Getting to know me.

This post is a tad overdue, I have been writing this blog properly since July and I hope that if you follow my blog or follow me on twitter you already have a sense of who I am. Like an onion I have many layers, perhaps now is a good time for you all to get to know me a little more.

1. Many of you may already know that I am actually Welsh. I grew up in Newport, South Wales and only moved to London in 2007. I cannot speak welsh, except Dw i ddim yn hoffi which means 'I don't like'

2. My favourite colour is black, although I have a love-hate relationship with it in terms of my clothing I think it is a classic colour that goes with everything. 

3. My birthday is in March making me a Pisces, it also falls on the same day as National Steak and Blowjob day. Classy aye. 

4. I am a product of a holiday romance, my dad is full Spanish making me half Welsh, half Spanish. 

5. I am not the kind of person that enjoys 'me time' in fact I hate being alone, I would quite happily sit in silence so long as there was someone there with me.

6. I LOVE being tickled, or stroked as some may describe it. It is a total comforter to me and poor Dan tickles me at least 5 times a day. 

7. I talk very fast, so much so that some people can't understand me.

8. Change is something that I find difficult to deal with, although I am a firm believer in fate and that all change happens for a reason. 

9. I have a sleep disorder called Slow wave arousal disorder, I have nightmares and sleep walk and talk. 

10. I loved Amy Winehouse and her music, I found out on holiday that she died and I cried for an hour. 

11. When I was three I stood in Bristol zoo and screamed that I wanted to be a Giraffe.

12. At University I started off studying Theatre performance, but quit to study Human Rights and Religious Studies.

13. I have a tiny birth mark in a really unusual place.

14. Corriander- HATE IT.

15. Crying is something I do a lot, I get so emotional at everything, TV, films, books music. EVERYTHING.

16. One of my most favourite places ever is Brighton

17. I have one eye short sighted and one eye long, which mean I look from the side when something is talking to me or watching TV. People often think I am deaf because of it.

18. The best cake for me is Lemon drizzle, or chocolate but has to have cream with it.

19. I love cooking but hate the preparation part of it. Oh and the cleaning up" Hate that too.

20. Dogs over cats all day long.

21.Savoury food over sweet.

22. I love travelling. In fact my dream job would most likely be a travel/food writer. 

23. I would quite happily live in my Pyjamas. 

24. Lists make my life, I love writing them with a good pen. 

25. Not too toot my own horn but I am excellent at debating.   

It's safe to say I have given you enough facts about me, I am sure there are some that you could have done with out knowing but there we go. I would love to read some of your facts so feel free to comment them below! <3 

Callie x

The Breakfast Club Hoxton

It is no secret to anyone that I am a total foodie. Cooking, baking, you name it I love it. Living in London perhaps has aided to my foodie obsessions as there are so many impressive restaurants, and fantastic street food stalls scattered all around that its hard not to get drawn in. I have heard a lot about the different branches of Breakfast Club  so when we ended up there for dinner on Saturday night after the BPSFW I was excited to see what all the fuss was about. My first impressions were positive, the place was full, which is always a good sign in my eyes, not so fun when you have to queue for a table, but the staff were friendly and helpful and the time went fairly quickly.

Although the place itself was small I really loved the set up, it had lots of cool furniture, brick walls, wooden tables and cosy little sofa's. Perfect for a chilled dinner after work with a friend or a date. There were 8 of us in total so there was a wait for a table, but the staff were so friendly and chatty, they kept us updated and assured us they would seat us as soon as they could. The hostess was also kind enough to charge our phones for us whilst we waited (social media addicts) When we were finally seated we went straight to the cocktails page. I opted for a Passion Fruit Mojito.

I have to say this was a total letdown for me. Cocktails are my favourite and this Mojito was really quite flavourless, it tasted more of soda water than anything else, the passion fruit was tasty but was let down by the use of brown, clearly old mint leaves which you can see above in my photo.

Dinner on the other hand was most definitely not disappointing. My choice was 'APPLEWOOD SMOKED CHEDDAR, MUSHROOM & CARAMELISED RED ONION CHUTNEY.' I have had many a burger in my time and some have been bland and average. This burger was perfect for the price range. I love the chargrilled taste you get when you have a burger off a BBQ in the summer, this had that exact flavour and at just £10.70 I was impressed.  The skin on chips were to die for and the coldslaw was creamy and fresh however they were a bit shabby on the portions.

Amy ordered the COW VS PIG BURGER which was a burger patty topped with BBQ pulled pork, cheese and gherkins. I had a cheeky taste of the pork and it was so soft and had a gentle BBQ taste to it, still allowing the full flavour of the pork to come through.

Need I tell you how amazing this brownie was? Just look at it! Gooey chocolate decadence, creamy vanilla ice-cream uhh pure heaven. This was the prefect ending to the evening, us girls chatted whilst listening to a 90's playlist. I was super full and super impressed with the evening as a whole. If you would like to check out the Breakfast Club you can find their website here. I will definitely be going again but maybe this time actually for Breakfast!

