Stop life and shop!

I have been asked to write about what I do if I have a block or a lull in my business.It’s quite simple I go shopping, quite literally!
Any shop whether physical or on line needs to keep it’s customer interested. In an actual store you re-merchandise, move the stock around with the view that people see things in a different light, see things that perhaps they hadn’t noticed before. On line it is similar in the fact that you have to change the visuals and message of your home page, maybe a seasonal or weather purpose, or an event or holiday, Mothers Day or Halloween. Or sometimes I have to literally drop in a new collection, to add a new dimension.
My most recent new pieces have been some wonderful paper panama trilbies and fedoras in classic colours and a stunning summer blue, the colour of the ocean. This was in conjunction with the heatwave and my Know your UVB’s from your UVA’s blog. Which is an information piece about summer protection essentials like sun cream, sunglasses and sunhats.

We are in the process of completely re-designing www.hatattic.com  with a fantastic photoshoot that we did with my incredibly creative photographer friend Mark Basten.

So in conclusion you need to put us in your address book and check in to see what we are up to, it will be all sparkly and new any day/week/month now!

I am keeping it short and simple today and letting the visual do the talking!

Look I’m a pin up! Put me on your fridge or near your desk so you remember you don’t have to run about  searching, I’ve already done it for you, I’m just a click away!

Shake it up baby !

Amazing how a new job can put you off your food! Well as from day one back on the 10-7 treadmill I am determined to kick my sugar habit and be eating clean.
So after my fresh lemon & ginger tea fix this morning I had homemade cereal, of brown rice flakes with nuts and seeds topped with berries and coconut yogurt.
Lunch is a salad of spinach and cucumber with carrot and celery sticks (funny thing celery).
Dinner, a little something I made earlier, a coconut chicken and courgette pasta (brown rice pasta).
I discovered I have Candida Overgrowth about six months ago, I also have a sugar addiction which is really not helpful at all.

I have decided I am going to get healthy in the right way, not by dieting but by eating properly and cleanly.

Another treat I give myself which although it contains a very small amount of sugar is a meal replacement shake by Arbonne.If you blend it up with plenty of ice and water it’s like eating ice cream! I recommended it to my friend Dawn Lowe who is an actress, model and singer plus Ms London Galaxy 2015/16, this is what she has to say :-

My good friend Lecia Finch, who is an Arbonne Distributer and suggested I try Arbonne’s Essentials Chocolate Flavour Meal Replacement Shakes to help with weight loss and to replace any nutrients I’m losing through my thyroid malfunction.

The instructions tell you to replace breakfast and lunch or breakfast and evening meal with the shake and have a proper balanced meal each day.

I have to say the shakes are amazing. Not only did they taste delicious but I was also never hungry on them! I managed to lose the weight I needed to in record time too for my fitting model job and I also felt a lot healthier.

Thank you Lecia for your brilliant recommendation – I will continue to use and recommend them to others.

So you see losing weight and being healthy is not as awful as it sounds, it’s not just about mourning the things you shouldn’t eat it’s about discovering new and yummy things you can.

Now if you will excuse me I have some blending to do!

Holiday, celebrate!

As an international buyer I pretty much lived out of a suitcase for certain months of the year, so I got used to packing light. I learnt to cut down to the practical and the vital and I did the same when I went on holiday.

As long as I have these five things and my toothbrush I know I can just kick back and relax.

1. A hat – a natural fabrication like straw, paper straw or cotton.

You can roll cotton and pack flat. With straw you need to stuff it with your underwear or soft items and lay flat on the bottom of your case, then pack around it.

2. A shawl or pashmina – handy for on the plane (the air con is usually quite fierce), cool evenings and definitely for the return journey, very rarely is it as hot as you have become accustomed to when you land home.

3. Sunscreen – vital for very obvious reasons, read my previous blog  Know your UVB’s from your UVA’s for the science and more in depth information on  this and other sun protection.

