Barcelona!

This Valentine's Day, I decided to be spontaneous and randomly book a trip to Barcelona for me and Dima. I don't think I have ever fallen in love with a city so much - I am so determined to go back there later in the year to stay for a while and work! It has the best bits of London and Cyprus, good food, sunshine, beaches and the city.

First up was La Sagrada Familia - the most insanely incredible place I have ever visited. The architecture just makes your jaw drop and leaves you staring up into the ceiling at every tiny detail. Dima loved it too.

 

This is quite literally the city of Gaudi and well deserved, his work is breathtaking!

We went up the Nativity Tower to see the views of Barcelona, which is absolutely massive!

We booked our tickets online (about 20 euros) and this saved us a long queue. The queue was at least an hour long on a random Friday in February, so I would dread to imagine it in high season. Definitely book ahead, and definitely go inside - it is way too stunning not to!

Next up was the market, which I'd heard a lot about. It didn't disappoint - it was huge and had every kind of food imaginable. The food in Barcelona was surprisingly awesome - I knew it was good but didn't expect every single thing we ate to be of such incredible quality. 

There was so much fresh sea food on offer - most of it still crawling about! 

But most featured, were the hundreds of fresh fruit cups and smoothies dotted around being sold for 1 euro. We didn't expect much for this price but the quality was AMAZING! 

We also grabbed some out-of-this-world oysters from one of the tapas bars inside the market, which all are serving up the fresh food around them. Most of the food places around the main tourist attractions are to be avoided, but these ones are great. 

I love this picture, the woman in the wheelchair was peeling peas for her daughter in the sunshine and looked really happy. 

Speaking of sunshine, I had missed the beach terribly from my past living in Cyprus and was so excited to go discover La Barceloneta beach! The sun was out and our jackets were off, and the beach was beautifully empty. 

Rejuvenating me to come back to this beach-less city!

I can only imagine how good it is in Summer, the water was so clear!

We ate a squid ink paella lunch overlooking the beautiful sea.

And what is a seaside trip without ice cream?!

 

Vioko did some pretty amazing gelato, and hot chocolate!

After a siesta, we went to Cientoocho restaurant for some of the best food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. With gigantic starters (as above), Dima obviously ordered three and we were stuffed by the main course. 

I am a massive fan of artichokes, and these were definitely the best I have ever ever ever had. Out came four  for a starter, each one bathed in olive oil and big chunks of pepper. Probably the best thing I ate in Barcelona. 

A steak of octopus starter! 

Dima went for a meaty main ,I went for fish. Both were excellent, despite how full we were!

Dima managed to fit a final dessert down, whilst I settled for a 'fruit mosaic'. 

A beautiful meal, they are definitely worth checking out! 

Quite a lot for our first day, more next time! 

xxx

Foodie Celebrations in Shoreditch

I have some news: I got a job! The most perfect job for me right now, basically doing what I love (reading/writing/law), using my law degree, working from home & it will still let me do modeling! To celebrate, I collected a group of my favourite people and we ate. A lot. 

First stop was Hotbox, in Shoreditch which was insanely busy and cramped. The food was good, service not so much (they forgot my pancakes, which damaged my soul a little) and we had to wait for 45 minutes to eat. This is probably typical of any Shoreditch-hot-brunch place on the weekend though, although they only do brunch on Sundays. So maybe wait until they filter out to the rest of the weekdays - the effort isn't worth your mental breakdown as you see beautiful food delivered to those who came after you!

Chicken Waffle at Hotbox

To get over the disappointment of brunch, we walked on over to Dum Dum Doughnuts (Boxpark, Shoreditch) which never disappoint with their beautiful cronuts. I got one of the last ferrero rocher doughnuts, which was insane. 

To get over this minor cholesterol rush, we went for a stroll down Brick Lane. It is ridiculously busy on a Sunday, buzzing with people taking selfies, eating street food and checking out the local art offerings on the walls. 

Me & Lisa - check out her blog!

On a Sunday, you can find every kind of food you can think of on this street. 

But after much debate, we decided to go and check out Liverpool St Patty & Bun. The one in Soho is invariably packed out (with at least an hour queue of ravenous people outside!) but this recently opened branch seems to have escaped most of the buzz. Very surprisingly, we got in straight away and got a seat within minutes!

I might have mentioned Patty and Bun before. It is...

mind-boggingly awesome. 

The best celebration ever, we were all left in serious food comas for the rest of the day week.

Vivienne Westwood VIP Event - Sneak Preview!

I may have mentioned this before, but my favourite kind of modeling jobs aren't glamorous photoshoots or catwalks - they are the amazing exclusive parties that sometimes we actually get paid (?!?) to go to! 

Jobs with other models are so much fun, especially when they're as lovely as these two! (Patrish and Ava)

This week, I had a job to attend a sneak peek of the new Vivienne Westwood collection, showing at the upcoming London Fashion Week, at her flagship store in London. The event was for their VIP Shoppers who were treated to champagne, canapes (fruit sushi ones to be precise) and long chats with us models!

Here's some of the few pictures we managed to sneak inbetween chatting with guests and drinking champagne! 

My two outfits from the new collection - SO comfortable and so flattering! 

I am in serious love with Patrish's though!

