Jive Baby on A Wednesday Night

Ladies and Gentlemen, last night, I went to my first Jive Dancing Class.

Let me take you back to a few weeks ago when for the millionth time I was discussing with my pal how great the two of us would be as Jive Dancing partners... and how fun it would be to do amazing dance moves on a night out and alienate everyone around us with our awesomeness...

So I started looking into it, and turns out Glasgow actually has a few jiving clubs around the city! On a friend's recommendation I chose a class at Glasgow's Grand Ole Opry just off Paisley Road West.

Upon entering the country western club I couldn't help but giggle at the quirky decor. The class was a steal at £3.50 for two hours of dancing. Having danced for most of my life I was able to pick up the 6-beat rhythm quite quickly but let me tell you, it's not easy! I was slightly embarrassed that the woman double my age dancing next to me wasn't breaking a sweat, while I tried to keep up. The 30 or so people who were there ranged in ages from 17 to 70 and everyone was up for a laugh. The instructors (A couple, who are BATD trained AND have been dancing together for 10 years) were great fun with a  full on Glasweigain sense of humor, they took extra care of us as it was our first time.I will certainly be going back next week - I give it 3 weeks before I'm being tossed around and throwing shapes like a pro! Perhaps that's a little bit optimistic...

If you fancy yourself jiving around I recommend you get yourself the following:

A sensible pair of shoes for dancing.

Schuh - £50

If Converse were good enough in the 50's... they're good enough now! 

A pair of knickers to protect your modesty...

Topshop - £22

And of course! A fantastic dress that channels that Rock n' Roll vibe

ASOS - £68

I'll report back when I'm awesome at this! ;)

I have friends in high places

So it was my Birthday a few weeks ago.. I hosted a 'Mad Catters' Tea Party' where I served cocktails out of charity shop tea pots, finally wore my cat ears out the flat and generally got good and merry!

I treated myself to two things on my Birthday:

Topshop Dress-Up Dress : Sold out

House of Holland SuperGAs : Schuh £70

I wore the GAs out to the dancing for the first time and may I say - it was like dancing on fluffy clouds all night! They are quite possibly the comfiest shoes I have ever partied in. My high-heels are getting the boot (lol). OK, too far - I still love my heels but these trainers are quickly becoming my favorite choice for a night out. Teaming them with this dress gave me a girly but cool look. 

Dancing the night away in the Sub Club with all my feline friends in a white puffy dress did turn some heads. My almost top part of the night had to be when I was asked the question; 

"Are you having your hen night... in the subby!?"

But really my night was complete when, during my favorite future disco tune, I was hoisted into the air and thrown about like the barbie doll I was trying to dress as. I love my pals <3

After all this madness, I came home to a very beautiful package from my long lost Laura:

It pays to have friends in high places :) 

Remember that time I had a blog!?

Aye! Sorry pals! Been a bit out of the blogging ways recently. Mainly due to my new full time job as Vice-President! It's all down hill from here...

Well a wee catch up for you all, the past couple of months I have been:

1. Spending all my money in Zara - The summer sales have been a little disappointing this year but trusty Zara has been dishing out the good stuff as ever! 3 new skirts have seen me through this Summer (a term I'm using loosely).

2. Chillan in Portugal! I spent a luxurious night in Lisbon in the beautiful Corinthia Hotel before shooting up the North Coast with my four favorite girls for some reading by the sea.

Guess what chic chika works at Agent Provocateur....

My dress was ASOS

Flump coloured Shorts and Lacy Top - H&M

Bikini Top - French Connection

Skirt - Zara

Sunglasses - Ray-Ban

3. Going on a few nights out...

 

4. And then there was the dancing show!

I'm now living in the lovely Dennistoun with my amazing best pal Bob. Pretty much loving life. 

This weekend we are off to Horse Meat Disco in Glasgow's Berkley Suite. It is sure to be a show stopper of a night, I promise to give you all an update! ;) 

Topshop and Chloe Green

So Chloe Green has launched her new shoe collection for Topshop and I pretty much had to wipe the drool from the keys of my laptop! The shoes are all of a staggering height and feature a bright green sole which stands out from the soft muted palette of nude and pastel uppers. 

