Hello lovely readers.
If you’re happening upon this little blog for the first time Welcome! If you’re a long time reader ah hello bless you for sticking with us.
Well guess what I’ve Moved! You can find me over here http://inanityandthegirl.blogspot.com/ some familiar posts, some new posts and lots of crafts, pictures, products, baking and everything else.
So come on over and change your subscriptions and all the rest of it, leave some comments and hopefully enjoy it.
For those who don’t know about #twebrelief lots of us are Ebaying our own items, just like the celebs with the proceeds going to Comic Relief. This is mine.
Anyone who knows me and who reads this blog knows my love for all things vintage and Pin Up. So of course my prize to the winning bidder is a big box of Essential Pin Up goodies. Transform yourself, and this is all you need!
The listing is here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110660403802#ht_2346wt_932
Here are some pictures!
Please do some bidding and lets get this going!
We all know that #twitrelief is auctioning off follows and prizes from celebs with the proceeds are going to Comic Relief and everyone is happy!
But here’s the thing, it needn’t just be for celebs, loads of amazing twitter people out there who aren’t celebs have great things to offer! Amazing crafters, great artists, tech heads, designers, brilliant shops, bakers, bloggers! There is a huge network of people who have great fun things to offer and want to do something for comic relief to raise money why not let this be it?
So here it is, we have our own #plebtwitrelief same as the celebs but with our own prizes, and the proceeds still going to comic relief! So how can you get involved!? Read on!
http://my.rednoseday.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=60030
1. I want to join in but I don’t know what I’m meant to do first?
First of all decide what you want your prize to be, it can be something really small or big or even completely hilarious and random. It is up to you, perhaps pick something you think others might want? Some of our participants are artists so are doing a custom drawing for the winning! Others are giving some posh deli cupcakes, we have mug collections from an amazing store, we even have some New York friends doing a New York care package for the winner of their auction. The prize can be anything, maybe you run an online shop, or have an etsy account, are you a florist, will you clean the winners dog, redesign their webpage, give them an iphone tutorial, do you have a spare ticket to a show? Any prize you want!
2. How does it work?
Well pop on to eBay once you have your prize picked, maybe take a nice photo of it, or if you want to custom make something for your winner, pop some other pictures of things you’ve done onto the page so they get an idea of what you’re offering.
List yourself as a seller, give all the information about the proceeds going to Comic Relief, let your buyers know you’re part of Pleb Twit Relief. Detail what your prize entails for any buyers and click the button indicating that the proceeds are going to charity. Your auction can be however long you want it. Aim for it to finish perhaps just a little before the big Comic Relief night so you can avail of the publicity and people wanting to get involved.
Put your link on your twitter account directly to your ebay auction and let EVERYONE know about it!
3.What do I do once the prize has been bought?
Like any other auction invoice the seller, thank them for buying, collect the prize money and send out the goodies. Once you’re done pop on to the Comic Relief website https://www.rednoseday.com/donate? source=ppcgpaid_cam_Fundraising_adgrp_Donate
Then send them the money you’ve collected from your auction. I know naysayers out there will be all ‘oh but how can you make sure they give the money’ I trust you all, I think if you’re going to all the trouble to get involved you’re going to be awesome enough to send all your winnings to Comic Relief. If people want to keep the p&p costs it is absolutely up to them.
4.I don’t want to set up an auction, can I still get involved?
Of course you can! You can BID! You’re the most important part, the bidders are generating the awesome monies for Comic Relief!
If you want to be involved but don’t want to set up an auction maybe you can give your prize to another participant and they can auction and send it on ebay for you?
It is up to you.
From pairs of tickets to the movies, driving lessons, a hand knitted scarf, a lovingly made cake, anything goes! Lets raise some money for Comic Relief!
If you don’t want to do it but do want to donate to our effort go here ! http://my.rednoseday.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=60030
I love libraries.
