2012: No resolutions, just things to do.

1. Drink less alcohol. When I say "just the one drink", actually mean it.
2. Finish designing my next tattoo.
3. Get next tattoo done.
4. Meet The Wanted again. Become friends on Facebook.
5. Gym it like a crazy mofo. Get the body of an Aussiebum model.
6. Alternatively, sleep with an Aussiebum model.
7. Go on a beach holiday.
8. Get promoted at least once.
9. Go to and survive a Bikram class with the Cutler.
10. Win a competition. Any competition.
11. Try going to Ikea and not buying anything.
12. Cut down on drunken Boris Bike usage.
13. Visit all the places in London I've been promising myself to visit.
14. Have a weekend city break somewhere.
15. Catch up with everyone I've been meaning to catch up with.
16. Give up crisps.
17. When realisation hits that I can't give up crisps, try cutting down instead.
18. See more shows/plays/musicals.
19. Watch every episode of Buffy from the beginning. Again.
20. Make a to-do list for 2013.

That is all.

This is me.

Materialistic. Narcissistic. Tea obsessive. Over-thinker. Contradictory. Uncomplimentary. Indecisive. Persevering. Stubborn. Fickle. Carer. Easily distracted. Determined. Random. Good-willed. Modest. Persuadable. Hopeful. Somewhat sceptical. Explorer. Fighter. Dreamer. Laugher. Competitive. Gay. Ambitious. Guarded. Arachnophobic. Considerate. Selfless. Laid-back. Sensitive. Complicated. Generally confused. Reckless.

Lost.

That is all.

Now that's distracting.

dis-trac-tion. Noun: 1. A thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else. 2. Something that serves as a diversion or entertainment. 3. Extreme mental or emotional disturbance; obsession.

There are so many distractions in the world. TV. Movies. Video games. Internet. Facebook. People. All these things distract us from our daily routines and the jobs we should be doing. How many times have you spent hours watching a truly awful television programme simply because it is saving you from doing housework? Or how often have you spent an entire evening chatting utter nonsense with people because its better to have meaningless conversations rather than spend the evening by yourself? Are movies and TV used as a kind of escapism to get away from the real world for a while or watch how life could work out differently. Do you ever find yourself still up at 1am because you've got addicted to a video game or got carried away on Facebook?

One of my biggest traits it that I'm easily distracted. Like, really easily distracted. At work I'm constantly finding myself in the middle of 5 or 6 jobs at the same time because I'll get distracted during one job and then move onto something else, I'll leave dinner in the oven for an hour and a half because I've been caught up playing a video game, and people are always moaning at me for not hearing from me because I'll start replying to a text message but then something else will get my attention and it will be a couple of days before I remember I've not replied. So why am I, like so many other people, distracted so easily?

Personally I think it's because we live for distractions. Rather than them being annoying nuisances stopping us doing what we need to do, distractions are the things we desire, the things we need to get through life, and keep us happy. Take them all out of the equation and what are we left with? Just over a year ago I came out of a long term relationship and had a kind of 6 week rebound thing. I threw myself wholeheartedly into it despite the fact that (unknowingly at the time) the person was completely unsuitable and it would never have worked out in the long run. I was simply using it as a distraction from the bigger picture, like some kind of automatic defence mechanism, it saved me from having to deal with the really unpleasant stuff and instead focus on any little bit of happy stuff I thought I could get. And with the online world growing ever stronger I see it more and more as time goes by: people chatting to random people online, getting caught up in the excitement of someone new until that excitement starts to fade slightly and then it's onto someone else.

We're all looking for that next new thing, something to keep our minds busy and alive, whether it's a new game, movie, or new person in our lives, but what is it really we are distracting ourselves from? What is it we are stopping ourselves seeing? If we strip back all the distractions until we are left with just ourselves, perhaps we don't like what we are left with?

That is all.

Damn this week to hades!

If this week was a physical being I would punch it in the face. Hard. And then when it was rolling around on the floor I'd kick it in the stomach. Even harder. Needless to say I am completely over this week in a BIG MASSIVE way.

Work seems to be ridiculously busy at the moment, with an ever-increasing to-do list, various partners visiting from different countries, plus I've not been sleeping brilliantly and so constantly tired, and now I think I'm coming down with something so I'll be ill just in time for the weekend. Just bloody marvelous. Rah. And every person in London seems to have received a memo asking them to annoy me, anger me, or generally just get in my way. People can't even seem to be able to walk down the street without swerving into me, stopping suddenly in front me, or walking at the speed of a fat kid with no legs when there's no way of over-taking. GET OUT OF MY FREAKING WAY! I think I need to escape and run away to, ummm, Wales perhaps? A nice relaxing getaway in a little Welsh village, yeah that sounds good. No London-ness, no Topshops, no visiting partners, just countryside, fresh air, possibly a few sheep floating (or at least grazing) around, and peace and quiet. Lovely.

That is all.

I'm changing my name to Peter Pan, and none of you sonsabitches can stop me.

I think I'm getting old. I understand that this statement is in fact a ridiculous thing to say, and I'm under no illusion that as a human I do actually age gradually, despite convincing myself I stopped aging at 23, but I think I'm starting to think like, well, an old person. And this just won't do.

