Friday 29 June 2012

Win a $25 Ruche Gift Card

The lovely Amy Morby is holding a fab competition to win $25 worth of Ruche vouchers. All you have to do is leave a couple of comments, post a tweet and spread the word about the competition. 


Check out her fab blog and be in with a chance of winning the competition!!



Sarah


xx


PS I hope you don't win because I want to :p

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Born in the wrong era?

for a long time now i've often thought that i was born in the wrong era. i don't know whether it was was my taste in fashion, music or body shape that first made me think this, but it's definitely been on my mind for as long as i can remember. when i was at secondary school i spent a few years trying to fit in before realising that what i liked and how i wanted to dress wasn't the same as my friends and i should be myself. sure i listened to the popular boy bands, had a crush on shane from westlife and that one from boyzone just like my friends, but i'd been brought up on classic rock, and that's what i really wanted to listen to. i gradually found my feet and started buying my kind of music, not my friends. when they listened to chart music, i listened to blink 182 or the eagles, and i was much happier. i definitely became an indie kid, i was all about the boy fit jeans, converse and band tshirts, part of me still is. i never wore dresses, skirts or heels, i liked my trousers and skate shoes. i wasn't slim like my friends, i never have been and i've come to terms with that over the years. 


The Eagles, taken from their website
during my late teens my style began to change, i started buying dresses and heels, and i actually liked it. being a bit on the chubber side can make it more of a challenge. trying to find nice mid length dresses/skirts that don't look like they're designed for an 80 year old can be a struggle, and always having to wear leggings under anything shorter than knee length can be a drag, but i don't let it stop me wearing pretty things. i have a big love of vintage/retro/50s fashion and i'm enjoying looking for new and old things all the time. it's also been really helpful having longer lengths being in fashion at the moment, it definitely makes it easier to buy nice clothes for my shape. now that the fashion industry is starting to accept that we aren't all size 0 i can only hope these longer lengths will continue, theres only so much flesh i want to flash on a hot summers day thank you! i've been taking advantage of the summer sales and treated myself to these (it's only now that i've seen them next to each other that i've realised how similar they are oops)..

Image 1 of ASOS Midi Summer Dress With Rope Print 
1. ASOS midi dress
2. Urban Outfitters Midi Dress

i also found these wedges in a charity shop a month or two ago. i already have them in navy from last summer but these were the colour i really wanted (thanks to my big old clown feet they had sold out in an 8 so i bought the navy instead). i'm looking forward to pairing them up with these dresses next time the sun comes out.





last night we watched 'The Help', after reading the book i was really looking forward to seeing the film. it made me realise how much i love vintage fashion. the dresses were below knee length and women looked classy. maybe i'm old before my time but nothing annoys me more than seeing young girls with barely an inch of skin covered, and by young this even includes teenagers these days. nothing is being left to the imagination, class barely exists and i find it really sad. whenever the sun comes out you can guarantee at some point in the day i will be thinking 'i would never have been allowed out of the house wearing that', i thought parents wanted to protect their children's innocence?


anyway i guess my reason behind this post is that it doesn't matter what your style is as long as you're comfortable. peer pressure shouldn't matter (even though sadly it does). we will never be happy with ourselves if we're trying to fit in with others expectations of us. i've learnt this a lot over the last few years and my confidence grows the more i care about being myself and less about what others expect of me. so sorry dad, but there are more tattoos to come and the hair might get redder!


if you have any tips on buying lovely vintage inspired clothes for curvier girls please let me know, i'd love to hear from you!


sarah 


xx


You're having a Giraffe!




Last night Mr Pomps and I decided to go out for a meal. I'd been fancying a trip to Giraffe after seeing their 'Burger Tuesdays' offer, any burger for £5.95. The menu looked good, the photos were mouth watering etc. As I've given up red meat I ordered the Rodeo Chicken Burger, the photo from the menu is on the left. What I got however, was a big piece of charcoal in a bun and a bowl full of over cooked and dried out fries. It really wasn't a nice meal at all, and judging by a couple on another table complaining too, I don't think we were the only ones that thought so!



