SUNDAY LINKS

Happy Sunday! Hope you've all had a nice weekend. This month feels like it's absolutely flying by, I can't believe it's what, the 21st, already?! Madness.

I've been enjoying a slightly quieter life, before the Festival kicks off next month. I've got a secret trip planned for Joshua's belated birthday present (we love secret trips), so I am counting down the days until that... less than two weeks to go!

I already have a few space prints up in my flat, so I should probably try to resist these, but they are so beautiful! NASA have released a series of beautiful space travel posters that are all free to download.

I have been absolutely rubbish at running this year (it's too cold! And dark! Weep!), so I am taking some motivation from the amazing Natalie Dormer, chatting about why she loves running.

Everyone went a bit mad over the Financial Times article this week, that smugly stated that today's 25 year-olds should be saving £800 a month. I cannot imagine ever having that much disposable income, and live in fear of my meagre pension. What are you supposed to do? 

Feel like you're just faking your way through life? You are not alone - imposter syndrome is totally a thing (and you've got to start giving yourself some credit).

Gaaaaah, getting offered 'exposure' for work (instead of payment or any reasonable compensation) is the worst. Here's an excellent rant about how the editor of the Huffington Post has really grim opinions on this.

Every now and then I think about start yoga - everyone seems to rave about it, so it must be good (right?), but it also looks SUPER intimidating and complicated. My lovely pal Lianne has just started classes, and I loved her experience of starting yoga (and the motivation of lovely jumpers!).

Have you seen the amazing video OK Go made for their new song - Upside Down and Inside Out? Go go go and watch it! They filmed it all in zero gravity in one of those fancy planes, with no special effects or fancy editing - the making of video is well worth a watch too!

THE PAPERGANG BY OHH DEER

I feel like I write about subscription boxes CONSTANTLY on this blog (current count: here, here, here, and here), but I love getting nice mail and surprises through the post. They're like buying yourself an ace present every month!

I've been a fan of stationery wonders Ohh Deer for a while (they sell everything!), so it's fair to say I was quite excited to see that they are launching a brand new stationery subscription club, the Papergang.

Each month you'll get a themed box of papery treats, which could include greeting cards, notebooks, desk accessories and art prints. Each box will be designed by a different artist, so your new collection sits nicely together - which also makes it a particularly nice gift idea!

It's also pretty reasonably priced too - a month's subscription costs £9.95 plus shipping (they ship worldwide too), which is just the cost of a couple of fancy coffees. I mean, yeah, I obviously DO NOT NEED MORE NOTEBOOKS, but when they're that cute? How could I say no?

The first box launches in March, so you've got two weeks to sign up if you're interested, which you can do here! 

SUNDAY LINKS

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you've had a nice weekend with your valentine's and your galentine's. The sun is out (hooray, spring!), and I am off out for breakfast with my beloved soon. Dream Sunday!

 

If you've got a valentine, but haven't got yourself organised yet, never fear! Here are some cute last-minute watercolour cards you can make.

Remember Lord Lucan? I read a really fascinating book based on him a few years ago (this one!), so I was really interested to see that they have now issued his death certificate. Another interesting thing - the story of the lucky journalists that got to pursue him around the world.

Big science news this week... they have just discovered gravitational waves! Now, to be honest, I don't really understand the impact of that, but I'm hoping someone at the Science Festival will explain it in simpler terms!

This can't be a good idea, right? An exact replica of the Titanic will set sail in 2018.

I've spent most of this week thinking about Beyonce. There are a million articles out there right now about Queen B, her new video, and how she's growing as an artist, but I love this one - total praise of Bey celebrating her blackness and her IDGAF attitude.

And finally, all I want in life is a pet fox. I am TOO jealous of Kaylah from the Dainty Squid, who actually has one!

HOW TO: 60'S INSPIRED MAKE UP & WIN TICKETS TO HAIRSPRAY!

I love playing with makeup, so I was absolutely up for the challenge when Hairspray the Musical UK Tour asked me to take on a 1960's inspired make up look!

I wanted to try something that was different from my everyday look, but didn't look too costumey, so I went for dark eyes, big lashes, and a bouncy ponytail. If you fancy adding a bit of 60's inspo to your life, here's how I did it...

