Something for the weekend

SFTW: little changes for 2016

January 17, 2016

January sucks a bit doesn’t it? Spending Christmas with a three-year-old made it feel extra special this year and I think George and I were both gutted to take down the Christmas tree. As he said to me last week, ‘It’s sad when Christmas is over’. Yes, pal. Although, to be honest, he’s mostly sad about not getting chocolate for breakfast any more…

Still, I’ve definitely caught some of that New Year Fever that Rose was talking about, and in-between doing Yoga Camp and planning holidays for the year ahead (the best way I’ve found to alleviate January blues), I’ve been making a few small changes for the coming year. Continue Reading…

Beauty and Style

The best way to apply foundation

January 14, 2016

I should probably call this post ‘the best way to apply foundation..for now’ since I do seem to change my mind quite frequently when it comes to how I like to apply my make-up. Nevertheless, sponges are my current jam and I want to spread the news.

If you watch any US-based beauty YouTubers than you’ll be familiar with the Beauty Blender, a squidgy little sponge that you dampen and then use to apply and/or blend liquid foundations and concealers. I’d seen people raving about them so much that I couldn’t stop myself from picking one up when I was in the US earlier this year. I immediately liked it (even if I now realise I definitely wasn’t getting it damp enough to start with) but it only made its way into my everyday routine a couple of months ago.

The main advantage of using a Beauty Blender is the finish – I mean it’s flawless, leaving foundation barely detectable on your face. Add some (or loads of) concealer and it’ll blend that in just the same. Want a bit of extra coverage on top of that? No problem. The end result is seamless.

Beauty Blender vs The Miracle Complexion sponge

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Life

Reasons I love cycling

January 12, 2016

Before I had my son, when my job consisted of eating my way around London most nights, I took up cycling in a big way (I’m talking commuter cycling here, not anything that involved Lycra). I would cycle to the office, and later another few miles into London for a work party or meal, then afterwards I would cycle all the way home. I absolutely loved it. However, when I was pregnant with Oscar, I was hospitalised with a collapsed lung, and after I was discharged I didn’t dare cycle with a dodgy lung and my growing bump. So I ended up putting my bike in storage for two years.

For my birthday this year, however, Juan bought me a Brompton bike – and it’s the best present I’ve ever received. Now, despite having to catch the train to nursery with Oscar, and despite the fact that I freelance in lots of different offices, I can still cycle to and from the city instead of taking the Tube. (Also, my fear of looking like a giantess pedalling frantically atop a toy bicycle – which for so long put me off taking the financial plunge and buying a Brompton – has finally been assuaged: Bromptons are not only really nippy, they’re easy to handle, pedal, and fold, and there are so many on the roads that I don’t feel at all unusual on mine.) Suffice to say that in the past few weeks, I’ve completely fallen in love with cycling all over again.

Reasons why I love cycling | Everyday30.com

There are so many reasons to love cycling – the main one for me, as a self-confessed control freak, is that cycling allows me to get from A to B without any of the tiresome hold-ups common to other modes of transport: the hanging around on platforms for two whole minutes, the mechanical faults, the leaves on the line, the ‘this bus will wait here for a short time for a change of driver’ – even heavy traffic hardly holds up cyclists. I love being able to tell people what time I’ll arrive with a modicum of confidence – and knowing that I can get from door to door in one journey.

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Something for the weekend

SFTW: New Year Fever

January 10, 2016

I’m not sure how I caught it, but I most definitely have it, ‘New Year Fever’ being that spirit of determination to do new things and to do the old things differently. I’ve got it bad – symptoms include list-making and clearing out, lots of forward planning, and an overwhelming feeling of optimism. I’ve even started putting things in my calendar.

Last year I explained ‘I’m personally against making New Year’s resolutions (I refuse to attempt radical life changes in the depths of winter when I’m flat broke and on a post-Christmas downer)’. I still tend to think that January is not the best time of year to try and make too many changes – Spring seems a more sensible period to me – but the best time of all, really, is when you’re in the right mindset, so I for one am embracing the fever. Continue Reading…

Work

A different way of working

January 7, 2016

It’s January, which means back to work for most of us. For me, it’s no big deal, as I generally love work (geek alert), but it does mean sitting down at a desk for large chunks of time, because I am absolutely terrible at taking breaks.

Anyway, the more offices I work in, the more people I see standing at their desks. It’s an approach that has me intrigued, because on the one hand it would be nice not to end every working day with my shoulders next to my ears and the posture of an eighty-year-old, but on the other I’m not 100 per cent sure I could stand for that long – I worked as a teaching assistant for a while when I lived in Gran Canaria and being constantly upright nearly did me in. There are pros and cons.