I find them sanctuaries away from the real world. As a child I was brought to my local library and given my very own library ticket. At 6 this was a huge deal. My grandmother and I would go every Saturday afternoon, the library ticket with my name on it clutched in my hand and we would pick books. When you’re 6 the responsibility and the amazement that comes with owning your very own key to free books is huge. I very proudly would hold it whilst I scoured the shelves.
The children’s section was like a vast world apart from anything else I’d known. In reality now its just a corner of the library with some smaller plastic seats, but to me it was everything.
I’d look at the books that we read in school, I’d look for the ones that the kids in my class always hogged, the ones which had a waiting list because they were the funniest. There they were though, on the shelf. Waiting just for me. No waiting list, no worrying about when I would get it. It was in front of me. I could pick it up and take it home then and there.
Wonderous.
It escalated from there. The book of the moment Trouble with the Fiend was a comedic book about a friend that was essentially awful. Think the Cramp Twins from the CBBC show and you’re there. But in my class we could not get enough of that book. When the library van came to our school we all clamoured to see if there were more as rumour had it there might be a series of them. Like the books of the time they used to display the first few pages of the next book at the back. But here I was in the town library and in front of me were ALL SIX of the series.
I can tell you right now, I can still recall the glee of that moment. It has been rivalled only by my arrival in Las Vegas, nerdy but true that’s how excited it made me.
These were the days before Amazon, ok there was a local book shop that I would frequent every week with my pocket money when I was 10 and 11 and they would order me things that they didn’t stock, but this was before that.
Books were the most enthralling things to me. As a kid I used to drag about my box set of Beatrix Potter, or my current instalment of Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree. Being able to read by myself introduced me to worlds I’d never known before. The wonder of being able to pick up a book and go on an adventure, or learn something that you didn’t know before, to me it just seemed amazing.
So throughout my years I travelled to the lands at the top of the tree with Moonface and Silky, I went through Wonderland with Alice, stole crops with Peter Rabbit and into Narnia with Aslan. I went on all these journeys just with a book in my hand and it’s stayed with me all my life.
My fondness (read obsession) with Alice in Wonderland and so many of my childhood favourites, is when I pick them up again I get all of the excitement that I had the first time I read them. Maybe I’m old, maybe I snuck in before the prevalence of video games. But my Sega Megadrive and my Game Boy never matched the books that I had. Over the years and many degrees later I don’t get much time to read fiction. Years of writing a PhD thesis have taught me speed reading and how to cut through a density of text, oh and exactly how much I can take before I have a stonking headache. These days reading for me is work, it’s trying to work out exactly what a long dead philosopher meant when they were talking about their own made up concept. It is trying to desperately tear through books at as fast a pace as possible to glean their information so I can move through the pile staring at me in unread smugness and try to work out if I’ve left anything out in my bibliography.
The enjoyment for me has been put on hold. But when I step inside a town library it all comes soaring back. The children’s corner, the little stacks, the quiet and the potential. Always the potential for knowledge and learning. It heartens me. When I’m blue that’s usually where I can be found, sitting scaring the children on the plastic seats.
Libraries present the best things in life. They’re full of stories and wonder, potential and relative calm, it makes you feel like nothing bad could ever happen here. (Doctor Who fans may point out the Vashna Nerada, but I haven’t seen them recently.) They’re like little calm portals away from the hectic outside world and I love them.
Now I may need to move as this pink plastic chair is cutting off circulation to my hips.
This has been a busy weekend, I’ve assembled some pictures which haven’t all been this weekend but some from last too.
I know your eyes are not deceiving you, that is indeed a full body picture of me. Possibly the first one since 2005 (‘ not even kidding) so erm yes quite a big deal and a decent indicator of 1. how much champagne I’d had. 2. How much I like the dress.
Bizarre.
Lots of shopping at the fantabulous Soap and Glory, pots of tea, bunches of tulips, Wonderwoman pants, dog walking, dinners out and baby pictures.
