I think it sucks that the Women’s Weekly supposedly wants to encourage women, of ahem, a certain age to pose naked, to celebrate their bodies and their lives and then photoshops the hell out of the images, making us, mere mortals, out here in MereMortal Land feel even more inadequate than we did before 50 something women decided to plonk their selves, naked no less, slap-bang, right on the front of one of our favourite national magazines.
I was feeling fairly ok about my forty-is-the-new-thirty-body until I saw that.
And that, my lil Beach Cottage friends, is why I wholeheartedly believe in the power of blogging.
Because, as I have said a few times on here, blogging is more real…no I do not show you just how my old cottage looks if I decide to ‘stop’ for oh about a day, no I don’t show you what I look like in the morning before I iron out the crease in my left cheek and pull the hairs out of my chin…
But I don’t show you how ‘wonderful’ I look at 50, naked on the front of your favourite magazine…complete with a Photoshop brush up my backside
I am a real girl here, I do not have a make-up artist, a team of interior designers, an army of gardeners, a stylist to help my ‘wardrobe’, a personal trainer, a cook, a graphic artist who can foof me up or a photographer who ‘works with the light’
I do have 3 kids, a mortgage, a husband with a new business, school fees, teeth fees and sometimes not much time, or to be quite honest, much inclination left for me. But I still want to look the best I can.
And when I started blogging about how I work those Real Girl things above, like budget and time into the things I like to wear, the make-up that makes me feel a little bit brighter, the things I won’t leave the house without in the morning, a very strange thing happened…the feedback was big…one of my fashion posts zipped around the internet, it went a bit viral…my traffic thingy soared that day & my inbox was full the next morning…it seemed, rather than expensive make-up, photo-shopping & designer clothes, girls out there seemed to quite like my Target combats, my wrinkly bits, my small but still very much there Beach Cottage Muffin Top and my Real Girl budget.
And now I embrace that…and I am loving blogging about Real Girl Fashion, Real Girl Finds…it’s given me a new interest in life, I have always loved clothes (not fashion) and now as a forty-is-the-new-thirty-my-kids-are-no-longer-babies I am enjoying it even more…
I don’t know about you, but I am sick to the back teeth of magazine editors telling me how to be like the 50 yr old woman with the perfect body, that actually, is far from the reality of any 50 yr old. indeed 40 yr old woman for that matter, that I have ever known…
I DO NOT want to know about the perfect killer dress that costs oh 3,000 dollars, I don’t want to know about that recipe that uses that perfect ingredient that costs you more than that week’s grocery budget, I don’t want to hear about those Manolos (or whatever they are called) that are so perfect they will change my life, or anyone else’s life for that matter, I do not want to know about that perfect sofa handmade in Italy and costing more than my mortgage, I don’t want to hear about, yet another perfect diet, that will mean that I either lose 25kilos or have killer energy for like ever, and I certainly do not want to see yet another minimalist house without children, (or worse, with white-linen-clad children) that just so happens to be in Mayfair…
I have got more chance of getting any of those things in my life right now than I have of getting to the moon..
plus I don’t what that wholel plethora of it all in my life…I want simple things, easy fashion, easy food and I want, rather than ramp up it up to Jimmy Choos, to low-key down my life…to celebrate, me, to simplyify life and live it the best I can, whatever my circumstances….
What I do want is fashion for a girl with a small budget.
What I do want is food that’s healthy & easy.
What I do want is make-up I can grab in the supermarket.
What I do want is home decor that I can afford.
And that my friends is why I heart blogs.
It’s why I continue to come here and blog the way I do it and it’s why I continue to find inspiration every day from girls, like me, who are not perfect but are living a real life, with whatever that entails
And so, with that in mind, I would like to introduce you to a new addition to the Beach Cottage
The Twenty Dollar Maxi Skirt
modelled by me with my real girl arms
shot by Mr BC with his real girl camera
on location in our real girl town
fitted into our real girl life in the middle of an Aussie Summer’s day
this skirt will suck in your middle bit
but it won’t help with your muffin top
this skirt will make you walk like a duck
but you won’t need to shave your legs
this skirt will pull you in at the sides
but it can do nothing for your upper-arms
this skirt will skim your ankles at just the right length
but it can’t help your hairy chin
this skirt will draw the eye way down away from that other stuff going on
but it won’t help the peel on the top of your thighs
this skirt will be comfy & easy & feel good
but it won’t change those saggy bits you can feel as you walk along
this skirt will make you skip and dance and laugh
but it won’t stop your husband’s
eyebrows
when you ask
do my arms look fat in this?
this skirt rocks
Real Girls rock
your life rocks
be seeing ya Beach Cottage girls
Here’s to Blog & Real Girl Power
skirt : Supre (yes! really! I was shopping for my daughter when I spied it)
(note* I bought a size smaller than I am for sucking-in power)
Agree! Almost. I really would like the following…..
