Tiki for size

It's safe to say that I love tiki!! Anyone that knows me knows that I’m tiki obsessed.

My collection is building and I’m waiting to finish a few bits in the house before redecorating my dining room and making it oh so tiki!

I particularly love the clothes too! Anything tropical print and bamboo, I’m all over it and it’s a super bonus if it’s vintage too!

Anyway, I cant wait to share this new piece I’m so very in love with. Of course I had to put in an order with my good friend BooBoo Kitty Couture who kindly made me this incredible dress!

Together, we browsed a few of her suppliers online and after deciding on the print she put the order in from the states with squeals of excitement from me!

it makes my mouth water just looking at it

All my dresses, if not vintage, are of BooBoo Kitty Couture. You just can’t beat that perfect fit. Made to order to my measurements means that it’s super comfy and I feel fantastic in them all day and night. With an 11 inch difference between my hips and waist I am unable to fit comfortably, if at all in high street shops.

Accessorized accordingly and ready for cocktiails

Of course I’m sure there will be more tiki dresses to follow, and there may be something else (or more) on her table for me for me to share with you soon, something I’m very excited about indeed!! ;D

hinty hint!

I also loved my pin curl set that night, especially now that my hair is a growin'! :)

If you haven't seen it already BooBoo Kitty feature my guest post on her blog here, have a nosey see what its like backstage ;)

Rose x

Beating February's frumps

This month, so far, seems very quiet and slow, both at work and at home.

After a rather productive few weeks of tidying and de-cluttering some of the things I no longer needed at home I felt like I’m was at a point of where I was eager for something else to get my teeth into.

At the weekend I decided to crack on with a costume I’ve been biting and bobbing with for a while now and decided to stop procrastinating and look at it again and get the damn thing out of my head and off my sketch book and get it completed. The thing is, as soon as I looked at it and dug my crafty bits out needed to finish this piece, it all fell into place in my head and so I cracked on with stitching and gluing and already I’m much happier with its direction.

I have decided to alter a few bits which may mean going back and cutting and stitching a couple of bits and changing the headdress but it’s a new part of the project that I’m looking forward to getting complete mainly because I cant wait to dress up in it and finally share it on stage. But not before I get some exciting photos of it, which is another fun and exciting reason to get it finished.

My other new act is in construction as we speak. It’s in such a luscious and mouth watering (to me at least) combination of colours and is something else I’m working on by thinking more about and shopping for the embellishments. This one will be easy for me as it’s something I’m very, very excited about and has been created for a song I love and so there’s not that awful burly girls conundrum and panic of creating a great act and struggling to find or decide on the perfect piece of music.

So now I have a few things that I want to start looking at to get over that new slump. I’m always looking forward and planning ahead so that there is always that something to look forward to. I’m also keeping busy by helping my very good friend, who got engaged at the beginning of the year, plan her wedding. I’m also a bridesmaid which excites me no end! :D

I’ve been thinking more and more about buying a new house and my lunch times now mostly consist of browsing property websites. It’s always good to keep an eye on the market and keep searching for what you want, you never know!

We have a lot planned this year including a big holiday back to Mexico later this year and lots of other fun trips.

It’s also the Mr's birthday this week and we’ve both booked the day off work to spend it together spoiling him and doing some of his favourite things together including eating lots of yummy food, shopping and ice skating. Until recently he regularly played ice hockey and since he had to give it up a couple of years ago, he hasn’t touched the ice. I love ice skating, especially when it’s nice and quite and the ice in smooth and open, so I’m too also looking forward to busting the boots back out. I had a quick go at Christmas time on a work outing, after a few years off ice myself, and I forgot how much I loved it. Plus it’s a great and fun way to get a bit of a work out too.

I’m also looking forward to seeing all of our friends when we gather for a birthday meal out. I’ve not seen everyone together since new years, though I’ve seen everyone individually since, it’s nice for us all to get together and socialise with some great food and yummy cocktails.

I’m sure there’ll be photos to follow ;)

As you can tell, I like to keep busy and planning, planning, planning and of course fulfilling those plans!

For now, here's some sneaky pics of my costume in some of its progress

Rose x

January Outfit post - snow and ice

I've started posting my daily outfits on Instagram and they're proving popular so I thought I'd share on here too. They're mostly from work - Not having a uniform to be swollowed in I get to wear what I want to work and dont chnage how I dress normally forit either. Its safe to say that I stand out at my place of work as its a uniformed and a strict establishment (for the main employees) and even the othe ladies/civillians have their work wear. I like to feel like me and I'm happiest when dressing so, so heres a few snaps from some of January's outfits.

Battling with January's snow and ice with bright colours and fruity accessories!

Wooly tight to brave the snow!

Eager, keen excitement!

As most people slowly ease themselves into the New Year, I have thrown myself into 2013 with lots of ambition and focus.

I already have a lot of plans for this year and trips and holidays etc booked. At the moment I’m mainly focused on my home and personal life.

I started the New Year with exciting plans when we went away with some close friends for an exciting surprise engagement that had been planned very well for a long time came together perfectly and it was an incredible experience to be a part of. I couldn’t be happier for two people I care a lot about starting a new and exciting part of their lives together and of course I’m obviously so overly excited for the big day!! What a great way to kick off 2013!

Fun times in Croyde!

My lovely friend Martha, freshly engaged!

The boys!

Celebratory dinner with the gang!

 As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’m making plans and starting projects for new acts and costumes but at the moment I feel that until my home life is sorted I can focus more purely and put more energy into sparkly new things, which I think is only fair, I don’t want to compromise either aspects.

