Monday 5 December 2016

Big bodies deserve beautiful clothes

Big bodies deserve beautiful clothes.





For the past 4 years my body size has been increasing. As I grow older , and as a single parent my biggest gift to myself is delicious food. Being that I am a mother as well I need to be nurtured, so let's make sure it's tasty I say.

Having said that my love of handmade chocolates and wonderful cakes has seen my body grow in ways that once upon a time I would have been horrified by. These days the biggest disadvantage is sweating in a sub tropical climate and not having decent clothing options.

Now I know for a FACT that the majority of women on the planet are a size 14 and above. Magazines and advertising would like you to think otherwise and we as women (and many men too now) agonise about not being of the right size and shape. Now  I might be over weight , but seriously I have blogs to write , hats to make and a house to keep and right now I have lost my mojo on the exercising regime I used to have. I have onset early menopause- that's a whole other blog , but I will tell you now, energy levels and food cravings rage like a constantly hormonal teenager or pregnant woman. 

Now I might be subtropical but I do not live alone in the jungle or in an ancient tribe-therefore I need clothes like everyone else does. Hhhmm here lies the problem. I might have aged but my desire for nice/fashianble/gothic/interesting clothing has not waned. Up until recently I would have to dress like some one 30 years older than me , and I do not feel like embracing nanacore just yet. So where to go  , what to do if you do not wish to dress in unintersting clothes?

Now is you shop around you can find great clothes in independent shops in Lismore NSW Australia I came across 3 different shops that stocked up to a size 22. So it is always good to look around. Depending on your mood you might like to look in a store and when they start to treat you like a second class citizen , if you area cashed up babe , let them know you can take your money elsewhere and it is there loss. But for a purely positive experience....

Here's my tip. You can either get clothes custom made- difficult and often extremely expensive, or depending on taste you can shop at https://takingshape.com/AU/new-in/.  or http://www.atomiccherry.com.au/shop-by-label/hell-bunny .

Let's get into some details...Taking Shape (TS)  boutiques exist around the east coast of Australia. The range is quite diverse and these days more and more variety is available. I have a dislike for synthetic fabrics , they just make me sweat , as often I sound like my mother- but I do not cringe at this I realise the wisdom .
 TS has some wonderful cotton and linen in range now . Today I decided I could not wear the same two dresses or the 1 pair of shorts I bought from them 2 years ago that are starting to wear out. So I was delighted to have fun and helpful women to show me the range of tops, shorts and dresses. They even had my new fav bather top that looks like a wetsuit with the zip up the middle. Shoes and jewellery are there and they will look after you. The clothes are varied in price but the quality and style is great. If you get the right time you can pick things up for unto 60% off and like most retail they have their 40% or more sales.























The second link is for Atomic Cherry. If you like vintage 50's style this is an amazing online store with size charts so you can measure and work out the size you need. I did find a shop in Melbourne Swanson st that stocked Hell Bunny dresses that go up to  4XXXL and they are made of cotton. This was great to try things on and then be able to purchase online later on . In store they are more expensive and my online experience was I could get dresses up to 1/3 of the price . They also have skirts and tops, cardigan , bras and bikini's .

Now if I was able to sew I would get into designing clothes for us plus size ladies. We deserve after all to dress with our full IAGBAM going on . There are some answers for us here in Australia with class and style .

In America you can get super funky clothes from Tess Holiday http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/womens-clothing/mblm-by-tess-holliday~13591/encore-department She is taking it to a level I really like.

I am frustrated that to this day we who are the majority are treated like a diseased minority and the labels should stop projecting false realities and also would make more money if they actually produced clothes so that bigger women do not have to walk around in "fat jeans" and "shitty large t-shirts' 
 The other BIG issue that I wish to bring up is judgement about body shape. While shop[ing as TS I saw women who were and even said "hating "their bodies, different bits . he worst part was when a women said her daughter had told her she was too fat . That nearly broke my heart. I am so blessed that my 9 yr old tells that he doesn't want me to lose weight as he loves me how I am !! If only the rest of the world could be like that for everybody then perhaps it would be so easy to feel IAGBAM .


