summer Archives - Cyntra in the City

How to Enjoy Summer in Style

Every Summer has its own Story

And has’t that been true for our hot hot hot Summer. When we started it out from the muddy puddles of Glastonbury… We thought the tale has been told for the future of a very wet Summer… until one fine day the Sun finally came out.

The parks are filling up with bodies soaking up the sun, our wardrobes become a plethora of colours and textures to brighten up those days, BBQ becomes the go to for dinner and there is always time for a fruity cider.

The sun enables us to produce valuable vitamin D which in turn prevents us from getting seasonal affective disorders and other ailments. This means the time is now to get outside and enjoy this Summer in Style… here are my top little hacks…

1) Hang up the boring Work clothes and embrace the day with Style

Smart Casual in hot weather is tough. With heavy fabrics and tight tailoring it can lead to people getting hot and agitated. Let go of the rules and bring out those natural cottons, flowing dresses, cami tops and crops.

We are a nation who embraces every minute of sunlight like it might be our last… so you will be forgiven for breaking the office dress code on these days. Live a little!

2) Kick out the heels and jump into those Kicks

The sun is out and it is time to get moving. The tube is a near death experience, traffic jams and being stuffy in the car! No way – get out and move. Four miles may sound a long way to work but put on your favourite kicks and get moving. You will get those early morning rays and keep your beach bod in check with the exercise.

I am drooling over my new kicks Footlocker is smashing it with styles this summer. These beautiful adidas quilted ZX Flux are stylish enough to be worn with a co-ord or summer dress meaning you can head straight from the office to the Park – BBQ – Sun Adventure without having to carry lots of bags with a change of clothes in.

3) Bring Nature in…

Flowers in every room. Brighten up your day. Go to the market after work and treat yourself to a new plant. Boost that smile every morning with the beautiful colours of nature.

From Columbia Road to your local Florist. Pop in – find out whats local. Get the scents in and embrace the colours. If you want to order beautiful British Flowers online – check out Arena Flowers for special offers that are beautifully local to bring any room to life. or you can use wynne66708 for 25% off 😉

Enjoy every moment…

Summer always ends with good memories

Balance/ Recipes

Guide to Wedding Guest Season

Wedding Season has begun.

Our diaries are populated throughout the spring/ summer with engagement parties, hen doo’s and weddings.

The first things that comes to mind when I get the invite is What to Wear and Wedding Gift.

This can be quite stressful – especially if you have more than one wedding and it’s the same group of friends.

This is my little guide to staying on it this season and without blowing the budget.

The Outfit

This is always hard for me because – guess what – it’s not ok to wear black to a wedding.

An occasion dress is like no other dress. It’s not partywear it’s not workwear. Its finding that graceful balance between the two.

My suggestion is to keep it simple and accessorize.
This means you can wear the same dress to a couple of weddings and mix up the shoes, bag and fascinator.

Monsoon is fantastic for jackets, fascinators and accessories to change the look of a dress.

Beautiful and really effective in dressing up a simple dress.

You have to make sure you are comfortable as Weddings are a long and often move from Church to Reception to Dancing – so plan ahead with those shoes.

My go -to’s for Weddings are: New Look and Louboutin ( I know a bit of a difference but they really make the comfiest shoes)

Dresses: House of Fraser, Monsoon, ASOS, Reiss.

The Alternative Outfit

Now this is another great trick using the best network you have: Your Friends.

Team together with your best friends. If you have similar styles and shapes to your friends – then reach out – share! Everyone looks different in a dress so if your summer is choca block with Weddings and you’re saving for other occasions – then bring your network together use your resources!

Stylish and Saving money = win/win

Wedding Gifts

This is a tricky area. Most couples these days have already set up their homes so wedding lists are often to guide those who want to get them a gift but not end up with duplicates.

Again these can often be costly.

If you’re not sure what to buy the newlyweds: sometimes the token of a little bit of money in a card would be greatly appreciated to put toward the honeymoon or their new life together. Weddings are expensive and honeymoons too. Every little helps.

DIY Wedding Gifts

These are the cute touches you can do for someone special if you want to give a personal touch. Something homemade something original.

A close family relative is getting married this weekend and has strictly said no gifts. But I am bending the rules a little bit.

