10 Day You Challenge–Day 1

I have previously been doing the 52 Lists, but somehow it wasn’t inspiring me.  I liked the fact that you could share more of yourself to the reader, but I wasn’t connecting with the challenge for some reason.

This week however I came across the 10 Day You Challenge on Natty Nikki's blog.  Neither of us know where the challenge originated and if you know, please tell me and I will credit appropriately.

Anyhow!  Day one of the challenge is ten secrets.  I try not to keep secrets if at all possible as it always leads to trouble, but here are 10 facts about me, some you may know, some you won’t.

1. I always care more than I will ever admit about people, issues and things close to my heart.  Admitting that you care isn’t weak.  Sometimes not admitting it is what gets you burned.


2. Stairs scare me.  I get dizzy and constantly feel like I will fall.


3. I once was driven in one of the Delorean cars from Back to the Future.  It kick started my love of fast cars, even though it was particularly fast looking back!


4. I am a huge fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and could sing (badly) along to every word of “Once More with Feeling”.


5. I bit my nails until about two months ago.


6. I will never let someone treat me less than I deserve to be treated again.  I am worth more than a standby, or a secret behind closed doors.


7. I have eight tattoos, and am pining after number nine.


8. A little piece of my heart belongs to the Mary Jane style of shoes.


9. Another piece of my heart belongs to Formula One.  My spirits raise and my heart beats a little faster when I hear the “dum da da dum dadadadada dum” of The Chain.


10. If you are a tall man, you are already high in the positives on the “Vicky would like” list.

What do you think about sharing secrets?

The Most Comfortable Pants in all the Land!

You know when you look at an item of clothing and immediately think “No way!”.  That is what I thought when I first saw the current trend for floral trousers.  Not because I didn’t like them, because I loved them, I just didn’t myself in them in a million years.

I have seen several different variations of these trousers around and have seen lots of plus size bloggers wearing them, but I just couldn’t envisage my being able to pull them off.  Floral dress yes, floral trousers, running for the hills was the basic thought process.

Because I regularly check (for regularly, read every day but shush!)  but I knew that if I were to buy floral trousers, then the @So_Fab_Clothing trousers from +Very.co.uk were the ones I would choose.

As one of my newest quotes to live by is “If you don’t try, you don’t know”, finally this week I bit the bullet and ordered them, found here and currently on sale, the day after I purchased, typical!

It should be noted by the way that this is the first time I have worn anything but a dress for around three months!

P.S.  Don't forget to enter my blog giveaway for a necklace from LoveFromMisbehave.com !  Ends Wednesday and found here

What's in your Handbag?

Monkey Supermarket are currently running a competition in order to win a Mulberry handbag and for a chance to enter, they want to see inside our handbags!  

Their home insurance expert estimates that women carry around with them on average the sum of £850.00 worth of contents within our handbag and I must confess, I was very curious to see what my total would be.

When it comes to my week day handbag, I like to cover most eventualities.  The thing about having a large bag however is that things seem to disappear into it, never to resurface until you have a clear out.

I took the opportunity of this blog post to go through the contents of my handbag and remove the excesses, including more lipsticks and glosses than I would admit!  I have never really thought about the value of the items I carry around with me so this has been an interesting experiment.

My bag is from Fiorelli and cost me £60.00 about three years ago.  It it a classic shape and style and is perfect for my day to day use as it goes with practically everything.

I have divided the contents into sections, all of which help me in my daily life and are permanent fixtures in my handbag.

Every Day Essentials

Purse - £5.00 from Primark
Cash inside - £20.00

Blackberry - £200.00

Monthly bus pass - £39.00

Face powder – approx £6.00

Powder brush - £3.00

Lip tint from MUA - £3.00

Crystal cat keyring - £5.00

If I were forced to use a smaller handbag during the week, these would be my absolute essentials.  Yes, three items are makeup, but I fail to see the point in applying it at the start of the day only to end up with a shiny nose and dull lips by the end of it.  I am a woman after all!

To Wear Off Boredom

Book - £9.99

Notebook for blog ideas - £10.00

Pen – £1.00

Apple Earphones - £25.00

Blackberry – already listed

For my daily trip to work on the bus or when I am travelling in general I like to have a variety of options to entertain me.  I always have a book with me and a notebook for jotting down blog ideas.  In addition I like to listen to music on the way to work on my phone which also obviously offers the connection to the internet and my addiction that is Twitter.

Helpful Items

Umbrella - £10.00

Dorothy Perkins Sunglasses - £7.00

Spare Blackberry battery £15.00

Blackberry charger £15.00

The three things I detest are getting caught in the rain, being caught in bright sunshine for over an hour without sunglasses and my beloved Blackberry running out of charge (hence the two options on the battery front!). 

My Fix Me Up Kit

Marc Jacobs perfume - £20.00

Benefit They’re Real Mascara - £19.50
MUA Red lip tint – already listed
Pink lipstick from No 7 - £9.00
Little Pink Tin of Lip Moisturiser - £3.00
Soap & Glory body butter - £7.50
Two different hair slides - £8.00
No 7 Slanted Tweezers - £8.00
Two hair bobbles – 50p

I always like to have a little fix me up kit in my handbag.  This works twofold in that I have the everyday items that I use to touch myself up with and also some additions such as the earrings, the mascara and the hairslides/bobbles which I can use to change up my look if I am going straight from work to a catch up with the girls.

One of my pet hates is having to lug another bag to work if you intend on going out for the evening straight after, so I have whittled my kit down to the utmost essentials that can easily and quickly take me from a day to a night time look.

If I had to chose just one item out of everything in my handbag to carry around with me it would have to be my Blackberry.  My phone is the most multi-functional item in my handbag, it would get me most things at the touch of a button and it is what I would chose in a crisis.

Taking into account the cost of the handbag and the contents, this equates to a handbag total of £509.49.  Considering that the average is £850.00 I am quietly impressed with myself!

What do you carry in your handbag?