Style 369's Model Search (And Guess Who's a Finalist?!)

I'm not very good at keeping secrets, but actually this one was a success!

Early November, I stumbled upon a link for Style 369 & Evans Size 14+ Model Search. The winner being featured as the new face of Style 369 or a spread in Spring 2012 Evans catalogue, plus a consultation with Models1. (Exciting right?)

Obviously, I was intrigued by the competition, and thought, as ever, 'why not?'  the worst anyone can say, in my eyes, is 'no.' And so, I sent in my stats, profile, portrait & full length shots and hoped for the best.

However, I told no one I had entered. Usually with these things, I expect the worst and so never really make a big deal about it. But, when I got an email yesterday saying "Congratulations, you're one of the finalists," I couldn't believe it! (And now I am telling everyone!)

Of course, there are other finalists, and still, I really don't expect to win, far from it; but just to be considered is a really great feeling.

Feeling Healthy & Happy.

I've mentioned before on my blog my thoughts on being & loving yourself, weight and that overall, health is of main importance - so to be part of something that is all about celebrating all the different variations of womens sizes, to me is an excellent thing.

As you can see from above, my figure is of the curvy kind and thanks to mother nature supplying me with 36DD's and a butt the size of the equator I am {happily} a size 14 woman. Although its not always been that way, I am now nevertheless very pleased with my size and all that comes with it.

What next?

The finals are in London on the 6th December, NEXT TUESDAY! I'm not sure what it will entail, but fingers crossed is all I ask :)

Wish me luck amigos!

How To Be Alone.

Ironically, I stumbled across this video on Tumblr today.

Please press play.

I saw it a couple of years ago, when I was single, and I saw it again today, when I'm not; my point being it still applies and hits home nonetheless every single time I see it.

Andrea Dorfman really expresses, in a way that I probably never could, how important, beautiful & useful it is to enjoy being alone. I'm not alone in the sense of a relationship, but, for example; now I have a week completely to myself, and a few days ago I found myself unable to properly cope with the silence, boredom, thoughts of my own mind & no one being here for me; even for a day.

Being on my own is something I've never enjoyed, yet often find myself in a mental state of mind that makes me feel like I am, even when I know my friends or family aren't far from reach.

A lot of the time it almost feels like a vicious circle; you don't want to be alone, but you don't want anyone interfering either.

Almost as if life is just throwing you a lemon to see how you cope.

Taking that lemon with both hands!

This week I may not have the most things planned, but really I don't need to.

• I have my work;


• some new recipes to try;


• free access of the tv (woohoo, chick flick marathon)


• I can sing my head off and no one - but maybe the neighbours, will hear;


• I can walk around naked;

I can essentially do what I like.

And as difficult as sometimes being alone feels, I really am going to try get back into a good place in my mind and enjoy what being alone should be like, and I hope you do too :)

Do you enjoy being alone? Or, what are your ways of coping with it?

Tortoise Sitting!

Harry, world. World, Harry.

Let me just start by saying - I do not own this cute, little 5 year old tortoise, but I did get to 'tortoise sit' for a week!

And I loved it!

I'm a huge animal lover and miss having a pet, so when this little guy came to visit it was great. I say guy, but shes a 'she'; you can only sex a tortoise after 5 years, and I think they just liked the name.

So Harry is girl.

What did I learn about tortoises?

A lot. They need to have luke-warm water baths everday to help them, um... 'go'. Hence so many pictures in the bathtub. They seem to enjoy chin tickles. This one did not need to be in hibernation (before anyone says). She sleeps on a little heat mat. They don't necessarily like lettuce, cucumbers etc & they are surprisingly 'noisy' ...no really. She scraped her claws along the sides of her wooden box while she was awake in a digging motion for most of the time, driving my boyfriend slightly crazy (hehe!). Overall, genuinely lovely pets to have around.

I personally loved hearing her shuffle when she woke up, and then stuck her head out of her 'bedroom'.

I loved that bit.

I did get attached to her, she had (or we gave - you decide!) her own little personality and I was really sad to have to say goodbye! But as tortoises can live up to 100 years old, I'm hoping I'll get to tortoise sit again at some point! :)

Great out of focus/over exposed picture here.

