The Ladies Circle and toilets !

As you may know I've been patron of The Ladies Circle for a few years now and they're still a relatively well kept secret, even though there are thousands of circles worldwide and the money they raise for various different charities is astonishing. They do like a laugh though and at the area luncheon yesterday it was great fun, theres something inspirational about this bunch of gals who all like to dress up and wear hats at lunchtime (why not ?) and certainly the majority can 'hold their beer !' The main speaker was Rani Singh who you know from Eastenders amongst other shows. They all wanted to know what it was like meeting Lionel Richie, cos he was a guest on Steve Wrights show and he is possibly the worlds nicest man, (well - nicest artist, the nicest man is undoubtedly Richard Curtis) but amidst the name dropping and revelling a huge amount of money was raised for a brilliant charity called SARIs stands for sanitation at rural indian schools. Chris who I'm pictured with here started it all when she realised that as girls reach puberty they simply stop going to school because their are no toilet facilities, this of course has a huge impact on not just their education but their nutrition too, as food is provided there. Chris has so far raised enough money to build around 60 toilets blocks at rural indian schools and a paid for contract to ensure their maintenance for twenty years - incredible. I'm going to get her to write an article for the website.

Meanwhile I had a couple of glasses of red wine to be sociable and feel like death today ! Come back 'alcoholfree' all is forgiven, when you stop being unkind to your body it reacts badly if you revert back to old habits. I sat flicking between Notting Hill and Gosford Park last night on the telly (bet loads of people did that !) and felt totally bloated and headachey, Hey ho made up for it today with a great - as Enid (Taymount clinic) calls it - Shrek juice, - green basically.

Pet shop boys and a swanky new gym

Fab to meet the Pet Shop Boys again on Steve Wrights show, we've interviewed them a few times and in the eighties I'm sure we must have been on the same bill at various european gigs (when I was touring with Nik Kershaw I think) but back in those days they were oh so sulky, didn't Wrighty used to have a slot on Radio 1 called the Pet Shop Boys at home where Neil was very efusive and OTT and Chris just grunted occasionally ! Now they're both lovely and great fun, such a distinctive sound and such a mix, they've written a ballet now too which should be excellent. Popped in briefly to the opening of a new Gym called Lifesmart near Regents Park, swanky to the enth degree ! Its Carole Caplins new venture and trust me we're not just talking a few treadmills and a treatment room, this is luxurious, (hope she knows theres a credit crunch) but wonderful to see the holistic approach filtering right through even to the products in the changing areas (which were opulent by the way) Lovely to see Cheryl from Viridian, Marie from Solgar, Charlotte from Green People and Alex from Kinetic4health who told that the Jason products are 50 this year ! How scary - natural skincare products as old as Madonna and yet still the majority of people don't use them, but thats why we have imperfectlynatural.com - right !

New comps popping up by the way and if you bought the new book the money off vouchers are valid to end of this month (I guess while designated stock lasts)

Live blood analysis ! woo hoo

Did I mention how astonishing this is ? I went to see Enid Taylor again today at the Taymount clinic (see her fab article on colonic hydrotherapy in the features section) and they also offer live blood analysis, now wer'e not talking sample, send off to lab, lab works on 'dead' cells...no this is the real deal and you can see your own blood cells on the screen all kind of globulus ! (is that a word ?) Its a great way to warn you if theres something amiss and shows up how much fat you'rte eating ! Anyways I have a raging sore throat and immediately without me saying anything (and I wasn't snivelling yet either) Glenn said 'oh look at the increased number of white blood cells...you must have an infection...do you feel as if you're coming down with something ?'...incredible, these white blood cells look like fizzing blobs but thank God they're active, shows my immune system is working. Blood aside on Steve Wright in the afternoon we interviewed Ronan Keating and man alive - is he looking good! I tell you 6 days up a mountain and copious amounts of exercise and water did wonders for that crew, Chris Moyles lost a stone ! Good on them. Its the end of a busy week and I hear my new book got to 23 on Amazon last Wed, I've been short-changing myself and telling everyone 34, 23 ain't bad, quite impressive considering I've done The Wright stuff but not much other TV. BBC 3 counties radio was fun today, I'm slowly convincing Lorna Milton the presenter to try all things natural, I've got her on soapnuts, shes just a bit reluctant in the natural deodorant dept. I'll keep working on it.
x

Happy birthday to me !

A very sweet start to the day as the kids had made a happy birthday banner and each individual letter represented something, ...The B was a bee....a was an alien etc...I know you're thinking crikey thats inventive...some were just patterns but anyways its cheers up my kitchen, no end, the five year old also gave me the best present, a necklace and braclet made from painted past shells, how sustainable is that and so funky, he'll go far that boy.

Yesterday was fun on the Wright stuff and the new book went up to number 55 on Amazon best sellers which isn't bad for Channel 5, just need to get onto BBC brekkie now.

Lovely show with Steve today too with Lionel Richie who is one of the nicest guys in showbiz without doubt.