Needless to say I will be writing a letter of complaint. It comes to something when a microwaved burger from Wetherspoons, which is £3.99 inc a drink, is better than a burger from Giraffe that usually costs £10.95. 

That's my little rant over but hey, if it saves you having a bad meal there too it can't hurt right?

Happy Wednesday. 

Sarah 

xx

Just a little update, I had a response from Giraffe apologising for the bad food and giving us a £25 voucher to spend on 2 main meals. Not too bad eh, let's just hope the foods better next time! 


Tuesday 26 June 2012

'Summer'

One of my favourite things about summer is the fruit. Living in the UK kind of sucks in terms of what we can get and how much it costs, but come summer I go crazy for berries. The last few weeks my diet has mostly consisted of blueberries, strawberries, melon and asparagus. I LOVE the stuff. And what's even better is buying locally sourced produce. The one thing Exeter is really missing is a local market. I would definitely do all my fruit and veg shopping there, you get quality, excellent value, so much choice and hardly any bad food options to tempt you. One of my favourite things when I was at uni was taking a weekly trip to the Market, I mean who wouldn't love 5 Asian pears for £1? I would/did/do!


Now if you'll excuse me I've got a watermelon bigger than my head that needs cutting.

Sarah

xx

PS Euro 2012 is almost over, yipeeeeeeeee!!

Thursday 21 June 2012

A football haters guide to Euro 2012

I HATE FOOTBALL!! I mean really hate it! The thought of 3 weeks of over payed, over groomed 'men' running around a pitch, disrupting my Eastenders watching routine, makes my blood boil. I mean children/people are dying from famine every second, half the world seems to be in a recession, fireman are running into burning buildings and risking their lives, and yet these fools are being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a week to chase a ball? Yeah, cos that makes so much sense! 

Anyway, sadly Mr P is a massive football fan, and if I'm not at his house while he's watching it, I'm at home with my Dad and brother watching it, there is NO escape. So I've taken this as the perfect opportunity to get back into reading. I usually read a lot in the summer because it's so easy to sit outside with a book for hours on end. So after a fairly book free winter, it's time to pick up the paperbacks and get stuck in. My reading list is:


1. Live Fast, Die Young by Chris Price and Joe ... - a book about rock music and california in the 70s. I'm a big classic rock fan, the first gig I went to was The Eagles, and with them being a big part of the book I'm looking forward to reading it.

2. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Now I'm not usually one for chick lit but the Shopaholic series is a definite guilty pleasure. I haven't read one of these books for years so it'll be interesting to see how easy it is to get into. 

3. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. A total reverse from 'Mini Shopaholic'. This book was recommended to me by a local tattooist, being a fan of gore and horror it sounded like an 'interesting' read. 

4. Dawn of the Dreadfuls by . Last summer I read 'Pride, Prejudice and Zombies', so it felt right that this summer included another book from the alternative classics series.

5. We Bought A Zoo by Benjamin Mee. If you're a regular at my blog you'll know I recently went to Dartmoor Zoo, the zoo that this book is about and written by Ben, the man who bought the zoo. I'm really looking forward to hearing about his adventures and how the zoo came to be the way it is now.

6. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have just finished reading this book and I can safely say that I could not put it down. It's a truly inspirational read, a total eye opener and so so enjoyable. Obviously I had to get the film to watch too (although there is never a real comparison between book vs film, the books always wins hands down). 

I like to see what other bloggers are reading, especially Anna and Dani who have definitely influenced this post :)

If you're a football fan I hope you're enjoying it, if not how are you occupying your evenings? The end is now in sight, yipee!!!

Sarah
xx

Monday 18 June 2012

Fathers Day

Yesterday was Fathers Day, a day to think about and show your appreciation for your Father's/Dad's, something we should do more often. The cynic in me often makes me think that it's become a day for retail outlets to make money from something that we should do on a daily basis, we certainly shouldn't need a day to make us tell our parent's how much we love them and appreciate everything they do for us. 