4. After sun – just in case you forget to attend to the above properly and end up a bit pink (please try not to do this), but also it is very important to keep your skin well moisturised as the sun dries it out .

5. Colloidal silver spray – The ultimate in anti bacterial spray. I always have one of these in stock, even at home for cuts, wounds, spots and bites. It was recommended to me when I was mosquito dinner once on a trip to Florence, it stops the itching, washes away infection and takes down the swelling. It gets to work straight away.

Please read Know your UVB’s from your UVB’s, and be safe.

Have a wonderful holiday.x

Good Morning

One of the perks of working from home for me has to be morning televison or This Morning to be exact.

I love the presenters, Philip & Holly, Eamonn & Ruth and Rylan. They actually cover some very serious and enlightening topics, which I lap up for research purposes obviously. The amazing nutritionist Amelia Freer has been on twice so has Deliciously Ella, the books from both of these ladies are helping me with my Candida Dysbiosis and it’s great to see them promoting what some people still see as a cranks diet! But most of all I love the fact that they make me laugh.

Laughter is a very important thing in life, apart from being one of the most fulfilling emotional releases (which many of us do not get enough of), it’s actually a very good exercise for our core stomach muscles.Imagine how fantastic a washboard stomach just from lots of belly laughter as opposed to crunches! It’s also great for stress and anxiety.

HOT TIP for a flat tummy.

Try standing up straight and blowing up a balloon as much as you can with one big breath, fifteen times, everyday. You use the same muscles as you do for crunches and sit ups, without killing your back!

Mental exercise for your well being is just as important as the physical stuff. For this (apart from my Sudoku addiction) I love The Chase. Bradley Walsh and the chasers apart from being very intelligent and competitive are again very funny. And the fast paced questioning gives your brain a good workout.

I am going to miss this as I am now back in full time employment.

Back to just the balloons and the Sudoku!

Know your UVB’s from your UVA’s.

A minefield of a conversation I know but I’m going to try and get it down to the basics so that I can be assured that you are safe.
Lets begin with the science bit :
UVA -Long wave rays that damage the skin more deeply and cause damage to the cells in the basal (bottom layer or base) of the epidermis, contributing to skin cancer.
It is the predominant tanning ray.
A tan is the result, over time, of injury to the skins DNA.

UVB – Short wave rays that are the chief cause of reddening and burning of the surface.
They damage the more superfical layers of the skin.
They play a key role in the development of skin cancer.

SUNSCREEN

Everyone should be wearing sunscreen daily, whether it appears to be sunny or not.
A moisturiser with added SPF factor is a good idea. You do not need a sunscreen of over SPF 30 as this will block up to 97% of UVB (this is the highest protection a ‘natural’ not chemically populated sunscreen can give), but whatever your SPF you still need to take care of those UVAs.
To combat those you must wear good sunglasses and a sunhat.

A SUNHAT, WHY????

Apart from the fact that I recommend a hat of some sort whatever and where ever!
A good sunhat will help to :
keep those UVAs at bay.
Added protection for your neck,ears and eyes.
Stops your hair from fading (if like me you have coloured hair) or drying out.
Alongside the sunglasses, stop you from squinting, so helps to prevent wrinkles!

When you are choosing your hat please consider that it is fit for purpose, the hat you wear lounging around the pool is not necessarily the same as the one you would wear on an activity holiday! Please make sure it fits, everything swells with the heat and

perspiration and if your hat is too tight you will have headaches which could lead to fainting! The hats I have on Hat Attic are adjustable fit but I would always err on the too big side, you can always pinch it a bit smaller (I will tell you how another time!). And always go for good ventilation ie. natural, breathable fabrics, like straw, paper straw or cotton.

I always wear a sunhat, ever since I burnt my scalp very badly and was left having to wear my hair in pigtails for two weeks, after my holiday, due to it being too painful to move, comb or touch my head! This happened on the last day of my holiday whilst waiting for the airport transfer.

