10 Ways to Make Life Lovely | Stop and Smell the Roses

10 Ways to Make Life Lovely | Stop and Smell the Roses

via

Morning, morning! Here we are again! The weekend is nigh and we have some incredible favourites to share with you today to make life a little lovely, a little easier and a little more positive - one step at a time.

We're kicking off with the most incredible little piece of sportswear for you and your lover, we've also got a couple of awesome little life hacks to keep both you and your fresh flowers hydrated, then of course there's our (any everyone else's) powerful Netflix obsession right now, a fab concept for free-lancers/entrepreneurs AND (as if that wasn't enough already!) we're talking quiet, calm moments for the little people in your life...

Phewee! And now I've caught my breath, let's kick things off with my personal favourite of the last few weeks...

Ladies + gents, meet Enso!

This awesome company create utterly gorgeous silicone rings in all sizes and various styles for you to swap out with your actual rings when doing activities that may damage them.

Whether it's protecting your rings from rock-climbing, yoga or a bit of DIY, or to prevent you from catching your little ones with your hard jewellery, an Enso ring (or several of them, stacked!) is a durable, soft alternative that looks totally awesome on both gals and guys.

We're absolutely besotted with their skinny stackable rings for her, and for guys we love their Ultralite band in Black + Olive, and be sure to check out their new Elements collection for metallic looking bands.

That's my (not so) little stack, above, and I totally love them! So fun playing around with colour combinations, and they've taken all the worry out of wearing my delicate jewellery to walk the hound and practice yoga everyday! #GoEnso guys!

Fresh cut flowers are a firm favourite at this time of year, and they sure do make life lovely, you don't need me to tell you that!

But how do you make sure their loveliness lasts as long as possible, without any drooping tulip heads, falling petals or murky vase water?

Here's some of our favourite hydration hacks for your blooms:

  • For all flowers with hollow stems like tulips, before you drop them into the vase poke a hole into the stem just below the flower head with a needle or even a tooth pick. Why? Well, as soon as the flowers are in the water air bubbles start to rise up the stem which block water from reaching the flower head. As a result, the flower doesn't get the required water and starts to droop. The hole next to the flower head acts as exit for the air bubble
  • Before popping the flowers into a vase cut about half an inch of the end (either cut them underwater or under running water to prevent air bubbles forming) and at a forty-five degree angle. This snips off any stem that may already have blockages and allows for maximum water absorption
  • Provide nourishment to replace what the flowers would have gotten had they not been cut by adding flower food to the vase water! If your blooms didn't come with a sachet of food try the homemade recipe below (or even just a little sugar will do!)
  • Minimise the growth of bacteria in the water. How? Most sachet foods have a little disinfectant in them to help out here, but again, if you're sans sachet, try adding a copper penny to the water to inhibit bacteria. Also, make sure you remove any leaves that aren't above water level, this'll help to keep your water cleaner

Sometimes, being a chronic procrastinator does have its benefits... Like when you're just cruising through the labyrinth that is the H&M website and stumble across their insanely gorgeous, and insanely affordable jewellery line!

I had an absolute field day! If you're looking for the perfect earrings for a summer wedding, or some gorgeous on-trend jewels to accessorise with on your holiday, H&M have got you, girl!

Left to Right: Leaves / Tassels / Cross

Left to Right: Anklets / Disc Necklace / Knot Choker

All on my wish list. All being mailed to my front door come pay day.

Ladies! Hormones can be tough... Can I get a "hell yeah"?!

YUP. I've totally been feeling this lately, and it's been a hot topic with my girlfriends too. As feminists, we don't wanna always look to, or blame our hormones for making life tricky at any given point, but #reallife, sometimes it just is what it is, right?!

If your hormones have been diminishing how lovely life's been feeling of late, maybe you feel like they're hindering your exercise routine, or your work life/studying, well give this article a little read.

Hormone hacking. That's what I'm talking about. Becoming an expert investigator into your own cycle and the habits you gravitate towards within your cycle, so that you can use these phases to your advantage! The article breaks it down phase by phase to help you recognise when you're likely to be most productive, communicate best and feel your most attractive, and when to focus on helping your hormonal balance with diet and self love to see you through the trickier phases.

