Life, Loves, and Lipstick

Hi blog world. Wow it's been a long time since I blogged.  There's a bunch of stuff I want to write about, serious life stuff like family relationships, anxiety, moving house, health stress and some light hearted stuff like pursuing a new hobby, interior design planning and some new shows we've given a go recently that I'd like to recommend. For now, I'm going to do a little summing up blog post about the above, and things I'll go into more detail on separately. So, main updates from the past (almost) 12 months... In 2020 we started to talk about what we both want in the future, and starting a family came up, something neither of us thought we'd genuinely wanted previously, but it was lovely to realise we had both started to feel that we'd like to take our relationship to another level. However, it wouldn't be an option where we couldn't live really due to lack of space.  So, we decided to put our/my house on the market early 2021 and should be m...

I don't know if every reader of this blog will know, but I'm a photographer. Weddings primarily. So, as you can imagine, my career has been on hold for the best part of 12 months due to the covid pandemic (had my first injection recently by the way, I was so nervous). I've had mixed feelings on it as I've been lucky in that I was entitled to the government self-employment income support grants, and it worked out well for me.  So I've had money coming in, and not had to actually be out there working.  Although I enjoy my work, there wouldn't really be any other opportunity for me to be gifted a full year off while still getting paid so I looked at it quite positively and tried to appreciate it for those reasons. In the first lockdown a few photographer friends had started offering remote portrait shoots via facetime.  I modelled for one friend's portfolio for such sessions, it was fun! But the thought of being behind the camera/phone actually didn't appea...

Did you ever collect anything as a kid? I collected some random stuff. Keyrings, had a big box of them, usually from holidays and things as souvenirs. I'd remember where they all came from. McDonalds Happy Meal Toys. Pokemon cards kind of!? And autographs. I can't remember when I first started collecting autographs, but I still have the same ringbinder I've had from the start that I keep them all in. A big Winnie the Pooh one with photo sleeve wallet things from WH Smith. I discovered a website called Star Archive that had tonnes of fanmail address for celebrities, that was my main source for where to write. That website's long gone now but there's still sources/websites out there for such things, some paid, some free. I've been using the extra free time in this latest lockdown to list loads of stuff on eBay. It's mainly been clothes but I ended up listing a few autographs out of that ringbinder earlier in the year. For some reason, selling a few, had the co...

It's been a tough day or so. Struggling. All kinds of stresses going on right now that are getting on top of me. Car. Relationships. Health. Work. An anniversary of horribleness/a particularly awful time in my life. Great big combo all at once. Didn't sleep well last night (due to the above) but then had to start my longest work shift at a new job as of yet and be there for 7:30am. It was actually quite quiet and went fast.  I actually enjoyed it apart from the last couple of hours when I was suddenly under a lot of stress and facing drama and unexpected and confrontational behaviour that I wasn't expecting that completely ruined my mood for the rest of the shift. On top of that I had further confrontation at my door regards an unreasonable attitude from someone this evening adding to more stress.  I just keep crying it out. 

 

Anyone else have way too many clothes? I've been working hard on eBaying lately, got loads of stuff listed at the mo so if by any chance you're a size 8/10/12 and into vintage style do check out my shop!  I'd appreciate it :)  There's a mix of Cath Kidston to true vintage, Collectif, and Vivien of Holloway. Not only would you be helping me cut down on the ridiculous amount of (oh so pretty) clothing bits and bobs I have, but also help me with some pennies while the wedding industry (my livelihood) still seems out of business... It's quite cathartic managing to sell things and cutting down on 'stuff'.  I've been guilty of buying a fair few bits over the past month, so I'm trying to sell more in order to not continuing to add to my clothes rail. The goal is definitely reduce more and more and more. I did a bit re-sort and tidy of our spare bedroom recently, found new stuff to list, and generally made it a nicer space. I think I really do want to work o...

Well it's been not far off 2 months now and there's been definite signs of progress since  my last post , yay! There's still battles with the frizz but there's also ringlets! 1 month of progress in photos The first photos I believe were just washing with a non CG approved conditioner and using Cantu curl creme before I invested in the Faith in Nature conditioner for co-washing, Inahsi coconut avocado curl defining custard gel, and their hemp deep conditioner. I've also used Olaplex no.3 a couple of times in the last few weeks. I've done a few rice water rinses as well. Oh and I discovered Garnier's hair food in banana, the most amazing smelling thing ever! Here's a little comparison of the back of my hair today (not the most tidy of wash days but not the worst I guess) vs a very early wash day in November... top November 2020 below January 2021 If one thing's noticeable it does look in better condition and there's definitely more 'curl clumps...

My Mum has naturally curly hair, my Dad has naturally curly hair, yet mine has always just been this fine straight(ish) thing.  Not quite wavey but somewhere inbetween! There's been a few times recently where I've seen random curls appearing underneath.  This was my hair before and after I did a treatment on it mentioned in a previous blog post As you can see, somewhere in-between straight and curly. I try to use sulfate free shampoo, partly for hair health and partly to preserve my colour when dyeing it, so maybe that has played a part in me maybe noticing a few more little curl formations than normal. I've always been intrigued by the Curly Girl Method, I know a few friends who've followed it and have great curls from it, so I think I'm gonna try give it ago. For reference, based on the pics I've seen out there, I think my hair type is 2a. I bought a product that I'd seen good recommendations for, Cantu Shea Butter Moisturising Curl Activator Cream, which ...