On Being An Aunt | The Language of Love with La Redoute

“I’m Aunt Monica. I will always... I will always... have gum.”

There are several children in my life that call me Aunty Fí, but only one of them is actually related to me. That doesn’t make the others any less special, but my niece is the littlest and she’s extra special. She is 2¼ now and is talking in pretty much full sentences – in fact she never shuts up. She is cute and funny and a very smiley, happy little girl.

Being an aunt is great – to all of them. I get to teach them things, play with them, tell them about what life was like when I was their age (often to their utter disbelief – “we didn’t have no internets or cell phones when I was your age little girl, we had to go to the library and look things up in a book, buy a TV guide and make plans and stick to them”) and then hand them back at the end of the day.

So this post is a shout out to little Popsicle and to the other three who I am proud to tell people I am their aunt, even if I’m not really related. I love you all.

La Redoute’s latest campaign is The Language of Love. The company’s manta is French Style Made Easy and if there’s one thing the French are famous for it’s speaking the language of love. You can check out their new campaign video below and get a bit of French style in your life.

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My Favourite Tall Fashion Sites

When you are tall people will often say ‘oh I wish I were as tall as you’, or ‘how lovely to be so tall’. To which I respond – ‘yes, until you have to try buying trousers – there’s one high street shop near me that I can get trousers long enough’ (Topshop). Don’t get me wrong, I do like my height but shopping for clothes can sometimes be a nightmare. Thank goodness, then, for the internet.

The internet not only lets you buy things that are not necessarily stocked in the bricks and mortar stores (Next, New Look, I’m looking at you) but it also gives you access to those stores you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. Since my local branch of Long Tall Sally closed down in 2005 I am stuck with either driving to York or Manchester to visit an actual store, or relying on their website. Which is fine, but sometimes you just want to be able to buy something in a shop.

However, one advantage of online shopping is that you can shop from stores located overseas. One site that has long been on my radar is Long Elegant Legs. The good news is that they ship to the UK and I love the huge range of items on their website. For example, their tall tops all come in several different colours and look how long the sleeves are!

Their jeans all have a 36” inseam too.

Gap have also started shipping to the UK from their US website. The UK site has some tall options on it, but at the moment it’s mostly short sleeved t shirts and cropped pants. We don’t need specifically cropped pants thanks, regular length ones will be cropped on us tall girls! The US site also gives you access to Old Navy’s tall sizes too which is awesome.

So, tall ladies, if the UK’s high street isn’t meeting your needs have a look online where there is so much more choice to be found.

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The Tour de France Comes To Yorkshire

July 5th 2014 was a long anticipated day in these parts. Around a year and a half ago Yorkshire was chosen as the location for the Grande Depart for 2014’s Tour de France. On Saturday that day finally arrived, and I went to Otley to watch the Tour passing through with some of my family.

We decided that the front of the Methodist Church would be a good place to stand as not only are there several walls and steps on which to stand to get a better view, but also the church was serving tea, cakes, sandwiches etc for the duration of the event.



For a long time nothing happened and then the first of the support vehicles whizzed past. I say whizzed – the whole of the publicity caravan (as the pre-race parade is called) shot past at about 40mph, making it difficult to see what was going on (and explaining the quality of my photographs!).









I was a bit disappointed with this, as I had expected more of a slow-moving, carnival type procession. It took away from the atmosphere somewhat that everything went so fast. However, the various sponsors were throwing things from their vehicles – sweets, keychains, snap-band bracelets, the usual marketing items – which seemed to keep the crowd happy.



Otley’s entrepreneurs were hard at work: a chap from one of the butchers’ shops was walking along with a tray selling hot pork pies, some people from the Corner Cafe had a tray of sandwiches for sale, and this guy was advertising the Shake Shack.



The best view in town?

There was a couple of hours between the publicity caravan and the actual race, so we adjourned inside for refreshments. The church had set up a big screen in the foyer so it was easy to see where the bikes were at all times, and once they left Harewood House the excitement began to build.



And then in the blink of an eye the cyclists went past.



Followed by the spare bikes, of which there were many. Maybe 30 cars like this one.



And then it was all over and time to go home.

This has been an awesome event for Yorkshire to be part of, and will have really boosted the economy of the region. Yorkshire Water is doing its bit for the region this year too, by creating a Blueprint for Yorkshire. As one of the largest landowners in Yorkshire they are working on improving access for residents and visitors; and are mapping out the various walks and leisure activities that can be enjoyed in the region. We have such a diverse county up here – from the bright lights of Leeds to the smaller market towns such as Otley, and the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, it’s well worth a visit.

This post is sponsored by Yorkshire Water.
Thanks go to my little sister for taking some of the photos whilst I was holding my niece.

