Outfit: Remembrance Sunday

We got up and went to church today as the choir was singing an anthem. There are not many of us in the choir so if one or two people are missing it makes a big difference.

This afternoon I tied up in the house, re-hemmed the kitchen curtain again as it wasn’t hanging right following the soup/washing/shrinking saga earlier in the week, and vacced. The young man’s parents called round to see our new decor and we are just having a quiet evening in.

Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – Next Tall (clearance outlet)
Purple booties – Priceless Shoes
Silver earrings – gifted

Total Est. Cost £58

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #82 and a Busy Saturday

Saturday morning I cleaned the bathroom then set out to pay the man at the bed shop as the new bed is being delivered on Tuesday. However, his credit card machine was broken and kept declining my card. He told me it was my card that was the problem so I went to the bank (yay for branches being open on Saturdays) and established that it wasn’t my card, but his machine. He told me he would call me when it was fixed so I could go back. I bought some sheets in what used to be Woolworths, and then went home for dinner.

In the afternoon I changed into my EMU boots and we walked to the next town (about 4 miles away) so the young man could go to Halfords for some new pedals for his car. We walked back and called at a local pub, ostensibly for a drink but when the young man saw they had BBQ spare ribs on the special’s board, we decided to stay for tea.

These boots were bought a few weeks ago. I had been looking for some flat OTK boots that weren’t suede or faux suede to wear when it is raining. I also wanted them to have not too much of a rounded toe. I had a feeling New Look would come up trumps and eventually they did, but they didn’t have my size in stock the day I spied them in the store. I ordered them online when I got home.

Purple top – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – Topshop Tall
Black OTK boots – New Look
Purple heart beads – gifted
Snakeskin belt – local shoe boutique
Silver earrings – gifted

Total Est. Cost £77

Outfit: Faking It Friday

It’s Friday and it has stopped raining. The wind, however, has not stopped. I could hear it howling around the house this morning, making me very reluctant to get up. I counted 4 overturned wheelie bins on our estate as I drove out this morning.

It’s not that cold though so I took the opportunity to wear my faux leather jacket without freezing to death. I did add my cream pashmina to leave the house mind. These boots are faux suede too, hence the ‘faking it’ title.

Blue jacket – H&M
Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – Topshop Tall
Blue boots – eBay
Blue beads – gifted
Wonder Woman belt – River Island
Silver hoops – Claire’s

Total Est. Cost £112

Outfit: A Little Festive

We may still be 6 weeks off Christmas but I am already feeling a little festive. I am no longer skipping the Christmas songs when they come on my mp3 shuffle, and I got quite excited when I saw a Coca Cola ‘Holidays Are Coming’ billboard advert the other day. I am nowhere near prepared for Christmas though. I have not even bought any cards, let alone written them, and I haven’t started my Christmas shopping either. That will all be rectified in a couple of weeks though as I have a day booked off work to go shopping with my sister.

The weather today is totally random so it looks as though trousers and boots were a good choice. It was frosty last night and I expected to have to scrape my car, but it was raining and had warmed up quite a bit. There was a rainbow outside a few minutes ago, standing out brightly against the grey clouds. Then the rain started and was blowing horizontally, and now there’s a bit of blue sky and the sun is trying to put in an appearance. Oops, spoke too soon, the horizontal rain is back.

Grey waistcoat – Long Tall Sally
Teal sweater – Long Tall Sally
Grey trousers – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Teal boots – Faith
Silver hoops – Claire’s

Total Est. Cost £120

Super Service from Angelina

I just wanted to give a shout out to Angelina’s Cutains and Bedding in Boston in Lincolnshire. I ordered the throw for our bed from them on Saturday evening as it wasn’t available online at House of Fraser. I received an email immediately thanking me for my order. A second one arrived that evening telling me my order was being processed and would be shipped on Monday. On Monday evening I received another email telling me my order had dispatched and giving me the DHL tracking number so I could follow its progress online. The throw arrived on Tuesday morning and on opening the box I was greeted by some lovely bright purple tissue paper wrapping my item. This is the kind of service I love when I order online and I would definitely recommend Angelina’s. I will certainly purchase from them again if I decide I need anything further for my bedroom.