It has been a lot of fun, I especially loved getting all dressed up for drinking and dancing to Rhi Rhi in The Washington with Gary and Claire. I hadn’t been there really before but it was pretty cool. The bar clears out a lot downstairs as everyone moves upstairs to dance, lovely. Easy to get a drink and then be able to shoot upstairs for a dance whilst the boys have a natter downstairs. Great night. And it gave me an excellent excuse to wear my lace dress.
I’m tired just thinking about it.
This is so easy, and the more you practise the faster you’ll get. These are some little victory rolls, they’re not the full ones but I think these are slightly more wearable.
1. Section off hair.Keep your front section down.
2. Pull hair to the side.
3.Pull hair out and roll it back on itself.
4. Roll it round until you get a shape that looks smooth.
5. Pin, from the back it so they aren’t so obvious. Use as many pins as you need to, but mainly secure the base of the twist. The roll should be twisted round on itself, you should be fastening at the bottom, in the roll.
6. Take the other side of the hair, this will be a smaller roll. Pull it out.
7. Using the same scissor technique with your fingers, loop it back on itself. Fasten with pins.
8. Spray liberally with hair spray. Add flower clip for decoration. You can pin the rest of your hair up for a very 1940′s look complete with tea dress. Or leave it down and curl the ends.
Enjoy!
Ive been asked quite a few questions about the pink/purple hair, and I’ve promised to put up some decent photos in the light. Above is the best I can do. I took it the other day so its fairly recent.
Ok so I’ve been through my feed and I think I’ve got the most asked ones, I know I did a previous post similar to this but it might be better to get them all in the one place as I get asked a lot of the same questions. This seems gloriously indulgent but hopefully it’ll answer some of the questions I’ve been asked.
1. What dye do you use?
I use cyclamen by Crazy Colours. It’s a purpley pink, you can buy it online or in any Sally’s Beauty Supplies. It comes in heaps of different colours. It is a semi permanent dye.
2. What if I can’t find crazy colours?
That’s ok, there is also another brand called Rusk which they also do in Sally’s or online. I used it when my hair was a dark purple. The colours are really similar and it’s also a semi permanent dye. One of the reasons I use crazy colours instead of Rusk is that I find Rusk doesn’t last very long. I got really fed up of having to constantly redo the colour nearly every time I washed it. I’m sure if you have more bleached sections in your hair it may hold longer. But for me Crazy Colours was the way forward.
3. What’s your natural colour?
My hair is naturally a dark blonde, but Ive had it a darkish brown for a few years when I dyed my hair cyclamen it was from a dark brown.
4. Will the colour take to my hair?
This honestly depends on so many factors. The person who asked this was dark haired though so I’ll answer on that front. My hair was dark when I dyed it, I wanted some lighter hued segments and an overall purpley tone so I bleached up sections of my hair. Chunkier slices at the bottom and smaller strips at the top. The dye will be most vibrant on the bleached pieces. Its nice to do it all over the hair because then you’ll get a much nicer tonal effect.
If you don’t want to bleach your hair, it will still take but it’ll just not be as bright It depends on the colour you’re putting it on. If its a lighter colour it’ll be stronger, darker colours will have less of an impact. If you’re interested have a look at the darker bits of my hair, its plummy but nowhere near as bright as the other bits which have been bleached.
5. Is it hard to put the dye on?
Really the most annoying bit is the bleaching. If you’re going to bleach it depending on the colour of your hair you’ll need a stronger peroxide. I use 12% because mine is darker but it bleaches it right up. I just use gloves and segment the hair and put it on, once on blast it with a hair drier to speed the process. With bleaching unless you want an all over lightness less is more you can always add later and smaller sections of brightness are easier to deal with when it grows out.
Adding the crazy colours is the more tricky part. Not because its difficult but because although the facets of crazy colours is that its long lasting, this also means its an absolute nightmare to get off anything it comes into contact with.
You MUST wear gloves.
