Stepping out of my Comfort Zone

Yesterday I took a big leap out of my comfort zone and sat down with Mick Cullen from Redcliffe Marketing Labs for a chat while he recorded it on video. I am usually hiding behind a camera or computer so this was a completely different experience. Lucky Mick made me feel comfortable and the great coffee at Valori helped too. I still was in a nervous fog for the first 1/3 of the interview and I am glad to see I actually got some words out.

You may have some difficulty hearing at some stages because Valori is a busy little hub and people need their coffee. Just assume I said something ground-breakingly awesome and witty in those moments.

Here is the link to the video.

http://youtu.be/EnXoOGCECwQ?hd=1

I am sure I don't sound that squeaky in person but I am going to stand in front of the mirror and practice my news reporter voice in case an opportunity like this ever arises again. This is Rachel from Redcliffe Style signing off.


Please visit Redcliffe Marketing Labs Facebook page and like them.

The Candlestick Maker

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am crazy about delicious smells. I can't even go to bed without a spritz of my favourite perfume. I love burning candles, incenses, oils, even wood is good. It might sounds like I am a little bit of a pyromaniac and maybe I am, but only if it smells good.

Yesterday I stopped by NJs Natural Hand Made Soy Candle shop in Brighton and it smelt good. Nicola makes delicious hand made soy candles. There are so many choices you are going to find it difficult to choose. NJ's has a great web page so you can shop online and the postage is free. This would make a huge difference to those online shoppers. I love shopping online but usually back out when it comes to paying because I am cheap and postage is usually too high. Not anymore. As well as the usual candles and melts she makes the sweetest teacup candles. I love these!

Nicola is happy to refill your containers but also if you have a special container she will fill it up. I am going to be scouring garage sales and second hand shops for fun quirky pieces to fill. I think they'll make great gifts for people.

NJ's Natural Handmade Soy Candles

512 Beaconsfield Terrance, Brighton

3869 0328

info@njscandles.com

www.njscandles.com

This soap has a loofah in the centre. It would be great for exfoliating your body.

Lost in the Scarborough Area - Gym motivation

I am fairly active, I have always been a member of a gym. Currently it's Genesis at Rothwell. I really got out of my routine over the Christmas school holidays. It would have cost $8 each day to put my girls into the creche and my budget wouldn't cover it. Lucky I have my trusty Cardio Tech x9 treadmill. Most people are bored by treadmills, I understand but they should really try my technique, iPad2 on magazine rack to play Word with Friends (this does give me a slight handicap, but I manage to win enough games), the most awesome series ever "Boardwalk Empire" on Apple TV in front of me, nice and loud, and the air-conditioning cranked up. I am so distracted I forget I am running. I usually try to run 12-15km each session and I'll do this about 5 times a week.

Last week I ventured out to the gym for the first time on Friday to attend a Body Combat class (thank you Nat).  It was fantastic, the class was so much fun and I am ready to throw myself back into classes and weights, I can't run away forever (a little pun there). When I tried to get out of bed Saturday I felt like I had been ran over by a truck. I could barely walk up stairs. Sunday was even worse, I cried at the idea of going to the toilet. That'll teach me not to be a slacker.

On Wednesday I'll be joining into the spin class, I know there will be tears on Thursday.

Do you ever hide Purchases?

Do you ever tell the ladies at Shoes on Scarborough to keep the shoe box because it's too large to sneak into the house? Do you round the price of the jacket you bought at Abbey Lee down to the closest $50 when you tell your husband about the awesome savings you made? Do you wait 3 months before giving your new dress an outing so you can say 'this old thing'? Do you feel the need to explain why you needed new jeans when you weren't even asked? Or is this just me??

I pride myself on my honesty. I always give back change if I have received too much, if I break something I'll admit it and apologise, I don't return items with sketchy reasons. So why when I make a clothing or shoe purchase I don't prance around in front of my husband showing off the newest additions to my wardrobe. I don't hide anything at the back of my wardrobe but I also don't like to bring his attention to it. Is that dishonest too?

