Personalised hand stamped necklaces, rings, bracelet and bangles. They would make a great gift idea For Mother’s Day or Christmas ;) (you had better get in quick to order to insure delivery in time).

I have been looking around for a necklace myself for months, there are so many..it is hard to decide.

Here are a few great Aussie and OS Personalised jewellery designers and artists (all post to Australia) I have collected in my travels.

Personalised hand stamped Jewellery

• Koolman designs[AUS]
• Pocket full of poesy[AUS]
• Oh My Giddy Aunt [AUS]
• Sue Ella Signatures [AUS]
• Love Stamp [AUS]
• Made to Inspire[AUS]
• Uneik[AUS]
• Small Print[AUS]
• Yondale Designs [AUS]
• Lily Stan [AUS]
• Ulli Jewellery [AUS]
• Heart on your wrist
• Lisa Leonard Designs
• Delias Thompson
• The Vintage Pearl
• Christen Largent
• Cinnamon sticks
• Birth Designs
• Three Sisters
• Pink Papillion
• Fingerprint Jewllery

Shopping online is increasingly becoming many women’s shopping method of choice. And why not, when it is so convenient and easy. You can shop at any time of the day or night, and quite often you will get a much better range and cheaper as well.

Clothes shopping for those of us who don’t fit retails idea of what size Australian women are, can find regular shopping an absolute nightmare. The majority of mainstream Australian retailers are just doing plus sizes clothing wrong. I feel your pain ladies, so I have put together a list of pus size retailers both here in Australia and over seas. If you know of a store, let me know I would love to add it to the list.

US Plus Sized Clothing Stores

• Forever 21 - (XL-3X)
• One Stop Plus
• Domino Dollhouse
• Cult of California
• Torrid
• Old Navy  (16-30)
• svoboda
• Simply Be – (10-26)
• B&Lu (14-30)
• Alight (14-30)
• Igig (13-3)
• Swak (1x-6x) Free shipping for orders $40+
• Lane Bryant
• Ashley Stewart
• Macy’s
• Eloquii

Other Stuff

• eShakti - Plus  size dresses custom made to your measurements
• Duo Boots and Shoes
• Boots for Broads (AUS) Plus Size boots
• We Love Colors – Plus size tights and leggings
• Big Girls Bra (US) –  Plus Size lingerie

Know any great plus size retailers we’ve missed?

{image City Chic}

A recent PawClub survey of over 80,000 dog owners revealed surprisingly, 80 percent of women spend more on their dogs than their significant other.  Not only are their wallets being tested, but also their time, with 77 per cent of female owners claiming they devote more hours to their dog than to their human companion/other half. Guys, you need to pick up your game!

Statistics from the Australian Companion Animal Council echo this spending, with reports that almost $3.6 billion was spent on dogs in 2009, including more than $1.1 billion in NSW and the ACT. The Council notes that although the dog and cat population is declining, spending on our pets continues to rise.

So do you really spend more on your pup than your partner?

You can check out the rest of the survey results on Australian dog ownership at PawClub. You can also discover how your area stacks up against the rest of Australia.

I was halfway through writing a stat-laden article when I thought back to an event PapScreen held last year, and a beautiful speech given by a man who had recently lost his wife – and mother of his two young children – to cervical cancer.

I think it illustrates why Pap tests are so important, better than a thousand statistics, so with his permission we’ve reproduced his story here.

Helen Marsden
papscreen.org.au

In January 2010 a beautiful amazing woman and mother of two lost the fight against cervical cancer. The fight was short yet inspirational and courageous. This beautiful woman was only 34 and was in the prime of her life, enjoying spending time with her children and a husband who cherished each day with her. This amazing woman was my wife Melissa Jane Ellis.

How life can change so quickly. One day we were your typical family of four, looking forward to seeing our children grow up and develop into fine adults. Yet Tayla (age 12) and Hudson (age 4) have now had to endure what no child of that age ever should – the loss of their mother.

After returning from a family holiday in Queensland, with Melissa exhibiting unusual symptoms, we went to our local emergency department. Two weeks later after an appointment with a specialist, we found ourselves travelling to Melbourne for tests and an operation to examine the symptoms.

Until cancer touched our family we didn’t fully appreciate how devastating this disease could be. One afternoon in October 2009, our lives would be changed dramatically forever: we were given a diagnosis of cervical cancer. It was only three short months later that the disease would claim Melissa’s life.

On the day we were diagnosed we experienced an array of emotions, from devastation and determination, to anger and frustration, to fear and concern for our two beautiful children.  Melissa found amazing inner strength: her main concern was for the wellbeing of family members around her. Her positive and unselfish outlook continued throughout her treatment, right up until her passing.

