Bathing Beauty

 

Bubble Bath Pinup by Gil Elvgren

Is there anything better than a hot bath? I mean…really?

Baths just seem so luxurious to me…especially in this fast paced world (well not my world, I spend 99% of my time in bed) and of course we can’t have them too often as water restrictions are so important here in the land of aus.

I remember being about 13. It was pouring rain and as my mum didn’t drive I had to catch the school bus then walk to my house. I got home and mum had run me a hot bath, had put my cd player in there with my favourite tunes and had a steaming mug of fresh pumpkin soup next to it. It is one of the few memories I have of my mum doing something for me. Hubby now does the same thing when I have been out and it’s been cold or raining or it’s been a crappy day. Coming home to a beautifully drawn bath, some candles, music and a cup of tea (or soup) not only makes you feel special (because someone did that for you), but helps to really relax.

 

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra – the queen of luxurious bathing!

I think everyone has read about Cleopatra’s epic baths in milk. They kept her looking awesome while she ruled the world and mens hearts. Last year I decided I wanted to give milk baths a go and ever since I have been hooked. Here is how I do it…

1. 2 cups powdered milk (sometimes when our Organic Shultz Raw bath milk (we drink it, it’s just raw milk isn’t allowed to be sold for consumption in Australia…don’t get me started on that one) is just past it’s expiry I will use the last of it in my bath…it’s the best!
2. 1tbs (or to your liking) of almond or rice bran oil (or what ever you prefer…those are my two favourites)
3. A few drops of essential oil

Add all into the tub while the water is running, mix and enjoy. If you really feel lush (or have some flowers lying around) throw in some petals. It will honestly make you feel like a million bucks!

Once again Miss Hart gets it right…

“For a luxury bath, allot at least half an hour, more if you can.”

- The Handbook of Beauty

Gather your supplies before you get in. I personally like to light some candles…

Marseille (Gardenia Scented) Candle by Glasshouse (bonus – these candles are really easy to clean out of the jar when you are done. I use the big ones for cotton balls, cotton pads & cotton buds and the mini ones are the PERFECT size to hold bobby pins)

A book or a magazine (if you need *something* to do in there besides relax…

Persuasion has to be one of my all time favourite books ever! I find there is something very relaxing about reading a familiar book, rather than a new one…

And some relaxing tunes…

I personally am a huge Gershwin fan and that is definitely my unwind music!

Little extras that make bathing more enjoyable are …

A bath caddy! Look a place for your book/magazine & wine! I personally would not let myself have a candle that close to a book…even with a whole tub  of water I just know I would set fire to the house. Add in alcohol and …. well I am sure it would be bad! (this one was in Aldi at the start of the year)

If you haven’t got  a bath pillow – RUN, do not walk, to your nearest bath pillow store and get one. To be honest I have no idea where these would even be sold? It came in a package filled with bath stuff (that I am allergic to) from my mum. Without a doubt the best thing to ever happen to baths, and the best thing my mum has given me in the last decade…the last present I remember from my mum were cheap, synthetic, purple ugg boots covered in multi coloured rhinestones. The best/worst part of it was she talked about this “awesome” present for months in the lead up to Christmas. Who would ever wear them? Also, why did she buy them for me? I won’t even wear socks at home in the dead of winter on tiles. I DO NOT LIKE things on my feet at home….and I never have. Weird and totally off topic – but mum, seriously WTF?

“The net effect will make you feel like Cleopatra; it was this sort of luxury bath, in fact, that helped make her the fatal charmer she was!”

- Constance Hart

I slather on a bunch of my home made green tea cold cream (see recipe HERE) and put some chilled camomile tea bags on my eyes and just let everything relax. The steam seems to help the cold cream really get into my skin and keeping tea bags on my eyes not only helps with puffiness and beautiful clear eyes, but it keeps me from looking around, playing with knobs and generally doing stuff that isn’t relaxing at all.

Of course if a hot bath isn’t your thing why not try Miss Hart’s “Air Bath”…

“For this one, which is excellent for the circulation, you need no equipment whatever. All you need is fresh air! Sometime when you are home alone and the weather permits, take off all your clothes, throw open the windows  and just walk around  nude, for about twenty minutes. We don’t get enough air on our bodies most of the time because we are so covered up. The contact of the air on your skin stimulates the circulation and incites a general over-all feeling of well-being”

If that really is the case my body would be the most circulated and I would have the most amazing “general over-all feeling of well-being”….

How do you take your bath?

