Dr Martens, New Store and Fabulous Competition.

I'm not usually one for just sharing press releases but I've just received this from Dr Martens who are a brand I ADORE and I had to share news of their latest competition and store opening in Brighton. 

Pop in if you are in the Brighton area on opening day. 

Dr. Martens opens its first Brighton store on Wednesday 12th June and to celebrate they are searching for Brighton’s ultimate Dr. Martens style icon. Whatever your style, tribe or subculture, DMs invite you to express your individuality and show off your best look using the classic footwear.

The competition kicks off today and offers £300 worth of shoes, accessories and clothing to the person who best represents Brighton’s alternative sprit in a pair of Docs.

You can enter the competition by:

• Sharing your DM style photo on Twitter or Instagram using #drmartensstyle and #DRMARTENSBRIGHTON

• Submitting a photo from the Dr. Martens photo booth in Jubilee Square on June 15th  (part of People’s Day, Fashion Zone)
• Being photographed by one of DM’s style hunters on the streets of Brighton between now and 12th July.

 

Liz Bishop, founder of Brighton Fashion Week and judge of the DM Style Competition, said: “Real fashion happens on the streets and I can’t think of anywhere with quite such an eclectic mix of styles mingled with the classic Dr.Martens than in Brighton.”

Brighton’s DM Street Style Icon will be announced July 18th on the Dr. Martens Facebook page and via Twitter.  

Dr. Martens is one of Britain’s favourite alternative brands and has been championed by British sub-cultures for over 53-years. The Dr. Martens Brighton store is located at 15b Prince Albert Street and opens to the public from 12th June. 

Are you a fan of the Dr Martens brand? Will you be entering? 

Let me know.

Big Fashionista x x

Blog competitions - revisited

I had hoped that this behaviour would have stopped by now, but it is only getting worse.

 I'm talking about being approached by marketing companies, PR's SEO agencies and your neighbours nan to run a post on your site to inform your readers about a blog competition that a company is running.

 I have had three of these approached today and each one that I have asked, "And what is in this for me"? have come back to me with such an incredulous face on them, that you would think I had asked them for their firstborn child.

 I WANT SOMETHING?

 HOW DARE I?

 Some of the replies today have included is "Blog exposure" I will gain blog exposure......

 Dude, you approached me! How much exposure do you think I need?

 I can't EAT blog exposure, or WEAR a possible increased readership.

 Another one today that made me spit my Asda Smartprice coffee everywhere (I'm poor) was this approach.

I write about the competition, as do many other blogs, and IF one of my readers wins then I get to accompany them on the day out!!!!! That's right, I get the CHANCE to win something.

 I wonder if THEY go to work each day in the hope that maybe they will win their days pay?

Of course not. Their clients want an advert for their competition? That's fine, talk to me, we can work something out.But I do wish companies would STOP seeing blogs as just a source of free advertising and then try to blow smoke up our arse when we, quite fairly I think, ask what is in it for us.

Bloggers, what do you think about companies asking you to write about THEIR competitions?

and this one is open to anyone who made it this far through the rant, Do you think there should be something in it for me to write about their competition?


Let me know


Big Fashionista x x x

Nom or Vom

Home grown talent is thin on the ground lately, so THIS guy is a welcome addition to Nom or Vom. 

I don't watch Hollyoaks, but maybe I should. So today's Nom or Vom is actor,

Danny Mac

So, Ladies or Gents, what do we think?

Nom or Vom

Big Fashionista x x 

The Anti-social Network?

I'm TIRED of social media being judge, jury and executioner.

I'm TIRED of seeing pictures on Twitter of dead bodies sprawled in the street.

I'm TIRED of people making shit up and then that being passed around the internet as the truth.

I'm TIRED of people spreading racism and homophobia and then squealing about 'Freedom Of Speech"


Has 'Social' Media ever been as ANTI-SOCIAL as it is right now?


What do you think?

Let me know.



Big Fashionista x x

It's Not An Accident Or An Emergency.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending A&E for a couple of hours, (Long story, I'm fine-ish) 

While I was there i managed to indulge in one of my favourite pleasures in life, people watching, or more accurately, idiot watching. (I live in East London, it is a hobby I can indulge in frequently, the idiot to norm ration is off the scale) What started off with just a passing interest in my fellow attendees of A&E soon turned into frustration beyond belief and a part understanding of why the NHS is in trouble.

