BSB Birthday Meetup (Events: Part Two)

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in the last post, this is the second part to a big post about some events I've been to lately.
So please tuck your ice cream pots under your seat and sit back, act two is about to begin.

Saturday was British Style Bloggers' first meetup to celebrate their first birthday.
The lovely editor Amy had arranged a birthday picnic one of York's beautiful parks surrounded by trees, ruins and squirrels. ("SQUIRREL!")

I took this picture of all the girlies in attendance:

Rachel, Florrie, Sarah, Amy and Becky.

And their blogs are:

Rachel with Mon Polkadot Cheri
Florrie with Intrinsically Florrie
Sarah with Always Dangerous, Fully Fabulous
Amy with Confessions of a Fashion Editor
Becky with Bunny Habits

I had already arranged to meet my friends Sarah and Libby, so I couldn't stay all day with the girls. But we did have a marvelous time, with lots of cake and giggling.

Even though it is August - Amy arranged a Summer Secret Santa!
After all, what is a birthday party without presents?

Sadly the person who had me didn't end up turning up, but I had Sarah for mine.

I didn't know her blog, so was naughty and asked Rachel for some advice when we were at the Victory Day party.
She mentioned she liked musicals (YAY!) so I made her a musicals mix cd.
To go with this, I got a gold eye crayon from Topshop makeup, a pink Barry M nail paint and a River Island necklace.
She seemed to like everything too - so hoorah!
It was odd, but rather nice to shop for someone I didn't know.

Anyway, since my last entry was pretty word heavy, you wanna see more pictures, right?
Right.

Becky's Momiji had my hairdo!

With Amy and Becky.

What I wore:

DRESS: New Look, £18. (Was £28 but for some reason a tenner was marked off!)
CARDIGAN: New Look, £25.
BELT: Can't remember - maybe Topshop?
NECKLACE: Vintage, £My mam's.
TIGHTS: Dorothy Perkins, £5ish.
BOOTS: Fenwicks, £25.
POINT OF FASHION: Lacy and girly.

I'm LOVING that dress - I originally got it as I wanted a new dress for when I visit Claire in Belfast, and in case we go out for drinks. (I'm a Geordie, she's Irish - not wanting to stereotype but I reckon it's going to happen... ;))
But I dressed it down ever to slightly with studded flat boots and a simple necklace.
It's still very dressy, but will look moreso with nicer tights and heels.

We were lucky with the weather - the sun shone all day. And just between us because we're all friends here, I slighty burnt my decolletage. Yowch!
"They shouldn't have been out then, should they?" Asked Rachel.
She had a point.

The girls were also very amused that I dropped a bit of sandwich down my chest, and they didn't see my rummaging around my bra for it - I guess it's become second nature.
I really am a classless specie.

Look at my face. I'm obviously in my element.

(CAPTION CONTEST, ANYONE?)

You can see more pictures on the British Style Bloggers Facebook Page.

Anyway, I always love meeting bloggers as everyone is so varied and have many different reasons to why they blog.

I also think it's interesting how people are different to how they are perceived online.
For example, I asked Rachel if she thought I was different to how she expected - and she said she was surprised by my rather crude sense of humour and sailor-talk mouth, as I don't even swear on my blog. Hmmm, interesting.

Finallement, Amy also put together this video of us all having fun.

I'm so loud and annoying in it, please so excuse me!

Roll on the next one!

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

The Next Big Event Victory Party. (Events: Part 1)

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not posting in nearly a WEEK!

I ended up taking a mini hiatus for a few reason. Number 1 because I've been working a lot, and as my department deals with Clearing it's been the busiest few days of the year.
And Number 2 is that unfortunately I haven't been very well.
Every now and then I get migraines, and sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day hasn't been helping.

But I took a few days off, and have began wearing my glasses again (not much help - note to self: Get to Specsavers instead of shopping) so I'm feeling better.

I have been to a few events with my blogger partner in crime, Rachel.
I reckon this is going to be part one of two.

The first was a Victory Day event a few weeks ago now.
Ran by a little company called The Next Big Event (and the SWEETEST girls ever!) who host 'Pop Up Events' around the North East, they have themed nights where they turn a venue into a makeshift venue.
Past events have even included a Twilight theme, but this was a 1940s Victory celebration.

