Namaste

Imagine being in Thailand, the hot sun warming your completely relaxed back, the soft white sand between your toes, the crystal blue waters gently lapping the shore and a beautiful temple in the background....

If I concentrated really, really hard yesterday I could almost fool myself that I was in Thailand gazing at a stunning buddhist temple when in actual fact, I was in London. Wimbledon to be specific, at the Buddhapadipa Temple. Situated in the middle of a wealthy residential area, you'd never know it was there unless you went looking for it which is exactly what me and one of my ladies did.

The white temple with the gold and red detailing made it a rather glorious location for some blog photos. 

As we were blessed with blue skies and hot sun, I wanted to wear shorts and a crop but not wanting to be too nakey at such a spiritual venue, I covered up with this duster style kimono from ASOS. If you don't know already, I'm obsessed with anything co-ord or twosie so this matching short and kimono combo is a nice version of the trend and the print is simply divine, darling. You can get both gems here and here (P.S the shorts are now reduced, hurrah!).

I went all 90's/naughties/sporty spice with my Nike crop and accessories. I had to get these ASOS heart-shaped sunglasses because they took me back to my youth, except I'm pretty sure the ones I had when I was 10 had a diamonte heart on them...cute? My latest choker addition has a virgo pendant on which I love. It's from depop, search @jewelleryboxcreations. It was only £4 with free postage! Lovely. 

I had to do a little temple dance and swoosh my cape, I mean kimono, around. 

We decided to explore the gardens of the temple which were so lovely. As you walk through there are little placards dotted around with quotes on them and buddhist statues everywhere. There was also this adorable little bridge to cross over the river. 

This bridge reminds me of a scene in Mulan and I thought I was her for a second. I nearly burst in to song but settled for gazing in to the horizon reflectively... 

Oh and I almost forgot to say, my shoes are just the New Look staples that I've worn here and here. 

The inside of the temple was breath-taking. There's a sneaky picture of it on my instagram, @soniaflower. 

Let's take a look at the dreamy building from afar. 

So incredible, isn't she?

If you're ever in or around Wimbledon and want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city I definitely recommend going on a warm, sunny day and just sit in the peace and quiet and drink in all the beauty. 

I'll leave you with my favourite Mulan song (it was hard to choose) and don't forget to follow me on instagram @soniaflower and @theglitterden. 

Farewell, all!

Howdy partners! 

This weekend I went to Buckinghamshire to visit my family and get some fresh country air. I dragged along my boyfriend, James, as it was his second round of the boyfriend approval interview process lead by my wonderful brother-in-law, Ian. Needless to say, my boy passed with flying colours and we had the best weekend, got very drunk, ate lots of yummy food and just generally slobbed out in our sloppies.

After collecting James from the station, we went to a little village festival in Bodicote which was super cute. It had loads of stalls selling little handmade things so we had a browse and indulged in some 99's (which are now £1.50, say whaaa?). You can see some more pictures from the weekend on my Instagram, @soniaflower, but for now I scouted a church's graveyard for some outfit pictures. 

How adorable is the print on this dress? I love cami dresses but they don't normally suit my silly bod with my big mumma hips and butt and smaller waist. They are definitely normally best reserved for willowy model types but I sized up and it fit like a dream once I chucked a belt around it. If you're a bootylicious babe then I definitely recommend this technique if you just can't say no the cami trend. This one is from Lavish Alice and it's on sale here!

My absolute favourite type of bag is the faithful backpack and this baby is my newest addition. 

Oh French Connection, you kill me! I wanted to let the bag do all the talking in this monochrome outfit so my white Birkenstocks were the perfect companion. 

Let's zoom in on the hot pink bag of glory. 

So delicious, ain't she?

The two G's, giraffes and gold chainz. Belt is from ASOS. 

I am obsessed with bloody chokers at the moment! This one from ASOS came with one that said 'boy' on it too, but James wouldn't wear it. Sob. 

Before I could do anything to save myself, a little monster that was lurking behind one of the tomb stones leapt out at me and scared me to death. 

Wait, doesn't she look familiar?

It's my beautiful niece Lucia! She hasn't made an appearance on the blog for a while (remember her posts here and here?) but she insisted on joining me. She just had to wear her adorable little Peruvian backpack to match me, and she fell in love with my Rock 'n' Rose choker so I let her have it for the day. She's too cute!

