Outfit | Yet More Navy

Hollie wears - ASOS Silk Boiler Suit | GAP Sandels | Skagen Watch | Monica Vinader Ring

Yet more navy. I think it's catching in our household. This might well be the easiest wardrobe choice I've seen Hollie wear, I mean, it's just one item?! Zip yourself in and you're as ready for an afternoon relaxing in the park as you are for a hard day's graft organising the broom cupboard. 

I'm sure she'll love me for saying that, but I reckon her go-to response to that would be, "...Slipknot chic, this is all you need to know". If you're looking to get in touch with Hollie, you'll find her keeping it casual somewhere, all summer long.

It's finally the weekend! Oh boy, we need to switch off from this busy week; get out for a run, cycle, or anything else our legs can handle. Been stuck in a coach for the last few days, driving around Scotland. Time to catch up with the crew and enjoy the weekend for once. What's on the cars for you?

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Glastonbury 2014 Preview | Discovering The Festival

It's best not to come to Glastonbury with a head full of preconceptions and a notebook full of plans of what you want to see.’ - Glastonbury Festival

I’m lucky enough to have a ticket for Glastonbury this year. Sadly not a freebie for Buckets & Spades or I imagine Mat would have claimed it first - and who could blame him, when this is one of the well-known festivals on earth.

I’ve always wanted to go, but booking a ticket requires military precision that I’ve lacked every single year. Not this time though. Five of us on separate computers frantically refreshed the bookings page at 9.00 a.m. on a Sunday morning back last November and the tickets were ours. Now comes the planning stage (cars, tents, sleeping bags, beers, etc) and although the website warns against it, I’m making some plans for what to see and do.

Music aside (of course Dolly Parton makes the top of my list there), there’s a huge amount to experience. A set of documentary preview videos on the Glastonbury site give some indication of what to expect. Craziness, intrigue, queueing, and mud, in equal measures it would seem. I’m looking forward to most of that - perhaps not the mud - and want to have a good look at the ‘surprises’ being promised in the Tipi Field, as well as a hunt for the speakeasies that people have mentioned to me before.

My geeky side is interested in The Glastonbury Free Press - a daily newspaper of the goings-on at Glastonbury produced on-site using vintage machinery - while my inner wimp is keen to avoid the mud (if it rains) and check out the new Pop-Up Spa on offer from The Pop Up Hotel. Promising rejuvenation and recharge throughout the festival with showers, toilets, and various botanical treatments, some people might think it’s not in the spirit of Glastonbury, but they’ll change their tune once the rain starts to fall or the sun causes them to smell.

image source 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

The pie-lover in me is hoping Pieminister make an appearance too...and I can find them, of course. Mat visited Beacons Festival last year with Urban Oufitters last year, be it on much smaller scale - Apparently the food on offer was hard to top, we'll see!

Is anyone else going? If you are, what are you looking forward to most? And for those who’ve been, all recommendations welcome! - Nik
 

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Tens | The Real Life Photo Filter

Tens is a new sunglasses brand which sees life slightly different from the rest. The Edinburgh-based start-up aim to bridge the gap between our constant want to filter + edit life through various post-photo production techniques and a pair of sunglasses, which change the light instantly. Their aim was to create something which lets you skip the editing process and filter what our eyes see, while being totally disconnected from technology.

Tens' technology work with the warmth of the sun, which filters what we see before our eyes. Do we need it? I'm not 100% convinced we do, life looks pretty good without it. It's an interesting concept which promotes offline activity nonetheless.

For more information on Tens visit here. [image source]

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Teva SS14 Originals Collection

For SS14 American Adventure Sports + Lifestyle brand Teva look back through their colourful 30-year archive to recreate some of their classic and most popular styles, which look just as fresh now as they did in the mid-1980s. With roots in watersports, their latest collections doesn't differ too far from their traditional flip-flop and sandal style, taking inspiration from some of the company's early designs, dating back from 1984.

The original Teva designs were produced by a Grand Canyon river guide, who created a sandal suitable for the river by fusing a flip-flop together with nylon safety roping. Selling early prototypes from the back of his van, Teva's innovative + practical styles quickly became hot property on the watersports scene.

Two style feature in the SS14 collection - The Original + the Original Universal, each combining the original construction but using updated materials, patterns and colours. Also see the collaboration they did with Urban Outfitters. Teva's clever use of colour and their patented designs makes a nice alternative for people (like me and I'm guessing a lot of other people) who can't deal with the inevitable flip-flops nightmare. I tend to stick to canvas trainers, deck shoes, or just running trainers (some great deals on them here) in the summer, but when something lighters is required, then Teva could be the perfect solution.

