Shake-up

My life needs a shake-up
It needs something different
It needs excitement
Perhaps it needs new people in it.

I must make it happen.

Enough?

Am I doing enough?

Can I do more?

These are questions I ask myself often. I often wonder if I could do more/be more in people's lives.

I donate to charity where I can. I give advice and support to teenage girls.

I'm kind and caring to strangers and friends alike.

I shower my cat with love so that even though hundreds of animals out there are being badly abused, my animal will know the feeling of unconditional love.

I am an organ donor. A friend of mine has benefited from a new kidney. I would have tested to see if I were a match, however I learnt that a woman who has never had children before is not eligible to be a live organ donor. How interesting is that?

I work 10-11 hour days and I wish I was able to balance work and private life more, but unfortunately that is just the way it is.

I want to make a difference. More of a difference.

How do you make a difference?

Travel Tuesday - Mauritius Part 1

Meet Zoe. Travel Cat Companion.

Zoe enjoying Mauritius

I recently returned from a lovely, relaxing break away in Mauritius. Tee and I treated ourself to a long overdue holiday.

Island. Unlimited cocktails. Perfect weather. Can you see the reason why we are grinning so broadly?

Mojitos on the beach

We stayed on the East coast at a hotel called Ambre hotel. What tickled me pink is that they had a double bed. In the pool!!

Bed. Pool.

Zoe and I on the bed

Introducing my legs to the sunshine

Besides the bed - The hotel boasted a bar (Coral Bar), an Italian restaurant (La Dolce Vita), a restaurant on the beach (La Prague) and a buffet restaurant (Indigo)

The beach restaurant was literally right on the beach. You could curl your toes in the sand while sipping on your umpteenth cocktail of the day.

We had the option of lounging by the pool or lazing on the beach - waiters service both areas.

180 degree view at the pool/beach

I never would have believed that I could eat as much as I did while doing nothing. Our routine consisted of something along the following lines:

1. Wake Up: Eat buffet breakfast consisting of pork sausage, eggs, tomato, pancakes and bread and butter pudding
2. Go to lounger by pool/beach - order cocktail
3. Have nap/read. Order another cocktail
4. Lunch: Starter, main, dessert. (every.single.day) with another cocktail
5. Mid-afternoon snack: Pancakes with chocolate sauce (Note I said pancakes. Not pancake) with another cocktail
6. Dinner: Starter, main, dessert with... you guessed it... another cocktail
7. Lay around in the lobby to take advantage of free Wi-Fi.
8. Back to the room - Late night snack while lounging on bed: Chips and perhaps a finger of KitKat
9. Sleep and repeat the next day!

Postcard Perfect: Palm trees on the beach

La Prague Beach restaurant

We had a few hours of light rain 1 of the days. The rest of the time the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Not too hot and not too cold.

Gorgeous sunset on our beach

View of the pool

Every night there was entertainment such as a live band, a magician or belly dancers.
The staff are friendly, interactive and eager to help any tourist experience the best Mauritius has to offer. They are proud of their island.

To be continued...

Which island holiday is your destination of choice?

Manicure Monday - Water Marbling Effect

Here is a classic example of getting ahead of yourself.

I read 1 tutorial on this, thought it sounded fun and decided to try it out. When looking for a step by step photo guide for this post - I found a great one with even better advice than the tutorial I had read.

Note, it says the level is: Advanced
I wouldn't have tried this if I had seen that!!

The results are pretty, but it is a very messy business and cutting out tons of sticky tape is very patience-orientated... something I do not posses.

This tutorial advises Vaseline -  Brilliant! Would work much better when you can coat Vaseline closer to the cuticle.

So if you are feeling brave enough and have some time to kill - here is what you do:

Source

Important to note: 

1. Keep all polishes unscrewed so that you can work quickly and drop polish before it dries
2. Don't drop polish from too high above the water - it drops to the bottom of the bowl
3. When you use toothpick to marble - make sure you don't touch the outer ring (the 1st ring you dropped as it will be dry and ruin your pattern)
4. Have extra toothpicks on hand in case you can't remove all the excess polish.

Now that you have seen the professional version - here is my attempt:

Varied patterns look pretty

My thumb

Do you have any tips to make this process easier?