Party, party, party!

Last night was my brother and his fiance's engagement party and, my oh my, what a night it was (oh god, I sound like my Nan). The food, delicious. The music, banging. The atmosphere, amazing. 

The night in general was somewhat phantasmagorical (I promise I didn't make that word up, look it up, use it in an essay to impress your teacher or in a game on scrabble to wow your friends. Go on, my treat). It was most definitely one to remember, that is unless you're my brother; who had 4 Jagerbombs, shortly after downing a pint of Carling, leaving his eyes to drift in all different directions.

(Oooh, sneak peak of my outfit!)

It was so lovely for me to see my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law so happy, enjoying their night surrounded by their nearest and dearest friends and family. As one of the most treasured invitees, of course, I decided to enjoy my night and make as many fond memories as I could, with as little input from social media and technology as possible.

However I really wanted to somehow get you guys involved, without forcing you to read a whole bloody dissertation on a strangers party. Because lets be serious if you want anything to do with a strangers party, it's an invite, not a report. Am I right?

My way of doing this was to photograph and talk you through the outfits instead... So apparently, I now think I'm a fashion blogger. 

This co-ord is nothing like anything else in my wardrobe, I'm used to wearing bodycon dresses or jumpsuits whenever I go out. However my hips are a bit weird, they kind of go out, then in, then out, like an hourglass, but in the completely wrong place haha! So when I where certain bodycon's or figure hugging bottoms, it hugs that bit and doesn't look great. When I saw this online I wasn't sure if it'd make me look old fashioned, frumpy or like a sack of potatoes, but I ordered it just in case, and sure enough when it came I fell in love, it hugged all the right places! Plus it was a bargain, essentially three outfits for the price of one! I'll for sure be investing in more co-ords and box-pleat midi skirts in the future!
Now I bought these shoes before I got a spray tan and I understand that they just kind of blend into my feet... so let this be a lesson to all of us, when buying shoes, clothes, accessories or anything else, try and be about the same colour when trying it on as you will when you wear it! Regardless of that, they are beautiful shoes and I'll definitely be pairing these with dressy and casual outfits throughout the summer!

My fake tan wasn't actually the only issue I had with these shoes, initially I bought an odd pair... As dim as you imagine I must be to purchase two different shoes, I do have some (very weak) reasoning behind it. The right shoe had a big scratch on the strap, so I obviously looked for one in a better condition, and after a while I found one. My boyfriend and I had checked around five times that we had a left and a right shoe, so when I got home and the first thing my mom said was "They're odd" I smugly disagreed, knowing that I definitely had one left shoe, and one right. I was right, but so was she, I then realised that they weren't actually the same shoe. It's not my fault that New Look put two extremely similar, strappy nude block heel wedges right next to each other!
--- I went with the ones on the left by the way! ---
I paired the outfit with a denim jacket that I've had for years as I thought it went well, keeping the vibe sweet and summery. However I must admit that I only actually wore it for this photo, as the weather was beautiful last night, so I didn't really need a jacket.
I wore my Pandora bracelet and my Swarovski rare ring in rose gold, as the pattern on the co-ord is quite busy I kept the jewellery quite simple and avoided wearing a necklace as I didn't want to draw any more attention to my chest...

Cor-ord set - £22 - Boohoo
Denim jacket - £36 - Warehouse (sale)
Shoes - £14.99 - Newlook (sale)
Ring - £49 - Swarovski

Thank you so much for reading guys and gals, I hope you're having a lovely bank holiday weekend! Speak again soon!

Love Rosie x

BUSTED!

At first I was unsure as to whether I'd accidentally walked into a slipknot concert, due to the men walking round wearing purge-like pig masks and what appeared to be hundreds of caged battery pig-humans behind the stage. But after seeing 12 middle aged women, with pink rinses, wearing McBusted tour t-shirts, I knew I was home.

Now, Busted broke up when I was six, so they were genuinely my childhood, after crying for days once they announced their split, that hole in my heart remained unfilled. Just waiting for another music act to make me feel the way they did, but not one artist. over the last 12 years, had the ability to take me 984 years into the future, to see triple breast women swimming around town, totally naked! (Not that that was the kind of thing I was into when I was 6... or now as a matter of fact)

But whatever, they were a big part of my childhood and when I was 7 I was at a market in Orlando, Florida and had a photo taken in front of a green screen, which was then superimposed onto a photo of busted and then printed onto a t-shirt. Best. Day. Ever.

