Showing posts with label Strictly Come Dancing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strictly Come Dancing. Show all posts

Monday, 2 January 2017

Month by Numbers: skates, stars & shimmying

7 favourites...


1.) There’s been ice-skating, there’s been present opening and there’s been drinking. Oh my has there been drinking…I think at one point it was just pure prosecco and cocktails running though my veins. Festivities to the max y’all.

2.) This month has been filled with a lot of work-related fun outside of work time. This time last year I had lost one job, working a freelance job, and hunting for another job. It was lonely and soul detroying to be quite honest, but this year could not be more different. Colleagues have become more than just that and are now friends, and I danced with them along to cheesy festive songs, drank with them in cringey christmas jumpers and boozy brunch-ed with them on a Sunday afternoon. Once upon a time in Sheffield, me and my bestie said ‘imagine if one day we’re both journalists, living in London & in the same office!’ and lo and behold, here we are! From shorthand lectures together to dancing the night away at the office Christmas party together. And I could not be happier or how it’s all turned out and the new friends I’ve made in my life because of it.


3.) Every year some some of my closest friends and I get together and have a Christmas weekend together, or as we call it, Hunmas (long story). We stayed up until the early hours of the morning swapping secret santa presents, we drank wine, we ice-skated, we ate food and we talked the world to rights. That how weekend with these girls usually go and they never, ever get old and I’m always planning and feeling psyched for the next one.


4.) One of the perks of my job is I get to go to cool events, and one of the more recent and also coolest things I’ve been to is the Christmas party that Netflix held. Not only were there sets made up to look like some of their original shows, but the actors and actresses dressed up in those sets never went out of character and pulled up in to get involved.

 I essentially played charades with Queen Elizabeth on the set of The Crown. There was cocktails being passed around, I took full advantage of the gif-making photo booth, and there was a free chrome cast in my goodie bag to take home. Oh and I met Bake-Off winner and queen, Candice Brown, who I just banged on about how she slays the lipstick game and I love her piggy sausage rolls. So there was that too...good job Netflix.

5.) And one of the other perks of my job is that I get opportunities to go to stuff that I’ve loved for years, like Strictly Come Dancing. It’s the one show me and my whole family all love - it’s just pure joy! And after the hellish year my mum’s been through, it was an absolute privilege to be able to take her and every now and again, I was sneakily look over at her and she was laughing and enjoying herself with so much joy. It filled my heart up with so much love and not gonna lie, it filled my eyes up with tears.


6.) Christmas calories don’t count, and i may have taken that motto a bit too seriously. Just maybe. My body is made completely out of pigs in blankets, Quality Street sweets and red wine right now. i think when you you cook essentially a Christmas dinner in a pie and plait the crust of it and feeling like flipping Snow White, you’re in full on festive mode aren’t you? I’ve even been gifted sparkly jam that has prosecco and actual glitter in. I mean, I’m living my best damn life right now, but my waistline and health says otherwise.


7.) Living your best life during Christmas consists of mainly of drinking, dancing, partying and not much sleeping. And as much as i love a life of that, it starts to take it’s toll, and that’s when it’s time to hop of a train back to the shire and switch off for a bit. My fave thing about Christmas is how people bound together with joy and I’m lucky enough to have an amazing family full of love to share that with. And being an aunty in that family to 3 gorgeous nephew and nieces means i get to spoil them rotten and seeing their faces and reactions of pure, unadulterated excitement when they open presents that i’ve put so much thought into buying, makes me feel like there’s no better way for me to spend my hard-earned money.

5 tweets...
1.) My neck hurts from too many hair whips on the dancefloor & I'm still finding glitter on me - THAT'S how fun the xmas party was last night ๐ŸŽ„
2.) Have come to China Town for dim sum with family. Randomly developed a rash out of the blue - am I allergic to my own culture?! ๐ŸŽŽ
3.) My friend just told me I look like I'm straight out of a 90s music video & I couldn't be happier with comparison ❄️
4.) Nephew's present consists of Star Wars, Pokรฉmon & McFly's @TomFletcher. Couldn't be more excited, pysched & proud of that combo ๐ŸŽ #TopAunty
5.) What do you mean I have to go to work tomorrow and can't sleep in till 10am and have a cheese board as a snack?

3 songs…
1.) Gallant -  Weight In Gold
The coolest, most chilled vibes you could want to balance all the cheese and excitement of December. I started hearing this and was thinking ‘oh this is cool, I feel like i’ve come across this sound before?’ And that would be because they supported Jack Garratt when I went to see him and I can say they are fucking brilliant live so go and do that guys and girls.

