Sequins & Stripes - Feat: Simply Be

It has been a beautiful Bank Holiday weekend following a rather steamy and sultry August.  I worked a lot of it but I did have the Saturday off which gave me the opportunity to wear one of the beautiful dresses sent to me by Simply Be to a BBQ.  I chose this beautiful striped, sequined dress from their party wear collection, where it is currently on sale for £24.99 and goes up to a size 32.

I liked this dress as I thought the striped sequins were unusual and a different way to wear sequins.  The sequins were tiny and in a rope like pattern which glittered nicely which doesn't show much in the pictures and I thought it was a perfect mix of casual and dressy.  I sized up in this dress and I didn't find it roomy, so if you are interested in this dress I would definitely size up.  I wore this with leggings as it was very short on me, for reference I am five foot 5.

Accessories wise I kept with black teaming it with my fabulous Blackheart creatives Vicky name earrings and a nautilus necklace my Dad gave me around 8 years ago which I must confess I have not wore as much as I should.  I also had one of my current favourite handbags which is from Skinnydip in the shape of a can of liquid sarcasm, which my friends little girl loved.

As I am still loving the 60's I tried to do a mini beehive with my hair it wasn't as big as I would liked it to be, but passable for a first attempt.

I hope your bank holiday was lovely too, but I am beginning after the sweltering heat of the end of the Summer to long for some cooler Autumn days.

*Although the dress was gifted to me from the lovely people at Simply Be all opinions are my own,

The Curvy Convention 2016 - Feat a 60's OOTD

So yesterday I got up at unholy O'clock for a Saturday Morning when I am not working and headed up to London for Curvy Convention (or Chubby Con as the Hub called it) and to meet up with the stylish and wonderful Plus size and Proud.  I have known this wonderful lady for a long time on Social media for a long time but meeting in the flesh did not disappoint, I am pleased to report she is a fantastic human being who made me chortle many times.

After finding each other in Kings Cross we headed over to Hackney to St John's church to meet up with other fabulous bloggers attending, which included Katt from a Fat girl for life, Tanya from  secret plus size Goddess, Becky from Does my Blog make me Look Fat?, Lottie from Lottie L'amour and the lovely bra guru Caroline Curvy Wordy.

The venue if I am honest was underwhelming a old church St John's which was nice enough but a huge room, with nowhere to chill out, the music from the catwalk was a bit overwhelming when you were walking round the exhibitors and made it difficult to talk.  The first hundred people were given a goody bag which had some sweets a T shirt and the Programme which was nice.

I am having a 60's period at present and generally want to look a bit like a fat mod or Ronnette, and as the poor women at the Voodoo Vixen stall found out don't get me started on the swing dress.  So I went full on in a half beehive and my Heart of Haute, Doreen Dress in Atomic Chequers.

I have to report this dress is fabulously comfortable and the pockets are functional.  I teamed this with some old silver sandals from River Island that although comfortable are too heavy for a day on your feet, black opaque tights, my Skinny dip raygun bag keeping with a spacey feel.  My headband is a Grown and Glory Glitter band.

On entering the venue we headed straight to the Nicky Rockets stall as I knew I wanted a pair of pants and a Unicorns Tee.  In my haste I neglected to notice the £10.00 sale rack but did end up with the Perelandra Hare Tee, which I think was the experiment as it is on a pink Tee rather than the eco friendly ones, I kind of wish I had snapped up the grey hare one too as it is lovely.

It was lovely seeing Nicky, Baba and Perelandra, so we ended up chatting for the first hour at the Nicky Rockets stall and not looking at much else because they are just so lovely.  I then had a mooch round and we looked at the Voodoo Vixen stall where I moaned at the poor lady about the lack of choice as VV is fine for a swing dress, but what if I don't want a bloody swing dress, there main range does lovely stuff but I find their plus range a bit meh!  Although I do love the Katniss and own one and think everyone I have seen looks great in it.  To be fair the lady I spoke to was Plus sized and said she was trying to make the people at the top listen, but come on VV if Tara Starlet can do so should you.  Anyway to the poor lady I spoke to if you read this sorry for my frothy mouthed rant but I do think a swing dress is a lazy design choice for a fat range still.  However, the discounts at VV were fab and although I didn't buy £30.00 for a dress with the second half price is a fabulous discount.

