Blogs I Love - The Style PA

I've been meaning to start this blog feature for a while. I love blogging, and I thought I'd start a feature to celebrate the blogs and bloggers that inspire me, provide me with a myriad of lovely things to look at and a window into their world... First up.......... The Style Pa

For those of you that don't know, The Style PA aka Jenny, is my older sister. Here we are together in Camden Horse Market. She has been blogging for many years now and it was her blogging antics that inspired me to start writing my own blog. She helped me set up All About Abbie as a little creative outlet and a way of sharing my baking, things I love and places I go. After over two years of blogging, she still helps me out by sending lovely blog ideas my way and every now and again I accompany her on bloggers events. Although my style is very different to my sister's, I love reading her blog and finding out what she's been up to, for the latest fashion trends and product reviews. Also, we currently live 200 miles away, me in Leeds, her in London, so it's another way of keeping in contact.

She is always here there and everywhere and sharing her fashionista escapades on her blog.

She loves shoes and owns a wardrobe-full of them (she even owns some formidable heels that are completely unwearable, but totally gorgeous, therefore, worth owning!)

She's got style!

She's the perfect shopping companion! She encouraged me to wear dresses when I thought they wouldn't suit me or flatter my shape... and now I own hundreds (near enough!)

She shares my love of frozen yoghurt aka "fro yo"

She's an Aussie gal! She got me into Aussie's fabulous hair products after I spent two weeks with her for my alternative placement at London aquarium... I borrowed some of her shampoo and I was hooked!

Finally... 5 Facts that you might not know about The Style Pa

1. She styled an outfit for Britains Next Top Model Live

2. She also blogs for Yell.com for interior design

3. Her first job from uni was for a magazine company, which included titles such as: Knitting magazine, Dolls house magazine and woodworking plans and projects

4. She was named number 34 in the top 50 fashion insiders on Twitter and eatured in the April 2010 blogger issue of Company magazine for my role as Debenhams blog editor

5. She had an altercation with Whigfield on Twitter after she revealed her real age to her followers (she wasn't impressed, she's over 40 by the way!)

Mark Steel in Harrogate - Cheesecake, Chocolate Badgers, Buskers and Bettys!

Yesterday me and Danny headed over to Harrogate to see the brilliant Mark Steel in Harrogate Theatre. It was part of 'Mark Steel's In Town' tour and at each venue he tailored part of the stand-up to celebrate the quirkiness of each town on the tour. Me and Danny travelled to Harrogate from Leeds, which, as it turned out, quite a lot of people in the theatre had done the same, much to Mark Steel's dismay when it came to the Harrogate section of his standup! :) It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and my face hurt from laughter afterwards. If you havn't seen Mr Mark Steel in action then I highly recommend going to see him.

Waiting for the man himself to grace the stage...

Betty's Famous Tea Rooms in Harrogate - It was the topic of many of Mark Steel's jokes! We didn't go in for several reasons: one, the queue went round the block, two, it was incredibly expensive, and three I don't think I even had enough money on me to buy a drink, let alone one of their amazing looking cakes!

However, the food in the window did look good!

Yummy looking olive bread

The Betty's Easter Egg Display

Chocolate badger anyone?? (For £20!)

The buskers by the war memorial were brilliant, they played Minnie the Moocher and I Wanna Be Like You.

We went to Wagamama's for dinner. I had a scrummy chicken katsu curry and Danny had noodles, and duck dumplings. I had the most amazing white chocolate and ginger cheesecake with chilli toffee sauce for dessert. It was gorgeous! I've never really had the "chilli and chocolate" combination before and to begin with it was a bit strange having the heat of the chilli in the toffee sauce, but it was lovely! Danny chose the Japanese cherry cheesecake which was equally as delicious!

A lovely vintage picic basket in a nearby vintage and secondhand shop.

So many of the buildings in Harrogate are beautiful: even the Wetherspoons had a wonderful building.

And finally, I'll leave you with this little gem. I noticed this lingerie shop 'Fit To Bust'. The "which size are you?" window display made me smile.

