Hey Sweeties,
At the end of May this year my husband and I went to the final day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. It wasn’t a day I was planning on talking about here to you know, but it turned out to be an amazing day, we both really enjoyed ourselves and I got some nice pictures so…
Hey Sweeties,
The Grand National is a death trap for both horses and riders. I disagree with the number of horses entered; 30+ horses galloping at speed all trying to clear huge fences is just stupid and making injury inevitable. While I acknowledge the National is for the elite degree of horses and riders (much of its appeal), the height (and width) of the jumps is too great for a race; and the distance of the course –have you tried jumping a fallen log in the woods when you are feeling a bit tired? Try jumping 30 (two laps of 16) huge hedges, most with ditches before and after, across a five mile stretch.
Sandown Races last August
Today I thought I would list my top ten pet peeves, things that other people do (or don’t do) that drive me absolutely round the twist. Of course I have a lot more pet peeves than just on this list but for the sake of saving time these are the highlights.
Hey Sweeties,
Call me late to the party for waiting until now to mention it (that’s blog scheduling for you!) but how great is the This Girl Can campaign by Sport England?
For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the advert currently crossing the air waves.
The most hilarious thing I have heard (on the radio) about this campaign is that this advert is sexist. SEXIST?! How on earth is this campaign sexist? It shows real women getting out there and doing their thing; it’s nothing other than fantastic. If this campaign used skinny framed, big boobed, highly attractive women in full makeup then you might have an argument. But it doesn’t. End of.
Through these Sunday Chat posts, I have spoken about confidence and about the benefits of doing something new amongst other things and I feel that the This Girl Can campaign is only but adding to this group of posts as well as the messages and advice I myself am trying to pass on to you, Sweeties.
(For a bit of context) Sport England following research, identified that there are 2 million fewer women than men doing sport/keeping active for fear of well… essentially not looking their best in front of others and feeling a bit self conscious which is crazy but as a woman who does exercise and keeps active, I can totally relate! Last spring/summer, I started going out for runs/jogs in the evenings and where Ian and I used to live, I could do a really good circuit that took me round the back of the village; it was beautiful, scenic but more importantly, I could exercise away from the glare of others, it was private and I was alone.
As you all know I play hockey and this involves training once a week with a mixed group of people (men and women) and then a match at the weekends. I don’t worry about wearing no makeup as aside from the unattractiveness of makeup running down your face when you get hot and sweaty, mascara in your eyes owing to said sweating, stings like hell! My ‘fear’ is actually not performing well in front of others. I am better in matches because the adrenaline of the game takes over and you haven’t got time to think about anything except for the game at hand but in training, when it’s perfectly acceptable to make mistakes… that’s when I worry. Truth is, I don’t enjoy the games… well that’s a lie, I do enjoy the games and I love the training sessions, I just do a fantastic job of psyching myself out of them until the hour before. It’s ridiculous but at the moment I am just going through a stage of having an incredible lack of confidence in my abilities. I am also still finding my place within a new group of people and that’s always a factor with these things.
But every woman is different and ‘the fear’ that the campaign is trying to both raise and tackle will be different for everyone. Some may love gyms and don’t worry about sweating, but the thought of exercising alone is unthinkable and vice versa. For me, the thought of never playing hockey again fills me with dread so I put my confidence issues aside and just go for it and I think everyone reading this should do too!
Until next time x
PS.
30.01.2015: I have nothing against Company Magazine as I am sure they mean well but this kind of content from women’s publications drives me mad! It also goes almost completely against the above campaign! Working out is not about looking good while doing it; it’s ok to sweat and look a mess! I love their point regarding wearing waterproof mascara on the off chance you catch the attention of the Personal Trainer… because that is of course why women go to the gym. Man alive!
Yes I commented back to them…!
Hey Sweeties,
Hello Monday! One more week of work and its hello Christmas; can’t wait!
Yesterday the ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ (#SPOTY2014) was announced and Lewis Hamilton took the crown and I hate to say it but I will… I am not sure this was the right result (*fights off rotten fruit being thrown*). Of course the winner is decided by public vote and if the majority voted for Lewis then Lewis is the winner. But I can’t help but feel others were (dare I say it) more deserving?
Before you all shout outrageous things at me (and throw more rotten fruit), let’s get one thing straight. Lewis Hamilton is an incredible (F1) driver and I don’t for one moment doubt his skill, his ambition and his success. My problem is actually that I do not see F1 as a sport. Yes it does demand an element of physical strength but when you have other nominees in contention for the title who really put themselves through rigorous mental and physical testing and don’t have anywhere near the same amount (if any) of sponsorship access (like Lewis) and still win gold medals and break world records in their respective areas, then yes, I think they are worth shouting about more. Put Lewis in a crap car and yes he’ll be able to rag it round a race track but win? No.
I was though absolutely delighted when the England Women’s rugby team took the award for ‘Best Team’ as here you have a group of women who all have part-time jobs and yet can still be completely committed to and at the top of their game in rugby. I won’t begin a feminist debate on here now but I can’t help but be routing for the women -whether single handily or in a team- do amazing things and get recognition for it against men in the same categories.
Moving on.
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… it really is! I have come home this evening from work to a house filled with Christmas tunes playing and Ian making preparations in the living room to start hosting the festivities before the Christmas rush really begins and it becomes food, drink and crimbo films a plenty for a few days. I can also really feel the year beginning to wrap itself up and start making way for 2015… although I really can’t be dealing with New Year thoughts right now. Anyone else start slamming the breaks on life around this time, not dreading but sort of trying to delay the new year coming in? Always about 11:55pm on 31st December I try to cling on to the year almost gone before I feel ready to start a fresh… just me?
Anyway, think I’ll leave it for today (I am always conscious that you guys might not like my posts that are too text heavy and not beauty related? Some feedback would be great sometime if you’re passing and have 5 minutes). I have my work Christmas party tomorrow night which you’ll hopefully read about on Wednesday and tomorrow and Thursday’s posts are beauty reviews! Exciting week eh?!
Until tomorrow x