Image: HERE

When I'm researching posts for my blog, or for British Style Bloggers, one of the first things that I always do is search my "buzz word" on We Heart It, because visual inspiration is so much more wonderful; a picture, after all, is worth 1000 words. One of the first things I noticed, then, was the prominence of the Paramore lyric "she lives in a fairytale", from the song Brick By Boring Brick... which lead me to research the message behind the song, in case it might happen to inspire me... which it did.

Now, what Brick By Boring Brick teaches us is that, no matter what happens, you can't let your fairytale dreams run away with you; you can't believe in that... because it just won't happen. Until recently, I'd have shut up, nodded, and accepted that; I've never been the "fairytale endings" kind of girl, and as the person whom the phrase "once bitten, twice shy" was invented for, I've never really held much esteem by the idea of "true love", either - despite my love of romance novels (that's romance novels, mother, not smut), and rom-coms, and all of those kinds of things...

Lately, though, some things that some people have said, and one particular song, and one wonderful book, and a fan-fiction story (I know, I know; sorry!) have changed all of that. They've made me realise that fairytales can happen in reality... but that you have to make them happen, and that you have to fight off the evil-doers yourself. A fairytale, in the traditional sense, is a boring old moral tale; a fairytale, in the modern sense, is a life lived to its fullest, with dreams achieved and bad times overcome with the help of the people you choose to share it with...

Image: HERE

And, as this is, after all, supposed to be a style website, what better way to get your very own fairytale started than to dress like you belong in one? All that tafetta might not quite be your style - it's not mine! - but, let's face it, the princesses always look the most beautiful because they have the truly beautiful clothes to show themselves off...

Everyone deserves a fairytale, so now, live yours; be a Princess for a day...

- have the most beautiful dress, and jewels, and tiara...
- have your glass slippers, because you SHALL go to the ball
- have true love, everlasting, if only on a ring
- have the prettiest scent from the coolest designer
- and make sure you have your red apple with you, so that you can beat every wicked witch who comes your way at her own game!

...and they all lived happily ever after!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -

PS - the set embedded above is my submissions for Gala Darling's birthday competition

Yesterday, British Style Bloggers celebrated our first birthday by basically becoming small children again. We had a lovely meet up, with party bags and Twister and cake and SQUIRRELS and fairy wands and wings and psychotic juice... and we really wish that you could have been there to share it with us!

Anyway, to celebrate our birthday, we're having a make-over, and a new logo, so over the next few days please bear with us - the site might look a little bit sparse and things might stop working, but everything will work out prettier than before, which makes it all worth it!

So, big love to the wonderful girls who were with us yesterday - Florrie and Rachel from the staff, and Carla, Becky and Sarah who came, too. There are no pictures of all of us, but here's one Carla took of the other five of us:

The park where we had the meet up was beautiful; the sun shone - which is never guaranteed in York! - and we blew bubbles and balloons everywhere... and gave a lot of Japanese tourists a very strange impression of life in small English cities!

We also made a video - big love to Carla and Sarah for helping me film! - which is below! Have a look and have a giggle... we certainly did!

On which note, all that remains to be said is THANK YOU for sticking by us through the ups and downs and round and rounds of our exciting first year, and we look forward to making the next few even bigger and better!

We're also looking for suggestions for themes for the up-coming months - if you have any ideas, please drop us a comment, or email me at amy@britishstylebloggers.org.uk!

Thanks again, and happy birthday, BSB!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -