I solved my packing dilemma by writing a list. I find there aren't many problems that can't be solved this way.

By writing down what I'd wear on each day of our trip and adding a not-so-nice-weather option I managed to come up with a capsule wardrobe that I was happy with.

There's a good mix of old, new and pre loved.

I started with my ideal warm weather pieces (I'm not expecting high temperatures, but hoping for warm, pleasant, I-don't-need-a-jacket weather), three pairs of trousers and four tops gave me a good base to work with, especially as two of them are nice enough for the evenings. Add two dresses suitable for day or evening and we're really getting somewhere.

With two evening dresses (one of which I haven't worn since 2012!) and a black scarf to use as a cover up, and my evening wear is sorted.

In case of not-so-good weather I packed three cardigans, two waist length to layer under my denim jacket, one longer if a jacket isn't necessary.

I added a vest top for layering and a lightweight jacket in case of rain, plus two more scarves.

For shoes I'm taking a pair of navy espadrilles, black ballet flats (good for day or evening), and some Converse, and my blue Kurt Geiger Mary Janes (bought in 2012 and, as yet, unworn).

I have a navy bowling bag for daytime, and a black cross-the-body bag for when I don't need a larger bag, this has a removable strap so I can use it as a clutch in the evenings.

I got all this into my case with room to spare so I popped in a small pretty clutch bag for the evenings - to mix it up a bit, and a fabric tote for shopping. Also a black t-shirt, another vest top and a maxi dress, just because I could.

I enjoy travelling light. I don't like to pack too much and bring things home unworn, but I won't care a jot if I don't wear the cardigans or jackets.

How do you tackle packing?

When it comes to packing I like to think that I'm pretty shit hot. I've always travelled with a compact case, stuffed full of all the essentials and not a thing more. But, balancing of the precipice of our honeymoon, I've not a clue what to pack.

I've gone blank, I'm clueless, I've even muttered the words 'I have nothing to wear'.

We're off to Zurich, the hotel is pretty fancy and I'm not convinced the weather can be relied upon and these things have sent me into a packing spin. So, I've been ignoring it.

A friend once told me that the time is takes to pack is the amount of time you have. If you leave it to the last minute, then a minute it will take.

In my avoidance I decided to take this approach, and now I'm starting to panic. I've gone into a mad washing and ironing frenzy, barking at Andy "don't wear that now if you want to take it" with alarming frequency.

I've lost the plot. It's official.

Starting at the beginning. We're away for 7 days, so I'll pack seven pairs of pants. There is a pool so I'll take my two swimsuits - this shiz isn't so hard.

What shall I wear to travel in? Not jeans, definitely not skinny jeans. Not my fabulous new jumpsuit - think of the loo on the plane. A dress? A maxi dress maybe? Can I just roll myself up in my duvet?

My head hurts.

So far I have pants, swimsuits and a dress. And I'm travelling naked it seems. Nope, I'll wear the dress to travel. Which means I'm now back down to swimmers and pants.

Pants.

Wait, I read an article once on surviving a plane crash (I know), the gist of it was wear trousers, don't take your shoes off and don't get drunk.

So, not a dress. Jeans, I need boyfriend jeans! *visits ASOS* *makes a purchase*.

Yeah I've got this covered.

...

I can't find my sunglasses.

*sighs*

I've been having a bit of a love affair with The Body Shop recently (with almost constant special offers tempting me at every turn). It started off slowly with the brow kit, then I found the best bronzer, both of which I still regularly use.


More recently I discovered the The Body Shop Camomile Waterproof Eye & Lip Make-Up Remover. I've switched to waterproof mascara and this removes it with ease, no stinging, no reaction from my peepers at all. I'm on my fourth bottle of this, which is unusual as I normally like to try different things once I'm done with something, I'm a bit of a product slut.

After using up my Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm I wanted to try the Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter as a cheaper alternative. It's easier to pick up on the high street (I hate trying to buy anything at a Clinique counter locally). It's pretty good, equally as good as the Clinique offering I'd say. I don't like to use this to remove eye make up - it can with ease, but I find my eyesight goes blurry for a short while after using it and then I end up with gunk in the corners of my eyes - nice.

