Best of Frills 'n' Spills 2010

Whoosh.

What was that you say? Oh, just a whole 365 days passing me by in a flash.


That's it. 2010 over. And what a fabulous year it's been. That's not even a let's-pretend-we-had-a-good-time-to-round-off-the-year lie either.


I ate lots of lovely food...

and cooked my fair share too.





I've been on planes...




Trains...



and even a bicycle!



I've been an angel...





and a devil...





and I've even fallen in love with the postman.




More than once.



But the best thing this year? The moment that made it all? Catching this beauty from my favourite King...
 
KOL gig


I thought it would be a nice idea to do a round-up of our highlights from 2010 but I didn't anticipate just how difficult it would be to choose them! We have got to do some brilliant things and meet some amazing people but here is my choice of the best bits from this year... 


In January, I discussed an issue that is very close to my heart; depression. Luckily I have amazing friends and family to help me through mine but not everyone has that. I tried to share what works for me in the hope that it might help someone else. Not the cheeriest topic to start the year with, I know but it is important. 



Luckily I had some yummy pineapple upside down cake to cheer me up in February and the chance to go home to the gorgeous village where I live and see my amazing family and very talented friends... You should see me in my musical role VERY soon ;) 




Here are ten commandments every woman should live by, with the gorgeous Karen Elson as inspiration... 

Danni and I had to take cover from flying falafel in June... 


...but I managed to smarten up for my AMAZING internship in July! 




Going to Vintage at Goodwood with some gorgeous Aussie Angels to search for Yummy Hair was definitely a highlight...


Yes, I am that pale! 


... as was my pensioners trip to Weston- Super-Mare with Mark ;) 




In October I turned 21 and had to start behaving like an adult.... 




sort of... 



I needed your help with styling this gorgeous 80s blouse and boy did you come up trumps! (I will be using your amazing suggestions in the new year :D





And to get you in the Christmas spirit? Gorgeous male models AND George Lamb? Oh go on then! 

Don't say we don't spoil you! ;) 
What. a. year. I think you will agree that 2010 has been quite a roller-coaster ride for Danni and me and I am definitely looking forward to 2011! I will be spending New Year's Eve with my friends eating a lot of food and drinking wine and generally having a good time. I hope you have a brilliant time whatever you do and HAPPY NEW YEAR from both of us! Blogging has been such an amazing thing for us both, especially meeting all of you lovely people and being able to call you friends, (yes I'm getting soppy!) Long may it continue! :D

What have been the highlights of 2010 for you? What are you looking forward to next year? 

 

P.S. If you think we missed anything off our best bits or have any suggestions of what you would like to see in 2011, then let us know :D

A cheap thrill...

After being contacted by Legs Love to review some of their tights, I was super excited and I only got worse when I saw Danni looking drop dead gorgeous in hers.. Now when I opened the package, which came very quickly despite all of the snow where I live, I was a very happy bunny indeed. Originally I had wanted these bad boys...
... but I got the next best thing when a pair of Pretty Polly suspender tights with a lovely note arrived on my doorstep! After some busy shifts at work, it was just what I needed! 




I must admit though- I had NO IDEA how to style these tights. Obviously if I paired them with anything too short, I ran the risk of looking (dare I say) tacky but the length of the skirt/shorts also needed to give a hint of the faux suspenders... After much deliberation I decided to pair them with a favourite combo of mine: the floral dress and chunky cardi! 




I figured that as the bottom half of the tights were 60 denier, I would be able to pair them with the majority of outfits that I would usually wear black opaques with. As you can see from these pictures, you can't even see the 'suspender straps' which I was quite worried about!


If however, you raise your arms above your head, you can see the print below the hem. The 60 denier ensured that my legs were toasty warm despite the minus temperatures where I live and were thick enough to be paired with my new loves- these gorgeous ankle boots from Peacocks. Many thanks to Danni and her employee perks! ;) They are toasty warm and perfect for the snow or other weather when my little dolly shoes just can't cope. 


