Go and fill the kettle. I’m on one.
With the weather refusing to admit that Spring is around the corner, I decided to give it a little encouragement with the brightest scarf I own. Out of all the colours in my wardrobe, yellow is not one you will usually see me wearing. It’s bold, brash, completely cheerful, and worthy of attention… all the things I do my best to avoid. Fashion blogger I ain’t, but Mr. L reckoned that I didn’t look like a total knob teaming it up with a navy blue Breton stripe, and that was good enough for me.
I may have inadvertantly created a bit of a monster, I have my eye on this one now. What colour are YOU going to commit to wearing this week? Go on, I double dare you…
I also noticed that for a beauty blogger, I was in dire need of a bit of pampering, so I used the Oscars as a major excuse to get serious in the bathroom. Sunday night, just before the red carpet parade, I was on a mission to scrub, pluck, polish, tan, dye, exfoliate, cleanse, paint, and moisturise my way back into the land of the living.
Since rediscovering my tube of Sugared Almond Shower Gel (£4.07), Organic Surge have been on my body-beautiful agenda and I’m confident in recommending their new Million Dollar Brown Sugar Body Polish* (£32.00) as the ultimate scrub to ensure your tan has the perfect canvas. I must admit that I balked at the price but the best way I can describe this is as a 3-in-1 product that combines a scrub (a strong one at that), a shower oil (think Aromatherapy Associates style), and an in-shower moisturiser (like my beloved LUSH Ro’s Argan Skin Conditioner) which does help justify the price somewhat.
Talking of LUSH Ro’s Argan Skin Conditioner (£15.50), I still can’t resist its rose-scented goodness, so I employed it this morning during my shower to keep my skin supple and enhance the longevity of my Xen-Tan Transform Luxe Daily Self-Tan (£18.95). I have to admit that I don’t tan frequently… but basically when I can be bothered, for as long as I can be bothered… until I get bored with the upkeep. It’s lovely while it lasts!
I talked yesterday about alleviating some guilts, and after a fortnight of too many takeaways (which in my defence had a lot to do with the fact that I was so poorly), I kicked things off with something I’d be meaning to try for a long time: courgette/zucchini spaghetti. What a revelation! You see, when people tell me that healthy stuff can taste as good as its less-healthy counterparts, I don’t believe them. Kale chips? Piss off are they like eating crisps. Cauliflower pizza bases? Not on my watch. But this… this…
It might help that I do love courgette… but it was a bloody delicious substitute! Ok, it doesn’t taste like pasta but it delivers a tasty and filling alternative. I’d read that one courgette would produce enough “pasta” for one person but next time, I’d use two and ditch the side of bread. It’s probably worth splurging on a proper pasta sauce (or make your own with fresh herbs) to enhance the flavour but I can honestly say that I’m over the moon to have found a viable guilt-free alternative to something that I’ve been a little wary of eating.
This has been the first Winter that my Raynaud’s has fully dictated how I dress when the temperature plummets. I can no longer wear ballet flats with thick tights and dresses, instead I have to reach for a pair of sturdy boots which means that the pair I bought last year, has seen better days. I picked up these waxy rug leather Fly London boots on Amazon last week for a measly £19.50 – yes, I got the bargain of the century and went to sleep with a massive smirk on my face. They’re a beautiful petrol hue, with a chunky wedge heel and good grippy soles. I’m not sure how I’ll get on with the elasticated laces but I’ll work them out eventually.
If you want to keep an eye on potential Fly London discounts, you can check here – I’m sure there’ll be some more reductions now that Spring is almost upon us.
I’ve been spending many evenings recently neglecting my blog and curling up on the sofa instead with Mr L. We’ve been working our way through the Bond back catalogue (how awful is License To Kill?) and finishing off the Desperate Housewives (sob) series that we started watching the week we came back from our Honeymoon in 2004!
I’m a little bit ashamed to admit discovering a winning combination in a glass of wine and a tub of Choc Dips. It’s like my 11-year old self has met my 31-year old self in the best possible way. Have you had any guilty pleasures this week?
As much as I’ve been a bit of a squinny over the past couple of weeks, my daughter has done her best to show me how to get through a bout of the lurgy in true style. While I’ve been ensuring that everyone within a 5-mile radius can hear me coughing up a lung, she’s been dealing with a bout of croup with a braver face than I’ve ever witnessed.
She’s had a cough since the New Year, and one which a previous doctor hinted could be indicative of a future diagnosis of Asthma (fully expected seeing as both Mr. L and myself are Asthmatic). The coughing got worse, until I couldn’t take it any more and stood my ground in the local surgery on Friday demanding she see someone before home-time. Thankfully, this second opinion quickly recognised the symptoms that I’d missed and prescribed her a high, single-dose of steroids for croup. Three hours later and she’d made a miraculous recovery and was finally getting some much-needed sleep for the first time in 72-hours.
After what had been too much excitement for all of us, we enjoyed the laziest of weekends. There’s nothing quite like going for an aimless drive and in my case, I ended up heading back to my home town… and more specifically, the street I grew up on. I mentioned in my “50 things about me” post that I have an enduring fondness for my childhood home and I like to do a drive-by every now and then, is that weird?
I may have left it back in 1988 but I think there’s more than a little piece of me still there. The house was converted into flats many years ago, and one of them is currently up for sale. Oh, if only I were a rich woman!
Well, that’s what I’ve been doing (through the eyes of my instagram)… if you’ve got an account, link me up. Failing that, tell me what your highlights have been this last week.
* press sample
Oh poor L! I’m glad to hear she’s better – and hope you’re getting there too. The boots are fab and such an unbelievable bargain! Nice work.
The courgette pasta is summat I’ve come across loads, but I’ve never been convinced that it would actually fill me up. But it does look tasty and I think it would be especially nice for summer. Also, is there a particular appliance you use to get the spirally shapes?
Hiya!
You either need a machine called a spiralizer (spiraliser) try both spellings on amazon (£30-ish), or a cheaper option would be a julienne peeler. I agree that it would be a good summer investment too, lots of easily shredded fresh veg for pastas, salads and the like.
I really like the courgette but I’m going to try other veggie pastas too. I’ve always heard of spaghetti squash, which seems impossible to buy here… but perhaps I can pasta-ise butternut!
Love the sound of courgette pasta! Do you have a recipe? I totally agree about kale chips…!
Hi Sam, for the courgette pasta, I was horribly lazy…
I used 2tsp of butter (for the flavour) to fry an onion, then I chucked in a clove of frozen garlic, and 2 chopped rashers of thick cut bacon. Once the bacon began to cook, I added the courgette and a sprinkling of dried oregano + salt.
I didn’t really know how long to cook it but once I saw the courgette visibly reducing (in the same way as fresh spinach does), I chucked in a ready-made pot of fresh pasta sauce.
When it was ready to serve, I added a sprinkling of grated mozarella.
That’s it, it was very quick and quite cheaty!
Thanks Charlotte! Lazy is always good 😉
Did you string out the courgette yourself – is there a new kitchen gadget that I now need?
Hi Jo, check out my first comment reply xx
Sorry, should have done a refresh before replying 🙂 I want one of these!
I’ve been trying to make more alkaline meals and a few of weeks ago I made the courgette spaghetti with a julienne peeler we got from Poundland and it worked out well. The mince I made from green lentils and it was surprising filling.
Would you share your recipes with us? 🙂
Personally I’m loving the navy and white stripes with the yellow! Mr L obviously has no style….
Complete with the red nails, I’m thinking you’re looking very oooh laa laaa.
Plus yellow is supposed to be the colour for Spring 2013 so you’re soo on trend.
What is it with this weather at the moment, I am seriously grumpy every day. I wake up in the morning and say, ” Why,me?” every single bloody day!
Roll on the spring and the yellow!
Hello, I hope you’re beginning to feel better. I’ve also found that my Raynaud’s has been bad this winter. My hospital gave me compression gloves, which really help, even though they’re fingerless gloves (and the ugliest things I own — they’re that shade of beige that old ladies like wearing, but they do fit under other gloves to disguise them!).
I must say, though, that I have MAJOR boot envy! I’ve been eyeing those boots up for a while but I didn’t see them at the bargain price that you got, wah!
I’ve never heard of compression gloves, I last saw my doctor in the summer about it, he did a blood test which didn’t show any indicators of Raynaud’s but for the first time, this winter, my fingers have been doing the classic white banding across the tips so I should go back with the photographic evidence! Not that they can really do anything about it other than give tablets which have the potential to dilate TOO MANY BLOOD VESSELS! I shall google those gloves because they sound perfect, I actually said to my husband that I wondered if you could get such a thing as “glove liners”.
As for the boots, I know… I’d read that they’d been reduced to £26, clicked on and thought I’d missed it… then saw ONE PAIR left in a size 6 in petrol even cheaper! The blurb said that they may show signs of damage but they’re perfect! If it’s any consolation, I missed the reductions last year on their Mol boots… so at least it’s kinda karmic 😉
I got them to reduce pain and swelling because I have arthritis, but as a bonus they have helped my Raynaud’s. I have Isotoner ones (if you google them you’ll see how ugly they are! Why can’t they be black or navy?!) but a quick search showed other versions, too. My auntie was badly affected by Raynaud’s and ended up having surgery to treat it.
I think taking a photo along to the doc does help. I did it yesterday because I keep getting nose bleeds, so I showed him a photo of a load of bloody tissues to show how heavy they are… Lovely! He took me seriously, though!
I’m after the purple Mes boots and the black Mols, as well as those petrol ones… hopefully I’ll get some of the karma, too! 😉
Oh poor Leila that is rotten for her! Glad she’s on the mend.
Also not convinced by health food. If it’s so delicious, why am I fat? Hmmm???? That’s cos it’s NOT delicious, but creme eggs are.
Still, I should try the courgette pasta stuff, especially as I have a lethal-looking spiralizer knocking about somewhere.
I used to live on North End Avenue!! That’s where my flat was, didn’t realise you had lived there xx
Lydia, if it was number 10… I will actually freak the fuck out.
Love it when you’re on one!
Niiiiiiiice boots, by the way.
And glad to hear you’re feeling just a bit better. x