OUTFIT POST: Welcome Back to Town

Hey everyone,

Remember when: me, UK, outfit posts?
Remember all that good stuff that used to go on here? Expect more of that, again.

On Instagram, I've been taking pictures of the progress of my bedroom being redecorated.
It's coming along really well. The walls are painted pale pink (though they come out white in photos due to my room being so bright) and everything else is a bit of a work in progress.

However I currently have space in which to take photos indoors - which I haven't really done since the early days of this blog!

DRESS: Asda

BELT: Dorothy Perkins

NECKLACE: River Island

TIGHTS: We Love Colors (review here)

SHOES: eBay

This necklace was a River Island sale find back in August - only £5!

NAILS: Jo'Mina by Illamasqua with Twinkle by Rimmel on top.

This photo shows the rich royal blue of my tights - if I was a rich girl (na na na na na na nahh) I would own all the colours.

They're seriously the best tights ever!

And my makeup:

I felt like a change from my usual black cat eye flick so experimented with sparkly, neon blue instead!

FOUNDATION: Wake Me Up in shade 400/Natural Beige by Rimmel

BRONZER: Golden Tan by Covergirl

EYELINER: Bora Bora by Stila

EYESHADOW (UNDER EYE): Baked by Urban Decay

MASCARA: They're Real by Benefit

EYEBROWS: Vamp Palette by HD Brows

LIPS: Maneater by Illamasqua with Fruit Punch lip glaze by Stila on top

Right, that's all for today!

I've just bought train tickets to visit my sister in Glasgow next week.

I am very much looking forward to being the creepy grown-up who says things like "Hey kids, so where are all the cool parties this weekend?" {/Buffy reference}

I've never been before - so if you're local be sure to holler me your favourite things to do. 

Although my sister lives there, you never know what she might have missed!

My sister's university.

Hogwarts, much?

Muchos love,

MessyCarla

TRAVEL: Back to Blighty!

Hey everyone,

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I have returned to Blighty!

(All pictures shamelessly stolen from Sam!)

It's been an incredible five-and-a-bit months, but I decided to come home. 

Not for any particular reason - it's not that I wasn't enjoying myself, or feeling homesick at all - but it was the right decision for me. 

It's been an amazing adventure - and I thank you all a million times for being so patient during my hiatus.

The reason it seems a little out of the blue was that I actually wanted to surprise my parents. 

After my two flights (twenty three hours in the air was not fun - and I managed to mess up my already dodgy knee so I now have an attractive limp) I spent three days in London with my best friend Sam. 

It was so much fun, and I wasn't too jet lagged as I was lucky enough to get a red eye from Hong Kong.

Not having much stirling on me, we had lots of dvd watching under blankets with tea and toast. Although we did have a jaunt into the city for our favourite London activity of wandering around the V&A museum then for a cheeky pint or two. 

I also got to see my girl Lauren of Pocket Rocket Fashion for a date at The Diner and caught up on what everyone's been up to - I'm not going to lie, it's been hard at times being so out of the loop!

We always take a 'tourist shot' of me reading a map!

I had no winter clothes with me, so had to layer up all my Summer gear and Sam loaned me a hat and scarf.

Kylie Minogue's dressing room exhibition at the V&A. I love her so much!

Running around The Disney Store in Oxford Street like an excited child.

At one of our favourite watering holes in Central London - The Porterhouse in Covent Garden.

(We also usually go to The Maple Leaf but most of the taps were off for some reason.)

It was so much fun surprising my parents when I got back to the North. 

I asked Italian Catholic Mother to go to my sister's window overlooking the road, and I was down there with my backpack waving! 

Needless to say she and Papi B were very surprised! 

I've been home for just over a week now, and have been enjoying some serious downtime as well as catching up with my friends which has been so much fun.

I'm definitely going try my hardest to get back into regular blogging as I really do miss it - and you all.

I seriously can't thank you all enough for your supportive comments, messages and tweets while I've been away. You guys are the best!

