Love List

I read a lot of blogs on how to make myself happier. Recently I came across a good one:

The Freedom Experiment

Some of the articles on the Norsewoman's blog really appealed to me. She has gone through her own share of pain and her writing hits home.

One of her articles deal with how to get back passion and inspiration. This is a big one for me. For a long time I have felt empty. Not in the mood to do much of anything. And for me, creating was a perhaps not a big emotional outlet, but something I took pride in at the very least.

And at the top of the list I receive the advice of making a love list. So here goes. Without limiting myself, I will try to write down what I love, in no particular order of priority.

1. Eating out
2. Watching the sunrise and sunset
3. Being around animals
4. A clean, tidy, decluttered house
5. A hot bath
6. Scents: essential oils, perfume, incense, you name it.
7. My husband (being with him, talking to him, sex with him...)
8. Craft beers
9. Wine
10. Food
11. Nailing a recipe
12. Amending a recipe and nailing that
13. The cruelty free lifestyle: freerange meat/eggs, non animal tested cosmetics...
14. Birdsong
15. My bed: sleeping, reading...
16. Being engrossed in a book
17. Discovering something awesome: a film, tv show, book, website...
18. Being creative: drawing, crochet, origami...etc.
19. Getting recognised for something I did well.
20. Little luxuries: nice handcreme, lipbalms, etc.
21. Massages
22. Horse riding
23. A good night out
24. The fantasy genre (also, medieval etc.)
25. A good hike
26. Beautiful art
27. Language: English in particular.
28. Watching ballet
29. A good hair day
30. An awesome gig
31. Tasty tea
32. Coke Zero
33. Middle-Earth
34. Pre Christian Cultures, folklore, mythologies...
35. Nordic culture
36. Nature: the sea, the forest...
37. Friendship and family
38. The feeling after exercise
39. The feeling after meditation


So there is a few already. I will add more!

Insert Title Here

Once again I welcome myself back to my own blog. I am actually quite amazed I have mustered up the motivation to write. Because I don't have motivation for much nowadays. My funk has been long and deep so far and to be honest, I don't know when I see myself crawling out.

Obviously I want to. Everyone wants to be happy, right? But should happy be taking this much work? Exercise, meditate, force yourself to smile...I have heard and read many tips over the last year and I wonder...why am I not just happy? I have plenty to smile about, husband, cat, steadyandnothorrible job...
Anxiety is a big part of it. Last year I started a lot and gave up a lot in the space of a few months. And now it seems I cannot start anything without self doubt crashing down immediately.

I don't know, maybe one day I will wake up and it will all be different. That seems to have happened the last time...

I have kindasorta picked up a new hobby in the form of origami. Here are some of the models I folded in the last few weeks.

It is fun to do and it does take my mind off my issues. Of course I have started looking at other people's work and I get horribly jealous of their original designs and perfect execution thereof. But maybe one day?

One final side note: new Essence nailpolish. I decided my Yule colour this year will be green. So I got this:

Pretty, right?

Right, thanks for reading to those who do. Let's get on with it!

The locals

I like to indulge in animal photography when given the opportunity and wanted to share some pictures of some of the locals.

Back to Red

Hello readers!

For autumn I decided there are a few things I want to do. One of them being going back to having red hair. And because I did not want to ruin my hair any further, I decided to dye it with henna.

Here's a nice picture of my before hair, dark blonde with highlights.

I bought a few bags of skin quality henna from Amazon and latex gloves, concentrated lemon juice and cling film in the local Tesco. I used a mixture of 200 gr henna (2 bags) and 500 ml lemon juice. I left the mixture to sit in a glass bowl under clingfilm for about 24 hours before the long suffering hubs pasted it all onto my head. This is no easy task and I would definitely hate to do it alone. The stuff dries quickly and is very claylike, not as easy to apply as other hair dyes. Once it was all on I wrapped my head in clingfilm and put a bathing cap over it. I slept in that (somewhat poorly) and the next morning the rinsing process began. I read a tip to run a bath and just lie back in it, soaking your hair until the henna rinses out easily. I did that and it worked pretty well. 

