by | May 17, 2012

A whirlwind few weeks

Hello lovely pin ups!

We haven’t run away from PPU, just been run off our feet doing glamorous and not-so-glamorous things!

A couple of weeks ago Mimi and our lovely friend Lola met the incomparable Dita von Teese at Liberty London, and came to meet me for cupcakes at Bea’s of Bloomsbury afterwards – three excited pin ups and we even found some suitable china cake stands…

We’ve been learning a new routine at burlesque class – this is my first course and I’m hooked, I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to find something I now can’t imagine not doing! I’ll do a proper post soon but it perks up my Wednesdays (actually my whole week) like nothing else I’ve ever tried or done :)

I’ve also been to Paris for my oldest friend’s hen do, complete with sparkly heels and feather boas, and saw the Moulin Rouge… from the outside! We did a pub crawl in the area, but didn’t venture inside this time. I liked Paris, but didn’t fall in love with it as everyone said I would… not sure why. Perhaps on my next visit!

Discovering an ostrich feather supplier near my day job, daydreaming about a solo performance and the props and music I’d use, and practising my walk and our current burlesque routine at every opportunity have also been key features of the last few weeks… I think the tally of people I’ve startled mid-routine while walking up the stairs at work is now running at 4. I’ll try and double it in a fortnight :P

And now I’m getting ready for a canal boat trip next week – which will be fabulously fun, even if it pours with rain! I am of course taking my red lipstick…

Lotta xx

PS I’m almost a whole stone down too – roll on the photoshoot in June!

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by | April 11, 2012

What’s in a name?

Well, turns out names can change as you do – one of the wonderful things about having a Pin Up name!

With the advent of burlesque class, and having had a chance to tell people my alter ego’s name out loud, I have realised two things… I am more of a Lotta than a Carlotta (I’m an Enid Blyton girl through and through) and Carlotta Cobalt, while lovely, doesn’t trip off the tongue easily enough. I also feel like I’ve grown and changed in the months since I found my first pin up/burlesque name.

So here I am, still myself, but hereafter to be known as Lotta Fiero :) (Lotta from Mr Galliano’s Circus, and because it’s vaguely Italian, like my real name; and Fiero because it sounds fiery and means proud!)

:D

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by | April 5, 2012

The D word

D is for delicious. D is for devils food cake. D is for duck, D is for double cream, D is for dulce de leche.

The word diet does not usually enter my vocabulary.

So as I may have mentioned in previous posts, my best friend is getting married in July. This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting things ever. However, she brought my bridesmaid’s dress round the other week (which we bought last May, when it fitted). Ahem. It doesn’t fit quite so well any more. In fact, there is a (smallish, but still there) gap where the zip is absolutely not going to do up.

This means I have to shift some weight. Now this in itself is quite bizarre because a) I like my body and b) I like my body. I don’t diet. Occasionally I will alter my eating habits in order to make sure my clothes still fit me, but on the whole, dieting and watching my weight is not something I do. (Healthy living, on the other hand, is something I have been meaning to pay more attention to for a long time).

But in order to fit into this dress (there are three other bridesmaids so we can’t change the dress, therefore I am doing this because I love Julia, there is literally no one else in the world I would diet for), I have to lose some inches from my middle, unaided by a corset.

This means calories.

I have never in my life before noticed calories.

Now I am counting them, trying to stay within a daily limit of 1440, and my god it’s hard work! No longer can I just nom my way through three crème eggs a day (yes, I know, that was a bad habit of mine), or bake excessively and eat half the results on the train on the way to work for breakfast. No longer can I have cheesecake on a whim (this hurts the most, I bloody love cheesecake).

On the plus side, this means I have to do exercise, and as there is no way in hell I am ever setting foot in a gym again, I have joined a burlesque class (dancing and shimmying in a corset with wonderful friends – cannot in any way be a bad thing) and I shall be rollerskating again with a vengeance. Which is good, I miss it, and this is exactly the boost I needed to get me going again on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe I’ll even learn to stop safely now?!

In theory I am doing more walking, in practice I have so little free time I’m still leaping on a tube or in a car at any available moment, just to try and get everything done. Thinking that I should stop driving to a massive breakfast to start my weekends though, and maybe walk to a slightly smaller one?!

I don’t think I have to drastically alter my figure, but I do need to get into this (admittedly stunning) dress by the end of June, as the wedding’s in July. As an extra incentive, I’ve booked a boudoir-style photoshoot (with the same photographer Mimi had recently) – partly because I’ve always wanted to do something like that, partly because it’s something else to aim for :)

Wish me luck! I promise not to become a weight-loss bore and I have no intention of losing my curves completely… but I might occasionally check in with how I’m doing, just to keep myself on the straight and narrow.

Kisses,

Lotta xx

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by | March 26, 2012

Ask and…

Just a brief post, because this Pin Up has places to be… namely in bed with a good book, hehe!

Today I learned an important lesson. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. If you do ask, you frequently do get. I’m relaunching my Etsy shop but needed permission from the company I work for during the day in order to be able to trade.

I have ummed and aahed over this for AGES, and eventually decided that honesty is a hallmark of a Pin Up girl, and that anyway I’d hate to be fired for breach of contract further down the line. So after asking myself what Lotta would do in my shoes, I flicked my hair, put my heels and red lipstick on (yes, I chose Monday – Pin Up Monday was invented for a reason!) and asked.

