A Magical Dream

In case you missed it on Simone's blog, where I had my first ever guest post, here's a photographic story of a magical dream.

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I want to dream. I want to immerse myself into a magical land.

A land where you can tiptoe across the bridge, in the hopes that it will remain a secret;

and as you reach the end, your tiptoes quickly turn into skips as you approach the tree, ready to take the force of the endless possibilities in a new realm. 

Once you're through, they're there waiting for you. For you to perch on their wings whilst they guide you around this new land.

First stop is collecting the leaf of life.

Once you have that, you will be able to drink all the happiness, love and wisdom you need. 

The special wands? They're there to help fight off baddies; the anxiety, the stress, the worry.

The baddies disappear with one swift swipe, and erupt into beauty.

Beauty that makes us stronger.

Beauty that wants us to be loved and to love harder, and be happier than happy.

The journey isn't over yet. It's only just begun. But this is what a slice of what I want my safe place to look like.

It's my safe place. I call the shots. I make the rules.

It can be a long road, but lets make it a good one; a positive one; an empowering one. 

It's whatever you want it to be. 

And the best thing of all? 

You can stand up at the end and say I did it. 

All of the photos were taken in Malaysia during my most recent trip in July & August. You can read about it here and here. 

Things I'm Loving!

This week I'm loving...

My Osteopath

I went to the osteopath last week due to an excruciatingly sore back. Jean is lovely and really wants to get to the bottom of why my pelvis keeps twisting!

More new shoes

I've figured out that each winter season I acquire a new obsession love for something. Scarves, bags, shoes, scarves again and now it's shoes again. I am in total love with my new pixie-like shoes!

Autumn

I'm an all seasons kinda girl, I just get amongst it and get on with life. Sure I love the sunshine, but I love the Autumn leaves, the spring flowers and the winter snow!

Hazy Surprises

On Wednesday the clouds were so low all day. It was kind of fun. I love this shot from Tower Bridge looking towards South London.

Gin

We all know by now that I love gin. I found these pre-mixed cans, I'm always up for trying something new, and these are amazeballs! 

Crafts

I bought some felt off eBay to make a story board for Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. It arrived, is great, and only cost me £3!

Tube Advertising

I saw this on the tube today and could not stop laughing. Well done Nandos! Top notch!

Forgotten Gems

I remember taking this photo when I was in Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur National Museum. I really loved it at the time and still love it now!

Linking up with Meghan McChoice

Malaysia: Part 2. The best part.

As I sit here, looking at my increasingly fading tan, it has dawned on me that nearly two months have passed since I wrote Malaysia part 1 and it's been just over 3 months since I returned from that wonderful journey.

Kapas Island.

One might call it beauty, the other a serene island, where island time is the only time. 

We kayaked over to Gem Island which has a turtle sanctuary on it. 

I was lucky enough to see some real magic happen. 

These little babes hatched into 12 turtles that we got to put into the enclosure! 

The poor wee things kept flipping over!

Look at them!!

The owner of the beach chalets we stayed in, asked if we wanted to paint our dorm room wall. Of course!

 So I added my Kiwi Girl touch, and then proceeded to ruin it with a weird-out-of-proportion Kiwi.

Pohutukawa flowers falling down to the sand where the Kiwi sits. They can always paint over it!

I enjoyed endless walks on the beach...

Watching some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever laid my eyes on...

Especially after a storm with thunder so incredible and rain so heavy, that we dared ourselves to go in to the sea for a swim, letting the true badass come out in us. 

We watched fire poi 

Drank fresh apple juice out of jar mugs,

And drank and ate fresh coconut!

I went swimming every day (at least 5 times), tried out and fell in love with snorkeling - despite cutting my leg on the coral and getting circled by 3 sharks! - watching movies on the beach, making new friends, getting a sweet tan, going into the local town on the mainland by boat to try out their cuisine and buy supplies.

 and then enduring the longest 8 hour bus ride back to Kuala Lumpur, followed by the two bumpiest plane rides I've had in my life.

So long Kapas Island. You were my favourite.

Never fear, Google is here

Have you always wondered why you can't burp whilst lying on your tummy without wanting to vom in your mouth? Here's an answer I found that makes a lot of sense.

