We’re turning three this week!

I’m so proud of all of us, Gorgeous Things blog turns three this week and it’s thanks to all of you that we made it this far. So a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reads this blog regularly or from time to time. It really has been such a pleasure getting to know some of you so well. An extra special thank you to our gorgeous contributors Angela Stewart, Megan Faulkner and Gabrielle Sutton – I couldn’t do it without you. xoxo

To celebrate, I thought I’d share some of the most popular and a couple of my favourite posts so far.

Most popular posts on Gorgeous Things

Love & Sex – now, I wonder why these posts are so popular? Hehe!

My induction into the world of Tantra

The stages of falling in love

Yoga & Meditation – how, where and when to chillax

Many benefits of Meditation

Removing Chemical Nasties from your skincare

What makes a great skincare product

Yummy skincare

Facts about Mineral Make Up

Domestic Goddess

Angela (Martha) Stewart on clearing clutter at home

Saving money on petrol costs

Cleaning your home naturally

Clean & green at home

Healthy Body & Healthy Mind

Overcoming intuitive eating with Laura E

Are we still embarrassed about seeing a shrink?

Gluten-free banana bread/cake (this incidentally is the most popular post of all time)

Parenting & Family Matters

Family Holidays – the journey or the destination

Homebirth Rally

But not a s much as Sharon Perkins from Beaut Vintage…

I noticed Sharon’s website Beaut Vintage when she dropped by to comment on Laura E’s most recent post. I liked the site so much that I asked her to share a little bit about herself, her love of vintage dresses and her gorgeous vintage fashion website. Here’s what she had to say…

My passion for vintage

For as long as I can remember I have always had a passion for vintage – long before it was deemed cool – and before uncool was cool, growing up in the 80s I loved nothing more than to play in the dressing up box that was my mothers wardrobe.

60’s dresses & micro minis, 70’s ethnic tunics & slogan T’s -she had the most amazing clothes coveted from her years spent in London.

Growing up in Ireland there were very few ‘vintage’ shops around however plenty of markets – my nan used to bring me to these hidden away places in the city where the floors would be piled high with clothes and shoes, where it was every woman for herself!

I can only compare it to being a spectator at a shark feeding frenzy…grannys battling it out literally nose-diving into piles of garments in the quest for the ultimate find…I guess it instilled my love (and game) of the treasure hunt!

Collecting vintage has always been to me what favourite hobbies are to others, I love that these clothes & accessories have a history, a story and act as a cultural expression of a time gone by.

Being a hoarder I literally had and still have tons of pieces accumulated over the years.

My first dabble with selling vintage began as a subsidy whilst studying -I practically paid my way through Art College by selling in markets in Dublin, Ireland.

In my working life from event production to retail management I continued to collect & sell vintage. I knew this was what I wanted to do full time, this led to my sister and I setting up Irelands first vintage online store in 2006 which became and continues to be a great success!

Having lived in Melbourne previously I was eager to return and to provide and bring my love of vintage fashion to the virtual dressing up table.

Creating your own signature look

Mass market fashion has never really appealed to me, I love providing vintage as an alternative choice for women where they can create their own signature look with one off pieces that will always be in style as opposed to the latest fashion trend.

It has taken nine months (yep it’s a baby) to get Beaut Vintage off the ground and has been a lot of hard albeit enjoyable work!

At Beaut Vintage women can avail of collections sourced from right across the globe each piece being handpicked on exclusivity, quality and beauty.

SPECIAL OFFER: Sharon is generously offering Gorgeous Things readers a 25% discount – just use the code GORG25 when you order

I’m a firm believer in sustainable fashion and also offer a revamped range-one off pieces that have been reworked from ‘daggy to darling’ with a contemporary twist!

There is so much to love about vintage for me it ticks all the boxes: authentic, unique, beautifully crafted, eco-friendly and great value for money.

I hope I can provide a great service to the gorgeous women of Australia for many years to come!

Don’t forget Sharon’s special 25% discount for Gorgeous Things readers – use the discount code GORG25 at the check out to recieve your discount.

♥ ♥ ♥ I want this one >>> my favourite party dress on Beaut Vintage

BROWSE around Beaut Vintage and if you find something you like – take advantage of our exclusive saving.

Or leave Sharon a little message below if you like her clothes and the website – I’m sure she’d love to know what you think!

