Lust-have #1: Pretty Pleats

As any normal girl who loves clothes does, I often become slightly obsessed with a piece of clothing, a pair of shoes or a really beautiful accessory. These ‘lust-haves’ sometimes join my wardrobe, but often they remain a distant dream due to lack of funds. Previous lust-haves include white wedges (now own), a maxi skirt (own, but have never worn) and cowboy boots (have worn to death), and this feature will document my love of the moment.

This week, it’s the pleated skirt, seemingly the most fashionable item since clogs (we all remember that obsession last year, right? How does anyone even walk in them? I found it utterly impossible in the shoe section of New Look) and I was utterly desperate for one. First of all I wanted the Carrie Skirt, but due to lack of funds and the fact I remain unconvinced that pink would suit me, my Visa card remained firmly in my purse.

Then I was drawn in by a bright blue version by Zara, at £38 it was more affordable, but it didn’t really go with anything else in my wardrobe, so it was hung back on the shelf (after being carried around the Leeds shop for 15 minutes while I debated with myself).

When other high street stores failed to give me what I wanted I turned to the Internet and soon found myself adding this black pleated number from ASOS to my basket on bank holiday Monday.

Later in the day I went back to look at the picture and it had sold out, so now I’m waiting on tenterhooks to see if I’ve ordered the right size/it even looks good on me.

In the meantime I am busy trying to plan outfits around my new skirt without spending any money, which has been harder than it sounds as due to my tendency to wear dresses every day I have a severe lack of tops/blouses. Therefore, I have been looking for inspiration from my favourite guilty pleasure: lookbook.nu. Whatever you think of it, I really do find inspiration from the ladies who post their outfits for all to judge (they’re braver than me!) so here are a few of my favourites:

I love how the skirt has been rolled over at the waist - this gives me hope for if I have ordered the wrong size of skirt and it is too big!

The combination of black and mustard yellow is a favourite of mine, but apparently one of my favourite hobbies right now is being outbid on ebay on mustard yellow cardigans. Sob.

This is perfection. Classic, chic and simple - exactly the summer look i want to achieve!

Have you been swept away by the pleated trend? How would you style this skirt? Please offer your advice in the comments!

My Love Affair with Sports Entertainment

If you'd asked me a year ago about sports entertainment, WWE or wrestling, I would have laughed and probably said: "Do I look like someone who would like wrestling?". I remember it being on Sky when I was little but I went to an all girls school, and wresting never took off with Yo-yos and Pokemon coming out on top. By the time I was a teenager it was something I never heard about, it had passed me by completely and I didn't care.

In 2006 I met Ryan and as a wrestling fan he would often get me to play the latest Smackdown vs. Raw game on Xbox and I would say yes and lose terribly, which wasn't really the best tactic for getting me to like it. Then, earlier this year when me and Ryan were living with his parents out of one room he bought a wrestling DVD and although I wasn't interested he let me watch Gossip Girl so I let him watch wrestling - fair deal, no?

Preconceptions told me that wrestling was people pretending to beat each other up, and why would I ever be interested in watching that? However, it won me over. I know the results are predetermined but anyone who says wrestling is 'fake' should actually have a look and see the moves they do. I don't think there's any way someone without a lot of training, talent and knowledge is going to be very successful attempting 'Starship Pain', do you?

The moves are only part of it though, the story lines are just like watching any television drama, but it's on twice a week and it also involves a lot of pyrotechnics - are you still completely disinterested? To put it simply, it's a whole lot of fun, and as the name suggests, it's really entertaining, and I'm really not ashamed to say I love it. What's more, it's also something me and Ryan can watch every week and be excited for together, and I love that we have another thing in common that we didn't realise we did for four years.

What are your thoughts on wrestling and the WWE? Are you new to wrestling like me? Feel free to leave me a comment!

Image via Wikipedia

Style on a Sunday: T.G.I Friday's

So, yesterday Ryan treated me to lunch at T.G.I Friday's in Leeds and this is what I wore for the occasion:

Dress: H&M, Leggings: New Look, Boots: Next, Belt: ASOS, Bag: Matalan

I first saw this dress worn by the lovely Chloe and immediately informed her I would be buying it! It's not really my normal style (stripes and colour are not really present in my wardrobe) but there's just something about it that caught my eye. Chloe teamed hers with some incredible heels (her ability to walk in them every day astounds me!) but due to the threat of rain and walk to and from the train station I chose to wear my trusty black boots. I also wore a black cardigan once I was outside to keep me shielded from the gale force winds!

T.G.I's was absolutely lovely, I haven't been there in ages even though my parents used to take me all the time when I was young, so now I'm all grown up Ryan treated me to an Ultimate Hurricane, which the waitress told me would be a third bigger than a normal one, she did not tell me it would be served in a fish bowl!

 

To eat, we had boneless wings with blue cheese sauce to start, which was so moreish and yummy - boneless wings are my new favourite food, I think. I then had Jack Daniel's chicken and shrimp, which I'd never had before but caught my eye with it's chicken, prawn and cheesy mash combo. I have to say it was really lovely, I don't think I've had cheesy mash that good, ever! Ryan had the Friday's ribs which looked amazing and he even let me take one of his fries, which took me right back to my childhood!

How would you style this dress? Did you go anywhere nice this Saturday? I'd love to hear from you!

The Inspiration and Motivation to Blog

Since I was 16 years old I've been a keen blogger, but never in a formal sense. I went from Myspace notes to melodramatic Livejournal posts and then flirted with Blogger for a while before I finally settled on Tumblr. It was full of photos, fashion and people who were younger but far cooler than me and I loved it! I started off trying to document my life, but quickly fell into a pattern of reblogging photos and writing one liners about how tough life at University was, which although helpful for venting my constant frustration at exams and deadlines, wasn't really helping me in any way shape or form.

After finishing University and starting work as a PR girl I deserted blogging for a while as I didn't have the time and started to find it, dare I say, boring? Then I discovered a whole new world when I stumbled across a real life friend's style blog. When I started reading A Little Bird Told Me I think I began to understand what blogs were all about. From Jen's amazing style to thought provoking advice (seriously, check out 'The Blog Issue' if you haven't already, it's a whole wealth of knowledge), Little Bird offered me consistently great reading. From then on I was on the lookout for blogs to read, and I am starting to build up a small bank of favourites on Google.

As I became more and more interested in the industry I found myself reading articles on blogging, and specifically the relationship between PR agencies and bloggers, and that is how I found the wonderful Bangs and a Bun. The utterly inspiring Miss Bangs (Muireann Carey-Campbell) wrote a hard hitting post exposing how a PR agency had treated her during a campaign (you can read it here) and I was hooked! Ever since I've been a loyal reader and cringeworthy fan (I can often be heard telling Ryan (my boyfriend) about Bangs' latest posts!)

Even though I've been reading blogs for quite a bit now, I only recently started to comment and try to be more a part of the community, and at the same time I started to think seriously about whether I could maintain a blog of my own. I've always given up in the past, but this time I've given it a lot of thought (months in fact) and I'm ready to dedicate my time to developing my writing and finding my own voice. I really do love my job, but I think for my own sanity it will be fun to write about things I like and you can probably expect to find a good mix of fashion, lifestyle, music, film and pretty much anything that takes my fancy and I hope you'll join me on my little journey to becoming a blogger.

Why did you start blogging? Who inspires you? What do you hope to achieve from blogging? I would love to hear from you!