A ”perfect diet, that will mean that I either lose 25kilos or have killer energy for like ever.”
Oh and you look darling!
Amen to that Sarah!!!! Couldn’t of have said it better myself… You clever girl… You do realise that if you keep going on this road of simplicity and reality you may be at risk of discovering what makes life wonderful/beautiful perhaps even worth living!!! I have been on this road for a very long time, and I have to admit every once in a while I have been distracted and little lost because of it at times but I always find my way back (thank goodness for that!). I love that skirt!!! I may be visiting supre soon, very much to my taste (but also the whole not having to shave your legs is very good heee…heee..). I just hope I can carry it off as good as you do(me being a shortie and all), you do the skirt justice!!
so tell me, because i really do get confused by that ‘young person’s store’ sizing system – if i normally wear a CR 12, what size would i need in this?
hmm, well I would normally wear a CR 8 or 10 and I bought xs …but that was b/c I wanted it tight to suck stuff in…so I am guessing I would normally be a small or a medium so I think a 12 would be a medium or a large..
You crack me up! Today I was complaining to my co worker about my “chunky white arms” and how I hate my little body, in which she so kindly told me I do not in fact have chunky white arms at all and that I look great. So I am going to tell you, since reading this I am now going to call them “real girl arms” I also have a real girl tummy lol
Anyway just to say Sarah, you’ve always looked so fit to me! Tiny even! Rock that bod! And the skirt is awesome on you!
I think there’s a gap in the market place for a “real” magazine featuring “real” women’s bodies. There’s always shock horror when mags print pics of “celebs” orange peel, which is quite ironic I think coz they’re the same mags photo shopping everything in the first place! Numpties!
Good for you Sarah, you tell them. This is why I read blogs and don’t buy magazines simple truth. You look like a million bucks, Supre Target doesn’t matter, you look great so good for you.
Very new to your blog Sarah but love todays post! I work as a dietitian and the amount of women I see who have unrealistic expectations of what their bodies should look like is heart wrenching. Yes we could all look like celebs too if we had personal trainers, personal chefs, cleaners, nannies etc etc. Here’s to real girls and I’m going to throw in non-dieting too because really who wants to waste their time on ridiculous diets!
A side point – while going through your old Real Girl fashion posts was very excited to see that I also own the Target cargos/combats and the $10 Kmart skinny jeans. I am no longer embarrased to say I own them!!
haha Heidi…I know that embarrassing feeling…especially around here where most people think CR is roughing it lol! I love looking good and not wasting money though hence me deciding to think stuff it I don’t give a rat’s arse about what people think anymore….and the feedback was amazing…seems there are a whole lotta closet budget fashion girls out there lol
I can only imagine what you must see in your job day-to-day…
several years ago, while being in my early to mid 50′s, i started to take pix of “real woman” then dove came out with it about a year later showing real women in their advertising… good for them, bad for me, which ended a book i was writing at the time… now in my early 60′s, i love my graying hair, short at the moment due to donating my long locks to charity for cancer survivors wigs, my wrinkly face, showing real life, sunkissed by many years of baking in the sun in south florida, not botoxed like a neighbor’s face that looks frozen, bloated, and just plain horrible and unrealistic… why they think they look so good, while their hands shows their true age… i’m proud that i’m not on any medication until today, when i was put on high blood pressure pills… but that’s life… i do know for a fact, my face will not fall off in the next 10 years or cancer ridden because of the poison being injected into my face… i can smile a real smile, raise my eye brows to show actual expressions… my face is real…it’s me…
it’s time for “real women” to stand up to commercialism, telling our stories, being real in a plastic world of fashion… with our very young girls become bulimic because they aren’t skinny enough to be fashion plates, which we all know, isn’t realistic, not following what is fashionable models skinny… at boarding school in 1967, girls started to toss their cookies to lose weight… i tried it once, was so disgusted with the whole thing, never did it again… i was thin, no skinny like twiggy but it just wasn’t worth it to me… i would rather be fluffy than bony… though i’m a little more than fluffy than i want to be, due to society’s opinion, i’m a renaissance woman that you can cuddy with at nite, and know i’m actually there… i’m soft and my breasts are real… rejoice to “i’m not fat, i’m fluffy”
let’s hear it for the fluffies of the world… good job, sarah…. bravo
I love your input & your story…it is worrying what will happen to the younger girls…it’s bad enough for girls like me when all this stuff just wasn’t accessible…nowadays it is which is scary.
