Zoella Lifestyle

I am a big fan of Zoella and when I saw her recent YouTube video going through her new range Zoella Lifestyle I was really excited!

Her new range was released on the 19th September which just happens to be my birthday! So it would have been very rude of me not to put in a small order. I’ve been away for a couple of days celebrating my birthday so by the time I got to the Boot’s website the items I wanted had sold out, but luckily Superdrug still had them in stock!

They arrived today and I’ve gotta admit I LOVE THEM!

So what did I get???

The “Naps Fix Everything” Pillow 

As a girl fighting an ongoing battle with a chronic illness, Yes – Naps do fix everything! and I find I’m napping more and more. I really do love this pillow and when I saw it I knew it would be purchased!

“Once Upon a Time” Journal 

I’ve been after a new journal for a while and when Zoe showed this on her video I really liked the style. Admittedly it costs more than I would usually pay for a notebook but it’s really good quality and it smells amazing!

“Warm Hands Warm Heart” Travel Mug and Fingerless Gloves 

I’ve been after a travel mug for a while and I love fingerless gloves so this seemed like a good fit for me.

I also liked that the slogan ‘topped with cream & sprinkles’ as I’m lacto free and can’t have cream anymore. It makes me laugh. I know, I’m weird.

I know there has been some bad press regarding this range and the price. I am on a small budget and bought what I could afford and I honestly think for the price, effort and quality of the products. It is of good value.  And it is like anything else, don’t buy it if you aren’t happy with it.

I personally am very happy with my products and very glad I bought them. Was a lovely extra birthday treat for me.

As alway, thank you for reading.
xVx

💜💜 Purple Hearts 💜💜

It’s been a while but guess what… I’m doing an outfit post! 😱

After spending pretty much most of the last week in bed after a rather nasty flare up of my illness. My husband and best friend took me out for a Toby Carvery today which was rather delicious

Just look at that 😍

As it was the first time I had got dressed since Tuesday. I thought I’d make an effort and wear one of my favourite dresses from the summer. My SCARLETT & JO Purple & White Lollidot Heart Print Midi Dress

Just look at the prettiness!!!!!!

As a girl who has MAJOR issues with her stomach I can not fault this dress, it floats over my stomach, gives me a shape and as a 6 foot 2 girl I am a big fan of any dress that covers my bum! And it just makes me feel so pretty and girly and just wonderful.

Any dress that can make feel that way is ok by me 💞

I am also impressed by Scarlett & Jo’s customer service. This is a replacement dress as the first one I bought was faulty. After a couple of emails and sending the original dress back, free of charge. They sent me this replacement so quickly!

In other news! You may have noticed I now have a full length mirror! After it being in the spare room for almost a year I have taken it out of its packaging and put it on the door! So get ready for a lot more outfit posts and my face! 😂

As ever thank you for reading and I hope you are all having a lovely relaxing Sunday.
xVx

 

 

Disclaimer: I bought this dress and it was my choice to write this post.

If you would like to purchase the dress – here is the link.

http://www.scarlettandjo.com/products/lollidot-heart-print-dress-2?variant=18703973956

July Favourites

So this month has been manic and I have accomplished so much. So here is a post letting you know about my favourite things.

Race for Life

I completed the race for life in memory of my mother in law who we lost in April.

I am so proud of what I have accomplished and the fact I never gave up!

I have also raised over £350 for cancer research.

Weekend in Stratford and seeing Midsummer’s Night Dream 

Had a weekend away with my sister and we visited Stratford Upon Avon.

Had a brilliant times and had front row seats for the performance which was amazing. I have wanted to see a midsummer’s night dream for a long time so I am so happy I finally have.

One of my favourite parts of our weekend away was going to the Butterfly Farm which was gorgeous and so peaceful.

Pokemon go

Yes , I am one of those people!

I have had a great time playing Pokemon and trying to catch them all! #sorryihadtoo

Something Blue

I am a huge fan of a film called ‘Something Borrowed’ which is based on the Emily Giffin Novel.

I was watching the film two weeks ago and watched the extra credit when it showed a possible sequel.

So far there has been no film sequel however I found the book.

I got the book on my kindle and read it in a couple of days. I really enjoyed the book and learnt what happened to the characters. I really like Emily’s writing style and I will definitely be reading more of her books.

The Girl on the Train trailer 

I loved the book last year, I started reading the book at 10pm and finished it at 4am. I was so hooked and couldn’t put it down! I had to know what happened. When I saw that it was being turned into a film I was really excited to see it on s big screen.

Saw the advert for the film this month and it looks so good!!!!!!! Can’t wait for it to be released.

