Product Placement
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Origami Around
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Sade Olutola
DEAR READER
wallacepolsom
taylor price
Cosimo Galluzzi
cherry valley forever
noise dept.
ellievsbear
Today's Document
tannertan36
ojovivo
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Kaledo Art
NASA
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Show & Tell
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@smileycurls
♡ hipster/indie blog ♡
what do you do when your smile has been taken away. faded. gone. all because you care, gave your love and every single thing you have for somebody,and it all gets thrown back in your face for "getting in the way".? answer me that. my oh my, I am broken - simply for loving.
Taylor Swift in Gucci on the red carpet at the 2014 Grammy Awards
flawless. I absolutely adore this lady. true, inspiring and just magnificently fabulous.
what an adorable little guy!
here's number 1. my first recipe: Hearty Bean Salad served with [optional] Chopped Beef Pieces and a [necessary] Glass of Sparkles: Salad: - Edamame Beans - Variety of Sprouts - Chopped Carrot - Half a Red Onion - Red Pepper - Chopped Parsley - Toasted selection of Nuts and Seeds Dressing: - Olive Oil - Lime Juice - Soy Sauce - Salt & Pepper to taste Meat [only add if you're very hungry - leave out for Vegan]: - Chopped Beef - Onion - Garlic It's very simple really - just involves a lot of chopping. First, Bring your edamame beans to the boil for 4-5 minutes, then cool them down with cold water before adding to salad. Toast nuts and seeds for a couple of minutes in a dry frying pan on heat. Be sure to mix them to avoid burning. For this dish, I think it's best to chop everything into small cubes, but that's completely up to you. Chop everything up and pop it into a large bowl. Add beans once cool, and add sprouts last to avoid damaging them. Add olive oil, squeeze a lime and add a dash of soy sauce to the dish and mix. Grind some pepper over the top, sprinkle some salt and serve into a dish. For the beef, add some olive oil to a frying pan and add onion and garlic. Sauté for a minute or two before adding meat - press each piece of meat into the oil individually and give it space to soak up the oil and flavours. Once the pieces of meat start to brown, turn them over and keep an eye on them - they won't take long on the other side. Take them off the heat and serve onto salad. Place them in the middle on top of the salad for a nice presentation. Finally, sprinkle the toasted seeds on top, fill up your glass of bubbles and enjoy! Bon apetit, friends! Hope you like it! Laurie x
time to change.
It's been a difficult week. I've been full of rashes the last couple of months, occasional bloating has also been consuming me and the odd day of feeling unexplainably nauseous, and that's not even to mention my mood swings - but let's not go there. I won't lie, I've been feeling very down some days and more than anything filled from head to toe with frustration. Not knowing what was causing the horrific looking, red blotchy rashes on my arms that were keeping me up at night itching was starting to kill me. Luckily I am in a wonderful place right now, still in Florida with my man I am now working on the same sailing boat as him along with a fabulous captain and wife team. She, Amanda, has helped me feel better everyday - particularly given the recommendation of a blood analysis last weekend. Long story short, turns out I am gluten intolerant and have an allergy to dairy. the last thing I want. But anyway, not only is Amanda an amazing woman, she [conveniently] is also a chef who loves vegan, raw and whole food cooking. - perfect for me in a time of transitioning to gluten free. We have spent a lot of time this week in supermarkets looking at different varieties of foods I can still eat but vegan versions [coconut and almond milk] or gluten free versions of day to day food [pasta, cookies etc.]. And we also have done a little bit of cooking and baking. In spite of having difficulties accepting this in the beginning, given my nature of being a serial snacker and chocoholic, I am now inspired. Change is good. I am learning so many new things and have a new interest in world foods I have never had much knowledge of before. Positive mental attitude is the way to go, I anticipate trying lots of new recipes and will post them on here to share my new-found lifestyle with my fellow gluten free bloggers. Keep posted my loves, I'm coming your way with fun things.
