Curverellas in Nicky Rocket T-shirts

Its been a while since I updated you on how my  tee shirt brand Nicky Rockets is doing.
I'm delighted to report that it is going from strength to strength. It seems women all around the world are loving our designs featuring curvy, empowered chicks.
We are constantly looking to improve our size range and now offer a 5XL in a  lot of the designs and following lots of  requests now offer cardigans too.
Despite it being winter business is just as brisk and the trend of ladies sending us photos of themselves getting their Curverella on is more and more popular.
I can't tell you how happy this makes me. Seeing people feeling awesome in designs which started off as the pipe dream of  a fat girl in the North West of England is endlessly gratifying. I may be slightly prejudiced but I can't help thinking our customers are the coolest women in the world. Here is January's gallery of gorgeousness.

Januarys Curverellas

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a great believer that words need to be supported by actions.I was bored of never seeing representations of women who looked more like me on tee shirts and rather than just bitch and moan I got the fantastically talented Nicky Rockets to design one and used my own money to get it into production. It was a risk but now when I see beautiful girls of all shapes, sizes and ages rockin their tees I know it was the right choice. 

Thankyou as always to our beautiful customer base who continue to support us, send us messages and of course amazing pictures. If you want to join the fun you can tag your pictures on isntagram, we are @nickyrockets or email us and we of course have a facebook page and twitter account.

A brand new Cureverella design has just gone into production and will be available in a week or so so keep your eyes peeled!

JANUARY SALE over at  Nicky Rockets-Only a few days left!

We need to make room for new Tshirts in 2015, so we are having a MASSIVE sale on 2 of our designs. This years Halloween Tee is now only £5, while the amazing 'Mutiny for her Bounty - You gotta ask before you touch my booty' Tee is an amazing £7. There is limited stock, and they won't be reprinted once they are gone, so come down and grab a bargain -www.nickyrockets.com

All content (text, photos and other) are the property of Betty Pamper (aka Perelandra Beedles) unless otherwise stated. Please refrain from copying any material without recognition of the author and a link to the source on this blog

The (Hardcore) Breakfast Club

This time last year my stress levels had reached critical mass. I have always packed a lot into my life but starting a new part time university lecturing role on top of working on the Nicky Rockets brand with my husband, running the vintage Pamperbox, writing and of course being a mum meant I felt ragged around the edges.For the first time I questioned whether portfolio working was still a good fit for me.
I was permanently exhausted and yet the quality of sleep I was achieving was awful. I would toss and turn in bed, unable to drop off, eventually succumbing to watching something on netflix until 1am (sometimes even 2am) and then 7am when the alarm went off I would feel awful.

My husband Nicky has always been an early riser. He also sleeps like a baby and I would lie watching him gently snoring and wish I was a "morning person" rather than a "night owl"
During  a particularly gnarly time when I had quite a few writing deadlines and some university work to mark he suggested that just for a week or so I get up with him at 5am. 
At first I thought he was insane but given my schedule and the fact that I effectively have to down work tools at 3.15pm every day to collect my daughter from school thought I would try it out.
Like most people the thought of getting up so early actually slightly scared me,my only experience of being up and at them before sunrise has been when I go on holiday and of course when I worked in TV as a director I would have to get up ridiculously early to be on filming sets but I never adjusted my sleeping patterns so these were examples of enduring an early start and fueling it with sugar and caffeine.

I wont lie the first few days were hard. I felt physically sick. It seemed as if I had literally just shut my eyes and now here I was getting up again.I think if I hadn't told myself this was a short term plan to get me through a pile of work I'm not sure I would have managed even the first week.
Except... I did get through the first week and after two days of being exhausted i was in bed by 10.30pm.Rather than watching hours of TV and playing on my phone I was fast asleep, a deep uninterrupted sleep which meant when i woke up I felt really invigorated.
I started to look forward to the magical hour between 5 and 6 where the world gently snored but I got to sit quietly with my coffee and plan my day. 
My mountains of work decreased as by 7am I had already made a healthy inroad into unanswered emails, writing work and university lesson planning. This in turn meant that I wasn't constantly feeling anxious about the amount I had to do.
Interestingly what has also resulted from this new habit (and it has now become a habit) is that rather than just cramming more work into my schedule I have actually been able to take the time to work out what I need to step away from. 
My time was so busy before I was the definition of a busy fool, giving each activity equal status and attention rather than acknowledging that somethings just can't figure in my life as I have neither the time nor the inclination to invest in them.
Researchers claim it takes 66 days to hard wire a new habit and I would agree that it took a couple of months for my new wake up time to become the norm but now that it is I feel almost evangelical about its benefits.

