Tag Archives: Catherine Balavage

Jessica Ennis | People

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Jessica Ennis is 9 stone of steely determination and today she has made Britain incredibly proud. The 26-year-old broke the British record in the 100m hurdles and won heptathlon gold for Team GB.

Down-to-earth and wonderfully normal for someone so gifted, Jessica has a fiance, Andy, who works in construction. She has been with Andy for seven years and he is three years older than her. They met in a night out in Sheffield even though they went to the same school.

She’s outspoken “When things don’t go well, I’m always really irrational and thinking, ‘Oh, my world is crumbling around me.'” and honest, saying before a game: “I get really anxious”.

Her ambition is obvious “The silver is a position I just don’t want to be in again. I’ve tasted that and I don’t like it.”

She missed out on the 2008 Olympics because of a stress fracture in her foot. Before the Olympics 2012 Marie Claire magazine asked her how it would feel if she didn’t get it, she said: “I don’t like to think about the negative or the possibility of things going wrong, because that’s just a really bad way of viewing it. It gets in your head.”

Jessica says she visualises every event going well, but not winning as there is “so much to come before that, and so much that can go wrong”.

She trains at the Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport and is the face of Olay Essentials range. She come across as a girl’s girl and says “I don’t even walk the dog without make-up. I’ve always been like that”.

Her beauty icon is Jennifer Aniston and she loves Bobbi Brown make-up. Her beauty routine is low-key, “I train twice a day so I’m always sweating, which is actually quite good for your skin. But I always wash, cleanse and moisturise so my pores won’t clog.”

Some idiot may have called her fat, but the world was outraged and she brushed it off. Jessica has a lot of pressure on those toned shoulders of hers, but she is handling it all with grace and beauty.

Kate Middleton Tops Vanity Fair Best Dressed List

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Kate Middleton has Topped Vanity Fairs Best Dressed List again. Katie Nicholl has also written an in-depth story on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. According to Vanity Fair.

“There’s a happiness in the House of Windsor generally at the moment for the first time ever,” a royal pal tells Vanity Fair contributor Katie Nicholl in the September issue. “Charles and Camilla are genuinely happy. William is happy because Charles is troubled less, and he has Kate to share his future with,” the friend adds. And while the pair have dazzled Britain and Olympic watchers the globe over with their Games-related appearances—Kate’s fashionable turn in Christopher Kane at the opening ceremony only confirms her status atop the 2012 International Best-Dressed List—they innately prefer a life out of the spotlight, one categorized by homey activities like cooking and walking puppy Lupo three times per day. Nicholl gets their friends and those in their orbit talking for a those in their orbit talking for a blockbuster piece on Kate’s married life—revealing, among many other details, that:

Despite their lean physiques thanks to deerstalking, tennis, and Buckingham Palace swims, Will and Kate are foodies, and tuck in regularly to homemade roast chicken (Kate does the cooking and shopping, and employs no cook at their home on the Welsh island of Anglesey). They also own a sausage-maker (!) to make their own links, and for the holidays, Kate puts away jars of homemade strawberry jam and plum preserves to dole out as gifts. On the average day off, the pair just potter around, “making tea and toast,” per a family friend who recently swung by to find them living a simple home life on Anglesey.

They splash out for DVD box sets. Right now, the royal couple are obsessed with The Killing, which they recently devoured in a marathon session—and they often stay in to binge on various new series rather than hit up society events.

The duchess’s schedule requires up to five clothing changes per day. The rigorous outfit swapping attendant to royal protocol is said to stress out the duchess—not that the stress shows.

And even though the bill for her couture and jewels was printed in the tabloids with raised eyebrows earlier this year—$55,000 for six months of duties—Kate defrays the cost by bargain-shopping. The duchess also continues to decline the services of a royal dresser, preferring to personally shop for herself at chains like Topshop.

