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Tattoos and permanence.

October 18, 2014

Everyone knows I am a tattoo adept – all you have to do to know this is to look at any photo of myself that’s been taken in the Summer. I have started adding tattoos to my body when I was around 21 or 22. I don’t remember clearly anymore. I started with a small triskel shape on my right shoulder, followed by a Celtic shield on my lower back, then followed by a solar symbol on my left shoulder, followed by… (Did you notice the pagan undertones? Yep.)

At first I started with tattoos that could be easily covered – unless I was wearing spaghetti straps, no one would know I had tattoos on my shoulders and back, right? Then, I started adding some more here and there, slowly becoming more confident about their visibility. This culminated this year when I added a small heart to the index finger on my left hand. It can’t get any more visible than that. This was somewhat impulsive – I had been toying with the idea a bit abstractly for a while and then one day I woke up in the morning, determined to have it done. And I did. I just rang a local studio and a couple of hours later I had the tattoo done.

Tattooing your hands is a big decision. Unless you are prepared to walk around wearing gloves every day, there is no way you can hide them. At least not in the same way you can hide a sleeve or something on your legs – thank you 80 denier tights, you’re amazing tattoo concealers!

So, did it make a big impact on my life? I have to say it didn’t. But then, it’s only a little heart. Just the outline. Tiny, tiny. You’d never think it was a freckle but still light enough to be somewhat unnoticeable. Luckily I work for a company that’s quite relaxed and in a somewhat creative area, meaning that some eccentricities can be forgiven. This seems to be a new trend in the business world, as you can see in this insightful article by Forbes, and this is great as tattoos are not an indication of lack of intelligence or ability to do your job right.

What if you add a bunch more tattoos to your fingers? What happens then? I noticed that last Summer, after I added the big crying blue lady to my leg, I did get a few stares, even in London. I got the opportunity to try out some temporary tattoos by TTT, The Temporary Tattoo Store, so I thought it would be interesting to do this experiment. I wore them when I was on holiday for a weekend in Mallorca and to be frank, I don’t think anyone noticed.

Anyway, if you are a commitment-phobe or if the permanence of tattoos scares you and is stopping you from adorning yourself, temporary tattoos are a good option. TTT, The Temporary Tattoo Store has a few options ready made, that all you have to do is order but you can also make your own design. The latter option could even be used to try on some design you aren’t too sure about tattooing permanently! They are easy to apply, all you need is a pair of scissors, to cut out the printed paper, a damp cloth and grease free skin. They last for a couple of days, even after washing my hands a couple of times.

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Cat people are nice people

September 26, 2014

One of these evenings, on FB chat:

Undisclosed friend – Last night I met a girl who doesn’t like cats, I think I’m in love.

Me – Who’s that. (checks profile) She seems nice, although she can’t be if she doesn’t like cats.

Everyone knows I am a cat fiend (even though lately I’ve been warming up to dogs quite a lot too) and I’m frequently made fun of because of this. If you’ve been following this blog or my Instagram feed, you’ll know the cat related items that I have in my closet are just silly… So yeah, I admit it. I’m a crazy cat lady and pretty sure I’ll be one of those desperate cases when I’m older – living with a gazillion cats, discovered half eaten by them after a few weeks after passing away. Great image, I know. I think I may be reading too many gruesome sections of the newspaper… (Hey, it could be worse! Could be reading the horoscope or something!) So, how do you recognise a crazy cat lady?

– Her clothes will always have some sort of car fur residue.

– Pulls out her phone to show pictures of her babies at any chance.

– Refers to her cats as her babies. Even if she has real ones.

– Is frequently seen carrying bags of cat litter or cat food around town.

– Her house is filled with cat related items – super kitschy ones at that too.

– Has several cat themed outfit items in her closet.

– Will stop at any shop that has cat related items in the window to at least have a good look, even if they’re of extremely bad taste (I have excellent bad taste, by the way).

I may be or may have been guilty of some of these, as I am not able to have any pets at the moment. Which is a shame, but maybe one day I’ll have a cat again! Anyways, why do I like cats so much? What is it about them that makes so many of us go total cat crazy? Some have put forward the theory that it has something to do with some weird parasite that takes control of our brains. “Alien” does spring to mind. Super scary shit!

I like to think that it’s because cats are beautiful animals, and unlike some people think (who clearly never had a close cat friend in their lives), extremely devoted to their human friends. No wonder people who live on their own choose them as pets so much – they are independent yet great fun to play with. They are cuddly, like a bit of petting and love curling up close to you when you’re at home, without being too demanding (in most cases). Also great animals to help you reduce your stress levels. Oh, and they are sooo beautiful… did I mention that before? Ooops… Must be the cat craziness parasite affecting my brain.

Despite what others who are not so cat infatuated might think, we are lovely people (and highly dateable it would appear, even if it’s told by cats). We are loving and very lovable yet independent, just like our feline friends, and I can’t think of any reason why I should be embarrassed of being a crazy cat lady.

