Sunday 27 June 2010

England lost the World Cup but the Sun is Shining!!!

Erghhh the weather is sooo warm here that I can't sleep. I'm English- I'm not used to the weather being above 15degreesC!!! Seriously, anything above 22C is like a heatwave over here- everybody gets excited and wears practicaly next to nothing, the men take off their t-shirts and expose their pale flabby chests and the women don their new brightly coloured dresses and mini skirts and vest tops. It's quite amusing, people from the tropics must come over and think we're mad! Unfortunately I hate my legs so they stay covered up.

So, yes the weather over here has been rather pleasant which means everybody is in high spirits! We also get very excited over the world cup and think we have a chance of winning it (ha), yup this happens every four years yet we never learn!!! However, today England got well and truly thrashed by our good old friends the Germans who beat us 4-1 (oh dear!). I'm quite glad it happened on a Sunday and not a Friday or a Saturday as the pubs and bars in town would be full of drunken idiots. People seem to get very emotional over football and you do get caught up in it all, however, there are limits and I think well it's a shame we lost but it's not the end of the world. But some people really do act like it is such a disaster...like it's the worst thing that could possibly happen. All I can say is that those people must have had pretty easy lives if that is the worst tragedy they have had to face. Not only that, but it was a predictable tragedy. In fact it's not even a tragedy!!! Ok, so it means that the excitement of the world cup will have diminished and some dreams will have been blown out of the water...but that's all they are....dreams. Looking at England's (drab) performances, we were never going to win the world cup this year....we never had a chance. So why has that fact has only just hit people now?! It was going to happen at some point. We lost. Boo Hoo. It's a GAME. People haven't been killed. The world hasn't ended. There is no disaster..we just lost a game because simply we weren't good enough!

I do understand peoples frustrations with the team...we have players who are sooo hyped up, they are rated amongst the best in the world, the cream of the crop...so why is it that when they play as an England team they don't perform?! It's a mystery. For example Wayne Rooney...if I didn't know that he was an excellent premiership player I wouldn't have noticed him. It is quite shocking to think that those are the best players our country can offer. It makes me wonder whether the premiership is such a good thing for English football....you look at the top 5 or 6 teams and how many of the players are actually British? How much time and effort is being put into finding the best talent at a young age and investing in that talent? Or is it all about money. Are we just buying in the best? The Premiership wages anger a lot of people and it could be argued that the Premiership is not helping England, Wales or Scotland as nations when it comes to the World Cup.

Football, Football
A tremendous Sport
One cup over which,
Nations have fought
Yet we must realise
It's all a game
To let it cause anger
Would be a real shame
Of course we must be proud
For our country to score
When a goal is created
We hear the crowds roar
It brings us together
But unfortunately,
When the goal is disallowed
We crucify the referee
Yes it was a bad decision
Of that we all could see
But keep it in perspective
Especially you Rooney
Football brings us together
But also tears us apart
Keep in mind it's all a game
And keep England in your heart

Thursday 24 June 2010

PRODUCT RAVES: The Body Shop

So I called in the good old body shop on Monday and had a look at their clearance items. I do find the body shop to be rather on the pricey side and don't like to pay full price for their products. Anyway, I needed a new body moisturiser and I like the body shop butters, but not for 12 quid, especially as I tend to use quite a lot in one go. Luckily a selection had been reduced to a fiver. I decided on the Almond one which literally smells good enough to eat! Yummy! My beady eyes, hunting for bargains then landed on a lonely pretty pink blusher which was the last of it's kind but didn't have a price attached.


Oh well, I decided to get it anyway but hoped it was reduced and that someone hadn't just plonked it down in the sale section. I then chose two hair products- the banana hair conditioner and a brazil nut hair conditioning mask which was reduced to a fiver from £8. I waddled upto the counter, cradling my products and put them down in front of the smiley sales assistant. She scanned in my items and the blush came up as three quid- result!! The blush is one from a LE Roseflower collection. It is a very pretty pale pink with subtle gold sparkles. Definitely one to brighten up my dressing table and worth £3. It's quite pale so could be used as more of a highlight or beauty powder, so I was very pleased with that purchase.




