Wednesday 27 March 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: J. Crew Heart Sweater

My poor J. Crew Heart Crewneck sweater. I originally wanted the tan and black version but I was still excited when I got it at the J. Crew outlet last November. Poor neglected J. Crew heart sweater. I've worn it several times and I've even taken two different photos of it but it hasn't made the What I Wore Wednesday cut. But alas not all is lost because things have been so crazy while I've been home (umm hello major midwest snow storm) that I haven't taken a single outfit photo. I even bought a new dress for my Grandpa's 95th birthday only to realize on the day I had no tights so had to change my outfit (hello again snowstorm).

So this week instead I'm bringing you my poor neglected J. Crew Heart sweater so it gets the recognition it deserves for being so cute and ever so slightly askew (I love that about it).



Is anyone else weird about wearing sweaters without a t-shirt or something underneath? Maybe I just have really sensitive skin but I get all itchy and uncomfortable. Do you have an outfit that is under appreciated even though you love it!


 Loading InLinkz ...

Wednesday 20 March 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Fabulous

I've just gotten in to Ohio from Scotland so apologies if this post makes little to no sense.  I got my passport back on Saturday and booked flights back the same day. After three different delays I'm here! Unfortunately Blondie Boy and NotBlondeHusband couldn't come with me but I'm looking forward to spending time with my family.

A few weeks ago I took part in a photoshoot for Fabulous Magazine for "School Yard Chic" I had two outfits; first an amazing Rebecca Torres dress:


Oasis Black Leather Jacket
Cybher Satchel
Chelsea Skull Scarf
New Look Black Ankle Boots

I loved this body con, colour blocked dress but I think maybe the editors thought it was too dressy for the school run (to be fair the only time I'm not in sweats for the school run is when I have meetings so I am dressed up!) so they went with my second look:

Photograph by Alan Peebles
Cynthia Rowley Skater Dress via TK Maxx
HM Cropped Blazer
New Look Hobo Bag
New Look Ankle Boots

To be fair I wear the hell out of this dress. I freaking love it and have worn it numerous times so it is a fairly good representation of my style.

IPhotograps by Alan Peebles
How cute do my friends Glasgow Mummy & Hayley look, too? We had a fun day (even though it was rainy at first--hence the frizzy hair) playing models and smizing for the day. Although I got a bunch of blank looks when I mentioned booty touching---maybe I need to watch less ANTM!

What do you wear when you take your children to school? Did this post make any sense? I'm pretty sure I've been up for almost 24 hours!


THANK YOU to everyone who nominated me for The Mad Blog Awards as I'm now a finalist for The Best Fashion and Beauty Blog! If you fancy voting for me voting is open now until March 26th! I really do appreciate everyone nominating me and am just stunned to be a finalist again! 


 Loading InLinkz ...

Wednesday 13 March 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Debenhams SS13

Last week I was invited to the Debenhams SS13 Press Show in Glasgow; for those of you outside the UK Debenhams is like the UK's Bloomingdales, in other words it's a fab department store! The SS13 Press show showed off the latest offerings from their Designers at Debenhams ranges, concessions and beauty range. Sure we've all seen what was on the runway for SS13 but if you are like me (and 99% of the population) we don't shop from the runway, we shop from stores so I was super excited to see what they had to show us.

My hands down favourite look of the night though was this amazing Principles by Ben de Lisi striped black and white a-line skirt. I've fallen madly in love with it although I will admit I did first think it was a dress when I saw it on the mannequin on the night! Regardless once I shift a few pounds I'm so adding this to my wardrobe. I tend to be anti-skirt for some reason but I'll make and exception here!

Debenhams Striped Ben de Lisi Skirt

I also loved these Red Herring Black Studded Wedges; I'm a sucker for anything studded lately and I have this theory that wedges don't make your feet hurt as much and are easier to walk in.  I'm pretty sure my theory is absolute bologna but I still find myself drawn to wedges over heels!
Debenahms Red Herring Studded Wedges

There were so many amazing beauty products from the beauty hall as well and there were lovely ladies from Nail Girls giving manicures (more on that later), Benefit doing brows and Bare Minerals doing mini-make unders--- I'm in desperate need of a new foundation and was actually quite surprised to find how much coverage powder can give you. I was also shocked to find out I'm not the palest shade available :)

There were so many beauty brands out out display from CK One, Illamasqua, Clarins...I could go on and on! I'm a huge fan of my Urban Decay Naked Palette so I was really excited to get a look at their limited edition Great and Powerful Oz Palettes. I personally loved the Urban Decay Glinda Palette but then I'm a sucker for purple and shimmer

Glinda Powerful Oz Palette

So what did I wear? I saw this outfit on Pinterest and thought I could finally wear the glitter sweatshirt I got at HM over a year ago! Unfortunately the neckline meant I couldn't really recreate the outfit as it was in the pin but I decided to stick to my guns and finally wear it.

