As a curly haired gal, I have a complicated relationship with my hair and hairdressers.
Add in a mother who made out my hair was as legendary as Samson’s, so should never be cut, divide it by a lifetime of working in food service with hats as part of the uniform, then multiply by kids and the ever present threat of headlice, and you get a woman who has eventually grown WAY past any flying fucks about the latest styles and ways to wear your hair.
Continue reading →I know, what a dramatic title, especially for a post that’s essentially going to be about me planning to get up early.
I used to work food retail, it mostly involved getting up at stupid times like 5am to walk to work, and bake bread or pastries. Ok, so there was a little more to it than that, like talking to people, inventories, and counting cash. But there was an awful lot of early mornings.
I did them, I got up and went to work. These days, I struggle, I hate getting up at 7:30am. It’s a giant struggle to resist rolling over and ignoring the world. Fortunately my kids don’t let me, and we manage to get to school on time. Mostly.
It makes me quake in my boots, the thought that I might have to start getting up EARLY. But there’s just so much I want to get done, and it seems like I’m going to have to start getting up early to do it.
Allegedly there are many benefits to getting up early, and it’s not just because there’s more time to drink coffee.
I’ve read a tonne of tips on how to turn myself into a “morning person” and how to make it easier to get up early, I’m not sure I can do it.
Anyone have any tips for getting up early?!
I’m 3 weeks back into Weight Watchers. The first week was like magic, I’m not certain how I lost weight. The next two weeks… well the magic has worn off, plus I’m feeling terribly miserable.
Le sigh. So week 3 & 4 contained enough junk and comfort eating and “oh sod it” eating, “it’s in the cupboard” eating, “I like food” eating, “there’s only one left” eating, “I NEED CARBS” eating, “I’ll stop at one” eating, “Someone else is eating” eating, “I’m stood in the kitchen” eating, “the kids are driving me crazy” eating, “I’m all by myself” eating and also “no one is looking so it doesn’t count” eating that I’m almost back to no weight loss at all.
The plan for week 4 is to just track all the food I eat. Write everything down & the time too. The Group Leader chatted with me about triggers, and habits, and the target for this week isn’t magic weight loss, it’s just paying attention to what I put in my mouth.
In the middle of August Lush Kitchen made Percup massage bar. (I wrote about it> It’s gorgeous) And while writing about it I mentioned a soap I love but they no longer have in stores.
There hasn’t been a coffee product in Lush since Vanilla in the Mist, a really great soap that made you smell like a vanilla latte.
Then the Lush Kitchen went and made it over the Bank Holiday Weekend… I had to order some. It was like the rules. Or something.
(Also there are some new LUSH product spoilers in this post. It’s not the Christmas products, but you know, just warning you!)
I also ordered the Godiva Solid Shampoo. It’s the yellow looking hockey puck thing in the video. Think of it like 3 bottles of shampoo with all the water squashed out, so there’s no need for any packaging. No water & no packing means it costs less to transport & store, and it’s concentrated so lasts ages. Godiva is £6.50 and last me ages. This one has lots of oils & coco butter in it, so it’s almost a conditioner too. I like this one because it’s got the extra conditioner in it, there’s a whole heap of them in Lush store, and if you stalk all things Lush on instagram, then it seems like a whole heap more are on the way ….
See that one at the bottom right… A coffee & henna shampoo. NEED / WANT. (Is it strange to be so obsessed with shampoo? IDK, I always have been, and conditioners too. Perhaps it’s just a red head thing?)
If you don’t want any spoilers for the LUSH 2014 Christmas range, then DO NOT check out any of Bathgoddess‘ other photos. It’s a little like getting lost on Pinterest, and soon you know what’s *probably* know what’s on the way.
On to the soapI love this soap. I LOVE IT. It’s really sweet. Full of Fair Trade vanilla from the Ndali estates. If you’re a foodie then you might have heard of it, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall used / uses it at his River Cottage and has high praises for it. (is that still going? I stopped watching ages ago!) And here it is in my soap. There’s both a Vanilla pod infusion & Vanilla Absolute AND bits of the vanilla pods in the soap. It’s sat on the desk next to me as I’m wrighting & the smell is like a warm delicious fug of vanilla. But all that sweetness is tempered with some Bergamot Oil and Cocoa Roasted Extract, so the final bar is a delicious sweet latte style of vanilla. It’s a really soft soap too, you can see in the video how wet & fresh it was when it was shipped to me, and even though I haven’t had chance to use it yet and it’s been sat on my chest of draws, it’s still moist and squidgy.
