loving in july.

This was my first ever month to have sponsors for The Littlest Things. I am so happy I finally took the plunge because now I can regularly feature some of my favourite blogs! I am loving the summery-ness coming from each of these posts, it makes me so happy. Check them out!

1. Summer perfection from Nicole at La Mia Vita.
2. Stripes and brights from Sara at Sunshine & Pretty Things.
3. The most refreshing looking drink from Amanda at Marshall's Abroad. 
4. Hiking at Yosemite (I am so jealous) from Sam at Every Shade of Green.
5. Summertime in Wales from Angie at Peanuts & Pearls. 

weekend scenes.

This weekend revolved around escaping our heat box of an apartment, spending lazy afternoons reading at the park, watching hours upon hours of the Olympics and our "healthy" rivalry between Australia and Team GB. It was awesome.

I didn't realise it until now, but since we will be in London from Wednesday to Sunday, and then back again the following weekend for me to fly home to Sydney, that was actually my last ever weekend spent living in Cardiff. Crazy!

the littlest things.

1// & 2//seriously stunning days down on the water at Cardiff Bay 3//ice cold water - unbeatable 4//daisies in the park 5//so happy it's been so sunny 6//George and his new Harry Potter style glasses 7//yummy lunch at Pettigrew Tea Rooms 8//mill lane

This has been such a beautiful week in Cardiff. The sun makes the biggest difference. But our apartment is probably close to 40000000x hotter than anywhere else in the whole city, so sitting inside on the computer has been the last thing I have wanted to do.

I am just so excited the Olympics have started. I am the biggest sport fanatic and love any chance to cheer on the best country in the world - Australia!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

clean & lean lettuce wraps.

On Monday, George and I started a two week healthy eating plan called the Clean & Lean diet. Four days in and it is amazing! It can be a bit crazy getting up and having chicken breast with green beans for breakfast, and the one coffee a day thing is pretty much pure torture. But I can't remember the last time I have felt this clean and healthy.

After getting in a bit of a food rut and eating pretty poorly, we wanted to challenge ourselves to a healthy non-fad type of diet. I have had James Duigan's second book for so long but for some reason, have never attempted the 14 day meal plan. So happy I finally have. 

This is one of the lunch options; the Ultimate Clean & Lean Lettuce Wrap (adapted from the Clean & Lean Diet Cookbook)

Ingredients
4 leaves iceberg lettuce

4 mini chicken breasts, grilled

1/2 cucumber, sliced

250g hummus

Sprinkle of paprika or Cajun spice

Method
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with paprika or Cajun Spice. Grilled them. Top a lettuce leaf with chicken, cucumber, hummus and extra paprika. Wrap it up with another piece of lettuce and serve with ice cold water.

minty fruits & flowers.

I know I have already said it a lot... but I couldn't be happier it is finally sunny! This means I can wear shorts and light tops without freezing to death or getting blown over by the crazy gale force winds we were having last week.

It's so much easier to dress in the morning - just chuck on light summery colours, a flowy dress, a pretty skirt, or a favourite pair of shorts. 

(Reiss top, shorts c/o Marc Cain, Connies & Primark sunnies)

P.S I guest posted for Sam while she was away in beautiful California. Check out my post here.

summer sunnies.

Since it's finally summer time here in the U.K. I have been on the search for a new pair of sunnies. My current favourite site is Sunglasses UK. It is so easy to use and the discounts are amazing.

After checking it out for a while, the two above have been added to my wishlist. I absolutely love the Persol 714 ones and feel like they would be my every day pair.

Since I grew up skiing, I have always had a relationship with Carrera Sunglasses. I used to wear their ski goggles for years. They are an awesome brand! I love this pair of their sunnies - I would probably wear them when getting outdoors; hiking or at the beach.

Set for summer!

----> This is a sponsored post for SmartBuyGlasses, but all opinions are my own. <----

heatwave.

Summer has finally arrived! This whole week is suppose to be 25c+ and I couldn't be happier. It's crazy what the sun can do to my mood and my view of the world. Waking up with the sun streaming through the windows makes me instantly happy!

Since living in the U.K, I have learnt to fall in love with the rain. I now love cuddling up inside with a cup of tea, a warm blanket and a magazine. But when we were getting an unbelievable amount of these days in the middle of summer, I was kind of over them. 

Summer here is different to at home. At home, I would wake up early and get down to the beach with friends and family, or lay around by the pool with music and fresh fruit. But since I don't have a car here, it's nearly impossible to get down to a good beach (unless I want to lay on a pebble beach?). So the other option is; the park! We are so lucky we live so close to such a beautiful park in the middle of Cardiff. I wandered around it all afternoon and couldn't believe the prettiness I was seeing.

It was a perfect summer's day. So excited for the rest of this week!

updates.

Things have been a good sort of crazy for us recently. With my best friends coming to stay with us last weekend and George's beautiful family coming to stay with us this weekend. With George's birthday and waiting (for what seemed like forever) to hear if he had got the job he went for. Then finally hearing that he did get it and learning we will be moving to London. With me finally finishing up at a job that I really disliked and really wasn't for me, but trying to stay inspired by everything else around me. With planning everything to do with packing up our apartment and get organised for leaving for Sydney (in less than 3 weeks time). It has been crazy! 

George starts his new (and incredibly awesome/intense) job a bit later than we first thought. He now starts on August 20th. With me leaving to fly home to Sydney on August 12th, it's going to be hectic trying to organise it all. So, we have planned a few trips down to London together and this happens to be when the Olympics are on. Amongst taking all our stuff down to the city and sorting out our room, we will also be getting involved all all the Olympic hype and spirit. I am so excited. 

All of this to say, that I have been so disorganised when it comes to blogging. I have this thing in my head where I love to post every day Monday-Friday and view it as my little job in a way. So when that doesn't happen, I get a little annoyed. But now I feel like without my detested day-job, I will have all the time I want to have to reply to every email/comment/read favourite blogs. I am so excited.

george's birthday.

Yesterday, for George's birthday, we both had the day off work and enjoyed it by going out for Lunch at Jamie's Italian, chilling in our apartment and blowing out some birthday candles. It was perfectly relaxing and low-key which allowed us to really appreciate it.

With only limited days in our Cardiff apartment left, we have been trying to do that as much as possible; appreciate it. Because our life is going to change to some crazy hecticness soon - I am so excited about, but I know, once we move, I will miss our life here too. So it was the perfect day to celebrate George's birthday and our year living here together! 

i belong with you, you belong with me.

We have so much to celebrate over here. Today is George's Birthday! We just got back from a long, wine filled lunch at Jamie's Italian across the road from us.

Apart from that awesomeness, yesterday we found out that we will be moving back to London (in a week's time) as George got the crazy job that we were waiting to hear back from. We have been on the edge of our seats for the last week and a half waiting to find out if he had got it. I can't believe we will be back living in one of my all time favourite cities.

But, as it is George's 23rd birthday today, I put a little video together of snippets of our life here in Cardiff.

introducing...

Today I am finally introducing you to some awesome people...

Check out Every Shade of Green here                                  Check out Peanuts & Pearls here

                     Nicole's Blog                                     Sara's Blog                                       Amanda's Blog

weekend with alanna & kathryn.

Alanna and Kathryn (twins who I grew up living next door to) came to stay with us here in Cardiff. It was the best having my oldest and bestest friends here. We explored around the town, checked out the castle and the bay, had chilled afternoons in the apartment with a few bottles of wine, went out for dinners and lunches.

For George and I, it felt like a holiday in our own city. It was great!