A hellish experience
It's been and gone, done and dusted. But one of those things that will [unforunately] stay with me forever. Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo. Needless to say any more. It was horrific from start to finish. I went there on a mission two weeks ago to get my US visa in order to start working over here with my boyfriend. Little did I know that it was going to be such a mission - quite literally. EVERYthing that could have gone wrong went wrong. One of those. Started out with us nearly not being able to leave the country due to having no return booked from the DR. Eventually we made it. Only to get to the hotel, which was a five star "luxury resort", may I add, only to have a blocked toilet and a VERY unresponsive and unhelpful set of hotel staff. Now the next day was the real disaster. Visa day. It was a whole big catastrophe from waking up at 7am. no water in the hotel, we had to get up and moving quickly to get to the bank to pay for our visa appointment. Bearing in mind nobody spoke a word of English anywhere around this stupid place, it was a little difficult to work our what to do when none of our bank cards would work at the bank and their cash machine was out of order. Monday morning madness. When we had eventually made some headway on that situation, we grabbed a taxi from outside to the embassy. Or at least what we thought was right. Only to arrive at the embassy in this car that seemed like it was going to explode at any second, and find out we were supposed to be at the consulate rather. Arriving there with 10 minutes to go before my appointment, there were literally about three hundred people lining up outside. No jokes. To the back of the queue we went, waited, panicked. By this point I was already frustrated and hating the place. I managed to jump the queue a little as my appointment time passed by, only then to get inside and have nowhere to leave my phone. "No entry with phone" they tried to tell me. No solutions. "No entry" they kept telling me. So back outside I went to find my friend, I dumped my stuff with him whilst he ran to the hotel and put all of our electronics down. Long story short, nobody in the embassy spoke English once I got in. Thankfully I rejoined my friend and we could do everything together. And thankfully I speak french! It seemed a more favorable second language than English to these people. It's even frustrating my now writing about it, so I will just cut it short by saying that luckily our visas were approved and ready the next day so we got back to that jungle they called the consulate and collected our passports. First things first, changed our flights to get out of that country ASAP. Arriving back in fort lauderdale was the most amazing feeling, seeing the familiar Christmas lights on all the buildings near my house. Despite not being let off the place for an hour after landing, I will so happy to be back.... Until I got taken into a room at customs for interview. Let through, bags collected, passport stamped and back home. NEVER have I been so relieved.
Bowling, American style in the gay capital of Florida. me and my friend were the only two females in the entire place, intriguing, interesting and a little intimidating (I guess). such an entertaining experience. Manor lanes, FL.
difficult days
we all have them, right? no, that's not even a question because i know we do, guaranteed, life wouldn't be life without them. i've had a few this week. you know sometimes something just gets into you and you can't get rid of it, it all builds up, a whole big thing that just grows and grows inside of you and then all of a sudden you explode. that. that's what has happened this week. one thing after another, i guess it's all me, i just took things wrongly and misunderstood a couple of things and then it all just came into a big bang. that big bang happened this morning and again this afternoon.
i want to take it all back, you know, forget anything ever happened and move on with everything. that's what i've done, i've moved on and now i feel happy, relieved and even like a weight is off my shoulders. but the weird thing is i have no idea what the weight was, where all this build up came from or even what is was over. nothing i guess. frustration, false hope and loneliness maybe. i have no reason at all to feel any of those things, i am such a lucky girl, living in a beautiful city, a gorgeous apartment with the most amazing man, but somehow i still let myself see the negatives.
it's something i will erase. i can't live like that, bypassing the good things...you know? it's not life, it's not good, it's wrong. happiness, love, joy, hope, freedom, life. positive is on my mind, in my world and my new life. let's do this, onwards, upwards and everywhere with a smile.
me, from now.
and on that bright(ish) note, goodnight and G-d bless. xoxo
Treat yourself
source: tornadolove.tumblr.com
beaut. belle. beau.
that smile, those bright colours and just everything about this photo. it all says enough, the quote is hardly even needed.
what an incredible, inspirational, righteous man. standing for his country, his people, his beliefs and what a life he lived for doing so. he touched the hearts and lives of so many millions of people across the globe with his passing earlier this week, which really does just go to show that one man really can change the world. and did. look at our man. may his memory forever live on.
