In The Style Curve x The Curve Fashion Festival Giveaway*

Wednesday 28 June 2017

I am always excited when a new brand take the plunge into plus size fashion, and I'm always even more thrilled when they start going up to a size 28 as standard right from the start! In The Style are a brand known for their fashion forward pieces and celebrity ranges, so I couldn't wait to see what they released. They did not disappoint! Their range is on trend and full of fun pieces, so when given a chance to try out one of their dresses for myself I leaped at the chance!


I tried out the 'Curve Binky Red Floral Bardot Swing Dress*' £27 and it's gorgeous. I love a bardot dress, and this one has just the right amount of elastic that it doesn't ride up as you wear it. It's a comfy, light material that makes it perfect for summer parties, and it doesn't crease easily which is a bonus!


As you can see, it's slightly longer at the back, and the hem raises slightly at the sides. I'm 5ft 11, so for me personally it didn't work the best as a dress. I could wear it, but I couldn't guarantee I wasn't going to flash anyone while I walked around! I popped a plain black jersey pencil skirt underneath it just to give me a bit more coverage. In The Style are known for their super short styles so if you love to flash some leg, check out their range, I have my eye on so many other dresses right now.


And so, to the exciting part of the blog, the giveaway! I have a £50 voucher for In The Style Curve and a pair of tickets for The Curve Fashion Festival to giveaway to one lucky winner! To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below.


The contest will end next Wednesday, so you have a week to win, good luck!

Much love,
 Kitty xxxx

What Happened To My Face? : Colourpop Lips

*denotes an item gifted to me for review purposes, in no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own. Prizes kindly donated by In The Style and The Curve Fashion Festival.

In The Style Curve x The Curve Fashion Festival Giveaway*

Wednesday 28 June 2017

I am always excited when a new brand take the plunge into plus size fashion, and I'm always even more thrilled when they start going up to a size 28 as standard right from the start! In The Style are a brand known for their fashion forward pieces and celebrity ranges, so I couldn't wait to see what they released. They did not disappoint! Their range is on trend and full of fun pieces, so when given a chance to try out one of their dresses for myself I leaped at the chance!


I tried out the 'Curve Binky Red Floral Bardot Swing Dress*' £27 and it's gorgeous. I love a bardot dress, and this one has just the right amount of elastic that it doesn't ride up as you wear it. It's a comfy, light material that makes it perfect for summer parties, and it doesn't crease easily which is a bonus!


As you can see, it's slightly longer at the back, and the hem raises slightly at the sides. I'm 5ft 11, so for me personally it didn't work the best as a dress. I could wear it, but I couldn't guarantee I wasn't going to flash anyone while I walked around! I popped a plain black jersey pencil skirt underneath it just to give me a bit more coverage. In The Style are known for their super short styles so if you love to flash some leg, check out their range, I have my eye on so many other dresses right now.


And so, to the exciting part of the blog, the giveaway! I have a £50 voucher for In The Style Curve and a pair of tickets for The Curve Fashion Festival to giveaway to one lucky winner! To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below.


The contest will end next Wednesday, so you have a week to win, good luck!

Much love,
 Kitty xxxx

What Happened To My Face? : Colourpop Lips

*denotes an item gifted to me for review purposes, in no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own. Prizes kindly donated by In The Style and The Curve Fashion Festival.

What Happened To My Face?

Sunday 25 June 2017

TW For injuries and wounds.

If you follow my social media, you might have noticed a sudden decrease in selfies, and there have been less blogs on here lately too. I had well.... a bit of an accident. It's been a month now, so I figure it's time to explain what happened, and the new addition to my face!

The day of the injury. It didn't look too bad then... it got worse!

The first day of my two weeks off for mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary I had the excellent idea to bath the dog so he was all clean and shiny for our holiday too. After he got out the bath he tried to run through the house to soak the place, no chance! I turfed him out into the garden and went hunting for one of his garden toys to play with while he dried off in the sun. A hunt in the garden came up empty, so I snuck back into the house and left Ashen outside for a minute while I got him a toy. I had my sunglasses on already and decided to leave them on for the few moments I'd be inside the house. BIG MISTAKE. Huge. 

I took one step into the kitchen and I stepped in a wet patch courtesy of the dog and slipped. I hit my face on the kitchen door frame as I fell and next thing I knew Ashen had managed to let himself back into the house and was crying stood over me. He's a clever thing! It hurt SO much. I held my face and tried to get my breathing under control, all the while cursing myself for the inevitable black eye I'd have at the festival we headed to the next day. When I finally moved my hand, I realised that it was worse than that, because they were covered in blood. Crap. I told Ashen I was OK and tried to calm him down because he knew I was in pain, poor sweet boy. I headed to the bathroom to check the damage out, thinking it'd be nothing major, because minor cuts to the head bleed very over dramatically. I looked and well... Ric Flair in the late 80's would have been proud. I was an absolute mess. My hair was full of blood, my face was covered, my arms, my back, my dress, absolutely covered and still pouring down my face. I very obviously needed to see a medical professional and sharpish!