Miss Fairchild xoxo

A Lady Takes Time Out for Herself

“A lady’s definition of health goes beyond the physical. It’s also emotional and spiritual. Even when she’s balancing multiple roles, a lady’s secret to maintaining her equilibrium is to take time for herself. For any one of us leading busy lives, this seems easier said than done. But whether it’s getting a manicure or a massage, going for a walk solo, taking a trip to a museum, or renting a movie and watching it uninterrupted  a lady knows a little break is essential to recharge her batteries. Taking time out for herself benefits her and everyone around her.” 

- The Art and Power of Being a Lady by Noelle Cleary and Dini Von Mueffling

Oh how I wish I realised how important this was earlier on. I might not have gone completely off the deep end and spent the last three years recovering! Oh well, you live and learn…

I really do think this is so important for EVERYONE to do, but I do think it is one thing where in our society males tend to have a much easier time doing something they want to do for them, than women do. Of course that’s just my opinion. But so many mums I know are struggling, with no break, no time to themselves and wondering why they are just feeling like crap. Ladies – you need 5 minutes to yourself!

Myth: You become a mother and all of a sudden you have endless amounts of energy and patience to devote to everyone else and never need a minute to yourself. 

You are still a person. If you haven’t tried it out you will have to trust me when I say that this will make you a better parent/partner/employee. I really recommend doing at least one thing occasionally by yourself. Not with a friend, not your partner, not your mum…just you. It changes things. You get to pick where you eat – without worrying what the other person wants. You get to pick the movie. You get to decide what art you look at and what you skip. Sometimes it should be all about YOU. Sometimes you need to TREAT YO SELF!

Treat Yo Self! From Parks & Recreations! Who in Melbourne wants to do a Treat Yo Self day? Come on…it would be so much fun. It would be even more fun if you treated me….

Some things that I do are:

• Exercise. I prefer running and I do it alone. My phone is switched to “do not disturb”, I don’t exercise with someone else and I will not stop to chat with you. This is my 45 minutes totally alone. This is my therapy and anger management. I will never get a treadmill and run at home, home is the place my kids have almost unlimited access to me…ALMOST

Post run sweat & red face GLOW

• Every now and then when everyone seems cranky or we (the adults) really just need a few minutes to sit in silence and remember we are people, not just parents, we implement “siesta”. Our girls are long past naps, but they will happily go off to siesta. They are allowed to read or draw or play lego but it has to be quiet and it also has to be solo. No playing together. Sounds harsh – but we homeschool and neither parent works outside of the house. We are all together 24/7…even the girls need quiet solo time. Afterwards EVERYONE feels much, much better.
• Going to the Art Gallery. Same rules apply here as running. I am there for me. I love having my ipod blaring while wandering through. I really love being able to wander at my own pace and stop when something grabs me. I also love how art that grabs me almost always seem to relate to whatever song is playing on my ipod. I am either really good at associating things (or really bad – take your pick) or my ipod is possessed. Either way, I like it!
• Eating out by myself. Now this one is probably not recommended for the beginner….especially if you are a bit anxious. I personally love it, but I am always pretty happy with my own company. I take a book, I order whatever I feel like, I eat it however I like, I proceed to spill it all down my front, take my time to finish and leave whenever I feel like it. No splitting cheques, no going to breakfast earlier/later than I feel like. It’s awesome.
• A night away. Last year hubby surprised me with a night away at the “Hotel Windsor” and a massage at a spa near by. The place was STUNNING. I took a book and a candle and after my massage I ordered room service – which was delivered to me by a smartly dressed butler with a beautiful tray, had a bath and the best part about my stay was being able to read an entire book from start to finish with the only interruption being a butler bringing me dinner (and then strawberries and cream for desert and hour later). In the end it didn’t cost much more than a vintage dress or two, but it revived me. It left me relaxed and mellow. It was the best thing I ever did for me and I am hoping one day soon I can afford it again. But it doesn’t have to be a fancy hotel (though a marble, a butler & fluffy robes totally make it LUSH), go to forumla one, a bed and breakfast, a cabin in the woods or even a friends place when they are heading out of town. Have a full 24 hours completely to yourself. You will feel fabulous for it.

Me so excited when I found a fluffy robe in my hotel room…two seconds later & we have a mirror selfie!

Tell me ladies – what do you do to take time out for yourself?

Miss Fairchild xoxo

Wise Words – Looking After Yourself

I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.

- Mae West

Art Therapy – Looking After Yourself

While it isn’t particularly “vintage” (though all those 1700/1800 period dramas the women all seem to be able to paint and draw) I wanted to pop this in here. I have gotten a lot of joy (and emotional healing) from art over the last six months. As I have mentioned before, I am from a very artistic family. I felt like the black sheep and stopped creating because I couldn’t live up to my idea of what “art” should be. Then I came across the Art, Heart & Healing Course online HERE. It is totally free and available whenever you want + Tam (who runs it) is an awesome lady, and a wonderful teacher.