Rest in Peace Madiba
Safe travels, friend. (via Pinterest)
a new love [Miami Heat]
i have always had a love for sports of all kinds. watching, playing, supporting - i have been to many different games over the years. mostly tennis, rugby or football i guess, but always like to try new things so have been to see basketball and ice hockey when i've been in canada.
basketball is something i've never really gotten into, mostly because i've never really been exposed to it, but since being here Grae has gotten me into it. he is such a big Miami Heat fan so I guess I just automatically started to take an interest.
Until Monday. he took me to a game, we had amazing seats on row 17 right behind the Heat team. It's pretty easy to understand so started to follow and get into it very quickly. It was such an incredible atmosphere and I guess I found a new sport I now really enjoy to watch. Was an amazing evening and I'm already looking forward to the next time we go!
Come on the HEAT.!
1910-20s Art Deco 0.94ct Old European Cut Diamond (H/VS2) Engagement Ring, 14K Yellow Gold Filigree, Platinum Top, $6750
i have a crazy love for vintage engagement rings.. this is one of my favourites. just look at the detail.....so beautiful.
Vintage Photo Friday
Stick to what you know
adore this. what a guy.
Hey guys!
Yesterday on Facebook when I posted this photo of female athlete body types, you guys had such a passionate response that I wanted to expand on it here today on the blog. The photos were taken by photographer Howard Schutz who interviewed hundreds of professional athletes at their physical peak. He was interested in seeing their musculoskeletal differences.
As you can see every woman here is shaped differently based on the sport she is involved in. All are fit and excel at their profession, but there is no perfect structure or perfect body type. The body type achieved is a result of her practice. The focus is to win the game and be better, faster, and stronger than your competitor. And to beat your personal record from last year.
The fitness world, or the commercial fitness world differs in that we are all so focused on looks, looks, LOOKS! How to get a six pack. How to get an inner thigh gap. How to get rid of muffintops. And you know what, there’s nothing wrong with that initially. If vanity is what first drives you to pay attention to your health, so be it. But it is important to note that vanity will not stay with you in the long haul. It is also not enough to make you stick to your goals. It is too superficial. Dig deeper and find the fire that fuels your drive. Is it to get more energy? Is it live happier? Become more confident? Be a role model?
If you are on a fitness journey to lose 20 lbs, take the focus away from losing that 1 or 2 lbs a week. Instead, put the focus into becoming the best dancer in your cardio dance class or improving speed and stamina on your run. You know what will happen? Your pounds will shed anyway. They always say that the moment you stop searching for something, it appears. This is the same. Stop waiting for the numbers to drop. Put the energy into improving yourself!
I always related this to finding a job you love vs. making money. If you slave away at your job just for the purpose of making money to buy things, what has happened to your life? Your job is at least 8 hrs of you day, you will HATE a majority of your life! If you find a job you LOVE and work at it for 10-12 hrs a day or more and make menial amounts of money, then you are happy for a majority of the day…so a majority of your life. But guess what? It doesn’t stop there. When you put your heart out there and do what you truly were meant to do, and are passionate, it all comes back to you. Your talent will be noticed. You’ll get a promotion. You’ll start your own business. The money will pour in.
So same with working out. Stop focusing on shedding pounds. Focus on loving your workout. The more you love it, the less it feels like work, and the more you look forward to it! MEANING the easier it will be to get fit. Make sense? I hope you find POP Pilates to be enjoyable! I love seeing you guys kill your calendars every month. It makes me so happy to see you getting stronger!