The nice lady at the counter also told me that the brazil nut hair conditioner is to be used as a pre-wash- basically grab a dollop and massage it through your hair, leave it for about 15 minutes, or even overnight, then shampoo and condition as usual. I left it for about 10/15 minutes and didn't have particularly high expectations for it, but it actually worked and my hair felt much silkier after use. I have quite coarse, dry hair which doesn't often feel particularly nice. However, this mask really did give it the silky feeling that you get when you come out of a salon. It might be a bit too intense for very fine or greasy hair but if you have dry, damaged or chemically treated hair this could be a winner!

MAJOR RANT- magazine freebies...or lack of....

Sooo, I went to get the latest copy of Red magazine for the free Jemma Kidd lipgloss which came with it, and guess what....every single magazine on the shelf had the plastic wrap opened and the lipgloss removed!!! Not to be put off I went to a smaller newsagents and the same thing had happened! It's really annoying and nobody will want to buy those magazines now. I can't believe people would have the audacity to do that- why not just buy the bloody magazine?! It's only like three quid and you get a £14 lipgloss for free. So I was unable to get my free lipgloss. I can't be bothered travelling around the city to every newsagents in the hope that some magazines will still have the lipgloss inside. Sigh. Very frustrating!!!

Shopping, Summer, Starbucks (and a Book Review)

Well, this is the fourth day of my long ten week summer holiday so I thought I fill in a bit of spare time by starting to write a blog, basically just to have a little rant and to share my thoughts on anything and everything! I love reading other peoples blogs, in particular make-up blogs and general lifestyle blogs.

Ok, so here goes....

I spent Monday shopping at an out of town shopping centre. I returned a top to Debenhams which didn't fit me at all and was pretty ...I have bad habit of not trying anything on before I buy it as I tend to know what suits me and fits me...but in this case I got it VERY wrong!! So I decided to take it back but I didn't have my receipt. I'd never returned anything without a receipt before and wasn't even sure they would accept it, I mean it had all the labels on and was in perfect condition but surely I could have literally picked up an item from the hanger and took it to the counter saying I wanted to bring it back?!?! Anyway, the lovely lady at the counter was very friendly and helpful and put my £25 on a gift voucher! I had a browse to see what I could spend my cash on. I was thinking make up, but I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by what I saw. I was thinking of getting some MAC but I haven't really liked anything since the spring collection. Next port of call was perfumes...I really could do with a new perfume for summer, something fresh but not too floral or fruity. I hate anything too artificially scented and I'm very fussy with perfumes preferring simple scents. As the store was super quiet I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a good sniff of them all and test them out. Ha, I was wrong- there seemed to be assistants ready to pounce on me wherever I turned. This totally put me off buying anything and I left the store empty handed. I'm quite private when it comes to buying things and I like to take my time and be alone in considering my purchases. I don't need assistants hovering around, keeping a beady eye on me. I know they're looking to make a sale but it makes me feel very uneasy and I am much more likely NOT to buy anything when assistants are too close by. I can't relax and I often just walk away from the counter as soon as I see their heads spin in my direction.

Then Tuesday I met up with a friend which was nice, we had a coffee at Starbucks, well I had a strawberries & cream frappucino which is my summer fave!! If you have a sweet tooth and can't get through a week without consuming ice-cream and milkshakes you've got to try this. It is gorgeous!!! It probably has about 500 calories though- if you're on a diet best stick with the skinny latte, sorry! We then had a walk in the countryside and then chilled at my house for a bit. My partner who I live with is working away this week so I've been all on my own, which I don't mind, I'm not one of those people who craves constant company, but if I don't keep myself busy I would probably go a little crazy!

Yesterday I awoke at midday oops then went to Sainsburys and got a few bits n bobs including instant coffee for when I can't be bothered doing a cafetiere and two tubs of haagen dazs as it's on offer at half price! I chose the strawberry cheesecake flavour which reminds me of the strawberries & cream starbucks and the cookies & cream. I'm ashamed to say I had half of the strawberry cheesecake last night and the second half this afternoon- oops!! I have a major sweet tooth, which I've inherited from my Dad's side of the family- everybody on his side loves chocolate, sweets, toffee, ice-cream etc and we literally cant leave a packet of biscuits unopened, once it's open it will be gone ten minutes later!

