Breaking away from it all - My weekend in London

My life has been pretty hectic recently and although it is simmering down a little my annual trip to London couldn't have come at a better time. I make the trip to London every April to celebrate the birth of my two best, best, best friends, in the world ever! Well, there are five of us in total and usually we travel together but we're all grown up now, working hard so it's little more difficult than it has been to coordinate and arrange for us all to go together. 

Arriving on the Friday afternoon with my girl Steph we met up with fellow blogger and bestie Lumie on her lunch break from Google headquarters, for quick cuddles, giggles and to pick up the keys to our home for the weekend. A simple, but homely Soho-based apartment. We couldn't have been closer to the action if we tried.

Steph and I had a little mooch around while we waited for Lumes to finish work. We spent a lifetime in Monki, which is now my FAVOURITE shop. It's so bright and colourful. I have to admit my initial thoughts were that I'd see a million things I liked and not be able to find my size. Fortunately for me Monki is chubby-girl friendly and I pretty much bought the entire store.

Friday evening we got ready and headed out to Chotto Matte which is a trendy restaurant/bar serving Sushi-style mini plates for sharing with friends. Great atmosphere, great service, good food. The set up was a little weird and I didn't like how the food was served, which is all I have to complain about. It was a tad confusing and really unnecessary, I feel like I spent half of my time there asking 'Is that my portion or yours?' That being said, some of the dishes were gorgeous and some not to my liking. The service was good, atmosphere was very buzzy and for me it was a great place to kick off our Friday night. Would I go back? Absolutely!

After Chotto Matte we head over to Archer Street, a lush Soho Cocktail Bar. Lumes couldn't have picked a better place for us to end our night. We spent the night dancing to great music and every few songs a group of professional singers would get up on stage (or the nearest table) and belt out some chart favourites. You have to try this place out!

The following day we woke early ate breakfast at Gails Kitchen and head back out shopping. It was the perfect day, we walked for hours! We talked, we laughed, we ate some more. I even tried a garlic-infused shot from Garlic and Shots, a cute dive-style bar with an amazing, little beer garden. We obviously stopped at Kiko (my favourite make up store) and even had our own blogger OOTD-style fashion shoot, my pictures can be found on Lumies blog. We ended our hours of walking with dinner at Hummus bro's where we sat by the window and watched the world go by.

We head out again that night after spending more time back at the apartment talking, taking our time to get ready. Typical of us our night was super-random. We ended up on the back of a Tuk Tuk drinking Prosecco. In fact the majority of the night was spent on the back of a Tuk Tuk drinking Prosecco, but it was all in good fun and the best time was had by all.

Anyway, I'll let my pictures do the talking. Enjoy :)

Valentines Day Lingerie Review - Very.co.uk

The awesome, misery-free but still slightly miserable lover in me did enjoy a lovely, relaxed weekend with my dude. We exchanged gifts on Friday night, had a lovely meal, chilled out and watched some quite violent films. On Valentines Day we had the longest lie-in of my entire life and pretty much spent the rest of the day talking, eating and just enjoying eachothers company. We did have a fancy meal planned and I had bought some 'special' items for when we got home, but once we were all settled I kind of didn't fancy it. 

So, the special items I purchased were nothing too exciting I'm afraid just some lingerie to spice things up. I honestly didn't mean to use the phrase 'spice things up' I feel like I've just aged myself by about 30 years. 

Anywhoo back to the lingerie. I love looking nice not just for my boyf but for myself, mostly for myself. I think it's really important to dress to impress yourself. If like me you are your harshest critic then impressing and feeling good about yourself is most definitely the way forward. I think that's what looks sexiest on a person. I'm a girl with more to love (another phrase used by the over 50's) so when choosing underwear it's important that I'm feeling myself (no pun intended) before boyfy feels me (pun intended). I mean what's the point in feeling unhappy with how you look especially when dressing for sexy-fun times? I have set rules when buying 'fun times' underwear:

1. Always take in more than one size to try - There is no shame whatsoever in having to size up. 

2. Once you get the item on, if you are smiling, buy it!

3. Once you get the item on, if you can't stop dancing and singing songs relating to body parts such as Rack City or Anaconda, buy it!