‘Out of three, how would you rate your level of happiness?’

With one being ‘not very happy’,

two being ‘fairly happy’,

and three being ‘very happy’

How can this be right?

According to management consultant, author and speaker, Marcus Buckingham (who by they way, is fabulous if you ever get a chance to get along to one of his seminars) and the more than one million people who have been asked this question in various studies around the word, over the last 60 years, women are becoming a little less happy than they where in the 1950s. In a surprising contrast,  men have become increasingly happy over the same time period.

How can this be? We women can now vote, work, have children and return to the workforce, and pretty much anything else that we want to do. But it’s not making us any happier. As Marcus says, it’s not that each of us is unhappy, but it is statistically proven that as a gender, women are becoming slightly less happy. Of course there could be a huge number of reasons for this and anyone with a sociology degree is most welcome to start a list of them for me in comments below if they have a spare 5 minutes.

This study that’s taken place in many countries, including Australia determines what’s called our level of ’subjective wellbeing’, a psychological term that really just means – how happy we believe ourselves to be in general.

How can we become happier?

I’m curious to know what you think would increase your level of subjective wellbeing? You might say more money, more time to do the things you enjoy or a holiday. It’s interesting to see that in results taken from other studies, Marcus noted that for women an increase in free time didn’t actually increase their level of subjective wellbeing. The same study he said also showed that for every hour of additional free time men are given, their subjective wellbeing rose by 8%.

Another point that I must say, kind of shocked me, is that having children doesn’t actually increase happiness. Please don’t shoot the messenger, but apparently all you mothers out there would probably rate your happiness below women without children, like moi! Now I know you’re thinking “but, but, I love my children, they do make me happy” – that may be so, but statistically, us birds without chicks are chirping a little louder and brighter than y’all. Don’t worry, apparently your lives have more ‘meaning and purpose’ than ours – so it all works out in the end for everyone! (You girls know I’m just kidding around, right? I see no need to make a distinction between women with and women without children – just the same as I don’t make any distinction between what men and women are capable of in all areas of life.)

So, where do you find your ’strongest life’?

If as a gender we are becoming slightly less happy then it’s incredibly important that we take control of the situation now, before it gets any worse. We owe it to our daughters, our sons, our sisters and brothers, friends and lovers and most importantly to ourselves to take back our happiness by living a life that has the capacity to create more and more happiness.

We certainly can’t create happiness by bitching about a job we can’t stand, or picking ourselves to pieces day in day out or by watching ‘The Secret’ every week in the hope that we’ll magically become ’superwoman’ just by focusing on what we want – way off in the distance.

Take Marcus’s short Strong Life Test

http://www.stronglifetest.com/

(takes 5 minutes at the most) to help identify the role to most invigorate you.

It’s no surprise to me that I was primarily a Teacher with the secondary strength of being a Creator

What’s yours?

It’s not about goals way off in the future

I agree with author and speaker Marcus Buckingham when he says that ‘life is about following the moments that invigorate you’, he talks about the notion of to ‘catch and cradle’ those moments that invigorate you. That’s a great term, to ‘catch and cradle’. To catch something you have to be aware of it, you have to be on the look out for it. My best moments have always been when I’m sharing new information and I see a light go on inside someone and they ‘get it’. To cradle these moments to me means to make sure I have more moments like that. I nurture the opportunities I have to share new information and keep my attention focused on finding new opportunities to share what I learn. Like here on Gorgeous Things.

Nurture what makes you feel invigorated

The idea of cradling also says to me (and I’m not sure if this is how Marcus means it) that you don’t need to hold on too tightly to these moments to get the best out of them. If you hold on too tightly you’re almost saying that you don’t believe this opportunity or moment will come along again. After all, a moment is just a moment, right? No need to grab it by the feet and shake it until every drop of moment-y goodness is gone. They’ll be another one soon – because you’ll create it by being aware of what makes you feel invigorated.

Where you can find more information about living your strongest life – the life you were meant to live

Marcus told a couple of inspiring and motivating stories about women who he’s interviewed for his book ‘Find your Strongest Life: What the happiest and most successful women do differently’ and to be honest, I could never do them justice in a paragraph here so I’m going to suggest that you read Marcus’s latest book and find your strongest life and take the first steps towards starting to live it. As I said earlier, we owe it to ourselves and if that doesn’t motivate you, then think of your daughters and the further decline in happiness that their generation will face if we don’t teach them by our own example.

