Archive | July 2011

‘Just Friends’

I would like to think that you had been on the edge of your seats anticipating my next instalment but I guess that would be wishful thinking on my part. I would however like to apologise for the tardiness of this new blog; its writing was impeded by my eye problems. The so called experts are still no nearer to really knowing what it is. The latest guess is a viral infection. Anyhow it has caused me to be signed off sick for the first time in my life. As a result I have become quite well acquainted with daytime television. I have now had my fill of property ladder, a place in the sun and wife swap plus some reruns of great British comedy; My Family, Keeping up Appearances and One Foot in the Grave. It did also give me the opportunity to finally watch a DVD I got for Christmas called Priceless which I greatly enjoyed whilst eating a remaining Easter egg! All of this was watched through one eye though which was not greatly comfortable. My boyfriend attempted to make me an eye patch but unfortunately it wasn’t a great success and I resorted to just putting my hand over my eye. A couple of friends suggested I could make a fashion statement with an embellished eye patch and perhaps make my birthday BBQ a sexy pirate theme!

The Sunday before last saw my first Sunday morning without the News of the World. My kind boyfriend still made me a sausage sandwich in bed and as it happens my eye was so bad that I wouldn’t have been able to read it anyway. The best bit of the paper, ‘Fabulous’ magazine appears however to come with Saturdays ‘Sun’ so all is not lost. My theory is that they started providing magazines with newspapers so that men could read the sport in the paper uninterrupted! I am however fed up with the news being dominated by the News of the World phone hacking scandal; is there really nothing more important happening in the world? I regretted asking this rhetorical question this weekend though when the phone hacking became old news after the terrible atrocity inNorway, followed by the death of Amy Winehouse. It is so sad that she is the latest addition to the so called 27 club, which for those of you who don’t know is the result of a number of musicians dying at 27; Kurt Cobain being another. I titled my blog this week in honour of her as one of her songs was ‘Just Friends’.

http://www.muzu.tv/gb/amywinehouse/just-friends-music-video/254719/

It is also rather ironic that I left 27 behind this week and became 28. The day of the birthday BBQ finally arrived and thankfully the weather held out as our house would have been very cosy with nearly 30 people! We definitely lined Tesco’s pockets for the weekend! I was really touched that so many of my friends made the journey down and greatly enjoyed the celebration, despite my eye condition which was not helped by the BBQ smoke and also meant that I couldn’t wear eye make up. I made up for it though with some statement 4 inch glittery gold shoes!

I rolled back the years with some Bacardi Breezer’s too. Mum made me a wonderful cake with a shoe; very fitting. I enjoyed showing off my finished wardrobe with the new addition of pink fairy lights which my boyfriend kindly fitted that morning. One of my friends commented that my wardrobe was a shrine to clothes!

As the party died down and there were just a few of us hard core partiers left; my boyfriends friend started to tell us about his PHD in engineering ceramics. Us girls were looking a little confused, are ceramics not pottery and tiles? Apparently he says ceramics are used in kitchen knives, thinking we would understand this association. I then said is it like in hair straightner’s and suddenly we were all back in the room!

My boyfriend went away again this week for work. This doesn’t get any easier for me despite it not being the first time and only being a couple of days. What was worse was I was awakened from a deep sleep by a loud bang which sounded like a bullet out of a gun. Turns out it was in fact a balloon from the party popping! I did feel silly.

I was spoilt on my actual birthday with many wonderful presents. It is lovely to see that my friends and family know my tastes so well. Most cards were shoe, shopping, cocktail, VW Beetle or butterfly related! I share below a picture of one very apt card which sums me up.

My boyfriend left a huge bunch of flowers on my dressing table in the morning which was very romantic.

Anyways, I’ve bored you long enough, plus I need to check out some shoe sites to spend my birthday money on! Until next time…….

Time for Something Fishy

Jul10

This week I decided to finally give the fish pedicure a go and I am so pleased that I did. As I walked in to the beautifully purple and black decorated salon called Tootsies in Kent and went up to the desk, I thought about backing out but no I was here now, I was going to at least try it. The prices are £10 for 10 minutes, £15 for 20 minutes or £20 for 35 minutes. You are also given a loyalty card which once you collect six stamps, entitles you to 10 minutes free. In for a penny, in for a pound I thought so stuck myself down for 35 minutes. You are asked to fill in a questionnaire listing any health problems and signing to say you have no open cuts or fungal infections on your feet. You are then directed to a shower tray to rinse off your feet and are provided with a pair of sterile flip flops to wear. I climbed up on to the seat above the tank which has an inbuilt state of the art water filtration system, took a deep breath and placed my feet in. At first the sensation was extremely odd as the fish flocked around my feet but after about 5 minutes it became quite relaxing and felt much like having your feet in a vibrating foot spa. The Garra Rufa fish which are native to Turkey nibble off any hard or dead skin. They have no teeth so it doesn’t hurt; they just suck at the skin. I think after 35 minutes with my feet, which an ex referred too as reptile feet due to their hard skin, the fish must have been full up for about a week! My boyfriend even joked that when he walked past later they had a sign up saying closed as fish are full! As you take your feet out of the tank, the fish just drop off. The salon then gives you some moisturising collagen gel to finish off. My feet felt so refreshed and smooth and soft. I would definitely recommend the experience and go again myself. In the future they will also be providing conventional pedicures including painting toe nails which may be nice to do after the fish.

http://www.tootsiespedispa.com/

Whilst I was having the fish pedicure, I flicked through some magazines and spotted a gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choo heels in lime green; a snip at £695, lol. I rushed home to check our Euro Millions numbers, in the hope of going out and buying many pairs of Jimmy Choo’s for my newly smooth feet; but sadly of our 11 lines at work, we hadn’t won with any.