If I'm very lucky I might get to go out tonight to a restaurant but as I'm not drinking I really need to find a BYO type ressie so that I can take my lovely new best freind my 'Pearl Blanc from Alcohol free wine, either that or I'll have to convince my fave restaurants to stock it.

By the way if you're following the Horace (my live kefir culture 'pet') story, I managed a few teaspoonfuls of yoghurty milk but not a great consistency in all truth.

I'm being real good in the cappucino dept, just need to get onto detoxyourworld and stock up on the maca and raw choccy powder, oh and on that note, DH and my own old mum by the way bought me huge boxes of chocolates....mmm.....wonder who'll be eating those, don't quite fit with my new raw regime I'm thinking....hey once again thank the LOrd that I have never claimed to be anything other than imperfect.

The power of Maybe….

So much to tell I have to ‘eek’ it out, its not good is it when blog entries ramble about a million subjects so I won’t……Save to say please remind me that I must tell you about my new ‘pet’ – don’t worry I haven’t taken on a feline friend, dog, rabbit or even chickens – trust me 4 kids is enough, but I do have a responsibility by the name of Horace, he’s actually a ‘blob’ of kefir culture and as it was a precious gift from Dr Enid Taylor who I met the other day (lots more on that meeting to follow) I intend to cherish him and devour his offerings, if you’ve read Imperfectly Natural Woman you’ll know I was once the proud owner of a live yoghurt culture, and I did pretty well keeping that alive tamegotche (sp?) styley for a few years. I’ll update you – promise.

For now I’ve had one of those ‘aha’ moments, You know what its like, you read something (usually in a self help book) and it strikes such a chord with you it takes your breath away, of course when you relay to friends they seem nonplussed at your ignorance prior to see-ing this light so I apologise in advance if you all already know this.

You know the inspirational author Susan Jeffers (whose book ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ is life changing and an absolute\must) well I came across another book of hers today ‘Embracing Uncertainty’

Must say I was uncertain about reading it (no pun intended) I kinda knew it would challenge my ‘control freak’ ideas, I’m queen of cosmic ordering, and manifesting desires so not achieving your goals is ‘not a variable’. Yet it has been levelled at me that while my mantra is ‘imperfectly natural’ I often don’t allow myself the ‘luxury’ of not getting it all right and can sometimes try and control too much.

Anyways this book is about working towards peace of mind and living in a ‘maybe world’ Susan Jeffers suggests we should state the affirmation ‘I have no control over my life’ – ooh scary stuff, goes against the grain huh ?

Onto the next chapter….after I’ve given Horace his organic milk.
More later…….

Tues 17th Feb

I really should update this more regularly cos I have so much to tell you now. lets start with my amazing session last Friday with a Shamanic healer, now before you write me off as totally barking I don't know much about is either but it seems truly fascinating and my experience was - well - amazing. Check out Liberate Online
www.liberate-online.co.uk The lovely Dawn is the most fascinating woman who was literally 'called' by someone high up in the 'inca' tribe to learn 'energy medicine'

Its said to clear your emotional, mental, spiritual and energetic blocks in a very gentle, yet deep way through shamanic healing. it felt rather like a cross between hypnotherapy, reiki, bodywork, eft, life coaching and a bit of space clearing thrown in for good measure. I'll write my full review in more detail and Dawn is going to write something for our features, shes alos agreed to offer a prize of a full session to one lucky winner on the site or ezine so watch this space, check the front page and make sure you're signed up for the ezines.

After that experience we headed off to augill castle again, read about my trip there, its so fab and if its possible I enjoyed it even more this time around. The current ezine has a chance to win 2 places on the kids cookery courses and I show wish I'd done it myself, the kids made mexican chilli and divine toffee fudge. Yum !

Mon 9th Feb

Another week flown by then - but what a good one, apart from the obvious hassles, the book (imperfectly natural woman) shot up on Amazon after being on The Wright stuff and sometimes my job (Radio 2) is just too good, imagine getting to interview Chris Martin (Coldplay) and being paid ! I have to tell you he is gorgeous, I'm a sucker for a talented muso anyway but he really is such a charmer - and wearing the most fab funky jacket made from recycled bits of fabrics and motifs. I know I know I know hes spoken for (Gywneth Paltrow if I'm not mistaken) but a girl can look.

Health wise I could do with a few vibes, I've finally stopped breastfeeding (well Lulu is three - don't want to be recreating Little Britain 'bitty' sketches) which I thought would give me masses of new energy but the opposite is true, in truth I think perhaps my poor hormones are so confused what with 4 pregnancies in 10 years and long term breastfeeding its all gotten tricky. anyways my usual limitless energy is - well - limited.

Won't stop me for long though, I had a wonderful chat today with the lovely Petra from Tortuerouge.co.uk (sensational aromatherapy oils and so much more) and shes invited me on one of her aspirational courses to learn more about 'diy' skincare using her organic flowers and plants grown on her farm near Montpelier in France - does that sound fab or what ? don't worry I've persuaded her to offer a free 'holiday' to a lucky winner on the website too so make you check the comp and the ezine.