I love Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP site and newsletters. They pop into my inbox every Friday morning with all sorts of useful tips and inspiration to DO, GO, SEE, MAKE, GET and BE. This week Gwyneth asked her London make up artist, Emma Lovell, to demonstrate how to do your own make up for day and night.

I'm fascinated by make up and how applying a little cream, powder and gel can make a difference to my appearance and how I feel in myself.

I'm also the first to admit that if I can expend less effort to look good, I will. Conservative with my energy or lazy?!

Click here to read Gwyneth and Emma's simple step-by-step tips for daytime and nighttime make up.

Before I fell pregnant I decided I would be one of those mums who exercised throughout pregnancy, abstained from cake or eating for 2 and would be almost as slim at full term as before.

Now at 7 months pregnant, I’m pleased to say I’m having a good giggle to myself about it – I’ve enjoyed a slice of cake today and I’m getting ready to teach my pump class tonight. Like many things, the reality can be very different to expectations.

By 13 weeks...

By 13 weeks pregnant I’d gained around 4kg (I know that as I started writing this then). A very popular pregnancy book indicated by the end of the first trimester I should have gained between 0.5 and 1 kg. Some mums-to-be even lose weight during their first trimester. After that I considered throwing the book out (but it is a good reference book otherwise) and considered that my body knows best and will tell me what I need.

So what is considered ‘normal’ weight gain during pregnancy? Here’s an approximate breakdown:

• at birth, baby weighs about 3.3kg
• the placenta, which keeps your baby nourished, weighs around 700g
• the amniotic fluid, which supports and cushions your baby, weighs around 800g

And the rest? This is accounted for by the changes that happen to your body while you're pregnant:

• the muscle layer of your uterus (womb) grows dramatically and weighs an extra 900g.
• your blood volume increases and weighs an extra 1.2kg
• you have extra fluid in your body weighing about 1.2kg
• your breasts weigh around an extra 400g (potentially and some – I’ve gone up 3 sizes so far)
• you'll store fat, about 4kg, to give you energy for breastfeeding.

This all adds up to a weight gain of around 12.5kgs. The ‘normal’ range is indicated to be around 12-16kgs.

Interestingly I also found out that cravings for sweets during pregnancy is a result of our evolution. Back in the caveman days our body knew that sweet foods had a higher energy content which was a good thing as food was harder to come by. Clever things, our bodies.

And now? I’m 30 weeks now and have gained around 13kgs. I’ve been blessed with a trouble-free pregnancy and have only started feeling a little tired in the last couple of weeks. I’m still teaching my BodyPump classes twice a week, walking (waddling) Duke a couple of times a week and hopping on the stationery bike for an easy cruise a few times a week for around 30 minutes. I think keeping active has helped with circulation, minimising fluid retention and maintaining strength for the pending birth and beyond. If the kicks and movement are anything to go by, I’m growing a little BodyPumper!

A good girlfriend and mum of 2 summed it up – every pregnant body is different – don’t compare yourself. Your body is doing an amazing thing, creating a perfect tiny human being.

My tips:

• nourish yourself and baby – make it mostly good and enjoy any treats you do have
• keep moving for as long as you’re feeling well and comfortable – walking, stationery cycling and swimming are good activities
• get yourself a few comfortable pieces of clothing that will grow with you and feel good to wear. Consider bottoms with elastic/maternity waists, maternity tights and leggings in winter, funky flat shoes, and long necklaces or scarves
• have good health care providers. I went to my naturopath around 20 weeks and mentioned I had noticed a big increase in tiredness. She suggested getting my iron tested and it was very low (normal for some women around that time due to the increase in blood volume), easily fixed with a supplement
• pamper yourself – massage, pedicures, foot rubs from hubby, meditation – great for your own relaxation and enjoyment of this time.
• trust in your body. I met a very fit and lean retail assistant who told me she put on 30kgs with each one of her 4 pregnancies – indicating to me that your body knows what it’s doing and does its thing – 9 months is a long time to go without treats!

And I have no doubt that the moment you hold your littlun in your arms, everything else including a little weight gain, will melt away.

Bless,

Carrie xx 

Being the magpie that I am and drawn to beautiful shiny things, I noticed a friend of mine sporting a beautiful neck chain holding 2 silver rings engraved with the names of her supercute twins. She introduced me to uberkate.

I've just spent the last half hour doodling around the website day dreaming over buying this and that, oh and that, and what about this?

And finally I think I have settled on this, the family tree pendant.

What an amazing and beautiful (and shiny) way to celebrate your family and keep them close to your heart wherever you go.

My only problem now is waiting the 22 weeks until the newest member of our family arrives and we settle on its name.

What's making you smile today?

Happy shopping!

xx.

Underneath the swirl of voices that drown out everything but their own noise, is the soft, clear bell of your inner voice...

Underneath the distractions of daily life, is the voice of your soul.

You are an incarnate soul. You are powerful and wise beyond anything you can imagine.

You have within you everything you need to succeed in your life.

When you reach into that essential, deep self, you discover who you truly are, what you truly want and what your soul is here to do.

~ Hiro Boga, Soul Powered Business: Become Your Own Business Advisor

I love, love, love this lady. I would marry her (in theory of course, and if she and I weren't already married. Maybe even then...). And she reminds me that at least once more in my life, I want to seriously chop my hair all funky-like. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Krystyn Heide...

Krystyn lives in New York City where she's reigning hula hoop champion at Squarespace. Her business card says Senior Designer, but she describes herself as equal parts evangelist and user experience advocate. She also started a little hope revolution you may have heard of, and would love for you to join in. 

Her site, curly braces, is clean and beautiful, thought-provoking and funny, and I find something new to inspire me both in design, and in life, everytime I visit.

Like this...

And this...

Check it out!

I’ve been pretty quiet in blog land lately and for a few good reasons. First, Lee and I married in April. The kids, my brother and his wife and us headed up to Palm Cove (North Queensland, just north of Cairns). It was a beautiful day, just perfect – morning wedding on the sand, cocktails by the pool at noon, afternoon nap and a lovely meal out.

In May he took me home to the UK to meet the rest of his family and friends. We had a great time and I was made to feel very welcome.

And now I’m pleased to announce...

we’ve got a tiny baby on the way! I’m now 14 weeks pregnant.

My energy is now returning, but it was a rough several weeks with morning sickness (read: all day nausea softened only be eating CONSTANTLY) and feeling very drained – apparently growing this tiny person from a few cells to an almost fully formed, if very small, person takes a lot of energy. Aside from that, working full-time (even washing my hair and getting dressed to get to full-time job) has taken all that’s left. The nausea has backed way off thank goodness (and thank you naturopath for the morning sickness pillules).

We had our first scan 2 weeks ago and the ‘peanut’ was 5.9cms from crown to rump and its little feet are about 8mm long – 8mm!! The technician gave us some pictures to take home and while it does look a little alien-like right now, its side profile does indicate that I am, in fact, growing a human with a cute looking nose and rotund round belly! This might explain all the food my body is demanding. Its due date is around 30 December (but not 28 December please little one, that day is taken by your big brother). Since then, I read that baby should now be about 8.5cms long so beginning to grow rapidly and make itself known in my waistband. With my energy levels returning I’m enjoying a little more exercise to offset my expanding derriere!

Above all, Lee and I are very excited to bring a new baby into our family, little brother or sister to Jacob (8) and Alicia (pronounced Alissea) (6).

What have you been up to lately? 

Sometime ago I was introduced to the concept of  'The Bucket List'. This is inspired by the film of the same name, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The film follows the story of 2 men, Carter Chambers (Freeman) and Edward Cole (Nicholson) who meet in hospital after both being diagnosed with cancer. Carter begins writing a “bucket list”, or things to do before he “kicks the bucket”.

And so begins an around-the-world vacation ticking off items on the “bucket list”. Hilarious and confronting, great viewing if you haven't seen it.

Given my love of lists, a Bucket List appealed to me. But when I started thinking about it I wondered, if I were given only a timeframe to live, what would give my life meaning?