A little bit of Loving.

Blogging can be a funny old thing, I sometimes wonder whether it is narcissistic. You know all the selfless, the outfit posts, the talking about your own life all the bloody time. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I decided to create a space on my blog where the focus is on someone else, where I can share with my readers other women, or men that inspire me. I have renamed this series of blog post 'A little bit of Loving'  The first post I wrote like this you can find here. Without further ado allow me to introduce you the second lady of the series Danie Vanier.

Danie is new to the plus-size blogging scene, and I actually came across her from Instagram and it was a love affair from the get go. I loved her outfit posts, her eclectic dress sense and her humour. After weeks of chatting and liking each others posts we finally met at the Evans press day in London. It's safe to say we hit it off. The photos I have chosen above I feel really represent Danie's style. I love that as a plus size girl she rocks a body con, and can make a simple black dress look sophisticated and chic. Though she hasn't started a physical blog page yet, you can find her page on tumblr here. My outfit posts recently have been inspired heavily buy Danie's style, simply because she has been encouraging me to be a bit more brave with my colours and my accessories. If you would like to step out of your comfort zone with your fashion then my girl Danie is for you. Check her out tweeting here and on Instagram @danievanier trust me you won't regret it.

BPSFW - The Fashion Show

You may be wondering why I am writing a whole post on just a fashion show when I could have featured this in my previous two posts. Well, the truth is out of the whole weekend this was my favourite part. Don't get me wrong it wasn't perfect, (issues with sound, delays in timing and some inappropriate body shaming comments) but for me I enjoyed seeing what the plus-size designers showcasing had to offer. There were many designers that I had never heard of such as One one 3, Lucabella and Cult of California. I was also excited to see some beautiful girls who I have followed for a while on Twitter walk the run way - Olivia Campbell and Jada Sezer I am talking to you! These girls looked so gorgeous and they personally are one of the reasons I enjoyed this part of the event so much. I think if this part of the day is worked on even more for next time, it will be phenomenal.

I have to say I was in love with the Swimsuits from Swimsuits for all it was so inspiring to see plus-size women embracing their bodies in gorgeous swim wear that I personally would purchase for myself. There were so many items that the girls wore down the run way that I just wanted to shout OMG I need that. What was most refreshing was being able to see clothes that I have seen online be worn by a model in front of me. Do you ever look at something on line and bypass it because you can't get an idea of how it would look on you? I do it all the time! There were things that I have seen on my favourite websites that when I saw on the run way made me look at the item in a completely different light.Overall I was super impressed with the clothing and I am so glad I have been introduced to some new and fantastic plus-size designers.

Day 2. BPSFW

Day two of the event was at Shoreditch Town hall, a much larger venue and a lot cooler! There were lots of new faces and so many confident stylish women at the event looking far too fierce for words. I enjoyed the day and the fashion show, there were again some flaws with organisation throughout but we of course needed this to happen in order to move forward and allow the event to grow and improve.  My choice of outfit for the Saturday was the Neon Floral dress from ASOS. It wasn't something I would normally pick but I am challenging myself to be more daring and I think it paid off! I felt amazing in this dress, I opted for a  slightly more casual look by adding a leather jacket and booties.

Dress - ASOS Curve
Coat - New Look Inspire
Boots - Evans 

My girls Danie, Amy and Sian looking so bloody hot don't you think?

 After a mental day we decided to go for dinner and drinks at The Breakfast club in Hoxton. (I will be posting about this restaurant soon) and I cannot tell you how hilarious this was! I spent the majority of my evening crying with laughter. Real tears people, real tears! Its things like that, that make me so happy to have started my blog, getting to meet like-minded people, and friends for life. 

British Plus Size Fashion Weekend Outfit Day 1.

There has been a lot of anticipation in regards to BPSFW, and as I was asked to blog for the event I was eager to see what it was all about. Day one of the weekend was a press only day and only a select few were invited to the day at Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoreditch. I have to see there was some disorganisation, the venue was perhaps a little too small, there were lots of plus size retailers exhibiting there clothing and there was live music and a small catwalk. The room itself was so hot, no air and all the windows were not able to be opened. However the day was very enjoyable, you could clearly see a lot of effort went into the day, there was lots going on, the catwalk was great and it was lovely to meet bloggers from all over the world who had attended the event. I decided to go fairly casual to the press day, as I was planning on dressing up a little more for the full day on Saturday. Here is what I wore.

I started the day off wearing my new bowler style hat but I didn't keep it on all day, it kept annoying me! I guess I am still getting used to wearing one!

Top- ASOS Curve,  

Jacket- NewLook Inspire

Leggings and Bag- Primark 

Rings - TopShop 

I finally got to meet Kellie from the blog Fatshion Insider I love her blog and have been following for a while, so it was cool to actually have a chat and tell her I LOVE her blog.

