Author Archives: birdonthehill

Home Made Cuticle Oil

Posted in beauty, Skin Care, Skincare, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

Sweet Almond Oil for home made Cuticle Oil

This week, I took the opportunity of doing some gardening with my kids and planted some lovely herbs. The combination of this and the broken dishwasher has meant my hands have taken a battering.

Since I have all the ingredients to make a home-made Cuticle Oil, I thought I would share this with readers of this blog.

Lavender and Lemon Essential OilIt’s so simple that it really requires very little effort and saves a great deal since I no longer purchase commercial cuticle creams or oils to condition my nails.

If you have some Sweet Almond Oil* or Olive Oil, these can be used as the base, both are perfect oils for conditioning and softening nails. Other oils to try are Coconut, Grape Seed, Jojoba oils.

The oils will nourish, add moisture and soften the cuticles.

I’ve used an empty essential oil bottle which I’ve washed out – but really you don’t need to do this if you are pressed for time as the one I’m using contained Tea Tree Oil,  any residue in the bottle will simply mix with the carrier oil.

Into this 10ml bottle, I have added just one drop of Lavender Essential Oil, along with Lemon Essential Oil. Sweet Almond Oil for making Cuticle Oil

Both the essential oils have been chosen for their cleansing, rejuvenating and healing properties. (Lemon is also antibacterial, used along with Tea Tree Oil, will combat against the threat of any infections.)

Mixed thoroughly, I have then applied this mixture using a cotton wool bud all over my nails covering the cuticles as well.

Left on overnight, my nails and cuticles feel stronger and the rough cuticles have been smoothed out. I didn’t even need to use a cuticle stick to push them back which I normally resort to.

Simple!

 

*If you would like to order the Sweet Almond Oil in the UK, the link will take you through to the product page on Amazon.

*If you would like to order the Sweet Almond Oil in  the US, the link will take you through to the product page on Amazon.

*These are affiliate links, which if you order through, a small commission is earned. Thanks in advance for using the links – any money earned will go towards maintaining the blog.

St Clements with Orange Blossom Water

Posted in At home, Drink by

St Clements & Orange Blossom Water

St Clements is the quintessential  English drink for the summer, made with equal parts of oranges and lemons.

I love squeezing the fresh oranges into a jug with a wooden Citrus Reamer.* There is something therapeutic about using this wooden utensil. Since all the juice gets squeezed through the pulp, I think the oils from the fruit are released with the juices as you squeeze, so that the air is filled with the smell of oranges and lemons and is just the best way to cheer up a dull rainy day.

It’s like sunshine in a drink.

I hold a sieve over the jug so that it catches the pulp bits to keep the juice clear.

The recipe couldn’t be any simpler – Oranges and Lemons in equal amounts, squeezed into a jug – about 3 large oranges and 3 un-waxed lemons.

Once you have squeezed the juice into the jug, add ice and water.

If the oranges are very sweet, then there’s really no need to add sugar. But if you are using the bitter variety or just want some sweetness, I think it goes really well with Honey.

For a Mediterranean feel, a splash of Orange Blossom Water will lift this drink. It’s difficult to describe, but if you like the scent of orange blossoms combined with citrus notes, then this is the perfect combination . It’s delicious with just a hint splashed in at the end with some fresh mint.

Of course, this is one of the many ways that Orange Blossom water can be used at home. It is a hydrolat, collected from the making of essential oil.

Bitter-orange blossoms are collected, washed and then crushed to release their scent into distilled water, gently steamed, so that the essential oil can be collected, what’s left is the scented water which is the hydrolat that can be used both in food and in  skin care and can also be used as a room scent, or even as a linen water.

In Morocco, Orange Blossom Water in a bowl of water is presented to guests so that they can refresh their hands when they enter the host’s home. I think this is such a lovely tradition, which has given me an idea for making an Orange Blossom Water hand wash and lotion.

But first, back to that St Clements….

*affiliate link

“Let the memory live again” – Cats the musical

Posted in inspiration, Musicals, Perfume by

Cats - the musical, Memories the song

 

Looking back to a time when I was at school, there is one memory that stands out that could be described as terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

If you were to visit the school on a regular basis you would soon realise that our Music teacher was the one that ran the school. She didn’t hold the official title of Headmistress or anything like that. She was a force to be reckoned with, no one ever spoke badly or her. Every one, whether you were a student or a teacher was slightly intimidated by her.

