What I Wore January 26th

On Saturday 26th I had to go to a fairly formal event for my 2nd job. I actually have three jobs - one two days a week, one 8 hours a week from home/with events when I have to, and one 2 days a month. It's complicated, I know. You don't have to keep up.

Anyway I had to go to this formal event so I decided to wear a new black dress, I got it in the sale from Asos Curve and this is a size 26. I haven't bought anything from them in ages but they're really upped their games, I love this!

Please excuse my messy kitchen! I told Lee to move in a bit further. Anyway, black dress from Asos Curve, purple leggings from Forever 21+ years ago, Avon make up, and those ubiquitous black boots I've been wearing because of all the snow!

I'm also wearing a pearl necklace that I've recently had restrung. I felt that added a touch of formality. I felt damn fabulous!

What I Wore January 23rd & Starting My MA

I have started an MA in Writing. In 2010 & 2011 I did a Diploma with the Open University but decided that I wanted my MA to be at a bricks-and-mortar university. I researched a lot and eventually settled on Sheffield Hallam, as the lecture structure fits into my life, it's easy to get to, and I liked the tutors. I didn't start in September, I was part of the January intake. I went on Wednesday 23rd January to enrol, and lectures start on the 30th! Eek!

As I was in Sheffield I asked Bettie and Jen and Lolly to meet me for lunch, so we went to the Winter Gardens for coffee and cake, and I also had a really spicy Mexican sandwich before I went just across the road to find my tutors and co-students. I got a bunch of information, talked to people about YA literature, had a tour of the library, got my access card, and got the train back home!

Here's what I wore:

I'm wearing a black with cream dots tea dress from Simply Be - I was encouraged to try it on in Doncaster by Rachel, she has the same dress in a different print. It is gorgeous. It's lightweight cotton, it doesn't stretch but it's cut on the bias so it has a bit of give. It has a V-neck, floaty sleeves, and a nice waistband. I love it, I think I'll be wearing it a lot!

I'm also wearing it with black leggings which are soon to be replaced as they're full of holes, and my black boots that I am SO sick of wearing because of the weather! They were a bargain from Peacocks last winter though. 

I'm standing in the Winter Gardens in front of some very beautiful trees! 

Simply Be Paisley Dress

When I was on the way to Doncaster for the shopping recently, my mum texted me to tell me to buy any things for myself as birthday presents if I saw anything. Now I don't need to be told twice, so I bought sale items in Simply Be. They were on 3-for-2, so I got three items for about £40!

I had seen this dress on the website and liked it, and in the shop it was just £10. There were eight of us shopping, and five of us ended up buying it! So today all five of us are going to show you how we would style the dress.

I saw on the Simply Be website here that they had paired this dress with red tights, so I did the same, and also slipped on my black heels that I sometimes wear for work and nights out. I wouldn't have thought of pulling the red out of the dress but I'm glad I did as I think the bright tights set it off really well. 

Here you can see the heels better. They are quite low blocky heels so quite comfortable for me, I hate heels usually. The tights are from The Big Bloomers Company which I wholeheartedly endorse. It's a great site. They have tights and underwear and loungewear and even big hospital gowns which is one of the things the NHS should provide but doesn't. Their All Woman tights are seriously SO roomy. I could get me and someone else inside mine. And even though they're only 20 denier they hold up really well, as do these red ones. 

I've tried to get more of a full body shot here but I don't have a full length mirror - I should invest in one. The dress is a nice length on me - about knee length. I'm 5'5" for reference. It is quite clingy though and I have a visible belly outline which I'm not used to. Wearing this will be somewhat out of my comfort zone so I will wear it accordingly!

This is a close up of the print and shows the colour of my tights. I have the same ones in teal which I'll show you at some point. 

One of the reasons I love this dress though is that because of the mock wrap effect it really highlights my hourglass shape, which I like, and also it sits really nicely across my boobs, separating them so there's no 'monoboob' effect, which often happens to me. 

I also really like the sleeve length as they make the dress winter appropriate and save me from wearing a cardigan. 

Finally I must show you my nail polish! I absolutely love nail polish; I have over 200. This one is Nails Inc Chester Terrace, which is a dark teal/blue. It's also matte, which means it isn't shiny. I like it!

