Yearly Archives: 2013

All Dressed Up

06th December 2013
Dress c/o Chi Chi
Shoes- Matalan
Oh I do love this dress, another absolute beauty from Chi Chi, my go to place for party dresses. It’s a shame I won’t actually get to wear it to any parties this year, but I am letting Mum borrow it for the work party so it’ll get the showing off it deserves. I’ve amassed quite a collection of party dresses now and I have nowhere to wear them, a bit of a shame but there is always next festive season (last year it was crutches, this year my back…I must have a less painful year next year, right?). It’s the work Christmas party tonight actually and instead of sitting down to a three course festive feast and dancing the night away I’ll be sat at home watching rubbish TV, eating a far less festive dinner and thinking of the boy who has his Nana’s funeral today. I was lucky enough to meet her in the Summer and I’m so thankful I had that chance, she was a wonderful woman who’s spirit will live on through her amazing family.
I’m still getting used to wearing more fitted dresses. With gentle nagging from those I see on a regular basis I’m trying it more often and slowly getting used to a fuller figure and making the best of it. One of these days I won’t care and will go for it anyway! This particular dress fits like a dream and I can’t get enough of the burgundy and gold colour combination…so festive and so opulent. Perfect.
How many parties are you off to this month? Where did you find your perfect dress? Still hunting? Why not give Chi Chi a try. I’m yet to be dissapointed with anything from there.
xxx

Posted in chi chi, christmas, life stuff, outfits

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Secret Santa Solutions with Find Me a Gift

05th December 2013

Find Me a Gift has long been one of my go-to sites when looking for something a bit unusual to give as a present. I’m mostly done with my Christmas Shopping, the one I’m stuck on is the office Secret Santa. We do it every year and most years I am lucky and get some one I know quite well, I don’t yet know who I have this year but having been off sick for a while now it’ll be sod’s law it’s somebody I know very little about (getting one of the GPs is the hardest, they have everything!)
Anyway, I was having a browse and decided to compile a little list of solutions for anyone else who’s facing the same scenario. Everything is under a tenner (our office budget) and if if nothing on my list suits your recipient make sure to have a browse of the website yourself as I’m pretty sure you’ll find something to suit your needs, also well as a whole host of stuff for yourself- it happens to me every time!
Knit your own Hello Kitty, £9.99. I have one of these although I’m yet to learn to knit but it would make the cutest gift for the crafty one at work.

Bomb Cosmetics Bath Melts Chocolate Gift Set- £8.99. I love Bomb! It’s the one brand who makes this kind of thing that I’m not allergic to. I think things like this always make a good gift.

ABC Cookies Gingerbread Man Cutters- £6.99. Again this is the kind of thing I’d love to recieve myself and when really stuck that’s what I base my gift choices on. These are just too cute and funny. For the record Gingerbread men are best eaten head first!

Emergency Food Tin- £7.99 and perfect for the office snacker. Or the person who always brings in the biscuits. We could do with one of these in our office. Often we get situations where the only solution is something sweet.

Tetris Heat Changing Mug- £6.99. For the bloke who has it all.

Retro Sweetie Jar- 350g for £4.99 for the sugar addict. There are various sizes of these available under a tenner…sweets make the perfect gift, trust me, I’ve been on the receiving end of buckets of sweets lately thanks to some wonderfully kind bloggers and a rather lovely PR.

Test Tube Shot Glasses and Rack- £8.99 for the office geek, or anyone who likes a drink and has a sense of fun.

Fashion Origami Set- £4.99. For the clothes obsessed one. I had this set once and it was a great gift, it kept me occupied for hours (I’m pretty hopeless at origami it transpired!)
This is one of those posts where my list could have gone on for years. What are you thoughts on Secret Santas? I saw a few blogger ones going on this year which looked like fun…
does your office do one? What’s the best/worst present you’ve ever received?
My personal favourite was some gorgeous gloves. I get super cold hands and lose gloves regularly so they were just perfect.
xxx

Posted in christmas, gifts

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iPad Air Giveaway Alert!

05th December 2013
As it’s the season for goodwill and giveaways I couldn’t resist sharing this little gem with you from sofaworks who are giving you a chance to win a brand new iPad Air!

