bbloggers

Manchester Bloggers Event

Friday, March 28, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

This post is long over due, on 16th March I met up with some other local bloggers at an event organised by Danielle and Anastasia at Revolution in Deansgate Locks. 


IMG_0213

I was super early which I almost always am, but this was an hour too early. I'd planned on looking round the shops then hopping on the number 2 free bus to the Locks but as it was St Patricks day Parade the bus route was diverted and I thought I'd walk to see how long it'd take (Surprisingly less time than you'd think)

I did a tour of the block and headed back to Starbucks on Quay Street. I thought I'd do some blog planning but I hadn't brought a pen or a pad (what kind of blogger am I?) 

I headed back over and walked in at the same time as Laura and we sat together in the main bar before we spotted people heading up to the mezzanine level. 

IMG_0216


We were warmly greeted and given our goodie bags and we took a seat at the bar right next to these delicious cake pops made by Danielle. 


IMG_0215
It was great to have our own space and own personal bar person, I even got ID'd made my day. I'm sure I tweeted about it 5 times and told everyone I know! The last time I can remember getting ID'd was my 18th Birthday! 

IMG_0218

I got ID's for this yummy cocktail, sadly I have forgotten it's name but I think it was Vodka, cranberry and soda maybe something else. 

IMG_0220
I

It was great to meet up with other bloggers that I'd not met of heard of before and I did see Laura who is organising Blog On and I haven't seen her for almost 12 months and I've only met her once before but it was good to a familiar face. 

I did only speak to about 5 people and didn't try to mingle, I know I should but I'm still not quite there yet. 

Sadly I didn't win a raffle prize but this is what was in the goodie bag. 
IMG_0221

I'm currently using the carrot moisturiser and the bit of rough cloth and will review them soon. I've tried one of the teas and the one I had wasn't for me but I do usually like flavoured tea so will give another one a try soon! 

Thank you to both Danielle and Anastasia for organising a great afternoon. 


Just another blogging Challenge

Just another blogging challenge - I know something you don't know!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Hey lovelies, 

Time is flying by and with one thing and another I missed the last one of these. 

This months theme is something you didn't know about me. 

I'm not sure there is anything left secret about me, I feel like I'm fairly open and honest in this blog and I potentially overshare far more than I need to. 

Something you don't know about me?!?!!? 

I will have to put my thinking cap on! 


#PSBYouAreGoodEnough

Plus Size Bloggers You Are Good Enough - #PSBYouAreGoodEnough

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

Debz did a shout out at the beginning of March to see if anyone wanted to take part in a blogger collaboration #PSBYouAreGoodEnough from something she'd seen on this Tumblr account.

Anything that is to do with being body positive and inspiring others is good in my view so I readily waved my hands in the air to take part.

We are all good enough, yes there is always room for improvement in area's of self and life but on the whole we are fine as we are and this post wants to celebrate that.

What do we like about ourselves, at the beginning of March I did a LEB post From The Neck Up and discovered I actually like my face, my eyes, my eyelashes and my eyebrows.

My face makes me who I am, it is me. I think I can be funny and fun and I am a good hearted person.



Growing my hair 2014

Grow Grow Grow Your Hair

Monday, March 17, 2014

Hey Lovelies, 

In the bid to grow my hair I have re-purchased the Lee Stafford Hair Growth products. I did use them a little while back but I didn't buy the treatment. I did feel like my hair had a growth spurt but kept wondering what if I'd bought the treatment as well? 


I might be a sucker for a marketing ploy, but I really like Lee Stafford products. They smell lovely and my hair feels really clean and shiny after using them. This is about the third or fourth time I've bought the Hair Growth products since they came out and while by just leaving my hair to get on with it I might have the same results. I am dying to get my hair long enough to tie back I'm willing to try anything legal and not too crazy. 


It might be a little on the pricey side for shampoo, if like me you tend to go for £1 bottles or what ever is on offer. The shampoo and conditioner are £6.99 each and the treatment is £7.99. I got these on 3 for 2 so it was just under £15. These will probably last me about 6-8 weeks but my mum tends to use them once or twice a week and my hair is still really short. 