After having to learn the words to more than half the songs played last night, I'm now no longer calling myself a true fan. Ashamed as I am to admit this, I only knew air hostess, sleeping with the light on, year 3000 and what I go to school for; their most mainstream songs, but hey I was like 4 when they were at their peak, so cut me some slack.

(Homemade gif, check me out!)

Losing me voice singing those four songs was totally worth it though, I had such a good night and got so excited that I almost cried! Oh and my super crush on Charlie Simpson came right back ❤️

SEE I bet most of you used to knock him for his eyebrows, well massive slugs are back in style, so who's laughing now?

One thing I find hilarious is that I'm going to Wireless in July. 

Prior to attending this festival I will have seen Ed Sheeran, One Direction (twice), Olly Murs and Busted live... What a contrast haha 

Thanks so much for reading guys and gals, let me know who your childhood artists were in the comments! Speak again soon :)

Love Rosie x

It's nice to be nice

One of my absolute favourite things is when a stranger says happy birthday to me!

And that's probably because I'm that stranger! 

One of my all time biggest pet peeves is when people don't accept the compliment! I mean lets be serious, we all know that deep down, the reason you're wearing that badge is so that everyone knows it's your day, and so they should! Which is exactly why I just wished you a happy birthday, so roll your eyes right back to where they came from and thank me, you ungrateful little shit! I honestly get so riled in these situations, it's happened to me countless times at school, all I want is for a very smiley face to turn back and shout "Thank you!", because at the end of the day I wished you a happy birthday not deathday, chill the hell out and cheer the fock up bro! It's your birthday!

Another thing I hate, again related to manners, is when someone doesn't have any... Oh my God, Lord have mercy, someone please stop me from punching this rude, impolite, uneducated bastard in the face. 

I CANNOT stand when people don't say please and thank you, it grates on me so badly and I'm always drawn between killing them with kindness, by being even more smiley and polite than I usually am, or thinking f*ck you! And treating them with exact same ridiculously low level of respect with which they're treating me. To be honest I usually wimp out and just treat them as I would anyone else, but that's beside the point, the angry thoughts are there, I assure you!

I find that this happens a lot to me at work and it isn't the gang of 14 year olds, each ordering a mayo chicken and an oreo McFlurry, no. It's not the 86 year old man that comes in every morning for his black coffee and hash brown either, no. It's the middle aged people, rushing on their way to work, the ones that always ask "Will it take long?".
Okay, here's the thing, I work on the till, I can do drinks, McFlurry's and drive thru too, but at 10:26 in the morning, 4 minutes before breakfast finishes, I do not have time to ask everyone in the kitchen how long your Sausage and Egg McMuffin is going to take, but I will anyway. And no doubt will I get the same answer as always "No longer than 3 minutes" as well a bollocking from my manager later, for asking stupid question when I have 11 people queueing up to get their orders in before breakfast finishes. Yet will this customer thank me when I come back and tell her that her food will be "no longer than 3 minutes"? No. Will this customer thank me when I read back her order to check she's got everything that she would like, to start her day off right? No. And will this customer say thank you when I hand her her change, give her her receipt and tell her to have a great day at work? No. No she won't. And this is the reason I cry myself to sleep.

It annoys me on quite a deep level that I have to use this gif, as I find Jimmy Fallon EXTREMELY annoying... but there were no other good ones, so here he is, blessing my blog for the first and  hopefully last time

I can't drive yet, but I do get road rage. Mainly at zebra crossings, pelican crossings... all types of crossings from the animal kingdom. HOW is it not just a natural reaction to put your hand up to the car and nod your head when crossing? (The universal way of saying thank you) If it was not for the driver of this car (my mom), you could be waiting at that crossing for 10 minutes, which could lead you to be 15 minutes late for school, causing you to miss your mark on the register, meaning that during the fire drill later your absence is expected. Little do they know that you're having a wee when the alarm goes off. So now you're there locked in the bathroom, with no one coming to look for you. And then you die,
My mom made sure that you didn't die today. Next time, say thank you.

