Arachnia,Vampire Queen of Spiders

My God this year has crept up on me and gone by in a flash.I can't believe we're in November already!

As such,we had planned a Halloween Funday Monday at work a month in advance.However that month absolutely flew in,so I was left with a very last minute costume.

Unfortunately Halloween turned out to be a total let down for me this year.We Aussies just don't do it like the Scots.I was very pleasantly surprised in my first year living there at just how huge Halloween is over there.The whole kit and kaboodle - trick or treating and the efforts put in to dressing up.Although lately,yes it all seems to be slutty this and slutty that.Nothing wrong with a bit of sexiness,but a slutty bumblebee?!?!?!  C'moooooon! Where's the imagination? 

Then my lovingly planned Halloween Monday celebrations were thwarted by an (extremely) last minute fire evacuation training.Cue lots of stress for the fill in Team Leader and staff,most of whom don't share my Halloween enthusiasm and love all things macabre.

And on the actual 31st I had nothing planned as I was working the next 2 days.Le sigh.First world problems,blah blah blah.........

Anyways,here is my very last minute and not very imaginative costume made with what I had on hand.......oh,and I totally rocked up to training like this,even though I was the only one dressed for Halloween in the room............................

**** Picture Heavy because I'm a vain beeatch and just discovered some awesome filters in the editor.

Arachnia,Vampire Spider Queen....it was all I could think of at the time.

Trying to do Bela Lugosi Dracula eyes.Failing.

\

And yes,I own not one but TWO Bela Lugosi 'Dracula' necklaces

OUTFIT DETAILS

Dress - New Look  (Old,Glasgow)

Belt - Old (???????????)

Shoes - Big W (current)

Bela Lugosi Necklace - Etsy

Hair Flower - Ebay

Hat/Veil hairband thing - Hot Dollar Halloween section

Skull - Crystal Skull Vodka bottle

Halloween Week Dose #3

Well my much anticipated Halloween Funday Monday at work was a bit of a let down today and dammit I looked freaking fantastic! (Blog post to come.) I was in training most of the day and missed the creepsville shenanigans I had spent weeks planning.My service users had loads of fun though,which is the main thing I suppose. Nevertheless I still had to go home and cheer myself up with a bit of Bela................

Oh and might I add I got to put out a real fire today,evacuated my entire workplace with my fellow team leader,and should you stop breathing and require CPR I shall be able to save your life.You can just call me She Ra,Princess of Power thank you very much ;P 

Halloween WEEK Part Deux

I freaking LOVE Halloween. I've always been drawn to the more macabre-dark side of life.I'm generally a happy person,but the dark stuff fascinates me.Like the original Dracula,Vlad the Impaler, Countess Bathory, The Rose of Turaida (which I actually visited on my travels) etc. 'Fascination with the Abomination' I suppose.I certainly don't sympathise with the darker characters but I'm curious about the psychology of it all.I was quite the goth-punk in my younger days.I adore listening to Symphonic Goth Metal,well just Goth Metal in general.The old classic horror films are my favourites - I'm not so much up on the modern ones.They just seem like slasher porn with no creative storyline.Don't get me started on Twishite.

I was always sympathetic to Dracula,wished Christine has chosen the Phantom of the Opera instead of Raoul and loved the darker,original versions of fairy tales as a kid.

The Divine Monsieur Lugosi as Dracula.Swooooon!

Plus on my mother's side,traditional religions are practised alongside a belief in black and white majick,and the spirit realm.I myself follow a more alternative-Pagan path in life.I have no problem with religion so long as we all accept whatever spiritual path other people choose.As my Muslim Grandpa (who was married to my practising Christian - majick believing Grandma) used to say...... 'We all worship the same Gods,we just do it in different ways.'

Anyways,the point is that I love Halloween in the traditional pagan sense.......although that would actually be April 30/May 1 in the Southern Hemisphere.As such my enthusiasm has passed onto my service users and we have declared it a Halloween WEEK at work.Complete with a Halloween Funday Monday tomorrow ending in a Devilish Disco.

Unfortunately I have some utterly boring fire evacuation training for the first part of the day (We all know what to do.....scream and run!!!!) so I will miss most of the fun shenanigans I had planned.We will be having a  monstrous make up session,Spooky baking,Ghoulish Games and some Halloween Craft.

For those of you with kids or not and just want some ideas this is what we'll be doing................

SPOOKY BAKING

I'll prebake some (packet mix.Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone!) cupcakes in these uber cute cupcake wrappers I got from the reject shop for $2 each.The service users will then decorate them with a simple glaze (icing sugar,add water till it's a spreadable consistency,about 1 Tbsp to every cup of icing sugar) tinted green and orange.

They then can decorate them with black cat and teeth lollies (cheap generic brand at IGA) and pumpkin marshmallows (Woolworths) and drip them with icing 'blood' (Tint another bowl of glaze with pillar box red food colouring - IGA).

We did this last year and they were a huge success and requested again this year.It's cheap,cheerful and fun.Oh and I use Aldi buttercake mix $0.79 a pack and free range eggs are $3.79 a dozen.

