Eyelash extension

My eyes were a flutter this Christmas with longer fuller lashes. This was a treat to myself and I had lots of compliments.
With make-up, flicked eye liner, eye shadow and mascara my eyes looked really good. They were obviously too long to be natural but didn't look too trashy or like they belonged to Ru Paul!

By stopsign
I have several friends who have had their eyelashes extended. Theirs had a a full but natural look and were rather pricey. One friend in Devon paid £80 and another in London paid £40.

I had mine done at a friendly beauticians in Thornton Heath called 'Fulona's' and paid £15. I had their natural lashes rather than volume, but even these were very long. They applied clusters of 4 to 5 lashes with a special adhesive just above my own eyelashes and they lasted just over one week. It only took 20 minutes and I didn't need to book an appointment.

After one week, a couple of clusters of lashes were becoming lose. The rest were easy to remove and did not in anyway damage my own lashes or leave any unpleasant residue.

I'll definitely be having these done again, when I next have a dressy event to go to.

One Day - Will you read it, see it or hear it?

One Day, by David Nicholls is a novel and a screen play and is out in the cinema at the moment. 

One Day is 'A very funny novel about friendship is also surprisingly moving, says Harry Ritchie' of the Guardian. And of the film the same paper says, 'The fun and popular David Nicholls novel has become a so-so rom-com, though Anne Hathaway's accent isn't quite the disaster many forecast'

I'm going to see it on Wednesday (good old Orange Wednesdays), and so I'm trying to quickly read the book before I see it. Books are always better than their screen counterparts, and part of me doesn't mind if I haven't finished it in-time because book endings are always better. 

However, my review isn't about reading it or seeing it but rather hearing it. 
Knowing that I would struggle to read it in time with all the school work I have to do(I know, already), I thought I'd have a look and see if there were any audio versions that I could download. 
There are quite a few sites offering downloads, but I didn't trust most of them. The best I came across was www.audible.co.uk An Amazon company. Audible uses it's own software and enables you to bookmark where you've listened to.
It has a special offer on at the moment, but I came to it through Amazon, where it listed the various formats it came in - kindle, hardcover, paperback, audio etc. In the audio section it listed 'Audio Download, Unabridged £18.74 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial' 
(link needs to be refreshed so to work).


So of course I checked out the, one book a month, 30-day free trial, and I'm pleased I did. You can sign up for the trial and cancel the membership whenever you want, and even keep the downloaded book. 
There are a couple of narrations out there, but Anna Bentnick's is the best. This is an unabridged version so it is as if you are reading it.


 I'm going to get on with my work now...while listening to One Day.

Earl Grey | Twinings Lavender Earl Grey | Tea | Afternoon Tea | Twinings Tea Shop

Earl Grey | Twinings Lavender Earl Grey | Tea | Afternoon Tea | Twinings Tea Shop

This is my favourite tea at the moment and I'm almost sad that it's only limited edition, so I'm going to stock up on a couple of boxes.

If you like Earl Grey and fragrant flavours do try this. I find it's most refreshing with a slice of cake ;)

Old Spitalfields Market

Today I eventually got round to visiting Old Spitalfields Market, it's known as a 'must visit', but I must say I wasn't that struck by it. It was 'nice' (ouch!) and the food stalls were good, but the merchandise - clothes, jewellery, trinkets and artwork, were just ordinary and overpriced.

(Source: By yisris through Flickr. This photo was taken on October 23, 2005 using aPanasonic DMC-FZ5.)

I am yet to visit the other famous London Markets (other than Borough), and have faith that I won't be disappointed with the others.

The crumbs of the Crumble

I like crumble, and I have fond memories of being trusted to make my own small apple crumbles as a child. It was always so simple and yet satisfying to rub together the flour, butter and sugar. And yet, somehow I've lost the knack of late.

(Source: adactio through Flickr. This photo was taken on June 13, 2010 using a Canon Digital IXUS 60)

Being aware of my, traditional crumble topping, anxiety I was very happy to give the porridge, spice, wheatgerm and oil, good stir variety of crumble, a go. I wasn't disappointed, it was scrummy and sooo easy to combine, but unfortunately the Hubby was...he said those fatal words..."I prefer the way my Mum makes it!" So of course I rose to the challenge, and had a go at the flour, sugar, butter topping variety the following week. Hubba liked it, but I actually prefer the porridge type now, so, although I don't envisage making a crumble every week, I will try to alternate which topping I make ;-)

(Source: Lori L. Stalteri through Flickr.  This photo was taken on December 12, 2010 using aPanasonic DMC-LX3.)

Which topping do you prefer? With chatting to friends, I'm finding the flour, sugar, butter topping seems to be the favourite of husbands/partners and sons, whereas us ladies like the porridge topping.
Would you agree?

Passata Pasta Sauce

(Source: Bill HR through Flickr. This photo was taken on January 10, 2009 using aCanon EOS 50D.)

Having mentioned to a colleague that I'd been impressed with the flavour a Jamie Oliver Tomato and Rosemary pasta sauce my colleague recounted how she makes her own pasta sauce each week. So having taken note of her instructions I was keen to give some budget friendly Passata a go  - the jarred sauces are getting increasingly expensive aren't they?

Well I don't pretend to be an expert, so I'm not embarrassed with having not learnt about this sooner, but I thought I'd share this tasty money saving tip.

Ingredients to make enough pasta sauce for 2 meals for 2 to 4 people depending on how greedy you are:
2 tbls Olive Oil
1 - 2 onions
garlic - to your taste, I like lots so 4 crushed cloves
One packet of Passata (40p at Co-op, bargain!)

1. Gently heat the oil, garlic and onion on a low heat until the onion has cooked to a translucent texture.
2. Once the herbs have softened, add the Passata and leave to simmer very gently for 10 mins.
3. If being prepared for another day, leave to cool and either divide into two for the fridge or freezer.

This is the basic tomato sauce to which you can add different herbs and chopped vegetables depending on the style you are cooking for. 

Please also see the lovely Hannah's at Lou Lou Loves Vintage Basic Sauce Recipe  for a heavier tomato based sauce.

Giveaway WINNER!

This is fun isn't it - I love blog-land!

So this lucky person is one step closer to crunching their abs:

No. 4 - Betty of Mrs Yappy Dog Please email me your mailing address to trulygoodwoman@gmail.com

Chosen by Random Number Generator.

I've tried showing the list of 10 entrants - but my post doesn't like the encrypting stuff.

Big love to you all - thanks for playing. xxx