At no point did Melissa ever question why her: her only question was ‘How can my experience help others?’

With the number of women having regular Pap tests still well down on where they should be, I find myself continuing the battle of awareness and prevention of this hideous disease, with the clear and distinct goal in my mind that children should not have to experience what our children have had to.

It may seem strange to have a man raising awareness about the importance of Pap tests, and their role in preventing cervical cancer, yet it’s a passion I hold close to my heart. I strongly believe that husbands, fathers, sons and brothers can play a bigger role in the fight against this disease.

Throughout this story, I’ve made references to ‘our story’, ‘we’ and ‘us’ – because although my wife Melissa was the patient, at no point in time was she travelling this road alone. It was a road that we travelled together. Unfortunately, that road is now a little lonelier with Melissa gone.

I’m sure there’s a reason for Melissa being taken away from us – someday that message may be a little clearer. It may be to help someone else, which would make sense, because she was the most selfless person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Since Melissa’s passing I’ve obviously reflected about a lot of things, and there’s one particular event that’s hard to erase from my mind. It was one night when Tayla and Hudson were in bed, Melissa and I were watching TV and an advertisement about Pap tests came on.

The advert prompted me to ask Melissa about the last time she had a test. Melissa was dismissive and spoke of the awkwardness of the test. Her reaction was understandable, and it stopped me from taking it further.

For the sake of a moment of awkwardness, I wish I’d been more supportive and pushed a little harder. I’ll never get that chance again.

We know that regular Pap tests (or Pap smears) can prevent around 90% of cervical cancers.

However around a third of women in Australia don’t have regular Pap tests.

Around 9 in 10 women diagnosed with cervical cancer haven’t had regular Pap tests.

PapScreen recommend that all women aged 18–70 who have ever been sexually active have a Pap test every two years, even if they’ve had the cervical cancer vaccine (or HPV vaccine).

GPs and some specially trained nurses can take Pap tests. To find your nearest clinic providing Pap tests call 13 15 56.

For more information about Pap tests and how they can prevent cervical cancer go to papscreen.org.au or call the Cancer Council Helpline on 13 11 20.

Find out more about submitting a guest post to All for Women

Luckily my mother-in-law has the perfect recipe – and I’m allowed to share it around!

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
125 grams butter or margarine
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons boiling water

Makes 50 small ones or 25′ish big ones.

Method

Preheat oven to 160C and line two trays with baking paper.

Mix the oats, flour, sugar and coconut together in a bowl.

Place a saucepan over low heat melt the butter and golden syrup together.

While they are melting, mix together the bicarb and boiling water. When the butter has melted completely, add the bicarb/water mix to the saucepan and stir quickly. The mixture will bubble up in the pan.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined.

Roll into small balls and press onto the baking paper lined trays, leaving a 5cm gap between each ball.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

They are amazing while still warm. In our house at least a quarter of the biscuits have been eaten before they have a chance to cool!

Liz writes at lizosaurus.com. She has a soft spot for cats and baked goods.

Now that you’ve discovered the joys of pumping iron and worked your way through a Beginner’s Routine, you must be interested in exploring weightlifting further! Unfortunately, the weightlifting world is very male-dominated and results in articles like, Get Huge Biceps by Employing Hypertrophy Progressions and EFA Stacks!!! I don’t know what that means, and you probably don’t care to find out. The good news is that there are some sites that talk about weights and weight training in a friendly, no chemistry degree needed way. Here are some of the best.

Stumptuous
Mistress Krista runs a great site dedicated to women and weight training. She covers nutrition, exercise form, routine building, and a whole lot more. Especially helpful to a beginner is her From Dork to Diva series which shows the proper form for a lot of foundational exercises.

Weight Training 101
This About.com article bundles a lot of information into a small package. Like all About pages, it contains a lot of cross-links to related articles that will help you find exercises that are right for your fitness level.

Beginner Dumbell Workout Routine
This article gives a sample routine which is not that much different from the one you saw in Part 2. The rest of the Building Muscle 101 site is a great resource though for exercises and routines even though there’s a lack of female models.

Livestrong Women’s Workouts

MrSupplement Workouts
While mostly a website that sells supplements, they do have some excellent catalogue of training articles including exercise video demonstrations. Like the previous website, it does lack female models, but the basic principles are what you need. Plus they have Ladies Fat Loss supplements!

This is far from a comprehensive list of resources. If you know of sites that have been helpful to you, please share with others in the comments.

In my last post, I explained why women should lift weights. Now that I’ve convinced you to give the iron a try, I’ll show you how to get started.

