Furry leg warmers, Bikini spiders...Hairy Ladies.

Did anyone see 'Cherry Healey: How to get a life' Its a series of programmes on BBC about beauty and how it effects your life. She met up with a few feminist YouTubers (ThosePeskyDames) and they challenged her to not shave for a month. That includes the hairy taco, the armpits and the legs. Strangely enough she even shaved her forearms? They vlog about how women are seen as manly, dirty or unclean if they haven't shaved. Even though they smell and look clean?

I love the idea of community, but I hate 'society.' I hate how everything has to be a certain way or your an outcast. I generally just hate 'society life' as a whole, the magazine bibles and model idols but I love the idea of community. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with models, but take a look at model vs barbie. How 'real' women should look? How many girls would kill for a body like Barbie and co, but its just unrealistic. 

Cherry asked randomers on the street what they would rather. Broken leg or hairy muffin monster? 100% of the men, women and teens she asked would rather break a limb than be hairy or sleep with a hairy woman. 

"In a society so governed by superficiality, by appearances and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything in the 'real' world. Refuse normality. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it. Everybody contains a univese of potential; exhaust it. Live and love so immensely that when death comes, there is nothing left for him to take." - Dominic Owen Mallary.

And by this quote I don't mean stay hairy be hairy. Its up to you. Personally I couldn't hack that everyday, but what I do mean is not to be so superficial. Live within your means and don't get into debt trying to fit in with societies idea of successful. If your happy, your successful.

Gypsy Warrior

I joined instagram recently. I was really reluctant because I thought it just another social network bragging game and adding filters. But it's actually pretty good. You can connect with people around the world and it's not about what they have and are doing as such. Its more about just sharing pictures. Its nice I like it, anyway. I found that when you post a picture and hash tag it a lot businesses will like it or if you search a certain print or item it shows loads of unknown businesses out there!

This is PERFECT for when you need something not on the high street, something different. I've found so many, but my favourite so far ? Gypsy Warrior. If you haven't heard of them go check it out. They're a gorgeous fashion statement from New Jersey. Their stuff really stands out, its edgy and has a lot of attitude. I'm reluctant to share this on here because I want to keep this little gem all to myself, but mum taught me to share. Damn.

Here's my top picks!

It's really unlikely you'll get the awkward same outfit situation that I always talk about!

If anyones stuck on what they want to get me for Christmas, there's a list ^^.

Happy shopping people! x

Burger Cupcakes

Seems everyone loves cupcakes now, wether your an icing licker or a cake muncher. I've even seen cupcake vans now! Being a fan of artsy things, I looked up funny cup cakes online and decided to make these:

Bergar.

To make these cupcakes, you'll need:

1. Sesame seeds

2. Strawberry jelly

3. Yellow and orange starburst

4. Green icing or gummy sweets

5. Chocolate roll up cake

6. Cupcakes

After making cupcakes just to a standard recipe, let them cool. Once at room temperate cut all the cupcakes in half. Taking slices of the chocolate cake and make the first layer on the bottoms of the cupcakes. This will be the beef patty. Roll out the starburst and lay, this is the cheese. The strawberry jelly should be added just before serving otherwise the cupcake soaks it up. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Then Shove a whole one in your mouth and wait for the taste of Mcdonalds. Sort of.

Happy Baking!

Jewellery organisers - DIY!

I've been on YouTube every single day over summer and I need to make something! I went a bit DIY crazy today, but got it out of my system... kind of. I've made 3 small units to organise my jewls and shinies. Obviously you'll notice there's no where for the necklaces! I'm buying some screw hooks to attach to the bottom of  the ear rings holder and then hang the unit on the wall. Okay so I forgot to take photos as I went along because I got really carried away. So I'll explain roughly and just leave a comment where you don't understand.

Lost half my earring collection, definitely a reason to go shopping!

So to make this, you'll need a cheap frame from ikea or a charity shop. Remove the back and glass, then turn it over and stick pins in the sides. When the pin is half way into the wood, measure your string across the frame, cut and tie a knot on the needle of the pin. Add some glue to secure and hammer in. Continue all the way down.

Going to make some rings to soon, need to fill this baby up.

For your ring holder, you need any old box you can find. An old chocolate box or a sturdier fancy box. Its up to you. I just used an old Lindt box from Easter. Yea for some reason it took me until now to eat them? Anyway some old material, super glue or a hot glue gun and a pair of scissors. Measure the width of your box and then cut length around 40-50cm. You'll need to test the length to see how high the roll will be, this will all depend on your box. Then after cutting and rolling the strips. Seal them and glue into the box. You'll need more than fits naturally as they have to squish up to secure the rings. DONT glue between each roll, that's where the rings go. Just underneath and the sides. Done.

Here's a bigger pic.

I got so into it at this point I completely forgot to take pictures altogether!

But here's the video I got the idea from, so you can make one yourself!

