My fashion fix for the season - Isabel Marantesque boots!

I have envisioned wearing the Marant boots ever since they went down the catwalk at Paris fashion week in February. I even cut an image of them out of a magazine as a note to self - I must get these boots in my life, it is on my desk in my study, I also blogged about Rose Huntington Whiteley wearing them. So can you imagine my surprise to find these little beauties in Horbury! Not London, Paris or Milan, in Horbury which is a sleepy little village in Yorkshire. I absolutely love them, they shake, rattle and roll when you walk. This season I will mostly be wearing the skinny jean, wooly pully and the marant look fringe boots. They were also a billy bargain in comparison to the real things - the Marant boots are $2,200, mine were £100 and if I wear them over 100 times it will be a £1.00 per wear. Brilliant! Don't you think it is weird that I am trying to justify my spending, I haven't even got a boyfriend monitoring me and my shoe obsession. I can remember posting my last year boots too - obsessed but shoes do make or break an outfit. My friend bless her, was telling me yesterday that she was table top dancing in Ballet pumps and a celebrity came over to her and pointed at her shoes and basically said - she was very sexy but the shoes were very WRONG! She thought how rude but I have to agree with him ooops, ballet pumps are not a sexy shoe - sorry my lovely friend if you are reading this ha! ha!

Its really funny, if you ever read my blogs you would know I believe in the secret and the power of visualising what you want to have in your life. Think the secret has worked well in this case, I wanted the boots and believed I would have a version of. Going to visualise Hugh Jackman and hopefully that will come true too, wouldn't even mind a version of. Off to add some more images to my visual bank, can't wait for the Marant S/S 12 show. What shoes will she have for us next season.

Thanks for tuning in

Stan xx

Hot Yoga with Kenneth Brannagh! x

Tonight, I went to Hot Yoga with Christina my friend and new boss at Republic. Firstly, I made the almighty mistake of wearing really sheer DKNY leggings - note to self they need to go to the charity shop as I have probably shown Christina and a class full of yoggies my bare bottom ooops! Sheerness is not always good even if they are DKNY - they have got to go - embarassing.

We thought we were going to Bikyram Yoga which I learnt tonight when done in London the room temperature is set at 105 degrees and two people have died from this practise. Grinning and laughing in the face of danger, Christina and I explained that we were practised Plankers and people die from that pass time too - so there. We showed no fear! We were out ranking our sport to the most weird Yoga instructor I have ever had the experience to meet. I used to have a cool blonde dreadlocked Yoga instructor who was brilliant and really fit but this yoga instructor looked a little like Kenneth Brannagh and practised his theatrical Yoga in the style of a Shakesperian actor. He explained to us how we could hurt ourselves if we sat up wrong, if we bent over incorrectly, if we stretched too hard on short hamstrings etc which I think I may have, he even acted out this eventuality so we really got the message (he deserved an oscar for tonights performance - he really knew how to project, bless him). It was like a health & safety thespian heated yoga session, set in what looked like a church hall on an industrial estate in Knaresborough which is in the middle on nowehere. It was truly random but great for getting rid of the cobwebs - haven't been the gym for a month and will probably ache tomorrow but was quietly surprised how flexible I still am, maybe that was the benefit of having the heat from the fan heaters strategically placed around the hall. Bless, the Yorkshire Yoga Centre is run on a shoestring and at the beginning of the session we were all asked if we would volunteer to do the admin for the classes. Christina was supervising me so I did not volunteer my services - I was up for it if it was simply writing a few names down but they wanted you to commit to 2 hours every Monday, never really going to happen, I never know from week to the next what I am doing! Maybe I need to find focus after my yoga lesson and start settling down, we shall see!

Thanks for tuning in

Stan xx

SARAH! SARAH! SARAH! TO YOUR LEFT!

