Smaggle

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I was considering this as I overheard a woman saying that she won’t allow her daughter to wear make up until she makes her realise that make up is a choice, not a necessity, which I thought was quite a valid point.

I grew up in a house where my mother wore only mascara, cherry chap stick and perfume. She had an untouched Mary Kay eye palette compact from the 1980s and owned no other make up. She does have, without a doubt, the most beautiful skin on a woman over the age of fifty that I’ve ever seen and I don’t believe she has ever owned foundation. She laments her “small eyes and thin lips” but obviously not enough to alter them with make up.

As a result I’ve developed a rather relaxed approach to make up despite the fact that I missed the gene pool blessing of my mothers gorgeous skin. I use a tinted moisturiser, nude hued eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner and more recently a little dab of blush… but this is not compulsory and if I leave the house without make up it’s a complete non-issue. I have girlfriends though who would rather drink cyanide than leave their house with out a full face of war paint, none of whom need make up any more than I do. It makes me wonder why this is.

Do you wear make up because you think you need to? Or because you want to? Is make up a necessity? Do you think your mother’s approach to make up has influenced you in any way? Is it really your ‘bad skin’ that makes you think you need make up or is it your sneaky lack of self esteem playing tricks on you? Do you wear make up every day? Occasionally? Casually?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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Lady loves…

* Dexter. I was utterly, utterly entranced by the last few episodes of season four. John Lithgow is truly gifted.

* Hot showers. Scorching hot. So hot that my skin steams when I step out into the cold bathroom.

* Winter oranges. Delectable.

* Coats with massive buttons.

* Going to the gym and finding the current issue of Grazia in the magazine rack and reading the whole thing while on the stepper.

* Friendly service people. I adore it when I am served in any capacity by someone who smiles and has a positive attitude to back it up.

* Announcing the winner of the karma card contest! Sarah Von and I have chosen Gaia, our cutie who works at a centre that gives free legal advice! Much love to you, just drop me an email at lady(at)smagglestyle.com and we’ll sort you out with your karma card prize!

* Tina Fey.

* Canberra’s fresh air. I got off the plane last weekend and it was so cold, crisp and clean almost like it was about to snow. It’s such a beautiful city.

* Having my housemate cook me dinner. Do you ever get the feeling that if someone cooks beautifully for you that they must really, really love you?

Lady loathes…

* Tennis balls. They make my skin crawl when I touch them.

* Wool tights. They are SO warm but so incredibly itchy.

* People who think A Current Affair is the same as the news.

What about you gorgeous creature? Any loves and loathes to share today?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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I’ve received many emails from my readers asking for advice on how to be more productive. I’m a naturally (and irritatingly) organised person but even I need a swift kick up the backside every now and then to stay motivated. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of things…

1. Plan. Plan. Plan.

If you don’t own a diary then buy one. Write down all of your appointments in it. Schedule your gym sessions, coffee dates, what night it’s your turn to cook dinner, when your next project is due – everything. I cannot fathom how anyone survives without a diary. Buy it, use it. Your diary should be like a puffer for an asthmatic. Do not leave the house without it. Go into semi-permanent state of panic if you lose it. Diary = Livelihood. Get it?

2. Learn how to write lists.

Most people think this is a no-brainer but there is a serious art to list writing. A little known tip to write an average to-do list is to categorise it. For instance my to do list today consisted of the following

Computer
*Blog post on productivity
*Print earrings photo for auction portfolio
*Emails
*Transfer rent money
*Book flights for July trip to Brisbane

House
* Clean kitchen/washing up
* Put clean clothes away
* Clean sheets on bed

Errands (Don’t forget travel mugs and green bags!)
* Gym
* Post Office
* Shopping
* 2 x takeaway coffees

This way you can knock over a whole category at once and save yourself time by not jumping from a ‘House’ task to an ‘Errand’ task. I also use categories like ‘School’, ‘Body’, ‘Blog’, ‘Work’ and ‘Personal’. You can then have sub-lists within these categories for tasks like shopping or emails. You should also have daily lists (washing up, email editor, shop for dinner), weekly lists (start research on assignment, buy wedding present, take car to be washed) and monthly lists (book dentist appointment, roll super-annuation funds, join new gym) so you don’t go crashing towards the end of the year realising, in December, that you haven’t paid your electricity bill since August.

3. Fake it until you make it.

It takes thirty days for a behaviour to become a habit. Start every day with the proverbial ‘can do’ attitude and commit to thirty days of organisation. I guarantee at the end of this time you’ll have three matching notebooks with categorised lists and a full supply of Sharpies in your handbag at all times. And if you really love me you’ll also alphabetise your book shelf and label all the jars in your kitchen pantry… I’m just saying.

