My 2012

The end of 2012 is but a few hours away........

 

In addition to my achieved goals in my previous post (click here), here are a "few" pics highlighting my 2012:

 

After my birthday dinner:

 After a Special NTC Session at Westfield White City:

 

After I caught the bouquet at the wedding of my two friends!

 



 

At Hackney Weekender - Definately a highlight!!

 

 

 At the first NTC Live:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When the Olympic Torch passed through my home town:

 

 

The fireworks from the Olympics Opening Ceremony - no tickets, but the view from my home was great!

 

 

Becoming a qualified solicitor:

 

 

One of my Secret Santa gifts - absolutely LOVE this mug!!

Yep, I am a great woman!

 

Looking back, 2012 has certainly been an eventful year......the highs, including the going to Hackney Weekender, the Olympics and Paralympics, Nike Training Club and some lows which included the death of loved ones.

 

I also started this blog. I want to thank you all again for checking out my blog, especially those who comment and have followed!!

 

And as for 2013:

 

Source

 

Happy New Year

&

All the best for 2013!!!!!

xXx

 

 

9 comments bits and bobs, Nike, personal, review, thoughts

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Com Viet – Covent Garden, London

I’m not sure about you but I have indulged over the Christmas period! The turkey was good, as was the beef, potatoes and veg….I even had a brussel sprout or two! There was plenty left over too which meant that instead of having proper meals, I was nibbling at leftovers, and the chocolate, and the rich fruitcake, and my homemade brownies, and the ice-cream……..eeeek!

My Christmas Dinner......



Followed with homemade brownies and Viennetta ice-cream.....yummy!

By Thursday I was well and truly over the Christmas indulgent food, so I decided to eat out with a couple of friends. I had wanted to try out Vietnamese food and felt that this was the perfect opportunity to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant.

I went to Com Viet, which is based in Covent Garden.

I booked this restaurant via www.toptable.com www.opentable.co.uk.It’s an intimate restaurant; if you want to have a dinner party of about 15 - 20 I reckon you could take up a third of the restaurant! However given that it was the Christmas period and most of my fellow Londoners were either shopping the sales or working the sales, the restaurant was not as busy as it may have normally been. But that was a good thing.

The staff were really polite, nice and non-intrusive, which made dinner with my friends all the more enjoyable. The food was really nice as well:



My friend had beef pho....



.....While I had stir fried chicken with lemongrass and chilli and fried rice

Such was my mission not to have any more Christmassy food that day I even tried frog’s legs! And yes, they do taste like chicken……



Frog legs!

I had to end my evening with something sweet; and that meant a stopover at the Haagen Dazs Restaurant in Leicester Square:



Scrumptious apple pie with vanilla ice-cream and caramel
mmmmmm......

Even with all this eating, I have managed to fit in one or two brief tabata workouts (and my body ached afterwards!); after all I have to make space for my New Year’s Feast!

Hope you all had a wonderful, peaceful and Blessed Christmas x

3 comments Food, holiday, restaurant

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Holiday Reads

Merry Christmas! Hope you and your loved ones had a great Christmas Day!

I was asked by Brenda of Never Can be a Skinny Bitch whether I could recommend any books for holiday reading; it actually occurred to me that while I had read quite a few books over the last few months, I had intended, but failed to review them. And I continue to buy more books…..

 

Holiday reads….hmmmmm. If you’re looking for a new book to read/check out, I can recommend a few:

A very quick overview of the books from left to right:

My Best Friend’s Girl – it’s about a woman named Kamryn who has taken on the role of being guardian to a 5 year old girl, Tegan. Her mum Adele is dying and has contacted Kamryn as her first and only choice to look after Tegan. But can Kamryn cope, especially after Adele betrayed her? An engaging read, you can’t help but love little Tegan!

The Chocolate Run – this book is about a woman obsessed with chocolate who fully explores the ‘benefits’ of having a male best friend. Don’t be deceived by the title of the book as the story involves the evolution and devolution of friendships, secrets, lust, love and comedy.

