Category Archives: Lifestyle

5 Reasons Why it is Important to Make Your Garden Personal to You

Posted on by
Reply

The garden should be a place you enjoy. We tend to ‘inherit’ the garden when we buy or rent a property. Unless you have the budget and a keen interest in complete garden renovation, we tend to ‘make do’ with what we have.

There may be times when this works but more often than not, the garden we inherited does not quite suit our tastes nor our needs. Making it personal to you however, does not mean it should cost you heaps of cash.

Here are five reasons why designing your garden to suit you is important;

Extension of the Home

Increasingly, the garden is being used as an extension of the home. With an increasing range of stylish garden rattan furniture and accessories, it is easier to make the outdoor space work for you and your family.

Create flat areas close to your property and dine al fresco. Choose a dining set with the same care and consideration you would for the dining table you have inside your home.

If you want something more relaxed and informal, there is a growing range of informal garden furniture from a hammock to outside ‘day loungers’. Add cushions, throws and rugs to make the space somewhere you really can relax and enjoy.

Accessibility

A common issue with inherited gardens is accessibility. Narrow pathways, paths made from gravel or grey, plain concrete pathways are not always our idea of the perfect means of accessing the garden.

Likewise, if you have limited mobility, you don’t want to take on a garden that has ground level borders which would be difficult to reach and maintain or a garden that is so abundant with plants and shrubs that maintaining it could be a time-consuming nightmare.

There are means of making your garden more accessible for you. Some modifications and adaptations, such as ramps and grab handles are best tackled by a landscaping company. Other issues, such as weed control are changes that can be made on an ongoing basis.

Weed control matting, as well as bark, gravel and other material are great for suppressing weeds and are inexpensive too.

Maintenance Required

A lush, abundant garden, full of blooms and shrubs looks fantastic but to keep this look, you will need to spent time maintaining it.

This means weeding and pruning, as well as thinning out plants and fertilising the soil to provide an abundance of nutrients to keep everything looking green and vibrant.

However, you may not have time nor the inclination to spend much of your spring, summer and autumn curtailing rampaging plants throughout your garden.

If you are short on time – and green fingers – the easiest way is to compress the size of any flower borders you have and extend the lawn. The lawn only needs a cut once a week from spring to late summer. Easy to look after, grassed areas are perfect for keeping colour but without too much hard work.

If this doesn’t appeal at all, swap living grass for artificial turf because all these needs from time to time is a sweep, although some people have been known to vacuum it.

What You use the Garden For

Of course, any garden design will revolve around what you use your garden for. Just like how you use the rooms in your home, your needs and wants in the garden will change.

How use your garden – reading, relaxing, entertaining – will be different to how your neighbours, family and friends use theirs – so why design the gardens the same? Design your garden with your own personal needs in mind, along with your likes and dislikes.

Fits You and Your Personality

Your personality flows throughout your home. It is the choice of colours, the choice of interior design style and more.

Just as you may enjoy the clean lines and uncluttered minimal design style in the house, you would enjoy the same in the garden. If you have more traditional tastes, this can be reflected in the garden too.

There are many ways of creating a garden that is an extension of your home, is stamped with your personality, which is also accessible with the right level of maintenance to suit your busy schedule and is fit for purpose.

Planting is one tool a keen eye for shape and form in the garden as well as accessories including garden furniture, lighting, fire pits and more.

 

Chicago: All That Jazz At The Wolverhampton Grand

Posted on by
Reply

I should first of all put a disclaimer with this review. Chicago is my favourite musical of them all. It is sassy and sexy, filled with a dangerous jazz Age glamour. A mixture of a speakeasy floor show and a Busby Berkeley style musical, bursting with unforgettable characters. Last night the latest touring production opened in Wolverhampton at the Grand Theatre, with a star studded cast at the helm, showing that Chicago still has all its power and glory. All that Jazz indeed!

Chicago is the story of two 1920s murderesses. It’s the height of the jazz age, when anyone can become a star, and the prohibition restraints lead to gin joints, chorus girls and speakeasy’s, with an air of illicit sex and alcohol. The slinky Velma Kelly is the current queen of the Cook County jail after the double slaying of her sister and husband after she caught them ‘en flagrante’. Velma is destined to be a star, sure to be acquitted by the skills of her silky lawyer Billy Flynn, and with the William Morris agency on the phone according to Prison head Mama Morton. But the arrival of the sassy Roxie Hart throws all this into disarray, as Roxie, who murdered her lover, proceeds to steal Velma’s thunder, her headlines and her trial date. But the problem with making your name through murder is that there is always another, more sensational crime around the corner.

In the leading roles as Velma and Roxie, we have the slinky Djalenga Scott and, standing in for Faye Brooks, Billie Hardy.  Billie performed with aplomb for her debut,  sparky and vibrant, she acquits herself well in the musical numbers, particularly when she takes the part of a ventriloquists dummy in ‘We both reached for the Gun’.  As Velma, Djalenga is a suitably slinky, glamorous presence, and opens the proceedings in sensuous style with the iconic ‘All that Jazz’. Her dance skills are fully employed throughout, particularly in the scene where she shows Billy how she will appeal to the jury at her trial.

Billy Flynn needs to be the embodiment of style and charisma, part matinee idol, part vaudeville showman, and stage veteran Darren Day brings this off by playing Flynn as a sort of Frank Sinatra style figure . He plays it very cool emotionally, singing ‘All I care about is love’ but showing it’s the dollar he really loves.

Sinitta is Mama Morton, playing this very different to other performers I have seen. Her Mama is an elegant, stylish presence, certainly not a mother figure, more of a big sister. Her highpoint is a great duet with Velma ‘Class’ where the harmonies were particularly good.  The audience totally loves Amos Hart, the Mr Cellophane who is used and ignored by just about everyone. Joel Montague makes what could have been a pathetic character into one filled with pathos – the only really decent person in the whole damn thing.

And then there is the standout. Divina De Campo is absolutely brilliant as sob story reporter Mary Sunshine. A glittering, glamorous presence, who has a stunning, operatic voice, Divina brings warm to her role, and lights up the stage with each appearance.

Chicago is full of amazing musical numbers, many of which I have already mentioned, but the stand out, tour de force, is the sublime ‘Cell Block Tango’ sang by the six murderesses of Cook County as they explain how they came to be in prison. With lines like ‘he walked onto my knife, he walked onto it six times’, the darkly funny side of Chicago is explained, and combined with the dark set, the full band on stage again setting the scene as a floorshow, and the skimpy black costumes worn by both male and female characters, undermining at all times that this is a show about sex and murder.

The most decedent show in town, Chicago has lost none of it’s dark glamour.

CHICAGO

26 Oct–30 Oct 2021 Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

Click here for ticket information

Go Glam with Gold

Posted on by
Reply

Image source

Gold – is there a color more glamorous that this rich, shimmering hue? Probably not. Although gold is a great color, a lot of ladies shy away from wearing it in any way other than as part of their jewelry which is such a shame because gold is a very popular color in fashion right now, and there’s barely a woman alive who can’t pull it if off, providing they use it in the right way.

Want to get more gold in your life? Check out these game-changing ways to wear gold:

Jewellery

The simplest, easiest way to wear gold is in your jewellery choices, and you can’t really go wrong with 14k gold necklaces. This season, layering those chains, with a mixture of styles that can range from curb and link and rope styles, and then teaming them with some sort of pendant, is a style must. Wear over a little black dress, or casually with a plain white tee, and you get an instant hit of glamour, whatever the outfit.

Other popular styles include chunky 80’s style chains and coin effect necklaces that have a more traditional feel.

Find the Right Shade

Unfortunately, some shades of gold can wash you out or clash with your eye-colour, which means that you might not get quite the effect you’re looking for when wearing it. The good news is that it has never been easier to find variations in gold clothing and accessories, which means that all you need to do is tray a few out until you find the perfect shade to complement your skin, hair, and eyes and make you look like a queen.

Dressed in Gold

Gold clothing. Sounds too scary for you, right? Well, it needn’t be because you can find gold clothing in all shades and hues, so you don’t have to wear a gold lame dress to try out the trend, although go for it if that’s your thing! A good way to start with gold is by trying out a muted golds sweater or slogan shirt with gold writing, but you could also jump in with some gold PVC pants or a sophisticated rose gold evening dress – the choice is yours.

If you are wearing a gold garment, it is usually a good idea to team it with something a bit more muted. A gold shirt, for example, will look great with a taupe skirt and a gold dress covered with a black or natural jacket will stop it from being too showy, if you want to wear gold in an everyday situation.

Accessorize with Gold

If you’re too scared to take a chance on a gold outfit, fear not! Gold accessories have and will continue to be popular, as you can see from https://www.frostnyc.com. When it comes to gold accessories, start out with smaller, finer pieces for a sophisticated look, adding in bigger, bolder pieces if and when you are comfortable with the color. Gold accessories will add a little sparkle to your outfit without going over the top, which is why they are such a great option.

Makeup

mage source

Another great way to glam up your look and make a statement with gold is by wearing it on your eyes and nails. Gold eyeshadow, in particular, can make your eyes pop, give you the look of a classic Greek Goddess or pretty popstar and stop your makeup from looking safe and boring. The trick is to choose a few different shades of gold and blend them together for a subtle sexy look that rivals the smoky eye for sex appeal.

If you aren’t comfortable enough to go for gold in the eye department, why not paint your nails gold instead? Gold nails are relatively uncommon, but your nails are so subtly located that you won’t feel self-conscious about wearing the color. Anyone who does notice them will be impressed by their elegance, beauty, and uniqueness.

 

Glittering Gold Shoes

Want to spice up your little black dress and stop your outfit from being a bit bland and boring? Check out http://shop.nordstrom.com/sr/gold-heels and pick up a pair of stunning gold heels. Not all that glitters is gold, but these shoes certainly are, and they’ll make sure you stand out each and every time you wear them.

If you’re not a glitter kind of gal, a nice solid pair of heels in your favorite gold hue will have almost as much impact on your outfit, with the added bonus that you’ll probably look a bit more sophisticated.

If you choose a pair of gold sandals, make sure that you get a nice gold manicure too – your toes deserve as much attention as the rest of the body, and it’ll bring your outfit together.

Add a Belt

If you don’t want to go out wearing a big block of gold, why not break up your outfit with a pretty gold belt, that will nip in your waist and make your outfit shimmer and shine. A gold belt work with a black or white dress will look particularly good and elevate your plain outfit to a whole new level.

Hair Accessories

Image source

If you don’t want to dye your hair gold, you could always add an accessory or two to your locks instead. It’s not hard to find gold hair bands, barrettes and if you’re feeling brave, even tiaras, which will certainly make you stand out.

As you can see, there are lots of ways that you can look more glamorous by adding gold to your look. If you’ve never worn such a bold colour before, it can be daunting, but it’s so worth it when you see how much more noticeable your outfits are and how envious the more timid gals are when they see you strutting your stuff in everyone’s favorite metallic hue.