Chloe Likes To Eat

Last week was T's birthday, and although my parents had already bought him a gift, and I've already had my birthday gift from them, I was cryptically informed that something would be arriving for us both on the special day.

I know this looks like a super glutinous cheese board, and it is, but it's a SPECIAL super glutinous cheeseboard. Every one of these cheeses is a variety of goats cheese. Artisan and award winning cheese to be specific.

The cheeses came from the Shropshire Brock Hall Farm, producers of award winning artisan goats cheese. I have to admit, I read the information that arrived with almost a kilo of goats cheese, and I was a tiny bit dubious. Award winning is a term bandied about a lot at the moment, and sometimes, it seems it's just an excuse to ramp up the price. Good news, not so with the particular branch of artisan.

Each of the four cheeses had totally different traits, from the lightest through to the most powerful, creamy through to a harder cheese.  Each had it's own distinct set of flavours too. Aside a cheese board like the one above, I'm looking forward to trying out the various cheeses with an Aubergine dish that I've got planned, with salads (of course) and we also had some on home made pizzas over the weekend.

A few things to note- it really is fantastic cheese, whatever experience you've had of goats cheese before now, it's whole new level of flavour balance that is both delicate and and has power and depth. This is also not the kind of cheese you need to scoff huge volumes of, we ate less than a third of what was on the board over the course of five hours, taking our time to enjoy the flavours and truly taste each one.

If you're a fromaggio fan, do go and check out Brock Hall Farm, you can find their website as linked above, they're also very friendly on Twitter

Green Elephants

I'm pretty sure there isn't a blogger who didn't hear about the Zatchels sale. I've been after a satchel for a long time, and although the sale seemed like a perfect opportunity, I tried my best to restrain myself because it was still pennies I didn't *need* to spend. Lucky for me, my lovely mum is full of bright ideas, and although it was a month off at the time, she offered to buy the satchel I wanted as an early birthday present. And because Zatchels products are handmade in England, they advise your order may take up to 30 days to arrive in busy periods, perfect for a birthday present.

BUT, much to my excitement (yeah... at work... on a slow Friday afternoon...) my beautiful early birthday present arrived just a week after it was ordered.

I think I ordered bang on the right size for my needs, It's not so huge that it's overbearing, although I'm finding the leather is quite stiff for the moment, meaning not as much fits into it as appears. I can't help feeling that's a plus point though. One of the appeals of these traditional items that have had such rejuvenation is the lasting and timeless element, and that items like these gain from their long term use.

I know it's a cliché, I know I'm hopping on a bandwagon, and no, I don't care. I've been lusting after this beauty for a long time, I love it, it works for me, so sue me.

Converting to Converse

I think Converse are a tricky thing. You either love them, or loathe them. Having dabbled with look-a-likes in my teens, I realised quite quickly that they aren't really very... me. That is until I started kicking the Kilometres in on my bike each week.

I'm not really one for hardcore sports kit with cycling- aside a couple of bargain base layer tops to stop me totally overheating, and until recently I was using a pair of inexpensive Primark plimsolls to get me to and from the office, problem is, the grip has gone on them. I know I could buy proper trainers to cycle in, but one of the reasons I have is that canvas shoes take up less space when my kit goes into my bag under my desk during the work day, and also, there are occasions where I would quite like a pair of casual shoes to pull on in everyday life too- with jeans and a jumper for a walk, with leggings to drop to the shops, with shorts for the 48 hour summer in the garden, so a better quality pair of shoes to cover both would be nice.

For me, it'll never be the high-tops, they just aren't practical for my needs, but the low tops have some potential, I really like this shade of grey for versatility, for easy wear when it comes to dust and dirt.

Grey Low Top Converse, £58 @ Spartoo

I do like the grey, but when I realised Converse make these more streamlined (and aptly named 'Dainty') shoes though, it was an easy sell. A bit more my style, easier to get into a bag and for me, altogether more pleasing.

All Star Dainty Shoes, £43.15 @ Spartoo

I find that Converse are pretty pricey, but I've also heard from friends who are long time lovers, that they're very long wearing, that they really do go on forever. For the use I have in mind, I suspect the cost per wear on a decent pair of casual shoes may be better than a cheaper budget option. 

Have I been putting this off for too long, or am I trying too hard to reclaim a clearly vacant youth?

This post was written in partnership with a brand, and includes links for which I have been recompensed. All views are my own. 

Recently I'm Wearing

I haven't done one of these for ages and ages. Mostly because I have been through a *I'm sick of everything in my wardrobe* phase. But a (relatively) restrained trip to Westfield and a couple of eBay purchases later, I'm feeling a bit better about things. The warmer weather is also helping, as my office has always been borderline tropical, my preferred sleeveless, bare legged and lighter weight choices are somewhat more appropriate. And a with spring has come a bit more socialising and getting out, which also means my non-work clothes are a little more inspired. It's amazing the difference it makes when the clothes you pull on something you like, and feel is more than *just* jeans and a shirt.

