Lilly Allen Cover for Elle UK

Bonjour,

Saw these beautiful images of Lily Allen in Elle UK August 2011 issue and had to share them, a perfect balance of strength and vulnerability.

Love
Lorraine
Lacroix x

The Wedding Girl by Sophie Kinsella writing as Madeleine Wickham

At eighteen, Milly was up for anything. So when a friend asked her to marry him just so that he could stay in England, she didn’t hesitate. To make it seem real she dressed up in wedding finery and posed on the steps of the registry office for photographs.

Now, ten years later, Milly is a very different person. Engaged to Simon – who is good-looking, wealthy and adores her – she is about to have the biggest and most elaborate wedding imaginable, all masterminded by her mother. Nobody knows about her first marriage, so it’s almost as though it never happened – isn’t it?

But with only four days to go, it looks as though Milly’s past is going to catch up with her. Can she sort things out before her fairytale wedding collapses around her? How can she tell Simon? And worse still, how can she tell her mother …?

I adore Sophie Kinsella's previous books, in particular The Undomestic Goddess so I was very intrigued to read her writing in a different style as Madeleine Wickham. 

Sophie Kinsella has created a novel where the main character is naive but has a good heart and I fell in love with her whimsical nature during the first few chapters where she marries American Alan who needs a UK visa to stay in England with his gay lover.

Then the turmoil comes a decade later when she meets Simon who she wants to marry (for love not a Visa) and her previous marriage comes back to haunt her. The odds are against Milly and every chapter had me routing for a happy outcome. There are lots of twists in the story and plenty of obstacles in Millys path, thrown in with realistic explorations of common stereotypical relationships and just a touch of Sophie Kinsellas witty observations of life. 

I'd recommend this book to Sophie Kinsella fans, just don't expect the perfectly rosy conclusions found in her other books, Milly's is a messy tale and not all the strings can be tied in pretty bows.

Love

Lorraine 

Lacroix x

Beautiful Buys for La Maison

L'Homme and I spent the weekend packing and managed to pop into Liverpool for a spot of home shopping. I adore the Zara Home shop, just as stylish as their clothes and full of gorgeous accessories! We picked up this fantastic gold mirrored tray...

And this vintage style Biscuit jar, a bargain from TK Maxx...

And to celebrate we bought these beautiful Matthew Williamson Butterfly Champagne glasses in the Debenhams sale!

L'Homme and I are so excited and can't wait to finally get the keys to our house on Friday! Then it will be DIY every weekend for a while but I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.

I'm really enjoying the fabulous renovation pictures on the Brooklyn Limestone blog, it's a great example of how you can transform an old building into a beautiful home.

Love
Lorraine
Lacroix x

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich

L'Homme loves to cook which is a really good thing as I love to eat. He was in the kitchen as usual yesterday and made us a fabulous lunch.

Steak Ciabatta with red onion marmalade, mustard mayo and mushrooms, it was delicious.

Love

Lorraine

Lacroix x

Woodland Walk

If you're anything like me you treasure your weekends and when the weather is so good I just have to get out, L'Homme and I spent the afternoon out of the city on a woodland stroll to Formby. The sun was warm and the sky a cloudless blue we don't see often enough!

I wore a dress that I made with some white cotton material printed with tiny sail boats and carried my beloved green satchel that I bought on a beautiful trip to Venice last year.

 We finished off the day with a cooling ice cream! Yum!

Love
Lorraine
Lacroix x

White is Alright

The recent spell of sunny weather in Liverpool has brought on a summery feeling in the city and strolling through town or a local park in a flowing white haze seems so appropriate right now after the Royal wedding and the nuptials of Miss Moss and Jamie Hince. Here's some beatiful inspiration for an angelic day...

Don't forget to avoid spaghetti!
Love
Lorraine
Lacroix x

Chair Transformation

I adore big comfy velvet armchairs that you can curl up in with a good book and and a glass of wine, I was particularly keen on Habitats' Chester version in purple (above) at £800, but I would have loved it even more in a deep navy blue.
I already had this cheap armchair which was bought as a temporary space filler in our rented furnished apartment, I never really loved it and planned to sell it on ebay when we moved into our new home. I just didn't see the maroon, office chair material piece fitting in to our stylish plans.