The initial results were quite orangey, as predicted. But here is the result after a couple of days of oxidising. 

I am very happy with the results and will be repeating the process once necessary. Getting used to red again was remarkably easy ^^!

Quick cosmetics review

I bought a few new bits of makeup this week. I was looking for a nice autumn colour for my nails and a way to do my eyes a bit more smoky as I love my Lavera shadows, but they are a little light for when I go out in the evening.  So first up, Essence's new shade: Red Ahead. 

This is the photo from their website. 

This is my bottle and my (badly) painted index finger beside it. 

As you can see, the website photo makes the colour look a lot lighter and in my opinion, not as nice. To me it looks like a beautiful rouge noir and I must say it with an emphasis on the noir, it comes out very dark with just one coat. I have been very happy with the Essence nail polished. Their price/quality is amazing. I always use a base coat and as long as I am patient with my application, the colour stays on well.  

Now over to my new eyeshadow. This is the first time I bought something from Swedish brand IsaDora. I went for quad palette Muddy Nudes. Not the nicest name, but I do like these kinds of colours. I mainly wanted the taupe shade in the bottom right corner to use as a liner with my Lavera shadows. 

The photo from the website in all its glory. 

With this one, the photo from the website is very accurate. These are 3 nice matte shades. The only one with a hint of shimmer is the brownish shade in the bottom left. I used Urban Decay's Primer Potion under my makeup and their Deslick setting spray over it. I was quite happy with its staying power and colour payoff. It's not particularly dark, but that is not what I wanted. It's perfect for a hint of definition. I used the taupe from the lashline to the crease as well and that was nice too. It's a lovely little palette for travelling with I would think, or for just having in your bag for whenever you need it. 

Quick shot of the look. So basically Lavera's shadow in Golden Ivory all over the lid up to the brow bone. Then Lavera's shadow in Chocolate brown from lash line to crease. Then the taupe colour from above palette used as a liner. I used Lush's Eyes Right Mascara and you will recognise the nail polish as the one above. 

So, there's 2 products I would recommend trying out if it's your kind of thing! Both cruelty free of course, otherwise they wouldn't end up with me.

Thanks for reading!

Autumn Post

I just cannot seem to get into the habit of blogging frequently. Probably something to do with not having that much of a life to blog about. Or the opposite, being too busy to write!
Either way, I have both things to blog about and the time in which to do so on this Sunday morning. And what a morning it is too. Day of the Autumn equinox, it is very sunny and forecasted to reach 22 degrees Celsius.

So before I go outside and do the obligatory sun worshipping thing, here's a few updates.

Last weekend I had family over to visit from the Netherlands in the form of my father and my sister. Our main touristy trip out was to Inis Mor, biggest of the Aran Islands. They lie on the West coast of Ireland, so we found ourselves on the edge of Europe.

Here we are now, looking straight at America!

See how lucky we got with the weather? In the right light and setting, Ireland is barely distinguishable from the Mediterranean. Here's a pic of me at the charming Moycullen market (Friday afternoons from 12-6PM) to prove it!

You wouldn't say this was a photo of me buying olive oil in Ireland, would you? 

But I digress. Back to Inis Mor. The Aran Islands are home to the Aran jumper/sweater and for that it has a lot of places to buy wool. In the later part of the year I tend to get into knitting and crocheting and lately Merino wool had had my interest. I was most certainly not disappointed. I managed to purchase 3 balls in nice neutral colours in one shop and my husband dearest bought me a 2kg bag in the main wool shop in neutral creamy white! So I can crochet up a storm. My first project is a beanie hat for my sister for winter. I can't wait until it's finished, mainly because right now it looks like a crashed flying saucer and I'm curious as to how it will turn out....

Behold the WIP!

So that is a little update on what I have been up to. Meanwhile life goes on with work, horse riding lessons and figuring out things to do. I always get excited when Halloween is around the corner but the last 2 have left me so disappointed that I'm afraid of getting invested again. Maybe a small gathering. I'm sure it will end up here regardless.

Thanks for reading!

Funny animal pic dump.

Decided to grace my blog with some of the cute and funny animals I have recently encountered.

