From the concrete, who knew that a flower would grow...

Well hello everybody, I hope you are all well. What a week it has been. As usual it has flown by (I know, but I have to say it every single week!) and it has been full of mixed emotions.

Firstly, exciting times for Coco Cami, my blog has reached *drum roll*over 1000 followers on Bloglovin. I am truly astounded and I want to thank each and every one of you who takes the time to read this. When I started out blogging, I never thought I would get this far and it means the world to me. I adore fashion, beauty and food, so in having this blog I get to write about and photograph all of my passions and share them with you regularly. You are the best *reaches for handkerchief*. In all seriousness, the past few months have not been the easiest for me on a personal level, I have gone through a time of what can only be described as upheaval in my life, moving home unexpectedly and facing more than a few difficult times. I don't want this to turn into a sob story, but I genuinely cried when I saw the blog had reached such a milestone, because it has given me a real focus in life during a time when I have felt like a ship cast adrift in the night. Phew. I hope that did not come across as too deep or dark, all I mean to say is that whatever you are going through, never give up. 

Or to quote Winston Churchill:

'If you are going through hell, keep going'

I also saw a quote on Tumblr yesterday which I feel warrants inclusion here:

‘Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness and become something beautiful’

Head to toe Primark, except for bag from Forever 21 and chain necklace from H&M.

Anyway, yesterday I was in the mood to celebrate the progress of the blog, and as luck would have it, a dear friend of mine was in the mood to celebrate too, having just found out that her daughter had done amazingly well in her GCSE’s, so a massive congratulations to her. With festivities in mind, she reserved us a table at our favourite local restaurant, The Wro,  and we headed out for a delicious lunch. I had an amazing bowl of Penne with pine nuts, Parmesan, roasted peppers and crème fraîche.

Meanwhile she opted for the tasty looking fishcakes accompanied by a beetroot slaw and fries and her youngest daughter who joined us had a lovely French bread pizza with fries. Then, it was onward and upward to the realm of heavenly desserts. My friend resisted (massive respect to her!) the temptations on offer whilst I deliberated agonisingly between the chocolate torte, sticky toffee pudding and liqueur coffees. In the end however there could be only one choice. The warm chocolate brownies, with a chocolate spoon and vanilla bean ice cream. Oh my goodness you guys, words cannot describe how exquisite this dessert was. The combination of the rich, warm brownies and the cool ice cream was heavenly, and the chocolate spoon was made from the silkiest chocolate I have ever tasted, which proceeded to melt over the entire dessert. Luckily, a silver spoon was also provided alongside the chocolate one, or things could have got messy!

After lunch, we went to the park and I went on the swings too...! It felt really good to laugh and be silly and it reminded me how great it is to be carefree and just let yourself go. I realise that at times I take things too seriously and dwell on things, when I should be enjoying life and every moment of happiness that it has to offer. Thank you very much to my lovely friend and her daughter for inviting me to lunch and cheering me up immensely!

I hope that this post has not been too heavy in tone, but I just want to express how much having this blog truly means to me, and I could not do it without all of my lovely readers. If I could sit down for a coffee and a gossip with each and every one of you I would, but instead I can at least share things with you here.

 Penne with crème fraîche and pine nuts

 Fishcakes with fries and beetroot slaw.

 Chocolate brownies with vanilla bean ice cream and a chocolate spoon.

http://www.thewro-lounge.co.uk/

 Tranquility in the park.

Chilling on the swings!

To end this post I want to include a quick review for a hairbrush which I was kindly sent by the lovely Lisa of JW PR. Even though I did not purchase this product, the opinion expressed is my own and honest. Thank you very much Lisa, it was so kind of you to send this out to me and it has not left my handbag since I received it! The brush in question is the Denman classic styling brush. It is a cute and fun gold hairbrush with an eye catching illustration on it. I know it is bad for your hair to backcomb it, but I always do to get a little bit of added volume. I have found this brush amazing for adding volume to my hair and I spray a little Batiste dry shampoo in first, leave it for a moment and then backcomb it at the crown. The volume it gives your hair is amazing and the brush is small enough and light enough to carry in your handbag, which is what I have done with mine since I got it! The brush is widely available from Boots stores and supermarkets and retails for under £10.

Thank you all for reading this rather long post. Let me know how you are and what kind of week you have all had. I love to read your comments and I follow back my followers.

Until next time, I wish you all a great weekend!

Camille

xo

 The Denman classic styling brush, which I was sent for review.

The brush gives your hair great volume!

A breathtaking sunset to end a week of ups and downs!