Curves Glorious Curves ♥

Well hello there dudes and dudettes, it's been a while I know but I DO have a good excuse. Promise.

So I was due to fly out of Dubrovnik, Croatia on the 7th at approximately 13:55 local time (aka Madrid, Paris, time) however... the delightful people known as 'the French' decided to crap on my dream of getting home and so, after pretty much closing French air space and having a strike (again... seriously, enough with the striking already) my flight didn't even set off from Liverpool in time. It eventually landed... 4 hours later at 18:00ish. Now normally I would have just been relieved that it had landed full stop, however... my flight out from Liverpool to the Isle of Man was due to leave at 19:30 (London, Lisbon, Dublin time) so you see the dilemma here!

Suffice to say, we missed the flight to the IOM, we eventually landed in Liverpool at 21:40 UK time so... I wasn't the happiest of chaps let's leave it at that. I guess being stranded overnight in Liverpool with no guarantee we'd make it onto a flight the next day was what you could call an adventure. I'd much rather call it a nightmare though! But, since my boat back from Dublin was cancelled a couple of weeks ago and I ended up stranded in Dun Laoghaire overnight I pretty much took this all in my stride.

It's not just the travelling mishaps that have been keeping me busy though! What with all the travelling i've also been working on a logo design commission, a character editing/colouring job for a local web designer, a character design job for another web design duo, writing an interview type thing for a fashion/lifestyle website (should be up soon... I hope EDIT is up, see end of post) as well as an article for an Illustration website.

So yes... it's been a very busy past couple of days! Busy busy busy!

So today, seeing as I was stranded at Liverpool airport for so long I decided to treat myself to a few fashion mags. I've been a bit blasé with my fashion updates lately, in fact the last fashion mags I bought were in Ireland where I got the national mags 'U' and 'Image' which are kind of like 'Look' and 'Vogue' only specifically Irish and very super duper. Anyway, in the airport I got the latest issues of Elle and Vogue (yes I know they're both pretty similar despite one being published by Hachette Filipacchi and the other by Condé Nast, but they really do both offer different views so I like to get them both. Deal with it!) as well as the latest Grazia which I mainly bought because the utterly gorgeous and fabulously curvy Christina Hendricks was on the cover. Seriously now... how amazing did she look at the Emmy's?! And just look at her husbands hair, I ADORE curls, clearly she does too. This is a genius woman!

Geez louise that woman is so curvy it should be criminal! She looked absoflippinglutely amazing and gorgeous! I couldn't believe it when I read that different designers refused to send out gowns to her because she won't fit into sample sizes! What the hell!!!!

I understand that her figure is quite tricky to dress (big boobs, tiny waist, wide hips etc etc) but come on... she looks fabulous in pretty much anything that clings to those curves you'd think they'd want to help show off that perfect hourglass shape not refuse to dress it! For the record that custom made Zac Posen gown really did show off her curves to full effect, it's no wonder everyone at the Emmy's was talking about her (and her enviable figure) hell, even i'm talking about it all now!

Ok ok, back to the blog! So I stocked up on fashion mags and settled down with a bottle of water for a nice long fashion binge. It was divine and the airport times literally flew by. I also grabbed a copy of the complementary fashion mag 'Stylist' from the airport display. It was actually really, really awesome considering the fact that it didn't cost me a penny. A gorgeous Louis Vuitton shoot inside. Oh that reminds me, best thing about the latest issue of Elle? (apart from the fact it's the 25th anniversary edition and is chock full of awesomeness) the front 3 page pull out advertisement feature is dedicated to the latest Louis Vuitton collection. Yes THOSE ads.

The ones with that delectable trio of buxom lovelies, Karen Elson, Natalia Vodianova and Christy Turlington proving once and for all that beauty has a bust, hips and waist, AND a ladylike handbag + circle skirt combo. God bless you Marc Jacobs, for giving women everywhere a collection made for... women!