We had a mooch around, a lot of it was to me not that interesting but I did like Plus|Equals which is a upcycling brand which had some interesting choices. including these maribou trimmed cullotes.

But the star for me was A Rose Like This Designs I could have spent a small fortune on Rosie's quirky one off designs and am still debating buying a lipstick print and sheer dress.  I am pleased to say this beauty did come home with me and I will do a proper outfit post towards the end of the week.

we then hung around to show our support to Rosie and Nicky Rockets who were both showing on the Catwalk,  I did take some pictures but there not great, but I hope this gives you some idea.

The dress I'm seriously considering.

We then had ice cream and a sit around outside, whilst trying to decide what to eat.  We finally decided upon Yardpizza which was local to the venue, it was a tiny pizza place but did do very tasty pizza.  I went for the Chessus Walked pizza with all the cheeses and walnut pesto.  It was tasty but pizza and me don't mix so I think that it may well have been my last dalliance with pizza but at least I did it in fine company,

We then hung out and had a final look around.  We wanted to do the photo booth with Katt but it had packed up which was a bit sad.  I then headed back a bit early as my pizza tummy was kicking in and I felt a urge to get back.  

Would I do Curvy Convention again?  Well, yes if everyone else was and as a social thing but as a event no not really it was a bit poor.  I want a venue with toilets not portaloos and a bit of a chill out area as if it had rained it would have been awful as a lot of time was spent sitting outdoors.  I loved some of the brands like Nicky Rockets and Rosie, but was surprised none of the bigger brands bothered which was strange for a London based event.  So I suppose in general although I had a fabulous time this was more due to some cool people who were exhibiting and the amazing women I got to hang with.

Making My Work Wear, Work

Everyone who reads this blog knows I love a pretty dress, preferably in a crazy cotton print and as much as I love these dresses they would not work for my work life.  Mine is not a job where I get to swan about in pretty frocks I am a carer so my job can involve anything from the homemaker stuff, paperwork, doing activities to on some occasions having to hold people when they become out of control.  So practical is the name of the game and usually this means jeans and jumpers or T's.

However, dear reader I don't mind sharing I am bloody bored of this and I never feel nice or very me when I head to work.  So I think it is time for a bit of a work wear revamp and this is my current wish list.

1/ A Pinafore Dress - Practical as it has pockets and I can shove some leggings underneath.

Both of these are from Asos Curve and are £30.00, they both have pockets essential for work.

2/ The Tee's - A Tee is a perfect item to throw on or under what I'm wearing.  I gotta be honest I usually just throw on a Primarni special as they are cheap and cheerful but these Tee's are tickling my fancy.

ASOS

Nicky Rockets

As I have said on numerous occasions I am a huge fan of a indie brand and I love these Graphic B Movie style Tee's from Nicky Rockets  and I think these would take a work pair of jeans from a bit Blah to something a bit more stylish.  

3/ The Jeans - Yes I know I bitched I live in these for work but these are a necessary evil in my life and following the death of my beloved Peaches Jeans I am liking the look of these.

Ultra High Waisted Jean - New Look @ Asos

Chelsea Jean - Simply Be

Grey Jean - Asos Curve

4/ The Jacket - I need something I can quickly throw on I was quite sold on the idea of a bomber jacket but I saw this hollographic raincoat on Missguided, now I am confused before it was just a patterned vs plain debate - now I am just confused.

Camo Bomber - Boo Hoo Plus

Holographic Raincoat _ Missguided Plus

Plain and Patterned Bomber _ Simply Be

Now the only problem is earning enough money to buy these.  So if you know any hit me up with some discount codes.

Vegas 2015- The what I wore edition. (Part 1)

At the end of the year I was lucky enough to go to Vegas for my 13th Wedding Anniversary.  I was going to write about it whilst it was all still fresh and as sparkly as the neon adorned skyline. However, what can I say life struck I was pretty much straight back to work with a killer cold and there was Christmas.  Basically life was kicking my arse.

So here is a what I wore post which is basically print dresses and headbands from Janine Basil.

Day 1

My red Robot dress came out to play on landing but in honesty after a 11 hour flight we were just grabbing a pizza then heading for a snooze.

Day 2.