Outfit: Chilly Cheating Wednesday

This outfit is a bit of a cheat as it was planned in about two minutes flat last night. I went to the gym after work, came home, ironed the curtain that got souped on Monday night (which has shrunk in the wash and will need the hem letting down – gah!), made tea, jumped in the shower and had about 10 minutes to find something to wear, dry my hair, apply some make up and go out to a committee meeting for drama group. I needed something easy to pull on, warm, and with a hat to hide the fact that my hair hadn’t been styled. I felt comfy and cosy in it all evening so decided to just repeat it today. It is cold out and so the hat and pashmina were a good idea.

Tonight I am swimming, then running home for tea before the drama rehearsal. I may just wear the same thing again tonight.

Beige sweater dress – Bay Trading
Black leggings – New Look Tall
Tan boots – Barratts
Cream pashmina – gifted
Black knit beret – Matalan
Whitby Jet cross – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £62

Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #81 and a Reason to Always Wear an Apron When Cooking

Last night I made leek and potato soup. And there was a soup explosion. And the cream kitchen curtains bore the brunt of it. Well, I say curtains; luckily it was just the one. I couldn’t find any washing instructions so I threw it in the machine on a gentle wash and hoped for the best. It seems to have come out OK and is now drying on an airer in the kitchen (I wasn’t sure whether it would tumble dry or not, so I thought best not). At least it was only leek and potato soup, not tomato or something that would stain horribly.

I blame my blender. The lid doesn’t stay on when you blend so you have to not put too much in it at once (makes making soup interesting when you have to split it into 3 or 4 parts to blend) and push down with your whole body weight whilst turning the knob. Even then, accidents sometimes happen as I proved last night. Fortunately I was wearing an apron so the bit that splattered at me mostly went on that and not on my clothes. And that is why you should always wear an apron when cooking.

So, on to today’s outfit. In my eagerness to knock another pair of boots off my Shoe Challenge I completely forgot it was Ruby Shoesday. (Is anyone else still doing that anyway?) I haven’t been doing my collection of coloured tights justice recently and decided that today was the day to rectify that. So bright teal it was. I like that they give just a pop of colour to an all black ensemble. That is, until I added the scarf. Then it just became a whole riot of colour.

This skirt is really a dress in disguise – I needed a black skirt short enough to flash a bit of leg between it and the top of my boots and this dress fit the bill perfectly. It also provides another layer under my sweater.

Black dress (worn as a skirt) – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
Teal tights – Accessorize
Black boots – ASOS
Oversize scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted
Teal beads – Claire’s

Total Est. Cost £114

Outfit: Black and Gold Purple

It was up early and back to work today. Thanks to the time change last weekend it was almost light again when I got up today. Sadly it was also pouring with rain.

I wanted to wear these boots today so planned my outfit around them. I wore this scarf practically everyday last week. I am going to have to wash it though as I realised yesterday that the dye in it is turning my neck (and the white top I had on yesterday) black. It should be OK over a polo neck today though.

You can see our new carpet in the pictures. It’s not very exciting and is the same throughout the stairs, landing and bedrooms. However, it feels very plush underfoot (thanks to the new underlay) and hopefully won’t show the dirt too badly. And it’s much nicer than the patterned stair/landing carpet we had before!

Black dress – George at ASDA
Black polo neck sweater – New Look Tall
Black 300 denier tights – Matalan
Purple boots – Love Label at Very.co.uk (gifted)
Purple belt – Ethel Austin
Purple hearts necklace – gifted
Black and metallic scarf – Mint Velvet (gifted)

Total Est. Cost £39

Sunday and Week Off Recap

I’m back! I love blogging but truth be told, I do enjoy a little break from it now and then. Life can often get very busy, especially when I’m off work, and sometimes there just isn’t time for blogging.

This week the house has been a complete mess and most days I have been in my scruffy falling apart jeans and a grey hoodie. The few times I have ventured out I’ve been in a black top and jeans, so nothing really blog-worthy anyway.

The bedroom is now decorated. The young man glossed all the skirting boards upstairs at the beginning of the week, and I packed up my wardrobes in the spare room. We moved most of the furniture from upstairs into the conservatory and on Thursday the new carpets were laid. Thursday afternoon and evening I put everything back into my wardrobes.