 The day after, ouch!

I rang Stu, my husband, and unfortunately he was an hour away at work. He immediately got on his way back to me but I needed someone to be with me sooner. I couldn't ring my parents because they work hours away, my Auntie and Nanny were going on holiday that day, and I didn't want to worry my other Grandparents. So, to figure out which friends I could ring! As we were all going on a road trip the next day I knew I wasn't the only one not at work. And rather typically, no one was bloody answering! I was starting to panic, when I realised that my friend Becks would answer even though he was at work, and I knew he would help. And he answered on the first ring. Hero! He calmed me down, because I was really beginning to panic at this point, and got on the phone to our friend Stevie who wasn't at work. He came right over to me, convinced that it wasn't that bad. He's an ex-Army medic and took one look at me and admitted that yes, maybe I did need someone to stitch me up.

Day 3 - I couldn't open my eye for the first few hours of being awake.

We rang my Doctor's surgery who had no nurses working that day, so couldn't see me. So he took me to his surgery instead which is technically my local one, who also had no nurses working that day, and couldn't help me. That's your NHS cuts at work folks. I really did not want to spend 8 hours sat in A & E when I just needed a bit of stitching up and other people really did have an emergency. By this point, Stu had managed to get back and took over. I needed a husband hug bad! We decided to try our local minor injuries unit before A & E as a last resort. And I was in and out within 40 minutes, all patched up! They were absolutely incredible, and well worth keeping in mind for minor injuries that need attention, but don't require a hospital. Because of how close the wound was to my eye, and the nature of eyelid skin, I couldn't be stitched. Instead the nurse glued me up and then applied steri strips, with instructions to keep them on for 7-10 days. I've never had glue for a wound before and wow does it sting!

About a week after, I got a lovely yellow bruised face!

I was seriously lucky that my taste in sunglasses is for giant shades, because a smaller pair could have led to damage to my actual eye. I've lost the lower third of my eyebrow and will have a juicy scar, but as I already have a scar on the other side of my face, it's a new one for the collection. This is the second time I've fallen over and needed some sort of stitches in my face, I don't even know how anyone can be that clumsy. The swelling was the worst part for me, it swelled horribly for the first few days, causing my eye to close completely and any shape to my eye lid to vanish. You couldn't see that I even had any eyelashes on my upper eye lid. I have to admit, the swelling had me feeling really insecure so giant sunglasses and a cowboy hat were the order of the day at the festival to make me feel less self conscious.

A month on and my face is still bruised and painful. The outer bruises are gone but the darkness under my eyes hasn't because I'm tired. I roll over in my sleep and wake myself up, and can only sleep in certain position. The swelling to my eyelid hasn't gone down completely and may never, leaving me with a more hooded lid than before. I don't know how my eyebrow will grow back in, or if it will, and given that the scar on the other side of my face is still as red as the day the scabs came off 13 years ago, I suspect this one will also never fade to silver, and stay angry and red.

Once the steri strips came off after 9 days. The glue was MUCH harder to get off.

A scar on your face can take some getting used to. It's not big, but it's certainly something people's eyes are drawn to because of it's location. When I injured my face before I switched my hair parting to the other side to hide it and it was hard for 16 year old me to get to grips with knowing I'd permanently scarred my face. 16 year old me was just leaving school and spent time trying to figure out how to hide it with makeup (I can't, it's a dented section in my face). 16 year old me hid it from photos and was upset when for years afterwards drunk people would ask me what had happened and prod my face in pub toilets. 29 year old me is dealing with it a lot better. 29 year old me can look at it and feel happy that I didn't damage my eye, and that I didn't get a concussion so I was still able to go to the festival and not be ill. 29 year old me can be overjoyed that my friends would drop everything to rush to my side to help me. 29 year old me can laugh at the fact that I'm so clumsy this is take two, and that the first time I fell over my own baggy greebo jeans, and the second time I slipped over on a wet floor from a wet dog. 29 year old me can look at it and smile.

To twist Ru Paul's words badly, if you can't laugh at yourself, how in the hell you gonna laugh at somebody else?

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Colourpop Lips : Kinderwhore OOTD

What Happened To My Face?

Sunday 25 June 2017

TW For injuries and wounds.

If you follow my social media, you might have noticed a sudden decrease in selfies, and there have been less blogs on here lately too. I had well.... a bit of an accident. It's been a month now, so I figure it's time to explain what happened, and the new addition to my face!

The day of the injury. It didn't look too bad then... it got worse!