How about you? Are you a crazy cat lady? If you are, why do you love cats so much? Chime in on the comments section!

PS: Illustration by me!

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DHC lippy and anti-wrinkle patches

September 18, 2014

I’ve been asked to trial two more DHC products and as always, the quality is not disappointing.

First product I received was the Velvety Red Premium lipstick GE. I have to say I expected it to be a bit more red, as I like bright red lipstick but the quality completely compensated the colour being a bit blander than I would normally wear. It’s no exaggeration when it says on their website that it has ‘revitalising ingredients’ – it has to be the smoothest lipstick I’ve ever used! My lips felt hydrated and smooth all the time, something doesn’t always happen, even with some more expensive products. Nothing worse than having cracked lips caked with lipstick… I would also note the quality of the packaging – as you can see, the metallic case is is decorated and has a somewhat more luxurious feel than a regular plastic case would have. Not bad for a product in this price range. I just checked the and it’s also on sale, so you get an absolute bargain, as it’s great value for the money.

The second product is less exciting in terms of looks but not in terms of effectiveness. I’m talking about the Revitalizing Moisture Strips, designed to be applied around your mouth area, to help fight dryness that causes those pesky lines and wrinkles. The strips are made of polymer gel and are infused with antioxidant-rich olive leaf extract, brightening alpha-arbutin and mulberry. Check the link for a full list of ingredients. I’ve been using them every now and then over the last few weeks and they feel extremely comfortable on, and very fresh. Apply after your cleansing regime and you’ll see how pleasant it feels. Now that I am becoming a lady of a certain age, these things come in very handy!

Have you tried any of these products before?

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Getting old is very odd.

August 27, 2014

“Getting old is very odd. The main thing is that you have to keep telling yourself, I’m old, I’m old. You see yourself in the mirror as you descend the escalator but you don’t look directly at the mirror, you give a little side glance, a wary smile. You don’t look that bad, you look something like a dusty candle. Too bad screw the gods, screw the game. You should have been dead 35 years ago. This is a little extra scenery, more peeks at the horror show.”

Bukowski, Charles “The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over”.

Happy Birthday to me. Here’s to getting old but not feeling old!

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Burning out – and how I’m avoiding it

August 21, 2014

Lately life has been soo busy, that I’m seriously in need of a break… I wake up every morning feeling like I haven’t slept. I spend whole days feeling drained and with no energy, with difficulty concentrating. All I do is complain that I feel tired, which is not good for me nor for my friends, who are probably sick of listening to me by now.

I’m so tired that I started thinking where can I cut down on activities that can generate anxiety and pressure? I questioned all the involvement in social media. Is it really worth the energy investment? Sometimes I feel like quitting Facebook altogether, so when I read this article on Molly Crabapple on Wired, this bit hit home:

“Twitter is the place where we crack jokes with our friends and where we see oppression, sorrow and war,” she continues, adding that she sometimes wonders if humans are equipped to cope with seeing this much suffering. It’s important to remember that having us constantly distracted and traumatised is a great plan for businesses, but it’s not so good for us.

It doesn’t mean that she would avoid or regret the internet though, she believes. Online life is not inherently false,” she says, just as “the real world is not inherently true”. “Burnout is real and we are not meant to consume all the knowledge in the world. We will always lose if we attempt to match the internet’s pace.”

So that’s it. I’m giving myself a break. I’ll still be blogging and checking FB every now and then but I need to stop checking social media obsessively. It’s not going anywhere so might as well just leave it alone.

I’m simplifying my life. Not entirely sure how yet, but I recently read that one is only capable of making a certain amount of decisions every day. If I waste all my decision making energy every day before I even leave the house, it’s bound to leave me feeling stressed for the rest of the day. Deciding what to wear the previous day might help, as well as leaving my bag packed.

I have to learn to say no. Say no to activities, to nights out, to meeting with people. Seriously, I love all this but if I can’t function because I haven’t given myself enough downtime, this has got to stop. Living in London can be exhausting and there’s always something happening, so it is easy to end up doing too much because, FOMO.

I’m reading more books. Since I moved to London I already finished reading a couple of books. My shelves are full of books I haven’t read yet, now that I take the tube to some places I managed to start getting through them. All I need to do now is leave the computer alone and just relax with a book and a cuppa when I’m at home.

Getting back into yoga. If I spend more time at home, I will be able to start doing yoga again, which as we all know is beneficial in so many ways.

Eat more greens (especially brocolli). Eating healthily might also help. I’ve recently become addicted to avocado, which is a good thing to be addicted to, if I may say so.

Reduce alcohol intake. Having a cheeky pint every now and then or a glass of wine is ok, but not every day. Especially when you feel like you NEED it to relax.

Taking a day off to not do anything. that’s what I’m doing next week. Just staying home, taking naps and relaxing.

So these are a few of my things I’m doing. Do you have any other suggestions? Drop me a line!