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Size 9 (and Larger!) Footwear

It’s been a long time since I took a look at the Spartoo website, but this weekend I had a wander over there to see what they are currently offering in a size 9. This blog is supposed to be about being tall and needing larger size shoes, after all, so it’s about time I brought you a post on some of the styles currently available.  Amongst the usual large size offerings of Converse and Crocs, I found some gems. Some styles are even reduced in the sale.

A good pair of tan boots is always a must for my wardrobe – I wore a pair today in fact.

This pair of courts is a lovely shade of blue and has a perfect sized heel for everyday wear. These come in a size 10 too.

Silver flats are another wardrobe staple for me and this pair is lovely (and goes up to a size 11!).

I have a pair of ankle boots very similar to these in my closet at present. They are getting a lot of wear this spring and I love the stud detailing.

So there you have it, just a taste of the very many (1330 to be precise) styles available in a size 9 (and many in larger sizes too) at Spartoo.

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Shoes and Boots at Brantano

When you wear size 9 shoes, like I do, it can be difficult to find shops that stock shoes that will fit you. One place I have never had this problem though is Brantano. They can always be relied upon to have a selection of size 9s and even some size 10s which, in the UK, is a very rare thing indeed. So I had a look at their website to see what was on offer this season.

I narrowed my search down by size and found a total of 55 pairs of women’s shoes and women’s boots. The choice included these adorable glittery party shoes (or, if you’re like me, a random Wednesday shoes) by Emilo Luca X

And these military inspired boots.

They also carry one of my favourite brands, Hush Puppies. How about these lovely classic loafers?

Brantano have 68 stores all over the country but their website has also been transactional for several years now. If you see something you like you can buy them online for free collection from your local store. Or home delivery costs just £2.95 and is free for orders over £50.

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New Phone Case from Wrappz

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Wrappz and given a voucher code to try out their personalised case service. I have only ever had one case for my so decided to order a Samsung Galaxy S3 case (they do cases and skins for ipads too so that would have been my other option). The website is very easy to use: you just select the kind of case or skin you want for your device, then follow the step by step instructions to personalise it, with either text or by uploading a photo.

After some deliberation I took the option to have a photo printed on my case and chose one I’d taken of the sun going down over the cliffs in Whitby back in the early summer.

Wrappz promise to have your case with you in two days and sure enough, two days after I’d ordered I got home to find the case on my doormat. They can do this because the cases are printed in the UK.

I am really pleased with my new phone case and at the moment there is a 20% discount available on the Wrappz site, just for entering your email address.

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 42 | Spots and Studs

This is the first shoe save this week and as these boots are new, they’re an addition to my collection so I’m not really helping myself cross any pairs off my save list. The boots were kindly gifted to me by the lovely people at Bank and they are the Shiloh Studded Ankle boots by Blonde and Blonde. The boots are real suede and at just £28 I think that makes them something of a bargain! They are really comfy and I love the stud and zip details. That gold zip on the side is real, and it’s the only way of getting the boots on. All the other zipped footwear I own has the zips on the inside of the foot, so putting these boots on is slightly weird in that you feel like the zip is on the wrong side! I’m sure that’s just me and my issues though! Bank is not somewhere I think to look for footwear, for some reason I’ve always associated them more with clothing, but now I know they make great boots at awesome prices I will definitely be checking them out more often.

I paired my new boots with my polka dot jeans and a lovely cosy sweater. I have three of these Bench sweaters (all bought at knock down prices on eBay I hasten to add) and I might just spend most of the winter in them, they’re so warm. I added a slightly crazy scarf to keep the spot theme going, and my studded cream leather belt which was a Christmas present from my friend C a few years ago.

I think I have a fairly quiet weekend coming up and that’s fine by me – come December I tend to have something on every weekend so a quiet one before that is very welcome. What are you up to over the weekend?

Brown sweater – Bench (eBay)
Polka dot jeans – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Beige suede boots – Blonde and Blonde (c/o Bank)
Blue and pink spotted scarf – TK Maxx
Wooden heart necklace – Scope
Cream leather belt – gifted

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Making a Little Extra Cash

With the holidays looming in the not too distant future (sorry, I know it’s early to mention the C word, but it’s true) you might be thinking that you could do with a little extra cash to buy all those Christmas gifts for your loved ones. One of the easiest ways to do this is to sell your stuff online.

As the clothing and shoe hoarder that I am, I will often sell the things I don’t wear anymore, or the things that don’t fit quite right any longer. Being tall I think I am quite lucky in that there is a big market for second hand items on various online sites. It is known for gently used or items that have never been worn to sell for as much or sometimes more than you paid in the first place. I once sold a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes (I know, I know, but they rubbed the tops of my toes so badly that they had to go). I bought them second hand (very gently used) to start with and when it came to selling them a year or so later (still gently used, but they had been worn several more times than when I first got them) I made a (small) profit on them.