Having always assumed I was a night owl I have learnt that my maximum performance time mentally is actually earlier in the day and that an earlier bedtime is essential to facilitate this. 
The benefits of this new small but mighty lifestyle choice  have been amazing including:

• My moods have felt more leveled out and I have felt less general anxiety
• My creativity has increased tenfold as I now feel I have thinking space
• My skin and general appearance has improved as I am getting such a good quality of sleep

I understand this approach may not be for everyone but once I joined the "5am club" as its called and looked into it more I discovered that its a practice used by many of life's high achievers.Politicians, business people, writers who all find getting up at 5am gives them a feeling of  control and sets them up for a day of focus and purpose.

It's been a game changer for me and if you are feeling overwhelmed, your "To do" list has become a novel and you are permanently tired but can't switch your brain off enough to sleep I could recommend it more.
A few months into  this new routine I  discovered a writer and motivational speaker Robin Sharma who is also a devote of the 5am Club and has loads to say about the benefits so if you are interested here is a video he has made about it.

Will you be setting your alarm at 5am tomorrow?

JANUARY SALE over at  Nicky Rockets-Only a few days left!

We need to make room for new Tshirts in 2015, so we are having a MASSIVE sale on 2 of our designs. This years Halloween Tee is now only £5, while the amazing 'Mutiny for her Bounty - You gotta ask before you touch my booty' Tee is an amazing £7. There is limited stock, and they won't be reprinted once they are gone, so come down and grab a bargain -www.nickyrockets.com

All content (text, photos and other) are the property of Betty Pamper (aka Perelandra Beedles) unless otherwise stated. Please refrain from copying any material without recognition of the author and a link to the source on this blog

Fat Yes, Weak? I Don't Think So: Betty Pamper's Thoughs On This Girl Can Campaign

I have been absolutely loving the This Girl Can campaign.A sassy celebration of active women everywhere highlighting  that whatever your size, ability or previous experience, sport and exercise can be a fun and enjoyable part of our lives.

It is a national campaign, developed by Sport England and delivered in partnership with a wide range of organisations which addresses the persistent gender gap that sees more men play sport than women at every age.

This photo was the centre piece of over two pages of online abuse. the reason? I'm fat and I'm in running gear

Only last year I was subjected to my own personal reddit page dedicated to calling me a fat disgusting bastard. Runners from around the world were choking on their protein shakes when I dared to write a blog post about running  and failed completely to get the irony of my  "Too fat to run" teeshirt.
Everything from the fact I was wearing lipstick to how awful my ankles were (who knew, they look perfectly normal to me) was attacked, is it any wonder woman need encouragement to take up running, join a gym or book an exercise class.

This woman can

Public exercise is still viewed as an activity that only  slim and outwardly "fit" looking people should do and yet if I had a pound for every heath pundit I have ever heard telling me to "get out there and exercise" I would be a wealthy woman. As a fat woman I have been lectured all my adult life about how I should move more, eat less (always by people who have no knowledge of how much of either of those activities I actually do)  and yet these same people will turn their noses up as I jog  past, beetroot red in the face, fat legs chaffing.

Week willed? I feel strong

So this advert and the energy around it is most welcome. 
I particularly love the strength emanating from these woman. 
Plus sized woman are too often viewed as weak. Weak willed, physically weak, pitiful without discipline or strength of character-how else have we "allowed" ourselves to become so repulsive.
Well I don't feel weak I feel strong, and certain and powerful.

lets spam the internet with pictures of women being strong, diverse and awesome

It is this need to ensure that not all pictures of plus size women are of the curvy pretty type (which I adore and is my go to style) which makes me switch up my looks, try out cosplay and help design teeshirts featuring a plus size warrior woman kicking shit out of zombies, being a pirate or a time traveler. 