I went ahead yesterday and read Nikki’s article. Seriously, who needs all that? I will never buy one of those mags you know. Why will I spend money to make me feel horrible in the first place.
You looking vair vair cute in your skirt. I wonder if it will do justice to a 5’4″ girl? you must be tall!
Thanks Sarah for commenting on the LH article. What you have expressed is REAL. There’s a saying that goes something like “Our grandparents would not allow it, our parents tolerated it and now our children accept it”. I would add one more thing to the comment -our chilrens children think it’s the norm. There is a generation coming up that are already having artificial faces and bodies. If you start injecting and adding artifiacial bits to yourself before you have actually stopped growing or even started to ‘age’how are you ever going to know what you REALLY were supposed to look like?
There are people around me that are getting ready for upcoming weddings by the bride having breast implants and the mothers having facelifts. what is that all about???
It sorta makes me think that we sure do live in the Lucky country when so much effort and money can go into this sort of activity.
I really appreciate that you provide the links that go straight to what you are talking about.
Looking forward to another year with you.
Irene
I hate to judge, but yes are there not more important things, rather than facelifts, cosmetic surgery on people who are beautiful already just the way they are. There are children starving in the world.
AMEN! to that Sarah,what a fabulous inspiring post for REAL girls!
I was 40 last year and i love that i am finally comfortable to wear what i like and what i know suits my body shape,long gone are the days where i would buy every fashion magazine every month searching for the secret and you know what? after a few years the same old pictures get re-used with a different article boo that’s when i stopped its all a myth…..i am a thrifty shopper and have thought about blogging outfits before but as most other real girls say it makes you wonder how it will go down without that designer label….not anymore!,i personally in my day to day life don’t care about labels those poor girls in their high designer shoes,boobs shoved up under their chins waddling along like ducks lol its so not a good look.
ps your real girl bum in picture 6 looks really good in your real girl skirt
x
How funny, I actually bought womans weekly last week when we were in sydney for that very article, I felt so flat after I read the article, I am turning 49 and found it soul destroying but your post has made me feel better! love your skirt!
FANTASTIC, well done. some of us have a lot more ‘real’ on our bodies than others. I too am sick of looking at boney women dressed skimpily or photoshopped to be unrealistic with chicken wing arms. The messages our young girls are getting from the media are so wrong, its insane. You did well to source the skirt, I have now got 2, one in small striped black and white and one in big stripes grey and black, on their way to me, Black being my thing rather than navy! I just hope they will fit my huge derriere. You must have blown supre away- jammed their servers? HAhahahaha there were none left in your style in any size!!!!!!
Love the skirt..you look so cute.
It’s funny you talk about the simple real things as it’s where I wanted to head on my make-up blog…I am so loving the supermarket/Priceline finds atm, just wasn’t sure anyone wanted to hear me ramble or demo them. I’ll need some crash test dummies…know any willing victims…um I mean volunteers?
I need to figure out how to take pics of myself that aren’t out of focus…then i can use me too (as scary as that may be)
thanks for the inspiration
x Marnie
Amen sister! I think the women they photoshopped on the magazine covers even wish they looked like that in real life too!
Love the skirt, you look so comfortable and chic!
HA! I wanted to say amen, amen and amen, but I see that’s already been said! I wish that you’d offer those skirts and bags in your shop! I’ve often drooled over your market bag, so I immediately went to the link provided. They don’t ship to my region of Canada. Please do tell if you know any other sources! I’ve never seen them here.
Thanks for being so REAL. It’s amazing how easy it is to just accept the craziness as “normal”, so thanks for the reality check.
OH GOD HOW I LOVED THIS POST!
I LAUGHED ALL THE WAY THRU IT BECAUSE IT IS SO REAL!!
MADE ME FEEL TERRIFIC!
I AM TIRED ON FEELING “WRONG” BECAUSE A MAGAZINE OR TV AD TOLD ME I AM.
THANKS FOR THE GREAT REMINDER!! LOVE TO YOU.
YOU ARE TRULY ROCKING THAT SKIRT AND THIS BLOG.
PS: SORRY FOR THE CAPS…EYE PROBLEMS TODAY.
Do you know advancedstyle.blogspot.com Sarah? I love it for the attitude (and think my mum could be in it in a heartbeat, if she lived in New York and not Murwillumbah)~
And do you remember Cat in Red Dwarf? His attitude,is very mental-healthy, in fact you ARE perfect.
Hi Sarah- I’ve been reading your blog for a looong time without commenting but had to on this post- I’m 28 and things aren’t what they used to be (3 pregnancies and nursing babies and all that!) but I’m so much happier with myself than I was 10 years ago! (maybe that’s just growing up, and more importantly, being out of high school) I love hearing your perspective and I love your style- I’m very into real woman clothes for real bodies and budgets.
