I arrived back yesterday from my weekend in London, full of new ideas for the site and new ideas for purchases!

I spent the weekend with my lovely friend Lucy; the editor behind the-luxelife.com and we met up with Olivia from newfavouritething.com for lunch. It was a great opportunity to chat to two 'seasoned professionals' and chat we did... over breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner!

Lucy and I started Saturday with pancakes in Westfield and a wander around the shops before meeting up with Olivia for lunch in Fire & Stone.

My lovely pancake; strawberries, chocolate and cream... the healthy choice!

I had a great chat with both Lucy and Olivia over lunch and came away with plenty of inspiration to keep blogging, hopefully I gave them some useful info as well.

After lunch Lucy and I made a mad dash back to hers to quickly change into something a little less comfortable and then headed out to afternoon tea at 'The Met Bar'.

We got started with a selection of cocktails, mine was called Firefly and was a gin based drink... I can't remember what else it had in it, but there was definitely gin, lots of gin... I swear I only had one!

Once the cocktail round was finished we moved onto the actual afternoon tea - apparently the cocktails weren't really part of it... but in my opinion they should be mandatory.

This particular feast was slightly different from the traditional afternoon tea as it was low in fat, but fear not, there were still plenty of cakes. I'll leave the full review to Lucy on the-luxelife.com as she's the expert, suffice it to say I came away absolutely stuffed and wishing I'd worn something looser fitting :)

I wore a dress from Topshop, which looks great on, but possibly not that practical for stuffing your face with cake.

Once we'd dragged ourselves home there was nothing left to do but open up a bottle of fizzy and curl up on the sofa to watch X Factor whislt eating (yes, again) yummy tacos.

Thanks to Lucy for putting up with me all weekend and offering me a place to crash when I'm next in town. She won't be able to get rid of me now :)

theitgirl
xx

It's time for another fabulous competition from The 'It' Guide! Thank you for all your comments on my previous post, on Facebook and on Twitter, the chosen prize as selected by you guys is the Disney Couture 'A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes' Key Necklace.

It couldn’t be easier to enter, simply follow us on Twitter and retweet the following:

Win a Disney Couture necklace from @theitguide... Follow Us, Retweet and Win! http://bit.ly/gjdtbB #Competition

Just ensure your tweet contains our Twitter account name ‘@theitguide’ and a link to this webpage as shown above. We will send a Direct Message to the winner so make sure you’re following us @theitguide.

The competition closes on Monday 6th December, we'll announce the winner at midday on Tuesday 7th December.

-  In order to participate, you must have a Twitter account.
-  Sorry, but this competition is only available to residents of the UK.
-  The winner will be randomly selected from all valid tweets.
-  The winner will be contacted on the 7th December 2010.

*By entering this competition, you agree to accept and be bound by our competition policy.

First of all congratulations to our Ted Baker competition winner Kim! I hope you enjoy your bag, I was very tempted to steal it so I'm glad it's making it's way to you now :)

Due to the success of the competition, we've decided we should do another one and this time we're going to be giving away a Disney Couture necklace (thanks to @cestgemma for that idea!).

But we can't decide which one to choose so we need your help. These are our favourites, let us know which one you think should be the prize by commenting below:

• Disney Couture - Enamel Coach Pendant
• Disney Couture - Pinocchio Pendant
• Disney Couture - Key Necklace
• Disney Couture - Sandcastle Pendant

My favourite has to be the coach pendant - but sadly I'm not allowed to vote...

theitgirl
xx

What better way to liven up a dull Thursday afternoon than organise a great competition to cheer you up whilst it rains horizontally outside - it's just a shame I can't win :(

But you can!!!

All you have to do is follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook before the 19th Nov 2010, it's as simple as that.

The prize is the bestselling Bowcon bag from Ted Baker. This elegant shopper features a pretty bow detail and a branded logo to create a level of chic that's Coco-perfect. It will make a great early Christmas present for someone or keep it for yourself - I vote 'keep it'!

	Follow us on Twitter
	Join us on Facebook

*By entering this competition, you agree to accept and be bound by our competition policy.

I love the new collection from Nicole Richie's Winter Kate brand. The collection is infused with Richie’s signature style and was inspired by peacocks and other birds and features wraps and camis in antique lace, cute prints on kimonos and waistcoats and outerwear.

She really is making this season a Winter Wonderland!

I particularly favour her printed kimonos and jackets, they add a vibrant burst of colour to any outfit and during the miserable weather they remind me of the bright warmth of a summer’s day. The butter jasmine silk velvet jacket is especially gorgeous; it’s only available from my-wardrobe.com and would be a great alternative to a dull black cardigan. There is also a purple version for those of you who feel a little more comfortable in darker shades.

I've been staying with my Mum and Dad this weekend so I can attend my best friend's birthday night out on Saturday. I spent yesterday morning exploring the new Southgate shopping centre in Bath (finally Bath has a Debenhams – just in time for Christmas!). My trip would not have been complete without a visit to the (relatively) new Topshop store and I was delighted to spot this floral kimono almost immediately.



It’s a great high-street alternative to the Winter Kate range and it’s by no means the only one. After a quick browse of Topshop.com, I found another two kimonos that both look like they could be part of Nicole’s collection.



So if you’re looking to have a bohemian winter and you don’t wish to part with too much money then Topshop is a great choice instead!

theitgirl
xx