Monday blues? Shake it off!

Monday’s are by far the worst day of the week, the idea of first day back at work after the weekend is bound to have you reaching over for that snooze button a few times and if like me the idea of sticking your wee toe out of the bed into the cold room is too much to bare, never mind actually getting your bad self out of bed then fear not!  This is how to survive a cold Monday morning, 

 

Best way to start the day off is with a nice hot shower with some zingy shower gel to turn you from zombie into acceptable.  One of my favourites is Original Source Mint and Tea Tree.  Put a splodge of this on your body polisher and shazam, mounds of tingly bubbles.  The mint is so refrehsing and the tea tree good for your pores!  Helps wake up your other senses too.

 

 

Now its pretty chilly out there just now so you definitely need a scarf to keep you toasty on your way to work, and a fabulous one is even better.  My lust have is this scarf from Mint Velvet, versatile and cosy! I would wear this the same was as the photo, loop it round your neck from the front, round the back and let the sides dangle free, non effort chic.

 

   

What better way to celebrate your last few minutes of freedeom before you go into a mound of unread emails than signing along to a kick ass song as you walk along to work.  For this I recommend Taylor Swifts new album 1989, especially track 6 and do as the girl says “Shake It Off!”

 

Happy Monday!

 

Louise x

My pintrest

I'm a huge fan of Pintrest, I used it when we were getting married as places to store ideas for everything from hair to favours.  Its so easy to pin photos from websites and acts like a mood board.  It's equivalent to ripping out photos in magazines when we were younger!

I'd definitely recommend it if you are in the middle of a big project with lots of choices to make, can be used for anything from weddings and reading lists to clothes you covet!

So as part of my blog I've created new Pintrest profile where I'll be adding toboards for items that I'm interested in.  We're in the process of moving flat so I'm obsessed with home products just now!

I'm loving creams, taupes and light blues to give a sort of ocean room feel.  Not all out nautical, no Navy's and whites, just a relaxed ocean feel.

Feel free to have a look at my boards and let me know what you think!

If there are any fab things you find that you'd like to recommend to me just get in touch, always on the lookout for new things!

Louise x

Where are you keeping all of that?

Since we've been married Mr W and I have lived in two (3 next week) flats.  We're on the move again despite it only being 6 months since our last move.  We had a huge clearout at that point, I'm talking 9 black bin bags of rubbish and 2 black bin bags for the charity shop.  And now it's the same again.  How do we end up with so much stuff?  And if I'm ok with throwing it out or donating why did I buy it in the first place?

 

Most of the clothes I've gotten rid of were ones I was keeping "just incase I fit in them again".  Ok reality check, you've not been that size in years, you've got boobs and bum now, ain't fitting in that no more.  So out you go.  Sometimes you've just got to be ruthless!

 

But you can't throw everything away once you've got down to the items you HAVE to keep, you need to box them away!  So I have been on the look out for stylish and practical storage ideas!

 

 

Storage doesn't have to be boring!

 

 

 

 

My sister bought me this as part of my Christmas in preparation for our next move.  She knows me too well! It's a huge bag and it has a zip so you can throw it all in there, zip it up and no one (Mr W) is any the wiser about what didn't make it to the charity bag.  :)

 

Papyrus £4.95

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a lot of scarves, I blame it on this cold Scottish weather.  My

wardrobe is crying out for one of these lovelies!  Ikea sell it as a

multi use hanger so you could keep anything stored on here.  But for me it would be scarves!

 

Ikea £4.50

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

I love this laundry basket from Tesco, so colourful and fun!  We use this to keep our clean bath towels in, save space in the cupboards  It's also a handy carrier to have when you are moving flat, can hold quite a bit!

 

Tesco £16

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have any other storage finds that could come in handy for me?

 

Louise x

 

 

 

 

De-stress before you distress

I’m a big believer in taking time out of everyday life for yourself to relax and refresh.  Listen to your body – tense shoulders, not sleeping and fuzzy head are all signs for me that I’m doing too much and need to “check myself before I wreck myself”.  I work in quite a stressful profession so it’s important for me to take time for myself shutting the stresses of home life, work etc and taking time to just relax think of nothing, nowhere to go nothing to do.