A different way of working | Everyday30.com

There are also other options: my neighbour, who works from home, works at a desk but takes calls standing up so that he gets to walk around a bit at regular intervals. When I temped at Google, staff were allowed to work wherever they wanted – in the cafeteria right next to the free snacks, say (hums innocently), or inside the novelty double decker that sat in one corridor, or even reclining in the dimly lit ‘resting’ room (I know). There were also lots of people who had standing work stations.

Continue Reading…

Food

The only book you’ll need to eat healthily

January 5, 2016

We’re all thinking about healthy eating now that it’s January, right? And not just as an antidote to the ridiculous excesses of Christmas; there’s something about the fresh start of a new year that makes me want to get into all kinds of good habits. Still, even though I want to eat healthily this month, my commitment to this ideal is usually on the wane by the end of a long day, so I need the recipes I choose to be as easy as possible.

Jamie's Super Food

Enter Jamie’s Everyday Super Food: if you’re lucky, you’ll have got a copy for Christmas, and if not, I urge you to buy it as it’s the easiest and tastiest way to eat healthily this January. There are recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks – so you’ve got the whole day covered. I love the idea of eating this way from Monday to Friday and then indulging a bit (or a lot…) at the weekend. Don’t worry, the recipes aren’t too complicated, either – or full of weird or expensive ingredients. Continue Reading…

Blogging

My favourite posts of 2015

December 31, 2015

Rather than publish a list of our most popular posts of the year, I thought instead that I would run through my favourites to read and write in 2015.

It’s fair to say that we all find it challenging writing personal posts, but we definitely tried this year to push a few more of our inner thoughts out onto the blog, and they became some of my favourite posts of the year. My heart swelled when Rachel – generally a woman of few written words – took courage and wrote about how she feels about her body after having her second child this year (shout out to cutie patootie Thomas!), and I thought Nicky was brave to admit she really hadn’t found it all that hard to return to her pre-pregnancy weight after having Oscar.Favourite blog posts 2015

We waded into more sensitive territory when Rachel explained why she’s not married, Nicky broached the thorny topic of how couples handle their joint finances, and I attempted to explain why I think learning to love our bodies is probably both impossible and undesirable. And, as we approached the end of the year, Nicky even went on to explain why, if you’re childless, you’ve probably unwittingly been a bad friend to your new-mother pal (not to worry though, you can make up for it once you know better by paying it forward to someone else). Meanwhile, I did my best impression of sharing wisdom when I turned 31.  

The rest of my favourite posts for the year were: Continue Reading…

Life

The best things we’ve seen and read this year

December 29, 2015

Best things we've seen and read this yearRachel

Pete and I seem to have a fight over what to watch on TV every bloody night. If he had his way, we’d watch Scrapheap Challenge on repeat, maybe with a history or science documentary thrown in occasionally. We have, however, had a few successes this year – the first was Scandal (as recommended by Rose) and probably where my loungewear obsession started. Next was True Detective, which I didn’t expect to like because Rose wasn’t keen and we pretty much agree on everything, but it was strangely compelling. Finally, we’ve both been crying with laughter and cringing in equal measure at Catasrophe (although sometimes it feels a little too close to home).

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Something for the weekend

SFTW: Sun, Santa and sleeping bags – plus a Christmas present for readers

December 20, 2015

I’m writing this post from a beachfront in Gran Canaria, where I’m spending Christmas with Juan, Oscar and my in-laws, who live here. I’ve been away for five days now, and it’s so nice to have an extended break from all things work-related and also enjoy some warm sunshine. However, if you all enjoy a surprise white Christmas without me, it will ruin everything. Also, just to put the mandatory selfie (my second ever, FYI) in perspective and make you all feel better about not (yet) being on holiday, we are planning to toilet train Oscar while we are here – so, you know.

nicky

Christmas abroad is a weird one, isn’t it? It’s always nice to go on holiday, but forfeiting the traditions and idiosyncracries of your own family and culture and trying to adopt those of another is always a shock to the system. The first Christmas I spent in Gran Canaria, we had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and opened all of our presents at midnight. It was fun at the time, but the next day, when I was expecting the festivities to continue, it turned out there was precisely nothing planned. So we pottered about, I glumly defrosted some vegetable soup for lunch, and then we ate hastily prepared salmon with spaghetti for dinner when it became clear that I was about to have an emotional meltdown (I had called home to wish everyone a merry Christmas some time that afternoon and the jolly talk of turkey, crackers and Cranium had all got too much).

Continue Reading…