Carter’s “Bucket List” includes some of the following:

1. Witness something truly majestic
2. Help a complete stranger for a common good
3. Drive a Shelby Mustang
4. Get a tattoo
5. Skydiving
6. Visit Stonehenge
7. See Rome
8. Dinner at La Cherie d’Or
9. Victoria Falls
10. Ride the Great Wall of China

Here’s a start to my “Bucket List”, in no particular order:

1. See the pyramids and the Taj Mahal.
2. Learn to play the piano.
3. Live in another country for at least 12 months from this point forward.
4. Write and publish a book.
5. Spend more time in the Greek Islands and Spain.
6. Hike the Milford track in NZ.
7. All things willing, become a mum.
8. Learn how to use my camera on manual.
9. Have my very own vegie garden.
10. At least once more, cut my hair all funky-like, (seriously a Pink style quiff, I've wanted to do this forevah!)
11. Learn how to use PhotoShop.

So, what’s on your “bucket list”?

Winter is here and I’ve already faced down a cold and gastro. I visited my lovely naturopath and she reminded me of a few simple things we can do to take care of ourselves naturally. Here’s a little of what we discussed... 

• Take a good quality Echinacea and vitamin C to boost your immune system and function.
• Drink plenty of fluids. Fluids help to flush your body. If you’re struggling to drink a few litres of cold water every day, try mixing it up with some warm drinks – warm water with a slice of lemon, scrape of ginger and a little honey is soothing and warming. I also love fruit infusion herbal teas for their lovely aromas.
• Keep your vegies up, but eat them warm. Soups, casseroles, slow-cooked meals etc. Load them up with vegies and some kind of protein (being a vegetarian I love lentils and legumes, but bacon bits, chicken and beef cubes are also great).
  My favourite soup base at the moment is a few tablespoons of soup mix soaked for a few hours or boiled in stock for an hour depending on the time you have available. I add a sachet or 2 of wakami paste (miso soup), loads of vegies (carrot, celery, potato, anything else in the fridge), a little salt and pepper, soy sauce, squeeze of lime juice and my favourite seasonings. Simmer for an hour or so for wintery goodness.
• If you’re (un)lucky enough to get a gastro bug, boiled rice and chicken is the best to ‘block you up’. (Our vet also prescribed this for our dog also when he had a tummy bug some time back). Reduce or cut out your dairy intake and eat meals of cooked, soft food – warm porridge, weetbix with warm milk, warm baked beans and soups and casseroles with rice. Avoid anything over-spicy, think ‘soothing’ for your tummy.
• Get plenty of rest. If you're unwell, your body is working hard to fight the illness. Getting a little more sleep, taking naps, skipping the gym and taking things easy for a few days will help your body focus on healing.

Finally, if symptoms persist past a few days or your condition worsens, seek medical assistance.

Update 4 July: I visited the naturopath with a bad cold and gastro when I was about 8 or 9 weeks pregnant. I took echinacea under her guidance for about 10 days. Normally this wouldn't be prescribed during pregnancy as over-stimulating the immune system can be fatal for baby, but my lovely naturopath sought further confirmation (despite being 99.9% sure it would be fine for a short period) as my immune function was "on the floor". Vitamin C is also fine to take whilst pregnant (and I've read since, can assist with gum problems during pregnancy such as bleeding and swelling).

What are your tried and tested winter remedies?

At the end of each year, I like to take the opportunity to reflect on the year that is ending and set goals of some description for the coming year.

One year I wrote a list of about a hundred things that I wanted to achieve, under carefully constructed heading (personal organisation, finances, full time work, part time business and so on). I crossed a good few things off that list, but given there were so many, there were many that I didn’t cross off and some things that I felt I should do, but didn’t do (and still haven’t).  

For last year, I wrote a much more concise list with a top 10 big goals and some smaller ‘pieces’ that would form part of achieving these bigger goals. I didn’t look back at my list until the end of the year, but can you believe I crossed 7 items off my top 10 list (paying off my credit card, finishing my Reiki Masters and teaching a Reiki course). I believe this has to do with the intention that is set when we write down a goal, plan or dream.