So after my supermarket trip I came back, changed into my denim shorts, slathered on the suncream and read a book in the garden as it was a beautiful day. I read very quickly and got through a whole book in about two hours. I would definitely recommend the book, it's by Tess Gerritsen and it's called 'Life Support'. I have read two books by her previously. One was ok and the other was a very exciting read which I would highly recommend and is called Harvest. It's a medical thriller and because Tess is a trained doctor she includes a lot of detail which brings the book to life. She reminds me of Michael Crichton, an author I love because there is so much research behind each of his books which makes it all the ore realistic. Tess writes a detective series featuring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles but I would recommend her stand alone thrillers, I think there are four and harvest and life support are the two I have read. The plot of Harvest is based around organ donors...but the organs actually come from orphan street kids who are murdered to provide organs for the wealthy. The plot is an interesting idea and the book is written in a fast paced, exciting manner as is life supprort. I think if I had to choose one I would probably go for harvest as the idea was very fascinating. The main character is both of her books are very likable, strong, independent women, but they are also very hard working...possibly too hard working and a little lonely, so there is a little bit of non cheesy romance in each book too!

As I have so much free time over the next ten weeks I am looking for interesting exciting reads. I'm in the mood for those books which you literally can't put down as they are so intense and which leave you wanting more. I used to read all the time, but over the past few years I've been so busy (and I mean working 24/7 including weekends and I haven't had time to read, lame excuse I know. So now I'm really hoping to get back into my reading and I would appreciate hearing about some good reads.

Anyway, I finished my book and there was about 20 minutes left of the England match which I watched.I don't mind football (or soccer) but I haven't really been able to get into the world cup as of yet. I'm just not feeling the hype yet everywhere I go I see england flags from cars and houses!

I've also been watching dribs and drabs of the last ever UK Big Brother!!! Over the ten years I haven't religiously watched any series. I did enjoy the first, second, third and fifth series and watched quite a lot of those episodes if there was nothing better on and I wasn't out. However, the other series I didn't really watch at all. I have a feeling I will soon get bored with this series too. I started off really likeing JJ the Aussie guy as I thought he was quite funny and HATED Shabby as she is very extreme and annoying. But now I thik JJ is dull as dishwater and am loving Shabby as she is the only one who is bringing any entertainment to the house whatsoever, and even that isn't much. So...if you're not watching BB don't worry as you're not missing anything!

Over the last few days I've also watched all of series four of the hills which I bought on DVD and yes I did feel rather embarrassed taking it to the counter of HMV and had prepared an answer to any questions "haha, nooo of course it's not for me, I don't even know what it's about- never seen it before, it's a birthday present for my little sister, she likes that sort of thing"...I haven't even got a little sister! I do admit that I can quite happily settle down with a tub of ice cream and watch a few back to back episodes!! I find it is a good program when you need to switch off and escape reality. But the flash cars, private jets (yes really) and hollywood hills condos of these young twenty somethings, does make me feel a bit physically sick at their indulgent self absorbed lifestyles. My favourite character is actually Spencer, as without him the show would be dull as dishwater. He adds a bit of spice which is why I love him!

Today has been quite non productive. I'm planning to get up early tomorrow and head into town perhaps for some book/dvd/make up purchasing. With my £25 voucher I'm thinking of getting a YSL lippie as I don't yet own any but have heard very good things about them. I prefer natural pink or peach shades. I find nice peach shades very hard to find- they are often too orangey or bright. I want something much more pale and low key but so far no luck. My dinner tonight will be a chicken tikka masala curry from sainsburys. They are perfect when you're on your own and can't be bothered cooking- just stick it in the microwave or oven and voila!

Well, I may get back to watching TV....come dine with me seems to be on 24/7, or pop on a DVD (I have paranormal activity but haven't yet dared to watch it on my own) or maybe read another book or do some cleaning...least likely option.

Ciao