She reminded me of, well I didn’t know her personally, but Mrs Thatcher, a person who was strong-willed and determined to get things done, but with the quiet dignity of her generation.

I didn’t appreciate her, or what she helped me to achieve until much later. So going back to this particular moment in time, I was about 13 maybe 14 and she announced that everyone who was studying a musical instrument had to perform at the school concert. There was no reprieve, no excuses.

Since I was studying both piano and voice at the time, I was told that I should use the opportunity to sing.

With the song chosen, the day arrived. I was terrified as I stepped onto the stage, I don’t remember much about what happened next, except that it felt like the longest time passed between the first chords of the piano accompanying me starting and the final chord finishing the song.

There seemed to be the longest pause between that and the audience beginning to clap. I couldn’t see very well because the stage lights were blinding me, and as I heard the claps from the audience, my face started to turn blotchy and red with embarrassment. It was over finally and I could step down from the stage.

The choice of song could not have been less appropriate for a girl of 13, but the melancholy melody was spell binding. I had never been to see the musical, let alone read all of the poetry of T.S. Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Cats, so knew very little about the musical or the song.

But as my singing teacher played me the melody on the piano to me and I read the lyrics, I was hooked. It was beautiful and even though I didn’t appreciate their true meaning at the time, I liked the song.

Now, many, many years later, as I read the lyrics again, the words are now a poignant reminder of my memories as I watch my kids grow older with each day that passes by.

It reminds me that I too am growing older with more days to look back on, whilst my children have the days that stretch ahead of them to look forward to.

I understand the lyrics better and their meaning of a life well lived.


“Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale, cold smell of morning
The street lamp dies in the cold air
Another night is over
Another day is dawning”

Grizella is the cat that sings this song, and if I could describe her personality through these lyrics as a perfume, then I think of Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, a rich decadent oriental scent that was powerful but feminine to the core. I remember the advertising, Linda Evangelista at the time representing everything I thought to be glamorous and powerful, it’s not for the faint of heart. I’ve wanted to wear this on many occasions, each time I pass by the Yves Saint Laurent beauty counter, I stop myself just short of getting it, largely because, it’s a heady scent and I think it would only be for very special and rare occasions that, well are too few and infrequent to justify at the moment.

The perfume’s potent message hasn’t changed, even with the latest advertising campaign featuring Emily Blunt:

This article was written for Wednesday’s On that Song feature on Chow Kim Wan’s blog about Musicals and various aspects of the shows. Wednesday’s feature is for other bloggers to share their song choices.

Sunday Spa feature – Home Made Lavender, Ylang Ylang Bath soak

Posted in beauty, Health & Wellness, inspiration, Wellbeing by

Dead Sea Salt and Lavender flowers

This is the first feature of many I hope to write about the lovely ingredients to try out to create a home spa experience.

As these lovely buds from the drying lavender looked so pretty, I have simply added them to the Dead Sea bath salts* that I have been using as a foot scrub/soak in one. If you are interested in making this you can find the post here.Dea Sea bath salts

For the bath soak, I have used the lovely flowers which were collected from the fresh lavender we picked last weekend, they have been slowly falling off the lavender stems as the bunches of lavender begin to dry out.

With a pestle and mortar, the lovely buds were mixed into the Dead Sea Salt granules. If you don’t have dead sea salt to hand, a coarse salt will also make a wonderful bath soak as it will soften the water.

I don’t usually make up more than a cupful at a time as the Dead Sea Salt* is a wonderful ingredient in that it attracts and retains moisture, so will turn to liquid if left exposed to the air.

To make this mix luxuriously moisturising, I have added some organic sweet almond oil, together with a few drops of the Carshalton Lavender Essential Oil to intensify the aroma.

There is no need to measure out the ingredients exactly. I’ve used a rice bowl to scoop out the Dead Sea Salt and added a handful of Lavender flowers, along with about a tablespoon of Sweet Almond Oil.

The only thing to be careful about is the amount of essential oils to add to the mix, for bathing, about 20-30 drops in a cup full of bath salts with the oil. will provide a sumptuous aroma that will fill the bathroom with scent. (As a precaution, it is always best to carry out a patch test if you have never tried any essential oils before – you can find out more about this in this article from Aromaweb.