This year I have done it a little differently as I want things to be a little different. First I created a collage of how I wanted the year to feel. In fact I found so many images that represent how I want to feel throughout and at the end of the year that I created 2 collages. Images send very powerful messages without us even realising.

Whilst lightly participating in reverb10 late last year, I was prompted to consider my word for the past year (which was planning even though I wanted it to be fulfilment), I began to consider my word for this year. In the end, I selected 4 words for this year, and then 4 corresponding symbols to match.

The symbol you see is a Pandora charm that I wear every day on a grey leather Pandora bracelet. This charm is the first I brought and it took me some time to attribute it to one of my 4 words for the year. In the end, I chose to marry it to the word ‘commit’.

For 2011 I commit to:

1. myself – my health and wellness, healing, and realising my self worth.
2. tasting my food when I eat - replacing my tendency to scoff. I’m reading Women, Food and God: An unexpected path to almost everything, and author Geneen Roth points out that the way we approach our food generally imitates the way we approach life. I scoff. Enough said. Amazing book by the way, particularly if you have issues of the food kind (which, by the way, I didn’t think I had, but I found myself sobbing within about 3 pages!)
3. my practice – daily reiki practice, processing (more about this another time) and meditation
4. my soon to be husband and his children, leaving some very difficult months for us all, in the past.

The reason that I chose this charm to represent commit, is because it is the first charm that I brought and a Pandora anything is a commitment as you (or perhaps just I) will always want more, so I linked this to “commit”.

I found it interesting that of the 4 charms I selected, 3 have a heart symbol. So I believe that I commit to each of these things with of love, curiosity and compassion for myself and those around me.

This leads me to my second intention for the year – whole hearted.

Like many, I am deeply afraid of being hurt. At times this has been a self-fulfilling prophecy as I step myself back so I can’t be hurt. So this year, I want to experience loving whole heartedly, represented by this symbol:

Quite literally, it is a whole heart (or is that a perfectly shaped little bum?!).

For me, whole hearted means:

• stay, instead of walking, when my survival instincts kick in
• engaging with laugher more often, and
• most important of all, being willing to love myself when I feel I’ve let myself down

The third word is faith. Represented by this symbol.

(Can you see the little heart in the middle?)

I read Faith: Trusting your own deepest experienceby Sharon Salzberg recently and while I found the whole book amazing, this sums it up perfectly. “Faith does not require a belief system, and is not necessarily connected to a deity or God, though it doesn’t deny one. This faith – it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

The Buddha said, “Faith is the beginning of all good things.” No matter what we encounter in life, it is faith that enables us to try again, to trust again, to love again. Even in times of immense suffering, it is faith that enables us to relate to the present moment in such a way that we can go on, we can move forward, instead of becoming lost in resignation or despair. Faith links our present-day experience, whether wonderful or terrible, to the underlying pulse of life itself.”

And that’s all I need to say that Sharon said that Buddha said about that. J

Finally, my last word is be. This is direct opposition to my ‘in hindsight’ word for 2011 – planning, and perhaps scoff. I want to be more ok with ‘being’ instead of my penchant for ‘doing’.

For this intention I considered the letter B, a buddha and so on and in the end decided on this below. I wanted a pearl all along to represent wisdom and the passage of time and new growth, but I reckoned that the flower represents smelling the flowers and a be(e) gathering pollen from the flower.

So there you have it, my intentions for 2011, around my wrist every day.

What do you wish for yourself for 2011?

What simple image will continue to remind you of this?

I wish for you peace in the midst of chaos, miracles and abundance for 2011!

Carrie xx

Alexandra Franzen!

Self described as dialectic, eclectic and electric. This girl is igniting starter engines.

Alexandra is my new digital crush (taking over the reigns from Ms Gwen Bell, who took over from one Firestarting Danielle LaPorte ). I love everything of Alexandra's (and Gwen's and Danielle's for that matter) - she's witty and clever and sharp shooting (for anyone of any age, let alone a spunky 26 year old) and, what's a better word for thoughtful?

She radiates with presence online and like her brother told her, "when you start talking, everyone listens". And it's true.

So listen up. If you want to of course. Check her out. And check out her Self-Promotion Toolbox for a mere US$10.

*Sigh*