It's a Lush-ous life

Watch this space folks, as step one of my Lush Journey begins.

I went to a recruitment evening at my local Lush store tonight. I must admit I did go there thinking I was going to be the only person to turn up, but much to my surprise, the queue was already 50 strong! Im glad I joined when I did as another 100 or so people joined after me.

Everyone armed with CV's and with nervous systems a flutter, we all crammed inside the small store. I did make the comment that it must be a Tardis as it definitely didnt look that big from the outside. We all listened carefully to what was being said. The more we found out about the job itself, the more people left the store. Luckily we were left with around 80 people. We were shown three different products, and we had to make a decision on which product we wanted to demonstrate ourselves. We then had 20 minutes to prepare our little worried hearts, and then approach one of the staff members, and give our demo!

I waited til quite near the end, as I didnt fancy the thought of having an audience of more than one during my demo. I chose a 'bubble bar'. Solid bubble bath. Lucky for me I had already prepared some witty comments on the product, and even luckier that the staff member loved them! Her laughter was my ticket to step 2 of the selection process.

Now all I have to do is prepare myself for 1pm on October 1st, that's when I need to prove myself!

Keep your eyes peeled to see how I get on!

Easier to wear a wig?

Oh my hairy friggin christ, my hair is sooo uncooperative right now!

Its at that really awkward short and moppy stage where its too long to funk up with spray (it just goes flop), but at the same time its too short to tie back nicely without me looking like a 5 year old on her first day at school. Even though I enjoy taking those tight bobbles out at the end of the day (ahh, sweet loose scalp feeling!) I cant help but think that my barnet shows some resemblance to that of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter . . . thank god I dont have those eyebrows!

Hair, you are so unhelpful!

Happy 5 year old hair- grow up!

Not long enough for victory rolls and not long enough for curls (i look like an ice cream in curls). I'm now in the stage I like to call the 'why did i cut my hair this short in the first place' stage. No resentment for the short hair, Im just annoyed that its going to take ages for it to grow back to a more manageable length. Extensions are an absolute no no! 

In fact, the only good thing its got going for itself is the colour. I went GINGER at the weekend and now I look like a lovely shiny copper pan. I love its shinyness! Someday I'll get my hair like this then i can make it look like this on fancy days, but a fiery red version!

I had a small act of defense on my fringe the other day, its was getting too long and I was struggling to even get my faux bangs to work. Now that it's shorter, I think I may be able to get them to sit nicely again. It may need another trim though, I've not yet decided.

Step no.1 in becoming a 'Big Lady*'

Eesh, I have to hunt for contents insurance. Yippee!

The past two days has seen me creating an itemised list consisting of almost every item I hold valuable in my life. Not only did I list all the items, but I had to work out how much it would cost in todays money to replace them. 

Phew, what a drag!

Next I have the added joy bonus of typing it all out and saving in an email so that I have a techy copy (cos if there's a fire I dont want my paper list getting burnt to a cinder). To add even more fun, I need to photograph my stuff too, to prove that what I say is on my list is actually the gods honest. To answer a possible question that my parents may ask, I can safely say that my goldfish bowl of sweeties is NOT included on my list, even though I hold it very dear to me.

Om nom nom!

Oh well, it's all for a good reason at the end of the day. I feel very 'adult' shopping around for insurance, goodbye fading youthfulness, hello grown up future . . . .

* By Big Lady I dont mean large, I mean grown up ;-)

New reading material!

Don't you just love it when you get an email from Ebay to say your item has been dispatched? You patiently wait a day or two, and frantically check the post as soon as you get home from work to see if your items has arrived. Only  to find a big, red, ugly piece of card from the Royal Mail.

Sorry we missed you

As if that isn't bad enough, I received my one of these over the bank holiday! Usually they state to wait 24 hours before coming to collect from the depot, but thanks to the bank holiday I had to wait 72 hours before I was allowed access to my goods!

Bah!

Anyway, Wednesdays are late closing at the depot, so Sis and I hopped in the Clio and drove on up straight after work. The handover was swift, and I soon had hold of my new book, after a recommendation from Land Girl 1980. I very much look forward to reading this one. The other book pictured was a spur of the moment buy from Ebay, from a lovely old lady that was having a clear out. That one arrived with no trouble, and no red cards from Her Majesty's Royal Postal Service. I started reading it on the weekend, and it is a very pleasant and honest collection of memories.

Spring Cleaning, in August

Trying to find an outfit for a day or night out has always been a stressful event for me. But more recently it's been made even worse . . . having clothes still living in laundry bags after moving house. Nothing wearable wants to be found, everything that is wearable is dirty.

Thank goodness for the Bank Holiday Weekend!

Three days off work, at least one spent with the Big Sister, another spent being lazy and the third spent tidying and getting all remaining unpacking done, and finished and in its rightful place! Thus being able to give all clothes a proper home, making locating going out clothes a damn sight easier.

There really isn't that much left to give a home to, only trousers and jumpers, but it is such a bore. Admittedly I did say to myself after moving house that I would refrain from being messy, and I am actually ashamed I've allowed it to get so bad. A slap on the wrist for naughty me. My trainers didn't even get put to bed after I created my sneakers blog, eek! World of embarrassment!

Time to unveil my beautiful bedroom- Time to get the ipod docked, and the volume up loud. 

My Leg- The Firemans Pole

WARNING- FOR THOSE FOLKS WITH A DISLIKE OF BLOOD AND GORE, AND THOSE OF A WEAK DISPOSITION LOOK AWAY NOW!

Monday started out as every other Monday does. I was awoken by the beautiful sounds of Newton Faulkner and his pretty little song called Gone in the Morning. I got up, feeling the dread really looking forward to another working week. I jumped in the shower, not literally, that would be a silly idea, but maybe a broken bone would prevent me from . . . .  no bad idea, I need to work, and it really is quite a nice little job.