If you have any questions let me know and I'll update you when I get these screw hooks!

Nandos for £4.90

The catch? You have to cook it yourself! Yeah. 

I don't even need to introduce nandos. You all know and love it! Chicken, chicken, sweet corn, peri chips, chicken, macho peas, chicken, frozen yoghurt, salad, olives yum. 

It's always been so cheap! £10 would get you a nice sized meal and a bottomless soft drink. Awesome. I went there loads last September when my student loan went through. Hence I spent a shit load of money, mainly on service and atmosphere. Nandos have a huge DIY range, I thought they'd never bottle and sell the actual secret recipe so I never bought it. James got some for the cupboard so I thought I'd see for myself. 

Verdict? Fucking delicious. 

We've been eating alot of carbs recently so if you wanted it with chips just oven some frozen ones.

Ingredients:

Chicken portions

Onion

Garlic

Nandos marinade 

Aubergine 

Cucumber

Tomato

Spinach

Olive oil

Pepper

Oregano

Okay so, rub in about 1/4 of the marinade bottle onto 5 portions of chicken. (this is rough so you'll just need to make sure the chicken is nicely covered) with the diced onion and garlic. You'll need about half  a small onion and 1 clove of garlic. Leave this overnight or minimum 15 minutes. 

Fry in a little olive oil. Cooking the chicken on a low heat with the lid on for roughly 10 minutes. Then turn and cover for further 7 minutes. Poke a knife into the meat near the bone or centre to check for oozing blood. If its still kicking cook for a bit longer. 

To get a char coaled effect like how they serve in Nando's, when your chicken is just about ready pour into the pan and on the chicken more marinade or the sauce if you bought that too. Stir just to get the sauce onto chicken. Whack up the heat and the sauce should burn black. This doesn't taste horrible and burnt. It tastes like sweet, spicy goodness. Bit if your squeamish you can leave that step.

For the cooked salad, you need to half the Aubergine, cut a border and using a spoon scoop out the inside guts. Lightly olive oil the skin and stick under the grill for 3-4 minutes, until wrinkly and slightly browned. Then chop up all the fleshy part into small cubes. Quarter the tomatoes and chop up the cucumber. 

Back to the Aubergine, you'll need to turn it over and brush a little olive oil and pepper, then back in for 3 minutes. 

Cook the spinach slightly just by simmering in hot water, strain and fry with diced garlic and onion in the oil from the chicken. (added flavour ;))  add all the veg and simmer on high heat until water is reduced. Then season with salt, pepper and oregano. Plate up using the hollowed Aubergine as a veg bowl. Yumm!! Omg, we've had home made nandos chicken for about nearly 2 weeks straight (excluding breakfast) its so good!

Pricing is by portions of ingredients used not by whole cost of ingredients.

Here's a quick carb fix If you've only got a bit of pasta instead of cooking the veg alone throw in some pasta and fry together add a little oyster, BBQ or more nandos sauce!  

DIY peter pan collar - Guest Blog!

Hello everyone! I feel so honored to be featured on Erica's wonderful blog! 

My name is Amanda and I am currently a student at the University of Minnesota in the U.S. I am applying to medical schools for next fall and it has been a very stressful process but it's taught me to make the most of my free time. One of my favorite things to do is find inexpensive ways to make the latest styles and lately the trend involves a lot of collar action! I've noticed that people are starting to wear sleeveless chiffon shirts with Peter Pan-esque collars and it reminds me a lot of the late 80's, early 90's. Kind of cool but kind of strange that my mom probably wore something like this. 

Since I'm not ready to splurge on a handful of shirts since my medical school applications are killing the bank, I've decided to go the collar necklace route. What is that you say? It's a necklace that mimics a collar that you can attach to any shirt (preferably boat-neck)!

All you really need is:

• stiff felt (white or black is best for matching any outfit)
• glitter, rhinestones, sequins, embellishments, etc.
• felt or tacky glue
• toothpicks
• ribbon
• hand-drawn collar template or printed template

1. With a sheet of paper, hand draw a template and place it around your neck for fit (I suggest wearing a round neck shirt to help guide you). Other possibilities are these templates I found online:

• http://www.scribd.com/doc/79750198/Peter-Pan-Collar1
• http://downloads.luckymag.com/downloads/pdf/collartemplate.pdf

2. Measure out a 2 long lengths of ribbon (about 11 inches) and attach one to the upper part of each necklace with glue.

3. Lay out your desired pattern and start gluing the rhinestones, sequins, etc. 

4. Allow to dry for a couple of hours. Then find a shirt or dress with a round neck and tada! You have a collar that you can wear with anything!

I couldn't find the right ribbon during this day so the pictures above are only the collar parts. They really take a lot of intricate work but so worth it!

Thank you so much Erica for letting me guest blog, it has been fun and I hope that you guys enjoyed this tutorial.

Much love, Amanda