These are a few of my favourite things… (at the moment anyway!)

Reading and my Kindle. I bought this as a little pick me up and treat for myself just before Christmas – I’d wanted one for ages, but told myself that I didn’t need it/it was a waste of money/there’s nothing quite as great as a “real” book, but really I knew I was just kidding myself. I impulse purchased a new style Kindle and I loves it!

Its great for travel (better still if you can get yourself one of those lights to attach to the device as it isn’t backlit…), and in general the books tend to be a little bit cheaper than the paper versions. The only thing I wouldn’t really recommend using a Kindle for really is reference books, recipe books and the like, because you need to be able to flick through those types of books, which is difficult on a Kindle.

And is it just as good as a “real” book? Well, yes, and no… Yes, because it’s not as heavy, and you can basically carry the equivalent of three bookshelves or more about with you without any backstrain… but, there is definitely something to be said about picking up a lovely copy of your favourite book and you can’t beat the whole charity shop second hand book vibe either. Personally I’m loving mine, and I’d highly recommend if you like to read a lot, want to reclaim some bookshelves or travel a lot. (Disclaimer – I did buy two books in a charity shop today and I’m thoroughly looking forward to reading them).

Oh, and impulse buyers might want to think twice before buying one too – they make fast purchases far too easy if you have poor self restraint!

NARS blushers (and eye shadows, and lipsticks…), specifically cactus flower, which is the most delicious raspberry pink-red cream blush with a subtle shimmer. I’ve been ill recently with a typical winter bug, which drained the life out of my complexion, and with a runny nose and watering eyes. I had a word with the wisdom of twitter and was told in no uncertain terms that bright blusher was the way forward. Oh twitter, you are wise!

Forgive the terrible blurred picture - this is the only one of the millions I took that in any way shows the colour properly...

To the makeup drawers I hastened and rediscovered this beauty, which had lain unloved for far far far too long. I now cannot get enough of this lovely colour, which can be applied subtly or built up for drama.

Basically, even if all I can be bothered is to slap on a bit of foundation, mascara and lipbalm, this blush brings me to life, and stops me looking like an extra from The Walking Dead… The swatch above shows the real dimension and sheen in this blusher – I love it!

And speaking of TV programmes, yay for the return of Being Human on BBC3 (Boo for the departure of so many core characters though) and also for season 4 of True Blood…

Oh, and a special mention this month goes to a gem of a magazine called “Oh Comely” – Strange name, fab mag. I discovered this through Alex’s Blog – If you aren’t already following her then I highly recommend it!

Anyway, this magazine is published six times per year I believe, and is available in WHSmiths. It costs £4 but I’d personally much rather buy one of these than something like Elle, which just seem to be made up half of ads, and half of “how to make your man happy” articles (Clue – If it’s so difficult to “make him happy” then , maybe you just aren’t right for each other… also, er, hi, relationships are a two way thing!)

Love the fact that the cover girl is refreshingly “normal” and non-photoshopped looking, and also love the different content…

What can’t you get enough of right now?

I’ve been AWOL for quite a while now, as you may or may not have noticed (a week is a long time in blogging and I’ve been away for months…).

So where have I been? Well, to be honest I just needed a break. Blogging didn’t feel like much fun for a while back there – I started to feel like I was blogging for other people and not for myself, and it was getting to the point where even thinking about blogging gave me an enormous sense of dread.

So, I took a break, and I started to miss having a little ramble after a while, so here I am, giving it another go.

I’ll never be the greatest blogger in the world in terms of numbers of posts or amazing photo’s, but I never blogged to get lots of followers or thousands of hits anyway. I started the blog because I enjoyed it, and that’s why I want to carry on.

So here’s to a fresh start?

Oh, and the cats say hello too…

… As you can see, they have been as active as always….

When Blackberry had a little “meltdown” a couple of weeks back, jokes were cracked aplenty regarding the superiority of the iPhone V’s the Blackberry.

“iPhone users – replicate the Blackberry experience by activating Airplane Mode in your settings”… Oh how we laughed.

Well, actually, not all of us did. I’m an iPhone user, and I regard the wonders of this particular smartphone in much the same way as I do my car – great when it’s working, but a complete bitch when it’s not.

I am unashamedly addicted to social media. Rarely a half hour will pass when I don’t check my twitter account, and/or post some sort of banal observation about my life (hey, I never claimed  to be a philosopher…). Or I’ll check my emails, or while away a quiet five minutes on angry birds…

Just like my car though, I’m increasingly certain that at some point, soon, somethings going to give up and die on the phone. So I was one of the very few non-laughing iPhone users. Not only was I acutely aware of the inevitable data and app losses when IOS5 for apple was launched, but I just had “a bad feeling”.

Unfortunately, my pessimism was proved correct today when I suddenly noticed that my phone felt very hot. Then, within the space of 20 minutes it dropped 20% of its battery… Now iPhones are notorious for having a crappy battery life, but 20% in 20 minutes is totally Not A Good Thing.

I phoned up the shop where I bought my phone and was advised to go to the Apple Store for advice. Fear gripped me, but I steeled myself, and went in. Those Apple stores are scary. It kinda feels like  cult. Full of smiling  Apple advocates and fans fawning over the latest offering from the mighty Apple Corp… Scary.

Anyway, the long and the short of it was that my trip wasn’t totally fruitful (see what I did there? I did a fruit pun)… I got told to make an adjustment to my settings and “give it a few days”. More disturbingly, I was told that if the problem didn’t resolve then I should “book an appointment online” for their “genius bar”…

Genius Bar?! Exccuse me, but basically, isn’t an apple store a place that sells technology gizmo’s? Now, believe me, I have all the respect in the world for the knowledge that has gone into the development of Apple and their thingums, and this post is in no way meant to be disrespectful to the late Steve Jobs.

