New Aspirations...

As some of you may know or may have guessed from the page address I have a artistic side and love working in different mediums - I find painting a cathartic release and there are times like this week where I itch to pick up a paint brush and wile away the hours!  I don't claim to be anywhere near as talented as my dear friend Georgina over at GeoLith - a trained artist who is fabulously talented and worth a visit or Clare - an amazing tattoo artist!  But if do have my own talents, which can be seen (and purchased) at my FB page LaharaArt or my etsy store.  Of late my work has been child orientated, as I have been commissioned for bedroom art and baby shower gifts.  However, my more grown up work leans towards a underwater/sea theme and I am really in love with Georgia O'Keeffe and would love to go on an artistic retreat in New Mexico to see the landscape and sights from which she drew her inspiration. I have stood in front of ...

The last few weeks have flown by and whilst I haven't had time to take pics and write about it I have been following #FashionFridayPlusSize and I have also been very excited for September's #NYNYStyleProject prompts over on Instagram.  Both have really made me look at what I am wearing and on non-clinical days have encouraged me make an effort at work as well as on my days off at home... I think I am beginning to find my style again! I just now need to feel physically comfortable in my clothing and aim for the lower end of the double dress sizes - but that's a blog for another day...  Here is my chosen outfit of the week, which encompassed the style prompt of Black Boots...  1. Black longline cardigan - Next  2. Black and White flecked skater dress - Primark 3. Black leggings (hidden out of picture) - New Look 4. Black wedge heel ankle boots - New Look (which later got replaced by black ballet pumps as I wasn't comfortable driving in them)  Finished off with my ...

For those who don't know, I was diagnosed with ME/CFS eight years ago.  I would describe my level of ME as low to medium, I keep it at bay by pushing myself and trying take things slowly but not stopping completely and taking pain relief when needed (it use to be everyday but I can't deal with the additional irritability and grogginess!) The job I do is definitely not ideal, it involves long shifts/night shifts, but it is a field which I am passionate about and which gives me the drive to move on and make the most of my own life, as I witness overcoming their fears and ailments.  Granted, there are tough times like this week where because of work stresses and financial worries, on top of the physical side of work/life, I can feel a crash coming on but after living with this for so long I am able to recognise my own triggers and put into place contingency plans to hopefully put on the breaks - usually by booking a week off every couple of months to give me a ch...

With still no hot water it has been a challenge to feel glam over the last week or so, but on Sunday, L and I were invited over to lunch with one of my oldest friends... Whilst we only love 30 minutes apart, our hectic lives mean that we rarely get to see each other, but when we do it's like nothing has changed and we are back to being teenagers. We use to work together for the now redundant shoe shop 'Stead and Simpson' and it was there we became close - over a love of shoes and Sunday afterwork cocktails  We are so similar, yet so different - J is very glam and a real die hard girlie, with a love of make up, sparkle and fun. She has always inspired me to make an effort with my appearance, and introduced me to Stila lip polish many moons ago - something I can not live without now!  So when I knew we were going to be seeing her on Sunday, I wanted to make sure that I was bright and colourful but comfortable enough to play in the garden and the park with L!  So out came my...

It's been over a week now since we have had hot water... When it first happened last weekend, I thought 'oh that won't be a problem, we have boiler insurance, it'll all be sorted by mid week'... I was WRONG!  The boiler repair man came out on Wednesday, took one look at the boiler and told me yes he could fix it BUT wouldn't be doing it that day(!) as he couldn't touch the Magnaclean filter that is fitted to the pipes as it isn't covered . Yet, such filters (particularly this make) is now recommended by Heateam and insurers, to prevent scale and sludge messing up the boiler and causing insurers a big payout!  However, he'd come back and fix the £400 worth of parts, that had been caused by water damage from a leaking Magnaclean,  once we had got a independent plumber out to fix it (like this was a favour!) Queue much too-ing and fro-ing with Domestic and General, the people on their claims team tried their best, they have agreed that the te...

A few weeks back I mentioned that I had purchased Small Talk and I promised myself that I would try it out properly and write a brief review...  What does it do? The packet and my hairdresser both recommended it as a 3 in 1 product to use as a thickener/energiser/styliser to help lift hair and give the layers some volume and definition.  My hair is fine but there's lots of it, so it appears thick, but it needs to have the frizz that's developed in the front since having L controlled, whilst not being weighed down.  Scarlett had used this on my hair when finishing it and had advised to use a pump of small talk on damp hair before styling - so once I had washed my hair I put 1 pumpful of Small Talk into the palms of my hands and distributed it through my hair avoiding the roots. It felt sticky and at first made the damp hair difficult to brush, although  through as it dried, I did notice the difference in the smoothness and my hairbrush began to gl...

When I got up this morning I was greeted by a crisp chill in the air, which can only mean one thing - Autumn is on it's way!  With this realisation, comes the excitement that with it brings new fashion into the shops.  As a child I'd spend hours looking at Mum's new Freemans catalogue at this time of year coveting all the 'winter white' and 'russet' coloured clothes (cream and burnt red to you and me!) picking out entire outfits and spending hundreds of pounds in my head...  Today, there is not much of a change, except instead of the catalogue, I can happily lose hours online looking through my favourite shops, but because I am a 18-22 depending on the shops, I am limited and until the past season, recent fashion hadn't inspired me much and wasn't necessarily to my taste!  Then low and behold... All my favourite styles and shapes from the 90s, began hitting the shops!  So, inspired by #FashionFridayPlusSize I am on a mission: To...