Archive for December, 2009

This time of the year generally makes one feel festive and happy. Of course there is the tiredness and the nervousness that you won’t do everything on time-cooking, present buying and wrapping, sending cards, putting up and decorating the Christmas tree and keeping men and children happy and the exhaustion of fulfilling all of those tasks often leads us to come down with colds and flu at the time we all are supposed to relax.

A lot also depends on the people around us, as we all rushed and more annoyed than usual. The snow hasn’t helped either. I also think that for whatever reason people are putting less effort in –I was walking my dog the other evening and even thought I live in a nice area there weren’t too many decorations in the windows or wreaths on the doors. I normally receive lots of xmas cards (and also send lots too!) but this year my mantelpiece is much sparser than last year-and no, I don’t take it personally but I guess it’s the sign of the times. For me writing the cards to friends and family is important, to find the time, sit down and write a few wishes. It is personal for me, it is a nice way to say goodbye to one year and move into a new one. Less and less people find the time to do it, which is a great shame…..

Delivery companies are another story. Some, like Kelly Bronze are speedy, courteous and not only my turkey arrived bigger than I ordered ‘because the turkeys grew well this year’ but also enclosed were cooking instructions, a beautiful turkey cookery book and a temperature tester. My relationship with City Link is, on another hand, fraught with frustration almost every time they are due to make an Amazon delivery they fail to deliver. Excuses always vary-you were out (I wasn’t!), we left a card (nowhere to be found), we couldn’t get in –the list goes on. When the service provided is good, one tends to use the company again and again but not many take that on board.

But I don’t want to end on a sad note. A couple of weeks ago I was doing grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s, going from isle to isle, trying not to forget the things on my list. For some reason I kept on running into an elderly gentleman, who was dressed up in slightly worn clothes, a red scarf and a handsome cap on top of his silver grey hair that made his ‘look’ complete. He was limping and I made sure he had enough room to pass through the isle. We smiled at each other and continued with our shopping. When I was done and came to the till to unpack the lovely gentleman was ahead of me. He was packing up his shopping, but all of a sudden he looked at me and asked if I had a loyalty card. I stammered, asked why he wanted to know and finally meekly said that I did. He grouchily chided me for asking too many questions and then asked for my card. It turns out that he didn’t have his own loyalty card and wanted to give the points he would have had for his food to me. He smiled and wished me a Merry Christmas. I was stunned, a little embarrassed but also filled with a happy spirit. Gestures of kindness or attention often catch us off guard but they touch you and make life more special, especially in the run up for Christmas. I hope next year we all will be kinder to each other.

Lately you cannot open the newspaper or tabloid magazine without your eye hitting the name of Tiger Woods and his supposed indiscretions. I understand that he is a public persona and one of the greatest golfers in the world but still, as any human being, he has a right to privacy, especially when it comes to family life.

If what is being said is true, his wife must be hurting terribly but no one seems to care about that or take the fact that they have 2 small children into consideration. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, unless you choose to sell your family life stories, there should be boundaries which shouldn’t be crossed.

There will always be women (and men too, but to a lesser extent, as society frowns upon men’s ‘tell all’ stories) willing to sleep with a famous guy so they can sell the story later and the sad thing is that those unworthy females actually get paid for dishing out their garbage. The supposed ex-lover telling about the affair and apologising to the wife-does she think it will make her feel better or is it a calculated attempt to make more money out of the situation?

Yes, Tiger Woods has been cultivating a ‘squeaky clean’ image that has added significantly to his bank balance but even if he slept around it doesn’t take away his professional achievements or diminish them. There are plenty of famous professionals in various fields whose true personalities don’t match the public perceptions but it doesn’t change the fact that some people are much more talented or more exceptional in their chosen field than the rest of us. And we are talking about possible affairs with grown up women, not minors, not rapes, nothing gruesome or punishable by law. Everyone’s allowed to live their lives as they want to, guided by the laws of the society. And what happens behind closed doors should remain there.

This week a new, Afghan born designer called Zolaykha Sherzad, of Zarif design, was introduced to the clients of a Mayfair boutique Rous Iland-remember I told you about those stylish girls?

Zolaykha was born and raised in Afghanistan but had to flee the country because of political instability. She originally trained as an architect but in 2004 she started Zarif design (meaning ‘precious in Dari).

Unfortunately Zolaykha herself couldn’t be at the trunk show as she was in Paris, working on a collaboration with Agnes B but I spoke to her representative, Anna Haber, who said to me that Afghanistan, its crafts and traditions were at the heart of Zarif design, bringing constant inspiration and desire to save unique crafts, like embroidery, and also give Afghani women an opportunity to learn and be able to earn money for their families. The collection that I saw consists of blouses, skirts, pretty silk dresses, wool coats with beautiful, sometimes embroidered linings, scarves and pashminas that are very vibrant. The designer manages to combine traditional Afghan fabrics with then modern western fashion making her work truly unique. Her designs are original but what attracts me to her work is her pride in her roots and her skills, with which she tries to build bridges between different countries, which is particularly important in those unstable times that we live in.

www.zarifdesign.com or at Rous Iland boutique

The hot subject of this week was the size of bankers bonuses and the decision of the Chancellor to tax the bonuses above £25k. The more I listen to those discussions the angrier it makes me because I think that all over the world the wedge is being driven between the rich and the poor. Today, watching Question Time on BBC1 I have had enough, after hearing Piers Morgan lambast the ’fat cat’ bankers and their indecent use of the public funds that was given to bail them out.