4. If you can do the truffle shuffle and still feel amazing, buy it!

5. Never compare yourself to anyone. You are you and whatever you are wearing is meant to look the way it does on you. The girl from instagram you've seen wearing it is also very beautiful but she isn't a spokeswoman for the brand nor is she a guideline for how the item should look. Set your own beauty standards and live by them. 

6. Try something different, you'll be surprised how much you'll learn by stepping outside your comfort zone.

7. Add heels, red lips and big hair - ALWAYS.

8. If you want to spend the night alone looking at yourself, you've won! This isn't vain nor is it arrogant, this is self-love and this isn't a sin. Preach!

I'd ordered my items from Very because I'd been so busy with work I pretty much left it until the last minute and needed to order from somewhere with next day delivery. Sometimes being blessed enough to have huge cans can feel like you've not been blessed at all especially when it comes to buying underwear. I have a smaller waist/back size in comparison to my jug size so it can be a nightmare, although not as bad as it used to be. Not at all like the time when I was 15, outgrew wearing Mum's bra's and had to move on to my Nans because nowhere at all stocked my size! I am also used to paying for the quality of really good, well fitting underwear. 

Of the three items purchased I was most impressed with the Plunged Lace body by Sorbet. It was really flattering especially in the bum area. I couldn't stop singing Anaconda when I had this one on. It has quite a low, scooped back with adjustable straps so it really did flatter and not flatten. The front is plunged with a little ribbon to keep it together, which my boobs almost Hulk-smashed out of but it does give a really nice cleavage. I went a size smaller for this and it was perfect. It looks lovely with sheer hold-ups, red lips and big Hollywood curls.

My least favourite also by Sorbet was a Lace basque. I ordered my actual size as it's cupped and works on actual bra size, but considering the cup size was quite big the body part was terribly small. The material felt cheap and the thong that came with it... I have no words. It looked like something you'd see on the floor in Piccadilly on a Sunday morning. Hardly Agent Provocateur  but then again I hadn't really splashed out. I think it could have worked had it have been a little truer to size or even if there was the option to go bigger. I'd probably try this style again as it's great if you want to show off your boobs, legs and bum and cover up around the midriff.

Boyfy's favourite was the Anne Summers fringed black dress named Valerie, same name as my Mum which is quite disturbing. This was a lovely fit, flattering and displayed enough in the right places which is always a good thing. The only thing I didn't like about this was it didn't really look right with hold-ups, which I LOVE but it did get the seal of approval from the mister and I did feel lovely wearing it. This appeals to my more gothic side so I'd have had my hair in a sleek, bone straight pony with deep purple lips and the highest heels known to man.

Well I guess two out of three aint bad and I definitely can't fault Very who delivered on time as usual, always on call for the busy, the forgetful and the indesicive.

Hope you lovers had a lovely Valentines Day.

Love Beanie x x

We're getting married!

I thought I'd start the New Year off with some fun, happy news. Even though the title pretty much gives it away, Ben and I are (finally) getting married this year! We've been together for eight years now and have been engaged for four so marriage has always been on the cards but for us there was never any rush, but now the time just feels right and it was definitely a mutual decision, I didn't have to threaten him in any way (for once.) I'll tell you how we came to the decision, before our trip to New York Ben had mentioned that he'd like to get married there just the two of us. This was the plan for about two weeks and I would have been so happy with that choice for both Ben and myself but the truth is a lot of people think a lot of us who would be so happy for us but also so sad not to be a part of our day my Mum and Nan at the top of that list. So he gave me the go ahead for a traditional wedding and we got to planning! 

Thankfully, I'm an only child (Mum's only child) which is has worked in my favour always, especially come birthdays and Christmas and just for general daughter-appreciation which I can never get enough of. Although it's not so great when it comes to things like weddings. I don't feel pressured in the slightest (maybe a little bit) because there's been nobody before me to set the bar for me. I'm my own setter of standards and I'm not going to lie, I'm a mess! Like some kind of foolish rebel, that's most definitely the best way to describe it. It just means that I've been the only one my Mum saw graduate and I'm the only child she'll see walk down the isle so not only am I planning this wedding, I'm really wanting to make it as special for her and my Nanny as it is for me and Ben.

