This Christmas...

I'm getting ready for: the arrival of my aunt and uncle from England(if they even manage to come with all the snow they're getting over there, delaying most of the flights out of London) who are vegos so we've had to do a little extra preparation for them and we're having a vegetarian Christmas for them which is exciting as we're going to try all these new recipes out of the various vegetarian cookbooks we've accumulated over the years. A Sweet Potato and Leek Roulade with a Christmas Stuffing looks like it's going to be the main attraction on our Christmas table this year.

I'm baking: music note shaped vanilla cookies as per the recipe from the new Junior Masterchef cook book(recipes are so much easier and much more to my liking than anything that would be in the 'adult' Masterchef cookbook) using vanilla extract and not vanilla essence. I ended up making 6 batches of them for all of mother's 30 piano students.

I'm listening to: Glee's new Christmas album. We haven't bought a new Christmas album in a couple of years and have stuck to the collection of carol CDs we already have but I was itching for a new one and I knew the Glee album would not disappoint. All the songs on it new so joyous and truly embody the spirit of Christmas, even with all the new carols on it that I've never heard before and the gospel twist on "Angels We Have Heard On High" was magical.

I'm decorating: my dad's Christmas tree. He's a bit of a scrooge so he only bought his own Christmas tree a couple years ago after I asked him to get one. so him, my brother and I were putting up the ball-balls,tinsel and lights over the weekend and we bought a nice gold, sparkly star to go on top as we couldn't find one in the shops when we looked for one in 2008(we didn't end up putting the tree up in 2009). It's been really nice to celebrate Christmas not only at my mum's house but at my dad's too.

I'm buying: the majority of my gifts online for the family(and even for myself as my mum hasn't quite figured out how to use paypal and online shopping sites)as I can buy more unique and tailor-made gifts for the recipients to enjoy. And as always there are huge discounts usually when buying online.


I'm attending: a Christmas carol concert. My dad, brother and I went to one this weekend at the local park which was much easier than attending one in the city as the parking/walking distance was less of a hassle and as we couldn't stay for long we had no trouble leaving easily. It was really nice to just spend the evening with other families who were getting into the Christmas spirit. They had candles you could buy for $2 but straight away my brother blew it out as well as attempting to blow out the 'big' candle that the organisers were attempting to light all the other smaller ones with to give to people. Luckily we managed to keep the second one alight, even though I did have to put my hand over my brother's mouth every now and then.

I'm loving: the fact that the whole month of December is special if you put in the effort and relish the jolly spirit of the season; not just the 25th.

I'm photographing: Our lovely advent wooden 're-useable' advent calendar. I've never been a fan of the chocolate ones and this one is so much more exciting even though we've had it for years and I probably know all the trinkets off by heart. If you count you'll find there are 20 toys as today is of course the 20th of December(for the next hour and five minutes anyway...)

Have a lovely Christmas all!

P.S. Feel free to use this as a blog tag if you're in a 'jolly spirit'.

The Oil Cleansing Method

I stumbled upon the 'Oil Cleansing Method' quite some time ago, which claims that using a combination of oils to cleanse your face will leave it free of blemishes and imperfections. The idea that I could clean my face with something so simple and inexpensive was very alluring. There are plenty of organic mass-produced, environmentally friendly beauty products out there but they're usually uber expensive and it's difficult to find ones that actually work and if they don't suit your skin you've wasted your money and the product just ends up going into landfill. So, my current fascination is with natural household pantry items, which usually consist of only one ingredient, that you can use on your face and body.

I would recommend using your oil concoction one a week or every fortnight; too often and your skin will feel dry and tight. The oil definitely doesn't make your skin oilier as most would assume. Conversely, it actually 'eats' the natural oil on your skin and washes most of it away when you wipe the rest of the oil concoction off your face.

Making the mixture is ridiculously easy; simply add 80% olive oil to a jar with 20% castor oil(which I bought from a pharmacy). All I did was put in four tablespoons of olive oil in a small jar, along with one tablespoon of the castor oil and then repeated this process until the jar was full.

To use:

1. Splash a little water on your face to moisten the skin.

2. Pour a roughly 50 cent sized splash of the mixture into your hand and rub your palms together to warm the oil.

3. Apply mixture to your face, gently rubbing in using a circular motion.

4. Lie a washcloth drenched in hot water over your face. The steam helps to lift the oil off your skin.

5. Wipe the oil off your face using the washcloth.

6. Rinse the washcloth and repeat steps 4 & 5 another 3 times to completely get all the oil mixture off your face.

The mixture really helps to get rid of impurities and with continued use your skin starts to become much smoother, clearer and fresher!

I love the oil cleansing method so much that I decided to make up a batch for my close friend, Chloe. A little preserve jar and a pretty ribbon made it a sweet present. I'd definitely recommend the oil mixture as a small birthday or Christmas present as it's cheap, practical and when presented in a cute jar can look very unique.

I'll be trialling a couple other natural beauty products in the coming weeks so it would be really great if you guys could test out these 'recipes' with me and let me know how they work for you!

A Pretty Little Package

I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and this parcel I received in the mail last week was no exception. Such an eco-friendly/nature vibe to it. And indeed it was, a birthday gift from Aunt & Uncle all the way over in England from this aussie online shop Biome where they sell nothing but stuff that's good for Mother Earth, pretty much an eco department store online.

Inside the beautiful parcel, that I could hardly bare to open was a stunning little teardrop necklace that will go with pretty much anything and....wait for it... is made from 100% recycled materials! Amazing! (I wonder if they'd recycle it if I put it in the recycling bin....not that I ever would part with it!) Even the little pouch it came in is made from certified organic cotton with a bamboo and soysilk yarn drawstring. Fancy!

Just been having a nosy round the site and these are some of my favourite items:

A solar powered mobile phone charger

Recycled paper pens

A stainless steel food thermos (keeps food hot for 5 hours!)

Stainless steel water bottle (won't leach hardmful chemicals into your water like plastic bottles do)

Last but not least, a bangle made from old knitting needles melted together!