'Tis The Season to be Jolly

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I know I promised that this post would be a proper one and not just phone pictures - I had proper camera photos all lined up and then went out to Liverpool for a works do... Lawyers drink A LOT and like to drag you down with them so I ended up leaving my camera in a bar. I have been assured that one of my colleagues has it but he isn't returning any of my messages so god knows where it is.

Anyway hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas!

I know I was complaining about the snow before and have had to abandon my car twice this week, but it does make an ordinary ice bucket look very festive.

Unless it's mild and overcast, we can't cope. Normal service will resume in the spring.

As a country we are completely hopeless. It drives me insane. In the summer, we had highs of about 12 degrees - there was a hose pipe ban. Now it is winter and we've had just over a foot of snow and we've basically been told to stay indoors, curl up and hibernate. A ridiculous amount of roads are closed and even all of the trains are off now!

A colleague of mine went to the Trafford Centre on Friday night and whilst he was shopping the snow began to fall. When he left at 10.30pm he dug his car out, waited for 45 minutes in a queue in the car park and then drove home - a journey that ordinarily would take about half an hour lasted until 6am.

My car is completely buried and thanks to the lack of grit in my town it is likely to stay there meaning that I've missed the birthday celebrations of two of my best friends this weekend.

Anyway on a less miserable note despite it's inconvenience I do love the snow... and I also love this delightfully tacky Brussel Sprouts wrapping paper that cost around a quarter of a million pounds per sheet from UO and also defies my Mother's all gold theme.

I promise to use my actual camera next time and stop being massively lazy by just using phone pictures!

Distraction.

Aside from leaving my MacBook at my friend's house in Manchester (the same house that my last computer got stolen from.. oopsie) I've also been running round after this little pooch. My new BFF Henry.

FINALLY after twenty one years of begging my Dad to get a dog, he gave in! And now he actually pays more attention to the dog than anyone else in the household.

The man who once saw a dog poo by the side of the road, and because he was so disgusted couldn't concentrate and crashed his car into a lamp post is actually a changed man. My mum and I are convinced he's some sort of imposter. Today a package arrived addressed to Henry which contained a name tag from my dad... firstly we all live in the same house together so why posting it was necessary I'm not entirely sure and secondly it's quite depressing when the dog gets more mail than you do.

Pictures From My Telephone No. 2

Things to get me through the day at work in my depressing office pod:

1) Hilarious colleagues - because the work we are doing is pretty dull we end up in fits of giggles at the silliest of things, like today someone was speaking to a client on the phone and she thought he said his occupation was 'pirate' when in fact it was pilot...

2) Palmers Cocoa Butter hand cream for my frost bitten skin.

3) Clipper teas which beat the gross machine stuff hands down.

I'm actually planning on starting Christmas shopping properly tomorrow evening seen as it is only 23 sleeps away. Wish me luck!

Pictures From My Telephone No. 1

So, after having turned my bedroom upside-down to find my camera charger, it turns out I've left it in London. Fortunately my friend is coming back up north next weekend so she'll be able to bring it up.

Until then, I thought I'd just fill the void with random pictures from my iPhone, which, like every other person who got sweet talked by Apple into buying one, I am completely obsessed with and now unsure how life works without one.

1) It is getting cold and I've just come back from the pool. Swimming is just not as fun at this time of year. Especially when you forget to take underwear with you - putting your swimming costume on under clothes doesn't feel that clever after all... and yes that is a minus in front of the three.

2) This is Alice - this dogster belonged to my friend's flatmate, Christie, who I met at the weekend. She is such a cute pooch and Christie rescued her from a skip where she had been abandoned when she was a puppy - her eyes weren't even open yet and she had to be sat with all night and nursed back to health. Years down the line she is a fit and healthy ball of fluff.

3) My mum in the middle of a wardrobe clear out swapping her usual brunette bob for my old Lady Gaga wig from last hallowe'en - she looks so young and like a different person! I'd like to think that I'm going to age that well, but she doesn't drink and I definitely do which means I'm going to be looking like an old hag in no time at all.

4) Prime example of why I love my phone - one slightly bad picture of my sister and it says she is a dead ringer for Susan Boyle. Brilliant.

Old Habits...

I was doing so well with my posting and then another week or so just slipped right through my fingers. Life just goes too fast. I was in London at the moment and as soon as I find my camera charger I'll be able to put the pictures up.

For some reason I really enjoy taking pictures of flags.

Clip Clop Clog.

To celebrate getting through an entire week at my new job, I snook into town on Saturday and picked up these French Connection clog boots. I do like the summer versions of the clog, but because I don't have matchstick legs, they don't do an awful lot for me and these ankle boots are slightly less severe.

