Eyeliner and Cigarettes

"I choose Vodka. And Chaka Khan."

2009-09-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

- Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones

I am currently on the look out for a new jacket or coat for winter. I know it's a little early, there aren't that many out in the shops yet but I like to start looking early. I haven't really seen any that I really love yet, but here are a few that I kind of like, there's also a few at River Island that are cute but their website won't let you save pictures and I'm too lazy to screencap or anything like that.

Diesel

Elizabeth and James

Soia & Kyo

“I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth's follies--thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us.”

2009-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

- D.H. Lawrence

Yet another haul. This time I got

Two rolls of brown paper for packing eBay parcels up with.
A black floral tea dress from Topshop.
A woollen hat by Vans. It's still August so I suppose I'm a little early to be thinking about winter but being prepared never hurt anyone.
A satellite picture frame thing, from eBay but it was originally fom Urban Outfitters.
Clinique Clarifying Lotion in Number 1. Usually I get Number 2 but the saleslady decided Number 1 would suit my skin better.
Mark Hill shampoo.
Navy tights from BHS.
Long brown socks from BHS.
Floral footless tights from Topshop. I saw some floral tights on Hanna Beth's blog and decided I really wanted some.
Four pairs of Topshop tights in pink, green, brownish and a checked pattern.
A silver headband from Topshop because I love headbands. And Topshop.
A gold studded bracelet from Peacocks that sort of reminds me of the nOir stuff.
A black necklace from Topshop with a zip pendant.

"If you're happy, you're not working hard enough."

2009-08-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

- Sandy Cohen, The O.C.

I'm really sad and annoyed because this morning I discovered that my eyelash curler was broken. I had a Ruby & Millie eyelash curler but somehow the top part has got cracked and it doesn't work any more. I'd had it for quite a while, maybe 18 months or so, I'd had to put new rubber bits in it and stuff, but I really, really liked it. However, because it was plastic and it cracked I'm now wondering if I should replace it with another plastic one or whether I should now get a metal one instead. I did have a metal one before, it was just a cheap, generic metal eye last curler and I didn't like it as much but at least it didn't break. Decisions.

"Therapy was invented in the sixties, do you know what invented means? It means it doesn't exist."

2009-08-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

- Ronny, How to Be

A few things I bought the other day. At the moment I really love headbands so I got two headbands from Topshop, they're both black, one is plaited and the other has a bow on it. I have a picture that I've been meaning to put up in my room since we decorated it last summer and I'm finally getting round to putting it up so I bought a couple of packets of picture hooks, they're the kind that hook over the picture rail so you don't have to be hammering things into the wall or anything. I also went to Boots and I got a foundation compact and I got the Bronzed and Gorgeous pallet free with it, it has eyeshadows, lipgloss and bronzer in it, as far as freebies go, it's pretty good, it's exactly the kind of colours I wear so I was pleased about that. I had a voucher to get so many Boots points if you bought a lipgloss or lipstick from Boots Natural Collection so I decided to get a lipgloss but when I got to the stand there was an offer on for three products for so much money so I got a mascara, a lipstick and a lipgloss. Then I went into Next and they had a stand of make up and I thought I'd try one of their glitter eye liners, it was only £1.50! I don't remember them doing make up before, but I don't really go in all that often so it may just have escaped my notice all along.

"Losers are people who are so afraid of not winning, they don't even try."

2009-08-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

- Grandpa, Little Miss Sunshine

I just thought I'd show you my latest haul (well, technically it's from last Thursday but...), I got

Ralph Lauren Goodbye Dry Body Lotion, I used to use the perfume when I was 15-16 or so but I don't really like to wear that scent any more but I still think it smells really nice so sometimes I get the lotion. For old time sake.
I love Batiste dry shampoo! I don't really like to wash my hair every single day because I don't think it does it any good, I've heard it can make it dry. Also, I'm lazy so...I just don't want to wash it and dry it and straighten it every day. So I got Batiste dry shampoo in Tropical, Diva and Boho. Usually I get the Tropical one or the Original one but they didn't have the Original so I thought I'd get Tropical and then give Diva and Boho a try. I haven't used them yet but I once got the Blush one and it was awful, it was overpoweringly floral, like old lady perfume. But hopefully the Diva and Boho will be nicer.
Agent Provocateur Emotionelle 100ml.
Prestige Cosmetics Light Response Concealer Pen in Caramel.
A little round brush to use when I'm drying my fringe.
A Limited Edition Wilkinson razor which is bright pink and it has flowers on it.
Sally Hanson Hard as Nails Xtreme in Purple Potion.
And Sally Hanson Double Duty Base and Top Coat which is clear.