Gore Vidal Dies: His Greatest Quotes

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Gore Vidal died yesterday at the age of 86. Frost has gathered some great quotes, a story and a video of his wit and genius. Enjoy and RIP Gore. The New York Times’s brilliant obituary has this gem:

In 1968, while covering the Democratic National Convention on television, he called William F. Buckley a “cryptofascist.” Buckley responded by calling Mr. Vidal a “queer,” and the two were in court for years. In a 1971 essay he compared Norman Mailer to Charles Manson, and a few months later Mailer head-butted him in the green room while the two were waiting to appear on the Dick Cavett show. They then took their quarrel on the air in a memorable exchange that ended with Mr. Cavett’s telling Mailer to take a piece of paper on the table in front of them and “fold it five ways and put it where the moon don’t shine.” In 1975 Mr. Vidal sued Truman Capote for libel after Capote wrote that Mr. Vidal had been thrown out of the Kennedy White House. Mr. Vidal won a grudging apology.


“As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.”

“A good deed never goes unpunished.”

“All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting to encounter yourself.”

“Andy Warhol is the only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60”

“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

“Sex is. There is nothing more to be done about it. Sex builds no roads, writes no novels and sex certainly gives no meaning to anything in life but itself.”

“The more money an American accumulates, the less interesting he becomes.”

“The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so.”

“Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that’s the end of the constitution as a working machine.”

“We should stop going around babbling about how we’re the greatest democracy on earth, when we’re not even a democracy. We are a sort of militarised republic.”

“Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.”

“There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo- or heterosexual acts. Most people are a mixture of impulses if not practices.”

“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”

“Fifty percent of people won’t vote, and fifty percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same fifty percent.”

“I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television.”

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.”

“Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically by definition be disqualified from ever doing so.”

“Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice like, Painkiller X and Painkiller Y. But they’re both just aspirin.”

“Envy is the central fact of American life.”

“Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.”

“Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.”

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return”

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”

And check out this great video:

Rowers Heather Stanning And Helen Glover Win First Team GB Gold.

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Team GB won it’s first gold today as Rowers Heather Stanning And Helen Glover came first in their race. Stanning and Glover were clearly ahead at Eton Dorney Lake.

They made a good start and left the competition well behind. They may have looked knackered towards the end but the also looked elated. Well done gals, you done us proud!

Zara Phillips was in tears yesterday because she thinks she cost Team GB the Gold after her horse clipped the fence. Don’t worry Zara, we think you still did amazing and Team GB still got a Silver medal.

Sky’s The Limit. Cavendish And Wiggins | Book Review

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This book has come out at the perfect time: sports-mad, Olympic time in London. Mark Cavendish may have failed to get a medal for Great Britain, but this book is a well-researched, insider view of Team Sky. Author Richard Moore has been given unprecedented access to the inner workers and all of the main players, an esteemed author and cycle blogger, he really knows what he is talking about.

Incredibly well researched Moore’s book takes you through the journey of last year’s debut season. The book has exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes access. It is neither official nor unauthorised, which gives Moore lots of freedom. Sky’s the Limit follows the management and riders from training to their debut at the Tour Down Under in January 2010, and then their debut at the Tour de France in July 2010.

Sky’s The Limit is a brilliant for cycling enthusiasts and sports fans alike. An incredibly enjoyable and informative book.

‘This is new. It’s something people haven’t seen before. We’re setting out to create an epic story – an epic British success story. Now it’s down to business: to find out what it’s going to take to win the Tour de France with a clean British rider.’

Dave Brailsford

Brailsford is the mastermind behind the phenomenal success of the British track cycling team which dominated the Beijing Olympics in 2008, winning seven gold medals. But road cycling is a very different ball game. It has the lion’s share of the sport’s history and legends; it has the bulk of the fans, television and media interest; and it has, far and away, the biggest pot of money.