I have made her Wedding Breakfast Granola

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil: 1tbsp
Oats: 400g
Coconut Milk: 200ml
Honey: 1tbsp
Cinnamon: Sprinkle across
Dried Fruit: Handful
Flaked Coconut: Handful
Edible Gold Dust

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Melt the coconut oil, either in a small pan on a low heat or in the microwave. Combine the oats, rice milk, coconut oil and honey in a bowl and mix together using your hands. You want to create little chunks and the mixture will naturally stick together.

Spread the oat mixture evenly in the lined baking tray and bake in the heated oven for 20 minutes.

Spread the pecans on another baking tray and put into the oven to toast with the oat mixture for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time.

Remove the oats and pecans from the oven and leave to cool. Once cold, mix them together and add the cinnamon, fruit and flaked coconut.

Once the mixture is cooled – sprinkle edible gold dust all over the granola for that extra special touch.

Get a cute Kilner Jar and a nice label and you have a personal touch present that the happy couple can enjoy in together in their new lives together.

Stress Free Style

Workwear Favourites: Pastel Pink

I am loving Pastels as we move closer to spring.

I have never been a fan of the gray scale that working in The City/Office often leads you to wearing.

As a firm wearer of black – pairing a pastel colour just brings an outfit a splash of freshness.

Its feminine, smart, fresh and stylish.

Here are my Pastel favourites:
(Perfect for the office and post work catch ups)

adidas Stan Smith
Cute, chic and feminine these sneakers can be slipped on to wear on your commute to work. If you work in a corporate office you can slip these under your desk until the end of day then slip them back on to casual up your business outfit if meeting friends after work.
Paired with black trousers or a cute dress you can transform your outfit without having to bring another bag of clothes.

Helene Berman Coat

This coat is perfect for keeping you warm while we transition to Spring. The fresh pastel pink brings elegance to your outfit while being very smart. You could use this to smarten up a more casual outfit if you’re heading to the theatre or out for dinner post work.

ASOS PROPELLOR Lace Up Pointed Heels

Just love these!

If you are anything like me and find that black is your go to colour – mixing in a pastel can really transform you.

A flash of lipstick, a spritz of a floral perfume and pastel accessory can add that femininity to a harsh black outfit.

Recipes

Today’s Clean Meal – Frozen Buttons

Ahh we all have those days when we crave a sweet treat! When the sun is out and our appetite isn’t quite there. Well over the weekend a little advert came on with a guide to making Frozen Yoghurt Buttons – well I couldn’t resist

Ingredients:

Frozen Yoghurt (fruity flavours work best)

Strawberrys, blueberries or any other frui

Freezer!

You will need a baking tray and some parchment paper.

Once you have that choose which yoghurt you want and the fruit combo and make button sized shaped up the paper

Then select the fruit combos and place the fruit in the middle of the buttons. Leave some plain as these are wonderful to suck on 😀

Place in the freezer for about 15-20mins and voila – a tasty light and low calorie

Happy summer xxx

Balance

Bombay Bicycle Club – Shoreditch House

Recipe for a perfect summer’s evening:

In a roof terrace, mix a couple of ice cold beers, with a dash on sunshine, sprinkle in a few synchronized swimmers, add a swimming pool and top with a Indie Rock band from Crouch End…

and VOILA – A beautiful moment in time is born with a beautiful set from the Bombay Bicycle Club…

Shoreditch house put on a wonderful show for its members by inviting us to a pool side show of the Bombay Bicycle Club. Sat among friends and other members sipping Ice Cold drinks by the poolside – Bombay Bicycle Club took to the stage.

Mixing guitar, synth, dancing and vocals that intertwined themselves between the last of the summer rays – people flocked to the poolside to dance, tap and clap to the set that ensued.

The tambourine was a shaking, people’s hand were clapping and my foot was tapping as the BBC took us through a set that eased you into the end of the weekend.

As the set drew to an end and our souls full of summer indie vibes the band invited out some special guests!

Welcome AQUABATIX LTD

The crowd went wild as the girls threw themselves in the air in pure synchronicity!

The splashes were high as the excitement grew!

Too add to all the show – the ladies had a little added extras as Jack Steadman stripped down to his smalls and dived in followed by a fully clothed Ed Nash

A great evening of ENTERTAINMENT!

Recipes

Juice Cleanse – Overview Day 2

6am Woke Up: I slept like a baby – really the best sleep I have had in a long time. I felt cosy, warm and naturally sleepy something which doesn’t come to me easily. Quite often I am a light sleeper and it takes me a while to get to bed. As I sat downstairs watching tv the night before my body was telling me its time for the land of nod…first 8 hours on a school night in a while!

