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Saturday 20 October 2012

Just a quickie...

I am still here! I'm groggy, in pain but home.

Thank you so much for your kind words, they really have meant the world to me over the past couple of days.

I wasn't planning on posting for a little while, as I wanted to let myself recover in body, but in an odd turn of events, I've not no voice! I've gone from sounding like Lady Sybil in Downton, to actually no sound coming out! If this continues, blogging, twitter and facebook may end up being my only methods of communicating!!

If you want to keep up to date with me and my recuperation, best get a-following me on twitter @kathroooon - be prepared for odd comments, book related tweets and garbled attempts to say 'ow, I hurt'!

Much love my lovelies, 

Missing you, 

K x


Wednesday 17 October 2012

Health and Hospitals

Well you lovely lot! 

You've been with me through my highs and lows, through my pain crisis' and my pacing exercises - remember the cupcakes? - and now here we are, on the eve of my operation to hopefully help to ease the pain by dividing the adhesions which are causing it. 

I've talked a few times about it, and all you have to do is search for 'pain' on my little search box and you'll find 18 posts mentioning it. 

The most 'detailed' post about my condition is probably here, and while I can't bring myself to read it in its entirety  I know the story it is telling well enough to know that it is not an easy read (nor an easy write).

So, what is this post about then? This is my 'Out of the Office' blog post, explaining that from today I'll be in hospital, and hopefully operated on tomorrow. I don't know what exactly they will be doing, as it does depend on what they find when they open me up. But I do know that I'll be out of the social media loop for a couple of days, if not longer, and certainly out of the blogging loop for a wee while.

I'm sure I'll be on twitter etc when I'm home again (no computers / phones allowed in this hospital), so see you on the flip side!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Black and Gold

This is a little sneaky post which has been whirling around my head for a little while!!

Last night I realised I had better get a wriggle on a try on the other items which came with the Squirrel Print tunic.


I've been lusting after this dress since it was previewed on the Simply Be Facebook page. Look at it. It's fitted at the top, flared at the bottom, seems to have waist definition - WIN!


It looks like a different dress, yes? Not defined enough for me, nor is it flared enough. One thing I will say for it though, is that it is a wonderful fit in the boobs / arm area. Shame though as I thought I'd LOVE IT...


Next up was this. I loved the colour combination and it was billed as a 'Skater dress'. Ah-HAH! Should be a winner.

It wasn't what I would call a skater dress, but I still wanted it to work!

The photos aren't the best, but I wanted to share them with you nonetheless:


The fit of this dress is similar to the paisley print dress, which you can see even more in this picture:


Now, lets talk about the dress for a moment - I love this - it draws attention to the waist, the satine is the perfect material to work on the opulent black and gold. It fastens in a press stud fastening at the back of the dress (so can't be worn back to front). 

The press stud on mine had actually broken on mine, so the dress is waiting to be picked up as we speak! 




 And finally, I know this photo is fuzzy, but I love the detail of the bow on it!! You also get a better idea of how the fit is similar to the paisley dress. 

I like that it is out of my comfort zone, compared with  my usual dresses of choice anyway!! 

I love the simple cut of the dress, and that it can be worn either with or without the belt, and is long enough to be worn with tights (major WIN).

But sadly, my home has to take priority, so with a sad heart it's been sent back with no plan to return...

So, have you fallen for an item, ordered it, and returned it because you're being all responsible? Or is it just me?

Much love my lovelies,

K x




Blogging Beauties: Take 2

Well, after the comments on my very first Blogging Beauty, I am very excited to bring you my second of many!

This fine blogger was one of the first that welcomed me into this wonderful community, and that made me feel a part of something special. 

I met her at Plus London, and I think it is fair to say, I couldn't have got through that day without her!

But the main reason she gets this mention today is because of a post she wrote last week:

Mhairi, over at LilyBoBombs. She has tackled something which I know must have terrified her: the BodyCon dress!


