Charade

Guest Post: Design Tips Your Home Will Love

2013-05-18T15:32:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to Kate Hiscock This is a guest post via bettaliving.co.uk, I love these tips and hope you will too! Are you looking to give your home a bit of a revamp? Well, we've put together a collection of top design tips that will help your home look fabulous without too much effort. You might want to freshen up a room for the summer but don't want to completely restyle, or perhaps

Guest Post: How To Maintain Your Red Hair

2013-05-16T22:02:00.000+01:00

Below is a guest post but, as someone who dyes their hair regularly, I really love these tips and I think you will too! Image thanks to Derek Gavey Red hair is the colour of the moment when it comes to the perfect look for your tresses, with the celebrities working anything from auburn tones to deep shades of red in 2013. And it looks as though this trend shows no sign of wearing thin.

Featured: The Perfect Gift for Your Groom

2013-05-02T19:09:00.000+01:00

What can make the most special day of your life even more special? A beautiful gift, of course! While the real gift of marriage is the promise of everlasting love and undying commitment, a physical representation of this certainly won’t go amiss. Wedding gifts given between a bride and groom should be meaningful, personal and of course symbolic of their love and commitment. A luxury

A Year Full of New: 13 New Things for 2013

2013-01-04T23:36:00.000Z

New journal. New glasses. New glasses case. I love a bit of novelty. It's what fuels my travel bug; keeps me continually interested in learning, and is the reason I've always got a stack of new books to read. At this new, novel time of year, people all around seem to buzz with the potential and possibility which newness inevitably brings. This is wonderful, but I don't believe the first

An Xmas Gift: £50 to spend at Zalando.co.uk!

2012-12-16T22:02:00.000Z

The nice people at Zalando.co.uk were kind enough to send me the above beautiful jumper this winter, and it has been keeping me deliciously warm. The people at Zalando are so nice, in fact, that they wanted to give you some of the action... with a whopping £50 to spend! Zalando stocks all your favourite brands, including Jeffrey Campbell shoes, and you can spend the £50 however you like

Friday Feature: Lovely Leather?

2012-11-30T12:36:00.000Z

Find item info here How do you all feel about leather trousers? Personally, I think the only way I could pull off this trend without looking like I stumbled out of the last scene of Grease is by softening the look with a lace blouse or suchlike. How would you wear them?

Friday Feature: Festive Jewellery

2012-11-23T12:48:00.000Z

Find item info here Do you have any specific pieces of festive finery? Some particularly jolly jewellery? I like to get extra sparkly over the holiday season, maybe it's the grey weather. Or maybe I secretly want to be a Christmas tree. Either way, you can guarantee at least one of the items above will be on my Christmas wishlist. Will this Christmas make you a little sparklier?

Win a Shopping Weekend for Two (in my Home Town!)

2012-11-14T13:22:00.000Z

Most of you will know I don't often update Charade now, and it's very rare for me to post a competition that's not my own - but this one seemed just too good not to share! With a simple 'Like' of the Visit Bristol Facebook page, you could win luxury shopping weekend in Bristol for 2 which includes; Two nights at the 4-star Bristol Marriot City Centre hotel Afternoon tea for two at

BRAVE-living 2012

2012-11-13T14:50:00.000Z

~ New Years Eve 2011. My family and I are gathered around the dinner table. I suggest that each of us say what we have been grateful for in the year that has passed, and what we hope for in the year to come. One by one, we move around the table and each say a few words. Eventually it comes around to me. I say what I have been grateful for, and then I pause for a moment to think.

Psst...

