Oooh, A Feature...

So, the lovely Jayne from Guilded Gems has done a little feature on my shiny weather. Exciting, no?

Check it out here: http://www.guildedgems.co.uk/index.php/news/25-jewellery-trends/64-april-showers

In other news, I completely failed to attend the Liberty Open Call, as I hadn't finished any of the new shiny things I wanted to, hadn't gotten my hallmarking sorted, and hadn't even thought about my presentation. Which was rubbish. But... they are doing another one in August, hurrah! Which I absolutely WILL be ready for.

Commissions, Cupcakes and Cuba

I've not had a chance to post for a while, due to being crazy busy in the couple of weeks leading up to my lovely holiday in the sun (more of which later).

Had a nice commission from the husband of a rollergirl for one of my winged skate necklaces, customised with her skate number. I've not had much of a chance to saw things from silver sheet with tiny blades for a while, so creating the little 9 made me happy.

Didn't have time to take proper pictures, but took a couple of (slighly blurry) snaps.

Also, I've not made any cupcakes for ages, so created some vaguely royal wedding themed ones in red, white and blue and took them into work. The boy came home as I was merrily pottering around the kitchen with icing and glitter and commented that I'm always so happy when I'm creating things. Usually a mess!

Anyway, here they are:

Had a bit of a horrid last day at work trying to get everything finished before going on holiday and ended up in the office until gone 8pm! Boooooo. But a lovely time in the glorious Cuban sunshine perked me up no end. We spent a few days in Havana, which was beautiful, fascinating and chaotic in equal measures, then on to Varadero for a few more days on the most gorgeous beach. Think I finally relaxed and slept properly for the first time in about two years!

I took a ton of photographs, but I don't want to bore you all rigid with my holiday snaps, so here's just a couple of my favourites:


Now, back to reality and back to the workbench. Many shiny things need finishing before the Liberty open call in August.

I Has a Website...

I have FINALLY finished my website, hurrah!!! Well, when I say finished, it's as complete as it's going to get till I finish the shiny things currently skulking grumpily on my workbench.

And here it is:

Pretty, isn't it? Although, knowing nothing about web design, I did make it full of lovely pictures, and consequently it is a little slow to load, so please be patient with it.

You can find it at http://www.laurengrace.co.uk/

Oooh, and I also made a facebook page - see?

I have fans and everything. Come and like my page at http://www.facebook.com/laurengracejewellery and then I can have more :)

P90X Update

Hello again,

Had a little bit of a blog break there, as have been ridiculously busy. P90X has not fallen by the wayside, but I’m definitely no longer on the day I’m supposed to be on, as I’ve had to abandon several days worth of workouts due to random and fun things, such as theatre trips, drinks with friends and roller derby practice.

So, let’s say I’m now on Day 17, even though it’s been more days than that since I started, and last week I definitely did not Bring It. Sorry Tony.

This week, however, I’m totally bringing it. Day 15 was the shoulders and arms workout, aka the horrid one with all the push ups and pull ups. Felt like I really pushed it though and am doing 2 extra reps on each round, hurrah. Arms felt somewhat like jelly afterwards though, and made cutting out silver with miniscule sawblades a bit tricky.

Day 16 was plyometrics, which I also pushed harder this week. This one is still completely exhausting, but all the leaping about and occasionally pretending to be a frog is fun.

Then, Day 17 was shoulders and arms. I have finally acquired some heavier weights, but rather over-ambitiously attempted to go from 3kg weights to 7kg. This, as it turns out, was quite foolish, as I couldn’t even lift them above my head. Pathetic. So, I switched down to 5kg, which was much better. I can do 8-10 reps with these, and my arms hurt rather a lot afterwards. But not in a bad, oooh, I’ve done some damage, kind of way.

So yes, still going, still detest the Ab Ripper workout, still hoping to one day be able to do a proper pull up. And it’s yoga tonight, which is my favourite, hurrah!

Some Jewellery!

What with all this waffling on about push ups and power yoga, you could be forgiven for thinking that I have abandoned shiny things. This is not so, and I shall give you a picture of work in progress to prove it.

P90X - Days 9 and 10

Since beginning P90X, I have gained 2lb. I am sure this is not the purpose of the program, but I have merrily ignored the large book of nutritional plans that came with it. Firstly, because I don't actually want to lose any weight and secondly because the recipes involve strange American things that I'm pretty sure are not stocked in Sainsburys, and weighing bits of food. I'm not a weighing bits of food kind of girl. Life is very much too short for that sort of thing.

I have, however, conceded that I should probably eat more protein and less cake. I have so far purchased a bag of nuts and a tub of protein powder from Holland & Barrett, which has remained unopened and glaring balefully at me from the corner of the kitchen. It has strange things listed in the ingredients and I'm a bit scared of it. I'm working my way up to trying it, really I am...

Day 9

Well, I can say with absolute conviction that doing plyometrics whilst wearing my new and exciting bouncy running shoes is much less painful. Plyo day is still exhausing, yet fun, but my feet and ankles are much less grouchy about the whole experience.

Day 10

Woohoo, I can still walk! The last time I did plyo, my calf muscles were agony for days. Today, they ache slightly, but that's it. Note to self - when the instructions say wear suitable footwear for high impact - pay attention.

It's the arm workout today. I still haven't gotten any heavier weights. Drat.

Tomorrow is Yoga X, which is still so far my favourite.

P90X - Days 7 and 8

Alrighty then, back to the ongoing struggle that is currently my life. Did that sound a bit drama-queeny? I'm having a bit of a horrid week, you see, so must be forgiven for being a bit emo.

Anyway, I've messed up all the days a bit on P90X, as I had a rest day when I shouldn't have, owing to being unable to actually move, so I think technically day 7 should have been the rest day, but whatever.

Day 7

Today is Kenpo X, which I've been quite looking forward to, as it sounds like fun. It's a martial arts/kickboxy kind of cardio workout. Involving absolutely no use of a pull up bar, yay!

It starts off fairly slowly, with some footwork and basic punching, which is all good. However, as soon as it gets a bit more complicated I am instantly transported back in time to the teenage nightmare that was our step aerobics P.E. class. Doing the foot bit is fine, but as soon as I attempt to put in the different punching sequences I lose control of my feet, and vice versa. Tony is enthusiastically yelling "jab, uppercut, punch", as I flail my arms around ineffectually and try not to fall over. The boy plugs himself into Civilisation and puts his headphones on, as apparently it's too painful to watch.

I'm a bit better at the kicking sequences, as they seem to require less co-ordination from me and by the end of the DVD I am slowly getting the hang of it. Although there is still a large amount of arm flailing. I do work up a sweat, however, so the cardio bit of it has done it's job. I may watch the punching sequences in slow motion, in the hope that something clicks in my fluffy little brain.

Day 8

And.... we're back to the beginning. With the pull up bar and all the push ups. Joy. I manage to do two extra push ups on each round though, which was exciting. Also, I swapped my pull up assisting chair for a high stool, as on the DVD they put their foot on the back of the chair rather than the seat. If I use the back of my chairs though, they fall over and I collapse in a crumpled heap on the floor. Using the higher stool made the pull ups more difficult and I could do less reps for each exercise, but felt like I was in a better position and getting more out of them.

This workout completely battered my arms and shoulders for two days the first time I did it, so intrigued as to whether it will be less painful this time around...