Moving to my own website...

Hi all,

I'm pleased to announce that I am moving my blog over to my new dedicated website, which you will find linked in the image below. I hope regular readers here will follow me over to my new website which has my new blog, more details about me and my web store.

I'll see you over there - and thank you so much for following me here! I hope I will continue to see you over at the official new home for Kimble Witchery.

Thanks!

Kimble x

Finding my creative spark again

Many of you won't know this, but I write a lot. Not just blog posts either (although this is my newest and most exciting idea). In high school I wrote a lot of poetry - mostly dark, angsty poems full of sadness and unrequited love and the violence I never could express otherwise. Then I moved on to writing other things - articles for an online fanzine I set up dedicated to Hanson, and occasionally I embarked on more ambitious projects. In my young and ardent ambition, I began to write novella-length stories about my favourite band, including myself and my friends in them as characters.

I had no idea that fanfiction was even a thing back then. It was 1998 and I was just finding my voice. Back then it included a serious Mary Sue complex, no idea what on earth the term lemons meant, but some idea in how to string a story together. I still have those early stories. I can't bear to part with them, they are sentimental.

These days, as well as the more mainstream blog posts and poems I continue to write, I still write fanfiction. I write Harry Potter fanfiction currently as I am a massive Potterhead. I publish my work on a popular fanfiction site and enjoy the dynamic of having my work critiqued by a large range of people. I was inspired to start writing HP fanfiction as a result of reading the original series and also finding out that a friend of mine wrote fanfiction too. And then I discovered the ship that would kickstart my return to the fanfiction world - Dramione.

If you've no idea what it means, it refers to the pairing of two seemingly opposite characters; Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. If you are not into HP please feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph. I won't be offended. For those who are still with me, I love this ship. I think it makes so much damn sense. They are on opposite sides but they are so similar in so many important ways that I really think it would have been an exciting match. I won't go into a long description of all my reasons for that - just know that I really, really believe it would have worked.

But back to the story at hand. I began writing a multi chaptered Dramione story, and uploaded ten chapters before I took a very long hiatus. I wouldn't like to guess how long I was away, but it was certainly a few months. This was because I was going through a lot of personal issues - losing my job, suffering with some health issues and also the stress and chaos that came with my impending nuptials. I married the man who I love more than anything, the wedding was wonderful and soon my life calmed down again. But I'd lost my mojo at that point - my muse had disappeared.

I began reading fanfiction again about a month ago, and to my delight it has sparked my creativity again. I wrote a 3,500 word chapter today and after some editing, uploaded it to the site. It's live now and I feel energised. I know this is one story I will finish as I have it planned out (in skeleton form, but I know what the ending will be).

If you're interested, please take a look at my work. You can review as a guest if you wish or alternatively if you are a member of the site already, feel free to leave me a review. All feedback is welcomed.

Thank you for reading this post, and I'll be back on Friday with my next one. See you then!

Lots of exciting changes!

So as you may have noticed, this blog has a whole new look. I've been working very hard to make this blog more professional to look at and generally a cooler place to be. 

I'm also excited to announce my new Facebook page, where you can connect with me and let me know what you think of my blog and share what kind of things you want me to post about. There's a brand new plugin in the sidebar to enable you to 'like' my page right now. :) Posts I make should also be linked there!

I've also streamlined things a bit so that everything is now under one name - Kimble Witchery. Kimble is my nickname, and witchery is what I do so I figured it would be the ideal name for my blog page.

I'm also changing the post schedule a little bit - going from Thursdays to Fridays. I will continue to post on Tuesdays and I may also add a weekend update... we will see how it all goes. In the meantime, I hope you'll come back to my blog often and keep up with my posts. Thanks for reading this one!

See you on the other side!

Ageism in entertainment

A couple of weeks ago, Madonna took a tumble onstage during her performance at the Brit Awards. It was a massive hoohah, with Giorgio Armani weighing in and calling her 'difficult' after she explained that her cape (designed by Armani) hadn't come undone as it was supposed to. Now before we go any further; let me preface this by stating for the record that I'm not a Madonna fan. However, I do respect her - she's had a long and successful career in the music business.

But that's not what I'm basing this post about. To me it highlighted a massive undercurrent in today's society. Twitter was on fire with tweets about the fall moments after it happened and I saw lots of jokes in the same kind of style - some joking that some of her dancers would get fired for example - but there were a lot of people mentioning hip replacements. That got me thinking.

Madonna is 58 years of age. She is not old by any stretch of the imagination and has the fitness of a much younger woman. It annoyed me that instantly everyone was painting her as a geriatric. There seems to be a massive disconnect between older male celebrities and older female celebrities. Sean Connery is 84 years of age but most women would tell you he still has it. His last major movie role was Entrapment in 1999, where he starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones. He was 69. She was 30.

Let's look at another actor (just for comparison). Harrison Ford has recently been filming the latest instalment of the Star Wars franchise. He is still a fixture in Hollywood, appearing in Paranoia (2013) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (also 2013). At the time of writing, Mr Ford is 72 years of age.

Let's contrast this with how Hollywood regards older actresses. Kristin Scott-Thomas did an interesting BBC interview recently where she talked about the lack of roles for "50-something women". Off the top of my head I can only name three older women who frequently still appear on television and in movies; Dame Judi Dench (80 years old), Dame Helen Mirren (69 years old) and Dame Maggie Smith (also 80 years old). All three of them are British.

This is a sad thing. Have you noticed this too? Or do you disagree with me? I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments.

Have a great Wednesday and I will see you again on Thursday xoxo

Germs, boxsets and heels

A strange title, I'll admit.

But in a nutshell, that's been my week. Courtesy of my darling husband and the flea-infested germ pit that is his company's office (no windows and air conditioning, what can I say?), I am once again suffering with a cold. Not so good. Actually that's an understatement. I feel like death warmed up pretty much. But this post is already a day late and I didn't want to make this any later, so here I am.

Boxsets... what can I say other than I rediscovered Sex and the City. I know it's the best of the 90s but it is iconic for a reason. I loved it when I was in my middle to late teens, and throughout my 20-something years, and now that I'm into my 30s I'm relating to it again on a new level. I'm the same age as Carrie Bradshaw now pretty much and a lot of the questions they ask in the show are also applicable to my life. Granted, I'm not a single woman living in New York City - I'm a happily married woman living in an ex-mining town in South Wales; but I'm still a woman and a lot of it is still very relevant.

I always felt like each woman is a little bit of me. Carrie is my neurotic, self-conscious writer side. She overthinks WAY too much and always analyses everything to within an inch of its' life. Charlotte is my romantic side, the part of me that believes in champagne and chocolate and a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day. Miranda is my cynical, sharp-edged side but also reminds me of myself in the first year of university... focused and smart. Samantha (who is my favourite character without a doubt) is my sensual side, the freaky side of every woman. I don't sleep around like she does but she represents the free sensuality of a woman.

So, spurred on by the ladies of Manhattan, I decided to pop out and get some lunch today. I've been hiding at home and trying not to look like I fell out of a hospital bed somewhere. I decided on the spur of the moment to wear my favourite strappy sandals with my heels. They aren't particularly showy; if anything they are kind of middle of the road but I wore them with my jeans and I stepped out onto the streets. It's amazing how much confidence a pair of heels will give a woman. I felt really good, and everything was great....

Until my feet started to hurt. I'd forgotten how much heels hurt my feet and as a woman carrying excess body weight, my feet were none too happy with me. Still, I enjoyed my few moments feeling self-confident. I should do it more often.

Have a great weekend all, I'll be back on Tuesday! x

Spring cleaning and a bit of self-promotion

Sometimes it's just a feeling in your blood, something you have to do. Mr D and I have been a bit short on the old cashflow lately so today I have been scrabbling about the house trying to find stuff I no longer want and can therefore sell.

I managed to find £40 worth of old CDs, DVDs and games and that was just the beginning. I've still yet to go through my wardrobe and bookshelves.

I also now sell on Fiverr. If you look over to the right of this post you'll see a lovely little link to my Fiverr profile, where you can buy a tarot reading from me or a specially created spell for just $5 each. That's a bargain if ever I've seen one. I will likely add more things for sale there in the future so keep an eye on that page. :)

I also have an Etsy shop where I offer up specially created bath salts and room sprays for your magickal goals. Again, more listings will be going up soon. Link should be above!

It has always been my dream to make money doing the things I love to do. My witchery is my favourite thing in the world, and I would be immensely honoured and happy if these outlets allowed me to make even a small living. Please support me where you can and thank you SO much for reading as always.

Beauty is a minefield

Today I finally gave in. My reflection in the mirror has been giving me evil face for about a week and a half now because once again I let my eyebrows go too long without being professionally shaped. I'm useless at scheduling in this kind of thing, so I've made it a mission to put stuff like that in my awesome new personal organiser that I am currently compiling.

Anyway... I called up a local salon that had been recommended to me and made an appointment for a brow shape. I know that it's a hot topic whether brows should be threaded or waxed, but for me - I love waxing. It looks clean, doesn't hurt that much, and lasts a decent amount of time. Both times I've had my brows threaded it hurt like a bitch, I couldn't go out for 48 hours because my eyes were so red and it didn't last as long. Everyone has their own preferences, and wax is mine.

The beautician who did my waxing was lovely - she complimented the natural arch of my brows and the process was fast and relatively painless. I also really dug the modern vibe of the salon and the purple and black decor. She chastised me (playfully) for letting it go too long and I promised to make another appointment in roughly 4 weeks' time. After that, I wandered around town for a bit and headed into one of the local chemists (drugstore to my American readers) and had a nose around. Cut a long story short, I ended up coming home and dyeing my hair.

A month to 6 weeks ago I dyed my hair red, but it was beginning to look very tired and was fading. I like to change up my hair colour so this afternoon I used a box colour to turn it a rather lovely shade of dark brown. I find it easier to find makeup that suits me when my hair is dark, and I also think it suits me better.

The title of this post though comes from my experience of walking around that chemist and seeing the plethora of products. There are products for literally everything and it's no wonder women feel pressured to be 'the perfect woman'. It made me kind of sad.

Have you ever experienced something like this? Let me know in the comments!

Bottled water, sweat and inspiration

This morning I got up reasonably early (for me), ate a modest breakfast and then got hit by a moment of that brilliant, divine madness that occasionally strikes me. I love it when that happens. I remembered that I had a copy of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and I decided to do it. Now bear in mind, I am not a fit woman by any stretch of the imagination. I have been told by my doctor that I am morbidly obese. But I'm working on getting healthy, trying to eat right and moving more. My morning insanity was testament to that.

For those of you who don't know much about this DVD programme, it's a pretty brutal workout. It's no Insanity, but it's hard. It's 20 minutes of non-stop circuits incorporating strength, cardio and ab exercises. Jillian is a badass trainer. She does not allow you to rest or quit. She is constantly motivating and talking you through it. Truth be told, she's the reason I keep coming back to this DVD. I like her. She talks her talk and walks her walk; she is unapologetic and doesn't accept excuses. That's really important for someone like me.

So I spent 20 minutes doing the Level 1 workout. Wow. What an eye-opener. I did as much as I could, trying my hardest and I worked HARD. Several times I wanted to turn it off and collapse, but I didn't. I stuck with it. On one occasion I wanted to burst into tears, but I didn't do that either. No time for self-loathing! Time for self-development!

I am now sipping a bottle of ice-cold water, typing this and looking to Gala Darling (see her awesome blog in the links on the side) and considering cleaning out my wardrobe. Otherwise known as the task of DOOM. I have been procrastinating about it for months, but it's constantly on my mind. Once I finish this blog post I think I will go up and start.

Sisterhood

Last night I happened to be looking at my Twitter feed and I saw that the beautiful and inspiring Veronica Varlow had started a hashtag. Now I see trending topics day in day out, and most of them fail to impress me. But this one made me all warm and fuzzy inside. 

That hashtag is #cuteasfuck and it is more than a hashtag. It is a movement, a REVOLUTION. I went to sleep with a smile on my face and I am still grinning now as it is still going on. The premise is this: you upload a picture of yourself to Twitter and use the hashtag as well as hashtagging your location. The outpouring of love and positivity has been astonishing and I feel about ten feet tall right now. VeVa retweets and responds to as many as she can, and I've had tweets from people I don't even know complimenting me. That is some serious love and it makes you feel so damn good. 

I've been riding the wave of some serious inspiration today and TAKING ACTION which is amazing. Thanks to some of the blogs I read religiously (see the sidebar for details, my lovelies) I've got my organiser out and I'm feeling motivated and sassy. This is a rare feeling for me and I have to tell you - I like it! 

I'm going to up my posts on this blog too - aiming to blog twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Watch this space!

 

Veronica Varlow and the Revolverlution International Valentines Day Exchange

Hey you, there. Yes you, the gorgeous person reading this post. :) Do you want to make your Valentines Day extra-special this year by sending (and receiving) a truly one of a kind Valentine?

VeVa, Lady Cyanide and Sarah Nelson are running the Revolverlution VD Exchange again this year, and it is such a gorgeous idea I had to share it. I'll let VeVa herself explain how it all works...

So this is all you need to do!

1) Send your name and mailing address to revolverlution@live.com.au by January 27th.

2) You will receive an email back containing the name and mailing address of your secret Valentine.

3) Make a special Valentine card, write a letter, make a collage, write a poem - anything awesome with paper - especially for your secret Valentine.

4) Make sure you send it off before February 3rd to ensure it gets there in time.

5) Wait by the door with baited breath until the postman/woman brings yours!

It's funny how...

We all have things that are individual to us - quirks, if you like. Some of them are talents for particular things. Others can be physical - freckles in a particular pattern, our walk, the pattern on our fingertips for example - but others are a little more esoteric.

My husband laughs at the way I scrunch up my nose when I nod. He has often said my knowledge of 'weird things' fascinates him. By 'weird things' he means interests related to my witchery. We are off to a local rock and gem show on the weekend for my birthday and he always seems impressed by my knowledge of crystals. Likewise he is baffled by my ability to mix a powdered herbal incense, or create a magickal blended oil. I am equally impressed and baffled by his knowledge of guitars; his ability to pick up any guitar and tease out its' unique sound.

Despite being together for 11 years, there are still things we are learning about each other every day. For example he has currently taken to 'upgrading' his guitars by adding new pickups etc and he was surprised when he found out I can solder better than he can. :) I had electronics lessons in technology at school - he never did.

I'm working on my Leonie Dawson workbook at the moment as I write this and the effects of Mercury retrograde are starting to show. I saved the work I did last night on it through Adobe on my laptop, but none of it has saved so I'm doing it over. I could get annoyed, but I won't. There's always a reason. So instead I'm sitting in my ritual space, redoing the bits I did last night.

Also working on another project right now - I'm a member of The Parlour, a group run by the gorgeous, beautiful and supremely witchy Veronica Varlow. There is a very active community of witches there and I have somehow been lucky enough to be the creatrix of the official Parlour Blend, a magickal oil that is only offered to members of the group. Blending is currently in session and I will be sending out the bottles very soon. Super excited.

How to ensure 2015 is the best year ever...

I almost never post blogs about products I love, as to be honest I'm pretty hard to impress. It's difficult for me to find something I truly do want to shout about. However, I've been watching a load of different YouTube channels from some of my favourite witchy people on YouTube and they all mentioned the same product so I decided I wanted to check it out. It's a year planner - but it's so much more than that. I am seriously hard to motivate, I'm not going to lie to you. I've only had this year planner a day and I'm already so excited about 2015! For once; I actually know what I want to do. I'm setting goals and I'm motivating myself. The product is called The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook & Calendar. It comes in two variants - Life and Biz, or you can get both for a discounted rate. You can download them as pdfs or order printed versions if you'd rather do that. It's colourful and inspiring and you can fill in the workbooks through Adobe Reader on your PC or even on your tablet/iPad. So many women I know have been using these for years and getting incredible results and I wish I'd found out about it sooner, to be honest. I got the pdf version as I wanted to print it out and put it in a ringbinder - I haven't done that yet as I need a new colour cartridge for my printer first LOL - but the hard copy version comes with a wall planner as well which I think is such a good idea, especially if you're a visual kind of person. The creator of these workbooks is Leonie Dawson, and she's from Australia. She’s a woman who really walks her talk. She’s managed to create a ridiculously successful company; working a few hours a day, spending loads of time playing with her family, making art and living a really full life. And, like me, she believes in making this world an amazing place by giving generously to causes she believes in. I really resonate with Leonie, and I think you will too. Plus, she knows her stuff when it comes to business! I went over to her website and found some nifty image links I'm going to include in this post so you can click through and check it out yourself if you want to. The pdf versions are only $9.95 which is a steal. In UK pounds it works out at about £6 or thereabouts. I encourage you to go and take a look. I'll be posting some blogs about my work with the Shining Year Workbook throughout 2015 so do keep an eye out for those too. I just couldn't resist sharing this with you all.

Inspiring video

Some people won't agree with this video, and that's fine. I know that there are as many people out there that will disagree with it as will agree. But you know what, I find this incredibly inspiring and empowering as a fat woman. Yes, I am working to lose my excess weight, and yes I know that my health is suffering due to my weight. But that doesn't mean that I'm lazy, just because I have a higher number on the scales. In my case, I have a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, one of which is metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance. This means the body doesn't process the insulin response correctly which means that the excess glucose in the blood is stored as fat much more easily than in a person with normal insulin response. In layman's terms, it is twice as easy for me to gain weight, and three times as hard to lose it again. It can be done of course, but the weight loss is often slow, difficult and demoralising.

But I digress. Here is the video I was referring to. It is several years old but I find the message of this video so empowering, and the lady an incredible inspiration.

I don't think of myself as photogenic, but...

I've never thought of myself as being particularly photogenic, but my recent wedding was a great excuse to see how I'd look in professional photographs. I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think much of my looks - along with many women, I suppose, but I wanted to try and change the way I view myself so I've purposely been taking selfies, looking in the mirror more often, and all the things I used to avoid. I figure that people see my face every day and nobody has run away screaming just yet, so I have to get used to seeing myself and accepting the way I look.

As a result, I've added a profile picture to my Blogger profile, and I'm going to share my favourite of my wedding photographs of me in this post. It's all a part of working on my self-confidence. I'm also going to try and post more often as I'm guilty of leaving months and months between posts. I'll try not to do that anymore. :)

Anyway, here's the photo.

It's going to be different, 2015. This year I'm actively going to change the way I feel about myself to a more positive outlook. I deserve it, and it's only now that I'm starting to see it.