Oh yes I'm the great pretender

It's Downton Abbey night, so I thought I'd post some pictures of me pretending to be important enough to go to fancy events. Smart & well-dressed is absolutely not my strong point. I'm a messy person right down to my very core. Most of my clothes have food stains on them. However, I got this beautiful jacquard pencil skirt when I went rad-fat shopping in Doncaster last week and it's just so nice and smart I had to find a way to do it justice. 

The skirt was £23, which I've mentioned before is a little out of my budget for a skirt. I'm definitely a budget shopper, I suppose you have to be when you're all about fast fashion and have such an addiction to shopping, however once I tried it on I knew I should buy it. There's something about it, it's just so lovely and thick and comfortable, and the material feels beautiful. It's a really great length, too. I like to pull my pencil skirts right up to just under my bra and this still reaches below the knee, so it's perfect as a very smart skirt for those times smart is required.

I was wearing this cardigan in my last blog post but I didn't really say anything about it. I got it just the other week from Primark. It's a size uk20 but it's super stretchy. It's that beautiful fluffy wool that seems to be quite popular at the moment. When I wear it I can't stop stroking it. I love short shrug-style cardigans; my favourite burgundy one has recently lost a button so I needed a nice one to replace it while I search for a new button.

I got these earrings from New Look. I can't really find a way to describe them other than saying they're like glittery purple rocks that have been chiseled  into a heart shape? I'm sure there is a real name for the kind of rock, but really is it just glittery blue and purple rocks to me.

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The next outfit is probably less smart. I was going for a glamorous 60's movie-star look, but it didn't quite end up that way. I got this dress from Primark. It was super cheap. It's a very stretchy ribbed material, so it is very comfortable. I don't usually go for things with a high neck-line, so I'm still a little unsure about it. I imagine it will be nice to wear in winter layered up with leggings and a thick cardigan or jacket. I do wish the sleeves were longer, though. I think it would be much smarter with half or even three-quarter sleeves.

Cardigan UK20 - Primark
Dress UK20 - Primark
Boots UK7 - Primark
Pearls - Primark
Sunglasses - Charity Shop
Dog - Model's own ;)

Tattoo by the amazing Rosie Evans :)

Rad fat shopping

This weekend I went to Doncaster to meet up with some of my favourite rad fatties for a spot of shopping.

Primark nails! 

Train selfie. 

What I wore:
Cardigan UK20 - Primark
Skirt UK18 (VERY stretchy & loose in a good way) - Dorothy Perkins
The vest top was my mum's
Bag - Primark
Nails - Primark
Leggings - Evans

We found a mirror that made us all look skinny. We thought
it was hilarious, however a group of lads walking
by thought it was "embarrassing".

Rachel, Rebs, myself and Lisa <3

First stop was Simply Be. I had my heart set on the red tartan/checkered pencil skirt. I thought it would also be a good opportunity to try on the "coat of dreams" and the tartan dress Melly wore at Plus North.

First up was the coat of dreams. It fit like an
absolute dream, however the £75 price tag
was definitely out of my budget. Maybe
it's time to start a dream coat fund. All
donations welcome! ;)

Next up was the tartan dress. At £35 I was so
tempted to buy it. It was lovely and comfy,
I actually sized down as they didn't have a
26 in stock, but it wasn't at all too tight.

Dream coat/dress combo. PLEASE SOMEONE
BUY ME THIS OUTFIT?!?!

THE SKIRT! I knew I wanted this ever since I
saw it on the Simply Be website. I think £25 is
a little pricey for a skirt, but it was so perfect
& comfy I just had to get it.

We all spotted these boots just before we went into the
changing rooms. I don't think I have ever tried on a pair
of tall boots that actually fit around my calfs, but
these boots actually had plenty of room to spare!
I don't remember exactly how much they were, but
I do remember them being cheaper than it says on
the website. Rachel & Rebs both bought them so
check out their blogs for more info.

I wore my new tartan skirt today so I thought I'd do a little outfit posts featuring it. Here I am standing on a bench in my garden, because why not!

Skirt UK24 - Simply Be
Top UK24 - New Look (£8.99!)
Leggings UK24 - Yours Clothing
Belt - Primark
Sunglasses - charity shop
Boots - Dr. Martens

Plus North - AKA weekend of dreams. PART 2

PLUS NORTH DAY WAS UPON US! I woke up so freakin' excited! Mel had to go off for some Plus North related shenanigans after breakfast so I got dressed very slowly (burning myself on my straighteners in the process) and headed off to town to meet Mel when she was finished.

