Toadstool, Toadstool, Red and Sweet

 Good Afternoon my sweetlings and sugar dumplings,
The other day I mentioned I had an extremely exciting something to think about and I think it's finalised enough to be safe to say. I'm going to 3 Wishes Faery Fest again this year! Not only that but I get to go with the lovely Stephanie from Owl in the Dark who invited me out of the blue, truly some divine faerie magic is at work here! I honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to make it this year and then everything happened just so and we both get to go.


In the spirit of all things faerie I began making pieces for my outfit. I decided to make a toadstool which I'm going to affix to a headband and wear in my hair, it's really quite giant! Steph and I are going to make our own wings and some fae crowns, expect to see lots and lots of Moss as we are both quite fiendishly in love with the lovely stuff.

 It took me about two hours to make, all hand stitched (I haven't gotten around to looking at the sewing machine yet...)

 I used thread to make the gills of the mushroom, I'm really pleased with how it came out!

With it's kin. I think I'm going to make a whole bunch of them, Steven seemed to like the idea of little plushie toadstools about the place and they're so cute and sweet.

 I really don't dress up when I'm DIYing, I just slouch about with my headphones and make a huge mess in my pajamas and a big t-shirt.

 Toadstool eating, although I wouldn't recommend eating this type of toadstool in real life.

My little helper. By helper I actually mean 'helping me to eat my cashew nuts' and by helping I really mean wriggling around all over me until I give in to the cuteness!

A Happy Ending

 Good Afternoon my sugar plums,
Yesterday was my very, very, very last day of University... I can't believe I did it! Gosh, it feels as though time just raced by, three years like the blink of an eye, learning so much, not only about Chinese Medicine but about people, about myself, about how strong I can be, how hard I can work, and how amazing people are always out there just wandering around, waiting to meet one another. 
I have made some of the very best friends I have ever had in these past three years, I have struggled and prevailed, sometimes I have struggled and failed but never have I fallen without somebody there to take my hand and pull me right back up again and never have I triumphed without somebody cheering along beside me. 
I feel extremely fortunate to have done what I did. Sometimes it was hard and I'm not afraid to admit that at one point I was an inch from giving up, but I didn't, I kept going, something in my heart whispered 'keep going, you're just getting to the best bit!', the freedom, the happiness, the friendship and love and amazement, it kept telling me, even when most of me was resisting it with all my might, 'you are stronger than this, stronger than anything you think can beat you right now.' and I listened, I kept going, and I can say today that I am proud of who I have become, but also proud of that scared, shy, anxious girl who almost caved in to all the sadness in her heart. I may be strong today, but it took a special kind of strength back then, the kind you can only dredge up from the bottom of your toes, the kind that comes to you in absolute desperation, that was the strength I had two years ago, the strength that carried me through to today.

The past three years have been filled with madness, laughter and probably a bathtub of tears! It's been hard, really hard, but aside from the times when I honestly thought I might be buried under the mountain of work it was fun. I laughed until my ribs hurt and I thought I might be sick, until I was bent over double with tears rolling down my face. I have written down silly quotes in the back of my notebooks ('you cannot inject egg into your vein, you will die... it's truth!'), I have laughed and shaken silently whilst sharing knowing looks, I have drawn odd pictures to try and remember certain facts (wandering bees will never look the same to me again) and landed in the gutter more times than I think anyone would ever expect me too (I don't look the type right?), I have done victory dances and pretended to be an ostrich walking down the hall and I've danced to Disney an sung along in my room when I had no patients. 

 In two years I went from literally trembling with fear just holding a needle, waiting anxiously to tap it into my own leg to being able to confidently, calmly and intelligently treat a patient all by myself. It has been a rollercoaster, lots of it involving loop de loops you really don't want to do and huge drops that turn your face purple! I did it though, and I know I will only improve more. 

 I became known as the resident colourful one, the multicoloured acupuncturist, a real life faerie. I was always complimented on my colours or my hairstyle, people told me I seemed bubbly and friendly and kind. It gives me hope, and it also makes me happy to see that there is a place for people like us, us wild nature children who like to dye their hair bright colours or dress up every day, there are places, more and more of them, that will accept you for exactly who you are and will appreciate what you bring to the table (they also appreciate it when you bring chocolate!)

