Relaxation Attempts and Plenty of Sleep

This weekend I am enjoying my time by sleeping as much as I can and doing the most chilled out things possible. Last night was a night of watching TV and tonight is a film night (Zack has just gone out to get the popcorn).

I have a really full week next week at work and won't be at home so I want to spend lots of time with Zack and prepare myself by having a lot of sleep!

I probably will not be able to blog as much next week as I doubt I will have any internet and will be too tired. It's a shame as I seem to have gotten myself into a little roll of blogging almost every night (when there is something to write about). Oh well! Hopefully when I get back there will be loads to talk about.

I bought THESE shoes yesterday and I am in love with them. They are perfect with dresses/skirts and trousers for throughout Autumn and Winter. Despite the fact they have a heel they are still super comfy. They're from White Stuff, as you can see, and are a little pricey but such good quality so are definitely worth it!

Anyway, this is just a short blog so you'll here from me soon!

Bye for now!

This day of this month of this year

Today I had a seemingly simple and insignificant day but for me it was something to lose sleep over and kept my stress levels on high all day.

Today I had an appointment at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham. The appointment was to sort out a pain I've been having in my back for a few years now, so it was an appointment with intended positive results. Unfortunately, however, I find it difficult to think about these positive outcomes and spent the upcoming days worrying about the fact I was working the morning, leaving to go to my appointment that is about a 45 minute drive away, and then coming back for work in the afternoon. For me, having more than one thing planned in a day, unless they are distantly spaced apart, is a very daunting and stressful situation. I feel the need to plan the day down to minutes and seconds to ensure I don't miss anything, or let anyone down, whatever. I struggled to even sleep last night thinking about the exact timings of my day over and over again.

The reason I was having the appointment was for my back pain which, as I said, has been troubling me for a few years. I found out that the main reason it was troubling me was due to the fact I stressed too much and was unable to relax or relieve the tension building up. Stress and anxiety are huge problems in my life due to various reasons and the stress that today caused me shows just how easily little things can effect me. The silly/annoying thing is that it is all a vicious cycle because if I am stressed my back hurts more, if my back hurts it prevents me from doing things, including sleeping, and if I can't do things/sleep I become more stressed and around it goes with more pain and more stress.

The appointment was reasonably helpful and plans were made and I was given a book to start reading through. I have already started reading it and it seems interesting and I'm finding it very easy to relate to.

I'm hoping with the intended plans that will take place throughout this treatment that I will not only be able to sort my back issue out but I will also be able to be less stressed. All of which will have so many knock on effects.

My main motivation (other than feeling better both physically and mentally) is to be able to get back to doing my art which I am very passionate about (as shown through my blogging).

It turns out that today ran pretty smoothly anyway and there wasn't too much to worry about...

Bye for now!

Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning

'Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning' is a British programme that I am truly in love with. I think I can relate to it on a certain level (definitely not as extreme as some of the people on the programme!), I also find it interesting but hard to understand how the hoarders/non-cleaners can live how they do.

I was so interested in this subject matter I did one of my a-level projects on it (a lot of talk of my a-levels lately, sorry!).

Here are some photos from the project:

I'd love to hear your comments.

Bye for now!

A-Level Art

For my A-Level exam art work I did a project on transvestites and transgenders. The theme was 'Inside, Outside and In Between'. I interpreted this as how you feel on the inside, look on the outside and every aspect in between. Obviously I could've have gone down any route but this subject matter captured my attention and made me want to explore 'why?', in an positively open-minded approach.

I used a model for the basis of my work; to take photos from, and to sketch and draw. He wanted to have copies of the work when finished so a couple of weeks ago (when I finally got my work back after a year) I let him borrow the work.

I thought I'd take advantage of the fact that he got some great quality copies of the work and asked for some digital copies. I thought I'd post them here to be seen:

I hope you like some of it and please feel free to leave me with any of your comments!

Bye for now!

Baby Drawing

Despite the fact I haven't actually done any art properly in a long time, I did finish this drawing the other day. Although, I started the drawing over a month ago and probably did most of it within 45mins but then left it to finish the finishing touches another day and that wasn't until earlier this week. That's typical from me. I'm too scared to say that I'm finished. Perhaps it's because someone else's judgement may be that it isn't finished so I don't want to commit to thinking it without another's approval.

Anyway, it is now finished.

This was actually as an unpaid commission for a friend. They had their first child just over 2 years ago now and they gave us some photos of him after he was born. I decided to spontaneously draw the one picture of the baby yawning and gave it them as a gift.