2012-09-13T16:38:00.000+01:00

LOOK! Did you know I no longer update Charade regularly, but that I have a new internet home? I do! Find it here. See you there x

Festival-Chic with Asda

2012-08-02T12:19:00.000+01:00

So a little while back, George at Asda got in touch and asked if I wanted to show off my festival style with a few of their pieces. Being the cynical Brit that I am, I chose wellies and a raincoat. Then I went to Womad for the second time and this is what unfolded: That's right: glorious sunshine! Okay, so there was a little bit of drizzle on the Sunday morning, but as I'd

Change-Catalysts, Al Green, and the Call to Create BETTER

2012-07-18T17:07:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to danielle So the sh*t hit the fan. You got bust up; broken down. Unexpected setbacks. Forks in the road. Maybe you lost someone, maybe something; either way the game is changed irreparably. You didn't see it coming. You never do. But the question you face is always the same: What now? You can be defeated or ever more determined. When the aftershock from the

Words to Live By #197 (and Sad News)

2012-07-03T20:16:00.001+01:00

Image thanks to cari ann "The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an

How to Find Work That Doesn't Feel Like Work

2012-06-26T17:20:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to danielle We all know what work feels like. I think the above image pretty much sums up how I’ve felt toward certain jobs I’ve had. At some point in our lives, we all have to work. But – particularly in our early twenties, when we don’t have the experience, qualifications, or the accumulated means to follow our real heart’s desire – just getting a standard job can feel

Words to Live By #196

2012-06-25T16:36:00.002+01:00

Image thanks to yvette "I am going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life." Elsie De Wolfe

5 Inspirational Movies + Their Life Lessons

2012-06-21T14:21:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to cari ann This is a guest post by Melissa Wellham, a freelance writer (of scathing film reviews, mostly), blogger at Melicious, and prolific tweeter (@melissawellham). She is currently studying journalism, working in an independent bookstore, and has two pet mice called Nymphadora and Tonks. Despite your best intentions at the beginning of every New Year to work harder,

Words to Live By #195

2012-06-18T23:01:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to i.anton "Do that thing. You know… That thing you’ve been meaning to do for ages. That thing you’ve been putting off for days, weeks, months. That thing that as soon as I say “that thing” you know exactly what I’m talking about. That thing. Yeah. Go do that." Gala Darling

A Peek at the Week: Capers and Curiosities

2012-06-17T19:54:00.000+01:00

What a truly wonderful week. I attended a wig party; my friend Emmie from the US visited; I ate - in the space of three days - British Afternoon Tea, Indian, Moroccan, and Thai meals out; I discovered a veritable treasure trove of vintage goodness barely two minutes away from my flat; I walked alongside a Samba drumming procession and danced at St Werburghs City Farm

Friday Feature: Summer Dresses at Tesco

2012-06-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

Are you after a tasty selection of affordable dresses for summer? Fantasizing about floral maxi dresses or head-over-heels for hot pink? Look no further! I had no idea you could shop online for clothing at Tesco, but it seems their bargain-bustin' selections are a mere click away! Whether it's a glam garden party you're off to, or you just want to ad some pizazz to a pint at the pub...

* SALE CLOSED * The eCourse for Half-Half-Price!

2012-06-11T18:36:00.001+01:00

Blast from the past, anyone? * SALE CLOSED * That's right, half half price, as Ambitious Happiness orginally started out at £28, and you can get it now for just £9. I'm doing a flash 24 hour sale so at 6.30pm (UK) tomorrow the normal price of £18 will return. "Happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive." Mary Oliver I've been having my own

Words to Live By #194

2012-06-11T15:08:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to cari ann "You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the

A Peek at the Week: Tea for Two

2012-06-10T20:02:00.000+01:00

This week bezzie Ellen visited for two glorious days of gossip and cake-munching and movie watching in honour of the 30th Birthday of Bristol's Watershed cinema. We were treated to free seats for homegrown indie film 8 Minutes Idle - all thanks to the absent friends of one 'Mr Thomas Gray' whose tickets we scored having been unable to get hold of our own. I also had a job interview and

Words to Live By #193

2012-06-04T21:33:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to i.anton "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced." Swami Vivekananda

An Interview On My Adventures!

2012-06-01T10:05:00.000+01:00

Did you have any questions about how I got on across the pond? Hankering for a bit of inspiration to finally bite the bullet and book your own dream trip? Well star-reader Amber pinned me down and got all the juicy gossip out of me! Enjoy. * * * What made you choose New York in particular? Do you have friends there? Did something in particular attract you there now, or has

Words to Live By #192

2012-05-28T21:15:00.000+01:00

Image thanks to yvette "We have the self... this great unwritten page." Joseph Campbell