I’m very much looking forwards to colder weather & an amazingly hot shower with this soap. (I need to get out more eh?) And then following up with Percup Massage bar.
Vanilla in the Mist Soap was £4.50 & the Godiva Shampoo bar is £6.50 (and £3.95 P&P) so the whole box cost me just under £15.
Unfortunately all the Vanilla in the Mist as sold out at Lush Kitchen, but if you keep an eye on their instagram feed, http://instagram.com/lushkitchen they post what their making each week, and you get some snaps of how they’re made too!
Remember when I “ran” 2.8 Hours Later?
Here’s the after party photo of our group!
Think I enjoyed being a zombie a little too much…
Remember #Juneathon? Were some people ran & blogged everyday of June, and some of us ran for about 3 days, then entered the prize draw for a Jogg Box anyway because we’re a cheeky sod?
Well over on their website (www.joggbox.com) they say
JoggBox is a fun and exciting way to discover new running products and accessories. Each month, as a member, you will receive a box filled with the best nutrition running products out on the market. Discover also exciting new accessories and outfits designed to keep the perfect balance of comfort and style while running. The value of the items in a box is always bigger than the price you are paying for.
I love monthly subscription boxes, I just want to sign up for them all, because it’s like someone sending you a present every month. If only they were actually presents (or prizes like this one) and I didn’t need to pay for them! This one should have been £15 + £3 P&P, but you can get them a bit cheaper if you sign up for a Quarterly or Annual subscription.
What did I get?
I think the first #Juneathon I took part in someone was offering out HIGH5 samples, and I love freebies so I jumped on that band wagon, and I’ve been a fan of the HIGH5 stuff ever since. The gel were also what was on offer during the 1st Liverpool Marathon. I’ve got the Summer Fruits gel, which is good because I’ve never tried that one, and the drinks sachets I have are Cherry – Orange, I’ve never tried them either. So that will be fun.
I got one of these in a Vegan Tuck Box (I’ve mentioned I like monthly subscription boxes right?) They’re vegan, soy free, gluten free and non GM. This is where you think they’re made of cardboard and dust and must taste the same, but they’re surprisingly tasty and there’s currently a little bit of a battle between me & my husband over who will get this one.
I’ve got 2 tea bags, a Moringa Original & a Moringa Apple & Cinnamon. They say “Miracle Tree Moringa is 100% vegan, gluten-free, Non-GMO, ethically sourced, and completely caffeine-free. Moringa is extremely nutritional plant, which is shown to have many health benefits and effects.” I’ve no idea what Moringa is but apparently it’s “carefully chosen by the artisans in Sri Lanka.”
At the end of the description for this it says “Taste salty.” Before that it says it’s a rehyrdation drink that prevents and combats mild to moderate dehydration in athletes. That should be good, the volume of coffee I drink in a day probably puts me in a permanent state of light dehydration. It’s also got 6 times more electrolytes than other sports drinks, because of SCIENCE!
This is 98% concentrated beet root juice. I’m a little weirded out by that. I don’t know why, I’m a little nervous about trying it. I’m also amused that it suggests you should take it 1 to 12 hours before sport, so any time really just not while you’re actually out sportsing.
It’s a protein shake that’s made of hemp. “It’s a complete natural source of protein to support your active lifestyle and immune system.” I’ve never tried a protein shake before, but it does say you can mix it with yogurts and cereals, so I might try it that way.
This is sports laundry detergent. I’ve never considered that my sports bras might need a different was to my everyday T shirts. It kills bacteria rather than masking smells, according to the packet. I might save this for #Janathon,(as there’s no way I can slack through that, Cathy has said I have to!) and give it a real challenge.
This is a weird knobbly golfball thing. You kinda roll it about under your feet and it makes them feel awesome. I haven’t tried it yet, but I love having my feet rubbed, so I’ll give this a good testing over the next few weeks I think & report back.
It supposed to hook over your jogging bottoms, I think it might pull my pants down, but I’m willing to give it ago.
There’s also a card with a discount for Sports Tape & another with a discount to Bobo’s Organic Juice too. But I’m probably not going to take them up on them.
Lush Kitchen is quite a new part of Lush. They make small batches of classic Lush products, something that used to be called Retro, but they also make exclusive products, or advance order products, again all in small batches.They also do regular G+ hangouts where the Compounders (the guys & gals making the products) & the Inventors (the people who come up with the products) talk about the ingredients they use, or where they source the ingredients, or inspirations behind the products.
Avowash made on 5th August 2014 by Peter
I love the ballistic Lush make called Avobath, it’s bright green, full of avocado, lemongrass oil and bergamot. Add them all together it’s brilliant. It’s great & citrusy for the summer & then also has really big powerful scent for the winter, specially if you’re full of cold, plus it’s got loads of avocado that’s super for the skin.