The new carpet is a pale brown and covers the stairs, landing and all three bedrooms. The master bedroom walls are now a pale brown colour (the paint is named Lauren, much to the amusement of my two friends named Lauren) and one wall is a darker brown, Cocoa Bean. We purchased some lovely dark brown curtains whilst we were in B&Q too. Our old duvet cover and throw/quilt didn’t really go with the new colour scheme so I had a hunt about online for something new. We spotted the Kylie Minogue at Home range and loved it, so I went to Debenhams and bought a duvet cover and pillow cases. The set I had chosen had little diamantes stuck on it and some of them had fallen off and were missing when I opened the packet. So back it went and I went to House of Fraser (the Debenhams in town doesn’t stock the Kylie range and I had been at the mall the day before) and purchased the set below. It is a much creamier colour than it looks here and is the loveliest bed linen I have ever had.

The store didn’t have a throw in stock (well they did, but it had a mark on it) so one is on order online and I hope to be in possession of it sometime next week.

Friday night we went to the firework display and bonfire at one of the pubs just outside the village. It was a really good display. Afterwards we walked up to our friend’s house and let off some Chinese lanterns, breaking every rule on the instruction leaflet – consuming alcohol, letting them off in over a 5mph wind, lighting them indoors (because of the wind). We finished the night in the pub.

There were going to be outfit shots from today, but my camera has decided to do its occasional trick of unformatting the SD card by itself, so the pictures have been wiped. It wasn’t anything very exciting anyway – just jeans, EMU boots, a white long sleeve t, grey sweater and a coat. We walked up to see the young man’s parents, then to a local garden centre, to a pub in the next village for a late lunch and then back home, via the retail park. We must have walked around 9 or 10 miles in all, which was lovely, making the most of the cold but sunny day. It’s back to work tomorrow but at least it’s not long now until I’m off again for Christmas, and I have a day’s holiday still left to take in between now and then.

Shoegal Flashback

What I was wearing this time last year.

We're headed to a bonfire tonight so whatever I wear today, I will be sure to be wrapped up warm.

Review: John Frieda Frizz-Ease Thermal Protection Hair Serum

I was in Boots a few weeks back and was dismayed to discover that the Weather Works product has been discontinued. Eager to spend the £5 hair care voucher I had come in to use, I had a look at the John Frieda range and decided to give the Thermal Protection Hair Serum a go. And am I glad I did. This stuff is fabulous.

Usually when I blow dry, my hair goes super fluffy and frizzy, hence the need for straighteners. However, a tiny amount of this serum applied to damp hair makes all the difference and although my blow dry is still not perfect, it is much, much better – smoother, sleeker, and altogether more tamed. I still use my GhDs on it, but if I was really pushed for time I would be happy to forgo them and go out with my hair as it was after using the serum.

I highly recommend this to anyone with hair like mine that can’t be tamed with an amateur blow dry only. It is £5.79 in Boots.

Sarenza High Heel Race – Win a Weekend in Paris!

On 9th October this year, the Sarenza High Heel race took place in the UK for the first time ever, covering a distance of 15m in high heels. The winning 4 ladies will travel to Paris in December to take part in the grand final, competing for the chance to win £2,500 worth of shoes from Sarenza.

Even if you were not able to make it to the UK heat, you still have a chance to compete for this fabulous prize, and win a weekend in London at the same time. Just go to www.highheelrace.co.uk and register. Twelve more teams will be chosen at random from that pool of registrations and Sarenza will provide the travel and accommodation for those twelve to attend the final in Paris in December. You will even be able to bring along some supporters!

The winner in Paris will walk away with £2,500 worth of Sarenza shoes, so be sure to register for your chance to go to Paris and compete for all those shoes!

And what better way to show your British patriotism than with the Lady Di shoes designed by Annabel Winship (pictured above)? Available from Sarenza, they feature a fabulous Union Flag design on a gorgeous blue Mary Jane.

For more information and to check out Sarenza’s great selection of shoes, visit their UK website at www.sarenza.co.uk and I’ll race you to the finish line by registering at www.highheelrace.co.uk

Shoegal Flashback

What I was wearing this time last year. Coloured tights for the win!