Those ads are wonderful though. I watched the LV collection (online... obviously) when it first came out and was literally squealing and clapping by the end of it. I think it was the sight of Laetitia Casta in that balcony corset with eye popping cleavage that did it, it's been far too long since we saw such... womanliness on the catwalk.

And yet this sort of figure is more common than the straight-up-straight-down look of many of the most popular supermodels of recent years (excluding the fabulous Lara Stone and drop-dead-gorgeous Crystal Renn). I guess it was just relievingly refreshing for such a prestigious fashion house to fill their catwalk (and their latest collection pieces) with delicious women whose physical attributes have acted as a disqualification for fashion show participation for so long! These women clearly don't starve themselves to fit into clothes and if sample sizes don't fit them it doesn't seem to faze them in the slightest. It's the fashion houses loss... not theirs.

Speaking of starving yourself, because i've been so ill over the past couple of days it's now been about three or four days since I last ate anything more substantial than a handful of cornflakes and a couple of pretzel sticks. Well I say that, when we eventually got home today I think i'd been in the house about three minutes before I was stuffing my face with kinder and milka chocolate, fresh crusty bread and a can of vimto. Oh it's good to be home...

by the way, I'm writing this at about 00:37 time so I guess I should bugger off and try and go to bed soon. You see I accidentally fell asleep at about 5:45pm and only woke up about 30 mins ago! Not the smartest move I know but it's too late now. I lay in bed trying to drop back off and suddenly started writing this post in my head, so as not to lose the creative flow (ahahahaha I couldn't even type that with a straight face!) I leapt up and grabbed my laptop for some typing times.

EDIT: present time... Eeeerrrgh! I feel bad that haven’t posted anything in ages! I know this is a pretty long post so why stop now! Just to make it even better... here’s my latest desktop wallpaper courtesy of the fabulous Joseph Kloepfer who started following me on twitter yesterday and in doing so, has now made me a huuuuge fan of his super duper adorabubble vector illustrations

check out his site here - JOKLO

OOOOOOH ALSO

today my 'Luscious' interview thing was put up. they wrote such a nice statement about me + my work as well,

'We think this talented young illustrator from the Isle of Man exudes lusciousness. Check out the new story on our "Five minutes of fabulous". Well done Jade!'

isn't that lovely! they also posted 20 of my illustrations in a facebook photo gallery along with a snap of me. here's the LUSCIOUS page on facebook

but... HERE is the actual 'Five Minutes of Fabulous' post - Fabulous newcomer: Jade Boylan

words cannot begin to decribe how excited i was when this appeared in my facebook news feed! Natasha Wood (Director of the site, total super duper genius superstar) sent me an email letting me know it was all up and running. i couldn't help but tell her that i actually squealed when i spotted the link! she said,'Remember us when you are famous!'

well if i'm ever famous it'll be partly down to her for posting such a fabulous piece about me. i can't thank her enough, and the rest of the team at 'mylusciouslife.com', they are all superstars and if i ever do 'make it big' i will personally visit their offices with a huge cupcake basket from the Magnolia Bakery and enough pink lemonade to last for months and months of girly lusciousness!

and as i always say, that's all for now (geez i'm like an old looney tunes cartoon, 'er that's all folks') well it is anyway, i'm off to try and work on some of these web design commission doo-daas now, oh and to get my etsy shop up and running at last! because... very soon i may actually have something to sell on it! shock horror and wow! here's the SHOP keep checking it over the next few days and hopefully it'll be fully operational soon enough,

oh, i also go back to College on Monday which isn't so marvy and terrific, but i'll try to make the best of it just like i always do.

peace out dudes and dudettes and don't forget... keep smiling

◕‿◕ xX

Whinings and Weddings ♥

well just one wedding actually but you know...

Today i've decided to take a day out, I was supposed to go to this big pool party at my godparents house here in Monte but after leaving the wedding reception early last night and just generally having had a crappy night with very little sleep I decided to give it a miss. Bit gutted really for obvious reasons. So I packed mum and dad off in a taxi with the promise that i'd be ok here. In my room. By myself. ALL day. Thank god I have my macbook with me or I may have just given up already. I've been watching film after film today. Bit of a Studio Ghibli day which has been nice. Gotta love that Japanese animation, I know I do. Anyway i'm rambling so i'll get on with the post shall I!