Birthday Shopping in Manchester

As I said in my last post, I was in Manchester for my birthday. I hate having a January birthday because it's so close after Christmas and everyone is skint and fed up. So I usually try to do something a bit special for it, and I nearly always have a weekend for friends in January or February. This time it was Manchester!

As we left the hotel we walked into the city centre and went past a bunch of modern and old Co-operative buildings. I like this one a lot. 

This is the Printworks, taken from inside Next in the Arndale Centre. The Arndale Centre has had a big refurbishment and has some good shops, including a Simply Be and a Yours. I'm thinking there will be a rad fat outing there before long!

This is inside Selfridges, I love it. 

We had afternoon tea in Selfridges, I had these adorable little macarons. 

My mum and me standing on stepping stones on a stream type thing - can you see the silver spouts behind us? The water from those was like a little stream and my mum and I walked on the stones.

I'm wearing a printed dress from Yours that I got in the sale for £12, and black leggings, black boots, and my black hoodie. It was cold, what can I say! 

We left Manchester and went to my mum's where she cooked, by request of the birthday girl, beef stroganoff and lemon cheesecake. Lee eats neither so he had chicken stroganoff and chocolate cheesecake. Then I got to open birthday presents!

My BFF Sam bought me this Rancid bag off Etsy. I think it's made out of a t-shirt. I love Rancid, they're one of my favourite bands and I have a tattoo of one of their lyrics. 

Lee bought me a Pingu. 

And Sam bought me a hand-tooled leather journal, it's beautiful!

An Evening Out in Manchester

So as I said in my last post, me, Lee, my mum, and stepdad were in Manchester for my birthday. We had a relaxing drink in the bar, got changed, and headed out into Manchester for a meal.

Since it was my birthday I got to choose, so I decided on Mexican and we went to Las Iguanas. We've been to the one in Leeds (for Lee's 30th in August last year actually) so we knew what to expect. We had a great time!

Here's what I wore:

The dress is from the 2nd Clements Rebeiro Swan collection, it was my main Christmas present from my mum and I've worn it a few times since then. It's effortlessly dressy and comfortable to wear. I'm wearing black leggings from Evans and black boots from Peacocks. 

Here's a closer look:

My mum and I had champagne cocktails to start off with! You can see the colours on the dress a lot better here. My lipstick is by Beauty UK and Rachel helped me to pick it out in Doncaster, because she is the queen of red lipstick! 

Here's some of what we had to eat and drink:

I loved the decor in the restaurant, I love the colourful saint pictures

After we'd eaten I knew that we were close to Albert Square, so I made us walk up. I went in November when I went to the Christmas Markets in Manchester, and I knew how pretty it was. Although it was freezing we had a nice wander. 

This is Manchester Town Hall.

The fountain was really frozen!

My mum and me on the steps of the Town Hall. 

After the walk we got a taxi back to the hotel and went to bed early to make sure we were ready for the next day!

Oh, I should point out that most of these photos were taken by my mum or stepdad on my mum's camera. 

What I Wore Jan 18th

On Friday I was lucky enough to be invited on to the Coronation Street set! I write sometimes for the excellent Coronation Street Blog and all the bloggers were invited, so I think there were 12 of us that walked up to Granada in central Manchester. We saw Paul-the-fireman, Audrey waved at us, Sunita said hello, and Gail Platt walked past! We had a great time looking at both indoor and outdoor sets and learning little secrets about the programme! Later we went on on a locations tour to look at the 'real' Weatherfield.

Saturday was my birthday (29!) so since I was in Manchester I arranged for my mum, stepdad, and Lee to come over to make a weekend of it. We were worried they wouldn't make it because of the weather, but they did!

Anyway, above is a photo of the outfit I wore during the day. I took the photo in our hotel room - the Park Inn Radisson on Cheetham Hill Rd. I really recommend it as it's really lovely! It has a pool and a spa, too.

I'm wearing a paisley print top that I got from the clothes swap last week, it's from Evans, a blue denim skirt from Simply Be a few years ago (this is basically "jeans" for me as I don't wear trousers), and socks with bees on from New Look!

Here I am standing in the iconic Rovers Return doorway, wearing a black hoodie and scarf over my outfit above. My boots were from Peacocks but I'll share a better picture of them soon!