Note: the following information assumes that you are a newcomer to weight training, but that you are healthy and in reasonably good shape, meaning that you can exercise at a moderate pace for 15-20 minutes. Please use your own good judgment and your doctor’s advice if you believe this is not the case.

A simple Google search on “weight training beginner routines” gave me 33,200,000 results this morning. That’s a pretty overwhelming amount of information, but I have good news for you. If you’re a beginner, it doesn’t really matter if you’re using an “optimal” routine. Just starting is good enough.

For our purposes I’m going to outline two types of routines: Traditional Sets and Circuit Training. All of the exercises that I am including can be done with dumbbells, or just your bodyweight in some cases. I’ll include versions that can be done with no equipment for people who work out at home. Also, if you don’t have dumbbells, any two relatively uniform, heavy objects will do for now. Some substitutes can include milk cartons filled with water or sand, cans of soup, bricks, and heavy purses (really!). As you progress, you may want to purchase an inexpensive set of adjustable dumbbells and a simple weight bench

Traditional Sets
You’ve probably all heard the magic combination of 8-10 reps and 3 sets for each lift. That is the heart of a traditional weightlifting routine. What exactly do those numbers mean? For each exercise that you do, you will choose a weight that you can lift 8-10 times, take a rest of about 30 seconds to 1 minute, do 8-10 more repetitions, rest again, and finish with 8-10 more repetitions. Then you will move on to another exercise.

This type of lifting is good for building strength in a gradual way without making you prone to injury. The key is to pick a weight that challenges you, but doesn’t make you so exhausted that you don’t use good form.

In our beginner’s workout, we’re going to assume that you will want to lift weights 2 or 3 times per week. Because we’re not trying to be in the gym everyday, we’ll make up for it by doing exercises that work the entire body. We’ll also use compound exercises that work more than one muscle at the same time.

Try to perform each exercise 8-10 times, rest for 30 seconds, then repeat for a total of 3 sets. The routine will look like this:

1. Warm up (5 minutes of walking, jogging, skipping, dancing, etc.)
2. Squats with or without dumbells
3. Dumbell Bench Press OR Pushups
4. Weighted Crunch OR Crunch
5. Lunges with or without dumbells
6. Dumbell Bent-Over Row OR Dip (you don’t have to put your feet up, just keep them on the floor)
7. Dumbbell Shoulder Press (Optional if you have equipment)
8. Side Bends or Side Crunches

Feel free to use the alternative exercises to keep a little variety in the routine. You can also change the order around, but you’ll probably want to keep a basic pattern of working Lower Body, Upper Body, and Midsection so that each body part has a chance to rest!

Circuit Training
Circuit training combines weightlifting and cardiovascular exercise by doing each exercise back-to-back with little or no rest in between. For the circuit training routine, use the same exercises in the same order, but go through them all one time with only 15-30 seconds rest in between each exercise. When you’ve completed exercises 1-6 rest for 60 seconds or even 90 seconds if you’re out of breath. Then repeat the entire list for a second time. If you’re still feeling strong, complete a third progression. The total routine should take about 10 minutes per round.

How to Keep Moving Forward
After a couple of weeks of doing one of these routines it will start to get easier (trust me on this!). When you are feeling like you want more of a challenge, you can 1) add more weight, 2) add more repetitions, or 3) try different exercises and routines. Adding more than 12 reps per set is probably not the best choice because you will loose the benefits of lifting heavy weights. I’ll give you some resources for finding more exercises in my next post. If you decide to add more weight, do so very gradually and cut down on the repetitions you do. For example, try adding weight in increments of 1-2 kilos (2-4 pounds) and start at 8 repetitions. Then continue with that weight until you can do 12 repetitions.

Above all else take it slow, have fun, and get ready to show off those muscles!

Ladies, I’m going to exercise my powers of clairvoyance for a moment and make some wild predictions:

1. You would like to lose some weight
2. You would like lean, toned muscles
3. You’ve never lifted a barbell in your life!

If any of the above is true, I’d like to convince you to give weightlifting a try. When I say “weightlifting,” I mean the lifting of honest-to-goodness heavy objects, such as barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, and toddlers. No machines allowed!

To help you understand why weightlifting is a Good Thing, we need to bust some myths you might have about lifting weights.

True or False: Lifting heavy weights will make me look like an Amazon Woman.

False – Unless you take steroids or are genetically gifted. Bulging muscles only occur in the presence of lots of testosterone. An average woman doing regular exercise will never grow huge muscles.

True or False: High repetition, low weight exercises are the best choice for toning muscles.