My problem I feel is the youth of today. And simply that sentence alone indicates that I myself am no longer a youth. When did this happen? What is the exact cut-off of being a youth and becoming a fully fledged grown-up-type? Well I don't remember it happening, and I'm pretty certain that I never had any sort of email or memo informing me of the switch over. I guess it went into my junk email box or something. So anyway, these youths that I mention, just what are they thinking?? They have the most ridiculous ideas and attitudes, are ridiculously impatient as if once they reach their 20's they only have a couple of years to live, and they buy music from The Saturdays (surely it has to be the youths buying it? Apart from some of the Gays maybe...). Oh, and don't even get me started on Bieber.

Now, never one to tar everyone with the same brush, it's only a few that are angering me, and as someone who refuses to grow up and act my age I actually like a lot of the 'young people' of the world today generally. One example of an absolute moron young person was on an online forum, where he was complaining that on a first date he didn't have sex or even a kiss. And the reason this was so bad? Because he hasn't got time to wait for days or weeks or months to see if it will go anywhere, if something doesn't happen on day 1, then he may as well move on to the next person. Now, his date had apparently messaged after to say it had been a lovely time and they should do it again, AND the moron guy had said he really liked his date, but due to the lack of sex/kissing/general groping he says he doesn't think he wants to see them again. ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR REAL?

You also have the people that think they should have everything they want without having to put in any work for it. Uni graduates are a prime example. Just because you've got a degree under your belt, you shouldn't expect to leave uni and become CEO of a global enterprise the next week. You've got to put the hours in, get some experience, actually learn a thing or two about the World first. And the unemployed youths who haven't got a job because they want to start at the top and anything else is beneath them. Everyone has to start somewhere, so suck it up and just get on with it. When I first got knocked back for Topshop HQ (after the most appalling phone interview I have EVER done) do you know what I did? I decided to go back and apply for a store position, get some experience of the brand and the business for 8 months and then reapplied. Now I work on the International merchandising team for Topshop HQ and I'm doing very well indeed thank you very much. I do want to be much higher eventually (obviously), but I'm happy to take it each step of the ladder at a time, knowing that I'm gaining valuable experience and knowledge along the way, which will only make me better in the roles ahead.

So anyway, rant over. I don't want to moan too much about young people, because I still want to be one of them, and I'll carry on doing my Peter Pan attempt at not growing up and pretend to be 23 for as long as I can get away with it. I just wish more younguns would chill out and realise that good things come to those that chill their beans and wait a little.

That is all.

Oh, and as she has mentioned that she does read my blog sometimes I want to give a little SHOUT out to the wonderful Vikki Cutler, who has currently abandoned us for 6-7 weeks for some (very exciting murder related) jury service! We miss you Vikki!! I don't, however miss the early morning gym sessions that I'm avoiding while you're on jury service.... :)

It's Britney, bitch. And the X-Factor, bitch, too.

OK, so just a couple of things I need to talk about. First of all? The freaking fantastic Femme Fatale concert by Britney!!! Absolutely amazing! The UK press are giving her a massive load of criticism at the moment, but no one can say she's 'lost it' after putting on a show like that!! The staging and lighting was incredible, the songs were a good balance of old classics given a new twist with the more recent singles and album tracks, she looked fantastic despite all the tabloids going on about this new 'fat' Britney, and best of all she sang live!! Well, it was a 50/50 split between live and miming, but when she sang live she showed that she does actually have more talent than people are willing to believe! She did get the words wrong at one point during I Wanna Go, oops, but at least it showed that it was live! I sang my little heart out, along with a full, yes full, O2 Arena (not quite sure what the papers were going on about her not selling half the tickets...) and had an all round amazing time! It's Britney, bitch!! Oh, and Joe Jonas, one of her support acts, was actually a really good singer, much better than I'd previously given him credit for. And hot too. With good, strong arms. *daydreams about Joe Jonas*



Check us out on TV!!

Moving on, the next night was X-Factor night, where me, my sister and Richie all went along to watch the filming of the Saturday live show. At 10.45am. Yup, that's right, we we're queuing outside Fountain Studios for 8 or so hours before the show started. Ouch. And the people at the front of the queue (although only 20 people ahead of us) had been there since 6.30am. The crazy bastards. We did have a brilliant time though, it's so much better watching it in the studio than on TV!! Don't know how I'll cope watching it on TV from now on... And we were so close to all the judges, plus Dermot stood right next to us for one of the links he did (we were on TV!! See the picture!!), Alexandra Burke standing in for Kelly, Sinitta was there (wow...) plus one of the hot ones from Nu Vibe, the Joe guy that never made it through judges houses (you know, the one that looked like he was having a seizure every time he performed) and one of The Wanted (they really need to stop following me around...). The performances were all amazing and I had a great time despite my hands hurting from the clapping and sore throat from cheering!! Oh, and the studio is deceptively big on TV, its soooo much smaller than I thought!! Totally worth queuing for all those hours though, would do it again anytime!

That is all.

Favourite songs of the moment:
Bruno Mars - Runaway Baby
Florence + The Machine - Shake It Out

Always look on the bright side of life. De do, de do de do de do...

I hate the news. Like, really hate the news. Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand that nothing sells more papers than a bit of doom and gloom, but why can't they just for once celebrate something that's been good in the World? Yes, the World is a terrible place, there are a lot of bad people, bad things happening (usually to good people), and a lot of upset and misery. The World is, however, also an amazing place, with brilliant people, doing amazing things, and generally just getting on with things and celebrating this little thing called life.

