Fashionista: 20/12/2012

Name: Athi Msutu

Age: 26

Based in: Cape Town, WC

Profession: Currently completing a PhD in Chemistry

Clothing Style: Not sure how to explain my style...I guess it's eclectic because I draw inspiration from different trends and make it my own (you often do that when you are a pear-shaped girl). Whatever I have on has to always makes me look good and elegant.

About me: I'm a beautiful, intelligent and bubbly young woman. I love interacting with people and just having a laugh and good fun. Music is my passion and I sing all the time!!!

Thought of the day: "If music be the food of life...play on."

Facebook: Athi Msutu

Fashionista: 18/12/2012

Name: Nelile Croc Ngwenya

Age: 27

Based in: Nelspruit, MP

Profession: Travel Consultant

Clothing Style: If I look good in it, I'm wearing it.

About me: I'm a born again Christian, a powerful woman of God and I love the Lord. I'm bubbly, I loooove photos, I enjoy my own company. I'm also inspired by plus size women who know how to look and feel good.

Thought of the day: Proverbs 3v5 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Fashionista: 8/12/2012

Name: Vuyisile Masilela

Age: 28

Based in: Lekazi, Mpumalanga

Profession: Admin Assistant

Clothing Style: Comfort is my guide

About me: Single mum, who would do anything for her children.

First Official Fashionista

Hi ladies, it has been a while I know. I have been in Swaziland and getting access to the internet was a nightmare (I even tried to buy the mi-fi gadget from SPTC but that was a bust too), and my blogger app was just acting up so I apologize for that.

I was meant to do this about 3 weeks back but never really got the chance, but here we go.. and enjoy.

Our First Official Fashionista:

Name: Vera Chinga

Age: 27

Based in: Proclamation Hill, Pretoria

Profession: Business Development Executive

Clothing Style: Simple, comfortable and elegant.

About me: I am currently completing my honors degree in business communication. I have a beautiful 3 month old baby girl, Keitumetse.

The Chair Dilemma

Hi ladies...

It has been a while since I have written something. We can blame it on the preparations for the coming new year. Budgeting for January and February salaries sheeesh I hate that part of the job.

So Lerato sent me something she wrote about chairs and being plus size, lol I always look at the chairs in a restaurant before I get in and I have been doing it without even thinking about it for years now.

I for one loathe bar stools. Then some idiot seeing my avoidance will ask "are you afraid you'll break it", the thing is smaller than one of my butt cheeks what the heck do you think I'm afraid of??

Anyway here's what Lerato wrote, happy reading :)

The chair dilemma-

OMG! Have you ever gone into a restaurant or lounge area and the waiter shows you your table, and you go… “uhmmm, isn’t there a lounge area, I’d prefer to have the couch area today”; where you should have went… “Can I have a chair that I can fit in rather?”

I have, simply because some of these chairs are ridiculous! I mean even my smallest of friends look squashed in those seats, what of me and my size 42 curves?

Is it really necessary for those arm rests? Who wants to rest their arms while having cocktails? And please help me, why would you want to rest your arms with a good sea food platter in front of you!? It’s too much of an inconvenience…to my dear restaurant owners out there: Isn’t it cheaper to get chairs with no arm rest? Less material, less cost…think about it.

I really need to start a petition! To all the doctor’s waiting rooms and restaurants, and even the nutritionist’s offices (Reallly), please consider that not everyone is a size 34 max. It’s a rough battle to force your curves into a chair, it’s too uncomfortable a wait…and you look weird nje.

Please think for us…and to all those thin friends, please choose better restaurants next time you have a dinner outing, or a birthday party…I also want to celebrate with you, and not sit forward on the chair throughout making it look like I’m about to fall. Not cool!
-Lee

My Weekend

Food

Let me just confess I did not try and stick to healthy options this weekend, I did not even make an attempt to stick to moderate portions either and as a result I have gained 2.5kg just from eating badly on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to those 3 days the pants I am wearing today are tight LOL yeah blame it on the days huh?

So my boyfriend's company has this club where they organize activities for their members and this weekend they had decided to treat them and their partners to a weekend at Casa do Sol just outside Hazyview. The place is beautiful and the service impeccable.

Fashionista

The fashionista column from my website is now moving to this blog. This section of the blog is for those lovely curvy ladies to submit their photos and tell us a little bit about themselves via e-mail.

