The country park, (AKA the back garden!) is such a beautiful place to go walking with Rufus, there are absolutely gorgeous views, and if I'm feeling particularly adventurous I can walk across the fire hills towards Fairlight and beyond!

Needless to say Rufus loves where we are living now, what dog wouldn't love living so close to all this wide green space!

Beautiful Aussie Hair!

I recently went to stay with my lovely sister Jenny, AKA The Style PA and naturally I used some of her hair products while I was there. She had the Aussie 'Luscious Long' shampoo and conditioner... and it made my hair feel so gorgeous that I had to invest in some Aussie shampoo of my own! Unlike my sister, my hair has the tendency to get frizzy and just plain crazy whenever it wants to. So it takes a lot of taming... and the Aussie 'Frizz miracle' does just that! It makes my hair feel gorgeous, it smells great and does exactly what it says on the tin, what more could I want?

Frizz Miracle Shampoo... here's what Aussie has to say "Got static, erratic hair? here's a helping hand. Now you can stop fretting about hair that simply won't behave, and start enjoying hair that does! Aussie Frizz Miracle banishes erratic flyaway locks, leaving you with a sleek and silky do."

The Frizz Miracle shampoo and conditioners have natural extracts to help them work their magic with your hair... Aussie says "Those cuddly koalas are smarter than they look. Australian Blue Gum leaves are simply amazing, especially when infused in this gentle formula that effortlessly tames any frizzy mane. How ingenious!"

It's official... I am a total Aussie shampoo convert! (and you should be too!) try the Aussome Volume range for limp and lifeless hair, Colour Mate range for coloured hair, miracle moist range for dry hair, mega range for everyday use, 3 minute miracle deep conditioner, heat protection spray, curl defining sprays, hairsprays and more... find all of the products on the absolutely brilliant Aussie Website.

Dollydagger - 50's polka dot dresses!

Well, it has been a little while since my last post, I've been a busy little bee! But, I got an email from one of my favourite websites, Dollydagger, and I got a little bit excited so I have found time to share it with you all... They have brought back their stock of beautiful polka dot 50's dresses!

Gorgeous satin sweetheart swing dress - £75

Beautiful red and white polka dot swing dress - £75 Also available in blue and white, and black and white, and black and red (shown below)

I just absolutely love Dollydagger, I think that that has a little something to do with the fact that if I click on the "I just love... polka dots" link, it shows me every item of stock that has polka dots... something that comes in handy for a polka dot addict like myself!

No 50's dress is complete without the full pretty petticoat - £45

Miss Selfridge - Kitsch and Cute Jewellery

I am a bit of a reformed jewellery addict. Between me and my older sister when we lived together we had enough earrings to wear a different pair every day of the year. My obsession with quirky jewellery has been curbed somewhat recently (mostly due to lack of funds and a poor student lifestyle) however, I have been tempted by these cute and kitsch pieces of jewellery from Miss Selfridge...

Cute and Kitsch Teapot ring - £7

Kitsch and cute teacup ring - £6

Beautiful filigree pearl ring - £9

Plus... it wouldn't be right if I didn't include a little bit of polka dot, with this lovely black and white polka dot ring - £5

The Writing on the Wall - Chalkboard Paint

As a young child I had a sort of fascination with drawing on the walls. I always found it irresistible and so appealing. I think it was something about having all that space to draw, along with the fact that I wasn't allowed to do it of course! So naturally I love the idea of chalkboard paint. There are just so many ways to use it and to let your creative juices flow. After trawling the wonderful world wide web of blogs I found some really lovely ideas.

via Design Sponge - I need one of these for work, making 6 cups of tea and then remembering whose is whose gets a bit tricky!

Via Bedzine - I think this is a great idea, and all sorts of things can be painted with chalkboard paint: bottles, boxes, plant pots etc.

I love this! It's a brilliant way of writing up and remembering some of my favourite recipes.

Via Everything Fabulous - no longer will you need x-ray eyes to know what's in the kitchen cupboards!