My toes are in the third picture...I'm wearing red jelly shoes from Faith.

My cat, Suki, was there when I took the pictures.

“I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.”

2009-08-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

- Arthur Rimbaud

I'm really loving nOir jewellery at the moment, it's chic and edgy at the same time. I like the simplicity of the colours they use in the line, gold, silver and gunmetal mixed with rhinestones. I love all the spikes they use. Currently watching: Running in Heels

Currently watching: Running in Heels

"We need to save our show from people who don't know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk."

2009-08-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

- High School Musical (Sharpay Evans)

Rainbow Bright t shirt - Junk Food
Shorts - old Morgan cut offs
Pearl necklace - vintage
Bracelet - Disney Couture
Watch - Ted Baker
Studded sandels - Next

"When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end."

2009-08-11T12:29:00.001-07:00

- (Bella Swan) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

My new favourite boots!

Flat, black ankle boots with gun metal coloured pyramid studs along the back that I bought from Zara last week.

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy 4: 14

"Dreaming's all I do, If only they'd come true"

2009-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

- Kylie Minogue, "I Should Be So Lucky"

Graduating and thus leaving university...

My room, the living room and the kitchen in my student house, which I now miss very, very much...

It's difficult to make a room in a student house with ugly yellow paint on the walls, a gawdy red and gold border, mismatched furniture and the most gariously bright curtains ever made look pretty...so instead I covered every available surface with stuff in a poor attempt to hide the ugliness.

"Eyeliner and Cigarettes"

2009-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

- Lady Gaga, "Paparazzi"

Glasses - La Perla
Shirt - Topshop
Pin (on shirt) - David Bowie
Watch - Ted Baker
Bangle - Disney Couture
Bag - Rebecca Minkoff
Pin (on bag) - Edward Cullen
Jeans - River Island
Boots - Zara

Oh, the Guilt

2009-01-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Grey's Anatomy

Christmas Day:

Recent purchases:

David Bowie T-shirt - Topshop

Pink patent bag - Topshop

Red ribbon tie pumps - Topshop

Sparkly black socks - Topshop

Yellow nail polish - Ruby & Millie

Purple nail polish - Natural Collection

Pressed powder - 17

Pressed blusher - 17

Mascara - 17

Blusher with attached brush - 17

Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing.

2008-11-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Santa Clause

I'm going home this weekend to work at my mum's shop on saturday and sunday for some extra pennies because they're short staffed. I have a reading week next week as well so I'm going to stay at home for the week and have my tea cooked for me, my clothes washed and not have to sit under a blanket while wearing two pairs of socks, slippers, a jumper, two tshirts and thermal underwear because heating is so expensive! My parents have a big wood buring stove thing which is nice and cosy to sit infront of in the evening with the cat on your lap, purring away. It's my mum's week off work as well next week so she wants to make an early start on wrapping Christmas presents up while I'm there to help her (she's being very organised this year) while watching Christmas films since I'm not usually around at home for the run up to Christmas. There's also things to do to the Christmas cake that she's started to make (I don't really understand the making of a Christmas cake, I just stand there and do what she tells me to) and she wants us to make a Christmas pudding. So I'll be feeling all Christmassy by the time I come back to uni and it'll only be mid-November! Having said that, my housemates and I have already been thinking about what Christmas decoartions we can scrounge off our parents and what we'll have to buy and where we'll put our Christmas tree. Hopefully one of my housemates grandma's is donating her old tree to us so we don't have to buy one along with a few old baubles she doesn't want, apparently the tree is red which will be nice for a change, I've never had a red tree before, in my first year at university we had a pink tree with blue lights.

A few weeks ago I went to Funeral for a Friend in store signing. I'm not really a big fan of their's but even so it's fun to go and get your CD signed. I used to really like them when I was about 17 but not so much any more. We queued in the cold and the rain for about two hours and when we got inside one of them asked me if it was raining...I was drenched. Anyway, they were all nice and polite, they all shook my hand and thanked me for coming but they looked pretty bored, I supposed writing your name over and over again for strangers must become tiresome after a while, even though me and my friend were 5th and 6th in the queue.

I think I might have smiley chips for my tea, for a change, I don't eat much junk food.

