Ten times better, brighter, happier.

Ta dah!!

Remember me? I've been gone so long. Sorry dear readers. Things have been turned upside down and topsy turvy but I'm pleased to say are landing back down in just the right way.

First thing to say is that I have been feeling amazingly better. You didn't really know I was not well, and that is because I didn't wish to clog the blog up with hum-drum-ness. But now that things are totally different, it seems that it might be for the best to share a bit about what went on, in case you need to know yourself. I'll keep it simple for easy reading. What I have to say may help you, or a loved one, one heck of a lot.

The pics are to keep you interested and prove I'm feeling better, but you may also notice the glands in my neck going down from swollen to nearly normal.

At a friends wedding ceremony - end of may, my glands had already gone down quite a lot

I was not getting any joy out of the GPs, (since I wasn't crawling in there on my hands and knees and coughing up blood), but I was tired All. The. Time. Even when I first woke up. I felt like I had glandular fever (I didn't), the GP suggested I was depressed (I wasn't, or at least, I wasn't MORE depressed than someone who felt so rough might feel), and my neck was swollen and puffy and sore and had been for MONTHS. If we had a late night, or a big weekend, it would take me ages to recover, like weeks. I would try not to book two late nights in a row. Going to the events we go to for selling was quite overwhelming. I had terrible brain fog - unable to concentrate, forgetful, sluggish.

I had been struggling with these thyroid-type problems for some time, and they were getting worse and worse, not better. It seemed like it could also be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or even Fibromyalgia, since I was getting achy muscles down my arms. It was the achy arm muscles that were the final sign that things were not right, after all, an achy back (which I also had) could be sleeping funny, bad posture or big boobs. But arms, well, you know if you have been lifting things and if they should be sore.

At a Zoo party, Early June

Anyway, lets cut to the chase, on researching thyroid stuff,  I came across Dr Brownstein in the states. And from there I found his books, including one focusing on Iodine. Long story short, I found I was iodine deficient. Within a few hours of taking a digestible iodine solution: Iodoral (as he uses) the sore arms went away. (Not literary, I still have my arms). Within a week I was feeling much better, and it has improved every week since.
Now my puffy neck has mostly gone. I can get out of bed easily and have vim and vigour for my work and hobbies again. I actually feel like I am 10 years younger.

Now, here's the extra cool bit. I have had NO HAYFEVER. None. Ok I might have a couple of sneezes every now and then, but I'm not needing the anti-histamine, plus homeopathic drops, plus eye drops and nasal spray that have dominated my summers for 15 years or more. And here in the UK it is apparently a very bad summer for hayfever.

I have also been sleeping right through the night. This might not be amazing so some of you, but my Hubby has never known me not to get up to go pee in the middle of the night. Once I was awake I would struggle to get back to sleep, so might loose an hour or two each night. I just thought it was a silly bladder, but no, now I sleep right through no problems. I think I was waking up first, then deciding I needed a pee. The bladder is strong.

I can't explain the sleeping thing - there is nothing about that in Dr. Brownstein's book, but the Hayfever has some reasoning that I'll explain quickly, because it is important.  Your body needs iodine to flush out oxides (you have heard of antioxidants right?) and all the autoimmune disorders, according to Dr Brownstein, are caused by problems with oxides.  So that includes celiac, food intolerances, crohns, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, scelroderma, sjogrens, ulcerative Colitis, Vasculitis, Reiters, polymyositis, graves, hastimotos, lupus, Multiple Sclerosis... the list goes on and on. (I have extracted this list from Dr B's book on thryroid disorders. I personally don't know what most of these things are).  Hayfever is an autoimmune disease, and so, with taking adequate amounts of Iodoral, and flushing out the oxides that I was struggling with, I no longer suffer from it. Ta Dah!
I am also allergic to cats, even though I love them, so I now need to grab an unsuspecting neighbourhood cat for a cuddle and see what comes of it. Watch out kitties!

At a 70s disco night, Mid June

Your body needs Iodine to make Thyroxine. Even if your thyroid is working properly, it can't make Thyroxine without it - simple as that. It also makes the hormone that it uses to zap early cancer cells with out of iodine. Pretty important stuff eh? You would think we should know if we are supposed to have iodine don't you? Well, here in the UK at least, it isn't considered a iodine deficient country - yet in 2007, 70% of girls they tested were deficient, on the UK scale, which is lower than other countries. 70% is a lot, and they tested girls because iodine matters to unborn babies.