Another time, I paid £15 for some awesome green suede boots in the sale. They were always a little on the small side so when I decided to part with them I put them up for sale online and made around £75! On boots that had been worn. I think that is my best online sale to date and I don’t expect to beat that record anytime soon!

It’s not just clothes and shoes that can be sold online either. Take a look at the popular auction sites and you will find all manner of items for sale. All those CDs you have gathering dust now that all of your music is on your phone or tablet? There’s a bit of cash to be made in selling those. Some sites let you scan the barcodes with an app to save you typing in all the details I think, making it (fairly) quick and easy to get a price for what you have.

Old mobile phones can be cashed in (granted, not for a lot if your phones are as old as some of mine – heck, some of mine are so old no one wants them at all!) as can unwanted gold jewellery. The internet is a goldmine (literally if you’re selling gold jewellery) for making money on unwanted items.

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£250 One4All Voucher Contest

Want to win £250 to spend at over 17,000 big name stores? Of course you do! Suppose.com are running a contest to win a One4All voucher to the tune of £250. Click the link below to enter!

https://www.suppose.com/rewards/2013/07/one4all-gift-card-250/

You'll need to be quick though, the contest closes at midnight tomorrow night.

Suppose.com is a deal sharing website where you earn reward points for sharing deals you've found online.  Here's what they say about themselves:

  Suppose has over 2700 members

·        These members have found over £518,000  of savings in just 5 months

·        Our average saving is 51% off the RRP

·        When you share deals other members vote for them to give you Reward Points

·        Reward points can be exchanged for entries into competitions to win great prizes see the Rewards page https://www.suppose.com/rewards/

·        You can share a deal from literally anywhere, that’s what makes us different. Our members decide what to share and what is a good deal

·        By working together we find savings that we would never have found on our own. It's good to help each other make our money go further.

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 19 | Red, White and Burgundy

How was your weekend? Mine was super busy. Friday night I cleaned the bathroom, did the supermarket shopping and made some chocolate krispies. Saturday we had some of the young man’s family coming over for a buffet tea so I spent most of the day baking (scones and apple cake) and cleaning. We had a lovely late afternoon/evening with everyone.

Sunday I was on junior church duty and we just watched a video (about Joshua and the walls of Jericho) as I’d not had time to plan anything. In the afternoon we had a walk for a couple of hours, then headed across the city to meet my sister, brother in law and niece for a Chinese buffet.

Sunshine and warm weather put in a re-appearance over the weekend meaning I needed to dig out my sunglasses. Since getting my contact lenses I am always on the lookout for great value sunglasses of the sun variety as I find my eyes are really sensitive to sunlight these days. Alternatively I could just wear my glasses more often.  These Hugo Boss eyeglasses are quite different to my current glasses so perhaps I could change up my look with them.

Today’s outfit is a new colour combination for me but I really like it and it’s nice to pull out these burgundy pants again. I’ve not worn them all summer as they’re such a dark colour.

And there’s a shoe save too: a pair of super comfy low wedges by LK Bennett, c/o Sarenza. I have a similar pair in navy and picked out this pair on the strength of the comfort of the navy ones.

Red sweater – Long Tall Sally (with 10% discount)
White shirt – Long Tall Sally
Burgundy jeggings – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Black patent wedges – LK Bennett (c/o Sarenza)
Silver necklace – New Look
Silver hoops – gifted

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ASOS Voucher Contest Winner

Drum roll please.........


Using the Random Number Generator at Random.org, comment number 25 was selected. I then counted up from the bottom of my comments so as to have them in chronological order.

And the winner of the £100 ASOS Voucher is.....

FIZZ

Congratulations!


Fizz, I will send you an email so that we can get the voucher over to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for entering everyone, and thanks again to the lovely people at AO for sponsoring the competition.

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Win £100 ASOS Vouchers!

How would you like to win £100 to spend at ASOS? Yes? Well all you have to do is leave a comment below to enter. If you want a bonus entry or three, there are a number of ways to get them.

1. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the contest with a link to this post
2. Follow me on Facebook
3. Follow me on Instagram

For each of the above that you do, leave me an additional comment below to let me know (you can do all three, just be sure to leave me three separate comments below).

And that’s it! £100 of ASOS vouchers could be yours.

The contest is open to all readers – UK and International. The voucher will be in £Sterling but ASOS ship internationally (so you might just want to check that they ship to your country before entering). The closing date is Midnight BST on Monday 9th September 2013.

The voucher is being provided by the lovely people at AO.com.

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Hot Picks From Silver Tree!