I've had to attend wedding shows, sit in and watch girlie wedding films, you know the whole shebang. Not that I mind, it's lovely seeing my Mum happy. I'm just not one of those screechy, let's shout 'Oh my god I'm getting married' every three seconds kind of brides-to-be. I'm more of a Lord Voldermort kind of wedding girl. You know, the kind that acts all cool, wears black everywhere, doesn't break into a sweat at the sight of a ruffle but will shout 'Avada Kedavra' in your face with absolute intent to kill if you dare attempt to purchase the last discount Swarovski tiara I've been hovering around right in front of my eyes.You know, the psycho-kind. You've never in your life seen anything like it. I'm actually so thankful right now that I am not etching this blog post into a cell wall. I'm all kinds of crazy but absolutely over-the-moon. I find I'm having to admit this more often than I'd like as people ask me, their eyes filled with excitement 'Is this what you've been dreaming of all you life?' Or other silly, cliche statements like, 'This is every little girls dream!' I kind of want to say,  firstly I've never been little even as a 6 year old child, I was quite the size of a fully grown adult and secondly what is this? The 1950's?! No friend (I say friend because they aren't my friend it's a woman who's all up in my personal space in the Magazine isle in WH Smith, while I browse through wedding magazines on my lunch break), it wasn't my dream! Honestly, when I was a little girl I dreamt about being older so I could eat all of the chips and donuts one could possibly manage (which explains why I'm struggling to fit into the style of dress I want.) I dreamt of having a fabulous job, with a German Shepherd and at least three boyfriends. I actually blame 90's TV for the last one. I couldn't choose between AC Slater (Saved by the Bell), Dean Cain (Superman) and Richard Gere. I know I sound so miserable, I'm not. I'm so happy but you all must understand this is something I've only wanted since getting with Ben. He's changed me. I'm a changed woman! I guess I didn't think there was anybody crazy enough to want to be with a three-timing, former baby prostitute (thanks Pretty Woman!)

So yeah, I've been indulging in all of the fancy, girliness that comes with wedding planning. It was lovely attending the National Wedding show with my Mum. We had the best time! It was really nice to see her so involved and I feel like she's happy she's done her job right but she's mostly happy because now this brown, bundle of insanity is somebody else's problem! 

I highly recommend attending wedding shows, I mean you don't have to do a gazillion but one or two definitely. For the experience, the fun of it all and just to get an idea of what there is to offer. I had absolutely everything planned and since making the choice, I knew what style dress I wanted, how my venue would look, where the venue would be everything. But the minute I stepped into that wedding show I realised that maybe some ideas wouldn't work as I'd hoped and just that there are more options out there. It's good because unlike trawling the net you can see everything in front of you, there are people there to talk to directly and although it gets a little busy there's all kinds of things to look at,  feel and try on. I definitely recommend front row seats at the catwalk show too! Amazing! So make sure you check the timetable, grab yourself a glass of bubbly and get yourself seats on the front row.

What I did was took information pack from all of the exhibitors, even if I wasn't particularly interested in what they had to offer. I came home and sorted everything into categories and stuck them inside my folder, my very big, pink folder. I might be a wedding Nazi but I am still a girl darn it! This made it easy for me as whatever I wanted to look up I knew exactly where to go in my folder, making notes on each if I'd been in contact and got quotes or arranged to visit also eliminating the useless stuff as I went along. 

So where I'm at now, approximately two months after attending the wedding show and nine months before our big day. I have my dress, chosen, venues booked, bridesmaids sorted and flowers picked just to list a few. I'm a super-organised person so this behaviour is normal. In my experience so far I would say that if you're more of a laid-back person I wouldn't worry too much about not having everything done just yet. Just the main priorities like venues and such and make sure you ask whoever you want to be your Maid of honor, because if yours is anything like mine you won't really need to worry about a thing! What I plan on doing next is another trying on of dresses including the one I have chosen just to make sure. I'll be attending church every other Sunday (massively important for me and my family). Ben will be looking for anywhere he fancies for a honeymoon and I'll be attending my last Wedding Show next weekend just for a bit of fun with my bridesmaids. Killing-curse at the ready, just in case some over excited bride-to-be beats me to a bargain.

