WANTED: Fashion advice please!!

It's not often that I get to seriously dress up but Crimbo is coming which means parties and events are heading our way too! 

Our work's Christmas do is going to be at ACC in Liverpool for the exciting Cirque de Lumiere event. There's going to be aerial dancers, light-shows that promise to be spectacular, a tantilisingly tempting 3 course meal, complete with bacon butties at midnight to soak up the bucket loads of alcohol undoubtedly consumed! Oh, I mustn't forget to mention the dodgems and waltzers too!!

This is a classy affair, so that means no jeans or the tunic/leggings combo. Now, where this easy for the men; chuck on a classic 3 button suit and boom, sorted! It's a tough one for me, who usually does just wear trousers to the office. 

I've managed to order an amazing peplum tuxedo dress from Scarlett & Jo that looks AMAZING (without blowing my own trumpet, like!), but my question to you guys is... what shoes??

Can you come up with anything better?

The model on Scarlett & Jo's site looks awesome with her t-bar style shoes but I'm not sure this would suit me. I'm way to short for this. I was toying with the idea of a classic pointed court shoe but thought it would look slightly outdated?  Strappy shoes could work but they tend to have very slim heels and I would much rather a platform or chunky heel for comfort. Not wearing heels all that often means that when I do, I hurt, and I hurt badly, on the balls of my feet!! 

Another thing... colour? Do I go for black, as per the dress, and team with festive gold accessories? Or do I go for something to make my outfit 'pop', like an emerald green shoe and/or bag?

Tights or bare legs?

OMG, someone help me. One thing I'm certain of though is that my hair will be up and out of the way, although all advice is welcomed, you guys!!

Let's #GetChristmassy!!

Hands up if you can't wait for Halloween to do one, so we can get festive already?!

MEEEE!!!

Christmas is the best time of year for me. From trees and twinkly lights, to the smell of paint (yes - this post here will explain all!!), it gets me all smushy inside. The time of year when nice things seem to happen more often, people are more open to eye contact and slight smiles on public transport, getting a few well-earned days off from work to spend it with loved ones. Oh I love it!!



Every year we say no to visitors on Christmas Day. Why? Because it's not fair on the littluns in my opinion. Well, I say my opinion, it's actually a learnt behaviour from my own younger years where my parents did the same. The one day of the year where rules are out the window and, dya know what kids, if you don't want to get dressed all day, play with all your goodies and have family games around the table wearing silly paper hats, then that's OK. 100% family time with no TV until after 6pm at night and 'MPFZ' as my Dad used to call it - yup, it's a mobile phone free zone!! It's just pure bliss. There's no other day like it, which probably makes Christmas all the more magical.


So, if we have no visitors on Christmas Day, what do we need to prepare? This is a question we're asked quite a lot, followed by the obligatory 'OMG, we're cooking for 9 trillion people then going here there an' everywhere, it's going to be chaos!' statement.

It all starts with the tree doesn't it! Every year I like to find some new little baubles or ornaments to add to my collection. Oh, and let me be clear - we don't do colour schemes either in our house! It's a whole mish-mash of festiveness so anything and everything goes. Shops love me, and I love shops what can I say?!


New plates are a must for Christmas. I know, I know, you're thinking 'but you're not entertaining anyone?' ... no but we do have one very special visitor who loves a mince pie and milk so, you know, needs must. We made this plate ourselves and, actually, most of our Christmas activities involve a lot of craft type things. It's all part of the fun.

One thing you won't find me crafting myself though are CHRISTMAS PJ'S! Everyone has Christmas pyjamas don't they? Oh I love a good fresh brand new pair of PJ's for Christmas. Again, this stems from childhood and is something I also make tradition in our home. Swiftly followed by crimbo bedding. Bring on the reindeer print... I could get lost in John Lewis looking at it all ha!


Christmas day entertainment requires serious thought. We make our own crackers most years (not least because, urgh, how bored are we of getting a mini screwdriver set as a 'prize!) and we can personalise them for each person by choosing small gifts to place inside. Somewhere like Superdrug or Card Factory suits us for this.

Living so close to Liverpool One, as I wrote about just this weekend actually, I love that all of my needs are taken care of in one place. From stationery & books, to clothing & bedding, I really don't have to venture all around town. It's also pretty snazzy for crimbo food and drinks mid-way through shopping!  With all the other things to do in Liverpool, we'll be sure to visit several times over to make the most of this magical season upon us.

Why not come and visit Liverpool One yourself this year, let's #GetChristmassy together. That's their hashtag, check it out for news and updates as to what's coming up by following them here @Liverpool_ONE. Ahh, I've said it before and I'll say it ten thousand times more, I'm so lucky to live so near here.

Oh, and if I offended any Halloween lovers by the start of my post, this one's just for you... Bah Pumpkin!





Our weekend in Liverpool

The weather has been absolutely glorious, I can hardly believe we're only 2 weeks away from Halloween! So making the most of it, we decided to venture over to Liverpool yesterday. 

I've talked before about how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place, right on the edge of the River Mersey in New Brighton, Wirral. A literal stone's throw from Liverpool, we have endless entertaining places to go and fantastic shopping trips to do.


We decided on going to have a nosey in both the Disney and Lego shops with the kids in Liverpool One. It was heaving so we decided to go get some food first. It hauls in some serious crowdage and it's not really surprising given all the other things to do in Liverpool.

Upstairs is a food lovers heaven. I'm not joking either: mega amount of choices available from Five Guys to Las Iguanas to Wagamama, there's something for everyone. We opted for Pizza Express as it looked like the kids inside were having a whale of a time so seemed like a good choice!


The irony of ordering the super food salad with a large Peroni made the waiter giggle but hey, it's a weekend - I deserve a beverage after having worked all week ha! Actually, shout out to Shaun (our waiter) who was incredibly friendly, helpful and funny throughout our visit. I LOVE a good service, don't you? 


With chef hats and a dough ball area to play around with, Carson was in his element (can you tell?). And with the colour pack on our table, Finley was well entertained too.

After we'd eaten we had a walk around the shops to burn some of the calories off! It's starting to feel Christmassy already around town, I can't wait for the Crimbo markets to arrive and set-up! 


Today consisted of finishing touches in my bedroom with the addition of some twinkly lights on the chimney breast and having a good old move around of the furniture. It took a whole day of lugging stuff around but I don't half feel accomplished now!

So here ends one very busy weekend  and another whole 5 days before the next one. Bring it on.  What did you get up to?



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