Here is a link to the the trailer  ->  https://youtu.be/KkoEE1i0CX8

London Baby!!!!

Just got back from a fabulous weekend in London with my lovely friend Lainy.

Went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick Theatre and did the tourist thing and went to Big Ben and spent the afternoon at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I will be writing a post about my weekend, so make sure to look out for it!

But here is a sneak peak

So that was my July, how was your july?
xVx

Is it actually all in my head?

If you follow my blog on Instagram, you would have seen that this week the heatwave finally made me shred one of my public phobias.

I went outside without covering my arms!

I, like most people I know. Have insecurities about my body. After being so ill and gaining so much weight in the last couple of years my body confidence was at rock bottom.

But after finding the plus size blogger community and seeing Sofie Hagen at the Dave Comedy Festival two years ago. I totally jumped on the body positivity band wagon and started to love my body for what it is and not hate it for what it’s not.

I started wearing what I wanted and I now love dressing up and trying new clothes

However the old insecurities were always there and I still hide my body, especially my arms.

My arms are big, lumpy and flabby. I’ve always felt really self conscious of them and hid them using boleros and cardigans.

Even at my wedding, I had a shrug made as I didn’t feel confident wearing my dress with my arms on show.

I made a beautiful bride 💞

So even though I’ve improved so much and do honestly love my body, how can I still hate my body at the same time?

And I’ve come to the conclusion that it is actually all in my head.

Twice this week I’ve been outside with my arms on show. Once to work and yesterday when I went to see my father in law and brother in law. No one laughed, no one shouted, I went past a group of lads and not one of them said anything about it. I have spent so much time caring what other people think, that I’ve actually deluded myself into believing that they actually care. It has all been in my head, I have been so wrapped up and concerned about what people think of me and what they will say about me that I have almost stopped living the life I want to live.

So here is the lesson I have learnt from all of this… stop caring about what other people think.

And let your arms be free!!!!!

 

 

xVx

Race for Life 💞

So I did it!

On Sunday I completed the Leicester Race for Life and I’m so proud of myself.

I’ve gone from being unable to walk long distances and having to use a wheelchair to walking a 5k in 4 months!

I struggled, I’m not going to lie. I nearly passed out at 3k, my sugar completely dropped and I struggled to focus my sight. It was really scary but I thought quickly and remembered that there was a sweet truck and I phoned my husband and he ran over to me with lots of marshmallows and milk bottles. After a rest, I was able to complete the rest of the walk with my husband and friend supporting me.

I will say though it was slightly worrying that I was sitting on the side of the course for a good 20 minutes and not one volunteer, first aider or organiser came to check on me. It’s a good job I wasn’t on my own and I had my friend and later on my husband supporting me.

However staying positive- I did it and I’m so grateful for my hubby and friend getting me through the last 2K.

I did this for Margaret and in her memory I’m proud to say I’ve raised over £300!

Here are some pictures from my day 💞💞💞

 

xVx

16 in 16 – Update

I am now 7 months into my 16 in 16 challenge, Link to original post 👉🏻 http://wp.me/pZ5bU-4N so I thought now would be a good time to do a slight catch up and let all you lovely people know how I have been getting on.

Unlike most of my New Years Resolutions, I have been actively working on completing theses challenges and I am happy to report that I have so far completed 6 of them, and by the end of this month I should have completed two more.

I am very proud of myself for setting these goals and not giving up. It has been a rough year and it would of been so easy for me to decide to not bother so I am very happy with myself that I haven’t.

Have a look below and see what I have completed and I will be doing a post for each goal I have been completed.

16 in 16
1. Pass my driving test
2. Get fitter- ✅ ongoing

3. Do a race for life
4. Cons, cons and more cons – ✅ Yes/Yes/Yes

5. Go to Downton Abbey
6. Do a photo shoot
7. Weekend in London and see West End show
8. Go to Edinburgh✅

9. Sing at an open mike night

10. Go to the Harry Potter experience and do a tweet up✅

11. Go to the Dr who Experience

12. Have a Spa weekend ✅

13. Buy a Designer Bag✅ – see post here- http://wp.me/pZ5bU-8u

(💞💞💞 so pretty 💞💞💞)

14. Race a car

15. Do a photography course

16. Be happy

I will keep you updated with my progress and let you know how the next 5 months of my challenge go 😊

xVx

 

A day with the butterflies 💞

Pictures taken from my recent visit to the Butterfly Farm in Stratford Upon Avon.

Was such a gorgeous day and I adore butterflies. I have been wanting to visit the butterfly farm for a while so I am so happy I finally got to go 😍

 

xVx

June Favourites

I am going to start this post with HOW IS IT THE END OF JUNE ALREADY!