Why do I do this? Is it ingrained into my bloodline? Probably. There is a silent rule in my family, if my sister or aunt or any other females turns up in something new, shiny and gorgeous, we just give a each other a look. This one look manages to convey so much. It says "You look great, is that new, I love it. I wish I saw it first and tell me later where you got it". Do we think the men won't understand or do we just not want to bore them with the insignificant details?

I am the same with makeup, skincare or haircare products too. Is it the money spent or maybe it's because I want him to think I am just a low maintenance natural kinda girl.

Are you out and proud with your purchases or a quiet little mouse?

Photo credit - Photosindia.com/Photosindia/Cobras

I had a dream last night...

I dreamt that I was writing a post about a famous person I know. This post was so funny and clever. I had even liken them to Dr Who's Tardis.  I woke up half way through the dream and couldn't believe what a great post idea it was. I managed to fall back to sleep AND back into the same dream. How often does that happen? It seems like I was working all night on this awesome post. I woke up so excited and inspired, then realised this person didn't exsist and the whole idea of my post was ridiculous.

Now I've got nothin'.

Dear 16 year old me...

I know life seems a little overwhelming right now. You have just finished year 12, working full time in a law firm, part time at Chicken World and have moved out of home. You might seem like you haven't got any choices, but try not to grow up too quickly. If you can find opportunity to travel, grab it. You have a long time to be a grown up but only a short time to be carefree.

Appreciate your family, your dad will only be around for another ten years and you will regret that you didn't spend more time with him. Be kinder to your sister, you really will be best friends one day.

On a lighter note:

• You hair is a mess right now, this will be your last perm, but make sure you get it trimmed regularly
• Beer is not food
• Smoking isn't cool
• If you improve your diet and lifestyle, your skin will improve
• Don't worry so much about what people think of you, people just don't think that much about other people
• You won't marry the first boy you fall in love with, the second boy will be so much better. You'll be surprised that he picked you. Don't be, you're pretty great too
• Your sister will have a baby soon, be a great aunt when the baby is little too
• You really can do anything. You are funny, kind, and can pick up really heavy stuff.

The Etiquette disagreement wrap up

Thank you everyone for your input to help resolve the disagreement regarding Cutlery etiquette.  Even though the responses where overwhelming in support of person 2, it seems we remain at a stalemate. To solve the mystery of who was person 1 and 2, well I was behind door number two.  Wow!!

Lucky differences are what make us more interesting. My girls will be taught to eat my way, but perhaps occasionally at home we can relax it a little.

I like this article I found on The Guardian page.

Please settle an argument

My husband and I are having a little disagreement and he suggested I send it out to you to settle.

I am not even going to tell you who is on which side of the disagreement but I am sure you'll work it out. I'll just say, I assume you are all people with excellent table manners.

The other night my husband was trying to get our girls to eat correctly at the table. I mentioned that I didn't think he was showing them the best way to hold utensils and demonstrated the way I thought it would be better for them to learn. I can't begin to tell you how well that went down. After quite a discussion and a search of Wikipedia - Eating utensil etiquette, we discovered that one of us eats in a more 'American' way and the other more 'European'.

Person one

• Believes the fork should curve upwards while you eat, so you can scoop up your food
• Utensils can be passed back and forth between hands
• You grip the cutlery with all fingers wrapped around (edit - it's more like holding it like a pencil.)
• It's okay to start eating before everyone is seated or has their food (You don't want your food to get cold)
• You can eat with your mouth open on the odd occasion, because it's 'fun'

Person two

• The fork must always curve down. You don't use the fork as a spoon - the spoon is the spoon.
• You don't change the cutlery between hands.
• You hold the utensil with three fingers and have the pointer along the top of the it.
• No elbows on table
• Wait for everyone to be seated and have their food before starting
• Keep your mouth closed when eating, even if it isn't as much fun

There are a few other differences, but we don't want to nit pick or point a finger at each other (pointing is also not good at the table). We have survived 19 years of watching each other eat but I would like our girls to eat in the way that it's most widely accepted where they live. I want them to be able dine out in nice restaurants and look like little ladies. You never know, one day they might marry royalty and this will be one less thing they'll have to learn in the princess training.

What are your thoughts on Utensil etiquette, are we too concerned about it? Are you more person one or two?

