A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of going along to a wonderful bloggers event held in Liverpool that was organised by the lovely Ruth of ruth-writes.co.uk
I wanted to go along in an effort to get myself enthusiastic about blogging again, give myself a bit of a kick up the backside to actually start working on posts, improve the look of the blog, pick up some tips and meet up with some local bloggers.
Last week I was invited along to an event at Bodytree Studio in Abu Dhabi for the unveiling of their new photography installation “Fashion Meets Fitness”. I was excited to attend as Bodytree was a favourite of mine when I first arrived in town and I’ve been meaning to get back there for a Yoga or Pilates class for a while now. Continue reading
Ethereal British Actress Tilda Swinton, 53 has been unveiled as the new face of the NARS 2015 ad campaign, a sneaky peak has been released.
Tilda Swinton photographed by Francois Nars
The campaign, shot by Francois Nars himself will comprise of four shots each featuring different product ranges, this one highlights the “Eye Opening Act” range. I think there’s a grand and almost Elizabethan quality to Tilda in this image.
I love Tilda, she is other worldly, unconventional and an exceptionally talented actress. Can I just say “That skin, though!” wow!
Look out for more of the shots from January 2015 onwards.
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Image Credits:
via Fashionista.com
After all that ironing the other day, I fancied some ME time. I am a big advocate of taking time to pamper oneself. I don’t seem to get the chance to do it half as much as I used to these days, unfortunately. I think it is important to take yourself out of the rat race we call modern living for a while and concentrate on doing something nice to yourself. It gives you time to relax, recharge your batteries and rearrange your thoughts. One of my favourite ways to chill out recently has been to have a good long soak in the bath. I’ve always loved a nice bath, a good hot shower is hard to beat, but a bath just seems so much more luxurious. My thoughts on this may well be connected to the lack of a combi-boiler in my youth! I like to add a good oil such as REN Moroccan Rose Otto Oil or some bubbles to my bath, sink down into it and float away! Mmm, bliss!
A bath was just what the Doctor ordered after having had the whole apartment up for a deep clean and my fight with the ironing board. I decided that since I have been well and truly neglecting my hair of late, I would give myself a hot oil treatment. You may recall that I am trying to embrace my original hair colour after many years (too many to mention here!) of being a bottle blonde. I had a lot lobbed off the length in September and haven’t really touched it since. My natural roots are down past my ears now and I am trying to convince people it’s meant to look like this, “it’s ombre” is the line I’m using. I have been told it looks nice, but you never know if people really mean it do you? Since laying off the dye jobs, my hair is probably in the best condition it’s been in since my late teens. However, the blonde is clinging on for dear life and the ends are a little on the dry side, so I concocted an oil mixture to give it a good drink.
We have a great shop here called Bin Menqash, it’s kind of like a spice shop I suppose. They sell all kinds of spices, natural soaps, flax seeds, nuts and oils. It’s a great place to pick up oils that can be used on the hair and body. I got some different oils there a while back, so I decided to put some of the Sweet Almond oil to good use. I also whacked in some Argan Oil (a friend had brought back from Morocco), Olive Oil and a few drops of Lavender essential Oil. Here are just a small example of the benefits of these amazing natural oils
♦ Please do not use or make this treatment if you have any kind of nut allergy as it contains Almond Oil
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Sweet Almond Oil
1 TBSP Argan Oil
A couple of drops of Lavender Essential Oil
Mix all the oils together in a glass jar (I used an old cleaned out Nutella jar, the contents of which are a distant memory, been dieting ever since!)
You can either place the jar in a bowl of hot water (not boiling) but I prefer to just float mine in the bath water as it is running. Do this for a few minutes until the oils are warm. You don’t want to heat them too much or they will lose their properties.
If you are not taking a bath then you will need to put on something old, as this stuff drips!
When the oil is warm start massaging it into your scalp, working your way down the length of the hair, until it is completely coated.
Pop on a shower cap or wrap your hair in a clean plastic bag, wrap a warm towel around your head and relax for 30 minutes.
Wash out the oil with some gentle shampoo and leave to dry.
