Top outfits of 2014

Considering I started Becky Bedbug as a personal style blog, I've posted very little in the way of outfit posts this year. It makes me sad, to be honest, because I really do love fashion and shopping but, for some reason, this doesn't seem to be coming across too well at the moment. Hopefully this will change in 2015 as I have a fair few resolutions that I will be sharing in a couple of days. I think next year is going to be the year of the bedbug! (Although, saying that, my introduction to 2013's top outfits is exactly the same!)

Anyway, I have at least posted enough outfits for me to do a little round-up as I did in 2012 and 2013. I'm also going to mention something that Leona recently pointed out- It looks like I never change my sheets. I do, I promise! I just prefer the toile de juoy ones so I pretty much only take photos when those are on the bed. 

January This pirate teddy jumper is pretty much one of my staple pieces over the winter.
February My bargain Topshop dress! (I'm actually wearing this as I type!)
March Ah, the My Little Pony jacket! I've never looked back! 

April My Bellatrix dress is pretty much the best dress I own! (Leona likes it a lot too!)
May This is one of my favourite outfits for work. It's just so easy to throw on in the morning. 
June What could be more summery than a pineapple playsuit?

July Wearing my rainbow dress for Pride.
August I'm a ballerina! 
September Skater skirts are my favourite and this deep red is one of my favourite colours to wear. 

October My peplum dress is the perfect little black dress. 
November I have to admit I've never worn this out since, you know, it's more of a Halloween look, but I bloody love it! 
December My first "Can fat people wear...?" with a big, fluffy jacket. 

I think my favourite look of all is the Pride rainbow dress. Which is yours? 

3rd Blog Birthday: My blog story and some thank yous.

To be honest, I'm really surprised to be type the words "3rd blog birthday". I've been blogging a lot longer than 3 years, for one thing. In 2002, I started a blog on Diaryland named Angel Baby. By the time I was 18, I had three very angst-ridden, anonymous blogs on there. One was a general "this is my life" blog, the other was just emo poetry and the third, most mortifyingly, was dedicated to dwelling on heartache after my first love broke up with me. In 2009, after Rich proposed, I took up blogging again with a short-lived vintage wedding blog, an even shorter-lived vintage shop blog when I decided it would be a great idea to start an online vintage boutique (it wasn't, and I still have hundreds of pounds of unsold stock). Around this time, I also created a personal style blog named, imaginatively, Becky's Vintage Wardrobe which lasted about 4 months before fizzing out. 

Becky Bedbug actually started in early 2011 when I got it into my head that I'd be an amazing illustrator and a blog would be the perfect place to showcase that! This lasted for a two whole posts. I know, my motivation is incredible! After being involved in Lookbook for about 8 months, I thought another attempt at a personal style blog would drive more traffic to my Lookbook profile. On 27th December 2011, I used the abandoned Becky Bedbug name and set up my ninth blog. I was due to start my first teaching position in January and hoped the blog would encourage me to actually make an effort for work each day. Let me tell you, that didn't work out! My blog, however, did. Somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how, I'd finally started a blog that stuck around.

3 years on, I've been completely overwhelmed by the amazing opportunities I've had through Becky Bedbug. Although I sometimes kick myself for not sticking with my early blogs (maybe I could have been Zoella before Zoella- Beckella?), I can't deny that things have worked out pretty well for me! 

Thank you to Rich, who helps me in more ways than you know- setting up the tripod, taking photos of me, sorting out technical issues, putting up with losing me to Twitter and much, much, much more!
Thank you to Grandma for being my biggest champion and always wanting to know what's going on. 
Thank you to all the wonderful friends I've met through blogging, especially Leona of course, and those who have supported me without judgement. Marie, I'm looking at you!
Thank you to everybody who makes me laugh on Twitter every day.
Thank you to all the bloggers I've met in real life. I'm overwhelmed by how warm you've all been.
Thank you to Kaelah who designed my blog (and I recommend to everyone!)
Thank you to all the people who have come on board #fbloggers and helped make it the dynamic, supportive chat it is.
Thank you to all the amazing brands who have worked with me over the years and thank you to the friendly, personable PRs I've spoken to. 
But, most of all, thank you to you, the person reading this post right now. Whether you've been reading since the beginning, or this is your first visit, I truly appreciate everybody who reads my blog. Honestly, I wouldn't still be doing this if nobody was reading.

As amazing as the past three years have been, I have a feeling the next years are going to be even better. I have big plans for 2015! 