A couple of casual ones:

She says.... Topshop Jamie jeans and biker jacket, Primark Sneakers. I thought I'd give sneakers a go, and this might just be jeans and a shirt, but I enjoyed some details making the whole thing a bit more interesting- turn ups, iridescent sneakers and

Primark chambray dress, Clarks flats, Chloe Paddington bag
For dinner out with T, this Chambray shirt dress from Primark was only £10 but is obscenely short. I feel a DIY job coming on to add to the length. I like the idea though, and it's super easy to dress up with jewellery


A couple of work ones:

H&M Conscious collection dress and Zatchels bag
I saw this dress on a bilboard and loved it. The print is a bit out there, but I love it. I was more than a little shocked by the H&M sizes though, I tired a 12 & 14 before eventually needing a size 16. I normally wear a 10 or 12 from most other shops. Also note the early birthday present from my mum, more on that to come.

George at Asda printed skirt, Forever 21 blouse & ASOS shoes. 

I saw this skirt at the High Summer press day a few weeks ago and have been regularly checking the website to see if it had come into stock, and launched for it when it did. At £12 it's a bit of a bargain. My office is quite relaxed most of the time, but more recently I'm working a lot more corporate cases including events, I have to make a bit more of an effort. 

Friend or Faux?

Friendship and friendliness are not fields with which I have vast experience. I've spoken before about being bullied as an adult, and I'm the first to admit that a snarky sense of humour and bluntness often mean I don't come across as friendly, even if it''s my intent to be so. But blogger community, well that's a place where friendships are formed, where people come together to be friendly to each other. Right?

We've all heard about internet trolls, and if we haven't received them, then we all know the risk of nasty anonymous (or in one case I saw just last week, not so anonymous) comments. But more recently, I've come to know that there is a more subtle kind of unpleasantness, a snide cold shoulder. Not sure what I mean.... read on.

At a sizeable event, which I should add, I enjoyed very much for the most part, 2 bloggers, one of whom sporadically tweets with me about anything from food to beauty recommendations, cut into a conversation I was a part of, didn't introduce themselves, moved the conversation well outside of my field of knowledge and cut me off from the conversation by standing half back to me, eventually edging me out all together. Nice huh? We've all cut people out of a conversation by accident, but not to even introduce oneself or say a polite hello, not the friendliest welcome to an event ever, and put me off wanting to mix with those I hadn't already met at said event. Good job the drinks were good.

At the same event, a blogger I've tweeted with often, whose blog I regularly comment on and who tweeted just that day in fact, to ask about my day and say how nice it would be to meet me that evening. That same blogger smiled politely when the ended up in conversation with someone I was with, but had absolutely no idea who I was- or certainly didn't behave as though they did, doing that vague uncertain thing we all do when you see someone, you think you recognise them, but can't dredge where from....fair enough, it had been a long day, I looked a bit rough round the edges, but also, they didn't ask or seem to want to know. A real shame as I was someone I'd been looking forward to meeting.

At a different event, I recently overheard to talking about general events culture. What a shame it was that nobody gets together for these things any more, and there's always lots of new people that they don't know. Which was a bit of a turn off, having met neither before, and that being one of only a handful of events I've been invited to and able to attend. I thought meeting new people was a good thing?

I didn't start my blog to make friends especially, it was something that came as an added bonus, the community that surrounded blogging gave me the opportunity to talk to people I'd otherwise never have met, and to be surrounded by people who I felt were like me- who worked hard, cared about something, and who were so much friendlier than so many of the people I came across whilst studying or working in my various vacation period jobs. But whether you blog to find people and community or not, sure some of the above mentioned things are merely a common courtesy?

And even were they not, we've all be the new girl- school, uni, job, sports club, gym, friend's party where you only know the host, it's nice to be the person who smiles, says hi, and introduces themselves. In a 'world' that thrives on each of us involving ourselves with each other in an online context, and where SOCIAL media is the name of the game, and whilst there are so many more overt trolls, shouldn't we be pulling together to welcome each other?

It isn't all bad, by the way. This March I had the pleasure of a blog holiday, meeting plenty of lovely people. I also had a most enjoyable brunch with Odd Socks Alex who is possibly my favourite person for her love of doing and living how she pleases, and not giving a damn what people think. If you have a problem with people having a book for company in a restaurant, you have a problem with Alex and with me!

Sarah has fast become great and quite regular company- any girl who knows where the good and cheap London cocktails can be found, was always going to be awesome, but she also has something to say. I almost didn't realise we were at the station I needed.

Laurenella has the rare gift of transversing the boundary of online and life at large. I wouldn't have believed I were 'meeting' her, had I not reminded myself. A much welcomed friendly face.

Cat has emoticon wars with me, and is one of the first in my phonebook when I need a helping hand with the tough stuff. I am beyond happy that we finally have plans in motion to shop and roll in the big smoke in the coming weeks.

This girl, made me laugh even more in person than she does on Twitter and in her writing. My overriding image of this girl will be her hilarious poses on our blogger holiday in March.

And Klee is also relatively newly relocated. Aside having the world's cutest dog, it's been a pleasure to have a fellow Eastender to chat with and make dinner dates with. I have a horrid feeling she's going to be a terrible enabler at Westfield too- remind me again why I agreed to go there with someone who also likes to shop?

And lastly, Ayden, who regularly brings a smile to my face, and the first time I met a blogger face to face. Start as you mean to go on, and Ayden couldn't have been a better intro.

If you check out nobody else, then these are some of the truly friendly faces I've found in blogland. I'm off to send a long overdue response to an especially lovely email.