The Cost of Brit Mums Live - anyone else go a bit crazy?!?!

On so many levels, I enjoyed Brit Mums Live.

I learned more about blogging, more about the community and importantly: more about me!

It was a journey, both pre, during and post (event).

I don't regret it, I think, but *coughs* I spent a lot....

Organisation and Pre-event Pampering

1st things first was the pre-conference pampering.  11 days before the event I got Shellac done on my toes (£30), hoping it would last and it did.  I got it done in bright red, knowing that I was going to get a pair of crimson MBT Sadikis (£55) to match, and that I did.

In a last minute panick on the way to the event, on the DAY of the event, I stopped at The Beauty Box and I got a file and polish done to (my fingers) to match my toes (£13.50), and a Boots umbrella (£16) which I will be getting refunded as the quality is terrible!  I should have been organised about the toe nails and the umbrella.  I also arrived at the conference minus a notebook, so I am delighted that there were Brewery ones on every table. Oh I also had to go back to Boots after buying the umbrella to get a lipstick £10.50.

I begged the husband to mind Aaron on Monday 18th June (I don't work Mondays) so that I could go and buy the clothes I was to wear, but he had to wait in all day for delivery of our car seat from Mothercare.  Yes, we got one a long time ago, but my husband was in an accident on the M25, and when the car got towed to a pound, someone stole the car seat out of the car, before he next visited the pound (at my request).  Men! I say men! because although he thankfully lived after the accident, he left the scene of the accident minus the car seat and 6 days later had to be prompted by me to go and get it.  Someone obviously decided to give it a new home :-(

So once I realised he wasn't going to take Aaron anywhere I decided to spend the rest of the day (6 hours) at Westfield Stratford, as thanks to my OWN RESEARCH I knew it was baby friendly.

There Monday 18th June (Westfield Stratford) I bought:

• my red outfit for Friday: red "Next" Olympic games t-shirt £18 and red "Next" linen trousers £20, and the red MBT Sadikis (£55).  Because I was red from head to toe I joked on Twitter that I was coming to the event dressed as an Olympic tomato.  I didn't get in trouble so clearly people realised I was jesting...  The trousers were incredibly comfortable and it was so lovely to be casual (after being in a dress last year).  I am GUTTED that I don't have a photo of my red outfit, but (1) I didn't take many this year and (2) it's a bit hard to say to someone "please take a photo of me"...
• a HerStyler hair straightener (£90) 
• Navy dress for Friday night from Primark, which was only £13
• Marks & Spencer's version of spanks: very very dear as I needed one for Friday and one for Saturday (£35 x 2) - one black and one beige - THAT was why I looked slimmer than normal, as it is called:Ultimate Magic Body Define Waist & Thigh Cincher.
• Navy dress for Friday night - bought for a bargain £13 at Primark and it was so so so flattering considering my size at present!
• On Friday, at Westfield Stratford I also bought the £35 cream tunic top at Next, that I wore on Saturday, that I then had to spend the week worrying about what to match with it (and got it wrong according to my TK Maxx Style Makeover).  Eeeek having just seen it just now (to get the link) on the Next website I now know how it is meant to look! Hang beautifully down, and floaty.  NOT hanging on for dear life to my waist hips and thighs - ooooops! Won't be wearing that again until I lose some weight! 

  
On Thursday 21st June the ends of my hair still looked like rats' tails, and my fringe was at my knees so the only solution was to have my hair cut in my lunch break:

• Hair cut at Tao Hair and Beauty £37!

As there were still things missing from my outfits despite the above, I had needed to go shopping  on Thursday 21st June after work. Ttsssk! 

I did a one-stop shop at Mark & Spencers and got:

• Union Jack Nights £9.50 - as I knew they would be a statement with the Primark dress I bought Friday.  Wasn't something I planned but spotted them and had a feeling I could pull it off, despite not having worn a short dress and heels in over 7 years!!!!!
• I bought a jacket which I may now get a refund on as I have not worn it. £39.50!
• Snake Print trousers, £27.50 which I stupidly combined with the Next tunic top mentioned above.  I have combined them with other things since (having learned from the TK Maxx consultation and I have now found ways of making them look super!  The beauty of these is that they are 7/8, so they sit at the top of boots beautifully - that is what I should have done Saturday.
• Flatter Me size G bra to give me the Gok Wan effect! £22.50
• Stud Dolly Shoes in brown for the Friday night dress mentioned above, to go with the tights!

Then I went to Boots Thursday night (21st June) and ended up spending:

• £49 on Bare Minerals makeup - which I do not regret as it is amazing

Thanks to the hair cut, and Bare Minerals Makeup (she did a demo on me) I looked like this on Thursday night, so had a lot more confidence to face the event:

So, as you can see I went a little cccccraaaazzzy.  I think it was for a few reasons.  I lost a lot of weight a couple of months before the event but put it on in recent weeks due to my imminent redundancy.  So all of the hold it all underwear became necessary because of that (shame as the £70 held in weight I had previously recently lost).


I also think I was worried about looking the part.


But what I have learned from my Saturday outfit, is that it is good to be comfortable in your own skin and I wasn't.  I have since mixed and matched the outfit and made it look a lot better so will wear outfits more than once before an event in future, so I know (1) if I am comfortable and (2) IF it suits me!!!!!


****I don't even want to add up all of the above**** and I won't!


If I add my £8.50 x 2 for the return tickets each day.  My £40 for a taxi home from All Bar One on Friday night, and my purchases at All Bar One, I don't even want to know what the whole event cost me.


THANK GOD the entrance to the event, (early bird) was only £49!!!!


Bye for now, Liska 
xxxx