I find that different scents evoke different memories or sensations, for relaxing, rejuvenating or calming, you can vary the essential oils based on your preference and the mood you want to create.

Ylang Ylang and Lemon essential oilsAs I wanted to recreate a lovely rejuvenating and relaxing experience, I have also added to the lavender mix a scent which always reminds me of the beautiful spa in Mauritius where we spent two idyllic weeks on our honeymoon.

Just a few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil has conjured up the soft golden sands and the sound of gentle lapping waves of the Indian Ocean.

We discovered the Ylang Ylang plantation on Mauritius which we visited while we were there.

This beautiful scent comes from the Ylang Ylang tree, once the flowers from the tree have been harvested, the oil is distilled by forcing steam through the flowers to create the essential oil.

It was widely used by aromatherapists and while we were on the island, the aromatherapist explained that it is used as a spa treatment because of its many therapeutic benefits. Mostly, I think on the idyllic island setting it was chosen by the aromatherapist as it enhances the feelings of hope and joy. (It’s a bit of a cliché, to go on honeymoon in Mauritius, I know, but as it was a once in a lifetime experience, we took advantage of all the island had to offer).

I have also added some lemon essential oil which I find has a lovely refreshing scent of lemon groves which is perfect for this indulgent experience.

Once the mixture has been combined, a small handful of the bath salts were sprinkled into the warm water of the bath. As the mix can also be used as an exfoliation scrub, it can be applied over the skin and massaged gently for glowing skin.

I loved seeing the little lavender blooms bob around in the water, it was so lovely to waft in the scent of lavender and ylang ylang this morning.

Hmmm lovely.

*If you would like to order the in the UK, the Dead Sea Bath Salts link will take you through to the product page on Amazon.

*If you would like to order the  in  the US, Dead Sea Bath Salt the the link will take you through to the product page on Amazon.

*These are affliate links, which if you order through, a small commission is earned. Thanks in advance for using the links – any money earned will go towards maintaining the blog.

Mango and Cherry Loaf

Posted in At home, baking, Food, Home, inspiration, lifestyle by
Mango and Cherry Loaf

Mango and Cherry Loaf

We usually make this lovely cake with over ripe bananas. However, as we had an over ripe Mango, which no one was too keen on, I thought it would be good to try using the banana and apricot recipe rather than throw it away.

Having rummaged around in our cupboard, I discovered we were out of dried apricots, but we did have some dried figs, prunes and a tub of glacé morello cherries.

Mango and Morello Cherry

Over ripe Mango and morello cherries found in our cupboard

Since cherries would give the loaf some colour, I decided it would do rather than go and get some dried apricots. I like the idea of using what’s in a cupboard and experimenting more than sticking rigidly to a recipe. This is by far the best way of discovering something new and tasty.

By the time I had assembled the ingredients, my eldest appeared in the kitchen and decided to help with the baking. I was smiling since a few days ago I’d written a post about Google search trends, the British Bake off and that I would have to get my kids to help me with some baking.

There was no need to ask, baking is, next to Minecraft something that my eldest enjoys.

Based on the recipe from the River Cottage Family Cookbook, this loaf is very simple to make, there are no whisks or electrical appliances involved, just a spoon and some elbow grease.

Cream the sugar and butter together (Prior to this I had accidentally put flour into the bowl and had to separate the flour from the butter as I had been distracted by my daughter peeling the skin from the over ripe Mango and mashing it up with a fork).

Add the 2 eggs and beat until mixed together.

Add chopped morello cherries.

Add the grated zest of 1 lemon (we used half a lemon zest and all the zest of a small lime)

Add the mashed mango (or over ripe mashed bananas as in the original recipe instead) and add to the mix.

Mashed Mango for baking

Mashed overipe Mango

Gently fold in the self-raising flour.

Pour into a loaf tin which has been lined with a large loaf tin case, I like this as it’s easier to clean the loaf tin afterwards. It also means I don’t need to butter the tin.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes on 160c/Gas Mark 3 (Check around 50 minutes, put a knife/skewer through the middle and if it comes out clean, then it’s ready)

The lovely scent of the baking and the mango and cherry filled the kitchen and our living room and this got the attention of both my hubby and youngest who wanted to know when it would be ready to eat.