So yesterday was Justine & Justin's wedding day. We left the hotel at about 1:30 for the epic taxi ride to Perast. It was a smart-but-casual wedding so I went for a simple summery look (50's style yellow fitted sun-dress, black bolero cardigan, black suede 5-inch heels (slight platform) with grosgrain ribbon ties and cream Chloe Paddington). When we finally arrived in Perast it wasn't too tricky to work out which boat was for the wedding guests...

yeah, it had a Manx Flag on the back. Easy guess!

It was a pretty awesome way to get to a wedding though I have to say. All the guests piled onto the two little boats and before we knew it we were zooming across the water to the Gospa od Skrpjela (the Church of Our Lady of the Rock). I couldn't get many good shots of the island from the boat (I sat somewhere daft + useless photography skills) but this was what the island itself looked like from the water.

The service was so gorgeous, enhanced only by the beautifully decorated little church. Justine looked amazing in her quirky Lanvin-esque wedding dress (so totally Justine) with ruffled layers of tulle falling to the floor. She'd also paired it with a fabulous embellished belt (from River Island) and of course, her gorgeous bridal bouquet of sunflowers, bright orange gerbera daisies and orange arum lilies (or were they zantedeschia, I can't be sure, either way they were heavenly).

the church itself really was so, SO beautiful! Full of the most amazing decoration. Baroque painted pales covered all the walls and the ceiling. Just sublime. It felt kind of disrespectful to just stroll in and take photos of it but while they were clearing the wedding stuff away my dad insisted that I get some snaps. I'm a bit funny about taking photos in churches, i'm not overly religious or anything I just think it's a bit impolite. Besides, my photos would hardly do it justice anyway! here's a shot of it from the outside of it instead. you'll have to take my word for it on how beautiful it was inside.

After the service the heels came off (cobbles everywhere = bad time for heel wearers) even the 'best man' swapped her gorgeous slingback Louboutin peep-toes for some comfier wedges. We mooched around chatting (mingling daaaaahling) for an hour before piling back into the boats for our 40 minute trip to the restaurant near Krasici. This was our view along the way.

The venue was perfect. Wooden tables and benches covered in white rose petals under strings of lights set up right next to the water. So, so gorgeous. in fact it was all pretty perfect. lovely setting, lovely evening, lovely wedding guests. just super duper all round i guess.

obviously i'm not eating much of anything at the moment but i could still appreciate the fabulous 'grub' that served the party goers. fresh bread, mounds of fresh fruit, bowls of mussels and clams, trays of fresh fish, chips, wine, cake... it was all there. course after course was brought out to the tables while i sat there chewing on slices of banana and kiwi. it's all i felt i could risk tbh.

and that's it really, sadly because i felt so ill we had to leave the reception at 10:30pm. i felt so bad for my parents, it wasn't fair that they should have to leave because of me but they were adamant i wasn't to come back to Tivat by myself. good job really since the Russian speaking taxi driver we ended up with was mega creepy not to mention smelly. i was grateful for the parentals just guilty that i'd ruined their evening.

i guess that's why i dodged out of the party today. i didn't want them to have to leave early again + i've been fine here by myself all day. watching lots of movies, reading, listening to some tunes, it's been lovely. one more full day here in Monte then it's back home. i know it's terrible to admit but i really can't wait to get home! it's fabulous here it really is but i am so not in a holiday mood at the moment and i just want to go home asap. Tuesday can't come quickly enough!

anyway, on a slightly lighter note (and just to ensure that this really is the longest blog eveeerrrr) I also found out this morning about the quite possible 'i rudy well hope so' imminent collaboration between H&M and Lanvin. Ok so I guess I was a little bit slow catching up on this one but come on... i've been ill AND I was out all day yesterday!

