If you are FAT then I suggest you read this book as you will identify with at least one of the many true stories in it. I cried and laughed and cried some more reading this. It introduced me to some new ideas and made me think about what I have been through and how it shaped my attitude and the reasons why I do certain things. This would be a great read for any young person who is struggling with FAT issues but also just anyone who wants to know more about what FAT people go through on a daily basis just because of their FAT. I want to thank Virgie Tovar for putting these stories together for people to read and share. I want to thank every person who contributed to the book for having the courage to share their personal stories and inspire others to live a FAT life without fear and with love.


A recent discovery of mine has been Zines! I love the originality and artistic nature of the Zine. I am lucky to know a few people who make them such as Kirsty of Fatty Unbound who writes Make It Work. It is full of fatshion and self love and care ideas with contributions from others too.


My good friend Rebecca aka ClumsyKisses writes a PerZine (Personal Zine) which is kind of like a diary and I have still to get my hands on the first two issues but the third is a good read! Which includes a bit about the Fat Lady Group Photo Shoot we did with Katie Soze. I have also written a small piece for Rebecca to use in either her next issue or another Zine she is doing with a friend.


I found this Zine Lot by Sage Adderley while looking on Etsy.com and thought it looked interesting. I was not disappointed! It has contributions from others and is a really good read. Plus it came with badges, cards and a patch.


You can purchase these Zines from Etsy.com.
Kirsty - Make it Work
Rebecca - Opinionated Nobody
Sage - Fat-Tastic
&
Virgie Tovar - Hot & Heavy from Amazon

More Christmas inspired outfits! I love green and red together at any time of the year but especially Christmas. This dress is from ASOS and is a great deep green. I added my Romwe Collar and a belt to give it some shape. There is a version of this dress available with a Collar already part of it but I like the option of having it without. Black leggings and boots make the white really pop on this outfit. I picked up the Santa hat at Morrisons but you can get them everywhere just now. Do you like to dress festive in December?

The dress is a lights but very stretchy material. I loved the extra long sleeves to keep arms warm and the high round neckline. It is slightly longer in front which suits me as my boobs and belly usually mean all my clothes tend to sit shorter at the front. The colour is most like the bottom picture.

So Back to Polka Dots again! I never tire of them and love finding different colours so when I saw ASOS Curve were selling this dress I had to give it a try. To be honest I was not sure about it when it arrived. It is very thin material and has a lot of stretch. I could have sized down to a 24 as the shoulders are wide and neck is also wide and low. It hunches up at the back but only because it has an elastic waist which I wear under my bust as my boobs are too big for there to be enough material for it to fall to my waist. Which happens with most dresses for me.

The patent belt came with the dress and is nice but I need to use the last hole on it to fit around me. Dear ASOS please make your belts a little bigger! The sleeves are supposed to be 3/4 but are almost full on me and the length is nice but I am only 5'3'' so would be a lot shorter on someone taller. It really is just cut too big for my size and shape but I need the bigger size to fit my bust.  For £22 I will keep it as it is polka dots and longer sleeve which I need more of for winter but I found myself wearing a scarf indoors as my neck was chilly.

It is a Dark Red with Black dots and the last picture is not representative of this due to the flash but I wanted to show the belt and detail. It is also available in Teal with Black dots.

It is finally December and getting ever closer to Christmas and I am pretty much done with Christmas shopping. I have to do a bit of baking nearer the day but that's nothing to stress about.
The Mr and I decided to break out the Hama Beads and make some things on a lazy Sunday afternoon.



We came across this 3D Christmas Tree design and made it our own. You can google designs and some really fun 8 Bit computer characters. Obviously due to small beads it not suitable for very young children and you need an iron to melt the beads together but for older kids and adults it a fun  artistic item. You can buy sets from most large toy shops and ebay sell bags of individual colours for a couple pounds. £20 will buy you everything you need and a good few colours.




You can make your own Christmas tree decorations or personalized items.
below are some of the things we made this afternoon. Have you used Hama before? What have you made?

I have to be honest and say I have had this Beth Ditto Domino Dress since it was first released and have NEVER worn it out! I love it so much but when I got it I was not as happy with my body even though I was much thinner then. I did not have the confidence to wear it as it showed all my lumps and bumps and even with one of those horrible "sausage bags" body stocking tight things under it I did not have the confidence so it sat in my wardrobe for years.

It is much tighter on me now and has a full on VBO (Visible Belly Outline) of my DB (Double Belly) but you can't deny this dress is a statement and my statement is I love my body the way it is and I will not save clothes anymore for when I "lose weight". If something is too small I give it away or sell it or take it to a Clothes Swap (NOTE: I am organizing one in Leeds from January! More Details later!)

Keeping clothes that don't fit you does not help you accept your body. If something is a little tight but wearable then WEAR IT! I no longer keep clothes for "Special" I wear what I want when I feel like it. If I feel fancy then I dress fancy. When I am in a not so happy mood I will wear something cheery to make me feel sexy. Make the effort to look awesome and the Domino effect will be that you feel awesome in most cases.