Sequins and Blazer

Black Cropped Blazer-HM
Gold Sequin Sweatshirt-HM
Nude Studded Heels-New Look

The sweatshirt is quite baggy around my middle as I've got a disproportionally small waist compared to my bust and butt so I needed the blazer to cinch it in a bit and give me some shape. I wasn't 100% sold on the look but I was glad I finally wore the freaking thing.

While at the Debenhams SS13 show I got my nails done. I was originally going to get navy nails with an accent nail but the ladies for Nail Girls sold me on the not-yet-available-to-the-public coral shade for spring. It was out of my dark nail comfort zone but I like the result. Plus it gave me a reason to break out my coral Cynthia Rowley dress the next day!

Coral Gold Manicure

So what am I excited for this SS13? Well mostly the weather because I'm totally an open toed shoe kind of girl but I'm loving monochromatic outfits with bright nails and a fresh face. What spring/summer trends are you looking forward to this year?


I almost forgot! THANK YOU to everyone who nominated me for The Mad Blog Awards as I'm now a finalist for The Best Fashion and Beauty Blog! If you fancy voting for me voting is open now until March 26th! I really do appreciate everyone nominating me and am just stunned to be a finalist again!

 Loading InLinkz ...

Sunday 10 March 2013

Glasgow Street Food Cartel


When I left the US for Glasgow my experience of food trucks was limited to Manoosh, a guy who had a hot dog and pretzel cart late at night on GWU's campus.  Of course then a few years later I was introduced to the infamous “burger van” when my office was on an industrial estate and that was the only dining (I use that term loosely) option within walking distance. Neither is a fair representative of the now booming food truck trend.

Food trucks have become a phenomenon in the USA over the past few years and like most booming food trends they are slowly making their way to the UK. If you love the Food Network like I do you may have seen them featured on shows like “ Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America,” “Andy Bates’ Street Feasts” and my personal favourite, due to the dreamy Tyler Florence mostly, “The Great Food Truck Race.”  Basically think of your favourite cuisine in a mobile kitchen giving you your favourite eats to go.  Trucks in the USA have massive followings and they only need to tweet their location for the day to have a queue down the block.

So when I heard that Scoop Events and Smoak were coming together for the first ever Street Food Cartel, a pop up food truck restaurant in Glasgow I was mega excited—then I heard it had sold out almost immediately. Bummer. Luckily for me they added a second night and we were able to get tickets. Tickets cost £5 each and gave you entry and a free drink.

We went for the 6:30 setting but I’ll be honest and say we arrived about 15 minutes late to SW3 but that wasn’t a problem. It was a bit sketchy walking in since it is literally a big warehouse, but once inside it wasn’t so scary.

Street Food Cartel

The venue was a warehouse so it was pretty cold but my main complaint venue wise was that it was really hard to hear. The plywood tables were quite large so NotBlondeHusband was pretty far away from me and since the music echoed in the empty warehouse it made it quite hard to hear. I was looking forward to going out with my husband and while I don’t mind sharing a table with other people I spent most of the night invisibly rolling my eyes at the utter shite the person next to me was shouting at their friends.

Street Food Cartel

However, you don’t really go to a pop-up restaurant for the ambiance so let’s talk about the food. We were offered an elderflower cocktail or beer for our free drinks and since I don't like elderflower I became the designated driver and NBH got two beers. He went for the Harveston Schiehallion and really enjoyed it: it had a lot of flavour. The menu was split into two—one half for Scoop and the other for Smoak.

Street Food Cartel menu

They suggested dishes were to share but 3 dishes per person, which to be honest I found a bit confusing but we went for five between the two of us. Our Smoak dishes came out first:

Truffle Mac and Cheese with Brioche Crumb

Truffle Mac and Cheese

This picture does not do it justice—the mac and cheese was amazing. I may or may have not stuck my fingers in the sauce after all the pasta was done. Seriously delicious. 

Smoked & Confit Chicken Slider, Bourbon Dipping Sauce & Plantains

Smoked & Confit Chicken Slider

This was good but when a dish is described as being “to share” I tend to expect more than one slider. Also it was impossible to dip into the dipping sauce because it was in such a wee cup. We ended up pouring on the sauce rather than dipping. The chicken itself was really nice I just wish there had been two or three sliders in our tray.