The flat is now empty again :( and I do wish she was here at the moment! But she had to go back to her real tortoise mum & get on with tortoise life, and that is that.

I can just sit & hope I will see her again!

Do you have any pets? :)

A Festive Candy Shack!

Last Friday I paid a visit to my sisters Traditional & Retro Sweet Shop - The Candy Shack!

As usual, (sorry Lucy!) I pinched a fair few sweets, but this time I actually had a purpose for going - to paint the window with a Christmas theme!

I absolutely loved doing it; for those that don't know I did Fine Art, Graphic Art & Photography A Levels (yet chose to struggle on with Spanish) and art & painting have always played huge parts in my life - so being able to paint a childish Christmas scene, that people & children will see, made me really happy!

I had to stop at one point because I thought my fingers may drop off with the cold...

One thing we did realise - that white window paint dries transparently... Making painting a snowman preeettyy difficult!

Et viola!

Quite clearly it's no masterpiece, but I felt pretty proud of it! It added a nice little Christmas theme to the shop and seeing some small children admiring it & getting all festively excited really made my day :)

If you want to check out some of my old art pieces, have a look -> [here]

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Starting From the Beginning.

WANTED - ONE RUNNING MOJO.

MISSING SINCE - SUMMER 2010

I'm not sure where it went but I've been looking for it for a while now. My running mojo - work out mojo - general 'go get 'em' attitude; has sneaked off, perhaps through the night, and I am left feeling ridiculously un-energetic and low.

It could be the fact its coming up to winter? It could be that going to the gym to struggle through a routine on my own, that then leaves me partially crippled the next day; has lost its appeal? It could be that I have plain & simply become lazy?

I have no idea, but it has been a week since I last went to the gym, and numerous weeks since I last ran.

So what am I doing?

Being hard on myself. The usual. I get into a little, pathetic state of sulking, while wanting to do things, yet hiding away and mainly avoiding revision (read: doing nothing) which then leads to self hate for not doing things when I can - and then the circle continues. But with all this time on my hands, one positive is that I can think of what will actually / hopefully work for me...

Doing it for myself.

The best motivation I ever have is myself. I'm not the type of person that works well in groups or competition like circumstances; I find myself quickly frustrated that I'm not doing 'as good' as someone else and soon enough give up.

I need to find my own personal goal or idea of health for me. I used to have it, I promise! I just don't know where it went!

Get Running!

I have a goal - The Berlin Half Marathon in April 2012. By January next year I will start another Hal Hidgon 12 week Half Marathon plan.

In the mean time, I want to 'work on my fitness' *hears some sort of bad Black Eyed Peas song start playing in the background* - I'm not talking shed pounds, become tiny. No, no. I'm happy knowing I could out cross train someone, or lift more weights. If lbs fall off in the mean time, then ok, but thats not what I want this to be about.

I have downloaded the "Get Running" app for iPhone/iPod - Ive heard lots of good things about it and it will talk me through 'couch to 5k' in 6 weeks.

Its difficult not to think - "Sam, you once ran 8 miles, why are you only aiming for 3?" - well with injuries and pains galore, I don't want this training to end as it did through Summer. Even though I am starting at bottom again, I really want to make this work & be as injury free as possible.

Slow and steady wins the race? Right?

I'm hoping so. Once I get into that app;

• I will go to a Park Run in Leeds *blog promise* 


• I will stop judging myself by other peoples standards


• I will do this for myself and me only


• I will try my absolute best


• I will cut down/out alcohol & junk food until Christmas (what? 'tis the season to be jolly)


• I will not give in if I do not see immediate results


• And, I will blog the progress, good or bad.

I want this to work for me, just to feel more comfortable in my own skin. As a rule, I'm quite happy, but I know theres always room for improvement.

If anyone, no matter where you are in the world, wants to help or to join in on this little 'feel healthy, feel happy' movement or just wants some encouragement, then let me know! Group work may not be my thing but putting myself out there & having support and supporting others is right up my street! Even if it is just via social networks / running on the same days / noting back how you feel, then leave a comment below :)

I will stick to this up until Christmas.

