Swishing: The new kind of jumble sale

I went to my first ever swishing party, not swiffing (the gadget you use to get the dust off a laminate floor) Swishing. And it's not one of those parties that involve throwing your car keys in a dish...

Swishing is a clothes swapping event, the one I went to was for charity, organised by www.bigwardrobe.com (a clothes-swapping website). Basically you take along your old clobber, hand it over, in return you get a receipt telling you how many 'high street' items you've handed in, and how many 'premium clothes' you've handed in. The idea is that you get back what you put in, sounds very organised doesn't it?

In reality, when they announce 'okay ladies, start swishing' it's one huge scrummage. Women racing to the rails (labelled by size) grabbing, pulling, elbowing, pinching from others 'stashes' and then retreating into a 'safe' corner to actually see what you've picked up.

I've never been to the first day of a NEXT sale, but I imagine that this is what it's like.

Not one to be frightened of having a good rummage, I got stuck in. There were still a few polite 'oops sorry...excuse me...please can you hand me that item' but essentially it was one big fight.

The downside to a swishing party, you can't guarantee the sizes, you're relying on others to donate their size 12 dresses and hope that they have the same great taste as you - I noticed this in the 'premium clothes' area - mostly skinny size 8s and 10s. Luckily I grabbed myself this Billy Bag so I was pleased with that.

I also won a prize in the raffle, I got the £100 of John Lewis gifts, which was a stroke of luck - as one of the other prizes was tickets to see Peter André at The Sage.

So, will I go swishing again? Yes
Any words of advice for new swishers?
1. Don't go with a shopping list, consider anything and everything
2. Take clothes that you're happy to donate
3. Don't expect to get back like for like
4. Be prepared for a scrum - survival of the fittest.

My theory on anti-ageing products

One of the main causes of premature ageing is stress.
Stress causes wrinkles.

Luckily there are some amazing products on the market that you can use to 'smooth away fine lines' and 'the tell-tale signs of ageing.' These 'wonder products' contain anti-oxidants, elastin + Vitafibrine, Pro-Xylane and all that nonsense.

The stress for me is choosing the one that is right for me and my skin.

Sometimes I wonder if there really is something different in each pot, especially when you see them lined up on the shelves, all claiming to do the same job, but the container looking slightly different. And when you've got one brand that offers you 101 anti-ageing moisturisers I really do get stressed out. What's the difference, and how the hell do I know what I'm missing out on if I pick this one, and not that one.

For me, the real cause of premature ageing and wrinkles are the products themselves.

Pixelpipe app on Android

I'm creating a test-post. The intention is that this blog entry will automatically add into my blogger blog. Which means I can blog on the go - keep your fingers crossed (I am).

The wise man and the foolish man

This one I remember from primary school, and I can even recall the actions too :)

The wise man built his house upon the rocks
The wise man built his house upon the rocks
the wise man built his house upon the rocks
And the rain came tumbling down.
Oh the rain came down and the floods came up.
The rain came down and the floods came up.
The rain came down and the floods came up
And the house on the rock stood FIRM.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down.
Oh the rain came down and the floods came up.
The rain came down and the floods came up.
The rain came down and the floods came up
And the house on the sand fell FLAT.

All quiet on the blogging front

I've been quiet these last few months, it's not that I've not wanted to blog, I've been what they call otherwise preoccupied.

Work, home the usual nonsense, and on top of all that I've been looking into moving my existing blog entries from blogs.ncl.ac.uk/lisa.cornforth into blogger. Why? Well, most importantly I want blog comments and feedback, and unfortunately the work-run blog doesn't allow it (unless you're staff or student).

I've got the content, I just need to work out how to upload into this blog.

I've also got myself a new phone and want to try and work out how to blog from my phone and post it automatically.

I'll get over it, suss it out etc, I'm not panicking just yet :)