Guest blogger 101 — Possessions

Happy Sunday fellow Madgespace readers. Yes, that’s right — this isn’t the bowl cut beauty herself. It is her sister Char with the exciting news that Madgespace is going to be taken over by guest bloggers for the next week. Saddle up and enjoy reading about the sentiments of a few, very select blog-sperts (blog + experts…kind of).

Possessions

As you all know, Madge is preparing to leave Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and, about six weeks later, I will be following suit. What can I say, I can’t live without the gal! Despite the move still being two months away, we’ve started going through all our stuff. We need to get the flat ready to rent and there’s no way we can bring everything we own.

Articles. Objects. Stuff. Things. Belongings. Wordly goods. 

For some, moving is stressful and emotional, filled with moments of deep nostalgia and debates about what to keep and what to throw or give away. Over the years I’ve discovered I’m just not this person. And it’s surprising — even to me. I mean, it's not like I'm not in tune with my emotions. I’m the one who tears up at the news of anyone and their dog's pregnancy and cries at every ridiculous rom-com. Heck, I even shed a few tears when my son pooped in the toilet for the first time.

So, how did I feel when I gave away the baby cradle? The frames that held our family photos? The dress I wore at my wedding?

ELATED. OVERJOYED. ECSTATIC.

My brain was chanting ‘less stuff, less stuff, less stuff!’ and I wanted to dance around our empty flat. Turns out, I am a minimalist. I LOVE that I can fit everything I own into two suitcases. It makes me feel footloose and fancy-free (although, ironically, using that phrase makes me feel old and immobile). It's also kind of a relief to realize I don't need things to keep me happy.

I guess The Beatles and One Direction were on to something.

Oscars makeup 2015

Char and I are trying out different makeup looks for the Oscars in a couple weeks.

We each were in charge of the other's makeup, with a few ground rules:

1. Be creative
2. Go big impact
3. Try your hardest, for real
4. Compliment the client during the whole process ("you have such soft skin", etc.)

Ready to see the results!?! Scroll down for the before/after gifs.

THE




SUSPENSE




IS




KILLING




ME

Char with her Mila Kunis inspired cat eyes.

Me giving you 'Burning Man' chic.

Tell us about your Oscars look in the comments!

Your gurl, 

Margaret

January nerds

It's the first Sunday in January. If there was ever a time to bring your A-game, it's now.

As the first non-holiday week of the year stretches out before us, this is our chance for a fresh start. Stick out your tongue. Can you taste that? It's tiny particles of hope and opportunity floating through the air like a salty ocean mist. But these taste like acai berry and Febreze.

This evening Andy and I cracked on with our 2015 'Live Your Best Life' (© Oprah) plan. We made up two giant pots of tortellini soup to portion and freeze for our lunches throughout the week. We also blended up six water bottles worth of smoothies for a delightful breakfast drink on the go!

January is such a nerdy month. Everyone goes to the gym and promises to eats chocolate only in the evening. People set goals for their career, open ISAs and sign up for 10Ks. We clean, we diet, we run, we save. Some of us will take things too far and embark on a juice cleanse or sign up for a gruelling workout bootcamp. SO nerdy!!!

Really, there's nothing wrong with embracing our inner Goop every January. It can be quite refreshing. Let's just remember that:

1) Life improvement plans are boring. Most people don't care. Don't waffle on about your paleo recipes to work colleagues.

2) Mental health is just as important as physical health (Probably, I think. Unless you're HUGE). Don't punish yourself for being human. Take off the hair-shirt and spend a day doing absolutely nothing every now and then. Buy some new shoes. Eat a bagel.

Best of luck,
Margaret

2015 predictions

I'm blogging from a train! How exotic!

It's £2 for an hour of (slow) Internet. Hopefully some day, when free WiFi flows like water, we'll look back on that and laugh.

Well, the holidays are officially over. Tonight we return to Edinburgh following the big Italy/Exeter world tour. Not to be an old fogie, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my routine.

We've celebrated. We've indulged. We've napped...ever day for the past ten days.

There's been lots cheese. There's been lots chocolate. There's even been cheese smothered on chocolate (no joke—last night I carved the caramel out of a chocolate, stuffed it with creamy Blue Stilton and fed it to Andy's brother).

Now it's time to put the sharp cheddar down and pick up the yoga mat. Also, clean the flat, return emails, check the bank account and make a bowl cut appointment.

But before all that, let's do some predictions for 2015.

Superbowl winner
Seahawks

Celebrity break-up
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick

New Apple product 
iSandal (high tech footwear that moulds perfectly to your arch, calculates your steps and warns you of approaching piles of dog poop)

Hipster food trend
Artisan potstickers

Fashion
Bellbottoms

Mad Men finale
Don Draper takes a bullet for Peggy and dies (not sure who the shooter is...but possibly Margaret, Roger's daughter)

Viral video
Skydiving iguana

Celeb in rehab
Justin Bieber

Popular music
Nelly Furtado comeback album

British TV show remade in America
Goggle Box


What do you predict?

Cheers,
Margaret

Things to retire for 2015

Tomorrow is the first day of 2015. As Nina Simone would croon, "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me...and I'm feeling goooood!"

Before we ring in the New Year, I've made a list of things that we might want to consider leaving behind going forward. "Going forward" is office jargon over here in the UK. For example, "Going forward, do you see us transitioning to an outreach-based approach?" Do people say it in offices in America? Let me know.

Anyhoo, the things on my list aren't necessarily bad. Some are even good (see: 'funny A-frame signs'), but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to flourish forever. With the exception of Kardashian kulture, too much of anything is not ideal. Even the best athletes have to call it quits at some point. The very best have their numbers retired and shirts draped in the stadium for future generations to admire.

So let's agree to leave the following stuff in 2014 and use these imaginative human brains of ours to come up with some cool, original replacements in the New Year.

Words and phrases

• That happened
• For why
• Facepalm
• Adorkable
• FTW (for the win)
• Nom nom nom
• Life hack
• Epic
• Go home [blank]; you're drunk.

Things

• Funny A-frame signs outside restaurants/pubs
• Nail art
• Ironic Amazon reviews
• Moustache-on-a-stick props in wedding photobooths (the rest can stay: feather boa, foam finger, London policeman's hat, etc.)
• Selfies or photobombs (we can only keep one)
• Giant plaid shirts tied at the waist (I'm looking at you, Khloe K.)

Opinions

• Gwyneth Paltrow is annoying
• Photoshop is ruining our body image
• Fox News is the reason the world is going to the dogs
• Kale is the answer.

In general, let's try to be a little less bandwagony, a little less ironic and a little more creative. 

Best of luck to us all, 

Margaret