Fe-line is awesome

Dear Fe-liners,

It’s August, which for a lot of you means Summer holidays, juggling childcare and eating ice-cream. At Fe-line it means more fantastic blogging, meeting up every week for #felinehour and this month having dinner together in Abingdon (not booked your place yet? Do it now).

As we move into another month we thought it would be good to reflect a little about the last month and talk about the ways that Fe-line is helping and inspiring us as we are sure that it can do the same for you.

Jo

Well last month was quite a big one for me with new inspiration from you Fe-liners coming from all directions. Firstly Joey’s blog about photography, made me start taking pictures of other things than The Babe again. I thought because I now live in the suburbs and do baby activities that my life had become a little less interesting than when I was living in the city and attending a lot of cool events and gigs. But just by looking around and seeing my new surroundings I felt inspired and realised there is soooo much beauty around me.

Secondly the #felinehour about literature inspired me to get to the library and borrow a book for me and not for The Babe. I haven’t read a single book since he was born and I am now determined to finish The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris before the end of August.

So thank you Fe-liners for helping me rediscover a few little bits of me and realising that I can have these even though I have a baby.

Debs

In July, I did something that I never imagined I could do and would, in fact, never have done if it wasn’t for Fe-line: I completed the 5k Race for Life. I even ran most of it, something that I would not have even contemplated doing without a supportive team of lovely ladies such as Team Fe-line.

Running is something that I’ve always felt slightly ridiculous doing; I’m instantly transported back to being that out-of-puff 10yr old who can’t keep up with the rest of her class. Proving to myself that I could actually complete a run in a vaguely respectable time has helped lay some old demons to rest.

So thank you, Fe-liners; Jo, Anais, and Rosie for encouraging me to get involved, everybody who ran as part of Team Fe-line, and for all of the encouraging messages left on the facebook pages. I really couldn’t have done it without you!

Anaïs

My July Fe-line highlight for me was the initiation of Andrea, Becky, Hannah, Sabrina and Sally!

We recruited five new bloggers last month and it’s been great to introduce new women into the fold – they blasted onto the site with an ode to Debbie Harry, thoughts on festivals, praise of floral print in all its forms, a journey from self-hate to self-love and advice on how to style and stay yourself amongst the whirlwind that is seasonal fashion trends.

Everyone on Fe-line brings their unique voice to the blog and it’s great to see the brand reaching so far and getting such a mix of women: we’ve now got Fe-liners blogging from Australia, Canada, the States, Ireland as well as of course the UK. It’s really thrilling to feel connected to great people in different places all over the world, thanks to Fe-line.

We’re always keen to have one off posts from guest bloggers to add into the mix too, so feel free to ping over an idea if there’s something you’re itching to write about for Fe-line!

Rosie

As a small business owner, Fe-line has been a constant source of inspiration and information this month, including Debs’ fantastic piece about Anita Roddick and her journery with The Body Shop and all that she achieved in her lifetime. I also loved Hannah’s piece on summer florals and how it is such a fun and easy look to wear this season. I have a passion for fashion and one of the best parts of my job is keeping up to date with trends and looking for the next hot look to incorporate in the Kinship collection. Flower power is definitely a key player in our range this summer.

Above all though, it is so great to be surrounded by such talented and inspirational women. Connecting through the blog and #felinehour has been a really fantastic ride and long may it continue. Furthermore, working (and maybe enjoying the odd cocktail!) with Jo, Debs and Anais has been so much fun. These girls are like little rays of sunshine and I’m so thankful to have them in my life. Why not come and catch some Fe-line rays at one of our awesome events!

Fe-line Paws of Approval – July

As we are now Team Fe-line, WHOOP, we thought it would be fun to every once in a while each nominate something that we have seen that we think is awesome and won the Fe-line Paw of Approval.

Jo

My Fe-line Paw of Approval has to go to Gala Darling and her Radical Self Love Salons. As we know Fe-liners it isn’t always easy to be kind and encouraging to ourselves but Gala has this magical way of making women see how amazing they are. I met her when I did The Blogcademy and she has this amazing aura about her, she’s very genuine and easy to talk to and I can only imagine how much this course helps people. I unfortunately found out about the Salon too late to go to the London date but I am booking myself in to the next one this side of the pond for sure.

Rosie

My favourite find this month was Gabby Young and Other Animals at Cornbury Festival.  Gabby shone out from the line up with her awesome red locks and quirky style, including an amazing dress from Collectif that I have had my eye on! The band bring together sweet pop melodies with an eccentric circus swing twist. Gabby hails from Wiltshire and her boundless creativity doesn’t just stop at music, she also has a great love for gardening and making lots of fabulous pieces. She even promotes UK designers and has a little online shop with pieces she loves. This girl combines a gorgeous sense of style with great music and oodles of fun besides.

Debs

This month, I’d like to award my Paw of Approval to an incredibly simple, but oh-so-very useful app.

I came across a recommendation for 30/30 on The Dexterous Diva’s blog and it has revolutionised my working day. It’s a pretty simple concept, you create tasks for yourself and give each one a time limit – a typical task list for me would include items such as checking in with my journal, working on my next Fe-line post, loading the dishwasher, and breaking for an all-important cup of tea. The beauty of scheduling like this is that you can see that there’s time to fit it all in; task #4 may well be the most important, but you don’t need to panic and start on it straight away as there is time to comfortably fit in tasks 1-3 first (on my list these are usually 1 exercising, 2 showering, and 3 getting dressed – leads to some awkward conversations with house callers if I skip them). The other benefit of having an electronic schedule is that it’s completely editable so if you find that your current task needs a bit longer and you want to stick with it or if you need to move up your tea break, you can switch things around without having to start again. I also love that, if time’s up on a task and you’ve yet to mark it complete, 30/30 will automatically move it to the end of the list so you can come back to it later rather than struggling through when the momentum’s clearly gone.

Anaïs

I’d like to give Giffords Circus my Fe-line Paw of Approval this month. Giffords Circus tour around the Cotswolds every summer bringing their unique form of circus to village greens and parks across Oxfordshire and further afield. They travel and live in wooden wagons and perform a distinctive kind of cosy, traditional circus show. You get to see a mix of stand out clowning from regular Tweedy Clown, juggling, acrobatics, contortionism, equestrian vaulting, brilliant live music and more, all presented under a different theme each year with hand made costumes and loads of make up. Nell started up Giffords Circus with her husband Toti in 2000 and over the last 14 years it has become staple summer entertainment for many, thanks to its vintage character, awesome physical exploits and great sense of playfulness. You can find out more by reading Nell’s book The First Ten Years and I would definitely recommend their current show, The Thunders, touring until late September!