I am in love. They look much nicer in real life, I promise. Comfortable enough for stomping round in the day time in, and allow me to crash right through that 6ft barrier.. I think i'm 6ft2 or 3 in these... Perfect! Combined with glittery socks they meet all my winter footwear needs.

I barely have this scarf off my neck these days - it's strange that this is the first time I've posted it because it has basically become a part of my neck.

Vintage blazer and belt - pinched from my mum. Scarf - Moschino Cheap and Chic, Top/Dress - H&M, Glitter socks - Made from an old pair of tights that had a hole in, Clog Boots - French Connection.

I am really not enjoying these dark mornings... honestly I had forgotten what it was like! For three years, I never had to be up before about ten 'o' clock for lectures. Thank god I've got another year at uni to do at some point before I qualify so I can experience semi-hibernation once more.

On the upside, the Manchester Christmas market starts this week so I'll certainly be paying it a visit asap to stuff my face with all the goodies it has to offer.

Am I Correct...

In thinking that it's perfectly acceptable to get really fat during the winter?

That's what animals do isn't it to get them through the cold so it must be the natural thing to do.

Taken with the mediocre hipstamatic app on my iPhone.

Hot chocolate and cream with a nice big slosh of Baileys - guilt free because I had to scrape ice off my car before work this morning so this is my reward.

p.s. Two of my nerdy friends started a biology blog - I am in no way science minded but I actually loved the firstnpost they did all the same. Show them some love over at Readers Dissect.

New Spectacles

I got these Marc Jacobs glasses a couple of weeks ago and hadn't got round to posting a picture yet. They are much bigger than my old frames and are quite heavy on my face but I loooveee them. I think they are my favourite pair so far.

Wore this Alice by Temperley dress to the office today - it's a bit bright against everyone else's grey suits, but it's smart-ish so I can just about get away with it.

I've had such a crappy week in work. I can't go into the details but trust me, if you'd seen what I've seen this week, you'd never take anything for granted ever again.

On a less depressing note, has anyone noticed how fast I've been getting these posts out since getting a speedy new MacBook? I'm on fire!

I need a bit of Lanvin in my life.

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

Am I going to have to have a 'dentist appointment' on Tuesday 23rd November?

I really don't like this whole working full time thing. Sadly I'm never going to find a rich husband to enable me to be a lady of leisure either because I've already decided I'm going to be a spinster with lots of cats. I don't even like cats.

Hallowe'en at Satans Hollow

So for actual Hallowe'en I decided to go as Little Dead Riding Hood and spent Saturday at the sewing machine DIY'ing my costume. I was pretty pleased with how the cape turned out! There are so many pictures of me showing off the spiders web patterned lining.

We went to a bar in Manchester called Satan's Hollow which was well suited to the evening and everyone had made loads of effort with their costumes. Just as we arrived there was a competition being judged for the best one and the winner, dressed as iron man received £250!

Hope everyone had Happy Hallowe'ens - I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's costume efforts.

The fake blood is refusing to budge though - I'm in court tomorrow so it better be gone by then because it's not going to look good with my boring suit.

Costume Numero Uno

I bloody love fancy dress.

I went round to one of my friend's houses where everyone had decided not to go out at all and stay in and watch the X Factor and also not dress up... But I turned up as Cruella D'evil.

One of his housemates opened the door and didn't even recognise me!

I already had the wig because I've done this costume before and everything else was taken from my wardrobe except the coat which is my mums. It's always worrying when you can make costumes from your own clothes.

Apologies for the miserable looking face - too much expression would have cracked the face paint! My skin is going to be RUINED on on Monday.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Mac Magic

Why can't someone from Mac just come round and sort my hallowe'en costume out for me?

I LOVE hallowe'en but I've only had one day off in the past three weeks so I've hardly had any time to sort anything out... Stressss!!

I did actually try out this Roy Lichtenstein masterpiece just before and it went pretty wrong. I mixed some fake blood with foundation to get the colour for the dots so now my face is stained a bit pink. Super!

What is everyone going as this year?

Back in Business...

The insurance company finally got round to paying out for poor Geoffrey so I invested in this beautiful device which is yet to be named. Any ideas? Answers on a postcard.

Yaaay! It's good to be back. Obviously I'll be returning to my mega frequent posting.. i.e. every ten days or so haha :)

My mum and I are dead attractive.

Hope everyone is good and I'm looking forward to having a good catch up with all you lovely bloggers.

Ladies Night

Sheer heart print dress - H&M

Still don't have a laptop. I have however managed to resurrect the computer that has been abandoned for years which I didn't even know still worked. It is making some very unhappy noises at me though.

