by Carla Louise | Sep 29, 2011 | Adventures, Photography |
(edit: just realised I’ve forgotten the cocktail pic… will add this weekend! Bad squishy…)
Wow, it’s been a busy few weeks! Any notion I had of life calming down when I returned from the rally and ‘settled down’ to real life again has been firmly squashed, if anything it’s got even busier!
Haven’t even had time to draft a Happy Thursdays post, but instead I thought I’d post a few photos of the rally as a) they’re nowhere else on the internet yet (this is because there are 2101 of them and I have no idea where to start editing that number down to put online. They’d also cost me over £100 to print), and b) it made me the happiest I’ve ever been. Ever 🙂 I clearly have some adventure in my heart!
So… (warning, this doesn’t really even start to cover everything we did, but should give a glimpse.) Don’t forget full write up (well, of the rally – I’m still faffing with the two extra days) is at rustymclusty.wordpress.com 🙂
The P-reg Laguna we bought, after a weekend of Nitro-Mors on the bonnet. See how pretty she was… but I think we made her prettier 😛
Trusty Rusty McLusty (ok, that was terrible, but she was very trusty) in my aunt & uncle’s field:
Rusty & Allegro in Germany, camped near the Nurburgring:
The view we woke to in Switzerland (the coldest night of my entire life, I swear):
View from Rusty’s rear window in the Swiss mountains:
Some proper extreme ironing, not far from Stelvio pass:
Popping to Italy for lunch:
Trying to fix Rat Patrol’s car in Budapest:
Me on Rusty’s bonnet at the Romanian border:
A bunch of us parked at the Romanian border:
Scaring the bloke in the petrol station – I think he thought we were about to hijack him!
Some shots of us driving, just to prove we did:
Group shot in Sibiu, somewhere around 2am:
DONKEY! On the Transfaragasan Highway (as seen on Top Gear – the road, not the donkey):
Group shot at the foot of the south side of the Transfaragasan, left to right me, Andy (Rat Patrol), Graham (Rat Patrol), Rob (Rusty McLusty), Craig (Allegro), Jenny (Allegro), Pete (Allegro):
This was a single vodka and coke in Brasov, celebrating the end of the rally. I dread to think what a double looks like!
Me at the top of Brasov, breathtaking view but I did not like being that close to the edge!
Rob and I on the very last day at Peles Castle in Sinaia:
Yeah… there’s so much more I should put into this post but I don’t want to crash anyone’s computer or bore anyone out of reading my blog 😛 Will link to Flickr album when I’ve evntually got them all up there in some kind of order. But you get the idea. Best nine days of my entire life 🙂
by Carla Louise | Sep 22, 2011 | Adventures, Collecting |
Skating with Jess – and the first picture I have of me on wheels since I was about twelve 🙂
Fizzing with excitement over a new project with Mimi from Little Sips of Tea… watch this space for details
Finally settling on my pin up name… to be revealed along with the new project launch 🙂
Having my gorgeous uni girlies over for the weekend, it was so lovely to see them… and then seeing Val & Matt on Monday on their way to the airport for an impromptu dinner and drinks – was exactly what I needed!
Reliving the rally through showing family & friends photos and videos… bittersweet as I still want to be there, but lovely to remember all the little details
Cake!! Bought by lovely Sophia to make work better this week
Speaking to lovely friends and knowing I’ll see some of them soon
Catching sight of my blackbird just as I was feeling a bit down – he always pops up when I need him 🙂
Completing my first bit of freelance design work in ages – gave me a real sense of achievement!
Booking a vintage hair & makeup workshops with Lou, Mimi and Anna at Make Do and Mend in Chelmsford- it’s going to be SO EXCITING!
Bunting in London, most unexpectedly
The glow after the rally and the feeling of knowing I can do absolutely anything – it’s liberating and a little bit scary!
Wearing beautiful shoes to work
Finding this picture of Rusty online – taken by a complete random when we were on our way to Dover. Muchly exciting!
Talking business ideas with friends and being taken seriously, which is always a good thing
Seeing this lovely little Figaro parked in the smallest space ever – I’m fairly sure it wasn’t a space, but it made me smile. And there’s a Banksy/Robbo rat behind it, which made me think of the rally, which made me smile wistfully.
Two new ponies arriving… one that I’d ordered and one that I’d bought on impulse… whoops! Rather nice to have some new faces on my shelves, even if my shelves are ridiculously overstuffed now.
Janine being on my train entirely unexpectedly 🙂
Making a new friend at work via emails about the staff day – we’re going for lunch and drinks when she’s back from holiday, yay!
