Smaggle

Don’t worry my darlings… my hippy phase ended circa 2001, when I realised how scruffy my wrist load of Tree of Life fake prayer bracelets looked and how truly awful incense is.

However, thanks to the New York and Paris fashion week street style photos, I’m having a hankering for a truckload of jumbled wrist candy, resplendent from forearm to elbow. I’m not talking about scrappy friendship bands and base metal bangles, I’m talking about a finely curated collection of arm art.

Here are a few tips on how to wear this tricky trend without looking like you spent winter at a Buddhist meditation camp.

* Add some sparkle. A diamante bracelet or high polished sterling silver bangle ought to do the trick.

* Stack your bracelets in and around a chunky, man style watch. Business casual. All over it.

* Carry a natty little clutch. Or rest your woven-clad wrist on a structured shoulder bag.

* Make sure your nails are perfectly polished. In a dark moody hue or a lolly bright pop.

* Wear heels. A dress. Lace. Anything feminine. The juxtaposition between dressy and casual will be marvelous.

Stay tuned for a macrame bracelet DIY.

I’m always looking for a carbohydrate ‘replacement’ for dinner as I don’t do too well with stodgy food before bed time. What can I say? I’m a granny.

This recipe is a nice little substitute when you’re feeling like Italian food but don’t want to eat pizza or pasta.

What You Need (serves 4 to 6)

8 Portobello mushrooms

Olive oil spray

1 kilo of beef mince

1 large zucchini, diced

1 large carrot, diced

4 spring onions, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil (or a decent squeeze of basil in a tube)

Fresh grated parmesan cheese

What to do

1. Preheat your grill. Place mushrooms on a baking paper covered tray. Spray with olive oil and grill on each side until cooked through.

2. Heat a decent spray of olive oil in a large pan. Stir fry spring onions until fragrant. Add beef. Stir fry until brown.

3. Add crushed garlic and basil. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add carrot and zucchini. Stir fry until soft.

4. Remove Portobello mushrooms from grill. Spoon beef combo on to mushrooms and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Return to grill for a few minutes until cheese melt.

5. Serve on a bed of baby spinach if you’re pretending to be a contestant on Master Chef. It’s called ‘plating up’, FYI.

Enjoy!

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Here are a few things that I actually paid attention to this week. I’m just so Gen Y like that.

I cannot tell if these are kitsch or stunning. Help?

‘Worrying does not change outcomes’. My man says this to me several times a week but for some reason it really resonates coming from Seth Godin.

Another awesome DIY from Design Sponge, the branch handle tote bag. I’ll never, ever make one but I’ll frequently look at the instructions and pretend like I’m going to.

I know I’ve been talking about Ms Romance all bloody week but seriously visit her site.

Madame Bipolar’s article ‘You Haven’t Changed Except For Your Issues’ is every kind of awesome. As is Madame Bipolar.

Oh She Glows makes me want to be vegan. For about as long as it takes for me to eat this, anyway.

* 60% of Smaggle survey contributors have never had a Brazilian wax

* Most of the women who HAVE had a Brazilian are in their 30s

* 45% of participating readers have only ever had one Brazilian wax ever

* 40% of readers said that they would have them more regularly if money wasn’t an issue

* 20% said that they had Brazilian waxes because their friends did. Although this isn’t published in the graph, 90% of those who were influenced by friends were in their 20s

So I conclude that my hypotheses, that younger women across the board are more into Brazilian waxes than their slightly older friends has been proven completely inaccurate. I love that.

Thank you so much to the 123 people who contributed to the survey. The response was truly outstanding.

We are running another survey this week Have You Ever Stolen Something? which has been live for only 24 hours and already has 190 responses. Please take a quick peak and participate in the survey. I think we can reach 300 responses by Friday!

May I ask… are you guys enjoying the survey and response posts? The participation so far has been magical, but I’d love to get some written feedback. I’d hate to be quietly boring you to death.

Feel free to chat and share on Facebook and Twitter too.

I’m constantly looking for ways to eat protein and vegetables in forms other than ‘slapped on a plate’ and yesterday, I was completely jack of eating my salad/tuna combo so I whipped up a chicken omelette. Here’s the recipe.

What You Need

1 small chicken breast

2 eggs, whisked in bowl

1/4 red  capsicum diced

2 shallots finely sliced

Semi-dried tomatoes cut in to strips

2 large handfuls of baby spinach

1/4 teaspoon of powdered garlic

1/4 teaspoon of powdered chilli

Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Oil spray

What To Do

1. Set your oven grill to pre-heat.

2. Dice the chicken breast and stir fry in an oil sprayed, small, oven proof fry pan until brown. Add powdered garlic and chilli. Stir fry for another 2 mins.

3. Add shallots, capsicum and semi-dried tomatoes. Stir fry for about a minute.

4. Add the spinach and stir fry until wilted.

5. Turn the heat down, add the egg, tilting the pan so that the egg runs in between everything. Cook for about three minutes.