You MUST use vaseline or something similar round your hair line etc as it just doesn’t budge. With normal box dye, it isn’t very hard to get out of skin etc but this is a whole other beast entirely. I once jumped into the shower to wash it off, by the time I had washed it out most of my body was BRIGHT PINK.
It takes quite a few washes to get the dye out so I’d say plenty of shampoo and keep your gloves on when washing it off. Try and avoid any skin contact with the dye full stop! It has great longevity but short of straight bleach it is a nightmare to get off skin and bathroom fittings. (Im really selling it aren’t I?) But its best you know what to expect.
6.How long will it stay on?
Most of the time when I’m redoing mine it’s because my roots are coming through or because the dye has faded but not usually because it has come out. So it depends on how much you wash your hair, how porous it is. I’d estimate maybe 8-10 washes in my hair. It can be trial and error usually it’ll just fade the more you wash.
7. How come your hair isn’t as bright as the colour?
There’s a couple of reasons for it, firstly my hair was really dark and Im not a big fan of bleach, my hair is thick, curly and prone to dryness. Add bleach to that mixture and it turns to straw. So I’ve basically taken to doing little bit by little bit. I use Aussie leave in conditioner as well just to stop it getting too damaged. I’ve done about 3 rounds of bleach in my hair now, so it is interspersed with really bright sections but the others are less so.
Secondly I just didn’t want an all over flat colour, it looks amazing on some people but I like being darkish. and the tonal elements make it look a bit more natural, if pink can be natural. Maybe I just mean the lay out of the colour seems more natural.
8. Why do you dye your hair at all?
Because alas, I am not a natural pink.
Hope this helped and I answered all the variations of questions. Happy dying and please let me know how the colours go, that means pictures!
Once upon a time I was foolish enough to ask a silly question. Whats the best foundation for flawless coverage? I received a lot of answers and more than one was Estée Lauder double wear. A week later I was getting my hair done at Vintage Rocks salon and my stylist and I were talking foundations. She whipped out hers which she said was amazing, lo and behold it was Estée Lauder Double Wear. So I took the cosmic hint and went and bought some.
Buy it if- You have oily skin, and a spare £25.50 that you have nothing better to do with. Or if you’re having trouble keeping foundation on your skin.
Don’t buy it if- Your skin is in any way dry, even normal/dry. If you have any fine lines or wrinkles in combination with this skin type avoid like the plague.
Approx-£25.50
When I had coughed up the money, I was so excited, I literally ran home to try out my new foundation which would give me Hollywood flawless skin.
Oh how disappointed I was.
First of all the bottle is very luxe double glass, nice and weighty. The liquid itself is pretty dense but no much more than others of the same type. When I applied it, I used a sponge applicator and put it on skin which had been treated with my Smashbox Primer.
It doesn’t spread very well, initially I wasn’t surprised mainly because it’s a foundation which is designed to stay in place, so moving shouldn’t be high on its list of features.
Once on, was I bowled over by how smashing I looked? In short, no. I looked about 5 years older for a start, which is not what any woman wants (unless she’s 14 and buying cider). My skin may have looked as if it was clear, but it looked so caked on and dry that I genuinely thought I looked like I was about do go on stage with heavy stage make up.
So I tried a different tactic. I split it with my Soap and Glory Bright Here, Bright Now to reduce its heaviness, add a little less density. So was it better? It wasn’t as heavy but it still looked dreadful. It got to the point where I was literally using the tiniest amount of it to 3/4 moisturizer and I still didn’t like the result.
Most of the people whose reviews I have read on it have oily skin and have liked the product, those with drier skin haven’t liked it at all. I suspect for the same reason as myself it just looks awful. Caked on foundation doesn’t look good on anyone, it ages people hugely. Dewy, light and good highlighting is the way forward. This foundation did not give me this.
So I have a rather expensive foundation that I occasionally use as a concealer. It works pretty good as a concealer but as a foundation, avoid it if you don’t have oily skin!
