Tuesday 31 May 2016

Down in Margate

I am a sucker for the seaside, I live by the sea here in Deal and there are loads of fabulous seaside towns around where I live one of which is Margate.  Margate is a bit Marmite, people tend to loathe it or really quite like it.  I'm not gonna lie, parts of it are bloody awful the advent of Westwood Cross the local out of town shopping centre killed the High Street and around the same time Dreamland shut and the seafront had the look of a place where winos and chavvy teens would hang out looking for trouble and fun.

However, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Margate's fortunes have began to turn.  I suppose it began with The Turner Centre and a few cool shops in what is known as The Old Town.  Then came a couple of Boutique Hotels like The Sands and The Reading Rooms, there is also the Crescent Victoria where I had a cracking scone in an afternoon tea that was otherwise a bit unremarkable.  Although I am told The Walpole Bay is the place to go for a slightly eccentric but authentic Cream tea.  Anyway I digress then Dreamland has reopened as a heritage Theme Park,  Yes, Margate is on the rise putting it's make up and lashes on for a comeback to rival Bet Lynch returning to Corrie.

A particular love of mine is the old town with it's quirky shops and on the first bank holiday I lured Mum there hoping for cake at The Cupcake Cafe, unfortunately that was rammed so I had to make do with a really good Waffle at Melt The ice cream parlour that belongs to The Sands, I also had a good wander around the shops as it is crammed with vintage shops and quirky boutiques.

Can you spot Las Vegas, Margate?

I loved these letters but they were a bit pricey.
I really liked this little Boutique that caught my eye as it had a Jarvis Cocker print in the window, unfortunately I can't remember what it was called, but the stock was really cute.





I then popped in Madam Popoff's Vintage Emporium which had the most beautiful stock and the best most helpful staff ever.  Who when I was talking to her gave me her card and told me to e mail my measurements so that if anything came up in my size that she thought I would like came in she would let me know.  I have to say as these pictures of the window display show it really does have some of the finest vintage clothing out there.  How much do I want that 60's style pink and white dress.



Finally I had to head up the High Street a little way to Rat Race, it specialises in Mod and skin wear but also reproduction clothes in general and have recently opened a devoted women's section.  Sadly everything was too small I think stopping at around a size 18, but the staff were really friendly and offered that I could try things on.  I fell in love with the houndstooth dress but alas it wasn't to be.






Finally as I said I stopped on the seafront for a waffle, I did stop in The Chocolate Bar first but the heady sweet vanilla and chocolate smell put me off, so I tried Melt it must have been good or I was hungry as there are no food porny shots, but the light must have caught my eye as there is a picture of that. Pretty innit?

So that was my day in Margate hope you like it as much as I do.

Sunday 29 May 2016

The Curvy Convention 2016 - Feat a 60's OOTD

So yesterday I got up at unholy O'clock for a Saturday Morning when I am not working and headed up to London for Curvy Convention (or Chubby Con as the Hub called it) and to meet up with the stylish and wonderful Plus size and Proud.  I have known this wonderful lady for a long time on Social media for a long time but meeting in the flesh did not disappoint, I am pleased to report she is a fantastic human being who made me chortle many times.

After finding each other in Kings Cross we headed over to Hackney to St John's church to meet up with other fabulous bloggers attending, which included Katt from a Fat girl for life, Tanya from  secret plus size Goddess, Becky from Does my Blog make me Look Fat?, Lottie from Lottie L'amour and the lovely bra guru Caroline Curvy Wordy.

The venue if I am honest was underwhelming a old church St John's which was nice enough but a huge room, with nowhere to chill out, the music from the catwalk was a bit overwhelming when you were walking round the exhibitors and made it difficult to talk.  The first hundred people were given a goody bag which had some sweets a T shirt and the Programme which was nice.

I am having a 60's period at present and generally want to look a bit like a fat mod or Ronnette, and as the poor women at the Voodoo Vixen stall found out don't get me started on the swing dress.  So I went full on in a half beehive and my Heart of Haute, Doreen Dress in Atomic Chequers.





