Skincare Haul

After my morning walk, I popped into Croydon to get a few things.

I was starting to get a little concerned about the chemicals I was putting onto my skin. I'm not planning on going all Vegan and paranoid etc, but I did want to make sure that this winter I was using mild and gentle ingredients that wont be toxic in the long term. It's all fine and well to go organic and all natural, but that is never a guarantee of safety.

I stopped off at boots and decided to just get the Simple range and start there. No hours spent hunting or fretting. Just in and out. I was told that it's a basic range with no extra stuff in it. The sales lady assured me that the products were safe and would meet my needs.

Upon getting home, I double checked and the moisturiser had the specific ingredient that I wanted to avoid, and so now I'm not sure about the cleanser and toner either. I will be returning them unopened and will do further research before making any purchases.

Ok, so that was a minor setback, but near the Argos in East Croydon there is this dodgy looking beauty shop that sells a ton of stuff I have never seen, and it smells a bit funny too. Having said that, I went in for a specific purpose. They sell 100% Shea Butter (which I have purchased before) and, what I went in for, Cocoa Butter. When it comes to natural moisture, you can't really go wrong. Plus it smells like chocolate.

I bought a 270g jar of Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E. I have some stretch marks and some scarring, and this is supposed to soothe that, apart from helping with the forthcoming dry winter skin.

I hope that it won't be too greasy and pimple forming ... we will see how my skin reacts.

Walking for Health in Croydon

I have taken the bull by the horns and committed myself to getting health in order once and for all. For the past week, I have been working on my diet and making better choices for meals and snacks.

Today, I took one more step towards a healthier future by going for a walk. This is not just any walk. This is a guided 2-hour walk through South Norwood's hidden countryside. The people were lovely. The pace was pleasant. The surroundings were magnificent. Some people even stopped at a jetty to feed ducks.

I plan  to do more of this type of thing and enjoy the outdoors more.

Thank you Helen for all the information and conversation today.

Thank you to the Croydon Council for this service.

I feel amazing!

Flue, Storm Warnings and Wagons

Once you fall of a wagon, regardless of type, it is so hard to get back on, especially if you've been away a while. There have been many blogging opportunities I have missed, and I thought I was past the point of no return, but I won't give in to bad habits and laziness.

So, it's been ages. How have you been?

A lot has happened in the last three months. I took a little time out from the beauty routine thing; mainly because it got very hot and I got distracted. It's back on now, more or less.

We had a succession of house guests over from South Africa, which was wonderful. I hadn't seen any of them for almost five years and it made me feel so normal again to have some of my closest friends around me for a bit. It really lifted our spirits.

Having F visit made Mr C so happy. They had a great time together and it felt just like old times.

When S came to visit, she stayed for a week and it was the most fun I've had in ages. We really did the London tourist thing properly; seeing everything from the Tower of London, London Dungeon and Ripley's Believe it or Not, to a Jack the Ripper tour, a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge, and loads of other Londonny things too!

Shortly after that, B & K visited for three days, and I didn't really get a chance to spend any time with them, apart from taking them to Heathrow when they left. Steven did take them to do a few London things and we sent them off on a day trip, like the one S and I went on (It was so amazing, I highly recommend it).

In between all of that, I turned 36 and had a wedding anniversary. Oh, and the weather changed. All of a sudden, it went from sticky and hot to really cold. Today, for example, there were storm warnings in he South East and London, and there were trees down on train track so S was almost 2 hours late for work!

Boy, looking back on all that now, this year feels like a flood after a drought.

Cosmetically speaking, there are a few plans afoot. I do like the products I use, but it's winter again and I want to try something new.

To top off the manic 3-months we have just been through, there are even more exciting changes in play.

I can't talk about all of them right now, but I will share soon enough.

There is one piece of news that I can share.

It came as a big surprise and is quite the game-changer. Mr C is starting a new job in 2 weeks. He didn't go out looking for it, in fact he didn't even go for an interview to get it.

It's just such a whirl wind and it happened so fast. I feel like I'm still trying to catch my breath, which is hard right now cos I am experiencing the worst bout of flue in memory.

Before I over share, I'll sign off till the next time.