Author: Suzi Stamp

V is for Vacation

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019V

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

The season is fast-moving from Spring into Summer and conversations with friends, family and work colleagues is turning toward holidays and vacations so, with todays Blogging from A to Z April Challenge letter being V I decided to share some vacation destinations and memories of my own.

I have rarely left the UK, where I live to go on holiday, the times I did go abroad were a long time ago, the first trip I made was in the winter of 1998 when I visited Aachen in Germany with my Aunt who was a languages teacher.  Along with her class we travelled by coach and on the ferry from Dover to Germany for a 24 hour Christmas shopping trip.  I loved this fleeting trip, there was so much to see and do.  The markets that we visited had lots of hand-made, traditional gifts that we could purchase and I remember being given mulled wine or cider from many of the vendors which was really tasty.  I remember there being snow on the ground and of a visit to a church that had cushions on the floor for you to lie on so you could admire the artwork on the ceilings without getting dizzy.  I remember eating some lovely crepes and some kind of donut balls and giant pretzels that were bigger than your head!  And I remember the journey back, our ferry couldn’t dock for hours because of a storm and lots of my aunt’s students got sick.  I was lucky and managed to escape sea sickness.  To pass the time I took myself off on a walk around the ferry and visited a few of the on-board shops that they had.

The next trip abroad that I went on was one to Lourdes.  I went with my church group and worked as a volunteer helping with the sick people who were there, some of this work took place in a large hospital or hospice there and we had to get the visitors ready for going out, feed and clothe them and accompany them on the day out.  We went for a midnight candle lit vigil at The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes which was as moving as it was beautiful.  I don’t really remember much else of this trip aside from a huge thunder-storm that we had on the last day we were there, we were loading up the coaches for our trip back and it was as if someone had ripped the sky apart, the noise was deafening.  The storm came complete with hail stones that were huge and after 5 minutes littered the ground and almost came up to our knees.

Other vacations I have been on have been in this country.  I owned a Volkswagen T25 pop top camper and went away in it yearly.  Mostly I toured the South and West of Wales, visiting beaches and little bays, ports and doing a lot of walking.  One of my favorite sites to stay on is Celtic Camping which is situated on the Pembrokeshire coastline in West Wales.  It is the perfect spot to stay at, the site is fairly quiet and has spectacular views.  You can pretty much park up wherever you fancy on site and there is an option to have a proper camp fire if you want, and for me, camping with a fire is just perfect to me.  This site is not too far a drive from St Davids which is home to the loveliest cathedral.  Porthgain is not too far away ether, I have both driven and walked from the campsite.  There is a pub worth checking out there called The Sloop that do some really tasty food and beer!

IMG_0258

I’ve not yet thought about vacations this year, I don’t have my camper anymore so think I will be having lots of little day trips instead but, hopefully, some o

f them will involve a day out at a beach and lots of icecream too!!

Many of the places I have stayed at have been close to beaches, for me a summer vacation is not the same without seeing, or setting foot on a beach!

What sort of vacations have you been on?

Top 10 Eco Products

| Suzi Stamp

IMG_1377

As a fair few of my blog posts this month (not including the Blogging from A -Z April Challenge posts) have been about being more eco-friendly I thought that today’s Top 10 post should be about my favorite 10 eco products.  So, here is the list, in no particular order…

  • Wooden toothbrush from Charbrush.  This toothbrush is fully recyclable and comes with a pot of charcoal powder which can be used with or without toothpaste and helps to remove stains from your teeth!
  • Ice Guard Crystal Deodorant.  This is made from natural mineral salts and has helped me with perspiration, keeps smells at bay and is just a lovely product to use.
  • Lush Solid Shampoo in Godiva.  This smells truly amazing and leaves my hair clean and shiny with a fragrance that lasts for days.
  • Lush Solid Conditioner in Sugar Daddy-O.  Again, this smells divine and is really good at conditioning my bleached and coloured hair, leaving it silky smooth and knot free.
  • Chilly’s Bottles.  these bottles are made from metal and can be used with either hot or cold drinks, they are perfect for cool beverages in the summer and the neck opening is big enough to pop a few ice cubes through too.  There is a huge array of colours and designs to choose from too!
  • Talking of ice cubes, I really love this ice-cube tray.  Not only does it make perfect sized cubes but it is a really brilliant design that can be used for years to come!
  • Produce bags.  I take these with me when shopping so that I can keep loose produce together and never have to use a single use bag again.
  • Method Laundry Detergent and Fabric Conditioner.  All of Method’s range smell lovely and their laundry detergent is no different.  I love that you only need to use a tiny bit, the scent lasts for ages and it is not as harmful to the environment as other laundry products.
  • Metal lunch box.  I have this A Slice of Green box which has 2 separate compartments, perfect for sandwiches and a salad, it also comes with a seperate little tin that can be used for snacks such as nuts.  Its much more sturdy that a plastic lunch box.
  • Coconut oil.  I tink this may be the ultimate product as it can be used for so many different things.  I use mine as a moisturizer, hair conditioning treatment, as a mouth wash, for brushing my teeth, cooking with…the list is endless, and by using it in so many different ways I can cut down on other products that I use.

U is for Urban Vinyl

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019U

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

Todays Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is the letter U and Urban Vinyl.

So, what is Urban Vinyl?  Well, it can be classed as art, designer toys, collectables and many other things.  I really like Urban Vinyl as many of the pieces are designed or decorated by artists, one of my favorite stores is Artoyz which do so many different figures, from The Simpsons through to Super Heroes.  There are ranges of figurines that are all the same shape and form that have been decorated by different people and I love how different each look (for example Dunny’s by KidRobot)

I have a few different pieces…

IMG_E3875IMG_E3874

These are all part of the Smorking Labbit range by KidRobot.  The slug is one of my favorite pieces, he’s called “Bob the Amazing Action Slug” and I have had him for so many years now I can barely remember when I bought him.

One of the nicest things about many of the Urban Vinyl figures that you can buy, is that many of them are limited edition but pocket friendly in price.  There are a different array of figures you can buy depending on what you want to spend.  the other thing I love is that you can add art pieces to your home that have personality and their own character style.

Other Urban Vinyl artists that I love are Lunartik and his Cup of Tea range, and Medicom, especially his BearBrick series.

Do you have any Urban Vinyl?

Ways to Become More Eco-Friendy

| Suzi Stamp

Becoming more eco-friendly is not just about reducing the amount of plastic that we use, nor is it just making sure that we re-cycle or re-use items as  much as possible, there are so many other things we can do to help the environment and reduce the impact that we have on it, and there are ways that we can help other earth inhabitants to not just survive but to thrive too.  And each little step we take to help our environment goes a long way towards helping us and Earth to survive.

Earth Day, this year, was about raising awareness, and putting into action, plans to Protect Our Species, from tiny insects to larger animals, and there are so many ways we can do our bit to help.

Bees are one of the many declining insects in our world, without them and other insects, we would have no food supplies, we rely on these little creatures to pollinate crops that give us our food.  With no insects we would have no corn, no salads, no crops, no coffee…nothing.  We can help to increase their numbers in lots of different ways – planting bee friendly plants and flowers, encouraging insects into our garden spaces by making insect houses and reducing our use of pesticides.  There is plenty more that we can do from inside the house too, things like reducing the amount of aerosols we use, a good example is to switch from spray canned antiperspirants and using block deodorants instead (I’m especially fond of Lush’s Sunflower Deodorant), using less harsh chemicals when cleaning our homes by making our own cleaners or choosing products that are less harmful to the environment.

Being a more conscious shopper can also help the environment.  Choosing to source and buy more local produce will lead to less carbon emissions, support the local producers and encourage them to plant more crops which, in turn, will encourage more wildlife to stay in the area and survive.  Think about how far the items you buy have had to travel to get to you and take steps to reduce the mileage travelled by each product you buy.

Choose products that will last longer, opt for garments that have been made from materials that are not as harmful to the environment, and where possible, try to steer clear of fast fashion or outfits that you may use only once.  If clothing is ripped or has a hole, opt to mend it rather than replace, and if a garment is dirty or stained then learn the tricks and tips to get stains out rather than add it to landfill.  If that isn’t possible then see if you can salvage parts of it and re-make into something else you can continue to wear or use for a time.

Reduce food waste, create a meal plan and buy only what you need.  If you cook too much food for a meal see if you can use it in another meal or have the leftovers for lunch the following day.  i regularly have pasta and will then have it cold the following day for lunch with a salad.  Freeze leftovers and have them at a later date if you don’t fancy eating it the following day.  If you have foodstuffs that are nearing their expiry date and you know you are not going to use them up, see if friends and family would like to have them instead, or, see if you can invite friends and family over and use the items in a feast.

There is so much more that we can be doing for the survival of all species if we just use our brains more and think about what we are doing.  I’m sure that there are lots of other ways we can become more eco-friendly.  What tips do you have?  Let me know in the comments….

T is for Thankful

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019T

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

Today’s post for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge was going to be about television  but, as I don’t really watch tv, it seemed like a really silly topic for me to blog about, so, instead, today, this post is going to be abput being thankful.