The first day of my two weeks off for mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary I had the excellent idea to bath the dog so he was all clean and shiny for our holiday too. After he got out the bath he tried to run through the house to soak the place, no chance! I turfed him out into the garden and went hunting for one of his garden toys to play with while he dried off in the sun. A hunt in the garden came up empty, so I snuck back into the house and left Ashen outside for a minute while I got him a toy. I had my sunglasses on already and decided to leave them on for the few moments I'd be inside the house. BIG MISTAKE. Huge. 

I took one step into the kitchen and I stepped in a wet patch courtesy of the dog and slipped. I hit my face on the kitchen door frame as I fell and next thing I knew Ashen had managed to let himself back into the house and was crying stood over me. He's a clever thing! It hurt SO much. I held my face and tried to get my breathing under control, all the while cursing myself for the inevitable black eye I'd have at the festival we headed to the next day. When I finally moved my hand, I realised that it was worse than that, because they were covered in blood. Crap. I told Ashen I was OK and tried to calm him down because he knew I was in pain, poor sweet boy. I headed to the bathroom to check the damage out, thinking it'd be nothing major, because minor cuts to the head bleed very over dramatically. I looked and well... Ric Flair in the late 80's would have been proud. I was an absolute mess. My hair was full of blood, my face was covered, my arms, my back, my dress, absolutely covered and still pouring down my face. I very obviously needed to see a medical professional and sharpish!

 The day after, ouch!

I rang Stu, my husband, and unfortunately he was an hour away at work. He immediately got on his way back to me but I needed someone to be with me sooner. I couldn't ring my parents because they work hours away, my Auntie and Nanny were going on holiday that day, and I didn't want to worry my other Grandparents. So, to figure out which friends I could ring! As we were all going on a road trip the next day I knew I wasn't the only one not at work. And rather typically, no one was bloody answering! I was starting to panic, when I realised that my friend Becks would answer even though he was at work, and I knew he would help. And he answered on the first ring. Hero! He calmed me down, because I was really beginning to panic at this point, and got on the phone to our friend Stevie who wasn't at work. He came right over to me, convinced that it wasn't that bad. He's an ex-Army medic and took one look at me and admitted that yes, maybe I did need someone to stitch me up.

Day 3 - I couldn't open my eye for the first few hours of being awake.

We rang my Doctor's surgery who had no nurses working that day, so couldn't see me. So he took me to his surgery instead which is technically my local one, who also had no nurses working that day, and couldn't help me. That's your NHS cuts at work folks. I really did not want to spend 8 hours sat in A & E when I just needed a bit of stitching up and other people really did have an emergency. By this point, Stu had managed to get back and took over. I needed a husband hug bad! We decided to try our local minor injuries unit before A & E as a last resort. And I was in and out within 40 minutes, all patched up! They were absolutely incredible, and well worth keeping in mind for minor injuries that need attention, but don't require a hospital. Because of how close the wound was to my eye, and the nature of eyelid skin, I couldn't be stitched. Instead the nurse glued me up and then applied steri strips, with instructions to keep them on for 7-10 days. I've never had glue for a wound before and wow does it sting!

About a week after, I got a lovely yellow bruised face!

I was seriously lucky that my taste in sunglasses is for giant shades, because a smaller pair could have led to damage to my actual eye. I've lost the lower third of my eyebrow and will have a juicy scar, but as I already have a scar on the other side of my face, it's a new one for the collection. This is the second time I've fallen over and needed some sort of stitches in my face, I don't even know how anyone can be that clumsy. The swelling was the worst part for me, it swelled horribly for the first few days, causing my eye to close completely and any shape to my eye lid to vanish. You couldn't see that I even had any eyelashes on my upper eye lid. I have to admit, the swelling had me feeling really insecure so giant sunglasses and a cowboy hat were the order of the day at the festival to make me feel less self conscious.

A month on and my face is still bruised and painful. The outer bruises are gone but the darkness under my eyes hasn't because I'm tired. I roll over in my sleep and wake myself up, and can only sleep in certain position. The swelling to my eyelid hasn't gone down completely and may never, leaving me with a more hooded lid than before. I don't know how my eyebrow will grow back in, or if it will, and given that the scar on the other side of my face is still as red as the day the scabs came off 13 years ago, I suspect this one will also never fade to silver, and stay angry and red.

Once the steri strips came off after 9 days. The glue was MUCH harder to get off.