I'm sad to have left, it's a very strange feeling that hasn't completely sunk in yet. On the one hand I will be glad to never write another essay again but on the other hand it's a little like somebody opening your cage door, you can see the world outside and know that it is full of wonderful things you've yet to see, but you have your bed and the warmth in your cage, it's familiar and safe and you take a little while to decide if you really want to leave it (but you do, eventually, and you sun your wings and realise it's okay outside too)

More than anything I want to say thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the people who have stood beside me these past years. Thank you to my tutors, to my friends, to my parents and my boyfriend and to you all as well, everyone who reads here. Sometimes I have had a terrible day and your comments have warmed my heart when it felt as though someone had thrown ice water on it, thank you for cheering me up in ways you may never know and for going through all of this with me too. 


and now onto photos:

 Haggis, a gift Sally got for Matt. 

 Jason and Martin, two of our supervisors who have seen us through the whole course. Martin's face makes me giggle whenever I see it in this picture!

 We often made them do things like put pretty girly headbands on...

 But it was entirely down to them to do things like this to encourage us!

 My favourite picture of the whole day.

Later on we went to the Japanese restaurant and I heartily encouraged Matt to eat a lot of Wasabi...

But he said he could do it!

Wishes Come True

 Good Evening my sweetlings!
I've done it, I've done it, I've done it! Today was my exam, no more revision and cramming and stress for me. I have one more day left (Friday) and then I'm done and I get to relax for a few months and read a million books, drink copious amounts of tea and apple juice and crochet to my hearts content. I am basically going to live the life of a really lazy 80 year old lady and it is going to be heavenly. I also got an amazingly sweet email from a very lovely girl today and all I can say is it has given me something extremely exciting to think about, I shall keep shtum on that for a while though until it's all finalised but needless to say I am super psyched for the months to come. 
The exam went okay, I sort of walled myself up for a few days in my room this past week and revised a lot, but I was so happy not to be very stressed about it all. Today I dressed up very brightly, I wanted to bring happiness into the room and make people feel less stressed, lots of people said I cheered them up and they could feel positive vibes from me so I think it worked! I have been called a faerie and a pink marshmallow today, all is right with the world.

 The jumper was a gift from Steven, I call it my Disney Princess jumper because of the quote 'Wishes Come True' written on it. The tights were 50p on a clearence sale and the shoes were £3, pretty awesome! 

 Elderflowers, I really want to make something with them soon. They look like tiny stars.

 After the exam we went out to dinner, a treat from our tutors. Things like this happened. 

 The man on the end is Fanyi, he has been such a fun and amazing tutor over the 3 years I've been taught by him. I actually have pages of quotes he says in class, he has always made me laugh a lot. 

 I bought these amazing Parrot earrings yesterday, I think they are my new favourite! They're wooden and so bright and cheerful.

 I bought all of these hair flowers yesterday too, I went a little flower mad I have to say. I decided to do my hair in the same way that Rapunzel has hers done in Tangled, I love it.

 Say goodbye to the Green (if you can call it that anymore...), it's changing colour on Tuesday!

How are you all my dears? Do you have exams right now?

Summer Goals for 2011

Summer is here and I am almost free to enjoy it in a way I haven't been able to since I was in Junior School 11 years ago. It's going to be fantastic! No homework, no worries and time to spend doing anything and everything. I've seen people beginning to make their Summer Goal lists and theres really nothing better than those kinds of lists, full of dreams and determination. Being the lover of lists that I am I didn't need an excuse to start writing my own, here it is! 


1. ♥ Lounge in the Sun
A sun bed in the garden sounds like a brilliant idea to me, falling asleep with the sound of the birds, the breeze and the bees (and other things beginning with 'b'!) I've already done this once this year and it is heavenly, to leave it at that would be silly.


2. ♥ Read the entire Harry Potter series again
I have been meaning to do this for years, it's one of those things that you keep swearing you'll do and then you never get around to it, or something gets in the way (like losing only the first book!) but this year I am absolutely determined that this will transpire, I am going to cram Mr Potter into my brain rather gleefully this year.


3. ♥ Dye my hair Bright Orange
This is another one of those 'I'll do it at some point' things, I have been wanting super bright Orange hair for a long time now! Put it down to Kate Winslet's beautiful ever changing locks when she played Clementine or blame the fact that I'm seriously running out of hair colours I haven't tried yet, either way I am lusting for some Fiery Orange hair right now and I intend to have it. 