People are idiots.

Firstly, may I remind you of what A&E stands for?

ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY.

So if for example you have been to the doctor in the morning and the doctor thinks you have a grumbly appendix or an ovarian cyst, then yes, go on down.

If you have been juggling chainsaws and you lose concentration for a couple of seconds and one saws off a finger or two, I am sure that your local A&E will be more than welcoming.

If you have a sore throat however, I don't blame the receptionist for looking as if she would like to give you a real reason to be in A&E. After a couple of hours in the waiting rooms even a mild-mannered, calm person like myself (Oh ssssshhhhh, my blog, my rules) can be driven to handing out chainsaws and yelling, "Amuse me, Bitch"


I genuinely saw a man in his early twenties, bowl up to the receptionist and when he was asked what the problem was, said, IN A NORMAL voice, "I have a sore throat" I admire the receptionists restraint as I think if I was in her shoes twenty seconds later he would have had a genuine complaint of a sore throat where I would have strangled him. She calmly directed him to the walk-in centre to which his only reply was, "Nahhhh, I just thought I'd get seen quicker here"

Dude, it's A&E, not a fast pass at Disney!!!!


One thing I see every time I have to visit A&E is baby with a temperature, it happens, I have been there myself, we have all heard about febrile convulsions and when we can't get our baby's temperature down, it is scary. you want to get your baby cool and comfortable. So why the hell do you bring your fever-ridded offspring to the hospital wrapped in more blankets than an egyptian mummy while either squeezing it close to your chest, FULLY-CLOTHED may I add, or in a car seat, covered in sodding more blankets?

Again, receptionist, I applaud your restraint today when pointing out to the couple with the "hot baby" "Of course it is bloody hot, you have him fully clothed and wrapped in two blankets, I am hot just looking at him, strip him"

The other wonder of A&E that I noticed yesterday that a Dr has the magical powers to heal limps, Three people came in while I was there, all dragging a leg and wincing as if they were smuggling razorblades in one shoe, and yet ALL of them left after Triage, un-bandaged, and NOT LIMPING anymore. Screw Lourdes, we should send everyone to a Triage nurse. If all they wanted was a cuddle and reassurance it wasn't broken (Are cuddles available on the NHS?) couldn't they have got that elsewhere? and if they felt the need to exaggerate their injury in the first place, common sense tells me that it wasn't that bad to begin with.

Meanwhile I am behind these idiots in the queue and am seriously fighting the urge to give them something to queue up again with.

There were coughs, sneezes, a child zipping around the waiting area so fast and so loudly that I assumed his mother was the patient and had had no other option but to bring her child, but alas no, they called the boys name and the mother who had previously been ignoring her child's destructive and loud behaviour suddenly became No 1 contender for the Mother of The Year awards, (If she could have walked in breastfeeding him just to show how much she truly cared for him, I fear she would have) 

and I am behind these idiots.

Eventually I was seen, but the delay due to people just clogging up the A&E unnecessarily was obvious.


The only ray of light was when a nurse came out and called for "Gaynor, Gloria Gaynor?"

(At first I was afraid......)


But it drove me insane and I am sure it drives the receptionists, doctors and nurses insane on an hourly basis. I raise my glass to their restraint.

What do you think?

Are more and more people abusing the A&E?

Have you seen people going to A&E for something ridiculous, like a sore throat or worse?

What's the worst thing you have seen someone go to A&E for?

Or even, do you think that is what the A&E is there for and they should just get on with it?


Let me know.

Big Fashionista x x x

Funny Things Our Children Say

Children are funny aren't they?

Ok, now not at 3am in the morning when they are trying to have a conversation with you about whether Dora The Explorer could beat Barbie in a fight. (True story, My money is on Dora by the way, that kid has dragged herself up with only a monkey as company, hard as nails.) or at those times when you have to be somewhere five minutes ago and they are insisting on packing a lunch bag larger than the one your mother used to give you for a school trip, and no, they do not need any help thank you very much.

Aaaaarrrggggghhhhhhh.