Wish Upon a Jar is a face cream, It’s a 21 Day course that I’m on day 5 of, hence this being the 1st part of the review. I wanted to give you some thoughts on the differences 5 days in. So my ‘buy it’ and ‘don’t buy its’ will be based on results so far, let’s get cracking!
Buy it if -You need a moisture kick for your skin and want something that’ll give you seriously soft skin, seriously quickly.
Don’t buy it if- you don’t want to deal with 21 days of putting on a cream. But to be honest I’m grasping at straws here, I haven’t found any negatives yet.
Approx- £14.50
Looks- This is a fabulous looking little package, it looks like a little shiny sphere. Mirrored and gorgeous. It screws open and inside is a peachy coloured thickish cream.
So what’s the craic?- Well this first 5 days I have used it religiously. Once a night, no more and no less. The package says only apply it once a day and don’t overuse. Soap and Glory claim it ‘boosts moisture levels, smooths fine lines and wrinkles, brightens tired skin and hides imperfections’ this is over 21 days.
So 5 days in and is there a difference? Well from the first time I used it I noticed the cream made my skin stay moist and soft all day. Because of this any make up went on really smoothly and it just felt great. I feel really fortunate anyway as I’m blessed with pretty good skin and I don’t have any lines yet, but I have noticed even in just 5 days my skin looks fresher. It looks as if I’ve just exfoliated. You know that sleuced fresh look, that you get when it’s all new skin? Yup that.
I just can’t get over the softness though, for some people it might be a bit much, perhaps if you have naturally greasy skin it may make you feel like your skin is even greasier. I cannot say. I have always had skin which has been dryish, not excessively so but I haven’t had greasy skin so those who are affected by it may need to try it themselves to get a better idea of how it affects their skin.
So am I going to continue using it? Absolutely. I wore no foundation or brightener the other day at all. Just plain ol my face so I’m gonna be interested to see how it progresses.
See you in a week for the day 12 review!
My twitter followers know that recently I got the all clear from cancer. At some point I will no doubt do a post on it, but right now I’m just not in a place where I want to talk about it and dig it all up. But that’s another conversation.
What I do want to do is give them back even a quarter of what they did for me. The amazing staff and consultants saved my life and for that I am massively grateful. So I will be doing the Race for Life this May.
This is fine in theory but I don’t really run, I tend to look ridiculous when I try it, I’m also massively unfit. So I shall be working my arse off (quite literally) to get fit and do my 5k in a blaze of pink and not too much huffing and puffing!
If you would like to, and if you could spare a couple of quid you can go here
http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/dawniepants
and give me some money. That would be totally bitchin of you and you can also point and laugh at me looking knackered and have a Mars bar for me.
Thank you
xxxxxxxx
Ah Valentines. Personally although me and himself have had a lot on our minds which have been weighing heavy on us, we still had a wee bit of time to do Valentines. We kinda cancelled it until we got results etc but we didn’t pull in a bad haul.
Himself sent me a beautiful rose bouquet and chocolates which I utterly adore. He also bought me my pug Fluff wallet and a very pretty crown charm for my Truth bracelet.
In the picture you can see the card I bought him. High praise indeed no? I also got him 4 sets of Grindhouse Movies from the LA Grindhouse Movie festival. They comprise 56 movies, including ‘They Saved Hitler’s Brain‘ Sounds like a cracker no? Either way he’s pretty chuffed.
The fact I didn’t have a vase I liked for my flowers meant I had to create one. So I made this little pin-up cover inspired number and used the remaining pictures to revitalise a sad little frame which had been languishing in the cupboard. I rather like them.
Laters Lovelies
xxx
The Ulster Hall brought a classic to the big screen last Tuesday. Murnau’s silent German film from 1922 was to be shown with live organ accompaniment in the main auditorium. It seemed to be just what Belfast wanted, with the hall being full with avid lovers of film looking for more than just the conventional experience.
