TRAVEL: Romania - In Search of Dracula!

The other week, myself and three of my friends went off on a little adventure to Romania in search of Dracula!

Dracula is such an enchanting story and, like complete tourists, we were utterly drawn to the castle that inspired Bram Stoker.

We made a long journey over to Brasov after a brief stop in Bucharest, which seem like cities that are two worlds apart.

Bucharest is a bustling capital, with a beautiful old town centre with cheap eateries, but with a contrasting poverty line that is hard to ignore. Before we left, we all caught a documentary which detailed the issues the Country has faced post communism. With orphanages all being closed, many helpless people have taken to the streets and taken up home in the sewers. It was truly a story of a very interesting community dependent on drugs. Whilst having a coffee outside the main station on our way to Brasov, we saw people casually entering and leaving the sewers. It was shocking because all those around them, including police officers, taxi drivers, general commuters didn't bat an eyelid. It was moving and disturbing and a real eye opener into the lives of those in the capital.

On a lighter note, our first night in Brasov, as an utter contrast, was at an airbnb which we secured for about £20 for the four of us in total. We stayed with a local guy, who was really good fun and offered us a drink that evening. We wandered out to the main town centre that evening which was bustling an busy (their Sunday is our Saturday, because most people have Mondays off!) It felt secure and comfortable, families were out walking late, our host left his door unlocked, and there didn't seem to be any signs of trouble.


Our next stop the next day was of course, Dracula's Castle!

As well as lots of fun tourist shops, the Castle itself was quite interesting and it was fun finding the secret staircases and getting lost. There wasn't much mention of Dracula himself really, or Bram Stoker, but this didn't bother us because we got caught up in the excitement of it all and bought lots of trinkets from the tourist stalls there.

Our last night in Bucharest was fairly tame, we were all exhausted from all the travelling and didn't get to travel much or explore Bucharest as much as I'd have liked to, but we had a really great time anyway. Romania is cheap to eat and drink in, a bottle of wine was setting us back around the region of £6 in a restaurant, which was good and bad news for us, as it meant we got through too many!

The whole trip cost around £60 each including hotels and flights from the UK. A weekend well spent!

Have you got any holidays booked? Have you ever been to Romania? Let me know!

Don't forget to join this weeks Bloglovin Bloghop too hosted at Happy Kids!

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Fashion Thursdays Launch - Mixing Music and Fashion Shows

So I've been a little quiet lately as I've been doing a bit of traveling, which I can't wait to post about! But the two days I had in between coming back from Romania and jetting off to Portugal, I launched a new event called 'Fashion Thursday' back at home in Peterborough, in the UK, which I both organised and DJ'ed at.

About a month ago, I came up with the idea with a friend to mix in fashion shows with a club night, to showcase local brands and generally just have a good time. We chose a local haunt, Monroes (named after Marilyn!) which had a cool vibe and great cocktails - all the ingredients needed for a good night out.





Having not organised a fashion show in a while, it seemed a little daunting to do so in under 4 weeks, especially with a full time job and weekend DJ work, but I'm certainly not one to shy away from a challenge! I was really impressed with the professionalism of all the models, makeup artists and hairdressers, who worked so hard to help me to make this event a success at such a short notice.








We showcased two local retailers, 'Niros', who sell high end menswear, and 'Asylum', a funky high street store which stock on trend alternative and vintage styles. So a bit of a contrast, then! We generally don't have many events like this in Peterborough, so I thought this might be something new and refreshing. Needless to say, I think the experiment proved successful!

Huge thanks also goes to Moses Kambele, Josh Daniels, and Tom Gates who's photos are featured in this post!


Asylum

I was lucky to find some fabulous makeup artists and hairdressers, Eloise Wilson and Jenner McKenzie on the makeup, (below) and lovely ladies Mollie Walker and Laura Stringer working tirelessly on hair.

Niros Peterborough

Here are just a selection of some of the Hugo Boss and Armani suits worn by some fab models!

The night wouldn't have been the same without the two brands who came down to help out - Niros who were amazing helping us with rehearsing the routines and Asylum who just partied hard and made the atmosphere great!

 I of course worked really hard all night (with the occasional cocktail in my hand for good measure)

 And I wasn't the only one enjoying a cocktail or three!

It was such a fun night! It took a lot of overtime last month to get this sorted on a budget of almost zero, but with a lot of support and such a great team gathered in a short space of time, I think we did a great job.

What do you think of the pictures? Have you been to any fashion shows recently? I'd love to hear about it!

REVIEW: June Wantable Accessories Box & Bloglovin Blog Hop!

I've been slightly quiet this week as I've been exploring Romania - more to come on that soon!

Most of my friends know that I love a good makeup box - but when I found out that one of my faves 'Wantable' were doing specially selected accessories that are tailored to your tastes, I had to try them! I'm not the best at accessorising so this is generally a really good tool for me. The box costs $36 plus shipping (about £21) but the 3-4 items you receive are worth much more than that, so I see it as a thrifty bargain and a way to build my accessories collection over time. This is my second month with Wantable accessories, and I've been very pleased with all of their selections so far. If you're not happy with something, Wantable are happy to change the boxes or part exchange for something you do like.

 

This month, I received some really fab items!


Gia Necklace - retails at £36 - This is right up my street - I love chunky layered necklaces and the combination of pearl juxtaposed with different metal colours is a really cool concept.

Bri Headband - retails at £11 -  This is so cool - I've never seen anything like this before (where
have I been?!) Its a bendy headband with fabric wrapped round some wire. I've used it already to fasten a bow over a ponytail, you can also wrap it round an up-do in any way you want, and make it sit however you want! It's so cute, and I'm not even usually a headband person.

Ainslie Watch - retails at £29 - I love wrap around watches and this one is a very classic looking gem. I think a watch is a great addition to the box, too, and it really is the sort of watch I would buy, so Wantable must be mind readers!

Total box value - £76 for £30 box (incl shipping)

Are you a fan of Wantable? Let me know!

Don't forget to join this weeks Bloglovin blog hop here hosted by Meg over at Happy Kids!


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3.  Follow at least 3-4 others bloggers in the linky and say "hello".

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