With over one in five people in the Western world considered to be overweight, designers have been forced to start styling clothes for larger sizes (size 28). Fashionable large size clothes are becoming more available but there is still have a long way to go!

Due largely to influence lead by the media and catwalk fashion, the High Street mainly caters for sizes 10 to 16 maximum. Larger size women have hardly been considered at all. Fashion experts Trinny and Susannah, in a recent TV programme, attempted to find stylish clothing for larger size ladies. They looked at High Street stores, such as Gap, Debenhams, and Marks and Spencer’s, but found it almost impossible to find trendy, fashionable outfits for women in size 18 plus. Any clothing they found tended to be baggy, smock style tops in drab colours and frumpy styles. There was nowhere near the range of stylish, reasonably priced clothing which could be chosen by their slimmer sisters.

The main High Street store catering especially for larger sized women is Evans, who retail clothes in sizes up to 32. Their winter season range features smart, stylish trousers, skirts and tops which flatter the larger figure. They stock everything from work wear to classic, stylish outfits which would look great for the evenings. Marks and Spencer and Debenhams stock fashionable clothes in larger sizes, but don’t seem to stock enough outfits and they are soon bought from the rails.

Mail order catalogues, such as Littlewoods and Freemans also have large ranges of clothing for plus size ladies. And larger clothing can be bought online from retailers such as Fiftyplus, Marisota and Simply Be.

As people are increasing in weight larger size clothing is becoming more fashionable. More and more women are choosing to have breast augmentation to increase the size of their breasts. It’s important though to consider which type of clothing suits your particular figure. Starting with correctly fitted bra and underwear, it’s best to try on several different outfits to see which look good. Take a friend who will give honest opinions. Smartly tailored trousers with a neatly fitted shirt or top will always appear more stylish and fashionable than clinging leggings and smocky tent top.

When choosing a dress remember that horizontal stripes are more slimming than vertical, which can widen the larger figure. Never wear tightly fitting belts at the waist, a fitted shirt is much more stylish and flattering. Brighter colours can look great but it’s important to wear contrasting accessories.

Although ultra-thin models and celebrities, such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Keira Knightley are still dominating the pages of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and other glossy magazines, larger ladies are beginning to get a look in. Wearing the right clothes, size 28 women can be seen to be both fashionable and smart.

Have any of you ladies out there received Gardasil shots?

http://www.gardasil.com/   It is a vaccine that is in a series of 3 shots to help prevent cervical cancer and otherHPV diseases.

Yesterday I had my 3rd and final shot and I won’t lie, it was pretty painful. Not the needle at all, but when the medicine was being injected. They say that the pain increases with each Gardasil shot you get. Legally the government now provides a packet of information that your doctor will give to you with everything you need to know about the Gardasil including site effects.

Well, this morning I woke up feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy and my arm  was itching pretty badly at the injection point. I took the band-aid off and I noticed I had a reaction. My upper arm now has a large bump about 2-3 inches long, but in a circular shape, if that makes any sense.  I got my handy little packet out and it said that 1 in 30 women will experience itching and that if you start to feel dizzy or have other side effect to call you doctor.

So, I called my doctor and she said that I could come in and see her, which honestly I wasn’t really up for doing, or to wait a few days and if it doesn’t go away or get better, I would have to go into the office and they would have to treat me.

Hopefully it gets better soon! I just find it interesting that my first two shots were a breeze and on my third one I have a reaction.

Has this ever happened to anyone? If any readers had their Gardasil shots and want to share their thoughts about it and or experiences please let me know!

Hello All! 

I am sorry for being complete crap about writing posts lately. I am leaving London to go back stateside for a month or so and I have been busy sorting myself out. I cannot wait to get home and see my family especially for the 4th of July activities!! Every year since I was wee little girl my family and I go to our lake house in Connecticut for 4th of July. I have not done that in 4-5 years now - since all my time was then spent traveling to the UK to be with Neal.  

BBQ’s……oh how I love BBQ’s! There is nothing better then grilling some burgers, hot dogs, steak, chicken……don’t you think? Then at the end of the night we break out the marshmallows and make smores while the BBQ is still hot. 

Our friends  The Blacks from Boston always come down. They are my parents friends who they have known for 30 some odd years and their 3 children that I pretty much grew up with - well mostly spending summers with (who are all around my age might I add, I don’t want them to have a go at me for calling them children!) Sadly I just received the news that none of ‘children’ will be coming this year and it is the ‘adults’ and I and hopefully my twin brother…bummer.  That is the sad thing, once we all went off to college, then graduated, then got real jobs we don’t see each other that often. Hopefully next year! Anyway, I have great memories of playing games (they know how much I love my old school Barbie: Queen of the Prom Board Game with Poindexter, and if you have no idea what I am talking about I suggest you ladies look it up!) going boating, watching fireworks on the boat in the middle of the lake with about one hundred other boats, tubing, water skiing, playing hide and seek in the dark and getting spider bites on my knees, trivial pursuit, great food…oh the list could go on and on!

But as you can tell, I am very excited to head back. I have had such a great time here in London being with Neal and it is unfortunate that he cannot come back with me this time, but in about 7-9 months he will be stateside with me and we will be married! He has no idea what he is missing when I go home, but I tease him all the time about it. He has so much to look forward to and I can’t wait to take him home with me permanently.

Ciao London, see you in August!