I got to catch up with some of my fav blogger babes. Amy, Naomi and Sian.

My girl Danie looking bloody gorgeous and werking. 

I had a really amazing day and night with the blogger babes, we popped to Brick Lane for a curry and a bottle of wine. There were lots of giggles and too many hilarious photos to fit on here but keep your eye out for next post where I talk about day 2 of BPSFW.

That time I was in The Times.

I can finally share with you my elation at being featured in The Times magazine. The photo shoot I was talking about in my post for Evans was indeed for The Times. All us girls were interviewed by a wonderful journalist, Stefanie Marsh... MUCH much nicer than Liz Jones and really easy to talk to, it felt like I  was just chatting with her rather than interviewing which totally put me at ease if you know what I mean? When it came out on Saturday I was so excited to read it and see how the photos from the shoot came out. I was elated when I saw my photo was actually rather lovely and that the article itself was so funny, positive and sassy as Marie liked to call it. I thought I would share with your my photos from the shoot and of course the photo of the actual article. Hope you enjoy!

What I've been wearing.

I haven't really posted an outfit style post in a while, with being so busy with all Evans related things and recovering from knee surgery I either haven't had the time or have been rocking the PJ's and crutches look. I know 'Ain't nobody got time for that' so I thought I would do a little round up of what I have been wearing before and since I went back to work. Yes I know I'm giving you bitch face or no face in some of these photos I guess its a running theme. 

Look 1. Coat -Primar /Skirt- Newlook / Jumper- Asda
Look 2. Coat- ASOS curve.

Look 3 - Hat- Topshop/ Polkodot shirt- Asda
Look 4 - Jeans- ASOS Curve (Gifted) / Vans/ Scarf -Paris Market

Clements Ribeiro Bloggers campaign.

I am sure you are all aware of the news that was plastered on my Twitter and Facebook feeds I was so excited to be asked along with 4 other bloggers to collaborate with them on their first ever bloggers campaign! We will be the faces of the Spring/Summer Clements Ribeiro collection which will be released later on this year. I cannot begin to express how blessed I feel to have been given this opportunity, the whole experience was a total whirlwind and one that I will never forget, but moving on from me getting all mushy on you. On the 16th of January I headed to Evans HQ on the train with the ever glamorous and gorgeous Georgina to meet the other girls for a photo shoot with The Times. I was so excited to meet Nicolette and Marie for the first time (major fan girling) and of course seeing my bb girl Bethany again is always a pleasure. We quickly were put into hair and makeup and I got to strut my stuff in a gorgeous outfit for the photo shoot. (more posts to come on this soon.) In the evening when the shoot was was done I was able to have a giggle and enjoy some time with lots of my favorite blogger babes. We all got to try on some fabulous clothes have our hair and makeup done and enjoy a few glasses of champers!

 Later on we headed to dinner with the Evans team and the Press at an amazing restaurant called Riding House Cafe the food was just divine, the company even better. I was very overwhelmed especially when I saw that it was Liz Jones who was interviewing me, surprisingly she wasn't too scary. That's right you didn't read it wrong, she was actually quite pleasant. After one too many glasses of wine and far too much Sticky Toffee pudding we were checked into a very nice hotel in Knightsbridge. 

Day two was pretty immense to say the least. We were whisked off in the car at 07:15 to our shoot destination and put straight into hair and makeup. Unfortunately I cannot share any of my photos from this shoot just yet but keep your eyes peeled for part two of the adventure. 

Sponsored By Evans

Share the Love.

I obviously have been sharing what I have been wearing for a while on my blog and of course I love it, but I think it is really important to share with you some other gorgeous curvy babes who also are rocking some amazing fashion looks. I plan on making this a regular feature and have the idea to choose a mix of bloggers, friends, and strangers to these posts. I love looking at how others style themselves, where they get their inspiration and just generally to have a nosy at what they are wearing, so without further ado allow me to introduce you to my first beauty.

Kartika Zulkarnain

Kartika, is a close family friend of mine and has always been so breathtakingly beautiful. I remember when I was younger that people said that we looked alike, I always used to feel so honored as come on, how gorgeous is she?! What I love most is that Kartika is an advocate for all beauty, her Instagram is full of love for others. She dresses perfectly and I love her style. Kartika describes her style as classic but contemporary  and loves wearing different prints and textures and also takes great inspiration from her Asian heritage. She loves finding cuts that suits her body shape and applying her own edge to her clothes. I wanted to share Kartika first as she has been so supportive to me with everything concerning my blog and I really wanted to share her beauty and spirit with you. You will find her on Instagram Tikiboo84 and tweeting away @tikiboo84

Thank you for reading today. I hope to be making this a regular thing either weekly or monthly what do you think?