2.) Barbara Streisand - Rain on my Parade
I found myself listening to this many a morning on my commute, and i think it was solely to psych myself up to get myself to work and make my commute that bit less shit and that bit more chipper.

3. ) JC Cooper - September song
December is an odd time to feel all summery, but this is what this song did. And as much as I am essentially Mrs.Christmas, this made me look forward to sunny summers to come and feel nostalgic about sunny summers past.

Until next time,
A.x

Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Beautiful Ballerina

Strictly Come Dancing isn't a guilty pleasure for me. I just full blown-out love it

And apart from the beautiful sparkly dresses, funny banter and amazing dancing, one of the reasons why I enjoy watching every Winter is the judges, in particular, the beautiful Darcey Bussell.
After watching a documentary about her life recently, she had a whole lifetime as a dancer before the show, that I knew little about - and it's the stuff that fairytales are made of.

While being named Dancer of the Year in the 90s and featuring in modelling in countless campaigns, she was a the youngest principal dancer t the Royal Ballet for many years.

Being awarded a CBE in 2006, she retired from the Royal Ballet in 2007, and was faced with a standing ovation, with hundreds who were tearing up and catapulting flowers onto the stage, begging her to stay!
She is just as elegant and beautiful on Saturday night tv now, as when she was a graceful ballerina. And with my slight obsession with the ballet - it's so feminine and I dream of tutus - it's unsurprising that I dress like a wannabee ballerina every now and again (especially as I am basically a ballet drop out!)

Sources: balletnews.co.uk, dailyrecord,co,uk, ballet.co.uk, royalacademy.org.uk, guardian online, britsattheirbest.com, classicfm online, express online, flikr, hellomagazine online, whatsontv.co.uk, huffingtonpost, digitalspy.co.uk
Although I may not have a beautifully embellished, multi-layered tutu in my wardrobe, a powder pink skirt that swirls like a dream, is just as good when it comes to going to lectures.
With a just as girly sequined bow in my hair and sparkly belt around my waist, I brought the outfit off of the ballet stage and into the 21st century - where a 22 year old girl has to do more than gliding across a stage, and has to do less exciting things like buy groceries - and teamed it with a shearling-lined denim jackets and brown lace-up boots.
top:H&M, skirt:ASOS, jacket:Topshop, belt:Topshop, boots:Timberland, bow:Topshop

I may not live out my childhood dream of being a ballerina, but damn it, I will dress like one!

What profession do you wish you could dress like on a day-to-day basis?


Hope you're all well!
Speak soon,
A.x

Monday, 7 October 2013

Get your gladrags on!

It's that time of the year again when Strictly is back on the telly! So pop on your slippers, grab yourself a y cozy hot chocolate, and plonk yourself down for a night filled with glitter and shazam!
There's nothing like some Cinderella-type romance of a waltz, or heating things up with a sexy salsa to warm up your cold and dark night in.
I love this show, and it's a bit of a love for my family, when I'm home from uni, I sit and watch it with my parents after dinenr and listen to all my dad's comments, my mum and I discussing whose dress we love, while my brother laughs at me swooning over some hot dancer.
It's a real old-fashioned, family tv show, and I know, it's camper than the site at a festival and is about as over the top and flamboyant you can get, but, that's kind the appeal of it...without it, it wouldn't be the same!
Like I said, I always love seeing the dresses on it. Being that they are usually covered in sparkle and layers that twirl around beautifully, or have cut-outs and tassels that hypnotise with every shimmy.
I wish i could wear stuff like this Not only that but i wish i could dance like that! Completely being serious, I would love to step into one of those celebrity's shoes and learn all these amazing dances in just as amazing outfits!

It's not just the dancers though, with Tess Daly presenting it, she always looks gorgeous and glamorous as well.
Whenevre these colder months come about, and it leds up to the festive period, my magpie senses tingle and I pick out all the shiny, shimmering and glizty things out of my wardrobe get ready.
If you want to just dip your toe in this glittery world, then there's some great stuff at a high-street and designer level, where it's black on black, which not only looks glamorous but also chic, with a bit of added sparkly magic!
       
Alice + Olivia
Victoria by Victoria Beckham
Miu Miu
Sources: BBC online, Netaporter, Asos

Is all this glitz and glamour right up your street, or a bit too much? And do you indulge in Stirctly?!

Hope you're all well, 
Speak soon,
A.x