{Learn} N is for Nails

Alternative Title : If all else fails, I’ve still got my Nails.

It’s time for me to complete another of Lottie’s challenges for her fabulous Finishing School. (It’s never too late to join up). This time N is for Nails! Lottie set the following challenge.

Make time to give yourself a manicure and pedicure. At the very least tidy your nails and the nail bed and add a clear coat of polish, even complete novices with no nail care skills can manage this.  If you need help don’t forget there are lots of great tutorials on You Tube to help you through.  Alternatively, finally get round to booking an appointment in the local nail bar.

This is something I have been doing on a fairly regular basis lately. And Grace is painting her nails too. OK so it’s a different color every day… despite it not being part of school uniform!… but it’s a girl thing so I’m not going to begrudge her.

Here is a pic of one of her colors I tried a little while back. It’s actually sapphire and you can see the hints of blue in real life. Grace neglected to tell me what a bugger it was to remove though. I may try to find a bottle similar to this in a better quality.

Lately I have been sticking to the more serviceable clear polish, using color on “special occasions”. I do really like this one though. So different from my beige and brown.

{Learn} M is for Moisturise

It’s time for me to complete another of Lottie’s challenges for her fabulous Finishing School. (It’s never too late to join up). This week M is for Moisturise! The challenge is to moisturise my face every morning and night. This isn’t too hard as it’s something I do anyway (most of the time).

However, over the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking long and hard about the moisturiser I have been using. I don’t believe in spending a gazillion dollars on facial products. I believe you can get just a good a result in some of the cheaper brands. But where are all of these products made and under what conditions? What testing, if any, do they do on animals? Who owns these companies?

I found that the iPhone has an app that can help (naturally). It’s called Shop Ethical!. The moisturiser I was using did not score well, in fact it had a bid red X.

So I went shopping for a new one (as I needed a new one anyway) and found Natio. Not only was it easily available in my local chemist, cheap (under $20), had the big green tick of approval from the Shop Ethical! app, but it’s also lovely to put on. It’s so nice I want to use it more than just morning and night (but I don’t).

As you apply it there is the beautiful aromatherapy scent of ylang ylang, orange and lavender that instantly calms you just for those moments it’s absorbed into your skin. And mine is SPF15 which I really need for my fair complexion. I loved it so much I went back and bought their hand cream too.

By the way, this is not a sponsored post, I just love it.

Learn : 50 things about me

I have seen this meme float around for a while where you list 50 random things about yourself. Then I saw Glowless post her 50 things in preparation for the awesome Aussie Bloggers Conference and I thought “what a great idea!”…. so I’m pinching it.

A random list…

1. I was born in England but I’ve been in Australia since I was 2.5 so I consider myself an Aussie
2. I’m the eldest of 3 – being the eldest sucks
3. As a result of being the eldest I hate cleaning bathrooms
4. I’d probably hate cleaning bathrooms anyway
5. My first album was Abba Arrival
6. My first CD was The Clash
7. My first concert was David Bowie Glass Spider Tour
8. I was always told I was fat when I was a kid. Now that I look at the photos I realize I wasn’t really
9. Now I am VERY curvaceous
10. I’ve been on approximately 16 diets in my adult life
11. I love ice cream
12. I was told I wouldn’t be able to have an kids
13. I have 1 daughter, Graviee (my miracle baby), who is turning 13 in a couple of weeks
14. The first thing I bought with a paycheck was a portable CD player
15. I like almost all types of music from classical to metal
16. I don’t like yodeling
17. My Dad was a brilliant musician
18. My Husband is a brilliant musician
19. I didn’t know my husband played when we started dating
20. I asked him out
21. It was love at first sight (he was really good at cleaning ashtrays)
22. I was a very heavy smoker – over a pack a day – until I found out I was pregnant
23. I went back to work when Graviee was 5 months old
24. Then I started smoking again – work sucks
25. I finally gave up again a year later, using patches
26. I still crave them
27. I wish I was a SAHM
28. Or had my own business
29. We once had a business at the markets selling gags and masks. It did really well but our “real jobs” got in the way
30. We were once going to move to Tasmania and start a business down there but it wasn’t feasible – sorry Tassie
31. We went to Tasmania for our honeymoon and fell in love with the place
32. We had a medieval wedding and everyone got dressed up (even the staff at the reception)
33. We’ll be celebrating our 15th anniversary this year
34. I’m exactly 5′ short – but Mum is only 4’9.5″ …. and Graviee is way taller than both of us
35. I love coffee… even instant
36. My life has turned out very differently to how I imagined it when I was a teenager
37. I was once photographed for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award report
38. Mum put me in a local fashion show when I was a kid. I had to model sleepwear
39. She also made me do my debut, and picked my partner for me!
40. I’m loving being 40! It’s sooooo much better than 39
41. I am a very shy person
42. I am a bit of a geek
43. I love my MacBook Pro and iPhone – I think I need an iPad2
44. I never really took photos before, until I started blogging. Now I want to do a course
45. I think I may have OCPD – it would explain a lot about me
46. I love lists. I have lists of lists.
47. We have 2 cats – Puss and Emo. They’re both weird and I love them
48. I am the only person from my family to go to uni…. I dropped out after spending too much time at the pub
49. I love blogging and wish I could do it full time
50. Did I mention I’m going to the Aussie Bloggers Conference? Be sure to say Hello! SQUEEEE!

Now it’s your turn. Tell me something about yourself or add a link to your own 50 things post in the comments.