I think distinctions need to be made. First of all, not all banks were bailed out. I completely agree that the banks that were bailed out by the public have no right to even think about any bonuses until the public funds get repaid. Will they ever is the question no one is prepared to answer at the moment.

Secondly, why is everyone talking badly about bankers in general? Like with people, there are some bad but also very decent ones. Many of those so-called ‘fat cats’ work obscene hours, travel all over the world on business, while their wives and kids stay at home. If anything they make their kids fall ill more often, as they collect bugs during their travel-why doesn’t anyone consider that? They don’t have any benefits or support from the government, they pay a huge proportion of their salaries in taxes and often those hard earned funds get wasted on teenagers who get pregnant recklessly at a very young age or people who claim benefits and have no desire to get off the sofa and try to find work or learn new skills.

The government often misuses the funds collected from taxes on disasters like the Millennium Dome or bureaucrats’ salaries. Do people who pay their taxes even know how those funds are getting spent? It is ok for footballers to earn obscene salaries or for celebrities to earn money by endorsing products or TV appearances and no one proposes to tax their extra income-why? How are bankers who work in non-bailed banks and who haven’t taken any money from the public are different from footballers or celebrities? It is just so easy to use them as scapegoats instead of addressing the government’s inadequacies. Many rich people had to work hard for many years in order to get where they are, this fact is not voiced often enough. Until we learn to be responsible for our mistakes, instead of blaming someone else for our inadequacies we are not going to live in a just and productive society.

It is that time of the year when we all feel run down, frazzled and grumpy. Too many tasks and not enough hours in the day, and definitely no time left for ‘me’ time, which we keep on talking about with my girlfriends. No matter in which country we live, we lack that precious time when we can exhale and inhale in peace. But dear friends, there is a solution, one that we often ignore.

I don’t know about you, but I am definitely a ‘shower’ type of girl. Don’t get me wrong, once in a while a 20 minute bath with Epsom salts (to detoxify) or milk and honey (to nurture your skin) is great and if I am staying at a nice resort I definitely take advantage of a Jacuzzi at sunset but still, this is more of an exemption than the rule.

Showers can be as quick or as slow as you like, they cleanse your body and the water relaxes the mind. Now, the question is, what do you use to make the benefits go even further? If you saw me now, sitting at a kitchen table, surrounded by glorious bottles like a mad alchemist, you would laugh. But I don’t care, I am still going to share my pearly suds of thought with you.

When it comes to shower gels I don’t stay faithful for long, as there is always something new out there, on the beauty shelves, which keeps on calling me to try it. However, the products that I will talk about below are definitely in my ‘favourites’ categorie and I have been using them for a while or keep on coming back to them.  

First on my list is a ‘Sauvignon shower gel’ by Caudalie. It smells of green grapes and peaches, is gentle on the skin and its only drawback is that you need to re-apply it to the loofer to cover yourself all over.

My other favourite is by a discontinued line called Pure Alchemy and is called a ‘tonic shower gel’-just by smelling it in the morning I feel re-invigorated and ready to face the day. It is a blend of Egyptian geranium, Chinese spearmint and Moroccan rosemary. Maybe you can source it on the Internet, if you are not so lucky, I will keep you posted on this one, as the woman who was behind this brand is a very special friend of mine and she has wide reaching plans and a true gift for aromatherapy, among other things.

Moving on to a brand called Lumene. I was introduced to this one by a girlfriend of mine and if I want to exhale peacefully, I use this one. It is called a ‘Pampering body cleanser’ and it contains rose root and is inspired by the Finnish sauna. It smells flowery and girly which in different circumstances I might not have liked-I don’t like pink for example, – but this one works a treat-try it and you will know what I mean.

In winter, as you know, our skin is abused on so many levels-cold, heating, wearing many layers etc. and tends to be much drier. Last year, Biotherm came up with a cleansing shower milk enriched with ultra-moisturising agents and citrus essences. This product is so moisturising and gentle that I don’t even have to using a moisturiser after coming after the shower. Saves me the time, too.

The last one I want to mention to you here is by Como Shambhala and I fell in love with it when I went to Parrot Cay resort in Turks and Caicos. I was completely taken aback by the spa and the therapists working there. The shower gel is called ‘invigorate’ and it contains eucalyptus, geranium, lavender and peppermint. This one is pure heaven in the bottle for me, I associate it with happiness and being carefree, on a beautiful, tranquil island where one just feels happy.

Try taking the shower with any of those products, inhaling their smell, letting go of the day’s troubles or getting ready for a day that will put a spring in your step. This is a time for you, enjoy it and don’t feel guilty, your body and mind will thank you for it.

A January issue of the British Elle landed on my door mat today and oh my God, it has a sexy goddess named Helena Christensen on its cover. I must admit, she wasn’t one of my favourite ‘supers’-I loved Christy and my husband worshiped Linda- but lately Helena makes me look at her with a fresh pair of eyes.

Not so long ago I saw Helena eating at Locanda Locatelli-they feed you so well, you clothes start stretching as you go from course to course-and even though I recognised her, she didn’t seem superhuman, just a pretty woman with a nice aura. But today, when I saw the subscribers cover, she made me draw in a breath and if I was a boy I probably would have whistled!

She looks healthy & tanned, confident and sexy and so, so pretty. She wears the clothes and not the other way around and… I really enjoyed the interview, as it had humour and substance to it. This woman makes me curious and do I want to go to the gym to get a body like hers!! She seems comfortable in her own skin and you don’t get that sense about many models nowadays, do you? Viva Helena, the smart goddess of beauty and a nice role model for the younger generation!