Love from the rainy rainy Northwest U.S.- Melanie
One piece of advice though…….smile more! You have a gorgeous smile! The pics of you that ar my faves are the ones of you smiling.
But I loved this article, so where my heart is. I beleive in keeping it real and simple. I love clothes, but I’m not into trends per se. I love good food, but I’m not into super complicated. I believe in taking care of myself, so I can better care for my sweet family. I believe in doing things to keep my sanity, so that I am less stressed and more fun.
HI Sarah
I am a newbie follower and thought I would pop by and say hi, I am wearing the exact same skirt today but as a strapless dress with a belt, such a great buy. Looks great on you too by the way!;)
I love the skirt and the comments that go with it. I agree by the way, I am 20 something and there is no way that a naked 50 year old on the cover of Womens weekly is making me feel better about myself!
You nailed it, Sarah. Amen to everything you said.
As mothers of daughters we should embrace the simple, the natural, the essence of being YOU. We are raising a generation of women who can change the world – if we believe in them enough, they’ll believe in themselves too.
Thanks for the real budget-conscious fashion posts – love them – keep them up, please! Now I’m off to Supre
Great post Sarah, like your philosophy on life. Having turned 50 this year (and living in Ole Blighty) I’ve had to face the fact that my body is changing…and I would like to lose a few kilos as much for my health as for appearances sake…but at the end of the day, if I don’t, it won’t be the end of the world. Most of us are not super models and have to make the most of what we have and I certainly think as I grow older I am more confident with my appearance, even though things are changing (I have three god damn hairs growing out of my chin!!)…I think you look great in that skirt, in fact the whole oufit could be worth $500 and it couldn’t look any better. You wear it all with confidence and that make all the difference sometimes. I’m looking forward to more of the good but simple stuff in life, on your blog this year. Happy new year! Robx
p.s. I never could take to Deborah Hutton…a bit too smooth…
I am with you…funny how suddenly you realise it too…..my feet aren’t the prettiest, bony and scrawny & someone once made a horrid comment on them…it stuck with me (and she was no oil painting lol)….then recently I thought **** me, these feet are amazing, they got me to play sport the last 20 years, to cart my kiddos around and now to go on beautiful walks around the best country in the world…boy I love my feet!
xo
I sat in the hairdressers yesterday reading those trashy fashion/womens’ magazines and could feel the energy being sucked out of me. Does anyone else feel like that?? What a waste of time, ink and paper!!!!
Happy New Year Sarah. I have to tell you how inspired I have been by you. I have started a blog because of you and in the long term I aspire to connect with people I might not meet in my day to day life.
This post of yours has had a positive effect on my wardrobe. I loved your real woman post and the outfit youy have on has led me to totally copy your style from someone who isn’t a size 8 or 10 ( but an 8+10 !) yet I so lurveed your outfit I went and got one in my fave colour combo of black and white! I have been inspired by you in sooo many ways and I check in with you nearly everyday!
My life is soo different from yours however I love your style and messages and would like to achieve a following such as yours
thank you for being such a lovely part of my day’
love helen
Here, Here and amen to all of the above!!!!!!!! fantastic. I’m new to the whole blogging thing and have been so impressed with the
whole new world that I have discovered. THere are women out there that think exactly the same way that I do. Thank-you………..
I only read women’s magazines if I’m completely desperate for something to do and I have no other reading matter, which isn’t often, since I have an iPhone. But my son needed internet access for homework when we were out and I was left with the mags. I was really, really disturbed by the thinness of the models in Vogue. They all needed a few plates of steak and chips!
I asked my husband if I should get a skirt like that. He said, “I don’t mind you in long dresses… Or short dresses… Or no dresses…” Is that TMI? It seems my husband hasn’t read the magazines either, so he doesn’t know what I’m supposed to look like — but never have!
I just wanted to let you know that I loved your blog on the Supre skirt, and loved how you looked in it. So much so that I checked out Supre online (I am in the UK) and, not only did they have one (in black and white stripe), not only do they ship to the UK FOR FREEEEEEEE, but I loved it too! It really does flatter! Who would have thought that a tight, horizontally stripey tube skirt would make a post-2-babies, bloated tummy, massive butt mid-30 year old, 5 ft 2″ girl look better???!! I wouldn’t! But it does. It really does do wonders, and I love it. Going to search for a suitable top to wear with it, to make me feel more confident having my bum slightly more hidden, and then I’m ready to go. Love it, thanks so much for sharing Supre with us here in the UK.
Loving the Beach Cottage, as always.
Love, Angela (Surrey, UK)
xxxx
wow I wish UK home stores would do the same, I would be in my element…I know a lot of them are doing free postage now, i probs need to take another look
I am glad you liked the skirt, it sure was strange for me to that it looked as good as it did, when I thought it would be awful!
