It’s been a busy few weeks recently, hence the break in posts but I’m back on track now and catching up with myself!

There are lots of exciting posts coming but here are some highlights of what I’ve been up to. It’s a bit of everything really, from a weekend in Brighton and trip to gay Paris to various blogger and press events and a bit of everything in between.

In the last month I’ve had some exciting news  - more to come on that soon!

And it’s also been press day season which I love but working in travel PR full time makes it quite hard to escape the office and run to the press days! I’ve managed to get to a couple in the evenings though and they’ve all been really good fun.

Too many things I want to post about and not enough time! Eventually I’ll get there, in the meantime, have a peruse through these.

Clearly I’ve taken to snapping pics of everything I’ve eaten – I’ve been hanging out with food bloggers too much!

Written by Maitha Ahmed on Peony and Blue Peony and Blue -

This week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Marks & Spencer AW13 press day and what a great event it was!

I think it as one of the best press days I’ve been to – great venue, one of the friendliest press teams and uber organisation. Not to mention a fantastic collection.

As most of you, if not all, know – I hate winter. I hate being cold, I hate winter coats and I hate having to always wear hats and scarves. As much as I hate to admit it though, this collection actually made me quite excited about winter attire.

It’s hard to choose a favourite range within the AW13 collection and I definitely got snap happy!

As well as the women’s wear and lingerie (so pretty!) I had a quick browse round the kidswear and although I don’t blog about kids’ clothes, there were so many lovely things I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.

It was a fantastic evening and I finally got to meet the lovely Laura from the M&S press team! Thanks again to the team for the invite, fun evening and wonderful goody bag.

There were so many items I liked I’ll do a separate post on the collection but here are some highlights from the evening.

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This trend post combines two things that I never wear and never thought I’d want to wear – 1) leather and 2) pencil skirts.

But combined? Amaaaaaazing!!! I’m not sure what’s caused this obsession with leather pencil skirts but it’s got to the point where this week alone I have bought company magazine purely because on flicking through I saw a picture of a leather pencil. That’s not all….it gets worse, a lot worse…I actually touched a woman’s skirt because it was so beautiful I just had to! But I was talking to her at the time…and she did say how amazing it felt (while feeling it herself) so obviously I had to ask if I too could feel it. Surprisingly she was ok with this – and it felt GOOD!

There are a few in particular that I have my eye on. Luckily (for my bank account but not my heart/obsession) none of them are currently available in my size!

This first one from Oasis is gorgeous, it’s a neutral metallic so easy to wear with lots of different colours. It’s also not too narrow – always a worry, can you walk in your pencil?!

For a more classic look, this skirt from ASOS is perfect. It comes in both tan and red but personally I much prefer the deep maroon.

Now…I’ve left my ultimate favourite till last! This beauty from Marks & Spencer  is so beautiful…I absolutely love the colour. Typically it’s the most expensive of the three….by far….arghhh!!! This is also the skirt that I touched – thanks again M&S press lady! So I can confirm the quality of the leather is top, top, top!

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Well this is exciting, I’ve just read about the DIY Fashion Lounge at H&M’s flagship Oxford Circus store in London.

It’s only taking place over two days – Thursday 16th and Friday 17th and DIY blogger Elle Frost is collaborating with our Swedish friends at H&M so she’ll be on hand to help you DIY your fashion picks!

All you need to do is spend £25 in store and keep your receipt (!) take your items to the lounge and pick one of the three projects – fringing, studding or embellishing (my personal favourite).

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This week I was lucky enough to be invited to a Great Gatsby themed event of 1920s makeup and hair.

Held at the Sergio Giannasso salon in Covent Garden, London, we were treated to bubbles and tiramisu on arrival – not bad for a Monday evening!

As well as Sergio, we were hosted by the lovely Sophie of The Bristle Brush Co

We all got the chance to have a 1920s make over complete with 1920s hair – in my case, soft waves and a sequin headband with feather!

It was a great evening organised by my good friend Sarah of Sarah Betty Style

Thanks again to all – especially for the generous goody bag, look forward to using my specially chosen brush!

Wonderful goody bag treats!p

Hostess with the mostest Sarah Betty, some of the lovely girls from Wahanda and Sergio himself.

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I spent pretty much all of last weekend in Brighton – my old student town!

I was there for a social media/blogging conference so much of the weekend was spent inside but it was still lovely walking in the sunshine between the hotel and conference venue.

It was a great event put on by Michael Ball of Travel Massive and Paul Dow, the one and only TravMonkey.

The event was really well-organised and I managed to get along to a fair few sessions on varied topics, from travel photography to advanced SEO and social media.

