Afternoon tea and drinks with my family

As a little extra for my mum’s birthday I decided to get all the females in the family to join me and my mum for afternoon Tea at the Salthouse, well all that could make it. Myself and my mum have been to afternoon tea in the past (including The Ritz which is amazing), for some members of the family it was their first time. We all enjoyed it very much catching up with each other and having a laugh and we all agreed we would do it again but in the summer as it was a little cold. If you are in the area and you like a cup of tea, mini food and a beautiful view in summer I would highly recommend you book a table with some friends and enjoy. The family members that couldn’t make the tea came round that evening and we all had a few drinks and music playing, my dad had cooked some food. My mum has enjoyed her birthday celebrations but is now happy that we can go back to normal!

It was casual dress but I still wanted to make an effort as The Salthouse is a lovely hotel, it's kind of posh but not posh if you know what I mean. I wanted to be comfortable in what I was very because we was going to be sat down for a little while so I decided to wear a black sleeveless belted jacket with my khaki flowered shirt some black treggins and my trusty Chelsea boots. 

Jacket - Dorothy Perkins (currently in the sale)

Shirt - Sold out in New Look but here is something similar

Trousers - Dorothy Perkins

Shoes - New Look

Earrings - River Island

 

x

Celebrating my mums birthday

It was my mums yesterday and it was quite a special one. Myself and my dad decided we would go for a meal to celebrate, somewhere nice and different to where we usually would go. We decided to go to The Last Anchor, we had all been last year for another family member's birthday and we thoroughly enjoyed out meal. 

We decided as it was mid week that we weren't going to dress up majorly but still look like we made an effort. I had two outfit ideas in mind, both involved a sleeveless blazer either black or khaki and whichever I didn't choose to wear for the meal I would wear Friday for afternoon tea. My mum had to help me a little bit and she could understand my dilemma both would look lovely but which one for the meal. I didn’t want to wear anything that was fitted or restricting which is why in the end decided to wear black long sleeved roll neck stretch top, black treggins with a khaki belted blazer and black Chelsea boots. I felt this was more suited for a evening meal. Also it was very comfortable and wasn't over the top. Personally I think sleeveless blazers are a wardrobe staple, they go wish pretty much anything and ideal for all year around.

The meal itself was absolutely beautiful and I would recommend anyone to go there if they are around, you may wish to book in advance to avoid disappointment especially on weekends

A trip to Birmingham

Over the weekend I had gone to Birmingham, I needed some away time I haven't really been away since early December last year which is unlike me! I went Birmingham once about 5 years ago for a night out with some friends it was a good night and I always said I wanted to go back but never did until now. London is often/always my first choice of destination but this time I wanted a new place to venture to. This visit was more to get my bearings for future trips as I know I will be returning. 

I was up around 7am on my day off, as you can imagine that was not the part I was looking forward to, I had to straighten my hair and finished off packing well mainly decide what clothes I wanted to take, then I took a taxi down to the train station and that’s where the journey begun. The train left Ipswich shortly after 10:00, I then passed through London and left by 12:00 and arrived in Birmingham about 13:30pm. The journey itself was not bad at all, it went quite quickly to be honest, possibly because of the changeover in London. I had a little bit of an agenda on the way, I needed to complete my previous blog post, Maya, which had a few finishing touches to be made (now completed) and to read my book Strong Looks Better Naked by Khloe Kardashian, with some headphones in so I wasn't distracted by people talking. 

Maya : Black gold of the sun

Recently I was very kindly sent a new hair product which is on the market called Maya (see website here), by the lovely Michelle. She contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trying the product and of course I said yes, I love trying new hair products. 

Bacon and everything else crust less quiche

As on my previous post “Being happy” I did say I would share a some recipes which I have been enjoying lately. Slimming World have a bacon and mushroom crust less quiche  which took my fancy, now at first I didn't follow it completely as I forgot a couple ingredients. A few changes have been made to it over times and I’ve taken away a couple things but they have been replaced with other free foods. You can put what you want in it and have it your way. I often have it with salads for lunch and snack on slices when I feel peckish. It is filling and is very moreish! 

Being happy

Happy new year, hope you all had a lovely time over the festive period.

 

Ahh the first post of 2016 and it is a little different to the norm that is on here, it’s something I’ve always thought about posting for a while but I think now is the right time for me. If you know me well you will know that I suffer with awful migraines mainly whilst I’m at work but this affects my personal life and everything I do. I’ve been a little down in the last few months or so (possibly a lot longer to be honest) and it got on top of me quite a bit to the point I was putting on weight but I wasn't happy with how I looked, I wouldn't really go out on my days off I would spend most of my time at home and just worry about things that I don’t need to be, also writing blog posts they were not as frequent as I wanted them to be. I had no umph to do anything, I just wanted to be at home. Plucking up the courage to go to my doctors was a big thing for me, it’s like you don’t want to face it but you know you need to. Since going to the doctors and I have been on working how to stop being so stressed, depressed and have anxiety. It is hard at times but when you have been the same way for ages and now you need to get out of that, sometimes you find yourself swaying back towards how you was before but you just have to really focus and think things will get better. So this is me trying to be me again.

 

If you can’t help yourself who will?

What's your favourite style of bra?

Last week Simply Be posted Bra-Humbug and What Bra Styles From The Past Are Back In Fashion? They really got me thinking about how I feel about bra shopping, not very satisfying I know a lot of you will agree with me and as fashion does certain styles come back around (like the 70’s).

Now if you have a bigger bust you will be with me and agree that shopping for bras is not very on the top of your shopping list. Years ago there would be limited styles for us slightly bigger busted girls, (quite pricey too!) they would look frumpy and you wouldn't feel sexy at all but now oh my how things have changed. There are so many companies (including ones on the high street) that now cater for all of our shapes and sizes and they are looking very gorgeous, from Marks and Spencer's, Curvy Kate, Anne Summers, Debenhams and of course Simply Be. Also they are no longer overly expensive I have bought some for £14 which to me is such a bargain! They have all come a long way with offering appealing styles like balcony/balconette, strapless and if you want to show a bit there’s plunge and being designed gorgeously.  

Looking back over the last 100 or so years when the brassieres (or as we now know bras) became more popular and the different styles were being made, some are making a return with a modern twist but some have stayed in the past (which is where some belong, sorry Madonna the bullet bra has not made this list!)