Conjunctivitis struck so I am in glasses, but I tried a kinda librarian look with a headband my Hell Bunny dress, black tights bizarrely the 100 denier Primark ones in XL fit but the 80 denier ones don't and I cannot find the legendary plus size Primark tights near me.  The shoes came from Top Shop but I got them from E bay for a bargain £2.99.  We may have indulged in drinks on the big wheel

Day 3

I wore my very old Galaxy Print Get Cutie dress with leggings and my Janine Basil Solar system headband, which I adore.  I may have indulged in the R2D2 handbag.

Day 3

My eyes were well enough to wear contacts again.  Yeay!!!!  This was the day the Hub went out to the desert to shoot guns, I watched and we went on allegedly the world's biggest monster truck.  I wore my Ninja turtles Vampire Bunny Dress, Primark Cardie and Leggings.

Day 4

So this was the dress that got the most compliments, people seemed to really love the Lady Voluptuous lip print Phoebe, which I teamed with my red glitter heart Bete noir necklace that says Mrs Jones and Red flat Mel shoes with a bow I picked up a few years ago in a sale,  I am also wearing the glitter heart headband in red from Janine Basil.  I felt like a Cartoon character and loved it.  I must say sizing down to the 20 in the Phoebe alleviated the sizing problems I had with my first one.  

This day was my day and we hung out in old Vegas and went to the neon graveyard.

Day 5

I had this dress made by someone, and it is based on a Get Cutie dress, I chose the elephant fabric from Fabricyard and the tiger necklace is one I won from Snixy swoons do check them out.  

I am going to leave it here and show you the rest of my outfits at a later in the week

16 in 16

Happy New Year you lovely lot.  Years ago I used to do resolutions usually diet, join slimming world, the gym yada yada ya.........  Usually these would be broken by the 14th of January if I was lucky I would feel bad, beat myself up about it, feel bad a bir more, then move on with a nagging sense of failure.  However, I like goals something to aim for, so when Sophie over at Busy Little Fee suggested 16 things to achieve in 2016 I was in, so I have set myself some goals for the year and if your super lucky I might update you.

1/ Read 24 Books
I used to be a proper bookworm with 2 books on the go most of the time, but after my Dad died I found it hard to read.  I don't know if it was because he was a bookworm too and a lot of the time we spent together was either reading or visiting bookshops.  However, 2 books a month seem nice and achievable.

2/Save for a Holiday.
Last year I was lucky enough to go on a brilliant holiday to Las Vegas and we would love to go back or go to South Korea.  Now whilst I know I won't be able to save all of it in a year I would love to manage to put a decent sum aside for this to make a start.

3/  Cook more.
I used to cook a lot and really enjoy it.  Lately I seem to have lost my mojo this might be a case of my husband going veggie and his shifts mean he is not home for dinner a lot.  So more and more take away and ready meals are featuring more which is less than ideal.  So i want to get back to cooking nutritious, simple and tasty meals.

4/  Aim for Promotion
I have been in a bit of a stale situation at the start of last year, treading water not really progressing or feeling happy and fulfilled.  I now am working for a great company and feel like maybe I am ready to make the next step.

5/ Update Blog
I am a bit hit and miss with this little space of mine but I am going to try and update once a week at a minimum.

6/Sort out Wardrobe
My clothes are crazy i have 3 bin bags I need to sort through from when I moved, it is past time I need to sort that shit out so I know exactly what I have, want and need,

7/ Buy More Indie Brands
None of the big players on the plus scene really scream to me and at times their messages are less than body positive.  So when I adorn my fat little body I will look further afield and maybe this will mean buying less nut at least what I buy will make my heart sing.

8/  Spend less time on Social Media
Social Media is great and I have met some fantastic, rad babes through it.  However, I am letting it become a time sucker spending ages on it looking at life rather than getting on and living it a bit more.

9/  Visit Harry Potter Studios
I have always wanted to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, as I loved the books and need to go and indulge my inner witch.

10/  Have a Ritzy Afternoon Tea
I have always fancied a lovely super indulgent Afternoon Tea at a Ritzy Hotel, maybe even the Ritz so this is the year I will do it.

11/Dedicate More Me Time
I used to love indulging in facepacks or lovely bubble baths but for some reason this has gone out the window.  So I am going to dedicate one night a week for me time to have a face pack, do my nails and make me treat myself like a princess.  As in the words of Ru paul; "If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love someone else?"