Learn from my mistakes and make sure you are armed with SPF, good sunglasses (if the lenses make everything a colour that it is not, they are no good!) and a great sunhat. Have a safe and happy summer! x

It’s the final countdown.

This weekend started with me checking my emails and posting my ‘case study’ blog. Then after cooking breakfast (and washing up) it was off to the park for a Summer hat photo shoot.Luckily there were no showers but plenty of sitting around waiting for the sun to blaze through the big black clouds. We set up using a fallen huge branch as a prop and snapped like crazy when the bursts of beautiful light came through, in between chasing the hats across the cricket pitch as they got whipped up in the wind!. I then ended up actually modelling them (definitely not my idea) for a bit for a couple of lifestyle rather than product shoots. Then home for editing (G  did that as he is my art director), whilst I wrote the content copy for Hat Attic.

This is all in preparation for a blog and newsletter I am publishing about UVA’s,UVB’s and sun protection, in order to educate and ultimately sell these fabulous inexpensive, very hip and cool hats.

Sunday morning (the morning after the night before!) is being spent (after the cooking and washing) finishing the new pages, updating the home page, scheduling the blog and setting up the newsletter for Monday morning.

All before I go and visit my friend who has just been diagnosed with Cancer.

This last bit puts everything into perspective doesn’t it?

I know we have to make a living so we spend most of our time fretting, stressing and rushing over ‘work’, making endless plans and lists to ensure it all goes smoothly and gets done, when really we need to take a little bit more time to think about our (and others) general health. When we are in the throes of working life we do not consider what the actually rushing and stressing is doing to our bodies let alone the pollutants that we consume, are doing to our systems.

I am not just talking about the pollutants in the air, I mean the stuff we ingest through food, medication and what we put on our skin. Being mindful and attempting to somehow reduce our stress levels is a key factor but so is what is going into your system via our skin and mouths.

Think about this as you zoom past grabbing a chocolate muffin on the way to your next power meeting!

Sugar, I’m having a hot flush!

Hot flush

Today I want to talk about hot flashes or flushes as we say in Blighty. Something else like female hair loss that is often sighted as another sign of peri -menopause or early menopause, but is it?

My Mother will tell you that the worst part of menopause is the flushes which boil up and overtake your body like a possessive demon. This is what makes you lash out, swear and throw things, apparently, I was sure this is the same as what happens to me at P.M.T time.

I am actually not very good with heat anyway, I tend to get panicky and cry a lot because I just can’t function, I get brain fog, sickness, headaches or sometimes I just pass out!

Discovering my Candida Dysbiosis, was like having all my prayers answered in one go. Even going on the initial elimination diet (no wheat, gluten, dairy or sugar) unveiled so much. When I do have the odd intake of sugar, I can instantly feel it surging through my body, flushing my face, making me dizzy and of course sending my temperature soaring.

I totally agree with recent news pieces about the dangers and over consumption of sugar, I think it has a lot more to answer for than just obesity and premature aging. I know this through my own ‘experiments’ with it. Much as I love it I know it to be the food of all evil, I used to think that was tomatoes!

But when I am being really good and eating (and drinking) really clean, I do not suffer from any of these things but best of all no hot flushes! And because I am not overloading on carbs, chocolate and other unnecessary ‘comfort’ foods (sugar) at period time, I do not try to kill anyone or jump out of any windows.

What do you mean you can see my scalp?

It is one of the most debilitating, self esteem shaking, scary things that can happen to a woman. It’s clipping the wings of a beautiful peacock or shaving a Crufts winning red setter. What am I talking about?? Being a woman and losing your hair, that’s what.