Guest Post - Tina Gray(dot)me

I have a guest post today at Tinagray(dot)me.  I am thrilled because she is one of my favourite blogger.  You will love her, she is very funny. The post is 10 tips for going from Haggard to Hot (well, not so haggard) in 10 minutes.

http://tinagray.me/2012/02/21/10-tips-haggard-to-hot/

Get your bling on!

I love jewellery and lucky my husband loves it too. I often look like a Gold Coast retiree or a rapper with my bling on, just called me Mz Red (Thanks Pene, I stole that from you). At the moment I am going through a more subtle stage. Just a few select pieces here and there. At first it was hard to break the habit, I felt nude. What I have notice is, people look younger without loads of jewellery. I wonder why that is?

Lucky in the peak of my search for subtly I came across a jewellery website called Pretty Harbor. Ingrid the jewellery designer is French and is creating feminine, handcrafted jewels.

This bracelet is from the Marie Antoinette collection and is called Frivolity RRP $40.

This necklace is called Black Fragment RRP $50.  This is great for dressing up a simple outfit. I love that it's soft, so I won't annoy little heads when they snuggle in for a cuddle.

Ingrid was kind enough to send these to me and one lucky person can pick which they would prefer, the necklace or the bracelet.

To register your interest, please like Pretty Harbor on facebook here, like Redcliffe Style on facebook here and comment below or on facebook.  Too easy!

Please check out Ingrid's lovely pieces at her website.  They are so lovely and well priced.

Pretty Harbor
Jewellery Designer
www.prettyharbor.com



I have not been paid to write about Pretty Harbour or their Jewellery. 

10 things you may not know about me...

...you may not know about me.

1. I am left handed and so is my youngest daughter,
2. I truly think that I'll win every board game I play. I usually do, but maybe my confidence is intimidating and scares the opponent into just giving up.
3. I am an insomniac. I go through stages, at the moment I am running on two days with limited sleep. It doesn't bother me too much until I hit a week. Then I completely fall apart.
4. If I have choice between squeezing a pimple and leaving it, squeezing always wins. I know you are meant to leave them alone but has anyone in the history pimples ever managed to do that?
5. I can only drive an automatic car. I did start with manual lessons but my teacher was so unkind I stopped and then didn't get my license until I was 20 and then didn't drive a car again until I was 26.
6. I am allergic to Cinnamon flavouring. If I ate a piece of cinnamon flavoured mint or gum, the inside of my mouth would completely covered in ulcers.
7. I am vegetarian. When I was about 10 or 12 my parents went through a vegetarian stage.  I never went back. I don't eat fish or chicken but do eat dairy.
8. Sometimes I have been know to weaken for a particularly good piece of pork crackling. You can't even be sneaky, I have tried. The moment you bite into it, the whole table will be quiet and looking at me shocked. Then they'll feel like they have to remind me I am vegetarian. Like I forgot, I think they just don't want to share the crackling.
9. I have weak and flaky nails. They won't grow, just peel off like a snake shedding it's skin.
10. I've had botox.  Shhh, that's just between you and me.

Botox. Two days post injections with photos

It has been two days since I had botox injected between my eyebrows. It takes a week or two to see the results, but I can already see it working. I am still able to convey all my emotions with a twitch of my eyebrows but I do look less angry. I can tell I look less angry because the kids aren't taking me seriously anymore.

You are suppose to resist frowning after botox, but just for you I tried really hard. As you can see, still plenty of wrinkles but the grooves between my eyebrows are less severe.

Looking back at the photos, I think I had better rethink the whole beachy hair thing.

Before botox...

Sometimes I do things just to amuse me and this is one of those times. The photos were for my amusement, but botox was a carefully researched and considered decision. People are opinionated about it and I respect everyones decisions. I have decided to share my journey with you and if you have concerns or questions about botox, please research it carefully. I am only here to make decisions for me. After research, I was happy to try it and I look forward to seeing the results. I only had one area injected. These are the before photos.

For a more informative blog about botox you must read The Best Beauty Blog. Ling is awesome and informative.