One thing I DID have an issue with though was the material above the knee onto which the strap is printed. Obviously some distinction in denier has to be made to showcase the design but it felt very flimsy and I was very worried about laddering it. It also meant that the upper section of my leg was more prone to cold but I'm sure if I was wearing shorts, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. 
I think the upper part of the tights must only be about 10 denier because they are FREEZING!

Dress: New York Laundry via charity shop, Cardigan: Topshop Vintage, Belt: Primark, Tights: Pretty Polly courtesy of Legs Love, Shoes: Peacocks/ Hunter,  Gormless expression? Model's own ;) 

Plus, they also look good with wellies! ;) I was surprised at how comfortable and warm these tights were and they fitted really well. Obviously, my legs are much shorter than Danni's but the tights went comfortably up to my waist and I didn't have to keep hoisting them up which is a pet peeve with tights. Many thanks to Rebecca and Marianne at Legs Love for brightening up my day with this lovely parcel.  You can take a look at the Legs Love site HERE and have a browse. I think those gorgeous Jonathan Aston tights are going to be in my shopping basket, quicker than you can say 'Christmas money'... 

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and enjoy the couple of days off, I know I will be! 

I'm a Taper Jean Girl.

So as I hinted at in my week in photos post I finally got the chance to go and see Kings of Leon last week at the NIA in Birmingham. And I learnt two very important things. First, my undying love for them and their music is perfectly justified -they were brilliant. Second, you definitely want my sister on side in a fight.


I've been a fan for a long, long time and Aha Shake Heartbreak was my first musical obsession so for me this was a pretty big deal.


 I dragged my sister along with me [I say dragged, but she was almost as excited as me] and we got in there super early and managed to stand three rows from the front. I'll admit, having never had standing tickets for a gig so big [what have I been doing with my life?] I was a little worried about pushing/shoving/death but I think being right at the front meant you could a) actually breathe and b) stand next to some equally keen fans who weren't about to miss a song just for the sake of shoving someone around for a while.

 The crowd during sex on fire.

Needless to say it was absolutely incredible. I should've probably written this post when I got back to express my excitement. It was major. In fact, maybe it was best that I didn't because I expect the whole post would've looked a little something like this...

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Yeah. Excitement in a nutshell!



The gig was fantastic, I can't fault it. At all. But then again, I love Caleb them so much that I never would.

Oh and I managed to get a few keepsakes too...


A tshirt, my ticket, my wristband and wait....what is that?

A plectrum. Caleb's plectrum. I can't quite believe it either!

This is where the second lesson of the night comes in. My sister, bless her heart, dived for it after it hit me, and fought another girl off for it. Fought here of course being a light prod on the hand, but still. She rocks.



As much as I'd love to ramble on about them forever, I've gotta go and polish that plectrum do some dissertation work, write an essay, and prep myself for another midnight shift.

Adios!

Love in the post.


Grey top: Zara, Cardigan: Primark, Shorts: Urban Outfitters Sale, Belt: Charity Shop, Tights: Pretty Polly courtesy of Legs Love, Shoes: Deichmann


Afternoon!

Today is a good day. It's a snow laden, cake-eating, present-giving kind of day as it's my sisters 17th birthday. Though, between you and me I prefer to think of it as her 10th...again. There's no way she can be allowed to drive already. Frankly, I feel OLD.

Nevertheless, where there's a birthday there's cake and for that I have to be grateful [although I'm yet to see any....*plans kitchen search soon*]. 

While my sister was opening her presents earlier this morning, I had a wonderful little package to open myself as the lovely ladies at Legs Love sent me a sample from their site.



They sell a whole range of brands and designs, so I was thrilled to get some Pretty Polly tights as I've heard many a great thing about them, but never tried them out! 



I have to say that reviews scare me somewhat, in that although I'd always say what I think, there is bound to be a sense of guilt in admitting dislike to something that someone's been kind enough to send you. With these however, I needn't have worried. Seriously. The design is awesome - subtle and very wearable, and the tights themselves are such good quality. They put my Primark polka dots to shame.