We love to meditate. If you guys are regular 10 Ways readers, you'll already know that, for sure! So why wait until you're an adult to start this amazingly calming, healthy practice?

Kids meditation is all kinds of lovely, for both the kids, and for parents too (hello, 10 minutes of completely calm!) and the benefits for the future generation are huge! This powerful quote and the video below say it all really...

If every eight year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation

I bet a whole load of you are shaking your head at the screen right now thinking, "Haha! No way my little Archibald will still completely still and quiet if I just ask him to meditate, come on!"

Yeah, I hear you! But what if you put on a little guided meditation for them, that's actually a fusion of story-telling and meditation? Sounds good, right? Check out Jason Stephenson's YouTube playlist of Children's Relaxing Stories for Sleep and Affirmations. Gorgeous, mindful little 15-20 minute stories for your child to sit and relax to.

If you haven't heard of co-working yet and you're a free-lancer, entrepreneur or simply work from home and find that a bit of a struggle (believe it or not, working from home is not always so peachy!) then co-working may just be the solution you've been looking for!

Some clever little genius realised that not all free-lancers and entrepreneurs can afford to, nor do they want to, hire an office space entirely for themselves. Sometimes, the main struggle (aside from your home life to-do list constantly staring you in the face!) is the lack of human face-to-face interaction... But what if you could still do your free-lance work, but in an über cool, comfortable office environment full of other entrepreneurs, doing their own thing, with a rad sense of community thrown in for good measure?! (Oh! And for the fraction of the cost of actually renting an office!)

Guys, it's already happening (I feel like I'm so late to this bandwagon)! Get your booty on over to google and type in your local city/town followed by the phrase 'co-working space' and something marvellous is sure to pop up!

So far, we're LOVING these ones:

We hear so much talk about diets, don't we? Food, and eating clean is almost always a subject for debate these days, and the information you attempt to glean from various food and health blogs can be confusing and conflicting... It's a mind-melt, for sure.

So, when we stumbled across Michael Pollan's 7 Rules for Eating, I have to say, the simplicity was refreshing! Of course, his rules aren't all encompassing, but they're a pretty damn good place to start! Pollan states that everything he's learned about food and health can be summarised in seven words:

Pretty clear cut, right?! Here's his seven rules to help guide you a little further:

  1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognise as food: when you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?"
  2. Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce
  3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store: real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad
  4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot
  5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat: always leave the table a little hungry. Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'
  6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times: it's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?
  7. Don't buy food where you buy your fuel: in the US, 20% of food is eaten in the car

While we're on the subject of fuelling our bodies well, hands up if it's a daily struggle to consume enough water?!

*Raising both mine over here*

It can be tough, hey? And easily forgotten in the midst of everything else in life. That's where the helpful little Dot water bottle by Joseph Joseph comes in real handy!

Fill her up, drink the whole bottle, then twist the bottle cap and see a little dot appear. Rinse + repeat, then twist the cap again, two dots appear, and with a flick of the wrist you can easily track your daily hydration!

I feel like the whole world has been watching this show, and with good reason, but I simply had to include Netflix's '13 Reasons Why' as today's now watching.

If you know the premise of the show, I guess you could argue that it's a funny one to include in a post about making life 'Lovely', and on the surface I guess you'd be right! The series follows teenager Clay Jensen, in his quest to uncover the story behind his classmate and crush, Hannah, and her decision to end her life, and as the synopsis suggests the subject matter is bleak, and disturbing.

However (and that's with a capital H!) this series is all kinds of powerful, and bravely depicts a lot of sensitive and (unfortunately) topical issues, which in a society that still seems to want to sweep many of these topics under the 'taboo' rug, shedding light and raising awareness can only be positive.

And last, but by no means, least! Because it's just not quite warm enough for sandals yet (damn you, British weather!), we're all about the closed-toe slides right now.

They've got that 'almost Summer' vibe and work gorgeously with almost any outfit!

We're head over heels (or should that be 'flats'?!) for the brand St Agni and the Gigi loafers by Free People too!

Have an amazing weekend you fabulous lot, and we'll see you on the flip side!

Login to comment

Follow us on