She may not look comfortable here, but WOW! Such a stunning figure and those LEGS!! Swiiiiiits-Woooooooo!

And so, the beautiful Mhairi is my blogging beauty of the week, reminding me that I started this to push myself to try new things, to challenge my sartorial choices.

I didn't expect to have it 34000 views in less than a year, to have been to events, and have made a wonderful circle of friends. 

So thank you everyone, and much love, 

K x

Monday 15 October 2012

Autumnal

I thought I would be alright this winter, and just use layers to turn my summer wardrobe into my winter wardrobe. It's what I've usually done. But this past week I've really struggled making the transition from late summer into autumn / winter.

With my trip to the hospital imminent, I wanted to treat myself to some winter friendly items. 

Off I trot to Simply Be, thinking I would just window shop for the most part. 

And I spotted this:


Crochet Peter Pan Collar: CHECK
Cute Animal Print: CHECK

Sera did a great post on her pick of the best quirky animal prints around here, and I lamented that there weren't any available in my size. I know right? Plus size retailers have been spoiling us with on trend pieces lately, that I just assumed this trend would be available in 'size fat'. 

And when I spotted this little wonder, I threw it over to Sera on twitter to share my wonder at it!

Twitter LOVED IT!!

I had to have it before it sold out!


THE PRINT!! So cute!

I had wanted to wear with my green skinny jeans, but the green is more a teal, so wouldn't work well with these.

Black skinny jeans it is then!!




 


Sorry for the rubbish photographs, the light was just too bright and I couldn't find a decent angle to get the photo taken!!

I've ordered this in a 22, as I wanted a loose and comfortable top which allowed me a number of options. 

TaDAAAAAA:


Belted! It works really well for me, with a tan buckled belt. 

But, as I'm waiting for my operation, and will be sensitive post operation, I wanted a loose top which still looked good without a belt.

I think I've found it!

This will probably be my 'going into hospital outfit, and my 'coming home' one as well. Just with leggings to come home in, not jeans!

What do you think of this novelty print trend? Worth partaking in?

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Sunday 14 October 2012

Home Bird - FOR REAL

I am so excited. Like massively giddy!

I took possession of these on Friday:


My very own house keys!!

I waxed lyrical about the very first house I'd seen here, which was silly of me as I stood no chance of being able to afford all the work it desperately needed. 

So a great many house viewings later (about 10 I think, but it felt like so many more!)

But my actual home looks like this:



(taken from my property sheet, as I forgot to snap one on the day!)

My very own two up - two down terrace, with kitchen and bathroom extension. I am IN LOVE.

My favourite room at the moment is this one:


The open plan (ish), with french windows for light, and such a nice feel in this room. The flooring words in pictures, but in reality is uneven and not very well fitted, so this will definitely be coming up and replaced with something similar, if possible.

You can just about see my kitchen though the door, and this is where a 2 seater table will be placed as well (hopefully)



This room has been called my 'cosy room', as with the door shut, and the rich carpet and wood panelling (which we plan to strip back to see if there is a natural wood waiting to be shown off!), this will be a leather suite and TV / DVD room. A 'den' if you like. And with the fire on in these winter nights, a very cosy den at that!


Check out the 70s feel of my staircase! And my hall is MASSIVE!!

This is a home I can certainly grow into, and make my own over time.


Not the best picture, but my bedroom has so much potential! I'm not usually a fan of built in wardrobes, but for the time being it does save me having to source some!

Can really see myself and my bed getting many good zzzzz's in this room!



My spare bedroom with added walk in storage!! The cupboard would fit a small bed in if needed! (just to give you an idea of size!)

This room is a perfect guest bedroom size, so if any of you want to come and stay, you are more than welcome! Just give me time to get my place in order first will you?!

So, there you have it, the Kathryn Abode! Would you be interested in seeing how this develops? Let me know!

