Spring Wish-list

                  

Spring Wish-list by fortytherapy 

Having been wrapped up in woolly-pullys for several months now, I'm starting to look forward to spring arriving & the new season's clothes in the shops.  After a quick perusal online, as you do on a dreich Sunday afternoon, I've put together a wee collection of what I'm hankering after right now!!  (I may have just bought the leopard print blazer already - whoops!!!)

New York planning #1 ~ travelling light

    So we've finally begun to plan our much longed-for trip to New York next spring & me being the total list-lover that I am, I'm already planning how best to pack & travel light to free up room in my case to bring back lots of goodies! (Yes, I already have a shopping list on the go too!!)

I always over-pack when I go away, even when I think I'm being really good so this time, I'm determined to get it right.  Day time will be spent sight-seeing so comfy, light-weight clothes that can be layered are a must, as are flat, comfy shoes & a cross-body bag - I'll need my hands free for lots of photo taking!

I love maxi skirts as they can worn in the day with a vest top, denim jacket, scarf & Converse or in the evening with a smarter top, blazer & heels so are a real must for me.  My kimono is ridiculously light-weight but looks great over a vest top with a statement necklace, a pair of skinny jeans, heels & a red lip.

I'm going to try & stick to a navy or black & white capsule with a couple of brights added in via scarves, jewellery & lipstick - naturally!!  All I'll need are MAC Plumful & Russian Red & that's my lips sorted too!

                               

Travelling light by fortytherapy 

Everything else on here is pretty self-explanatory - super-light hand luggage, iPad (note-taking, music, Kindle, films, camera etc in one!!)  I spotted the yellow top in M&S yesterday & it's soooo beautiful.  I immediately thought of wearing it with a pair of skinnies, heels & my striped blazer - easy smart/casual outfit for one evening.  I love these heels from Next as they're not ridiculously high so if we do walk to a restaurant in the evening, I won't be too crippled!  Actually, there's an awful lot in Next I'll be ordering soon, the S/S collection is gorgeous.........!

So that's my plan - at the minute!  Anybody else have any 'packing light' tips?  I'm getting back to my notebook now........lists to be made people!!

MAC ~ Plumful

Whenever I go to Edinburgh, I always pop into Harvey Nicks to have a gander at the MAC counter.  Admittedly, it's nearly always that ridiculously busy that it's nigh on impossible to even reach the stands but luck was on my side when I popped in in late November.

I had a list of potential lippies that I'd taken from blogger recommendations & one colour that kept popping up time & time again was Plumful.  After swatching it, I decided that it was going to be my purchase of the day & I've worn it so much already, it's down to the last quarter left in the bullet!

Plumful is a lustre finish lipstick & it feels so nourishing on the lips, it's lovely!  It's quite a high sheen finish so if used without a lipliner, it doesn't last for hours on end & can have tendency to bleed.  I have to reapply after about 3 hours but longer if I use it with a lipliner, which also helps to stem the bleeding issue.

I'm annoyed with the the photo of the product on my lips though as it doesn't look this Barbie-pink in real life, funnily enough, it's more plum than pink.  It has blue undertones so makes my teeth look nice & white & is not too bright or garish that it looks too much for day makeup.  This will definitely be a staple colour in my makeup bag from now on.

My daughters bought me MAC Hot Tahaiti for christmas so I'll do a post on this colour very soon!

Happy New Year!

Well, the Christmas decorations are all down & packed away for another year & the house is getting back to normal! I hope everyone had a great christmas & New Year with plenty of eating, drinking & being merry!

I was unfortunate enough to come down with horrendous flu a couple of weeks before Christmas which absolutely wiped me out for 10 days. I missed out on all of my Christmas parties & school shows & concerts because of it so was thoroughly miserable. I was just about feeling human again a couple of days before the big event so was running around the shops like a headless chicken catching up on all of the shopping I should have done by that point!

But we all had a lovely time & great presents were given & received.....a fair amount of Baileys was consumed too!  We then made up for the lack of pre-Xmas partying when my dad, step-mum & friends came up for Hogmanay.  We also spent some time pondering over travel brochures discussing our trip to New York next year to celebrate both mine & my friend's impending 40th birthdays - eek!! I'm so excited already, I've even bought a new notebook which is rapidly filling with lists of what to do, where to eat & which shops to visit!

I haven't made any resolutions, I don't really believe in them...they nearly always end in failure to do them & then disappointment so I just focus on staying happy & healthy & that'll do me just fine!

So here's hoping everyone has a fantabulous 2014!

NOTD Barry M ~ Navy

Well here's a shocker.......I've found yet another Barry M gem of a polish & it's just perfect for adding some serious Christmas shimmery bling to your tips!

Let me introduce you to Navy, the most perfect shimmering blue shade I've found to date.  It applies like a dream with the usual Barry M great longevity - 7 days with no tip wear or chipping.....amazeballs!!  (Did I really just say that.....?!)

Yet again, my photos don't do the intense colour of this beauty any justice but you'll just have to take my word for it & get yourselves out to the shops to go & get it!!

I've been getting all festive with my nails this week & I'll post soon about my Christmassy candy cane nails!

House of Farnell - the best Christmas shop......ever!!!

 

Ooooh,it's Christmas-a-gogo in our house at the minute.....so exciting!!  There are many, many things I love about winter & Christmas but I have to be honest & say that visiting the House of Farnell, is one of my most favourites!!  You know that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you visit somewhere you love....like Disneyworld, for example?  That's how I feel when I pull into the driveway here, it's so beautiful I could cry!!

 

This amazing Christmas shop is in the tiny hamlet of Farnell near to Brechin, about a 20 minute drive from our home & I like to get 2 or 3 visits in whilst it's open.  It closes this year on Sunday 15th December so if you're in the area & want to visit, you have a week left to go, it's so worth the drive & they serve the best cinnamon Danish I have ever tasted!

 

Here's a wee taster of what awaits you here (apologies for the photos, they were taken on my husband's iphone after my camera broke!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do let me know if you get to visit here or have been already!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Silent Sunday

Library overhaul part 1

 

How bad have I been on the old blogging front lately?  I know, terrible but in my defence, I have a great excuse!!

 

About a month ago, myself & 2 other mums from my son's school were asked if we'd help to set up a new library in the school.  We were all really keen to do this as quite frankly, the existing 'library' was pretty shocking ie. a couple of bookcases in a hallway!

 

First of all, we took over what was the music room & special education needs room & realised they both needed blitzing as the décor was extremely bleurgh!  We along with the head teacher, spent a morning visiting some local school libraries to see what they'd done with them & came back bursting with ideas.  After much debating, we decided to keep the walls neutral & then add colour with posters, murals & displays.

 

So work began last week!  After 6 hours of de-stapling & filling the walls in the horrible school-toilet-blue SEN room, the first of many coats of magnolia went on the walls.  We just have to now paint the tiles & cupboard doors in here & we'll have a blank canvas to work from.  This will now become a reading area & the music room.

 

The room which used to be the music room will now become the library & again, the walls have been neutralised & are ready to go!  We've already sifted through a couple of thousand books & binned the old, ripped books & are selling the ones we no longer want/need.  Any left over will go to charity.

 

We've installed the Junior Librarian software on our pc & this'll get set up on our fab new reception desk that my lovely hubby is making for the school!

 

So after the painting is completed this week, we'll begin the huge task of updating the book catalogue & then making a list of the many, many new books we have to buy - this part I'm really looking forward to!

 

We organised a Pamper Night fundraiser which was held last Friday night & we raised over £700 to go towards books & resources for the library, which was fantastic!  So apologies for being MIA for a few weeks, but being at the school day long & then getting home & catching up on housework etc has left me short on time!

 

Here's what we've been doing so far......

 

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to put the final photos of the finished library up......watch this space!!

 

 

 

 

Silent Sunday

                                      

Bad blogger alert!

I've been seriously neglecting my blog for the last couple of weeks, my bad!! In my defence, I've had such a chock-full fortnight starting with a 5 day visit from the in-laws so we were out & about during the days. 

Then a couple of weeks back, myself & 2 other mums from my son's primary school were asked by the new headteacher if we would be up for the challenge of starting a new library for the school.  I have to admit, as a complete & utter bookworm, this really, really pleased me as I believe it's so important for ALL schools to encourage reading & provide a library of sorts, no matter what size.

So over the space of 4 days last week, we sifted through around 3000 old scabby books that the school had in storage & have got rid of three quarters of them.  We've now got to go on a Junior Librarian course to learn how to catalogue & arrange new books & to train up some of the Primary 7s to be Junior Librarians.  We've got a budget to decorate 2 new rooms for the new library & then buy a heap of new books & we've got to do some serious fundraising too!

We went on tours of some local schools to see what they've done with their libraries & have got some amazing ideas what to do now.  So it's going to be a really busy few months ahead of us but I'm so excited & I haven't been so riled up about a project for years!! 

But annoyingly yesterday, my phone completely died a death & guess who hadn't downloaded all my photos & blog drafts??? So I promise I'll get back on it soon but I need to re-take a LOT of blog photos & I'll be spending an awful lot of time at the school every day.........but I WILL get back on form soon!!

Toodles!