This week also saw my best friend who is getting married in 4 weeks and us 3 bridesmaids meeting up round at her house with the hairdresser, hoping to choose her style and ours. I think we finally found a winner for her but I think us bridesmaids are still deciding. What was very interesting was to watch the hairdresser curl my friends hair with GHD straightners, I have always wanted to be able to do this but never mastered it, perhaps because my straightners are Morphy Richards rather than GHD, but they look the same and would have cost nearly as much had it not been for the sale they were in. Perhaps I will ask nicely for GHD’s for my upcoming birthday.

In case any of you are wondering, Rufus seems to be much better so fingers crossed we have seen the last of the vets for a while.

The rest of my Saturday was spent making my niece’s 2^nd birthday cake as it’s a joint celebration for her christening, birthday and brother’s birthday tomorrow. I chose to do Hickory Dickory Dock. It’s the most adventurous cake I have attempted so far. I was quite pleased with the outcome although the kitchen was left looking like a snow storm had come down, with a dusting of icing sugar everywhere! Talking of which I better go and clean it up. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Kilts vs Hot Pants?

Jul3

The week started with a blow to fashionistas and chocoholics, ‘Jane Norman’ is in administration and ‘Thorntons’ is to close 180 shops. Now I know some of ‘Jane Normans’ stuff could leave a bit to be desired but I have always found their dresses second to none. Admittedly they could be quite pricey but always had very good reductions in their regular sales. Last chance to grab some sale bargains! Rather ironically it looks as though ‘Edinburgh Woollen Mill’ who I worked for quite some years ago may buy out ‘Jane Norman’ and its stock. It remains to be seen what this would do to the brand considering the large gap in target age range; with ‘Jane Norman’ being 15-25 and ‘Edinburgh Woollen Mill’ being 45-60 year olds. Perhaps they will meet somewhere in the middle at a target age of 35?!

(Photo courtesy of Google images July 2011)

It’s sad if ‘Jane Norman’ does disappear being all the years it has been going; I remember my Mum telling me that she used to shop there. She also shopped in the high end, iconic store of the 1960’s ‘Biba’ which has now had some what of a revival. Unfortunately it’s rather out of my price range and so I had to settle with a small purse which was still nearly £40! My Mum often tells the story of when she was in their Kensington store and they had communal changing rooms. She was trying something on and when she looked round, someone was trying on her dress that she had come in wearing!

Now for all you like minded shoe lovers, I have discovered a fantastic site thanks to it being mentioned in ‘Look’ magazine, ‘Shoeaholics’! They sell hot designer shoes at seriously cut prices. I feel my bank account getting a hammering again! Also in the current ‘Look’ magazine; Olivia Palermo, the US socialite is shown with her infamous ‘Sondra Roberts’ hot pink clutch, priced at $99. I went in to a boutique called ‘Torza’ and there was an almost identical clutch at a fraction of the price. They also had it in champagne colour which is what I ended up buying as I thought it would be more versatile.

Saturday night was an opportunity for a girl’s night out to celebrate my friend’s birthday and an occasion also for my new playsuit to be worn. My present to her was a personalised compact mirror as I believe no girl should be without a good compact; or two in cases where I have forgotten I had bought one for someone and gone and bought another!

Whilst I was waiting at the bar to be served it struck me that perhaps if I complimented the barman on his tie, I might get served quicker. It was truly quite unusual though with a piano keyboard design. A guy also at the bar waiting then turned to me to request some fashion advice. When you wear a long sleeved shirt he asked, where was it appropriate to roll the sleeves too? I advised just below the elbow and another girl agreed. He then asked the barman. I said what would a man know, even though he has a good tie, a girl would have chosen it for him as in my experience most men unless gay have a poor sense of style. The barman was forced to admit that he hadn’t in fact picked the tie out for himself. It takes me back to my boyfriend and I in ‘Fenwicks’ where each shirt he chose I looked at in disdain and ended up choosing two for him, much to the shop assistants amusement! My final decision on the subject of shirt sleeves is that they shouldn’t be rolled up so far that it looks like the skin is being pinched.

Some cosmopolitans later I made my way home. The tube was packed out and it got me thinking about my week of commuting. The hot weather inevitably makes the people who avoid deodorant stand out. You know who you are! It’s not pleasant when you are all packed on a train like sardines!

I will leave you with some of the funny things I have heard people say this week.

‘What business does a fly have on a train?’

‘Why do they make the railways so wonky?’ (Said as the train was rocking about)

‘Why don’t they have the US Open in America?’

Until next time, happy shopping!