Fatshion Feb day 28 - Be your own queen

Hello lovelies!

Here's the final outfit of the month. It's no great shakes in the grand scheme of things, but there's a reason for that. I'm wearing a tiara, and there's a reason for that too. ;)


Clothes are lovely and they can make us feel great about ourselves, but pretty clothes wear YOU if you're not feeling comfortable in yourself. If you have attitude, you can wear anything and make it look great. This outfit is no great shakes at all, but I'm glowing and I think I look good. I might be biased though. ;)

You have to be your own queen and try not to let society's demanding standards of beauty get to you. When you give up striving to be society's version of perfect and learn you're fine as you are, that's confidence no amount of naysayers can shake. I know society's narrow view of beauty is a load of bullshit and I'm not trying to be anyone's idea of beautiful except my own. Know your worth and hold your head high and you can wear anything, no matter what size you are. Your confidence, your beauty, your happiness - those things aren't dependant on size. At all.




The tiara in this outfit post ties in with the 'be your own queen' message and also ties in with a tiara post myself and a few other bloggers are posting tomorrow at noon. Feel free to join in if you'd like, and if you don't blog you can email me a photo for inclusion tomorrow, or for a tiara post which will be happening at a later date. Hashtag #tiarafabulous on Twitter. Everyone deserves to feel tiara fabulous, no matter what.

Detail on the shrug

I have a message to anyone who suggests you're not fabulous just the way you are.


Tiara, made by my friend Sarah
Dress, old Very
Shrug, old Very
Shoes, old Evans

I'll be wearing a different tiara tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Love EVERY Body #4 Chest

Hello love bugs!

This assignment isn't due until Sunday 2nd but I'm posting early should any of you be struggling about what to say.

It's assignment 4 of LEB and this month we focus on a part of the body which can be a subject of much emotion in those who have them. Whatever you call them - boobs, tits, jugs, jubblies, bristols, baps, norks, bangers, shirt potatoes, ad infinitum. But we have a fella in the challenge too, let's not forget, so let's call it a chest and have done. :)


How do I feel about my chest? I've got an all right rack, they look all right in a bra and are a decent size for the rest of my body (E cup.) They're slightly widely spaced which means I need some kind of miracle bra to squish them together to give me a proper 'bum crack' cleavage, but I'm quite happy to give them a squidge together myself or let the hubface cop a feel. I love the way they change before my periods - they get bigger and feel softer, more grab-able. The skin on them is really soft at the best of times and I'll often touch the skin there. It's like velvet.
My view

I had a scare with my boobs when I was 15 or 16, but it turned out to be a harmless cyst. It was very painful while it lasted but dispersed. For a good deal of my life I was insecure about my boobs - I only saw perfect ones on TV and had no idea they all came in different shapes and sizes, so mine fell short in comparison. With the advent of the internet and Tumblr in particular I've seen all kinds of boobs and it has made me realise mine are perfectly ordinary. Fellas always liked my boobs, even if I didn't, but it's how we see ourselves which matters most. I never really thought I had big boobs either until a few people said I did. Sometimes my lack of self awareness is alarming!
I seem to like boob selfies in this dress. :) Random butterfly confetti too.

Being in possession of a pair of tits is handy sometimes (getting served first in a pub, for example) and a chore at other times, for example when some dickhead makes a comment about them. The first time a bloke commented on my tits, I was 14. FOURTEEN. I was crossing a road and a nearby workman shouted 'Nice tits!' I'd like to find that man and smash my elbow into his nose.

I like to show off a little cleavage, but not all of it - I don't like it when people's eyes glaze over. In my last job I turned up at work in a low cut dress once and my boss had a long conversation with my tits until I popped out and bought some safety pins from the nearest chemist to make it more modest. Really it would've been nice if he could control himself. Such is life! On the other hand I don't like clothes which totally cover my boobs up. I suppose in a way I feel more feminine if there's a hint of cleavage, although the shape of my boobs is always discernible anyway.