A scar on your face can take some getting used to. It's not big, but it's certainly something people's eyes are drawn to because of it's location. When I injured my face before I switched my hair parting to the other side to hide it and it was hard for 16 year old me to get to grips with knowing I'd permanently scarred my face. 16 year old me was just leaving school and spent time trying to figure out how to hide it with makeup (I can't, it's a dented section in my face). 16 year old me hid it from photos and was upset when for years afterwards drunk people would ask me what had happened and prod my face in pub toilets. 29 year old me is dealing with it a lot better. 29 year old me can look at it and feel happy that I didn't damage my eye, and that I didn't get a concussion so I was still able to go to the festival and not be ill. 29 year old me can be overjoyed that my friends would drop everything to rush to my side to help me. 29 year old me can laugh at the fact that I'm so clumsy this is take two, and that the first time I fell over my own baggy greebo jeans, and the second time I slipped over on a wet floor from a wet dog. 29 year old me can look at it and smile.

To twist Ru Paul's words badly, if you can't laugh at yourself, how in the hell you gonna laugh at somebody else?

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Colourpop Lips : Kinderwhore OOTD

Colourpop Lips

Tuesday 20 June 2017

I love me some Colourpop, but their products have to be my absolute stand out product. They're always releasing new products and one of their newest products has quickly become an absolute favourite of mine.


I had already tried out the blotted lips here, but the ultra blotted lips were new to me. Much like their ultra matte lips, these come in a clear tube with a doe foot applicator. Colourpop were known for their holographic fonts but they wore off the tubes very quickly, so they've switched to silver which doesn't wear off. I picked out Split and Cherry on Top as they seemed to be perfect summer colours!


I've also gotten really into brown toned nude lip colours lately, so I grabbed Boys Town and Bonus Points in the creme formula of the lippie stix. The creme formula is a lovely creamy finish, but not too glossy.


Left to right - 
Split, Cherry on Top, Boys Town, Bonus Points.


I'm wearing Split in both of these photos, which is the more pink toned ultra blotted lips. I am absolutely in love with this product! They've somewhere between a lip stain and a diluted matte liquid lipstick. It dries down completely and is smudge proof, but isn't as heavy duty or solid as a traditional liquid lipstick. These are so perfect for summer and I can't stop wearing them. They only budge when you eat oily foods and are really comfortable on the lips.

I am definitely going to be picking more of these up!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Colourpop Lips

Tuesday 20 June 2017

I love me some Colourpop, but their products have to be my absolute stand out product. They're always releasing new products and one of their newest products has quickly become an absolute favourite of mine.


I had already tried out the blotted lips here, but the ultra blotted lips were new to me. Much like their ultra matte lips, these come in a clear tube with a doe foot applicator. Colourpop were known for their holographic fonts but they wore off the tubes very quickly, so they've switched to silver which doesn't wear off. I picked out Split and Cherry on Top as they seemed to be perfect summer colours!


I've also gotten really into brown toned nude lip colours lately, so I grabbed Boys Town and Bonus Points in the creme formula of the lippie stix. The creme formula is a lovely creamy finish, but not too glossy.


Left to right - 
Split, Cherry on Top, Boys Town, Bonus Points.


I'm wearing Split in both of these photos, which is the more pink toned ultra blotted lips. I am absolutely in love with this product! They've somewhere between a lip stain and a diluted matte liquid lipstick. It dries down completely and is smudge proof, but isn't as heavy duty or solid as a traditional liquid lipstick. These are so perfect for summer and I can't stop wearing them. They only budge when you eat oily foods and are really comfortable on the lips.

I am definitely going to be picking more of these up!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Daisy Kinderwhore OOTD

Wednesday 14 June 2017

Every now and then I see a dress that I just have to buy. This time, it was ASOS with the dress that had to be mine. It screamed of the nineties and kinderwhore fashion and it had to be mine. And so it was done.

Dress - ASOS £28
Sunglasses - Quay Australia £45
Converses - Old (no longer available)

Kinderwhore fashion was loved by the likes of Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland; it was baby doll dresses and fishnets and boots, the dresses were short and the styling was easy. Kinderwhore was a grunge kick into feminism, it took all the good girl parts of fashion and screwed with them. As a woman who loves punk rock, seeing women in rock and roll be hyper feminine and bad ass made me happy, but as a teenager I never dared look to them for fashion inspiration. But the Kitty who is now 29 (eek) is all that those mini dresses!


This is a more 'casual' version of those classic kinderwhore looks, because it was way too warm for my biker boots and I didn't fancy platforms. I actually wore this dress on mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary for chips and cheese on the beach while we were away on holiday. Top romance!


I love a comfy over size dress and this is a lovely light fabric, so even on the beach it kept me cool. I stayed simple with the accessories wearing all my usual BloodyMary Metal rings and adding a BMM stag necklace. And of course, I had the best accessory in the form of our pooch-face Ashen. I swear, he poses way better than I do!


Maybe by this point he was a little bit fed up of posing! He is a handsome beastie. ASOS have another dress in this sort of loose fit shirt style and I might just have to get my mitts on it. It's definitely become a new fave very quickly.