Here is the instagram photo of that drawing.

So this year they had a new baby and thought they'd keep the theme going by giving me a photo of him yawning for me to draw. The result is the drawing at the start of the blog. I'm quite happy with it.

What I find interesting is the similarities and differences between the two drawing styles after 2 years. It's mainly the learnt technique that has changed rather than the style of the art.

I hope you like both drawings and feel free to comment with any opinions.

Bye for now!

Anxiety Undiscussed

I have just read this blog post and it has really got me thinking.

It made me think that I'm sure I already channel my anxiety into something, but it's not necessarily what I would like to be channeling it into.

I believe I channel it into where I work. I spend much time as I can there and I'm sure it's the money that is motivating me to do so, however, I also find it a place where I don't have to think I just do. I work each day and sleep at night and there is no time to think about other things. This isn't really helping me though. It stresses me more as working that hard makes me very tired which makes me more stressed. The worst part about the situation is not having a rest from it all, so I will have days at work where I just can't do anything, no will power allows me to do anything.

I wish I could channel the energy from my anxiety into my art. At the moment I have so little energy after I have finished work that I can't do any work at all. Let alone work with energy in it that I enjoy creating. It really has been a while since I created work that I truly enjoyed doing and have had a reason for creating.

This is only a small blog post. Maybe one day I will go more into my anxiety in a post. I find it a relieving thing to do and I don't know whether people read the posts or not but perhaps they do and find them interesting to relate to.

Bye for now!

It's been a while... Oops

It's been a while *blushes due to lack of motivation to write blog posts*.

Oh well! A lot has been going on with my job and I've moved into a flat and ramble, ramble, ramble - we'll save that for another time.

Today I thought I'd pop into Waterstones to spend the rest of my book voucher and I found a book that even the cover was inspiring me so I had to buy it.

The Art of Urban Sketching

I love sketchbooks. I love the lack of precision with them. That images seem hurried and caught in the moment but this just adds to the story the drawing is telling. I have done a lot of on-the-go sketchbook drawings when on art holidays that I went on with school, but I have never found it a comfortable thing. I love seeing what other people produce but have never been overly satisfied with the results I was getting from my own sketchbook. Although, I look back on my sketchbooks now and find them really interesting to flick through.

The amount of detail that someone can actually get into a drawing in a public, and sometimes uncomfortable, space is just amazing. It's just about having the confidence to sit/stand somewhere for, what could be, a long time.

There are so many different styles and techniques that I see when looking through the book that I'm itching to get started on some sketches. I want to experiment with different techniques and hopefully develop some confidence with working in public.

This last image shows drawings/paintings done on public transport, something accessed by so many people on a day-to-day basis but no one thinks to look at the people around them in such a way and in so much detail. The two styles just shown here are so different and I especially love the bottom sketch which appears to have such free-flowing, quick marks that still clearly depict the people sitting in the typically uncomfortable, upright position of a passenger on public transport.

Hopefully this blog post with be followed up with images of my own work in a sketchbook I start to take everywhere. (Although that could be a while! I need serious encouragement and motivation.)

Bye for now!

It's the Little Things

Long time no write! (if that works)

So today started fine when I woke up and then gradually as the day went on it turned pretty crappy. Things that I won't mention here. By 2:00pm I was sat eating lunch and felt sick in my throat by how crappy I felt. I thought that was my day ruined and I just gave up.

Then at about 5:00pm something very small and seemingly insignificant just made my day feel suddenly like a good one.

I was helping a lady who I happened to have helped a few days before. Just before leaving (despite buying nothing) she felt the need to go to another member of staff, with my manager nearby, and tell her that I was really helpful both days she'd been there, that I was brilliant and whispered that I should have a pay rise. Well I went bright red but really couldn't hold back the huge smile creeping across my face. 2.5 weeks into work in the store and someone said that, it made me feel really happy considering I was having such a bad day. Amongst a couple of other things I felt much better about my day and I really just wanted to write this blog post because I wanted to say how easily something little can turn your day around.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Bye for now!

DIY Cheap Headboard

I'm just sat here warming myself up having been in the cold for about an hour and thought I'd right a blog post.

The other day I finished making a headboard for my bed. I'm sorry that in the photo above it isn't very clear, clearly it's camouflaged! I hope to add some kind of decoration to it to make it look a little more interesting as well but at the moment it is doing its functional job.