Market St. was super busy and the sun was beating down. There was a three-piece band blasting out the Jungle Book. Then we saw some INCREDIBLE street art including a guy who was drawing these amazing Beatles posters. Already it was shaping up to be a really great day.

With huge smiles on our faces we stormed on up to the Arndale Centre. First stop was Yours Clothing. We just called in to have a look really, but as soon as we walked in I spotted a dress so beautiful I couldn't stop staring at it. I tried to avert my eyes but there was a magnetic force pulling me in. I had to have it.

We then went on a search for Dorothy Perkins but our search just lead us to Primark. I ended up with quite the Primark haul including the most comfortable tartan stretchy treggings EVER. I also found some red boots that I had literally dreamed about. With time running out we hurried back to the hotel to get ready.

Dress: Yours Clothing

Leggings: Sainsburys TU

Dream boots: Primark

Belt: Primark

Necklace: Primark

See Mel's blog for more info on her outfit.

We arrived (fashionably) late so Mel had to run off to get ready for her catwalk appearance. I joined Lisa and Rachel just in time to see Mel strutting her stuff. We tried to be as loud and supportive as possible for everyone. Here are some of my favourite outfits from the whole day:

(Please click on the photos to enlarge them, they look a little blurry on my main blog page.)

Steph for Excite Clothing

Sian for Curvissa

I had such a great time. All of the big names were there, for a full list of exhibitors check out the official Plus North website for links :)

There was such a great vibe in the room all afternoon. I had an absolute blast with some of my favourite pals and I also met some amazing new friends. I didn't manage to get too many photos, the afternoon just seemed to fly by. I also only managed to go in The Mighty Boof photo booth once this year! I did go in 12 times last year though so I'm not too upset.

Here I am with two of my favourite humans on Earth Lisa and Rachel

Here are a few photos of some of the stunning people I had the pleasure of hanging out with:

Danielle, Rachel, Lisa, Elena, Kerry & Lolly

Lisa, Gemma, Toni, Kerry

I really can't put into words how much of a great time I had, and the day wasn't even over yet! The afternoon drew to a close and it was time to go home to change into the evening outfit.

One last selfie of my "afternoon hair"

One last pose in the hotel lobby. I really adore this dress.

Part 1  -  Part 3

(If you would like copies of any of my photos, or alternatively if you would like to be tagged (yes please) or have the photo taken down altogether, just get in touch with me via email or facebook.) 

Third stone from the sun

    

So as you probably know we have had a mini-heatwave here in the UK for the past few days. I've been lucky enough to be off work this week and I have really tried to take advantage of it by spending every available minute outside in the garden.  

We're fortunate enough to have two gardens, both of which are completely different. You've seen our shady back garden in my previous posts, but our front garden is always really sunny. It's also covered in weeds that we can't bring ourselves to get rid of because they look like giant daisies and they're just so pretty!

I went on a little bit of a shopping spree on Saturday. I'll post more about that when I finally get around to photographing everything I got, but for now I want to show you this crop top I got. When I was little, 90's fashion was all about crop tops and dungarees and I always wanted a crop top. One day my Mum got me a cute little white tshirt crop but after getting home and trying it on I realised it showed off my belly. Even though I was about 10 years old, I had already been suffering from low self esteem and depression since I was much younger. I was quite a skinny child, but I was very aware of all of the talk surrounding me about diets and comparing our bodies to other peoples. I guess our mothers had been hurled into the idea of diets and self-hate throughout their teens and early twenties, and by the 90s it was really prominent where I grew up for people to trash-talk their own (and everyone else's) bodies. 

I feel really blessed to have had the opportunity to find the fat-acceptance community. I'm sure one day I'll talk in more detail about this and maybe all of the above, but for now I thought I'd be a little daring (for me) and allow myself the joy that my 10 year old self never allowed herself. So here I am in my new crop top, and I even threw in a bit of leg in my favourite shorts (which I have previously never worn without leggings underneath).  

   

 

Crop Top uk20 - Primark

"High Waisted" Shorts uk26 - New Look Inspire

I also really wanted to show off my hair because I spent about two hours trying to perfect my barrel-roll fringe today. I thought what better way to do this than to showcase it in pictures of me enjoying the company of my favourite little beast.