 Arwen, our own cat, looking thoroughly freaked XD

The local petshop has meerkats. Just for show, I believe, not for sale. They're awesome. 

It's the little things.

I confess: I am a complainer. I am inclined towards focusing on the negative aspects of my life and even create some where there are none. But I have plenty to smile about. A wonderful husband, a cute cat, some creative skills, nice hobbies, a secure job... There really is no reason not to be happy. And since I am quite a visual person, I decided to start taking pictures of the little things that make life worth living. These are just from today!

The cat! Our little Arwen ^^

Hubby having fun at a medieval archery display. 

Me having fun at my horse riding class. 

This evening;'s beautiful sunset as seen from our balcony.

The view of Merlin Woods across the road.

I am truly blessed.

Thank you for reading!

Autumn is coming...

Alright, so no quite yet perhaps. It is still too warm to sleep through the night. But those nights are getting a little shorter and I am happy for it because I LOVE AUTUMN! It is my absolutely favourite season. And here is why it cannot get here soon enough:

Autumn Colours!

There is nothing like all the browns, red, yellows, and oranges that give colour to the forest. A crisp walk surrounded by those colours, that's where it's at.

                                         Cosiness!
Cuddles, blankets, jumpers, tea..the lot. It's all out comfort.

                                                    Foraging!
Okay, so I admit I have never actually done much of this. But there is definite intentions this year. At the very least for blackberries, but I'd like to go after mushrooms too. Delicious!

                                                 The Halloween Bank Holiday Weekend!
In Ireland, we have the last Monday of October off. It is when most Halloween parties take place. I love that time of year with passion as I love dressing up.

What are you looking forward to for Autumn?

Thank you for reading!
                                                              

 

Products I am loving right now!

I have done a few reviews in the past of my nail polish and Lush purchases. Now I decided to list the products I am happily using right now!

As you know, I am against animal testing, and I research the brand I am interested in before I buy. All of these products are blissfully cruelty free so no reason not to indulge!

Now, look at these beauties, posing on my couch.

It's the following:

Mineral eye shadow from Lavera. In chocolate brown and golden beige.
In June, I decided to send all my Urban Decay shadows away to me makeup loving sister in the Netherlands. I did not like the fact that they are now part of L'Oreal and I also did not think I was really using the two palettes (including Naked 2) to their full potential. I am quite lazy when it comes to makeup and the less I have one -while still looking the part- the better. So now these two shadows are the only ones I own. I wear them over primer and with mascara. I use the golden beige all over my eyelid up to the brow bone. Then I use chocolate brown from my lash line to my crease. The colours complement my eye colour very well and the quality of these shadows is the best I have seen so far.
Castana perfume from Cloon Keen Atelier.
I recently ran out of Thierry Mugler's Angel perfume. This actually took some effort on my part, my parents in law kept giving me a bottle for every occasion. But after I did run out, I fancied something a bit less common. So I turned to Google for niche perfumes. I found one of those slideshows on the subject through a beauty website and behold, I found a niche perfumer located in Galway itself. As the website was UK based, I reckoned there must be really something to these fragrances. I visited the place which was, as expected, intimidatingly posh. Their perfumes however all smelled amazing, one in particular. It gave me a certain sense of nostalgia as the scent reminds me of something in my childhood I still have not placed. A few weeks later my birthday came along so I bought a bottle. It's such an unusual scent, quite impossible to describe. I love wearing something different.

Organic Coconut Oil (cold pressed) from the Redwood Co..
A friend of mine whatsapped me that all she used these days on her skin and hair is coconut oil and that it was doing fabulous things. So of course I had to get me a piece of that action. This stuff is a truly versatile beauty product at a very affordable price. It is edible too, though I have yet to use it in recipes. I use it on the ends of my hair, as body lotion and as night and hand cream. It certainly does the job. And if you mix it with some sugar, it makes a mean scrub as well!

Udder Cream from Moo Goo.
I only bought this yesterday after testing it the day before and loving the scent. A sucker for all things animal, I was quite taken with the brand from the start. I am just using this when my skin gets irritated as it seems very soothing. My interest in their line is definitely peaked as my scalp and rest of skin could do with some TLC.