So many happy things this week… and it’s of course lovely to be back in the blogosphere! Still not used to not being on the rally, my adventuring spirit has well and truly taken hold, but I have plenty to keep me occupied and plenty to plan 🙂 (edit – have updated with some bits I’d forgotten – apologies if you get this twice!)
by Carla Louise | Sep 19, 2011 | Thrifting |
Whoops… have just checked my bank accounts on the way to work. One is overdrawn, one is down to its last £10, and I still have £206 I have to spend on train tickets this month, quite aside from anything else.
There has obviously been the rally, which is why the savings account is down to its last £10 – I shall be transferring some more to cover the flights which are due to be paid off my credit card on 9 October, and then I really shall be knuckling down to not spending so much and getting my finances back on track.
This month has been a bit daft – aside from the trip, I’ve bought a couple of ponies and a few bits for the house, and done my usual ridiculous spending on magazines, plus stocked up on cosmetics and toiletries, and my Asda shop replenished loads of storecupboard staples I’d run out of like sauces, marinades, oils, spices etc. October will be better 🙂
So parts of Project Thrifty Chic, which I touched on briefly a few weeks ago shall begin in earnest! I have already embarked on meal planning, sat down on my return from the rally and decided that as well as helping my budget, planning food would also help my health and enable me to experiment with new recipes – I love to cook but the constraints of my job and the lack of time I have in the evenings mean I often fall back on making the same old food time after time.
My fridge and freezer are full, my slow cooker is bubbling away at home as I speak (ragu sauce for lasagne tonight) and the dinner I was meant to go out for this evening has been put back to next month as we’re all busy and broke. So, you know, at least I’m in good company! Work lunches are what usually do my budget in, but I have cheese and butter in the fridge, so am going to buy myself some bread and crisps and make my sandwiches. From a health point of view I’m bringing cereal to work in the mornings, and I aim to stop buying so much chocolate too – they’re all small costs but they really add up. I’m also not going shopping again till the end of the month – I have plenty to keep me occupied in the evenings and at the weekends.
There’s only one more weekend left between me and payday and it shouldn’t be too costly as I’m going down to see my godmother with my parents, the MR2 is due an oil change on Sunday, but Dad usually pays for the oil & filter. Worst case scenario I’ll put it on my credit card and sort it out in December. The intention is to have a really good October and a well planned November, then I’ll be out of overdraft and able to pay for my car insurance without too many issues in December. Christmas this year is going to be less about the gifts and cards and more about spending time with my family and making a donation to Woking Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Care in memory of Nick, who they helped so much before he died.
I love the independence of adult life and living alone, but the financial side can be the teensiest bit stressful! But life is too short to get down about it – I’ll just tighten my belt a bit and sort it. I always think that good money management is not never going over your means, but knowing when you’ve exceeded them and taking measures to bring yourself back into the black.
by Carla Louise | Sep 15, 2011 | Adventures, Memories |
I’m very much back to reality with a bump, work is mad (it’s the middle of our grad week and there’s loads to catch up on from when I was away) but oh, I’m still struggling with the post-rally blues.
May attempt to relieve this with some skating at the weekend, it’s been much too long and I reckon flying round a rink at speed might lift my spirits somewhat.
I have a lovely friend staying with me till Friday, a big work event on Friday and my girlies coming up for the weekend, plus some freelance design work that has a deadline of Monday, so I might be a tad absent over the next few days but I’m sure they’ll help me deal with my blues.
I have had some lovely texts and fb messages which have made me smile muchly since I’ve been home and I know I’m very lucky to have such a lovely life filled with such fabulous people… But I still miss Rusty, and Rob, and the two teams we spent so much time with who are still touring Europe. Haha, maybe it’s just a touch of jealousy…
On the plus side, it’s given me a new lease of extremely sparkly life and I have many exciting things in store. Just trying to get some kind of routine back and then I will be blogging regularly again 🙂
by Carla Louise | Sep 4, 2011 | Adventures |
I haven’t dropped off the radar but I’m touring Europe in a banger this week – separate blog at rustymclusty.wordpress.com and on twitter with hashtag #rustymclusty 🙂 I’ll be posting here again September 12th 🙂
by Carla Louise | Aug 30, 2011 | Adventures, Personal Development |
** Warning – waffly post, no photos and may not even appear because has been scheduled. My fingers are crossed.
I am having a feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway phase in my life at the moment… with a whole plethora of things in both my work and my personal life. Taking the plunge and just doing something, and leaving my comfort zone way behind, seem to be the order of the day.
This is not a bad thing, but it’s not particularly restful either… my naturally fretful side (which is usually eclipsed by the laid back, anything-goes side of my personality, but which does rise to the surface during times of stress) is having an absolute field day worrying and analysing and generally freaking out.
However, I am doing these things regardless and I have to say, afterwards, it’s a fabulous feeling! We’re talking a relatively long list of things ranging from wearing red (proper red) lipstick and a vintage dress to work on dress-down Friday, to starting skating again, to organising the company’s Staff Day (which is a massive undertaking I would have sworn I wasn’t able to do, but have actually managed ok so far, touch wood) to my biggest piece of madness to date, agreeing to go on this utterly mad rally.