This month has flown by! And as it is a very nice tradition I have started here are my June Favourites

I MET GILES!!!!!!!!!!! 

I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and this month I attended the Prophecy Convention in Birmingham which was ran by Rogue Events.

This convention had a bumpy start as some of the main guests dropped out just before but I would still say this was one of the best conventions I have ever been too, I got to geek out with my friends, meet some lovely guests and I finally got my Giles Hug 💞💞💞

For thoses who don’t know Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Rupert Giles in the show, hugs are legendary! And I have been very vocal about the fact that 1) I wanted to meet him and 2) I wanted a hug! And it finally happened 💞💞💞💞

You can tell by my face how happy I was and he was a delight to meet.

I have to admit the star of the con though was the lovely Marc Blucas who played Riley on the show. Most people would say ‘I hated Riley, but big fan of Marc’

By the end of the convention, Marc had everyone swooning over him. Such a warm, funny, down to earth chap. This was his first ever convention and I really hope he does more.

I got a photo with Marc. And as I was waiting my turn. I heard him ask a convention goer their name. Which in my experience is unheard of while having photos. So when it was my turn I went straight up to him and said hi, I’m vicki. To which he replied Hi I’m Marc. Made me giggle at the time as obviously we all knew who he was but it showed just how lovely he is.

 

Bill Bailey 

My husband and I over the last couple of years have been going to more comedy gigs and last year we bought tickets to see Bill Bailey.

I will be honest, this gig was more for Phil then me. But I had a brilliant time. The only issue I had was that I was in so much pain. It is safe to say that I can no longer do a full day at work, travel and then go to a gig! Definitely need time to rest inbetween. 

New Job Present 

Started my new job, with the new team so only seemed right to buy myself a well done present. 

AND WHAT A PRESENT!!!!!

Two of my favourite things Funko Pops and Harry Potter 💞💞💞

Instagram 

Basically This Is Me is now on Instagram! Makes sure to follow me to keep up to date with posts and pictures 📷📷📷📷📷📷

Race for Life 

OMG it is this weekend!!!!!!! 

It had gone so quick but I have come so far and I am determined to cross that finish line on the 10th July 💞💞💞

So June has been a bit of a blur and how are we already 7 months into 2016. 
This year has and continues to suck! So be kind to one another. 

                             xVx 

April/May Favourites

It’s been a hard month and I haven’t been in the right head space to blog. I’ve given myself some time and the creative juices started to flow again.

I do enjoy completing my monthly favourites. It really does help put things into perspective. Even though my husband and I are going through a lot at the moment. It does us good to stop, breathe and think of the good things in our lives also.

So that being said I have decided to complete my monthly favourites for April and May.

Monthly Favourites 

Margaret

If you follow me on Social Media or read my previous post, you will be aware that my mother in law lost her battle with cancer at the end of April. The last month has been so sad and we miss her terribly. She is in my favourites because I wanted to celebrate her life and knowing her. From the first day I met her she welcomed me into her family. She was strong, fierce and protective but also caring and gracious. She loved cooking, ballroom dancing and spending time with her family. She will be so missed and I am so grateful that I joined her crazy family.

Race for Life 

In Margaret’s memory I am completing the race for life in July. Due to my poor health, I was considering dropping out however Margaret was the first person to sponsor me and was so touched that I was raising money and doing the race in her name, I refuse to give up!

For the last 4 weeks I have been slowly building up my strength, walking, swimming and strength training. My body is coping well but I get tired really quickly and at the beginning I was in agony the next day, which luckily is easing off. Training with a chronic illness has been difficult but I refuse to be beaten and in less than 6 weeks I will cross the finish line for Margaret.

If you would like to sponsor me (pretty please) here is the link to my just giving page

IWOWN 
With training for the race for life and generally wanting to improve my fitness. I bought a fitness tracker. After doing some research and having a strict budget, ( no fitbits for me!) I found this beauty on Amazon

The IWOWN smart bracelet, it’s been fab! I’ve been able to monitor the amount of steps I do a day. I was getting annoyed that I struggled to get passed 5000 a day so I changed the step goal to 6000 a day which is equivalent to 3 miles. It’s been pushing me to keep moving and on many occasions after walking a lot and wanting to stop, I’ve been saying “think of the steps”

Cons, Cons and Cons 

I love going to a convention, and in the past 8 weeks I’ve been to two!

End of April I went to Storybrooke Uk in London. Which is a convention for the TV show Once Upon A Time.

