Tracey in Wonderland

I know I am a 33 year old woman but I saw this cute little charm bracelet in Claires and just had to treat myself. What do you think?

I have a little bit of an obsession with all things Alice in Wonderland. I can't say that it was my favourite childhood story growing up, but certainly it's one of those that has stuck in my mind. Who wouldn't know where 'drink me' 'eat me' and a Mad Hatter derived from? I guess I have just always been fascinated by the 'oddness' of it.
If I were to ever have the big wedding where money were no object and I had to have a 'theme' then Alice in Wonderland would be it. Here are a few select wedding inspired theme wedding images that are just gorgeous to me...

Flower Power

I ADORE floral prints on clothing so here are a few of my favourite floral finds (try saying that after a drink or two). I think my favourite is the Simply Be playsuit. I've never worn a playsuit though but this is gorgeous.

Simply Be

Simply Be

Yours

Very

Asos

Evans

Now, this next outfit is very floral, but I'm afraid it is a little OTT for me... however I'd love to know what you think that's not to say that it wouldn't look fabulous on the right girl. All of the items are available individually from the Asos Curve range.



Having a Graze

I opened my lovely Grazia magazine on Tuesday to find a wonderful leaflet offering a free box of goodies to nibble from Graze. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of them but they make up these beautiful 'snacky' boxes of things to well graze on so if you like your food like me you'll love this.
The ordering process was simple. I logged on to the website and entered my freebie code then picked from a list 100 delectable treats which I wouldn't mind finding in my Graze box.
The list is pretty long and everything is pre-ticked 'try'. However you can change this to 'bin', 'like' or 'love' and if you do really love it then you can also click the 'send soon' box. Anyway I ticked away, set up my order and was told that the box would probably arrive by royal mail on Thursday.
On Thursday morning my delivery came - no need for signatures or answering the door to the postie because it won't fit in the letter box - simple. This is what I got...

If like me you are into calorie counting then you'll be pleased to know you get an individual welcome leaflet letting you know the four treats that have been picked for you and a nutrition guide for each. I got Bollywood Blend, Strawberry Milkshake, Scrumptious Blueberry Swirl and Sticky Lemon Dippy.
All the treats were scrummy and eaten up very quickly by myself, the other half and even our 3-year-old!
I would say I think Graze is marketed more towards office workers for a tendancy to pick at sweets so if that's you this is the perfect thing (you can even have it delivered straight to your work). Although I wouldn't recommend eating the whole box in one afternoon as mine was over 500 calories! Each treat is individually wrapped and your leaflet will give you a use by date so unless you order a 'bread' item there really is no reason to feel like you have to eat it all straight away.
As an added treat Graze have given me a code so 4 friends can get a free Graze box (offer only to UK people) so if you want a code come and direct message me on Twitter @TraceyBrocking and I'll direct message you back. Hurry - there are only 4 codes avaliable!

What's Yours is Mine

Two posts in one day - aren't you lucky? About a week ago Yours had a big sale and then they generously offered another 25% off on top of that. I ordered a mustard coloured tunic, a pair of brown shoes and a leopard print scarf (I do love a scarf). Altogether it came to £15 before p&p which isn't bad at all. Here's me wearing my new garb earlier today...

Excuse my roof terrace, I won't get out there to do any house-keeping until the weather cheers up.
Anyway, the tunic is a gorgeous colour but Yours being the generous plus-sizers that they are,  have made the sizes, well on the generous side. I ordered the 26-28 not quite realising that weight-loss=fitting in smaller clothes. As I was able to get on a pair of size 24 jeans comfortably the other day I am thinking I won't get much more wear out of this. It's a shame because I am looking into getting some coloured leggings from Yours and I think this colour would go perfect with some teal leggings.
The scarf is fabulous and the shoes are very comfy but again a tad on the big size of size 8. I am however impressed by this company as they have some really gorgeous stuff on the website from basics such as leggings to on-trend items like bird-print tops and peter-pan collars.
Have you ordered from Yours before? Have you found the sizing to be generous like me? What do you think of their range?