Thanks so much for reading guys and gals, I hope this one made you laugh a bit and I hope you're having a great day!

Love Rosie x

The key to confidence

Put your snorkel on guys, this ones about to get deep.

My cousin, Laura, is just a month and 2 days younger than me (which I like to rub in her face haha). So, as you can imagine, growing up we were very close, especially because we only lived a couple of streets away from each other.

I was the loud, confident, super smiley one and she was seen as the shy, quiet and introverted one. The best way to depict this for you would be to compare our birthday parties. Every February I'd rock up to her party, on my own and end up leaving with 5 new best friends! However every January Laura would bring 2/3 of her friends along and either stick with them or her mom for the whole of the afternoon.

We stuck to these roles from the ages of 2 (or whenever you develop a personality) until about 13. And at 13 we switched, entirely. Laura became this loud, confident, big personality and I became an insecure, unsure version of myself, known to most as "Laura O'Grady's cousin". I can't pinpoint exactly what caused the change for Laura, however I know exactly what caused my major personality shift.

What I consider to be the worst year of my life, consisted of losing two close family members, as well as all but one of my friends. The events, although completely unrelated, all impacted my year and my life in a huge way. The loss of my dog, Sammy (who had been a part of my family for just under 13 years) and then the loss of my grandad just a few months later had both knocked me off my feet slightly, feeling quite a lot of emptiness, all quite suddenly. And then, just two weeks before the summer holidays I had a huge falling out with all of my friends.

The 8 weeks of loneliness with not even Sammy to cuddle when everything got a bit too much, turned me into a shell of myself; my confidence completely gone, taking my smile away with it.

I had one friend who stuck by me throughout this and I will never know quite how to thank him and I don't think he'll ever know quite how much he did for me or how much he meant to me, throughout our friendship, that summer especially.

At that point in my life all I wanted was my friends back, regardless of how I had been treated, I just didn't want to be lonely anymore. 

A few weeks into the first term of year 10, I got my wish, I managed rekindle the friendships with my old group, and I was happy again. However looking back now, I'm not happy with the person I was; I was nasty, bitchy, unwelcoming and judgemental.

I'm completely overcome with shame whenever anyone brings up my past, because I am not a bad person and I know that now. It took a further two years for me to realise this and get in with a new group of friends. For those two years I was still extremely self conscious, unconfident and unhappy. I was reluctant to join teams, clubs or start anything new, in fear of being judged.

If you saw me today and knew nothing about my past, I honestly think that you would have no idea I had been through such a rough patch. Although I used to resent my old friends for making me feel so low, in hindsight I think that it has made me into a better person, someone that I can be proud of. I found my smile again and my confidence is greater than it ever was before! 

It may not seem like much, but I often get compliments at work, from the customers, on how nice it is to be served by someone so happy, and that honestly fills me with joy. I love the fact that I have made someone else happy, just by being happy in myself.

So happy in my own skin, I'm a much happier person now than ever before and I think that is the key to being happy and confident in yourself, you have to be your own #1 fan! Just sit back and take a second to think about all the good you do for yourself and for others, whether it's serving a customer with a smile or hugging your friend when their upset or telling your mom that you love her. The key to gaining confidence, I believe, is making everything you do count towards someones happiness. 

Try it out. Wear a beaming smile all day long and see what good things come to you and what happiness you bring to others!

I am sure that so many others have been through stages just like this in their lives, where they have completely lost themselves. This post is a story of my journey and proof that with every down there is an up and that every cloud has a silver lining. I am extremely grateful for my family and friends that helped me through that year and I'm also so proud of my own strength, for knowing that everything was going to be okay and for never giving up.

If something ever goes wrong in your life and you cannot, for the sake of you, find anything positive, just know that it's coming and remember that, as horrible as it may be, once you reach rock bottom, you can only go up from there.

Thank you so much for letting me share this with you guys and gals, if you can relate to this I hope I have helped in someway :) Remember that if you keep smiling, only good things can come your way!

Love Rosie x