25 facts about me

About 18 months ago, I wrote a 30 facts about me post. I'd been thinking about doing a new one when, funnily enough, Lauren tagged me in her post. I took that as the push I needed and started thinking up 25 new facts that you almost definitely won't know already. 

1. I only have freckles on one side of my face.
2. I've explained that Becky Bedbug was my dad's nickname for me as a child, but he also called me Snorkel and Pupster McGupster. (My little brother was Pup McGup)
3. I danced Latin American and Freestyle competitively for 9 years.
4. I am a perfectionist, but you wouldn't think it to look at my house.
5. I collect taxidermy.
6. My first celebrity crush was Zac Hanson, when I was 9.
7. The only hot drink I can stand is Starbucks gingerbread hot chocolate.
8. I own at least 10 onesies (I've lost count).
9. I was in a My Chemical Romance video (although you can't actually see me).
10. By the age of 11, I'd been on five cruises.

11. I am a chronic giver-upper. Becky Bedbug is the only hobby I've stuck at. 
12. ...Except for my diary-writing. That's still going (albeit sparsely) after 16 years!
13. I once had a reaction to my medication and asked Rich what sound blue makes (the colour, not the band!) 
14. When I was 17, I spent the night in a closed tube station doorway. 
15. Although my strength is in my intuitive phonetic skills, French is completely beyond me.
16. My panda hat once appeared on BBC Three
17. I am the least confrontational person in the world.
18. Speaking of which, I'm yet to discover a joke that offends me.
19. I have a crippling fear of Rich falling asleep when I'm in the same room.
20. I took a year out of uni 2 months in and it was the best decision of my life.

21. If I won the lottery, I'd spend the rest of my life studying.
22. I met Pat Sharp at my student union when I was at uni. He was... friendly. 
23. The first band I ever saw live were Hanson in July 1998. 
24. Rylan is pretty much my favourite current celebrity. 
25. My karaoke song is (or would be if I ever did karaoke) Livin' on a Prayer.

FF CXIX

I love Olivia's guide for festive things to do in London. 

Helen's Christmas looks wonderful! 

Christmas in Vienna looks perfect! 

Becky's bear biscuits are adorable! 

I love Andini's photos from Winter Wonderland. 

I love Louise's idea for a Christmas Eve Box. 

Alice has written all about our visit to Winchester Christmas Market. 

I adore Sara's kitsch fluffy outfit.

Other Favourites

Some of these award-winning photographs are breathtaking. 

A man waiting for the tube started singing Erasure's respect and everybody on the platform joined in. I love these shows of camaraderie. 

Christmas 2014

Top: Primark
Dress: Charity shop

Shoes: Charity shop

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas! As always, Rich and I had a quiet day at home but this year we decided to do something a little different and go out for Christmas lunch. 

I'm the sort of person who will wear the cracker hat all day. Yes, I wore it all the way home.

Rich isn't quite as convinced! 

For our pudding, we were served an incredible giant profiterole sprinkled with hazelnuts and filled with chocolate praline cream. It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten! 

Please do let me know how you spent your day. I'd love to hear all about it! 

Merry Christmas!

A quick post to wish all of my readers a very merry Christmas! I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful day!

(Oh and isn't this gift from my mum wrapped amazingly! I love the B tag so much!)

Christmas Eve 2014

Cardigan: New Look
Dress: New Look
Shoes: Charity shop

As I've done every Christmas for the past 26 years (2012 and 2013), I headed down to our local church for the Christmas Eve Christingle service. Usually the whole family goes together but as my grandma and grandad have gone on holiday this year, nobody was going. I'm a stickler for Christmas tradition and couldn't bear not going to Christingle, so Myles and I went alone. 

In 2012, a new vicar came along and changed the service that had been in use for at least the past 20 years. I was livid! As I've already said, I'm very fussy about my Christmas traditions and was not happy about the Christingle service being modernised. This year, to my absolute joy, she'd decided to return to the old programme. It really felt like Christmas! 


This sweet nativity scene was set up outside. Jesus looks a bit unusual. Let's take a closer look...

 Yes, he's covered in candles. Let's set Baby Jesus on fire. 

Myles the Orange Head! After taking this photo, the little boy in the santa hat that you can see in the background came running up to me asking to see the photo. He thought it was hilarious. What a cutie!

I had a great time but it definitely wasn't the same without all the family. Let's hope we can all get together next year!