I read an article on the website of Elle Decor called “Designer Secrets to a Sexy Bedroom”.

I think this design is brilliant. I love the idea of having sheer drapes around the bed. They close off the bed area from the rest of the room.

Luxury Bedding: A sexy bedroom must have comfortable linens and a large cloud like comforter. Elle recommends using the Dual Warmth Comforter by Select Comfort.

Lovely lighting and candles

The Canopy: I used to have one when I was a child and it made me feel like a princess. I wouldn’t mind having one as an adult because I do think they made the bedroom beautiful. Though, the one in the picture is a bit over the top for my liking. Not only does it seclude the bed, it acts as a room divider.

Literally.

Thanks to a website called whatsmineisyours.com. This site lets you list those items in your unwanted wardrobe and in return you will get items that you would like from somebody else’s wardrobe. Basically, it’s fashion swapping and proves the meaning behind someone else’s trash is someone else’s treasure!

 As you may know from previous posts, I adore Patricia Field, the stylists of Sex and the City. She was offered to give Diet Coke bottles a bit of a makeover with the ‘Diet Coke City Collection’. Patricia worked with a friend of hers who is an artist to come up with these four quirky bottle designs (just in time for the Sex and the City movie). “The Diet Coke City Collection captures today’s modern women - confident, glamorous, sexy and more in charge of their own lives - and represents the areas of life that are most important to them such as career, passion, love and fashion,” she said in an article on Vogues website.

As of now, I believe they are only being sold in Selfridges stores here in the UK, but if I find out that the bottles are making it worldwide I will let you know.

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I was reading an article today in the May issue of Harpers Bazaar about an eating disorder that is becoming a serious health issue in the United Kingdom and United States. It does not involve starvation or purging, but involves only eating ‘healthy’ foods to the point where one’s health is at risk… it even can cause death.

The term for this specific eating disorder is called Orthorexia, a term coined by Steven Bratman, MD in 1997. It is a disease in which people become fixated and obsessed with eating healthy foods that their caloric intake becomes so low their health is at serious risk. It is important to understand that orthorexics do not eat this way in order to lose weight. They try to prevent themselves from eating foods that they consider to be dangerous and harmful to their bodies. Examples of the foods they may cut out include but are not limited to: carbs, sugars, fats, and proteins. Orthorexics tend to cut out basics foods that our bodies need for a balanced daily diet. This disorder ultimately leads down a path of starvation and has caused many deaths.

The article mentions that Dr. Bratman wrote about a friend of his named Kate Finn who suffered from Orthorexia on his website. He wrote: “Kate recently died of heart failure brought on by orthorexia-induced startvation. Kate wasn’t afraid of being fat. She didn’t want to be thin. she just wanted to eat heathy food. Nonetheless, she brought her weight down so low, she ultimately died from it.”

Truth be told, there is not a lot of information about Orthorexia and it is still being researched and investigated. Unfortunately, more and more people, both men and women, are suffering from this disorder whether they know it or not.

For more information, there is an article on WebMDthat interviews Dr Bratman on this subject which is definitely worth your while to take a look at.

So, your husband cheats on you and you file for divorce, but what should you do with that gorgeous engagement ring and wedding band? Easy! Sell them and buy a divorce ring.

A 45 year old woman and mother of two found out her husband was having an affair and caught him red handed. Once she filed for divorce she pawned her wedding band and engagement ring and decided to use that money to purchase a new ‘divorce ring’. “The ring is different in design, beautiful, makes me feel good and shows my independence,” the 45 year old confessed to the columnist ‘Dear Abby’ of the Chicago Tribune.

Now I have never heard of a divorce ring before and heck I am still waiting for my engagement ring, but apparently the ‘divorce ring’ is becoming increasingly popular with the newly divorced… could this be the new trend on our hands?

I guess there is an upside to divorce after all?!

This weekend I read an article in The Sunday Times Style Magazine about the latest way to increase your cup size without having to go under the knife. It is called Macrolane and it was created by a Swedish company called Q-Med. It was first launched in Japan and the article reports that over 30,000 Japanese women have used this Botox-like procedure. “It takes about 45 minutes and involves a tiny incision being made in the crease under each breast, so that a gel filler made of hyaluronic acid can be pumped in though a flexible knitting needle sized canula”.

This procedure may be one to look into for those women who are surgery shy since there is no general anaesthetic and no recovery time.

Macrolane will not give you the results of breast implants, but will give a slight yet noticeable enhancement, but acts mostly as a breast shaper. The downside to this is that a year after the injection is given the gel wears down and your breast will go back to their normal size. You can always get re-injected but it will cost you. Macrolane costs 2,800 pounds a session and 1,400 pounds for top-ups here in the UK which makes it a very expensive shot to have yearly!

I am not entirely convinced about this, but if you want more information go to: http://www.macrolane.com/CampaignStart.aspx?id=21559

Geostationary Banana Over Texas is the name and putting a giant banana over Texas is the game. The concept according to the website is that “this object will float between the high atmosphere and Earth’s low orbit, being visible only from the state of Texas and its surroundings. From the ground the banana will be clearly recognizable and visible day and night; it will stay up for approximately one month”.

There has been some controversy about the safety and legality of this project. The website claims that they are not violating any laws, but you can read their legal statement here.

This ‘banana’ is said to be launched in August so watch out you Texans!

Only in America…