Ladies honour yourselves ,fellas sorry I can't help you as I don't know of the mens store equivalent - there will be some . 

Here's to a comfortable , stylish and even sexy future

AND REMEMBER YOU ARE BEUATIFUL AND MAGNIFICENT 

Thursday 18 August 2016

Travelling Single mum style Part 2

Every step on the planet I find wonderful. I have my eyes open , and every detail fascinates or excites me. I love it, and taking my son on this holiday I have to say I had expectations. Even tho I tell people all the time not to have any so as not to be disappointed . Still ,  I had expectations, more of what I thought my son would get out of the holiday , how he would react and what would happen etc.

Parenting tip 101- your child is their own unique being , even tho we try to make them like us whether we do it consciously or not.

My son has no real interest staring out the plane window. There are somethings that the digital age have now made not that interesting anymore. Instead of wanting to look out the window he can't wait to get the gaming system or the movies up ...sigh , expectation bubble popped. The wonder of flying thousands of feet above the earth and what the country side or sites look like apparently cannot compete with mind craft, sonic the hedgehog or whatever pixelated trend is happening...I did not introduce him to video games btw ! the joys of the ex partner *meh*

We arrive in San Diego around 7pm to get to Legoland. Now I have said to friends many times that google does not know everything, and in this case I was unfortunately right. There is no shuttle bus that takes you to legoland from the airport every 30minutes(google lie 1)There are shuttles that you can organise that will get you there. We have a reasonable distance from the airport - like everything in California , it's an hour or two apart from the other attraction you want to see!

When we arrived our checkout was fun from the very minute . Everything in the hotel is lego inspired or actual lego. The outside of the hotel looks like lego bricks, the inside lobby has huge lego installations and you are immediately immersed in the land of master builders ( inside lego nerd talk lol) . I could write about legoland for so long I  might lose the plot of this blog. I think I took 300 photos. I am , and always will be a lego nerd . The attention to detail for lego fans was worth  every cent that we paid for the hotel . And it truly is a half a minute walk to the front gate. So if you get the extra hour early in you can really get on some rides quickly and repeatedly . The  family restaurants were very American hotel fare and not of much interest to we Melbournians who are spoilt for great food options.However the Sky cafe food was great and the buffet in the morning was amazing choices and lego fun everywhere. If you get to try the "apple fries" inside the park they were fabulous btw, my son didn't like them -bonus all the more for me. Handy hint we did not know. You can trade with ride and food attendants all around the park. They have either mini figure name badges or trading points where you can swap eveything from hair , to legs to accessories. My son and I thoroughly enjoyed that and if there was to be a next time we would know to load up :) We scored a fabulous set on sale 1/3 of the cost of the set that never made it to Australia. So my advice pack light and be ready to shove that lego box into your luggage .
The park is fabulous and fun but you really have to be a lego fanatic to get the most out of it- one thing I was able to mould him into LOL . The hotel is kind of expensive , I made choices based on "the trip of a lifetime" experience . Also my child is not a big eater so I saved a lot of money on that part of the trip. https://www.legoland.com/california




What I did discover was - I seemed to be the only single parent. I did not see a single parent in the hotel , in the park ...anywhere in the 3 days . What I did see was the extended family unit , which was lovely but bought up a lot of emotions for me. That was not what I expected. Suddenly I went from thinking we were going to have the most fabulous of times , to having emotions triggered in me. Once again I could not convey this to any other adult. I had one drink on  one night at the restaurant only to find myself a bit tipsy and up in the hotel room with my child asleep by my side at 9.00pm . Party ON !! It made me think about how privileged I must be as I am the only single parent here but how I was a little sad to be by myself.

Another day another shuttle...