This smells nothing like it.
I know, should have read the ingredients better, and I’d have know it was packed with pine oil, but there’s a little bit of panic when you see you’ve only got 30 min to complete your order once you’ve put a Lush Kitchen product in your basket, so I didn’t.
Initial disappointment over, it’s nice. The pine in this is quite strong, it smelt quite antiseptic, or bathroom-cleanerish when I unwrapped it, but once it’s wet & on the go it’s quite nice. It’s probably going to get used more as a hand soap than a soap I take into the shower. (It’s going to take something very impressive to take the mighty Sandstone off the number one spot!)
Avowash is £4.25 per 100g and is only available through Lush Kitchen.
Percup made 8th August 2014 by Peter
This is what incited me to place the order. A massage bar made with coffee. There hasn’t been a coffee product in Lush since Vanilla in the Mist, a really great soap that made you smell like a vanilla latte. But Percup is not a soap.
It’s a massage bar. It’s a beautiful chunk of fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter & Fair Trade Shea Butter blended with some gorgeous ingredients. The massage bars melt surprisingly quickly in your hands, even my perpetually cold hands, and you can use it for massage (and they do in Lush Spas) or, as I did with this, use it after the shower (or bath) as a really great body lotion.
As well as the shea & cocoa, Percup has organic jojoba oil and extra virgin coconut oil. All of those by themselves are great for skin, wrapped up together with the coffee beans, vetiver oil and fair trade vanilla, it’s freaking UHMAZING!
It’s a real sweet & warm scent, like the smell of your local coffee shop in the morning when they’re still baking the pastries, and steaming the milk for lattes while you’re sat at the bar with a perfect espresso. Even 8 hours after I’ve covered myself in it, I still want to lick my own arm. Unfortunately, Percup isn’t edible.
Sometimes, allegedly, products that start in Lush Kitchen will then end up in the stores. I hope so, because I think I need this in my life all the time!
Percup is £6.50 and only available through LushKitchen
If I’ve tempted you with these products, then be quick! The menu at Lush Kitchen changes frequently, and they might not make these again. Postage is about £4, so this package cost me just under £15.
Anyone tried something from Lush Kitchen? What are your favorite Lush Products?
Here’s the ingredients, (as the second disaster was that I failed to press record when adding them to the bowl)
2 cups flour
1 cup ground almond
1 cup almond milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pistachios, because I like them, you could use more almonds)
1/4 tsp baking powder (ish)
Brilliant video aside, this is one of my favorite thing to make, and I’ve also dipped one end of the final biscotti fingers in chocolate, dark delicious chocolate. It was for Christmas Eve breakfast, with some really nice coffee (and really nice friends.)
Once you’ve made it a few times you can start getting cocky and doing stuff like adding chocolate powder to the mix and some chunks of dark chocolate instead of the chopped nuts. Then you’re doomed, as it’s gorgeous and you’ll just have to eat it all.
I wonder what the next #VlogChallenege will be?
I know I don’t need to explain why I do the #VlogChallenge & what the topic (this one was music) is all about. But I have a blog and if Vlogging makes me Blog more then it’s win win.
Week 4 was all about music, so after checking that it would be ok with the Station Manager, I took my camera down to Preston FM and recorded the Vlog whilst I was recording Geek On Radio.
First of all, IT IS CRAZY HOT IN PRESTON FM STUDIOS, so hot that my camera overheated and didn’t want to play at first. Then my computer wasn’t too impressed. But eventually I actually mamanged to record something worth uploading to YouTube.
Any there you go.
So the report that I was talking about was an American one, by Media Matters for America. You can read it all here if you like, but I have got some of the slides ready for you, if you’re not in the mood.
oh and this one too,
SO These are the things I posted on Facebook, way back at the start of the year, and I was prodded in the right direction. I love my radio show. I love doing it, the people I’ve met and the places I’ve been, and it’s not even six months old!
Have a listen,
Cloudcasts by Geek on Radio on Mixcloud
Let me know what you think, and if you live in Preston & South Ribble sign up for some of the training courses at Preston FM and come join in! (www.Preston.fm/training)
And if you’re not in the area, check out this list of all the UK Community Radio Stations, find yours and of course get involved!
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of Six To Starts running game Zombies Run, and I frequently pretend to be Runner 5 whilst out around the park. (I even have an Official Runner Five Shirt, that’s how much a fan I am!)