I had a bit of an argument, no, more of a debate I guess, with my Dad yesterday, about the balance between positivity and negativity. In his, um, maturing years he's becoming a lot more negative about, well everything really. It's almost like a party trick, within 15 seconds he can turn around the most positive situation or conversation into a negative one, and as someone who generally has very positive outlook on life, I find it very frustrating. Dad likes to call it the Victor Meldrew syndrome, and blames the media and television for conditioning him in this way, and to be honest he's probably right.

Take Eastenders for example, when was last time anything happy happened in the show? Story after story of depression, scandal, misery and anxiety. Once upon a time a used to watch the show almost religiously, but I could only take so much and had to stop before I ripped off my own arm and beat myself to death with it. I mean even weddings, the "happiest day of your life" will have the signature Eastenders style misery attached and end in some sort of tragedy, no wonder the whole of Britain is depressed. Maybe the show needs a bit of Glee treatment, because as much as I know a lot people might hate it, it certainly couldn't be called depressing! Although even I'm not sure I could take the cast members of Eastenders performing a show tune every episode...

So I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Life's too short. Go and be happy, ignore the news, and start looking at some of the amazing things that are all around you.

That is all.

Actually, that's not all. THERE'S ONLY 5 DAYS UNTIL I'M OFF TO BRITNEY SPEARS' FEMME FATALE TOUR!!

Now, that really is all.

My Boris is out of control!!

There is a little shopping monster that lives inside me. I reckon his name is probably Boris or something similar, it feels like it should be a Boris, or maybe a Bert? No, it's definitely Boris. Anyway, Boris has an appetite, a BIG appetite, and when it comes to shopping once he's started he doesn't know how to stop until he's completely full up on shiny, new, exciting things. Boris forced me into Topman today after work, I did try resisting but when Boris wants something, he usually gets it. Now I don't have a lot of money currently, despite the fact that payday was less than a week ago (let's just say any sort of budgeting has gone out of the window this month with the amount of birthday's, trips home, planned nights out etc I have this month...), but within minutes of entering the store I was holding onto 3 pairs of jeans, a cardigan, and 3 t-shirts. Ha.

I shall be parading these around
the office tomorrow...

Unfortunately for Boris I won this war, and only came away with one pair of lovely green stretch skinny jeans (see picture to the left!). However, had I the required funds available in my account I would now also have a matching purple pair, and a matching yellow pair. Do I need 3 pairs of the same jeans in different colours? Well yes actually, especially as I already have them in mustard, burgundy, and blue. It's essential to have a variety of colours, ready for any occasion!! And I feel that Boris will eventually get his way, regardless of the level of poorness. Where there's a will, there's a way. And there is a very big will...

Oh, and just to avoid any confusion, Boris is purely fictional. I am the shopping monster. I need to be controlled, not Boris. Maybe I need to find myself a little voice of reason, perhaps called Susan, that could live inside me telling me not to shop. Maybe not, life is too short, why not spend it shopping? Boris rules.

That is all.

Stratford + Shopping = Stressed



Crazed Primark Shoppers!



So, I decided to pop to the new Westfield centre in Stratford today with Vikki from work, to check it all out and a have a butchers at the sparkly new Topshop. Oh. My. Word. Firstly you need to bear in mind that this new super-duper shopping centre only opened on Tuesday, so this is the first Saturday it has been open. I think every single person living in London must have been there. With every member of their family. Each with 2 prams. At one point, while trying to fight our way past Primark, we got stuck in a huge mass of people and it took us about 15minutes to get past that one shop. Insane. The place is pretty spectacular, everything is very pretty, and the shops are amazing, but I'd probably recommend waiting a good couple of weeks before visiting! And I think at Christmas I will be avoiding it altogether!! I've never been so stressed and exhausted after window shopping!!



Completely open-fronted, the store was simply incredible.

Topshop, however, was AMAZING. It just looked so pretty!! Working on the Topshop International team I didn't really have much to do with the Stratford store (actually, I had nothing to do with it), but I still felt excited and proud to see it in all it's glory! And I may be biased but compared to the other high street brands it just looked in a league of its own, everyone else just looked second rate next to it. If  only my stores in the Middle East and the Mediterranean looked as amazing as this! (Ha.)

Considering we were only in the centre for an hour and half, and did no shopping, I now have a huge headache and am totally exhausted!! And the best thing to do when you're feeling like that? GORGE YOURSELF ON JUNK FOOD!!

YUM!!!

Don't judge me. I've had a tough day...



That is all.

Fate: Only Smarties® have the answer.



One Day

I've just finished reading One Day by David Nicholls. In an attempt to get it finished before tomorrow's cinema trip to see the film version with some of the work lovelies, I've been reading it obsessively over the last week or so. I have to say it was an absolutely amazing book, I think if I had to choose just one word to describe it I'd have to say captivating. Aside from that it's funny, clever, and moving, and I don't think I've ever warmed so much to any fictional characters before (well, since the days of Harry Potter anyway...). This bizarre attachment to these fictional beings did mean however, that at a particular 'event' towards the end (and I'll try not to spoil the story too much) I was so stunned that I re-read that particular page about 5 times to make sure it had actually happened, and then practically blubbed my way through the last few chapters! I'm not sure I'll be able to cope with the film now!! (Although I'm sure Anne Hathaway's 'realistic' Northern accent will keep me entertained throughout.)