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to go to a London Fashion week event at the new Stratford Westfield which is adjascent to the Olympic Village(impressive - even though only half built). It was the Look Magazine catwalk show for the high street, so I went as Babara Horspool's (New Look's Trend Director) guest. She is my old boss and the competition but still it meant I got to go and rub shoulders with celebrities such as Amy Winehouse's niece who has an amazing voice and sip champagne from a pop bottle which is always a bonus.

So we were all arrived at the venue after about a hundred speed bumps later feeling a little car sick and then had to fight our way through the stronghold of people queuing to get into Primarni. It was our idea of hell but we pushed through and entered the land of the sane on the second floor, it was total mayhem. On arriving, I was accosted by one of the photographers for my photo, a journo took down all my vital statistics and I spent the next two seconds posing for the camera. You have no idea how good it feels when the paps do that because it levitates you to this world that you know only the celebs get - so yes I was buzzing. You can only imagine the grin, so sad really!

With my inflated ego and champagne in hand I joined the green room and scanned the area for trends and celeb spotting, I love a bit of a celeb even if it is only Mandy from Eastenders - bit nerdy like that, it's like my Where's Wally of the fashion world. We were then ushered into the show and I strutted off in front of everyone - obviously still inflated and thinking I was the trendy wendy of the event. Then I heard it - it came thick and fast. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, look left, look right, sarah................ I looked round only to see Sarah Harding with an orange barnet pulling off all sorts of sexy shapes - gutted. I thought the Paps were shouting for me to pull off some shapes - ha ha! How the ego deflated, which was probably good don't really suit that look anyway.

Off I went deflated to my perch on the catwalk, spilt champagne all over me and enjoyed every minute of the catwalk as the photographers were hilarious, they hardly took any photo's and were rude about the models as if they were some sort of models themselves - love people watching.

On the way out we saw Danny Dyer which was extremely nice and even had to have a photo with him bless him! Mobbed by the New look entourage, it was good to see them all again.

Thanks for tuning in.

Stan with a big head! Sorry, not a good look!

S xx

Raleigh International - Mauritius 93F

When I was twenty years old I was lucky enough to go on an expedition to Mauritius for three months. While there I kayaked around the island, built a bridge across the Black River Gorge in ten days, monitored and recorded the behaviours of Noddy Birds, Skinks and Rodrigian Fruit Bats. I deseeded a whole load of plants which were not indigenous to the Island and I also ringed Noddy birds by catching them in a net. It was an amazing experience but it was also traumatic. You see when a bird flies into a net as you can imagine, it would poop itself, as you do - so yes it was a very messy task & slightly dangerous. They are also very protective over their young and so we had to wear hard hats to protect us from the dive bombing birds which attacked us on a daily basis.

It was great being so close to the animals and we got the chance to go on Round Island which is one of Gerrard Darrel's project islands. However, I did make one big bad mistake while on my expedition. I was sent out at 6am and told to look for the first skink and then monitor his or her behaviour all day. So the first one I saw ran under a rock and stayed there until 6pm when my fellow team member came to relieve me and take over the task of monitoring this skinks behaviour for yet another 12 hours. I laughed and joked how this skink had just sat under the rock and even lifted the rock to show my fellow mate that it was still there. Then it happened, this rare species was squashed when in my fit of laughter over my complete waste of a day and my shocking sun burn I lost grip of the rock and dropped it on the poor unsuspecting creature ooops! I felt awful and as you can imagine a fit of crying and laughing quickly followed, we promptly set about finding another skink which is not as easy as you would think.