Next up was the dishes from Scoop:

Confit Pork Belly, Viet Slaw, Scratchings Lettuce Wraps & Nouc Cham

Confit Pork Belly


This was NotBlondeHusband’s choice. He’s a big fan of pork belly but for him the winner of this dish was the Viet Slaw. It wasn’t that the pork belly was bad but it was quite fatty and didn’t really stand out on its own. If you took away all the other components of the dish it wasn’t palatable.

Ox Cheek Taco, Guacamole & Sweet Pickled Onion

Ox Cheek Taco

We both love tacos but the ox cheek was far too rich. The guacamole and onions were both nice but for me taco fillings should be lighter and less heavy. It didn’t taste bad it just was too rich for my taste.

Butternut Spring Roll, Beetroot Pesto, Feta & Toasted Hazelnut Dukkah

Butternut Spring Roll

This was hands down my favourite. I love beetroot and the pesto was so fresh and the perfect pairing with the sweet butternut squash. It was so good I tweeted Scoop to ask how they made it. Also hands down the best feta I’ve ever had. I might have to tweet them again to find out where they source it from as it was light and fluffy rather than dry and salty like some feta.

We went for both desserts on offer because well that’s how we roll and oh wow I’m so glad we did.

Smoak: White Chocolate Cheesecake, Raspberry & Bourbon Cranachan

White Chocolate Cheesecake, Raspberry & Bourbon Cranachan

Normally I’m not a huge fan of Cranachan because it can be a bit too boozy for me but this was perfectly balanced. To be honest I don’t really like cheesecake that much but it was creamy without being sickly and smooth without being overly rich.

Peanut Butter Parfait & Jam Sorbet

Peanut Butter Parfait & Jam Sorbet

Being American I’m a huge fan of the peanut butter and jam combination and this did not disappoint. We expected it to actually just be strawberry sorbet but the sorbet was actually made of strawberry jam and was tart enough to counter balance the peanut butter parfait. Again I may or may have not stuck my fingers in the leftover melty bits on the plate.

With £10 entry, £38.50 for our food (plus one more beer) + tip it certainly wasn’t cheap but the quality of food was high. Yes everything was served in paper baskets but you had proper china and silverware to eat out of---it’s street food that doesn’t bother me. I’d hope if these trucks go out and about (and have no warehouse overhead) that item costs would be slightly lower. On the whole we had a great evening but that’s not the kind of money we could spend on a regular basis.

I hope this was just a taste of what’s to come for Glasgow and we’ll soon have food trucks all over our dear green place with amazing and interesting alternative dining options for us all.

Smoak on Urbanspoon

Wednesday 6 March 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Cincinnati Chic

I'm going to be totally honest; I've not taken a single outfit photo this week. I travelled down to Manchester on Wednesday for a work event that went really well but after being "on" all night when really I was still pretty upset just left me emotionally drained by the time I got home. I came back up on Thursday and didn't get out of sweats really until yesterday for Blondie Boy's parent teacher conference (beside apparently trying to bring home Playdough daily he's a super star natch).

I wore my faux leather ponte dress again for work but again didn't snap a single photo. It's not exactly professional to ask a colleague to take a picture of your outfit and I was going to snap one in the hotel elevator but it was so dark in there it wouldn't have worked. I wore an oversized cream sweater with black leggings and my new spiky shoes yesterday but again, no photo. 

I'm still in a bit of a funk about being stuck here; I've heard this afternoon that my application has been given a caseworker but security checks still have to happen and that could take 7 days. I'm not sure what other processes take place after that but it's good to know something is happening. I'm really grateful to my MP's office for helping out by phoning to find out what's going on (the general public can't).

I've been Facetiming with my Grandma and for the most part it has been great (especially the part where she asked my Mom how old I was and then insisted I only looked 28!) but it is also really hard to see her get upset and say she missed me or ask when I'm going to come and visit her. My Mom has told me there isn't much I can do and if I was there I'd be doing the same as FT but in person but it's still rough. I'd like to be there to help support her as much as to see my Grandma. Hopefully my application will be sorted soon but even once it's decided it could be another 20 days after that.

Tomorrow night I'm going to the Debenhams SS13 Show in Glasgow so that is something to look forward to and keep my mind off of things I really can't control. So since I am beyond rubbish this week I give you a photo a a little boy who's always styling:




Zip Hat-Gap Kids
Cincinnati Shirt-MiCA 12/v
Skinny Jeans- Marks and Spencer Indigo
Boots-Next

I don't know who bought Blondie Boy these skinny jeans but they crack me up; he's such a skinamarink that even skinny jeans are a bit baggy on him. He definitely looks better in skinny jeans than I do! Are there any adult trends that you find funny on children?




 Loading InLinkz ...