12/  Take More Pictures
For year I avoided the camera which meant I didn't take a lot of pictures, I want to take more pictures so I have evidence on a mean red day of all the good stuff.

13/  Go back to Zumba
I used to love going to Zumba, the movement made feel good and alive.  Then I moved and stopped going, I moved back and still didn't return.  It's time.

14/  Write More
I got into the idea of blogging as I love to write and I wanted a outlet for that.  I have tried writing a book for years, now I don't want to challenge myself to finish that book but I want to get back into the habit of keeping a creative writing journal.

15/  Go to One of The Plus Fashion Events
I always want to go to these but I never get there so this year I need to go to at least one.

16/ Be More Brave
Whilst most people would say I am confident I actually think I am quite shy.  There are several things I would like to do such as: join a local book club and I don't ever get there as I think I won't know anyone and they all not talk to me. Really I need to just do it and if this happens so what, just stick it in the fuck it bucket at least I tried.

So there are my goals, do you do goals or resolutions?  I know other bloggers have done this so do check them out too.

Nikki

Sophie

Daisy

Charli

Kerry-Ann

Tanya

Katya

Kitty

Katt

Lucy

Cathy

Becky

Becky

Katt

Charlene

Normal Service Will Resume

 

Merry Christmas Duckies, apologies for the lack of posts on this my little corner of the internet but I had a yucky throat infection, went on holiday then returned to be blindsided with a cold/flu virus that has virtually knocked me off my feet and made the most mundane jobs feel like climbing Everest - really you should see my house.  However, rest assured in the new year I will be back like Arnold Schwarzenegger sharing my Indie Hits, holiday which involves some rather nice outfits, even if I do say so myself, food reviews and whatever adventures I go on as we all know I am a little random.

I hope your Christmases are all what you want them to be and if it's not don't beat yourself up, it is just one day.  I myself will be working and the Hub is nursing a rather nasty case of Man Flu.  Anyhow whatever your day is I hope it brings you joy.

I have barely been festive this year but I did have a work Christmas meal that I made a bit of a effort for.  I think despite feeling deathly I made a pretty good elf, helped by Primark and Crown and Glory.

And with that I will wish you a Merry Christmas x

#Plus 40 Fabulous - Introduction

Welcome any new readers, who are hoping over from over Blogs and sorry to existing readers sorry if I repeat myself, but welcome to snapshots of my little world.

I am excited to take part in this challenge devised by Mookie and Leah, as although I am 40 I do not feel ready for slacks or blouses and have no freakin desire to wear beige and although I am fat I do not feel like I should just settle in terms of clothing, I am all about the pretties and I will always search for that Holy Grail a pretty, cheap and comfortable bra in a larger cup.

So how did I find my style, I was a fat teenager and adult who always loved clothes especially unusual or vintage but obviously in the late 80's early 90's this was a bit of a problem but luckily I could always just about fit in the larger end of the High Street.  Then in my 30's I lost my way a bit I blame Trinny and Susannah a bit although they did some stylish makeovers they could make me feel that well I should dress my age! Ugh.  I got a bit lost for a while then I found pretty print dresses in quirky prints and I think this is my style really.

Obviously I love to wear dresses but I am also a carer so I have a work wardrobe which is usually Jeans, so when I'm not flouncing around in dresses I am in my jeans and tops,

So I suppose that is basically my style usually with a hefty injection of faux fur, I flirt with other styles and long for the day I can do edgy street style but that look never quite works for me, but I am all about fashion being fun and have through blogging managed to go from someone who avoids having their photo taken to a bit a of a poser.

I am really looking forward to these challenges as the fashion industry seems to think women of my age are past it and should be looking at classic pieces rather than following fashion, but I stuck my middle finger to that as I fully intend to be all the F's, Forty, Fat and freakin fabulous.

There are some pretty amazing and inspiring women taking part in this so please check out their blogs.

Mookie: http://www.mookieslife.com/

Leah: http://www.justmeleah.co.uk

Cathy: http://www.southernyacht.blogspot.co.uk/

Lee: http://www.pinkybellesshed.co.uk/

Sarah: http://www.plussizeproud.co.uk

Lisa: http://www.kitandkoboodle75.blogspot.co.uk/

Daisy: http://daisysays.co.uk/

Nikki :http://www.nattynikki.com/

Betty Pamper: http://www.pamperandcurves.com/

Kaye: http://www.polishedcurves.com/

Kellie: http://www.bigfashionista.co.uk/

Birthday Take 2

As I said my original day out with the girls came to a bit of a halt when my lovely friend and organiser of the day ended up in hospital.  So what's a girl to do when a celebration has been planned and cancelled, redo it of course!