My favs have to be the disco-esque, jewel green, glitter platforms:

£115

I definitely think I will have to spend a good few nights training in these stilts before I venture out in public. Now if you excuse me - I'm away to find my credit card.

*Images are all from Topshop.

A Little Mid-Week Pickmeup.

I know it's only Wednesday... but tomorrow is Thursday.. and then it's Friday... you get the idea!

Here is a tune I can't get enough of right now. Your toes will not be able to resist the tapping.

If you like this you should add me on Facebook - my page is always filled with tunes I love.

Tales From The Mall

    On Tuesday I attended the launch of  Ewan Morrison's Latest book, titled: Tales From The Mall.

The book comprises of both fact and fiction as Morrison guides us though the various stories he has collected from employees of our collosal shopping centres and explores the history of how they came into being, making for a very entertaining and informative read.

    Asides from my shopaholic tendencies, you may be wondering why I would be interested in such a book? Ewan challanges why we all flock to these establishments and why we find them so comforting, from the fully covered Muslim woman, who power walks around the mall to avoid the Taunting children of her neighbourhood. To the woman using it as a secret rendezvous for her adulterous affair. There are plently of underlying issues beneath the clothes and appealing window displays. You will find yourself relating to the anecdotes from Ewan's various interviewees and chuckling along with their observations. How he has transformed these true anecdotes into such entertaining stories is flawless and is a real game changer for fictional writing.

    The cover was inspired from 50's billboard advertising campaigns, tying in neatly with the birth of the Mall occurring in this decade. Definitely a good read for the commute and on the go, and it's not too heavy in the handbag!

The book was published by independent publishing house Cargo and can be bought in Waterstones or from Amazon.co.uk. I am hoping maybe the book will be available on iBooks soon too, can't wait to get stuck into this!

May the 4th be with you!

So today is (apparently) National Star Wars day...

I am channelling my Princess Leia, rocking two buns. I used to pine for lengthy luscious locks so I could wear my hair long and curly. Now that my hair is long all I want to do is put it up! 

To achieve this I simply back-combed a little, separated my hair into two sections, twisted each and fixed with a strong elastic. Then I pulled them into position and fixed with a few extra kirbies. I reckon I just about got away with this - retro enough to look cool, quirky enough to look cute. 

Would definitely try this one again, perhaps a bit more styled up for a night out.

Graduates of Heriot-Watt School of Textiles and Design

     Just want to say a HUGE congratulations to all my fellow Heriot-Watt University graduates who completed their degrees this week. It has been a long time coming and I think this year, Heriot-Watt has produced some of the finest, new designers Scotland has to offer. With a selection of our Gala Gals being short listed for Scottish Fashion Awards' Graduate of the year and many of us already receiving job offers - we are a force to be reckoned with!

    If I had to choose one to watch - my pick would be Miss Coryn Dickson. I have known and loved Coryn since we met as sprightly young 18-year-olds when we moved into our questionable rooms at halls. I have watched Coryn grow and develop over the past 4 years into a talented, dedicated designer. After a handful of various internships including a summer at Alexander McQueen. Coryn has developed her own unique style of designing contemporary menswear with a twist of minimalist detailing that is both beautiful and masculine at the same time. Check out the promotional film of her collection - I am pushing 100 views fo' sho! (I swear it has nothing to do with the desirable man candy looking bad ass...)

    RIP to Tarquin - The car you see being bashed in was our group of pals' favourite old banger that some how managed to pass its MOT every year and provide us with many fun trips to and from the Borders. It seems somewhat poignant that he would finally give up the ghost in our final year and serve his final purpose as a prop in this video. Forever immortalised.

Best of Luck to all you splendid graduates!

Lets hope it's one of us that scores the covetable Fashion Graduate of the year at the SFAs - buy your tickets for the Glasgow event here!