Please include in the e-mail:

1. Name and Surname
2. Face and full length picture of yourself
3. Age
4. What you do
5. Where you are based
6. Brief info about you
7. Clothing Style
8. Facebook/Twitter handle
9.Thought for the day

We have an example at the bottom to give you an idea of what it will look like:

Name: Lerato Mogamisi

Age: 25

Based in: Vanderbijlpark, GP

Profession: Process Engineer

Clothing Style: Anything that suits my body and personality goes on! :)

About me: I am an engineer by profession and a Diva (female hustler) other times. Very vibrant, spunky and fun loving. If it is fab, I do it... If it is classy, I wear it and if it is German, I drive it! LOL

Happy reading ladies! Oh the fashionistas will be added whenever we have submissions but a fashionista will have a whole day to shine, so if you do not see your photos and info up yet, do not fret.

Found this awesome pic on Tanesha's facebook page Girl With Curves check it out!

Crazy Diets

Hey all

Ok so I just read my first blog ever, and I had forgotten it even existed until I started this one yesterday. I had written about trying out a diet called the 5 bite diet lol I wonder how long that lasted. I see my stats on the 20th of October 2011 I weighed 93kg (204.6lbs), hahahahaha it has been more than a year and guess what I weigh today. Well it certainly isn't the 60kg (132lbs) I was shooting for back then, nowhere near that. See the thing is I am fine with that, I am no longer obsessing about being smaller but focusing on changes that will last me a lifetime.

Anyway I would like to believe I have grown up a little since then (thank goodness). I have done the following crazy diets before;

1. 5 bite diet

Drink as much of anything you want, as long as it doesn't contain calories.

·  Take 5 bites of any food at lunch.

·  Take 5 bites of any food at dinner.

·  Take one multi-vitamin every day.

·  Eat a bit of protein a day “on average.”

2. German diet
3. Liquid diet (Herbalife)
4. 2468 diet
5. ABC diet (this one was brutal)
6. Special K diet

I highlighted the ones that were fun to do for me, lol I know its crazy but they made me feel like I was losing my mind therefore I thought the weight would have to melt off.

All these "worked" at the time I did them but we all know the number on the scale isn't important because it doesn't show when most of the weight you lost was just water, or mostly a combination of muscle and the fat.

Most of the time when I did these diets I was so hungry I wasn't able to workout. So I was definitely doing it wrong. The one time I did the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels while I was on the 5 bite diet I thought for sure I would die lol, I started seeing white and green flashes of light and thought, this is it, I am gone from this world. (yeah yeah I know I was being dramatic) but crazy diets can drive u to insanity hahahahaha.

Day one

GREETINGS

So today happens to be the very first day after I published my Plus Side website, "pheew" it was tough letting go of my insecurities but www.plusside.co.za is up and running. Oh my word it has so many things that need to be corrected but heck I am proud of myself for having the courage to publish it.

Well I decided to do this last weekend when I visited some friends in Pretoria. I love to write, I write about anything most of the time which is why finding a niche for my blog has been hard because I am all over the place.

Publishing the site has helped me realize I can write about the things I put up on it, especially the photo shoots I do and my voluptuous ladies who are featured on our fashionista of the day column, which runs from Monday to Friday giving the ladies a chance during the weekend to decide if they want to feature in the following week's column.

WELCOME   

Everyone is welcome to submit their fashionista of the day pics as long as they qualify to be plus size. Now I know that this is completely subjective and nowadays as long as you are not stick thin you are considered plus size. I created this page for plus size women to get fashion inspiration from other fuller figured women like themselves. Hopefully some of the ladies will not be too shy to mention where they bought some of the outfits they have on in case someone wants to get it.

If you are reading this as a plus size lady you know how hard it is to find stylish clothes made for plus size women, I know things have been improving lately, but sometimes you need someone in the same situation to point you to the right direction.

BLUE GINGER PHOTOGRAPHY

This has been a project that started as a plus size
clothing line and photography business all put put
together.

Well the clothing line idea was put on hold when
the members decided everyone was to busy with
someone to fully commit to the project, and by the look of things there was already a blue ginger clothing line in existence.

So I decided to use the name for my photography business (which will function fully once I have received my qualification). Right now the biggest thing is to try and get over the fear of failure by starting a blog and promoting it.

Once I can do that, I will gain the confidence to promote my business once it is up and running (lol do I really believe this). Don't you just hate that voice in your head that sometimes pops up when you are saying something you are not entirely sure about? Lol if you never get it then please share your secret!