I also really like the packaging and looks pretty cute in the basket on the bathroom windowsill. For me one of the plus points is the shampoo is a clear gel rather than a creamy constancy which works best for my hair. 

Baptism

Beary Special - Baptism Gift

Monday, March 10, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

Yesterday I went to my friends babies Baptism, I couldn't think of what to get her and someone at work told me about Beary Special on Facebook. 

I decided to contact them and ask if they could do a Hanging Heart decoration in Purples

My friend loves purple it was the theme for her wedding and I thought it would be nice to carry that theme through (I hope she still likes purple!)

Before I get to the actual gift I want to show you the post bag it came in! Pink and Spotty! this made me smile so much. 

 IMG_0147

When I contacted her she sent me a photo of the purple fabric she had and It was all really pretty so I asked her to user her own judgement and she booked it in her diary for 22nd February and said she'd email me with a photo of the final item before she sent a paypal invoice. 

I got and email with the photo on 24th February, paid 25th and it arrived 26th, which I'm really happy with. 

When I opened the envelope it was wrapped in purple tissue and it seemed such a shame to open it but I knew I wanted to see it in person before I gave it to my friend. 

IMG_0148

Each heart is beautiful and it is such a lovely touch to have something hand made and personalised. 

IMG_0150
Heart 1 babies Name
IMG_0151
Heart 2 - On your Baptism
IMG_0152
Heart 3 - Date of Baptism
 You can have pretty much whatever you want within reason on the hearts, I was going to have the name of the church but it's quite a long name and didn't fit properly

I should have tidied up my shelves but I was too excited to see it. 

IMG_0153

This cost me £6.40 in total including P&P which I don't think is bad value and it was a nice experience dealing with Rebecca from Beary Special, I had to share.

She makes a wide variety of things and they make a lovely present. 

*This isn't a sponsored post i'm just thrilled! 

Lace

Two Ways to Wear

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Hey Lovelies, 

Last week Katie posted an idea to do a post on two ways to wear Feathers or Fur, it sounded like a fun idea but I don't own anything feathery or furry! 

A couple of other people said the same and she extended it to Leather or Lace as well. 

The Idea is too take an outfit and style it for a daytime look and a night out. 


I knew as soon as the new theme came up I wanted to wear the dress my friend gave me. It's from Simply be and I love the colour and the lace is really pretty. I paired it with my (P)leather Jacket which I got from Tesco last year which made it less pretty pretty. 


I was thinking about how I could wear this outfit for a dress down Friday at work or a Sunday afternoon catch up with the girls and I decided to add a college t-shirt which is from New Look. 

I do like it but I don't think I could wear it for long as the lace became really itchy with the t-shirt over the top. 


As I type this I don't know if i've got the right title or who else is taking part. I'm out all day today so I will have to update later.



What to wear to a Baptism

What to wear to a Baptism

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

Tomorrow I'm off to a Baptism of my friends little girl and I wasn't stressed about what to wear at all. I had it planned in my head until I realised I don't have any coats other than my work Parker to wear and as all the stuffing is coming out and really could use some quality time with a JML bobble off machine. (I have never seen a bobble off in real life a work colleague told me he uses one on his couch and it sounds what I need for my coat)

I also bought a new dress from New Look last weekend so that has changed my plans from my original Simply Be spotty dress.


I got the dress in a size 24 as when I tried on the 22 it felt too small all over, the 24 is over sized on the top but fits me ever where else, but it looks like it needs a belt to hide the join. 

I nipped into Primark and spotted this black and gold belt, I was really surprised to find the the L/XL goes round my waist and I think it will look ok with the dress. 

I've also been looking for a chunky necklace for a while but as I have a huge neck most of them either don't fit or are like a chocker on me, this one feels ok, I also got a gold bracelet with a heart pendant on it. 