Unfortunately, they needed a bit of patience as once it was removed from the oven, it needed to cool on a baking rack before it can be enjoyed.

As the loaf was baked just before tea-time on Saturday, it was perfect to serve as our dessert. We usually find that although the loaf will keep for a few days, it never usually lasts longer than a day because it gets eaten as snack.

I think this recipe made with Mango and Cherry makes a lovely alternative to the bananas and apricot version.

Softened butter with eggs and sugar

Soften Sugar and Butter and beat the eggs

For the reciepe:

Dried apricots (squidgy ones) or Morello Cherries 75g

Saltanas 75g (we didn’t have any so used more cherries)

1 Lemon

Unsalted butter, 100g soft but not melted

Caster Sugar 125g

2 large (free range) eggs

3 large ripe bananas (we used a large mango)

Self raising flour 200g

Loaf tin measuring about 13 x 23 x 7 cm

Do let me know if you’re looking forward to watching the Great British Bake-off.

Soften Sugar and Butter and beat the eggs
Over ripe cherry and morello cherries found in our cupboard
Mashed overipe Mango
Mango and Morello Cherry cake batter
Tin loaf cases
Cake batter in loaf tin
Mango and Morello Cherry in loaf tin
Slices of Mango and Morello Cherry loaf
Original recipe for Banana Loaf cake
The River Cottage Family Cookbook

Lavender picking afternoon in Carshalton

Posted in inspiration, lifestyle, Places Visited, Scent, Wellbeing by

Freshly picked lavender from Carshalton

The weather forecast for last weekend was not good, both Siri and Google predicted a cloudy day with sunshine and rain. Not great for walking around in a field full of Lavender then.

However as Saturday morning arrived and I peeked out through the blinds, the sun was shining.

We decided to go because I’d always wanted to and this was the only weekend the event is held each year.

In the usual mum mode, I tried to persuade everyone to come along, but my eldest wasn’t going to be budged from her laptop. Only me then and my youngest. I made her wear a raincoat, plus a hat in case of both sun and rain. We must have been pretty funny to look at.

My husband drove us to Carshalton, it’s not really very far from our house, but it would have taken us a long walk.  With plenty of lavender we wanted to pick, I thought it best to save our energy for when we got there.

The field itself is tucked away in a quiet residential corner of Carshalton Village, less than 20 miles from Central London.

Field of lavender in Carshalton

Field of lavender in Carshalton

It is one of the few remaining sites where Lavender and other herbs was grown as part of a once a thriving industry for the Surrey towns and villages of Mitcham, Sutton and Carshalton.

I had read about the Lavender Picking in Carshalton at our local library some years ago and had always wanted to go, yet somehow, as each year passed, the opportunity also passed. It was either too wet or we had already planned something else.

It is run by local volunteers as a charity, keen to keep the lavender field and it’s history alive.

As we approached, there was no need for the directions or signs, a small steady stream of families, with buggies, young toddlers, teenagers, adults made their way to the field. Plenty were leaving too with huge bushels of Lavender in their arms or tucked into their shopping bags.

The sight of the people with their bags and armfuls of lavender got my youngest daughter so excited that she walked on ahead to investigate. If you’d like to see the post my daugther has written, please visit here it made made me laugh just reading it.

A small line of people were in front of us and we queued patiently to collect our bucket and scisssors.

Bucket of freshly picked lavender

Bucket of freshly picked lavender

Cutting the Lavender was the best, in the field were different varieties of lavender, some had shorter stems of blue grey colour with round soft flowering heads, whilst other lavender plants were tall and proudly waved their stems of deeper coloured lavender flowers in the summer breeze.

The fragrance was all around and we were enthralled as people mixed with butterflies and bees, collecting pollen and harvesting the lavender together.

No one seemed bothered by the bees as they buzzed around us collecting their harvest, as there seemed to be plenty for everyone.

The event would not be complete without a craft fair display. Locally produced goods was available, including ready to purchase cut bundles of Lavender alongside bottles of Lavender Essential oil which had been distilled from the lavender grown in the field.