On Friday night I had a man free night for the first time in absolutely ages and went out with just girlies instead which was funnn. I put on my dancing shoes and swapped the usual cider with the boys (classy girl) for cocktails that contained edible flowers with the ladies and danced the night away in Liverpool and at the end of the night haggled in a take away for a garlic bread with the 37p I had left in my purse.

The bar that we were in I've mentioned before - it used to be a Turkish Church and has the coolest decor.. I want antler chandeliers in my life. At the weekend they throw petals over the balcony over all the drinkers. Sadly we missed the event but the floor had a nice sprinkling of the stuff anyway.

It's a sad day...

My poor laptop was the victim of a burglary this weekend at my friend's house in Manchester. I had pretty much everything backed up which is good, but there will always be a lappy shaped hole in my heart for my beloved Geoffrey. We've been through a lot together - I couldn't have got through uni without him... *sob*.

Just upgraded him and everything...

Ha... To be honest, although I was very much attached it was a terrible piece of equipment. I'm hoping to replace him with something that has an apple on the back for real but need to find out whether I am actually covered by my Dad's insurance policy to begin with. Dirty thieving scum!

Where d'ya get those peepers?

I'm going glasses shopping with my Aunt this week who is even more visually impaired than I am. For the past couple of years I've played it safe and gone with a pair of black Chanel specs, but this time I fancy something different and there are so many fun styles out there at the moment.







Tom Ford, Massada, Oliver Peoples.


In other news, something really heart warming happened at work today - my Auntie owns a hotel/restaurant and I work there at the weekend. There is this really lovely eccentric couple who come in quite regularly - he has a mad comb over, drives a Rolls Royce and wears VERY colourful tropical shirts and she is literally a crazy cat lady - today she was wearing a cat necklace, a pair of socks that said I ♥ My Cats, and they always bring a cat bottle stopper for their bottle of Lanson. Anyway today they were sat on a table next to a little old lady who is a widow so comes in on her own and they had a little chat. When the man came to pay his bill he also asked if he could pay the lone diner's bill too! How sweet is that?! And what a treat for the old lady... She was so shocked and touched when she came to pay her bill and found out it had been secretly paid. It has made my weekend just seeing how nice someone can be, so imagine how she feels!

Hope you've all had lovely weekends!

Thunderbolts & Lightning

Yesterday started out beautifully, hence the summer dress and sandals... then not long after I left the house there was a massive down pour, which my fake tan didn't appreciate, and thunder and lightning. We ended up going for coffee/hot chocolate and cake (as usual - no wonder I can't lose any weight) and then played scrabble until the sun came out again.

I need to start looking for proper jobs because I am clearly wasting my days away.

The dress is from a vintage shop in Liverpool and I love the bright bold tropical flowers against the grey background. The belt is from my mum's 80s accessories collection and the sandals were an absolute bargain from Office - I think they were about £40 originally and then a sale plus student discount made them £9. Score!

Apologies for the darkness of this photo and the awkward pose - it always happens when I'm trying to explain to people how to use my camera and then they just take one picture and I have to pose quickly!

Leeds Festival 2010

I spent last weekend (well.. Wednesday to Monday) camping in a field that rapidly became a landfill site and paid £200 for the privilege. Not to mention £4 at the bar every time a drink was required which can only mean one thing - Leeds Festival. The sun even came out to play and we only had one or two light showers over the weekend which was incredible - I was almost in danger of getting a tan!

This is the third time I've been now and sadly there was a bit of a dampener on the weekend because we were camped next to some of the most undesirable people at the whole of the festival who were constantly starting fires and causing trouble and one of them head butted one of my friends and then Nicola had £150 stolen from her tent whilst she was asleep inside it! Let's not dwell on that though because on the other side we were camped next to some lovely people so on with the photos....


The ladies from our group - Sarah, Me and Nic

Two of the boys Joe and Sam - Joe has been desperate to have his face on here for ages for some reason - he is the owner of the dogs from a couple of posts ago..

And also the most clumbsy person in the world which resulted in this amusingly shaped stain on his crotch... it was funny at the time.

Me outside one of my friend's tents - the biggest one for miles that everyone nick named the Taj Mahal. I always thought I was a bit OTT with a four man just for me but apparently not.

The best thing going on at night was the silent disco - theres nothing more fun than doing the silent conga.. trust me.

Some of the boys doing the Limp Bizkit Rollin' dance!




And finally these were our favourite band of the weekend who had an unbelievable amount of stage presence and were incredible to watch - after having a snoop around on the internet it seems that they have a bit of a marmite effect on people but either way they are well worth a watch.

When I eventually got home on Monday afternoon I got straight into bed and woke up about twenty hours later on Tuesday morning.

Also to the annonymous commenter on my last post - yes obviously I was at Leeds, do you still think it was me you saw? You should have come and said hi! :)