So anyway, this book, with it's 'event' and whatnot, has really got me thinking again about one of my good old favourite topics: Fate. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that I have some fanatical obsession with Fate, the 'everything happening for a reason', the 'signs' that give us subtle hints as to what we desire and how we can get it, and how I believe that life is (or at least should be) like the film Serendipity, my second favourite film of all time. Now first of all don't get me wrong, I don't think that everything is mapped out ready for us, that our 'destiny' is awaiting around the next few corners, simply sit around and wait for it to happen. No, life HAS to happen, we have to try to find the things that make us happy, the things we want, and make mistakes along the way, whether they turn out to be regretful mishaps, or unexpected pleasant surprises. We will fail at certain things, be knocked down, and get hurt, but it is how these little misadventures make us feel, how we react, and how we recover from them that start to indicate just what it is that we are looking for, and determine whether we actually find that desired 'thing'. As they say - "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me (for not listening to Fate, you silly wench)". OK, so maybe not that last bit, but you get the idea.

But what if you don't see these signs? And what if these signs are all directing you to the one thing you don't realise you want? It is said that you can live you whole life without realising you had everything you could ever want right in front of you, but just never realised. Also, what if you miss your chance? Or realise what you're looking for, only it's now too late to do anything about it? What if you had everything you ever wanted, or ever needed, but threw it away because you thought the signs were telling you something different? Does Fate have a replay button??

So clearly I'm in over-thinking mode. And I obviously don't have any kind of solution to anything I've just rambled on about. It's not like Fate is some kind of science that can be tested or measured. So I'm afraid I don't have any answers. But then I knew this already because only Smarties® have the answer. Everyone knows this. Hmm, I want Smarties® now...

That is all.

Time to get a little deeper?

I’ve been thinking recently about trying to make my blogs a little bit more meaningful, really stirring up something interesting, perhaps even getting deep? You know, the really nitty-gritty, makes-you-think, life-changing, revolutionary kind of thing.

So then, what to talk about? Politics? No. War? Nah. The current economic situation? Yawn. The truth is I’d rather talk about how Morrison’s own buy chicken noodles are far less chicken-y than Sainsbury’s own buy chicken noodles, or mention that I saw Matt Smith from the current Doctor Who series in a shop in Camden, or discuss whether David Guetta really is taking over the world one ‘song featuring famous singer’ at a time. The really hard-hitting stuff.

I guess I could go a little deeper than all that and discuss the morals and ethical issues regarding whether killing a spider with hairspray and a shoe is the right thing to do or not. And just while we’re on the subject of that, I don’t condone violence, nor the mindless killing of animals, but that spider was running at me at speed with menace in it’s eyes. Purely self-defence I tell you.

I think my point overall is that why do I need to talk about all the deep, gloomy, depressing nonsense that just so happens to be all over the newspapers, and on the news channels? Do I care about what’s going on in the world? Of course I do, but it’s just that it’s all a little, what’s the word? Bleak? Life is too short to be depressed all the time. Yes, the world has a lot of awful things going on, and it always will do, world peace just does not exist. Some will say I’m shallow, unintelligent, or ignorant, but the truth is I just want have fun, some happiness, and as much excitement as I can fit into my 60 years left on this planet (optimistic perhaps? Let’s say 50 years and see how we go…). I go out and get drunk a lot, I do random things, most of what comes out of my mouth is utter nonsense, seeing celebrities in the street excites me, I love trashy television, and I love to go shopping and spend money I haven’t got on things that I don’t really need. But do you know what? I’m having an absolute blast, and I think I’ll keep using this blog to document all the silly things I get up to.

That is all.

Songs of the moment:
Katy Perry - This Friday Night (TGIF)
The Saturdays - All Fired Up
Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger ft. Christina Aguilera

 Recent Celeb spots:
Gok Wan (again) - Topman, Westfield Shopping Centre
Matt Smith - Shop in Camden Town
Jamelia - Topshop HQ
Nick Grimshaw - Outside Fitness First, Oxford Circus

I'm only bloody going to see Britney!!

OK, so I've not blogged in a long time. A very long time. And the funny thing is that a lot of stuff that would probably be blog-worthy has happened during my absent months, but I've just been too lazy, or too preoccupied to actually update it. And while I was hoping my next blog would be some kind of revolutionary, thought provoking, epically interesting piece of writing, the truth is it isn't any of those. Sorry. The fact is I just need to announce that I'VE GOT BRITNEY TICKETS FOR HER FEMME FATALE TOUR!!

That is all.

(The next blog will be interesting. Honest.)

Long time no see...

Well, I've really not keep up with this blogging nonsense have I? I'd like to say it's because I'm far too busy and important and haven't had the time. In reality, I've just been a bit lazy with it. And I've not had much to say of any interest, although that's pretty much like all the previous posts I guess....

This week has been my week off work, it's rained every day but that hasn't stopped me from my plan of doing as many free things as possible. I've been to see the Harry Potter (on my cineworld card so no extra cost), visited Primrose Hill finally, been to the filming of Wall Of Fame on Sky1 (free tickets, not really worth it though...), and spent a muchly fun, and educational 3 hours in the Science Museum (did you know that a hurricane has the same amount of energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs? I didn't either until today...). Tomorrow I'm off the zoo (not technically free, but luckily the Father is paying for that. And I meant my Dad, not the Father in some religious way...). Plus I've had a lovely lay in every morning so all in all it's been a great week. I also discovered a lot of rubbish stuff happened at work which I was more than happy to avoid!! I'm sure it'll all be waiting for me when I go back in on Monday though...

I was thinking I need to start writing about more meaningful stuff in this blog? But what? Hmmm. Maybe my next post will be something really thought provoking. One can only hope. Let's not get any hopes up though.