Whilst online I couldn't help but pop the Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil into my basket (damn that 40% off discount code). This goes onto a dry face, massage it in and then add water to turn it into a milk and then rinse away with a damp cloth for clean, soft, hydrated skin.

I use this as a first cleanse, followed by a scrub or mask. It feels really nice - effective but gentle, again I don't like it for eye make up removal - it does the same blurry thing as the cleansing butter, but then I guess that's what I have the make up remover for. I still can't decide which I prefer out of this and the cleansing butter.

I tried the Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet at a Body Shop party and loved it! It has a really fine granular texture and feels cool when applied. I like this as a night time moisturiser as sometimes, when I really slather it on (which I love to do with this) it can sometimes leaves white marks on my face. But I wake with super lovely skin.

If I do wear it during the day, it's on dull days or days when I'm not outside much as it has no SPF. I really don't get along with applying layers and layers of lotions and creams on my skin. Two is normal, three is the maximum for me so I need multi-tasking products.

I've got another bagful of Body Shop goodies coming my way after going to my second Body Shop party this year... and I might've booked myself a party too.

Have you tried anything from The Body Shop recently, what did you think?

Here's how I did on my Super Spring list

1. Walk in the woods amongst the bluebells
Done! In fact we went twice as it was obvious that on our first visit we were a little early for the best carpet of blue.

Our second outing did not disappoint, we went in the early evening after a rain storm and it was beautifully refreshing with that clean rain smell mixed with the scent of bluebells and woodland. Bliss.


2. Go to the beach and eat fish and chips
Done - a spare of the moment decision to hit the beach in Aldeburgh turned a bad day into a lovely day.


And I had such a lovely time I took the an opportunity to visit Felixstowe beach (above) the following week - and there were fish and chips involved on this occasion too.


3. Read three books
I've only just finished book no.1. The Hundred Year Old Man (I can't even be bothered to finish typing out the title) by Jonas Jonasson. I enjoyed it at times, but I don't think it was worth slogging through. I don't seem to be getting as much from reading as I normally do at the moment. Maybe I'm picking the wrong books, or I'm not in the right head space. I don't know but it's frustrating. Having talked to a few friends about this I decided to get myself a copy of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, both of them said what an amazing book it is and I figured that if this doesn't lift me out of my reading fug then nothing will.


4. Write thank you letters
It took a while to get through them all and I didn't do them as promptly as I would've liked but it was lovely to spend a few nights immersed in memories of our wedding day.

5. Wardrobe cull
Sort of done. This was helped by not having a clue what to wear the day I met up with Sophie and Kezzie, I tried on half my wardrobe and consigned most of those items to the charity bag, which eased the strain on my rails (although I did come home from our outing with several new items).

6. Plan a summer adventure
I've promised myself a trip to Snape Maltings and Marlsford Mill. I've got tickets to Latitude and I also have a girl's night out for pizza and cocktails to look forward to.

7. Paint the kitchen
I've drafted in reinforcements for this, aka Mum and her husband (I don't call him my step dad because it doesn't sound / feel / seem right. They met when my brother and I were grown adults so it's not as if he plays, or ever played a father role - he is super lovely though and we all get on really well - ooh bit of a tangent there sorry!). But as they're recently married we're going to wait a few weeks before we get stuck in.


8. Make Jaffa Cakes and boiled fruit cake

I'd been meaning to bake this boiled fruit cake for ages. I don't remember how I came across it on A Millers Tale, but I'm glad I did as she shares her Grandmother's recipe - which we all know are the very best kind.

It was super easy to make and as delicious as promised. I didn't have any currants as I'd picked up two bags of raisins by mistake, so I made up the difference with mixed peel. This has left me hoping that when I bake it next time (and there will definitely be a next time), with the correct ingredients, it'll be even tastier.

See the recipe here. Do you have any recipes handed down from your Mum or Grandma?