It offered the ability for an audience to experience a filmic event unlike any other. Some turned up in the garb of the twenties -myself included, finger waves, flapper chic and lots of beads. There were head bands and hair feathers, sharp suits and loose morals, it was the 1920′s again. Some went to great lengths to come as vampires themselves, cue pasty faces and blood trickles. I didn’t see any shaved heads like Orlok’s but I’m betting there was at least one.
The film was accompanied by the Mulholland Organ, played by Martin Baker who improvised the score throughout the whole film, playing whilst watching a small monitor. His skill and expertise was able to be seen throughout, simultaneously drawing the audience in with the soft threatening tones of Orlok’s approach and the final balcony shaking power of the film’s final crescendo. An absolute tour de force from Baker whose bow in front of the screen to rapturous applause mimicked the iconic shadowed Nosferatu image.
The night in all was a huge success. The ability of a 90-year-old film to still be absolutely terrifying in its otherness, is a testament to the skill with which it was created.
So ‘don’t take any wooden nickels’, and be there for the next one.
Laters Dollbabies!
I’ve done decoupage for a long time. I often whip it out for unusual gifts for friends, frames, vases etc. This time I had the ‘brainwave’ that himself needed a tv unit for his x-box, tv and dvd player. How dull though just to give him a boring unit. So I went out and bought a little wooden entertainment centre and sanded it down and went bat crazy on it.
I should point out at this moment he is a very big Batman fan, I’m not quite that random.
-’Oh hey babe I made you a bat table’
-’Erm, thanks very much but why?’
Yeah not like that. He’s a bit of a Bat nerd so out came the glue and I finally gave him the history of the Batcomic, from the first days in print to the most recent work and amazing art. Plus I had a brief foray into AAAAADAM WEST! He completely loves it. Its one of a kind. I keep meaning to sell all the stuff I have made, pin-up girl dressers, burlesque bedside tables etc. Maybe at some point I will.
This picture is rubbish but it is pretty fun.
Off to decoupage some more stuff!
xxx
I’ve been a fan of Moviebar since it opened, it’s a cinema at the Ulster Hall on Bedford Street. It specialises in nights of film double bills. It’s like a cinema in your living room. There are huge sofas and bean bags and not forgetting the bar at the back of the screen. They’ve shown everything from Elvis nights, to horror nights. Blaxploitation films with the eponymous Pam Grier in Coffy to 1970′s girl gang chic with The Switchblade Sisters and this weekend sees the long-awaited ‘Action Bingo’ night.
The mention of ‘Action Bingo’ came prior to the movie screening at the last night. From what I can garner it is Jean-Claude van Damme in Hard Target followed by (the man the legend) Chuck Norris in Invasion USA. It seems to be a game of bingo complete with cards and apparently prizes. I cannot wait! I’ve already booked tickets for me and 2 of my friends.
After John Waters night we were all chatting to the other guys behind us. They were huge John Waters fans and spent time often saying the iconic lines along with the amazing Divine in Pink Flamingos. It was far too funny! After the screenings we all stayed and chatted there was such brilliant banter from them. I suppose that is the thing about really cult films, nowhere else in Belfast shows them, I’d never seen either of those films, and actually hadn’t heard of blaxploitation or the Switchblade Sisters before I came.
I feel a bit more educated about less well-known film now. They’re films that probably if I was going to a conventional cinema I would never pick. Unfortunately too many cinemas locally only pick the high art house films or the Hollywood blockbusters and it’s really nice to have the option to go to a cinema like this which is more of an event than just movie watching habit.
With a movie double bill both films are linked by director, theme or even genre and if you haven’t heard of them after the first you’re usually more than willing to stay for the second. There’s something really decadent and homey about having a couple of glasses of wine as we’re watching, it is exactly like being in your front room only with an utterly massive screen and thankfully without having pets stomping over you. Usually we’re sprawled on the sofas munching on cupcakes drinking wine enjoying the atmosphere.
