Male Body Positivity

 

 

The male body positive movement is something that isn't talk of a lot. Some might think that it might not exist or that men don't have body issues, at least compared to women. Well, in the case of the recent video by YouTuber Matt Diaz that isn't true. Men may not face the same exact struggle women do but when it comes to their bodies the struggle is still there. It might or might not be to the scale of that of women but the media do portray idealistic body types for men which is at most times unachievable. Men tend to get overlooked when it comes to body positive ads and articles unless it is specifically about them. For Matt Diaz to show his body after losing almost 300 pounds is in itself a deep look into male body positivity and the great lack of it. His bravery might have opened up bigger discussions about the way men view their bodies and their struggles and how much it affects them as well as how to further advocate this and help others struggling with positivity.

Video from Vanquish Frontier

Dressy...ish

Dress: Elvi| Leggings: M&S| Booties: Primark| Bag: Fiorelli| Head scarf: Thrifted| Necklace: Thrifted

 Sorry for the not-so-good pics I didn't have my camera with me but I wanted to show you this outfit. Its getting much warmer and I try to dress accordingly since I don't want to bake, I don't want to freeze either. This is a button down shirt dress by Elvi and its perfect for those in between days.The dress is very thin and sheer with side splits going all the way up to almost waist length. I wore this with black leggings  and booties. On the topic of booties I wish I had worn a different color because I feel like there is too much browns going on. Also I could have chosen a different background? I feel like I am clashing a bit. Blending more like it. Oh well, I am still lucky since I didn't fall not once while wearing these booties.

                                                                              (haha)

 

Also sorry mommy for not looking at the camera again. I try, honestly but it just goes wrong at the last minute just before the timer reaches 0 and that pose is struck. But I did one so..yeah.

 And this one.

Next time I'll do all.
Maybe.

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Fave Author Appreciation Post (Part 1)

OK, fan-girl time. 

One of my favorite authors new book is coming out in a few days and I can't even express how excited I am for it! For those of you who haven't heard about J.R Ward before she is a New York Times bestselling author of the incredibly successful series Black Dagger Brotherhood and The Fallen Angels. These series are the absolute best! Trust me I am hella picky with what I read and most of the genres I read are either in the spectrum of paranormal or its crime with all the sub-genre goodies in between. These series are paranormal romance/suspense at its best and is well loved by critics and Wardens the world over.

The best of the two (although its hard to choose and they both are superb) in my opinion is the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Set in Caldwell, New York it is about a group of warrior vampires, Wrath | Rhage | Zsadist | Phury | Vishous | Tohrment, that are defending their race from eradication by the enemy called lessers which is, in my opinion, a cross between a zombie and a demon, all the while dealing with their own personal problems on top of falling in love. Although the group is highly exclusive others are carefully welcomed and this is shown through the different points of views of the characters and the other characters they come into contact with. Like any good series these books have a lot of recurring characters and this makes for a good preview to the next book although you often have no idea who the next book is going to be about. The characters are fairly diverse and each brings a new element to the story and each story differs from the other and is unique in writing style. Also this series is seriously 18+ ( J.R isn't just a little bit raunchy, wink-wink)

The new novel is coming out on March 31st and is called The Shadows and it is about recurring characters Trez and iAm, two brothers who are the epitome of bad-assery. Like if bad ass came with a package they'd be the wrapping. The definition for bad ass have their face next to it. If bad ass...you get my point. I am really excited for this book. Set in Caldwell, New York as the others this is looking to be one of my faves.

The Fallen Angels series is about an ex black-ops soldier who died and became an angel whose mission is to save seven souls from the seven deadly sins. (Cool huh?) Well the kicker is he also have to fight an extremely vicious demon name Devina whilst helping the soul he's trying to save. Did I mention he works for God? The books differ from each other character wise although the minor characters tend to recur from book to book. Like the BDB series this is a bit ( I mean a lot) raunchy and is intended for a mature audience.