The slow road to recovery...

From the title you may think that I've been ill or something, and waiting to get better. Ha. All self inflicted unfortunately so no sympathy expected in the slightest. It was however one of the worse hangovers I have ever experienced. I think I may have actually died inside, I could barely move, it hurt anytime anything touched me as I was so tender, my head hurt when I move it, my head hurt if I coughed or sneezed, my head hurt if I had to think too much. I just hurt. A lot. Best bit of all this? The night out was on a Wednesday and I had to face work the next day.... BOOOOOO!!
It was a really, really good night though, very random, but good. I wasn't even planning on staying out long, just a drink and a catch up, I was really tired, hadn't had dinner and was aiming for about 6.30 to leave. I got home at 3am. Several shots of banana Sambuca, being chased down the street by a drag queen, dancing like a fool, arguing with Polish people, convincing people I was originally from Romania (and people actually believing it), breaking up gay fights, starting up a union although I'm not sure why and no one else wanted to join anyway so was very shot lived, and generally talking nonsense to anyone who would listen. In fact one of the reasons I stayed out so late was because people were humouring me so I just carried on going.
So anyway, I got home from work yesterday, went to bed at about 7pm and woke up just now at about 10.30am and feeling much better after 15 hours sleep. Note to self: stop drinking so much; stop drinking on work nights; sleep through hangovers.

Oh, and I've not been to the gym in 2 weeks. I may be on a one way train to Fatland....

Songs of the moment:
Vato Gonzalez - Badman Riddim (Jump)
Calvin Harris - Bounce ft. Kelis
Alex Gaudino - What A Feeling ft. Kelly Rowland

Honorary Swede

I had something that I was going to blog about. However, as exciting as it must have been, I can't remember what it was. Bugger. In all fairness I've not been up to a great deal, due to a) being poor until payday (and even then still being poor. Tragic, I know), b) I've been so crazy at work I've been too tired to do anything, and c) general laziness. I did however make it out to G-A-Y Bar for the Eurovision final on Saturday night!! I'm so completely sucked into this year it's actually a little bit scary. Bless me. It was actually a brilliant night, great atmosphere, some hilarious moments, far too much drink, and of course of the Eurovision to watch. I was kinda supporting the UK (I feel that Blue did us proud, and ranked higher than we have for a long while!!), but I was more about Sweden. The combination of a rather catchy, and a little cheesy pop smash, the hotness that is Eric Saade, and a performance involving some rather cool dancing and smashing big sheets of glass, had me won over and registering for a Swedish Passport. Or at least a Swedish visa for some Saade stalking. I just want to be Swedish. And just to get things clear: Sweden was my favourite song before I saw my lovely Eric and his fancy dancing. So there. Anyhow, they were robbed and came 3rd, the favourite, France, loitered around the bottom somewhere before being forgotten about completely. Ha. I seemed to be unintentionally supporting Finland too, as I had a huge Finnish flag wrapped around me. Not sure where that came from... Oh, and Jedward came higher than the UK. And finished somewhere like 8th. Maybe Europe loves them and they'll disappear onto mainland Europe never to return?! One can only hope...

In other news, after my obsession with skinny jeans and HAVING to get the burgundy pair as well as the mustard ones (see post below), I 'accidentally' bought the blue ones today! Ooops. Well, I do have a very important and long meeting tomorrow and I can;t just turn up in anything now, can I? Hurrah for impulse buying!!

Lastly, I'm going to be attempting Mel B again tomorrow at the gym, the first time since the 'Mel B incident' a few months back. Better get the wheelchair ready...

Songs of the moment:
David Guetta ft. Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj - Where Them Girls At
Britney Spears ft. Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha - Till The World Ends (Femme Fatale Remix)

Also, is anyone else a little disappointed with the new Gaga so far?? It's just not living up to Bad Romance, Telephone, etc. And whats with all this releasing a new single every other week? Come on Gaga, don't make me lose faith in you!!

I'm back. And I'm better than ever.

OK, so that's a little bit of a lie. But I am back after a ridiculously long break from updating this. Oops. Truth is I've been a busy little bee, and when I've not been busy being a busy bee I've been recovering from my busy busy bee busy-ness. With me? I thought so.

So just what have I been up to? Well, in a brief but chronological order: Going out for '1 or 2' drinks on a weeknight and ending up hammered and crawling in at 3am when I had work the next day; Drinking on bar boats; going to the Million Pound Drop Live but not actually getting in; moving more of my stuff from my Dad's house to my new London home; going to Ikea and buying far too much stuff (again) for my new room; decroating said room with all the new stuff; going to Thorpe Park one day, then Alton Towers the day after, having one day in the park, an evening in the waterpark, staying over in the hotel, eating so much in the all-you-can-eat buffet that I thought i'd never walk again, having a second day in the park and getting home extremely exhausted after a 3-day theme park epic; had a hair cut; The Royal Wedding (on TV as didnt make it in time for Hyde Park); getting obsessed with uber-fit Chris Hemsworth in the new Thor movie; catching up with the Scream Trilogy ready to watch Scre4m; struggling going back to work after an 11 day break; turning 27 23 and getting lots of lovely presents; going to the Ice Bar for a birthday drink (brrrr...); going to an amazing restaurant Dego for a birthday meal; having a crazy messy birthday night out in Soho for my birthday involving a great catch up with peeps I'd not seen in a while and faaaaaar too much wine - writing off the entire weekend while I recovered.