I hope I peaked your interest! I wholeheartedly support these products so go forth and shop!

Thanks for reading!

Another triumphant return...

..To my blog!

It has been 3,5 months since I last sat down to write anything. Hopefully I will be back on track from today.

Quite a lot has happened since writing last:
- I got made a permanent member of staff at work. Job security isn't exactly common at present so I am pleased. Of course I am spending my money ten times over in my head. I can finally save for New-Zealand!
- Through an arrangement at work, I have gotten back in the saddle! I have taken 5 horse riding classes so far. I want to take more but with a different equestrian centre as I recently discovered the one I am currently riding with associates with foxhunting, a disgusting "sport". This weekend we are visiting an alternative centre. My newfound love for equines is also taking me to Dublin next week for the biggest showjumping event in Ireland. More on that when I return! Last but not least some of my neighbours are horsies and great posers for my art! Check them out!

- Potentially as a result from horse riding, my lower back problems have gotten considerably worse. This means that I may just have to become a Pilates person to toughen up my core. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, I don't mind looking better.

Gods, I'm ranting. I'll come back when I have my head together.

Lush Cosmetics Review

I tried spelling make-up, makeup, make up a few times. Nothing felt right so I settled for cosmetics instead.

This post is a bit overdue, my attention has been elsewhere. But I have been using the products I bought for a while now so at least I know what's what.

So without further ado!

Eyes Right Mascara (I was about to spell massacre :-S)

This mascara has claims to not irritate the eyes like other mascaras sometimes do. I too suffer from irritated eyes when wearing mascara sometimes and I have to say the claim holds up! The other thing I like about this is the compactness of the packaging, which has actually been held against it. People have not enjoyed using the little brush but it took very little getting used to from me and I like that it does not take up a lot of space. When my online order arrived, it even came with a normal sized mascara brush but I haven't used that yet. Other than that it is a nice, normal mascara. It may make the lashes feel a bit nicer, but that could be a placebo effect from its lash conditioning claim. It clumps no more and maybe a little less than other mascaras. I will say it is not waterproof. I think I have been getting a touch of hayfever because my lunchtime walks often have me end up with watering eyes. Last week I got some looks in the office and when I went to the bathroom it turned out I have panda eyes. But as long as you're not tearing up, you're good with this one!

Strong Liquid Lipstick

This is from Lush's Emotional Brilliance line. I don't take the spinning wheel thing overly seriously, but I would no say no to feeling stronger. But essentially it was part of my purchases to make my outlook a bit sunnier, I wanted an lippy with orange tones. This one certainly has that and I love the colour. It comes out a little bit pink on me unless I wear a lot but I have gotten compliments in the office that the shade suits me so it's all good. It's not overly drying but not moisturising. It goes on quite nicely with the little applicator and I use my fingers as well. It is highly pigmented and quite liquid so you have to be careful when applying and I recommend kissing a tissue. Another word of advice is to apply this in daylight if you can because it is quite intense and nobody likes clowns, I know I don't. 

I have a new phone (Nokia Lumia 820=awesome!) so decided to take a few shots of myself wearing the makeup (plus shadows from Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette and their BB Cream Urban Defense). Here's one. The lippy looks very pink here for some reason. It's a daylight shot. 

Thanks for reading, I hope it was useful!

Lush Bath&Shower Recommendations

I believe it is finally time for that Lush review. I will separate the review for the bath and shower products and the makeup into different blogs. The bath and shower products will follow here.

1. Green Bubbleroon Bubble Bar

I love "green" smells, like leaves and freshly cut grass so from the description on the Lush website (see the link) this would be perfect for my Friday afternoon bath. I used half of it (it's perfectly shaped that way) in my bath yesterday. Because I have found that even when I crumble the Lush bars, they don't always dissolve  completely, I put the piece into the leg of a pair of tights and tied that onto the tap before filling the bath. This produced a lovely amount of foam. Because I take books into the  bath with me I don't want the foam to come up too high and this was just right, it covered the surface of the water without piling up. The smell of the bar is indeed lovely and reminds me of that aforementioned cut grass. Unfortunately the smell does lessen considerably while you are in the bath. A massage therapist told me that essential oils sink to the bottom of the water. This can be fixed by adding a cup of milk to your bath water: it props up the oils so you catch their scent better. I will try that with the other half of the bar. All in all, I'd recommend this one if you like naturey scents.

2. The Bright Side Bubble Bar

This one I bought because I wanted to invite its title into my life more. I tend to look at the dark side of a scenario and it is doing me very little favours.

The scent of this is as you would expect, citrussy and reminiscent of sunlight and joy. I love it.

For my first bath I used about a third of the bar as it is quite large and I like to make expensive products like these last. I found it was just about enough to create the amount of bubbles I like. It also coloured the water a lovely orange shade. I had the same problem with the disappearance of the scent as with the other bubble bar, so I will use milk with this as well when I use the rest. Another products I would definitely recommend: especially to have your spirit lifted. 

3. Spank Me With Saplings Shower Gelly

This product (the makeup aside) was me favourite from this order. It smells amazing. It is just so fresh and invigorating and perfect for early morning pre-work showers. Though I shower after work most of the time as it allows for drying my thick hair and it is also great for picking yourself up after work for an evening of socialising or whatever. The best way to use this is to get one of those shower flowers (is that what you call them? Click for a picture of what I mean), take a little piece of the jelly and rub that into the flower. It creates a good lather,makes your product last and exfoliates you in the process. Of course if you're feeling in a whimsical mood, take the whole thing out of it's pot and jiggle it around. This isn't prison, you can drop the soap!

So long story made slightly longer, I was very happy with this order. Tonight I will put on the makeup so I can upload a blog on that tomorrow!

Online presence

I think this is now officially my longest running blog. I have had a few but they have all fizzled out sooner or later. What makes this blog different? I haven't figured it out yet. It hasn't gotten more comments than any other blogs I have had (I think unless you're famous, getting comments on your blog is a toughie), nor have I made any friends through it.

The latter was my one of my main reasons for starting out with this one. I used to be an active member of online communities and hoped to be one again with this blog. I realise now that unless I show my face on forums or other people's blogs, people will not be coming to me. I linked this blog to my Pinterest which might help and I'll tweet it more too. I even started a web design course on Alison.com to help me build a proper website for myself.

Of course it's not just about the people. I also use this blog as a soapbox to shout from about cruelty free living. It remains the cause I have decided to focus on in my life and it becomes more and more natural every day.

And it's a place where I can share whatever I want with whoever wants to read it.

The Internet is pretty awesome :-)

What's New?

On the eve of a three day weekend, courtesy of Saint Patrick, it is time to update my blog. Quite a few interesting things have happened in the last few days.

On Monday, I was Tweeted by a friend about the new ban on selling animal tested cosmetics in the EU. Naturally, I'm delighted by this news as any step towards a cruelty free world is to be celebrated. Having said this, I do not believe it will change much about the way I go about purchasing cosmetics. I know very well that companies like L'Oreal sell their products in China, where animal testing of cosmetics is still law. And as long as a company supports that by testing their products or allowing them to be tested, they do not get my money. But news like this gives me hope that humanity is approaching the right track.

Fortunately for me, my box of completely cruelty free Lush goodies arrived today. So far I am happy with them and I will write a review probably later this weekend.

Other things that have been dropped in my lap this week are: the new Tomb Raider game, which is currently doing its initial update thingy and it is taking an eternity; a McKenzie lumbar support (not impressed so far); a horse riding lesson and many other goodies, mainly courtesy of a wonderful husband.

He also put me in the direction of Neuro Linguistic Programming. It's something I am not very familiar with but it sounds incredibly interesting and relevant to the phase I am in at the moment. I need to get out of my comfort zone and start taking some risks. Otherwise that bucket list will remain undone.

Anyway, that's the story of my life at the moment. I don't have any pictures at the moment but hopefully I will get to do some sketching this weekend at least. I am strongly considering the purchase of a Wacom Inkling to encourage more of this. If anyone has one, I would love a review.

Thanks for reading!

Life Update

It is Friday afternoon and two hours ago I finished my first working week in over five months. As blogs are so public I will not go into what I do where, it's more to let my readers know my change in situation. I'm glad of it. It is nice to have an income again that I earned myself, rather than have one handed to me by the government. It also adds a structure to my life that I believe will force me to make more effective choices in my free time.

The drawback is that since last night, my back is once again very sore, and I must presume that all the longterm sitting at work is responsible for this. I contacted an osteopath I have seen before but due to a history with a herniated disc, he does not feel confident that whatever he can do will have a positive effect. And I would so love to get my back sorted out so I can do everything from sitting at work to an active day outdoors without having to worry when my pain is going to ruin my concentration or my fun.

Another effect of being back at work is that it really makes me think about the future. When I was on my own for most of the time, I did my own thing whenever I wanted, which allowed for much more living in the moment. Now I see people around me from all walks of life and it makes me thing about what I can do and what I want to do. I am very insecure: if I hear of one person failing at something I have not done before, I become convinced that I too will fail. It's a very irrational thought because although I have certainly failed where others have succeeded, I have more often succeeded where many have failed. I passed my driving test the first time, got my degree in the three years that are in it, roasted a perfect Turkey last Christmas and have many other achievements and talents under my belt. My husband says I can do anything I put my mind to and he may not be 100% right but when I really apply myself, I do not tend to fail. I also have to believe that when I do my best and I fail, the situation was not right for me, rather than me not being right for it. As Einstein said: "Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will spend its entire life thinking it is stupid". And I am still searching for that perfect fit, that water to my fish. Currently I am considering graphic design as I hope it could provide me with a career that combines the stability of working for a company with the creative outlet of art and design. I also like the idea of publishing: I love to edit, in fact I can't help but edit when I see a grammar or spelling error. Perhaps technical writing or translations (being bilingual helps here) are options to consider. Other things I love are art, animals and products. Hopefully the situation will present itself when I am ready. For now I can develop myself in my current job. I would just like to work toward something.

But the next best thing is looking forward toward something! This week my husband and I booked a B&B in Bath, a place we have been before, but this time will be different. Instead of flying, which I hate, we will be taking the car across the Irish sea by ferry which will provide us with unlimited freedom in what we want to see! Glastonbury town, Exmoor and Exmoor Zoo, the Cotswolds and many other sights are on the cards. There is something about the area of the UK I just love so I am convinced it is going to be fantastic.

  Our holiday is not until October though so there is a lot of time to fill in Ireland! There are a few festival I want to attend around the country and I'd really like to be a bit more social. My unemployment made me something of a hermit and made me intolerant towards people but being part of a team again has made me realise that I can enjoy the company of people and people enjoy my ocmpany in turn. I just need a bit of a push.

I expect that from next week I will want to go out and be seen and smelled because I have a Lush Cosmetics order on the way, courtesy of my dear husband! It includes mascara, lip colour, a shower gelly, and two bath items AND a bottle of shower gel for the mister himself. All the items I am getting will be my first time using them, so I will definitely review them here as part of my cruelty free lifestyle.

The last thing I want to talk about it my art. Spring has sprung in Ireland and I am feeling heavily inspired by bird song and flowers. I am thinking a brightly coloured Art Nouveau or stained glass style piece with snowdrops and long tailed tits.

But for now I am going to give myself a much needed manicure with a neutral polish by Elysambre. Hopefully I will update again soon with some images.

Thanks for reading!
Dutchess

First Art Doll

I finished my first OOAK art doll! She is not perfect and I am realising FIMO Air is probably not the best medium. I struggled with gravity and with putting clothes on her. But it was a great learning process. I am quite happy she is finished as she has been one of the more time consuming art projects I have worked on between sculpting her, painting her, adding her hair,  and sewing her clothes. So without further ado, here she is, posing in the local woods. 

Reiki

Last weekend I got my Reiki Level 1 certification and I think I have finally formulated my thoughts on it.

I have always been fascinated by Reiki and the chakras and I do believe everything is connected and in an energy that we may not be able to perceive normally. On a practical level, I am hoping I can use Reiki to alleviate personal pain, both physical and psychological.

The course was an interesting experience for me. Reiki Level 1 is meant to teach you Reiki for yourself and maybe some people close to you. Reiki Level 2 is for people who want to start treating people professionally. So when I went in I did not expected to mainly do Reiki on myself and maybe learn a little theory on how to apply it to others. Not so. The course seemed very much aimed at people who want to do the Reiki Level 2 course as well and will start having clients. The instructor even referred to the classmate we were treating as "the client". I am not a natural people person and this was not something I was very comfortable with at the start - I even got nauseous and almost fainted giving my first treatment - but looking back I do think it was useful even though holding your hands out over someone can be very difficult on your arms and shoulders. The instructor, who I had received a treatment from in the past, was very good and told us about his journey. One of the messages he received from an acupuncturist was that everything is a gift. This is a hard concept for me to grasp and when he told us he applied this when he was diagnosed with leukemia I may have made some protesting noise. But perhaps adopting some of this attitude will be good for me as I do not deal well with unexpected setback and should I ever get cancer, I do believe a positive outlook will help a great deal. After the course I wrote down other things that I need to work on within myself as well.
When receiving a Reiki treatment from someone else, I did find it very relaxing to the point of almost falling asleep. I did not always feel anything in particular in terms of energy from who was treating me but I did occasionally twitch which is a good thing. When the instructor was giving me a treatment, he used a symbol signifiying emotional clarity on me, immediately after which my eyebrows twitched into a frown (I'm taking him on his word of course, I felt me brows twitch but as my eyes were closed I've no clue what he was doing). This makes sense as I had received an e-mail from my father that morning that left me very emotionally confused.
Since the weekend, I have been practising Reiki on myself every morning with mixed results. Some days I felt very little but this morning as I drew a symbol onto my heart chakra I felt moved to tears, I repeated this three times with the same results. Even on days I did not feel much from the treatment I found the day going smoother and things did not bother me on as profound a level as they might do normally.

Tonight I will be giving my husband a treatment for this first time, so I am interested to see how that goes.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found it interesting and/or useful.

Disappointment

Ever since I started the cruelty free journey I feel elated when someone is on my side, from my own husband to a large cosmetics company. Unfortunately this only makes disappointment bigger when they leave my side. I don't expect principles on this front from Tesco or Boots, I know where I stand and only buy necessities from them. But when Urban Decay sold to evil L'Oreal I felt betrayed.
And today I felt that again. The Netherlands has many Celtic, Medieval and Fantasy Festivals, one of the bigger ones being Castlefest. Mr. Dutchess and I have been considering a trip over there but of course we need to know what we can eat on location. I did some research online and was delighted to find the 2009 programme for the festival, informing me that they provide free range meat from the barbecue. But 2009 is four years ago and the 2012 booklet did not state this. It being the same caterer (The Cooking Highlander FYI) I hoped that their situation had not changed but to make sure, I e-mailed them. They replied this morning and while there's no point copying a Dutch message here it came down to this:

"We can't sell free range meat anymore. The costs are too high. We don't like it either".

This made me very angry. If they had just said they don't do it anymore due to cost I would not be pleased but business is business. However, it's this "can't" and "we don't like it either" that I have a problem with. They make it sounds like they have no choice but they do and they chose profit. Which is necessary to stay in business of course but what about raising the prices on the meat? People are well aware festival food is expensive and the notion that meat should be anything but is ridiculous, it's the most precious of foods. I know people might not accept the price rise as unfortunately the horrors of intensive farming are not a priority for most but still, there is a choice here and implying there isn't makes me see red. I told them all of this in a reply as well as that it will negatively influence my decision to attend the festival. They probably don't care but here's hoping it makes them think at least a little bit.

