Homesicky sick!

It seems you either suffer from it or you don't
It's not like car sick
or flu sick
It's home sick
It does not just ache in your belly, but in your heart too.

Sometimes we're not even sure what we're missing, often there's nothing out of the ordinary going on back at home, but you simply want to be 'there'

I get this too- adults get it, kids get it, everyone inbetween can get home sick now and again, and the only cure is to just 'be' at home.

I get it when I spend a lot of time travelling, I'm about to head to Canterbury, Brighton and then Birmingham for Easter so I'm sure I'll get struck with a little 'home sick' then!

So for now I'm absorbing the little things I might miss, like having all my makeup and books to hand, my bath, my bed.
If I'm staying somewhere different for a while, before I leave my house, I put fresh sheets on the bed as something to look foward to come home to and somewhere lovely and clean to come back to!

Dreaming of homely home with you
And sharing lots of 'homey' love!

Spring/Summer nail polish

As the weather gets a little warmer and we all wear our sandals and flip flops, it's more important than ever that toesies get polished up like our nails.

Pastel colours (think lavendars, mint greens, butter yellows) are all
IN IN IN!
and even if you're not much of a 'nail trend' person (I'm not, I jsut buy what catches my eye)

no one can say no to these delicious colours!

I just want to pour them on my ice cream!

YUM-A-DE-DOO
P.S if you buy them from boots they are 3 for the price of 2! Yay!

Blonde in my hurrr!

So I got a little blonde in my hair to lighten it up all!

 I look like a metallic rooster!

And a lil' trimmy on the ends

I think blonde is fun when the weather gets warmer, it gives my hair a little more life and a little wamrth to my 'super pale' skin - Yes, my shade of skin gets a name of it's own as it's paler than even the palest I would say!

Do you like the dye your hair with the seasons, or maybe your hair naturally changes with the weather (I don't mean frizzy when wetted by rain!)

The cards we're dealt in life

This is the way that I like to look at things, when it seems as though everything is turning horrible and into mulchy goo on the ground.

I think of the ups and downs we handle, like a pack of cards.
When we were born we were handed a pack of cards- bigger than the 52-deck-kind that we get on Earth, some cards immediately make us happy, like the Aces- but in a pack of cards so big they can't all be Aces!
You've got to deal with the less great cards too, like the 2 of Spades.

And sometimes it seems like we've been handed a lot of successive rubbish cards, but that streak is going to end sooner or later- then we get back to the wonderful cards, like Queens, Kings, Aces.

You have some cards that are great and impact your whole life forever, long after that part of your life is over and the card has been tossed away: Like getting your dream job!

But of course, some cards impact your life forever for the worse long after they're gone too: Like someone you care dearly about no longer being part of your life.

But the great thing about cards is that it's all down to chance! You choose how you play your cards.
So you're faced with a four of clubs, and you're here thinking -what am I going to do with THIS? You can make whatever you want of it, but are you going to bail out of playing?
No Sir-ee!
You're going to keep on playing and make the best of what cards you do have!

So you might be thinking 'But I know people who seem to have only been dealt Kings and Aces'
This is another concept in card playing known as 'bluffing' no one, but no one is dealt a whole deck of the best cards, you best believe everyone is dealing with crummy cards because there's no avoiding it in a pack of cards so big. Perhaps they've just played their cards right, and made the best of the rubbish ones to prolong the effects of the 'best' cards

Mid weeks are hard, Mondays are hard- Every day is hard!
But just keep playing, just keep dealing with the card in front of you treasure the lucky streaks and persevere with the unlucky ones.

"What'cha Geisha up to?"

I remember being around 12 or 13 years old and deciding that I might quite like to be a geisha when I was older!
I always had a bit of a 'thing' for the oriental culture and I remember my mum buying me lots of pairs of 'silky' feeling oriental pyjamas, with gold stitching of the special writing and special gold toggle fastenings and lanterns that I'd hand from my ceiling, and the red fans to choreograph dances- they were so fun and fancy when I think back!
My nan got me a pair from the charity shop and they came in a red silky case with matching red silky slippers with shite fluff edging and gold stitching. They came from somewhere very unexotic like Marks and Spencers I think, but they ignited my passion to be a Geisha!