Have you ever picked up a lost merino glove to find it has been eaten alive by what seems like silverfish? Have you then Googled silverfish to give an explanation of what they are to a friend, stumbling upon probably one of the most funniest reproductive stages in a bug's life?

Have you ever told someone that you don't eat dairy due to allergies, and get a response along the lines of "Oh, so do you eat eggs then?" It baffles me every time to think that eggs are in the same bowl as milk, cheese, butter and cream. Have you ever had this become such a regular occurrence that you felt like you were the one in the wrong? Well...

I hope I have cleared some things up for you.

Things I'm Loving

This week I'm loving...

Shampoo

I bought some called 'Phil & Smith' as it was on offer at Sainsburys - NEVER BUY IT! 

I had to go back, and spend full price, to buy my favourite - L'Oreal Elvive! I use the colour protect one, and they have an amazing hair restoring conditioner mask thingy that makes your hair feel so lush!

Customer Complaints

I saw this on Facebook today and it's brilliant! And the video just tops it off - it's a must watch! It's a 'complaint' from a male specimen about a brand of female hygiene products...

Hi , as a man I must ask why you have lied to us for all these years . As a child I watched your advertisements with interest as to how at this wonderful time of the month that the female gets to enjoy so many things ,I felt a little jealous. I mean bike riding , rollercoasters, dancing, parachuting, why couldn't I get to enjoy this time of joy and 'blue water' and wings !! Dam my penis!! Then I got a girlfriend, was so happy and couldn't wait for this joyous adventurous time of the month to happen .....you lied !! There was no joy , no extreme sports , no blue water spilling over wings and no rocking soundtrack oh no no no. Instead I had to fight against every male urge I had to resist screaming wooaaahhhhh bodddyyyyyyfooorrrmmm bodyformed for youuuuuuu as my lady changed from the loving , gentle, normal skin coloured lady to the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin. Thanks for setting me up for a fall bodyform , you crafty bugger 

Well Body Form responded, and it's brilliant:

Hi Richard. We loved your post on our Facebook page. 

We are always grateful for input from our users, but your comment was particularly poignant. If Facebook had a "love" button, we'd have clicked it. But it doesn't. So we've made you a video instead. Unfortunately Bodyform doesn't have a CEO. But if it did she'd be called Caroline Williams. And she'd say this. 

Do let us know if we can help you further...

Regards,

The Bodyform Team 

Here's the video response for it 

Mugs

I love a good mug. Drinking mug that is! 

I'm on the hunt for a choice mustache one! But here is one of the latest editions to the collection by our new flatmate...

Eggs

Boiled, scrambled, poached, fried. Love 'em. Check out the steam! Sooo fresh!

The 'Name Game'

I play a game where I go to Starbucks and change my name. This weeks one was meant to be "Olga" - I even spelt it out it for them and they still managed to get it wrong! I had a good chuckle though!

Lastly I'm loving..

This quote. I saw it on a blog I follow and it was in a story, but I just had to share it.

Linking up with one of my favourites

Things I'm Loving!

Last week I was loving...

Home made Chicken Fajitas

 The Ultimate dress up party (I'm Phil)

Flower Powering it up with my choice felt flower necklace!

The ultimate bacon burger

The necessary way to lie down and watch TV in a onesie

Linking up with my gorgeous Meg

Things I'm Loving!

This week I'm loving...

The best purchase all week

Welcome to my new best friend. My dog onesie. It's warm, it's comfortable, it's hilarious! The only downside is the whole toilet issue thing; I might have to cut and sew a bum flap!

Kiwi Ingenuity 

I might've forgotten to check to see if the plug for the lilo was in the box before we got to Bristol... a wine cork was the next best thing.

Gin

I'm a Gin girl. It's my drink of choice - after water - so when I remembered Mum and Dad had left this on top of the fridge for me... WIN!

Colours

I'm a colour girl. Bright, light, dark, shades. Whatevs. It's all colour.

Chocolate

My 2 new favourite flavours of chocolate. The best.

Just for luck

When I look at this photo, all I can think is how cool my red shoes are. If you follow me on instagram (which you should, I'm thenikinator) these have featured numerous times over the last week.

Linking up where the cool kids go...