So it was AWESOME when I received some tickets to 2.8 Hours Later, in Manchester, as part of my leaving present from Lush Preston, this meant I could actually be Runner 5 and see if I could dodge & out run zombies for real!
If you’ve never heard of 2.8 Hours Later, it’s an event put on by Sling Shot Effect, that are literally real world games. Basically, you’re off on a mission and a points you’re going to encounter Zombies & others who may help or hinder your mission, and scare the living daylights out of you. My present was tickets 2.8 Hours Later : Survival, the sequel to the 2013 game 2.8 Hours Later – Asylum.
We arrived a little late for our 7:30pm start, it was a little hard for us to find the start location. We followed directions from Google Maps, and called the box office for some help, but couldn’t seem to locate it. We re traced our steps and when we reached our our starting point, we bumped into some others who were due to play, and we went the opposite direction to Google maps, and eventually found the start… and a giant queue.
Leila, Tanya & me after seeing the A4 sheet with all the T&Cs!
We were really worried about arriving late, but we didn’t need to, we had no problem joining the back of the queue and were handed a sheet explaining the event and some Terms & Conditions, given a brief explanation of what was on the paper and then asked to write our full name, and sign on the bottom. T&Cs were long, 2 sides, but after reading them all (we were in line for about 40 min) they were mostly what you’d expect. Including the brilliant reminder that even though we were about to play a game, physics still applies, and we should also look out for things like cars!
We went in a team of 3, but when we reached the start of the line we were grouped up with two other teams of 2, as a super team of 7. I’d like to say I can remember everyone’s names, but I’m really rubbish at that kind of thing, and didn’t really take anything to write that kinda stuff down, sorry!
Now, I don’t want to give the plot away, the game is running in other cities until the end of the year, and I’ve been told off by listeners at Preston FM for giving away spoilers for films & Game of Thrones, so I’m going to do my best to keep this spoiler free… but it was an awesome event & I might not be able to help it!
SO after they grouped us up, we went through a quick safety brief , we were given a map & sent through to The Game…
The basics were this;
We had been sent on a mission to collect some much needed supplies. We weren’t sure where they would be, but we were trained in how to hack into a computer system that would tell us where more supplies would be if that stash was empty. Once we had supplies, we needed to head to the rendezvous, and then we could head back to base. We had to ensure that the supplies (and the nominated team member carrying them) we completely uninfected.
We set off, and our first encounter with the Zombies wasn’t too far away. It was both terrifying and hilarious! Hearing your mates scream like terrified horror film extras is something everyone should have the chance to discover! The Zombies were incredible, both creeping & quick, and incredibly great at making you forget that this was make believe!
There were approximately 8 zombie events that happened across the 90 (ish) minute game, but it’s really hard to recount them all, as they were all part of the narrative. There were some great set pieces in locations, and the “random encounters” on the street between them were brilliant. It all rounds off into a “run the gauntlet” style encounter. We even had a few spectators, as some factory workers had obliviously heard the human (& Zombie ) screams and nipped out for some entertainment on a fag break!
So did I survive the Zombie apocalypse?
All that training Runner Five, didn’t do much good, did it?
When you return to Base, there’s a giant scanner, and you queue up to see if you survived infection. I didn’t think I had, I volunteered to run the point on one of the encounters, and I know my movie tropes, I was never going to be the hero that survived, but it was all about getting the supplies back to base & making sure the runner with them was clear of infection. Our nominated runner was Tanya, we’d make loads of effort to ensure she lived & was fine…
Imagine my surprise when I saw her in the Infected Zone with me! In the end there was 3 out of our team of 7 infected, we didn’t bring home any supplies for our base. We did have a great time, and I had a hell of a hunger when we got through to the after party!
Leila survived… I think it was down to her amazing horror film scream at the first encounter!
It was a brilliant event, and you really don’t need to be that fit to do it. We rocked up in running kit, but could have easily done it in a pair of jeans & some fashion trainers. There was even a team who did it dressed as a Start Trek away team, 2 guys in blue, one in gold and one “Redshirt” (yes, the Redshirt was the only infected on their team) those guys were dedicated to their memes and it made a great after party photo!
There was an after party at the base, but we didn’t stick around, we had to head back to reality, it was Thursday night. But we all agreed if we went on a Friday or Saturday event we’d be cracking out the moves to Thriller at the Zombie Disco! I’m 100% going to sign up for next years event, and possibly even consider volunteering to be a Zombie.
Thanks very much to survivor Leila, who let me use her photos for this post, because I didn’t take many, I was having too much fun!
Has anyone been to the event in other cities? I’d love to compare notes and see how / if the story changes?