I’m Moving Sites!

I’ve been considering upgrading my blog and taking it to the next level for a while now. Unfortunately, between working all summer, moving abroad and studying, there hasn’t been much time. But I’m home for Christmas and what better time to put the plan into action than when I have an exam in 5 days?

I’ve bought a self-hosted domain name, changed the theme to make it all grown up and will be posting on that website from now on. So, without further ado, please give my shiny new blog a follow as you might find it quite boring following a blog that’s no longer being updated. Wouldn’t want to be missing out on all the good stuff now would ya!

From now on, you can find me at – http://www.feathersandbutterflies.co.uk/

Thanks for all your support and see you on the other side!

Sascha xo

 

Hungry House | Cheap Chow (*)

If you’re a student, then you will know just as well as me what it is like to be living on a tight budget. If you’re a student that can’t cook, then you’ll probably know even more about depending on takeaway or care packages from the parents.

However, take aways can soon add up and completely mess up the year’s weekly food budget that you worked so tirelessly to put together at the beginning of the year. That’s why hungryhouse  have launched their student-only Cheap Chow discount programme which guarantees to give students first0dibs on the best takeaway deals in town.

Cheap Chow is a student-only newsletter that hungryhouse sends out throughout the academic year informing students about the best deals, discounts and offers available on their website. If this wasn’t enough, every student who signs up to Cheap Chow also gets a big fat 20% discount to use on hungryhouse. 

How can I sign up? I hear you cry….

It’s pretty simple really – just go to the hungryhouse Cheap Chow page and pop in your name and university email address. You’ll then receive your discount via email. The Cheap Chow programme (and the 20% discount) is open to all students who have a valid University email address!

Whether you’re a Fresher that has yet to learn how to boil pasta, or a 3rd year who has far too much work to worry about as well as cooking, hungryhouse have also compiled a guide to the UK’s most student-friendly takeaways in order to help you get to know the best bargain takeaways in your city.

What’s your favourite takeaway? Any particular recommendations? Let me know in the comments below!

Croissants & Cafe Cremes | A Year Abroad in France

This post is the definition of self-promotion but it is a just a quick few words and a pretty picture of Strasbourg to encourage you to check out my year abroad blog….

How could you resist?

A month after moving to France, I finally have Internet and enough time to launch my year abroad blog properly. I probably won’t be posting on here as regularly as I’ll be focusing more on my travel blog during the year, so if you’re interested head on over to https://croissantsandcafecremes.wordpress.com/ and give it a cheeky follow!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

Lunching & Leaving | Dishoom & Bounce Ping Pong

Your first thought when you read this post may be ‘what an odd title’ but to me, it fits perfectly with how I spent my Friday.

I ate lunch at Dishoom (followed by a couple of drinks at the rather cool Bounce Ping Pong bar) and then left one of my best friends from uni for the whole year! As I prepare for my year abroad, I’m saying goodbye to more and more people and it’s all getting way too real far too quickly.

One silver lining to the fact I’m leaving, though, is that my friends and I are making the most of the few London days I have left.

By the time you’re reading this I will have moved to France (oo, how exciting!), but I thought I’d fill you in on what I got up to over my last couple of weeks in London.

One (rainy) Friday afternoon, I met up with two of my best friends from uni for two of my favourite things – lunch and drinks.

We went to Dishoom for lunch and as a drink I ordered the Bombay Colada. As I was still slightly fragile from the night before (whoops), I ordered for the non-rum version. However, it was still beautifully refreshing!

For starters, we then ordered the Bhel and the Okra Fries (to die for!). Definitely worth skipping my mid-morning snack for.

I particularly loved how authentic the place was – complete with a little snippet of the Dishoom story written at the top of the menu.

We then moved on to some Lamb Chops, Ramali Roti and Gunpowder Potatoes. I’m being 100% honest when I say I can’t fault a thing – it was all so mouth-wateringly good.

While my friends opted for the Kala Khatta Gola Ice for pudding (which I have to say is a rather acquired taste), I stuck to a good old-fashioned cup of House Chai. It definitely hit the spot.

After recovering from our food babies, we then headed off to Chancery Lane to check out London’s hip new ping-pong bar Bounce.

It seems quite expensive at £10 per table per 30 minutes, but if you split it between a group it’s really not that bad.

If you enjoy having a laugh with your mates and want to try something other than bowling, then Bounce is definitely worth a trip. Make sure you book if you’re going on a Friday night, though, as it was heaving by about 5pm with after work socials!

The bar was also particularly swish at Bounce and between 3 of us, it only cost £13 each for a cocktail & 30 minutes of Ping Pong.

Anywhere that serves Prosecco cocktails gets my vote & it would make the perfect first date venue!

All in all, it was a pretty successful adventure. Where are your favourite alternative places to go in London? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

 

 

 

 

Lifestyle | How to Throw the Perfect Cocktail Party

You will need

• A somewhat copious supply of alcohol
• A cocktail shaker
• Mason jars
• Mixers
• Hors d’oeuvres (more commonly known as snacks)
• A banging playlist

Step 1 – Plan the menu

Is your cocktail party going to be a sophisticated affair? Or, is it more of a pizza and chicken nuggets kind of do?

Either way, you need to decide on some dishes before hand and prepare them all in advance so you can socialise when your guests arrive.

Cocktail party favourites; smoked salmon blinis, Doritos and pretzels

Step 2 – Create an epic playlist

Aside from the food and drink, the music is the most important factor in giving a party ambience. Here’s some of my favourite tunes of the moment:

Fetty Wap – Trap Queen 

Ella Eyre – Good Times 

Karen Harding – Say Something 

Sam Feldt – Show Me Love 

Step 3 – Cocktails!