The theme ticked so many boxes with me, and I'll just give you a little background:

My mother is half-Italian, and I'm so proud of my Italian heritage.
My sister has a lot of her genes from that side of the family - with her thick curly dark hair, large blue eyes and dark eyebrows. I have the matronly bosom and wide hips a lot of my Aunties have.

In WW2, because Britain was at war with Italy, my Grandma's family got uprooted from their family home in Jarrow, and had to move into the bedroom of an Auntie, thirty miles away in Bishop Aukland.
As my Grandma was the oldest sibling, she had to look after her family as well as working in the amuitions factory (where, as my mam always bring up, she had a scar on her hand when a shell exploded on her. Her glasses were also smashed, but thankfully her eyes were unharmed).

I was worried it would be a little disrespectful of me to go to an event like this, when the Italian side of my family suffered so much during the war, through nothing they had done themselves.

But the end of the war symbolised a new beginning, as it was supposably the war to end all wars. So it's pretty important to remember this as a time of jubilation.

Anyway.
The day was split into two seperate events - the first being a tea party with vintage china which belonged to Hannah and Sarah's (The lovely twin sisters who run the company) grandmother, as well as finger sandwiches and delicious cakes.

All us girls were dressed to the nines as expected. We sat next to these lovely girls:

The land girl in the centre won the prize for best outfit (well deserved).
Her prize an onion - a luxury in wartime Britain as we stopped growing them in lieu of vegetables such as potatoes which would go further in rationing.

In between the events, me and Rachel nipped into Newcastle for a very unladylike cold pint.
But I managed to snap a picture of my outfit:

Sorry you can't see all of it!

Like the hair?
I wanted a vintage-style do, but as my hair is quite short and I have a heavy fringe my options were rather limited.
Also with my bright red hair I was never going to look 10o% authentic!
So instead, even though I was due a haircut, I gave it an extra two weeks and put in pin curls overnight. The next morning I brushed them out, pinned the longest parts of my hair at the front at the back, and sprayed everything in place.
I think it's quite good for a first attempt.

The next event was a Rationing Dinner - as the title suggests, all the food was made only using ingredients that were available during rationing.

For starter I had potted crab with pickled cabbage.
My main course was rabbit cooked in cider with vegetables. (My first time having rabbit - it was a lot like dark chicken meat!)
Pudding was a very british strawberry trifle.

All absolutely delicious - hats off to Sarah the chef!

I was so happy that we got sat next to Kay and Katie who run the local Cupcake company Pet Lamb Patisserie.
I'd heard of them through the (now defunct) burlesque night Jeepers Peepers, so it was lovely to meet them!
They were so sweet, and when I finish my job I think I'm going to order a big box of their baked goods to the office!

Katie and Kay.
(Picture by Pet Lamb Patisserie)

Be sure to check out Katie's food blog, Katie Cakes. Nom nom nom.

As a surprise, The Next Big Event had also arranged local dancers The Swung Eight to teach us how to Lindy Hop.
I have two left feet, and was rather appauling - but I still had a lovely time, and the guy I got partnered with Neil was a proper gentleman.
I used to be in a swing band at school (2nd saxophone) so it was nice to learn some of the moves instead of being stuck behind a music sheet.

A marvellous night was had.
Sometimes I really wish I was young during this time in history as I much prefer events like this, than a disgusting sweaty club where (as a lovely guy in an RAF uniform called Andrew pointed out) "People don't even dance anymore, they just grind!"

You can see more pictures from The Next Big Event's website.
Thank goodness there's only one picture of me dancing. I look like a deer in headlights though, teehee.

And thus ends Part One.
Part Two is all about the British Style Bloggers meetup yesterday, so stay tuned for that.

Until then, keep on swinging...

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

OUTFIT POST: Ladylike Military.

Hey everyone,

Yesterday I had a wonderful night with my "Quirky Family."
Although not my real family, it bloody well feels like it sometimes.

DRESS: Can't remember.
JACKET: River Island.
BELT: New Look.
CLUTCH: Vivienne Westwood.
NECKLACE: Miss Selfridge.
TIGHTS: Primark.
SHOES: Primark.
POINT OF FASHION: Ladylike military.

