Hidden Treasure

Before heading for pizza on our first night in Florence we stumbled across the most amazing shop And Company. Whilst looking around we oooed and aahhhed at everything in sight, but our tummys were really grumbling so we soon headed for some food.

On our last day in the beautiful city, we packed our bags and popped out for a walk before our train to the airport. When Harry asked if I fancied another mooch around the shop we discovered a few nights before, my eyes lit up! 

We were welcomed in by the lovely Betty who owns the shop with her husband. It's a wonderful space filled with antiques, modern art and crafts all hand picked and handmade/designed by the owners. 

Betty is Italian but lived in London for several years. We talked to her about the items in her shop and how she and her husband source items to bring back to Florence as well as finding pieces locally. The shop has been open a year and is progressing wonderfully. They have also opened a pop up shop within the large Replay store in Milan.

She is also an amazing Calligrapher and her work is used by Waitrose... I thought it looked familiar and now I keep seeing it every time I go into Waitrose... see!

I wish I could go to her classes held in the shop. I'm a bit of a handwriting and Calligraphy geek and would love to learn properly... Next time!

So after a lovely chat with Betty, we bought a couple of items, said our goodbyes and headed back to Gusta Pizza for a farewell Firenze pizza...

Betty & I...

I would recommend you check out the website and if you ever go to Florence, be sure to go and visit And Company. I'm pretty sure you'll be just as excited as I was...

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Website

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Firenze - part two

A few more (read a lot more) photos from the rest of our trip...

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Pisa and Firenze - part one

Aside from the excitement of our engagement and celebrating my Birthday, we also had a wonderful few relaxing days in beautiful Florence.

We flew into Pisa on the Friday night. Not wanting to rush for trains or anything we booked a night in Pisa, so after dropping off our luggage we headed out for a wander. We ended up in a tiny little bar and after quite a few drinks, we stumbled back to the hotel.

Before getting the train to Florence, we headed out in the morning to see the infamous leaning tower.

Hundreds of people were making ridiculous poses, we spent a good 10 minutes giggling and people watching, then well... we joined in. When in Rome Pisa...

That afternoon we made our way to Florence, I was so excited to show Harry to my favourite places. First off was Boboli Gardens...

Our first day ended with a visit to a gorgeous shop and some amazing pizza. We had read about Gusta Pizza on Trip Advisor and had to try it out. Gusta means fast and that it was. You place your order at the desk, grab a drink from the fridge and find a seat. If you're lucky you can sit in front of the counter and watch your pizza being made in the wood fired oven.

Your receipt number gets called out around 5 minutes later... done.

I had a classic Margherita and Harry went for the Calabrese. Both so tasty and so simple. It was easy to see why it's so popular... American students, worldwide tourists and Florentine locals all fight for a seat... and everyone likes to leave their mark somehow.

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When the moon hits your eye...

Last Friday, Harry and I flew to Italy for our long awaited holiday in Florence. I'll be doing a few posts so I don't bombard you with photographs all in one go, but for now I'll share a little story.

I woke up really early on Sunday, so after breakfast we headed out into the city before the rest of the tourists.

Birthday excitement in a grey Firenze

After visiting the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the amazing Statue of David, we walked back towards the Duomo. Despite the dull conditions we wanted to climb the tower... All 414 steps of the bloody thing and I am SO unfit. We got our breath back and admired the foggy view. I was about to take some photos when Harry took my hand and told me to put my camera away.

He then reached for his pocket, to which I asked in a nervous voice "what are you doing?' In his hand was a little box containing a beautiful ring... and he asked if I would marry him! 

I said of course I will! 

The next few minutes were a bit of a blur, I think there were some tears, laughter and screaming... Once we had climbed back down the steps it started to pour down with rain but I didn't care one bit! 

  

We wanted to celebrate immediately so popped into a little bar that we were in the night before. It was probably a little early but we had a drink... and the bar maid also gave us a celebratory Limoncello each on the house. That stuff is potent. I couldn't stomach mine at 11am... Harry did though and it certainly calmed his nerves.

The next few hours were spent ringing and facetiming family and close friends to share the good news. That evening we got dolled up for dinner at a gorgeous little restaurant we had spotted earlier that day. 

After a lovely meal and lots of wine we wandered back to the hotel...

and I realised that turning almost 30 ain't so bad after all...

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M.I.A

Life since my last post has been busy busy busy....

1 - Crispy leaves on a wintery day.

2 - My little bro returned from his travels of Australia!

 3 - My two dear brothers reunited...

4 - Boo having a snooze whilst I did some work at my parents

5 - Clear skies & Christmas tree in Leicester city centre

6 - True!

7 - We met Ron... our friends new kitten.

8 - Tickets arrived... 

9 - One of many beautiful sunrises on the way to work this month

1 - I found these guys manning the corner of Albert road at Parmiter's Antiques

2 - Tea time out with my knitted blanket by my grandma

3 - Foals doing their thang... SO GOOD.

4 - I love this little view from my flat

5 - Addictive little buggers

6 - Ron a few weeks older and posing

7 - Getting excited about our trip to Florence in January!

8 - A gig at Eastney Cellars supporting our pal Mac (on the right) 

9 - Dolled up for a wedding reception last weekend. 

Since the last photo I have been hit by full on cold, cough, sore throat and general winter bug rubbish...so the past few days have been spent on the sofa drinking tea, lemsip, watching documentaries on 4OD and catching up on all my favourite blogs. 

Hope you're all ready for Christmas? I'm almost there, still a couple of bits to get but I'm not stressing... This time next week I'll be up in Leicestershire with Harry and my family and I can't blimmin' wait. 

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Wildest Moments

Big news this week... H and I booked our first ever holiday together! We're heading to Florence in January for 5 days... Ooo and it happens to be my Birthday whilst we're there. Prosecco a plenty...YES!

Via Pinterest


This will be my third trip to the beautiful city and Harry's first. I'm so excited to go back and explore again. I've been a right girl about it thinking, what am I going to wear and pack?  I've only ever been to Florence in the Spring/Summer so I didn't need much. We're only taking hand luggage so obviously I'll wear my winter coat and big boots to fly, leaving me with extra bag room for other clothes etc. So I spent a while on Pinterest and got some ideas. These were some of my favourites...

I'm a big fan of layers, especially during a city break. Going in and out of galleries, museums, restaurants etc and then out in the cold air. I'll definitely pack my trusty big scarf (that I bought in Florence last time I was there) and some thick socks for my big boots... 

Are there any items of clothes you wouldn't be without for a Winter city break? Remember, hand luggage only folks! 

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