Ace Hotel, Shoreditch, London

January was a weird month. Chugging along at a snail's pace, paid opportunities were few and far between, and it felt like every day was an admin day. But saying that, I did manage to travel around to the usually cities a few times (London, Manchester and Liverpool) - seeing friends, meetings with potential clients and generally trying to make things happen for myself.

You know I'm not a negative person, far from it, I don't tend to dwell on the slower times. If anything I make good use of them. Two weeks in to 2019 and I managed to tick off one of the goals I set myself this year; to run 10k without stopping. Nailed it!

On a round trip to London last week I booked myself in for an overnight at Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, as I was visiting for an event just up the road. It was a decent experience, with everything I need from a couple of hours of laptop club, a short but solid kip and comfortable surroundings. Tbh a highlight for me was the patchwork denim APC blanket, which can be seen adorned across each low-set king size bed in the hotel. True, a blanket doesn't make the hotel, but it did stick in my mind as being one of the more memorable features (along with the army green storage cabinet at the side of the bed, I dig).

Maybe I've been spoilt by the quality of design (especially for the price) at Whitworth Locke in Manchester, because for me, the rooms at Ace were lacking something. It has got some major ups though; the Shoreditch Highstreet location is pretty spot on for local restaurants, cafes etc, it's two mins walk from Redchurch St, and Ace's own restaurant Hoi Polloi is stone cold stunner.

So to sum up, would I recommend Ace Hotel? Yes, but only if you can get a decent deal.

Ace Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6JQ

GIVEAWAY - Win Trainers Of Your Choice With size?

I've probably been hyping this one up in my head but I'm really excited about this giveaway. We're giving away a pair of trainers of your choice from size?, up to the value of £100!

size? stock a ridiculous amount of brands and styles, so if you do win it might take you a bit to decide. Their current brand list boosts; Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Clarks, Converse, Sperry, Saucony, Sprint Court, Vans....and so on. There's plenty of style to choose from and the the winner can take their pick from any Men's, Women's and Kid's trainers or shoes. Sweet deal. Above are a few of my favourites from their new season stock, including the New Balance 996 and the women's Nike Free Run 2.

How to Enter

To win a pair of trainers or shoes of your choice from size? you must be a subscriber of Buckets & Spades Blog. There are several ways you can do this, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter. The more ways you follow, the more chances of winning. Remember, if you follow you can come back and enter this giveaway daily! This giveaway is open worldwide, back of the net. If you have any questions or would like to know further rules of the contest please email/tweet me.

Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Shiny Thoughts x Buckets & Spades - Style Challenge

Shiny Thoughts x Buckets & Spades - Style Challenge

Today I'm very excited to share that I've teamed up with super-blogger and all around colour enthusiast Lucy of Shiny Thoughts. I've been wanting to work on something with Lucy for ages now, so when she said she loved the idea of working on a blogger's collaboration I was over the moon. We've been buddies for a while now and her style is just something else, she's not afraid of colour, that's for sure. I posed the idea of working on a Style Challenge, where we'd both buy each other an item and then style it up in our own way. The catch was we didn't know what we'd be buying each other, it could have gone horribly wrong but we were both prepared to take that risk! I knew Lucy would make a good job of it regardless of the item I chose as she's loves trying something new and her blog is always impeccable.

Wearing - ASOS Jacket, Armor-Lux Top, Levi's 511, Supra Trainers c/o Zalando, UO Socks, Muji Watch, Paul Smith Ring.

For the Style Challenge we joined forces with Zalando but as they seemingly have a zillion products in their store we decided to stick to trainers. Letting a girl pick your trainers is like getting your nan to knit you a jumper, you assume it's going to be terrible but you end up being pleasantly surprised. I must admit I wasn't expecting fluro trainers to turn up but I should have guessed from Lucy's own style! Supra trainers brighter than the sun wasn't something I was expecting but thankfully I didn't have too much trouble making them work. 

I stuck to the basics; stripes, navy, denim and some contrasting socks. I think they work pretty well, even with the brightness. What do you think, did I do her proud? If you're wondering what I chose for Lucy, check out her post here!

A little teaser of what I chose for Lucy. If you haven't check out her blog I suggest you're in for a treat!

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Last Week's Feet

 

Monday - Working in Manchester. Levi's 511s, Clarks Desert Trek, Burlington lime green socks

Tuesday - Doing some work in Nero's. Levi's 511s, YMC saddle shoes, J.Crew football socks

 Wednesday - Driving test which I passed! Levi's cords, Vans, Uniqlo grey socks

Friday - Working at my third part time job. Levi's 511s, New Balance 420s, Wig Wam red marl socks

Saturday - Working from home and to the gym. Dockers khaki chinos, Storm work boots, Happy Socks striped socks

I feel like I've been mega busy this week, trying to balance 3 part-time jobs gets tricky at times but this week I had my driving test too, which I passed! It's been a massive goal for me and to final achieve it feels so good. I'm not at the position to be able to afford a car just yet but it's there when I need it. This week my target was to wear a different pair of shoes every day, that might not sound so hard to some people but because I tend to do a lot of walking I usually just go for what's comfiest. I missed 2 days out of 7 but it's not a bad effort is it?

Following on from my post last week, I mentioned that I like to jazz up my plain outfits with a bit of colour in the sock department. And it worked, somehow wearing colourful socks makes me feel happier and if it brings a smile to someone else's face then I've done my job. Along with the socks there's plenty of shoes for men on offer these days.

As I mentioned it's been a busy week, other than my jobs and driving I've been designing a logo for a new charity, a couple of store visits (another post coming soon), keeping fit and cleaning of course! Boy I need a rest.

This post includes a sponsored link, all words and thoughts are by me as usual.

Think tank for summer

Whilst a busy morning of paint the wall in the back garden, in the uncharacteristically hot English weather I got to thinking about what I will be wearing for work this coming week and for our short trip to London (which will hopefully be in July but we haven't booked yet.

Another thing which spurred this into my head was a link to an article about the rise in chinos, on men and women which Style Salvage posted on their Twitter this morning. Click here for the article, it documents 10 people who walked through the doors at London's bStore and posing the question, "are they the new jean?". I pretty much think they are, especially for the warmer months. I currently own a dark navy/charcoal pair and a beige pair.

This was my favourite look for the 10magazine selection, mostly because this is similar to how I would wear my beige pair. Wicked boots too.

Purple chinos from ASOS

I've been wanting to try something a bit more adventurous in the trouser department for the summer, I stumbled across this purple pair from ASOS. I just can't help think they would look much better if the shade of purple was a touch darker.

Mint green chinos by Acne, from ASOS

This shade of green is very much to my liking but sadly out of my budget, though to do kind of look for like light fabric jeans rather than a trouser.

My two current pairs, ASOS(left), H&M(right)

So chinos will undoubtedly be the choice of the summer for me but what is my shoe of choice to go with them?

If it's raining (theres a good chance in that happening!):

l-r ASOS brown boots, Clarks Desert boots, Dr Martens

And if it's sunny, fingers crossed:

l-r Spencer Jones boat shoes, Hudson patent tassel loafers, Vans

What are your summer essentials?