Southern Yacht

My little take on plus size fashion, life, travel and smurfs

Sunday 21 December 2014

Rockin' Robin jumper

Hi everyone,

Well, I decided against venturing outside for most of this weekend. As much as I love shopping, I couldn't face all the crowds on Panic Saturday as the press were calling yesterday.

So I had a day of paperwork and watching tv - perfect pre-Christmas chilling. And here's my cuddly robin jumper I wore to get myself in the festive spirit.

I took advantage of the recent 30% off offer Marks and Spencer had on recently on their knitwear and bought a couple of their Christmas jumpers. I never want to spend too much on something that you can only really wear for one month a year - does anyone else think that? Come the January sales though, I'll be hunting down all the jumpers!

Jumper - Marks & Spencer 22

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx

SHARE:

Saturday 20 December 2014

Snowflakes and tanks

Hi everyone,

So, it's nearly here and I'm trying hard to wear something a little bit festive everyday.

Earlier in the week I visited Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset. Now I know this isn't everyone's idea of a good day out - but for me it's perfect. I especially like visiting right before Christmas when it can be really quiet and you feel like you're only people in the whole museum. It's become a bit of a Christmas tradition now.

They have different exhibitions through the year and the new ones I saw this time were 'Warhorse to horsepower' - the story of how horses were used during World War I and 'Fury - the exhibition' which tells how the makers of the Brad Pitt Hollywood film Fury used some of the tanks from the collection.

Jumper - Marks and Spencer 20
Jeans - Marks and Spencer 22
Trainers - TU @ Sainsburys
Coat - TU @ Sainsburys 22




Part of the 'Warhorse to Horsepower' exhibition


Even tank museums have Christmas trees!


 

 
 
If you're ever in the area, I would really recommend this as a place to visit. There's plenty to see and you can get up close and personal to the exhibits.
 
Thanks for reading
 
Cathy
xx
SHARE:

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...and a little bit of make-up too!

Hi everyone,

One of my favourite things this time of year is the Christmas tree. During the year I like to buy at least one new decoration and if I can get some while on holiday, even better. That way, I have a tree full of memories every Christmas.

I don't tend to go for themes or colour schemes, it's all and everything as far as I'm concerned. The only no-no is tinsel. I love the stuff - but never on a tree. I normally end up wearing it instead!






So..with my tree all decorated, it seemed the perfect backdrop for an eyeshadow palette I recently bought from Marks and Spencer.







Now, I must admit, M&S weren't my first thought when looking for make-up, but I'd been looking for a small travel sized palette for a forth-coming trip to Scotland and when I saw these with 50% off - I was sold!

The only downside is that it doesn't come with a mirror, but the colours are beautiful and subtle enough for daytime wear.




My little tree xx

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx






SHARE:

Friday 12 December 2014

Christmas jumper day

Hi everyone,

Well, as I type this - it's only 13 days to Christmas - eek!

I have to admit though to having nearly all pressies bought and wrapped (don't hate me!). I love Christmas, and this year especially. Last year I worked over Christmas for the first time ever and it just rushed by in a blur. This year I plan to take things a lot slower and be a lot more relaxed



Anyway - having fallen ridiculously behind with all my planned blogs - I've instead decided to share some of my Christmas themed jumpers and tops over the next couple of weeks - because if you can't look daft at this time of year - when can you??

As today was Christmas Jumper day (and cold and wet) it seemed a perfect time to bring out a Ho Ho Ho favourite.


 
 Topped off with pink antlers from Asda - what more could you want??

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx


SHARE:

Saturday 22 November 2014

How do you store your jewellery?

Hi everyone,

Not so much of an outfit post but more of a jewellery one.

I am a real jewellery hoarder and collector. I love plastic, vintage, antique, paste, everything! I love to display my jewellery instead of hiding it away and I've been thinking of ways to display these earrings.

They were a gift on my 40th from my mother and they are so blingy! I wore them in Las Vegas and they always come out for special occasions. They're too nice to hide away so I've been thinking of how to display them. I popped them on a little pot from a Greek holiday years ago - what do you think?


 
 

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx

SHARE:

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Belgium travels - and smurfs

Hello everyone!

Well, first of all apologies! I have been a bit slack on the blogging front - and this mainly because I've had a lot of work and also been travelling here there and everywhere.

For a lot of October I seem to have been on holiday. It sounds wonderfully decadent but in reality a lot of things just all happened at the same time - and it would have been rude to say no!