Sarah Sarah Sarah !? where the hell are the wobbly bits and would you please stop mentioning your arms?what the hell is wrong with them anyway?! Cross my heart you look AMAZING!you are slim and healthy and your face always shines with happiness!
I tell you you are one pretty lady and I would never have guessed that you are 40!
tc xxxx and thanks for your GREAT BLOG
Greetings from Malta
Jennifer
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Beach Cottage ladies, we have some vintage linen and some wood/twig washed up on the beach today here in Beach Cottage Land….don’t say I don’t keep you entertained now will you . Come on in. So, yep I have posted about colanders on this blog, about things sourced from the side of the road, about [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
Agree! Almost. I really would like the following…..
A ”perfect diet, that will mean that I either lose 25kilos or have killer energy for like ever.”
Oh and you look darling!
thanks Catherin, but I don’t think that diet exists anywhere…if someone would give me more energy I would like it, a lot!
xo
AMEN and AMEN, Sarah! Looking good, girlie!
xoxo laurie
Amen to that Sarah!!!! Couldn’t of have said it better myself… You clever girl… You do realise that if you keep going on this road of simplicity and reality you may be at risk of discovering what makes life wonderful/beautiful perhaps even worth living!!! I have been on this road for a very long time, and I have to admit every once in a while I have been distracted and little lost because of it at times but I always find my way back (thank goodness for that!). I love that skirt!!! I may be visiting supre soon, very much to my taste (but also the whole not having to shave your legs is very good heee…heee..). I just hope I can carry it off as good as you do(me being a shortie and all), you do the skirt justice!!
thanks Alice, I hope I am on that road!
the leg shaving saving is good too xo
oh yeah.
i love love love this.
i love how you continue to keep it real.
so tell me, because i really do get confused by that ‘young person’s store’ sizing system – if i normally wear a CR 12, what size would i need in this?
hmm, well I would normally wear a CR 8 or 10 and I bought xs …but that was b/c I wanted it tight to suck stuff in…so I am guessing I would normally be a small or a medium so I think a 12 would be a medium or a large..
hope that helps Peta
xo
Bravo….your words are so truthful and inspiring! Thank you!
hey no worries Carol, it’s what I think!
x
You crack me up! Today I was complaining to my co worker about my “chunky white arms” and how I hate my little body, in which she so kindly told me I do not in fact have chunky white arms at all and that I look great. So I am going to tell you, since reading this I am now going to call them “real girl arms” I also have a real girl tummy lol
Anyway just to say Sarah, you’ve always looked so fit to me! Tiny even! Rock that bod! And the skirt is awesome on you!
I think there’s a gap in the market place for a “real” magazine featuring “real” women’s bodies. There’s always shock horror when mags print pics of “celebs” orange peel, which is quite ironic I think coz they’re the same mags photo shopping everything in the first place! Numpties!
Skirt looks great!
Mr BC is quite the photographer isn’t he?
yeah I always think that too…one page is photoshopped perfection, next page is ‘saggy knees’ of some similar celebrity…duh!
cheers Robyn xo
Ha ha LOVE IT!
Good for you Sarah, you tell them. This is why I read blogs and don’t buy magazines
simple truth. You look like a million bucks, Supre Target doesn’t matter, you look great so good for you.
xxx Shani
Very new to your blog Sarah but love todays post! I work as a dietitian and the amount of women I see who have unrealistic expectations of what their bodies should look like is heart wrenching. Yes we could all look like celebs too if we had personal trainers, personal chefs, cleaners, nannies etc etc. Here’s to real girls and I’m going to throw in non-dieting too because really who wants to waste their time on ridiculous diets!
A side point – while going through your old Real Girl fashion posts was very excited to see that I also own the Target cargos/combats and the $10 Kmart skinny jeans. I am no longer embarrased to say I own them!!
haha Heidi…I know that embarrassing feeling…especially around here where most people think CR is roughing it lol! I love looking good and not wasting money though hence me deciding to think stuff it I don’t give a rat’s arse about what people think anymore….and the feedback was amazing…seems there are a whole lotta closet budget fashion girls out there lol
I can only imagine what you must see in your job day-to-day…
cheers
Sarahx
Lovely Sarah – Thanks for keeping it real!