Teva SS14 collection is available here.

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White Knuckles at Thorpe Park

To truly understand the map you have to get into it. Wearing - Armor-Lux t-shirt, Levi's, Nike Powerlines.

The guy with the frogs on his head.

This is what Hollie looks like after five roller coaster, she loves it! Wearing - H&M Dress + Cycling Shorts, Nike Free Run

On what ended up being one of the hottest days of the year, Hollie and I set off at 7am on the mammoth drive down to Thorpe Park in Surrey. We'd been planning this trip for ages, both of us love the thrill of being hurtled around in all sorts of crazy directions at 60mph, so we'd been counting down the days since early summer.

But there was one major flaw, we hadn't realised we'd booked our tickets on one of the busiest Bank Holidays of the year. Luckily for us we had the pleasure of upgrading our regular tickets for the exclusive "fast-track" tickets, which cut each queue down to about 10 minutes! To queue for an hour for each ride after a 6-hour drive to the park would have been a major blow, but that wasn't the case as we managed to ride five of the most extreme roller coasters I've ever been on!

We hadn't expected Thorpe Park's rides to be so epic, expecting them not to come close to some of the extreme ones we've been on in America, but we were proven wrong in spectacular fashion. From the quite frankly ridiculous 10 loop-the-loops of Colossus and 100ft vertical incline of the SAW to being launched to 80mph in under two seconds with Stealth, this place is flipping crazy! 

A big thank you to Thorpe Park for providing us with fast-track tickets and looking after us for the day. If you're into a bit of the old white knuckle extreme roller coasters I definitely recommend visiting, just look at Hollie's face above to remind you how much fun you could be having! Have you guys been to Thorpe Park or any other theme parks, where do you recommend?

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Seasonal Essentials - Sunglasses

Hollie's wearing - Rayban Clubmaster, Cos Top, Kate Spade Earrings.

Wearing - Rayban Wayfarer, Libertine Libertine tee c/o UO , American Needle cap.

I know what you're thinking, penciling in a post about sunglasses just when the sun has gone away? True, it feels like the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees and the Autumn weather (some hazy sunshine instead of drizzle please) has really started to kick. We'll soon be wrapped up in numerous layers and stomping about in the fallen leafs. Shorts and t-shirts will be firmly stored away 'till next year but there's a few things that will be staying put, one of those is sunglasses.

Other than the bare essentials (trousers, doi!) there's a few pieces which I wear regardless of the season. Cycling comes into consideration so things have to be practical; trainers, sweatshirts, lightweight jackets and sunglasses. The British weather is all over the shop and changes hourly, so if you prepare for the worst then you'll never go far wrong. One minute you're sweating buckets, shading your eyes from the sun; the next it's none-stop horizontal rain right in your face. It's slightly predictable but both myself and Hollie never stray too far away from Ray-Ban. I've never found another shape that suits my face but Optical Express* currently have some I might that might be worth a gander. I've had the same pair of wayfarers for around 4 years and they're still going strong, so stick to what you know? 

Remember, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. From here on in you're likely to find carrying around sunglasses and a my trusty Fulton brolly whatever the weather. Do you guys have all year round essentials?

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Jack Spade Jam Shorts

   

I freaking LOVE Jack Spade, for many, many reasons. They're a brand I discovered while I was researching for a project at uni and have featured several times on the blog thereafter. For me they can do no wrong. They've even got a Lending Library scheme at their London store.

Reason I love Jack Spade #1 and #2 -  They're a whole lot of fun and don't care about being too cool for school. Click the video above showing off their new Jam Shorts, you'll see!

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High Rise Flats

Taken in Salford, Manchester. I don't remember it being this hot since Primary School Summer Holidays.

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Inventory Looks

Spot on looks from Inventory Magazine's SS13 catalogue, featuring a mixture of Margaret Howell, Engineered Garments, Champion, Post Overalls, Clarks and several brand exclusives. Featured above are the Yuketen for Inventory chocolate suede Marcel Oxfords. My kind of menswear, easy.

Well it's that time of the week again guys, we're expecting a heatwave in England so let's enjoy while it lasts. Is anyone joining in with o2 #BeMoreDog campaign this weekend? The link takes you to a really cool frisbee game which is played through your mobile and computer, well worth a go. 

Enjoy your weekend folks!

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Albam Flyweight Nylon Jacket

One good strong example of how to do a lightweight jacket well. The Albam Flyweight Nylon Jacket is fully showerproof and packs itself up nicely so it's perfect for traveling cross country in the summer months.

Available in 3 colours at Albam.

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