I’ve been thinking a lot, recently, about how in this day and age, people are always wanting bigger and better, newer and more fancy things, more social media followers and, in general, just more, more, more.  No one seems to stop and be thankful for what they have any more and are always seeming to be on the look out for ways to improve on what they have.  You see it in cleverly engineered adverts, designed to make us think that we want the most up to date car or phone, or kitchen appliance, and adverts are not just created to suck in the adults, advertisers are targeting children from a young age.  i witnessed a mother with her child out shopping the other week and all that seemed to come from the child’s mouth was “I want, I want, I want” and when the mother tried to explain to her kid that he had similar at home the child said that it was an old version and wasn’t cool to play with anymore.

I have taken a stand against this and no longer buy magazines, I hardly watch tv, nor do I spend a lot of time on social media, rarely seeing an advert for anything.  On top of that I have started to write down things that I have been thankful for on a day-to-day basis.  Some of the things I am thankful for are small, almost, silly things and others are bigger.  Heres what I have for today.

I am thankful for my kettle and mug, without them I would be unable to kick-start my day in the best way I know how.

I am thankful for the sunny mornings and warm days which have enabled me to get out into the garden and work on setting up my flower bed/veg patch.

I am thankful for my dog, without her I wouldn’t smile half as much.

I am thankful for my car, it’s not new, but it is all mine and it gets me to and from work and other places safely.

I am thankful for my family and friends who are always there for me no matter what.

I am thankful for my home, it gives me shelter and a place to feel safe.

I am thankful for my phone and laptop which I use regularly to blog and watch Netflix on.

I have so much, day-to-day, to be thankful for, the list could be endless if I were to write down everything.  There is something really nice, and almost Mindful about writing down a list of things to be thankful for.  And, no matter how bad a day I could have had, I can turn those feelings around just by taking part in this simple exercise.

What are you thankful for?  Let me know in the comments!

S is for Social Media

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019S

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

Untitled design(1)

Today’s post for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is about Social Media.

Back in the day, way back when social media sites were just starting to emerge, I had a MySpace account and really loved being able to connect with friends and family, make new friends and be able to write about my thoughts and feelings, share music and customise my site to the max.  Then Facebook seemed to arrive out of no where and my MySpace account was abandoned as all my friends seemed to prefer Facebook.  For years I loved my Facebook account and would post to it several times a day.  I loved to read what my friends were doing.  Facebook then introduced sharing of photos and it was nice to see my friends pictures as well as read what was going on in their lives.  Eventually Facebook introduced sharing of websites, news articles, memes and eventually, with so many selling groups becoming popular, they introduced Marketplace.  I stopped seeing what my friends were doing and my feed became a mishmash of music videos, re-posted memes and adverts and that’s when I decided to quit the platform.

I had, and still have my original Instagram account and have made one specifically for the blog (you can find that here), I also have a Twitter, a Pinterest account and I can be found on Bloglovin’.  I’m not particularly active on any of them.

I had plans to be active on all my social media platforms and in several of my Monthly Goals posts have set myself a goal of learning about the platforms that I have and start using them more effectively but in all honesty, I am put off by the whole numbers game and all the other silly games that are played there in order to get noticed.  There are people who follow you in the hope that you will follow back, regardless of whether the things they post are interesting to you, and then you get unfollowed the day later because you didn’t follow back.  There are people with hundreds and thousands of followers but when you look at the interaction on each post, there only seem to be a handful of likes or comments.  People seem to be obsessed with the number of followers that you have, the higher the amount the more interesting you become to brands and the more “influencer” you are.  But, from what I have looked at, and what I have seen, there seems to be a flaw there, the more followers you have should not mean anything.  Just because you have 4000 followers, does not mean that they will all see your posts and like the image and be swayed into buying the product, it just means that you have a higher potential reach.  I have looked at people who have smaller numbers of followers and they seem to get a higher percentage of likes and comments than those with more followers.

And, the whole numbers thing is just one element that I’m tired of.  The other thing I am getting bored with is the amount of images that are shared that are styled so much and look magazine perfect.  I’m not against this at all, I think a beautifully styled image is lovely, but I also want to see images that have just been shot in the moment and are not perfect.  We all have flaws, images have flaws and that makes us human.

I have been reading a lot about Instagram and have read several articles about how you should pick a theme for your feed, so that all the images tie in with each other, whether it is using the same background, or colour scheme, or the same filter, and while I agree with this to some extent, I am perfectly happy to post things that please me and fit in with me as a person, rather than me as a brand.