Kylie
several years ago, while being in my early to mid 50′s, i started to take pix of “real woman” then dove came out with it about a year later showing real women in their advertising… good for them, bad for me, which ended a book i was writing at the time… now in my early 60′s, i love my graying hair, short at the moment due to donating my long locks to charity for cancer survivors wigs, my wrinkly face, showing real life, sunkissed by many years of baking in the sun in south florida, not botoxed like a neighbor’s face that looks frozen, bloated, and just plain horrible and unrealistic… why they think they look so good, while their hands shows their true age… i’m proud that i’m not on any medication until today, when i was put on high blood pressure pills… but that’s life… i do know for a fact, my face will not fall off in the next 10 years or cancer ridden because of the poison being injected into my face… i can smile a real smile, raise my eye brows to show actual expressions… my face is real…it’s me…
it’s time for “real women” to stand up to commercialism, telling our stories, being real in a plastic world of fashion… with our very young girls become bulimic because they aren’t skinny enough to be fashion plates, which we all know, isn’t realistic, not following what is fashionable models skinny… at boarding school in 1967, girls started to toss their cookies to lose weight… i tried it once, was so disgusted with the whole thing, never did it again… i was thin, no skinny like twiggy but it just wasn’t worth it to me… i would rather be fluffy than bony… though i’m a little more than fluffy than i want to be, due to society’s opinion, i’m a renaissance woman that you can cuddy with at nite, and know i’m actually there… i’m soft and my breasts are real… rejoice to “i’m not fat, i’m fluffy”
let’s hear it for the fluffies of the world… good job, sarah…. bravo
oh I heart it…. fluffies!
power to the fluffies…
I love your input & your story…it is worrying what will happen to the younger girls…it’s bad enough for girls like me when all this stuff just wasn’t accessible…nowadays it is which is scary.
cheers Jeri x
I went ahead yesterday and read Nikki’s article. Seriously, who needs all that? I will never buy one of those mags you know. Why will I spend money to make me feel horrible in the first place.
You looking vair vair cute in your skirt. I wonder if it will do justice to a 5’4″ girl? you must be tall!
Yep Nikki’s article was fantastic!
errm I am not tall, actually I am not sure, I think I am 5’6
cheers
sarahx
Sarah,
what a joy to read.
You are amazing.
Thanks for blessing us with your contentment.
thanks Bec….I am working on being a lot more grateful in my life…sometimes I fail…like a lot !
x
Thanks Sarah for commenting on the LH article. What you have expressed is REAL. There’s a saying that goes something like “Our grandparents would not allow it, our parents tolerated it and now our children accept it”. I would add one more thing to the comment -our chilrens children think it’s the norm. There is a generation coming up that are already having artificial faces and bodies. If you start injecting and adding artifiacial bits to yourself before you have actually stopped growing or even started to ‘age’how are you ever going to know what you REALLY were supposed to look like?
There are people around me that are getting ready for upcoming weddings by the bride having breast implants and the mothers having facelifts. what is that all about???
It sorta makes me think that we sure do live in the Lucky country when so much effort and money can go into this sort of activity.
I really appreciate that you provide the links that go straight to what you are talking about.
Looking forward to another year with you.
Irene
hey I hear you Irene…& I love that saying…
thanks for taking the time to leave your input, I appreciate it and I like to hear what you have to say
yes, Happy New Year too…
x
I hate to judge, but yes are there not more important things, rather than facelifts, cosmetic surgery on people who are beautiful already just the way they are. There are children starving in the world.
P.S.Thank you for keeping it real and beautiful just the way it is intended to be! xx
Well done for keeping it real Sarah, that’s why I heart blogs too. Mr BC is a good photographer!
Love the skirt,
Kirsty
AMEN! to that Sarah,what a fabulous inspiring post for REAL girls!
I was 40 last year and i love that i am finally comfortable to wear what i like and what i know suits my body shape,long gone are the days where i would buy every fashion magazine every month searching for the secret and you know what? after a few years the same old pictures get re-used with a different article boo that’s when i stopped its all a myth…..i am a thrifty shopper and have thought about blogging outfits before but as most other real girls say it makes you wonder how it will go down without that designer label….not anymore!,i personally in my day to day life don’t care about labels those poor girls in their high designer shoes,boobs shoved up under their chins waddling along like ducks lol its so not a good look.
ps your real girl bum in picture 6 looks really good in your real girl skirt
x
thanks Krissie you are comfortable! I have never been a big fashion magazine reader but I know what you mean about rejigged photos
oh and thanks, I don’t mind my real girl’s bum…it’s other things I have issues with
x
How funny, I actually bought womans weekly last week when we were in sydney for that very article, I felt so flat after I read the article, I am turning 49 and found it soul destroying but your post has made me feel better! love your skirt!
FANTASTIC, well done. some of us have a lot more ‘real’ on our bodies than others. I too am sick of looking at boney women dressed skimpily or photoshopped to be unrealistic with chicken wing arms. The messages our young girls are getting from the media are so wrong, its insane. You did well to source the skirt, I have now got 2, one in small striped black and white and one in big stripes grey and black, on their way to me, Black being my thing rather than navy! I just hope they will fit my huge derriere. You must have blown supre away- jammed their servers? HAhahahaha there were none left in your style in any size!!!!!!