Take a closer look at Marcus’s books on Amazon

See the stupidity here >> The Fat Bet

My history of disordered eating and messed up body image, led me to becoming a Nutritionist and Disordered Eating Specialist. Day in, day out I see the effects of this kind of crash dieting and I’m utterly appalled that Kyle & Jackie O are getting away with this childish competition!

Public humiliation? Anyone?

The competition involves listeners entering their details and a before picture of themselves as their ‘fat photo’. They nominate a weight that they want to lose within 8 weeks. If they don’t lose the weight, the radio station is going to shame them by putting up their before pictures on the 2 Day fm website!

Not only is this a ridiculous thing to encourage people to do, but it sets up so much potential damage in regards to body image issues and eating disorders.

For many women and young girls trying to lose weight, food, what size you are, how your clothes look and what people might be thinking of your weight is on your mind constantly. You go to bed obsessing over what foods you shouldn’t have eaten that day and how you will be perfect tomorrow; you go out stressing about seeing people and worrying that they are thinking you have put on weight and you spend your life trying to control what you eat and how much exercise you do in an effort to lose weight and be thin.

In this state, if you attempt an unrealistic, impractical and idealistic weight loss program or competition and fail, it is highly likely that your obsessions with food, weight and how you look intensify and potentially turn into an eating disorder.

The idea is that contestants enter because they are then forced to lose the weight they want to.

How can Jackie O support this competition?

Worst of all, this is being promoted by the female in the radio duo –  knowing what women and young girls are exposed to everyday in the media, it’s completely baffling that Jackie O would be promoting this?

I would like to ask her, if she had the guts to face some opposition, what would she say if she had a daughter and her daughter entered a competition like this, failed to lose the weight, and her picture was displayed on a website to make her feel guilty, fat and ashamed that she is now stuck being who she is, left to feel disgraced at the sight of her own body!

Loving your body and the way you look

What about feeling grateful for the body you have? How about promoting acceptance of the gorgeous and unique body that is yours? I know what self-acceptance does for you and I see the results of people nourishing rather than abusing their bodies because they are grateful to be them.

As far as feeling shameful, this radio duo should be ashamed of themselves for not having the brains to think of something that would actually help rather than harm people.

Laura E is the founder of Nutrizione

A note from LA @ Gorgeous Things

I’m encouraging women everywhere to Enter the Competition just to tell Kyle & Jackie O how much this competition stinks!

So it was really no surprise when a chance meeting led me to Nikki Durkin, founder of the soon to be launched fashion swapping website 99 Dresses – Your Infinite Wardrobe of Free Fashion

I’ve got nothing to wear

If you’ve got a wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear, this site could really help you to get your fix of something new without the credit card binge, hangover.

There’s two things that you really need to know about 99 Dresses

1. Nikki’s idea for sharing and swapping clothes with friends and beyond through a website is exactly what I want. I’ve been to a few clothing swap parties which were great. You get to expand your wardrobe without reaching for your wallet. The problem is – there’s never one on 2 days before an event that I need a new dress for! Nikki has solved that problem for me by taking the concept online.

2. Nikki only left High School last year! She’s now in her first year at university. Even though I don’t want to make too much of her age, as I don’t really believe that it’s relevant if you have a brilliant idea and the gumption to pull it off. I find her idea and passion for pursuing it, more inspiring than her age. But hell yeah – she’s only 18!

   

Re-use, re-duce, re-cycle & save!

99 Dresses fits perfectly with the Gorgeous Things mantra of looking fabulous and feeling great naturally and I’m seeing it as a sustainable choice for expanding your wardrobe and getting rid of clothing that you no longer want, need or even fit into.

The site launches in a couple of weeks but check out what’s been happening on Facebook on the Anyone Want Free Clothes page.

And sign up to be one of the first to start swapping clothes – for FREE! Go to 99 Dresses to Sign Up

I’d be keeping a very close eye on this website…

Today we welcome our very dear girlfriend, Laura E as a new contributor to Gorgeous Things. Laura E is a Nutritionist, a Personal Trainer and a gorgeous girl who has had her fair share of battles with food and her weight. She’ll tell you about her journey and give you the skills you need to overcome emotional eating and repair your relationship with food forever. LA is currently working with Laura E on a few of her own ‘issues’ – and getting fabulous results! (Yep, I’m beach running now! – Ed)

Laura E
Nutritionist and Intuitive Eating Guide

Intuitive Eating: a guide to overcoming and preventing emotional eating

As someone who was an emotional eater I know what it’s like to use food to cope with difficult emotions. I also know the feelings of being out of control and thinking there must be a healthier way to cope. The after effect of using food to cope comes with unwanted weight gain and poor health, mentally and physically.

Bottling up your feelings, pushing them down with food is like leaving a sink full of dishes for days and days. Eventually there will be a mess you will have to deal with. Experiencing emotions is inevitable, emotional eating however is a choice.

Which of these symptoms do you have of emotional eating?

1. Sharp cravings
2. Demand food immediately
3. Sudden and urgent cravings
4. Eating when not hungry
5. Eating really fast
6. Eating immediately after getting home
7. Eating until uncomfortably full
8. Feelings of guilt, disgust and depression afterwards
9. Mindless eating
10. Sneaking food when no-ones around

Healthy Ways to Cope with your Emotions

Everyone is different and for that reason there are many different healthy coping mechanisms.

1. Forget dieting – Whenever you eliminate certain foods from your diet, it’s like giving a toy to a 3 year old and telling them they cant play with it. Biologically, dieting goes against everything our bodies are designed to do. When you are emotional, those foods on your forbidden list become so much more appealing. What you tell yourself you can’t have suddenly becomes a simple and instant solution to you needing to feel better.
2. It’s not just about your mouth – While enjoying everything you eat is important, so is what will best satisfy your whole body. Think about what type of food your stomach wants, how much will satisfy it to leave it feeling just right.
3. Aim to finish feeling good – Before you eat, ask yourself “How do i want to feel when I’m done, mentally and physically, now and later?” The ideal type of meal or snack to have is one that leaves you feeling good for a few hours.
4. Recognise your triggers – It’s so much easier to change a negative behaviour when you are aware of what triggers it. What situations are you more vulnerable to using food to cope with your emotions? When watching TV, on weekends, after work, after a fight, after dinner or after having a few drinks?
5. Be aware of the times of day you are more likely to overeat or eat when you are not hungry. Make sure you have something to do that will make you feel fulfilled and nourished so you are less likely to fill the void with food.
6. Countermanding action for risky situations (“if this happens I will do this”) – Create healthier alternatives that are do-able for you. Can you go for a walk or to the gym when you are feeling stressed? Could you go on the way home from work so you can deal with work stress in a good way? Could you call a friend when you are feeling lonely and need to speak to someone? Will music help you to lift you up when you are feeling low? Only you know what will work best for you.
7. Question your actions – What’s bothering me? What do i really want to chew on? What’s irritating, stressing or frustrating me? Will eating change this issue? Giving yourself a chance to be aware of what’s going on is a great step in making a healthier choice.
8. Practice not reacting – As an emotional eater, you tend to reach for food instantly as a solution. It really is as if you are sleep walking into eating. Giving yourself a few minutes to just sit in the feeling can be an extremely powerful way of creating healthier habits. Practicing non-reactive eating means allowing yourself to feel the feeling and not eating instantly, telling yourself you are free to eat whatever it is you want to eat but first, commit to 5-10mins of just sitting still.
9. Eating awareness and connecting with your food – When you eat while doing other things such as working or watching TV, you are putting yourself in a state of disconnection from your body. In this state it is easy to not listen to the natural signals your body is sending you. Try being fully aware when you’re eating. The more present and aware you are when you eat, the less likely you are to eat something mindlessly later on.

When you eat, try and think about these things…

a) Chewing slowly

b) Sitting down, no matter what you are eating

c) Eating in the same place

d) Activity – not doing anything but eating

e) Enjoyment – stopping to make sure you are actually enjoying what you are eating

Making the choice to try something different when you are emotional can be hard at first. However, when you start listening to your body more and stop being driven to food by your emotions, you begin to deal with things in such a healthier way and feel the great effect that has on your mental and physical health!

You can visit Laura E’s NUTRIZIONE website to learn more about Intuitive Eating and healthy nutritious food.

