London with Swarovski
Yesterday I jumped on an early morning flight and headed to London with the lovely Emma, my Galentine for the day!
Galentine - 'when you celebrate the love for your lady friends' - urban dictionary.
We had been invited to the Swarovski Give Brilliant Valentine press event launching their Spring collection in the most beautiful Summerset House, London. It was a small and intimate breakfast with 2 tables for all the ladies, decorated with the most beautiful spring blooms it focused on recognising all the amazing ladies in our lives. Us ladies don't really need too much of an excuse to celebrate each other so it was extra special when they had a little card that we could write a note to that special lady in our lives and then they would deliver the card and some lovely jewellery on Valentine's Day, I have to admit that meant more than recdiving myself!
I can't say who I sent mine to yet as she will be more than likely reading this but she is strong woman and an inspiration to me now as a mother.
I was sitting next to Kirsty Dale, Elle magazines Executive fashion and beauty director and I'm not going to lie, initially when I sat down I felt a little out of my depth and with my little blog felt perhaps a little undeserving to be sat there next to all of these high achieving ladies.
'Who are you here with?'
"Oh I have a blog, it's just about the kids, work and a little lifestyle." (Whilst my inner voice is screaming not to mention fashion as you are wayyyy out of your depth)
But I shouldn't have felt that way, a few sips of coffee later and while tucking into our first course we realised that there was the same age difference between our 2 girls, Kirsty's are a little older but there was that look of 'I get you' a few laughs and winging it stories and we were totally on the same level. Before Kirsty rushed off (it's London fashion week) she took time to tell me how amazing I'm doing and to keep going... And that's the thing about strong women, they are the ones who raise people up.
We were all given a little posy of flowers but as we were leaving shortly after 11 and a planned to squeeze in a little of London we knew that our pretty flowers would never make it home alive so we found a lady pushing an energtic toddler in a pram through the busy city and give her a bunch along with an elderly lady.. to say they were delighted was an understatement. A little random act of kindness does all souls good.
After the Swarovski event we headed to Covent Garden and found a little coffee shop, it had us at the pretty outside and draped pink floral inside. A hot cinnamon and Nutella brioche bun with Americano give us the sugar rush we needed to tackle the rest.
We walked from here to liberty which was about a 25 minute walk away and took us through Oxford and at this point we decided we were definitely coming back again soon but for a little longer. Liberty did not disappoint, mind you I would need a small lottery win to ever properly shop in it but swooning around and admiring everything was good enough. From here we planned to head to Sketch but it was full so we decided to head around the corner to regent street to find somewhere there, we will know for next time to book in advance. We were happy to find a quirky little restaurant that served burger and chips!
Before we knew it we were heading back to the airport with blisters on the toes, some treats from Kate Spade, and a camera full of pretty pictures! It's not anyone you could go away with and would be happy to stop and take a few snaps as a door colour is the perfect shade of navy.
We hope to be back again soon and squeeze more in so if you have any recomendations I would love to hear them! Anna xx