Disclaimer: I walk Ashen with a harness (he was arthritis and it helps his be more comfortable) and I totally fell over after taking these photos on the wet decking outside our log cabin leaving me with some epic bruises. These photos also really make me realise I need more leg tattoos.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Daisy Kinderwhore OOTD

Wednesday 14 June 2017

Every now and then I see a dress that I just have to buy. This time, it was ASOS with the dress that had to be mine. It screamed of the nineties and kinderwhore fashion and it had to be mine. And so it was done.

Dress - ASOS £28
Sunglasses - Quay Australia £45
Converses - Old (no longer available)

Kinderwhore fashion was loved by the likes of Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland; it was baby doll dresses and fishnets and boots, the dresses were short and the styling was easy. Kinderwhore was a grunge kick into feminism, it took all the good girl parts of fashion and screwed with them. As a woman who loves punk rock, seeing women in rock and roll be hyper feminine and bad ass made me happy, but as a teenager I never dared look to them for fashion inspiration. But the Kitty who is now 29 (eek) is all that those mini dresses!


This is a more 'casual' version of those classic kinderwhore looks, because it was way too warm for my biker boots and I didn't fancy platforms. I actually wore this dress on mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary for chips and cheese on the beach while we were away on holiday. Top romance!


I love a comfy over size dress and this is a lovely light fabric, so even on the beach it kept me cool. I stayed simple with the accessories wearing all my usual BloodyMary Metal rings and adding a BMM stag necklace. And of course, I had the best accessory in the form of our pooch-face Ashen. I swear, he poses way better than I do!


Maybe by this point he was a little bit fed up of posing! He is a handsome beastie. ASOS have another dress in this sort of loose fit shirt style and I might just have to get my mitts on it. It's definitely become a new fave very quickly.


Disclaimer: I walk Ashen with a harness (he was arthritis and it helps his be more comfortable) and I totally fell over after taking these photos on the wet decking outside our log cabin leaving me with some epic bruises. These photos also really make me realise I need more leg tattoos.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Girly Millenial Pink OOTD

Wednesday 7 June 2017

I seem to be on a bit of a roll lately with online competitions, and recently I was lucky enough to win one of Yours Clothing's #winitwednesday competitions on twitter. It was a on a day that's always hard, on my dear friend Jess's birthday who sadly was taken from us when we were 17. We shared a mutual love of butterflies and it seemed like a gift from the universe to make me smile when I suddenly won a dress covered in butterflies!

Jacket - Matalan (old)
Shoes - Converses

This dress is quite possibly the girliest thing I've ever owned. In fact, this whole outfit might be the girliest thing I've ever worn! I ended up channelling Amanda Apparel for this look completely by accident. I wore this outfit to a hen do I went on, and when I realised I only had 20 minutes to get ready I gave my youngest step son a bunch of random choices to pick me an outfit real quick. He was feeling the all pink vibes, so all pink it was!


The dress is typical Lady Voluptuous, beautifully made, with a lovely print, and well fitted. Lady V offer dual sizes, and I find them very true to size. This is probably a little more low cut than I would usually wear because I don't have the sort of bust that gives cleavage, but I love it either way and think it would also look amazing on a busty babe too!


The print is a delight, flowers and butterflies in different shades of pinks and hints of blue. The sleeves sit at about elbow length with a fold up that has a really unusual shape, it actually peaks into a 'V' shape in the middle of the sleeves. I really like this detail, it's such a small thing but it's lovely. The top of the dress is a wrap over style, for me personally I might have to pop a stitch in the bust area because it does gape a bit because I don't have much to fill it out, but I don't think anyone with more of a chest would need to do that.


The bottom of the dress is probably my favourite part, the two pleated sections give it a great shape without being too full. You could probably pop a petticoat underneath it if you did want to add more fullness though!


It felt really odd to go out not wearing all pink, but I think the Converses and the pleather jacket made it feel 'Kitty' enough that I wasn't uncomfortable. I might just have to let my step son style me again seen as he did such a great job with this look!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Girly Millenial Pink OOTD

Wednesday 7 June 2017

I seem to be on a bit of a roll lately with online competitions, and recently I was lucky enough to win one of Yours Clothing's #winitwednesday competitions on twitter. It was a on a day that's always hard, on my dear friend Jess's birthday who sadly was taken from us when we were 17. We shared a mutual love of butterflies and it seemed like a gift from the universe to make me smile when I suddenly won a dress covered in butterflies!

Jacket - Matalan (old)
Shoes - Converses

This dress is quite possibly the girliest thing I've ever owned. In fact, this whole outfit might be the girliest thing I've ever worn! I ended up channelling Amanda Apparel for this look completely by accident. I wore this outfit to a hen do I went on, and when I realised I only had 20 minutes to get ready I gave my youngest step son a bunch of random choices to pick me an outfit real quick. He was feeling the all pink vibes, so all pink it was!


