Playing with camera

50 shades of violet.

Chocolate cake in a middle of the week.

Because why not?

for cake
200 g butter
200 g caster sugar
4 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
125g dark (80%) chocolate- melted

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth, then add eggs and flour and mix. On the end add melted chocolate and mix some more. Put into a lined round baking tray - not too big, approx 20cm diameter. Bake in 180C for 45 min, or until stick comes out clean :-).

Once is baked cool it a bit, then cut in at least 2 layers, 3 are better but its your choice.

Filling
300ml double cream
200g dark (80%) chocolate- melted

Whip the cream, when it holds its shape add melted chocolate and whip some more. Just not too much (double cream likes to change into butter if whipped for too long).

Put the layer of the cake, cover with cream mix and repeat as long as you have cream to put on the top.

Put the cake in a fridge for at least 2 hours, then enjoy with some coffee.

Gossiping in toilets is dangerous ;-) and how heels change the perception.

After lectures today I went to ladies and while I was in a cubicle some of my colleagues walked in. One went to cubicle next to mine and they continued their conversation, which went ; "she took to wearing heels recently, do you think she has an affair?" at which I walked out and faced the one who made this comment and her face went bright red. Guess what, she was talking about me. WOW. They clearly don't have more pressing problems.
Now about heels, about 4 years ago I suffered a knee injury, which put me in flat shoes for long time. Now I am trying to get use to heels again, because before that I mostly walk in heels, bigger the better. I have whole collection of heels which I love and want to be able to wear again. In fact I have some on my wish list for quite long time and  promised myself to get them for graduation.
Here they are sweet beauties. All by the Master himself.

I haven't decided yet which ones I will get. Maybe all of them. That would be dream.
And girls, starting to wear heels does not mean one has an affair, I know that everyone judges by own standards, but really. Looking after yourself can be just for you. Does not have to be externally driven.

Homemade remedy cream.

After many years of searching for perfect hand and feet cream for very dry skin, I came across nice neat recipe. It had lots of goodness in essential oils and only natural ingredients so I gave it a go.
It has healing properties, ideal for scrapes and bruises and even small burns, and softens heels like no other, better even than urea creams.
And of course I wouldn't be me if I would not modify it. I know that it might look daunting to start of with, but it is dead easy and quick to make. Initial investment in raw ingredients will pay off quickly, as you always buy more than you need for one go, so end up making several lots. They make great presents for friend as well.  As for equipment all you need is double boiler (I put pyrex jug in a pan of boiling water- does the job),scales and pots for ready mix (I recycle cream pots or sometimes mini jam jars, just make sure they are clean and rinsed in boiling water to kill any bacteria that may be lurking there).

So how to make it:
measure in a jug (or pan, or whatever you use)
120g olive oil or almond oil
60g beeswax
60g shea butter
20g calendula oil
20g comfrey oil
20g St John's Wort oil
5g Vit E oil

put them on boil until wax and butter dissolve, take of the heat and add essential oils, original recipe talk about 20 drops of lavender and 10 drops of tea tree, I add 30 lavender, 20 tea tree, 10 eucalyptus and 10 bergamot (for nicer smell) and mix well. Decant to the jars and let it set. Thats all.

With the essential oils you are safe with lavender and tea tree, others ask specialist if you can use them, for example if pregnant rosemary can cause miscarriage, so better safe than sorry.

Day out and outfit of the day

There is clear difference between photos, top one is done by professional, bottom one by my daughter, using phone. Anyway outfit for today was dress M&S, shoes Sainsbury, cardigan GAP, scarf Primark (kids collection) and handbag from Traidcraft. Young madam wears dress from Monsoon and flowery headband from Primark. Patch has his old harness I don't remember from where.
Photos were taken in Buildwas Abbey- English Heritage place, good ones by my husband.