There are many different reasons that this may happen to you and most are not obvious.
Chemotherapy, the most common question asked by women is not about the drugs but ‘will I loose my hair?’.
Aging, it is widely believed that we all start losing our hair as we get older, but this could be as a result of many things like hormonal changes. Loss of estrogen leaves DHT, the testosterone derived hormone that produces hair growth, uncontrolled and therefore an imbalance occurs. The androgens (male hormones) get the edge.
It could be any number of physical or mental illnesses, stress, anxiety and depression, hypothyroidism, an autoimmune disease (Alopecia or Lupus).
It could be the medications you take or the contraceptives you use.
Maybe it is a family pattern or even the natural structure of your hair shafts & follicles or even excessive styling, whatever it is it is, it is soul destroying.
Make sure that the first thing you do when you notice it is to go to your GP and get some blood tests done, just incase it is an illness that needs treating, when you’ve ruled out these things you can stop stressing and find a treatment that works for you.

It was my then boyfriend that uttered those words to me (must be eight years ago) ‘I can really see your scalp’, needless to say he is now an ex! I had left my marriage and was being bullied by the MD at work, so to say I was a bit stressed would be an understatement. I was crestfallen, I had always been known for my perfect, shiny, well looked after barnet.
I went to my GP and asked lots of questions, not to be given many answers I have to admit. My contraceptive pill was changed and blood tests taken, coming back with no evidence to any kind of illness. So I went on a mission to cure my increasing shiny scalp. I tried every pill, lotion & potion available, I spent a small fortune, I had to I was going bald!
My prayers we finally answered about a year ago when I started using Arbonne. The magic combination of FC5 shampoo & conditioner and a once a week scalp revitalising treatment, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming I got my Aunt (who had Chemotherapy fifteen years ago) to try it too. We both had new hair, little fluffy baby hairs on the hairline and padding out the scalp! Even my Mum, who has over the years over processed her hair so to speak (bleaching, backcombing, bad hairspray, heat), uses it all of the time and her hair is the best condition it has ever been in and so full she doesn’t need to backcomb anymore!
The products are clean and pure, no nasty chemicals and the scalp treatment has peppermint and horsetail extract that tingles and revitalises your scalp and hair follicles.
I also got my hairdresser to put really choppy layers into my bob, which gives the illusion of fuller hair but regular cutting also encourages the growth of the new hair. I also find that colouring (lighter that your own shade is best) helps too. I do not put lots of chemical laden creams, mousses, gels etc in my hair (it only weighs it down to be honest) I give a quick spritz of Colorlast serum after drying and maybe Colourlast hairspray (which smells deliciously fruity) and go.
My hair will never be the same as it was when I had an inch and a half thick plait running down my back but it is full, shiny and healthy again, and that is my hair not my scalp!
And even if I’m having a bad hair day, yes we all still have them, I can use it as a great excuse to wear a fabulous hat!

It’s good to be a lemon in the morning.

Have I mentioned I’m going back to full time employment next week?

As a run up to that momentous event I’m going crazy trying to organise all of my blogs, newsletters, social media posts etc for Hat Attic and plan menus (we are fussy, clean eaters) and sort out running a home! This is where I thank goodness I do not have children.

I thought I’d share with you the one part of my life I have off pat already, my morning routine.

I wake up at 7am, when G gets up for work and as we live in a bedsit I stay in bed (don’t want to get in the way) and I do my meditation which involves my gratitude list (literally a list of all of the things, events, people I am grateful for), positive affirmations and my to do list for the day.

Then I have a big mug of fresh lemon and ginger in hot water. This is one of the best treats you can give yourself as apart from the fact that it is a great internal cleanser, it’s great for digestion, the immune system, hydration and energy, skin rejuvenation and weight loss, to name but a few reasons, the antitoxidants not only combat anti-aging but help reduce the risk of many types of cancer.

Then it’s time for a bit of a stretch (planks and bridges), I do a lot of walking so it’s just basic exercise at this point.

Followed by my breakfast of protein shake and vitamins, shower, face, clothes ( sorted out the night before), TA DAH! ready to face the day!