I LOVE that dress! I've had it for years and until recently only wore it for funerals (fun fact!) with it being one of my only fully black dresses.
I call it my 'Witchy dress' - as with the plunging neckline and draped hem it looks something a witch would wear, teehee.

I wore this last night when I went to get Tapas with three of my best friends, Hattie, Megan and Kevin.
We all met whilst studying our A-Levels at Newcastle College (meeting in English Literature class) and used to hang out in Starbucks everyday. We've been firm friends ever since.

We started calling ourselves "The Quirky Family" as we are a bit like a nuclear family unit - with Kevin and Megan as the sensible parents, me as Megan's zany sister, and Hattie as their daughter. (Because she's so freaking adorable, she even buys Megan birthday cards with 'Mummy' on the front!)

We had a lovely night - eating lots of gorgeous food, and drinking lots of Sangria before nipping over to the scene (which was surprisingly quiet for a Monday night - I blame the lack of Daniel) for a few cheeky cocktails. Marvellous!


In other news, this Saturday is the British Style Bloggers meetup! If you're a member of British Style Bloggers and can get to York for Saturday PLEASE join us for some fun!

I can't wait to meet everyone - then I'm going to hang out with my darling friends Sarah (click for her makeup blog!) and Libby who have recently moved into a cottage.
I haven't seen them in months so it'll be wonderful to catch up.

I'm also SO excited, as in a few weeks I'm going to Belfast to hang out with the lovely Claire from French For Cupcake for a few days!
We reckon lots of cake, cocktails, photos and shopping will be in order.
Be sure to give Claire's blog a read if you haven't already as it's my favourite fashion blog!
Also check out the interview with Claire on this blog from back in March.

It's also going to be my first time in Ireland, so I've had this song in my head since ordering my plane tickets:

"Isn't that relaxing? It's called CELTIC MOODS!"

Finally a happy 21st birthday to my lovely hairdresser Chris who keeps me from looking like a hot mess. *mwa mwa*
Is it wrong I have my hair salon on speed dial in case of emergencies?

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

What's In A Name? - The BEST Name Necklaces!

Hi everyone,

As I said in my Heidi Seeker entry, I have a bit of an obsession with anything that can be personalised.
I think this started when I was a kid, and my mam bought me one of those hairbands with your name painted on from the market (anybody else LOVE those?!).

But in later years, it's been all about personalised necklaces, and here are my favourites:

1: Rubi Rocket, $39.
2: Punky Pins, £20.
3: Lola Pop, £20.
4: Lola Pop, £25.
5: Heidi Seeker, £6.66.
6: Tatty Devine, £27.50.

There's one woman who made name necklaces cool again.
Ms Carrie Bradshaw:

In 'the naked dress' she wore on her first date with Big, with her famous gold 'Carrie' necklace.

Before I fell in love with Carrie and the gang from Sex and the City, I always thought gold name necklaces were a little chav-y, but she completely changed my mind about them.

The gold necklace says a lot about Carrie - while she spends thousands of dollars on an outfit ($40,000 on her shoe collection!), her favourite accessory is a little gold necklace she bought on a street fair when she was with all her friends.

What's also interesting is how she has the confidence to wear her name on her chest for everyone to see, but dislikes wearing her engagement ring to Aiden on her finger.

One of my favourite SATC moments is when she recovers the necklace from a hole in her bag, having previously thought she'd lost it somewhere in Paris.
Even though her boyfriend, artist Aleksandr Petrovsky replaced it with an expensive diamond necklace ("The NEW Carrie necklace?"), it was never going to be the same.

"Great, there's a hole in my Dior!"

If you'd prefer a more authentic Carrie necklace, I suggest checking out Punky Pins' selection.
Their SATC inspired designed range have prices for all purses, depending on the material used. (From glitter acrylic for £12 to 14k gold for £99.99)

Most of us will only have one name in our lifetime - I say love it, and flaunt it!

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

PS: For all you SATC lovers - my friend Daniel wrote a BRILLIANT blog post a little while ago on the show. Be sure to give it a read.

Review: We Love Colors

Hey everyone,

I got some lovely new tights from We Love Colors a week or so ago.
I'm usually so boring with tights, sticking to black and am often nervous experimenting with bright colours!