Don't forget to follow me on instagram - @soniaflower and @theglitterden

Until next time!

Shake your whammy fanny at Wireless

On Friday the sun was lavishing London with love. A few of my gal pals and I headed to Finsbury Park to go dance in the sunshine to Pharell and Kanye West at Wireless festival and they were everything we wanted them to be and more. Not only did they play some of their new stuff, they also treated us to some old school tunes. We got She Wants To Move, Frontin' and Beautiful from Pharell and from Yeezy we got Can't Tell Me Nothing, Runaway and All Of The Lights. I thought Kanye was going to stick to the Yeezus album but he spoiled us, that's for sure. Even if he did have a rant for 15 minutes... All in all it was a super day! 

As always, on to the outfit. 

I'm in love with all things crochet and all things co-ord so this twosie was a little dream. ASOS have done me proud. 

This River Island kimono is the perfect cover up if you're not wanting to flash too much flesh in a little crop and shorts. Now, I was going to write about how I got this bag from eBay a few years a go and how although it was so cheap, it has only just started to fall apart despite using it pretty much everyday. However, as I walked out of my front door in a rush to catch my train, the bloody strap gave way and dropped to the floor with a tired thud. I was distraught and wanted to mourn my loss but my housemate told me to get over it and get in the bloody house to get a new bag. You'll see the chosen one later. 

It was a sweltering hot day but luckily the ol' 'mono looked just as cute tied around the waist. My faithful shoesies are from New Look, I wrote about them here. 

Plaits are a failsafe way to do your hurr if you're going to potentially come across a sweaty neck situation and I definitely did. Also, my hair frizzes like no other with any bit of dampness. Damn the curls. My choker and necklace are from ASOS and my super cute round glasses are from River Island. I love these as they have a Wildfox/Chanel vibe without the price tag. One day I'll have a real pair. 

My replacement bag for the day from Aldo did the job and I am in love with him but still can't get over my poor rucksack. It's just so hard to say goodbye. 

I didn't let it dampen my spirits though and I was ready for a day of boogying. 

Meet my besty/housemate/little puddin'. 

Isn't she a dream? Her adorable tutu and shoes are from ASOS and her bralet is Topshop. SO CUTE. 

The beautiful Georgia...

And the glorious Charlie. 

We started the day by chilling and having a few drinks. I was naughty and sneaked in some gin in my cunning hip flask from Urban Outfitters. It's so cute!

We went and had a boogie to some Iggy who had so much 'tude and her body is ridonkadonkdonk. We obviously needed to refuel and get some energy for our boys Pharell and Kanye so we went on a quest for some grub. 

This place grabbed our attention with both hands. 

Who doesn't love a punny food cart? There was so much choice, I literally wanted everything, so that's exactly what I got.

Let's take a closer look at the bad boy...

SO GOOD. I would have snapped a picture of the naughty guy but I stuffed it in my face pretty darn quickly and before you know it, it was half devoured and covered in my lipstick. It was pretty sexy. You could definitely say we had sky-high energy levels after this. We did Pharell and Kanye proud. 

Yeezus Christ!

Completely unrelated to the day but when I was writing this I had this song stuck in my head from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Does anyone else remember it because I feel I'm the only one and it's always playing on the boom box in my brain. I hope you enjoy this little blast from the past as much as I do. 

For more pictures from the day follow me on Instagram - @soniaflower and @theglitterden

The story of an outfit repeat

This is an outfit repeat. And a bit of a rambling post. You know when you wear something cute and you don't feel like you gave it the opportunity to shine to it's full potential? That's what happened the first time this outfit got taken out. Can you tell there's a story coming?

My boyfriend and I decided to spend the weekend at his house so I could meet his family and friends. What I thought was going to be a casual drink affair, soon escalated, as it so often does. It probably wasn't wise that we started the night by pre-drinking Tequila, being the lovers of all things Mexican that we are. Anyway, as predicted, we woke up the next morning feeling a bit fuzzy. After stumbling around his room looking for my gloriously fluffy bag, I came to the conclusion that we'd lost it. God damnit. And did I mention it was holding both of our iPhones? Oh dear.

