The first I hear about #QBloggers was when I came across a post written by another local blogger Sabina from Deep in mummy matters. She met up with other local bloggers in McDonald’s and was given a personalised task which saw her walking around Queensgate Shopping Centre exploring the local shops. It sounded exciting and I wanted in! So when I received an email in July asking if I would like to become a #QBlogger I said yes! That was after excitedly running around thinking yes!!! To you this means nothing, but fo, me it meant alot.
The Invite
Thursday morning I receive an email inviting me to the #QBlogger event that evening. It was very last minute but I did what I could to arrange the evening and accepted. All I knew was at 6 pm I needed to go to Hotel Chocolat and receive my envelope.
6 o’clock came round and along with Tasha (from Mummy&Moose) we walked into Hotel Chocolat and introduced ourselves to the manager. She welcomed us, handed us our envelopes and invited us to have a look around the store and get to know some of their Halloween and Christmas Range. We were also given a Halloween Special Hot Chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate vampire!
Halloween and Christmas range from Hotel Chocolat
The Task
The envelope was personalised with my name and sealed with a gorgeous stamp! I didn’t want to ruin it. I opened up the envelope and along with a gift card which contained £100, there was a personalised letter.
In total there was 5 of us and we were all given different tasks! –
- Rachael from Helpless Whilst Drying was asked to get Beauty/Pamper products for a pamper party.
- Laura from Loved By Laura needed to find an outfit for going “out-out”
- Sabina from Deep in Mummy Matters needed to find an outfit for a weekend city day break with the hubby
- and Tasha from Mummy&Moose needed to find an outfit for an evening out with friends.
So overall my task was one of the easiest! and in my head I aced it.
Finding my Autumnal Walk Outfit!
In the end, we had just over an hour, by the time we greeted each other, drank our drinks and then got going time passed! Tasha and I grouped off and went straight to New Look. Inside they have a plus size range, we are not the smallest of people (I am short in height, certainly not in weight!) so we figured that would be one of the best places to start. There was a lot of different items that I liked but being short in height a lot of the trousers were too long. The petite range doesn’t go up to my clothes size so other than buying online, high street buying can be a right pain in the butt.
We then went to Next and I really liked this poncho! But for some reason, i didn’t think to buy it. It didn’t feel very autumnal. We then went to John Lewis and had a browse. John Lewis has 2 collections specifically for plus size ladies. Unfortunately, it was well out of our price range.
We went to H&M, it is one of my favourite stores and as i can buy clothes that fit online i figured the store would have something. It didn’t! The trip started to become quite stressful, time was running out and I just couldn’t find anything at all! It kind of reminded me why i buy clothes online and not in the high street. Since the closure of BHS which also had Dorothy Perkins and Evans in there is not that many stores within Queensgate Shopping Centre that cater for plus sizes.
The last push!
Tasha rushed off to New Look to buy some items for her and I went to Primark. With 10 minutes to spare I picked up a lovely black, grey and white checked skirt, burgundy tights, grey cardigan and knitted bobble hat. It came to just under £25 which is pretty impressive really as that is nearly a whole outfit bar a top.
Turtle Bay
My family are pretty aware of my love of Turtle Bay! Since i reviewed them when they first opened I have been back and forth! We were all set to meet Becca and Leigh at 7.30pm (we were ever so slightly late) where we were going to show off what we brought. Meeting them both was like bumping into old friends! I am always so nervous when meeting new people but i needn’t have worried! The drink was great (as always!) and the selection food was top nosh too! It is always a pleasure visiting Turtle Bay.
Win or Lose?
I think i pretty much lost at the task! It did open my eyes a little to what I think the centre is lacking but at the same time the variety of clothes available to others was great! If you are average size then you pretty much have a pick of them all from SuperDry, Topshop and Quiz to New Look H&M and Primark! The thing with Queensgate Shopping Centre is it is ever changing! The newest store Yankee Candle (which by the way I still haven’t been in yet) look great, there are 2 more stores currently in progress to open Smiggle and Joules! The layout of the whole centre is going through a makeover and it all feels really fresh!
I can’t wait for the next #Qblogger assignment but in the meantime there are lots of things happening, from School of Spells this half term to Becoming a Toy Tester in November. The light switch on is in November and Santa is visiting too!
*I was given a £100 Gift card to complete the challenge*
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