They're walking works of art, down to their makeup, wonderfully luxurious clothes, the way they speak, walk, sit, eat- everything! Who wouldn't want to go to parties for a living?

I read an anthropoligst research book on Geisha's that somewhat revealed that it's not all fun and games as I thought... but my love for Geisha lives on!

So, since all my walls are white and blank, I feel as though I'm old enough to invest in some real lovely art, rather than my posters from teenhood!

I tried to describe to a local artist (and friend) what I wanted- I sounded a lot like this
"I sort of want a geisha portrait....with blue skies...a parasol and kimono... pretty....and red lips"
from my jibberish, she recreated exactly what I wanted, as though it had just fell out of my brain onto a canvas.

I'm  trying to cosy on down in my bed but I can't stop looking at how beautiful she is!

It's fun to surround ourselves with beautiful things that can sweep us away to wonderful dreams...

Everyone's doing 'it'!

"Everyone's doing 'it' don't 'cha know?"

Why of course I'm talking about holidays-

Everyone is going on holiday or booking them right about now

-So here's my dream holiday breakdown, and then I want to see yours:

We could refresh ourselves in the underwater hotel in Figi

Float up to the surface and through Hawaii!

Stop off for lunch in the Phillippines

Then watch the sunset in Thailand!

In our imagination- flight times, jet lag or any other boundaries are non existant!

Writing from my room, but dreaming of sand between my toes!

Ice Cream Sunday!

There were a lot of things 'ice cream' about today... and it's a Sunday/Sundae - d'ya get it? Haha...

Ice cream makeup- pale pink, raspberry pink and purple with a vanilla colour on the brow bone!

Ice cream coloured top, with delicious looking bows

Ice cream coloured jeans- these are my delicious lilac pair!

Ice cream coloured jacket (you can get blue ice cream, right?) from Harajuku at TK Maxx

Vanilla coloured shoes!

Sprinkles to top it all off!

Ice cream coloured sky tonight- this simply must signify sweet dreams! And an even sweeter week to follow

Sweet, melty, dreamy dreams!

Sister, Sister

Today was my sisters birthday, so we drove on down to see my sister!

One & only and favourite sissy! (She had not been awake long when I arrived and as you can tell, less amused by a camera lens in her face)

She got this fanciful picture of shoesies! All in a pretty and modern frame to jazz up her house! We both agreed pictures like this are way more fun than modern art where you can't distinguish anything specific, just fragments of 'what might be'

 

You are never too old for a Colin Catterpillar cake!

Just wanted to show you these lil' chicks in the mail this morning! They made me laugh so much, the one in the middle on the floor looks as though he went through some real trauma in the post! 

I love spending days with my sissy! It's not like when we were younger and would get to see each other every day! We had a fun day of shopping and picking a pretty dress for her to wear to a wedding, and then we ate lunch at one of our favourites 'Cafe Rouge'

I love wonderful and sunny Saturdays, and Birthdays!!

Heading to the theatre!

So my friend and I saw a real cute Roald Dahl play at the local theatre- I've just got back and I'm here to share with you my fancy (not at all fancy) pancy theatre attire!

(take note of my pink towel I used to dry my hair, acting as a lavish and high budget back drop!)

Face:
Simple moisturiser
Bare Minerals foundation in Fairly Light
Bobbi Brown shimmer brick for bronzer
Mac Desert Rose by MAC
Bobbi Brown shimmer brick for highlight

Eyes:
A little concealer
Brown Eyeliner by Bare Minerals

Lips:
Lip pencil by MAC shade Dervish
Clear gel lipgloss

What I'm wearing:
Black longsleeve shirt from H&M
Black cardigan from Next
Black shoulder pad jacket from H&M originally but I got it from a charity store near me
Fun tassle scarf has no label and I got it from a charity store
Black 'treggings?'(or so someone told me they were called that) from TK Maxx
Black ankle boots from New Look

-whew- a lotta black!
Black all over can look kind of dull and 'mourning' like but I figured the bright scarf brought it up a notch!

