Dumb and Dumber

R.I.P
2011-2014
Pink Juicy Couture Bag

You was my best friend, my accessory and most of all a fashion statement...

So I've done the most stupidest thing today... I washed my Pink Juicy couture bag. I put it in the washing machine because it had oil and other marks on the fabric.
My eyes just glimmering with hope as it span round and round and round. It comes out the washing machine, I'm so excited to think I've revamped the pink, but Oh no... It's F******!
So the leather trimming is blue... its leaked onto the fabric. I honestly give up.

A big round of applause for me!

So my readers... don't wash your handbags. You will  live a happy life forever avoiding such a stupid thing to do.
Seriously? how much worse can this week get? And it's not even began.  

Easter spending.

These past two weeks, I've been at home during the Easter break. Clocking up 25 hours of work and earning just shy of £140 from doing so, I decided there was only one thing to do...

Blow it! 

    White leather Slip on Vans, £55.99. 

Great pair of shoes for all four seasons!      Can be worn with jeans or leggings and a summery dress and frilly socks! I chose to spend the extra £10 on the leather rather than canvas for obvious reasons. The material is a lot more durable for the winter months i.e. Rain! Also, the material is easier to clean! Give them a quick wipe and back to new. I used to wear vans years and years ago, so definitely a must have! 

Estée Lauder Double wear       foundation in 'Cool Bone', £28. 

I usually would never spend this much lonely on a single item of makeup but for one time I've made an exception. Over the next year there are events that make this foundation a necessity! (I'm a bridesmaid being one event) I haven't yet wore the foundation, but after having a professional skin test in Debenhams, I know it's for me! I'll be reporting back soon! 

Estée Lauder Double wear concealer and gloss duo, free gift. 

With the purchase of the Double wear foundation, I was given this as a free gift! Needless to say I was a very happy lady! Again, I haven't tried the product on my face but I'm so very excited to do so! 

MAC Pressed Pigment Eye shadow, 'Blonde Streak' £17. 

MAC Satin Lipstick, 'Snob' £15. 

I've heard so many reviews on MAC eyeshadow, all good! The reviews were correct, it's gorgeous! So easy to apply, and it doesn't take a lot to cover the entire lid. I've wanted a natural base colour with a hint of glam for a while and I've finally found it. 

Again, hearing so many good things about MAC's range of lip wear made me think 'how can I resist?' My friend Zeedee was bought this shade for her birthday and it has become her best friend so I thought I'd follow suit! The colour is pastel pink, perfect for the day as a splash of colour to a natural look and even better for nightwear paired with the Pressed Pigment shadow collection and khol eyes! 

   River Island statement earrings, £4. 

I'm 20 in little over a month and I've only just plucked up the courage to have my ears pierced (bearing in mind I've sat through a 2 1/2 hour tattoo) They're healed now and I'm obsessed with buying earrings, including the necessity- hoops. With me, I've found hoops have to be big and in your face. Any smaller and I look like a chavette. Hopefully I don't rip them out of my ears due to relentlessly playing with my hair. 

   New Look 'Re.Born' bracelet, £4.99. 

I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and I've been trying to very hard to find plain gold effect, chunky bangles. After looking at Topshop and River Island, I decided paying £18 for a bracelet was too much, so I went to Primark: another mistake. £2 was just as bad and would undoubtedly leave me a green-wristed monster. New look was my savour- cheap and cheerful, but also expensive looking and non-tacky. Cheers! *raises hand and jingles from new bracelet* 

               Kimono, Next, £28. 

Ask any of my friends, I'm obsessed with kimonos! I just find them so versatile, you can wear them with literally anything! I chose this for a wedding I'm going to on Saturday to add some colour to the apparently 'controversial' white dress I'm wearing. The material feels so expensive, Ted Baker almost, and such a bargain! I usually find it difficult finding things in Next as a lot of their stock isn't to my taste, but this was a pleasant surprise. Well done Next! 

     River Island, children's range, £15. 

I've been searching for a pastel bag for (again) a wedding on Saturday and I've been incredibly unlucky! That was until my mum decided on looking in the children's section at River Island. This bag is the perfect size (clutch size) so it's able to stay on the table whilst at the wedding breakfast and easy to dance with! The colours are perfectly pretty too and so summery! 