After many phone calls to the surrounding cab companies and bars that welcomed us with open arms the previous night, we were feeling doomed. We hopped in his pals car and went down to visit the po-po to see if anything had been handed in. Nope, nada. The guy behind the desk said he'd take down all details of the lost items however, and would inform us if they get discovered. Describing my beautiful bag to him was a lot to deal with. He couldn't quite grasp the fact that I had a pink bag covered in the most fluffiest of fluffs. After about five minutes of describing what I meant by 'fluff' he decided to move on to the phones.

"So does your phone have some sort of protective case?"

Here we go...

"Err, yeah?"

I kind you not, the guy pinched the bridge of his nose, shook his head and sighed.

"It's not a fluffy case, is it?"

"No, no! Don't be silly. It's a pug shaped case."

"Pug shaped?"

"Yeah, you know like a pug shaped, dog case?"

"Bloody hell, whoever reads this book next is going to think I've gone mad."

It was a painful and long process as this guy clearly thought we were having him on. It's a good thing I didn't tell him I also had a gingerbread flavoured hand sanitiser in there. Anyway, after a lot of detective work and a lot of saying "I just have a feeling a good citizen has our phones." We found the bloody bag. Under James' bed. Where we had already looked a thousand times. Jeez Louise. I think we definitely out-did ourselves this time.

Anyway, moving on to the outfit pictures.

Yesterday I met two of my pals from home in London for some catch up drinks which was delightful. We went to the cutest pub in East Dulwich which I fell in love with. I thought it was a good occasion for a little outfit repeat. This jumpsuit from ASOS is SO comfy but just be careful because if you have bigger, juicier mangoes than me, you may fall victim to the ol' nipple slip. I was feeling a little pink so I matched my River Island sunglasses to my Birks. And there's the mischievous little fluffy bag of dreams, also from River Island. I also have him in lilac and I want every colour under the sun. I didn't snap a close up of him, sorry, but he'll definitely be by my side a lot so never fear. 

The back of this is lovely, in't it? It's so easy to dress up or dress down. 

I decided to whip my hurr back and forth. Well, side to side. 

And finally, the new addition to my Birkenstock family, the Birkenstock Madrid in rose. I just HAD to buy them because I was born in Madrid and my one of my favourite colours is baby pink. It was fate. 

My toes are so pretty.

If you want you can follow me on Instagram! Personal account - @soniaflower and for more fashiony stuff - @theglitterden 

Hats off to the Graduate.

So kids, I am officially a Fashion Journalism graduate! Wednesday marked the day that I said goodbye to student life, no more lectures, no more late nights before deadline and no more pizza for breakfast... Ok maybe sometimes pizza for breakfast. Maybe. All the time. Although it's scary to think that I am no longer snuggling (or being smothered) under the blanket of education, it's bloody exciting to see where life will be taking me next. 

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff and on to what I wore for the big day. 

I am a pastel whore and so needed a pastel coloured dress for my graduation quite obviously! This dress ticked all the boxes for me. It was powder blue, one of my favourite colours, pencil shape with a flattering waist band as well as nice detailing at the back. I know it was going to be swamped by my thick black gown which made me sweat like a P-I-G but at least I felt the part underneath the unforgiving black material. If you have a graduation, wedding or occasion to get dressed up then this dress comes in many other colours on the ASOS website, here. I'm so tempted to get every darn colour. 

In terms of accessorising, the dress doesn't need much at all. Let the beauty speak for itself. I decided to go for subtle silver pieces to compliment it. Let's start from the top, down shall we?

Lucky for us UCA kids we got a gloriously sunny day for our graduation, yipee! So I had these Minkpink stunners to help me out with the suns rays. They are reduced to £16 in the ASOS summer sale here, so grab 'em while you can. It's as if fate brought us together.

WARNING: Chubby hands alert.

I look like I've imprisoned my poor fingers in those rings, jeez Louise. 

I only wanted simple jewellery for the day so went for these ASOS every finger fine rings. I know they look like I'm punishing my hands for a heinous crime but I promise they fit and were very comfortable. Super promise! Anyway, attention away from the hands and on to the bag. This metallic beauty is from American Apparel and was the perfect match to my shoes. 