Ends 19th December 2013

You can find out more about the giveaway on the sofaworks website but entry really couldn’t be easier,
you simply need to visit the Facebook page and like it and give them a follow on Twitter, follow the instructions and you’ve got a chances to win the ultimate Christmas present for yourself (or, if you’re feeling super generous to give to someone special)
This is just one of literally hundreds of amazing festive giveaways going on right now…how many have you entered? I’ve been tweeting, liking and filling in forms like a madwoman. My efforts are yet to pay off but I am determined to win something, even if it’s a chocolate Santa!
Have you been lucky yet? Which are your favourite giveaways to enter?
If you’re one of the many bloggers holding their own Christmas giveaway then why not use the comments section to promote it? You can be certain I’ll enter it and if you’re lucky it might get a tweet or share on Facebook too- I’m in a generous mood even if I have no prize to offer myself right now.
xxx

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Smart Casual

05th December 2013
Blouse c/o Damart
Jeans: Oasis
Shoes: Clarks (last year)
I don’t really own many blouses, it’s only recently that I’ve started being drawn toward them and even more recent than that when I made my first purchase. I remember loving this particular blouse when I posted about Damart’s incredible A/W lookbook a couple of months ago and I was both surprised and delighted when it landed on my doorstep last week (PR surprises = amazing!)
Because I’ve not been in work for a while now I didn’t really fancy styling it in a smart way as I want to save that for when I go back. Instead I stuck on my old faithful Oasis jeans and some neglected Clarks flats and hoped for the best.
It made a nice change to what I usually wear and I felt a bit more put together than I usually do when I wear jeans. I swear it made me more productive too as I covered a lot of ground with blog posts I needed to write. I was also sent one of Damart’s brilliant thermal vests which has been so bloody useful on my slow daily walks to stop my back seizing up.
On the back front things do seem to be slowly improving. My left leg is perhaps a teeny bit less useless and I am standing straighter and taking less painkillers…apparently slow and steady wins the race.
I was also recently sent this fabulous FabricSkin Keyboard Folio from the kind people at Logitech. I’m not really a gadgets person and as much as I love my iPad I did find blogging from it quite frustrating. This handy little thing has changed that. Instead of lugging my laptop around with me I can now blog as easily from my tablet as I can from anywhere else. It works via bluetooth and although I would probably never have made the purchase for myself (purely because I didn’t know it existed) I found myself ridiculously excited about this and extremely grateful to Logitech for bringing it to my attention. Now to stop my Dad stealing it for his iPad!
What gadgets have made your life easier?
xxx

Posted in outfits, tech

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Boots and Bags at Brantano

04th December 2013
Sorry folks, yet another shopping list for me. If I can’t hit the actual shops then you can guarantee I’ll overindulge in some online window shopping instead. Today’s most browsed website was Brantano– a store I once associated with the tortuous trawl for school shoes is now somewhere I regularly browse when looking for good value footwear.
As much as I adore ankle boots lately I’ve found myself drawn to the higher leg style, with flat heels (of course). There is something about them that scream timeless chic and I don’t really own any so I thought a little wishlist couldn’t possibly hurt!
This pair are by Emilio Luca X and cost just £32…for some reason I prefer black ankle boots and tan high legs ones. Whatever.
Next up are these slightly darker (almost oxblood?) buckled beauties. I love a boot with a bit of detail and these ones by Clarks may cost £120 but will never, ever date.
Out of all the black styles available it was the Lotus Olida (£90) that caught my eye. I think it’s the constrast between leather and suede and the riding boot style that swung it. They do come in brown but if I was buying it’s likely the black I’d go for. A classic in any case.
Being me, I soon tired of browsing just shoes (ok, that’s SO not me) and moved on to something else Brantano are good at- handbags!
I’m actually getting ready to take the plunge and buy myself a Mulberry Bayswater next year but I’m a true girly girl and can’t help but look at bags wherever they are available. Brantano do some pretty gorgeous styles and pretty perfect prices.
I love the nautical combination of navy and white and this bag was the first to catch my eye.
Swiftly followed by this pretty as a picture neutral satchel style bag…just so pretty with it’s laser cut detailing.
So once again my opinion on a brand has very much changed over the years. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve mentioned this on my blog but I’ve eaten my words time and time again. Bravo Brantano, bravo.

Posted in bags, shoes, wish list

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