One thing I’ve noticed from going to as many of the Movie nights as I can, it is how few people know about it. When my friends mention it to other people outside of their circle, they haven’t heard of it. Which is such a shame. Although there is something lovely about not having to be squeezed in! It still seems like bar a few regulars huge swathes of people who would probably love it don’t even know about it. It seems such a shame.
I am absolutely bouncing with excitement about ‘Action Bingo’ and with Nosferatu tickets booked for tomorrow night and 1920′s flapper wear picked out for it, its lovely to see the emergence of film in the Ulster Hall’s repertoire. I cannot wait to see where the film programme is going to go next. So get yourselves down there folks and say hi to me, I’ll probably share the cake. Long live the MovieBar and long may it reign as Belfast’s only cult cinema!
Bingo! (Just practicing for friday)
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/uhsearch/performancedetail.aspx?eventnameid=40844
I’ve been very remiss about posting. Spanks for me. So a little update on my week in pictures.
I’ve been baking for some occasions, I always bake for #moviebar which I usually go to with my friends. It is such an awesome night there it has become a bit of a tradition that visits are accompanied by cupcakes and beer. I made very nommy curly wurly cupcakes. They were indeed the cat’s pajamas.
The other ones are nutella cupcakes made as a trial for a birthday I’ve been asked to do. They were unbelievably sweet which apparently is exactly what they wanted, win all round then. So my friends and family have been eating the excess and they seem to be enjoying them. I best stop though as everyone will be getting tubby!
Himself and I went to Malmaison Belfast for some drinks on Saturday night. It was a really relaxed and chilled out evening. It is lovely when the two of us sit and chat, we enjoy each others company and always have a laugh together so it’s fab to sit with a bottle of wine and shoot the shit.
And finally, himself and I have taken a shine to a local pizza takeaway. Their kids pizzas come in shapes, hearts or stars. There is something pretty lovely about a heart shaped pizza and it was really tasty. If anyone wants their name for valentines themed snacks let me know. I think a pizza meal works out at £3.70 not half bad eh? The cuteness is astounding though.
Until later lovelies, and it won’t be so long…promise.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a weight loss post I thought that because Christmas is just finished it might be time for one. I’ve been working toward a Christmas goal and I was slightly disappointed to miss out on it.
I’ve been at slimming world since the end of June, intent upon losing some weight to go on holidays. But after an amazing time away it seemed apt to look forward to Christmas. I’d set myself the target of a three stone loss by then and hoped to get as close as I could. Alas I was a pound off booooo! I can’t really be too annoyed can I? I’ve lost 41 pounds which seems like a lot. I tried weighing out exactly what that was and I could barely lift it. It made me wonder how the hell did I manage to walk around with it?! I have so much more energy than before. I’ve mentioned before that my sw leader always has a pound of fat on the table and a coat that weighs a stone. Random I know but it’s good to have a quantifiable amount as 2 pounds is hard to physically equate on yourself.
Putting on the coat that weighs a stone is an eye opener it’s one thing picking it up but actually feeling the weight on your shoulders and actually pulling you down just makes you wonder how the hell you managed with it.
It’s really been an eye opener. So how do I feel 40 pounds lighter? It’s odd, I don’t really see the difference that probably sounds stupid but I suppose I see myself everyday and I did manage to gain the weight quite quickly so I don’t think I ever really got used to having that weight gain. Losing it has felt great although I still have a way to go. The only way I can describe it is that I feel so much more like myself. I went through a period when I had gained weight quite rapidly where I stopped recognising myself. As odd as that sounds its true as I stopped wearing the clothes that I liked I stopped looking in full length mirrors and generally felt almost estranged from myself.
I know everyone will be buying fitness DVDs now in January and making all these resolutions. I can’t offer any words of wisdom all I can really say is take it in moderation don’t starve yourself or go on ridiculous cereal based diets. I know folk who have sworn the gym every day from now on, only eat x amount of calories and theyve barely lost a thing because it’s desperately unsustainable. Do it bit by bit I mean I know it’s a cliche but if I can do it anyone can.