Love the skirt..you look so cute.
It’s funny you talk about the simple real things as it’s where I wanted to head on my make-up blog…I am so loving the supermarket/Priceline finds atm, just wasn’t sure anyone wanted to hear me ramble or demo them. I’ll need some crash test dummies…know any willing victims…um I mean volunteers?
I need to figure out how to take pics of myself that aren’t out of focus…then i can use me too (as scary as that may be)
thanks for the inspiration
x Marnie
Amen sister! I think the women they photoshopped on the magazine covers even wish they looked like that in real life too!
Love the skirt, you look so comfortable and chic!
You rock that skirt sister. Rock. It. X
HA! I wanted to say amen, amen and amen, but I see that’s already been said!
I wish that you’d offer those skirts and bags in your shop! I’ve often drooled over your market bag, so I immediately went to the link provided. They don’t ship to my region of Canada. 
Please do tell if you know any other sources! I’ve never seen them here.
Thanks for being so REAL. It’s amazing how easy it is to just accept the craziness as “normal”, so thanks for the reality check.
OH GOD HOW I LOVED THIS POST!
I LAUGHED ALL THE WAY THRU IT BECAUSE IT IS SO REAL!!
MADE ME FEEL TERRIFIC!
I AM TIRED ON FEELING “WRONG” BECAUSE A MAGAZINE OR TV AD TOLD ME I AM.
THANKS FOR THE GREAT REMINDER!! LOVE TO YOU.
YOU ARE TRULY ROCKING THAT SKIRT AND THIS BLOG.
PS: SORRY FOR THE CAPS…EYE PROBLEMS TODAY.
Love this skirt! Hoping it turns up here somewhere later this year, although I’ve no idea what the U.S. equivalent of that store would be?
Do you know advancedstyle.blogspot.com Sarah? I love it for the attitude (and think my mum could be in it in a heartbeat, if she lived in New York and not Murwillumbah)~
And do you remember Cat in Red Dwarf? His attitude,is very mental-healthy, in fact you ARE perfect.
Hi Sarah- I’ve been reading your blog for a looong time without commenting but had to on this post- I’m 28 and things aren’t what they used to be (3 pregnancies and nursing babies and all that!) but I’m so much happier with myself than I was 10 years ago! (maybe that’s just growing up, and more importantly, being out of high school) I love hearing your perspective and I love your style- I’m very into real woman clothes for real bodies and budgets.
Love from the rainy rainy Northwest U.S.- Melanie
Exceptional article Sarah!!! Way to keep it real!
One piece of advice though…….smile more! You have a gorgeous smile! The pics of you that ar my faves are the ones of you smiling.
But I loved this article, so where my heart is. I beleive in keeping it real and simple. I love clothes, but I’m not into trends per se. I love good food, but I’m not into super complicated. I believe in taking care of myself, so I can better care for my sweet family. I believe in doing things to keep my sanity, so that I am less stressed and more fun.
Keep up the good work Sarah!
I loved this post so much Sarah. I need all the help I can get in the hold.it.all.in department so will be heading to Supre pronto!
Thanks for being so honest and real, it’s really refreshing and why I enjoy coming here as much as I do
Xx
I hope they have some left Tammi, apparently they have bee selling fast!
Not surprising! I was only there a few weeks ago with my daughter, I didn’t even think to look for myself.
HI Sarah
I am a newbie follower and thought I would pop by and say hi, I am wearing the exact same skirt today but as a strapless dress with a belt, such a great buy. Looks great on you too by the way!;)
I love the skirt and the comments that go with it. I agree by the way, I am 20 something and there is no way that a naked 50 year old on the cover of Womens weekly is making me feel better about myself!
thanks for your 20 yr old input Tegan, I appreciate it xo
You nailed it, Sarah. Amen to everything you said.
As mothers of daughters we should embrace the simple, the natural, the essence of being YOU. We are raising a generation of women who can change the world – if we believe in them enough, they’ll believe in themselves too.
Thanks for the real budget-conscious fashion posts – love them – keep them up, please! Now I’m off to Supre
thanks melanie, you are so right! x
Great post Sarah, like your philosophy on life. Having turned 50 this year (and living in Ole Blighty) I’ve had to face the fact that my body is changing…and I would like to lose a few kilos as much for my health as for appearances sake…but at the end of the day, if I don’t, it won’t be the end of the world. Most of us are not super models and have to make the most of what we have and I certainly think as I grow older I am more confident with my appearance, even though things are changing (I have three god damn hairs growing out of my chin!!)…I think you look great in that skirt, in fact the whole oufit could be worth $500 and it couldn’t look any better. You wear it all with confidence and that make all the difference sometimes. I’m looking forward to more of the good but simple stuff in life, on your blog this year. Happy new year! Robx
p.s. I never could take to Deborah Hutton…a bit too smooth…
haha you are funny Robynne on Deborah Hutton!