6. Place the fry pan in the oven (with the door ajar) until the top of the omelette is set.

7. Remove omelette from oven, add cheese, return to oven until cheese is melted.

8. Serve with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Enjoy!

I’m obsessed with Kiehl’s products for three reasons.

1. When I was a teenager, the Kiehl’s brand wasn’t available in Australia and I read somewhere that Drew Barrymore used Kiehl’s shampoo and I was devasted that I couldn’t get my hands on a bottle. We are kindred spirits you know.

2. When it did become available in Australia, my youngest auntie (who I worship) started using their products which just made it infinitely cooler. At that time I thought that any more than $10 spent on face cream was extravagent as all hell and I couldn’t wait until I was a grown up and could throw money around like that.

3. I’m from Canberra which means that I didn’t know about any non-supermarket skin and hair care brands until Mecca Cosmetica opened at the Canberra Centre circa 2006. I beelined straight for the Kiehl’s shampoo, gently stroking the chubby bottle and murmuring ‘Mmmmm… Drew Barrymore.‘

For the last month or so I’ve been using Kiehl’s Yerba Mate Tea Lotion which is a moisturiser that is vitamin infused with tea extracts. And believe me it smells like it, which is actually a huge compliment. I adore beauty products that smell like real things, like earth or rain or dirt. It makes me feel all organic-like. It absorbs super quickly and it’s not sticky, making my skin feel firmer and more toned than other moisturisers.

You can buy it online here or at Mecca Cosmetica or in that pretty beauty section at David Jones with all the different counters where I like to go and stick my fingers in pots of things.

* I have just realised that it’s spelled Yerba Maté with an accent on the ‘e’. Meaning my verbal pronunciation of ‘Yeeeeer-bah Maaay-te’ is not only completely yobbo but completely incorrect.

This product was offered to Smaggle for editorial consideration. 

This week’s topic is…

Have you ever stolen something?

The survey is completely anonymous so please don’t hesitate to join in. Again, I’d love to get over 100 responses so my data is more accurate.

The results of the Brazilian Wax Survey will be posted this week. Thank you, sincerely to all 111 of you that commented.

Oh and if you have a funny stealing story (come on, we all do!) please share it in the comments.

On Friday of last week I attended the Problogger Conference of 2011 and I’m only just recovering from all the brain learning I did. I don’t generally blog about blogging, but here is a sneaky list of awesome people who you need to follow, like now.

* The unbelievable Nikki from Styling You who is just as sassy, smart and business savvy as you’d expect from her blog.

* I found myself rubbing my face on Mrs Woog quite regularly, who is my new favourite person in the world.

* Edenland is spectacular.

* St Murphy is a hoot.

* Hair Romance is sweeter than apple pie. I actually didn’t recognise her until she turned around and showed me the back of her head.

* BusiChic is gorgeous, we finally met after tweeting circles around each other for years.

* The Blog Stylist is divine.

* Dannimezza (who I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with) made mad buttons to give out to everyone. Mine said ‘I’m SO going to blog about this!’. Perfection.

* 30dollardate was an utter pleasure to meet and her site rocks. Been reading it for years.

Oh and Problogger’s not too bad either!

I have a giant stack of business cards that I’m working my way through so I’ll have more links for you soon.

If you attended the conference and want to keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook.

Photos courtesy of gtvone because my photographer was too busy to follow me around that day.

Last night I popped on over to Miss Fox in the city to help the gorgeous Lady Melbourne celebrate her 1000th post.

Skirt from Witchery * Top from Shop Ruche * Shoes from Whittner * Ring Kenneth Jay Lane * Ring by Dinosaur Designs * Tinkerbell Hoop Earrings from Disney Couture * Clutch bag from Yanko *

I’m madly finishing my freelance work so I can take the day off tomorrow to attend the Problogger Conference. If you’re going, do please come up and say hello!

One of my secret super powers is my ability to fall asleep in 0.3 seconds. My man says that I will literally stop speaking and start snoring, mid-sentence. However, like most people, I occasionally have trouble falling asleep and it makes me really angry. It’s like being a straight A student, who suddenly and unreasonably gets a D. Which, incidentally, also makes me really angry.

Here are a few little remedies you can use to help you get to sleep when it just ain’t happening.

1. Drop Your Core Body Temperature.

I read Counting Sheep last year and one of the biggest causes of insomnia is over heating. Your core body temperature must drop in order for you to get to sleep. So throw off your heavy blanket and open the window. Even having a warm shower can help because it makes your body temperature momentarily peak and then slowly lower as you fall asleep.

2. Place a Few Drops of Lavender Oil on Your Pillow

Lavender oil has a calming effect and aids in the reduction of stress. Which is exactly what we do when we can’t fall asleep, we stress about it. A few drops on your pillow, coupled with slow, steady breathing will have you snoring in no time.

Continue reading “5 Proven Tips to Help you Fall Asleep.” »