Chelsea Flower Show 2017 / Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

Enjoying a Pimm's in the sunshine seems to be such a novelty during the British summertime! I share a few photographs from the Chelsea Flower Show 2017 and hope you enjoy them! I also attended the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to see their summer musical- 'On The Town'. It was lovely to see it having been recently revived in 2014 on Broadway.

CFS 2017

Pre-Show

Interval

Finalé

Farewell to The Waldorf Astoria NYC

A message to the Waldorf NYC and The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria staff:

My first trip to New York took place in the summer (2016)- we stayed in the towers with everything start to finish being wonderful. We were upgraded to a suite and opened the door to find 4 of the most scrumptious red velvet cupcakes I have ever tasted- things like these were the little touches that made the stay so special to me and my father. On our last morning we had brunch at the Bull and Bear (the banana smoothies, bacon, fruit.... it was delicious.... while in conversation with our waiter, he informed us of the hotels planned closure for renovations lasting over 3 years and employees who had worked there for years (the people who made our experience special) were being made redundant. 

Upon reflection of our holiday we decided to return to see in the New Year of 2017. We returned in late December to see our familiar porter in the Towers lobby, the same delicious cupcakes, the same spectacular corridors that I still think about (I noticed them in Madam Secretary!). I adored New York City but the Waldorf remains the most memorable part without question.

The tours (Summer with Joan & Winter with Karen) gave us access to many of the behind the scenes of the hotel- memorably talking to the chefs in the patisserie section of the kitchens, the starlight room and the grand ballroom...

I am delighted to have had the pleasure of staying at the landmark that is the Waldorf Astoria. I wish everyone all the best in their following ventures.

The Corridors of The Towers

The Towers Entrance

Lunch in the Bull and Bear

The Grand Ballroom

Peacock Alley 

The best nights sleep!

NYE 2017

NYE 2017

Bicester Village- October 2016 Visit

I recently visited Bicester village in Oxford. I have normally driven, however on this occasion I decided to take the train from London Marylebone Station. The train journey was surprisingly fast, only taking around 50 minutes. I used the 'train line.com' app to book tickets and they cost under £20 for a return journey. The Bicester Village train station is a short 2 minute walk along a signed path to the shopping village. After arriving, I had a look at many of the inviting stores offering their enticing goods, DVF was even offering a glass of champagne and a cupcake in aid of the recent refurbishment of their new store.

A welcoming arrival at the station

Gucci turned out to be a little disappointing with many of the bags and accessories for sale seeming like they had been produced purely for an outlet market.

Gucci- located along the path to the train station.

Next came Valentino where there were many couture creations, shoes (heels, trainers but none from the rockstud line). There were also a few bags from mainline previous seasons.

Valentino- next to Moncler.

In my opinion Yves Saint Laurent had a great selection for an outlet store. The selection of bags included cabas bags as shown below, bowling bags, 'YSL' metal clutches, suede fringe bags and a couple of exotic combination college bags.

YSL Cabas Bags


I chose to lunch in Villandry, a favourite of mine (they have a fabulous branch in Great Portland Street!). As photographed I chose the deliciously salty Fish and Chips.

Lunch at Villandry


After a spot more shopping at Calvin Klein and Kate Spade the time had come to return to Marylebone. I must mention that Bicester Village train station is fabulous (complete with wifi, charging points, water..the list continues!), there is comfortable and luxurious seating with a traditional railway conductor (complete with top hat!) present to ensure you don't miss your train. If you have the chance to visit, I would highly reccomend it!

Until next time! ALBTM

Chanel Shopping at Heathrow Terminal 5, UPDATED 2016

During the summer in late July I took a holiday to New York, wanting to score my first Chanel purchase at a cheaper price tag, I knew of the notorious price savings (known to be around 12-16%)at this popular airport boutique so I commenced my research in March! After reading the limited blogs that I managed to find on the subject I grasped (albeit with limited understanding of the Chanel models available with the saving at this specific boutique), with only a few bag models being available, however that was about all I managed to grasp from my research with the stated prices on various blogs being a few years out of date and with constant price increases. Therefore, after going through the process successfully and managing to nab a classic Chanel bag (with a saving of a few hundred pounds!!), I decided to create an updated blog post on the matter.

To begin with their policy states that you can reserve two bags 24 hours before your departure. Lusting after a black WOC with caviar leather and silver hardware (preferably being manufactured in France!), I phoned the boutique to learn that I had reserved the last one- phew!

Arriving at the airport, after passing the south terminal of security, the Chanel boutique is located one level below towards the left. I had the opportunity of browsing a few other bags before inspecting the one that I had reserved, I noted that although Classic flap bags were not present there were;

BAGS

-Boy bags (I spotted a lambskin old medium for around £2,800)

-Many seasonal pieces including the canvas Deauville Tote bags (priced at around £1,500)

-A good selection of WOCS

-GST bags

SHOES

The same selection that you would see in a normal boutique including the trademark black ballerina pumps in black lambskin/calfskin, quilted, plain leather and in suede.

Also I spotted some boots and sling backs.

In addition, there were also scarfs, SLG's, a range of their traditional costume jewellery and a multitude of clothes.

PRICE

In terms of price, I flew unfortunately on the day of the Brexit price increase (15th July 2016), however the price I paid was still significantly less that the original boutique price before the increase.

For my Black WOC with Silver hardware:

Price before 15th July increase in normal boutique = £1,380

Price after 15th July increase in normal boutique = £1,470

Price I paid at Heathrow T5 boutique = £1,220

Please let me know if you have any other questions and I will try best to answer them!

Until next time! ALBTM