It’s going to be exhilarating and freeing and liberating, and it will be a massive sense of achievement when I’ve done it, knowing I can drive abroad and sleep in cars and cope with not knowing the language and be in a different country every day and make new friends and let’s not forget talk to blokes on an even footing (as opposed to melting into a terrified puddle every time one approaches). There are all these positives and I am still terrified.
But sometimes, life really is too short not to do things that scare you. And that kind of mood comes around so infrequently (to me, at least) that I’m embracing it and doing things I definitely wouldn’t normally.
On the list of things I would like to do while this mood continues are things like attend a vintage themed event, set up another collective, this time with a theme (that’s an ongoing project anyway, but is going to take courage and luck to actually launch), finally get my shops back up and running, make a start on the book, read my old diaries, have a jumping lesson (on horseback), drive through London, etc. They’re all quite small individually but looking at the things I’ve done, I do and I want to do, and comparing the girl I am now to the girl I was just a few short years ago makes me realise how far I’ve come and how much I am, now, the girl I want to be.
Here’s to adventure and happiness… and a healthy dose of recklessness! (Hell, I’m in my 20s – it’s practically compulsory!)
What do you do that’s unusual, that scares you or that you know might not be entirely sensible?
by Carla Louise | Aug 27, 2011 | Acquired |
I’m completely broke and shouldn’t be buying anything but essentials. Yet somehow, I found myself in Superdrug this morning eyeing up the Sleek Pout Paint, which I’ve heard rave reviews about. Unsurprisingly, three came home with me (they had a 3 for 2 promotion)
I’m stupidly excited to try them out, especially the blue, and to do some mixing 🙂
Next (well actually bought earlier in the week) were two No. 7 blue nail polishes (with the £5 off voucher Boots are so kindly doing at the moment) in Betty Blues (the dark sparkly one) and Poolside Blue (which matches my Pout Paint gorgeously, doesn’t it?!). I also indulged in a hideously expensive but (I’m told) well worth it OPI Start to Finish, which will keep my manicure chip-free for a good week, even if I wash up. And I may have accidentally bought a Barry M black crackle polish too, just to see the effect 🙂 Photographed with my Marie Claire Ciate in Wait Until Dark, which I know has been reviewed on a fair few beauty blogs already.
My apologies for the ridiculously bad photos, incidentally – but really wanted to get a blog up at some stage this weekend and I think this is going to be my only opportunity!
Also indulged in four bottles of Aussie haircare – two shampoos, a three minute miracle conditioner and some Luscious Long leave-in conditioner which smells amazing… so hopefully my poor mistreated hair will soon be in the peak of health.
I actually had a weird craving to dye it dark red again earlier, but I’m not sure I’d get away with it for work… maybe I should do it for the rally and then it’d have time to fade before we get back?!
I promise to try and blog properly soon – no idea what’s happened to my life in last few weeks!
by Carla Louise | Aug 24, 2011 | Books |
Yesterday, within another post, I posted a brief introduction to the Pinup Project. This is my attempt to look better all the time, and therefore feel better and get further. I do not subscribe to the thin-is-everything look, but I do want to be healthy and happy and yes, to turn heads on occasion. It’s my attempt to be a more polished version of myself, which I hope will have a positive effect on my life.
I’ve long thought that you can be strong, independent and career-minded, look fabulous while doing so and still ultimately want more traditional things like a partner and/or children. I can be quite forceful, when the subject arises among friends, about our rights to choose what we want – just because I’m not yet sure I want children, doesn’t mean I want to be a ballbreaking career woman married to the boardroom either. It’s all about the balance. And for women who are working, particularly in the City, I think it’s really important to hang onto your femininity – among the many things we can do equally or better than men, that’s the one they can’t even compete with.
I don’t think we should be ashamed of dressing up and wearing pretty things, be those things shoes, clothes, jewellery or makeup. It doesn’t affect our ability to work and it should differentiate us from the men who do similar jobs. A close friend of mine always wears a vintage dress, curled hair and red lipstick to work on dress down Fridays, and gets a lot of stick for being ‘so dressed up’ – when actually, that’s how she would like to dress all the time and only conforms to the office dress code in the week because it’s required in her contract. It’s as though turning up in anything but a shapeless suit during the week, or a tshirt and jeans on Fridays, is somehow against feminism. And I really couldn’t disagree with that more.
So it’s rather nice, all of a sudden, to find that my views are being backed up by Dr Catherine Hakim from the London School of Economics. She’s dubbed it ‘erotic capital’, and there is a halfway decent article on it here, written by Bryony Gordon (with whom I used to work in my design days).