Now back to the athletes. As you can see, each competitor looks different but that does not mean that a rhythmic gymnast is a better than a long distance runner or a weightlifter. What do you mean by better anyway? They each have a different skill set and their focus is to be the best at their sport. Their body structure is simply a result of their training. It is definitely not the goal. The goal is to be strong, to be confident, and to win.
So what is the perfect body shape?
The one that makes you feel confident. The one that was sculpted from your desire to find happiness and health in doing what you love.
POPsters, today I ask you, why do you work out? Go ahead. Take a moment to dig deep and pull out your answer. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Love you,
Cassey
some true words of wisdom.
[an ongoing love story]
okay, so i'm supposed to be writing a short story. and i guess it will be short because that's exactly what it's been so far. i know i've kind of gone a little bit back in time on my blog but i wrote this before i left France and haven't had proper internet access since. so here we go.
short and so so sweet, with a lot to come.
nothing really 'started' until it became what it is now, but here's how the beginning of the story goes. Antibes, a place that grabbed my heart the first time I stepped foot here just over three years ago. i fell in love, I've been back to visit five times over the two years of me being back at uni, and the final time I came back was to move back here for a little while.
here I am, three and a half months after I came back, all ready to leave. but what's happened in between? wow, well what hasn't happened?! I must admit it was a pretty crazy summer, even the lead up to coming, it was a summer full of Love and happiness in my family. I came over, having literally just found out some horrible news, I found it really difficult to put my feet back on the ground here. my friends here are good people but it's nothing that can compare to the people I've spent my uni years with or my friends from school. anyway, they were there for me and i got my head together and let my hair down after a little while. things were up and down, work had a very stressful sequence of events but it was all fine in the end. things got better as they always do, but things have never been as good as they are right now.
all thanks to him: my man, my boy, my little toy. so. work? i rent cars, it's a small town, you meet people every day and then see them in the bars, that's just what it's like here. G. he was there very near to the beginning of my time back here, a happy face, silly guy I just somehow clicked with. him and his bff, Lew. they were in very often and it got to a point that they'd both just pop by and wave through the door. it always made my day.
G started to get picky with his cars so I would always make sure I'd get him the car with the colourful seats, just because I'm nice like that. but admittedly i'm obviously not quite nice enough to have driven him "aaaalllllll the way" back to the boat that day. yikes, i said this was going to be a short story but the scene really does need setting to capture the full extent of this beautiful crazy love story.
anyway, i just got on with G, so one day I decided i was going to find him on facebook, you know, in true style of the 21st century way of life. we started chatting, and i seemed to find it difficult to drag myself away from the conversations at night when i was basically falling asleep on my laptop. then one day he messaged saying he'd left a bag of gifts for me in my office...it was amazing. every little thing was just so adorable. t shirts of his, a little French phone, things to remind me of him and things to make me smile. i guess that's kind of where this began, although it wasn't for another couple of days until that night happened. yep, the night at sea. the dangerous night. the night we got together.
i'd just had my hair done and went to the pub after work to watch the rugby with G. South Africa were playing so I said i'd join him to watch since he had already stood me up for the lunch we had semi planned! anyway there we were sitting down with a bunch of people having a drink when the weather started turning and a storm was coming in. he had left the boat at anchor and needed to bring it into the port and it needed to happen sooner rather than later. so in the heat of the moment and the lack of people around to help, i went with. to cut a long story short, it was a bit of a disaster. when we eventually both got onto the boat, which in itself was a pretty big challenge, my new hair was crazy and all over the place, i looked like a drowned rat and G came by, grabbed my face and kissed me. it was amazing.
we spent every day together for the next week, we went on a little spontaneous weekend trip to Milan the next weekend and then the day came that Grae had to leave to go back to America to go back to his boat over there. and that's where the story continues.
A little snippet of my life right now. My surroundings, my life and my home....I guess.