Are you getting married this year? Have you been to any wedding shows? Have any advice?

Until next time my pretties

Lots of love Beanie xoxo

Beanie and Ben take New York

It's been about two months since I returned from the Big Apple with my beau. And all I can say is we had an amazing time. The trip was a birthday treat and I definitely couldn't have spent it with a more perfect person (he bought me things so I'd say that.)

New York is everything! It's the everything I hoped for and more. From our extremely fabulous and comfortable flight with BA which might I add, we shared with Jessie J who happened to be stood directly behind me in our queue on to the plane. She did ask for photo, but I had no time as I was ushered to my economy seat and she made her way up what I called the stairway to heaven. That's the upper section of the aircraft, it looked golden and beautiful and I know for a fact they had beds AND WiFi because I may or may not have depressed myself when booking by checking out how much it would cost for me to not sit next to people.

We spent a lovely five days in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We were close by to most places including the Museum Mile which was my absolutely favourite day out, Central Park, Times Square, 5th and Park Ave. We decided not to stay in a hotel and hadn't planned on doing much of the typical sight-seeing, purely because we didn't want to be overly touristy and wanted to live like New Yorkers. We found our apartment using Airbnb, perfect for us. A cosy Carrie Bradshaw (Pre-Big) style apartment from which we drank champagne and ate birthday cupcakes. Again perfectly situated on 1st Avenue surrounded by lots of eateries, coffee shops, bars and retail stores.

During the five days we spent in the city Ben and I didn't really stick to any solid plans and really just went with the flow. We took trips to the Met Museum, Guggenheim and Natural History Museum. The Met really was my favourite as it has everything! I fell in love with a collection of furniture and pieces taken from old French hotels such as the Boiserie from Hotel De Cabris in Grasse along with the Grand Salon and Boiserie taken from hotels De Tesse and De Varengeville Paris. Needless to say after seeing such beautiful rooms the budget for our wedding had tripled in price!

We enjoyed a trip to Times Square which in all honesty was fab. It wasn't my favourite place to be but funnily enough was my favourite place to shop (and Bubba Gumps wasn't too bad either). I loved Forever21 and Urban Outfitters. I'm not fond at all of our UK Urban Outfitters and in the however many years our Manchester store has been open I can say I've probably visit the place no more than twice. Now, in New York I visit the store three times in five days! Honestly the vibe and set up is completely different than in the UK. I spent most of my time in the beauty section where it was like being a kid in a candy store. The product range is out of this world! Everything from Stila to Lime Crime and lots of cute Japanese brands too. The place is amazing and on my second trip there I was interviewed by a New York beauty magazine complete with a mini photo-shoot. What an amazing experience!

We were lucky enough to experience the New York Marathon and the atmosphere that day was great! Our apartment fire escape was situated right in the heart of it so Ben (the dude) and I managed to get our very own, front row seats. The city was on a natural high, everybody was happy and for me this was the experience I was looking for and somehow we managed to find it without even looking.

We walked everywhere and despite working hard to make room for a little extra weight before leaving for our trip, I somehow managed to come home 3lbs lighter. We took a long stroll through Central Park, for a lover of all things Autumn this was the perfect day. We had lunch at the ever-famous Boat House and continued our journey through the most beautiful park I've been in. It was so nice to watch the performers and I obviously lost my mind on more than one occasion when I realised I was walking through real movie locations. I think I managed to reenact scenes from Sweet Charity, Maid In Manhattan, Sex and the City and Home Alone to name a few. At one point I hid behind a rock and recreated a scene from Limitless and I definitely know I shouted out a few quotes from the Warriors but who cares?! In such a beautiful city there's bound to be a couple of thousand crazies and I was definitely one.

I could go on forever, but I'll let some of my favourite pictures do the talking. New York is the place to be and in five days I only scratched the surface. I fell in love and left a piece of my heart there. I honestly can't think of a better way of celebrating getting old.

I've added a few more photo's ... hope you like!

Love Beanie x x

Poletastic - I have my very own X-Pole!