So distance, yep once again there is no way but the shuttle way in L.A when it comes to getting around. I am not going to say what it cost in a taxi to get from legoland to Anheim but I will say it was the most money I have ever spent on a cab in my ENTIRE life. We probably could have had a limo and driver for the amount. There is no transport (without 3 hours of messing about) , there is no greyhound bus or anything that can get you to Disneyland from Legoland - FACT (google lie 2) . Most people hire cars- back home everything is on the different side of the road let alone driving in a state that has four times as many people as my own country.
My out the window fascination is once again not shared by my son. I am having a great time looking and talking to the driver about everything around us. My son after about 20 minutes is bored.  OMG EMOTIONS ABOUT TO EXPLODE - RAGE ALERT RAGE ALERT!!.  I point out that we are in another country- the cars are different , the scenery- he still doesn't care. Expectations of fascination seem about to be blown to pieces. The suddenly out of nowhere a place that is mentioned in some gaming Youtube tutorial - he is excited !! Thank fuck. Finally he starts looking out the window and absorbing. Great expectations fulfilled.

Now again I am a fortunate soul , I have been to Disneyland before with my parents. I also went with my EX husband who nearly ruined it for life. So I definitely needed to go back lol. Now luckily with a bit of http://tripadvisor.com.au we got an affordable hotel a 15 minute shuttle away from the happiest place on earth. Is it? yes it is . the first day we walked for 10 hours , mainly due to the monorail and the train that usually go around the park being closed. My son didn't complain , he was now truly taken with all the amazing sights and the rides, that  are really so magical .  I did think of the elderly and disabled who really would have had their time there restricted. And really Disney pretty poor planning to be having your diamond celebrations and getting around is a bit crap. Anyway I digress,  Tomorrowland is filled with Starwars  rides and activities- my boy got to fight Darth Vader and that was awesome to watch and an experience of a life time. How many kids can say they fought darhtvade!! And even tho it took up 2hours of our "magic hour" morning it was so worth it as that may not be there in a year(they do rotate the activities to keep it fresh ) . The detail and humour in these attractions is so great I laughed for the 3 days we were there. I must say I am a big kid at heart

Adventureland had amazing new rides and some of the old amazing rides where still there too. Did I expect to get triggered....no. Did I get triggered? YES! . OMG NOOO!!! Once again I seem to be the only single mother/parent in this place , which by the way is packed with around 20,000 even on a monday!! However I must say that after witnessing a  few moments where couples were  arguing and stressing out with each other and the kids, the triggers soon faded into some hologram on the Star Tours as my son and I laughed and laughed. Aaah , breathing happily again , in the happiest place on earth where nothing can upset me .We did three days and could have done more . There is really so much to see and yes there are queues . If you play your cards right and get a fast pass where possible and can skip the line it really made packing in more adventures possible. You can go to rollercoaster parks and carnivals , but if you can ever do it, truly the magic of how things happen had my son astounded even with the original rides - Enchanted Tiki Room , Alice In wonderland, Pirates of the Carribean and splash mountain are still fantastic rides and considering they were made in the 1960's it was a wow. https://disneyland.disney.go.com

We left full of the magic of Disney and once again , yep you guessed it -shuttled our way up close to the airport. Two more days of shuttling around got us to universal studios, a hollywood tour and some random adventuring on our last day.

Now Universal studios these days is a trip into 4D adventure rides. I love rides , but I must say that most of these rides can leave a person almost having an out of body experience that in many ways is not that pleasant when you are hurtling along at great speeds with Megatron or Dementors in your face. The best thing really here is the tram tour that takes you around the lot and the "Animals in action" show that bought out many of the wonderful creatures we see in movies like Harry Potter. I personally found that unless you want your picture with Bumblebee from Transformers , expectations blown again - I thought my kid would want to , but no only the child like mother wanted too,  there really is a lot of average food and over priced souvenirs to purchase. This can be the day wrecker....of course if you are 8 you want a want from Harry Potter , but the prices really were , for a piece of plastic shaped liked wood, ridiculous.

For what we saw on the other shuttle out to Manhattan beach and Venice Beach I would say spend time seeing those parts of L.A . It would have been wonderful to spend another week going to parts of  California that are so beautiful and amazing , that I have seen with my parents. But as a sole parent there was only so much fairy dust I could muster before we had to come back to the land of Oz and see if the good witch can give us some magic from over the rainbow ...I shall keep clicking my little red shoes.