Karma did bite me back on the arse though! On my way to Round Island I had felt sorry for my fellow team member who was being sea sick down below deck. So to try and help her I went to hold her bucket and hair back from her face. That is probably the worst thing you could ever do - note to self look at the horizon and ignore the sicky person or suffer the same fate. I quickly followed suit and at our final destination both myself and this poor little Chinese girl needed Adrenalin shots to try and get us up and running after losing half our body weight in fluid - sorry about the detail. Anyway, while being given injections and one of those awful replacement drinks my team members were unloading my kit bag on the boat and put a water but in my bag which was strapped to my back and I instructed to make my way up the mountain in my flip flops to the campsite. Amazingly no - one thought to bring my sleeping bag, clothes or boots, all was left on the boat which had returned to the main island and when radioed the cheeky thieving Mauritian dudes said they couldn't find it. I had to sleep in a bivvy bag which is made of plastic which made we sweat, then I got cold because I was lying in wetness which then went to my kidneys and then I had to be air lifted off the island because I had a kidney infection. Bad! I don't remember it all because I was a bit delirious and woke up on the main land in the medic camp. That's what you call karma, kill a skink end up in hospital!

Apart from that had a brilliant time with a lot of bumps and bruises. Would definitely recommend!

Thanks for tuning in

Stan x

The Secret! x

"Do not expect others to behave in a way, so you will be happy. Release yourself forevermore & know that you alone control your happiness and it is a choice no matter what anyone else is doing!"

I went on a trip to Turkey a couple of years ago and poured my heart out to one of my friends about how I hadn't found happiness and felt like I was on a constant treadmill of never achieving all the time. She asked me had I ever heard of the book called "The Secret". I hadn't and for a while I thought it was a Catherine Cookson novel. I found "The Secret" after a long search in a book shop with my niece in Heswall, it was unfortunate that she had just hit her head on bookshelf and was screaming the place down when the sales assistant handed me my very first copy - I have since given away two of my own. It had been in the back of my mind for at least six months whether I should indulge in this book of wisdom - I kept thinking can this be true, can a book really deliver a better life. I doubted it and kept myself in a state of denial and paralysed to move forward. On reading "The Secret" my life changed to be stronger, more focused and defiantly more positive. My friends started to read the book of the back of my positivity and the shift in my behaviour. I now have the dvd, my best friend bought it for me for my birthday, you see you have to share "The Secret" and it will always come back to you.

My friends are now either big fans of "The Secret" or without knowing have the power of the secret manifested in their behaviour already - I take my hat of to them, they know who they are. My friend Mika, who lead me to "The Secret" meet her now husband when she was feeling a bit homesick in Shanghai, she went to a film opening and met her soul mate at the premier - he woowed her, writing her love letters from England and now she is the proud mother of their first child. She married a superstar and she herself is brilliant, she has been my inspiration since reading "The Secret" - not because she married a famous person but because she mastered the secret, she made it work for her. I have made the secret work for me to an extent that I have the home and the job I have always wanted but I still want my soul mate so I have some way to go yet and need to learn that I deserve a man who loves me for who I am. I first need to love myself and make myself happy as the quote says at the beginning of this blog. So I have put my favourite cheeky photo of me at the very top, because this year I have started to love me and that is one massive achievement. If you can write "I love me" on a bit of paper never mind a blog then you deserve to be loved. I hope you find "The Secret" - I hope you love yourself because any other energy is a wasted one. Look within and take control - choose to be happy. I apologise if I have sounded like a book sales rep but it is good, try it.

Thanks for tuning in

Stan xx

Would you date these shoes! x

If I was to walk into the Dragon's den this would be one of my ideas. I have had the idea for a couple of years now but just wouldn't know where to start so if you could help me - I would really appreciate it.

I would run a dating website called www.wouldyoudatetheseshoes.com for the simple reason that a person's shoes can teach you a lot about their personality. When looking for a soulmate the first thing you should look at is their personality, so look at their shoes. Think about it - a man or a woman wearing Converse are cool - their shoes say cool and their music taste is probably Indie. If he is wearing square toed shoes, he is probably square.

Men who wear square toed shoes are trapped in a past era that they started wearing that shape shoe - they are school shoes and a square toe means a square personality. The girl how would be attracted to this man would wear a square or almond toed shoe - with a sensible heel. Both would probably be in jobs that bare a lot of responsibility.