I'm feeling happy with my choices, but I have just realised that I have no tights here, they are all packed up in my grans garage and I haven't shaved my legs since mid January. 

Do you think I can wear my pleather biker jacker or denim jacket to a baptism? 

World Book Day 2014

World Book Day 2014

Thursday, March 06, 2014



Hey Lovelies, 

Just a quick nod to World Book Day 2014. I love reading and I always have at least one book on the go. 

I thought I'd take some time to tell you about some of my favourite books and books I think are worth a read. I'm not saying you will enjoy them or you should read them. They are books I've liked. 

One of the most recent books I've read is 12 Years a Slave By Solomon Northup, unless you've been under a rock you can't fail to have heard of this. It's about a Man who is born free in America but who is sold into slavery and not surprisingly is a slave for 12 years. After reading this books I've watched a few American who do you think you are's and they have all touched on this area of American History and it is something that I'd really like to learn more about. This book can be quite hard to read and I think I'm going to watch the film and read it again as I often find this helps. 

My all time favourite book and one I've read countless times is The Princess Bride By William Goldman. I first came about this story like many people via the film which I randomly bought off a school friend when we had a class charity auction when I was in year 7, a few years later I spotted the book and like many films I knew I had to have it. If you've seen the film you will know the story but there is love, adventure, fighting, giant rats. If I could only read one book for the rest of my life I'd pick this one. 

Now I read a lot and it would take me a week to list every book I've ever read. I do have a goodreads account which I keep forgetting to update! but feel free to have a browse of the books I've read. (I'll add thr link once I can get back into my account. I've forgot my password! 

You might see a bit of a theme. I seem to alternate between chick lit and crime.

I've read all but two of the Kathy Reiches Bones series, I also read a lot of american and British crime books. 

I will read pretty much anything but there are some books I've never read and really don't want to. I'm in no way a book snob but I can't bring myself to read any of the 50 shades books and I really don't like the shopaholic books.

I also like young adult books, I've read all the Harry Potters, Twilight, Dark Materials and a few other teen vampire high school books. 

When I was at school I used to love the Point Horror and Point Romance books and read most of the Sweet Valley High books (I wanted to be Elizabeth) 

There are so many books out there and I really need access to my goodreads account to share a lot more but these are recent favourites 

The Help - Kathryn Stockett.
Room - Emma Donoghue
Clueless - H. B. Gilmour
PS I love you - Cecelia Ahern
Good Night Mr Tom -
The Famous Five - Enid Blyton
Journey to Jo'burg - Beverley Naidoo

What was the last book you've read? which book do you go back to time after time? 

I'm taking part in a book swap shortly, I'm looking forward to getting some new books picked for me by someone else

Growing my hair 2014

Growing out my short hair do

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

If you follow me on twitter I've been asking for tips on growing hair, looking at hair extensions on Amazon and I bought some Lee Stafford Grow your hair shampoo from boots.

I've decided to start documenting the length of my hair and how i'm getting on growing my hair,

Last February I decided I was bored of having long hair and got it cut, I spent the next few months going shorter, then in September I changed my mind. I need to tie my hair up in a bobble.

As I was going to a wedding in early October I had it cut again then spent October to February growing it. It was starting to get very mullet like and gave in and had it cut. During this period I was using the Lee Stafford shampoo and do feel like it made my hair have a growth spurt.

Back of hair 2nd March 2014
 I've had my hair short a number of times and I don't remember it being this much hard work to grow, I might just be more concious with taking blog photo's
Right Side 2nd March 2014
 I hate the sides at the moment and I don't tend to wear my hair brought forward like this, I usually have a couple of grips in each side.
Left Side 2nd March 2014
 The front looks a bit off in this photo, it is growing but not fast enough.


I keep seeing the below image on pinterest and when I've googled growing hair tips etc. I like to think I'm coming up to be image 3 but in reality I think I'm just leaving style 2.

There seems to be quite a gap between 3 &4. I am aiming for style 6.
I know I will need regular trims, I'm going to try and do this roughly every 12 weeks until it gets to a Bob type style then I'm going to leave it for longer.

