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Category: review

One Dress, Two Looks | QueenBeady

I’m a thrifty shopper, if there has ever been one & I love to get a deal as much as the next person. I feel like I have hit the jackpot when I win something for 99p on eBay that still has tags on & should have cost £40 in store. Naturally, when I have a dress that can work as a festival/day time look and also be dressed up for an evening, I am a very happy girl lady.

Imagine my delight when The Hut asked me if I wanted to style a Festival outfit for £30! I was delighted. After browsing their amazing and easy to navigate website I was drawn to this beautiful dress. I have a little bit of a love for clothes with birds on for some reason? Maybe it’s because we have chickens. I’m not quite sure, but I did know that I was drawn to canary (yes, bird related again!) yellow dress.

The detailing is beautiful and so intricate! I was instantly drawn to each individual section almost like I was taken on a fabric version of watership down. Yes, a terrible way to describe it but look at the pretty?!

Festival Look || Floral Crown, eBay || Dress, Glamorous @ The Hut () || Hunter Wellies, Cloggs UK ()

I love this look, it’s exactly how I would rock up to a festival. Cloggs UK are a fabulous online shoe shop and if you have a penchant for lots and lots and lots (and lots!) of shoes you will never be left in doubt if you head there. With free, next day delivery you always feel like they are giving back for your little purchase. You really should go see!

You can enter my Hunter Welly Giveaway here!

Evening Look || Hat, The Hut () || Dress, Glamorous at The Hut () || Shoes, eBay (New Look)

Now, I realise this dress looks VERY short in this photo, I guess the way you carry yourself wearing heels does not help when wearing dresses. I don’t think I accounted for dem hips n’ thighs when ordering a size Medium! Alas, look at that hat doe. Isn’t she beautiful. I recently instgrammed/tweet a photo with me wearing this hat before the Blog Yorkshire Meet (which you can read about here!) but I was a chicken and didn’t wear it in the (queue the bork bork borkkkkkkk sounds!)

I am so excited to give them a proper outing! Which is your favourite look? How would you have styled this dress, I’d love to hear from you.

Rebecca xxx

July 16, 2014
Wetherby Food Festival | QueenBeady

When you live somewhere for a long time you very rarely look past what meets the eye. You take things for granted and don’t see for what it is worth. This weekend proved that despite our local town being a ‘’same old, same old’’ kind of place we were wowed with the Wetherby Food Festival this past weekend. And as soon as someone mentions food, I am there.

So on Sunday afternoon we found ourselves heading down to the Ings by the river to experience some culinary delights and get our senses lusting after food that we don’t normally get to try! Cue photo overload.

First things first, we had to wet our alcoholic appetite and we were not dissapointed with the amount of drinks stalls availabe. As much as I love prosecco I really fancied trying some locally made raspberry cider. I can’t say I was overly overjoyed with my choice as it was extremely tart and still tasted like pear cider. I expected it to be like a mixed fruit type of cider. Clearly not.

Despite the terrible choice in beverage it was time to have a look round and see what food was on offer. I have a penchant for filling my stomach & I enjoy good food. Hence the gut that you may see in a few photos time. I am determined to go on a health kick so what better way than to spend my last Sunday as a ‘’free eating woman?’’

Who doesn’t love a good old, restored, vintage caravan? Hands down. THIS is my ultimate dream. I would just adore the chance of being able to restore my own caravan and create a pop up cafe from time to time as a little hobby. The guys at Crepe Escape have done an amazing job. And what’s better they have painted it in my favourite colour too!

Yep, there is fatty bum bum – I have indulged in a few cream cakes recently, my hair is windswept and Mr C can never take a good photo of me. I will stick to a tripod next time.

For those of you who care I kept my look simple and despite the glorious weather it was pouring it down in the morning so I thought I would put some jeans on. BIG MISTAKE.

Top | Zara (eBay find)

Jeans | Topshop Baxter

Shoes | Birkenstocks

Now, on to the food…

Mr C indulged in a super, doubly spicy chorizo burger which he said was extremely tasty. I have to agree it looked amazing as well.

I opted for Paella from Black Bull Paella. It was fresh and had just been made which made even more appetising. Big chunks of chicken & chorizo is exactly what I like in a paella. It was quite oniony but it was still delicious and quite spicy too. As fan of a little kick we were not disappointed with our choices.

I’m sure you will agree, EVERYTHING, looked amazing & so delicious. In fact my mouth is watering at the sight of the beautiful, hand pick strawberries. (Insert strawberry Emoji / heart eyes face here!)

Not only was there food and drink available they had kitted out the festival with two stages for performances it so it really felt like you were at a festival with some local, home-grown musical talent too! These guys below were awesome with the little accordian!

Honestly, credit goes to the organisers because I have never seen Wetherby so busy before and it was clearly enjoyed by all. The entry was only £2.50 to get in which was an absolute bargain for a full day of entertainment. I hope it is back next year, even bigger & better than this year!

What did you do this weekend? Does your home town offer something similar every year? I’d love to hear from you!

Rebecca xxx

Ps. If you want to get Festival ready why not head over to my giveaway and enter to win a pair of Hunter Wellies, click here!

July 14, 2014
Food Review: The Fox & Hounds, Walton | QueenBeady

We found ourselves at our local pub on Saturday night celebrating 4 weeks of marriage (we so weren’t, it was just an absolute coincidence!)

The Fox & Hounds, Walton provided the food at our wedding and they did not disappoint at all. Some family members have travelled some distances since our big day to try the other fairings that our lovely pub can offer. I assure you it is worth it.

The pub is ran by brothers Alan & Gareth and has also been nominated for an “Olivier Award”.

The pub itself is a typical countryside drinking house & even with it’s own resident stuffed fox called Basil. It offers all quirks and charms than what meets the eye.

