Fat Frocks

New Years Eve Party Look

By Gem - 19:31:00

I had been on the hunt for the perfect party dress for NYE for a while and this Little Mistress fitted the bill. The skirt is lovely and full with netting underneath and the lace detail at the top is eye catching and pretty. Little Mistress dresses are perfect for parties and more formal occasions and they also have a plus size collection which runs from size 18-24. Recently Little Mistress won the title of Young Fashion Brand of the Year at the Drapers Independents Awards 2013 for the second year running.

I'm only heading to a house party for NYE but I do love an excuse to get dressed up and I want to get plenty of wear from this dress as I've only worn it once over the festive period.

Dress: Little Mistress

Bracelet: c/o glitzysecrets.com

Shoes: New Look

I love the detail on the dress and I don't think photos do it justice, it looks ever so pretty in person.

I've finished my New Years Eve look off with this forever vintage bracelet from Glitzy Secrets.

It's encrusted with clear and smoky Austrian crystals and set on antique silver tone bracelet. It looks like an item from the 40s and would also look lovely at a black tie event or as a piece of bridal jewellery.

I hope you have a fabulous time tomorrow evening, have you got any plans?

17 Comments

Amsterdam

♥ My 2013 - Part 1 ♥

By Gem - 13:19:00

January

The big main event in January was the NTAs which I attended with Sarah and the Echo Falls team. I will always remember the NTAs as the day I shared a lift with Clare Balding and shook Arthur Darvill's hand. I was so very star struck and thoroughly enjoyed myself. You don't get to hobnob with people like June Brown and Paul O'Grady very often so I consider myself rather fortunate.

February

In February I headed off to Paris to spend some time with my friend Julien and his housemates Audrey and Camille. We spent the day in Disneyland going on the Rock and Rollercoaster over and over and meeting Mickey like big kids. I also wandered around my a favourite part of Paris, Le Marais buying pastries and looking at all the beautiful historic buildings.

March

March was probably one of my favourite months this year. I got to stay at the beautiful Norbury Manor with some of the best people you could wish to meet. I've made so many friends through blogging, I feel very lucky. I also got to visit the Harry Potter studio tour and as a huge fan it blew me away. The final part of the tour brought a tear to my eye and I can't wait to visit again. I also had a 90s party with my friends and had fun compiling the playlist and covering the house in streamers.

April

April was full of lots of blogging fun. I went to Birmingham for a night out in Snobs with some blogging chums, went to a lovely Next event and had afternoon tea at The St David's Spa hotel and went to the St David's Ladies shopping night.

May

May was jam packed with fun as I headed off to Amsterdam for a long weekend for my friend Craig's birthday. I feel in love with my rented red bike and would love to visit the city again. I also took a trip to London to see the David Bowie is exhibition, saw the Cold War Kids and chowed down on a Byron Burger and Breakfast Club pancakes.

June

Sophie and Emma came to Cardiff in June for the weekend which was so much fun, plenty of M&S picnic food and dancing to cheesy pop in Clwb. I also organised the away day for work in the beautiful Grade 2 listed Main Building and I went on my annual trip to Torquay with the girls.

I've really enjoyed taking a look back at some of the things I've done this year and reflecting on how lucky I've been, I think I've managed to pack quite a lot in. Thanks to anyone I've been away with this year for putting up with me and part 2 of 2013 will follow soon.

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Brecon

Brecon Mountain Railway

By Gem - 16:02:00

Yesterday I visited the Brecon Mountain Railway which runs from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir. It's something that Martyn and I had been looking forward to and it was nice to get some fresh air after all the excess of Christmas.

The location was beautiful, it's on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park with its amazing mountain, lake and forest scenery. It's based near Merthyr which at one time it was the greatest iron making town in the world and most of the earlier railways used iron rolled by its mills. It also witnessed the trial run of the Trevithick locomotive - the first steam railway engine in 1804.

Dress: Fashion World - Hat : New Look - Wellies : Hunter - Bag: Vivienne Westwood - Coat: Tesco

I've always love trains but my current obsession can be blamed on Michael Portillo and his fantastic programme Great British Railway Journeys which I love watching. I'm fascinated by our industrial history here in the UK and trains played a huge role in that.

The train that we saw that day was a No.2 Baldwin Locomotive which was built in the 1930s in the USA and was used by a cement works in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

Enjoying the views of the reservoir.

We wanted to walk around the reservoir but there were 60mph winds yesterday which kind of ruled that out so we headed to a viewing point in the Brecon Beacons and had our lunch with some speldid views before heading back home.

Pont ar Daf path up to Pen y Fan.

I can highly recommend a trip to the Brecon Mountain Railway and there's so much to see in this area I know I'm going to be there a lot this summer. Can't wait for some good weather to head out to the National Park which is practically on my doorstep.

18 Comments

black lace dress

Twas the night before Christmas...

By Gem - 23:30:00

Rushing around trying to great ready for Christmas, short days and torrential rain really aren't the best blogging conditions. I haven't managed to post anything for ages but I've got plenty coming up over the next few days which will inevitably feature photos of Sookie in a Santa hat.

I've had this Very dress for a while now and it's now my go-to dress for a night out or slightly formal occasion. It's super comfy (and roomy, perfect to wear if I'm going out for a big meal) and was under £30. I wore this on Sunday while visiting family and to a Christmas meal with some of my closest friends.

Dress: Very - Necklace: Punky Pins - Shoes: Mel

I spent a lovely evening with my mad but brilliant friends for a Christmas celebration and I got to see all my favourite people at the same time. This hasn't been possible for a while since some of my friends now live abroad and everyone is so busy now that we are all a little older.