Muchos love,

MessyCarla.

TRAVEL: Checking In...from Melbourne!

Hey everyone,

Dear me, where has the time gone? Have I really been away from home for four months already? Crazy.

Once again I must apologise for not blogging, but one again everything has been none-stop.
Although it was almost a month ago, I must tell you all that Christmas abroad was awesome.

Despite it being thunder and lightening and "Sydney's wettest Christmas in seventy years". That didn't deter us.
We planned to go to the beach, so we bloody well went to the beach.

On the plus side, we had the whole coast to ourselves.
And the water wasn't so cold after a bottle or two of Prosecco.

BRITS ABROAD, WOO.

This is the picture WITH the bathing suits on. Just sayin'.



We'd only just recovered from Christmas, (and managed not to catch colds - score!) when New Year was upon us.
We had tickets to the Opera House Bar to watch the fireworks and they were worth every penny.

With my roommates Olivia and Alyson waiting for sunset.

The party was beach themed - so my floral Red Herring dress was perfect!

However, yesterday we all moved out of our little flat (known lovingly as 'The Crack Den' if you follow me on Twitter) to continue our adventures elsewhere. Olivia and Alyson have headed up the East Coast, but I have moved to Melbourne!

The view from my hostel.

As you can probably tell by the shape of the above photo, I have joined the Instagram family. Only about three years too late to the party, right?

My poor little Blackberry drowned in the afformentioned Christmas downpour so I now have an Android. You can follow me on Instagram under (of course) MESSYCARLA! 





Right, apologies again this is so short - but I have lots of job hunting to do (boo!) before I meet my friends Jay and Becca for a few drinks (woo!).

I do miss you all loads - the best way to keep in touch with me is (as always) via Twitter!


Muchos love,
MessyCarla

TRAVEL: Christmas Down Under

Hey everyone,

Gosh has it really been nearly a month since I posted?

Well as predicted I managed to break my netbook within the first three months of travelling.
I'm not quite sure how I managed it, just one day it refused to turn on again. I've taken it to a few shops to be fixed, and have been quoted around $300 just for repair so looks like I'll be hitting Gumtree in the near future for a replacement. Maybe I'll find a good deal when people are selling their cast-offs to replace their new Christmas presents. Fingers crossed!

However my roomie, Alyson has loaned me her's for the time being, so thought I'd update you all.
Another reason I haven't updated is we've been so busy doing fun activities during 'the silly season' as it is known down under.
Christmas is all-go at home, and I thought I'd at least get a break this year.

But no - this being Sydney there is always something to do!

Becca, me and Helen watching the snow fall inside the QVB!

Our Christmas photo/card we sent home to our families taken by the Opera House.

(Doesn't Olivia make a lovely Santa?)

We've all been lucky enough to recieve our Christmas parcels from home. Of course we're saving the presents for the 25th, but we've opened our cards to decorate our room.

My sister is studying in Glasgow so sent me a tartan Christmas/Hogmanay card!

Olivia, Alyson, Michael and Helen waiting for Santa Fest 2012 to begin.

Welcome to Australia: where Santa is too cool to travel by sleigh and reindeer.

Water skiing Santas...

...and Jet Pack Santa!

One of our favourite Saturday traditions is going to see the fireworks at Darling Harbour.

We're going to miss them after the holiday season is over. 

And since 'tis the season to be jolly (and also for sugar rushes) I had to treat myself to some churros at the Village Bizarre. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Finally, I'm not sure if I'll be posting again until after Christmas - so just in case, I hope you all have a marvellous day however you spend it.
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you still have a few wonderful, peaceful days vegging out in front of the TV with fizzy pop, cheese flavoured snacks and sweets!

And - as always - I'll leave you with some of my favourite holiday songs:


It's Christmas (And I Hate You) by Paloma Faith and Josh Weller.


