Election Time

I hope you haven't all seen the title of this post and immediately closed the window - stay with me!

As you should all know by now, there's an election on the 5th May and if you're still not sure about who to vote for (or maybe you think you just don't care), there's a wee event on tonight in the Glasgow Women's Library (15 Berkeley Street, down the side of the Mitchell Library) where members from the 7 main parties - Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, Green, SSP, SNP, & George Galloway - will be there to answer questions and talk about their policies.

It starts at 6pm and it's free, I'm already going so if anyone wants to come along you can let me know, or you can just show up!  It probably won't last all that long, and it's a great way to get your head round the different parties and what they say they stand for.

Don't throw away your vote, you're lucky to have it!

Biscuits, And Other Adventures In Baking.

Glasgow Feminist Network meeting tomorrow (Glasgow Women's Library, 2pm, go! If you can.) and I agreed to make some cakes and biscuits to take.  Any excuse to break out the rolling pin and strapping on my apron!  So, I found a new recipe for easy biscuits, and decided to make 2 or 3 batches.  One of cinnamon flavour, one of ginger, and maybe one of almond, too.  Then I thought I'd make my ole favourite, the big Cherry Bakewell.  I've made that one a few times now and it's always a hit. 

Really looking forward to the meeting, I hope it goes well!  I'm waiting for the first batch (cinnamon) of biscuits to cool out of the oven so I can test one and make sure they're tasty before I start the next ones.  You've got  be so careful with biscuits cause if you leave them in for a minute or two too long they go rock solid.  Soft and chewy is what we're after!  I even bought different coloured icing pens so I can decorate them according to their flavour!

I'll do another wee post later to let you know how they turned out.  Watch this space...

Dresses and exercise!

In light of being unemployed and actually not having all that much money to throw about on new clothes (not that you can really tell, to be fair), this blog has started give me my fashion fix.  I really like putting up pics of new bargins, rediscovered gems and generally fash-forward outfits, so that's why I've changed the title of my blog up there.  I also feel that my dreams of London aren't exactly off to a running start, so the name was a bit misleading anyway.

Glad you all seem to like the turban, I love it and wore it all day and night, even when I was just sitting in the house.  My granny also loves it and that, as we know, is enough to cement the style status of any item.

After Tenerife, the next thing on the Clara agenda is MM's birthday cocktail party.  I am starting to get very excited about this for three reasons, all under one roof: 
1. My amigas
2. A chance, nay, a command, to get dressed up to the nines and
3. Cocktails.

With this in mind, I've been musing over which dress to wear.  Although you might have thought that I'd be champing at the bit (weird expresson, where did I get it from?) to buy something new, in actual fact I have several lovely dresses that are too formal for everyday use and don't often get to see the light of day.  Or the disco lights of a good party.  So, I love a chance like this to dust one of them off and let it know it's still loved.  I have made a final decision, and I just tried it on to make sure.  Still love it, and I think it's perfect, so I've found a winner.

I pranced about my room in it for about 10 mins, just because.  If you go to all the trouble of putting it on, you might as well enjoy it for a few minutes, right?  I even have a pair of shoes that are the ideal height for it, though the colour isn't the best match.  Still, in the name of being cheap 'n' chic, I think I'll just wear them.

I should really head to bed, I'm up early tomorrow to go to a meeting in the Glasgow Women's Library, I'm going to be helping to organise some events with the Glasgow Feminist Network, so I'm really looking forward to it.  I'm already a member but I'm well chuffed at being able to get more involved in it!

After the meeting I'm going to hit the gym, too.  Gotta keep going with the arms routine!  I can see a small bit of definition in my upper arms now, though I accept that it's probably invisible to everyone else.  But I'm determined to stick with it anyway!  I'd love to be able to do the Tracy Anderson Method, but I don't feel like splashing out on the DVDs and books and stuff, to be honest.

Anyone got any good tips for toning up the shoulders and back?   There's a machine in the gym that I know how to use (kind of) but I'm not sure which muscles it actually targets.  Might do a bit of online research and see what I come up with.

I just did e quick Googling, and stumbled across this wee set of exercises by Tracy Anderson for Marie Claire.  They look bloody tough!  I'm not sure I'd even get through one set but I'll give it a go anyway!  If anyone else has a shot, let me know how you get on!