A Post for My Mum - Trees of Horsforth Park

This is a little post for my mum. Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I decided to take myself and my camera down to Horsforth park. My mum loves trees so I thought I'd take a few photos for her to enjoy! The sky was such a gorgeous blue colour, and although it was still quite chilly in the shade, the sunshine was glorious! These are my favourite kind of days where it's cool but sunny.


The spring flowers were making an appearance and lots of daffodils were almost ready to open. There's nothing a little splash of colour to brighten my day!

A leaning tree

The gate to the Japanese garden in Horsforth Park

The pond, bridge and waterfall of the Japanese garden

Pretty Floral Dress to Welcome the Spring Sunshine!

What a glorious sunny spring day it is today! This morning I handed in an assignment that I had been battling with so I went into town to treat myself to something pretty... and Peacocks certainly did not dissappoint with this gorgeous dress! I had to buy it... I justified my spending with the fact that I can use student discount in Peacocks so it doesn't count ;) Plus it comes with a belt, so I'm getting a little freebie in there too.

I love this cream floral print. My wardrobe, expecially my dresses wardrobe (yes, I have a whole separate wardrobe full of dresses!) is beginning to feature a lot of dresses from Peacocks at the moment: they're cheaper than most places and have a good range of styles and patterns that appeal to me.

Not the most fabulous photo of me... I'm not as photogenic as many other bloggers out there, so I tend to avoid outfit posts. But after putting the dress on as soon as I got home I couldnt resist sharing mm love for it with you all!

Not only is the dress available in the cream florals, but also in this very cute blue and white bird print too! Plus it's inexplicably £2 cheaper for the blue version... I think I know what I'll be buying next! But for now I'm going to put on a warm cardigan and have a sunny walk in the park to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Colouring Book Wallpaper by Jon Burgerman

I love this colouring book wallpaper designed by Jon Burgerman. I was always a child who doodled and coloured in... I won the colouring-in competition twice at primary school :) and I just know that, given the chance, I would have spent every waking moment trying to fill every white space! What I needed as my doodling outlet was this fabulous wallpaper.

Sending mixed messages to children about the "do not draw on the walls" rule? I say that this is just plain old good fun! You'd definitely have to stockpile felt tip pens though... how annoying would it be to run out halfway through!

Here's the slightly more grown up version of the great colouring book wallpaper.

I'm just waiting for a cupcake themed colouring book wallpaper and I'm there!

A Beautiful Victorian Cottage in the Woods

I came across this beautiful and dreamy Victorian cottage on the New York Times' website. Sandra Foster turned this little hunting lodge into the romantic Victorian cottage that she had always wanted. The only way to reach the cottage is via a stream with a rocky bridge. It's like something straight from a fairy tale! It's so adorable, I absolutely love it!

I was the sort of child that dreamt about having treehouses and secret hide-outs. This has continued to this day... I know that in my dream home I would make the architect plan in a secret room, preferably accessed through a secret door in a bookcase. So the fact that the cottage can only be reached by tiptoing across a stream really appeals to the big kid in me.

Sandra collected fabrics, vintage crockery, the chandeliers, and other shabby chic treasures from flea markets or made them herself. She also decorated with handmade tissue paper flower garlands. I love the cooler shades of white and green used in the cottage and the billowing and draping white fabrics.

This lovely sachet was made by a local artist that Sandra acquired and used to adorn her pantry door.

How magical is the sleeping area? I just love it! This is like the ultimate (and most amazingly gorgeous) bunk bed! It is only accessibly via a ladder. I could just imagine whiling away the hours here reading books in my own little world.

Such a beautiful shot.

Edinburgh - Calton Hill And Beautiful Views!

Here are some more photos from my trip to Edinburgh on the weekend. On our last day we went up to the top of Calton Hill to take in the views and look at the monuments. It was right by our hotel so the perfect last call before we jumped on the train back to Leeds. I'm so glad we made time to go there as the views were beautiful! We could see for miles!

(My obsession with interesting doors and gates that started on my trip to Italy continues...)

Danny enjoying the views of the old part of the city and Edinburgh Castle

Me with the Portuguese cannon and the National Monument in the background

I LOVE this building... I wan't to live there!