They are beautiful, aren't they? Beautiful but bloody naughty. These deceiving little fellows look like they going to support you with all their straps and chunky heel but oh hell no. Although I didn't fall over on stage, they did make me feel a pain like no other even though I was probably only stood on them for a grand total of about 15 minutes (brought a more sensible pair with me, didn't I?). Don't let that put you off them though, after a couple of glasses of wine I'm sure they'll feel like those beanbag slippers that you heat up in the microwave. Probably wishful thinking, but hey ho!

So here I am, on't River Thames in my graduation cap and gown. I never thought I'd see the day I wore this get-up but god damn, it felt good. Such an amazing day and such an amazing location. The Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre. 

Meet my b-e-a-utiful sister Andrea! She and my mum came up to share the day with me which made it so special and I would just like to thank them for being there and putting up with me throughout the past three years. Actually, the past 22 years. What soldiers they are. My sister's stunning dress is also from ASOS, here. People often tell us we look alike so we thought we'd go for a matching powder blue theme. Cute, huh?

I'll show you a couple of snaps from the ceremony. This is me sauntering across the stage with Beyonce 'Diva' playing in my head... 

As if! I was like a deer in headlights. Look straight ahead. Don't slouch. Smile. But not that creepy smile you're doing now. Don't trip. Stop it with the creepy smile. Don't ankle roll. For the love of God, stop the creepy smile! 

And finally, here is me shaking hands with the amazing Dame Zandra Rhodes, fashion designer and Chancellor of UCA. 

Sorry for the not amazingly clear picture!

All in all, the day was everything I wanted my graduation to be and more. Although there are some family members that I wish could have been there but couldn't be due to being dotted all around the globe, I had an amazing day with my mum, sister, lovely boyfriend and my friends. Although there have been some ups and downs at UCA, I have loved the past three years and this was the perfect ending. Thanks to all the people who helped me get to where I am today, supporting me and believing me. Love you!

If you want to see anymore snaps from the day, follow me on instagram - @soniaflower, or for more OOTD's and fashion stuff follow me on @theglitterden. 

Until next time! 

Granny feet in Green Park

Happy Friday the 13th one and all. Hope you all have a black cat on standby to stroke into the night whilst you gaze at the full moon in the black sky... 

Anyway, yesterday me and my besty decided to go for a picnic in Green Park. I bloody love London in the summer time and we have just found out our university grades, (we are both officially graduating with 2:1's, yay!) so we thought we'd celebrate and finally relax with some sunshine, green grass and a lot of salami. Salami is our one true love. And olives. And bread. And everything. 

With a belly full of too much deliciousness, I decided to recline on this wonderfully inviting deck chair which happened to match my ASOS playsuit (different prints here and here). Nifty, huh? My affair with the chair was short lived, however as the deckchair policeman soon came around expecting £1.60 per hour of bum to chair contact. Sorry mister, I don't own £1.60. Help me, I'm poor. 

I decided to go incognito and put on my Minkpink sunglasses. 

But it was time to leave and enjoy the sun elsewhere. 

After perusing the area and walking off too many sun-dried tomatoes, we decided to meander down to Queen Lizzie's crib and make a wish in the fountain like true tourists. It's always fun to be a tourist for the day. 

With only a penny to spare, I clutched it in my chubby, clammy hand wondering what I should wish for. An iron perhaps? Looking rather crumpled again, are we? I blame all the strenuous activity of the day, lolling around on a blanket and putting food in my mouth. Tough. 

In the end I made a wish, a rather outrageous wish. I wished for the perfect accessory to my outfit. Something that's comfortable and stylish. Something that is practical and desirable. 

I wished for a deckchair. A bloody deckchair. Or at least £1.60 so I could hire the deckchair of my dreams. I guess I could have fished the dollar out of the water, I spotted a shiny £2 coin in there earlier...

No, I'm not one to mess up people's wishes. That's naughty. Instead I'll show you the back of my playsuit. It's perfect for a lazy day sunning in the park, it's comfortable and you don't have to worry about strap marks on your back. 

Now I'll just sit here and wait for my knight in a high-vis jacket to come along and permit me to relax in the comfort of a deckchair. 

Also, love them or hate them Birkenstocks are my new favourite sandal. I pushed the limits of ugly shoes by rocking a sock and sandal but I'm sure the Queen would give me her approval. Nothing wrong with granny feet when you're in Green Park. 

What do you think of Birkenstocks or socks and sandals?