Glammed Up

Last week, I posted, stressing a tad about the slow delivery of an outfit I needed for "a 'do" I was going to this weekend.

In all honesty, the delivery probably wasn't slow at all.  I was just far too impatient to be waiting for it!!  :)

Well, the outfit arrived, the event day arrived, I ate too much food, drank too much alcohol, went to bed far too late, and then - the hangover happened (apologies for the lack of posts this weekend - the alcohol hurt me too much to do anything!!).

And now it's time for the post to happen!  :)

The event that I attended was a Sportsman's Dinner at The Bradford Bulls Stadium.

Really, I think it was just an excuse for people to get together, eat food, drink far, FAR too much alcohol, and then bust out some pretty embarrassing moves on he dance floor.

Myself very much included in all of the above.... *embarrassment*

But it was fun and helped raise some money for the local rugby teams.  To be honest, it was a brilliant excuse to buy a 'proper' dress and enjoy the chance to get a bit 'glammed' up for a change.

So obviously a little bit of preparation is needed in the "Getting Ready" department for something like this, and my first stop was to visit my lovely hairdresser, Gemma.

Now Gemma is very well aware I usually like my hair poker straight.  I've had it chemically straightened by her a few times, so when I explained that I wanted a little bit of a change and fancied some loose waves instead, I think she could sense my nerves.

But as ever, she put my mind at ease and using GHDs, turned my usually poker straight hair into this:

Nothing too over the top - I'm not a fan of the ringlet/'Curly Sue look'!!

I really liked it.

Despite my hair being really heavy and thick, the curls lasted all night and I even managed a nice wavy ponytail the next day (not that I was well enough to go anywhere to show it off...!!)

So back at home, it was time for some make up.  I'm not a fan of too much, but I do like to do my eye-shadow a little bit different for a night out.

I used three colours from a colour palette I've had in my make up bag for quite a while, and started by covering my whole eyelid with a really light, pale beige colour.

Next, I swept a medium brown from halfway across my lid to the outside corner, and then to the very corner of each eye, I added a dark brown, which created a slight "smokey eye" effect.

By using three different colours in a similar tone, I ended up with a 3-tone effect across the eyelid, and was quite pleased I'd managed it.

I added black eyeliner to my lash lines to help open my eyes up a little, and carefully finished off by coating my lashes with black Clinique mascara.

!Eyes Done!

The rest of my face was quick and easy really.  A little bit of Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation on my face to cover imperfections and give a base for the rest of my make-up.  Then a dusting of bronzer all over my face to add colour and a little shimmer, topped off with a subtle amount of a rosy pink blusher to the cheekbones.

I used my favorite shade of lip gloss on my lips- Maybelline Water Shine Liquid Diamonds 'Crystal Amethyst' - which is a lovely deep purple colour - it really does sparkle and stays put for ages.  Love it - a few of the other ladies took a shine to it too.

Next up - The outfit.

A lot of the ladies that were attending the dinner had told me previously that they were intending to wear varying black dresses.  As much as I love a classic black dress myself, I'm not too keen on following the crowd, and prefer to be a little bit different.

So I opted for a bright red ASOS maxi dress, complete with thigh high split!

The dress fit perfectly.  I ordered a size bigger than usual, just so it wasn't uber clingy, and loved it.  The top of the dress is in a 'wrap style' and to stop any embarrassing moments I opted to safety pin the gap closed a little more.  But I don't think this took anything away from the style or the 'flow' of the dress at all.

And the belt.  I just love it.  It's plain, a full metal plate, and fastens with a chain clip at the back.  It is really classic and I can see me updating a lot of the dresses in my wardrobe with it.

A tad pricey, but I will wear it to death.

I accessorised with gold - gold bangles, a large gold ring, the beautiful gold metal belt, gold barely there heels and a gold clutch bag.

• Red Love ASOS Dress - £32 - ASOS
• Full Metal Gold Belt - £30 - ASOS
• Clutch Bag - (an old one I've had quite a long time)
• Large Gold Ring - £2 - Primark
• Bangles - a selection I've had a while - probably from New Look/Primark

Naturally my nails had to match too - bright red with a gold "bling bling" sparkly one on each hand.

I absolutely, 100% can not grow my own nails long at all, so I visit the lovely Kayleigh and have acrylic tips.

I know they aren't the best for my own nails...but they look so pretty, and I just love them.

I'm a little bit of a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to my nail colour though.  I usually just opt for red or black... I think I need to branch out a little bit and experiment with nail colour for definate....

Hope you like!

Play-Gym Date: Funopolis

Seeing as it's still the school holidays, and I have pritty much exhausted the places to go for a local-ish day out with my 7 year old, I jumped at the chance to take him to a new play gym after I had heard some positive reviews from friends who had recently visited.