Certainly not a 'mistake' so far!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Friday 12 October 2012

Collar-ful Berry

Last night I had a bit of panic as to what I should wear for the office. I stood staring at my wardrobe for a while, before my eyes fell on my latest purchase from the Simply Be store in the MetroCentre. 


I was there in August with my Grandma, and I've worn this item a few times already, mainly with my black skinny jeans (although here it is with my Domino Dollhouse Striped Skirt)

Today, I dressed it for the office:


Oops! You can see my leopard print bra here!!


A little better here!!

I am in love with this collar - ticking the trend box on two scores there - pleather and PeterPan! haha!


And here it is as a 'whole' - my trusty Domino Dollhouse ! print skirt (getting rather tired looking now, grey and frayed around the edges) but for the office, with my Excite Clothing shrug, and a slim belt, it got me through the day!

I was surprised by how much I liked this combination, given how quickly it was thrown together!

I love how versatile this top is - it's good for shopping with jeans and ballet pumps, and good for the office, with a skirt and brogues. If I was to go out on a date, I could even see me wearing this with skinny jeans and heels. 

Perfect clothes algebra!!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x






Thursday 11 October 2012

Curvy is a SHAPE not a size

There are somethings that are bound to get my back up (what a great way to start a post eh?!):

  • Fat bashing of any kind (see this post)
  • Using the word 'REAL' to describe a larger person
  • Using the word 'CURVY' to describe a larger person
Now, as the title of this post suggests, I'm looking at the word CURVY.

This annoys me on two fronts:

The ladies of the world who are a size 8, but curvy, now daren't call themselves that for fears of being labelled 'Plus Size' - a term I don't necessarily agree with, but will use until I can think of something better!

This woman is CURVY - but call her 'full figured' or 'plus size' at your peril. 


How is she plus size? How is she 'full figured'? I mean, come on!

But okay, if you don't believe me yet:


This woman is CURVY. And again, you wouldn't say she was anything other than 'straight' sizes would you?

I am also curvy:


I'm not saying I'm not - however, I am saying you can be plus size and NOT curvy, as well as straight sized AND curvy. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

This curvy is a euphemism thing is two fold - what about the beauties who are plus size but don't have curves? I mean the Apples, the Pears? They are still gorgeous, so why then are we excluding their 'shape?

So, what is the point I'm trying to make?

That using the word 'curvy' to describe any ol' plus size gal, isn't doing you, or your brand, any favours. You have plus size beauties looking at themselves and thinking - "I don't have curves, I mustn't be included". You will also have straight sized curvy gals wondering why you're appealing to them...

So, curvy is indeed a shape, and not a size.

Much love my lovelies,
K x


Wednesday 10 October 2012

Blogging Beauties!

I was recently trawling through the hashtag #psbloggers, to see if there were any new faces I could pounce on, stalk, or copy - or rather, follow. 

I spotted a couple of faces lurking, either asking what the hashtag stood for, or seeing if there were any new (to her) bloggers she could follow. I jumped in, and offered a helping hand and a friendly face. 

I forget sometimes that "I have a blog roll" sometimes isn't enough. And I want to start a "thing" where I show you blogs (and their bloggers) that I've been admiring or interacting with a lot over the past week. 

When I've seen these posts in the past, I've thought that it was a cop out, a way of posting without saying anything. Well, colour me wrong on that one! 

So, my first Blogging Beauty is:



Not only does she share my guilty pleasure of Revenge on E4 (I've not seen the whole series, I'm watching it a week at a time! No spoilers please!), but she also got her baps out for her blog this week. I've not seen her advertise it on twitter much, and I can understand why, but boy do I LOVE that bra she is in!!

I could have stolen the pic of her in a bra - but I'll leave you to click the link for that pleasure!

She is a delight on twitter too, honest but caring and a supportive friend. Yes, I said it. Friend.

I met her briefly at Plus North, and I mean briefly, but since we've bonded on twitter, and I want more people to share in the wide and varied posts she offers.