So, here comes the disclaimer: I have to do it don't I? I am not a doctor, I have simply done research for myself and am sharing it here in case you too could benefit from reading up on Dr B's work. I am not sponsored or paid or anything from Iodoral (the brand name of the iodine supplement).  I had some help in getting my dosage right with my Kenesiologist. At the start I needed quite a lot, but have since dropped down my dose by the fact that get a metallic taste in your mouth if you have too much anyway. If anyone is wanting to preach to me about anything then their comments will be deleted! I have done A LOT of work on this. If my post seems light and fluffy - that is because I wanted most people to read most of it, not because I'm an air head.

Do please, if you have any thoughts that you might too suffer, investigate Dr Brownstein's work. It has completely turned my world around and I feel so entirely different than I did just a few months ago. And it was SO SIMPLE!

This week, at an Award Ceremony (more to come on that)

A few last things to wrap up with:

• I bought his books second hand on amazon (they were expensive to ship from the states). You buy Iodoral online, it isn't in health food shops.
• There is a series of talks on youtube which touches on other problems that iodine deficiency might bring up - it has a focus around the nuclear fall out in Japan, as there they used an iodine solution to purify the water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-QCZAmXHqg
• There are a number of places on the internet that label him a Quack. Not surprisingly really, since his health solutions are so simple that it is easy to put them down. He is a proper doctor who gives proper lectures to other proper doctors and does clinical studies and what not.
• I also found an awesome website for thyroid information in the process: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
• Normal service, talking about dresses, events and shoes will proceed from here forth.

Shona x

Hemsby 50th Anniversary Sexy Bumper Weekend

Hello gorgeous people

We are back from selling at the 50th Hemsby Rock'n'Roll weekender. I think it was the best one yet, with many people making a real holiday of it and taking extra days off work. We met old friends and made many new ones, and worked, and laughed and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was vintage bliss. Maybe we could coin a new phrase...Vliss!

Heyday took part in the pin up competition, sponsoring the lovely Stephanie Jay and donating prizes for the sexy ladies who took part. I have more photos of that, but first I want to show you the other Sexy Bumpers that were parked around the place. This time I'm talking CARS.

Since we were indoors working most of the time, I'm sure I missed many an automobile, but it has to be said, if this is what you pass on your way to work, it is a pretty good day at the office huh?

This Mercury at the end is my favourite, closely followed by the green and cream Dodge Pick Up. *Sigh* We would love to own a Sexy Bumper vehicle like this, but we wouldn't have a place to store it even if we did, so I was very thankful for the owners of these beauties for bringing them along. We know they take hours of maintenance and the guzzle the gas, so it is a real treat to have them there.

Now, I have a favour to ask, Heyday is in the finals of the National Vintage Awards. We are against some big players who have extensive mailing lists, but we would really like to place. We are third at the moment, but only just and so we need your help! Could you vote for Heyday? All you need to do is go here, select Heyday and enter your email address. The voting system only lets you use one vote per email and per device, so if you have more than one email and an extra device (smart phone, ipad, laptop etc) you can vote more than once, and hey, we would really appreciate that!

Thank you!

Sx

Delightful Day out at the Vintage Starlet Parlour

Want to know where to go to get a gorgeous photo of yourself, fully vintage styled, made up by professionals and expertly posed by the talented Hanson Leatherby? Well, look no further.
Miss Turnstiles is now offering pamper afternoons at the Vintage Patisserie headquarters in Shoreditch.

Miss Turnstiles welcomes you.

I went along to her first one, as I needed some up to date head and shoulder shots for my business cards and website. She offers the full works by placing you in the hands of skilled artists - hair and make up by Lipstick and Curls and nails by Minnie Moons, and you are invited the loan of a vintage outfit (and boy she had some stunning frocks there), so it is a must for any vintage gal. 

Two customers in their loaned outfits

We agreed I would get "done" early as I didn't need an outfit and could do my own make up, so on arrival I was promptly delivered into Nicki's hands for hair grooming. It was lovely to have my hair done by someone else, rather than dealing with it myself. Not that I do badly, but it is a treat to have it outsourced! One can see why the celebrities don't do battle with their own locks if they can help it.

Hanson at work. He happens to be up a ladder, he isn't a giant. And Nicki from Lipstick and curls in the background, who isn't really a midget. Weird location sizing issues reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings type trickery!

Poor Hanson was just about beside himself trying to get me to NOT smile for the photo. It is always funniest when you aren't supposed to laugh isn't it? Well, getting myself (and others) into fits of giggles I must have been his trickiest customer so you can be rest assured that you will find it easier.

Jeni and Hanson in between shoots. Often when we see each other, one of us is normally working, so it was lovely to see Jeni when our "roles" for the day were pretty relaxed. We got Jeni into some hamming it up, and Hanson too.

Jewellery was up for loan or for sale too, thanks to the lovely Nathalie from Passionate about Vintage.

Miss Turnstiles has another similar beauty day coming up, This time themed around the Great Gatsby. The first one, I have just read is sold out ALREADY, so she has offered up another on the 31st May. Pop over here to find out more.

I'll show you my finished Photos once I get them, but until then, I see Jeni has some more pics up on her blog too. 

Shona x

Future Cinema: Casablanca

Hey there! Sorry I've been amiss at my updates, life has been busy! Something pretty cool happened that I have to tell you about though, Mr Heyday and I were invited along to see Casablanca, care of Future Cinema! (Even though I have a blog, I'm pretty small in the scale of things and don't often get invited places, so this was pretty exciting)

The Future Cinema concept is that you as an audience become part of the live acting out of the film and witness the scene as it unfolds around you. I hadn't been to one before and was actually a bit nervous! 

My matching hat and bag finally got an outing - do you like?

 Happy is a big blue suit

Casablanca, in case you don't know the plot, is set in the middle of wartime, in (you guessed it) Casablanca., where everyone is hoping and waiting to get travel documents allowing them to flee to the safety of the States

Casablanca residents being searched and their ID cards checked, done in a  funny way. (But you could also see how it wouldn't be funny in real life - I did NOT want to bump into that official at all)

We received our identification cards and found that we were playing the part of an Italian couple and we both needed to wear a neckerchief to identify ourselves. This posed a few costume changes as it isn't something that either of us wear much of and we had to raid my scarf drawer to find something suitable. Of course it had to match, and be appropriate to the era too. Also Mr Heyday had that problem of what to do with his tie - to tie or not to tie. We settled on a scarf that looked a bit like a dinner suit scarf for him and a flouncy tied number for me. His suit is a zoot suit, clearly, which is more American than European, but Mr was keen to give it an outing (and we knew that not many would be period perfect, let alone location perfect anyway). Wearing a big blue suit meant that he had lots of actors come up and smuggle stuff to him - namely the words of the song we needed to sing.

Heyday Suit jacket worn over a dress, Vintage hat, flouncy scarf

I was initially a bit flummoxed by the dress code - why was I supposed to be in day clothes? I hadn't seen the movie for a long time and forgot that the female characters were all in suits and day dresses throughout the movie. Also it helped that you could then distinguish the actors (in more evening attire) from the other punters.

Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo meet Captain Louis Renault

We brainstormed our Italian a little, and I did use it once..."Mozzarella, cappuccino, pizza, Vienna, Bella!" was about my limit with only 2 mins prep! ha ha - a bit lame! It got a laugh though, so that was ok.

The playing out of the film was fun to see, it did though bring home a bit of how it actually was to be living through a war. One of the police forced a man to crawl up and down the steps and the closeness of it was a small shock. It was short and not everyone would have seen it, but I felt I should warn you. I accepted it as part of the drama but I will remember the impact for life - which I am actually grateful for. The surprise and process of registering what was happening made it very real, something I would not have got if it had been played out at a distance on stage or on film. You should also know that I have a "R" rating of about 5 and feel stuff quite deeply. (We have a censored draw of dvd's at home that are not for my entertainment)

According to Wikipedia, the movie itself was made up of a large proportion of European exiles and refugees among the extras, and for them it was quite emotional to be involved. Ironically the German citizens were cast as the Nazis from whom they had fled. That must have been hard.

The Nazis arrive

Trouble Brews

Mr Heyday had a dance with the blonde, but he can't have been looking at her hair colour as he forgot which one it was!

You can see there was plenty of entertainment. All in all, we really enjoyed it and will thoroughly recommend it. It would be great as a large group or as just a couple. If you have any interest in WWII then you will get even more from it.

We liked the Casablanca but not the Sandy Collins

Some points to note:

• You do need cash for the bar and for the food. The food is quite moderately portioned, so best not to go hungry (we were grateful for half a chocolate bar and a bag of nuts left in my bag from the day before!)
• The cocktail bar (either side of the stage) is different from the main bar (the one with purple lights) and does take card (had we known this, we would have saved our cash for food).
• If you are up for dancing, you will be dancing on carpet (not a deal breaker, but some dancers like to know this).
• You do see the film at the end - we weren't too sure so I was glad to have taken my glasses.
• Do take something to barter with when Ugarte comes around offering to find you transit papers. I had a string of beads stuffed down my bra but promptly forgot and was concentrating so much on his accent I didn't get that he wanted money or similar - ha ha!
• If you gamble at the roulette table you can put something else down as collateral - our table companion put his cufflinks down and won a bar of chocolate, AND got his cufflinks back. (Had we realised this earlier I could have put my beads down, hungry as we were!)
• When you book, you get told you have "booked a table" but when you get in there it is a free for all and you just find a place - or so it seemed. We sat in the front of the stage, near the middle stairs (because we knew we would dance) and had a good view of the proceedings.
• A few were not dressed up at all and it didn't seem to matter - but they did look out of place
• It appeared that many people were told to wear a neckerchief and it never came up in the "play" so I'm not sure that matters either.
• Do take your papers though! You need to provide your fingerprint (scribble on your finger and press) and a photo (some people drew theirs).
• It is warm in there, I was glad to have worn a dress (for dancing in) so I could take my jacket off and cool down. It is, after all, Casablanca.

Moroccan dancers, all female!

It was an amazing day out - something quite extraordinary different. I look forward to seeing what Future Cinema does next! 

Shona x

8 Years ago today I got to be a bride

 8 years ago I was the one in the big poofy dress...

Happy Anniversary Mr Heyday!

Why your resolutions might be failing about now

Right after Christmas and the New Year, when your house is finally cleared of tinsel,we get all encouraged by a new year and the clean slate it seems to bring. We vow that we are going to loose weight, change jobs, quit smoking/drinking/buying new stuff and instead we are going to be godly saints of wholesome amazingness. It feels GOOD.

But we forget that our brains are still foggy from all those chocolates, and while we are restless to get a move on with a NEW LIFE, actually, this is probably the worst time to force a hefty life change on ourselves. The thrill of the season is over, we either have months of bleak Winter ahead or we're on Summer holidays, when we are supposed to be basking in the warmth of the sun.

I find what I need most is less expectation but more routine. I need a bit more of a settled pace, healthy food to straighten out my brain, a bit more sleep. Big expectations that I can't live up to don't help because I just feel let down, and then I get busy with the big stick, some of you will know what I mean, the one that you beat yourself over the head with (metaphorically of course).

In getting back to a routine, I can accommodate simple strategies, such as more water, early nights, clear one thing off the mending pile a day, get out for a walk. It seems a bit simple, and it is, but it does produce results and the difference is I don't heap a heavy load on myself or expect massive rewards. Simple steps and incremental change feels good too.

I may not quite know yet what I want to change. After all, change takes effort and sometimes can be scary.  I find this time of year to be much easier to identify what I DON'T want. This usually brings about an early spring clean and trips to the charity shop. This might seem like just a clear out, but in choosing what can go, you are also mentally choosing what activities you don't need, such as those second hand tap shoes that seemed like a good idea at the time, but that was 8 years ago and you still haven't made a class. Either you find a class and give the shoes a whirl, or let them go and have a bit more space for what you do need.

You are left with things that lift you, or maybe even with mental blank sheet. Either way it clears the decks for new things, people, opportunities, and for authentic goals to appear.

It is not all dull and boring though. This time of year is also great for tidbits of inspiration; museum trips, new films, trying something different, wearing something different. Tiny re-en carnations of who you might want to grown into next. Who knows where it might take you?

So for me the new year, if I was clever and broke it down, would be about the following steps:

1. Noting what I don't want and letting it go

2. Getting back to a routine

3. A bit of new inspiration

4. Rinse and repeat

Then, by the end of January I am usually quite enthused and have some new authentic goals that I want to move towards. And they tend to be smaller, like just month long, or 3 months long. Soon enough that the goal post can be glimpsed from tippy toes as it glistens in the sunlight.

How about yourself, do you have a bit of a theme for this time of year?

The pictures in this post have been bought to you by two calendars that are fun and inspiring to me. The first is Kitten von Mew's calendar and you can purchase it here. You can see how very good it is since I have taken photos of it and blown it up and it still looks great! That is thanks to Kitten and Candee Photography.
The funny quotable inspirations is a "Love every Minute" calendar from The Bright Side.

Shona x