Olympic Adventures

Ok, ok.....so I know I'm late in posting about our Olympic / Paralympic adventures but better late than never I suppose!!!

I love watching athletics anyway so we were all easily swept away with Olympic fever this year because of London 2012. Our Olympic escapades started very early on in the year when I ordered tickets for the Paralympics for the twins birthday on 31st August. Luckily we got our tickets (it was a tense wait of several months to find out) and I managed to keep it secret for a few more months until the actual day.

The Olympic Park day passes gave us access to the site and certain events. We were lucky enough to watch wheelchair basketball and goalball - both BRILLIANT!!! We had a fantastic yet exhausting day, I didn't realise that so much walking would be involved in watching sport!!! As a Brucie Bonus the day gave us the chance to dress in patriotic attire............

Here I am waiting for the wheelchair basketball in my fabulous Heyday red, white and blue fleur dress

(currently on sale on their website and one of my favourite frocks)

with my Rocket Originals red wedges

The kids dressed appropriately too, well......when in Rome!!!

A few months previously we had hot footed it into Derby after work to catch the torch relay and wave our flags at the roadside

and the Olympic torch itself paid a visit to my school

not to mention the women's Olympic football match at Old Trafford that we went to see with school (sorry, no pic of that one you'll be relieved to read).

We've thoroughly enjoyed our Olympic and Paralympic summer, it's been absolutely brilliant - have you enjoyed it all as much as we have???

Outfit of the week #8

Red and green should never be seen................

cardigan - Freddies of Pinewood

dress - Vivien of Holloway

shoes - Rocket Originals

Vintage Hair.....and a trip to Bella Me

If you're considering a vintage look it's important to consider ALL aspects of it.....including HAIR!!! I'm very lazy, and always short on time, so vintage hairstyling isn't always top of my priority list. I do use heated rollers but lack both the skills and patience to create the fabulous 'dos' that I envy on other people.

I recently discovered a few tips and tricks that have really helped me that I wanted to share and also made a visit today to a brand new local salon that specialises in......wait for it......VINTAGE HAIRSTYLING. Whoop, whoop and thrice whoop!!! No more will I have to spend an age trying to describe to modern hairdressers the look / era / style etc that I'm aiming for as at Bella Me in Breaston, Derbyshire they understood completely. My hair today was done by the lovely Lucy of Call Me Lucille and it was great to have a stylist who knew what I meant and could recommend products and styling methods to suit. The salon is so pretty too....well worth a visit.

This is me after my appointment and hair coiffed. It's very long, (I'm also growing out my Bettie Page bangs) but lacks shape and definition and doesn't hold a curl well so we added a long layer and trimmed the dead ends so it has a kind of U shape which should give the desired effect when styled...can't wait!!!

(dress by Vivien of Holloway shoes by Rocket Originals)

Here are a few books I have that you might find useful

The bottom book is the best if you're going to invest in one - lots of tips, tricks, techniques and styles with plenty of clear, instructional pictures. It can usually be found on Amazon and eBay as well as sites like Vivien of Holloway, Deadly is the Female and 20th Century Foxy.

Youtube is also a great resource for online tutorials and you can find literally TONNES if you search for vintage hair or victory rolls etc. Lisa Freemont Street does brilliant youtube clips and I also love Nikki Napalm's victory roll tutorial. Be warned though, these gals are all super cute and very distracting hehe!!!

I'm looking forward to having a bit of spare time to give a few different vintage styling techniques a go but remember ladies..........if it doesn't work out you can always rock it in a headscarf and any messy bits can be adorned with hair flowers - tres chic!!!

Look out for future blog posts as I attempt to recreate some sort of vintage fabulosity on my unco-operative hair!!!