The dress is typical Lady Voluptuous, beautifully made, with a lovely print, and well fitted. Lady V offer dual sizes, and I find them very true to size. This is probably a little more low cut than I would usually wear because I don't have the sort of bust that gives cleavage, but I love it either way and think it would also look amazing on a busty babe too!


The print is a delight, flowers and butterflies in different shades of pinks and hints of blue. The sleeves sit at about elbow length with a fold up that has a really unusual shape, it actually peaks into a 'V' shape in the middle of the sleeves. I really like this detail, it's such a small thing but it's lovely. The top of the dress is a wrap over style, for me personally I might have to pop a stitch in the bust area because it does gape a bit because I don't have much to fill it out, but I don't think anyone with more of a chest would need to do that.


The bottom of the dress is probably my favourite part, the two pleated sections give it a great shape without being too full. You could probably pop a petticoat underneath it if you did want to add more fullness though!


It felt really odd to go out not wearing all pink, but I think the Converses and the pleather jacket made it feel 'Kitty' enough that I wasn't uncomfortable. I might just have to let my step son style me again seen as he did such a great job with this look!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Our First Wedding Anniversary

Sunday 4 June 2017

Today is mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary! We're spending it away on holiday with some dear friends of ours, but I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos from our day and some of the things I've learnt during our first year of marriage.


I've learnt that really, marriage doesn't change a whole lot. Life is pretty much the same, we still binge watch tv shows on Netflix, hang out in our local with our friends, pick on each other relentlessly, but now we do it as husband and wife instead.


I've learnt that in Stu I have a husband who supports me and is literally there through sickness and in health. He's been there with me when I've been at my most ill, and held my hand and looked after me, and I'm so so lucky to have that.


I've learnt that I'll always smile when I look at my wedding ring, but that I will eventually manage to stop crying every time I hear one of our weddings song! They fill my heart with complete delight and take me back to the day itself.


I learnt that you can absolutely have a wedding playlist filled with metal, rock, pop punk, ska and glam and still fill the dance floor all night long. I know a lot of more alternative couples worry about having music that they love and people getting up and dancing, but our dance floor was filled all night long. You might be surprised to discover that your Uncle from Wales is actually a massive metal head, or that your cousin's husband is a punk rocker at heart. I was so surprised at what people loved! We had a ridiculous mosh pit to Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name and I broke my dress head banging and it was SO much fun.


I learnt that once you've been married for 6 months the baby questions start and never seem to stop. From total strangers to family friends, people seem to think it's OK to ask when you are having kids. I'm not having children, it's just not something I want from life, and I don't understand why people think it's OK to ask you questions about this. While I've made a choice to not have children, plenty of others have that decision taken away from them and I can't imagine the hurt of having people pry about it. I've also learnt that people look at you like a monster when you say you don't want children of your own. I have 3 wonderful step-children that I'm so lucky to have in my life, but having children isn't for me.


I've learnt that time apart is important so you can both do your own things. We do so much together, but sometimes it's also awesome to just chill out on the sofa on your own in your pants eating pizza and watching Ru Paul's Drag Race. Sadly Stu is just not into Drag Race despite my best attempts! Sometimes when you are married people see you as a solid unit, so you are invited every where as a couple and it's expected you'll do everything together, but it's important to do your own thing too and not lose who you are as an individual.


I've learnt that being silly together is so important. Weddings can be really serious, but that's just not us. Being ridiculous and daft is so integral to our relationship that it had to be part of our wedding too. Take time to laugh and just be together and be delirious and happy that you are married. In our daily life play fighting and tickling and laughing at cat memes on the internet is the stuff that keeps us laughing and together. Memes are important stuff!


I've learnt that all my favourite photos from our wedding are the unposed ones. It's the photos taken when we didn't even know any photos were taken that we really love. Like the photo above, we were getting ready to have our photo taken and Stu was pretty er... tipsy by this point, and he just came over to me laughing and cuddled in and it's probably my favourite photo from the whole day. It's so natural and us. Let your photographer follow you around and capture you in your natural habitat! I'm so happy we booked Donna of ClickClickBang and her husband as a second shooter (which was a decision we were lucky to be able to make about a week before the wedding!) because so many moments got captured that could have been missed by a single shooter because they just can't be everywhere at once.


And I've learnt that being lucky enough to marry your best friend in the whole world is everything. Being best friends as well as partners makes our lives so much fun, and I feel so lucky to have been able to meet Stu.

I just hope he likes the present I got him!

Much love,
Kitty xxxxx

Our First Wedding Anniversary

Sunday 4 June 2017

Today is mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary! We're spending it away on holiday with some dear friends of ours, but I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos from our day and some of the things I've learnt during our first year of marriage.


I've learnt that really, marriage doesn't change a whole lot. Life is pretty much the same, we still binge watch tv shows on Netflix, hang out in our local with our friends, pick on each other relentlessly, but now we do it as husband and wife instead.


I've learnt that in Stu I have a husband who supports me and is literally there through sickness and in health. He's been there with me when I've been at my most ill, and held my hand and looked after me, and I'm so so lucky to have that.


I've learnt that I'll always smile when I look at my wedding ring, but that I will eventually manage to stop crying every time I hear one of our weddings song! They fill my heart with complete delight and take me back to the day itself.


I learnt that you can absolutely have a wedding playlist filled with metal, rock, pop punk, ska and glam and still fill the dance floor all night long. I know a lot of more alternative couples worry about having music that they love and people getting up and dancing, but our dance floor was filled all night long. You might be surprised to discover that your Uncle from Wales is actually a massive metal head, or that your cousin's husband is a punk rocker at heart. I was so surprised at what people loved! We had a ridiculous mosh pit to Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name and I broke my dress head banging and it was SO much fun.


I learnt that once you've been married for 6 months the baby questions start and never seem to stop. From total strangers to family friends, people seem to think it's OK to ask when you are having kids. I'm not having children, it's just not something I want from life, and I don't understand why people think it's OK to ask you questions about this. While I've made a choice to not have children, plenty of others have that decision taken away from them and I can't imagine the hurt of having people pry about it. I've also learnt that people look at you like a monster when you say you don't want children of your own. I have 3 wonderful step-children that I'm so lucky to have in my life, but having children isn't for me.


I've learnt that time apart is important so you can both do your own things. We do so much together, but sometimes it's also awesome to just chill out on the sofa on your own in your pants eating pizza and watching Ru Paul's Drag Race. Sadly Stu is just not into Drag Race despite my best attempts! Sometimes when you are married people see you as a solid unit, so you are invited every where as a couple and it's expected you'll do everything together, but it's important to do your own thing too and not lose who you are as an individual.


I've learnt that being silly together is so important. Weddings can be really serious, but that's just not us. Being ridiculous and daft is so integral to our relationship that it had to be part of our wedding too. Take time to laugh and just be together and be delirious and happy that you are married. In our daily life play fighting and tickling and laughing at cat memes on the internet is the stuff that keeps us laughing and together. Memes are important stuff!


I've learnt that all my favourite photos from our wedding are the unposed ones. It's the photos taken when we didn't even know any photos were taken that we really love. Like the photo above, we were getting ready to have our photo taken and Stu was pretty er... tipsy by this point, and he just came over to me laughing and cuddled in and it's probably my favourite photo from the whole day. It's so natural and us. Let your photographer follow you around and capture you in your natural habitat! I'm so happy we booked Donna of ClickClickBang and her husband as a second shooter (which was a decision we were lucky to be able to make about a week before the wedding!) because so many moments got captured that could have been missed by a single shooter because they just can't be everywhere at once.


And I've learnt that being lucky enough to marry your best friend in the whole world is everything. Being best friends as well as partners makes our lives so much fun, and I feel so lucky to have been able to meet Stu.

I just hope he likes the present I got him!

Much love,
Kitty xxxxx

I Don't Want Children, And That's OK

Thursday 1 June 2017

It's been almost a year since Stu and I got married, and one of the questions that seems to pop up more and more since we hit that 6 month mark is, 'When are you having children?'. There are whole bunch of reasons that asking people this is problematic, and why we should stop asking this question. 

So, first things first. I hate this question. It's invasive and it makes certain assumptions. It assumes that we want children, and it assumes that we are physically able to have children. I have no idea if I can have children or not, I've never had any desire to try to have one and I've never been pregnant, but I do know a great many people who have tried to conceive and have been unable to, or have struggled to. I've seen the pain in people's eyes when people have asked them about babies, and seen the hurt those questions have caused. I can't speak about other people's pain, but I can suggest that asking very personal questions about people's ability to conceive is certainly not going to help. In the future I hope people stop asking what I consider to be a very private question, that is really only a subject to be discussed between partners.



I don't want children. I've never been filled with the desire to have them. I'm not someone who is filled with delight at babies. I've never been that way. There's nothing 'wrong' with me, despite what people have suggested over the years, it's just not for me. I have 3 awesome older step children, and I know some great kids, I'm better with them once they are a bit older. I'll make a fantastic bad influence of an Auntie once your kid starts getting an interest in music! People talk about the 'maternal instinct', whether it exists or not is a different debate entirely, but I know I don't have that feelings others seem to have when they see a blooming pregnant belly or a baby bouncing in a pram.


