Month: September 2015

The life and mind of Lindsey Kelk

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I’m so excited about this guest post, like SO excited! Lindsey Kelk, the uber fantastic best-selling British author has written a guest post for me here at Flamingo Monroe! Lindsey gave us the I Heart series, and other hits including About a Girl and Always a Bridesmaid, and is also an inspiration to many wannabe novella writers out there.

I’ve admired Lindsey for a while now. Her cheeky and witty writing style is second-to-none and I bet all of us in our 20s and 30s who read her books relate to the story lines in some capacity. We all think we’re a bit of Angela, mixed with a bit of Jenny, combined with an ounce of Tess, right?

Having got to know Lindsey over the last couple of years, we often exchange email chat between London and LA (her current home) covering off all our common ground – from cats, thyroid issues and family tragedies, to annoying taxi drivers, driving in America and cocktails. She’s pretty funny to follow on Twitter & Instagram too.

LindseyI hope you enjoy this little exclusive insight in to her world – her career, her relationship, her cats, her LA lifestyle, why she left New York and overcoming a tragic 2014 losing her mother and both grandmothers.

(She’s also very kindly dropped in a few tips for any aspiring writers out there.)

Here we go, a glimpse in to the life and mind of Lindsey Kelk…

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The beauty know it all… (beauty vloggers watch out!)

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The world of “vlogging” has gone a little mad in recent times. As a gal who’s worked in magazines, marketing, PR and all things media for many years now, it completely baffles me when I come across successful and popular vlogs, from those who have no qualifications, credentials, skills or experience in the fields they perceive to know and understand – with the beauty subject being the main culprit. (Unless, like me, you blog for a hobby or for some sort of life distraction and/or therapy – and therefore, not pretending to be something you’re not…)

The concept of vlogging is brilliant…but I just can’t seem to get on with many vloggers out there when it comes to beauty. As a 30 year old (alright…31), I find it very difficult to learn of new beauty tips and advice from a 20-something marketable lass, with no beauty qualifications or credentials – I just can’t relate to them or trust their content. (Especially when most of their posts are biased from being paid by brands or breaking the laws of the Bribery Act!). Good luck to them all, but I am just not their target viewer.

I may have originally qualified as beauty therapist before I moved in to the world of marketing, PR and lifestyle/celebrity/glossy magazines (when I was 17 wanted to be a makeup artist), so I do have an understanding of a basic skin care regime, and certain beauty dos and don’ts, but I like to still get my fix of up-to-date advice, trends, and learn of new products and tips – especially as I age (*sob*) which means implementing the occasional tweak to my beauty routines. I am NEVER one to ever look at myself and say “I’m pretty”, so for me, I want advice from someone who I can trust…

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Guest post blog for Hypothyroid Mom

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One of the wonderful things about the blogging world is being able to connect with other people with similar interests, and even occasionally writing a guest-blog post for one another.

As you may or may not have seen, I have a specific section on my site here for all things thyroid, and since I went public with my story last year I have been fortunate enough to connect with so many people all over the world – being sufferers of a variety of thyroid conditions reaching out to me for advice and to share their experiences, or various charities, lifestyle and health bloggers, and even “thyroid awareness ambassadors” including Dana Trentini who runs the popular website Hypothyroidmom.com in America…

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A beautiful Italian wedding in Rome

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WARNING: This post contains a lot of food and flowers (two of my favourite things – FYI)…

Last weekend I attended a friend’s wedding in Rome. I’ve been to Rome before, but I was so excited to experience my first wedding abroad, see close friends say “I Do” and go back to the gorgeous Eternal City. Little did I know, or even wonder beforehand, just how breath-taking and beautiful the wedding day was going to be. It was full of love and emotion (I was emotional, often tearful, for about 75% of the day), with stunning service and reception locations, and AMPLE Italian food and wine…perfect!

I took a fair amount of photos from the day and have got permission from the bride to share a few here on my blog (certainly inspirational for any bride-to-be or event planner out there)…

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When in Rome…

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I’ve just got back from a beautiful wedding in Rome (a follow-up Roman wedding-related blog post to follow…). I’ve been to Rome before, and therefore have already explored the key tourist attractions and the (lengthy, but amazing) tours. This time round, it was fabulous to just enjoy a few chilled days walking around in the glorious Italian sunshine, seeing the sights again (from the outside), consume plenty of local wine, slightly dent the credit card in Prada and Michael Kors on Via Condotti and eat plenty of amazing food.

I am turning in to a ball of mozzarella, wrapped in parma ham and topped with burrata because I’ve eaten so much of it.

Keeping things simple and visual, this blog post is pretty much text-free (partly due to immense tiredness and brain-fail from a very delayed and late flight home last night). Here’s a small selection of my photos from my strolls around the stunning Eternal City…

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