Through past experience I’ve learned that if I don’t do this, if I don’t listen to my body, the outcome is not good.  So I’ve come up with a little stress survival plan that works for me.  These are my top 3 tips on how to close the door, put normal life in a little box for a while and focus on relaxing, whatever your budget.

1. Massage

 

 

One of my favourite things is a back and neck massage.  Full body massage always leaves me feeling a little bit yucky with all the toxins going about your body.  But a neck and shoulder massage is perfect.  This is my go to if I feel my shoulders are really tight and up at my ears, which is quite often.  I prefer a firm pressure as I have a ridiculous amount of knots in my shoulders and though a light touch is nice and relaxing, I feel I get more out of a firm massage.  The darkened room, soothing music and small of lavender can’t help but make you zone out for half an hour and just focus on trying not to fall asleep.

Cost:  This varies depending on where you go but a back and neck massage can come in anywhere around £30 - £45.  Look out for offers at Pure Spa (for those in Scotland) sometimes they do massages for £20. https://www.purespauk.com/

Effort:  Getting to and from spa if required.  If someone can pick you up this is good as you don’t need to think about getting on the right bus home in your zombie state.

Relax potential: 5/5 enough said.
 

 

2.  Bath

 

 

A nice relaxing bath with the lights off and some candles and some extremely bubbly bubble bath is a must.  Close the door so you can’t hear what is going on elsewhere in the house and just relax.  One of my absolute favourite bubble baths was Original Source Lavender..and then they stopped making it.  I haven’t found a proper like for like replacement yet but Lush has a huge range of bath goodies (I stay away from anything glittery).  My 2 favourites are:

 

Ceridwens-cauldron 

 

This is a luxurious bath melt that contains Sandalwood, oats, cocoa butter amont other things leaving your skin feeling soft and you smelling gorgeous.  It comes in a handy Muslin cloth which you can use to wash with after the melt has melted!

 

Dreamtime

Don't be fooled by the size, this is a small creamy bath melt that contains real flower petals along with Lavender and Chamomile oil.  Perfect for a bath before bed time.

 

Cost:  As little as £1 for some bubble bath up to how much you fancy spending on yourself for a luxurious treat.  Lush one time use products are around £3 -£5.  I'd also suggest a nice bath pillow, to really help you relax.  Especially the Soap and Glory bath pillow from boots (£8) and is huge!

Effort:  Running a bath and then dropping in your bath treat and not hard effort.

Relax potential: 4/5 I enjoy a bath but if it can take me a while to relax.

 

3. Listening to George Nascimento

 

 

My all time fail safe to relaxing is listening to a CD I bought years ago called A peaceful soak.  No matter where I am I can put this on and listen to two songs in particular (In the Streaming Sunlight and Soothing Waters) I can feel my shoulders drop a little and my tension in my jaw ease off. This has worked countless times, it takes me out of my head and into a relaxed place, I can be feeling ill on a plane, in the midst of a potential panic attack or just struggling to sleep and this has never failed me.  I have it on my mp3 player and carry it with me.

Cost:  CD costs £2.72 from amazon

Effort:  Once it's on your mp3/ipod just press play and you can be sitting on the bus, or snuggled up in bed and location doesn't matter

Relax potential: 5/5 always works, its like a trigger for me to relax now
 

I hope that if you are feeling stressed or just need some time out that one of these works for you.  If you don't have any of these to hand and need a quick fix then take yourself to a room on your own, breathe in for 3 and out for 5, in for 4, out for 6 and so on.  This forces your breathing to slow down as you have to exhale for longer than you breathe in.  A well timed sniff of lavender essential oil (Boots £5.49) or dotted on your wrists also helps during tough spells.

  

Louise x

 

Glasgow girl who?

 

 

 

 

Hi, thanks for stopping by.  My name is Louise and I'm, a 32 year old married shop-and-food-aholic from Edinburgh.  I'm originally from Glasgow and that's where my heart is, not to mention the best shops and restaurants.  ;) 

I've been married to Mr W for just over 10 months and in that time we've had 1 honeymoon, 2 holidays, 3 flats (long story...we rent for now) and 4 trips to TGI Fridays.  It's been a busy year, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

I love shopping, normally on my own no distractions, eating out, curling up with a good book (Kindles need not apply), and visiting new places.  I hope to share with you some of the bargains I find along the way, new discoveries whether its beauty, housey stuff (as we are on the search for our first home) or food.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Louise x

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