To start, use a neutral eyeshadow lightly on your eyelids (I used a cream pink shadow). Get a dark brown or black eyeliner, and line the crease of your eye. Get a small fluffy brush, and smudge the line so it isn't quite as harsh. 

Line your upper lash line with black eyeliner. I used a kohl pencil at first on my eyelid, smudged it slightly with my finger, then went over the line closer to my lashes with black liquid eyeliner. Wing your eyeliner into a 60's cat eye flick! (I've got an eyeliner tutorial here if you need it).

Nextine your bottom lash line with black eyeliner, and smudge slightly with your finger or a small fluffy brush. Use a white eye pencil to line your water line - this feels a bit weird if you've not done it before, but just do small strokes to avoid stabbing yourself in the eye.

Then, for a proper nod to Twiggy, get some liquid eyeliner and paint little eyelash dashes underneath your eye. Add false eyelashes and mascara, and you are done!

Hairspray is on tour around the UK until the end of May, and they've very kindly given me a a pair of tickets to their Edinburgh performance in the Edinburgh Playhouse on Monday 22nd February.

For a chance to win, just follow the instructions below! The winner will be picked on Monday 15th February. Please only enter if you can come to Edinburgh that evening (obv). Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FESTIVAL LAUNCHES

Exciting news! The 28th Edinburgh International Science Festival programme has just launched, and it is packed full of brilliant, clever, creative and wonderful things (er, if I do say so myself!). This will be my fourth year working at the Science Festival and I'm so proud of how it grows and changes each year. It's knackering, and fairly stressful, but it's all worth it when the programme hits (and everyone sees how ace we are).

This year's Science Festival will run from Saturday 26th March - Sunday 10th April. Themed around the idea of Building Better Worlds, we'll be looking at how science, technology, engineering and design can help improve our lives and our world through a totally packed programme of events, exhibitions and happenings.

There's loads on for families at City Art Centre and Summerhall, but if you don't care about kids, our adult programme is ace. There's a space party, millions of food and drink events, pandas, an astronaut, robots, wearable tech fashion workshops, dinosaurs, comedy, dancing, theatre, and so so much more.

I probably shouldn't pick favourites, being professionally-linked to the company and all, but whatever. Here's my top ten events in the programme this year! Buy tickets and come along. Yay science.

The Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire - a huge, hands-on celebration of human creativity, showcasing makers from across the UK. There's always fun things to play with, stuff to make, and robots to ooh at, and this year the ACTUAL maker of R2D2 will be there!

Big Bang Bash - a massive space party in the National Museum of Scotland. You can try on a spacesuit, send an encrypted message on a genuine Enigma machine (so cool), dance in the science ceilidh, see the solar system in a planetarium, and drink space-themed cocktails from the Bar at the End of the Universe.

Adventures in Viticulture - fancy going on a wine safari? Feel super smart learning about the world of wine, while drinking loads of wine. All in the name of science!

The Mathematics of Why I Don't Have a Boyfriend - I perhaps wouldn't normally rush along to a talk on mathematical modelling, but throw in some comedy and I'm there.

Cheeseology - do you like eating loads of cheese? And learning about why cheese is so brilliant? I will say no more.

Tiny Homes Village - tiny homes are super cute, and for the Festival, we're building a village of them on the Mound! You can go inside and poke about loads of different tiny houses, from self-sustaining eco pods to emergency housing solutions for refugee camps.

Designing Fictional Worlds - people love fictional worlds, but why are they so drawn to them? This event pairs psychologists with author Charles Stross and my pal from school, Andy Robinson (who designed EVE: Valkyrie), to find out why.

Chocolate: Food of the Gods - find out the past, present and future of chocolate at this scientific feast!

Unbottling the AI Demon - all of the very smart people in the world have decided that the biggest risk to mankind is artificial intelligence.  It's a really terrifying topic and this event looks fascinating - Prof Raymond Tallis and Prof Kevin Warwick investigate the risks of AI... (we're probably all doomed).

The Visit - a special screening of The Visit, a sci-fi documentary-style film, that shows how government agencies try to cope with human mankind's first contact with alien life. You can see the trailer here - it looks super creepy!

You can browse the full programme at sciencefestival.co.uk/festival.