I've heard all the usual platitudes people offer when I say I don't want children. 'You'll change your mind when you get older' (I'm almost 30), 'It's different when they're your own' (but what if it's not?), 'But who'll look after you when you get old?' (what a terrible reason to have children!) and more. I think my personal favourites are 'You're being selfish', because surely it's more selfish to bring an unwanted child into the world, and 'What will you leave behind when you're gone?', and well, I'd like to hope that people see people who have children as more than just parents. I'd like to think that I'll leave behind writing that might have helped someone, or photos that have inspired someone. And if I don't achieve that, then my life won't have been hollow and empty simply because I didn't have children.

It seems to be a question that is aimed far more at women than it is at men. I'm not less of a woman because I've made a decision to not have children, having children does not make someone a woman. What defines being a woman is simply someone defining themselves as a woman! There is a huge amount of pressure on women to fulfil certain roles in society, we are to be wives, mothers, cleaners, carers, we are to meet a man and have 2.4 children and a white picket fence and a dog. It is incredibly sexist to assume that because I am a woman, I should want children. It's not something people seem to ask men is it? I can't recall anyone asking my husband about him having children, whereas I've been asked dozens of times since we got married.


Not everyone wants the same things from life, and that's what makes the world go round! Some people want to travel the earth, some have fantastic collections they've accrued over the years, other people fill their lives with rescue animals, some want to write and others feel music deep within their souls. All these things help make us the diverse and unique individuals we are, and that includes whether or not we might want children. The world would be a very boring place if we all had the same desires.

Asking people when they are having children is such an invasive and private question. Many people want children, and a growing number of us don't, and that's OK! So next time you might want to ask someone when they are having children, just take a moment and reconsider before you do.

Much love, 
Kitty xxxx

I Don't Want Children, And That's OK

Thursday 1 June 2017

It's been almost a year since Stu and I got married, and one of the questions that seems to pop up more and more since we hit that 6 month mark is, 'When are you having children?'. There are whole bunch of reasons that asking people this is problematic, and why we should stop asking this question. 

So, first things first. I hate this question. It's invasive and it makes certain assumptions. It assumes that we want children, and it assumes that we are physically able to have children. I have no idea if I can have children or not, I've never had any desire to try to have one and I've never been pregnant, but I do know a great many people who have tried to conceive and have been unable to, or have struggled to. I've seen the pain in people's eyes when people have asked them about babies, and seen the hurt those questions have caused. I can't speak about other people's pain, but I can suggest that asking very personal questions about people's ability to conceive is certainly not going to help. In the future I hope people stop asking what I consider to be a very private question, that is really only a subject to be discussed between partners.



I don't want children. I've never been filled with the desire to have them. I'm not someone who is filled with delight at babies. I've never been that way. There's nothing 'wrong' with me, despite what people have suggested over the years, it's just not for me. I have 3 awesome older step children, and I know some great kids, I'm better with them once they are a bit older. I'll make a fantastic bad influence of an Auntie once your kid starts getting an interest in music! People talk about the 'maternal instinct', whether it exists or not is a different debate entirely, but I know I don't have that feelings others seem to have when they see a blooming pregnant belly or a baby bouncing in a pram.


I've heard all the usual platitudes people offer when I say I don't want children. 'You'll change your mind when you get older' (I'm almost 30), 'It's different when they're your own' (but what if it's not?), 'But who'll look after you when you get old?' (what a terrible reason to have children!) and more. I think my personal favourites are 'You're being selfish', because surely it's more selfish to bring an unwanted child into the world, and 'What will you leave behind when you're gone?', and well, I'd like to hope that people see people who have children as more than just parents. I'd like to think that I'll leave behind writing that might have helped someone, or photos that have inspired someone. And if I don't achieve that, then my life won't have been hollow and empty simply because I didn't have children.

It seems to be a question that is aimed far more at women than it is at men. I'm not less of a woman because I've made a decision to not have children, having children does not make someone a woman. What defines being a woman is simply someone defining themselves as a woman! There is a huge amount of pressure on women to fulfil certain roles in society, we are to be wives, mothers, cleaners, carers, we are to meet a man and have 2.4 children and a white picket fence and a dog. It is incredibly sexist to assume that because I am a woman, I should want children. It's not something people seem to ask men is it? I can't recall anyone asking my husband about him having children, whereas I've been asked dozens of times since we got married.


Not everyone wants the same things from life, and that's what makes the world go round! Some people want to travel the earth, some have fantastic collections they've accrued over the years, other people fill their lives with rescue animals, some want to write and others feel music deep within their souls. All these things help make us the diverse and unique individuals we are, and that includes whether or not we might want children. The world would be a very boring place if we all had the same desires.

Asking people when they are having children is such an invasive and private question. Many people want children, and a growing number of us don't, and that's OK! So next time you might want to ask someone when they are having children, just take a moment and reconsider before you do.

Much love, 
Kitty xxxx