I am a strong, disciplined fat woman-I am not unique

I believe the more female diversity we spam across social media the less entrenched we will all be in the "acceptable" face of beauty and health.
This campaign and the many, many body positive bloggers who continue to bring it every day (often in the face of unbelievable online hostility and abuse) tell the world that women can and should do whatever they want and look any way they like while doing it. 

This blogger can and so can you.

Plus Size Blogger Girl Power On The Hour

This weekend I was invited to a bloggers tea party and photoshoot by the brand Scarlett and Jo

I plan on doing a detailed post on the clothes and designs once the photographs are available but until then wanted to talk about how wonderful it was to spend a day in the company of strong, smart women.

Plus size fashion blogging like any other creative pursuit attracts all kinds of personalities. People’s reasons for blogging are many and varied.

 For some it’s a hobby, for others a full time concern and for lots of us it’s a part time activity that supplements other incomes and offers wonderful opportunities.

When you get invited to blogger events you are thrust into a social situation usually with people you barely know or have met maybe once and by virtue of the fact that you all love clothes and style are meant to have things in common. You would imagine the conversations flow. Sometimes that is the case but often bloggers are shy and not massively comfortable just going up to people and starting conversation. Many bloggers are far more extrovert when they write than in real life, or certainly are not as outgoing unless they feel they are in a safe space with people they know and trust. So whilst every invitation to an exciting blogger event is appreciated you are never quite sure what the vibe will be.

The train selfie-forever the blogger cliche

When I arrived at the beautiful Home house in London for the Scarlet and Jo shoot (with Nicky Rockets in tow who did a fantastic job of the photography all day)  I knew there were a couple of bloggers attending who I consider real friends Elena and Becky 

Elena from the blog Frivolous Mrs D and Becky from Mrs bebe.com

I kept bumping into these two beautiful creatures at events and am so lucky that they have become my mates in real life too. I was excited to spend some time in their company as we all live so far away from each other that much of our friendship takes place over messages.

Hollie from the blog Pretty Big Butterflies

I had met Hollie, Georgina  and Mayah once, yet again at blogger events and whist I knew they were friendly had never really spoken to them for long.

Nancy fromSugar darling

Nancy I had the chance to spend the whole day with on a simply be photoshoot last year so I knew she was a dollychops and Gloria I had never spoken to before.

With flame haired beauty Georgina from She might be loved

Every single one of these women has amazing style, really good blogs and youtube channels and a strong sense of identity and whilst the suite we were in was awesome it was average size so there was no escaping each other. It could so easily have been awkward or people could have gone off into sub groups but as is so often the way, you put strong women together and they actually lift each other up and it becomes a full on party.

Gloria Shuri Henry from the youtube channel Glowpinkstah

The day flew by, an endless conversation, peppered with jokes, recommendations, stories, advice it was just fantastic.

Mayah from the blog Beautiful Youniverse

There is a lot of lip service paid to the idea of the plus size “blogger community” and when people disagree on things or decide to take other paths it’s easy to feel that actually it’s a divided movement connected only by the fact we all write about clothes on the internet. What this day did for me was reaffirm that plus size bloggers from all walks of life tend to share one value and that is they will not accept that because of their shape or size they deserve less. They believe it for themselves and passionately want to spread the word. And when women with convictions like that get together the end result is magic.

what superfine ladies Elena and Hollie are

After a day of modelling, cupcakes and applying lots of make up we all went to Wagamamas for some food with the Scarlett and Jo team and I left that dinner feeling on top of the world.

Inspired to have connected with some truly sassy cool women who I very much hope to spend time with again.

Viva le Plus size bloggers! I have included links to all these fine ladies blogs and youtube channels on their names so if you don't follow them already hop on over and show them some love. Tell them Betty sent you.

All the clothes worn by these blogging beauties are from a soon to be released collection by Scarlet and Jo (with a few available already) 

JANUARY SALE over at  Nicky Rockets

We need to make room for new Tshirts in 2015, so we are having a MASSIVE sale on 2 of our designs. This years Halloween Tee is now only £5, while the amazing 'Mutiny for her Bounty - You gotta ask before you touch my booty' Tee is an amazing £7. There is limited stock, and they won't be reprinted once they are gone, so come down and grab a bargain -www.nickyrockets.com

All content (text, photos and other) are the property of Betty Pamper (aka Perelandra Beedles) unless otherwise stated. Please refrain from copying any material without recognition of the author and a link to the source on this blog