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Monday 28 April 2014

Failing better.

This was a surprisingly good weekend. I say 'surprising' because it was just me and the little wrens at home in the nest. We had two lazy mornings followed by two 8 year old birthday parties for Master Wren, which meant that missy and I had some girly time. On Saturday this involved some light shopping after a little lunch at Carluccio's with friends.

I got these:

Dior Addict Extreme Limited Edition Lipstick (Shade 551 Aventure),
Diorskin Nude Tan Matte (shade 003 Cinnamon Matte)

Missy got these:

M&S Girls Slip-On Giraffe Trainers


Friday 25 April 2014

In Search of Breakfast...


Hooray! It's Friday. I got there. And in a week when Mr Wren has been on a business trip (since Sunday and still not back - grrrr). And I got there without a single glass of wine and without the tiniest smidgen of sugar passing my lips. Unbelievable. Particularly the wine part.

It's actually fairly easy to avoid refined sugar most of the time.

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Toning up. Facial toners - the missing step



I have never really been a 'cleanse, tone, moisturise' kind of a girl. Well, not since my Clinique 3 step days as a teenager (maybe that's what put me off - what a disaster that was). I always thought that because I used a wash-off cleanser I didn't need to use a toner and I could just slap on my serum and moisturiser post cleansing. But since discovering Caroline Hirons skincare-Bible-of-a-blog and reading her take on the uses of toners I decided to reinvest in some. Now, this woman knows about skin (if you haven't read her blog I suggest you check it out) and she suggests a double toning routine. So, after cleansing (twice again - the first cleanse removes

Monday 21 April 2014

Sugar rush - It's time to lock up the chocolate.



   
This Easter holiday we have all fallen head first off the healthy eating wagon. In holiday mode, James and I have been opening or finishing a bottle of wine most every night. We have indulged in white floured crumpets and croissants for breakfasts. The children's regular cries of "can I have a snack?" have been greeted with a carefree "Help yourself!". Chocolate. So much chocolate. And we've barely scratched the surface of the Easter egg stash. 

"It was like having a box of chocolates shut in the bedroom drawer. Until the box was empty it occupied the mind too much."     Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter

I am

Monday 14 April 2014

Holiday Zen



I'm back. It's been a while, I know. We returned home last night after 10 days in a wifi free villa in the Algarve region of Portugal. The weather was utterly glorious - 23 to 25 degrees C every day. We ate well, drank well (Portuguese wine is utterly delicious - who knew) and best of all spent day after day just the four of us together, our little family, my favourite people.

It's a funny old place the Algarve. As you would probably imagine most of the towns are pretty overdeveloped with