4. ♥ Get Dirty (in lots of ways!)
Rolling about on the grass and coming home with muddy knees and grass stained trousers? Check. Pulling up potato's and carrots and Mint and smelling of herbs and dirt? Check. Accidentally dipping the arms of all my tops in paint? Check. Hands covered in felt tips, pen and clay? Check. Cut up fabrics and spilled buttons everywhere? Check. There are lots of fun ways to get dirty and I intend to do many of them this Summer, I want to get outside and feel the grass and dirt under my feet, get back into art and crafts and be silly in nature. The sillier you are, the dirtier you get and the dirtier you get the more fun you have! That's always been the way in my book. Water balloon fights and wading into rivers comes under this too.


5. ♥ Learn to use my Sewing Machine
I was very lucky to receive a sewing machine for Christmas last year but I've yet to really sit down and grapple with the beast (and I know it loves some grapplin'!) I fully intend to remedy that this Summer. I want to make skirts, dresses, hats, tops, bags... anything and everything, I just want to learn how to use it. That leads me rather swiftly to...


6. ♥ Make some Monster Mayhem
No sock, unused pillowcase or interestingly patterned duvet cover will go unravaged, no ball of wool will escape my attempts to make it into some sort of hair. Oh yes, 2011 will be the Summer of Monster Madness, Oscar and Lumpy need some friends and I am more than willing to conjure them up. Girl Monsters, Boy Monsters, Loopy Monsters, Sensible Monsters... every conceivable kind of Monster! 


7. ♥ Wilderness Adventures
There's a scene in my head, in fact maybe even a whole section of my brain, dedicated purely to wild adventures in fields and wild places. I really, really like fields, I like laying in them, I like playing in them, I like finding things in them. I want to find frogs in ponds and lakes, I want to dip my feet in really cold water (or not so cold, that's okay too), I want to collect wild flowers in baskets, I want to make the longest daisy chain known to man... bring it on! Dancing in the rain and sitting up to watch thunderstorms is also on the list, one of which I've already done this year and the other of which I am sure will present itself.


8. ♥ Fires at Midnight
Well, it doesn't have to be Midnight, but fires at night are one of the most beautiful things there are. I love the smell of the smoke, the flickering dancing of the flames, the way the ash looks when you see it the next day and sweeping it into the soil. There is something magical about fire under the stars, with the moon shining down.


9. ♥ Update my shop
You were all amazing last time I updated my shop, I was so happy with the results! I really believe in reusing what you don't want anymore and being able to send off things I couldn't or didn't wear anymore to people who would love them as I did made me so happy. I also really enjoyed working on my shop, it needs more attention but now that I have a mannequin I think it's finally worth really going to town on. 
I've definitely got more clothes to go up on Ebay and I'll be adding handmade goodies too, lots of crochet and Monsters! 


10. ♥ Paint More

I've been painting a lot more recently, although it's still a little naughty for me to do so. I forgot how relaxing it is, and how good it feels to produce something from nothing. I bought myself a white gel pen today and it is pretty much the best invention ever to grace the utensil world, it is so great for adding little details to your work. My work tends to get bombarded by two furry wizards who like nothing more than to steal and eat everything I own, or at least attempt it so I tend to stick to none toxic watercolours, that's okay by me though because I adore working with water colour paints. You'll be seeing a lot more artwork popping up in here soon.


11. ♥ Give said Wizards a Bath
My rats love water, their reaction to water is like my reaction to things that combine both polkadots and stripes at the same time (best thing ever) and I've seen videos of people who make sort of water parks for their rats. It is the most amazing idea! I need to get a shallow tub for them which I'll fill with a little water, some rocks, shells, peas, sweetcorn, bouncy balls and some sort of bubble making device and then watch the ensuing adorable madness.


12. ♥ Get Fit
Steven has told me that there's a Gym opposite his work and I'm really interested in joining up. I've never been very good at exercise, frankly my run looks like a very confused chicken (and is hilarious) and I have pretty bad coordination which makes sports like tennis et al. pretty much impossible for me to play very well. I do however enjoy treadmills (especially when they have those heartbeat things) and swimming and I'm hoping that I can finally get into some healthy exercise that won't make me feel awful the next day or cause me to really hurt myself in the long term. Steven is thinking about joining up too so I'm hoping that having a gym buddy will help to quell the nerves and fear of extreme judgement! We shall see. 

