Finally, tomorrow the springtime month of April begins!  With all of the daffodils popping up every other second on social media, as well as the flatlays featuring soft pink and blush shades, I'm feeling well and truly immersed in this gentle new season.  I've heard many people discuss lately how this time of year feels more refreshing than the 'January rush' that prompts us all to make resolutions - and I agree!  I'm ready to set my sights on pops of pink with regard to beauty, clear out old stationery to make room for the new, contemplate my next luxury handbag splurge and daydream about how maxi dresses are nearly season appropriate....

Note: All photos have been taken from the Monument Hotel website

Ta-dah!  We've reached number fifteen in my Hotel Wishlist series and for the big one-five, we're flying over from number fourteen's Switzerland to the buzzing city of Barcelona.  It's been a couple of years since my last (and only!) visit to the capital of Spain's Catalonia region and I'm already being consumed by wanderlust as I recall walking through the warm streets of the Gothic Quarter.  Ah, memories.  Keeping to the series' theme of luxurious, interesting hotels that can be found in ideal locations... say hello to Barcelona's Monument Hotel, located on the iconic Paseo de Gracia (aka main shopping street)!

Returning to one of my favourite themes, dainty jewellery, I've been considering lately the many ways of using delicate necklaces to add a further touch of femininity to an outfit.  As much as I want to fall head over heels in love with statement necklaces, I can't help but return to my longterm favourite of beautifully simplistic, dainty pieces.  I love necklaces that prompt double-takes to appreciate the understated beauty... and a silver arrow shooting a fine chain through a shimmering heart will certainly do that!

The question is, at what point do we allow the linen pieces from our wardrobes to start making appearances? Throughout the four seasons, most materials are fairly content with being adjusted to suit the weather/occasion, however I'm not convinced the same can be said for linen.  The cloth-woven material has something undeniably fresh about it, to the extent of it seeming only 'appropriate' once the sun is shining and the gloves have been stored away.  With this in mind, I'm (definitely) jumping the gun by a month or so, but I can't wait any longer - I'm bringing out the linen!

You know those spaces that seem to become more and more impressive the longer you look at them? Well, Basildon Park is definitely one of them.  The 18th-century Georgian mansion is surrounded by 400 acres of historic parkland, as well as thousands of visitors each year eager to get a glimpse of the elegant interior.  After a warm welcome at the entrance stable courtyard, all that remained was to walk through a woody path at a fairly steep incline until the building's West facade was visible...

Denim, denim, denim; indigo, faded, raw-hem, embellished, coloured.  Any type of denim.  I'll hold my hands up to having played it fairly safe this past winter with regard to the material, more often than not changing in-and-out of identical pairs of skinny jeans. However, now that we're transitioning from winter to spring and it's warm enough not to conceal every square inch of the body in multiple layers, I'm back to looking at other ways of wearing denim, starting - of course - with a classic denim mini skirt.

A few million decades ago (the year before last), I received a gift from a friend of a cookery book.  Though, it wasn't just any cookery book, it was a chocolate-focussed book packed with delicious recipes by Green & Black's.  I'm disappointed to say it's taken me this long to select a recipe to try, though that's not to say I haven't been caught flipping through the book's tasty imagery on various occasions before now!  After much deliberation, I took inspiration from the 'Truly Gooey Chocolate Cookies' recipe found on page 20 and explored Green & Black's website for a similar recipe that incorporated milk chocolate.  One quick shopping trip later to pick up an ingredient (you're always missing one, right?) and I was set to attempt the Chewy Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe...

It's around about this time, as winter gradually fades out and spring starts to make a (very pretty) appearance, that we each begin noticing the gaps in our wardrobes and the accessories missing from our drawers.  So, to help make this transitional season a little less gruelling and to freshen up someone's accessory collection... I've teamed up with Sunglasses Shop to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a brand new pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses!

I've seen many cities over the years and with massive relief can say that rarely I've never really returned home regretting an experience.  Whether it involves shopping my way through Barcelona, hiking up a Swiss mountain or enjoying Bratwurst in a medieval German town - it's been one positive experience after another!  With this in mind, when TravelSupermarket got in touch to introduce the concept of  'making holidays memorable for the right reasons', I was sitting ready with pen and paper.  So, my love for European countries has been in place for a long time and was just as intense a few years ago as it is now.  And it was back then I could be found sitting in a café with a friend of mine, nodding enthusiastically at the idea of visiting Paris together.  A nod that would eventually turn into an aerial-view grin from the airplane and from there, a teeny-tiny bit of regret later in the day...