The no-makeup selfie…

There’s currently a craze going around Facebook where women are encouraged to post a makeup free selfie and make a donation to a cancer charity, in order to raise awareness of cancer. I am the first to applaud anyone who generously gives money to any charitable organisation, however, the part I question is the no makeup selfie.

It makes me wonder, first, in my humble opinion, a makeup free selfie doesn’t really align with the cancer awareness aim…maybe posting an image of directions of how to do various self checks for various cancers would be more beneficial in the “awareness” aspect.

But…

The more questionable part, is why is it a big deal that these selfies are makeup free? Are women needing encouragement to post photos without layers of makeup? I don’t consider myself overly naturally beautiful, and I don’t particularly love all of my features, but in saying that, many of my photos are makeup free and frequently posted on social media without the thought of “oh wow, I’m makeup free here” but rather “this is a nice photo…I’ll *insert social media platform here* this one!”

I believe that everyone should be able to make their own decisions, and it doesn’t really bother me if my friends wear makeup or not on any given day. I believe fully in the inner beauty being more important than external beauty (although, in saying that, all of my friends are incredibly beautiful people inside and out!).

But, a makeup free selfie being a big deal bothers me just a little. A selfie is a selfie, makeup free or not.

No, I haven’t joined this trend and posted my #NoMakeupSelfie on Facebook, but this doesn’t mean I don’t care about awareness campaigns or charities or cancer patients/survivors. Quite the opposite really. I just show my support slightly differently. In the last 12 months, I’ve volunteered for cancer charities and assisted on event days, donated money to these charities and also plan to do Dry July this year. We all show our support in different ways and not seeing someone’s selfie on Facebook doesn’t make them any less aware or charitable.

And yes, I am willing to put this into action and share a selfie of me on a day where I had absolutely no makeup on…

And another…

Oh, why not, just one more!

Friends reunited: A tale of two bears

There once lived two bear friends, named Dougal and Heston.

Dougal and Heston were the very best of friends, but living in different states means that they don’t see each other often. They talk almost daily, but rarely get to visit each other.

But, Dougal has just arrived home from visiting Heston and they had the best time playing together, with Heston’s toddler friend, Samuel.

Samuel was so excited to have Dougal over and made sure that Dougal and Heston had loads of fun. It was the first time for Dougal to meet Samuel and a friendship was formed instantly. Dougal thought Samuel was a lot of fun and Samuel loved having someone else to play with.

They spent days playing with cars and memory games and dancing around to music with Samuel. Sometimes they were that focused on the fun they were having, they forgot Samuel’s family were also in the house! There was many moments of mindlessly breaking into song while they were dancing.

Dougal and Heston’s friendship became stronger than ever after spending two weeks together and visiting places together, and Dougal loved meeting Samuel and a new friendship quickly formed there too.

Is there no one more sweet than a young child?

While I’m on holiday, I’m lucky enough to be staying with one of the most amazing ladies to have ever entered my life. She is married and has a young son.

I ventured out alone today, to meet up with another great friend and enjoy a coffee and a little shopping. So you could say I had an awesome day.

However, the best part was still to come…

When I arrived home in the early evening, I dropped my shopping into my room and noticed an envelope with my name on it sitting against my pillow. Waiting.

My name was hand written by the toddler and very cute! So of course I thank him for the lovely surprise and go about my evening leaving it sitting proudly on the bed.

Later on this evening, it made me think of all the beautiful toddler moments I’ve had since I arrived almost a week ago. I had barely even managed to say “hey! How are you?” to my friend at the airport before I got the sweetest “I love you” from the toddler.

I’m not an affectionate person generally. I don’t often use the phrase “I love you” to anyone, whether it be family or good friend. I do with those select few amazingly beautiful friends who do mean the absolute world to me, but that’s about it. I have nothing against people showing affection, I’m just not overly affectionate myself. That’s just me. But with that being said, being told you’re loved by a toddler a matter of minutes after landing does tug at the heart strings. A lot. So of course I reciprocated with an “I love you too, buddy!”

Over the last week there’s been many more moments where a simple comment from the Toddler has melted my heart. Far too many to write about them all.

But it made me think of the other young children who are a part of my life. Family members’ kids and also the children of my friends. They all seem to have one thing in common…those tug at the heart string moments. The moments they say something and all you think is “awwwww…” Maybe we could all take something from toddlers. Say it as it is while being adorably sweet, surprise letters on the bed, and maybe, a few more “I love you” gestures to those closest to us.

It’s all about the music

Music is such a diverse thing. There are so many genres and each one can provoke certain memories or emotions.

Personally, music is a huge part of my daily life. Not only do I have a phone (and iPod) full of all my favourite tunes encompassing almost every genre humanly possible; but I’m also blessed to be able to play a few instruments.

There was a time where I would play at least one instrument every day, but as life moves on, it doesn’t quite happen daily these days. In saying that, I very rarely go more than a couple of days without some serious music time. Some days it’s flicking through my music folders until I find something I love to play and pump it out…and other days it’s me playing nothing in particular but just letting my fingers have free rein and play whatever happens to result from that.

Listening to music, however, is pretty much guaranteed to be a daily activity. Whether it be while I get ready for the day, when I’m driving, when I’m home alone or anytime really. Earphones are very rarely out of reach. My music library has songs for any situation and I’ve created a few specific playlists that I focus on at certain times.

My favourite is probably my uplifting inspirational songs playlist. Afterall, you can’t go wrong with some happy tunes to lift a flat or discouraged mood! I have a lot to thank that playlist for really.

There’s a few songs that have particular meaning too. Whether it be the songs that represent parts of my life and certain obstacles that I’ve overcome along the way, or the song that reminds me of my best friend who left this world far too early, or his favourite song that I’ve got so many memories of him playing it over and over. I still can’t listen to his favourite song without memories flooding in of the times we shared.

Here’s to the music!