How did I do it? Well, I don't want to claim to any of the ideas behind it because it wasn't my idea at all. I followed THIS tutorial. There were many tutorials to choose from but this one seemed simplest to me. Partly because it meant I didn't have to buy a big sheet of foam to fit which could also be expensive. I used cardboard rather than wood for the backing and filled with old pillow stuffing which had over-used it's time inside the pillows. So I spent about £1 on this entire headboard as I did have to buy the material which is made from two curtains that I got in Red Cross for just about £1! Bargain.

You may be wondering why my headboard looks different to the one in the tutorial because when I got to the point in the photo above I felt it didn't look very neat or stable so I went and added another layer of fabric on top which smoothed the headboard out and brought it all together.

Now it's supporting my head when I'm in bed and is nice and comfortable. I just hope it lasts a while but even if it doesn't, I'm pretty happy with my £1 spent!

I hope you like this blog and let me know if you end up making a headboard too!

Bye for now!

Inspiring Art/Journals

Yesterday I was just flicking(/clicking) through Bloglovin posts and came across a blog that I started to go through all the posts of. I found it seriously inspiring and it just made me want to grab a sketchbook and get drawing/painting/sketching!

http://www.jennys-sketchbook.com/ << this is the blog!

This is one of her videos but have a look through them all! I love them.

Bye for now!

Random Tangent Head Conversations

I'm just having a perfect little me moment sat in bed keeping warm, drinking a cuppa, dunking my biscuits whilst on my laptop. I have actually just woken up from an hour-long nap and I'm feeling regenerised (did I make that word up?) as beforehand I was virtually crawling around the room.

I have been trying to sort my 'stuff' lately but considering yesterday I tried to sort my threads and I was looking at the mass of them shown in the photo above, I kind of lost any motivation to do it. I did eventually sort those threads out but after that mind-numbing experience I thought I had had enough for one day. I really hate sorting when I don't see much of a result from it! What's the point start with all the little annoying things? It's definitely easiest to do the shove-everything-in-hidden-corner-or-drawer type sorting.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone other than me that goes off on tangents in their mind? Let me explain... You're mid conversation talking about one thing, lets say the weather, and then in your head you start your own little conversation "oh the weather... I wish it was sunny... I hope it's sunny next week when I go shopping... I need to buy lots of clothes... maybe some shoes... I could stop for lunch somewhere" (this is all mind talking) then out-loud, mid weather conversation you just say "I love food" and people look at you like, where? What? How? Random. But to you it seems perfectly logical arriving at that statement. Yes, I knew you'd understand this scenario!

Anyway, I'm thinking that I need to control my thinking and be more organised. Maybe... If I can be bothered.

Bye for now!

Excessive Charity Shop Buys

Today I went to do my voluntary work at Red Cross. It doesn't feel like I've done it for ages but I think it's only been about a week and a half. It's funny because, the last few weeks feel like they have gone on for ages but usually that happens when you've had nothing to do and have been bored. That's something that is certainly not true of my situation. Perhaps it's because I have done so much in that time! Anyway...

So in Red Cross I'm still doing that sorting that I talked about in this blog, and as a result of this I get first choice of all the summer clothing. So I'm taking advantage of that! I bought a lot... A jumper and trousers for my dad, 4 different items for my boyfriend (which I'm keeping quiet because he hasn't seen them yet)... In fact, I'm not going to list the quantity of items I got because there are a lot and you will genuinely think I'm crazy but I have reasons for everything - I make things out of a lot of different things that I buy.

This is one of the 4 tops (6 items of clothing) that I bought however, some of the others were a little plainer so I thought I would just show you these two. This one is quite plain but I really like the colour of it and I think it will go with a lot of things.

This top is one of our 'Encore' items which means that it is a new good from a shop that didn't sell for one reason or another. This didn't sell because it had a hole in the back but it is easily repairable and is actually under the cute little collar so can't even be seen. The fit is really nice on me and I love the little collar with the lace and beading.

This is another Encore item from H&M. I remember seeing it in the shop when it was full price and I wasn't sure whether I really wanted it but when it came into the British Red Cross I thought I might as well go ahead and buy it. I think it's really simple but will really add to an outfit.

Sorry about the quality of this one, I didn't realise it was out of focus when taking this photo. This handbag is so gorgeous though and such nice quality, it's really heavy because of all the beads. This is part of something I'm planning for my mum's birthday party (here you go mum, a little hinting at some of my plans).

So now I have some home items. I bought this because my dad has a bit of a sweet tooth when it comes to biscuits and I thought this was a really nice 'vintage style' jar that would look great in the kitchen.

And finally this Bath Salts jar. I know a lot of people may not like this but I just love how retro it is. I think it will look great in the bath room, not necessarily with bath salts in but no one needs to know.

