Monki + meet up

Usually on Saturdays we take our time and wakeup without alarm clocks. I'll go out for a jog, come back and cook breakfast and we catch up on news and weekly stories we may have missed whilst getting through the week. Today however we were out of the house before 11 to meet up with our girl Rhi and also Tiffany of Fat Shopaholic (she's also made the move over to the UK for 9 months to study). We went to check out the East London Thrift 1 pound sale.

I was really excited to check it out because the 1kg 10 pound sale in Bethnal Green was good. It was clean, organised and it had a great selection of clothes. But yesterday we had to wait like an hour and half to get in, only to find a whole room full of clothes that were basically rejects. Stained, ripped and mouldy. SO NOT WORTH IT! The sectioned off part to their normal store had a pretty nice selection but the pieces that I managed to spy where all 20 pound and over so I was really disappointed in that. If you're looking for some key pieces to add to your wardrobe and don't mind paying some pounds then definitely check it out.

To be fair, if you are a straight size there were some cool jeans and overalls available for the pound but I wouldn't go again. The selection inside was not worth the wait. So I'm going to have to get out of London if I wanna thrift. I picked up a denim top, vest and 2 dresses that I'm going to cut them up and rework it.

Yesterday I wore my Monki Carla Tee available HERE and I decided to wear my good old faithful City Chic skirt because I didn't have to go to work and it wasn't freezing or raining! Boots are from New Look, these seem to be the closest one to them available online HERE.

Top Monki / Skirt City Chic / Lips Velour Australis / Glasses Street Stall NYC / Bow Philippines / Bracelet Samoa 

Waiting outside. The line went down the road and around the corner. Everybody was out hoping to catch a bargain.

I hope all of my Australian & New Zealand family and friends are enjoying the summer at home because I surely miss it. I'll try and keep my blog updated because I'm struggling to even find the time to write in my journal. 

Big Love & Seasons Greetings,

Mele 

Cut for Evans

My Look /  Dress -Made it / Boots-New Look  / Makeup NYX on the eyes / Peach Lips

Met these blogger beauties Nancy, Rosie & Becky. 

Two weeks ago I attended my very first unofficial blogger event in London. Even though I've been off the blogger radar for a while, it was nice to dress up, go out and meet new friends. Since arriving in London we've been extremely busy basically setting up our lives and doing boring stuff like work and we're usually buggered by the time the weekend hits.

So after randomly bumping into Callie at the Portobello Road Markets in Nottinghill, she invited us to come and check out the new Cut for Evans range launch at the Marble Arch store. We were running late and we didn't know what to expect, but we were surprised at the turn out of wonderful bloggers, fun music and flowing drinks.

My highlight was meeting the lovely bloggers, I recognised a few from Full Figure Fashion Week in NYC. It's also so nice to know that there are real things happening in Plus Sized Fashion here.


It's pretty exciting to witness young female designers have their dreams recognised. I'll applaud Evans on providing that opportunity and for being open to new ideas when it comes to plus size fashion. They definitely hosted a fun evening. My fave piece was the Purple Digital Print Bomber Jacket and that retails for 55 pound. Be sure to check out the collection and shop it HERE.

Managed to snap a quick shot of Ellie who designed half of the collection. Doesn't Cheryl Fergison look glam?

Doing those cool 'robot-arm' poses

Meeting these beautiful blogger babes <3 Picture from @daniellevanier

 Big Love,

Falala Mele

Beautiful people: CJ Wello

Our beautiful Koori girls sang and brought down the house. Keep an eye out for them in the future.

The visionaries of Waminda and current CEO of Waminda Faye Worner.

Proudest moment watching my best friend shine <3 You're the bomb sis!

Two months ago I was invited to attend the Waminda Ball that was held to celebrate 30 years of service to the Aboriginal Women on the South Coast in New South Wales. I've known of Waminda for as long as I can remember because my best friend's mother had worked with them for years.

It was a familiar office that we'd call into when walking through town. We would see the same faces and feel that sense of community when walking through the door. When you're a young Polynesian girl growing up in a predominately white community, you find community in a sense of familiarity and belonging and this was one of those places for me. 

As I've grown up and gone out into the world, I've had the good fortune of possessing a loving family, a hefty collection of true friends and a chance to travel and see outside of my community. I seem to come and go on the regular and upon my return I notice that too many things remain the same. Same jobs, same pubs, same people, same story; so much so that I could only ever seem to stomach the place for a good couple of months before getting itchy feet again. 

But when I arrived home late last year, I was eager to be back to rejoin with my Dead or Deadly Sisters. Dead or deadly is a well-being program offered by Waminda to Indigenous women in the community. This program taught me so much about health and well-being. It taught me how to move my body, how to increase strength and how to grow and encourage others to train and make healthier choices. 

Not only do Waminda offer programs led out by local Indigenous women but they are also committed to training their workers. These women are valued and it shows as they are paid above award wages. Waminda offers a whole bunch of SERVICES to the community and are continually growing every year. Services like this don't just pop up over night. Services like this are rare and I'm so proud of the women who continue to pursue the dreams of their Elders who envisioned a service to help Koori women thrive.

It is something that I am honoured to have witnessed. I've watched women walk through the doors and have been transformed mentally into a whole new vibrant life force. I was so caught up in my passion for this particular program that I failed to notice the metamorphosis of my very own best friend. 

The once well-known 'shy girl' -who asked if I could attend school Koori camp with her because she didn't know anyone else- was standing up in front of a room full of Elders and politicians proudly directing guests to their seats. I don't know how the hell I missed this one.

CJ was far from the quiet Koori girl who would only write me letters with the initials of the boys that she loved inside them. She had outgrown the girl who'd preferred not to walk to the school canteen alone. 

She was exactly what she was meant to be. 

A strong, knowledgable woman of culture and apart of Australia's future. She is driving towards closing the gaps of inequity for her people. She is a special soul sister and I'm thankful I was home to witness this. To Waminda and every woman who is apart of this service, thank you. 

I can't wait to see your achievements in the next 30 years.

Big Love,

Mele Falala