But occasionally the little cherubins come out with comments that leave you in stitches, or yes sometimes even red with embarrassment. (I can see you nodding) 

For me, the most embarrassing moment has to be when my youngest, S was about 2yrs old and was going through a stage of repeating words that she knew would make me die with humiliation, bad words, SWEAR words. You have to bear in mind that my youngest looks like a doll, a sweet little tiny thing who looks fragile and angelic. (Ha, appearances are deceptive)

The F Word had been used a couple of times, (I say a couple of times, there was a point where even Gordon Ramsey would have wanted to step in and say that she was perhaps kicking the arse out of it) but it was nothing that couldn't be dealt with, either by pointing out that it was a bad word or ignoring it so that she didn't get a reaction. It was bearable, and as the third child nothing I hadn't dealt with before.
UNTIL the day we walked into a rather busy toilet at a petrol station where not only were the cubicles all full, there was also a queue, (Always good to wait for an audience, huh S?) we patiently waited our turn, and then entered the cubicle where my sweet little angel said to me, LOUDLY, "Mum, mum, mum, Look mum, That's a fucking big toilet roll isn't it?)

Cue dying from me, snorts of laughter from the queue and other cubicles and one woman tutting her disapproval at the bad language coming from someone so small.

We got out of there fast.

Also this weekend, S, who is now seven remarked upon the fact that as I am 37 I am over halfway to death. (It was 8am on a Sunday morning, I hadn't had a coffee, to be honest I felt closer to death than just halfway) 


Bless them, if they are not embarrassing us then they are looking for new and interesting ways to make us feel as if we have to choke back our amusement.

So how about you? Have you been embarrassed by your offspring or a small child you know? Or have you had to bite the inside of your mouth to stop yourself from laughing at some of the things a little one has come out with?


Let me know.


Big Fashionista x x

Pay Rise, or Taking The Rise?

MP's are in line for a pay rise of up to £20,000?

Let us all take just a second to digest that fact before we all throw up in righteous indignation.

£20,000?

£20,000?

In a time when WE are being told that we need to tighten our belts, make cuts and make sacrifices, never has it been so obvious that our MPs are so far removed from reality that they packed all their shit up, moved from reality and have not given reality a second thought since leaving. 

A survey was released in January showing that politicians think that they should be paid a lot more money for what they do............

Well excuse me, but firstly, ask anyone if they are being paid enough and the answer will always be no. Find me one person who thinks they are being paid what they are worth and I will show you someone who isn't pulling their weight and is amazed they are getting away with it. 

I think I should be paid more, (Hell, I just think I should be paid, full stop) but I also think that I would like to own a unicorn and that chocolate should be free when you are on your period, but some things I know just aren't going to happen. (Still holding out hope for the unicorn though) MP's really should just learn to sit down, shut up and carrying on praying that more people don't start saying that in all fairness they get more than enough for what they do and they should count themselves very lucky.

Is the "Poor me, I am a hungry MP" line actually working on ANYONE? Is there ONE person out there that can genuinely say that MP's deserve the vastly inflated salaries, perks and benefits that they already receive, let alone deserve a pay rise? I know people in positions where they put their lives on the line every day of the week (No, not the lady on the counter in the chocolate shop when I am on my period) and they do not earn a fraction of what an MP does, not only that but their pay has been frozen for the last few years because of cutbacks, THESE people, and others, are being told that they should be GRATEFUL they have a job at all, that they should be thankful that in these times they have a wage, how dare they even think that they deserve a pay rise.

And that is what truly sickens me, politicians thinking that they are hard-done by. Tell that to the mother struggling to feed her children, to the hard-working man who cannot give anymore to his company and yet still cannot pay his bills, to the women sacrificing having children because they cannot afford them and to all the people who cannot afford to run their vehicles. 


All in this together are we, Mr Cameron?


I truly think not.


What do you think?

Do MPs deserve a pay rise for the work that they do?

What would happen if YOU demanded a pay rise at work?

Or are MP's just being greedy and have lost touch with reality altogether?

Let me know.

Big Fashionista x x x

Say Something Nice Sunday

Exactly what the title says, it's Sunday, a typical day of rest, relaxation and for some, a day where they spend the time catching up on blog reading.

So here is my idea,


Say something nice, not about me (although, y'know, if you WANT to....)

