Challenge, change and celebration in your Heyday Friday newsletter
There's an exercise-related moment of revelation, a new creative endeavour, a hilariously brilliant parenting hack and a super effective cleaning tip in this week's newsletter
Hello!
I wrote last week about how bloody lovely you all are, and haven’t you just gone and proved that to be the case with all your comments on last week’s newsletter. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every one of them. And you. Thank you all SO much! Please do feel free to keep it up :)
I had a bit of a moment - in a good way - this week. It was when I was in the gym, doing this
I’ve written about why this quite straightforward set of movements - the lunge and the weight press (which I had been doing with a weight in each hand before I paused to take the pic, just to be clear) - had quite such an impact on me in THIS WEEK’S BLOG.
I wonder whether you’ve experienced anything similar, or can particularly relate to any part of what I’ve been through?
WORDS OF WISDOM
These from fitness guru Fred DeVito (you can follow him on INSTAGRAM) are particular pertinent to this week’s blog.
Find out why by CLICKING HERE
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
This is such a genius bit of parenting, and such a genius way to tackle any residual effects of a hefty workout (or effects of stressful day) I couldn’t love it more!
The little people in my family left a small momento of their recent visit in the form of a couple of muddy shoe prints on my rug, so it was time to use this two-in-one, super-effective and cleverly applied
SMART SAVE TIP OF THE WEEK
which also works just as well on upholstery, including leather, as carpets.
Put 2 tbsp baking soda, a squeeze of washing up liquid, 2 cups of vinegar, a teaspoon of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix it up until everything is incorporated - it’ll be quite foamy.
Wet a large cloth in the bowl, squeeze it out and then spread it out flat. Put a saucepan lid in the centre and gather the cloth tightly over it, holding it with the handle. Then simply rub the cloth over the mark until it disappears.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN…….WATCHING
Periodically I find my creative itch needs scratching and I look around for a new way to flex my creative muscles (forgive the miss-match of metaphors). In the past few years I’ve learnt calligraphy (read about that HERE), which I put to use doing all the place setting cards and seating plan for my younger daughter’s wedding (see the results HERE), attended upholstery classes where I managed to cover two chairs and repurpose a coffee table into a footstool (see those projects HERE), and had a go at block printing under the expert guidance of a good friend (have a look at how that went HERE).
Now I quite fancy revisiting a creative skill I first learnt at school - where I was fair to middling at best - and that’s dressmaking. I already buy almost all my clothes secondhand, so being able to make or remodel ones for myself (and my gang of grandgirls) seems like the next logical, and appealing step. Maybe this time around I’ll make something that actually fits me. Which, ahem, I didn’t quite manage to do first time…..
That must constitute the longest lead into a ‘watch of the week’ I’ve ever written, but will perhaps explain why a programme that I’ve dipped into many times over its previous nine series, is now one I’m watching with renewed interest and scrutiny.
The Great British Sewing Bee is basically the Great British Bake Off but with garments instead of cakes. Each of the contestants is set a series of three challenges in each episode: a piece they have to make from scratch, something they have to repurpose into a different garment, and something they make to measure on a model. Each challenge is time-limited and commented on by the judges, diminutive long-time fashion and film costume designer Esme Young, and Patrick Grant, designer and creative director of bespoke tailors Norton & Sons of Savile Row.
The contestants are the usual mix of ages, genders and backgrounds, and each week one of them is eliminated by the judges until a winner is finally crowned at the end of the ten week run. Their creations range from the bonkers to the brilliant and, like Bake Off, the skills they demonstrate over the course of the series are often hugely impressive - and occasionally more than a tad haphazard.
You can watch The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC 1 on Tuesdays at 9pm, or online HERE
And see the trailer for series 10 HERE
FRIDAY FUNNY
I do realise it’s only been a couple of weeks since this slot featured a hilarious label, but these, which I came across on Etsy just now, are so brilliant and made me laugh so much, especially bearing in mind my new creative intentions, I couldn’t help repeating myself.
Better still, you can buy them (HERE). I’m definitely ordering a batch!
That’s all for this week. I’m actually off on another little jaunt (this one was planned long before the relatively last-minute offer to join my daughter and her family). It’s a reunion of sorts, between three of us who used to work together on a magazine back in the day. Since one now lives in Portugal it would have been rude of the other two of us not to visit her there. So that’s what we’re doing. Ah, the sacrifices we make in the name of friendship.
We haven’t all been together in person for over 5 years, so there’s certain to be a lot of girlie giggling and glass clinking involved in our long overdue catch up (you’ve got to feel sorry for the husband and teenage son who are going to be stuck with us for three days). I’ll report in full on my return.
Hope your week has plenty of jolity - and beverages - in it.
See you next time.
Hope that you have a lovely time during your upcoming trip. :).
How lovely to have a reunion with old colleagues, sure you had a lovely time.
You're very good with your fitness, I have never enjoyed exercising, largely because I always find something else I’d rather be doing! However recently I joined an over 60’s exercise class and it’s been a game changer. Most of the ladies are over 70 and we all enjoy our lack of co-ordination at certain times. Most of us stay for coffee afterwards which makes the whole morning an enjoyable experience. I’m definitely a bit late to the party but now appreciate the benefits of exercise!