Bucket List

Now, I am not dying as far as I know. But recently I have felt a bit downtrodden about the fact that I feel very little passion about anything. I have plenty of interests: art, animals and their rights, spirituality, fantasy and many other things. But I don't feel that spark, that utter fulfilment from carrying out a certain activity. I don't have that feeling that I must do something and often my laziness, short attention span and lack of motivation take over. But I promised myself 2013 would be a good year so I decided that rather than looking for that one passion that is supposed to fulfil me until my dying day, I'd make a list of things I would - at some point in time - like to achieve. It is a focal point for my life and I hope adding to it will keep me enthusiastic, motivated and hopefully passionate about my life itself. I will be 27 in June and I may make highlight certain things on the list that I'd like to achieve before I reach 30. So here it is so far:

Have an exhibition of my artwork

Have art published in an annual

Have a year where I have grown all my own vegetables

Rear my own meat

Go trekking around new Zealand

Win a competition

Go on an overnight horse trek/ donkey or pony hike

Read a book in one sitting

Live outside of a city

Have a job in a creative field

Have a successful blog

Keep a journal for a whole year

Design and make a perfect item of clothing

Find my true style

Have a job working with animals

Give an Ignite Talk

 Play at least 5 whole songs/tracks on the guitar reasonably well.

Riding a dog sled

I will be updating and adding to this as I go along. I feel good about it!

Pinterest

So I recently deactivated my Facebook account because it wasn't doing it for me anymore. Thinking it would free up much of my time was an illusion because I walked straight into the wonderful world of Pinterest. Now this is my kind of social media! I am quite visually orientated and love love love looking at pretty pictures. Pinterest basically IS that. You can collect pictures into a collage or board and I have been doing this for hours now. I really must stop.

For any followers, my name on Pinterest is DutchessLinda. I make boards about animals, interiors, exteriors, pretty celebrities, inspiring art and whatever will come to mind!

Essence Nail Varnish Review

Last week I discovered that my local pharmacy sells a very affordable and cruelty free make-up brand called Essence (please clock on the link for their statement on animal testing). While I would be inclined to go for a premium brand for products that go on my face, I saw no harm in trying out a new nail polish at a mere EURO1,79. I chose shade 117, "I'm So Very". Take a look at it below

As you can see the shade looks the same on my thumb as it does in the bottle. It went on opaque in one layer and I covered it with a layer of top coat. I put it on on Friday afternoon and it stayed on perfectly until today and then it has only chipped in one place. So I must say I am very impressed with the quality of the varnish, especially considering the price and highly recommend giving it a try if you can find it in your area!

Green Parrot

Another painting, digital this time. Done in Painter 11. I love pretty birds!

Escapism

This is the view from my sitting room window right now:

 

It looks pretty nice and normally it is but the rain and wind don't come out in the photo. For that and so many other reasons I could really do with a trip away. It is absolutely not an option right now but sometimes dreaming about where to go can be just as nice. So I reckon blogging a holiday wishlist will give me something to look forward to. So here goes, in order of achievability:

Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland. One of the few places in this country I have not even come close to visiting yet. I hear fantastic things about Dingle as well as its surrounding countryside. And I really want to see Fungi the dolphin while he is still within this plain of existence.

Castlefest, Lisse, The Netherlands. Or really any other medieval fantasy festival in my home country! The costumes, the music, the mead...magic. It is in August so gods willing, I might be able to go this year.

Dartmoor, Co. Devon, United Kingdom. Speaking of magic, look at this tree! Just one of the things the mysterious Dartmoor has to offer. Its zoo, its ponies, its plains, its forests...I wanna go there so bad.

The Black Forest, Germany. Forests are pretty much my favourite kind of place and I would love to again visit a large one. I have never paid my home land's biggest neighbour a proper visit and I think the Black Forest would be the perfect way to change that.

Scandinavia and Finland. Particularly an Ice Hotel in one of those places. It just looks so...cool!

Transylvania, Romania. North and East Europe are still decidedly undiscovered by me. Transylvania just looks so beautiful and it tickles my imagination. There is a place to stay that has an actual count for a host!

New Zealand. Middle-Earth itself. It's the dream. I don't even know that much about the place because I think too much research would make the want to go there unbearable. Typing it into Google Images speaks for itself.

So there we have it. The list I will turn to when I'm in the mood for daydreaming.