Quick shower, hair dried upside down for maximum flickety effect, and make up applied with little effort. Now, as its only me prancing around in my room in the mornings, I either spend my time in my dressing gown, or just my underwear. Unfortunately, the latter option was my choice yesterday, leaving my legs fully exposed!

I was cleaning my ears out with the trusty old cotton ear buds, when Marcy the kitten decided she wanted to play with one ( an unused one- fresh from the packet dont worry!). So after she had pestered me for long enough, I threw one onto my bed for her to play with. She launched herself off the suitcase in an attempt to reach the bed. Unfortunately her little paws didnt give her enough grip. As she hurtled towards the ground and saw her little 3 month life flash before her pretty little eyes, she saw a lifeline- MY LEG!

So she did as any hunky fireman would do and grabbed on and slid down with ease. My leg however came off a lot worse. At first I heard the noise of claw on skin, then the pain, then I looked down, and luckily there wasn't anything to be seen. Phew, I thought, I got away with that one . . . . Not on your nelly, I took another look and the thing was bleeding- a lot!

HELLO!

So, I ran upstairs to show my sister and our housemate. My sister nearly vommed. Not at the sight of blood, but at the pattern it had displayed itself in on my skin. She has a phobia of patterns, called Tripophobia. She was kind enough to let me use her Boots cucumber wipes, mainly because she wanted me to get rid of the pattern, but also so I could clean up the mess before it got over everything else.

At lunchtime it still didnt look very pretty, it had bled under the skin. So now it looks like my leg has been run through an industrial sized sewing machine, or has been attacked by a stammering Morse Coder wielding a pencil compass!

All in all, I'm not going to be getting my legs out in public this week, and maybe not even next week. I'm not so self conscious about the wound, but more of the fact that I'm going to end up with hairy legs! I wont be shaving my leg again until it has healed- I'm not risking taking off more skin!

Blitz-Tastic Wensleydale

Leyburn Needs You!

(well done tourist information board for getting the wrong era on the advertisements)

Yes, the last weekend in July was the annual 1940's weekend in my old school town of Leyburn, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire. Run in conjunction with the Wensleydale Railway the 1940's weekend was packed to the rafters with stalls, singing and dancing, and folks having a reet good time- me and my family included!

This was the first year I managed to get to the weekend, it has been running for the past 3 years. Man did I have a  whap-diddly fun time, ALL DAY! We went for the Sunday, and we were up bright and early that morning getting hair, make up and spiffing Land Girl outfits sorted. By pure fluke I managed to tong my fringe into some faux bangs, and they stayed put. Phew! The red lippy topped the outfits off, and stayed at the top of my binoculars case/handbag for fast reapplication!

My dad laughed when he saw me, and I initially felt sad, but he said it wasnt in jest, but a laugh of joy at how fab I looked- "you look just like my mother" he kept saying. Love it! My sister just said 'Well we cant go see Grandad like this, it'll push him over the edge!" (we did go to see grandad dressed up, and after recent feedback he said we looked smart, especially Becky (moi :-) ) 

Anyway, back to the day. It started off with a photoshoot in the back garden. Any chance for dad to use his many cameras!

 

Driving into town I was really excited, and when we were driving past the crowds of people it did feel like going back in time. We parked up, and strolled back towards the hubbub. There were a few funny looks from tourists, but the reception from the other 40's folk was wonderful. My gawd the outfits on others were just amazing. Victory rolls, felt hats, red lippy, beautiful dresses and seamed stockings. There was a real wind up air raid siren, and most people took cover in the pub when it went off. The hottie 'US Army' boys were extremely nice, and even let us hop in their truck. Unfortunately the back seat did not come into use, dang!

 

I felt really proud to be part of the day. It's nice to have people admiring you, rather than you looking on in awe. I admit my head felt fizzy and giddy all day, it felt like a dream to be there. I also noticed that 8 out of 10 people had brought their little dogs too, next year my aim is to have a little pooch to take with me too, even if I have to steal my pals Jack Russell, Bailey.

There were couples dressed up, there were parents that had only dressed their children up, but there were some families where everyone was dressed up, avec baby gas mask suit! 

 

  

 

    

One of the our family friends provided the carnival games and swing boats, but I never did get to have a go!

There were so many beautiful vehicles, adorned with various name badges and doodles. The US Trucks all had names, the one we sat in was called Pearl :-)

  

 

 

We enjoyed a 99 ice cream, nom!

They must have had small heads back in the day, because these 'adult' glasses were tiny, and I have a small head!

We didnt get to see much of the singers, but the one we did see sang wonderfully, such a sweet little coochy voice. She sang some of my favourites, but not my most favourite of all, Oh Johnny Oh by the Andrews Sisters, nobody ever includes it!

I made a new friend, his cane even had a bulldog face imprinted on it! I want a bulldog! 

We had an awesome day, and vowed that next year, we'll do it bigger and better. My parents are planning on dressing 40's for the day too, and our little (but much taller than us) cousins. I'm hoping my friends will come too and we can all have a big 40's barbeque in the garden when we get home. 

I would really like to spread the word about this event, and urge you to take a trip to it next summer. It may be small but it's getting better every year. Anyone that's interested I can advise you of places to stay, and they even have a camping site for the more adventurous! Fancy tonging your hair into rolls after sleeping in a caravan all night, is it possible?

Get in touch if you fancy taking a trip up North for this next year, or even just a visit to Wensleydale, its a pretty spectacular part of the country! It would be nice to meet you if you did come up for the event. We need to get more vintage-ites up here because I can't afford London, teehee ;-)