Christmas is Cancelled by The Long Blondes


Maybe This Christmas by Rex Sexsmith


Baby, It's Cold Outside by Selma Blair and Rainn Wilson

Muchos love,
MessyCarla

I Wanna See Your Peacock...

Hey everyone,

What is this? An actual outfit post? Get outta here!

I was kindly sent this peacock dipped hem dress by Sienna Couture.
I hadn't heard of them previously, and had a hard time choosing - especially with Christmas just around the corner it was difficult not to go for a sparkly number.
However as it's slowly creeping into summer here in Sydney, I decided to be sensible and go for something I could wear all season:

 

(I was on my way out, and I forgot to take my shades off my head for these photos. Oh, well.
Also, my ombre hair is slowly creeping back!)

DRESS: c/o Sienna Couture
BELT: Dorothy Perkins
NECKLACE: New Look (plus the vintage St Christopher that my Auntie gave me before I went travelling. I haven't taken it off once!)
SHOES: Primark

This dress is absolutely beautiful and I've already worn it loads this week - first for the first night of PSFWA, another for drinks in Newtown with my workmate Jessica, and for yet more drinks last night with Hayley, her husband Henry, Gisela and Genevive.

(I did have to go to the post office beforehand to mail my family's Christmas parcel and was given some odd looks from fellow backpackers for being a tad overdressed - again, I say: oh well!)

You can also see the same dress on my blogger twin Claire of French For Cupcake who has styled it with a faux fur trim leather jacket and boots. Babe.

So yeah, fun times we had last night.
I've always said the best thing about blogging is the friendships, and while I'm missing my pals in the UK (though me and Lauren had a good catch up on Facebook chat last night!) I'm so grateful for the amazing, kind girls here who have been so welcoming.

 Standard.

Many, many thanks to Hayley for taking all these pictures!  
*heart shapes*

Finally, I'll leave you with the tedious song I named this blog post after, and more importantly - this hilarious video about just how much it sucks:

If you aren't subscribed already to Angelina, you really should be.


Right, I'm off to get ready - me and my roommates are going to see Santa tonight at Darling Harbour!
Yes, we really are all in our twenties.
And yes, we know we are just too cool.


Muchos love,
MessyCarla

PSFWA!

Hey everyone,

After two months of being out of the blogging loop (I'll admit to trawling through my favourite blogger's Twitter feeds before bed!) I attended PSFWA (Plus Size Fashion Weekend Australia) organized by Danimezza who had very kindly invited me last minute.

I'd been a bit up-and-down this week as I've been pretty sick for a few days (I caught our new roommate's cold) but I was convinced to go and I'm so glad I did!

Like always, I figure it's easier to show you lots of pictures instead of a mini essay - so here goes:

Amazing view from the beautiful penthouse apartment at World Square.

Hayley was on the Channel 9 evening news being interviewed about Zara, so we all tuned in to watch!

The first night had a major sleepover vibe, so what's perfect for a sleepover? Copious amounts of pizza!...

...and a Neapolitan ice cream cake courtesy of Baskin Robbins!

After a fair few glasses of pink fizz, there was a clothes swap. I inherited this H&M t-shirt and City Chic skirt.

I'm unsure where the bracelets and necklace are from - but I claimed those too!

The next day we headed to Benefit to check out their brow bar. After being waxed, plucked and dyed we were then treated to a makeover by their lovely, friendly staff.

It was sweet to finally meet the adorable Nicola of 2 Many Cupcakes after years of chatting on Twitter!

Ashley Rose being a babe.

Afterwards we headed back to the apartment for nibbles and an exclusive preview of the City Chic A/W collection. I love the stud detail and collar tips on these dresses!
(Keep an eye on their blog during the next week or two - I may be making an appearance soon!)

And a presentation from the awesome and hilarious Melanie, founder of FemaleForLife active wear in sizes 8-24.

After a few drinks, a bunch of us decided to go and chat to the penises stars of Chatroulette. We're so mature. I was hoping to bump into Merton of YouTube fame, but alas this didn't happen.

