• fashion

    Reviewed: Vivaia Margot Mary Janes

    I love shoes. Shoes of any variety. High heels, kitten heels, flats, wedges…you name it and I will wear them. I’ve  even had a shoe related accident when I got a heel caught in the seat belt as I tried to get out the car, breaking 3 bones in my foot. My dedication to pretty footwear knows no bounds. One brand of footwear that I adore is VIVAIA. ViVAIA is all about style, sustainability and comfort when it comes to footwear, they incedibly create their shoes from recycled plastic bottles so they are both eco friendly and vegan friendly. As they say .Eco-friendly is the new chic.’ I have reviewed…

  • Valentine's Day

    St Valentine’s Day – All The Facts

    February 14th is well known as the special day for love and lovers. Yes, today is St Valentine’s Day, the day of slushy cards and greetings and cute teddy bears and chocolates. But why is this the case? Who even was St Valentine, and why is he considered the patron saint of all things love? And is it true that this most romantic of days was also the date of one of the most infamous gangster massacres of modern times? Photo by Mine Demirkurt: https://www.pexels.com/photo/valentine-s-day-teddy-bears-with-flowers-30693196/ Read on to find out. St Valentine – Why February 14th wasn’t the best day for him! St Valentine was a 3rd Century Roman priest.…

  • fashion

    Winter Warmers From Temu

    It may be February, and Spring should be just around the corner, but frankly, it’s still cold. Freezing in fact, with most days barely into single figures temperature wise. Add in the fact that our heating bills are set to rise again due to the increase in the price cap, and it makes for a very bleak end of Winter. But fear not, Temu are here to help with the latest cold spell with their own brand of Winter warmers.  This is a range of budget friendly products, for the home and for you, that are both cosy and warm, and also super stylish too. Temu are huge fans of…

  • Agatha Christie,  Films

    Love From A Stranger (1937)

    Love from a Stranger is an early (1937), film adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s short stories, Philomel Cottage. The short story told of a woman who wins quite a large amount of money on a French lottery. Intending to travel, she puts her flat up for rent, and is promptly swept off her feet by the handsome stranger who is interested in renting her flat. They marry and move to a idyllic cottage in the middle of nowhere, seemingly to live ‘happily ever after’ in a life of bliss. But her new husband is not all he seems, and has a few shocking secrets of his own. The film…

  • Birmingham,  theatre

    Pride And Prejudice (Sort of)

    I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’. I read the book over and over when I was a teen. I’ve watched pretty much every version, from Lawrence Olivier smouldering at Greer Garson, to Colin Firth in that wet tunic (sigh!). But, in all honesty, I have never, ever seen a version of Pride and prejudice like the one I watched at the Birmingham Rep last night. Frankly, I laughed until my sides hurt! Pride and prejudice (sort of) by Isobel McArthur is an absolute triumph. It tells the story of the Bennett sisters, and their formidable mother through the eyes of their servants, who see everything happen,…