Platform peep toe heel, River Island, originally £50. 

I'm not a heel girl, every one knows I struggle to walk in them. However, these are so easy! Ronnie tells me the platform helps, and again she's right! The colour is so pretty and perfect! I managed to get £10 knocked off the original price as the shoes were marked (only a little tehe) it just goes to show I'm a good at bartering! I definitely saved the best until last here. 

So there we have it! Now as I travel back to uni I realise just how broke I am...but it's for a good cause. 

E x 

Those dream jobs...

Hey Guys, It's Ronnie

So I've been applying for some jobs this week. I've always wanted the dream job of just working in some fancy pants store. You know the ones like... Gucci, Louis V or even Prada! Well let's face it guys I'm only thinking of those fabulous discounts... 

In my city we don't really have any shops like that but I'm aiming for the top e.g Topshop.
Right now I'm kinda feeling like Elle Woods. I want to be such a clothes snob! I want to be like "daym look at my outfit", "You can't shop here", "Oh hey look at my fabulous discount", And the remarks of,"Honey that was so last season!"
So anyway, I hope I do get a job. This course is rinsing my piggy bank big time!

Wish me luck! 

Countryside chic.

On Monday, Ronnie and I went deep into the Leicestershire countryside to partake in an old British tradition, barrel rolling. 

Mud, blood, sweat, alcohol and a golf cart ambulance. Or in our case, a whole lot of fun and an excuse to drink low alcohol beer and eat cheap (but over-priced) burgers. 

As well as climbing under barbed wire and the fear of splitting our leggings on high fences, we had to endure around 6 miles of walking and fearfully being chased by a barrel and a scrum made up of around 50 burly blokes. 

The low-light of my day was the lack of loos. Being from the city, I'm used to the luxury of a toilet and expensive M&S toilet roll. This not being accessible in the middle of a field, a bush had to suffice. As well as being shelided by random country-folk, I managed to pee on my wellies and take a stinging nettle to my bottom; resorting to publicly rubbing it with a dock leaf. Whilst I was left red-faced by the experience, Ronnie was grabbing the opportunity with both hands and even forgot to pull her pants up after. I guess the country girl in her let her do it. 

This photo just proves that you can still look fabulous covered in wee-stained wellies and sweat. 

E x

A woman of strength.

 

 

Cleaning the house, walking the dog and drinking strawberry based cocktails in a Hawaiian bar. All typical things a 32 year old woman does in her day to day life, the things Jodie Johnson does. But last year, Jodie was given the diagnosis to change her life in more ways than she could imagine.

Just under a year ago, Jodie from Wigston in Leicestershirewas admitted to hospital with suspected DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in her groin after experiencing pain in her groin and stomach, but the prediction couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality of the diagnosis was far more hard-hitting, the word no-one wants to hear. Cancer.

“My oncologist literally sat there and said ‘Miss Johnson you have three months to live if you choose to do nothing but if you try this new trial of chemo, which is very aggressive and may make you very poorly, you may have a maximum of 3-5 years’.”

Jodie was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma of her main artery and liver in April 2013, an incredibly rare form of cancer where traditional chemotherapy has been proven non-effective.

“He then sat there looking at me, expecting me to run for the injection and get started there and then. Jaw- floor, world- gone.”

When asking a person how they feel about being diagnosed with such a serious illness, you expect negativity and emotion. However, Jodie brings a smile and the truth. No sugar-coating.

“I felt like my whole life was over” she said “If you imagine the worst thing that could happen to you-just as your average Joe- then times that by one million, that’s the feeling.

“I was very clever at hiding it. I had a cry at the hospital then pulled myself together and told everyone. Firmly to the point, job done.”

The worst feeling she fears in the present day is hypochondria, a headache brings worry that the cancer has spread to her brain and a sore tummy, the same fear. Although Jodie says this is probably just wind.

“I’d love to say that it’s changed my life and I now see the beauty in everything blah blah blah. But generally, I think the people that say that are kidding themselves into wanting change. I still wash up every night, I still hoover after the dog every day, go to work, make the bed and do washing.”

As a previously self-confessed ‘judgemental cow’ Jodie feels her attitude is the same, however she is a lot more understanding of people’s woes.

“I’m slightly impatient with people who won’t open their minds to the possibility that the cancer doesn’t have to be treated the way the doctor tells you.”

After hearing about a woman with the same illness who had been receiving a new treatment for the past ten years but is still healthy, Jodie wanted to know more. After researching the treatment, she had made up her mind. Traditional chemotherapy wasn’t her style.

The treatment Jodie is currently receiving in Germany, knownas TACE (trans-arterial chemoembolization) is where a very thin wire is inserted into the main artery into the groin and then directly to the tumour, small beads are left behind stopping the chemo from coming out. Chemo is then pumped into the middle of the tumour, killing it inside out.

“Traditional isn’t always best. There’s less side effects, I’m not bald, painful for a few days but generally in good health after.”

Having to deal with such a serious illness is bound to have an effect on a person’s relationship with friends and family, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Living in Leicester with partner of two years Gareth and having her family close by is a great comfort to Jodie to have so many loved ones around.

“I’ve seen who my friends are. Some have stepped up and made efforts beyond what I could ever expect, some have ran away.”

Jodie has always had an incredibly close relationship with her family, but she admits the relationship is slightly different now. She says her father didn’t cope well at first but is slowly coming around.

                                                                                                              “I sometimes feel like they are waiting for bad news but praying for good. I talk to my sisters a lot and do things with their kids and just smile.

“Then there’s Gareth, my rock. He’s stepped up in a way I never thought he even could. I’m so thankful I have the love, the support and the health to carry on.”

Being with Gareth, 31, has made Jodie realise just how much he means to her during this difficult time.

“I couldn’t be half as strong in all this without him pushing me uphill.”

Jodie often jokes about her cancer, about dying, and tries to make sure she does things that make her happy rather than others. She thankfully doesn’t have the luxury of having people around her to make her feel low and admits that if she steps out of line, receives a ‘good dose of get over it’.

“Daily, I try to spread the word about my cancer as it is so rare. I’ve joined a group that I can vent any anger and frustration on and I just try to get through most days thankful I’m still here.”

Last year Jodie went to Disneyland with partner Gareth. With the biggest of smiles on her face, she says how it was the most magical place in the world and the way it made you feel like you could live there forever and never get bored. How life for two weeks was perfect.

“Gareth and I had an experience we may never get again. A chance to be us, for two weeks we messed around, ate too much crap and laughed harder than we thought we could.

“Cancer wasn’t in the way, day to day life wasn’t in the way and life revolved around what vest to wear, what sun factor we needed and which gross lunch we’ll eat there.”

When asked to give one piece of information to people suffering with the same illness, she says that now is the time to fully enjoy what you can and as hard as it is, try not to worry.

“Join a support group, it’s invaluable for your sanity even if you think you don’t need it.”

Jodie has proven to herself and others just how strong she is and that this illness isn’t just about negativity, you can still drink over-priced cocktails and look beautiful whilst doing it.

“Doing what’s right for you and having a really strong mind-set to beat the bugger is sometimes half the battle.”

Jodie is a part of Sarcoma UK and JJ’s Sunshine Fund, donations welcome.

Ellie Pratt. 

A little hearty inspiration.

This is Ronnie here…

So I'm kind of at my wits end with this course, but sometimes it's always nice to just re-visit a photographer to place your mind and heart back into the subject.

I've always felt Sally Mann was the heart of me wanting to become such a conceptual photographer. I kind of based one of my series 'Heart Attack' on her works of 'Body Farm'.

The photograph at the above is one of my own photographs from the series, Heart Attack, 'Untitled' 2013. I've always visualised something living to be something on the edge. This photograph reminds me I need to keep going. I'm a living breathing human form, and I know I have the heart to carry on. This series was based originally on my Uncle, a Father figure, this invincible creature having a heart attack. I chose a lamb's heart, something so fragile to photograph, the clinical wrapped hands finding this organ amongst the bushes. My Uncle has been like a father to me since day One, He is an incredible role model and has kept pushing through to his own dream. This photograph is the reminder that I must continue.

And so relating back to Sally Mann's 'Body Farm' a controversial piece, how brave a photographer she is pursing her career. Critics have slated her work to pieces but she is another inspiration that I must keep going. We are only human, and we only have one chance to do what we want to do!

Thanks for reading Guys!