 

The Woman He Loved Before – a new wife interested about the former deceased wife of her husband. Libby becomes involved in an accident which soon makes her question the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband’s last wife and whether her own life is engaging. An unexpected mystery…..

 

As you will have noted, the above books are by Dorothy Koomson. She is a British Author; Amazon recommended her books to me before, but it wasn’t until my holiday in September 2011 that I actually read one of her books. And now I’m hooked. I’m planning on buying her latest book, The Rose Petal Beach and I hope to provide a more comprehensive review on my blog for My Best Friend’s Girl and the Chocolate Run at a later date.

 

 

 

My most recent completed read is K: The Art of Love by Hong Ying which I bought for £2 at a book shop on Euston Road, London. This book is apparently based on a true story – an affair between an Englishman and a Chinese woman schooled in the ancient Taoist arts of love. It’s not so much a romance novel; it’s an erotic affair, but well written. I actually plan to buy her next book, the Concubine of Shanghai within the next few days

And my current reads?

 

 

Bought from my local Oxfam for a mere £1…and in excellent condition!

 

 

A Christmas gift from my sister, Nkechi of The Simple View!

 

I hope my recommendations have been helpful; even if you do not get to read much during the Christmas period, these are books to possibly add to your “to read” list x

3 comments books, entertainment, holiday, reading, Travel

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Firmoo

As you may have (or not?) noticed, I wear glasses. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 11 and I usually wear contacts for special occasions or holidays.

 

I’ve had my current pair of glasses for nearly 3 years now and I had been considering changing my frames. So it was a happy coincidence that Firmoo contacted me and offered a free pair of glasses……

 

According to their website, they are the “World’s most popular online eyeglass store”. They don’t just cater for prescription glasses, they do non-prescription glasses, sunglasses (prescription/non-prescription) and eye googles.
 

Here’s a few pics of the glasses that I chose:

 

 

taken on my samsung, using the self portrait camera - hence the poor lighting

My chosen glasses can be found here

The glasses were lightweight but durable. I found them to be professional looking which is a plus in my line of work.

 

Firmoo are a very confident company with a significant following on Facebook; in fact they are offering new customers a free pair of glasses/sunglasses and you only have to pay for shipping which is $12.96 - $15.75 (approx. £7.50-£9.70 for my fellow Brits). Their shipping is really fast; I was told that my glasses would come within 10 working days and I actually got it within 1 week. The glasses don’t necessarily have to be prescription…..geek chic is a style in its own right so one could easily rock a pair of fake glasses, though I do prefer the real thing if I say so myself!
 

If you’re interested in getting free glasses from Firmoo, click here. Go on, you know you love a freebie!

4 comments acquisitions, bits and bobs, promotion, review

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Loving Right Now: All About the Girls!

For the past few weeks I have been watching two shows:

Girls

 

The first show is Girls, a HBO Original Production, shown on Sky Atlantic in the UK.

Source
(L-R) Marnie, Jessa, Hannah, Shoshanna

It's basically about 4 20something girls living in Brooklyn, NYC and how they muddle through life.

 

It is dare I say, the poor girl's Sex and the City. The sex is there, as are the dysfunctional relationships and comedic situations. But lacking are the sexy, power jobs with a wardrobe to match..... and I like that. I think this show relates to a lot of girls in the Western World - the perils of dating, the perils of relationships, the perils of obtaining that dream career while interning for nothing. The characters have flaws; I'm sure that watching the show you would be able to identify with some of the personality quirks and issues that the girls have, whether in yourself or in people around you. The show is very realistic and it has received positive reviews around.

 

My favourite character is Shoshanna - she talks too fast, but she's so innocent! I think there's a lot of potential for her character.


Some Girls

Another show which has just finished its first season is a British Production called Some Girls, which is shown on BBC3 in the UK.

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(L-R) Amber, Saz, Viva, Holli

It's about 4 school girls who aren't particularly cool - Viva the 'do-gooder', Amber the 'air-head sex bunny', Holli the 'gangster' and Saz the 'often ignored maths swot'. They are friends and in the girls football team. The episodes consist of typical teenage problems such as bullying, losing one's virginity, family, trying to be cool etc....