Tam – Art, Heart & Healing (can’t you just tell she is a beautiful soul? As well as being stunning of course!)

We actually did the first video lesson as a family. The girls focused less on the therapy part and more on following the instructions, but I went all in. I loved learning how to layer and make a multimedia project from scratch. I also learnt to draw faces from her and I now draw them all the time in this style. For awhile I was stuck. I had done the face and part of the background, but I couldn’t find the right phrase to finish on it…then I found the fish quote from Einstein (read all about my revelation about being a fish HERE) and I knew I had the right thing to write.

 

Mixed Media (doesn’t that sound fancy?) Pencils, Water colour paints , Acrylic Paints, Metallic Paint, fine liners, stamps, Gesso and paper doilies

After I had decided what I wanted to write “I am a fish”, I decided I wanted to add the tree, bird & fish. The tree was easy, but I wasn’t sure how to draw a bird or a fish…youtube to the rescue! It felt so good to finish it, and instead of my usual self loathing about my “art” I was so proud of it. I just love it so much. Especially the bits of gold metalic running through my hair and the tail of the fish. Go ME!

In this I re-discovered my love of drawing. This is the first page in my art journal. This is my personal art journal. The girls and hubby know that it is private and not to be touched unless they ask or I offer. This is the only way I can feel “safe” to create. When I am really proud I will show it off to the girls (who are all excellent artists in their own rights) or instagram. While I now draw quite a bit, this was so therapeutic that I really want to do the other three lessons. Next up is an empathy monster.

This class gave allowed me to have a bit less anxiety when I started TAFE this year and our first unit was drawing. I also had the added stress of hand tremors…Thankfully it was extremely basic/beginners level and my hands were mostly well behaved. With TAFE I became even more confident in drawing…

 

My very first hat drawing at TAFE – I was so pleased with it!

I am much happier doing stylised faces I discovered. When I had to draw a lovely lady in a hat from a photo I realised it wasn’t something I enjoyed at all as it came back to trying to be “perfect” and I was flooded with feelings of inadequacy.

Portrait of the divinely gorgeous Idda Van Munster (sorry Idda) from THIS PHOTO

My last TAFE project was to design a hat. Anxiety took over. Could I actually CREATE something? Could I then draw it? It seemed so terrifying at first. So I started doodling ideas in my notebook. It ended up evolving over a few weeks from this

The first sketch…which was followed by about twenty before I got to the final design

to this hat (my final TAFE drawing assessment)…

First of Miss Fairchild’s Hat Designs…line up, line up…don’t push people…I haven’t yet learn how to sew it!

I have found it really therapeutic and fun to draw little pictures to go along with phrases or quotes that mean something to me. I started off with Einstien’s fish quote.

Yup there is my bird and fish again…aren’t they adorable? 

Then my friend told me this awesome story that put all of her ideas of failure into perspective. I don’t feel like I should share the story as the people involved might not like it…but this was the drawing I did that day…

Long story…but look! Shamrock and pretty orange haired lady!

and on a really, really tough day I made this. For anyone unfamiliar with the “Spoon Theory” please read HERE. It gives you a good idea of what it is like to live life with a chronic or mental illness. This actually felt really, really therapeutic that day.

Sorry folks, no spoons today. You will need to figure out how to eat your soup with a knife and fork!

Now I find myself drawing all the time. Especially hat designs. Now I realised that I can do it…and it is ok for it to evolve from a basic idea/sketch. As soon as I have learnt how to make hats I will be making myself a turban…in a nice silk tafetta…just to wear around the house…for no other reason than I can and I know it will make me feel FABULOUS!

I wonder if I can draw these lips on myself? Probably not…I never was able to photoshop the real me…

The main reason I shared all these drawings of mine, is not because I think I am the most awesome drawer in the world (I don’t) but to share so others don’t feel like you have to be Picasso. You can draw for fun (and therapy…ever just drawn angry hard scribbles? It is very therapeutic) and you don’t have to be able to draw any better than you draw. Have fun!

Do any of you lovely ladies draw? Or do any arts for fun or therapy? If you do please, please share links to your work in the comments.

Miss Fairchild xoxo

Love Vintage Show

 

Love Vintage Show – Look at how cute Tim & Jesse from Like Johnny & June are!

Tomorrow night the Love Vintage Show kicks off and I will be there with the other girls from the Melbourne Vintage Society! It should be a fun night with some Gatsby dancing (the Charleston), a Swing Patrol performance followed by the “Best Dressed” vintage fashion show/competition judged by the fabulous Jacinta of the Razzle Dazzle Rose Blog and Betty & Ginger Lingerie Boutique.

Jacinta is just too cute for words!!!

Hope to see some of you tomorrow night!

Miss Fairchild xoxo