It is a sport that is rooted in mainland Europe – a land that is, in so many literal, metaphorical and cultural ways, foreign to Great Britain. British victories in the Tour can be counted on the fingers of a mitten. The closest anyone has ever come is Robert Millar and Bradley Wiggins, who were fourth in 1984 and 2009 respectively, but no Briton has seriously challenged for the maillot jaune – the yellow jersey of overall winner.

Sky’s the Limit follows the gestation and birth of a brand new road racing team, which is the first British team to compete in the Tour de France since 1987. Team Sky, as it is known, since it is to be backed by the satellite broadcaster Sky, set out on the road to Tour de France glory in January 2010.

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access and interviews, Sky’s the Limit will follow the management and riders as they embark on their journey – witnessing their first training camp and team presentation in December 2009, their debut at the Tour Down Under in January 2010, and their debut at the Tour de France in July 2010 – and as they then set out to write their ‘epic story’.

Sky’s the Limit: Wiggins and Cavendish: The Quest to Conquer the Tour de France

Man on a Ledge | Film Review

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Man on a Ledge is a smart, fast-paced thriller. It is very much a ‘cinema’ film, and by that I mean one of those films you watch just for pure entertainment.

An ex-cop (Sam Worthington) is jailed for a crime he says he didn’t do and manages to escape from prison. He later threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel. He asks for a female police psychologist (Elizabeth Banks) who tries to stop him jumping. As the film unwinds we see that things are not as straightforward as they seemed. The plot has lots of twists to keep you entertained.

I really liked Elizabeth Banks’ performance. She known as a strong comedic actress but is equally good in this thriller.

A lot of this movie was filmed on a real ledge, a brave move by Sam Worthington who suffers from vertigo. Jamie Bell plays Worthington’s brother. Bell is fantastic in the film and so is Mandy Gonzalez as his girlfriend.

Ed Harris is as amazing as ever as the villain of the piece. I really don’t want to give too much of the film away but it really is worth a watch. Rent or buy for a good night in.

Man on a Ledge is pure entertainment. It is just a fun film which has the benefit of having brilliant actors in it. The acting really is top notch.

Kenyan Tea | Drink Review

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I am quite obsessed with tea. A day without tea is just a bad day. I usually drink English Breakfast tea but I decided to give Kenyan tea a shot. With interesting results: it’s even better than my normal tea.

I reviewed Marks and Spencer Pure Origin Mount Kenya Teabags and they are really flavoursome, fresh and bright. They just make such a good cup of tea. In fact it is hard to make a bad cup of tea with these teabags. This is definitely the tea I will be buying from now on. I can’t say enough just how amazing the tea tastes. They are also Fairtrade which just makes the tea taste even better.

Just as amazing is Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Kenyan Fairtrade Fine Tea. Try Kenyan tea. You won’t look back. (no, I am not being paid to write this. They just rock)

Kenya is a country famed for its long distance runners…just look at this year’s London Marathon winners. But that’s not the only impressive export from this beautiful East African country. Did you know that thanks to Kenya’s perfect climate along the Rift Valley, the country provides nearly 53% of the tea leaves we Brits drink in our daily cuppa?

Kenyan Tea is at the heart of many of Britain’s favourite teas blends making up the 165 million cups of tea we drink each and every day in the UK. As we approach a Summer of British celebration, we’ve no doubt there’ll be more tea (and cake!) consumed than ever before, so here’s a few reasons it should be Kenyan tea you’re drinking:

* Her Majesty the Queen was visiting Kenya on the day she ascended to the throne – 6th February 1952.
* It’s remained a popular spot with the Royals, as it was also where Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged in 2010.
* Of the 78 Olympic medals Kenya has won since 1964, 69 were for athletics running events.
* With the exception of 2010, a Kenyan runner has won the men’s London Marathon every year since 2004. This year Wilson Kipsang was only four seconds behind the course record.
* Kenyan tea is grown within the regions that nurture the top athletes.
* Kenyan tea is uniquely refreshing and 100% disease and pest free.