I do worry about breast cancer, even though there's no history of it in my family (thankfully.) I'm prone to fatty lumps (I have one about the size of a grape in my arm, and a couple of other smaller ones) and although I don't regularly check my boobs (I know I should do it religiously) if I were to find a lump I'd go to the docs and get it checked out right away just to be on the safe side.

I suppose I'm quite happy with my boobs overall. They make me feel feminine, I like honking them, hubby likes grabbing them, they give me a nice shape and aside from some pain when I'm due on, they're all good. If I was asked what the favourite parts of my body are, my boobs would come in the top 3. They're not something I think about much, apart from in this assignment! They're just there.

I don't worry about my boobs sagging as I get older at all. It's natural they might lose a bit of perkiness, but who cares? If my tits stay this size it's inevitable they might go a bit south, especially as I take my bra off as soon as possible every day. ;) Ageing happens and it's just another shitty thing women are supposed to worry about - how screwable we're considered as we age. Well eff off, no one stays 20 forever.

If I could change anything it'd be the sensitivity of my nips - on a cold day I could cut glass with them and they really hurt. TMI, sorrynotsorry!

I look forward to seeing how everyone else feels about their chests.

Thanks for reading!

January in photos

Greetings earth dwellers!

I thought it was about time I bored you all to tears again with tiny pictures of my life last month. ;)

Face on fire//face with makeup = better//sunset
It's true//Some kind of salady thing with grated carrot, not cheese :D//moar quotes
Tin foil glitter nail polish removal trick// Yup//uber duckface


Bexhill seafront//la mer//beautiful beach shelter
My fave new toy from Aldi//face gunk from Aldi//more gunk from Aldi - cruelty free gunk at that
My brother//fooooooooood//my dad pulling a face


Face mask time//I'm on a mission to eat less meat//a salad - gotta get my 5 a day
More veggies//another goddamn salad - I'm growing bunny ears and teeth//my faysche
The cutest cat in the whole world//the cakes hubby calls 'booby cakes'//Ayup


And that, my friends, is that.

As you can see January consisted of salads, vegetable things, booby cakes, a shitload of stuff from Aldi, lots of quotes, a cute cat I want to kidnap, and lots of red lipstick.

What will February's Instaphotos hold? Gasp - the intrigue! Hold onto your britches!

Thanks for looking.

Fatshion Feb day 25 - Dotty Dollhouse

Hello loves,

Today I'm sporting a frilly/dotty combo with an old polka dot top from Evans and my Domino Dollhouse skirt. This was a quickly put together choice but it works, especially because of the little polka dot bows on my shoes.


When I was working I shopped in Evans a lot. It was just Evans or Simply Be for years, and that was it for me. It's only in the last 5 years or so that I've branched out to lots of other websites. Because my money isn't my own any more I stick to much cheaper shops than Evans these days, but they're still really good for the occasional item, and what I already have from them last well and seems quite well made. Except their bras. Their bras really suck.

I can't believe I put this skirt into my blog sale a while ago. I'm glad no one wanted to buy it!


Wet hair don't care!



Top, old Evans
Skirt, Domino Dollhouse
Shoes, old Evans

Because it's been lighter in the evenings, hubby has been able to take my photos when he comes home from work (if I haven't already done them) rather than me using the tripod and self timer. It works out well because I take way too many photos when I use the timer, and he has no truck with spending ages behind the camera so it's a swift operation for both of us. ;)

Also, Stefanie won the Drown Soda giveaway and has been informed.

Thanks for reading!

Tiaras, glasses, rad portraits & Love EVERY Body

Hello lovelies!

This is a post full of all my news.

Firstly, I had my eyes tested yesterday and have picked these bobby dazzlers by French Connection. You can't see it in the photo but they're purple. I fancied a change of style as I'd been wearing little square glasses for about 10 years. The lady who helped me and hubby pick our frames was an absolute gem.

