Last week I mentioned how I’ve started to get into watching YouTube videos when I’m chilling out and I thought I’d share a few favourites with you. They’re a quirky mix of creative folk who I think have done a pretty good job at making their own little piece of the internet nice and cosy.
I love a good fashion or beauty blog – or in this case, vlog – as much as the next person but at times they can come over like a bit of a sales pitch. I love Louise Pentland aka Sprinkle of Glitter‘s channel who chats to you like you’re a pal and has a lot of fun making her videos with her wee girl Darcy and her friends. I am obsessed with the song she’s featured in this one – I dare you not to tap your toes as you watch!
Greetings friends! This has been an exciting week! I started a new job in a part of town I’d never heard of (let alone visited), so it’s been great to see a new side to the city, albeit a fairly corporate, blue-y grey one. It’s pretty normal for folk to leave for work around 8.30am for a 9.30 / 10am start. Since my current role is very office-based just now I’ve decided to give the Tube a miss and walk a few stations further to kick start my day and I’m not alone. The pavements are packed with workers teaming their slick suits with Nike trainers, (which they switch out for more suitable shoes once they reach their destinations of course!) We herd ourselves along the Bridge like sheep, shuffling into our respective pens in the shortest time possible.
In the company I’m working at we usually wrap up around 6pm but it’s quite common for lots of people to stay on later. Getting home after 7pm means down time is very limited but I still think it’s important to switch off and recharge after a busy day. Switching off isn’t necessarily in my strong suit so I thought I’d look to my fellow bloggers for some inspiration and share their pearls of wisdom with you.
Let’s make time for the important things. One way for us ladies to maximise our ‘me-time’ plans for the long haul is to book a smear test. Now. I know: they are bloody horrible but the alternative is a hundred times worse. I am the first person to admit that I *hate* getting a smear test. If you’ve ever seen Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and resonated with the woman who screams ‘My Vagina Is Angry‘ you’ll know what I mean. But I hate the idea of getting cervical cancer much more. This week my Instagram feed has been inundated with ladies faces with smeared lipstick as a reminder for us girls to make an appointment. The campaign itself looks a bit daft but it’s cast my mind back to the letter my GP sent me and prompted me to add it to my to do list. I’m making my appointment this weekend – don’t put it off girls.
I’ve already posted this year about getting a new DSLR camera for Christmas and I’m really keen to make the most of it. This handy post from Sweet Electric has compiled some of the top tips on the internet for making the most of your photography. I love that Zoe Louise has done the leg work here meaning I can dip in and out of the tips as and when I have the time. Good for (hopefully rare ) days when work runs over and I only have an hour or two left spare before bedtime.
I’m trying to reform my last-minute Laura ways and prepare my lunches for the week ahead. I like to get out and grab a coffee from down the road at lunchtime. It’s not ideal to be spending over £2 for a coffee I could make in the kitchen but I think it’s really important to get out of the office and go somewhere and needing a caffeine boost is the prompt I need to get moving. Where I am able to save money is making my batches of lunch throughout the week so I’m ready for a few days in one go. I love this idea from the team over at A Beautiful Mess. I’m not going to run out and buy mason jars but a couple of smaller jam jars (or an old takeaway container) would do the job rightly and making a couple of days’ lunches in one go frees up time later in the week.
Even though I spend most of my day in front of a computer screen I love to catch up on what some of my favourite bloggers are up to when I get home. I get a bit bored with countless identikit make up reviews and tend to veer toward more creative posters and, more recently, YouTubers. When I’m making dinner I often have bloglovin’ open on my computer or phone while I cook and one blog I love to visit is Cupcakes & Cashmere. Every week Emily does a post entitled ‘Links I love‘ and I love to dip in and out of these – I always discover something interesting. I’m loving this week’s tip on how to up my nap game!
The last tip I came up with all on my own, would you believe! Every day I’m going to try and take 20 minutes out to do something to help myself relax. Tomorrow I’ve earmarked painting my nails – I know, I know: I’m so wild!;) Joking aside, it’s important to do something that’s just for your own wellbeing whether it’s a bit of pampering, reading a book, listening to music or going back to basics and sitting in comfortable silence.
What are your top tips for tuning out? Enjoy the rest of your week and see you Sunday! L xx
This weekend marks RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch. I try to take part in this every year. All you need to do is set aside an hour to count how many different types of birds you find in your garden. I started doing this a couple of years ago when I was living back home and my mum has continued the tradition since I moved across the water.