This was the first year that we all, my Dad, brother, sister and I, wouldn't be together. Things have changed, Erica is now a Mummy and Fathers day is to be spent with her new family. That doesn't mean we aren't altogether at some point in the day, we just don't have our usual family dinner. So James (my brother) and I took it upon ourselves to cook up a scrummy meal for our Dad - a yummy vine ripened tomato and mozerella salad, followed by lemon chicken risotto and finished with fresh strawberries and raspberries. It was delish!


There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my family. I miss my Mum terribly and all the amazing things we used to do as a family, but I'm always grateful for the memories. I didn't take any photos this weekend, so here are a couple that mean a lot to me! 
My Mum and Dad, both looking happy (and cold) at our favourite park.

One of my favourite tattoos (my Dad may hate them but he'll always be there)
I hope you had a great weekend whatever you did.

Sarah
xx

Monday 11 June 2012

The pro vs the newby: the knitted blanket part 1!

Like so many girls, when I was a child my Mum taught me to knit. Although I wasn't very good (I mastered the knit stitch and that was about it), I really enjoyed it. Sadly as I 'grew up' I lost interest in it. But over the last few years I've really got back into crafting and the love of handmade treats, so I decided I would knit a blanket. I thought this would be a simple yet big project to ease me into knitting again, knitting 90 odd squares can't be too hard right? So with the help of the lovely Joe at Josie-Mary, and the creator of the wonderful Make Do and Mend in Exeter, and YouTube I began knitting my squares. 


When I told Mr P's Mum that I was knitting a blanket, she told me all about the clothes and things she used to knit for Mr P and his sister, her family and friends etc. and offered to give me a hand. As a somewhat newby to knitting I was pretty chuffed to have some help. Needless to say I'm still pretty slow so it's taken me a while to really get the hang of it and pick my speed up, but with Mrs Mum's help it's starting to come together. 
Mrs Mum's Pile Vs Mine (I have done 3 more since the photo was taken)
The squares so far. It looks dark right now but I'm about to start on the rusty/earth tones.

So this is where I'm at so far and the rest is down to me. With a bit of luck and a lot of knitting it'll be ready by winter (although it feels like winter is here already). I'll keep you posted on its progress :)

What are you making at the moment? 

Sarah xx

Friday 8 June 2012

My Jubilee weekend

Saturday

Saturday was a lovely day. As I hadn't been to see my Nanny Cornwall (we've always called our grandparents by where they live, so Nanny Cornwall and Nanny Exeter), my sister invited me to go and see her with them for the day. We set off bright and early in an attempt to avoid the bank holiday/half term traffic heading down to Cornwall, obviously this didn't happen has some silly person tipped their caravan over on the A30 so we had to go on a bit of a diversion. We eventually made it down to St Austell and arrived at my Nan's. It was great to see her, she's 87 now and as every year goes by more and more old stories come out, I love it! We went out for lunch, laughed, talked and caught up on all the family gossip before heading back to her flat for a cuppa and so Jack could have a nap. 

Every time I see either of my Nan's I realise how lucky I am to have them, and I must make more effort to see them more regularly (watch out Nanny Exeter, I'll be in to see you over the next few day's). As much as we moan about getting roped into adjusting the curtains or going through junk mail, it's nothing compared to all that they've done for us, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. 

Sunday

Naturally being bank holiday weekend the weather was rubbish!! We were stumped for something to do so spent the day doing the mundane errands and pottered around doing the bits and bobs we needed to do, aka a trip to Tesco, Dunelm Mill and Toys R Us in search of Nerf guns. We then headed to Darts Farm for a bit of a browse and a quick chin wag with the lovely Helen, followed by a stroll around Topsham and a drink at The Lighter Inn. Topsham is my favourite place in Devon, it's beautiful and a lovely little community. 

View of the River Exe from The Strand at Topsham
Topsham via BBC Devon
We then had a fun night of chess, tea, knitting and films!

Monday

With the weather looking slightly better, we decided on having a day out. I'd mentioned going to Escot a few weeks ago so we made up a packed lunch and went off for the day. It's not a huge place and £8.50 entry for an adult is kind of steep, but when you see what they do and where your money goes it really is worth it. 