But We Love Colors looked very good quality, and a fantastic range of colours, so I thought I'd give them a go.

I got two colours:

Royal
(Shoes: Office)

Rubine
(Shoes: Dorothy Perkins)

I wore the Rubine ones today for work, so snapped a quick pic of my outfit!
Apologies again for the Blackberry snapshot, I keep forgetting my digital camera.

DRESS: Can't remember.
COAT: New Look.
PIN: Vivienne Westwood.
TIGHTS: We Love Colors.
SHOES: Dorothy Perkins.
POINT OF FASHION: Purple and pink.

The only downside is that at $9-$16 per pair, plus $15 shipping to Europe (only $5 in the USA), plus I also had £11 customs tax to pay, it turns out to be a bit of a splurge for tights.
Especially if you're like me, and used to multipacks from Asda for £3.

But they're so luxurious and good quality, I reckon it's worth paying for if you're going to get a lot of use out of them. And as somebody who wears tights nearly everyday, I've found them totally worth it.

I do prefer the Royal to the Rubine, just because I prefer darker, richer coloured tights - but for a bright tight, I do like the Rubine.
I was worried they'd look like the cheap ones Primark do that give a sheer look (REALLY don't like those!) but they're just as opaque as the darker ones.

DEFINATELY check them out: http://www.welovecolors.com/!

In other news, me and Daniel went to Edinburgh to see Celebrity Autobiography yesterday.
Really we only went because it's taking the mick out of celebrities and stars Michael Urie (who we both fancy) - but it was absolutely fantastic! I laughed from start to finish.

It's a show where actors give dramatic readings (but not acting) of real celebrity autobiographies. Acting simply isn't required as the stories are always far fetched enough.

My favourite readings were the autobiographies of Peter Andre ("I like Trivial Pursuit, but I can't play the Genuis version..."), Katie Price (she keeps mentioning her "bits") and Tommy Lee. (His book is ALL about the rumpy pumpy!)

The cast!
FUN FACT: The actress standing second right next to Michael Urie is Claudia Shear, who is the lady in that episode of Friends who steals Monica's credit card!

Also, check out where the show was held.
It is hands down the oddest venue I've ever been to:


The Udderbelly is a big, purple cow lying on it's back!
HOW CUTE?!

Anyhoo, I hope you're all good.
Sorry for the lack of mid-week nails - I painted our nails in the park yesterday and the blue glitter is refusing to budge!

Be sure to keep following me on Twitter.
Now I have my new phone I'm twitpic-ing a lot more than I did before.


Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

Outfit Post: Zebra Girl

Hey everyone,

Since staring my new job there's been a lack of usual Outfit Posts, because I'm always rushing for the early metro.
But I love doing Outfit Posts, so I'm going to make an effort to get out of the house five minutes earlier to take a decent picture or two.

When I'm in the office, I have to slightly tone down my look - most of my skirts and cullotes are a bit too short for my liking for a professional environment, so I end up wearing dark jeans most of the time.

In every situation though, my outfit does still have to reflect my personality and be a little offbeat.
The tanktop is quite 'Office Gal' - but the animal prints give it a bit of a punky twist.
(You can see how much I love animal print in my previous post!)

TOP: Can't remember.
TANKTOP: George @ Asda.
CARDIGAN: Primark.
JEANS: New Look.
NECKLACE: Miss Selfridge.
WATCH: D&G.
BAG: River Island.
SHOES: Dorothy Perkins.

As I'm currently still a student covering a main job, I can still get away with the jeans.
IF I end up staying on longer than September, I'm going to have to switch to black work pants. Boo!

But people at work don't seem to mind at the moment.
I wore my Barbie necklace from Sunday Girl Accessories a few times last week, and when I was making my coffee a nice lady from another department told me she liked it!

It's been a lovely weekend - me and Rachel went to a 1940s event yesterday, but I'll be posting all about that tomorrow as I haven't touched up the photos yet.

Also, I've been taking photos for the Scavenger Hunt contest over at Loving The Reflection, so may share them with you guys too.
It's a VERY creative contest, and it's funny as people can interpret it in many different ways. I definately recommend getting involved!