Each session was led by an expert in that particular field and I came away feeling even more inspired about my own blog as well as working with bloggers in my day job as a travel PR.

Now ironically I’m rubbish at taking photos on my travels but here are a few shots of my sunny weekend in Brighton!

My top Brighton spots:

- The pier and seafront

- The Lanes for lazy wanderings and browsing

- The Pavilion – it’s gorgeous, have a picnic in the gardens!

Hope you all managed to make the most of the summer weather too!

Written by Maitha Ahmed on Peony and Blue Peony and Blue -

A few weeks ago I had an email saying that I had been nominated for the Company Magazine #Stylebloggerawards

At first I thought it was a spammy email that had gone out to every single blogger to encourage everyone to enter but then it was followed up by a personal email and a couple of friends let me know they had read about the awards and put my blog forward. I thought it was very sweet but didn’t think much of it after that.

Then I had a few more emails to say people had nominated me so I put the Company Magazine awards badge on my blog, tweeted and asked work colleagues to vote but as a) my office is quite small and b) other bloggers were going all out to collect up those precious votes, I really didn’t think I stood a chance. Particularly as it was the first year my blog had been entered.

But, as my mother would say – you never know so never say never! Today, I had THE most amazing news ever. My blog has been shortlisted down to the final 10 in my category!!! SO exciting. A massive thank you to everyone who voted for my blog, I really do appreciate it.

So now, there’s one more round of votes, so here goes – if you enjoy reading my blog and helped get me this far please do vote one more time! http://www.company.co.uk/company-blog-awards-2013-with-new-look I’m in the best fashion newcomer category.

Thanks again and fingers crossed!

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Last week I went for a night at the Circus in London, an amazing blogger event put on and hosted by the lovely crew from AX Paris.

I hadn’t been to Circus before and contrary to what I’d heard about it, it isn’t seedy, it isn’t trashy and dancers aren’t scantily-clad.

In fact, the dancers are hugely talented, mixing ballet and gymnastics brilliantly.

It was great fun and as well as the dance performances, the photo booth with dress up props was a great hit! My prop of choice was the captain’s hat!

The event was held to showcase the latest advert and it was one of the best organised events I’ve been to – plenty of things to keep us occupied from cocktails and Pan-Asian canapés to the dance performances photo booth with props and of course rails of clothes to peruse.

Unfortunately my pictures of the dancers were appalling! So I won’t bother sharing those with you all!

It was great to meet lots of bloggers who I’ve been chatting to on twitter but never actually met before and nice to catch up with those I’ve already met. All in all, a lovely evening which ended with the biggest goody bag in history!

Thanks to my partner in crime Sarah Betty – she blogs here: sarahbettystyle.co.uk and all who put the event on and of course the very generous goody bag – more on that to come.

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This weekend, London finally had some sunshine! Much like every other Londoner by the looks of it, I decided to spend as much of it as possible outside.

Although Saturday was horrible and wet, we were treated to a lovely sunny Sunday. Despite the transport system threatening to ruin my outing with friends, I finally made it to London Bridge for a wander down to the river and lunch with a view! The rest of the day was spent lazing around outside one of our local pubs people watching (my favourite pass time) and guzzling the drink that signals summertime – orange and lemonade!

I kept it simple, casual and colourful this weekend with my new neon violet Gap jeans. I bought these in the sale for £7.99 and am very happy with them. T-shirt as usual was a stripey number from Primark and my all-time favourite emerald green Brit Stitch leather bag.

Hope you all had lovely weekends!

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We’re used to seeing Sophie Dahl cooking in a pristine, shabby chic kitchen but now she’s designed a capsule collection for Brora.

The collection will launch in just a couple of days and is called ‘The Lost Weekend’. The 13 pieces are what Sophie says are items missing from her wardrobe…although I highly doubt her wardrobe is missing anything!

“I imagined it as the-morning-after-the night-before – a woman on an island after a party, walking home with her shoes in her hands,” Dahl said.

“Everything around her quite wild and undone, but she’s wearing these quintessentially British-feeling colour tones and patterns. The picture in my head was one of rainy English summers and festivals, being tarted-up and having your make-up running everywhere – that kind of vibe.”

One of her favourite pieces is a tea dress and other items include a fisherman’s jumper, a cashmere shawl-come-cardigan and more.

“I am a lover of beautiful, well-made clothes and I feel that between Brora and I, we came up with something truly special,” added Dahl.

Get your fix from 15 April in Brora stores.

Written by Maitha Ahmed on Peony and Blue Peony and Blue -