Disclaimer: These books are highly heart wrenching. You will cry. You will laugh and a lot of WTF's might be flying around at some point. Also I am not responsible if you fall passionately, irrevocably and completely in love with Rhage, Z, V and Veck. OK? Now go and read. 
Go on!

 

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Just a Short Update of My 2015 Goal

Earlier in the year I set a very reasonable goal for myself. My goal was to go from 5'5" in height to 5'8". So far, and on occasion, I manage to get to 5'6 but it seem I've hit a plateau. I tried everything. I run (from the dark, scary bathroom to my room so the house ghost won't get me), I even tried a new diet (eating properly seasoned, delicious food wherever I want, whenever I want) but nothing works! I am at my wits end. I need to get to my set height before my birthday in November. I was thinking, however, about doing this new stretching thing I see the stars doing now to achieve great height. I'm not sure what it involves or if its safe or if I won't grow a second eye or something I guess I'll give it a go. I mean guys come on! If Kim K is doing it and she went from 5'3" to a staggering 5'7" I can do it too!


I tend to write spoof pieces about a certain topic in ways to help me cope with them. By turning around something I was told recently into a satirical thought piece I am symbolically giving that person the lovely finger.

Black Pleather Skirt

Top- Papaya (thrifted) | Skirt- Find here | Shoes- E5P (sold out)| Jewels- gifted

Although I got stood up I'm all kinds of feeling myself. Had a hot date that cancelled and since I was dolled up I decided to make a post instead to document how cute I thought I was. Also I wanted to show you guys this skirt I got from Ebay. This skirt? Too small. Was suppose to be a 20/22 feels like an 18. Fits OK...ish. Its a great skirt and its stretchy so I kinda made it work and with the lovely help of smoothing undergarments (thanks Spanx!) I came up with this look. I like that its peplum so it hid some premenstrual tummy woes and I like the grungy look the skirt brought to the outfit. The top was a thrift impulse buy and although I am still prone to them I had to find a way to actually use it. Its a soft purple-pinkish jumper that's both thin enough for coolness and thick enough for warmth.

Lets talk length. This skirt was what prompted my post about the dos and don'ts of Ebay shopping for plus size women. I did not carefully check the size chart and since I am a 20/22 in skirts I just went with that size (Why, Trisha?) The size of the skirt I can make work cos' fitted is nice right? But some girls might not like SO much leg showing. (And that's ^ a lotta leg. A whole lotta decadent, scrumptious leg). I'm kinda fine with it. I just added tights and was cool. Thing is I could've returned it. But the thing thing is returning is kinda a hassle for me and I usually forget and end up with stuff that I don't really want (prompt closet sale).
Moral-  no wait the morals of this story are to one, check the sizing at all times, don't wing it and two, returning is good. Returning is nice. I'll do well to remember that. I hope.

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Top 6 Tips For Shopping On Bargain Sites

(Warning: Very wordy post!...And you probably heard this before.)

Contrary to (personal) belief there is, in fact, a way to budget out your spending so you don't go overboard on bargain sites. I am quite guilty of overspending especially when I see something I like (that is in my size). I always felt the need to snatch it up before it sells out. With that came low funds and being stuck with a lot of clothing/accessories that I don't want or need and a load of clothing that I can't wear just yet. After being in this rut for sometime I came up with a few ways to possibly help with budgeting when buying from bargain sites.

1.  Set a Monthly Spending Limit. 

 This is just like you would budget for your household with groceries and bills etc. Set an amount that you would feel comfortable spending. Sure you don't know what the stock will be but with a spending limit you can assure yourself you'll only get what you really want and not buy things impulsively.

   2. Shop For The Season

This can be a tricky one. Usually bargain sites such as Everything 5 Pounds and LessThan10Pounds have clothing for all seasons almost year round. But the majority of the stock will consist of clothing for the present season. One thing I do is to try and buy clothing for the upcoming season months before. This help with actually getting the pieces I want and not have to try and beat the rush.