Was such a lovely weekend, got to meet my Twitter friend Alice who I have been speaking to for years. Got to see my con friend Sheena and spend the weekend geeking out 🙂

If you are a fan of the show you might recognise some of these people

Hook!!! Also known as the lovely (and very cute) Colin O’donoghue

Lee Arnberg- plays Grumpy on the show, but was also one of the Pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean

Meghan Orhy -plays Ruby in the show and is one of my favourite characters. She also said she loved my shirt ( there was a picture of her character on it)

Lana Parrilla- Regina / Evil Queen.

Rebecca Mader – Zelena/ Wicked Witch

Sean Maguire – Robin Hood

In May, I went to City of Heroes 2 with my husband. This convention is for fans of Arrow, The Flash and Gotham.

I enjoyed our weekend but it was insane!!! So busy and so crowded but the guests were fabulous.

I was able to get a photo with the stars of Arrow

Stephen Amell and David Ramsey

I also got to meet the brilliant, fabulous and VERY rude John Barrowman. He was one of the highlights of the con.

So you can understand how insane this con was – here is a picture of all the guests

For the party in the evening, I went as Agent Carter and wore this gorgeous Lindy Bop dress with a petticoat. Felt gorgeous and got so many compliments 💞

 

Day at the Races 

Last week I went to Leicester Races with my mum and dad and had such a brilliant day watching the horse racing.

We had a 3 course meal with this brilliant view and over the day I won £40!

Not something I do every week but I would definitely go again!

 

Make up Organiser 

I was lucky enough to win this make up organiser after entering a blog giveaway and it’s bloody brilliant!

1. It’s is actually making me wear make up! I don’t usually wear make up everyday however with having it on show everyday it’s making me want to have a play and make more effort with my appearance.

2. I can find my makeup! I seem to spend my life trying to find products that I have lost. Having it all together has made my life a lot easier.

X-Men Apocalypse 

Such a good film, I came out of the showing buzzing. I am a huge X-Men fan and I have loved the McAvoy/Fassbender films. Definitely one to go and see.

 

So those were my favourite things  – what have been yours??

x V x

March Favourites

I have a habit of being negative and even though March has been a rough month. It has also been a pretty awesome one.

So to celebrate this fact, at the end of every month I am going to write about my favourite things that have happened and stop being so miserable all the time!

I restarted my blog!!! and I’ve loved ever minute of it. I am loving writing again and I have many posts planned in the future. I am also very grateful for all the responses and support I have received since I have started writing again.

 

I have been working on my 16 in 16 goals and I have PASSED MY THEORY TEST!!!! So happy that I passed and my driving instructor has told me that he is happy for me to book my practical test! It is all happening 🙂

Spending Time with my Friends 

I have been lucky this month to have had lots of catch up with my friends. Earlier this month my uni friends came up to stay and we had a fabulous weekend.

Last weekend I was apart of a tweet up where we went to the harry potter experience in Watford and then for food afterwards. Was lovely meeting up with the girls who I have been speaking to on twitter and my lovely husband came with me to look after me and due to being in a lot of pain and not feeling great I ended up having to be push in a wheelchair around the experience. So grateful he was there for me.

Didn’t matter how hard I pushed they wouldn’t let me into Hogwarts!

I went to the cinema on my own

A strange thing to put on my March favourite list but I really enjoyed doing this. I really wanted to see Allegiant but had no one to go with. I had been feeling really rough all week and cabin fever was setting in, so I decided to go on my own.

I have always thought it be weird to go on my own, but it was actually fun and I got to see the film and rebuild my confidence after my relapse.

The film unfortunately was a bit of a let down. I enjoyed it and the experience however it was a filler film. But I got out of the house and am looking forward to going on my own again.

Reading

I do like reading a book and after replacing my broken tablet with a Kindle Fire I was having a sort out and found an author called E.M Tippetts.

The first book is called Someone Else’s fairytale and it is free on Amazon Kindle.

The story is about a Student with a dark history called Chloe and a movie star called Jason. I read the first book in a day and ended up buying the other books in the series as I loved them so much.

 

The Happiness Planner

I am a big fan of Zoella, I can quite happily spend a morning watching her vlogs and last month she spoke about the happiness planner. I have been after something like this for a while, where I can actively be positive and see the goodness in my life. When I saw her review I knew I had to get one.

If you are interested in having a look yourself, here is a link to their website  http://thehappinessplanner.uk/products/the-52-week-journal

I am hoping this will help me in my quest to become more positive and see the goodness in my life.

My last favourite experience of this month has got to be The Donkey Sanctuary in Sutton Park. When I met up with my Nan last week, I asked if she would like to come with me and we had great fun seeing all the Donkeys.

So they have been my favourite things about March – What were yours???