Cute Blog Award

I have a smile on my face this morning because the gorgeous blogger Mamma Moon at http://gorgeouswithcurves.blogspot.com/ had nominated yours truely for this...

I am so honoured as she has been in the blogging game for much longer than me but she always takes the time to read and comment on my posts and she lives in one of my favourite places in the world - Japan!

Rule time!

Upon receiving this award you are to:

1)Link back to the person who awarded you

2)Answer all of the award questions

3)Award as many bloggers that you think are worthy of this award and make them aware of it.

 What is your go to make-up brand?

I wouldn't say I have one particular brand I just like particular products put out there by brands. My must haves I guess would be these:

What was your favourite fashion trend of 2011?

I guess I would have to go with Peter Pan collars and kimono-style tops.

What is your favourite dessert?

Must I pick just one? Here are a few of my faves that I can't have so much now I'm trying to lose the weight...

What is your favourite colour?

At the moment it's sage green...but that changes regularly

What is your middle name?

Debra :0(

The last song you listened to?

Make It Wit Chu - Queens of the Stoneage, this is me and the other half's 'song'.

Dogs or Cats?

I am and always will be a total cat person. Nothing is as lovely as a cat sitting on your lap purring away...

Something I haven't told anyone on the blog yet?

I can't get enough of Just Dance 3 and can get 4 stars on Taio Cruz Dynamite :0)

And the award goes to.....

The lovely Sara Hook of http://confusedbrit.wordpress.com/ for her beautiful honesty in her posts.

and the wonderful Kathryn at http://misskathrynsmisstakes.blogspot.com/ she has only been doing her blog a bit longer than me but she's very commited with regular and intersting posts.







Scarves and slimming

I wore this outfit the other day when I was trying to will on some lovely spring weather...it didn't happen but needless to say you can't blame a girl for trying.

Scarf - Primark

Shrug - New Look

Top - New Look

Jeans - New Look

 I am loving pastels at the moment and and if like me you don't always have the cash to buy the gorgeous pastel clothes you desire then I suggest you head no further than to Primark. They have some really lovely scarves at the moment at between £3-£4. They can really update an otherwise average outfit of jeans and black top - see above. The shrug came from a New Look sale last year and while I love it, it's handwash only which I really cannot be bothered with half the time.
Anway, I had weigh in last night and have lost another 3lb, bringing my grand total to 10lb. I think this is pretty good going for two weeks and I am very proud of myself. I still have a long way to go but it's heading the right way which is fab. I'm going to be extra good this week. While I am not following a particular plan I am going to have some Weightwatchers soup for lunch and yogurt with a handful of blueberries for brekkie. You may think that isn't much for breakfast but I have to have lunch super early to get my daughter to nursery so we always end up having an early lunch.
Will love you and leave you for now, but my next post will hopefully be all about my free Graze Box which I am expecting in the post on Thursday - cannot wait!

Fawning over Fearne

So they say if you are trying to lose weight you should picture yourself in something, a wedding dress, skinny jeans, a strap-less top. For me it would have to be something from the Fearne Cotten collection. I recently got the new ISME catalogue come through the door and was in awe of the pretty clothes. Not only this but I think Fearne is a bit of a girl crush. She has beautiful eyes, great tattoos and is up for a laugh (if you have ever seen her on Celebrity Juice you'll know what I mean).
The collection goes up to size 20 but I'm afraid that is still too small for me. In the meantime I'll just have to keep up the exercise/healthy eating (we won't mention the two slices of pizza earlier) and picture myself in the floral tunic dress which is by far my favourite item. Here is just a small selection of the collection:

At least the shoes come in my size unfortunatly they are way too high for me though...lol!

Pastel Colours

Nothing feels more like spring than seeing pretty pastel colours on some of my favourite clothing websites, well apart from Easter eggs on the shelves in January! Here are a pick of some of my favourite pastel pieces in plus size. Enjoy!

Dress So Fabulous - Very

Shoes So Fabulous -Very

Parka - Simply Be

Tunic - Simply Be

Cardy - Yours

Top - Asos



I think my favourite item is the So Fabulous dress, we have a wedding to go to in May so I think it would be perfect...well unless I see something else more gorgeous before then, Lol!