What are your goals for this Summer my sweetlings? Or alternatively, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, what are your Winter plans?

Lorelei

 Good Evening my dears and hello to those of you who have joined me over the past few weeks, I hope you are enjoying yourselves here!
The past few weeks have been absolutely ridiculously busy with final exams and papers all lining up. Luckily I have vanquished most of my competition now (I like to think of finishing my work as fighting a dragon, except that maybe I would just feed it and stroke it instead of killing it) and I now have only 2 things left to go, I am so excited! This past weekend my friend Adri came over and we watched Eurovision, something I always enjoy for the extreme cheesiness. Also I get really excited about the voting, I don't know what it is about it. I personally wanted Ireland to win, Steven and Adri definitely didn't share the sentiment. 
Today I took a crazy bus ride and managed to come out of that one valiant too, luckily! I have a presentation to give tommorow which I need to make tonight, then my final exam next Wednesday for which I need to revise and learn a few lists of points. Then we shall all eat a lot of really nice food, which will definitely be a good way to celebrate.

 One more thing, I got my nose pierced yesterday! I used to have it done when I was about 15 but my school made me take it out. Yesterday morning I decided 'yup, I'm going to get my nose pierced today' so I went out and got it done (without telling anybody!). It's exciting to do something completely for yourself, and good for you I think. This is my first time having a ring in it and I love it very much. 

The title of the post comes from the folktales of the mermaid Lorelei, and also inspired by my listening to Blackmore's Night rather incessantly for the past few days. My hair is a really odd colour now, although I still quite like it. I'm going to dye it once I'm finished at Uni, but for now I can enjoy the strange mix of colours and think of it as my mermaid hair. 

My giant shiny eye invites you in. I haven't worn dark makeup for a while now so I decided to get a little decked out with dark red lips (red lipstick with black over the top) and eyeliner.

Friend Friday: Inspiration Strikes Back

A few weeks ago we focused on some of our many inspirations, this week we're coming back for more!


1. What magazines do you subscribe to?
I actually don't subscribe to any magazines, though I always think about it I just forget. I do however enjoy reading ELLE, Vogue, POP and i-D when I can afford them. I find i-D and POP the most mentally stimulating but I like the way ELLE is laid out, I also like the runway magazines they often include.


2. Do you watch any fashion TV shows? 
 When they're on, I'll watch them! I watched the last season of Project Runway and got really into that so I'm excited for it to come back. I also enjoy America's Next Top Model (not strictly fashion tv, but in the same sphere I think) and Gok's Fashion Fix. I enjoyed The September Issue as well, though they was more of a documentary. I really like watching fashion documentaries as well if I can find them, I love looking at how designers work and behind the scenes.

3. Beyond blogs, what websites do you frequent for fashion inspiration?
hel-looks is fantastic for street style inspiration, FRUiTs based tumblrs like this one are also great. Fashion Gone Rogue is great for editorials, and http://www.style.com is my favourite for runway looks and close ups of the runway makeup (which I adore). Generally though I get more inspiration from street style every day outfits than from fashion editorials, I love seeing people really mix things up, put their own spin on different looks and how each look can be totally different depending on the person wearing it.

4. Advertisements play a huge role in forming public opinion about a product or brand… what ads do you like and why?
 This Moschino Cheap And Chic advert always springs to mind, I don't know exactly what it is about it but I've always loved this advert. I love bright, vibrant and fun adverts, something eye catching and simple.  I like my eyes to go directly to what I'm supposed to be looking at, too much background is distracting to me. 

5. Do you own any fashion books?
I tend to look at these in the shop more than buy them, mostly because they tend to be way too expensive for me! I really wanted an Alexander McQueen one recently, though I decided not to get it in the end. At one point I had The Art of Teese by Dita von Teese and one by Gok Wan, though I think I gave that away. 


Friend Friday, an initiative started by the lovely Katy of Modly Chic, is a great way for fashion bloggers  to connect with one another and share more about themselves in a friendly and encouraging community. You can find out more HERE and join in by joining the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Google Group.