I think that more-or-less sums up the last 3 weeks. Yup. Anything else isn't important. If it was i would have remembered it. Word.

Celeb Spots:
Gok Wan in The Yard - Soho (there was also an ITN news guy there too but I don't know his name and I'm not enitrely sure he comes under the 'celebrity' umbrella, bless him).

Songs of the Moment:
Britney Spears - Till The World End (Femme Fatale Remix ft. Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha)
David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida - Where Them Girls At
Lady Gaga - Judas

Witness my creativity!

Well here it is! 6 weeks ago I started cutting up old comics to begin my creative project of the comic chair. Well, actually I haven't started on the chair, oops, but I did start with the table (Which I thought would be easier than going straight to the chair with all its complicated bits). Ok, so it does still need about another 50 coats of the special varnish stuff to make it secure (a.k.a Adam spilling tea/ketchup/hair stuff proof) but I'm happy with the result and think it's looking rather good!

Who knew I could be so creative!? I do amaze myself sometimes. I think I'll have a break before starting on the chair, after all I do have all that varnishing still to do...

I haven't yet given an update on the comedy club we went to on Saturday for La Pats' birthday, have I? Well it was a really good night! I always have a little panic when I go to stuff like that, not because I think the comedian might pick me out of the crowd to make fun of or anything like that, but what if I don't find them funny? What if I have to fake laugh along with everyone else for 3 hours?? I just can't handle that kind of pressure. Well luckily this wasn't an issue, as Lee Hurst, Will Smith (a white posh man, not that will Smith, obs), and Rob Deering had me in stitches the whole night! Also, it was held downstairs on a boat, which did mean I kept thinking I had drunk too much because my head was going a bit dizzy, when actually it was just because the boat was rocking! A good night all in all, and I think La Pats had a good time.

Sunday was also a lovely day as the sun was shining beautifully and me and Richie popped to Regents Park for a few hours for a spot of sunbathing.

Unfortunately there wasn't much in the way of topless muscly guys to stare at, but Britney's album playing, some nibbles, and the first stages of turning my pasty white skin brown kept me entertained. Love it.

Songs of the moment:
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
Tiesto vs. Diplo feat. Busta Rhymes - C'Mon (Catch 'Em By Surprise)
Rhianna feat. Britney Spears - S&M Remix (hell yeah!!)

Weekend? Where the hell have you been??

Seriously, has this been the longest week ever? Ever ever? I feel like I was about 3 years younger when the week first started. I can't even remember anything that happened on Monday, it seems so long ago. And for a week that seemed to last so long you would think that something interesting might have happened along the way wouldn't you? Well it didn't. Sigh. Well anyway, the weekend is finally here, and the weather is just a.m.a.z.i.n.g right now so it's not all bad.

I've just had a fight with some Ikea bedside drawers, and I think that they might have just won this time. It didn't help that there doesn't appear to be one single screwdriver in the house and so I had to use a knife as a substitute. Firstly, this is actually a bit dangerous, especially in the hands of someone that has accidents at any available chance. Secondly, there's a reason why people use screwdrivers instead of knives: knives don't actually help in the slightest. I did mange to get it together eventually, although my fingers are now bleeding (and that's not a exaggeration, I've actually plasters on them and everything), and I feel like I've done a major workout session. I still love you Ikea, but you really pushed your luck tonight...

Ooh a quick note about my Monday gym session: Body Pump. It's like Mel B only using big weight the whole way through. Ha. Hilarious, no? It was actually OK, and despite the added weights it was a lot better than Mel B. Either my body can handle anything after that dreaded Mel B session, or ANYTHING else is bearable in comparison. Either way it was a good workout, and I only felt like collapsing about 3 times along the way. I'm, also enjoying Spin quite a lot, I've never experienced a workout like it! Thursday I was doing speed push-ups while cycling standing up. I felt amazing afterwards however, its definitely doing something!!

Tomorrow I'm off to a comedy club thingy for La Pats birthday, looking forward to it, although I've never heard of any of the people who will be performing. I shall no doubt update after with opinions on how funny (or not) they were.

p.s. I've had two three Yogs this week. I feel so naughty. They're low in fat and calories and what not, plus the fruit toppings must be good for me, right?

Celebrity spot:
That woman who played Ros in Spooks, Hermione Norris. Think she died in the last series? Well she's alive in real life. Hurrah! Saw her near The Yard in Soho.

Songs of the moment:
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
Tiesto vs. Diplo feat. Busta Rhymes - C'Mon (Catch 'Em By Surprise)
Chris Brown - Yeah 3X

Summer's here, Britney's back, and I'm spinning crazy.

Summer is HERE!!! Ok, so maybe not fully yet, but Friday was just a lovely, LOVELY day, and it felt like the first true summery day. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the breeze was warm, and it was Yog® day in the office!

YUM YUM!!

So surely that makes it official? It's summer now? Plus the stupid clocks have gone forward, stealing a whole precious hour of my sleep! This year, however, I totally beat the system and stayed in bed 4, yes 4, extra hours on Sunday to make up for it. Take that Space & Time. Ha.

Britney's new album Femme Fatale was released today!! Hurrah! I literally downloaded it when I woke up this morning. Like actually when I woke up. I was in bed a 7.10am and popped onto iTunes on my iPhone and pur-chased it. And I've already listened to it 3 times today. I've got a feeling it's likely to be on repeat for at least the next 5 weeks. At least. I don't want to rush into things and say it's my favourite Britney album ever, but it's definitely on it's way up there. My highlights? I Wanna Go is incredibly catchy and makes me feel all happy, Gasoline and Selfish have some great lines and make me want to dance so much, and (Drop Dead) Beautiful has an infectious beat and a dirty feel to it. In fact, if I went to a club and they played the whole album you wouldn't be able to get me off the dance floor! Love. It. Muchly.

