It felt good to be out of the rain

Hello there

Here I am in my back yard amongst the straggly (okay, dead) plants

It's the school holidays and my Little Miss has gone to Shropshire for a couple of days to visit her auntie and uncle.  Today, I was determined to actually get out of my pyjamas and out of the house, so the Mister and I took Master L out for breakfast. 

Cardi - Asos sale

Skirt & necklace - Dotty P's sale

Tights - fancy dress shop

Shoes - Ebay

Brooch - charity shop

About a month ago, just before the birth of my lil guy, I was sent the very bag I am sporting to review by a lady named Jocelyn at Sammydress

I call it my 'horse with no name' bag

On browsing the site I was struck by how many cheap pretty dresses and shoes I would be able to buy if I was a size 8 and had size 4 feet.  Unfortunately my post baby size 16-18 curves and size 7's are a stretch too far but if you are lucky enough to be all petite and doll-like then it might be worth checking out.  I love the bag apart from the fact that the shoulder strap broke the first time I used it, doh!

So how is everyone?

My Little guy is 4 weeks old this week and I could write a whole post on how amazing he is but you know that's not my style, right?!  Me and the Mister are in the 'not quite adjusted to the sleep  depravation' phase.  Your body does strange things during this phase, like shivers uncontrollably even in a centrally heated room.  I know there is a general assumption emanating from certain elements of the media that would have you believe that pregnancy, childbirth and life bringing up young children is a beautiful picturesque roller coaster ride to be celebrated and enjoyed like the healthy breakfast of granola and organic yoghurt, which is consumed each morning as part of a healthy, balanced breast feeding diet, which in turn miraculously makes your mummy tummy disappear and your figure snap back into shape.  Bah!  You know what, it is wonderful, but it is also horrendously emotionally and physically exhausting.  For my part, I am just taking each day as it comes.  Mainly surviving on quick chocolate hits and full sugar coke to keep me going.

Just keeping it real

Having Netflix also helps with the crazy hours

Orange Crush

Outfit pics have been a pain in the backside of late

Short overcast days, drizzle and a lack of a photographer during daylight hours all being contributing factors

Plus a smattering of can't-be-bothered-itis

All hail the good old fashioned mirror selfie, the staple of the lazy amateur blogger

Not the best quality, just what we're stuck with.

This is a work outfit from last week.  

Do you like my orange tights?  I can't have enough orange in my life at the moment.  I got them on Ebay.  They were described as 'XXXL Fancy Dress Tights for Ladies & Men'.  I am currently wearing tights for drag queens which happen to be perfect for accommodatng my girth

Dress : Asos Maternity

Cardi & vintage wooden brooch - Ebay

Boots - DM's

Necklace - Dotty P's

Speaking of which, this week I finally finished work for mama leave - woo hoo!

I can't say how relieved I am to be free of that particular bind for the next 10 months.  Just time enough to put the finishing touches to the mammoth home renovation/reorganisation that has been going on for the last 6 months before we welcome Mr Bump (yes, we've been told we're expecting a boy) - due in approximately 3 weeks.

This corner of our new room has been altered slightly to accommodate this...

There is still a flat pack wardrobe and cotbed lying around my house waiting to be assembled which is stressing me out and messing with my mojo really more than it should.   I'm fighting a constant battle against turning into a hyper hormonal neurotic fishwife.

But we don't want to hear about that.  Instead here are a couple more amateur outfit selfies

35 weeks - taken after a party

What I wore for a family gettogether last week

Currently looking forward to a couple of stress free weeks and sleeping in.  Half term couldn't have come at a better time. 

xxx

Where's your mama gone

So as most of you know I'm pregnant right now.  Whatevs.  I'm 32 weeks, permanently exhausted and absolutely huge.  Like comedy sketch, stick a pillow up your dress huge.  I can barely sit upright due to exhaustion and when I'm not working or you know, doing necessary living stuff, you'll find me in a state of deep slumber

 Towards the beginning, while I still had the energy, I scoured the web for maternity wear inspiration and found it to be pretty damn scant.  Why do terms like 'classic' and 'understated' seem to go hand in hand with articles on pregnancy style.  Ugh.

I say thank goodness for bloggers

I found Bianca's blog Goodnight Little Spoon completely by accident and it's since become one of my favourites.  Bianca was pregnant when I discovered her blog and I was very impressed with her creative maternity wardrobe.  Little did I know that before too long I'd be referring back to it for inspiration.  I just love her use of colour, her cardigans and the quirky finishing touches.  

Colour, cardigans and quirky accessories are also all staples of one of my favourite blogging ladies Marissa of The Shades of Monet Chronicles 

Longtime readers will know what a big fan I am of Marissa's style (see this post).  Recently I just loved how she sailed through her pregnancy without missing a beat.  She looked exactly as unique and beautiful as she always did.