False – In order to get stronger and burn fat, the body needs to be put under stress. Lifting low weights with high repetitions only helps build endurance but if you want to tone your muscles, you need to lose body weight. Lifting heavy weights for a lower number of repetitions stresses the muscles and creates tiny tears in the muscle fiber as well as boosting your metabolism. A faster metabolism and stronger muscles means more fat burned, which will help you tone up.

True or False: Machines promote good form and are safer to use than free weights.

False – If you know how to use free weights. Machines do have some safety advantages. For example, it is impossible to drop the weights and cause injury. However, they have some distinct disadvantages. Most machines have a starting position where the involved joints aren’t fully extended, or “locked.” This can cause stress on the joints and repetitive motion injuries over time. Properly used free weights are very safe, especially when spotters or equipment like a squat cage are available to help if needed.

True or False: Weightlifting can produce that coveted “afterburn” effect and super-charge metabolism.

True! Because weightlifting creates tears in the muscles, the body burns extra calories while repairing the damage. As the muscle repairs itself, it becomes stronger and your muscle mass goes up while your fat mass reduces. Muscles burn energy even while at rest while fat does not. So it makes sense to increase your muscle mass. Aerobic exercise doesn’t cause the same kind of damage, so the metabolism-boosting effects are much shorter lived, but still beneficial.

If you still aren’t convinced, you may want to do some further reading. The American Heart Association recently released a study showing that weightlifting benefits heart patients. Other studies have shown that weight bearing exercise can increase bone strength and may even reverse osteoporosis.

In my next article, I’ll outline a beginner’s weightlifting routine that any healthy person can do. So get your doctor’s clearance and get ready to lift!

My top Christmas gift ideas for Men 18-30 under $100

Sometimes this gender and age group can be the hardest to buy gifts for, whether it’s a office Kris Kringle or a son in law, if you stick to this guide you will be on your way to becoming the perfect gift giver.

• The Scent – A good cologne can be seen as a standard gift however if you spend some time on choosing the scent it can become a favourite. I would suggest something masculine and hardy. Tom Ford Arabian Wood would be perfect here.

• The Swimmers – Its summer and everyone will end up at the beach or poolside at some point over Christmas, pick up a pair or quick dry board shorts, ideal for that afternoon BBQ – Scotch & Soda, Zanerobe or Industrie are some brands to keep an eye out for.

• The Music – iTunes gift cards. Gone are the days of buying CD’s they get scratch or go missing after a while so to save the hassle pick up a iTunes gift voucher. These came in $20 – $50 -$100 cards and are perfect to for any iPod/iPhone addict.

• The T-Shirt – Basics but essential! Summer nights out require two things. One being an alcoholic beverage the second a cool outfit. Brands to look out for here are Saba, Marcs, Industrie and Bonds. Allot of these stores often have specials for buy 1 get 1 ½ price.

• The Alcohol – Lets face it. It is the season to be jolly. So why not support the festivities by buying a bottle of Vodka, Bourbon, or any other type of 750ml bottle.

Keep an eye out for specials that can be hard to spot this time of year, just think the money you save on the presents you can spend on yourself at the Boxing Day sales. Hope this helps with the hectic preparation for Christmas over the coming weeks.

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Guest pot by Cameron Fennell. You can check out some more style tips for the current season on his style and Sydney lifestyle blog www.dappergala.com

There are 4 main Australian domestic airlines Qantas (usually not really great value for domestic flights), Jetstar which is Qantas’s budget airline, Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways

• Be flexible with the times and dates you want to travel. Travel mid week and out side of peak times is most often cheaper. If you are more flexible about the times and days you wish to travel you will be sure to save money. Also travelling from different air ports or using a different airline for you departure and return can save you a bundle.

• Book your flights early not only do you avoid disappointment of your desired day and time being sold out. The earlier you book, the cheap your airfares will be.
  

• Sign up to all the major airlines newsletters to be first to hear about special offers, discounts and sales which are available quite often. Many have newsletter members only deal where you can save a lot. So it certainly pays off to be on their mailing list. The draw back with these sales are often that the sites get bogged down with so much traffic, it can be very hard to get a booking through. If you get in quickly, have a good broadband connection and some patients, you should be fine. Good idea to check them out on social networks like Twitter and Facebook as well for special deals.

• Airfare aggregators such as Webjet, Travel.com.au, Expedia etc are also great for helping you find the cheapest fares. Input your details of where and when you want to go and they will query all the relevant Airlines to find you the cheapest fare available for that time and destination. They also have a mailing lists that would be worth joining for specials and discounts on a whole rang of travel products, not just airfares.

What ways have you found to save money on domestic airfares?