By home life, I don’t mean anything dramatic. I’m just having a huge de-clutter and rearrangement of the home as well as looking sort of look for a new house to buy. I feel like I need to change and update a few areas and I’m throwing away/giving away/ebaying lots of things to make way for a change and what feels to me as a mass tidy up/organisation operation and ‘squaring away’ a few bits on the house.

I’m really enjoying this process as I feel better the tidier and organised things are.

I even had a rummnage around the best, most organised huge vintage shop in a converted old church in Barnstaple.

I’ve already been scheming with my dress maker come costumer and have drawn up plans and I’ve seen the sketches of my new costume. I’m so excited to get it going, but all in good time ;)

All of this busy planning for the year has got me all excited for the summer season to arrive (please let it come along this year) and all the fun events that it brings and so I’m trying to push my winter wardrobe to the back of the cupboard and sneak in a few summery dresses and accessories, even if I still have to wear a coat over them.

I’m far too excited for everything this year; I think its going to be a good one!

Rose x

2012 - what a blast! Hello 2013!

Happy new year everyone!

Once again the arrival of a new year with lots of fresh new ambitions and life's adventures ahead of us is here.

I like new year for this reason. I love mapping out the years plans and ambitions and looking forward to them. I already have quiet a few things planned for 2013, all of which I am really excited about.

I also like to look back over the past year and see how much has been achieved and think about the changes and differences now - quite a lot happened last year and I feel a stronger person and better for a lot of it.

It's been a crazy rush of different events both on stage and also begins the scenes at home.

Just a few of the many highllights of my 2012, where did it go, it went by so fast.

Pre Show at Americana 2012 with BooBoo Kitty

Modelling for Americana fashion show with Bernie Dexer was a highlight!

Bella and Maybellene the Pug celebrating the Jubilee

Cocktails with friends

...Many cocktails with friends!

Performing for another year

Annual tiki party

the safe return of my beau

New toy and playtimes!

Modelling with friends (and cake) - photo by miss rain

Modelling for christmas

extending the fur baby family

I've had such a blast with 2012, I'm really excited for what the new year brings!

I've got a few new acts for 2013 that I've been slowly working on during my little break through most of last year and I'm particularly excited about one that I'm starting on this month with BooBoo Kitty Couture that's been brewing for a long time.

Keep your eyes peeled as I'm sure there'll be sneaky peeks from both of us.

For now I'll leave you some pictures from the New Years celebrations!

Rose x

A Classic Adventure

Saturday night I was on another burlesque road trip down to Evesham for a private show along with Foxie la Roque, Lulu Belle Ferrari and Suzie Floozie (the best stage manager ever!).

A frosty start

After such a great night the following morning I was up, ready and excited for a Sunday full of fresh air and girlie vintage fun with BooBoo Kitty on her Kingston Hampton shopper Mavis and Lucille on her 1959 Raleigh Marlene, me on my Kingston Mayfair shopper Bernie and Martha on her vintage pink Raleigh Marmalade.

Marlene, Bernie and Marmalade

You just don your vintage wear and grab your bike and turn up, all for free! What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon with the gals.

We joined around 30 other people and some of their vintage and classic bikes ready for Nottingham's second secret classic bike ride.

Dressed vintage-cycling-glam and fuelled with a cup of tea to get us going we set off from West Bridgford for a cycling tour around Nottingham Trent River and it’s cycling paths around the city centre’s surrounding areas.

Luckily it was a bright and sunny day and even though the ground was frosty our cycling trip kept us cosy warm.

Ready to go...glam biking!

 Along the way we learned some of the local history and as we past the points of interest as well as chatting and giggling with each other along the way with a quick pit stop for an ice cream and a mirror check.

We stopped to refuel at the Games Workshop HQ, War Hammer as the restaurant and bar is open to the public. Us girlies we a little apprehensive as we didn’t know what to expect, but it was very lovely inside for some food and a drink.

Martha puckering up with a character of some sort that was popping out of the wall. Very erm…dapper!??

After that it wasn’t too far back to the start point where we called it a day and headed on home as by then we’d been out and about for about 4 hours.

I can’t wait for the next one which will hopefully be next spring and if you’re local or even if you’re not you should definitely take part in one in the future as it’s a great way to spend a Sunday getting some exercise and lots of fun too!

Rose x

Sneaky peek…dream team photoshoot!

I thought I'd post a quick look at what I got up to on Friday...

Friday was a good day. I got to have loads of fun with great people modelling all day in BooBoo Kitty Couture dresses along side BooBoo Kitty herself and Lucille from Lucilles Locks who also worked her magic on our hair. Ms Moo was our utterly fabulous make up artist and Miss Rain was the talent behind the camera capturing our antics and posey poses!

We spent the morning in Tiffin Tea house sipping tea from beautiful vintage china whilst tucking into some lovely cake, oh and posing of course! It was quite the girly date getting dressed up for tea!

Ladies what lunch!

The Stunning BooBoo Kitty striking a pose infront of Miss Rain

We also got to wear some beautiful vintage jewellery from Eden Bea whilst sampling some other delights within the local area.

I loved being trasformed by Lucille and Ms Moo incredible hair and make up skills.

Playing dress up. The first look for some vintage tea.

Pin up rockabilly, the second look

Evening deco glamour, the last look

Needless to say we had lots of fun in the best sweet shop I've been to in...ever!!

I managed to restrain myself...,just!

Drool fest!

The last location was the nciest pub ever! seriously, its so class and chic with original deco features and elegance but still cozy enough to be a nice local. Plus if its stocks Hendricks gin its already winning me over!

Lucille stricking a pose on the elegant staircase for Miss Rain

I can't wait to share the end results!

Rose x