The only thing that worried me as I pulled them out of the packet was whether they'd be long enough for me. As soon as I read that they fit up to 5"10 my heart sank a little, and even more when I read that they're one size only - I normally go for XXL [or as big as the shop stocks] so that they stretch to fit my legs comfortably. 
The Pretty Polly tights do fit thank goodness, but it did take some complex pulling up moves to get there. You should've seen me desperately trying to pull them on. So attractive. Luckily they look pretty good with shorts, maybe a bit better than with a skirt or dress, so there's no worry of them falling down. Cue sexy pulling up moves again.

So, many thanks to Marianne and Rebecca at Legs Love for sending such a lovely treat! Check out their video here on how to style your outfit with tights this Christmas.

Oh, and just to ruin the blogger illusion, I totally changed into my slippers after taking these photos.


Fetching, no?



P.S. If you're in the mood for some baking, check out my Christmas Morning Muffin recipe here - Santa himself would be proud ;)

Driving home for Christmas...

Coming home from uni is always a bit of a double-edged sword for me. On one hand you have warmth, food, internet without having to pay for it but you also have parental rules to abide by and having to share a room with your youngest brother and sister- well I do at any rate! The weekend I got back, we went for a family meal with my grandparents who I don't see as often and it was lovely to catch up with them as we hadn't seen them since my birthday
I wore my purple pencil skirt and a sparkly top I picked up for next to nothing in my favourite charity shop. You will be pleased to hear that this was before all of the snow and ice AND I actually managed to walk in my heels! Yes, that was a surprise for me too ;) 




Apologies for the blurry photos! My youngest sister was taking them and hadn't quite mastered how to use a camera... I used my rollers to curl my hair and vamped it up a little with some purple lippy... I was really pleased with the way it turned out and I felt raather glamourous in the Beefeater :P 


This snazzy little number was also from the same charity shop and it is originally from H&M. I love the shape of the dress, mainly for the way it flares out into an A-line skirt, but also because of a rather wonderful detail...


Buttons down the back of the dress! I love little details like this and I think they make everyday basics much more interesting :) I paired the dress with my beloved brown shoeboots and another charity shop bargain; a gorgeous tweed-esque blazer...


I look a bit like I am going to a country club in this photo but it is absolutely gorgeous in real life. It is super warm but also manages to smarten up an otherwise casual outfit, plus the pink running through the pattern matched my dress perfectly- I tell you, it's fate ;)




One of the funniest things about this outfit though is the complete disparity in the sizing of the clothes. The dress is an American 12 so a UK 16 (if my calculations are correct? whilst the blazer is a UK size 10. I normally wear size 14 in clothes and yet both of these pieces fit me. I'm not going to open up the debate about vanity sizing, but it does seem strange that a sizing isn't consistent across different shops. I have an hourglass figure and I find that if a product fits my hips, the waist doesn't fit and vice versa. In addition to this, i often don't even consider shops like River Island because I think of them as shops for people who are slimmer than I am.
Yes that IS a burger and chips in front of me ;) 
When I am shopping I know 'my size' for a certain store and adapt what I pick up to fit that. Saying that, I almost left this dress on the hanger when I saw that it was a size 16- I always swore that I would die before I wore a size 16! (Saying that, I said the same thing about a 10 and a 12...) Despite this nagging worry, I picked up the dress and took it home to try on, where I promptly fell in love. And without sounding too preachy (I have more than my fair share of off days!) I think I worked it! I have worn it a number of ways since and even my mother (who is probably my harshest critic) liked it.. I guess what I am trying to do this Christmas, is find a happy medium between being healthy and happy and try not to obsess about my weight. Well, at least until I have eaten my fill of Christmas dinner!


Are you worried by the number on the label? Do you avoid certain shops because of their sizing? 
P.S. Apologies if I am absent from the blogosphere over the next couple of weeks- since being home I have been working almost everyday and the Waitrose uniform isn't the most flattering outfit I have ever worn! After NYE I hope to be back posting more regularly :)