Specsavers, whoo! I have a strange potato face going on here :)



Rachele - uber babe and talented person has immortalised me in art and I couldn't be happier! Look at me. :)


You can get your own rad portrait - all ages/genders/sexualities - and whatever interests float your boat Rachele will capture it perfectly and there's a fab 20% discount below! Tell her I sent you. ;)


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Do you have a tiara? Do you want to be involved in a tiara selfie post? On this Sat 1st March I'll be posting my tiara selfie. The idea behind it came about when I said on one of my posts a couple of weeks ago that when I was getting married 2 years ago at first I didn't think I could wear a tiara. I thought 'Fat girls can't wear tiaras.' What a pile of shit! I didn't feel special enough to wear a tiara. EVERYONE should feel special enough to wear a tiara, and not just us ladies either. If it's good enough for Elton, I want to see fellas in tiaras too! ;) I was thinking of doing a post just for myself, then Nikki said we should all post tiara selfies and an idea was born!

Thankfully I had a good chat with myself back then and decided I WAS special enough to wear a tiara, and now I have two. If you blog and want to take a selfie (or whole outfit post) with your tiara feel free to post it on March 1st, and if you don't blog but feel TIARA FABULOUS then feel free to email me at blog.justmeleah@gmail.com and I'll post your photos along with my post.

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Our 4th Love EVERY Body post is due on Sunday March 2nd.


The theme this month is:
March 2014 Assignment #4 - Chest/boobs. Are you happy with your chest/boobs? Maybe you've had surgery (mastectomy/boob job.) Maybe you feel your boobs are too big or too small, or less than perky from breast feeding, but they're perfect as they are. I don't expect naked boobie shots, but I might put a photo in of my cleavage!

This is a bit of a scary one (even for me!) but run with it and feel to diversify and educate - for example are you passionate about breast self checks? Have you lost a loved one to breast cancer (male or female - male breast cancer is a killer, too.) What do your boobs mean to you - a symbol of femininity, or a source of backache? For our sole man Flo, feel free to talk about how you feel about your chest from a male perspective - I'd love to hear it.

What's new with you?

Thanks for reading!

Day 24 Fatshion Feb - Biker boots babe

Hiya!

I love a bit of alliteration, don't you? I'm wearing my new biker boots in this post. You might know by now that I try not to pay full price for anything. I'm a bargain queen. I got these wide fit boots from New Look when they were down from £34.99 to £19.99. I thought I'd do a dark biker type look.


Here's a close up.


Here's a photo of my make up.


Jacket, New Look Inspire
Earrings, Primark (old.)
Dress, New Look Inspire 
Scarf, gift
Leggings, Very
Boots, New Look
Lippie, Mulberry by Sleek

This is day 12 of 14 black dress days as part of Fatshion Feb so 2 more black dress days to go and only 2 other outfits until the month is over. I've enjoyed it but will be glad to get back to my normal schedule of about 3-4 outfit posts a week so I can get some more varied subjects covered!

I hope you had a great weekend and your week gets off to a great start.

Thanks for reading.

Fatshion Feb day 23 - Turkish Delight

Happy Sunday campers!

I hope you're having a good weekend? I called this outfit Turkish Delight because of the pink and pinky purple shades in my coat and bag.


What is this about?!

Here's a photo of my make up.


We took these photos at Pett Level beach, which is about 30 mins drive from us. There's always something new to see. This time there'd been a landslip and a few trees had fallen off the edge of the cliff and started turning into driftwood. I have some more photos of the surroundings for another day. The beach had obviously been hit by the recent storms and there was work going on to shore up the sea defences.

Coat, sent to me by Bonmarché last year
Scarf, eBay
Panther brooch on coat, Sister Vintage
Dress, New Look Inspire (old.)
Bag, Just for 5 Pounds
Leggings, Very
Boots, Tesco

We had a walk on the sand, and my boots are smothered in it in these shots. It's the softest sand you've probably ever felt in the UK - it's like icing sugar, and it's brown. It's so weird. This part of the beach is so alien to any other coastline I've seen in SE England. You almost expect a T-Rex to come clomping through the trees on top of the cliffs. It's very Jurassic Park.

You might notice the things carved into the sandstone behind me in the photos. It's a very soft rock so seems to be the calling card of the slightly more patient graffiti artist!