I got so many other things than what I have shown here but it would have been a huge blog post and probably not made much sense! You may, however, see some of the things I've bought in later posts of DIYs or something so watch this space...

Bye for now!

Crazy Life Happenings

"Heather" I hear you shout to me through the internetic (that is a word) space, "what is happening with your life?" Well, I'm so glad you asked.

So I started my new job last Thursday. Very exciting, I know. I've done four days now and I'm very much enjoying it. It's got such a relaxed atmosphere and I'm learning lots of new things there and meeting lots of new people and hopefully it's going to be grrrrrrr-eat!

Link

On another note completely, I am seriously getting addicted to the game 'Match Dots'. Whilst the rest of the world seems to be loving Flappy Bird, I'm here with my dots game going a bit crazy. It's a great game and I'd genuinely recommend it but be prepared for a lot of your time to be taken up playing it.

Another crazy thing going on is that I've got my blog on Blog Lovin' making it easier for you guys to follow me. Therefore giving you no excuse not to follow me to keep updated on the happenings going on here. Seriously, it would make my day. There is a little button down the right hand side of this page where you can click to easily follow my blog. Blog Lovin' is also a great place to have all of your favourite blogs in one place making them much easier to read. If you don't have Blog Lovin' but you do have Google+ then I think you should at least follow me there, that button is also down the right hand side of this page. (I'll stop nagging now ;)).

I've come to realise that I need to give myself some more me time. I have no idea where my time is going lately. Obviously I now have a job which takes up some of my time but seriously, I find myself sleeping, eating and doing some kind of work... Where did the other time go? Having said that, I'm really enjoying everything I'm doing at the moment and I wouldn't really want to change any of it so I just need to find some more time from somewhere. Or can we add a new day to the week? Anyone with enough power in the world to do that? Get back to me if you know how to do this, thanks!

Currently I'm writing this blog post whilst having a break from sorting things for my mum's 50th which is coming up in less than a month now. I can't say what it is because she may be reading this (hi mum!). I have a lot of planning though... There's another thing I need my extra day in the week for.

This isn't the longest blog post and it's not all that interesting but I thought I'd give you a great update on my life.

Bye for now!

Mini Book Review - House Rules by Jodi Picoult

I thought I would give a little book review a try. I love reading but often don't have time however, I have read a few books which I would love to rave about.

I have read quite a few of Jodi Picoult's books now but this is one of a couple that I have really liked. She has an unusual way of writing the book by changing the character in each chapter but always in first person. For some reason I can't read book which aren't in first person, I just don't connect with the characters enough and get too bored to carry on reading. Anyway... I'll tell you the blurb for the book:

Jacob Hunt is a teenager:brilliant at maths, wicked sense of humour, extraordinarily organised, hopeless at reading social cues. And Jacob has Asperger's. He is locked in his own world - but aware of the world outside, and wanting to make a connection. Jacob tries to be like everyone else, but doesn't know how.

When his tutor is found dead, all the hallmark behaviours of Jacob's syndrome - not looking someone in the eye, off movements, inappropriate actions - start looking a lot like guilt to the police. And Jacob's mother must ask herself the hardest question in the world: is her child capable of murder?

Something that I love about Picoult's books is that she tends to pick a main topic (in this case Asperger's) and then studies it in detail to ensure she can be very informative and detailed in the story she writes. Due to this, I find the book not only capturing because of the story being told but I also enjoy the educational side to it.

Something that isn't great about Picoult's books in general, but this is an example, is that I find they can drag on a little and, although they are good so I want to read on, some of the stories seem a little stretched to their limits.

All being said, I would recommend this book to anyone to read, it's probably more of a feminine book then masculine, but some men may enjoy it!

Bye for now!

My Idea of a Pamper Evening

So it's coming up to Valentine's Day, it's cold and I don't want to leave the house, what better time to have a pamper evening? Actually, that's a load of rubbish, I just fancied a mini pamper evening so I had one!

(Can I just say that whilst I've been doing my internet surfing on my internet surf board and while I type this there is the most annoying box of something downloading that won't go away! It's driving me crazy because I can't see about an eighth of my screen because of it.)

So, in my unique, non-beauty-guru way I had myself a pamper evening.

So if I had been wearing make-up I wouldn't have taken it off with these beautiful make-up wipes posted in this photo (in case you don't know what they are): Simple Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes. They're good, they're not like those dry wipes which feel like they're scratching your skin away when you just try and remove your make-up.