My aim is do to these posts on a monthly basis and i've even wrote in my diary to take photo's monthly!

Have you ever grown your hair out from a short style? Best tip? 

Getting back into blogging

Getting back into blogging

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Hey Lovelies, 

I've made it to the 4th March and I'm still blogging, I fear that I'm fast running out of topics and apologies if this month becomes boring. 

Although I do think I've got some interesting posts coming up. 

As my room is almost done, I decided I needed a blogging space. I've liberated my laptop from my grans and as it is a full size laptop it is heavy and hot so you can't sit with it on your legs for log (lap top my eye!

I decided to look for lap top tables and found this one in Asda for £15. They also sell it in red. 


It is only small and just fits at the end of my bed. It is the perfect hight to sit on the settee and blog from and I have taken it down stairs a few times. 

My bed is quite high and as you can see form the picture it's not the best hight for it, but we have a little buffet that my mum made and I'm using that for the moment. 


As I've mentioned one or two times I'm a stationary queen, I got the pads out and started making notes. I have my planner for the month but I also like to make notes in a pad and will do draft posts. I got the mini clipboard from quality save and I've made a list of posts I want to write this month. Once I know what the title is it does in the note book and any fixed challenges such as the #OMCZ challenge that I take place regularly is already in the diary. 

I am also trying to get draft posts written and scheduled where I can. 

I think having my own laptop back and a space to blog is really going to help me. 

Do you have a dedicated blog routine? Do you plan? do you scheduled?  any tips or trick are much appreciated? 

February

February Round Up

Saturday, March 01, 2014



Hey Lovelies,






Despite February being a very quiet month blog wise for me I still wanted to do a quick round up as I've promised myself I am going to do one of these each month.


The first thing I did this month was join in with Leah's Love Every Body Project I did the first project at the start of the month and the 4th one is scheduled to be published tomorrow. Numbers 2 &3 are in draft form and will be done very soon.

This months Magnificent 7th post was all about Date night, I've never been on a real date well not really, so I blogged about a mate date for my friends Birthday meal.

I only managed one of the two #OMCZ challenges but this is the one I set which was looking back over the last 12 months, how we've changed and to recreate the first challenge.

I also attended my first event of the year which was for Country attire in Manchester, this was a night show casing the brands they stock and was a chance to catch up with other bloggers.

The last real thing I blogged about was my answers to some questions Cosmo asked two other fat women, Claire / Chattermoney asked if anyone wanted to answer them to get other peoples take on them. 


This has really spurred me on to get back into blogging and I'm challenging myself to blog every day in March and this is going to be my second post of the day so check me out.

Personally February was a hard month, we had to put out cat to sleep as she was really poorly and that really threw me off as I sent the first few days after crying and feeling like my heart had been ripped out.

Work is really busy and there are some changes to be made and this could be quite exciting and stressful but not sure if I want to share work stuff on here we will see.

Here's to a much happier March.

#OMCZ

#OMCZ 27 - Red Carpet Glamour

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Hey Lovelies,

I am running a bit late with this challenge but i'm here and I've done it!



The theme was chosen by Becky and with the awards season in mind she picked Red Carpet Glamour.

I had a few Ideas for this but as i'm still working on a limited wardrobe went with a dress I'd got as a possible Christmas Party dress. 



IMG_0158
Red Carpet Glamour - Dress Size 22 Tesco 
I didn't end up wearing this dress as I got yet another one and it's been sat in my wardrobe ever since. 

The dress is in two parts, the skirt is thick jersey and the tops is two layers. Flesh coloured fabric with the black lace top over it.
IMG_0157
Red Carpet Glamour - Dress Size 22 Tesco 
I kept it simple no jewellery and a slick of MUA Matt red lippy, the top half of the dress is really fitted and one you might not want to love around much in but in theory it should be ok to sit down in as the skirt is jersey but I have never tried to sit down in this frock!

If you want to check out the other glamorous lovelies there links are below:

Instagram