GHOULISH GAMES

Witches Broomstick Limbo
Become a mummy - toilet paper each other
Frankenstein's bluff (blindmans bluff)
Zombified - Like that winking murder game,where everyone draws a piece of paper and one is a Zombie.The Zombie then has to try and make as many people as they can Zombies by either winking or in our case sneakily tapping on someone.The zombies of course get to do their best zombie acting.

CRAFT

Pipe cleaner stick men made into mummies
Orange and Jelly Jack O'Lanterns
Masks

And the DEVILISH DISCO will of course have the usual Monster Mash,Thriller,Time Warp etc. 

I didn't really have time to think through my costume.This year is flying in! So I'll just be going as a Spider Witch Queen.I trialled the eye make up super quick this morning,didn't even put mascara on,as I just wanted to see what colour scheme worked better.I'm thinking the purple.....and using lot's more so that it's darker.The spider web on the red eye was a pencil,and the purple was a liquid eyeliner pen.Yeah,I sucked at art.

Halloween WEEK!

We have proclaimed it Halloween WEEK at work,not that I need much encouragement.

So I present to you the sexaliscious Monsieur Lugosi.................

OOTD #8 - Pink Leopards in the Shire/Fat chicks can wear leopard print #2

The husband-man and I hit up DFO factory store outlet last Wednesday in search of some nice Ralph Lauren shirts for him,as I'm always the one spending money shopping for clothes.

Unfortunately as he's such a fusspot we didn't find anything to the Scotsman's liking,but I did happen upon some garishly bright fuschia leopard print Converse for the bargain price of only $50!!!! 

They are uber kitsch and uber trashy and uber bright and I love them! And they just happened to go perfectly with an equally garish pink and orange leopard print skirt I had in my cupboard.

And yes,my fellow splendiforous curvaceous babes,fat chicks can wear leopard print! Fat chicks can wear garish hot pink leopard print!!!! Fat chicks can wear whatever the feck they want!!!!!!

This is what I wore to my Saturday shift,which is basically a social outing group for my service users.So I still need to be comfy,but can also glam up a little bit more than during the week.My trusty skirt-leggings-hair flower combo is a winner for work.

The shirt is a thrifted oversized Supre top.It's soooo comfy for these unusually hot Spring days Sydney's been having.Hair wasn't co-operating again.Really don't know what I'm going to do with it.Scraping it into a bun is becoming so damn boring........

My splendid arse clad in garish leopard print.

OUTFIT DETAILS

TOP - Thrifted $4 (Supre)

SKIRT - New Look (Glasgow - old)

LEGGINGS - Big W

CONVERSE - DFO Converse Outlet Shop (current $50)

HAIR FLOWER - Diva? (DFO factory outlet)

LIPS - Rimmel Funtime Fuschia overlayed with a light pink Napoleon gloss

OOTD #7 - Frida Kahlo meets Maria Von Trapp.

This outfit was a total spur-of-the-moment-thrown-together-effortlessly-becoming-an-epic-outfit OOTD.I wasn't even planning on blogging this but dammit I looked so damn CUTE! And I got loads of compliments at work today - from both colleagues and service users.One of my guys kept telling me I looked 'so beautiful Steph! So beautiful!' Awwwwwwww.My job ain't so bad sometimes.When I'm at my lowest ebb and seriously questioning whether I can continue in the field anymore something happens to make me smile.

Anyways,this of course was my office day outfit.It has a kinda Frida Kahlo-South American feel to it which makes me happy.Although my work colleagues thought it was more 'Sound of Music'.I then had 'The Hilllllllllllsssss are aliiiiiiiiiivvvveeeee' going through my head alllll damn day!

However,the outfit in general makes me happy.And flower crowns!!!! I've resisted wearing my flower crowns since they became all the rage,but this outfit was just calling for my pink flower crown.Funnily enough,when I first purchased this many moons ago,the Princess laughed at the sight of me wearing it and told me 'it's ridiculous but totally you'.

I'm totally chuffed with the top.I've recently rediscovered my love of op-shopping.Of course as a big lass,it's either one extreme or the other.....I'll find absolutely nothing or a whole pile of gems.A few days ago I hit my local Vinnies and found 4 tops & a pair of sunnies.This little gem being one of them.It's actually 2 sizes smaller than what I would usually wear,so I need to get in my head to not be confined by the size on the label.

Again,this could've been an entry for the Aussie Curves 'Pink' challenge,but I'm not quite ready to put this little blog completely out there yet.

The scarf that's worn as a belt was another op-shop find.I also snaffled 2 bags,including a leather Esprit one for only $6! There was also about 4 pairs of beautiful mint condition Wittner wedges for only $15 a pop,but unfortunately they were just one size too small.Devo! First world problems I know.

As you can see,I loathe ironing.In fact,I couldn't even tell you where my iron is! The Scotsman on the other hand,freaks out if there's the slightest crinkle in his clothes and hanging the laundry out is an elaborate process of shaking the garments out for aaaaaaages,then hanging them oh so carefully straightened on the air dryer.Of course,he does have a point - it means less ironing in the long run.However the skirt is made of a material that's prone to creasing,that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!! (Although I did iron it once when I first got it and it proceeded to crinkle with every movement.Le sigh.) Outfit details at the bottom as usual.