Then I had an idea... I could buy the material in the colour I really wanted and reupholster the chair! So, I began by carefully removing the hundreds of staples securing the current fabric to the wooden framed chair and then using the fabric as a template to cut the pieces for the new material. I wasn't worried about damaging the chair as it was only a cheap one that I hadn't planned on keeping anyway but I perhaps would have been a little more cautious had it been more expensive!

Halfway through the tranformation the sides and foot sections of the material are placed onto the chair to test the fit before sewing together

The finished chair is exactly how I imagined and when we have moved to our new home, spent hours stripping wallpaper, sanding wood and painting walls I will thoroughly enjoy putting my feet up and relaxing in my beautiful armchair.

Love
Lorraine Lacroix

Birthday Celebrations

To celebrate my friends 27th Birthday we booked a table at a very cosy French restaurant in Liverpool city centre. Bistro Pierre is in the heart of Beatles territory, tucked down Button Street close to the famous Cavern Club. As the rain poured down outside we were nestled in the bustling little bistro, spirits high and wine flowing.

The bread basket is temptingly delicious and none of us could resist a little dipped into balsamic vinegar and olive oil or smothered with creamy Lescure French butter.

Bistro Pierre do a brilliant offer every Wednesday night which includes 2 courses from the 'A La Carte' menu plus a bottle of house wine per person for just £14.95 and trust me the red house wine is so smooth and delicious you'll savour every drop! Bistro Pierre have lots of other offers on too and is definately worth a visit if you're ever in Liverpool.

The beautiful darlings that are Megan and Dawn

My fun and always kind cockney friend Jane, the utimate hippy chick.

My gorgeous friend Jen and Sean the Birthday Boy

Enjoying the wine and atmospheric surroundings, Bistro Pierre is so well thought out you might find yourself believing you're actually in Paris

Me and Jen

 

Roast Fillet of Pork
Stuffed with black pudding, carved onto a bed of apple & sage compôte & served with a cider velouté, delicious

Vintage French posters line the walls and the windowsills are filled with empty wine bottles. From the mismatched wooden furniture to the wine bottle candles every detail is perfect and I could spend the whole night chatting with friends and soaking up the atmosphere.

Check out the Bistro Pierre website and try not to salivate too much at the glorious menu!

The Home Bar (kind of)

Bonjour readers,

There is something I must confess to you all, recently I have become rather insanely obsessed with interior decor and am constantly awake until the early hours trawling eBay for battered furniture I can transform.

After coming across this beautifully stylish photograph of a couple of modern drinks trolley's I knew I wanted to achieve a similar look in my new dining room.

After a couple of weeks patiently searching Ebay for inspiration I finally found this gold coloured hostess trolley! I am really looking forward to displaying some beautifully designed liquer bottles and making a fantastic feature of it. My very own stylish mini bar!

I have visions of lovely glass bottles and perhaps a couple of crystal glasses twinkling in the light, just like this trendy Italian bar featured on Taste.com. Oh well If you can't go to Italy bring Italy to you!!

I will post pictures of the finished display when L'Homme and I have settled in to our new home!

with love
Lorraine Lacroix

Je T'aime Rose Gold Watches

When Mrs Beckham stepped out in her stunning vintage rose gold Rolex timpiece my wrist immediately felt naked and I vowed I had to have a special watch just like hers!

Unfortunately my wages don't stretch quite so far so I began a search for a convincing high street take on the trend, here are the fruits of my labour...

This white ceramic strap provides a touch of Chanel style (DKNY £157)

Guess £175

This Michael Kors watch is by far my favourite and would compliment a holiday tan perfectly (£200)

Love anything a little Kitsh? Then this pretty heart watch is for you (ASOS £20

)

This is a classy piece and very purse friendly at £125 from Fossil

Bonjour

Greetings everyone, this is my first (hopefully of many) blog posts.

It's a very exciting time in my life right now as I am about to place my feet nervously on the first rung of the property ladder. My boyfriend (for the purposes of this blog he will be named L'Homme, the Man in my life) and I are just completing our purchase of a beautiful (if a little tired) Victorian Semi.

So I got to thinking how exciting it would be to share my experience with the wonderful blogging community and also to have free reign to chat about the things I love the most without sending L'Homme to sleep.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy my musings on all things stylish and Chic!

Je T'embrasse
Lorraine Lacroix