I adore the collabs H&M do with designer brands, they're so genius and almost always drop-dead-gorgeous. Sonia Rykiel, Jimmy Choo, Viktor & Rolf, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Matthew Williamson, Comme des Garçons and of course Madonna and Kylie too, they've all had one thing in common... they've all been FABULOUS!

I've no idea what Lanvin will come up with for this but Monsieur Elbaz mentioned 'dresses' in the clip so... OHMYGODYESPLEASE let it be Lanvin H&M dresses!!!! I would be even more excited about all of this if there was actually a H&M store on the Isle of Man. There isn't, hence my new found misery. The worst part is i'm not even planning any more trips off island until at least October or December time! Aaagghhh nightmare times!

I've always adored Lanvin in general as one of the oldest French fashion houses. it's always so unique in it's style and methods of design. beautiful coloured dresses and handbags to die for. the little Lanvin dolls were another stroke of genius and of course the fact that Alber Elbaz and Lucas Ossendrijver are big fans (and friends) of Mika Penniman whose music i of course... j'adore is just another reason to love them as a designer brand!

anyway, i heard it IS official but them someone on twitter told me it wasn't so... don't know 100% for sure. either way, watch the clip of the positively darling Alber Elbaz explaining why he loves the idea of a collaboration with H&M, here - http://www.lanvin.com/#/en/news

that's all for now dudes and dudettes, i haven't eaten anything at all today and i'm feeling a little faint. time for a nap methinks.

lots of luuurve from Tivat

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Yearning for a Yacht

so today is the big day (as it were) the very reason i've been pulled out here to Montenegro, it's my godparents daughter's wedding. I don't know much about the plan for today, apart from the fact that we (me + the parentals) have to taxi it to Perast before getting a boat to the Gospa od Skrpjela (the Church of Our Lady of the Rock) built in 1630 on a little artificial island.

It all sounds totally gorgeous and I can't wait to see the church (hello... architecture nerd here) so i'll be sure to take a snap or two for tomorrow's post. There won't be another post today since we probably won't be getting back from the wedding reception til the small hours of tomorrow morning.

Anyway, the fact that we have to get a boat to the church (this should be interesting since both myself and my mum are wearing heels today) got me thinking about boats in general. I used to take sailing lessons at my old school as part of my Navy training in the CCF (combined cadet force) and I really used to enjoy it.

Anyway, we wandered down to the marina here in Tivat for a look at the boats. They had this gorgeous big sailing ship docked waiting for passengers to take little pleasure trips around the bay. It's called the Jadran, isn't it fabulous!

there were some cute little pleasure boats big enough for two or three passengers. There were a couple of slightly bigger ones with cabin space for three or four. Then we found the 'A' (more like A list) dock filled with the fabulously massive and decadently luscious yachts. I'm not joking here, they were pretty darn-tootin epic-a-mundo. One of them had about five or 6 decks, a pool on the stern (back) and what appeared to be a helipad on the bow (front). God-dammit now I want a beasting yacht!

Even their names were awesome. The 'Queen K', 'Keri Lou III', 'Goldeneye' etc etc. I took this snap of them all lined up.

The likelihood of me ever owning a glorious yacht like this is pretty much non-existent but a girl can dream right?! oh an no... the golden yacht in the photo was NOT the one called Goldeneye. go figure...

That's about it for now. There was no post yesterday since I spent most of the day curled up in tears because of how chuffing ill I felt. I still don't feel 100%, it's getting really annoying now. I like it here don't get me wrong but I would literally give anything to be tucked up in my own bed at home right now, maybe watching Ghostbusters on my TV or just reading a book. Just to be back at home would be nice... please?!?

all i've eaten in the past 3 days is the odd handful of dry cornflakes, a dry bread roll and a couple of pretzel sticks. My energy levels seem to have vanished and it takes me an extra ten minutes to do everything.

In fact, since I have to be ready for this wedding by 1pm (local time) i'd better get a shift on. I'm still in my pj's and looking an absolute mess! best get going with the old GHD's and frizz ease!