A stan smith trainer says I have a council estate upbringing - but I may have escaped it because I still chose to wear them & I am reminiscent of my roots or just can't change. The girl who would date this man would wear a stan smith equivalent (or the Ugg) in the day but she would wear a killer heel to impress.

A brogue means Oxford upbringing or the equivalent. However, a man that wears a brogue like to think they have a certain sense of style like the Italians - they will probably have been to uni and see themselves as achievers. The girl who would date this man would wear a ballet pump in the day and a kitten heel to impress. This would be the William & Kate catergory.

A man wearing a Merrel should be retired! What are these shoes about? Why would you - they are comfortable, boring and retiring. A girl who would date this man would be a croc wearer - she has given up on fashion and wants a comfortable life, alternatives would be those trainers that tone your legs when you walk. This is the ugly shoe catergory.

A flip flop man - like to feel at ease, comfortable in his own skin, adventurous and ready to relax at any spare moment. A fellow flip flop girl would date a flip flop man, they are at ease with their unisex dressing.

I know this is a business idea that probably would work but I need the help so I am sending this idea out to the universe and if anyone has any great ideas of how to start this venture, get in touch. By the way I would love to date a converse shoe wearer!

Thanks for tuning in

Stan xx

New Sexy Lingerie & all for a bargain! x

There's no better feeling than a nice new set of lingerie, I suppose clean sheets comes close but when you have a new saucy set it gives you that extra confidence. A new top can give you a new look on the outside but a new set of underwear is your little secret, you know what you are wearing looks good underneath and that always makes you feel extra special. I wonder if men get the same sort of lift if they have a new set of calvin's on, answers on a postcard please ha ha!

Mum & I have been shopping over the weekend and have bagged some billy bargains that I would urge you girlies to get out and grab before they are gone. Go and spoil yourselves, the autumn is coming fast upon us and you all deserve a little bit of a lift, the tan is fading and soon you will be wrapped up in layers of knits and coats - cosy but not always a sexy look. Investing in a few new bra & knicker sets could keep a smile on your face through the winter, it could also give your boyfs a smile too. Elle MacPherson has opened up in Cheshire Oaks and her bra's are going for an absolute song. Some of the naughiest pieces were only in A cup sizes which is ok if you have boy tits as Keith Lemon would say but Mum got some of the bigger cup sizes for £5.00 -WOW! I had to spend a bit more because I have a common boob size - bugger! One of the bargains we got though was this bra in the picture (Elle MacPherson)with the matching knicks for just £10.00 in TK Maxx. Girls, how can you leave it in the shops for that price.

We have seriously kitted ourselves out in the lingerie department this weekend so if you are wondering what the extra swagger is in the footstep and the extra liftage in the bust area is, it was the shopping spree at the weekend. Go and treat yourselves! Everyone loves a Billy Bargain and everyone likes to feel sexy - Brilliant combination. Happy shopping.

Thanks for tuning in.

Stan x

Are you an owl or a planker? x

This is a photo of me planking in Le Cirque in India. We went for dinner with the equivalent of India's answer to "Made in Chelsea". They rocked up in their curtained Rolls Royce complete with chaffeur and then had the pleasure of us showing them our western ways. We first helped them sex text one of their prospective girlfriends, then we introduced them to the world of planking. I think they must have thought crazy western girls because the men thought we were fun but the women did not seem amused at all. These girls just didn't seem to know how to relax. Very uptight so I can only assume that we were like a breath of fresh air to our new indian male friends.

We had dinner which was small, overpriced and very rich - brilliant, it was a taste of Italy I had never experienced before but had a great time. We then left via several planking opportunities which we took great pleasure in photographing for our amusement once we got home. Christina my friend is an expert and I am a mia novice, she has even planked on a policeman's head & her friend has planked on the Great China Wall, wow! Have you ever planked or are you more of an owl? Or even the newest trend is horsemanning.

Discuss! Or even better send me your photo's.

Thanks for tuning in.

Stan xx