I have to report this dress is fabulously comfortable and the pockets are functional.  I teamed this with some old silver sandals from River Island that although comfortable are too heavy for a day on your feet, black opaque tights, my Skinny dip raygun bag keeping with a spacey feel.  My headband is a Grown and Glory Glitter band.

On entering the venue we headed straight to the Nicky Rockets stall as I knew I wanted a pair of pants and a Unicorns Tee.  In my haste I neglected to notice the £10.00 sale rack but did end up with the Perelandra Hare Tee, which I think was the experiment as it is on a pink Tee rather than the eco friendly ones, I kind of wish I had snapped up the grey hare one too as it is lovely.


It was lovely seeing Nicky, Baba and Perelandra, so we ended up chatting for the first hour at the Nicky Rockets stall and not looking at much else because they are just so lovely.  I then had a mooch round and we looked at the Voodoo Vixen stall where I moaned at the poor lady about the lack of choice as VV is fine for a swing dress, but what if I don't want a bloody swing dress, there main range does lovely stuff but I find their plus range a bit meh!  Although I do love the Katniss and own one and think everyone I have seen looks great in it.  To be fair the lady I spoke to was Plus sized and said she was trying to make the people at the top listen, but come on VV if Tara Starlet can do so should you.  Anyway to the poor lady I spoke to if you read this sorry for my frothy mouthed rant but I do think a swing dress is a lazy design choice for a fat range still.  However, the discounts at VV were fab and although I didn't buy £30.00 for a dress with the second half price is a fabulous discount.

We had a mooch around, a lot of it was to me not that interesting but I did like Plus|Equals which is a upcycling brand which had some interesting choices. including these maribou trimmed cullotes.


But the star for me was A Rose Like This Designs I could have spent a small fortune on Rosie's quirky one off designs and am still debating buying a lipstick print and sheer dress.  I am pleased to say this beauty did come home with me and I will do a proper outfit post towards the end of the week.


we then hung around to show our support to Rosie and Nicky Rockets who were both showing on the Catwalk,  I did take some pictures but there not great, but I hope this gives you some idea.

The dress I'm seriously considering.




We then had ice cream and a sit around outside, whilst trying to decide what to eat.  We finally decided upon Yardpizza which was local to the venue, it was a tiny pizza place but did do very tasty pizza.  I went for the Chessus Walked pizza with all the cheeses and walnut pesto.  It was tasty but pizza and me don't mix so I think that it may well have been my last dalliance with pizza but at least I did it in fine company,




We then hung out and had a final look around.  We wanted to do the photo booth with Katt but it had packed up which was a bit sad.  I then headed back a bit early as my pizza tummy was kicking in and I felt a urge to get back.  

Would I do Curvy Convention again?  Well, yes if everyone else was and as a social thing but as a event no not really it was a bit poor.  I want a venue with toilets not portaloos and a bit of a chill out area as if it had rained it would have been awful as a lot of time was spent sitting outdoors.  I loved some of the brands like Nicky Rockets and Rosie, but was surprised none of the bigger brands bothered which was strange for a London based event.  So I suppose in general although I had a fabulous time this was more due to some cool people who were exhibiting and the amazing women I got to hang with.

Monday 9 May 2016

Great Lengths - Or adventures in hair extensions.

The eagle eyed among you my have spotted that around December my hair had a sudden growth spurt, of course this wasn't natural and owed more to head of Meccano (Micro rings) holding beautiful hair not belonging to me to my own.  I have always played with my hair colour and the only thing I had never done was extensions always believing I was a short haired girl, then  I did a photoshoot with the genius that is Chiara Aprea who popped me in a beehive wig and ever since I have longed for long hair and my own hair just wasn't playing ball fast enough. So I booked in for extensions which took me from a jaw length grown out crop to shoulder length hair.



I did everything right got recommendations saw a couple of people and got a head full of micro ring hair extensions,  The beautiful colour doesn't really show on this picture I took on day one but you can see it better on this my hairdresser took.