The Jaffa Cakes remain unbaked but still on the list.

9. Continue to make home improvements
Other than planting up some hanging baskets for the front of the house, my home improvement has been generally organising stuff and getting rid of unwanted items at a car boot sale. Nothing exciting.

10. Sort out my office!!
I sorted a corner of my office thanks to George at Asda but the other side of the room still needs my attention (and some shelves). I have made progress here by getting rid of loads of unwanted bits and pieces, working on the premise that I don't need more room, I just need less stuff.


Here's my list for summer.

1. Go to the beach and eat ice cream (more than once)

2. Exercise!

3. Make a wedding album and get a few photos printed and into frames

4. Make a dress or skirt (or maybe both!)

5. Finish my patchwork quilt

6. Start (and finish?) a cross stitch I've had sat in my drawer since 2013

7. Redecorate our bedroom (after the kitchen of course)

8. Pick strawberries / raspberries and eat my body weight whilst still in the field

9. Make my own ice cream.

10. Try a new recipe.

What do you have planned for the summer months?

What happened to June? Seriously, where did it go?

This is a photographic scavenger hunt for June, hosted by Greenthumb. I was lucky enough to visit Zurich this month and most of these images I captured whilst there.

J is for?


Juice! The Swiss know how to breakfast, most days we didn't need to have lunch, we'd had enough food at breakfast to see us through to supper.

Rust

Sculptures on the restaurant terrace.

Smooth

An art installation on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse

Imagination

I'm not sure what this is but it's from someone's imagination! It's one of the pieces of art on display in our hotel.

Classic

Andy tells me that this is a classic rig. This was in the station in Zurich, people where queuing to have a personalised coke bottle made. I really wanted to ask for one that said 'Coke is poo' (or something similar) to see if they'd do it. Sadly, we had a train to catch and didn't have time.

Similar

Socks and Tick, brother and sister. Similar but different. I missed these little flea bags so much whilst I was away!

Parallel


The pavement outside the Opera House

Socks

My boy cat, Socks - how could I not use his photograph for this? Here he is showing his love of cardboard boxes. He couldn't physically fit into this one so he spent an afternoon snoozing against it instead.

Bead

Wearing 'beads', as Andy calls them, in my ears. All set for going out to supper on our final evening in Zurich.

Mug



Poster


Whatever you want

It was really hard to choose but this is my favourite photo from June, it's the view form our hotel balcony over The Alps. We'd both go back in a heartbeat.

Pop over to Greenthumb to see others who have taken part. It's been a while since I took part in one and I have to say I really rather enjoyed it, especially with Andy helping me to find things on the list for the first (and possibly only time).

How was June for you?

We've been married two months now and I'll soon be coming to an end with my Wedding Wednesday posts, but I couldn't stop without telling you about our wedding cake, because IRL people are still talking about it.

Back in August 2013 I wrote 'I don't want speeches, a first dance or a three tier cake...' Ha! didn't I have to eat my words!

2013 was also the year my friend Helen decided to wave goodbye to graphic design and make wedding cakes for a living, starting up Amelie's Kitchen.

When Andy proposed I knew I'd go to Helen for our cake. What I wasn't prepared for was being told we need four tiers to cater for all our guests. Four! I'd had thoughts of a simple cake, a single tier, a few nice embellishments. On hearing this I thought 'what the heck, go big or go home' and got stuck in to choosing a design.


Helen made the process so enjoyable. She sketched out my ideas based on elements I'd picked out from her existing designs, some ideas I'd seen on Pinterest, and offered up some suggestions too.

In fact it was Helen who suggested using striped ribbon on the cake, which I then added to the bouquets, buttonholes and table arrangements. It became one of my favourite elements of our overall theme.


The result was stunning, I loved, loved, loved how it turned out and oh-my-goodness it tasted divine!

And I'm not the only one who thought so, many of our guests have since commented on how delicious it was, some of them more than once. I bet there are a few of them that could describe the cake in minute detail but couldn't tell you a thing about the venue or my dress.