Quite frankly,this show is just hilarious! Every episode has had me in stitches; I really hope that BBC3 commission a new series. It's as funny as Channel 4's show called PhoneShop (UK production). Amber and Holli are the funniest characters - they may not be the smartest in the group, but they are adventurous (to put it mildly!) and ultimately they are good people. I can definately relate to Viva - she's a goody two shoes, with high ambitions but at the same time she wants to be exciting and can't help liking a 'bad boy' (oh, memories!)

Both shoes shows have been a hit with me and I look forward to future series x

9 comments entertainment, Loving Right Now, review, thoughts

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Scent Travels

I’m sure most, if not all us like to carry with us some sort of fragrance or body spray/mist when we’re out and about. I usually have a body spray or mist in my bag to freshen up during the day. However I use perfume for my social nights out, which usually fades after about 4 hours, especially if I’m out dancing.

 

So in April 2012 (yep, a wee while ago!), I saw a little gadget know as a perfume atomiser. Basically you fill it with your preferred/favourite fragrance and take it with you wherever. You can re-spray when needed meaning you won’t have to worry about your perfume fading.

 

I bought my atomiser (the brand is called Flo) from Boots and it cost £9.99 (at the time). At first glance it could be mistaken for a mini vibrator – imagine that dropping out of your bag during rush hour!

 

Bought from Boots, £9.99



naughty me for my naughty thoughts hehe!

 

However this compact baby has been a Godsend! While small, it packs a punch; when I spray it, it is just as powerful as an average sized perfume bottle. It’s very easy to fill up as well.

Fragile, by Jean Paul Gaultier
My Ultimate Fragrance

The atomiser may be small but it is powerful -
has the same spray strength as the average perfume bottle

 

 

Since I bought my atomiser, I have always used my favourite perfume, namely Fragile by Jean Paul Gaultier; however the atomiser is re-fillable and you can it for whatever fragrance takes your fancy - just make sure you wash it out first before filling it with a new fragrance.

 

I think that this is definitely an essential for any girl especially during the festive party season – I forgot my atomiser at home on Friday and I actually got my sister to bring it to me to our home station before I went to karaoke! Seiously, I felt lost without it!

 

Maybe it could be an ideal Secret Santa gift/stocking filler (^_^)

 

Speaking of which I hope you’re Christmas preparations, spiritual and otherwise are going well!

Leave a Comment acquisitions, bits and bobs, cosmetics, review

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Here's What I Made Earlier

With Christmas fast approaching, I find myself more inclined to cook and bake. I actually prepare Christmas and New Year's dinner for my family, yep turkey/chicken trimmings included - and I enjoy it!

 

My baking bone has been activated once again and last night at about 10:40pm, I found myself baking some biscuits. I'd been wanting to bake for a while, but

 

I found the inspirational recipe on BBC Food (click here for recipe). I didn't have the decorative ingredients to make my snowman biscuits, but the urge to bake was strong and not long after I had made about 22 lovely treats!

 

The Finished Product!
 

And just so you know, they taste lovely! I took about 5 with me to work; I can only hope there's still some left when I get home.......

 

I'm hoping to make brownies tonight for my friends ahead of our annual evening (as it has now become) of karaoke and Secret Santa, which kickstarts 3 weekends of social events. And I'm on the hunt for more recipes to try out......

 

7 comments Food

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Less Than 30 Days

Yep, 2012 is well and truly on its way out! And we are all busy with Christmas preparation and the festive party season, I usually use the month of December to reflect on my year, my goals and my life.