Tatty byeeee

◕‿◕ xXx

Tivat Times ♥

Right well, so here I am, sat in my super cute little hotel room in the sunny not to mention dazzlingly pretty town of Tivat in Montenegro. It's been one hell of a long day, we got up at 5 which wasn't the problem. The problem was that I only ended up with 30 minutes to get up, get washed/dressed/made-up etc, packed, hair done and out the door.

Did I manage this impossible and ridiculously insane task I hear you cry?

Well, yes. But it wasn't easy!!! and i literally only just made it on time!

anyway after that it was onto Liverpool airport, our flight out to Dubrovnik left at 9:45 and landed at 12:15 GMT, obviously it was 13:15 Dubrovnik time. i would have known this if i hadn't have shoved my headphones on and dozed off listening to Kasabian the moment the plane took off.

one we'd made it out of the airport (also not the easiest task in the world) we had a nice 90 minute drive through the Croatian countryside (verrrry pretty) before FINALLY (after a bloody ridiculous 36 minute wait at customs and NO i don't care HOW cute some of those customs police men are!) made it across the border into Montenegro.

First thoughts?

just WOW! It is so pretty here. Now i've been to some lovely scenic places in my life but it really is gorgeous here. We had to catch this awesome little car ferry over to Tivat, here's a few snaps I took from the ferry at the amazing landscape around us. (NOTE: photos not edited in any way, the water really is THAT blue)

It's so sunny and bright here, and what with the glittering blue water and mountains right next to them, it's kind of a weird mix but it totally works and looks awesome. when we first crossed the border it sort of reminded me of Andorra, at first... only not landlocked, not Catalan, not covered in snow... and by the sea, obviously!

Oh and here's a delightful (NOT) shot of me and my mum looking verrry windswept as well as another showing the view off the back of the ferry.

Got to be honest though, i'm not doing too well with the whole language barrier thing. My friend Josh (who visits this part of the world every year) tried to teach me some basic phrases but it's the pronunciation that i'm really failing on.

I can spell the words just fine thanks to Josh and his linguistics skills, but ask me to say them and it's all over. I'm totally out of my depth!

Take me to Spain, France or Italy and i'll manage pretty well (i know the basics, but hey... it's enough) but here I literally haven't the foggiest.

I've not been too well today either, add to that the fact that I've been totally unable to check my facebook/twitter/gmail accounts for about 28 hours (SHOCK HORROR) i've been a bit of a state I suppose. Oh and I still have the dreaded cold. Yay.

Anyway, there's free wi-fi at this hotel but... it's about as fast as a tortoise with arthritis!

I can't make any of the pages connect and when they do it's for about 0.5 seconds and THEN a page comes up in Serbian or Croatian or... something, and I haven't a chuffing clue what's going on. I've mostly sat here unpacking and drinking Irn-Bru wondering how the hell I ended up here anyway...

i'm rambling. Sorry. Oh that's another thing, I was expecting an email off someone and there is NO EMAIL in my inbox. There are some new emails of course, but NOT the one i've been anxiously awaiting for the past day and a half.

Grrrrrr

yep... not best pleased. So now i'm sat here by myself listening to old Bee Gees songs and eating a bag of wine gums (I don't know why I bought them in the first place, I only like the green ones) and yes, I guess i'm feeling very sorry for myself.

I know, I know... I should shut the hell up and get on with life but you know me... stubborn to the last!

And i'm going to go now before I make even more of a fool of myself on here.

AND because my laptop is about to die and I don't have any adapters in my room (there you go... I told you i'd forget something!)

i'm staying in the hotel tonight, I can't be bothered going out to find anything to eat. I have wine gums and a bag of crisps and despite the fact that all i've eaten today is three wine gums from said bag (and a few sips of Irn-Bru) i'm sure i'll manage fine on that amount of grub.

I'll be ok. Right?!

Anyways... tatty bye or whatever it is they say here for goodbye!

oh, it's do viđenja

there, Josh taught me well you see

do viđenja dudes and dudettes

♥ ◕‿◕ xX

ps – i've eaten ALL of the green wine gums... now what the hell am I supposed to do with the rest!