The bag in this post seems to be sold out (although it wasn't when I checked about 2 days ago.) Bugger. I also bought one in yellow from Jfor5P recently, which I wore with the tropical Bonmarché dress outfit a couple of days ago. I really rate the stuff on Just For 5 Pounds.

Oh, this is day 11 of 14 black dress days now, I think. It's 1.30 am and I really need to get to bed!

Hope you're having a good day. Thanks for reading.

Three blogs you should be reading

Hello weekend lovelies!

I want to share the love and start doing some posts about some of my favourite blogs.

Firstly there's Louise from Polka Spots and Freckle Dots.


Louise has disk injuries to her back and spends an awful lot of time bed-bound in extreme pain, but despite this she writes a fantastic blog. I particularly enjoy her Wednesday Wishlist posts and Serendipity Sunday posts. The former will make you want to rob a bank to pay for all the pretties she'll show you, and the latter will make time magic away looking at all the gorgeous photos and clicking through to all the brilliant links Louise thoughtfully curates. It's a must read and an absolute feast for your eyes.

Secondly we have Laura from Tutus and Tiny Hats.

I hope you don't mind me borrowing your photo

Laura's wardrobe is the stuff of dreams. She dresses like I wanted to as a child - tutus, fancy head gear and lots and lots of jewellery. Not just does she remind me that fashion should be F-U-N (she also LOVES the colour pink - me too!) she collates wonderful links and images. On a Wednesday she collates fatshion outfits which have inspired her (she's truly inclusive - able and non able bodies, all races, all genders, all ages) and once a week (the days vary) she collates a mammoth list full of educational and interesting links covering subjects such as: fatshion, fat acceptance, climate and sustainability, jobs and the economy, and an 'everything else' section with oodles more things to read, look at or watch.

Laura is brilliant because her links open my eyes to issues I wouldn't find out about otherwise. I'm a white woman in a mostly white town but the world is a varied place and there is so much going on in it that doesn't get heard because they aren't 'white issues' or they aren't deemed 'important' by our almost entirely white, straight, old-man-owned news companies and newspapers. I want to know about feminist issues, and oppression faced by trans* & gay people, disabled people and people of colour, and all that and more is included in this truly inclusive blog. With the www we are a global village and if there's injustice going on in the world, we need to know so we can call it out and demand change. Through Laura's blog and Tumblr (it's not just for porn, honest!) I have a much broader world view and I can honestly say it's made me a better person. Plus, I really need to do an all-pink Laura inspired outfit post!

Lastly we have Amanda from Voyage of the MeeMee.

Voyage of the Mee Mee

A while back Amanda asked for a little advice on starting a blog and I told her to go for it. As soon as I read her very first post I knew she had a gift, and that gift is comedy with a huge dose of TMI. I wondered why she hadn't started a blog a looong time before, because she creases me up with her natural talent. She says the things out loud which you really want to, but can't, like how you might like the smell of your own farts, and stuff like that. She also has a really cute dog called Johnny Cakes, and she idolises that cute little fucker like he sprang out of her own vagina. See, I can't help but fall into Amanda-style writing when I think of her. Go have a read, and whatever you do, don't dare take a drink while you're reading - I guarantee it'll end up snorted all over your laptop or monitor.

Who's YOUR favourite blogger? I mean, other than meeeeeeee, of course. ;) Let us know in the comments. I'm always looking for more reading material and other people might find some gems too.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want a regular series of these posts.

Fatshion Feb day 22 Blue paisley dress

Hello cute faces!

Say hello to my bad hair day!


I had my hair in a pony tail and took it down and it did that weird sticky-out thing.

Because you're worth it *SWISH*

I'm wearing the Lime Crime lip velvet in Suedeberry here.

I don't know why it is, but when I'm pre menstrual I ALWAYS hack at my fringe, and my hand-eye coordination is even more whack than usual at that most delicate time of the month. It always results in a horribly crooked fringe, but it doesn't put me off. Every month. I spent about half an hour earlier gently snipping away to restore order. Mind you, I come from a long line of fringe-butcherers. My mum cut right through my eyebrow once (seriously, she did!) when she was chopping my forehead curtains, and I'm sure her mum probably fucked her hair up too. Really, I'm doing the world a favour by not reproducing. Remind me to share some photos of my childhood hair don'ts. (They are definitely hair DON'TS instead of hair do's.)