Much love my lovelies, 

K x


Monday 8 October 2012

Caped Crusader

When having a look about for "Operation Winter Coat 2012" (more on that to follow!), I came across this unusual cape on www.marisota.co.uk:


I last worked with Marisota when they sent me this dress in the larger size as thank you for my review.

A few days later this arrived:


I have had it on and off again over the last of weeks, enjoying the flexibility it gave me - the half sleeves allowed me to either go bare arms, or throw on my long gloves / wrist warmers, and trot off on my way!

After a time, I started playing with it! Mixing it with clashing patterns (my Mam claimed it brought on one of her headaches!), chevron with polka dots is my personal favourite!


You can just see my sparkly Primark cardigan underneath here - I think you'll be seeing a lot more of this in the future!






The cape is hook and eye, which has already had a bit of an incident where it got caught on: my hair, my cardigan and the wool of the cape itself! Must try harder!

It is no longer available (I've not had it that long, I promise!), but when it was, it was only available in 2 sizes, either a S (12-18), M (20-26) or a L (28-320). Given my bust, and how I've been wearing with layers, I opted for the medium!

It fits very snug at my neck, and the hooks occasionally came undone, until I added a scarf under to add a little bulk, which seems to have kept the hooks, er, hooked!

Now I've got over my fear of clashes, and sourced a couple of lovely long gloves, I'm all set to trot out in this cape for some time to come!

As I mentioned, this item was sent to me to review, and all views  expressed are my own. 

This cape is available HERE.

Much love my lovelies, 

K x


Thursday 4 October 2012

What IS Plussize?

I caught snippets of a conversation on twitter on Sunday, debating on what is classed as "plussize".

I don't know the purpose of this discussion, whether it was started out of interest, or some other purpose, but I do know that there is no definitive answer. 

How do you class plussize?

Someone who is sized out of the highstreet?

Someone who is sized out of Top Shop? River Island? Zara?

Or someone who is sized out of mainstream fashion? 

Or it is anyone larger than a size 0?

I'll be honest, I have the plussize community a welcoming one. An inclusive, not exclusive community.

To me, plussize is something everyone can identify with. Everyone seems to have a 'fat day' or 3. Or be on some fad regime or other.

Plussize companies like Evans (start at a size 14), Yours Clothing (start at a 14) and Simply Be (start at a 12) seem to have set a rough marker as to where they think the plussize market starts from. 

Clothing at Tesco's 'True' range begins at a 16, so are pegging the market a little larger.

But what does this mean?

It means us women are in it together. That size 16 lass in SimplyBe clothing might envy your confidence, or your style. We need to be inclusive, and perhaps do away with the terms plussize, and us plussize fashion bloggers can blog along side the mainstream bloggers, rather than being a separate hashtag (psbloggers). 

That is of course a pipe dream, and instead we're being provided with our own Fashion Week. 

What I want though, is to be included with the mainstream fashion week. We're not contagious, you can't catch fat from us. But you might learn soemthing from us. Or, heaven forbid, be inspired by us.

Much love my lovelies,

K x

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Soldiers & Their Boxes...

Working with the Brownies, we do spend a lot of time trying to raise money to keep our unit going. But as a charity ourselves, we don't focus on us - we are well aware of other charities out there. And we like to support them where we can.

When my Dad started working as a representative for SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors & Air Force Association) Forces Help, we became involved with another charity called Support Our Soldiers. They specialise in sending shoe boxes out to Afghanistan throughout the year, providing a few home comforts and treats.

As we knew that schools tended to work on 'Project Christmas Child' - sending packages out to children in the 3rd World - we thought it would make a nice change to send it to serving Soldiers on the front line. 

The Brownies really enjoy doing it, packing their gifts of mini chocolate bars, books, note pads, pens, snacks, toiletries and their letter, into a shoe box, knowing that they will be kept under lock and key in Afghan until Christmas Day. Because of weight restrictions, we send out travel size where we can - so have a look on your weekly shop - see if the supermarket have any offers on travel size shampoos etc!

