Feeling Stylish

Now, I can safely say this is something I am very, very excited about. Norwich is rife with independent boutiques, vintage shops, designers and all sorts of fashiony people. I’ve lived in Norfolk all my life and everyone associates this county with stupid stereotypes . That shouldn’t be the case, us Norfolk folk should be celebrated for our creativity and style – well, some of us, you do see some rather questionable clothing choices down Prince of Wales Road on a Friday night.

NFW is being organised by the brilliant Evening News folks and all the details of the events during the week will be on their newly launched website.

The week runs from February 17th to the 24th. A lot of the events are free but in some cases it’s best to book. I’ve put the full programme of events onto Love Norfolk, it gives you all the details of where to buy tickets and what you’ll need to book for.

There are some amazing brands involved too. I can’t wait to see what Poppy Valentine, Daisy & Lola’s, Prim and Vanilla bring us!

I’ll be going to most of the evening and weekend events so hopefully I’ll see some of you there.

I wanted to take a little look at the shoe trends for SS11. Now, while I like fashion I don’t follow it terribly closely and all my fashion trend knowledge comes from other blogs. Forgive me if I’m totally off the mark here but this is certainly what I’m going to be wearing into spring and throughout summer.

Colours

Thank god. I was getting very bored with the nudes, creams, browns and blacks of AW10. I love bright colours. Brilliant!

Flats

This is good news for anyone tall or for anyone who struggles to walk in heels. I fall into both of those camps – well, I’m tallish.

Look out for girlie, colourful pumps, flip flops and flat sandals!

Chunky Heels

Almost good news for us who can’t walk in heels because these are easier to talk in than silly kitten heels. They also help to make your body look more in proportion, I think.

Biker, punk and gothic

Probably riding on the wave of military boots that dominated last year’s shoe cupboards, this trend is close to my heart. I love the edgy, clunky look of these sorts of shoes. I think you’ll probably find you’re limited to only boots though, which mean this trend might not be so great for the beach. But perfect transitional wear!

Images courtesy of Spartoo.co.uk

Ali tells us her story about getting waxed. The brave, brave girl

It’s a well known fact that I don’t always pay as much attention to my appearance as I probably should. For me, winter has always been a time to let those leg hairs grow and embrace my ‘inner hippy’. This winter, however, I got married and went on honeymoon to lovely hot Gran Canaria. Furry legs would not have been a good look. I booked my first ever waxing appointment, and one for the hubby-to-be just for fun.

It took a while choosing the right place. The other half was adamant that we go to somewhere non-girly and eventually we settled on Waxed Works in Norwich city centre. The website is frank and honest (and not at all girly) plus it’s not a beauty salon – no nails, tanning or tooth gems – just the waxing.

We ignored the usual “ladies first” rule so I could see just how much pain I was letting myself in for. He was just having his back waxed (not the naughty bits this time) and quick as can be he was smooth and hairless. Didn’t look too bad at all!

When it came to my turn I was a little nervous and decided not to let Matt stay. Getting the full leg done was surprisingly quick and hurt a lot less than my one foray into the world of electric epilators.

As I was going to be wearing a bikini for the next couple of weeks I decided to get my bikini line done too. Now this I was nervous about. Knickerless is the norm (underwear just gets in the way) and the staff really made me feel relaxed – there’s nothing they haven’t seen! I’m not going to lie, it hurt. A lot. But it always does the first time, with regular treatments it gets less and less painful. The results were great, really smooth and no re-growth for weeks. It’s also a lot kinder to your skin than shaving.

I am booking in again, this time for a couples wax. That means the hubby and I go in together and each get an ‘intimate wax’. I’ll see if I can be braver this time with him watching, maybe a Brazilian? Or even one of their special ‘Showgirl’ or ‘Burlesque’ waxes!

For more information, visit www.waxedworks.co.uk

To read more from Ali and get a great insight into baking, housewife-life and general awesomeness visit her blog, Bunnthebaker.blogspot.com

Anyone who doesn’t conform to the ‘normal’ size 8-14 will have probably had trouble finding a dress at some point. I’m talking about anyone from the super skinny and petite to us ladies who have lumps, bumps and womanly curves.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t know where to go for you skinny ladies but I can help the curvier women. Generally, when looking for plus size formal dresses you should aim for something that’s not to clingy that accentuates your curves in the right places and yet skims over the fat parts.

Any sort of wrap dress will accentuate your waist, halternecks are good for those of you with big boobs and an empire line dress will hide a flabby tummy.

With the maxi dress trend it’s a bit easier to find dresses that are very easily dressed up. The term ‘maxi dress’ is just a marketing thing to get women wearing longer dresses without feeling too formal. Most maxi dresses wouldn’t pass for black tie wear but a sparkly jacket and some nice jewellery and you have yourself a pretty formal dress.

A simple LBD can be dressed up with a colourful jacket and heels. Or go for super chic and keep it monochrome.

If you suffer with bingo wings then try to find yourself a dress with sleeves or make sure you have a little jacket or shawl with you. I hate feeling like I’m all arm in side on photos.