4. Plan a treat at the end of a busy day.

I study full time and work part time. Both my study and work require a lot of extra hours of research and planning so my weekends and evenings are often spent working. When I wake up on a Sunday I’ll make plans with a friend to have a coffee or a glass of wine at five o’clock that evening so I have the incentive to get everything done. If you leave your time open ended it leads to procrastination and time wastage. Always give yourself deadlines.

5. Remember that there are 24 usable hours in everyday.

And if you don’t spend at least 6 to 8 of those hours sleeping, the rest of them are pretty bloody useless.

6. Ban distractions.

I love nothing more than to write while Sex in the City is on in the background but unfortunately it makes me start every blog post with a Carrie-ism – ‘And that got me thinking… (insert rhetorical question here)?’ so that habit had to go. Be honest with yourself. If Facebook/Twitter/YouTube are taking up most of your day, work away from the internet. Turn off the music. Switch your phone to silent. Halve the amount of time you spend working and double the amount of time you spend playing.

7. Prioritise.

Really think about what is urgent and get those tasks done ASAP… because every time you miss a deadline, a fairy dies.

Please feel free to add any additional tips in the comments section. Also, if you liked this article… why not email it to a friend? Spread the Smaggle love!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Crazy life at the moment. Awesome but manic. Very ready for a relaxing weekend with my family back home…

* Skirt from Big W
* Tights from Coles
* Top Singlet from Supre
* Leather Jacket from Target
* Long sleeved t-shirt from Myer
* Boots from Joanne Mercer
* Earrings from Girlprops
* Scarf Smaggle made – stay tuned for a DIY

And a massive thank you to all my readers who commented on my last post. I had the most fun reading the responses of my close friends. They were all so accurate and so appropriate. They literally listed the reasons that I love them. Self awareness is so golden.

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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Today was balls. For no particular reason. I propose that we all write down three things that are fantastic about ourselves because you know what? Sometimes you need to celebrate how fabulous you are!

I’ll start…

1. I’m a really, really loyal friend.

And once someone is my friend they are in for life. Much like a jail sentence.

2. I’m consciously and consistently healthy.

To the point where I annoy myself. I make my lunch every single day and I reserve the right to be smug about it.

3. Anywhere I go, my hair is generally the most awesome.

It’s true.

What about you love? What’s awesome about you? Be honest! I was!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Lady Smaggle – Age 21

On Saturday night I had a dinner date with Mr Smaggle’s bestie and he asked me a really interesting question. How is your life different now that you aren’t 21 anymore? When I actually stopped to think about it I realised I’m a different person now. Probably a better person. I also realised that getting older isn’t very scary. Here’s why…

1. You aren’t the new kid anymore.

When you are 21 you are brand new in your field. That means photocopying, researching, spending ridiculous amounts of time preparing meetings, having washed up managers develop vendettas against you for no reason and there’s this constant overlying need to prove yourself. When you get older, people listen to what you say. Your ideas and ideals are the same but the fact that you have more experience and tangible achievements to showcase them, it’s not as easy for people to dismiss or overlook you. You can finally relax a little because you’ve earned it.

2. You know what love really is.

And it’s not a summer infatuation, it’s not a movie starring Ryan Reynolds and it’s not something that hurts more than it heals. It’s more simple than that. It’s being blissfully happy eating eggs with your man on a Sunday morning,  it’s talking to your mother on the phone for two straight hours and it’s having two or three friends on speed dial who would leave their own wedding of you said you needed them. Everything I thought was love before the age of 21 was simply a fun and dramatic distraction. Love is uncomplicated. Love is exceptional in it’s seemingly mediocre presentation. It’s not screaming out the front of a club at 2am or crying over a guy you pashed once at the uni bar.

3. You have the whole living thing under control.

When you are 21 and you move out of home it’s a huge shock to the system. Heat isn’t free. Neither is water. Food doesn’t magically appear in the fridge and dinner doesn’t cook itself. By the time you are in your late twenties you are totally down with separating your whites and darks, you know how to cook a few different dinners that include real food, you know that you can’t buy a $500 handbag with out having to call your parents to borrow money for rent. It’s a bit carefree and cute to be eating baked beans at 21 but now that you’re older it’s nice to be able to pay your bills on time… and drink wine that comes in a bottle.

