Fashion Fridays... Party dilemma!

So today is my company Christmas party and I STILL haven't decided what I'm wearing! We're having a boozy social event at a swanky hotel in Moorgate so I think I need to be a bit more glamourous than I was last year.  
I've managed to narrow it down to the two dresses below but am struggling to pick between them!
 

 
The left dress is a lovely little thing from Primark and is lacey and fun. The one on the right is from H&M and is actually a bright red. I feel really good in both dresses but I'm wondering if the red one isn't a bit too sexual for a company party?! I asked my instagram (@23HRH) followers and they voted unanimously for the left so I think I'll go with that.
 
As London has suddenly become freezing, I think I'll need to wear tights with whichever one I choose. I've reached the age where I choose comfort over vanity. Oh lord. But, am I too old for sparkly tights? I think the festive season should be full of as much sparkle as possible and love these tights with Swarovski Elements in from Marks and Spencers!
 

 

I can't really be trusted not to wreck tights so I think £25 is a little much for me to spend on a pair for one night so I'll have to go bargain hunting at lunch before I change into god-knows-what for the big event!

 

 

I have also fallen for some of this season's costume jewellery from Zara. I love this dramatic necklace on the left. The contrast between the 'gold' and the black 'leather' is just delicious! I also crave to wear these rings, on the right, below. I love that you can separate and just wear one or two for a more simple look and pack them all together for a shiny dramatic effect!



Geography Sundays - Pentonville

My geographical knowledge is shocking. I really struggle with knowing where things are in the world. I just about know where the major countries are (UK, US, Aus) but that's the most of my knowledge.

Every week I discover that a place isn't anywhere near where I thought it was so I thought I'd create a regular theme for one of my posts each week - a geography lesson! For me but also for you lovely readers too!

I'll find out as much as I can about each featured place and [try to] make it interesting. I love a random fact so you'll likely find a couple of those in there too!

So this week, I discovered that Pentonville is NOT in the dirty South of the States, as I previously thought. Evidence (the groans of annoyance from my colleagues and a quick Google) would show that it's actually a place in London and is also the name of a prison! Who'd have thought.

HMP Pentonville (commonly known as The Ville) isn't actually in the Pentonville area but on Caledonian Road in the Borough of Islington, a little further north of Angel. It was created not just for the detention of convicts but also as a holding place for those who had been sentenced to penal transportation to Australia.

From 1902, prisoners under sentence of death were housed at The Ville until the final execution there. Edwin Bush was the last condemned man to be hung at Pentonville in 1961 after he had stabbed to death a shop assistant with an antique dagger. There would only be 11 more criminals executed after Bush before it capital punishment was outlawed in the United Kingdom.

Pentonville (the place) has been part the Borough of Islington since 1965. In 1902, Vladimir Lenin - the Russian communist - and his wife lived just off Pentonville Road. Some 20 years on, he would become the Premier of the Soviet Union until his death 2 years later.

It would appear there is little of note in the Pentonville area. A google search lead to no mysterious bars or cute local restaurants but apparently there is a well-renowned shop called Pentonville Rubber who provide foam & rubber to a wide variety of industries, as well as to the home consumer.

So there it is. Most of what there is to know about Pentonville. If I'm honest, I'm a little disappointed that it's not as exotic as I had created in my mind but I love learning things about all these little pockets of London and its fascinating and lengthy history!

 An isometric drawing of Pentonville prison, from an 1844 report by Joshua Jebb, Royal Engineers.

Welcome to my world...

Welcome to Holly's little corner of the internet.

I've been blogging over on tumblr for a while now but I've been quite inconsistent with my posting and it's mostly my instagram pictures. I've decided I want to get more dedicated to blogging and tumblr doesn't really offer me much. It's also mostly full of emotional teenagers and pro anorexia pictures, neither of which I particularly enjoy.

So here I am, a brand new Blogger. Or is it Bloggerer?

So a little about me... if I were in XFactor, I'd be in the "Overs" category yet I'm still under 30. I work in the PR / Marketing world and dream of being a Beauty PR Exec. My humble abode is in SW London and I live with a German who is awesome. I have the best nephew ever (who I'm sure I will blog about a lot, not sorry) and a hanful of lovely family and friends to keep me entertained.

I know that the most succesful blogs have a specific topic / purpose but I've yet to find my niche so this will be a scramble of the things in the world that entertain me: music; food; the gym / exercise; things I think are beautiful; things who annoy me (of which there are many, I'm afraid); whatever else comes across my life.

If anyone has any blogs they can't live without (beauty / fitness / entertainment preferably), please share! I'd love feedback and comments on my posts. The social media world is amazing and I love the interaction!

You can also find me here on Twitter and my instagram is 23HRH too.

This is my face...