I am with you…funny how suddenly you realise it too…..my feet aren’t the prettiest, bony and scrawny & someone once made a horrid comment on them…it stuck with me (and she was no oil painting lol)….then recently I thought **** me, these feet are amazing, they got me to play sport the last 20 years, to cart my kiddos around and now to go on beautiful walks around the best country in the world…boy I love my feet!
xo
You had me at suck it in.
No navy ones left at my local Supre but I did get the black and white stripe.
Love this post A LOT.
Sarah
This fashion shoot is so refereshing. Thank you.
I sat in the hairdressers yesterday reading those trashy fashion/womens’ magazines and could feel the energy being sucked out of me. Does anyone else feel like that?? What a waste of time, ink and paper!!!!
alison
….and that my dear Sarah is why I follow you on your blog…because YOU ARE REAL!!!! Love the skirt you look great in it!
Love the way you are keeping it real girl!!
Tracey
Happy New Year Sarah. I have to tell you how inspired I have been by you. I have started a blog because of you and in the long term I aspire to connect with people I might not meet in my day to day life.
This post of yours has had a positive effect on my wardrobe. I loved your real woman post and the outfit youy have on has led me to totally copy your style from someone who isn’t a size 8 or 10 ( but an 8+10 !) yet I so lurveed your outfit I went and got one in my fave colour combo of black and white! I have been inspired by you in sooo many ways and I check in with you nearly everyday!
My life is soo different from yours however I love your style and messages and would like to achieve a following such as yours
thank you for being such a lovely part of my day’
love helen
Happy new year Helen. Good luck with yr blog!
Glad to have helped with yr wardrobe. Gotta say I have that skirt in a couple of co ours now it makes me feel so good xx
i have a knit top that would match that skirt, it is black and white stripe, it is even that wide of a stripe. i need that skirt. LOL
Here, Here and amen to all of the above!!!!!!!! fantastic. I’m new to the whole blogging thing and have been so impressed with the
whole new world that I have discovered. THere are women out there that think exactly the same way that I do. Thank-you………..
you are welcome Melissa….we real women are a force to be reckoned with thanks to social media xo
I only read women’s magazines if I’m completely desperate for something to do and I have no other reading matter, which isn’t often, since I have an iPhone. But my son needed internet access for homework when we were out and I was left with the mags. I was really, really disturbed by the thinness of the models in Vogue. They all needed a few plates of steak and chips!
I asked my husband if I should get a skirt like that. He said, “I don’t mind you in long dresses… Or short dresses… Or no dresses…” Is that TMI? It seems my husband hasn’t read the magazines either, so he doesn’t know what I’m supposed to look like — but never have!
haha my husband would have the exact same reply!
yeah, some of the images are very disturbing…hopefully social media will slowly begin to change that? who knows
cheers sarah
Hiya Sarah and everyone else reading!
I just wanted to let you know that I loved your blog on the Supre skirt, and loved how you looked in it. So much so that I checked out Supre online (I am in the UK) and, not only did they have one (in black and white stripe), not only do they ship to the UK FOR FREEEEEEEE, but I loved it too! It really does flatter! Who would have thought that a tight, horizontally stripey tube skirt would make a post-2-babies, bloated tummy, massive butt mid-30 year old, 5 ft 2″ girl look better???!! I wouldn’t! But it does. It really does do wonders, and I love it. Going to search for a suitable top to wear with it, to make me feel more confident having my bum slightly more hidden, and then I’m ready to go. Love it, thanks so much for sharing Supre with us here in the UK.
Loving the Beach Cottage, as always.
Love, Angela (Surrey, UK)
xxxx
wow I wish UK home stores would do the same, I would be in my element…I know a lot of them are doing free postage now, i probs need to take another look
I am glad you liked the skirt, it sure was strange for me to that it looked as good as it did, when I thought it would be awful!
cheers & hello Surrey xoxoxooxox
Sarah Sarah Sarah !? where the hell are the wobbly bits and would you please stop mentioning your arms?what the hell is wrong with them anyway?! Cross my heart you look AMAZING!you are slim and healthy and your face always shines with happiness!
I tell you you are one pretty lady and I would never have guessed that you are 40!
tc xxxx and thanks for your GREAT BLOG
Greetings from Malta
Jennifer
You’re awesome and inspiring…..