I'm not going to lie going from fine short hair to a mane, my husband used to go "Put em up, put em up." like the lion in Wizard of Oz at me quite a bit to illustrate my mane was strange.  Blow drying went from a 5 minute blast to 15 minutes, oh it's still not dry never mind, and styling was difficult where my hair was pretty short it could be tricky if I wanted it up to hide all the bonds.  However, I loved it.

I had my maintenance which was pricey too but I loved it, so didn't mind  Then 10 days later disaster struck there was a incident at work and loads of my extensions were pulled out.  My hairdresser is very popular and I couldn't get in and I couldn't live with a patch of hair just not there, so I googled micro rings and my home town paid £30.00 to get them put back but the bonds felt different and still the extensions were falling out and I felt like it just wasn't quality work.  I tried to get in with my hairdresser but she couldn't fit me in till after my birthday, so the impatient Aries I am I sought out options.

I got recommendations and saw 2 people the first person said she would take all my extensions out but because I was walking around with her name on my head she wanted to use her extensions and me to buy new hair.  The second said she would take them all out and it would take about a hour and a half to put them back in so would cost about £90.00 I liked her so I booked.

On the day it ended up taking nearly 5 hours but before she started she got me to sign a disclaimer as she is trained in Balmain extensions and mine were Remy.  She did mention she couldn't guarantee the bonds but I didn't think to much of it.  I found out from the geniuinely worried look on the girl's face that the lady who put in my extensions that had been ripped out had used bonds that looked like they had been used before with no cushioning to protect your hair, and if they slipped had put another on top!  Leading to moments where she thought they may not come out.  So despite it costing double what I had been quoted I was happy as I had what looked like a good head of hair.


And for my Birthday a few days later manged a beautiful mini beehive.


I'd like to say the saga ended there but it didn't.  My hair continued to fall out at a alarming rate about 10 micro rings again.  I went back to the hairdressers who said I think it is these bonds I did say I can't guarantee them and as I had signed a disclaimer I had nowhere to go.  She offered to put them all in again but if they were all going to fall out in 10 days what was the point.  I am going with she didn't know.

As I was skint having used my birthday money and more to get them done.  I am left with my natural just shorter than shoulder now length now hair, that just feels as insubstantial as Olive Oyl.  As I am not happy my lovely hub has said just get them done.  So I am going for a consultation with someone who i have seen recommended quite a bit in another town as my original lady is booked till July and doesn't do taped ones.  So wish me luck.


Saturday 7 May 2016

Making My Work Wear, Work

Everyone who reads this blog knows I love a pretty dress, preferably in a crazy cotton print and as much as I love these dresses they would not work for my work life.  Mine is not a job where I get to swan about in pretty frocks I am a carer so my job can involve anything from the homemaker stuff, paperwork, doing activities to on some occasions having to hold people when they become out of control.  So practical is the name of the game and usually this means jeans and jumpers or T's.

However, dear reader I don't mind sharing I am bloody bored of this and I never feel nice or very me when I head to work.  So I think it is time for a bit of a work wear revamp and this is my current wish list.

1/ A Pinafore Dress - Practical as it has pockets and I can shove some leggings underneath.



Both of these are from Asos Curve and are £30.00, they both have pockets essential for work.

2/ The Tee's - A Tee is a perfect item to throw on or under what I'm wearing.  I gotta be honest I usually just throw on a Primarni special as they are cheap and cheerful but these Tee's are tickling my fancy.

ASOS




Nicky Rockets

As I have said on numerous occasions I am a huge fan of a indie brand and I love these Graphic B Movie style Tee's from Nicky Rockets  and I think these would take a work pair of jeans from a bit Blah to something a bit more stylish.  



3/ The Jeans - Yes I know I bitched I live in these for work but these are a necessary evil in my life and following the death of my beloved Peaches Jeans I am liking the look of these.


Grey Jean - Asos Curve

4/ The Jacket - I need something I can quickly throw on I was quite sold on the idea of a bomber jacket but I saw this hollographic raincoat on Missguided, now I am confused before it was just a patterned vs plain debate - now I am just confused.



Now the only problem is earning enough money to buy these.  So if you know any hit me up with some discount codes.