The animals and birds are really fantastic. I've only shared a few photos with you here, there are many more. We started off looking at the Otters and birds, then followed the trail through the 'fantasy forrest', which had a giant photo frame that you could have your photo taken in, a death slide and park so lots of entertainment for children, lots of beautiful plants and trees, and even more animals. While we were there we watched the Otter feeding and learnt a bit about them, then there was my favourite - the bird show. There was a lot of interaction with the kids, they could even volunteer to go and hold the birds. This was topped off with a go around the maze, I got to the middle first! 

A few of the birds of pray.


More birdies
Mr P on the steps, Mr peacock and the Boars
Mr P lost in the maze (har har I made it to the middle first), Foxgloves, Myself and Mr P

It really is a good, fun day out. It's great value for money, close to Exeter and just off the new A30 so ever so easy to get to.

Tuesday

Tuesday turned out to be a bit of a let down. The weather was horrendous so quite literally dampened our spirits. I'd been looking forward to the 'Jubilee on the Quay' event for weeks, so our plan was to run a few errands, pop into Go Outdoors (I treated myself to a camping kettle), and then go to the Quay. We donned our wet weather gear and arrived to find...nothing! There was nothing to say it was rained off so I can only assume everyone packed up early. I was gutted :(

BUT this was not about me, it was Queenie's weekend and she looked amazing. I have so much admiration for the woman, if I'd been in her shoe's I would have been shattered after 2 day's, but she carried on even without Prince Phillip at her side - let's hope he's well and home again soon. Congratulations Queenie, 60 years of amazing work, you're a credit to our country (sorry your concert sucked though)!

Photo from the BBC

Sarah
xx

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Tents & Tigers!

Hello you lovely lot! This post is slightly overdue (I meant to do it last week but got a bit pre-occupied with various activities), so I apologise that it has taken so long! If you can think back beyond the gloomy weather we have had the last couple of days, you'll remember the glorious sunshine we had the week before last. And because it was so lovely, Mr P and I decided to go camping in Dartmouth for the weekend to make the most of the sunshine. On Saturday morning we loaded the car, filled the cool bag with camping munchies and set off for a weekend of awesomeness.

Saturday: Dartmouth

After a recommendation by Mr P's sister we arrived at the Little Cotton camp site. I cannot recommend this place enough. It's a lovely family run business on the edge of Dartmouth, it's amazing value, has the best showers/loo's I've ever seen (I'm not one for slumming it too much in the toilet department), and it's in the perfect location - at the top of the hill, opposite Sainsbury's and next to the Park and Ride (£2 unlimited travel for up to 6 people) so you don't have to worry about parking in the town, plus it runs until 11pm if you want a few drinks etc. 
So we pitched up our tent and filled our bellies before heading down into the town...

Home for the night.
A view from one of the Canon holes at the old castle
View of Kingswear from Dartmouth
Beautiful
I wouldn't say no to living here!
Don't ask me why, I just love these old signs!
Mr P - this is Dartmouth
Mr P
Mr P & I
Unfortunately after walking around the town for hours, we realised there weren't actually that many places to eat, unless you wanted fish and chips of course. So we decided to head back to the camp site, jump in the car and pop over to Totnes for a lovely pizza at Rumour, followed by a stroll along the river. 

Just a couple of boats floating away at Totnes.
That would be me, taking photos and looking far too serious!
Day 2: Dartmoor Zoo

As you know, I love a bargain, and before Easter there was an offer on Groupon for entry for 2 adults for £9 at Dartmoor Zoo. I'd always wanted to go so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. With Easter just around the corner and having tiny little nephew who has every toy under the sun, I thought getting tickets for a day out would be more fun, plus I'd get to spend some proper time with him too! 

The Zoo was fairly small which I liked, it was much less commercial than Paignton Zoo but still really nice. Sadly I was most excited about seeing the Raccoons, so of course they stayed in their little house and didn't come out and see me :( But it was great none the less. Some of the animals were: Wolves, a Tiger, Lions, a Leopard, a Cheetah, Monkeys, Emu's, Raccoons, and lots and lots of Peacocks. 

Here are just a few photos I thought I'd share with you, sorry about the Peacock obsession but look at those colours...






Hope you're all having a great week! I will be back asap with Jubilee tales.

Sarah xx