First bloom of Spring!

I'm very relieved to be able to finally upload my first makeup tutorial for spring.
It's very beautiful and understated- and blue is one of the freshest colours that there is (except for maybe a lime green)
So we most definately should put it on our eyes to signify the new season.

I especially love this look for the afternoon/evening- garden parties and Spring Flings and all other shenanigans that one might get up to on Spring nights!



Let me know if you'll 'dare to wear' a blue eye this Spring- even if you wear blue all the time!

So you think you're too OLD for a slumber party!?

While arranging to stay at my friends house we decided to make it a fun theme like the 'old days' when staying over for slumber parties were the greatest thing ever!I remember being so excited I couldn't sleep on a Monday for a Slumber party on the Friday or Saturday!
So here's a little look at what was in my sleep over bag I wish I had pictures from what I would take when I was 12 or so to do a side by side comparison!

Fuzzy slipper-boots from Next!

Bedtime socks to trot about in or keep your tootsies warm!

Disposable toothbrush so you can throw it away the next day!

Fuzzy Jammas!

Mini toiletories bag!

Moisturiser and face wash!

Bottle of water to take to bed so you don't have to get up in the night and feel your way to a foreign kitchen tap for a drink!

We watched a lot of back to back episodes of Friends until my eyes cemented shut!

Fun fact of the day: I Forgot to tug the tag out of my pants and was waking around with it alllllll day and didn't notice until I changed 30 mins ago, luckily it was on the inside.

Did you use to/ still do love slumber parties?

Tuesday Fresh Makeup!

Today I decided to go for a pretty sky blue on my eyes as it was a beautiful sunny day (I was way too hot in my white thick cardigan!)

On the face:
Laura Mercier Moisturising foundation
Blusher from MAC shade Mocha
Bronzer and highlighter Bobbi Brown shimmer brick
Bare Minerals Mineral Veil Finishing Powder

On the eyes:
Shroom MAC all over the lid
Steel Blue from Maybelline Eye Studio in shade Shiny Nude #70 with MAC Fix Plus on outer half of eyelid
Matte Black in the crease blended to 'dampen' the blue and make it less bright
Black Eyeliner along top lashline (really thin amount)
White eyeliner on the waterline
Black Mascara

On the lips:
MAC pencil in shade Dervish
Bare Minerals lipgloss in shade Destiny

What's THE JUICE?

To help make getting up out of bed, I like to have a breakfast I can look foward to, to make the transition from asleep to awake a little easier.
I'd consider myself to still not be a 'morning person' but people  often ask
"How do you have so much energy in the mornings!?..I thought you said you weren't a morning person!"
I never really thought about the answer, until I realised it probably has a little something to do with my breakfast. I call it my 'Super Sweet Detox' because it is all three of those things!

So here's how it goes...

Take yourself a melon (Galia or Honeydew)
A handful of Blueberries
3 Applies

Chop it all up! The size of the pieces depends on how good your blender is- mine is an old rickety thing so I have to cut pretty much everything up into bite sized pieces

Throw everything in the juicer as you chop it up, it doesn't matter what order you juice it as it all gets mixed together anyway! Of course, Blueberries can go in as they are

You should have enough there for about two days- store it in the fridge in the meantime!

Voila! The end result (alright, alright I know it looks a little incy wincy bit like someone vomited, but thats the texture of the apples- If you buy apple juice and it looks like that, then it's the 'real deal' and fresh from the apple) If you want the colour to be a little more vibrant, throw in some more blueberries!