Doodle Bug

So the dreaded dissertation may be finished but I still have a week of exams and coursework to deal with before I am finished with my higher education 4EVAAZZ! Needless to say I am still doodling instead of doing work...

I have taken my doodling to the next level by attempting to justify drawings in my business plan, using them as 'Character Development' this way I could spend a whole hour drawing and colouring in, without the guilt nagging me that I should be doing more important things with my time.

I picked basic silhouettes from magazines and developed them into the look I wanted using a common biro pen for the outline and Letraset Promarkers for colour. Its a bit messy / sketchy but that was the look I was going for. If you are attempting any kind of illustration then I definitely recommend Letraset pens, great quality every time.

Laura 1 - Studying 0

A Lip-Zip Guide to - P. r. o. c. r. a. s. t. i. n. a. t. i. o. n.

Hiya Pals!

OK, so it has been a while since I last updated, mainly due to me writing my dissertation which I had to save all my best words for. A dissertation is a large quantity of work encouraging students to take upon themselves a topic they wish to study. What I learned from my dissertation is that I am perhaps the best person in the world at: Procrastination. So here are my favourtie ways to procrastinate. I reckon there are hundreds of thousands of ways to do this but these were frequent occurences for me...

Step 1: Spend hours upon hours staring blankly at your Facebook profile / writing attention seeking updates:

Step 2: Make a blog – See my very first post!

Step 3: Tidy your room, colour co-ordinate your nail varnishes, wash your windows, fold your underwear... you get the idea.

Step 4: Drink. A lot.

Step 5: Go out, go out as often as you can, the further away from your place of the study the better!  This also compliments Step 4 very well. I could pretty much write off 3 days for one night out in Glasgow – preparation, travel, the hangover, the journey back the 'adjustment period'. I figure my last year spent as a student should not be wasted spending nights in!

Step 6: Spend a lot of time looking contemplatively out of your window. Try not to think too hard about any topics of substance as this could lead to productivity. The key is to let your mind drift away. This could also lead to a mid-afternoon nap.

Step 7: Just when you feel like you are about to start doing something valuable with your time – Notice that you definitely need to dye your hair a wild colour, start designing that tattoo you have always wanted or repaint your nails and probably toe nails too, and then spend ages making them perfect.

Step 8: Run for an election – You have two months before your deadline; a perfect opportunity to put yourself forward for a role in your University's Union. Kills a good 3 weeks doing important things and making like the West Wing / trying not to seem like Elle Woods.

Ok, so maybe a little bit of Elle Woods isn't too bad...

Step 9: Doodle. Having a pen in your hand is a dangerous step towards writing down something useful. So start keeping yourself busy with a few doodles... just whatever comes to mind...

Step 10: If you are still struggling for ways to fill your time, how about helping others? A mere week before my deadline, I found myself modelling for my very talented friend Kirsty Hunt, much to my enjoyment! Her collection lit up for goodness sake! How could I turn that down?!

Let me tell you the list can go on and on. I would love to see some procrastination stories from all of you!

Btw, I did get the work done in the end - Cue the fear, insane amounts of coffee, hours of minimal techno-music (good for concentration), an entire forest worth of paper and a large amount of my sanity.

And if I had to do it all again I would not have done it differently.

Idle Hands...

Once again, in the land of Gala me and my flatmate found ourselves at a loose end. After a few glasses of wine* with friends I suddenly find myself being turned into a human doodle!

Yes, Johanna decided to practise her drawing skills on my face by imitating a Mexican Sugar Skull, usually seen at the famous Dia De Los Muertos festival in Mexico.

Not bad for some eyeliner / shadow eh!? Although, I do warn you that Johanna is in fact a freelance illustrator. Here is a scarf she made recently, modelled by my foot.

To see some of her awesome work and my super modelling skills - click here!

It's like my granny always says, the devil makes work for idle hands.. so better keep 'em busy making beautiful things!

*lip-zip encourages you to drink responsibly. (Most of the time)