And in the mean time, I need to stop eating these.

[Some Sort Of] Bonfire Night.

On Saturday night we organised to go to rooftop bar "Skylounge" of Mint Hotel in Leeds; with promise of blankets, pork sandwiches, hot toddies & fireworks, on Bonfire night.

It was lovely, as advertised, although we got everything but the fireworks.

The idea, and view, was perfect; however being told upon arrival that we are watching the rest of Leeds fireworks & there wouldn't be actually any from the hotel was a liiiitttle bit disappointing.

But really I still had a nice, short time (we didn't stay long), it smelt of bonfire night if nothing else. I had my first hot toddie! (hot orange juice, whisky, water & a cinnamon stick) and the pork sandwich & apple sauce was deee-licious. Plus cuddling up in blankets with great company is always good.

So really, I can't complain :)

Instead of sitting up in the cold, we headed home for hot drinks, chocolates & X Factor.

Great conciliation for me... Not so much for my boyfriend!

How was your weekend / bonfire night :)?

November Winter Wishlist.

My ultimate favourite season - is, winter!

I'm a sucker for a tad of sunbathing, but really I love being wrapped up; whether that's playing in the snow or sat in, watching a film with some hot chocolate. Now that November has some how crept up on us, I'm excited that winter is on its way too!

With winter comes Christmas & so, I've been doing a lot of online shopping recently;

putting two + two together, I got this post.

Here's my winter wishlist for this month!

1. Nails Inc. Glitter Collection


2. Topshop - Knitted Snow-Flake Jumper


3. Elfie Reindeer Slipper Socks


4. Miss Selfridges - Bronte Leather Mid Heel Boots


5. MAC Glitter & Ice Holiday Collection


6. Topshop - Faux Fur Snood


7. Topshop - Snowman PJs


8. Asos Wool Fairisle Mittens


9. Tazo Chai Tea

I may or may not have to (definitely) buy those pyjamas... and the mittens... and the make-up. Eek!

Either way, I think all those things would make even the biggest winter-hater enjoy snuggling up while its cold outside, no? And as for the tea - if you're going to drink any, make it that one! A cinnamon-y mug of loveliness. Mm!

What are you favourite things about winter? :)

A Busy [Read: Drunk] Weekend.

1. Dress - Warehouse


2. Shoes - New Look


3. Earrings & tights - Topshop

A Recap of My Weekend!

Friday night; me, my sister and her boyfriend, plus a few of his friends, went out to see "The Ladyboys of Bangkok," and it did pretty much what it says on the tin.

• Ladyboys


• From Bangkok


• Miming to a CD only my Mum would own.

But it was surprisingly funnier than I expected. Perhaps because I drank more than expected? Anywho, the combination of hit nineties songs, plus men dressed as women; or, men with breasts, dancing around, swinging their wigs about; and the confused look on the boys faces of whether to be attracted to them or not (worth going just to see that) made for a very good night!

and that would be my younger sister being bitten by a vampire. this is a genuine capture of fear.

Next!

Rawr!

True to my word, I dressed up as a Lion for Halloween & my friend was a Leopard!

It was messy.

We drank in Oracle, Jakes Bar & apparently; Normans.

All I need to say really is that - I woke up with half my make up still on, my lion outfit was stripped off in the hall; yet no shoes. I thought I'd lost my bag; camera, driving license, lipstick, phone, EVERYTHING! - but actually, I hadn't.

Um, yeah. Not cool.

It's all fun & games until jagermeister is introduced...

...then you wonder where you are and why you have so much blood on you.

From the pictures (not memory) it looked a lot of fun.

As ever. She is my drinking partner in crime & theres never a dull moment.

I woke up literally with a pain in my head, and swore, as usual, that I would never drink again...

Until Christmas.

The ends of my hair are also now pink... Thank you fake-blood!

"Does not stain," my ass!

How were your Halloween's?!

Send me your pictures, tell me some gossip.

I'm trying to be a better blogger, I promise, but with all this work and wasting weekends in comas, Wordpress isn't even getting a look in!

Boo.

Hope you're having a great week!