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

A/W Trend Alert: Animal Print

Hey everyone,

A lot of the Autumn/Winter collections are now online, and I'm a little depressed looking at them.
Although I do like my thick tights, scarves and boots - I'm always sad when the colours slowly begin to leave the racks, replaced with blacks, greys and splashings of purple.

Plus it's only bloody August - it's still quite pleasant here in the usually not-so-sunny North!

Hmph.

BUT there's a lot of animal print at the moment to brighten proceedings up, and it's one of my favourite prints (next to polka dots!).

(I based the title on this song. LAST Vines reference of the week I promise!)

HAREM PANTS: River Island, £29.99.
HEADBAND: Asos, £3.
UMBRELLA: Dorothy Perkins, £8.
SUNGLASSES (It's only August!): New Look, £7.50.

I think the key to getting animal print right is to only wear one statement peice.
I especially love wearing it with a block colour, especially black or pink.

The harem pants made me smile, as I remember singer Gabrielle Cilmi wearing a glittery leopard pair at The Look Show back in Febuary.
I told her I loved her pants, but accidentally ended up snubbing her, as I didn't recognise her!
Daniel has never let me live that one down.


It's also that time of week again:

This week is NOT Barry M (*audible gasps all around*) - it's Fairy Cake (cutest name EVER?!) by 17 Cosmetics.
I wrote a blog post here about when I bought it.

WARNING: VILE NAILS COMING UP!!

I know, I know. My nails look gross, right? I had an accident in the workplace!

Part of my job includes packing prospectuses. Lots and lots of heavy prospectuses, and my poor brittle nails didn't stand a chance. So it's back to the drawing board with them. *le sigh*

Anyway, on to the polish!

As I explained last time, I wanted a dupe for my Nails Inc nailpolish which had began to dry up.
The consistancy of the Nails Inc stuff was always quite runny and took forever to achieve that lovely opaque look.

It takes a few coats to get a lovely matte look (very like Barry M's nail paints) but my main problem with these products are the brushes - they're very cheap and do not make for a clean, easy application. It's exactly the same with my gold polish. Grrr.

It is pretty, but definately needs a topcoat as it chips very easily, but is a lovely dupe for a much more expensive nail polish.
Boots have a deal on at the moment where they are two for £5, so they're worth trying!

In other news, BIG love to my old "boss" (using the term loosely as everytime we've worked together we've ended up having a right laugh) Emma who came into the office today during my lunch break - I've missed her crack on! And she reads this blog so HI EMMA! :)

She was telling me all about her hen party (Americanos: this is what we call bachelorette parties!) - she's booked a 'Catwalk' party, where she and her gang will have a makeover, be styled and have their pictures taken as they strut their stuff on a catwalk/runway.
Then they get free entry into a lovely club in Leeds.
Not to shabby eh? Sounds like my ideal day!

Also, I forgot to thank you for all your lovely comments on my new blog layout!
It's been described as everything from an episode of Daria, to the cover of a Jacqueline Wilson book - both of which I LOVE!

This Saturday is also the Victory Day event, which I am REALLY looking forward to.
I've been looking through old pictures of my glamourous Italian aunties when they were young for inspiration.
But you'll be hearing all about them at the end of the week, I promise.

Hope you're all keeping good, my darlings.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter, and add me via my Facebook page!

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.

450 Followers Giveaway - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!

Hi everyone,

Apologies for anyone looking for this post yesterday. I ended up going out for the day, and by the time I got in it was a bit too late for me to be sorting out all the entries.
I had an AMAZING response for this one, with 116 comments and a lot of you tweeting and blogging for extra entries.

But sadly there can only be two winners. And they are...

*drumroll*

The winner of the Ditzy Floral parcel is...

Is Elsa Weatherwax from Quel and Salsa!

and

The winner of the Sweetheart parcel is...

Is Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon.

It's so funny, I actually drew Bianca's name first - but when I had another readthrough the comments, Elsa commented on the Ditzy Floral, and Bianca's latest entry was all about red things.
Perfecto - a switch it is!

Can you both please email me, since neither of you left emails? :)

I randomly selected the winners through Random.org, but I completely forgot to take pictures - sorry, sorry! :(

Thank you again to everyone who entered - the next one will probably be in October for this blog's 1st birthday!

Muchos love,
MessyCarla.