I've hacked away at my fringe again now. This is the before.

I'm wearing a New Look dress Mookie gave me a few weeks ago. It's lovely and lightweight. I don't wear blue nearly often enough. Sorry all this stuff is as old as balls.

Cardi, Evans (old as balls.)
Dress, New Look (past season.)
Leggings, Very
Shoes, Dr Marten - check eBay or Amazon as they're always cheaper there.

I love my DM dolly shoes but don't wear them much on the blog any more. I've got a lot more shoes now than when I started blogging and I tend to wear the pretty ones more often, but when I know I'm going to do a fair bit of walking I wear my trusty DMs. They protect my dodgy achilles heel. For a rock chick I've never had a pair of DM boots! It's a sacrilege.

Happy Saturday!

I hope you have a good weekend whatever you do. I'm having my eyes tested this weekend. New glasses, whoo!

Thanks for reading.

Fatshion Feb day 21 - Nautical but nice

Howdy!

I've got a nautical themed outfit today. As soon as I saw this cardi on eBay I was on it. It cost me £5.69 with postage. Score!

I think this cardi would look better with a red dress, so I'll try that another time. I have blusher on my dress near the brooch, btw. I dropped it on my boob when I was doing my make up. Oops!

Today is black dress day 10 of 14, and day 21 out of 28. Nearly there, whoo!



Bubble butt time!


Head band, clothes swap
Cardi, M&S size 20 from eBay
Dress, New Look Inspire
Brooch, De La Warr museum Bexhill
Leggings, Very
Shoes, Very (old.)

I'm glad that nautical is going to be a big thing this year. What's your favourite trend for 2014? Pastels, nautical, grunge, bold prints?

Thanks for reading!

Tropical Delight OOTD with Bonmarche*

Hiya lovelies!

Last week the lovely Stef from Bonmarché got in touch to ask me if I wanted to review something from their new in range. I chose this absolute bobby dazzler and decided to pick out the yellow tones in it for this outfit. I could equally have mixed it with blue, chartreuse or zebra print accessories. I love a versatile dress.




It's a very comfortable polyester/elastane mix with zebra print and watercolour effect chartreuse, yellow and blue sections. It's really unusual and the colours are so bright it screams spring and summer.


I'm wearing a 24. I find Bonmarché clothes with stretch to be very generously cut. For example I'd have to order a 28/30 in a similar dress from Simply Be, a 26 in New Look, and probably a 26-28 in Yours Clothing, so if you are bigger than a 24, stick to the clothes with stretch from BM and you'll be fine. 


The dress comes in 2 lengths, this one being the shorter length. The longer length is 1.5 inches longer. 




 Here's a close up of the pattern.


Hair flower, Curious Cat
Cardigan - clothes swap
Dress, £29.50 Bonmarché*
Patent shoes, Evans, old
Bag, Just For 5 Pounds

If I could change one teeny tiny thing it'd be to have the neckline a little lower to flash off a bit of cheeky cleavage, but when I'm getting this much colour in one dress I think I can live without that!

(This counts as outfit 20 of Fatshion February.)

What do you think of this dress?

Thanks for reading.

*Dress provided by Bonmarché. Opinions are my own.

Fatshion Feb Day 19

Hiya pickles!

Happy Wednesday. This week is racing by! Mookie gave me this animal-ish print cardi a couple of weeks ago and as usual, I thought of wearing it with red. I'm nothing if not a creature of habit!


My gosh, my feet are sooooo interesting!



My 'I do make up' necklace



Cardi, H&M, old
Dress, New Look from twin pack
Leggings, Yours
Necklace, eBay
Belt, ASOS Curve, old
Shoes, Matalan, old

My friend Rachie sent me the necklace from Canada. You can buy it from the US but it's quite pricey for postage.

Thanks for reading and happy hump day as the Americans say. :)