I'm not finished, because you're not by my side.

I think most single bloggers are probably a tiny bit envious of the ladies who get their talented boyfriends to take their blog photos. I know I am – it never quite feels right to doll yourself up and then ask a friend ‘Um… can you take my picture? It’s *mumbles*formyblog.’ I have a handful of friends who will happily do it, and enjoy it, but I have other friends who think it’s weird. And it is a bit weird. Blogging is, intrinsically, kind of a strange thing. But I still like it.

So visiting my friends Nic and Ali this weekend was great, because they both have fancypants cameras and like finding things to take pictures of. A couple of my favourite ever posts have come out of our visits – I LOVE these photos from Scarborough Castle that Nic took and this little Derbyshire explore that Ali and I had last year ended up being my whole Twitter layout. So green! So pretty! Ali lives in Derbyshire, so there is no shortage of beautiful places to photograph – I’ve visited her countless times and we always seem to find new country houses or ruins or pretty places. I bloody love Derbyshire.

This time around, the weather was questionable but we decided to risk a visit to the stone island at Carsington Water, which isn’t really an island at all. It’s really just a hill. With some stones on it. But it has nice views and was relatively deserted, so it suited us perfectly. I think it would be a lush place for a summer picnic, actually – maybe not a November picnic. We ended up visiting the café on site and having epic hot chocolates. Seriously. So good. That whipped cream was freshly made.

Dress – Primark

Boots c/o StylistPick

Hat – H&M

The dress is extremely old, but has only been worn a handful of times because it’s always been cripplingly tight around my middle. It’s still kind of extremely tight, but I can do it up now, which is definitely progress. Remember when Primark made nice clothes that didn’t fall apart after two wears? I miss those days. Also, I just re-read the post that I linked to above and had totally forgotten that this dress cost ONE POUND. Amazing.

My boots were kindly sent to me by StylistPick. They jingle when you walk so you feel like you have spurs on, and they are very smart so I look almost respectable. And they’re waterproof, which in the rainstorm that followed as we were heading back to the car, quickly became my favourite thing about them. God bless you, boots.