6.45-7.45am Hot Yoga – The session was HOT again! The class was full and the poses and we were doing Yoga Flow which means not many breaks and vinyasa between each pose. I left 5 minutes before the end of the class as I was a tired and didn’t want to over exert myself

8.15 Shot of Ginger and Apple – Delicious and welcomed. The staff at yogahaven are so wonderful and warming that they really set me up for the day

9.30 Breakfast Smoothie: Glo Beet Smoothie: This is made of apple, carrot, beetroot, berries and flaxseed oil. This delicious smoothie (pictured) is one of my favourites – sweet and savoury and full of goodness. Flaxseed is a wonder food and is a great addition to the morning smoothie

Flaxseed oil also helps to:

Reduce the risk of cancer.
Aid in the growth of healthy hair and nails.
Promote healthy skin.
Reduce menopause symptoms.
Play a role in burning body fat.

1pm Brunch Juice: Parsnip Punch: This is made up of apple, pear, parsnip and lime. My colleague at work held up my brunch juice and I was starting to feel very weak. This juice was BROWN – looked foul but tasted wonderful. I let a couple of my colleagues try it as they couldn’t fathom that something so odd looking could be so nice.

3.30pm: Feeling the fuzz – losing concentration, lack of emotion and focus. I found myself feeling the need to smoke – which was weird as I haven’t been a smoker for your years. I am hoping that this may have been some toxicity making its way out of the body – otherwise I have no clue

4pm Lunch Juice: Green Goddess: Kale, cucumber, broccoli, basil, lime, apple and wheatgrass. This was delicious and again welcomed. The brunch and lunch smoothies really highlighted to me when I am most hungry and lack of concentration. From 2-4pm I really hit a wall – maybe I was meant to live in Spain and have a siesta! This was interesting as now I will focus on making sure I eat for energy in these times of day and be more pragmatic about getting up and having some water or going for a walk.

6.15pm – Electrolyte: Orange, Salt, Honey, Lemon and water – I went to meet my friends in Las Iguanas. I was met with the same interest, fascination, negativity and facts that come with most people when doing a juice cleanse. “they say its bad for you” “you haven’t eaten you have to eat” “what the hell are you drinking” “what do juice cleanses do” “So expensive for just juice why don’t you buy orange juice” but I know most of this is comes from knowing people too long that they want to tease with love. You must be strong when doing a juice as you will get people out of pure ignorance or jealousy try and bring you down

8.00pm SOS fruit: Pear: After carrying a big bag all day, working harder at work and long commute home I really felt I wanted my pear. It was juicy and took me a while to eat and filled me up. Delicious. I didn’t have my SOS the day before so I must have needed it.

9.00pm Dinner: Glo Beet Smoothie: This is made of apple, carrot, beetroot, berries and flaxseed oil – could barely drink it – wasn’t hungry – so drank half. I went upstairs and started getting ready for bed. 10pm I was in the land of nod

Day 2 – Was a lot harder than day 1. I was a bit tired, fuzzy and all over the place. I felt the detoxification was really coming. To challenge myself I put myself into situations where I would be tempted which helped me stay strong. I had to deal with more people on this day which was a struggle as sometimes my capacity to think properly was a bit a miss. By the end of the day though I was feeling great I felt proud of myself that I had stuck to something. I realised that my body doesn’t need the endless coffee, sugary crap and picking throughout the day. I lost a total of 2.5lbs and slept better than I have for years. I woke up on the third day wishing I could have done it for longer. Next time!

Thank you Glo! Really enjoyed it

Stress Free Style

Today’s Outfit – Miss Selfridge

Hello you,

I had one of those moments today – you know the one when you look at Angelina Jolie and think – dammit – she is beautiful. So I thought to myself – well lets have a bit of influence from her style because she does nail it.

This cute little number is from Miss Selfridge http://www.missselfridge.com/

My boyfriend loves this outfit – its the right blend of sophistication and femininity easily thrown on whenever you are relaxing around the house. Add a chunky statement piece and some cute sling backs and you are ready for a BBQ or drinks party.

Definitely recommend finding a daytime Long Black Dress

few places to find them: ASOS, Miss Selfridge, Topshop and New Look

Enjoy xxx

Stress Free Style

Today’s Outfit

Today I am going Pretty in Pink

I am always in black – constantly – and I love it! but when I stumbled across this little number in Topshop – I had to have it. Growing up as a girl who would never go near pink – let alone wear it… as I have got older and shrugged off the grunge girl – it is strange how much it suits me.