The last time I was this close to the zeitgeist was when I wore a tshirt under a strapless dress because the air conditioning in the office was cold. I spent all day fending off compliments about how on-trend I was. But it is a good feeling to know there are others out there who feel the same way as I do on this particular issue, whether or not it’s a trendy topic or not.
by Carla Louise | Aug 20, 2011 | Acquired, Food & Baking |
Baking and a new lipstick 🙂 Recipe(s) and review of the red lipstick gorgeousness coming soon 🙂
by Carla Louise | Aug 18, 2011 | Adventures, Collecting |
Despite the rain and the dreariness of being back at work after nine days off, I have found some happy things this week…
- The rally car has a name and is beginning to take on a personality 🙂 Rusty McLusty has very nearly no paint on her bonnet, a roof full of random stuff and a shed load of stickers to be applied.
- Finding Breyers at a car boot sale for the first time EVER – I haven’t bought any model horses for a couple of years, and these were just waiting for me to take them home. I’m not sure Rob was that impressed… but the little girls I bought them from seemed pleased!
- Bristle-and-nylon hairbrushes like this one – I now own two and they’ve changed my life and my hair drastically for the better.
- Lie-ins – I went out for dinner with work people last night, and stayed at my ex-housemate’s new flat in Marylebone. Which is close enough to work that I was able to get up at HALF PAST SEVEN this morning and still be at work just about on time. (As opposed to my usual 5.30am alarm followed by staggering out of bed at 6am and running around like a headless chicken).
- Getting locked out of Julia’s flat and sitting on her stairs having the most random conversations while we waited to be rescued by her housemate
- Living on my own. I miss Jules, but it really is lovely having all this space to myself, and when I came home on Sunday night and let myself in, it really felt like home 🙂
- Jess’s skates have arrived! Which means we can go skating in Hyde Park next Tuesday… assuming the weather picks up and becomes more like actual summer.
I promise I’ll kick myself into gear and do more posts with photos soon – I have loads drafted of stuff I want to share but haven’t been able to get the photos sorted (either haven’t been able to take them in daylight, or have them but have had no time to edit them!)
Hope your weeks have been as full of happy things 🙂
by Carla Louise | Aug 13, 2011 | Adventures |
I have so many posts in drafts waiting for pics – oops. That can be this week’s challenge (along with rally planning), and I should probably schedule some for the week I’m away too (although I will be blogging en-route – if I have no wi-fi I’ll draft and post when I can :D)
Up in Nottingham this weekend starting to really do stuff for the car – we popped out this morning and came back with some vintage skis, a rusty toolbox and a vintage suitcase full of porn magazines… haha! Fab suitcase though – I might try and bring it back if it survives the rally in one piece! (It’s going on our roof rack).
Have just attempted to take photos and discovered that both my camera batteries are flat – sigh. Pics later then, along with the millions of others I need to post!
🙂
by Carla Louise | Aug 10, 2011 | Adventures |
I have been mostly moving my flat around, and not blogging as much as I should have been. This evening I intend to rectify that, but for now a quick text-only update will have to do. I’m converting my housemate’s old room into a studio and moving the whole of the rest of the flat around as I go, so it feels different and I don’t miss her so much. Also means I can have lots more of my random stuff on display 🙂
Today I have discovered I would win hands-down if extreme sleeping was a sport, I can sleep anywhere, any time, under any circumstances. Which is a welcome return to normality after close to four years of insomnia and being unable to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. I still wake frequently in the night but the quality of my sleep is better (and having this week off work, I’m determined to make the most of being able to lie in in the mornings instead of having to get up at half five!)
This morning I have replied epically to two emails I should have replied to ages ago, which is good… I’ve also kicked into full-on panic mode about the rally. We need to book hotels, but we don’t yet have the route. Some of the other teams have booked some, but I’m still not certain which days we’re meant to be in which country, let alone which town, and I don’t want us to be antisocial and be staying miles and miles from where everyone/anyone else is staying. Quite apart from the fact that the closer we are to the action, the more likely we are to not miss the start every day (you’re looking at Miss Extreme Sleeper 2011, don’t forget!).
Then there’s the actual room booking, I need to make sure it’s ok to share rooms, try and work out where everyone else is going to be and book the bloody ferry as well… aaargghhh. Think maybe my best bet is to get it all prepared and then we can make final decisions as a team at the weekend, and I’ll book everything then.
Last minute much?! It’s an adventure… it will be fun! (No, it actually will be, I’m just a bit flappy at the moment, there’s so much to do and I’m scared of doing stuff wrong as it’s my first rally and I have no clue how stuff works really. Still have creative blank on the tshirt too although if I get a chance this afternoon/evening I’ll have a play with the steampunk stuff that occurred to me late last night. Rust and clockwork and glitter, oh my….)