I’ll never forget the first time I went to the cinema in London on the weekend. My mum had come for a visit and really wanted to see Cuban Fury. Traipsing our way across town to the only cinema still screening it – we were a bit late to the party on that one – we duly queued to buy our tickets. The look on my mother’s face when the cashier said “That’ll be £28 please” will be forever etched in my mind. “There’s only two of us” Mama T responded, visibly aghast. “What do you get for £28? Do you get a cup of tea with your ticket?” Unfortunately not. I digress.
Taking a trip to the cinema in the big smoke can work out a pretty costly affair so I opted to take advantage of the EE 2 4 1 film offer on Wednesday where as the name suggests, you get 2 tickets for the price of one. (This offer is due to end on 25th February so if you are an Orange or EE customer make the most of it while it lasts.) That said, the film we went to see was so amazing I’d go as far as to make a second visit to the flicks to see it again. Now there’s an endorsement that should be on the poster.
I am of course talking about The Imitation Game. Shining a light on the life and work of an unsuspecting mathematician named Alan Turing who’s exceptional code breaking skills helped the Allies win World War Two – saving an estimated 14 million lives in the process. Everyone’s favourite Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Turing and despite his character’s often abrasive and emotionless manner I definitely developed a fondness for him.
An outsider dating back to his childhood, Turing struggled to make friends and fell victim to severe bullying from boys that could never dream to match his brains. He forged a strong bond with classmate,Christopher and we see Turing reminisce about their friendship throughout the film. Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the unlikely war hero is poignant and absolutely worthy of the actor’s recent Oscar nomination. Also up for an Academy Award is Keira Knightley who plays Turing’s colleague and friend, cryptanalyst Joan Clarke. The film boasts an all star cast from Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech to Hollywood heavyweight Mark Strong but that’s not why you should go and see it.
After the end of World War Two the codebreakers attempted to pick up the lives they had put on hold while working at Bletchley Park. Of course, their part in ending the war became classified for decades and the true scale of what they achieved was only fully revealed, (well, as fully as MI5 would disclose), in 2009.
In 1952, despite the huge contribution Turing made to bring the war to an end, he was convicted for indecency for practising homosexuality. He was sentenced to probation and hormone therapy – more commonly known as chemical castration- for one year. The alternative was prison. His name was dragged through the mud in an attempt to humiliate his person and discredit his work. A year after he completed his ‘therapy’ Turing was found dead in his home, a half eaten apple by his bed and a ruling of cyanide poisoning in his blood. The coroner determined suicide. He was 41 years old.
It blows my mind that gay men – like the estimated 75,000 who were convicted in the UK before homosexuality was decriminalised – would have been subjected to the same stigma and punishment as criminals for acting on a human desire for intimacy between consenting adults. The work Turing did during the war set the wheels in motion for the creation of the technology I am using to write and publish this today. Can you imagine how much more his incredible mind would have achieved had his life not been cut so tragically short?
You should see this film because it tells the true story of a war hero whose accomplishments were devastatingly thwarted -certainly in part – as a result of how strangers deemed he ought to conduct himself privately in love. Of course, people choose to end their lives for many reasons but it is clear that Turing’s reputation never fully recovered following his conviction. His sexuality was as big a part of him as it is in anybody. It’s just something that is present; much like the air we breathe, but it’s not what defines us as people and it is, thankfully, not what Director Morten Tyldum chose to make the focus of this film. It is an incredible portrayal of a genius and an imagined insight into a great mind. Beautifully shot, emotive, with an exceptional team of castmates, The Imitation Game is not to be missed. To whet your appetite, here’s a trailer:
If you haven’t already entered my January Giveaway click here for details.
In the spirit of trying new things I thought it might be an idea to showcase today’s giveaway through the medium of film so you can find out a bit about why I picked these items for you! Great stuff!
This giveaway marks my Londonversary and what better way to do so than share it with you. To be in with a chance of winning this lovely lot all you have to do is either follow my blog on WordPress – you can do this if you are already a WordPress user – or follow via a site called Bloglovin’. Both buttons can be found at the top right hand side of this post but if you have any problems just comment below and let me know!
There will be one winner and I’ll happily ship to anywhere so no matter where you are in the world you can be in with a chance of winning. You don’t need to do anything other than follow the blog but if you’d like to share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else that takes your fancy please feel free to do so!
I’ll be announcing the winner on Sunday 25th January and, of course, they will be picked at random! Best of luck!xx
Tales of adventure 