Challenges Ahead

So a blog is a personal thing right? So I thought I'd share with you some personal stuff that you may or may not know if you follow me on twitter or are a facebook friend. I have been thinking for the longest time about getting healthy and trying to lose weight. I am not going to use the word 'diet' as in my mind a 'diet' is something temporary. Whatever I do to try and get to a healthy weight will have to be a long-term thing. Heart disease and heart attacks run in my family and I'm so tired of having no energy to do the things I want to do with my little girl.

I started on the 9th January and have so far lost 7lb. This is through a combination of healthy eating, 3 meals a day plus snacks. I have tried to cut out/limit butter, fizzy drinks, white bread and sugar in my tea/coffee. On the exercise front I have been using my wii (I also use this for weigh-in and checking my bmi) and have been swimming once. I was in so much pain the next day after swimming because i think I overdid it a little. Inspite of this, I really have noticed some small differences. I don't have as many headaches, my skin looks a lot clearer and my back doesn't ache as much.

I know it will be a long road ahead but I am determined. My blog will continue with the fatshion slant but I wil be updating on my weight-loss - highs and lows on a regular basis.

Ring of Change

I wanted to treat myself to a little something from the Domino Dollhouse website but seeing as it's January and money is tight I knew I couldn't afford to spend too much. So I decided upon this Cameo ring in the clearance section:

The ring was $4.99 but with postage and packing I paid a grand total of £7.21. Unfortunatly the ring was only avaliable in one size a '7' which means nothing to me as I am used to letters, but I thought I would take my chances anyway.
The ring took roughly 7 days to come in the post and I must say I wasn't dissapointed. It's very thick and chunky. The only downside was that it really only fits on my little finger and is non-adjustable. But I'm still going to wear it because it's fabulous and I had to paint my nails pink in honour...

I am not usually a ring wearer apart from my engagement ring but that is changing thanks to a few pretty ones that I have recently purchased and I'm so glad that there are more adjustable costume rings out in shops like Claires and New Look.
This is another of my favourites from New Look, it isn't adjustable but it is in a 'large' and I've had it for a while...

Do you like wearing costume jewellery? Do you have any favourite pieces?

www.dominodollhouse.com

White Stripes & Inspirations

Sorry I haven't done a 'proper' outfit post for a little while. Been a busy bee what with new school term for my daughter, other half being off work for a few days and well just a bit of laziness on my part really. Well, that part isn't strictly true. The thing is I decided to go on my wii for the first time in months and realised I have put on a horrendous amount of weight in a very short space of time. I'm not happy about it and I'm going to try and do something about it. I don't have a specific weight or dress size I want to be really - just much healthier than I am now and able to enjoy life and have more energy for my beautiful daughter as quite frankily she deserves to have a healthy mum.

Right, weight rant over....So in my last blog I told you about my New Look dress that I recently purchased. I wore it today and I have to say it is more 'booby' than I realised from the inital try on after buying but I do love it.

Dress -New Look

Leggings - (Joe Browns, Simply Be)

Lace ballet pumps - (New Look 2010)

It comes with a gorgeous coral belt that I think would also go nicely with my New Look swallow tunic.

I have to say I am really pleased with the Inspire Range at New Look lately. It's very current, good quality and completly affordable. I know that I am quite luck living in London and locally I have access to two New Look's that have a fantastic Inspire collection but I know that the clothes can but bought online - only trouble is, they seem to sell out very quickly.

Earn your stripes

Yesterday I  finally pent the last of my christmas vouchers and purchased this from New Look:

The Inspire stripe skater dress for £26.99 which I will be talking about on a new post very soon. But the dress got me thinking that lately I've seen lots of stripe items in new collections for spring/summer so I thought I'd let you in on some of the plus-size stripes I had seen out there:

Asos Curve

Asos Curve

Evans

Yours



Yours

The only negative I have is that some of these items come across as very plain or safe so what would you ladies suggest wearing with them for that bit of added oomph? Would love to know... xXx