I hope the weather hasn't stopped you from doing what you wanted - and I'm so glad it didn't stop us from getting to Coronation Street!

Fat clothes swapping in Leeds 12th January

This Saturday saw the 5th fat clothes swap in Leeds. I've been to all of them, but this time me and Lolly organised it! Kirsty and Emily weren't available to, so we took it on, but it was due to their hard work that it even exists in the first place!

We used the same venue as previously, Wharf Chambers in Leeds. It's a workers co-operative so renting their space really helps them, which feels good, and it's a nice amount of space with two rooms and lots of tables. We set up with the help of a few people - thank you, seriously. Bettie brought her zine distro, Lolly made yummy cupcakes, and Chloe at Life's Big Canvas gave us an amazing discount in her shop, which is just around the corner!

We had approximately 40 people come through the doors, all 24 cupcakes went, many many clothes were swapped and snaffled, Bettie sold quite a few zines, and afterwards 17 of us went to Zizzi's which was really lovely.

I picked up some really amazing stuff - dresses and tops and teal shoes. I will show those in different posts though, as they're being washed currently - I'm really allergic to a lot of washing powders so have to wash things that I get secondhand.

Here I am with one of the yummy cupcakes. I'm wearing a peach dress with heart print from New Look Inspire last year, and a coral coloured shrug. I'm also wearing make up, although you probably can't see that. It's a rarity, though.

Steph has written about the swap here, Rebecca's post (with gorgeous photos) is here, Lolly and Bettie have also written posts so do check them out :) 

My mum and her friend came too, and they had a great day. Meg was thrilled to find 2 pairs of trousers and a gorgeous linen jacket that would be perfect for a wedding. My mum picked up a dress that I actually thought she brought it was so much her style. Plus she was absolutely made up that people snapped up her homemade 80s dresses straight away! Hehe, retro style. 

There will be another swap probably in late April or early May. Keep a look out!

Fat shopping in Doncaster

Saturday 5th January saw me and several others hit Doncaster for a rad fat shopping trip. Above are Lisa, me, Becky, Lisa, and Rachel. I stole this photo from Laura, you can see her post here for more ace pictures. Doncaster is some kind of fat shopping Mecca - it has a Simply Be store, a Yours store, an Evans, and the biggest Inspire range in New Look that I've ever been in. It also has a really great cut price make up shop called Dazzle. The train and bus stations are also right next to the shopping centre - you don't even have to go outside - making it a great and accessible place if you can't walk very far. 

When I set up the shopping trip, I honestly thought there'd be four of us - me, Lisa (the one on the left), Laura, and Rachel. We've been shopping before and socialised together. But Laura brought her friend Lisa, Beth and Steph came from Lancashire, and Becky even travelled all the way from Bath. It's really great what can be achieved when we get together. We were quite a spectacle, I think - eight fat girls wandering through the shopping centre. One man even turned to his wife and said scathingly, "Oh look, it's a fatties outing". To which I turned, laughed, and said, "Yes, it is!" Thanks for trying to insult us. It didn't work.

As you can see, we all shopped ourselves out. I was lucky because my mum told me to buy myself birthday presents. I don't need to be told twice! I spent £44 in Simply Be, I will show you these at a later date. 

I'm wearing a black, orange, and yellow dress from Tesco last summer, it was just £8 in the sale! And a black hoodie from H&M that I got secondhand, I wear it all the time.

I am sure we'll organise another shopping trip before long - maybe the beginning of July? You'd be very welcome to come!

Hello, world

Hello, world! Well, not that I'm a stranger to the world, or the blogging world, even. I have a LiveJournal. I have a Tumblr. I have a Twitter that I use a lot. I am part of a radical fat collective and I have organised fat positive events. I have met loads of bloggers, but I've never managed to blog properly myself.

So, new year, new blog. Here I am. My Twitter is @sullenhearts, so I thought I'd use the same name here. Here you'll find a focus on politics, radical fat living, fatshion, writing, and so on. I'm Rebecca, I'm almost 29, I live in Yorkshire, and it's nice to meet you.

The photo above was taken on holiday in Scotland last September. The loch behind me is Loch Katrine. I'm wearing casual and comfortable clothes perfect for the walking we did.

See you soon!