Monday 7 October 2013

Baking Sunday

Hello Bloggers, hope you've all had a lovely week!



Today, Sunday the 6th, marks my first week of being in Manchester.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Forever Lusting

I know I haven't posted in a while and for that I apologise... 
On the 29th of September I moved from Spain to Manchester to come and live with my sister who is at University here (this means living in a flat with 7 university students!!). I am currently on my gap year, with my intentions being to go travelling to South America with a friend for a couple of months in late February. Until then I need to find a job, save the pennies and sort out my life a little for next year re university etc. I am currently doing the whole UCAS, personal statement ordeal  - my plans being to study Adult Nursing in London (fingers crossed). 

I actually have a job interview for a marketing company at 2:15!! Let's see how that goes...

For now, as I have been to busy to plan a proper post (I will do one on Manchester soon I promise) here are the absolutely delightful and delicious Chanel Espadriles my sister introduced me to a few months ago. Forever Lusting.

Hope everyone had a good start to October!

Lots of love,

Rosanna 


Tuesday 24 September 2013

Beach Photo-Shoot

As I've mentioned and gave a sneaky peak to in my last post, my beautiful sister has started up her own fashion Blog and while we were visiting the idyllic beaches of Conil we couldn't possibly leave without doing a photo-shoot on the beach!



The photos in most of her posts are taken by her lovely boyfriend who is also an absolutely fantastic photographer... So obviously I was feeling the pressure a little to try and meet his high standards!!

Thankfully, I am really happy with how the photos have come out!! We arrived at the beach at around 7ish and waited for the perfect light to take the pictures. Hilariously (and slightly annoyingly) towards the end of the shoot at around 8:20, there was a gorgeous light just as the sun was setting, with beautiful blues and purples, so we ran to the sea to take the last pictures. THEN out of nowhere, a sweet fisherman started talking to me about my camera and how he was looking into buying a camera himself and was unsure if to buy a nikon or a canon... etc etc! The spanish have a reputation for being able to talk a lot - which is lovely, but in that moment we were trying to capture the 5-10 minutes of precious light. Once he left, it was quite a stressful 5 minutes as the light was changing every second, therefore  having to change my camera settings accordingly every second!

ANYWAY - here is my sisters post on the shoot with the best pictures.

What do you think? Are you a nikon or a canon kinda person?

Lots of love,

Rosanna

Friday 20 September 2013

Conil - why ain't you been

Conil is one, if not my absolute favorite place in the world. "Conil de la Frontera" formally, is a town on the Atlantic coast in the Southern part of Spain. Me and my family have been visiting it now for at least 10 years every Summer - always staying in the same house our friend rents out to us. It really is an absolute dream... gorgeous house 2 minutes walk from the sea, pool to jump in too after a long and sandy day at the beach, adorable bars and restaurants to eat delicious sea food and tapas, as well as some of the most beautiful beaches you will ever see. It never fails to provide a "wow" factor sunset, and no matter what's going back at home; with friends, family, work, or any other kind of stress... it all disappears here. It really is an extraordinary place. A little piece of heaven.

I hope my photos I took on our most recent trip (15-17th) will be able to prove and support a little more what I am trying to say about this place. A "photo speaks more than a thousand words" job.


   My very cool and stylish sister chilling by the pool. To see more of her follow her fashion blog here.

Tuesday 10th.

So as you can see from the title of this post I'm running a little behind (under statement!) on my posts but it's been a mad couple of weeks as Summer 2013 slowly comes to an end. It's been such a brilliant Summer for me as I've done so many amazing things, with such special people. However, sometimes been at home with your family is one of the nicest feelings in the world.

Mama and I spent the day together, something we haven't done hardly enough this Summer as we are both busy ladies. We sunbathed, read and chatted by our lovely pool and then had delicious merienda. "Absolute bliss" as she would say.

First I wanted to show a little bit of my home. As I think I've mentioned before, my parents own a hotel in Málaga called Molino Del Santo. It's an amazing place. Yes I'm extremely biased but I am also supported in thinking this by lots of other people.



The gorgeous pool - this is very much the iconic shot of the hotel.

Saturday 14 September 2013

The InterRail Experience

So I figured that before I go on to document what's happening now, I want/need to document what's happened in my Summer which is slowly but surely coming to a close. More specifically, the incredible adventure (there really is no other word to describe it) that was InterRail. (If I attempted to blog about all the amazing things I've done this Summer it would be endless... probably the longest Summer I will ever have!).