Plus Size Clothing for Women

If you wear your clothes in a plus-size, shopping on the high street can be frustrating. Many high street stores stop at a size 16 or 18 so what’s the fuller figured lady to do? This is where the specialist retailers come in, and with the advent of online shopping, the choice and variety of retailers and the clothing they stock is wider than ever before. There are many plus size clothes designers out there and the beauty of going to a specialist is that they actually design for the plus size market and fit to a plus size model, rather than just increasing the dimensions of the smaller sizes. Tailoring to a plus size model means the needs of the fuller figured lady are properly catered for and that the fit is the best it can be.

Even if you are not plus size, many plus size retailers have extended their ranges down to a size 14 so if this is your size and you have not thought to check out a site offering plus sizes before, take a look. You never know what you might find!

Are your calves a little wider than average? Do you find it hard to zip up a pair of knee high boots? It is not just clothing that the plus size retailer can help you with. You might find your perfect pair of wider fit boots there, just waiting for you to snap them up.

The average women’s dress size in the UK is now a size 16, so the demand for clothes at the larger end of the scale is only going to increase, and this is something that the retailers are aware of. And gone are the days of the price increasing as the size increased. All women are beautiful, no matter what their size, and all women deserve to have fashionable, stylish clothes available to them that not only fits well, but that they can feel good in.

So check out the many online retailers (and those on the high street) that specialise in plus size clothing – there is a new outfit waiting there for you.

This is a guest post from Simply Be – Leading plus size clothes designer. Offering a wide variety of size 14 to 32 dresses, tops, knitwear, coats and jeans.

Review: Goody Simple Styles

I had long wanted to try the Goody Simple Styles hair products, so when I heard that they were finally going to available in the UK back in August I rushed out to buy them. I didn’t bother with the Volume Boost Comb (shown here as the free gift) as I already have a Bumpit, but I grabbed the Modern Updo Maker, the Spin Pins and the Pony Pouf Clip and rushed home to try them out.

I am very impressed with the Spin Pins – they do exactly as they say they will and hold a bun in place in my hair with just the two of them.

Try as I might I couldn’t get the Modern Updo Maker to stay in. I have watched countless tutorials on You Tube and all the girls on there make it look really easy to use. I don’t think it is, but all people on You Tube can’t be wrong, can they? If you have used this successfully and have any tips, please let me know!

Sadly I also found the Pony Pouf Clip next to useless. Sure, it clips my hair back but I can’t for the life of me get any bits to ‘pouf’ up using the slots in the clip. Again, it might just be me and if you know how to use it, let me know.

All four products are available in the UK at ASDA.

Firetrap Review

I was contacted to review an item of Firetrap clothing from Box Clothing and it was suggested that I might like to try a pair of jeans. However, there is nothing on the site to suggest what length the jeans might be and when you are as tall as I am, length is definitely an important factor! So I had another look at the Firetrap clothing range and chose the stripy dress that I wore on Friday. It is the Embers dress in midnight blue. I have a Firetrap cardigan that has super long length sleeves so I was confident the dress would have too. When I tried it on, I was proved correct – the sleeves are lovely and long and I would definitely recommend this brand to tall girls.

The dress is fully lined on the body part (the sleeves are not lined) and is very comfy to wear. When it arrived, the main part of the dress was stitched to the lining in several places to give it the ruched look that you can see in the picture here. It just ended up looking a bit strange and wrinkled on me as the ruching hit me in a weird place, so I cut the stitching and ruched it myself so it hung much better. As I am so tall it would have been a bit short for me to wear as a dress when it was stitched up. It is perfect as a long top over jeggings and now that I've cut the stitching, it can be pulled down to knee length. Anyone less tall could definitely wear it as a dress as it was.

Check out Box Clothing for a wide range of fabulous brands. The dress I chose costs £55 and can be purchased here.

Shoegal Flashback

What I was wearing this time last year.  I was teaching Sunday school and added a layer of cashmere for warmth.

We have this week off work to do some decorating in the house and for new carpets to be fitted upstairs. I may or may not get a chance to post new outfits, but there are posts scheduled all week to keep you going.