What's your cup of tea?

Green tea
Green tea has a high concentration of EGCG and has been widely studied. Green tea contains many antioxidants which can reduce the growth of a vast variety of cancers including breast, lung and stomach, cancer. These antioxidants also prevent the clogging of the arteries and help to lose weight- so drink up! The relaxing effect they have on the brain can reduce risk of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Chamomile tea
Studies show that the antioxidants in chamomile may help prevent complications from diabetes (eg loss of vision) and stunt the growth of cancer cells. This tea is very calming and relaxing and thus great to drink before going to bed.


Lemon and ginger tea
Both lemon and ginger are active ingredients which have positive effects on the body and mind. Ginger has active and beneficial ingredients suck as potassium, zinc, calcium, copper, magnesium and zingiber, and lemon contains pectin and limonene which are good for the immune system. A study shows that drinking lemon ginger tea can even kill salmonella and other bacterias due to the anti-oxidant properties in this drink!

Mint tea

Not peppermint tea! Tea made from mint leaves is my favourite as it's simply so tasty and refreshing! One of the many benefits of drinking mint tea is that its cleansing for the body reducing irritated bowel syndromes, cleanses the stomach and also clear up skin disorders such as acne. It also helps to combat bad breath leaving you minty fresh!

Rose tea
Roses have wonderful effects on the body because they are packed with Vitamin C, pectin, malic and citric acids. The benefits of drinking this include clearing toxins from the body which can relieve you from a sore throat, runny nose and blocked bronchial tubes. It can also fight off that bloated, sluggish feeling as it is a natural laxative. In addition the aroma has a relaxing effect that can relieve insomnia, depression and fatigue.

Love O
x

DIY: Dream jar/ Time capsule

 During my trip to the Isle of wight I collected shells from the beach which I then took home as a memory and souvenir of my time there. To begin with, I had my shells in a bowl but to make it more presentable I have now put it in a cute, little, decorated jar as a time capsule.
You could take this idea and use it for any little trinkets or souvenirs you wish to keep. You could put fairy-lights, stamps, feathers, glitter, buttons, sweets-literally anything in your jar. Like me, you may wish to keep your jar on a shelf in your room as a decoration or to give it to someone as a present.
 

What you'll need:

• Scissors
• Double sided sellotape
• Trinkets such as shells
• A jar
• Wallpaper or Patterned paper
• A ribbon

Guide

•  As the below show, you need to start by choosing a wallpaper for your lid. I chose a spare Laura Ashley floral wallpaper in cream and pink because this goes with the colours in my bedroom. 
• Trace the lid onto your wallpaper and cut around the trace mark so that it will fit perfectly onto your lid. 
• Stick double sided sellotape onto your lid and the rim of the lid. 
• Then stick down the previously traced wallpaper onto the lid and wrap the ribbon around the rim of the lid leaving enough ribbon left to make a little bow.
• Finally fill your jar with the contents you have chosen such as shells and ta-da you have your dream jar or time capsule!

Love O
x

How to make Italian Meatballs

Today I made delicious meatballs for dinner from scratch! They weren't as good as the Ikea ones but they would definitely give them a run for their money!

Ingredients: You can change the amount according to how many meatballs you want.

Minced meat (beef)

1/4 onion

1 clove of garlic

a handful of herbs such as basil, parsley, rosemary and oregano

pepper

pinch of salt

1 egg

flour

oil

tomato sauce

vegetable stock

Guide
Dice all the vegetables and herbs and place into a deep bowl. Put the meat into the same bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper and with your hands mix the ingredients together. Divide the mixture into round balls of any size you wish. The smaller they are the easier and faster they are to cook.

In another bowl, beat the egg as this is needed to make the meat hold together when frying. You now want to stir your meatballs in the beaten egg and then roll it onto flour until it is fully covered.

You then need to fry the meatball in a small/medium sized pan. I did mine in two loads starting with the smaller meatballs. Once they are all fried add the tomato sauce to the same pan along with a pinch of basil and half a cube of vegetable stock for flavour. After 10-15 minutes this dish should now be ready to eat!