That said, that whole Genius Bar thing? There aren’t words… I mean sometimes  I want to slap myself across the face and scream at myself “ITS ONLY A PHONE!!! FOR GOD’S SAKE, GET A GRIP!” but then, I remember that without my phone, I might have to go a whole TEN HOURS without sharing something significant* (* for significant, read insignificant) about my life. I mean where would people be without knowing that I cricked my neck today? Or that there’s a bloke in work who like to imagine that he looks like Matthew McConaughey. Where I ask you?

It scares me how much we rely on these little gizmo’s and gadgets. The smartphone, the satnav. God forbid I should actually have  to use a map. Or read a newspaper rather than find out live on twitter about the breaking news.

The worst part of it all? I’d love a new model. With more battery power. One day, I might become a crack head. CrackBerry, obviously. Not that I’m an addict or anything. I can give the handset up anytime I want to..

Well I’m back on nights – Thankfully I finish on Friday morning and I’m hoping to feel human again fairly soon after that!

Just wanted to make a quick post to say I hope everyone is OK – The things happening in the UK right now terrify me to the core – its scary how fast society can seem to just go tits up. On the otherhand though, I’m amazed at how people are fighting back against the moronic yobs wreaking havoc in many cities by organising clean up operations.

These people and the police dealing with the fall out from the riots are heroes.

This must be that famous “Community Spirit” we used to hear about hey…

Picture sourced HERE.

Anyway, I’m rambling. A totally cocked up sleep pattern does this. But I just wanted to say, I hope you are all safe, and I hope you all stay safe.

Hugs from me and belly rubs from Ren and Coco xxx

Hi Peeps, just a very quick post to let you all know I’m still here!

Unfortunately I am struck down with the curse of night shifts at the moment so resemble either a caffeined up robot (which is how I am at approx 3am…), or a zombie (think the hours between 5am and 8am…), and the rest of the time I’m just tired…

Picture Sourced HERE

I’ll be on nights for the next three weeks (boooo), but on my days off (I work a three nights on, three nights off pattern – yay for tonight being the last one in this set!) I’m brimming with ideas for blog posts, so expect as many as I can physically do. As well as the usual beauty reviews, I have a couple of giveaways and another book review coming soon (I am LOVING getting back into reading!) so I hope you’ll all “bear with” as they say on Miranda!

Hope you all have a fab weekend!

xxx

As someone who has been no skinny-minnie for the last several years I have struggled regularly with finding clothes that were fashionable, flattering and fit well. I used to regularly put off shopping trips as I despised looking for clothes, and would regularly either go home feeling even worse about myself, or in floods of tears in a changing room… Luckily I’m relieved to see that more and more high street shops are either developing or expanding their plus size clothes ranges and even realizing that sometimes the cut of clothes needs to be adjusted for different sizes… New Look are one such shop, and they have some really lovely looking items in at the moment…

One of my all time fave items of clothing in the summer is a maxi-dress – I actually bought this one, so it’s nice to see its still available…

I also love wearing shorter dresses either as they are, or over leggings in the day time – I really like the look of this one which is currently on sale for £15, as has a nice empire line detail which is flattering to peeps like me with a bigger bust…

One part of my body I’m not keen on having on display right now is my upper arms… Did someone just shout “House”!?  I personally like to solve this by donning little shrugs or cardies like this one…

My top tips for to look and feel good about yourself no matter what your size?

• If you’ve got it flaunt it – everyone has one good feature, be it your cleavage, a good set of pins or a nice waist. Find out what features you like about yourself and play them up to the max – we’re talking quantity AND quality here!
• Don’t worry about fitting into societies idea of normal – It’d be a very very dull world if we were all the same size and shape, so instead of falling into the trap of making unfavourable comparisons with yourself and others, learn to appreciate your differences for what they are – no one is better or worse than you, they are just different!
• Accessorise, accessorise, accessorize!
• You wear the clothes, don’t let them wear you – if you step out in something that doesn’t feel good, it’ll just chip away at your self esteem all day…

A parcel arrived for me about three days ago. I opened the box and put it on the floor…

Ten minutes later Coco took up residence, and this is where she has spent the last three days in between snacks…

Just wanted to share – I usually struggle to get snaps of Coco doing funny little things…

*What to do when recycling day arrives?*

Wow, it’s scorching at the moment. I’m finally feeling well enough to go back to work and I’m due back in tomorrow, so I’ve had a relaxed and relaxing day today watching the MotoGP, making some more Rocky Roads (I seem to be ever so slightly addicted to them) – see HERE for the recipe - and I made my ultimate lazy girl dinner (recipe will be on le blog tomorrow!). I’m not good in this heat, so I’ve spent a lot of the day hiding in the shade!

Poor Ren and Coco have not been loving the heat at all – poor loves. I leave my electric fan on in my bedroom, and the pair of them can often be found collapsed in front of that.

They had a rare moment of affection with each other this morning  – which finally gave me an opportunity to get some nice pictures of them together. Usually I can only manage to get pics of Ren – she loves posing, while Coco is much more of a reclusive Diva type…

Ren gets a rare Coco Cuddle (and a quick clean, whether she wants it or not!)

Sleepy time...

Not Impressed with the Heat....

Of all the pictures I got of them, this is the one that captures their different little personalities the best, and I love it;

Coco (the cat asleep at the back) is a laid back lady, while Renfield is a little monkey, who always want’s lots of attention, and “talks” to me all the time. I always say, Renfield brings the cuddles to you, whereas with my lovely Coco-pops you have to take the affection to her. A little effort gets great results from her though – she’ll roll over and let you tickle her belly.

Love them, and they make me smile every single day.