I’ve been experimenting since then, trying to make a less than Sinful Banana Bread. The first step is to change the name from ‘Bread’ to ‘Cake’, this automatically reduces the calorie content as you no longer feel inclinded to spread it with butter. Funny how the thought of spreading cake with butter just seems far too decadant but the exact same recipe with ‘Bread’ in the title can be toasted and covered in fat with minimal fuss.

So, here’s my Gluten Free Banana Bread/Cake Recipe for all those of you who get a funny tummyfrom all that Wheat Flour.

• 125g Melted “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter” or Real Butter
• 125g Raw Sugar
• 2  Free Range Eggs
• 225g Simple Baking Mix (or gluten-free flour)
• 4 Very Ripe Bananas
• Tsp Cinnamon
• Tsp Baking Powder
• Tsp Bi Carb Soda

Preheat Oven to 180c
Grease Loaf Tin

Squish Bananas in a Small Bowl
Add Sugar to Butter in another larger bowl and mix until combined
Add Bananas to Sugarey Buttery mixture and combine
Add Cinnamon to Baking Mix
Add Baking Mix, 1/3 at a time to wet ingredients and stir until combined

Pour mixture into Loaf Tin and Bake for 50-60 minutes

Allow to cool and then remove from Loaf Tin

If you’ve made Banana Cake, make a cup of Tea and enjoy a slice.

If you’ve decided to call it Banana Bread then whack it in the toaster and smother it with butter. Yum!

Now we all know that foul language isn’t clever or funny, it just shows a lack of vocabulary, right?

Bah!

Who cares, this is just a bit of FUN!

Check it out >>

Intelligent classy well educated women who say @#&% a lot

—–

My apologies to the ladies that were offended by this post. Love, LAx

1. Use products that smell great and have minimal chemical content. This will lift your spirits (instead of gassing you and giving you a headache) and ensure your skin is protected from drying and allergic reactions.

2. Playing uplifting music when you are doing tasks you don’t enjoy will make them all the more easy to manage. We recommend Motown or the Bridget Jones soundtrack but whatever puts you in a good mood will do the trick.

3. Get yourself a cute apron. Think the domestic goddesses of the 50’s who took such pride in their domestic chores. It’s simple psychology; it’s been proven that if you smile for long enough when you feel down, you’ll start to feel happy. So, why wouldn’t it work for cleaning, put on the apron, think domestic goddess and before you know it you’ll be on the phone to McMahon & Tate asking what time Darren will be arriving home for dinner.

We’re not suggesting you become a Stepford wife, not by any stretch of the imagination, and we’re not trying to set the feminist movement back 50 years. We figure that if you’ve got to do these chores then you may as well attempt to make it enjoyable for yourself. It’s something to think about anyway.

Photo credits: Geraldine Mills

NB: This post was first published in 2007 but it’s one of our core messages so I thought we’d give it another run with the launch of our new site.

If what you read sometimes here on Gorgeous Things doesn’t make you angry then you’re probably not taking it personally.

Sure we spend quite a bit of time talking about how to take care of your skin without chemical nasties and style your hair without tipping L’Oreal’s chemistry set on your gorgeous hair. BUT I wanted to give myself and everyone else a quick reminder about what’s at the heart of Gorgeous Things.

Here goes:

1. Beauty & Brains
2. Awareness & Action
3. Natural approach first
4. Nurture yourself so you can nurture others
5. Nurture the planet

No where does it say that you need to become an activist but we do try to give you the knowledge and means you need to do something positive. Whether it be giving you reviews of earth and people friendly products, or simple ways to cut down your weekly fuel consumption and sometimes ways to feel good naturally so you don’t have to reach for the pharmaceuticals straight away.

One way to make your choices easy is (as my good friend and business partner Christian Jacobsen puts it) think of every dollar you spend as a vote.

Then take this one step further (and this is where Chirstian’s genius really kicks in) think of these votes as – for and against.

Spend a dollar in Subway, McDonald’s or KFC and that’s one vote against your local take-away food store as well as one vote for big fast food chains.

Now there’s a good way to make it personal.

Who are you voting against without really thinking about it?

Oh, and our online magazine launches in a few short weeks. Got something you want to share with Gorgeous Things readers? Well, write it down and if we think it fits well with what I’ve talked about in this post – our 5 values – we’ll publish it when we launch in May. Write about anything you like – max 1000 words.

Got something to say? Want it to be read by tonnes of women? Send it to la@gorgeousthings.com.au