And finally, dinner at Grill'd.

I do love a mean burger, so had chicken, brie and cranberry and also shared herb chips and mayonaisse with Hayley. So good!

Thank you so much again Danielle for letting me come along!

And also to some of my favourite new bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting, including:

• Melissa (aka Suger) of Sugar Coat It who I can't wait to have more fun times with when I travel to Brisbane!

• The hilarious Olivia of Wait Until The Sunset who has the most infectious laugh ever which I can't wait to hear again on the Gold Coast!

• Nicola of 2 Many Cupcakes for being an amazing cheerleader for my blog, as well as all my UK blogger friends. Also fist bumps for being generally adorable.

• Gisela Ramirez for being ever-inspiring and taking one for the team during our Chatroulette party (I'll say no more!).

• The beautiful and sweet Ashley Rose for helping me prop up the bar.

• My new fashion icon/guru and Noel Fielding fangirl, Evie of Work It, Own It, Use It!

• And finally 'my Sydney BFF' Hayley of Fashion Hayley for pulling me out of bed when I wanted to stay home and feel sorry for myself. Kudos!

Be sure to give these girls a click!

Muchos love,

MessyCarla

TRAVEL: Six Weeks Down Under

Hey everyone,

Remember me, that girl who used to blog?

I'm so sorry it's been almost a month since I blogged, but everything is still all systems go in Sydney.
We moved into our flat last month and have been here for about three weeks now. It's very cheap, but there's are technically nine of us living here (four in our room - me, my friends Alyson and Olivia and a French girl, Mathilde), four French boys in another room (François, Romain, Adrien and another whose name we keep forgetting but we call him 'Pitbull' as he looks a bit like the rapper of the same name) and another single room housing another French guy called Mario and his girlfriend sleeps over most nights too.

It gets a bit cramped sometimes as the lads always have their mates over to watch football or play Fifa (François is a HUGE Newcastle United fan!) but never overbearing. We keep meaning to all go out together so but we keep missing each others schedules - either we have plans/are broke or vise versa. There's also a bit of a language barrier as their English is very scattered and of course our French is even worse. But as Olivia pointed out this will just make things funnier!

Right, I'll stop waffling on now and share some pictures.
(I hope this style of blogging is ok with you guys for now!)

So recently I have...

Chilled out at Surry Hills - possibly my new favourite area of Sydney!
(but I still haven't been to Newtown yet...)

Explored Watsons Bay.

Eaten delicious calamari and chips.

Made a Sydney BFF in the form of Hayley!

Seen Planet Earth in Concert...

...and Pixar in Concert at the Sydney Opera House!

Enjoyed a cheeky bottle of Prosecco (or two) at the Opera Bar afterwards....

But can you blame us? Check out the view!

Become addicted to the $10 bento from the Japanese place under my apartment building.

Developed a second sight for happy hour!

Got inked!

(More on this in an upcoming blog post! It's still a bit scabby and healing in the photo.)

(Photo by Hayley)

Dressed up as a kitty cat for Halloween, went to Jesse Willesee's Haunted Hotel party in Kings Cross, and cried because I just want to hug all of the cats.

Was attacked with allergies so bought out my local pharmacy and spent all day in bed watching movies.

(Olivia, me, Alyson, Becca, Jay and a Chilean guy called Juan who spent his last night in Sydney with us - the lucky duck!)

I got better just in time for our favourite 'Pommy' quiz night at Irish pub, Scruffy Murphy's!

This always works out a cheap night as they give away free jugs of beer. (Check out Olivia and Alyson using wine glasses, the classy birds!)
Our team 'The Quiz Tarrants' have come second both times we've competed - third time lucky?

And that's all for now, folks!

I hope you all had fun Halloweens whether you were out dancing or home watching scary movies with a huge bag of sweets. Both sound marvelous to me.

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of my friend Daniel dressed as a jilted bride:

Miss you, lover!

Muchos love,

MessyCarla.