Yorkshire Bloggers lunch 29th October

I've seen on Twitter before about blogger meet ups for Yorkshire bloggers and have wanted to go. They're organised by Fran at A Style Creative and when she set up a date for the end of October I jumped at the chance to go.

It was held in the new Victoria Gate centre in Leeds, which had only opened a few days earlier. The centre has a huge John Lewis and is really fancy, I liked it and I'd like to go back and look at the rest of it. It links to the Victoria Arcade and the back of Harvey Nichols, which is nice, and it's got a huge car park which is a boon for that edge of Leeds.

We went to Le Pain Quotidien, which is a London based chain and this is the first one in the north. I think I've eaten in it in London, but I wasn't sure what to expect. I liked the decor - cute writing on the wall and nice, casual wooden tables. There were seven of us, and we were seated in the middle of a long table which was perfect.

Le Pain does meat dishes and also has more than a few vegetarian and vegan options, which are clearly labelled on the menu. I think that's great as I have a lot of vegetarian and vegan friends and it's always nice to have new places to go with them.

I chose the vegan chilli which came with guacamole and soya sour cream, and two hunks of bread. It was really nicely spicy and I'd definitely order it again. With this I had a hot chocolate, which was also delicious. It came as a cup of hot milk with a little jug of warm chocolate sauce to pour in, it was yummy!

We chatted lots which was just as well as the service was, I felt, a little slow. It was packed, but it felt like the staff were out of their depth a little bit. But, we had time to sit and chat.

For dessert I chose the scone with jam and cream, and also had a glass of raspberry lemonade. The lemonade was beautifully sour with a hint of mint, and the scone was hot when it got to me. It was also really yummy!

I made an effort and did both my hair and make up, here's my face:

This recipe book was standing up in the middle of the table which was really cute but impeded conversation a little bit!

This is my chilli with the cup of hot chocolate in the background. As I said, totally yummy

This raspberry lemonade was really nice

And here's the really yummy scone

I'll definitely visit Le Pain Quotidien again - I'll have to take Lee as I think he'd really like it. 

PSBloggers love!

Debz has put together a thing whereby plus size bloggers write posts about each other and share the love. She actually wrote about me! You can read it here. I'm really humbled by her words - especially when she says about the good things I do for the community :)

I was given Vicky of The Curved Opinion to write about which is great as I've read Vicky's blog for a while now. I like the mix of subjects on her blog, and I love her fashion style and wish I owned most of her dresses! I also think she's really pretty.

Here's Vicky in jeans - unusual! - but looking fabulous

And here she is in a GORGEOUS dress that I wish I owne

Do you read Vicky's blog? Can you share some blogger love today? Who should I be following? 

September Swap

Debz at Wannabe Princess held a September swap where bloggers swapped gifts with each other. I sent mine to Steph at Seeing Spots and I think she liked everything. I don't know who sent mine, they're still a mystery! Here's what I got, anyway:

Everything was wrapped in a leopardskin bag, I got a scarf, some eyeshadow, some nail polishes, and some chocolate which I've eaten!

I like these colours especially the top ones

I don't often wear shades like this but I like them, the one on the right is gorgeous

This is the scarf pattern, isn't it adorable!?

11 Things Post

The lovely Janet over at Words Can Only Be Your Own recently did this post so I thought I'd join in. I've been reading Janet's blog for years and I love it, she's such a good writer.

Here are the rules:

- List 11 random facts about yourself
- Answer 11 questions given to you by the nominator
- Set 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate
- Tag your chosen bloggers and wait to read their answers

So here's 11 things about me you might not know:
- I share my birthday with Dolly Parton, Janis Joplin, Edgar Allen Poe and Paul Cezanne
- I was due on my dad's 31st birthday but was four days early
- My first degree is in Theology because I love learning about all religions and spiritualities and how people came by their beliefs
- I met Lee through a Manic Street Preachers chat room
- My wedding and engagement rings were made by my dad's cousin who is a jeweller
- All I wanted growing up was a cat that would sleep on my feet and early in 2007 we rescued Ivy and she does in fact sleep on my feet
- I am rubbish at cooking but I do make a mean Victoria sponge
- I have five tattoos and two more booked; if I had unlimited money I would be covered in them
- I would love to make a business out of running workshops and things like that
- I have far far far too many books but BOOKS ARE GREAT
- I am passionate about realistic Young Adult literature that reflects the lived experiences of today's teens

Here are Janet's questions:

1. Why did you start blogging?
It was about ten years ago and my friend Melly had a blog and through her I discovered others, and got on to Xanga and LJ. I made friends on Xanga and as I was about to get married it became a sort of pre-wedding diary. Then I got into Libertines fandom and started posting on LiveJournal more.
2. What post are you most proud of?
On this blog, I really like that I managed to blog so much in August and share so much of my general life rather than just clothes.
3. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
Seeing my words and pictures come to life
4. And a least favourite?
Uploading photos, what a faff!
5. Important matters now: what's your favourite colour of sweet?
I’m very partial to the blackcurrant ones
4. And what's your least favourite?
Green, duh.
5. What is your favourite flower?
Tulips or lilies or snowdrops. I love flowers.
6. Did you have a favourite dressing up outfit as a child (or, indeed, as an adult)?
The only one I can actually remember owning was a tabard that my mum had had at work, we used to play shop with it. I don’t really like fancy dress!
7. Zayn or Harry?
HARRY. Sorry what.
My longer answer is, both! I like Harry’s aesthetic, he’s very pretty and from what I’ve seen on Tumblr of him, he’s really getting comfortable with himself and I like that. I like Zayn especially because he is from Bradford, and I also think a lot of the hate he gets is pure Islamophobia and I would like to combat that. So, BOTH.
8. What was your best holiday, and why?
Last year when we went to Benidorm was really good!
9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
France, I don’t know where exactly but as long as there were sunflower fields nearby and a swimming pool in the back garden I’d be happy.
10. What's your favourite Christmas tradition?
A few years ago I hand sewed some stockings and the tradition now is to have four or five small presents in them that we open while we’re eating lunch. I like that I started my own tradition!
11. Do you have a nickname?
Lots! Lee calls me Bee, my mum calls me Bec, most other people call me Rebs. My name is very versatile and I don’t really care how you shorten it! 

I'm not going to ask questions, but feel free to answer Janet's too :)