And, I think, really, that is what I struggle with, and maybe why I am not so active on social media, the whole idea that you have to be your own brand and develop your social media channels to fit that brand.  And that is also why I prefer my blog, and reading other people’s blogs, either here on WordPress or over on Blogger, most of the bloggers that I follow have an honesty about them, a sort of what you read is what you get, sort of style, and I hope that, along the way, when you read my blog posts, that you get a true understanding of who I am and what I am about.

What are your thoughts on social media?

R is for Roxy Takes Over

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019R

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

IMG_2130                   IMG_2129

Mummy said that today, because the letter for the April A to Z Challenge is R, that I could take over her blog for the day!  I had to promise not to change anything on her blog though and I was only allowed to write this post, I had to agree with her but if I had my way, I’d change all her blog posts to pictures of me because I’m sure I’m much more interesting to look at than the posts she writes!

I’ve been watching and helping Mummy with her blogging since she started this blog so I sort of know what I am doing but, incase there are any mistakes then I will apologise now!  Hooman typey pads are not made for pupper toes to use easily!

So, how is everyone doing today?  I’ve been having a lovely sleep, its one of my very favorite things to do apart from snoozing and napping and digging.  I’ve really been liking the weather we are having at the moment, its been sunny but not too hot – perfect weather for a little play in the garden while Mummy digs for treasures.  She says that she is preparing the flower bed so she can plant some things to grow but she seems to be making big piles that are just stones and weeds…

The other day, my Mummy and Uncle went out in the day and came back with some new toys for me, they said they were Easter presents but I don’t know what that means… all I know is I have 3 new toys that I can get everyone to play with!  I had a piggy that you unscrew and Mummy puts these circle treats on, they take aaaagggggeeesss to get back off but they are yummy!  I also had a throwy thing and a tug toy that is really heavy duty, I don’t think I will be able to destroy it as quickly as other toys though!

How are you liking Mummys posts on the A to Z Challenge?  She has been working super hard on them, she tells me about them but I forget to listen sometimes….  How are you all doing on the challenge?  I think I will get Mummy to read some to me, she has read a few different ones to me when we are going to sleep!

Hope you all have a lovely day!  I hope Mummy lets me blog with you all again soon!  I’m off for a little nap now, blogging is super tiring isn’t it?

IMG_0942                                     IMG_0713

 

Q is for Quiet

| Suzi Stamp

AtoZ2019Q

You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.

Todays Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter is Q and the topic I have chosen for this letter is Quiet.

In a world that is filled with noise, from physical noise such as cars, phones, household goods, televisions, radios and chatter, to the mental noise of our brain – the lists and thoughts running through our head on a minute by minute basis I often feel the need to seek out some quiet.  I need to escape the hubbub of the day, switch off the thoughts I have and just escape to a place of solace where I can just exist for a while and become an observer of all that noise.

Sometimes, I like to sit and read in the quiet of my room, with no tv or music in the background, just the peaceful silence, other times I take a bath and lie fully immersed in the water just listening to my breath and heart creating their own musical pattern, and other times I like to sit and meditate, using Mindfulness and it’s teachings to help me observe the things I can’t change.

I have been on a few different mindfulness courses over the years and have found these lessons to be really helpful when we are surrounded with noise, both internally and externally, it can help you to focus on the moment, lets you check in with yourself and how you are feeling and raises an awareness of things that you may not have noticed before.

There are lots of ways to practice mindfulness, from breathing exercises to full on meditation sessions.  My favorite is the Calm App which lets you practice different mindful skills and is a really good guide when starting out.  I really like the Breathe section which helps you to focus on your breath.  This always helps to centre me and bring me back to the present moment.  I like to use this exercise when I am in work and need a few minutes to myself.

I think that having Quiet in our lives is even more important now than it ever has been and whether you choose mindfulness or any other way to have quiet moments, it is worth building this into your day-to-day routine.

How do you incorporate quiet into your life?

Earth Day

| Suzi Stamp

Earth Day is fast approaching and takes place on 22nd April.  This day sees people taking part in all sorts of activities that aim to spread awareness, start a movement to get things done, and take action against things that are harming our planet or that will help species to survive.

Many people will start or sign petitions, others will hold a local area clean up day, some will hand out leaflets about how we can take steps to help the bees, some organisations will help promote green living, reduce plastic, educate on things we can re-use or recycle.

This day is a day to take steps to help our planet.  I intend to take a bag out with me and pick up any litter I see, brin it home and re-cycle it or dispose of it in the proper manner.  If we all did this on a day to day basis there would be less litter getting into our sewers and waterways, less then making its way to the sea, and there would be less damage being done to the eco-system, fewer animals being killed by our selfish, lazy ways and our streets would be cleaner environments for us to live in too.

What will you do this Earth Day?