Channeling Nemi

Good Evening my dears, are you well?
Today I decided to go oldschool/Tim Burton/baby goth, channel a little bit of Nemi Montoya and you know what that means, black, white and stripes everywhere! Throw in some Minty green pigtails and you're set. It was really fun wearing this outfit, I cut the feet off a pair of stripy tights that were slightly too small and made them into leggings and the undertop is another pair of stripy tights that had lots of holes in them. Doing little DIYthings like this always makes me happy, drawing closer to the end of my degree also makes me happy (and also a little sad, but mostly happy at the moment!)
We went in search of sandals today, my feet like to be difficult and make it so that I can't wear the vast majority of sandals that seem to exist so I had to hunt some down. Luckily there's a really good (and cheap) shoe shop in town so Steven and I both got new shoes from there.
I also finally invested in a foot spa the other day, after months of moaning about my feet hurting when I get home from work. It cost me £5 second hand and I have to say it is a pretty amazing invention, it really helped me when I used it last night. I hate having to wear really flat shoes for work, I end up wearing them so much that my feet are really mad with me by the end! Does anyone else have this problem?

Stripes will never fall out of favour with me, nor will lacey black dresses or skirts.

Photo bombed as always!

And last but certainly not least, a rather magical find on Steven's part the other day. A glass tea set! As a rather obsessive creature when it comes to cute tea related objects this made me extremely excited. I drink a lot of herbal teas which are usually a really nice colour, now I will be able to see them brewing and look at the colour whilst I drink them. Next on my list is one of those flowering tea sets with the little glass teapot.

Get Grazing

 Meet one of my favourite discoveries of 2011, Graze!
I've been debating with myself whether to make this post for some time now. Food isn't usually the focus of this blog (as I'm sure you know!) and I was worried that it might seem just a little too out of the blue. The little voice in my brain going on about this magical creation of healthy snacks begged to differ however, that girl is really crazy about this stuff! So I thought I would put my fears aside and make a post about health food, really good, tasty health food.
I found out about Graze around the start of this year from one of my good herbalist friends. The premise sounded simple, you sign up and for £3.50 a week they send you a box of randomly assorted healthy treats to graze on at your desk. On further inspection I also realised that when you sign up they send you a box free and then another half price, that was me sold! Interesting looking food for free? Count me in.

 The idea behind this site is to encourage more snacking on healthy foods and less turning to chocolate (as tasty as it is!). They source all of their food from organic farms which not only focus on producing high quality healthy food but also on making sure the workers are well paid, well looked after and that their farming processes are eco-friendly. Their packaging is also completely recycleable.
Every week they send you four little tubs of food containing things such as seeds, nuts, dried fruits, flapjacks and a whole host of other things. You rate what you like, love, would like to try or conversely would like to bin which then forms the basis of what they send you in the future. You can choose to bin products containing certain ingredients, such as peanuts or chilli or... pretty much anything you don't like.
What's more, they include a little booklet each week detailing the nutritional information of your box. Upon inspection it all seems to measure up to the healthy image that the site promotes.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly thrill at the idea of rushing out to buy bags of seeds to eat. Frankly most health food bores me with it's presentation so something like this is fantastic for me. It's an easy way to try lots of different healthy snacks, they do all the work for you and you get the satisfaction of trying new foods whilst knowing that they're also good for you. I also love that they're really easy to share so if you do end up with something you don't like (it's bound to happen) you can give it to someone who does like it. I'll let you in on a secret here, my rats probably look forward to me getting my boxes as much as I do because they end up eating abound a quarter of it every week.
You can also get as many boxes sent a week as you like, although obviously the cost adds up. If you wanted to you could have a box every day. You can also send a gift box to somebody else's address or use a sort of 'gift card' function to buy a set of boxes for somebody (i.e they get one every week for 10 weeks or more)

 Another great aspect of this site is that they reward you for joining (free box and half price box ahoy!) and also reward you for getting other people into it. It works like this - you join up and get a code which you can then share online, through email or through little flyers that you can give to others. Basically you can share it wherever and however you like. 
When someone joins up using your code you get the choice to take £1 off your next box, or alternatively you can spend it on the farming that goes on to grow, harvest and send the food. Every time someone uses your code you get this option so the more you share the cheaper it gets. 

With that in mind here's my code:
77NPP26

The only drawback I'm afraid is that this is for UK residents only. They don't send overseas at the current time which is completely frustrating! Still, for any fellow Brits out there I would highly recommend this site, it's oddly addictive waiting for your boxes to come each week just to see what you get! 


Have you tried Graze my sweetlings? If so what do you think of it? If not would you like to? Let me know!

P.S Graze is in no way affiliated with this post, nor is this a sponsored post of any kind.