4. You aren’t in a rush anymore.

When you are 21 everything is about now. You need to travel. NOW. You need to have a boyfriend. NOW. You need to be the editor of a magazine/rock star/CEO of a big company. NOW. You need a fabulous apartment. NOW. It takes a good few years to learn the subtle art of calming the frick down. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Now that you are no longer fuelled by Red Bull vodka soaked evenings, planning world domination, you have the maturity to look at your goals objectively and make plans to achieve them. Hint to current 21 year olds: If you want a head start on world domination I can tell you emphatically that it doesn’t start with smoking pot in a tree house.

5. You know your limits.

You know how much of a beating you can take from toxic people before you crack. You know how many nights a week you can work late before you lose the plot. You know how many glasses… bottles… of wine you can ingest before you start making friends with the toilet. Obviously being in your late twenties doesn’t give you immunity from making bad decisions it’s just that when you were 21 life was a big experiment. You were testing the waters of relationships, jobs, living situations and your health. Now that you are older you are armed with more information and a greater understanding of how you function mentally, emotionally and physically… and you can use this information to avoid the disasters that seemed to stalk you when you were younger.

And a little note to my 21 year old readers… enjoy being 21. You’ll never get to do it again. Make as many mistakes as you can because the world is a lot less forgiving when you’re on the other side of 25…

To the rest of my readers… care to share? What’s great about being the age you are right now? How do you feel about your younger self? How are you feeling about getting older?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

I was at the gym the other day and saw another woman getting changed, as you do. She was wearing a g-string and I was a little shocked to see someone wearing one in real life. Simply because I kind of thought they had gone out of style. I went through a g-string phase when I was about 19 but it was short lived and I think most of my female friends have also moved on.

My question to you is this… Do you wear g-strings? Or did you used to wear g-strings? Or ‘thongs’ for my American readers? How do you feel about them? Do you think that such underwear seems to go through phases of being fashionable? Or am I just hanging around with a more conservative crowd?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

P.S For the record, I switched to nude, seamless underwear when I was about 20 and have never looked back. Incredibly un-sexy but I’m telling you, no one has ever seen an underwear bulge on this gal…

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Lady loves…

* Sunday afternoons spent with my favourite girl on Brunswick Street, cafe hopping for hours.

* Pale tights. White, cream, pale pink… it’s all about pale tights this winter.

* The arrival of cold weather. I love snuggling down in my bed under layers of heavy blankets with a hot water bottle. Sigh!

* Crawling home yesterday and feeling utterly wretched only to have Roomy Smaggle make me a pot of special Japanese feel good tea. I love her.

* Plucking my eyebrows. Virgos love that clean face thing.

* Alec Baldwin. I’m having a serious 30 Rock addiction right now and it’s all about Alec. Although, after Team America I have major problems not saying ‘Arec Baldren’.

* Learning gem setting. I’m utterly rubbish at it but it’s oddly therapeutic.

* Buying plants. I have a plan to turn my house into a jungle.

Lady loathes…

* Chrysanthemums and the tacky florists that insist on pimping them every Mother’s Day. ‘I love you Mum. Here’s a bouquet of mucus coloured blossoms that look like tissues!’. Note to said tacky florists, writing ‘ChrysantheMUMS!’ is not clever. It makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

* How clumsy I am. I spilled vegetable juice on the floor, stabbed myself with a file, tripped over the lounge room rug and burnt 50% of the hair off my left arm…. today. That’s why I’m always shocked whenever a misguided person calls me graceful.

* Finally having my own bookshelf, placing all my Frankie magazines in a row and realising I’m missing number 33. If anyone isn’t anal retentive like I am and has a spare Frankie number 33 lying around… I love you long time!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Having a slow day… we got the morning off school because we had a fundraising jewellery auction last night. I was delighted that someone other than Co-Dependant Smaggle bid on my piece. Three people in fact. The girl that won them put them on straight away… it was pretty cool.

* Red tights from Myer
* Dress from Tree of Life
* Doc Marten shoes from DFO
* Men’s watch from Fossil
* Necklace by Roomy Smaggle

Off to the workshop for the afternoon and then having a studio warming dinner for Roomy.

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

I’ve got this whole dressing like a cream-puff thing going on. I kind of like it… Note to self. Buy more ballet tights.

* Denim skirt from Ebay someone has drawn on it in permanent marker it says ‘The missing link is moving underground’. Love it.

* Top/dress from Tree of Life

* Ballet tights from my dancin’ days

* Nude flats from Trennery

* Men’s watch from Fossil

I’m also feeling a really clean, no jewellery vibe at the moment which is rare for me. I love personal fashion flux! Spending the morning designing then I have a fundraising auction on tonight. I’ve got a good feeling about today… not sure why!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx