#GlamorousJuly Week One

Phew! Well, I’m a week into the #GlamorousJuly project.

It’s been really interesting so far. The #GlamorousJuly challenges are designed to take me (and anyone else playing along) a bit outside my comfort zone and to think about how I treat myself and others. Over the last week it’s really made me more aware of times I’m lazy, when I don’t appreciate the good things I have and how I interact with the world.

It’s also been totally amazing having other people join in on Instagram. There’s a small but awesome bunch who’ve joined in every day, and a few gorgeous, glamorous folks who are popping in and out. Every time a new picture appears on the #glamorousjuly hashtag I get stupidly excited to see what people are up to.

If you want to join in for the rest of July then you can see all the challenges here. You can also sign up for the newsletter for a weekly reminder every Monday of the weeks challenges.

Here’s a quick round up of what went on in Week One!

Day One – Your Favourite Feature

This was a simple one to start with. Pick your favourite feature. Lots of people chose their eyes, I chose my waist. It’s nice to see people focusing on good things about themselves.

A favourite today was ZellaMaybe . She loved her collarbones and also provided a helpful tie in to another of that weeks challenges, as a stranger once complimented her on them and it made her feel good! See, how a simple compliment can have an impact on someones life!

Day Two – Look Up

The idea of day two was to look up as you go about your day. When you look up you notice things that you don’t normally think about while you’re so absorbed in what’s immediately in front of you.

I had to get up and leave the house at a stupidly early hour for a Saturday as I was going to a Roller Derby boot camp. I made the effort to look around me, and noticed how beautiful the sky looked through the roof of the motorway service station I was in. It’s amazing what you notice, normally I’d have just been grumpy about the queue at McDonalds and the earliness of the hour.

This photo from Palelylaura was great today. She was on a backstage tour of the RSC and the picture shows where the furthest seats from the stage would have been in the 1930s. Which was very, very far.

Looking up is definitely one of the challenges I will try and do more often!

 

Day Three – Compliment a Stranger

Day three was REALLY hard for me. I’m really quite shy and talking to strangers is NOT a thing I do. A few days previously my timehop reminded me of the time a lady in a supermarket told me she liked my dress and how much it perked me up. This made me even more determined to get brave and do it!

Not only did I have to get over my talking to people fear, I also had to find someone to compliment. Chasing after someone in the street, just to tell them I liked their shoes, seemed a step too far. I wanted to make someone feel happy with a compliment, not terrified of the crazy lady. I therefore found myself trying to manufacture situations where it wasn’t weird to compliment people, only to then delay out of nerves and find the moment had passed.

Eventually I complimented a woman on her shoes. She was wearing very nice navy ballet pumps with little gold studs that I noticed while we were both perusing the lettuce in Tesco. She looked happy, we had a little chat about shoes, and I felt good for spreading a little joy.

One of todays favourites was AkramsIdeas. She shared a beautiful photo of the HomeMadePinUp in a swing coat that she had made, and complimented her on it. If only I’d thought of doing my compliments over social media instead of talking to people!

Day Four – New/Old Wardrobe

On day 4 the plan was to get out of a wardrobe rut. It’s so easy to find yourself flinging the same old thing on all the time and wearing the same outfits week in, week out. With a bit of a rummage it’s amazing what forgotten gems you can find in the back of your wardrobe.

I dug out a paisley gypsy top that I used to wear with super low rise flared jeans about 15 years ago. I’m not sure it’s a new love, but it was fun to dig it out and wear it in a different way. In the process I also found a pair of LK Bennett satin heels that I’d forgotten about. They need a bow trim gluing back on, but they will definitely be back in rotation!

I particularly loved the vintage dress that Siofraconnormillinery picked out to wear that day. The print is gorgeous and it needs more outings!

Day Five – Yoga

On day five I wanted to take some time out and spend a few minutes on yoga, or maybe some meditation if yoga seemed a bit energetic.

Yoga is so good for my back, which I still have troubles with after I hurt it last year. It’s also very calming and relaxing. I thought fewer people might want to play along with a physical challenge, so I was very excited to see yoga pictures popping up during the day.

MoodyMare33 had the best interpretation. She invented her very own yoga pose, the lazy bitch. Though to be fair she had just got back from a spin class, so not that lazy!

Day Six – Someone Inspirational

Todays was a lovely challenge. It was tell someone that they inspired you. I chose Lexi Lightspeed and tagged her on Instagram. She is a Roller Derby player for London Brawling, one of the top teams in the world. When I started skating back in 2013 I read her blog and she was a real inspiration to me. She also came to coach our league last year, which I got a bit fangirl about as I am an idiot who shouldn’t be allowed to mix with real people without supervision.

She spotted my tag, and said thank you, so mission accomplished!

Lots of people picked people in their lives that inspired them. I had a little tear in my eye reading lots of them, but especially PearlsCurlsandLipstick. AkramsIdeas also gets a special mention as she picked me which made me fill up again, basically I might spend all of July crying over Instagram.

Day Seven – New Hair

Finally in week 1 the plan was to get all frivolous again and do something different with your hair. When I went blonde I thought I would experiment with wash in wash out dyes loads, and at first I did. I tried lilac, peach, pale pink, raspberry and bright purple. Then I didn’t do anything at all for about 2 years. So this week I went out and bought 2 shades of toner, they were Jerome Russell BBlonde in steel and pink.

In the end I decided that I had tried pale pink before, and went for the steel. I had to leave it on longer than it suggests, around 45 minutes, but it came out a very pale grey. It was a lot less bold grey than I expected, but I liked it! It actually knocked the yellow out of my hair a lot better than the silver I had been using, so I will probably use it again!

Bonus points to pearlscurlsandlipstick for the tiara!

And so we reach the end of week one of #GlamorousJuly !

Today I am attempting to be positive all day. I am fining myself 10p every time I complain, or say something negative about myself or someone else. EVEN if they are a UK politician. I know, best avoid politics today or I shall be bankrupt.

I hope those of you that have joined in enjoy being featured in my round up. You’re all amazing glamorous, gorgeous women! If you want to see the posts on Instagram and read the captions then check out the #GlamorousJuly hashtag.

Finally, you can join in with the challenge for the rest of July and bring a bit more Glamour into your life and the lives of people around you. Here’s how!

♥Hop over to last weeks post to check out the challenges

♥ Follow me on Instagram to keep up with each days challenges

♥ Sign up for the newsletter to get a weekly reminder of what’s to come each Monday!