Monthly Archives: June 2009

How to ‘Make Time’ for Yourself

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Angela Stewart - Green & Gorgeous Domestic GoddessCan you believe the rate at which 2009 is flying by?

At the outset of this year our youngest two started school – I naively believed that I would have all the time in the world to myself.  As it happens the exact opposite has occurred – just until the last week or so it has felt like I have been constantly coming and going – I was considering installing a revolving door.

However, today circumstances have finally conspired in my favour and I find myself quietly pottering around the house in my pj’s at 9:30am!  Yay!!! As I am enjoying the peace and quiet I remember the concept of a ‘mental health day’ – in the past when my world has been far too busy and intense I had taken a day out here and there to be pampered or go out for lunch or shop or anything that I wanted to do.  Continue reading →

How to read the label of your Skincare Products

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Reading skincare labels can be confusing - get the facts hereWhen I want information about skincare ingredients - one of the first places I go to get informed is the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website.

Their latest offering is a guide to reading the label of skincare products, which I’ll admit can be a pretty confusing exercise at times. So, if like me you don’t have a chemistry degree – here’s the facts you need to know.

Read the EWG article about Choosing better body care products here >>

What I learnt from Joe Strummer

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Thankfully my formative years were spent listening to The Clash, and not Britney Spears. If that had been the case, I’m pretty sure my life would have turned out to be very different, and it’s probably safe to say - my company Gorgeous Things would not exist.

Punk was over by the time I was old enough to be forming my own preferences in music - Sid Vicous was dead, the safety pins and mohawks were thin on the ground and Malcolm McLaren had released, ’Buffalo Girls’. Those who lived to tell the tale, such as Henry Rollins and the Ramones kept making records with continued success. But the one man who stood out to me as more philosopher than musician was the lead singer of The Clash, Joe Strummer.

What I learnt from Joe Strummer has very little to do with Punk, and much more to do with being a compassionate and engaged human being – so I thought I share what he taught me.

Continue reading →

Feel Great Aromatherapy Blends

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Wake-up Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed Blend

This blend kicks some serious butt when it comes to blasting out the cob webs – prepare to be productive!

1 drop Lemon
1 drop Rosemary
1 drop Lemongrass
1 drop Peppermint

Get Cosy with your Significant Other Blend

Maybe use this one if you’ve given the credit card a bit of a workout and need to break the news – good luck!

Continue reading →

All-time Top 5 Break-ups – in Chronological Order

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Some of the best books get made into films, which is great because it means many of our favourite characters have been brought to life on the big screen  – although sometimes with mixed results.Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity - Starring John Cusack & Jack Black

Some of the most notable in my opinion are, starting with the obvious,

  1. High Fidelity – Nick Hornby book becomes John Cusack & Jack Black film. Smart and funny with the more than occasional cringe-worthily accurate insight into relationships
  2. PS – I Love You – this one gets a mention because I’ve never cried so much in the first 20 minutes of a film before
  3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – nice directing by Clint Eastwood
  4. The Talented Mister Ripley – but forget all the other Ripley films, this is the best one
  5. Apollo 13 – weren’t you totally on the end of your seat for the re-entry? Great film! Continue reading →

Diggin’ the Dancing Queen

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Dancing the Tango“See that girl, watch that scene” – now that I’ve implanted Abba in your head, tell me, when was the last time you went dancing?

Even it was the Nutbush at your cousin’s wedding last Spring, or your regular Step class at the gym - of course that still counts, but what I’m really getting at is dancing where the steps aren’t already completely choreographed. Your authentic inner-dancing-queen appears purely from enjoying the music around you and just making it all up as you go along.

Any dancing is good dancing in my book. But what happened to when we would get our groove on (apologies, I’m a child of the 70s) without being so self-conscious?

Even before my first Jazz Ballet class at age 6 with Miss Maria –  way, way back in 1981, I was a dancer. If there was music playing, I was shaking my hips and spinning like a top. My mother’s always been a huge Motown fan, so it wasn’t uncommon for me as a three year old to be cutting the rug to ‘Can’t Hurry Love’ by The Supremes or ‘Nowhere to Run’ by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. Continue reading →

Beauty & Brains June Newsletter

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ecolinenThe Gorgeous Things Winter Survival Guide is now available online.

Subscribe to Beauty & Brains Monthly Newsletter

What you’ll find in the June Edition of Beauty & Brains:

  • Natural Winter Skincare Tips
  • How to Whiten & Brighten your clothes without Bleach
  • Latest Videos on the TED site
  • Anti-viral Aromtherapy to keep you Healthy
  • How to make your Bedroom Allergy Free

>> Read the latest Edition of Beauty & Brains

Subscribe to Beauty & Brains Monthly Newsletter

C’mon Get Happy – Plan a Holiday

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Where to go on holiday?Right, where are we going on holiday?

Sometimes you just have to follow the signs. This morning I’ve followed two signs. Firstly, I opened my email to see an ad for Sir Richard Branson’s private island Necker, in the British Virgin Islands…seems it’s only $51,000 per night to rent the whole thing! Bargain!

Next I headed over to iStockphoto where I was to download a few images for a site I’m working on. The image of the girl and the plane to the left was their Photo of the Week.

See, it’s all starting to come together. Now all I need is to follow the next sign which will surely show me the way to the $350,000 to pay for the 6 days, 7 nights basking on the glorious white sands, next to the turquoise waters of Sir Richard’s idyllic private island. I wonder if that sign will take the form of a rainbow – with a big neon flashing arrow pointing to the end that contains the pot of gold?

Continue reading →

How to get your Man to Behave like a Gentleman

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A little bit of eye candy for you :)Does your guy need some help to become more ‘manly’?

Firstly, let me clarify, I’m not talking about football-and-beer-with-the-boys type manliness. What I’m referring to is manliness in the being-a-mature-adult-and-behaving-like-a-gentleman kind of way. Here’s some examples. Does he know how to cook a roast? Would it occur to him to offer you his jacket as the temperature drops? What about dressing appropriately – can he do this without you having to make a few ’adjustments’?

They say good men are hard to find. Perhaps none of the previous attributes are important to you, and that’s fine, but if you would like your guy to ‘man up’ then you might like to introduce him to The Art of Manliness and let him decide for himself if there’s anything he’d like to learn, improve or cultivate. The Art of Manliness is a fantastic community with about 35,000 members that any man (or woman for that matter) can enjoy being part of.

As an introduction, try this post on The Art of Manliness – Become a Renaissance Man without Spending a Dime

You’re Wearing That? (or The Art of Dressing…Dad Style)

Continue reading →