Obviously, no cocktail party is complete without some cocktails. Serve them in jam jars with vintage stickers on for a little extra oomph.

So hipster it should probably hurt

Strawberry Lemonade Smash Recipe 

1 part Malibu rum

1 part fresh lemon juice

A handful of crushed strawberries

2 parts lemonade and/or strawberry and lime cordial

Have you thrown any parties recently? What are your party tips? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

 

Blogging | My ‘Office’ Space

As any blogger would know, inspiration is half the battle when it comes to penning new posts.

As a creative soul, one of the biggest sources of inspiration for me are my surroundings. Whether I’m sitting in a coffee shop or in my own little bedroom, the space around me has to have a creative aura.

I’ve never really written a post on blogging in itself before, as I don’t feel established enough yet to do so. However, after around two years of blogging, I thought I’d show you guys my office space.

It’s more of a de-cluttered desk than an office, but it’s functional none the less.

Hand painted henna candles keep the place zen

A pile of jewellery always comes in handy when shooting outfit posts

Flowers and stationary. What more could a girl want?

Inspiration in a frame

What’s a blog without some notebooks?

What do you guys use as your office space? What inspires you? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

Fashion | Lashes & Lingerie*

Everyone knows that summer time is sexy time. Or at least, they do now.

A big part of fashion that I feel is often ignored or stigmatised is the world of lingerie. So, when the brand Adore Me contacted me asking if I wanted to be involved in their Lashes & Lingerie challenge, I jumped at the opportunity.

The challenge was to put together an outfit for summer that was centred around one of their pieces of lingerie. So, without further ado….

I would pair this beautiful teal lingerie set with a sheer blue crop top to really bring out the colour. I’d then lay over a pair of black dungarees to give the outfit a little bit of dignity.

Finally, a wrap bracelet and some fringed boots give this look the perfect bohemian festival finish.

How would you style this set of lingerie? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

London | Shoreditch

I’ve heard many a thing about Shoreditch, mostly to do with how hipster and ‘alternative’ East London had become.

As much as it pains me to admit it, street markets and independent coffee shops are right up my street. So, recently, two of my best friends and I made the slight trek from West to East London in order to check out what Shoreditch had to offer. And it definitely lived up to expectation.

Dressed for the occasion

There were some doubts when we walked out of Shoreditch High Street tube station, though, as the first view we got looked more like an abandoned alley than an up-and-coming high street.

However, our fears were soon put to rest as we wandered the streets in search of some food (priorities). We stumbled across this quirky, varied street market which meant all 3 of us could satisfy our very different cravings.

Mexican heaven

 

Of course, no trip to Shoreditch would be complete without taking some Instagram-worthy shots of the street art. So off we went, on a little adventure.

 

You obviously can’t go into London and not do a spot of shopping, so we hit up Old Spitalfields market (after getting lost for about 20 minutes en route).

 

One of my friends then convinced us to try a spot of bubble tea in order to round of the day in true hipster fashion. I have to say, I wasn’t really a fan, but they came in pretty cute little cups.

 

All in all, if exploring and street food is your thing, then Shoreditch is definitely a shout.

Until next time,
Sascha xo

Update | Where Have You Been?

Many bloggers write these posts up on a weekly or monthly basis to give their readers a bit more of an insight into their personal day-to-day lives.

I love the idea of a post like this and have abandoned this blog for work/uni related reasons for far too long now. So, I thought it was only fitting that I wrote a little summer round-up post. That way, you guys can catch up on where I’ve been for the past few months and hopefully get back into reading my little slice of the internet!

1. Making friends with elves at West End Live in London before meeting my Dad and going for a scrumptious celebratory results meal.
2. Tried the whole moderately healthy eating thing. Cooked some sweet potato wedges and popcorn chicken. Didn’t last very long.
3. Moved out of my university house that has been mine for the past year, never to return!
4. Spent an incredible week at the end of June on holiday in Rhodes with one of my best friends. You can see my holiday round-up post here.

6. Shot from Windsor Castle aka where the queen lives. I’ll reveal why I’ve been spending so much time there at the end of the summer (oo, the suspense)!

7. Greek lunch and a good ol’ catch up. Click here for my review of it.

8. What’s summer without a couple of selfies?

9. Munching on incredible burgers at Meatliquor in London. No, I didn’t eat all 4. Find my thoughts on this hip new burger joint by clicking here.

10. Put together an outfit that looks like something a blogger would actually wear!

11. Pork tacos and mexican mash in a Shoreditch street food market. Perfection. (Stay tuned for an upcoming post on Shoreditch and all its glory)

12. Jam jar cocktails at my leaving party! I am definitely too hipster for my own good…

13. Stumbled across these beautiful flowers whilst roaming around Cambridge with my best friend from university.

….So, that pretty much rounds up what I’ve been getting up to this summer. Between working full-time and trying to stay sane on my days off, it has been hard to keep up with this blog. However, I am determined to make that change. So keep coming back as I’ll be scheduling lots of exciting new content over the next couple of days!

Until next time,

Sascha xo

 

 

Summer Loving | Rhodes 2015

At the beginning of my whirlwind of a summer, I was lucky to have enough of my student loan left in order to go on holiday to Rhodes with one of my best pals from university. I’m not advocating spending your student loan on holidays but after a year of hard slog followed by jury service, I simply couldn’t resist.

Anyway, enough of the boring ramblings. Here’s some of my favourite looks and landscapes from the beautiful Greek island of Rhodes…

Where have you been on holiday this summer? Where are you planning to go? Let me know in the comments below!

Sascha xo