As the night went on and the champagne began to ran out, out came the iphones and the 'model selfies!'

And the clutch selfies..

It was a brilliant evening, and I can't wait to see the full collection at LFW! 

Top 10 Workout Tips

Food is a major love of mine, along with being generally lazy and avoiding exercise. However my job as a model sort of dictates that I have to be a certain size, so I try my very best to drag myself to the gym a few times a week, hard as that may be! Here are my top ten tips for working out when you really would rather be in bed/eating pizza etc.

1. Buy cool workout accessories

It's the beginning of the year, and the shops are bursting with their ranges of 'cool' work out clothes (because everyone loves working out in their overpriced bra!) and other fancy workout gear. Yoga mats, water bottles, ipod holders - if you can think of it, they've got it.

This month I bought a water bottle juicer from Amazon and it is amazing. You can juice half a lemon, lime, whatever takes your fancy in the bottom half and have all the benefits of sipping on lemon water all day. Great if you aren't good at drinking normal water, and super cheap at £10.

Also getting a cool pair of new trainers or gym clothes really helps you want to go to the gym and show off in it! Missguided's new range is really cool.

2.Wear your gym clothes to bed

Might sound a bit 'gross' if you re-wear your gym clothes a few times before washing (errrrm no.. I don't do that) but it is literally my tip-top-tip. I used to wear my school uniform to sleep in Cyprus because we had to wake up at 6am! (But we finished school at 1.40pm and went to the beach, so can't really complain).

If you just throw on a pair of leggings and tshirt before bed, when you wake up you can literally roll out of bed, grab your pre-packed bag and sleep-walk your way to the gym. Do a sleep-workout, and by the time you are properly awake you have finished!

3. Work out in the morning 

Similar to #2, the earlier you work out the better. It is out of the way, and leaves you energized and endorphin-ed up for the day ahead, with your metabolism burning away all day. If you work out before breakfast (with still a small snack to stop you from fainting, like a banana) then you naturally will burn fat instead of energy. I've recently discovered you only start burning fat 30 minutes after you start running (quite a problem when I only used to do 20 minutes a day!) because first of all you burn the food you have recently eaten. This also means you get to look forward to an amazing breakfast afterwards.

The later you leave your work out, the more excuses you will find to put it off until tomorrow - this happens to me so much it is ridiculous!

4. Coffee

A good, but probably not 'totally' healthy tip is to drink coffee before your work out. Or eat a banana, anything that gives you a good energy hit and gets you working out twice as hard! I've recently started making use of the amazing coffee maker I bought Dima for Christmas (or making him make use of it for me, as it remains a bit confusing) and every time I drink it before a run I burn double the calories as I would normally.

Just don't make a major habit of it, it can be pretty addictive!

6. Set your alarm ten minutes earlier than you have to

I don't know about you, but once I have opened one eye and checked my phone, I can't get back to sleep. Rather than just lie in bed all morning on instagram, this makes me more motivated to actually get up and start my day! 

Pretty much my alarm!

Just maybe set a couple, incase you fall back to sleep! 

6. Get out the door

A major struggle of mine is actually getting out of the door into the freezing cold air. I usually just get changed into my gym clothes then sit around procrastinating, until I ask Dima to literally kick me out of the house! Once you are out, you're out and once you are at the gym you may as well work out before you come back. Much like diving into a swimming pool, it's not so bad once you get in. 

8. Set some goals

Achievable ones! I try and run a little bit more every so often. I used to run 20 minutes a day about a year ago and now I try to always make it 40. Generally I do it in two 20 minute bursts on the treadmill so it doesn't seem so daunting, but even a minute more each week can make a huge difference. Try on your skinny jeans every week to see progress, and your skinniest-of-the-skinniest jeans every month.

My ultimate goal - might happen one day if I revisit Cheerleading!

8. Watch TV at the same time

I get really bored exercising. It's not that I can't run, it's that moment when you check the clock and it feels like at least 20 minutes have gone by when really it has been 20 seconds of blistering hell. So I watch TV. Luckily my gym has wifi (most of the time, when it works!) so I usually watch a series on Netflix on my ipad as this means I get to catch up on my favourite shows and forget everything else. American Horror Story is a pretty terrifying one to watch (makes you run a lot faster) - at the moment I am alternating between The Good Wife and The Originals. 

My gym - Kiss Gyms in Acton

9. Join a good gym

And make sure you go! Having failed at my trying to work out at home plan, I realised that the only reason I work as hard as I do is because of the atmosphere of the gym, knowing that you have bothered to come there so you have to do something before you can plod on home. A gym that is close by is perfect as you literally have no excuses. Check out what classes are being offered at certain gyms, if they have a swimming pool, sauna, women's only section... just tailor it to what you are most likely to do. I go to Kiss Gyms at the moment and only pay £20 a month which is pretty darn cheap for London. I just need somewhere with a treadmill, couple of yoga classes a week and preferably a women's section! 

10. Do classes

Classes are a great way to ensure you are working out to your full potential and doing it correctly. They can also be (whisper) fun! My favourites are yoga and pilates, and if I have something I really need to be toned for occasionally I will put myself through the hell of a legs, bums and tums class. There are literally so many out there, you are spoiled for choice! 

Ideal class!