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This treatment smells wonderfully good and my hair was so much softer and shinier afterwards, I think I may do this once per week from now on.
It really is amazing what these natural oils can do for our health and wellbeing. In this day and age getting back to basics can really be an eye opener! I probably would have spent top dollar on some kind of man made conditioning treatment in the past and not seen any improvement. Mother nature truly is miraculous and should never be underestimated!
How do you like to spend your ME time?
PS. I have been spending a bit of time getting to grips with and trying my hand at some picture collage software. I hope you like them? They have taken me ages! Room for improvement still, but I will get there in the end.
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The words of Joni Mitchell “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone” certainly rang true for me as I pined daily for my dose of the information super highway and my gateway to the world. I never really appreciated just how much I rely upon the internet. I use it to read, learn, dream, watch, speak to others and now I even use it to write! I was like a bear with a sore head without it, bordering on depressed even. How did this happen to me? How did I become so engulfed that I became stressed without it?
Like I said, it sneaked up on me and for the most part I would like to say that I utilised this global computer network for real and informative purposes like, how to butcher a rabbit or discover more about history. In reality however, a great deal of my time was taken up reading inane stories about a so-called celebrity’s new veneers and getting caught up in “Important News” about Jennifer Lawrence’s hair??? After several days of moping and wondering how on earth I was ever going to catch up on my soap operas, I decided enough was enough, I must return to pursuits of days gone by. I must remove from my pit and rediscover my imagination. I must fill my days in more old-fashioned ways (huh, maybe I should try poetry?). A trip to the Book Store was prescribed and the husbands’ wallet was once more emptied on things that will last forever, naturally.
Armed with my new purchases we were going to educate and illuminate ourselves. We were going to stop staring at our I Phones and converse. Embarking excitedly on our first game of Scrabble I sincerely believed this. However, several arguments and delves into the Dictionary later at 2am patience finally wore thin. Scrabble is back in its box, rather like a dodgy Kebab, I am not sure it agreed with us…. Thank goodness then, that my other purchases have been wholly more agreeable. In my opinion there is little better than snuggling up on the sofa, with a soft throw and lights dimmed with Charles Dickens.
Dickens writing awakens the imagination.
I love Dickens; his stories offer everything I could wish for from a novel, awakening my imagination like a juggernaut. It took me a year to read Bleak House!! (I’m blaming this on the internet takeover) I am determined to finish Nicholas Nickleby in record time. This is just what I needed to detoxify myself from Simon Cowell’s alleged Botox use or Kanye’s wrinkled leathers. For a few hours, I descended deeply into a menagerie of colourful characters imagining the rubicund and cadaverous Face of Mr Noggs, feeling the cold biting at my ears and nose as I travelled the length of the country atop a horse driven coach along with Nicholas and the small boys, smelling the streets of a London long gone. So this is what I did before the internet? Oh how I missed it and oh how it feels good.
Accompanying me and Charles, I am not ashamed to admit, is my other purchase the Oxford English Dictionary. They say (whoever they might be?) that it is impossible to count how many words there are in the English Language. It is fair to say that words get lost and replaced along the way. I am sure that my vocabulary is less rich than Mr Dickens, I strive to improve it and so I sit with a brick of a dictionary to do just that. My particularly favourite discovery so far is Hobbledehoy (a clumsy or awkward youth), what a fantastic word, who came up with that I wonder? Enjoying this occupation immensely I was unaware of the time, in comes the husband, putting the big lights on! (Men and Women like Chalk and Cheese, even when it comes to lighting!) “I’ve got the internet!!” he shouts. Surprised I wasn’t more excited by this announcement I put the Brick and Nicholas to one side, sighed and picked up my laptop.
Yeah, right! Who am I trying to kid! I was over the moon, ecstatic! I could speak to my parents on Skype and find out who killed Michael in Eastenders! Internet service is resumed and thankfully, the grizzly bear has departed. One thing that is not departing though is my date one afternoon a week, on the sofa, lights dimmed with Dickens, my imagination and brick. The internet is fantastic, I love it but living without it made me realise there other important ways to fill my days.
Do you have a favourite writer that awakens your imagination?
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