Playing Dress up...*Warning hugeeeeeee post, Enjoy*

Oi oi!

How are we all this cold December evening?

I know I have been a little slow on the posting just recently but as I said before I have been a very busy lady. I finally had a week off this week and I have been catching up with an estranged loved one. I have also, had some time to do some mooching around the shops and paid a trip to the fabulous German Xmas Market in Birmingham which is a short train ride away from me! Me and Mr Naomi went for a wander around the beautifully lit up streets of Brum, all wrapped up warm (in seemingly matching biker jackets *lol*) drinking hot mulled cider, and indulging in yummy, warm candied almonds. It was a beautifully cold evening, and it all felt very Christmassy and lush. So I thought Id post the outfit I had thrown on as my second outfit of the day post! *Squee*

Checked Longline Shirt - Evans Summer 2009

Longline Beige Vest Top (Underneath Shirt) - H&M B&B £7.99

Black Shrug - Old Chapter range from MKone Years ago!

Boots - Evans £45

Leggings - New Look Inspire £10

Black Scarf - Primark

Sparkly Beanie Hat - Primark

We went early on in the daytime and managed to get a nosey around the Bullring and a select few places that I had been meaning to pop into for a while. I had chance to finally visit the new Birmingham Forever 21 store, but amidst the excitement I have to say, I came away rather disappointed. I headed firstly for the F21 plus range which was located underneath the stairs in a tiny dark corner of the store (surprise surprise). There were probably around 40 items in total and I can honestly say only one drew my eye which was a knitted cobalt blue v-neck tunic dress. I have to admit, it was a nice, yes just nice dress, but nothing to really write home about, and after closely inspecting the garment it was very poorly made definitely not worth the nearly £22 price tag (not a lot I know, but for poorly made awful material its not gonna happen!) After the disappointing mooch around the plus section I made my way upstairs to the shoes and accessories floor. In the past, when visiting F21 in the USA I have always loved their accessories range and in the case of the UK store I was equally impressed. The whole floor was sparkly and bright and laid out like a boutique bedroom, with trinkets dripping from wall fittings, in ornate bowls on beautiful tables and tonnes of mirrors around for you to try on and play dress up. I spotted about 3 very pretty headbands all reasonably priced around £3-£5 and lots of *bling bling* costume jewellery which I will be popping back for. My last disappointment though was their shoe section, I can honestly say I walked up to it, skimmed around it and walked off, nothing caught my eye long enough to keep me entertained with the area so off I went....

Anyway, after hitting up F21 I headed over to Birmingham's main Evans store. This has to be my favourite Evans store. It has 2 floors and is usually always stocked with most of the items on the website. I have been hankering over their Pink Jacquard Dress which was featured in their 'BIBA' collection a few months ago and when it was finally released it was included in one of my very first blog posts 'Frock Me' as one of my favourite party wear items this season. As soon as I got into the store, I quickly located the dress and headed off to the changing rooms and here are a few sneaky snaps....(P.S yes I have had another new hair do hehe)

Pink Jacquard Dress - Evans (Currently online for £25!!)

Black Biker Jacket - Evans

Sparkly Beanie - Primark

I have to say, I absolutely loved the dress I was in no way disappointed except for the fact that the size I tried on was far too tight around my bust and when I sized up it was too big everywhere else *sigh*. I tried it on with leggings, the Evans boots in which I posted about in a previous post and I tried it in the first 2 pics as you can see with my Evans biker jacket and in the last pic with just a short black shrug. I honestly only ever imagined the dress as serious party wear as its so pretty and delicate but when I put the jacket over the top I looked at the casual kinda grungey look it gave the dress and I really loved it. I showed it to the BF and he also said how great it looked dressed down which made me realise how versatile the dress is. The straps on the dress are adjustable which I thought was great and the material was really feminine and floaty but fell beautiful to create a lovely shape. I really do love this dress. I havent purchased it, but after just seeing it online at an even lower price I am so tempted. Seriously girls, go try it on, even if you think it may be too girly for you or you could only wear it to go out in, you can see how easily it can be dressed down to get more wear from it!

On a sadder note, the dress I posted previously about from eBay which I was intending on wearing to this weekends BGP Xmas Party arrived and isnt suitable *sigh* its more like a top than a dress and wasnt the size it was advertised as. I am rather annoyed but I suppose thats the risk you take with eBay. On an even sadder note, I have had to panic order 2 dresses from SimplyBe. Now if any of you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed a couple of angry tweets from me aimed at SimplyBe. In the past 2 weeks I have made orders with them and paid for Next Day Delivery and both times the item hasnt arrived next day. I understand the snow etc etc, but I have managed to receive parcels from other retailers on time so why are SimplyBe an exception? I was supposed to receive my panic/backup dresses today but they havent shown after spending like nearly £7 on special delivery, so heres hoping they arrive tomorrow, otherwise there is going to be a very angry email heading to SimplyBe's inbox from me! Grrrrrrr *rant over* so as it stands I am without an outfit for Saturday night, whats a girl to do?!?!

Anyway I dont want to end my first post in a while on a bad note so Im going to mention some awesome things going on that are making me smile loads and making me very happy that I started to blog. First of all, I had a lovely couple of Tweets from the lovely Kat over at one of my fave blogs Plus Size Beauty! and from the also fab Lauren from the must read Pocket Rocket Fashion inviting me to attend a blogger meet in February which is currently being organised (Deets over at Pocket Rocket Fashion) I cant wait to meet some of the other girls rockin' the UK Fatshion Community!

Also this afternoon I received an email from one of my favourite online magazines Plus Model Magazine asking if I minded if they used one of my OOTD images for a blog post they were doing. So as soon as its up I will post over here! So pleased!

So I think thats all for today folks, please follow me and comment and keep in contact, I really love to see that people are coming along. I will leave you with one more snap. Me and Mr Naomi in Bham....