Tuesday 26 November 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Kenneth Cole Reaction Purple Coat

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's cold in Glasgow. I almost feel bad saying that because I know there is snow back home in Ohio and I didn't even have to scrape my windshield this morning but comparatively it is cold. I can't get away with just a jacket and while most of my 2009 Zara coat has held up well (I lost a button do to pregnancy boobage) it isn't particularly warm enough for shivering at the bus stop.

So after much heckling from my co-workers to put on something warm I decided to get a new winter coat. I'd give you three guesses where I went to look for a new coat but really you'll only need one. Blondie Boy and I headed to TK Maxx who have tons of coats and jackets in store right now. I wasn't entirely sure what style I was going for and had tons to choose from so lucky me when my boy pulled out a coat for me that I loved! That kid has great fashion sense:)


George Square Glasgow Christmas 2013

Blonde Furry Hood


Purple Puffy Coat with Fur Hood-Kenneth Cole Reaction via TK Maxx
Old Navy Turquoise Boatneck Sweater with Button Detail on Shoulder
Old Navy Sweetheart Jeans
Black Studded Pumps- New Look


I love purple and the coat is SO warm. There are sweater cuffs inside the arms so your wrists don't get cold and it is super fluffy and feather-filled. The inside is super soft minky and then of course there is the fabulous detachable faux-fur hood. To top it off there are toggles at the waist so you can cinch it in so you aren't a giant puff ball! 

It is absolutely the perfect winter coat for me and I'm glad Blondie Boy grabbed it and told me to try it on! Normally he'd get in trouble for grabbing stuff off the rails but not this time! To top it all off the coat was reduced/on sale, too!

Also do you see all those lights? My new office is right on the main square in Glasgow so we look out directly onto all the Christmas lights and attractions! It makes going to work and leaving work in the dark a little bit easier to deal with!

Have you gotten a new coat this winter or have you dug out an old favourite?



Let's be friends! Find me here:

Tuesday 19 November 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Polarn O. Pyret Children's Clothing

Winter is officially here in Glasgow. It is cold freezing. Luckily just because it's freezing doesn't mean Blondie Boy has to become an abominable snowman with no style waddling around with just his eyes peering out from some massive snowsuit. Y'all know how much we love Polarn O. Pyret's gender neutral and sturdy but stylish children's clothing and their winter collection does not disappoint.






It's hard to tell from the photos but the winter coat has little thumb holes on the cuff to help keep wrists warm but I just think they look all emo and cool too! I love the detailing on the hoodie; I love a good hoodie and the pockets and buttons really dress this hoodie up and make it really cool. I love that PO.P clothes look amazing but I don't have to worry about Blondie Boy ruining them. They hold up through all his crazy dance moves, crashing out and wash wonderfully.

Right now Polarn O. Pyret are giving you the chance to win a trip to Sweden for a family of four! To enter the PO.P prize draw just take a moment to become a PO.P+ Member (for free!) on their website--good luck!




Let's be friends! Find me here:

Wednesday 13 November 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Drag Super Star

So here's the thing. I love drag queens. LOVE drag queens. I actually wish I could be a drag queen (anyone out there want to be drag mama to a faux queen?) ala the movie Connie and Carla minus the whole running away from murders bit and a bit more fierce. That being said I've never been to a drag show in Glasgow; I'm not sure how I saw that Raja, the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3, was coming to Glasgow but oh honey the second I found out I KNEW I was going and somehow I luckily convinced Steph to go with me.

We decided to go ALL out and splashed out on the VIP tickets so we would also get to meet Raja and get our photo taken with her plus a champagne reception. I say splash out but seriously y'all it was less than a single concert ticket costs these days so it was actually a bargain!

I'd never been to the club the show was in before but friends told me it was an anything goes, OTT type place so in my mind that meant glitter and sequins needed to be on the agenda. I also took it as an excuse to break out all my make-up and hair styling tools that I don't normally have occasion to use.