I've managed to get by so far without buying too much in the way of maternity clothes.  A couple of dresses and some mama tights notwithstanding.  Even though the way I look has taken a back seat lately.   Still, thank goodness for the unique and talented ladies of blogland to keep me and similarly placed ladies of expanding girth inspired with their colour, creativity and uncompromising uniqueness.    

xxx

PS.  The lovely people at DotComGiftShop have featured this blog as one of their '15 hip vintage blogs' - hop over this way to take a look

PPS.  I won the Modcloth Polyvore thingy from my last post.  You can see my set along with previous winners here if you're so inclined

Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit by sleepingviolet

So Modcloth approached me and asked if I would like to take part in what they call their Polyvore Outfit Challenge.  The uber giant blogger's favourite brand had noticed my little blog, cool!  The brief was to take this dress and style it from a combination of no more than seven items from the Modcloth site.

I have had a Polyvore account for years but haven't used it in almost as many so I thought I'd give it a go.  Little did I realise that every time I created or edited a set it was now being automatically pubished as a blog post.  Doh!  I apologise for all the dead links that have appeared on your dashboards.  I am clearly not social media savvy.

The other obvious drawback is that while searching through all the wares on offer on the site you are presented with an overload of droolworthy items you can only ever dream of owning.  Especially now that they're doing plus sizes, hells yeah!  So here I am passing on the envy and wardrobe dissatisfaction,... yeh, er, sorry about that folks.

I had fun though.  Hope you like my little rainbow ensemble.  Those tights may just have to become mine.  They reminded me straightaway of this advert which for some reason absolutely fascinated me as a child

Anyone else remember these?

Ah well, happy weekend

xxx

Turban Charged

Here I am in my newly painted pink back yard (thanks dad).  The light was just starting to fail and I've had to tweak these pics to within an inch to make them usable, such is the blogger dilemma of achieving decent outfit photos in winter.  So I am having hat problems right now.  I lost my favourite ever hat which I am seen wearing here.  It was a dear friend and it has just disappeared out of my life completely leaving me bereft and very cold.  Since then I have been at a loss to find a replacement.  I recently ordered 4 hats in desperation, two of which have since gone back as they were not even an option.  The other 2 you can judge for yourselves.  I love turbans on other people but I'm just not sure they work on me.  Maybe this one is a bit too high?  As for the blue beanie, love the colour but I think it makes my head look a funny shape.  Beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

I can't be the only one out there with this problem

Outfit details

Dress, cardi & hats - Asos

Boots - Dr Martens

Bag - fake leather satchel from a shop in Tenby

Necklace - Zara Taylor

As for baby, 26 weeks and growing fast

xxx

Talking 'bout Monroe and walking on Snow White

Sometimes a thinking person has to overlook their constant awareness of life's ambiguities in order to function in the real world.  Yes Uncle Walt was a member of the 'Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals' and yes, he may or may not have been a Nazi sympathiser.  But, taken purely at face value, The Disney Corportion has made some heartwarming films that have touched many a childhood.

At least that's what I told myself when we spent 3 glorious sun drenched days in Disneyland Paris

Any guesses what my favourite Disney film might have been...?

OK, so I may have got caught up in the atmosphere

It's pretty hard not to to be honest

Here is me hyperventilating with excitement in the Alice in Wonderland labyrinth.

I visited this part of the park several times during the course of our time there, hence the different outfits

"Mr Rabbit, oh Mr Rabbit..."

"Hey you there, stop kicking that mackerel"

 "a..e..i..o..uuuuuuu"

"Pardon me, but Mr 3, why must you paint them red?"

OK, I'm indulging myself a little here, but I absolutely adore everything Alice!

 

This queen was broken.  I thought she still looked quite intimidating

Bumping my head

The doormouse looking completely stoned

Tea at the March Hare Tea Rooms - yes please!

 "Why you're nothing but a pack of cards"

My come hither look (see what I did there)

We honestly enjoyed ourselves so much that the time just flew.  Most importantly, Miss 6 loved every minute and was completely fearless when it came to going on all the rides

 Obviously, we also explored the non-Alice parts of the park

They had C3PO!

Yeh that's right, the ears look better on me biatch

It's always quite funny seeing French people trying to recreate the all American experience.  The staff were generally fantastic, especially the guy who dressed up as a Jedi warrior and stayed in character to entertain the kids (and adults) queuing for the Star Tours experience   

Incidentally, do you like the dress I'm wearing?  I received some nice comments about it on my last post.  It was sent to me to review by Warehouse

Here's what it looks like on the site

It was hard to choose just one dress as they have so many pretty, pastel coloured beauties on the site at the moment.  It arrived just before we went away and I was so glad as I absolutely wore it to death.  So much so that it didn't seem necessary to do a seperate post as there are so many photos of me wearing it here.  It's comfy, stretchy, versatile and definitely my go-to dress of the moment.  A major thumbs up from me. 

Although I didn't buy very much on this holiday, I did come away from Disney with these 3 badges

So what about you?  Have you ever been to Disneyland?  Would you?  Do you have a favourite Disney film?

xxx