Some of the more observant among you will notice I'm a bit of smurf collector (ok, ok - a huge smurf collector). Once a year I make the pilgrimage to Belgium for an annual smurf collectors fair and this was just one of my trips. This really is one of my favourite times of the year. It's a chance to be with amazing friends from all over the world who all have the same interests and loves.

So here are a few (ok, a lot) of pictures from the week.

This is the hotel I stayed in at Evergem, nr Gent. It's called the Eremyten Hof and has beautiful grounds.




My room was the top left window!


This really represents for me what much of the Belgian countryside is like


One or two for sale...


This may have happened!


The day after the fair, we all went to Gent for the day. An amazing place - a day wasn't long enough.


We even braved the tram system - working on the principle of buying a randem ticket and pressing all the buttons. It seemed to work...


One of the many beautiful bridges - note the great blogger pose - not.


Lunch was needed - this place did the trick


A hot chocolate in Belgium - a whole different taste to the ones here in the UK. I could have drunk a dozen of these :-)




So..small car + big smurf = embarassing car journey home!


But the little guy seems right at home!!!



Hope you enjoyed my little snapshot on my Belgium trip - I'll do a couple more updates very soon.

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
SHARE:

Friday 31 October 2014

Halloween and smurfs

Hi everyone,

Well, I don't really know where October went! All my plans for lots of blog posts just evaporated into thin air. Ah well, hopefully I'll catch-up with myself one day :-)

In the meantime, it's not Halloween without a bit of a themed outfit, so here was mine for today. And anything I can combine with smurfs just makes it a real winner.


The t-shirt is from Asda. It was £7 and I'm sure if there's any left after Halloween it may be reduced even further. They only went up to a size 18 but I was determined and squeezed myself in!!

Hope you're all having a good Halloween evening / weekend xx




Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
SHARE:

Sunday 28 September 2014

You can't have too much My Little Pony and Poundland...can you?

Hello everyone,

I have a glorious backlog of blog posts coming up over the next month as for the last few weeks I've been off and away on holiday (or holibobs as I like to call it!). So bear with me and normal service will be resumed soon (if I can remember what normal is supposed to be).

I had a mini spree this weekend with my budget head on. First up was a trip to Poundland. OMG - I love this place. I don't think it's actually possible to go into my local branch without spending at least a fiver - and this time was no different.

I've probably mentioned before that make-up and all things related are a bit of a mystery to me. I tend to never wear anything on my face and even if I'm glamming up for a night out, it's mostly eyes only for me. I have ventured down the BB cream route recently and so far so good ( I have my eye on a BB cream from the Body Shop). So buying makeup at discount stores and knowing they're a good brand makes the whole make-up/experimenting process a bit less scary and a lot kinder on the old purse strings if I mess up.

So keeping with the eyes theme, this is what I got


 
 
I love the vibrant red in the Union flag palette. It looks more orangy in the picture than it actually is. The purple scandeleyes eye cream is deep purple and easy enough even for me to blend. I also added in a foundation brush to try to learn how to use one. See? I really need a set of make-up lessons I'm thinking :-)
 
Then on the way home, I popped into Tescos and just happened to walk through the F&F clothing section (even if it was on a different floor...oops). But I resisted temptation and only came back with these adorable My Little Pony socks - they're almost too sweet to wear!! I plan to wear these with some t-bar shoes this autumn.
 
 
 
 All this for £11. Not too bad I think.
 
Hope you enjoyed seeing my little haul and thanks for reading.
 
Cathy
xx
 

SHARE:

Monday 15 September 2014

Laid back casual

Hi all,

Today was a laid back day. I'm really loving the clothing ranges at the supermarkets at the moment and so keeping on a theme, I'm wearing a top I bought last week from George at Asda along with my favourite boyfriend jeans from Marks & Spencer.
 



 



The shoes are glitzy sandals from Marks & Spencer last year. I had a mishap with my foot/ankle ealier in the year so I think my days of high heels are over now :-( I love a bit of glitter though and these really brighten up a dull day.
 

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx


SHARE:

Sunday 14 September 2014

I break plus size rules

Hi all,

I read a great post by Debz at Wannabe Princess this evening all about breaking so called 'plus size rules'. You can read her post here

There are some great pictures of other bloggers on there looking fab and not giving two hoots about what should be worn. Basically - there are no such things as rules, wear what the hell you like :-)

So in getting in the theme, here's a little pic of me from yesterday. Couldn't decide which striped top to wear - so wore both. Outrageous....

Cardigan - Primark, size 20
Top - TU Sainsburys via charity shop, size 20
 
Please excuse the wobbly pictures lately. I promise to do better!
 