Black Asymmetric Shoulder Stud Top-River Island
Spike Cluster Earrings-New Look
Spike Cluster Ring-New Look
Leopard Heels-Dune
Booty Up Bootcut Trousers-Hold Your Haunches
Studded Bag-Versace for HM

You know I had to break out the cat ears Liz got me again; I honestly need more events in my life where I can wear headpieces! I didn't realize until afterwards but I wore the same outfit I wore when I went out for Julie's 30th earlier this year!

I bought hair chalk last year in Ohio and this is the fist time I've gone out with it. I'm kinda in love with my candy-coloured my little pony hair. As much as I love skulls and spikes I also love pink and purple so it was such fun to have a trial with dip-dye hair. Now I have to decide if I could take the plunge to have it full time.

Raja's performance was just amazing and it was so great to see her and get the chance to briefly meet her. It was also just fun to get out and do something I've not done in a long time, too. Could I come home at 4am every weekend? Oh hell no but once in a while for a special event I think I can handle it.

What's your favourite OTT fashion trend?






Let's be friends! Find me here:

Tuesday 5 November 2013

What I Wore Wednesday: Homemade Robot Costume

Things have been so busy between work, launching Lassies Who Lunch and getting ready for Halloween that I totally spaced on What I Wore Wednesday last week---oops! I did get a post up about our amazing trip to France, including vlogs from the cutest little vlogger ever--Blondie Boy! I love Halloween and this was the first time in two years we were home in Scotland and not in the USA.

I'm not a fan of the Pinterest inspired competition to be the best Mom ever but personally I think that birthday cakes and Halloween costumes should always be home made. Nothing I make is ever going to look professional but I don't care. Unless there are circumstances beyond my control Blondie Boy is always getting a home made costume

This year he decided he wanted to be a dancing robot. So I bought some chrome effect spray paint, diamanté, buttons, sparkly leggings and flexible silver ducting and went to town. We already had some rain boots that a friend had given us as hand-me-downs so those got spray-painted, too. I finished it off with some white hairspray (couldn't find silver) and some loose silver make-up glitter and CR3 The Dancing Robot was born!


Robot Costume

He also requested robot fingernails so who am I to say no when I own holographic silver polish already :) I think his costume came out really cute and he definitely stood out from the other kids. All of my costumes growing up were home made so I'm glad to carry on the tradition.

For work that day I had on cat ears and some drawn on whiskers (only my team dressed up at work and there were no full-on costumes) but I wanted something a bit more fun for trick or treating with Blondie Boy. Normally I try to match my costume to his but after getting him ready I only had ten minutes to sort myself. So I decided to take a risk and made myself a Dia de Los Muertos sugar skull type look.
Sugar Skull Makeup

The gems were a bit big and it wasn't as elaborate or colourful as I would have liked but not bad for ten minutes! It kind of makes me want to go to the tanning bed though as I definitely don't suit being super pale. We had a fun time visiting houses but it definitely is not the same as being home in Ohio.

I much prefer specified trick or treating times and knowing that if a light is on you know that it is okay to knock. Here I was hesitant to take BB up to a door unless they had a pumpkin out or I'd seen bigger kids go up already. That being said Halloween is much bigger than it was when I first moved here. Hopefully next year though we can be back in Ohio!


Did you dress up for Halloween?




Let's be friends! Find me here:

Monday 4 November 2013

Eurocamp Le Brasilia Camping Holiday in France

Last year we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves in to going on a camping holiday in France with Eurocamp. This year we knew we were going to have a great trip but we really didn't know just how amazing Le Brasilia was going to be! I promise you it is not hyperbole when I say it is absolutely the perfect place to go on a self-catering holiday with a preschooler!

When we were picking a parc for our holiday we focused on the Premier Parcs which offer a holiday experience that’s exceptional, even by Eurocamp's already high standards. I wanted to go somewhere that was still warm in early September and NotBlondeHusband wanted to go to France since we'd already been to Spain in June. We'd been to the south east of France before and knew how easy it was to fly into Barcelona and drive up so Le Brasilia at Canet Plage seemed like a great location. Plus it had heated pools and waterslides which are always a must for our little pool rat. To make it even better there was direct access to the beach from the site. We were sold.