If I could describe a perfect afternoon then this would be it. Our haul of lavender consisted of 2 large bales of lavender (I have no idea what I’m going to do with it all, but I expect none of it will go to waste), a little tiny bottle of the essential oil, apparently it takes about 3/4 of a ton of fresh lavender to produce about 11-12 pounds of oil. So very precious indeed.

Bees in lavender field

Bees in Lavender field

There was a demonstration with the distillery which had been made locally from recycled materials, so we got to learn about the process of distilling the lavender oil.

It’s made in a giant steel container. The process is a bit like one of those Morrocan Hookhas where the bottom of the container holds boiling water to steam the leaves or lavender in this case. As the steam rises, it passes through the freshly picked lavender and the oil from the steam is collected in a special reservoir and the water collected below. This water is the floral water that perfumers and the beauty industry call “hydrolat”.

As well as the oil, I purchased a small pot of Lavender to grow in our garden called Lavender Grosso.

After speaking with the gardener, I asked him which variety would be best for someone who isn’t very green fingered and wants to see the plant grow quick (I have no patience). Apparently Lavender Grosso grows to a meter high and is very fast growing and likes to be in sunshine, when planted in soil, it doesn’t need very much water (in a pot it will need watering frequently). It seemed the ideal plant suited to my temperament.

Lastly, my hubby spotted a small display of pots full of honey and jams, and we couldn’t resist purchasing a small pot of lavender honey.

And the rain stayed away until Sunday. perfect!

Bucket of freshly picked lavender from Carshalton
Taking photos of the bees in Carshalton Lavender field
Bees collecting Pollen from Lavender
Lavender in Carshalton field
lavender Honey and Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender essential oil and lavender honey from Carshalton
Carshalton Lavender field

Blogging 201, Day 10

Posted in Blogging, Blogging 201 by

Blogging U.Wow, it’s the last day and the final task that’s been set is to create a poll and/or a survey to collect feedback from your readers on your site and its content.

I took a look at a Polldaddy account and it looks as if it is fully integrated with WordPress, which is great as it will mean it’s easy to set-up a questionnaire.

At the moment, as the site is only 2 months old, I think it’s a little early to get statistical data that would be informative.

It’s always a good idea to make sure that the base of respondents is a good cross selection of the  audience and that the sample size is big enough to be statistically valid in terms of quantitive Data – that’s stats in terms of numbers of people responding – e.g 50% agree, 30 percent disagree etc. For qualitative data, this is about getting feedback that’s either verbal or written and can be quite subjective. So having a combination of both types of data will give the best picture possible.

There is a free tool, which if anyone hasn’t come across it or heard of it is called Survey Monkey which is very easy to set-up. There’s a  great article on the site which explains statistics and what you need to consider for the results to be valid

As this is the last day of the course, there’s really just one final thing to say, which is to thank the lovely team at WordPress for organising these courses and giving me the opportunity of Blog meeting so many Bloggers. Thanks also to everyone for the Likes, follows and the feedback I got to help me improve the Blog.

I’ve exchanged my details in the Commons and hope to keep in touch to find out how everyone in the Class of July ’15’s Blogging 201 will progress with their Blogs 🙂

Blogging 201, Day 9

Posted in Blogging, Blogging 201, Uncategorized by

Blogging 201, Day 9

 

Today’s task on the Blogging 201 course is to find a blogging buddy and If appropriate, plan to publish guest posts on one another’s blogs. The other suggestion if there are no buddies out there is to lean on them for feedback and support.

So here’s the thing, over the last week or so, I have met so many bloggers as part of this course, that I would consider everyone that has liked, followed or given me encouragement as a buddy in some way, whether it was the feedback on the site navigation changes that I made on Day 5 or the feedback about the blog’s design and the way I write.

Not one to pass up on the opportunity to find a blogging buddy, I came across Chow Kim Wan’s site from the Commons which mentioned about posts on music. Well, looking at the site, it’s so original, a mathematician who also enjoys music.

Could this be serendipity?  or just a wild coincidence. My husband is by all accounts something of a numbers person, having graduated with a science and engieering degree and worked in the Aeronautical industry and though we are so different in our tastes and preferences, we make  an unlikely combination that somehow just works.

So I thought about what I could write that would compliment both our blogs, perhaps it will be about an event from my days at school.

An event that I think is best put behind me, and yet was something I consider one of those transformational moments which can be called character forming.   It was both terrifying and exhilirating, but at the time I just wanted to get it over with.