Love O
x

FASHION: LBD and Bright Shoes

There's nothing better than a LBD right? To liven the simple wardrobe stable item add any bright and bold heel. This will give your dress a summer feel and also give you a chance to showcase those crazy shoe buys that you have never had the chance to wear!
Love O
x

Rachel Comey a line dress
lagarconne.com

Jimmy Choo turquoise sandals
bergdorfgoodman.com

Giuseppe zanotti heels
net-a-porter.com

McQ by Alexander McQueen pointy-toe pumps
couture.zappos.com

Giuseppe Zanotti neon pumps
stylebop.com

Kate Spade pointed heel pumps
footcandyshoes.com

Report platform shoes
heels.com

Steve Madden high heel sandals
stevemadden.com

Michael antonio sandals
heels.com

Ax pari
$42 - axparis.com

Violent Lips red lip makeup
$8.95 - thehut.com

BEAUTY: Summer Hairstyles

 Plaits are so in style right now! I love this fringe plait used to sweep hair away from the face and this messy plait. They look cute and girly but so boho and care-free. In addition, they both take no longer that 5 minutes to do! I'll definitely be wearing this hairstyle often as temperatures rise.

Tousled, wavy hair is perfect beach hair because it's so easy to carry off and looks good on everyone! To create this hairstyle just tip your hair upside down and hair-dry your hair whilst scrunching it slightly with your hands. For extra volume use mousse and scrunch it through the bottom of your hair.

Messy buns are perfect for the summer because they let air blow onto your neck s you can keep cool and also look very stylish. You want the bun to be messy, with loose hairs coming out of the bun and a side fringe sweeping your face, as oppose to a very neat and glamorous high bun as it looks over the top and far too 'red-carpet'.


Getting blonde or honey highlights will update your summer look and make it look like your hair has been sun-kissed from spending a week at a beach, in an exotic country. You can also buy a salt-water spray to give your hair that nonchalant bed head hair, full of texture. Alexandra Ambrósio always has stunning highlights and hair with lots of volume for an effortlessly sexy look.

Love O
x

Isle of Wight

I woke up in the early hours on Friday morning so excited to finally leave for Isle of Wight, that I ended up munching on gnocchi from the night before as I waited for my boyfriend Arun, to arrive. We left quite early for Southampton so that we could look around the area and make a day of it before getting on the ferry for 9pm. Even though it was late, the sun was just beginning to set so we sat on the top deck for a while until we were too cold to feel our hands.

We fell asleep snuggling and watching films, only to wake up in the same position ready for the day ahead. For breakfast, we were served a full English breakfast which was shoveled down my throat in a matter of minutes; I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before. We then set off on our adventure. The first place we went to was 'Wildlife Encounter' in Seaview which was so much fun! We could actually pet and feed some of the animals and we loved the Wallabies so much that Arun bought me a toy Wallaby, to take home with me! We loved it so much here as it was so peaceful and idyllic that we decided to have a Banoffee pie and a cheesecake for lunch at the zoo's cafe. We then drove down to Shanklin especially to go to the Rock Shop, as they have the most amazing old fashioned sweets where I bought my granddad a box of fudge for his birthday present, marshmallows for my mum and a rock sweet for my sister. After spending the day driving around, Arun treated me to dinner at an Indian restaurant where the food was delicious! We were so full after our meal that not only could we not finish it, we also had to rest our bloated bellies after. As the evening set in we went to Yates as it was across the road from us and had a few drinks.

Day 2 in Isle of Wight was cold and windy. After our English breakfast we drove to Blackgang Chine. However, inferior to our expectations this so called 'theme park' was desolate and barren with few rides to enjoy, so we got back into the car and set off on an adventure! We drove around Isle of Wight, looking at different areas of interest and finally found a little pathway and a pebble beach where we collected shells to take home. As it was cold we went to amazon world for a few hours, where we saw exotic animals such as an ocelot, lemurs, monkeys and many more! Bored, we drove back to Newport and on our way found a Cineworld and remembered that 'Dispicable Me 2' had just been released which we both really wanted to watch. So, we got a large hot-dog and nachos for dinner and enjoyed the movie: The whole cinema was left giggling at the minions and left in awe at the end with the daughter's cute speech. We ended our evening at a local pub with a pint accompanied with good old banter as we chatted the night away.

We were so sick of English Breakfast by the last day that we didn't eat breakfast. Instead we headed off to find a garlic farm as Arun wanted to take 'wet garlic' home. Following this we headed off to Ryde where we ate a kebab for lunch and bought ourselves American style sweets such as lucky charms, pop tarts and a Wonka bar! The pop tarts were scrumptious; we had the fudge sundae ones. We ended our last hours in Isle of Wight with a stroll along the sandy beach, watching the sun slowly set before we set off to take the ferry home.

Love O
x