Then I lit a couple of candles (here's a generic candle photo). This candle actually smells really nice. It's pomegranate and I should probably mention that it's actually my boyfriends, if I don't mention that and he reads this then he won't be a happy bunny.

 

I then exfoliated my legs with this invigorating body scrub (St Ives Apricot Body Scrub). To be honest, I just used it because I have it but I do really like it. It's one of those exfoliating scrubs that actually feels like it's doing what it says it's meant to do, if you know what I mean? It feels exfoliating. I think it seems to have actual sand in it because when I wash it off in the shower there is sand puddling around me. I like it anyway.

Then I shaved my legs and, to be brutally honest, I don't know why there aren't more photos like this from 'beauty guru' types:

Yes, I cut myself shaving. And DOESN'T EVERYONE? Where is everyone else's photos? I have no shame! Here is my badly shaved knee with a little plaster on because shaving cuts seem to produce so much blood, even when they're tiny. I have a tip for when shaving your legs though, something I like to do (which other people might as well) is put conditioner on my leg which I then shave off when shaving the hair. It moisturises your legs to make them incredibly soft and helps the razor to glide much more smoothly over the skin. Beauty tip of the day from someone with very little beauty knowledge.

So then I had to moisturise my beautifully soft, not so gorilla-like legs. I used Jergens Naturals Extra Softening Body Moisturiser but to be honest, I was just trying to use this up. I would usually go for the trusty E45 because I find it very nice and moisturising. This one is good but I feel like I'm trying to rub it into my legs for about half an hour and I'm too impatient for that. Sorry, Jergens.

Anyway, onto my face...

I have no idea of the proper order for this kind of thing but this was the order I wanted to opt for so, I exfoliated with some Neutrogena Visibly Clear Spot Stress Control. Which was nice.

I then put Simple Kind to Skin Deep Cleansing Face Mask on. That was nice too. I like simple products, as you will notice, there isn't much more I can say about them really. Other than the fact I was relaxed (always a good thing).

So I washed the face mask off and moisturised with these beauties. Okay, so I really like the Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Eye Balm because it's really nice around the sensitive parts of my face, which are my eyes. But I REALLY The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream. I will tell you why. I went on holiday last year and I fell asleep on the plane (no I haven't gone off on a tangent, bare with me), when I wake up from naps like that I always feel really dirty, do you know what I mean? I just suddenly feel really tired and I want to have a shower. Obviously this wasn't possible because I was on the plane. So I wanted something to freshen me up and all I had to hand was this moisturiser. Usually putting products of whatever kind on my face would just make me feel worse but this felt amazing! It was so refreshing and felt almost like it had cleaned me. Oh well, that was when I fell in love and now I use it every day. Definitely recommend that.

So finally, my must-use-at-least-two-times-a-day products. I can't express to you how much these mean to me. I cannot, cannot, cannot clean my teeth without putting Vaseline then E45 Hand Cream on after. This one time I ran out of E45 Hand Cream and I genuinely made my boyfriend drive to every shop/pharmacy near by to find some. It took a while but we got there in the end. This stuff is very important to me. I'd say I'm a bit OCD about using these after cleaning my teeth because I can't really think of any other reason that it's so important...

Anyway, that's my way of having a pamper evening.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Bye for now!

Charity Shop Prices Have Risen

Yesterday I was linked THIS article about charity shops and the prices of the things they're selling. As a serious charity shopper I completely agree with the things being said here.

Now I work in a £1.99 or less charity shop, and you can't really get a better deal than that, can you? And that does mean that whenever I go into other charity shops they all seem pretty pricey to me because I'm so used to low prices. But, I'm so glad that people actually agree with how much they have gone up in price. They are much more popular these days with more people going to find a bargain and I can understand that the charity shops are noticing this and realise they can increase their prices and still get sales but when the prices of well worn clothes are close to those of ones you can buy new in the shops then I would much rather pay the few pounds more and have something new.

Maybe the charity shops need bringing back down to earth and realising that they are only selling second hand clothing and us buyers want to get our bargains! As the article says, they are selling things that they have been given free as a donation in the first place so they shouldn't get greedy.

Just a short blog most for now to highlight this article.

Bye for now!

Marilyn Monroe Drawing

This drawing is something I'm selling on Etsy so I thought I would show here some of the stages that built up to this finished drawing.

This process can be seen in more detail on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE1vEOcMMos&feature=c4-overview&list=UUfp5V4Oj3SKjJHTPnfC2pcw

If you like this then you can buy it at Shed Creativity: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/174601733/marilyn-monroe-graphite-drawing-detailed?

Bye for now!