So three months after my real Birthday like the Queen I trotted out to do a second one.  My original outfit was the Gemma Collins dress I tried on a Bluewater but due to the searing heat body con was out  and my beautiful Lady Voluptuous Phoebe got her first outing.

 I bought the Phoebe in size 22/24 and it is a tad bit too big if I am honest but I don't think a size 20 would have fit me as there is around 3 to 4 inches of material spare at the waist but not 6" which on the size chart is the difference.  I am really hoping that Lady Voluptuous does away with the dual sizing as for me I don't think it is a winner.  The dress itself is lovely and features a little net underskirt which gives it a bit more poof and elevates it from a day dress into something a bit more special.  Be warned though a gust of wind can see you doing a Marilyn in this dress.

I teamed it with some very old Primark Wedges, my Blackheart Creatives Fabulous Forty necklace, some amazing donut earrings that Jenny bought me, My Janine Basil Pixel Cherry clip and a Drumstick handbag also a present from Jenny.  With my hair I had tried to create some ommph and mini short hive as I am growing it but I'm not sure it was that successful, and my lipstick was a Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Ole Flamingo which is a lovely long lasting bright pink.

It was an amazing day full of friends, food, cocktails, cake, gossip, laughter, fun and dancing after we swapped the more serious club for a cheese fest!  I could not have wished for more.

Bluewater Blogger Meet and Boobies

This Sunday I had the pleasure of going to my first Bloggers meet, I have long wanted to join in these fun filled days but I am usually working!  However, this weekend I wasn't and it would be rude not to attend.

It was a pretty intimate get together as it was Father's Day so a lot of people were doing family stuff but the amazing Anne-Lise from Mookies Life, Leah from Just Me Leah, Abi from A is for Abi and Caroline from Curvy Wordy all made it, as well as Leah's lovely friend Rach.  I had never met any of these ladies bar Mookie before but I can report with all honesty that they are totally lovely, gorgeous people inside and out.

First stop was Evans I didn't see a lot that I wanted but me, Mookie and Leah all had a blast trying on this lovely Scarlet and Jo dress in the sale, like a fat bunch of Charlie's Angels.  Leah's friend Rach made a excellent artistic director directing us for our shots and this was the rock one I think you can tell Leah and Mookie are more authentic rockers than me.

I did try on this rather beautiful dress by Gemma Collins that I am kinda in love with, it is a bit different for me as I usually do quirky rather than glam.

Bottom shot encouraged by Leah

Then after Evans we met Caroline, who I greeted by stating: "You're the booby lady, right?  Can you help me find a bra that pushes my boobs together as there too far apart."  The lovely Caroline took this in her stride and said she would and through her I discovered my boobs are 3 cups sizes larger than I thought as through wearing badly fitting bras a lot of boob was living under my arms! (who knew) and that  I had been putting my bra on all wrong for like 30 years!  Although now getting dressed takes a while longer!

We then all headed for a noisy lunch where we chatted nonsense and generally had a lovely time.  Fair play to all the husbands who met us they managed this brilliantly, then took the pictures at our insistence, whilst we posed and mugged for all we were worth.

After lunch Leah headed off for family matters, Rach and her man went off for a wander, whilst Abi, Mookie, Caroline and I headed to Yours and I finally tried on the Tess dress, as I was feeling left out as every other blogger has tried it.

Thanks to Abi for taking this

After that we headed to Marks' for Bras and Caroline helped me with my bra problems, if you don't read her blog do as this lady is a boob and underwear genius and as predicted the husband was appreciative of the new fit.

We then did ice cream and drinks and it was time to say goodbye for me as I had a busy day the next day, but I can honestly say it was the most fun I had, had in a while and proved to me good company is what makes a day as I only spent £14.00 on a bra but it was the best shopping trip in ages, so if more brands could take note so there is a bit more range we could explore whilst out that would be great.

*sorry for the lack of group shots but I am a bad blogger, but if you look on other people's blogs you might see more pictures.