I’ll be thinking about how best to approach this so that it can be published on a Wednesday to coincide with the Chow Kim Wan’s blog post publishing calendar.

Returning to the buddies and the bloggers that I’ve blog met over this course; I went blog surfing agin tonight, reading through my reader, comments and took a visit to the Commons.

Ravishing Roses has an excellent post on the Make your own Face Mask which she received as a gift – looks amazing to try and to create a home made facemask. Wait a minute, I have some Rosewater, which I can use – hmmm and some lavender honey as well.

The Planted Vegan has a new receipe for a wrap which will make a very tasty lunch this weekend (Our dishwasher broke today) so the fact that the receipe is for a wrap, means there’s little washing up, means I like this post very much.

Lela at inthenewhouse dropped me a lovely comment about visiting her Inspirational Thursday party, which reminds me, I will need to contribute to the Link Party tonight.

Saw the post on the new Erktop couch that Creative Gem has, which has got me thinking that perhaps I should save up for one too. Except it will have to come after the Dishwasher now that it’s broken.

Girl Independent has made so many improvements to her site, I especially like the way she has included text over the images, but in a way that doesn’t detract from the visual power of her photography.

I’ve been reading through  Cyn Franks blog Franklywrite which if you are ever stuck and think you have writer’s block is the post to read to get you back in the saddle again so to speak.

Finally, LeZoeMusings whose blog popped up as on my recommended blogs in the reader is so visually stunning. I think her blog raises the bar for beautiful, stylish and paired back simplicity. It has both style and subtance. Just in awe of her blog

There’s been so many other bloggers who have inspired new ideas and a fresh perspective over the course of the last 9 days, so another task that I’ll have to work on is to create a blog roll and post it on my site.

Thanks for viewing this post. Looking forward to the final day of Blogging 201.

Blogging 201, Day 8

Posted in Blogging, Blogging 201 by

Blogging 201, Day 8, Make your blog a hub

Yesterday’s task was to create a page or section on your blog to display links to your online presence elsewhere. And to make sure your other presences reflect the brand style and tone of the blog.

I must admit I’ve fallen behind on this task and it is on my to do list.

Since starting this course, I have learnt so much in the process, for instance with the Google+ account, that I have, this is already indexing for Blogging 201. However, after speaking to a few colleagues, this new tool came up in conversation:

http://snippetoptimizer.net

A free tool that will help you see what Google will return as a search result of the page that you have written. So combining this with the Google search trends for keywords will help identify ideas for future posts.

For Google+ I will be looking for a way to include a snippet in the search description so that it features the web address for the blog, rather than just display the Google+ post.

The other information I found about how to turn a blog into a hub, is about how search friendly having a Tumblr account is for generating awareness. Just click the link to read the article.

I hope this post was useful. Do let me know if you’ve completed the task set for day 8.

Blogging 201, Day 7

Posted in Blogging, Blogging 201 by

Blogging 201 day 7 make the most of events

Yesterday’s assignment: create a recurring blogging event on your site, and/or make plans to attend a blogging conference.

I think this task is about making sure you are making the most of networking and spreading awareness about the blog, whether that is attending real events such as the Blogging conferences or virtually through blog hops or Linky parties.

There’s a great post on the SITS Girls website about what Linky Parties are and how to set them up.

For now, I’ve joined a couple of sites on a regular basis to pin one of the posts to their Linky party/event. What’s great about these is that you get the opportunity of visiting other people’s blogs as they arrive/join the Linky Party and often I have found new ideas or projects to try.

The Link Parties I’ve joined are here at A bowl full of Lemons blog which is such a lovely site full of organising tips and projects; and at Lela Burris’ blog Inthenewhouse.com who got in touch with me after seeing my blog on ABOF’s site.

Since then I visit Lela’s blog and saw Project Patrol’s great post on making your own kindle cover out of an old book – Such a great idea to do with my daughter during the summer holidays.

For now, until I feel I’ve “earned my stripes” so to speak, I will look forward to joining some other Linkys or blog hops, and look to see if others would be welcome to me joining, before I venture as far as hosting a link up or blog hop.

Thanks for viewing this post. Do let me know if you are hosting a link up party and think my site would be suitable 🙂