Who knew that Vivienne Westwood did jewellery as well as all the awesome clothes and shoes? Not me, that’s for sure. Until recently anyway, when I was invited to check out Silver Tree. Silver Tree is a jewellery store based in Lancaster which sells jewellery by many designers, including Vivienne Westwood.

I’ve picked out a few of my favourite pieces from the site, the first of which is this stunning blue (my favourite colour) necklace. It is the shape of the orb which adorns many of Westwood’s shoes (especially those in the Melissa collaboration line) on a pretty chain.

Rose gold watches are a favourite of many bloggers, and I think this one is particularly pretty. Again, it’s by Vivienne Westwood and I really like the square shape and the jewel encrusted face. It also comes in a silver colour which would probably fit better with my wardrobe.

Another brand stocked by Silver Tree is Chlobo, one I wasn’t familiar with until now. They specialise in little charm bracelets and I was instantly drawn to this one with music notes on it. When I was at school I had a pair of earrings I wore for all the orchestra and choir concerts (yes, I was a band geek at school and proud!), one of which was a treble clef and the other was a pair of quavers as seen on this bracelet. This really reminds me of those earrings and I think it’s a subtle way to display an interest in music.

At first glance this looks like a bracelet, but it’s actually a ring. Chlobo have several rings and necklaces in their collection, in addition to the bracelets. I very nearly bought a ring similar to this when I was looking for a new silver ring earlier this year. This ring is really pretty and I would wear this as an everyday piece because it’s so simple.

All the jewellery pieces featured are available from Silver Tree which offers free UK shipping and free international shipping on orders over £100.

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Wedding Shoes at John Lewis

Are you planning your wedding at the moment? Are you going to be a bridesmaid for a friend or relative? Do you need a pair of shoes that exactly match a particular colour dress and are proving impossible to track down? Yes? Then check out the selection of wedding shoes at John Lewis. Prices start from £34.50 (for clearance items) so there’s something to suit all budgets.

Most of the styles on offer are cream, white or silver but did you know that you can have satin shoes dyed to a custom colour? This is something I learned several years back (I almost wrote ‘a couple of years back’ just now, but then thought about it and realised that 2006 was 7 years ago!) when I was a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding. Being a size 9 my shoe options are limited anyway, but finding a pair in the right shade of dark red to match my dress was proving impossible. Then I found out you can have satin (but not polyester – the dye doesn’t take on polyester) shoes dyed to whatever colour you like. I sent of my shoes with a swatch of fabric and they came back a perfect match.

There are plenty of options with added sparkle too, in the form of diamantes, to add a touch of glamour to your special day.

I particularly like this silver pair by Kurt Geiger, though I know a lot of brides/bridesmaids would not want to wear such high heels all day. John Lewis have every base covered with heels heights from just a centimetre or two, to several inches. For a low heel try this pair by Rainbow Club:

The shoes I mentioned above that I had dyed were by Rainbow Club and almost this exact style, so I can vouch for their comfort levels personally. If you want to go higher (and I wish I had, I don’t wear my red shoes much now as they’re such a low heel for a dressy shoe) there are mid-heels such as these Dune bridal courts. I love the pretty diamante detailing on these:

Or you might be a heels girl through and through in which case what about this d’Orsay pair? Dye them pale taupe and you have pretty much a dead ringer for Carrie’s stolen Manolo Blahnik’s in the A Woman’s Right To Shoes episode of Sex and the City:

If you prefer something more classic, you can’t go wrong with a plain pointed toe court shoe. Dune have this one in white:

Or Rainbow Club have a slightly lower heeled one in a satin finish:

Finally, for brides who are wondering how they will dance the night away in their high heels, there is always the option to switch to flats for the evening reception. This fabulous jewelled pair by Dune are just the job!

All the brands mentioned above are available at John Lewis in their wedding shoe department.

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Jones Bootmaker – Sale Now On!

Somewhere I don’t often look for shoes is Jones Bootmaker. Which is really silly of me considering I have a pair of red suede flats from there that I love. I’ve just taken a look at their website and was surprised to find that they stock all kinds of brands as well as their own. Betsy Johnson, Nike and Converse are just some of the brands that jumped out at me when I looked at the site.

It’s not just ladies’ shoes either, there is a good range of men’s and children’s shoes and some lovely handbags. I particularly like this tan leather one, now down to £39 in the sale.

And speaking of the sale: there’s up to 70% off now so definitely some bargains to be had. And the best part for me is that there are plenty of styles available in size 9. I could definitely be tempted by these silver flats.

As I write this it is raining and that makes me think of the boots and the upcoming new season. There are only a few new season boot styles in stock so far but how about these lovely brown riding boots for the coming autumn days?

I will definitely be stopping by Jones Bootmaker more often in future to check out their lovely selection of shoes and handbags.

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