I went to COZmedics in Ascot. My husband had bought me a $300 voucher for my birthday. This covered the cost of the botox in that one area. They were so quick and gentle that I didn't feel anything.


COZmedics
Level 1, 121 Racecourse Road, Ascot
3268 3998
www.cozmedics.com.au

If I was a Princess...

...and really, really short, I would totally want to hang out at the Petite Princess Parlour everyday.

My niece invited my two daughters to the parlour for a BFFF (Best Friends Forever Funday) get together this afternoon. My sister optioned up, so the girls enjoyed a party atmosphere. Princess Katrina and Princess Rae were amazing with the girls so, we had no concerns leaving them for an hour. We enjoyed a quiet coffee at a local shop and when we returned an hour later we discovered three girls covered in glitter, makeup, nail polish with their hair upstyled and eyes freakishly wide from the sugar rush.

The hair looked great.  In fact, the girls want me to book them in for a wedding they may be attending in September.

I think this would be fun to do with my girls by ourselves too. They can get the 'Princess' makeover and I can get some Shellac nails.  They have Mummy and me treatments, I love that I can can my maintenance done while someone is amusing my girls.

Petite Princess Parlour

Shop 5, Evergreen Centre

14-18 Discovery Dr, North Lakes

07 3491 3588

www.petiteprincessparlour.com.au

Confessions of a bargain shopper

If my husband is reading this.  Please stop, it's really only boring girls stuff and would hold no interest for you.

What most people don't know about me is that I am really, really cheap. I love clothes, shoes, makeup, skincare and everything else you can imagine but I can not pay full price. Sometimes I'll even balk at 50% off. It's not that I want to rip anyone off, I just need my limited funds to stretch as far as they can. I have decided to share my post christmas sales bargains. I am definitely looking at next season, summer is nearly over so I'm not investing in that any longer.

This was from Witchery in North Lakes. I think this is my best haul by far. Originally the jacket was $169, slouchy long line white top was $49 and the Raspberry Zebra scarf was $49. I walked out with these delicious wardrobe additions after handing over $25.85. Yes and I am serious. Witchery has a very generous membership card, you should really check it out. 

When shopping for a friend, I came across these amazing shoe boots at Nine West Chermside reduced from $189 to $49.  Insane! I think I'll wear these lot in Autumn and they'll look great with the Witchery outfit.

Myer at Northlakes.  I love pretty bras.  These are hard to see, but trust me, they are pretty and make my bust look hot. The Elle MacPherson one was $69 reduced to $9 and the Chloe and Lola was $49 reduced to $6.

Aaahhh, my slouch black boots from Wittners at Chermside.  I think the original price was $190.  I could look it up but I am too lazy.  These were only $59.  My six year old discovered them hiding at the back of a shelf.  She will be a great bargain shopper one day.

My tan wedges from Zu at Chermside.  Originally $120 but only $36 for the eagle eyed shopper. They are on sale on their website, the link is here.

Lastly, buckled Witchery pants.  These were originally $129 but I paid $29.

Total original prices = $873
Total spent = $213.85

It's important to love what you buy and not just buy them because it's a bargain.  I think I love my purchases but, only time will tell.

I think I am set up pretty well for the change of season and I have no reason to look for anymore bargains. But like I always say, who needs a reason.

I love....

 

Ice cream and Sunglasses, and together they are even better.

A few weeks ago I noticed a promotion on facebook called the OPSM Sunshine Tour. They visit places in an ice cream van and give away ice creams and sunglasses. How cool (literally) is that!! They were asking on facebook where they should visit next. I mentioned (a few times) that they should visit Brisbane, Redcliffe. Well, Brisbane was the chosen city but council regulations didn't allow their promotion. It seems that the council has issues with ice creams. Any woo, OPSM was cool enough to contact me and offer me a pair of glasses anyway. I jumped at the opportunity but I was kinda disappointed they didn't offer me ice cream too. I was expecting maybe a cheap pair of daggy sunglasses and instead I receive a fantastic pair of D&G glasses.

Do yourself a favour and jump on their facebook page and to see where they'll be visiting next and hopefully score a great pair of glasses, this is such a generous and fun giveaway.