We British are famed for our love of a good brew, so we’ve asked around to find out what makes your perfect cuppa. While milky tea is still our favourite it seems we’re getting more adventurous as more are trying lemon or honey in a cuppa, while over a third of you are experimenting with the purer tastes of loose leaf, single estate and rare teas from around the world.

To introduce you to the distinctive taste of Kenyan Teas we’ve sent you two delicious teas so you can experience the high quality and distinctive flavour, and discover what’s truly at the heart of a good cuppa.

About Kenyan Tea

· Tea has been grown in Kenya since 1903 and quickly thrived thanks to the growing conditions, climate and altitude. Tea is grown in both large plantations and smallholdings across 180,000 hectares with production reaching up to 390 million kilos per year. Today Kenya is the largest producer of tea in Africa and one of the world’s largest black tea producers.

· Kenya tea has been proved to have higher levels of antioxidants compared to teas produced in other parts of the world.

Stockists

· Marks and Spencer Pure Origin Mount Kenya Teabags – £1.79 for 50 teabags. This is the first Kenyan tea to be grown and packed at source, the result of a 2 year project with M&S training farmers to pack tea for export and local sale.

· Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Kenyan Fairtrade Fine Tea – £2.39 for 80 teabags. This tea is grown in fair-trade tea gardens in the Kenyan highlands where the climate and altitude produce this fine tea with a full flavour.

Deep Heat | Health Review

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Muscle tension is common in everyday life. After a hectic week my muscles usually feel tired. Did the Deep Heat I got sent to review help? Yes, but I wishes I had read the instructions first! The first time I applied I put on too much. If you read the instructions it tells you to put on a little and build up to your personal tolerance level. Luckily I was just a little hot for a while.

I love both these products. They really help your muscles and they are reasonably priced. I love how the Neck and Shoulder Cream has the option of a sponge applicator. It is very easy and convenient. These products are also natural and smell great. They get the Frost thumbs up! Sian Lloyd also used and loves them.

Deep Heat Muscle Rescue Neck and Shoulder Cream RRP: £5.99

A warming cream designed to help ease tension in stressed muscles. It contains a unique combination of vanilla and rosemary to give gentle but soothing warmth,[1] with a pleasant herbal aroma. It has a soft sponge applicator to facilitate massage and so provides soothing, comforting warmth. In addition, it is in a convenient 50g pack so you can travel with it and fit into a coat pocket, handbag, sports bag or brief case. The applicator provides a soothing massage and means no messy cream on the hands.

Deep Heat Muscle Rescue Bath Soak RRP: £5.49

Is a bath additive specially formulated to ease daily stress, aches and muscular tension. Key ingredients include electrolyte minerals and essential oils of rosemary, patchouli and orange. Electrolyte minerals are a combination of atomised sea water, minerals and trace elements, including magnesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, iodine and chloride, which help to hydrate the body and help to prevent cramp.

Muscle tension affects millions of people in the UK everyday. Modern life often means dealing with a host of mental and physical stress triggers, all too often leaving us tired, with tense and stressed muscles after a long day.

Our muscles are faced with numerous attacks and challenges on a daily basis, from bad posture and physical activity to emotional stress and simply getting older. Work, commuting, looking after children, sports injuries and crouching over a computer can all take their toll on our bodies, leaving us feeling mentally and physically drained and our muscles knotted and uncomfortable. Muscle Rescue has been created to help!

New Research:

• Half a million people suffer from work-related stress (Health and Safety Executive 2010/2011)

• A new study by Deep Heat Muscle Rescue (One Poll 2012) found that half of us get stressed because we are overworked

• Nearly 80 per cent of people suffer anguish from a stiff neck and two-thirds suffer from tense shoulders (One Poll 2012)

• A third of people know they are stressed when they suffer from tense muscles, which stops nearly half from sleeping comfortably and 35 per cent from relaxing (One Poll 2012)

[1]In Home User Trials; Ayton Global Independent Research; Data on file, 2012