I went InterRailing from the 26th of June to the 11th of July(total 22 glorious days) with 3 of my closest friends. Really couldn't have asked for better travelling companions. As we entered our second year of sixth form, our last school year, we all as a year group and as groups of friends began talking about where we would go as a post exam celebratory trip. As expected, nobody wanted to do the same thing. Some wanted to go to the gorgeous Greek Islands to party, others wanted a much more cultural experience in one of Europe's capitals, some for 1 week, others 3, others simply a couple of days due to prior arrangements. Very quickly my best friends and I realised we wanted to do more than just one place, cheaply, and for around 2/3 weeks as this Summer was going to be epically long and had to be taken advantage of. Interesting. A 3 week holiday where minimal amount of money would be spent while visiting lots of places.... it seemed almost an impossible quest.... UNTIL, the word "InterRail" popped up, and from then on, there was no turning back.

I can't recommend it enough - it really is as easy as it sounds. You pay one price for a ticket which gives you unlimited access to travel around Europe for one, two or three weeks ; hopping on and off the trains as you choose. One day we had dinner in Spain, breakfast in Paris and lunch in Brussels... pretty cool huh? AND - there are so many cheap and cheerful hostels all around Europe that it really can be a low budget holiday. Trust me.

So here I leave you with my favourite 10 photos from the trip. I will at some point do more specific posts on just one city at a time... fell in love with so many! (we did 11 in total!!!!)

I think far too many people forget the amazing countries there are IN Europe when planning holidays; wanting to immediately leave to go somewhere more exotic...  I hope these make you see this isn't the case, and want explore the countless beautiful cities Europe has to offer.




1. Our first over night train from Málaga to Paris. An epic 15 hours long....!! Luckily, I can sleep just about anywhere so I slept like a dream! Loved the experience. I know the thought of sleeping in a chair is a bit horrific but I assure you they are a lot comfier than they look. We even got a free overnight pack... water, a mini toothbrush and toothpaste, eye mask, cushion, blanket AND a magazine. What more could you want??

Friday 13 September 2013

The First Post.

I must start my blog by being very honest...

I had no idea what a lifestyle blog WAS let alone thinking about starting one myself until around 3 weeks ago, when my three best friends from England came to visit me for our yearly get together in my home in Southern Spain. Natalie, one of the three girlfriends, began her own fashion blog about a year ago now and has been doing brilliantly well and flourishing in her passion for fashion (excuse the cliché) ever since. Definitely give her a stalk - www.maisieivy.com - you won't be disappointed! Back to the point, due to her immense involvement in the world of blogging, she began to convince me to start my own blog. However, my immediate thought was... but what would I make a blog about? I don't have a strong enough passion to start my own regular blog on it. (I'm the type of person that if I wanna do something, I want to do it well, not half heartedly). This is when Natalie truly introduced me into the idea of a lifestyle blog; a place where you simply document your day to days interests, passions and happenings. Over the last 2 years of sixth form especially, I have been an avid follower of many fashion blogs and most probably, "lifestyle blogs" without even realising there was an actually a category for this type of blog. I'm a bit of a dork like that.

So anyway, as you can see, she managed to convince me and here I am, writing this first blog post not knowing what the rules are, if I am doing it correctly or how it will turn out. I think the idea is to be yourself... so I haven't planned this at all and just gone with the flow.

I graduated from sixth in May having studied the International Baccalaureate for 2 years in Sotogrande International School. This year I am taking a gap year, the plan being to work in Manchester, living with my sister who is in about to start her second year of studying Chinese there, and live with her while I save up money to then go travel
ling to South America in around February time for 5/6 months(depending on income!). So - that's one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog, so I could document the next year, especially my travels, as I think it's a really cool way to remember one's adventures.

ANYWAY, all posts must end somewhere (you will go on to see I am quite the chatter box) and this seems like a good place to bring this first post to a close.

I hope, wherever you are, you enjoy reading my blog, and look forward to hearing about what you all think about it!

Lots of love,
Rosanna

P.S here I leave you a small collage so you can get a bit of an insight on me... second post coming soon!


Starting top left, me and my sister, mojito at sunset at my favourite beach in the world (Conil), my home town Ronda, my graduation May 2013, first cappuccino I made for myself(pretty proud), middle big photo, the most important people in my life, my family, my best friends from England, Cherry and Natalie, beautiful Venice this Summer inter-railing,  my ridiculously adorable dog, Eddie, delicious mini burger with quail egg and Sangria, the pool at my parent's Hotel in Spain, Frank Ocean concert while inter-railing this summer in Munich, Germany, and finally 3 of my best girlfriends, Ana, Elise and Paulina at Trevi Fountain, Rome, again this summer inter-railing.