Gloanna 5K Yoga Run

So in my usual fashion before most races I tend to get a bit overexcited that it is the weekend. Which in my book means that I go out for a social beer, or a meal out, and end up traipsing in the front door in the wee hours.   I think it’s the prospect of having a whole 48 hours to do whatever I blooming like that leads to it.  I don’t know why I do this to myself, I clearly cannot bounce back from benders like I used to…….

Last Friday eve, my husband and I caught up with some good friends, and well one thing lead to another.  (It involved a lot of old skool RnB and copious amounts of gin)  I ended up getting to bed at 3.30am on Saturday morning.   I had a race start of 8.30am in Battersea park.  To say I felt rough, would have been a minor understatement.   I was very tempted to blow the whole thing off and stay in bed, however I had invited two of my good friends along to the event so off I went. 

After spending most of the journey from SE London to SW London feeling like I was going to vom at any second I finally found my friends.   We headed to the venue, checked in our bags in the tent.   After a quick warm up we were handed a shot of Prosecco, which instantly gave me hair of the dog.  I started to feel a lot better.   When I woke I fully intended to walk the whole 5k, but found myself running non-stop, and finishing within 30mins.  Not bad for a hungover bum monkey.

We then had a 45mins session of yoga al fresco which was truly excellent.   I haven’t practiced any yoga for about 18months.  After one too many bad experiences at the Bikram Yoga clasess, I decided to turn my back on the yoga.   The teacher was very funny and lead us through a series of sun salutations, by the end of it I felt calm and soothed.  By this point the hangover had disappeared and I felt like a million bucks.   

After both exercise sessions my friends and I found some bean bags to sit on and catch up.  It was very chilled and really lovely environment.   The organisers did feed us quite a bit of food along with freebie of bounce balls and Vitacoco juices.   (I totally stocked up)  The sushi they served us was lovely.  After the food my friends and I decided to have a go at hula hooping lessons that were also taking place.  My friend Katie was an absolute pro at it, and we had a complete blast laughing while we did this.  To top the event off we were given a lovely goody bag with running socks, a water bottle and a sweaty betty vest. 

The whole morning was brilliant, and I had an absolute ball.   If any of you see this event for next year I do recommend that you go, it is so much fun. 

Any yoga, running events you are going to this summer?  Do tell?

Thanks for reading.

Carrie x

 

 

Five dresses you need to own.

Dear All,

 

Thank you for putting up with my tardiness again this week.  Finding a flat, life and running schedule has just taken over a bit this week.  So thank you for your patience.

With a heatwave descending on London, I have been forgoing my jeans in favour of a dresses.  I know a lot of ladies hate wearing dresses, however in terms of practicality a dress is the most logical choice.  One item of clothing that does not need to be coordinated with something else. 

Due to aforementioned point I have literally a gazillion dresses in my wardrobe. Some expensive, some cheap, some given to me, some borrowed from my Mum.   Out most of what I wear I have narrowed down the shapes that for me are easiest to wear, and that I keep coming back to year after year.

 

The Wrap

There are number of variations on this amazingly flattering dress, but the original for me is Diane Von Furstenberg.  This is my first ever wrap dress from DVF and I bought this on sale reduced to £165, from £300.  I simply adore all the amazing prints that these dresses come in.  I feel incredibly confident every single time I wear it.   Easy to fling on for a night out, and very comfortable to wear.  This has been my default going out dress for the past 6 weeks or so and I love it.

 

The Slip

This is harking back to the 90s a bit, however it’s staying power is due to its versatility.  Simply put a very handy dress to have in your wardrobe arsenal.  Easy to wear alone or with a sheer t-shirt over the top.  Or with a Kimono or waist coat.  I have worn this so many times this summer, and is so versatile.   I imagine that this will be worn a lot in the winter too with a jumper and ankle booties.   This version is in Silk, so cool for the summer, or a luxe addition paired with a wooly jumper.

 

The T-shirt

This is a very old dress that I unearthed from my bag of summer clothes.  This is something that I wear nearly EVERY summer.   It is such a pivitol part of my wardrobe that I don’t notice it, like sock or a vest top.   The benefits to the T-shirt dress is another very easy to throw on, and good for keeping cool in the heat. I also like this as a pool or beach side cover up.   I have the same dress at this in navy, black that are a bit longer and really useful for summer wear.

 

The Shift/Shirt/Tunic dress

So a dress that hits three categories in one.  This is a very comfortable dress to wear.  I got it from Allsaints during winter time 2012.  I had a work function to attend and I was feeling a bit fat, and flabby at the point.  This was before my running habit.   This skims the body of all lumps and bumps, and is very flattering as it hangs from the narrowest part of the body.  Which in my case is the bust.  With this type of dress one can dress up or dress down, dependant on accessories.

 

The Maxi

The maxi is one of my favourite type of dress.  I have three in my arsenal that I wear year in year out.   This is one that I got last year from Warehouse.  The print reminds me of Dutch Delft pottery.   I have worn this to weddings, on the beach and to various BBQs and parties.  It is fail safe summer dress. 

 

What dress shapes are your staples?  Are you enjoying the weather?

Thank you for reading

 

Carrie x

 

Discounting myself and my achievments...........