And the result? No problem, provided I don’t use their company time or equipment to work on my own venture. Which is entirely reasonable, and I work so hard for them it’s not like I have time to do that even if I did want to.

So lesson firmly learned, I practised my wiggle-walk all the way home, and proceeded to celebrate with large quantities of chocolate cheesecake. Perfection. Here’s to the future!

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by | March 25, 2012

Picking Your Pinup Name, Part II

I have already written a little about picking your pinup name, but as the subject came up at the end of my burlesque class last week, I thought I would add a few more thoughts to the subject!

The most important thing is that your name should suit you, your look, your personality. There should be a reason you picked it; people will ask! No point going for cute and fluffy if you are more of a femme fatale! Taking your own name as a starting point can give you some good ideas…think Fleur de Guerre who based her name on someone mishearing her actual name. You can keep your initials, or use a nickname version of your first name…so Elizabeth could become Lizzy or Betty or Lilliebet and so on. Anne Smith becomes Aurora Sparkles…

Then of course, you can look at some of your favourite things. Try starting with your favourite colour, and work from there. Instead of just ‘red’ think of rouge, crimson, ruby, carmine, vermillion. I have a Pinup friend whose first name comes from a liquor that happens to be her favourite colour. A little alliteration is always pleasing too…

When you have your name, what to do with it? You could start a facebook page or a blog, set up an email address, or just get some business cards printed out. What about headed notepaper, or stitching your monogram on your pillowcase? Once you start thinking about it, there are so many ways to use your name!

And don’t forget the all important question…when you have found your name, if you are trying to make a decision, ask yourself ‘what would xxx do?’ and you will start to find your pinup style!

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by | March 25, 2012

Pinup Pictures

As I mentioned in my last post, I unexpectedly had the chance to have my own private burlesque boudoir photoshoot…and seized the day and signed up!

The big day was yesterday, and although I had thought I would be a bit intimidated, the photographer and her assistant were so sweet, and the atmosphere was so lovely that I found it really empowering and enjoyable. Things started well when I tried on the corset I had fallen in love with (black with red cherries!) only to discover…it was too big! It fitted in November last year, so I must have lost some weight. I did find a different corset that I loved, and was amazed by the witchery of corset sorcery as my waist almost vanished before my eyes!

I teamed my corset with red high heels and black frilly knickers, and went into the studio to get started. I normally hide from the camera at every opportunity, but was amazed how quickly I forgot it was there, followed the directions of my photographer and really started to enjoy things. I hadn’t really got any ideas for poses or shots, except for one – a friend suggested a photo taken with me in an apron and high heels with a cupcake! It turned out to be one of my favourite shots of the day.

This isn’t something I thought I was ready to do, but I am so glad I did. I love that I have a last record of my last days in my twenties, and that I did something just for me.

I will definitely be saving my pennies for the next shoot, which I think will be in September some time. Grace, the wonderful photographer is in and out of the country a lot, so much depends on her timetable. If you live near Essex or can travel here, you really won’t regret it!

Now I have realised that the camera isn’t the enemy, I might not be so quick to hide away at parties and gatherings. I would also like to save up for a more Pinup style shoot – the same kind of old school hollywood glamour but with more clothes!

When I got married, the one thing I wanted was one good photo, just one that I could look at and love. I was hoping for even less this time, just one photo that was ok. I had over 500 to choose from taken during 45 minutes, and 3 were included in my package. I ended up taking 9…there was one with a peacock feather fan that I thought ‘wow’ when I saw. Which does make me sound rather swollen-headed, I know, but it isn’t like that. It helps you see yourself a little more objectively, which I think is a good thing.

Do you have your one good photo yet? The one that you will keep tucked away somewhere, and bring out on the days you feel blue to remind you how fabulous you are? The one that you will have printed in black and white, and keep to show your grandchildren that as well as being a scandalous old lady, you were a scandalous young lady too?! If not, why not? Do something about it now!

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by | March 22, 2012

Upon Seizing The Moment

The trouble with any long term project is ‘one day’. It is good to have a goal for ‘one day’ but it can be all to easy to put things off to ‘one day’ and use it as an excuse for not living for the moment.

One of my early stated goals for Project Pinup was to get to a place where I felt fabulous enough about myself and my look to have a burlesque style photoshoot done. Now I don’t think I am there yet, there are still certainly areas I want to work on…but two days ago, I got the opportunity to have a free burlesque boudoir photoshoot done this weekend!

I have to say that for a moment I thought ‘its too soon!’ ‘I’m not ready’ ‘I’ve nothing to wear’ ‘I can’t’ but then I thought…you  know what, I am in the last week of my twenties. How fabulous it would be to have a photograph of me now as I am, looking amazing. Because ok, my goal is to look better and feel better…but I don’t have to wait for ‘one day’ to celebrate myself. So I am going with it, seizing the moment and taking a chance. I am armed with red lipstick and nailpolish and a pair of black frilly floozie knickers, and this Saturday will see me in the studio. I think when it comes to taking off my dressing gown I will be feeling nervous, but ultimately I think that when I am a little old lady I will be glad I did it.

I haven’t changed my mind about wanting a photoshoot when I have reached my goals…but I do love the idea of having before and after photos…and after all, I do have a tattoo that reminds me to seize the day…its about time I started living by it!

What crazy Pinup adventure could you have today?

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