We chose to have two tiers of rich chocolate mud cake with a salted caramel filling and two tiers of white chocolate mud cake with a passion fruit filling. And the icing wasn't ordinary icing, 'Our iced cakes are coated in a thin layer of co-ordinating ganache prior to icing with a very thin layer of Swiss patisserie style fondant' and it was exquisite, and not at all sickly like many fondants can be.

I have to admit to being surprised by how much the cake became a part of the celebration, I know it's traditional (although we didn't have the awkward cutting of the cake), but it was a real talking point on the night and in the days after. The added bonus was having some left over - I ate cake for breakfast everyday for the first week of married life.


I fully intend to have Helen make a cake for our first anniversary, we just need to decide between chocolate or white chocolate, we couldn't possibly have a two tier anniversary cake... could we?

Find Helen on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and Instagram. 

And check out Helen's wedding cake selfie here, this is adorable!

I've got some new faces, and old favourites in my make up bag at the moment. I love reading 'what's in my make up bag' posts so I thought I'd share my everyday products too.

Rimmel London BB Cream in light
I think I got a sample of this in a Birchbox, or maybe on a magazine but either way I liked it enough to purchase a full size tube. I start with this over my primer / serum. I really like the coverage which is enough to cover minor blemishes and marks but retains a natural, matte look and gives a nice (very) subtle hint of colour - good for pales girls!

Benefit Erase Paste
I use this under my eyes to take away the bruised look of my dark circles, it's not a concealer as such but certainly helps improve the appearance of my under eye area by masking the purplish hue.

Absolute Eyeshadow Primer
I love this, I think I got this in a Birchbox (or Glossybox perhaps). It's lasted for ages and helps to keep my eye make up in place. If I don't use any primer make up lasts approximately 5 minutes.

I use the Real Techniques buffing brush to blend these in.

Chella Highlighter in Ivory Lace
This was definitely from a Birchbox - it featured in my Top 5 Birchbox Favourites post here. I'm still using it, although now I tend to just pop it on my waterline to disguise any redness and make my eyes look fresher.

Soap and Glory Archery Brow Pencil
This is the one with a crayon one end and a brush the other. I've been using this for a little while and the more I do, the more I like it. It's just enough to fill in my sparse brows without looking over done but if I do want to go a bit more defined I can simply add more.

Benefit High Beam
A classic, mainly used to add highlight to my brow bone, and occasionally on the tops of my cheekbones.

Bourjois Blush 34 Rose d'Or
Not a colour I would've picked for myself but I saw this one Lisa Eldridge YouTube tutorial and liked it so much I thought I'd try it. It's a very pink pink with a really subtle gold highlight. It's looks a little scary in the pan but the colour is soft and builds up easily so I can get just the right amount of colour. I use the Real Techniques contour brush, from the core collection, to apply this to the apples of my cheeks.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr
I have this gel cream eyeshadow in 40 - Permanent Taupe and Leather Effect 98 Creamy Beige. These blend really nicely and once dry they don't budge. I use the taupe near my lashes top and bottom and add the beige to my lower lids. The colours are perfectly everyday.

Eyeko eyelash curlers
I got these free on the front of a magazine and they are actually really good. I bought myself some much celebrated Shu Eumura ones and I didn't get on with them at all - they where too arched and didn't fit my eyelid at all. Gutted at wasting £25 on those! I'll be sticking to my freebies.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Waterproof Mascara in Rich Black
I'm told that waterproof mascaras hold your curl better than normal ones and I have to say I think there might be something in that. I love this one for adding volume to my pathetic lashes, but I'm always on the look out for a better one.

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara in 02 Black Brown
Avon discontinued my favourite mascara for bottom lashes so I tweeted for an alternative. Really Ree offered up this suggestion and it's perfect - it has the teeniest little brush.

Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker XL Extreme Plump XL Lip Plumping Gloss
An old, old favourite (also seen here). This lasts for ages and gives a slight plumping effect. This must be my third tube of this and I'd absolutely repurchase.

What products can't you live without?