Why you should try this...
It is filling despite it being a liquid form- if you really can't handle having nothing to chew on in the morning then have a banana too!
It simply tastes good
You can sip it on your journey to work (less rushing around in the morning)
It is thoroughly good for you (unlike most cereals which have a lot of junk in them even when marketed as 'healthy')
It gives you more energy and the energy is released slo-o-o-w-l-y so that you can power on for longer
Blueberries are a superfood- they hold magical powers (well kind of) here's what research tells us:
-Blueberries can improve memory
-Blueberries can postpone the onset of cognitive problems frequently associated with aging
-Blueberries can reuce damage to muscles following overly taxing exercise
-Blueberries can protect the nervous system from stress
-Blueberries can protect the retina from sunlight damage and oxygen damage

Top tips...
If the thought of getting up in the morning to prepare this fills you with horror, prepare it the night before and store it in a jug in the fridge
Take the seeds out of the melon to half clean up time (those pesky seeds get everywhere)
When an apple is blended, it all tastes the same so you may aswell go for the cheapest

Happy juicing!

Mother Mummy Mama Mom Mum Ma

Defined as:
Heart healer
Happy maker
Supporter
Comforter
Sacrifice maker
Listener
it goes on and on and on and on!

This day in England is Mothers day, or Mothering Sunday.
A day to cherish our mothers, but remember- you don't need a special day to cherish your mother, they're beautiful diamonds in our hearts that should be admired always!

Maybe things with your mum aren't so peachy, maybe you have an Aunt, Grandma, Sister or friend that has been a mother instead!  Let them know how thankful you are to have had them when it felt like we had no one.
Mothers treasure kind words more than fancy presents, a home made card says so much more than a shop bought one- everyone will tell you that, not just mums!

If you want to get your mama a little something but are out of cash or time , watch my 2 minute video on how to make a foam boquet of roses.

All you need is:
Foam (colour for the flowers, and green for the leaves)
Scissors
Pipe cleaners

What you don't need:
Glue
£$£ a lot of money!$£$
a creative 'flair'



1. Cut out a strip of foam and keep one edge of the strip with a straight cut edge, make the other side kind of wavy to look like petals

2. Cut out a doughnut shape foam (circle with a hole in the middle) and cut the edges kind of wavy, so they look petal-like

3. Take a green pipecleaner (this is your stalk) poke it through one side of the jagged strip and wrap the strip up tightly, secure it in place with the doughnut shaped part pushed up and over the rolled up strip

4. Cut out a leaf shape (2 per flower should be enough)

5. Poke the leaves through either end of another green pipe cleaner

6. Wrap this around the stalk pipecleaner (the one attatched to the petals)

7. Gift it to someone, or keep them for yourself, on your jewelerry table, dresser, window ledge, wherever!

Happy Mothers day to everyone!

Bits & Bobs for Mothers Day and Easter!

Here's a lil' (albeit very pixelated) peek at what I picked up today for Easter, Mothers Day and a few practical pieces for me.
Along the top, you can see 3 little easter eggs- they are so fun! I love the Mr potato head one because it has all the chocolate facial features.
I love the pink chocolate on the Percy Pig egg and the millions of sprinkles that make up Hello Kitty's dress! They came from Marks and Spencers and were £6 each or 3 for the price of 2!

Other little easter treats include:
2 bags of mini kinder eggs
2 packets of Malteaser rabbits
3 Lindt gold bunny rabbits
and something so yummy it deserves it's own picture:

A bath bomb from Lush in the shape of an egg! It's scented the same as Snow Fairy, which is my sisters favourite fragrance so I'm excited to give this to her!
and I got a dragon soap to celebrate Chinese New Year- it's fragrance is Karma and it's coated in gold dust, but it's a present so I don't want to unpackage it!

Other practical things I got:
Batisee dry shampoo in fragrance Original
Another bottle of Simple light facial moisturiser
Cupcake and Polka dot folders!

And finally...