Read a great post this week? Let me know, and feel free to add a link.

Got great customer service this week? Tell me about it.

Or even if you just want to say something nice about a friend who has supported you recently.


Let me know, and have a lovely Sunday everyone.



Big Fashionista x x

New Look, Here comes summer.

Honestly, if we say it often enough, summer has to get the hint and start putting in a regular appearance I'm sure.


I'm a bit of a New Look fan and a sale is always guaranteed to get me having a nose through their website anyway, but why is it wherever I shop, I spend five minutes browsing through the sale section and then my attention is pulled to things like combat trousers and pink dresses.


Today I am LOVING this dress,

which is only £9.99 and comes in black and orange as well.

And when summer finally raises her beautiful head I am thinking this will be great just for lazing around in the garden, what do you think?



and finally, I want this just because I do.

What do you think?

Will summer ever appear?

Do you like my summer wish list?

and don't forget, if you check out New Look, there is a sale on at the moment. Enjoy.




Big Fashionista x x





*Sponsored post but all my own choices*

Muggs - A Guest Post

As you know, I have a huge love for Ella from Trying My Patients f you are yet to check out her blog on the trials and tribulations of being a paramedic, (Only she will realise how much it pained me not to write ambulance driver there) then go do so, you will never regret it.

But under the uniform there is obviously a Fashionista bursting to get out. When Ella said she wanted to do a guest post for me, the last thing I expected was a post about men wearing Uggs, but you know what? As always, the lady has a point. 

Over to you Ella. 

I’m all for freedom of expression. Wear what you want, when you want. Some things i’ll raise my eyebrow at, other I won’t. Some things I will actively point and laugh at, others I will just take a mental note of. However, I draw the line at the latest craze of male Ugg boots. Or Mugg boots, call them what you will. Whatever they are, should be criminalised with immediate effect.

I’m not a fan of Ugg boots at the best of times, in my opinion they are frumpy, furry foot sacks which suck all the class out of any outfit, but on guys?! Really?! THEY LOOK RIDICULOUS! There are some people who will jump to their defence and tell me tales of old, where ripped Australian men wore them. This may well be the case but they wore them a) before outdoor slippers became ‘the thing’ and b) they wore them for reasons of practicality! When coming out of the cold sea, they were used to quickly warm up their feet! How many of these pretentious, Mugg boot wearing morons have just stepped out the sea?! I can assure you, that people don’t swim in the sea wearing skinny jeans and low V t-shirts which means, they are wearing because they are under the illusion that they look good.

The craze was started my some A listers like Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, Leonardo Di Caprio and even Ronnie Wood *voms*. For starters, just because a 60 year old rocker is wearing them, it does not make it socially acceptable! Secondly, they were probably paid by Ugg to dress like an idiot! After the A listers, the Chelsea football team saw it and thought it was big and clever to wear the oversized carpet slippers. Once the Premier League footballers were sporting them it was only a matter of time before the ill-conceived idea trickled through the echelons of society to the common man. And you, my dear Mugg boot wearer are the by-product of this madness.

Woman have history of wearing silly shoes, it’s part of the deal with being shoe obsessed. Some crazes come and go, shoes are worn, jokes are made, but with the right walk and attitude woman can pretty much get away with anything. Men can’t. Men have sensible shoes. They don’t have to walk round to 6” heels or shapeless boots which were moulded round a lamp post and then mass produced in what appears to be ‘one style fits all’. They have walking shoes, flip flops, trainers, smart shoes, smart casual shoes, running shoes and golf shoes. If it’s muddy there are wellies. There are absolutely no circumstances where a man would need Muggs, nor should a circumstance be created or even suggested.

Why do men feel the need to make women's clothing unisex?! Seriously, deal with it, women look good in mens clothing. It’s one of our many talents. There is no vice-versa. STOP IT! It’s not cool. You look like a tit. Can men not just go back to being men, dressing manly and farting a lot. I’m all for equality but really guys, chose your battles. By all means dress well, take an interest in how you look and if you really have to buff your chest hair off then do, but please stop thinking it will EVER be acceptable to wear Ugg boots.

Love Ella x x 

What do you think? Does Ella have a point? Let us know.

Big Fashionista x x