We leave a note inside, explaining who we are, and sometimes, we get letters back from the Front:

"...I am writing to thank you for the welfare package you kindly donated. 

...


It is really nice to receive boxes and even letters from people such as yourself  who take the time and effort to put together a box or write a letter.  When we do receive parcels from people we don’t know, it makes us realise that people back home are thinking of us out here.
I would like to thank you again for the parcel and encourage you to keep up the good work in supporting the troops.
We are 8 weeks from completing our 6 month tour of duty when we will return to our base at RAF Horrington in Suffolk /CITY />.  Then we have 5 weeks leave and after that start our training for our next deployment some time in the next 2 years.
Thank you all for your support and keep up the good work.
Mark..."
And there is nothing better than that. Taking the time to respond to our girls, and explain a little about what they're doing over there. 

So this year I was wondering if any of you lovely lot would fancy helping us out - last year we put together 20 boxes - how about seeing if we can beat that? If you want to send some items to be included in a box, or even send a completed shoe box to me, lovely, email me at: sweetsoulmusic (at) gmail.com and I'll send you my address to post it to.

Any donations, no matter the size, are gratefully appreciated. 

We're not a political organisation, but we do like to support the troops out there that maybe don't have any family to send them gifts at Christmas - and imagine getting a box packed by a Brownie. A bit of magic at Christmas. 

We send boxes to both male and female troops, and because the Brownies are packing them, please keep your items age appropriate (if you want to put together a different type of box, I can send you the details of SOS HQ to send it to for them to process directly).

Thank you so much for reading this pleading post,

Merry Christmas!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Monday 1 October 2012

Paisley Nights...

When up in Glasgow last weekend, the girls and I had a cocktail evening, and were planning on heading to the local Tiki Bar (if you've never experienced a Tiki Bar before, hold onto your hats!!)

Being sensible (and learning from our youthful indiscretions) we headed to a lovely Italian for dinner first, and when stuffed on pizza, calzone, mussels, risotto, pasta and mozzarella sticks, we headed over to The Tiki Bar And Kitsch Inn.

In packing for this weekend away, there had been many of group facebook chat asking about dress code options, and I knew that I wanted it to feature this dress:

Available here http://www.simplybe.co.uk/shop/paisley-print-dress/rm272/product/details/show.action?pdBoUid=6363#colour:PRINT,size:

I played down the look a little, opting for black tights and my Viva La Diva Red T Bar (similar can be found here).

I thoguht about teaming it with a necklace but it was decided that that would detract too much from the dress itself. And so, we were ready to hit the town:

Staying in a hotel with friends meant I could have a photographer for a change! Thanks J!
Walking around the streets of Glasgow in this had originally worried me slightly. I'm a fitted top and flared bottom gal, I am not a 'wiggle dress', or as this dress has been named, a SLINK dress kinda gal!

Well, I am now!

After one of these:


 And lots of these (instagram photos!)


I started practicing my wiggle. 

I was getting my 'Joan' on. In my head at least.

But, when walking back to our hotel, K & A were so kind as to call this a Joan Holloway dress. Oh my!

And you know what? It felt sexy, without being sleazy - mainly due to the high neckline. The material was slinkly, not clingy, so it moved with me, not sticking to my lumps and bumps.

The length is a little shot on me, but as I had a high neckline, I wasn't too bothered that my fat knees were on display. 

This is the size 20, and I would say that it was actually a little big on the neck, but I like the way it drapes, and it allowed me to move in it, without having to readjust or fiddle with it.

I was comfortable, and confident in this dress. What more can you ask? Oh, well I suppose more friends like mine who compliment and steal the words out of your head!

In case you were wondering, I only had one cocktail, as there was a disclaimer on the menu that only 2 will be served per person per night. And I really didn't want a hangover for travelling home!

So thanks to H, J, K, A and B. A great weekend was had.

Much love my lovelies, 

K x