This year has been alright (ok, more than alright!); apart from celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee and those small events called the Olympics and Paralympics coming to my city, I have managed to achieve a few of my goals:

• I have consistently exercised for a whole year (people, understand that this is major for me – a separate post will be dedicated to this), got stronger and lost weight
• I successfully grew out my cropped haircut
• I wore a full face of make-up
• I qualified as a solicitor – finally!
• I started this blog

However, there is always room for a bit of improvement! With less than 30 days to go until 2013, I have started to think about I want achieve for 2013 and how to achieve those goals. In the meantime, in between the Christmas Shopping, the decorations and the partying, I have set a few mini goals for myself:

• Complete the bakasana pose (aka crow pose)
• Print off some photos from my camera and put them in albums – I have hundreds from 2011 that I have stored but not yet printed and my mum is seriously on my back about this!
• Buy new dress or two – because I sold my other dresses on eBay :¬)
• Kickstart my holiday fund; and decide where to go!

Source
Bakasana (Crow) Pose - But I'll doing mine on a low,flat altitude!

So, fellow readers/bloggers, have you achieved your goals for this year? Have you started thinking ahead? Can you fit in a goal or two by the end of this month?

7 comments personal, ramble, thoughts

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Running Errands

The Last 24 – 36 hrs have been really busy; I attended one graduation ceremony and have another one today. I’m very happy to see my siblings graduate!

 

However, prior to getting spruced up, I had a few things to do. I usually just wear the first thing(s) I see – here was the end result:

Jacket - Zara (as seen in this post)
Bag - Zara
Hoodied Jumper - Nike
Jeans - New Look
Boots - H&M (as seen in this post)

I absolutely love my Nike hoody; I’ve had it for years and I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of it. Combined with my Zara jacket, I had no issue with the cold especially as temperatures have dropped in the UK – it was very warm. I’m thoroughly enjoying my studded boots, though the way I walk in them you can hear me coming before you see me!

4 comments clothes, outfit

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Er.....

So, I’ve not posted for the best part of this month. For a variety of reasons, mostly concerning that little thing called Life which has included but not limited to crazy times at work, running errands for my family watching hilarious new shows Girls (Sky Atlantic) and Some Girls (BBC3) and re-discovering my love for banana cake.

 

I could/should apologise, but the reality I have come to face is that I may not be able to blog as often as I intended to……..and I now don't feel as bad as I did around 10 November 2012.

 

Having said that I do owe my blog and its readers a few posts! Hence why this has been posted at an erratic hour :¬)

 

Wanted to show off a small purchase made about 2 weeks ago:

 

Sleek Blush, £4.49
An addition to my tiny (and often wasted) make-up collection!

 

Without flash

With flash

 

I saw a post on Sleek Blush in Rose Gold by another blogger (who for the life of me I cannot remember – the perils of blog surfing! I remember it was a British Blogger…..). I was very intrigued by the shimmer and wanted to get one for myself. I saw the Sunrise Blush as well; even though prima facie (“on the face of it”) they looked the same, Rose Gold had a lot more shimmer than Sunrise. I felt that Sunrise was more of a blush and would suit my skin better – I think it’s warmer, whereas Rose Gold was more of a party blush. And the price ain't so bad either.

 

Since I bought it, I have only tested it for the purpose of my blog, but I hope to give it a full try out when I attend my younger brother’s graduation. And with that I’m off to get a bit of ‘beauty’ sleep, but I will leave you with a song (and video) that has been seducing my ears:

 

 

Until Next Time x

 

5 comments cosmetics, make-up, music, ramble

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Studded Boots

With the darker, colder days firmly in place many people will now be shopping for their winter wardrobe.

I have actually been reviewing the clothes in my possession and a significant amount has gone on eBay or to charity. Having said that, I then have space to buy a few more things!

 

My latest arrival (because I purchased them online a while ago) are these studded low heel boots from H&M:

 

Studded Shoe Boots (not real leather) -
H&M, £29.99
Can be bought here

 

I like that these boots are a simple style; I also like that it has a low heel; very practical. My mum says I walk like a soldier (hahaha!) so I can’t really be running about London in impractical heels.

 

The stud detail is subtle; the studs make the boots stand out without being too in my face. It’s a style that I believe I can rock well into next winter.

 

I hope these boots serve me well x



10 comments acquisitions, clothes, shoes

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