Thanks for reading
 
Cathy
xx
SHARE:

Thursday 28 August 2014

Outfit August day 28 - a pretty flouncy dress!

Hello everyone!



Well, I thought August would be a quiet month! How wrong was I? But not complaining at all, I love to be busy esp if I'm having fun as well.

To make up for my lack of Outfit August posts (oops) I'll be combining a few days into one later. But first of all, this is a dress I wore at the weekend for evening out with some friends.





I really love this dress. It falls mid-calf (despite how the photo looks) and reminds me of summer days and almost 1950's styling. It looks kind of blocky in the top photo, but is fitted on the waist. It's a dress that makes you want to swish and flounce your way into a room :-). It's from TU at Sainsbury and I'm wearing a 22.





The pink Bambi necklace is part of my haul from my last visit to Afflecks Palace in Manchester. It's from Punky Pins and looking at their website, I could spend a fortune there - they have some amazing colourful jewellery.




I even pushed the boat out and painted my nails (trust me - if you know me, you'll know this is a rare occurence) I used the Models Own speckled egg colours that were all the rage in the summer. They last really well on me and are one of my favourite nail varnishs at the moment.

I hope to be a bit more on top of things for the last few days of August! In the meantime, these are the other lovely folk taking part this month:

Nic
Charlie
Christiana
Mary
Steph

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx


SHARE:

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Outfit August - day 20

Hi everyone,


Today was a day out shopping with my mother. So something comfy, smart and easy to get on and off for all those changing room moments was called for. Some boyfriend cropped jeans from Marks & Spencer that are my current favourite, a denim blue cardie from TU @ Sainsburys and sparkly white blouse that I dug out from the depths of my wardrobe. It's so old, I honestly can't remember where it came from. The bag is a Rocket Dog one I found online in the sales earlier in the year. I love a big handbag so expect to see it again.




I seem to be having a memory issue with remembering to take piccies at the moment - so excuse the glamorous surroundings and slightly confused look. I was halfway through the day when I remembered!

These are the other lovely folk taking part so have a look to see what they're up to:

Nic
Charlie
Christiana
Mary
Steph

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
SHARE:

Sunday 17 August 2014

Outfit August - day 17 and a denim dilemma

Hi everyone


Well, I have a bit of a dilemma today. Have you bought something that you weren't sure about but kept perservering until you found a way to make it work for you?

Well this dress is one of those dilemmas! I want to love it so much as I've wanted a longer denim dress for - well ages! It's comfy, it doesn't ride up or crease too much or do anything it shouldn't, but I'm still not sure about it. It's from TU at Sainsburys and I find their sizes quite difficult to get my head around. But as I had some vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, I didn't feel too bad at taking a gamble on it. I don't think it's in stock anymore, but you may find an odd one still in stock.

I've been trying to wear it different ways until I have that lightbulb moment. Today it's with a lace navy top from Marks and Spencer that is quite sheer. I added a belt from when I was last in the States (I think it's from Walmart or somewhere like that).




I'm thinking that maybe a long sleeved shirt, boots and a jumper/cardie may be a better option - what do you think? I'm also thinking a few extra darts wouldn't go amiss as I'm smaller on top than the bottom and it may make it more fitted.

Whatever happens - be prepared for the denim dress saga! :-)




The shoes are my current favourites from Primark. They are sooooo comfy I've been wearing them to death at the moment. Primark is fast becoming my favourite place for shoes.


Don't forget to have a look to see what everyone else is up to. I hope to be a bit more on top of things next week. This last week has been a bit of a weird one!

Nic
Charlie
Christiana
Steph

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx

SHARE:

Thursday 14 August 2014

Outfit August - day 14 and a bit of luck

Hi everyone,




Well, I seem to have lost a few more days again :-). It's been funny old week and not a brilliant one really. Started the week in A&E with my friend (not for me personally), lots of sad news in the press and TV. And tomorrow rounds up the week with another visit to the hospital - this time for me - to see what they can do about my dodgy foot!

So forgive me for being a bad blogger this week. This is me today. Not so much an outfit rather a haircut of the day. It looks lopsided - but apparently that's just how I stand (eek!)





And I just love this picture. It's a really old handbag I was using today from Claire's Accessories along with the necklace I wore today from Accessorize. I think we all need a bit of luck sometimes xx


Don't forget to have a look to see what everyone else is up to:

Nic
Charlie
Christiana
Mary
Steph

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx


SHARE:
Blogger Template Created by pipdig