The parc sounded brilliant on paper but honestly I wasn't prepared for how great it was in person. The parc has a butchers, bakers, green grocers, wine shop and mini grocery store all on site--you literally don't have to leave the parc if you don't want to. It was great to walk up with Blondie Boy in the morning and have him visit the boulangerie and ask "baguette s'il vous plaît!" There was also a restaurant with an ice cream parlour but we much preferred to eat in our accommodation.


There was plenty of room to eat inside our Eclipse but we ate every meal (except the day it rained) on our deck. For a family with a young child that deck is the absolute best. Blondie Boy would play on the deck but also once he was asleep at night NBH and I would sit outside and listen to music, play cards and enjoy the night but still hear him if he woke up. On the day that it did rain (and omg did it storm) we borrowed the game Guess Who from our couriers (there are lots of games, beach toys, etc you can take on loan) and had fun in doors while we waited out the storm.



We spent every day at the pool and every evening at the Mini Show.  Blondie Boy loved all the different water slides and went from going down on one of our laps to going down the biggest slides on his own in no time flat. He is such a pool rat and would get off the slide and immediately go back up to go down again. I think NBH was giving me the side-eye when I insisted on a parc with water slides but I'm so glad I did! There was also aqua-zumba class that was really more for fun than fitness that Blondie Boy loved, too! It combined his love of swimming and dancing.



Before or after hitting the pool we'd head down to the beach; being able to walk directly out onto the beach was amazing. Normally you have to think about packing lunches, parking, a change of clothes---nope none of it. If we got to the beach and Blondie Boy was only up for 30 minutes of beach time that was okay because we could just walk back. If it was too hot or he got hungry, no big deal. The ocean was really shallow along the beach so perfect for children to play in and the beach itself was soft white sand. I'm not a fan of pebble or shell beaches so it was perfect. We built sand creatures, jumped over waves and collected stones and shells--it was perfect. I love the beach and I've definitely passed that on to BB.






The part of our holiday he probably loved the most though was the Mini Show. Every night the kid's club staff would lead kids in singing and dancing at the amphitheatre. I'm fairly sure it was NotBlondeHusband's own version of hell but Blondie Boy LOVED it. In fact I'm not sure love is a strong enough word. Nearly two months later and he is still singing the songs and doing the dance moves just about every day. 




I can't tell you enough how amazing our Eurocamp Le Brasilia experience was. They really aren't kidding when they call it a Premier Parc there are so many extras. You get free tickets to ride the little train that runs from the parc into the town as well as free tickets to take a boat across the port into town, too. Blondie Boy had never been on a boat before so to be able to take him on the short 5 minute journey was so much fun for him. I could go on and on but I've already bombarded you with so many photos and videos I will let them just reiterate my point for me. Le Brasilia is the perfect family holiday with a preschooler--just listen to Blondie Boy!


Eurocamp, the self-catering holiday specialist, offers the widest selection of outdoor family holidays in fantastic locations throughout Europe, with a range of stylish accommodation, pool complexes, unrivalled facilities and kids’ club activities.

After uniting with its sister company Keycamp to offer customers a bigger, better choice, from 2014 there are over 160 parcs to choose from across France, Spain and Italy, as well as unique accommodation on offer including stylish mobile homes, lodges, bungalows, Safari Tents and brand new Tree and Lake House accommodation.

Seven nights from 24 April 2014 for a family of two adults and up to four children staying in a 2 bed Espirit mobile home with decking and air conditioning at Le Brasilia will cost from £355 including return Dover to Calais ferry crossings. Fly-drive and alternative ferry packages can be arranged though Eurocamp at a supplement.

For further information on Eurocamp, please call 0844 406 0552 or visit www.eurocamp.co.uk

Let's be friends! Find me here:
Transatlantic Blonde's accommodation was provided for the purpose of this review but all travel and other costs on holiday were met by ourselves. All opinions are our own--do you think I could get a preschooler to lie?