Yeah this is one of those posts, the touchy-feeling ones. I think a bunch of you know that I like to torture myself on a regular basis with long runs.   I can’t really explain why I do it but there is definitely something about it that keeps me coming back for more and more.   After completely Hackney half, about a two weeks later I did the 10k Race for life on Blackheath.   I did something really stupid and went out the Saturday afternoon before and have 6 pints with my Husband and a friend.  Completely forgetting that Sunday was a race day.  DOH.

 Needless to say at 9.30am I felt rough as a badger’s bottom, but dragged myself to the start line and, did it and, managed to knock off two minutes my personal best.  I went home that morning very pleased with myself.

 

The hackney run I didn’t smash any person bests simply because I was overwhelmed by the heat and lack of water.  I gained 8 minutes overall and was really disappointed with myself after.  Which is totally ridiculous!  I had just finished a half marathon and didn’t pass out, puke, injury myself.  I am a total machine surely?

 

So why did I feel disappointed?  I think a lot of runners run for pleasure, but there is a large amount of runners out there who just concentrate on beating their time.  I didn’t beat my PB so I felt like a loser instead of a winner.  However I realise this is wrong, and I realise that discounting my achievement is wrong as well.  One thing I didn’t consider is that Hackney Half Marathon may be my last marathon, I may never ever get to run again.  Life is long and full of surprises, so instead of beating myself up for not beating my PB.  Really I should be congratulating myself that I did it.  

Hopefully Hackney is not my last one, as yesterday I just signed up for Wimbledon Half Marathon on the 27^th of July and Ealing Half Marathon on the 28^th of September.  I was being a bit fatalistic to check my attitude, but hopefully you get my drift.

Are any of you have a love affair with running?  Any good races lined up?

Thanks for reading

Carrie x

Blog schedule and tardiness

Happy Thursday all

So today I've managed to fall I a hole or work and trying to find a new place to live .  So no proper post today sorry just simply too busy. 

I am going to be blogging Monday-Thursday for four times a week.  I will be delivery some new post on current make up I've been wearing and my recent wardrobe musings.  Thank you for reading and here is a sneak peak of pictures in gonna post shortly...

Sorry for my tardiness and thanks for reading 

Carrie x

A sonnet to the Denim Jacket: The virtues of skin tight vs 80s slouchyfit

The backstory…………………

Skin tight

One of the oldest items in my wardrobe is a next denim jacket that I bought with my first paycheck from sainsburys.   Somehow at the tender age of 16 I realized that I was missing this key cornerstone in my wardrobe and needed it ASAP.  I remember lusting after a sheepskin Levi one that my friend Charis had and looked like the dogs in, but my small meagre paycheck wouldn’t stretch to the lofty prices of levis, and I didn’t want to blow everything on a jacket, so off to the shops in Aberdeen I went.

I think it cost me £25, it wasn’t more than £30.  I also got some fetching pale blue sparkly bootcut jeans from River island and a lilac tie dye tank top from Gap.  Those jeans used to deposit sparkles wherever I went, and I remember the top button was made out of a Gem stone.  Man I was SO COOL.  At least I thought I was.  I really wish I had taken some awful photos of myself then to show you but hey ho, all embarrassing photos of my Bewitched inspired outfit will be forever lost in the realms of the past.  (Thank God!)  I have no idea where the jeans went, but I sometimes think of that tank top still and how much I liked it, how much I like it still.  

Anyhoo the denim jacket has remained with me and has managed to evade the charity shop for the past two decades.  The reason why?  Because its dark denim and is skin tight.  I used to be a lot smaller in my teens and could button it up and move around quite comfortably.  Today is fits very close, almost cutting of circulation but not quite.   I like to where it with a giant white shirt dress, and it still looks as good as it did with my sparkly bootcut jeans.

Why it’s awesome…….

I love a tiny tight denim jacket as it enables you to play with lengths.  If you have something long and baggy on you can cut out your shape by throwing this on top.  

It is the perfect summer accompaniment to any floral summer dress

It is probably the one thing in your wardrobe that has gone through all your youth and carries with it your own personal history.   Like your early style DNA is embedded in this piece of fabric. 

Due to its age it’s like putting on a baby blanket.

The backstory……………………..

80/90s slouchy fit

This has recently come back in fashion.  All the Shoreditch lot have been sporting a giant 80s vintage jackets, and I love it.   One of the first denim jackets I owned belonged to my Dad, and even during the mid 90s I sported that HUGE jacket with pride.  I don’t know what happened to that jacket but I suspect that the wardrobe elves squirreled this away somewhere.  Or my Dad nicked it back?  Who knows?  This new Levis one is one that I did source very un-originally from Urban outfitters renewal.  However out of the fify squillion that were there.   I tried ALL of them on, looking for the softest, slouchiest one to bring home with me. 

Why it’s awesome………….

Another comfort blanket to wear only this one covers a lot more of you.

If you are wearing quite tight outfit this is the perfect counterbalance to off-set your outfit.

Everyone is looking for the exact same jacket as you, get yours before it becomes too mainstream.

You can channel your inner Madonna and start drying your hair on a hand dryer in the toilet.  Say what you want about the 80s I think that look is still killer, and despite it being a really bizarre thing to do she still looks really cool doing it.   It doesn’t work the same when I try and stick my head in a dyson hand dryer…..just saying

 

I have taken to sticking loads of badges on the pocket, because it’s something I used to do in the 90s.  Anyone else do that when they were a kid?

 

 

Do you have a denim jacket, one or both?

Have you tried to dry your hair under a hand dryer?

Thanks for reading

Carrie x