Just quickly, went for a night-time stroll at the weekend down to the Thames on Friday, wandered along the south bank and took in some of the city at night, and Tower Bridge looked particularly cool I thought:

I've started the week well with a gym session tonight. And if Zumba wasn't enough I've now started spinning. For those who don't know (and to be honest when I first heard about it I thought it was actually about spinning around...) it's an exercise class all on exercise bikes. Who knew you could do so many exercises on a bike?? Push-ups while cycling standing up? Working out the abs? Along with the regular cycling, fast cycling, and super-fast cycling. It felt quite good actually, I think I got a good work-out out of it, and unlike the Mel B class I could manage stairs after, so big bonus....

Songs of the Moment:

EVERYTHING of Britney Spear's Femme Fatale album!!

Celebrity Stalker.

I've realised I have an obsession. Well, many in fact, however the one I'm referring to o this occasion is about seeing celebrities out and about in their natural environment. I mean, yes, I've been to concerts to see Britters, Gaga, etc, so I have seen the odd superstar from time to time, but I actually paid to see them, and I expected them to be there, I'd have been a little miffed if I paid a silly amount of money to go and listen to a CD playing (OK, so Britney did mime to the majority of her songs but she was at least there and jiggled about a bit). No, what I mean is seeing celebs out and about, and when I least expect to see them. It makes it more special, I mean, who realised that these famous types actually lead 'normal' lives, did normal stuff, and mingled with us common folk? I saw Jeremy Sheffield in my gym today doing sit-ups, and while he's not exactly A-List I still got the buzz of a celebrity spot that I always get, and immediately updated my facebook to let the world know of my latest spot. The person doesn't even need to be that famous for me to get excited. Take Jeremy for example (I feel after sharing a gym we should be on first name terms), he's not really done any acting recently that I'm aware of, but he had his moment, and he used to be on TV and in movies and everything. (I've just looked him up on IMDB and apparently he was in Streetdance 3D last year. Go him.). Sarah Beeny, Stephen Fry, Russell Tovey, that guy who does Celebrity Juice on ITV2, and Simon Cowell are just some of my most recent sitings, and every time it's more exciting than the last. I do get worried that I may be getting too excited about seeing famous types, and where it could end. What if start following them? Become a full-time celeb stalker?? I can see it happening. You'll be seeing my mug-shot in Heat magazine after being arrested for harassing some z-list Big Brother contestant...

In other news of my life, I think I may have played a part in killing a duck with a pedalo in Regents Park on Saturday. Oops. Not deliberately or anything, I'm not some crazy weirdo who's going round the lake trying to wipe out ducks one by one. It just happen to dive under the water as we were peddling behind it. And then never resurfaced. It may have hit the bottom of our pedalo, and got churned up in the rudders, either way I don't think it was a particularly happy ending. R.I.P. my little ducky friend.... On the positive side though, I realised that Regent's Park and it's lovely duck filled lake is only like a 10 minute walk from my house so in the spring/summer it'll be easy to get to for killing more ducks relaxing days chilling and picnics etc.

Songs of the moment:
Britney Spears: Till The World Ends
The Swedish entry for Eurovision
David Guetta ft. Rhianna: Who's That Chick
(I reeeeeally need some new songs of the moment....)

Already slipping??

Well. I was going to post last week after my trip to Birmingham. I didn't. I was going to post after going out Saturday night. I didn't. Although that time the hangover got the better of me. I was going to post after the Lion King musical on Tuesday. I didn't then either. Have I lost interest in the blogging already? Well in all fairness to myself I have been veeeery busy, plus have had food poisoning too (from a dodgy burger shop after the Saturday night out...) so I think I can be excused. So this post will be an update of the week just gone...
So last week I went to Birmingham to visit my friend Jamie from uni. Well, it was Twycross actually, but it's kind of near Birmingham, and much easier to say that than explain every time where Twycross is. Although Twycross itself is lovely, slap bang in the middle of some lovely countryside, it was so nice to relax and be out of the city for a few days. And the catch up with Jamie was much needed, we've been trying to organise meeting up for over a year now, and it just never seemed to fall into place! And we did go into Birmingham as well for some window shopping. Which turned into me buying a denim shirt and some mustard coloured skinny jeans. Yes, that's right mustard. And yes, skinny. Is the world ready for me in those?? Well it had better be because they are my new favourite items. LOVE THEM! That is, however, until I get my next obsession: the same skinny jeans but in BURGUNDY!

     

I have these...                    ....I WANT THESE!!!

They shall be mine. Although I'm not entirely sure what I'll wear them with. Oh well, an obsession is an obsession and I won't stop until I have them. I'm already thinking of getting them on my lunch break tomorrow. Ha.

So Saturday night was a night out with my friend Stewart. Mojitos, Vodka, wine also possibly, I don't really remember. I do remember some lesbians beating us at Pool. Bitches. All Stewart's fault for potting the black too soon.... Tut tut. And then of course we got a burger from some dodgy burger shop which has given me food poisoning. DAMN THEM! Its starting to go now, although unfortunately we can't remember where it was we got it from so there's a worry that we could end up there again one night when drunk and desperate for burgery goodness. Poo.