All produce is locally sourced and cooked lovingly by chefs. Alan & Gareth often roll up their sleeves!

On arrival we were greeted like you would be at your local pub. First term names exchange are always nice & make it feel a little bit special. Or lovingly greeted as, Mr & Mrs Clayton (yes. I know I keep banging on about it but its just so exciting!)

We ordered a pint & a half of Becks Vier to set the tone. They even serve prosecco by the glass which is lethal for me, however I opted for a beer!

The Fox & Hounds has a FABULOUS offer – 2 courses for £10! That runs Monday – Saturday (Friday & Saturday you are required to be sat before 6.30pm). They decided that they could do slightly smaller portions at a reasonable price which is just fab!

After scrutinising the menu, they had changed the options and I hadn’t seen this menu before. I opted for mussels in a garlic & white wine sauce (my favourite starter!) and Mr C decided on the roasted parsnip soup. My starter was fabulous, plenty of sauce to scoop the mussels up with. James enjoyed his soup, the only criticism was that it was just a little salty! They don’t need to ver indulge in the salt & pepper here as everything is just so tasty and fresh.

There was a little bit of a wait between courses but Alan always wants to make sure that the food is hot & cooked to perfection. It was quite nice to just sit and chat without feeling rushed.

When our meals came we were pretty happy with our choices. They always manage to make it look so good (as well as tasty!)

James went for fish & chips, which he proclaimed that they were better than our firm favourite fish and chip takeaway! So that was a bold statement, it came with home cut chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce.

I’m a burger fiend. Everytime we I out I am drawn to a burger. I just love the bread, meat & cheese combo. It’s a winner everytime.

I ordered my burger medium (after much deliberation) & it came perfectly. My burger came with homemade chips & salad. The chips were just to die for. So deliciously scrumptious! The burger was nice, however, a little on the greasy side. To say the portions were meant to be on the smaller side, I was so full! I could not eat all of it.

After a little wait & ever the greedy guzzler I am I decided that I would have a desert. Warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. HEAVEN ABOVE. This is quite frankly the BEST desert I have ever eaten. It just melts in your mouth and tastes dream like. I managed all but one mouthful & writing this now is making me wish I had eaten the lot! Even if it had have killed me.

If you are ever in the area & want a delicious meal that won’t set you back then I would thoroughly suggest visiting The Fox & Hounds in Walton because you won’t be disappointed.

The Bill
1 & a half glasses of Becks Vier
Roasted Parsnip Soup
Mussels in white wine sauce
Fish & chips
Beefburger & chips
Chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream
TOTAL £30.80

Rebecca xxx

July 7, 2014
Summer Daze with Cloggs UK (*) | QueenBeady

When Cloggs UK asked me if I would like to work with them again, I jumped at the chance. I had free reign of what style of shoe I could request and review.

After choosing a really clumpy pair of Doc Martins last time (see post here!) I wanted something a little more feminine and girly, especially seen as the season of Summer is upon us.

I was really drawn to the low, block heeled sandals that are on offer at the moment and when I saw these white, floral sandals from Qupid I just knew I had to have them. They are such a delicate pair of shoes that you can dress up or down, without feeling too overdressed. They retail at £30.00 and are currently in the sale so be quick at catching these before they sell out.

So how did I style them? I chose my pink, gingham skirt from Primark which I found in the sale for a mere £5, along with my oversized, scuba top from Topshop, that I managed to pick up on eBay for a mere £1.99! (Yes, I do love a good bargain!). No look like this is complete without a cute wired headband, which again was a topshop find. My necklace is a Vivienne Westwood globe which was a gift from my now-husband. My sunglasses were a free gift with the most recent edition of Tatler!

I can see these shoes becoming a bit of a staple this Summer and I can’t wait to give them an outing. Perhaps to the Yorkshire Bloggers meet on the 12th July 2014? I’d love to hear if you are coming along as this will be my first official Bloggers Meet and I’d love to see some faces.

So, what are you waiting for head over to Cloggs UK and get shoe shopping!

Rebecca xxx

July 2, 2014
Rita Ora Rimmel Nail Polish #703 & #873 | QueenBeady

I recently spoke of how much I didn’t want to buy a few (gorgeous!) nail polishes from Rimmel as it’s celebrity endorser was Rita Ora (I can’t say I’m her biggest fan!) but I bit the bullet this week as I noticed they were on offer in my local Morrison’s & I had been dying to get these colours for AGES!

#703 Is a beautiful pearly white and its name is White Hot Love & I have been after a colour like this for ages but never found one. I thought with it coming in to spring it was a perfect time to get on the look for it & woe behold, there she was sitting pretty. When I started to painted my nails it came out in a thick gloop (even after a vigorous shake or two!) and it just didn’t seem to go on very well. It was far too thicker consistency than my usual 60 seconds polishes. I was not impressed. I am however, going to have another go & see if it was just the artist at work (me) or if it was the actual polish itself. I think it’s going to be the latter as the my other polish #873 was a dream.

#873 is a beautiful mint shade that is perfect for these glorious spring months ahead. Her name is Breakfast in Bed which I thought was awesome! This will go so well with my new work outfits for my new job. The brushes in both of these polishes were a little bit different and were not as wide as others, which I really liked about the Rimmel collection. Why they have done away with that style I don’t know? #873 glided on smoothly and stayed a lot nicer than #703 (which, did I add looked like I had painted my nails with Tippex?!). I really liked the colour and it also painted on very nicely.

Like anything one thing can be good, another can be horrendous & on this occasion I think I have come across this. So now I am off to go paint my nails in my lovely #873 whilst I enjoy this sunny day off.

Have you tried any of the Rita Ora Rimmel nail polishes recently? I’d love to hear what you think!

Rebecca xxx

March 21, 2014