Uber cute Accessorize earrings.I miss Accessorize.

SKIRTS WITH POCKETS! LOVE!!!!!!

OUTFIT DETAILS

Hair Flower Crown - Some trashy shop in Miranda Westfield (old)

Earrings - Accessorize (Old - Glasgow)

Top - thrifted ($4 at St Vinnies)

Scarf worn as belt - thrifted ($2 at Salvos)

Skirt - New Look (old)

Shoes - Big W (current)

Lips - Rimmel 'Funtime Fuscia',layered with a Napoleon lip paint that was liberated from the Princess :)

OOTD #6 - Look Mum! I'm a pumpkin!!!!

If I could,I would wear beautiful dresses and skirts all day,preferably vintage.Probably with a tiara,just because,ala Maureen O'Hara in the mansion scene in The Red Shoes. But alas as a big girl it's not so easy to find vintage/vintage repro pieces in XXL sizing.Or when I do,they're out of my budget.Le sigh.So sometimes I resign myself to buying things because they fit well even though they aren't really my style.

Seriously.This is her casual 'relaxing around my mansion' outfit.

I bought this top from New Look impulsively,when I was living in Scotland and had access to New Look weekly.I think it was cheap in the sales,but when I came home I realised it made me resemble a pumpkin.I don't usually wear things so loose.I prefer being nipped in at the waist and looking more hourglass than pumpkin.

Part of starting to blog my outfits was to encourage me to experiment more and wear things I normally wouldn't...........but I have to say I think this one is resigned to the op -shop lot :(

I also deviated from the norm with my make up.Usually it's 2 extremes - no make up when I'm hands on-team leading,or a really bold,bold lip and eyes when I'm on my one office day or off duty.But with the pumpkin outfit I needed something more neutral,so it was on with the coral lip paint-gloss thingy.Really not sure about that either.......

Oh,and these photos were taken at the end of the day hence the frazzled,flyaway hair look.....and I've only just discovered how to edit my photos.I just can't be arsed going back and editing these again.

Yeah,sooooo not sure about this outfit....

Still not sure........

I look like a damn pumpkin!

Pumpkin!!!! Yeah,I can't take myself seriously in this outfit.

Don't know what I'm doing here,but looks better with leggings.

Yep,definitely prefer it with leggings.

Coral lips,out of my comfort zone.

And of course a giant hair flower :)

OUTFIT DETAILS

Top - New Look (Glasgow -old)

Skirt - Big W (old)

Leggings - New Look (old)

Hair Flower - Primark (Glasgow - old)

Shoes - Sportsgirl $10 in the sales (old)

Lips - Napoleon,Liberated from the Princess.

OOTD #2 - Frangipanis! Wear all the frangipanis!

THIS is my usual work gear..........................


Not very flattering,not very glam and pretty shapeless.My everyday work gear needs to be comfortable and functional due to the insane amount of running about I do in a day,the need to be able to move quickly and to be not too pricey or precious as I could have anything from cleaning products to bodily fluids splashed on me.

As for make up.Pffft! It would just melt off and be pointless with the nature of my day.A recent promotion however,has taken me off the floor and into the office for one day a week.


Cue much excitement from me.................

This is my 'I'm so excited I get to glam up for work for the first time in 15 years' face.

Some sort of demented Hula dancing

I love,love,LURVE Collectif dresses.Of course because they're vintage reproduction and I just adore their styles,but they also fit beautifully and make a fat chick feel even more beautiful.Plus the prints they have are just gorgeous - lot's of leopard print,tropical flowers and kitschness.I must admit,this is a size smaller than my usual,but it was a snip at $30 on Ebay plus FRANGIPANIS!!!!!! LOADS OF FRANGIPANIS!!!!!!! So I just had to chance it and snapped it up.And the smaller size does make my cleavage look amazing! Unfortunately the amazing bazookas are too scandalous inappropriate for work so I had to cover up with this shirt,which I bought specifically for the dress.

Mmmmmmm,I'm not overly happy with the look.I certainly wouldn't wear it out normally,of course I would just wear the dress and unleash my killer cleavage to the general public,but for work it will do.

The shirt would certainly look nice with flowy printed pants or a skirt.Surprisingly I have neither in my wardrobe so that may be a challenge for the future.Restyle the white shirt into something I like.

Also,I generally don;t wear white as I am one of the most accident prone-clumsiest people I know.White is just a disaster for me and sure enough when I was leaving the house I managed to fling a can of coconut in the air and all over the shirt while retrieving my lunch bag.Thankfully coconut milk is white and didn't leave any fatty stains.I also managed to miraculously not spill anything down myself ALL DAY!!!!!!!!!

Happy Face coz I managed not to spill anything down my white shirt all day!

OUTFIT DETAILS

Dress - Collectif (old)

Shirt - Big W (currently available)

Shoes - Big W (currently available)

Hair flower - Primark (UK - old)

Frangipani Earrings - Ebay (current)

Lips - Kate Moss for Rimmel (current)