Plus-size? models

By accident stumbled across an interview with Laura Wells (you can watch it here) which was followed by a lengthy discussion with my Husband about fashion and models, and clothing sizes.
I was trying to remember when this obsession with super-skinny girls had started, and I have a problem to pin-point it. Because when I first started to look at fashion the top models were Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer. Slim, I grant you that, but far cry from girls who look like they just survived a concentration camp. If you have any doubts google some historic pictures from the WWII. Resemblance is shocking. I think that it was late 90s, early 2000 when this worrying trend took hold. I know that the body image have been changing for at least 6 decades and some designers were quoted to be saying that they want walking coat hangers. I know as well that eating disorders have more to do with being control freek than just a body image per se. But as a mother of a girl I cannot welcome enough this new legislation regarding fashion industry passed by France. I just hope it will go further. I hope we will get back to showing real people in decent clothes, girls in average sizes like 14, 16 and stop calling them plus-sized. And it's not only because we have population which goes toward obesity. Marilyn Monroe would be classed as overweight now for goodness sake. Health is not only about BMI, it's about overall well being. Most of British Rugby team by the measures of BMI can be cast as obese. Because their weight to height ratio is very high due to muscle mass. But no one can argue against that they are fit and healthy.
So if majority of population is much larger than size 0, why do fashion industry force us to look at super-skinny models as a ideal beauty? Why Laura Wells and other so called plus-size models such an novelty. Why can't we see those groundbreaking designs on people who look like us? It would save a lot of anxiety when we go to shops and try to fit in them only to see that cellulite is spilling out and it looks gross.  Or maybe it's too difficult for them to apply their art to actual real people.
And what about people who are real plus-size (lets say above 20 as to that much you can get stuff on the high street), what they are left with? Nothing on the high street and absolute zilch from high end designers. Oh, ok I forgot about the Wallis, but that is expensive. 30-40 years ago they would be able to go to local seamstress and get clothes made to measure for relatively small money. Clothes that would actually fit and flatter them. Now they would have to win in lottery to be able to afford that. So going to any town centre in UK you can see lots of people who are obese in tracksuit bottoms and ill fitting tops putting their rolls on shame for all to see. Mainly because they don't have an alternative. There isn't affordable service for big people where they could be told how to dress better. And there is this vicious circle of people being fat, feeling low about themselves, not doing anything to change it because they are already down, so they eat some more comfort food and get even bigger. And then they look at glossy magazines and see it's hopeless, they will never achieve this look so why bother. Yesterday I seen a girl who was not much bigger than me, but she looked huge. I had to explain to my husband that if I put on this too tight t-shirt and tracksuits I would look twice the size I am. Image is a lot about how you carry  yourself, what you wear, do you have a clean hair. I have learned long ago, that even the biggest arse looks smaller in mediocre tailored skirt than in best trousers. Especially if you put a little heel on. I believe that most of the people wants to look good. They just need a chance. In good quality, affordable outfits they might just get enough energy to change their eating habits and slim down.
Fashion industry is not only guilty of fueling up eating disorders in young people by promoting unhealthy "beauty" ideal, is as well guilty of neglecting huge population of people who don't fit in their standard size minds. And we all would do well by remembering that everyone can get fat. Sometimes our bodies can go out of control (like when thyroid gives up) and we could balloon to size 26 in 2 months. Seen it first hand.

So the spring home makeover had started.

Currently in process of redecorating the kitchen. But the rest of it is waiting in line. And first the painting, then the whole rest.
The ironic thing is that we were waiting to move the house for last year, still didn't happen so we go ahead with decorating. Biggest irony will be if we get to move in next 3 months. If after that it is still worth it.
So couple pics with interior stuff I would love to have.

All the stuff is from DaWanda , lots of unique, hand made and fun stuff. Try it.

Archeology of the bones

I am studying Forensics, but because I am older, and not so keen on working weird hours, on call 24/7 I am exploring other avenues of my chosen profession. I love anthropology, so archeology is logical area to explore. Last two days I was learning a lot about digging out the bodies (and other buried things).  It was great. Learned a lot, and have good fun. As illustrated on this picture.

Completely inappropriate facial expression, but it was great fun. And I completely understand how it would be different in real burial setting.  

My birthday presents.

So excited. New bag is something every girl wants. And this one has folk embroidery on it.

Other presents include Polaroid from my lovely husband - so oldschool and hipster :-). I love it.

I need to work out a name for it now.

Few new things in my makeup bag March 2015

I had to do the cleanup of my cosmetic bag, some stuff was there for ages and because I never used it, it was time to say goodbye. But all occasions like that involve saying hello to new stuff.
So here it goes.

So Chisel Cheeks from Barry M- just trying it really, but already got in terms with reality, I will never master it like Kardashians (lol).
Redemption Palette Iconic 2 from Revolution (so far my favourite).
NYC lip crayon in South Ferry Berry (dries my lips, so won't stick with it).
Lash Princess form Essence (unfortunately smudges).
Carmex Moisture Plus lip balm with pink tint (so far so good).
On the photo is as well my long lost friend from Body Shop- the eyebrow palette, don't know if they are still selling it (I have it for ages). It's absolute fav, and so easy to use, just use slanted brush and it makes eyebrows worth having.

Birthday walk in Ironbridge

So it's official I am 35. To celebrate extremely chilled out day we went for little walk in Ironbridge, bit of shopping for inspiration (more home decor), nice coffee and if you will ever get there, must try their famous pork pies!

So it's me.