Good Morning! (Or afternoon, evening or night depending on when you read this). Today is a little bit of fun and frivolity, since it is Friday and we all need a little cheer on these long, cold, wet and snowy days. It occurred to me the other day that the weather affects everything about our human lives. We all accept that we feel more happy, cheerful and productive when the sun is shining and the weather is warm. I suppose there are exceptions for people who live in cold climates, but for now I use my personal experience of being a white British woman of fair complexion.

I have a collection of scented body lotions that I received as Christmas and birthday gifts, and they all promise to soften my skin, feel nice and smell delightful. One such gift was a pack of three tubs, one containing mango scented lotion, one containing cranberry, and one coconut body butter. I have used up the first two, but I am saving the coconut body butter until our weather improves. The simple reason for this is that coconuts always remind me of balmy summer days and the dream of exotic islands. You know, the stereotypical fantasy of lazing on a soft sandy beach, sipping cocktails and forgetting our daily stress.

The funny thing is I have never actually visited such an island. The closest I have come to an exotic holiday is visiting places such as Spain and Tunisia. So where did this ideal come from? Well, the media I suppose. We all see television adverts at this time of year from national travel agencies, offering fabulous deals on our summer getaways. And, as we move on from Valentine’s Day and the ‘cold’ season (by which I mean coughs, sneezes and chills), we see advertisements from places like Boots telling us we should stock up on sun cream and sunglasses. These adverts are accompanied by visual images of sunny beaches and happy, smiling people with glowing skin.

And so, for now I will use my other body lotions (current favourite are an Aloe fresh by Vaseline, and a relaxing geranium and rosewood lotion). My coconut body butter can sit in its cute little tub at the back of my dressing table. It will stay there, probably gathering dust, until the weather improves and I feel suitably inspired to use it. Oh, and the title of my post was inspired by a song from my daughter’s favourite CD, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It’s a fun song, but my husband and I have heard it so many times lately that it haunts us in our sleep. But, that is another story… Have a fabulous weekend!

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*Stormy beach image courtesy of Blogs.ft; Tropical beach image courtesy of Wallpaper Design; Coconut body butter image courtesy of Raspberry Kiss.