So I've saved the best for last (although I was going to anyway as going in order of how things happened...): THE LION KING!! Oh it was so amazing!! The stage and costumes were incredible, the cast were just brilliant (even the slightly annoying children in the beginning. Child actors. *shudder*) and it was just an amazing experience from start to finish. Not sure whether my food poisoning was making me more emotional than normal but when all the animals were flooding the stage for Circle of Life at the start I thought I was going to cry it was so good! Loved it, and then some.

Celebrity spot:

Keith Lemon (or whatever his real name is) outside ICCo pizza place on Goodge Street.

Songs of the moment:

Britney Spears: Till The World Ends

Anything Eurovision (Craig at work is playing us every song entered...)

You win again Ikea...

Anyone that knows me will know about my love for Ikea, and my desire to seemingly want to own EVERYTHING that they sell. Do I need it all? No. But that really isn't what's going through my head once my eyes catch sight of the big blue building filled with shiny flat-packed goodness. Today was my first solo visit to Ikea, normally I'd have at least one other person with me, their main purpose to restrain me from picking up sorts of crap that I don't really need, or even want, and make sure I can justify the things that I just can't let go of. No such luck today, it was just me, Ikea, and a trolley waiting to be filled with multi-coloured plastic tat. First stop: meatballs. Not only are they yummy, but you need to get your energy levels up and ready for the journey ahead. If you're not fully prepared Ikea will eat you alive. You have been warned. Meatballs eaten, it was onto the shopping. Now I only actually went today to LOOK for some frames, having picked up some Lichtenstein prints on Camden market in the morning for my new bedroom. So did I leave with nothing more than some ideas on the frames I wanted? Ha. No, I came out with 4 lovely shiny new frames. Along with a chair, a table, 2 candles, 2 small towels, a plant pot, a plant, and a frying pan. Bugger. Ah well I had fun along the way, and my frames do look pretty (see below). There was a slight trauma with me having to get armfuls of goodies back to the tube station, and then across 2 changes on the London Underground as it was entering rush hour, but it's all in a days work for an Ikea obsessive.

A snapshot of my meatballs and shopping trolley above, and my newly framed prints ready for my new room below. A muchly satisfying Ikea day!

Ikea funtime out of the way I headed to the gym for what should have been a nice leisurely work-out. What. A. Joke. My friend from work Vikki and myself had planned to go to the Mel B exercise class, after our recent Zumba success and enjoyment, thinking it would be more of the same: some fun, some free-styling exercising, without nearly dying in the process. Mel B seemed to be the opposite. I'm still surprised that we both made it out in one piece, after what seemed like 1000 squats, even more lunges, and some of the greatest pain I think I have ever experienced. With the gym instructor man shouting "LOWER!" every time we squatted, and hardly 20 seconds to catch our breath I was sure one of us would die. I thought the instructor guy was fairly hot when we first started, 20 minutes in and I wanted to punch him the head. I've been hardly able to walk the past couple of hours, and you can forget about me going up or down stairs. I'm going to really hurt in the morning, I just know it. Surely it must've have been doing something though if it feels like this? I think I'll stick to Zumba for the time being...

Celebrity spot:

Russell Tovey from Being Human seen leaving The Edge in Soho. (Tues 8th March)

Songs of the moment:

Britney Spears - Till The World Ends

David Guetta ft. Rhianna - Who's That Chick

Avril Lavigne - What The Hell

Comic gold.

Day one of my week off work, so what better to do than climb into my Dad's attic to see if I could find my old comics in preparation for my comic book chair creation (it's going to be a chair covered in random comic strips. It's going to look amazing. Honest.). Luckily I escaped the attic without any spider attacks, and without too many injuries, and have found myself with a comic book goldmine of epic proportions.

OK, so maybe not a goldmine, I'm sure they're not going to make me rich any time soon, and maybe not epic, but a lot of the issues were in really good condition, and the earliest copy I have is 20 years old! So I was reading it when I was 6! Weird. About 100 issues were in good condition (and now stored securely, ready to sell for millions in another 10 years time) and the other 100 or so are ready to be chopped into pieces ready to create my chair. Score.

Comic craziness aside, the rest of my Monday involved a catch up with La Pats (twitter: @la_paterson) and Richie (twitter: @richie1984) including a viewing of The Adjustment Bureau with Matt "used to have huuuuge crush on" Damon and Emily Blunt. Overall I really liked it, kept me interested and trundled along at a good pace. I did think the writers got a bit bored towards the end, however, as all of a sudden the action seemed to just stop and went straight in for the happy ending. Still, I'd say it's definitely worth a go. Oh, and Matt Damon has definitely still got it...

Songs of the moment:
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
David Guetta ft. Rhianna - Who's That Chick
Adele - Someone Like You (live at the Brits)

And so it begins...

So here is my introduction to the world of blogging. I'm not sure why I suddenly felt the need to start one, and to be honest I've not really got that much to say, but you never know, it could turn out to be really boring interesting. Ha. It'll mainly consist of random wafflings, updates of what i've been up to, opinions, and anything that is cool enough to mention. Let's just see how this goes, and how long it takes for me to get bored of it when I realise that no-one's actually reading it. Anyway, that's all for now, Deal or No Deal has just come on. Living. On. The. Edge.

My songs of the moment:
Britney Spears: Till The World Ends
Rhianna: S&M
David Guetta ft. Rhianna: Who's That Chick