The packet under the aerosal is kind of a 'jokey' Mothers day present to go alongside her actual one. It's a kit  to make a vase of roses out of foam!
It's meant for little chidren to give their mums I think- but it will be cute because they'll never die like real flowers!
The best part? It cost £2 from Morrisons!!!

Here's how I make them:

Mothers day! Time is running out...

So Mothers day is this weekend and you just glanced into your purse and moths fly out.I know the feeling
We have all been there!

Never fear, I have a crafty project in order-

If you're real crafty, you can make it all yourself! (I wish I had, but I didn't realise they'd be so darn simple)

If you've got less time and a budget of a grand total of £2, then mosey on over to Morrisons and pick up the kit for £2 in the crafts section:

Here's the super quick video, to show you how I did it!



Instructions are as follows:

1. Cut out a strip of foam and keep one edge of the strip with a straight cut edge, make the other side kind of wavy to look like petals

2. Cut out a doughnut shape foam (circle with a hole in the middle) and cut the edges kind of wavy, so they look petal-like

3. Take a green pipecleaner (this is your stalk) poke it through one side of the jagged strip and wrap the strip up tightly, secure it in place with the doughnut shaped part pushed up and over the rolled up strip

4. Cut out a leaf shape (2 per flower should be enough)

5. Poke the leaves through either end of another green pipe cleaner

6. Wrap this around the stalk pipecleaner (the one attatched to the petals)

7. Gift it to someone, or keep them for yourself, on your jewelerry table, dresser, window ledge, wherever!

Top tips:

About six flowers makes a nice boquet
You can add glitter if that's your mamas thang'
you can present them in a little wicker-spring time basket (available from florists)
You can spray them with perfume so they're scented like flowers!
If your mum asks why they're not real you can be real slick and say:
''Because, like my love for you- these flowers will never die''

Happy crafting!

Floral Thursday

There's a spring in my step and a smell of springtime in the air!
So today I show you what I'm going to wear!
(hey that rhymes!)

 

For makeup:

Moisturiser on my cheeks

Primer on my nose, chin and forhead

Concealer under my eyes and under my nose

Well Dressed by Mac on my cheeks

Brown eyeliner on my waterline

Vaseline on my lips

Brow pencil

I wanted to feel fresh so I was wearing really light makeup- and it felt good!
Sometimes it's nice to go almost bare with your makeup!

For clothes:

Shirt: Floral shirt from New Look (But I got it from Red Cross charity shop for £3.50- woo!)
Bottom: I'm wearing a black pencil skirt from H&M- gotta love springtime formal-ish wear and opaque black tights

Jewellery:

Wooden and plastic beaded bracelet duo, also from New Look around 2 years ago!

California Gurl...

I wasn't lucky enough to visit California myself
but... I'm not complaining because I knew people who were lucky enough to go!
and I got some super duper souvenirs from the U.S OF A!

Woo! Hooray for Macy sales! And Victoria secret, and Bath and Body works- none of which are here in the UK!

First things first, I got a Victoria Secret Red Plum and Freesia body mist, wash and scrub- it smells so sweet, I love it!

A new Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick- I love these so much, and they last a long time. It's one of my favourtie Bronzers and highlights!

A cute striped top from Guess at Macy's - I love me some nautical stripes!

This top might just be the most Barbie-ish shirt I own! Isn't it pretty!?

I got some fun pants from Victoria Secret too- but nobody likes a panty flasher so I'll just give you a close up of the fun fabrics!

I got some pom pom hair bobbles, Milka chocolate and Spearmint de-stress spray (Bath & Body works) too! I didn't do a special close up of the stripy jumper because it wasn't photographing so well- but it was a cute cropped knit nautical jumper from Macy's! (you see a swatch of it in the first picture!)

Maybe my final and most cutest product of the whole stash....

A easter chick hand soap wash!

Isn't she so fancy with her bow?

I want to name her!

Feeling like a very lucky lady indeed! I sure wish I had these shops near me all the time!