     3. Question Yourself

If you're shopping for the season take a good look at your closet. Here are a few questions to ponder: So the winter/summer is coming up and you know the site will be putting out their winter (or summer) clothing soon what do you really need? A new coat? New jumpers/sweaters/cardigans? How about shoes? Dresses for summer? Shoes for summer?

After careful thought write down what you really want/need and your spending limit, the sites you're shopping from and their stock arrival dates (E5P gives you a heads up on their Facebook the night before). You'll have a great idea as to what you need and the possibility of straying is almost next to none. (I swear sometimes you'll just NEED that mint colored jumper!)

   4. Buying

Now comes the time to buy. There is no advice to buying I can give but get what you want/need. The quality of the clothing is a mystery since they come from many different retailers and you won't know whom until you receive the product. If you are not in favor with what you got and know the returning policy then return it. .

  5. Losing Out

They are bargain sites after all and some are on a first come first serve basis. However the next thing to do is to shop around. There are loads other bargain sites out there with a different price range. Sometimes they might get some of their stock from other bargain sites and you could find something you missed out on there.

   6. Have Fun!

I know it may seem hard at first when you're first introduced to a bargain site. It all seems too good to be true. You see all the amazing things for dirt cheap and you just wanna go 'Here take my money!' I've been there and my bank account suffered as a result. The point is to have fun, you're shopping after all.


 

Just doing Me

As plus size women we're probably constantly thinking about our clothing. The conversation might usually be about whether a certain item of clothing looks good on us or not, or it if flatters our shape/body. At times this can become frustrating because there might be an insanely cute dress/pants that we absolutely must have but...its too short or its sleeveless, too fitting. I totally get it. Although I am very body positive, I kinda sorta still have a love hate relationship with my legs and often times feel uncomfortable if something is too short (too short for me is something 3 inches above knee without tights). This mindset has hindered me from wearing what I want numerous times because I had always thought that people would be disgusted by my legs.

But no more.

I am shutting the naysayers- who probably lived in my head -up and living and wearing how and what I want. So with that I donned a miniskirt on a particularly rough day. Believe it or nay it actually helped to do something out of my comfort zone. No one ran after me with pitchforks screaming 'Your clothes is too short! Too revealing' nor had they given me any side eyes or snickered behind hands. I'm kinda guessing some of our body hang ups are all in our heads and breaking the mold is kinda what we might need. If someone got something to say then hey, you're wearing what you want, you look fantabulous and the naysayers can go walk on hot coals or something. Or something.

Top- Papaya (similar)| Skirt- Newlook| Shoes- Primark (similar)| Lips- Pixi Lip Balm in Ripe Raspberry

 

Note: The skirt is actually back to front. I liked wearing the zipper in the front.

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Purple, EveryWhere!

Dress- Dorothy Perkins (similar) Tights- Primark Shoes-Gifted Bracelet- Thrifted

In conjunction with Ladies Day I was asked to create an outfit that I would wear to the Cheltenham races on March 11th. The main idea is to create a colourful outfit and there in lie the challenge: I don't have many colourful clothes! But after careful thought (and running around my house panicking) I came up with a look that I really like. Although there isn't a dress code, when I think of horse races I think elegance and large fancy hats so I decided on a formal-ish look. Keeping in the theme of colour I chose this purple pencil dress from Dorothy Perkins I got on sale a few months ago. (Also note to self get a large fancy hat if only to tame flyaway hair). 

  

I chose this cutie pie to complete the look.They were a gift from a friend and it was advised to not attempt to walk great distances in them. Duly noted friend, duly noted.

 It was fun to do this post and if I learn anything from doing it is that I need to add more colour to my wardrobe and to experiment with purple a whole lot more. Thanks for reading!

You should participate also! #ColourMeMarch

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