As usual, it’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been extremely busy with work and have been struggling to find the time to keep you all up to date with my adventures but I promise I'll do better :)

Since my last post I’ve been a very busy Polebean. Yep Polebean. I’ve literally just made that up. But it’s cute right? Anyway I now have my very own X Pole … yippee! And boy have I been putting that baby to use. Before I go on let me tell you about the traumas I have had buying a pole. I toyed with the idea for a while because I was unsure of whether or not I would get my use out of it. Eventually after a few weeks of deliberation I figured that I most definitely wanted my own pole and looked at it as a really fun piece of work out equipment after vowing to use it at least twice a week (in combination with classes).  My very generous other-half had been secretly watching poles on Ebay but being as fussy as I am he ended up having to tell me in case he bought the wrong one, I was still super-happy because I couldn’t think of a more thoughtful gift. When it came to buying I was so confused because even I didn’t know what I was looking for. After speaking with my instructor she gave me all the information I needed on how to choose the perfect pole and what I should be looking for. I hadn’t even realised there were different diameters ranging from a 25mm to 50mm, they also come in spinning and static and in a few different finishes. Crazy, I know, welcome to the world of poledance. I figured that since I had been using a 50mm, static in class then that’s what I was going to go for. Being the ever impatient Sabrina within a day or so I was on my way, boyfriend in tow, to pick up my static, 50mm, Xpole, purchased from eBay and in great condition. Needless to say my pole was up within minutes of being home, but I wasn’t feeling it. It felt awful, it just didn’t feel right at all. I tried and tried with this pole but I felt as though my grip was off and after two mini-sessions my left arm had started to really hurt. I ended up selling it on to another beginner who it suited perfectly  and in it’s place I was gifted a very beautiful 45mm, Spinning  Xpole. Brand Spanking new and very, very sexy. I feel much more comfortable on this pole and still don’t know why even after using a 50mm in class I couldn’t use it at home.

 

I attempted to use my new pole in spin-mode almost immediately. I tried a simple fireman spin and literally had no control. I was so dizzy when my feet hit the ground I literally had to wait a few seconds before moving on to the next. So for a long time I used the pole in static only switching to spin for a few minutes and only for spins such as Chair, Attitude and Mermaid. I’m definitely getting much better and although some believe using the a pole in spin mode is cheating, I can tell you from my experience it requires a whole new skill and technique to static. In my opinion both methods can be as equally difficult. For example a front hook in static, I find I can be a lot more loose in my core but stronger in my arms and legs, sort of more flowy. Whereas in spin mode my entire core is what keeps my form together, so I feel I need to keep everything tight. It actually wasn’t until using my pole in spin that I was able to really do a front hook, it’s so simple but has been one of the moves I struggled with the most. Using my pole in spin has also allowed me to move on to a few combo’s. A little advice from one beginner to another, if you do get a spinning pole make sure you practice all of your spins in both static and spinny. I alternate between the two always. Plus I’m getting of a better work out that way. Lost a few more pounds and I now fit into a pair of pants I couldn’t even zip a few months back. 

So, where am I up to now? I’m working on my strength in between classes as I feel this will help with pull ups and inverts, I’m also working on my flexibility (determined to get into the splits) so focussing on my leg and back flexibility (Yoga stretches come in really handy for this). I’m still mastering my spins, because learning how to execute the move is half the battle (for me anyway). So I'm working on how to make them prettier. I’m completely in to a handstand *CHEERS*. I also found I was getting overly frustrated with myself when trying certain things and felt like I was going backwards so I decided to use the moves and combo’s I can do and put them into a routine, this helps when I’m feeling tired, frustrated and groggy. Because I LOVE to dance this is an instant pick me up and a break from some of the harder stuff and takes away the frustration. Give yourself a challenge, if you’re feeling frustrated stick your heels on, let your hair down and bust a move. I love turning my music on and dancing for myself, sometimes if you just go with the flow you’ll even find yourself doing things you didn’t think possible. This is how I learned to do a plow-over, handstand and pirouettes. I’ll get some video’s up soon.

In my next post I'll talk to you about my poledance tantrum (uh-oh) and a little bit about what I'm doing at home.

As always, my advice to you is give Poledancing  a go. It’s the sexiest sport on the planet, you’ll laugh, you’ll learn and you will definitely love it!