Saturday 14 July 2012

today's little...

wan·der/ˈwändər/

Verb:
Walk or move in a leisurely, casual, or aimless way








In all honesty, "wander" is perhaps not the correct term because it was a lot more brisk than aimless, casual or leisurely, but either way I went for a lovely walk today and as a departure from the routes I have been walking regularly, I made the most of the beautiful beach near where I live and just let my feet carry me as far as they wanted.

It is Saturday and I was quite surprised at the lack of other people! It was rather chilly in the wind and there were some showers, but I still expected more than a few birds for company! I did see a few dog walkers on the way back, but they all stayed quite close to the end of the beach near the town. Shame, because further along is really pretty and if our little pooch would walk that far I would definitely take her. Unfortunately, Little Miss Tiffany is far too much of a diva to get grubby on the beach very often.

I shall be off out later for another walk, hopefully with some company and a different route. Not long now for the West Highland way... 18 days and counting!

Sunday 8 July 2012

my new healthy outlook on life

OK - a confession: I have found the first half of this year challenging! I won't go into details, but it has been  a bit of a serious drag. I found myself looking into a metaphorical (and real) mirror and not liking what was looking back at me. The realisation: if I don't like who I am or what I look like, why would anybody else? The solution: a major lifestyle rethink. I don't mean to say that I had turned into a bad person, but having confidence issues (body and mind) and having negative experiences giving me a negative outlook was really starting to take its toll on my personality. So, what to do...?
 Well firstly I had to decide what I wanted to change and how I wanted to achieve this and when I thought about it, it boiled down to a little saying that I have since repeated to myself daily: healthy body = healthy mind! I believe the two go hand in hand and to be truely happy you need to think about both aspects of life. Are the choices I make in my life enriching my life or the lives of those I interact with? If the answer was no - that was the wrong choice and wrong action for me to take. Something as simple as what I am fueling my body with came to my attention - is what I am eating giving my body everything it needs to keep me healthy and give me energy.
 Now, I have never been good with this! I have always eaten what I want, when I wanted - whether that be pizza for breakfast or a donner kebab and chips at 1am! I gave no care or attention to what this was doing to my body and unfortunately I was feeling the effects. I now eat a full variety of food, at sensible times of the day and there are a few specific things that I used to love which are now out of my diet completely. It's not about being really strict (I want to make that clear), I have the odd treat and there are still things which I can't force myself to like, such 
as salad or fruit, but there are ways round this issue such as pure fruit smoothies and eating a full range of other vegetables and sneaking some salad veg into cooked dishes! That is one key part of my new lifestyle. The other is how I spend my time. The biggest changes I have made are getting out of the house a lot more (be it exercising or just experiencing new things) and giving some of my time to support a cause close to my heart. I walk for at least 1 hour a day, everyday! I really enjoy it, it clears my head and gives me time to think about things and mainly I just think the fresh air revitalises me. I was also having trouble sleeping and since I started walking I have been sleeping much better - so it is definitely a win:win situation! I think we all tend to forget how beautiful Scotland is and when I am out walking I regularly notice little things that put a huge smile on my face! People travel the world (rightly so) to see beautiful things and meet beautiful people, but where is the harm in looking on your doorstop for those things? One of the best days of my life was spent with a good friend of mine, up in the hills just spending time having a good old chat and exploring a little patch of this Bonnie land!

The last piece of my lifestyle puzzle is giving 4 hours of my time, once a week to a charitable organisation that is close to my heart. I don't really want to go into details or harp on about this because I am not looking for a pat on the back or any kind of recognition for doing it. The experience itself and knowing that I can have a small positive impact on those people I encounter is enough to make me very, very happy about doing it. I know it is not a lot and I know some amazing people that do a lot more to help others and support charities, but it is a start and a very positive thing in my life! As you may also know, my sister and I like to take on new challenges to gain sponsors and raise funds for charities (the West Highland Way being our next adventure) and we plan to continue this and find new and interesting ways to raise money for charity. Cheryl and I are already eyeing up a MASSIVE challenge for next summer, but I will keep that under wraps until we return from the WHW in August! Needless to say it would be the hardest physical activity either of us have ever undertaken... and I used to be a national athlete, so that's saying something!!

I hope everything I have said makes sense and perhaps even someone reading this can take some comfort (if they were feeling low like I was) in knowing that they are not alone and that sometimes you can be proactive in making your life happier and healthier, instead of waiting around for something or someone to come along and change things for you. I will always have confidence issues and things in my life that I struggle to be positive about, but even identifying that and dealing with it in a positive way is hopefully a huge step towards being happy and content with simply being me. No one is perfect, I just have to make peace with who I am and try to be the best Cissyface I can be :)

Sunday 1 July 2012

little vintage project

Here is a little project of mine I picked up from Martha's Closet! It was in the SALE section because it has some discolouration and damage on the bottom half, which meant I got it for the bargain price of £10 - it was originally £35! Woop woop!

Anyway... I wouldn't have ever worn it as a full length kaftan and instantly liked the curved bottom edge of the design which flows from the sleeves. It is absolutely huge and drapes nicely so my instant thoughts were to make it into a loose fitting top that are so popular just now. You can see in the bottom photo that I have crudely lopped off the part of the kaftan I don't need and when I get the time I am going to neatly hem this part and then sew two seams from under the arms to the bottom at each side of my body so that the top sits slightly closer to my body and the sleeve parts still billow out when I move my arms (if that makes sense??!).

It will all become clear when I actually get time to make the changes and I will show you how it turns out. The neckline is really wide and it sits just on my shoulders so I thought a nice necklace some oversized gold hoop earrings and my hair piled on top of my head would emphasize the neckline and of course finished off with some skinnies for a very laid back, summer look :)

What do you think? I don't know about anyone else out there, but the modern high street is boring me at the moment. Nothing is new or fresh anymore and half the fashion is ripped off from vintage anyway so why not get an original at probably around the same price or CHEAPER if you do your homework and shop about!