As you can imagine, in almost 8 years, we've probably been to every play gym in our area, and although the kiddies seem to love them regardless of the amount of times we visit, it is nice for us adults to have a slight change of scenery every now and again.

Also, we are on the look out for a place for "The 8th Birthday Party" that is large enough for a horde of boisterous boys, so hopefully these boxes get ticked too!

With all this in mind, our destination for the day was Funopolis Play Gym, Shipley, Bradford, BD17 7AD.

I did a little internet research before we went - basically looking for opening times, entry prices etc and found that there was a lot more information, including plenty of photographs on the Funopolis Facebook and Twitter pages rather than on the website itself, but all were easily accessible.

A big bonus - when I contacted Funopolis via Twitter, the staff were very quick to respond and answer my questions - which is always handy in my book.

So - what was it actually like?

Well, as stated on the website, the play-gym is fairly new, and was opened in April, 2013.  This is very obvious to see when you arrive.  The whole place just screams of "newness".

The play equipment - and there is a LOT of it - is brightly coloured, clean and in excellent condition.

Funopolis is set in a massive, open room, with the majority of space taken up by the play equipment.  There are slides and tubes and things to explore EVERYWHERE - the children loved it!  Smiles all round. :)

If all that room for exploration wasn't enough, there are small party rooms dotted in within all the fun giving a private place to eat on that all important party day.

There is a Go Kart Track for the children to whizz about on.  You have to pay an extra £1 per turn, but I think it is pretty reasonable and seems to be the same in other play-gym's I have visited that offer this service.

There are ball guns to practice target shooting, a stage which was filled with little ladies putting on a show for their parents, a small basketball court/football pitch filled with little boys letting off steam, and also a separate play frame for the younger children which gave them a fun place to play away from the fast paced, busy main play equipment, without making them feel left out.

~ !!Fun Packed!! ~

There are plenty of tables for families and carers to sit and grab a coffee or a bite to eat whilst the little ones tire themselves out.  It was quite busy when we arrived, and still we managed to find a table.

Seeing as I mentioned food, it seems only right to comment on this too.

There is wide menu to choose from, with lots of Italian dishes - pizza and pastas, as well as burgers, breakfasts and lighter options and although we din't actually eat anything, the food I saw other people ordering looked lovely.

We did sample the coffee though, and that was nice!

Having had a peek inside the menu, I did think that the prices were a tad expensive, especially when compared to other play-gym's I have been to... 

• Roasted Pepper's, Red Onion & Goat's Cheese Sandwich - £4.25
• 12" Pepperoni Pizza - £6.95
• Lasagne - £6.95
• Gourmet Beef Burger - £6.95
• Kids Lunch Box (inc sandwich, drink, crisps, fruit/chocolate) - £4.10

...yet this is likely to be noticed in the quality of the food, which I have been told by a friend who has eaten at Funopolis, is quite high, so this is to be expected really.

Oh - and the ladies loo's were clean. (Always important to know!!)  :)

As I said earlier, part of today's visit was to "test the water" so to speak, for my son's birthday party.

Funopolis offers different party options to suit different budgets.  You have the option to choose from a warm or cold menu; to include the Go Karts into the party, or just to have a basic play party.

There is even an option to add some pottery painting into the party day, as Funopolis has it's own pottery studio situated away from the main play area.

So, quite a lot on offer to please even the fussiest of child!

And the last word goes to the people with the most valuable opinions on this subject - the kiddies:

"I love it here!"

"It's massive"

"Can we come back again?"

I think that speaks for itself!!

Liebster Award Nomination

As I'm a very new newbie to the world of blogging, I never ever thought I could, or would be nominated for anything!  But the lovely Fantasy Fashionista nominated me for the Liebster Award!

How exciting!

First, I had to check out the rules, which, I found out are as follows:

  

  1. Link back to the person who nominated you

  2. Answer the 11 Liebster questions given to you by the person who nominated you

  3. Pick 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to nominate

  4. Ask 11 questions for your nominees to answer

  5. Go to each nominated person's blog and let them know you've done the post

So, here goes....

Fantasy Fashionista's Questions & My Answers:

1) What made you start blogging? 

 I am already a part of a brilliant book club Orchard Book Club, so I have a little bit of reviewing experience up my sleeve.  I have met some lovely ladies by doing this too.

I wanted a chance to write about the other parts of me too, and hopefully meet more lovely bloggers, so I decided to start blogging on my own too!

2) Who is your favourite blogger?

That would have to be the lovely Kel Loves.  I love reading her blog, she's such a lovely, clever lady and has given me lots and lots of brilliant advice!

3) What are you most looking forward to about Autumn?

To being able to eat lots of stodgy, warming, comfort foods.  :)

4) What will you most miss about Summer?

The warmth...when we had it.  And the fact that the summer hols are over for another year (I work in a school - so six weeks off in one chunk...bliss!)