Folk are very focused on the finish line and as amazing as that line is, the getting there has it’s own rewards. Mini goals are really helpful in keeping you focused. Even though I’m not at my goal I feel loads better. I’m loving discovering things I buried in the back of my wardrobe and even looking forWard to getting dressed up and going out, not wondering in dread what the hell I can wear that won’t look bloody awful on me. It’s just been a change I’m not there yet but I dont feel the same dread and anxiety about never Bein able to lose this weight. I know at some point it will all be off, it might not be in a month or 3 months but at some point it will be. There is a huge deal of comfort in knowing that I have my groups support that I won’t get left behind because every week I’ll be chipping away at it. So at this point in the year I’m not seeing it as a new year im kinda seeing it as a mid point in my sw year. My nee year will be the end of June and I’m hoping to be in an even better place by then. So here’s to 2011, the second part of my weight loss journey and I’m planning on kicking it’s arse. For those of you just starting their journey good luck to you. For those at the end congratulations, for those in the middle shall we get crackin again?
Dawniepants
I had great fun this weekend, I got to bake for one of my favourite comedians Phill Jupitus. We’d been friends on Twitter for well over a year and when I heard he was promoting his book locally I asked if he’d like some cake. He accepted.
So I nipped down to Waterstones with a little mini box and 3 cupcakes. 2 double chocolate oreo cupcakes and one vanilla shortbread. Noms! I had opted not to wear my slanket of justice which he had requested but went for a badge to the same effect. I grabbed a glass of wine and had a nice wee chat to Phill, who was seriously kind and asked if I wanted to come down to his improv show at the Opera House that night as he’d leave me some tickets. What a gent. I did go down and it was hilarious. For those fans of ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’ you would have loved this, Stephen and Josie were both there performing.Really good!
He sent me a lovely message asking if I’d enjoyed the show, and about how he was enjoying the cupcakes. Good to know! Lovely bloke, proper gent and very funny. Bring him cake to all his signings.
x
I finally got bored of being dark, every now and then I feel the need to go back to basics but again I got bored. I went back to my plum and pink. Mainly because part of me feels a lot more vibrant when my hair’s a bit brighter.
I had a bit of a grump the other day. I felt very drab and boring. I wear a lot of blacks and greys and purples so it just adds a kick of colour. I’m naturally very pale so dark hair can sometimes be a bit much, its rather nice when its plummy though. It opens up a lot of fun with green eye shadows, greys and plums, plus I keep my layers relatively short, messy and choppy highlights work well with layers.
Anyway I used crazy colours in Cyclamen, I’ve used Rusk before there are two main differences between the two colours. Firstly crazy colours will hold to your hair whereas rusk doesnt seem to take as well. I’ve used Rusk and by the next wash it is nearly out. So the upkeep is really high with Rusk. It’s not so high with Crazy colours. Mainly because it really does give the hair some full bodied colour. Here’s the downside though, it is really messy. Your whole bathroom will be covered in pink, it took me an hour to wash the excess out at one point. If it gets on clothes etc you’re best just burning them, it doesn’t come out.
The first time I used it I did what I’d done with other colours and just jumped in the shower to wash it out, well when I came out I was a nice shade of fuschia pink…all over. Let me tell you this Violet Bauregard had nothing on me! So I learnt my lesson, next time the gloves stayed on to wash it out and I did it over the shower instead of in it. If you’re using crazy colours don’t get naked with them..
So now I’m feeling all like myself again I am ready for the party season! Anyone else?
I had a little tea party with 5 of my friends last weekend. We just had the most fun. I baked, made little sandwiches, brought out all my favourite tea cups. It was a really fun way to spend a saturday afternoon with my girls. We gossiped, talked about boys, christmas plans and general banter. I may have to have another!