5) What is your favourite film?

There are too many!  I love the Twilight Saga & have watched the box-set to death.  Then again, I love The Harry Potter's and have watched them all a trillion times too.  I'm a little partial to a bit of an action movie too - fast car chases, guns - love it.

6) What is your favourite book?

Because I am part of a book club, there are just too many fantastic books to have to name one, or two, or ten favourites.  I love all the "famous" well-known authors, but also love books from a lot of indie authors too.

7) What is the best holiday you've ever been on?

I think my holiday last year to Corfu was quite brilliant, mainly due to the fact it was the first holiday we've been on in 5 years!  It was hot, abroad and All Inclusive - brilliant!

8) Where would you most like to visit?

UK wise, I really want to visit London and do all the typical touristy things that i have never done.  Otherwise, Hawaii or The Caribbean would be amazing to visit. 

9) Favourite high street clothing store?

Primark's always a winner for taking the strain off of the purse strings a little.  But I quite like Miss Selfridge, Topshop & River Island if I'm in need of a splurge.  And New Look, seeing as I worked there for 3 years.

10) Favourite make-up brand?

To be honest, I don't have a really large make up collection.  I have a few expensive bits and bobs in my make up bag, but really, my main every day items are from Rimmel and Boots 17.

11) What would you most like to achieve in life?

To be happy and to be able to give my son the best start in life.  :)

So now for my questions:

1. What 5 words would best describe yourself?

2. What is your most valued possession?

3. What is your favourite book?

4. Do you have any pets?

5. What items does your favourite outfit consist of?

6. What is your most indulgent purchase so far?

7. What are you asking Santa for this year?

8. How did you begin blogging?

9. What is your favourite food?

10. Make up item you just can't live without?

11. Where would you like to be/ like to be doing in 5 years time?

The blogs I would like to nominate are:

The Glitter Vixen 

Beauty Val

Natasha Does Nails

Proud Product Junkie

Fashionable Disaster

The Cleanser Beauty Blog

Lipstick And Heels

Hermione Agatha

A Tiny Beauty Blog

Bamblings Of Naffy

British, Brunette, Blogger

And that's it!! I hope you all enjoy doing it as much as I did

Book Review

Well, seeing as my journey in reviewing began 8 months ago when I was given the fantastic opportunity to became a part of Orchard Book Club, I thought I should share with you a review of a book I posted on Goodreads earlier this week.

I highly recommend the book, and currently have the author's second book "Roadrage" in my possession, which I can not wait to begin.

Niedermyer & Hart
M.J.Johnson

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book!

It is a real page turner and had me gripped from the beginning. I really could not, and simply, DID NOT want to put it down.

'Niedermayer and Hart' is a brilliantly exciting horror story, that you can not fail to be drawn into. The story develops the concept of friendship, and strong bonds formed between individuals, and explores just how far people will go to help those that they love when they are in need.

Even if this connection of friendship has been stretched over hundreds of years.

The story focuses on Jim Latimer, a photographer, who, after suffering with alcoholism, has lost his career and his marriage, but is desperately trying to rebuild his life, and move away from the destruction caused by his addiction.

It seems to Jim, that through a chance job offer to photograph a porcelain brochure for the company of 'Niedermayer & Hart', that he has been given the opportunity he has been waiting for. He relishes the opportunity and throws himself into his work, wanting to prove himself to his new employers, as well as to his friends and family.

However, whilst carrying out this seemingly straight forward job, Jim comes to realise that his new employers are not all that they portray themselves to be. Jim, along with his close friends, are dragged helplessly into a supernatural world of horror, murder and suspense, all hiding within the cellar of the elegant, prestigious 'Niedermayer & Hart' headquarters.

As I stated previously, I really loved this book! If you are a fan of horror, murder, the supernatural and a little bit of gore, then you will love it too.

The story is very well written. The plot is very well developed, and the characters are very believable and "real". Each character reacts to the idea of a supernatural force being presented to them in a different way, dependent upon their lives and experiences - very much as it would be within the "real world" if this were to happen.

Within the book, the author told two very different stories, set in very different times, of very different people. However, the way these stories gradually merge together, very cleverly, builds up to a fantastic climax, that brings together the past and the present in order to try to rid the world of the horror that has been uncovered.

I loved this aspect of the story, and found it very clever. It helped to give the story a great deal of dept and meaning.

I must admit, whilst reading this story, there were many a "jaw-drop" moment, many a gasp, and many a "hold my breath" moment, which I think speaks volumes in itself to how I felt about this book! :)

It is a very captivating, exciting read and I highly recommend it - 5*

Post Number One

Hi All

Post number one, just to say a quick "Hello" and introduce the blog.  I hope this will become a space that gives me the chance to share all the things I love from books, to fashion, to eating out, to travel.

My life in general.

I hope you like