Photo credit: Me

Currently reading: The House on Moon Lake - Francesca Durenti

The Pumpkin, the Soup and the Costumes

2008-11-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

We carved the pumpkin while listening to a Halloween CD of songs like Monstor Mash, Thriller and the Time Warp.

The Hocus Pocus Pumpkin soup.

The fairy costumes, we've all got little net skirts and black and purple wings. My skirt has black netting over the pink with little sparkly bats and stars on it.

Photo credit: Me

Currently reading: The House on Moon Lake - Francesca Duranti

A River of Candy Corn Runs Through it

2008-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

We've started decoarting the house for Halloween so we can keep the decoartions up for a week. We've hung plastic spiders, bats and skeletons off all the lamp fixtures, doorhandles and curtain poles, put cobwebs on everything, filled a plastic cauldren with Halloween sweets, hung orange and black tinsel round the door frames, put up pumpkin and witch paper garlands, stuck up Happy Halloween and This House is Haunted signs on the walls and put pumpkin fairy lights around the mantel piece.

I've also put a few decoartions up in my room.

We've got a pumpkin to carve in the fridge and we've having pumpkin soup for tea on Halloween (not home made, I might add, it's from tesco and it's called Hocus Pocus) then going to a Halloween themed comedy thing at our local pub.

Halloween is on tonight on BBC1, so I'm going to watch that I think.

Photo credit: Me

Updated

2008-10-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

I've added another link:

yummygoods

Currently selling on eBay:
A little Clinique

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2008-10-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday yesturday, my parents came to visit me and took me out for lunch at a resaurant called Vanilla and me and my housemates had a Hello Kitty tea party with Hello Kitty party hats, those things you blow, paper plates and cups and pink balloons. We were too lazy to cook so we ordered pizza and chips and had jelly and ice cream with Barbie Princess pink sprinkles and cupcakes with white glittery candles in. We played boardgames that we used to love when we were little like Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur, Mousetrap and Atmosphere. Tonight we're going to Welly.

I took some pictures of a few of my presents and cards...I forgot to photograph most of the things I got...

The living room today:

1957

2008-09-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Thin People by Sylvia Plath
They are always with us, the thin people
Meager of dimension as the gray people

On a movie-screen.
They Are unreal, we say:

It was only in a movie, it was only
In a war making evil headlines when we

Were small that they famished and
Grew so lean and would not round

Out their stalky limbs again though peace
Plumped the bellies of the mice

Under the meanest table.
It was during the long hunger-battle

They found their talent to persevere
In thinness, to come, later,

Into our bad dreams, their menace
Not guns, not abuses,

But a thin silence.
Wrapped in flea-ridded donkey skins,

Empty of complaint, forever
Drinking vinegar from tin cups: they wore

The insufferable nimbus of the lot-drawn
Scapegoat. But so thin,

So weedy a race could not remain in dreams,
Could not remain outlandish victims

In the contracted country of the head
Any more than the old woman in her mud hut could

Keep from cutting fat meat
Out of the side of the generous moon when it

Set foot nightly in her yard
Until her knife had pared

The moon to a rind of little light.
Now the thin people do not obliterate

Themselves as the dawn
Grayness blues, reddens, and the outline

Of the world comes clear and fills with color.
They persist in the sunlit room: the wallpaper

Frieze of cabbage-roses and cornflowers pales
Under their thin-lipped smiles,

Their withering kingship.
How they prop each other up!

We own no wilderness rich and deep enough
For stronghold against their stiff Battalions.

See, how the tree boles flatten
And lose their good browns

If the thin people simply stand in the forest,
Making the world go thin as a wasp's nest

And grayer; not even moving their bones.

I wanted to explode, light the sky for an instant and disappear.

2008-09-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Yukio Mishima

When I was in Cardiff, I bought some shelves and a small bedside table from Habitat. Not your usual mini-break buys I suppose. Assembling flat pack furniture isn't my strong suit, at least, I don't think it's my strong suit, I haven't ever actually tried my hand at putting together anything other than Mouse Trap when I was younger and that's tricky enough.

I've put the shelves up. They're more like boxes that sit on the wall than shelves. The bigger one is about the size of a shoe box, the other is more gift box size. I loved them in the shop and I love them on my wall but I'm at a loss as to what to put on/in them. Currently they're playing host to some nic-nacs, the smaller one is housing an ornament I was given for my fourth birthday (hence the big number four on it), it's a blonde girl (like me) wearing a dress made of holly (unlike me, I prefer clothes made of fabric but my name is holly, only spelt differently). I shoved some cards on top of the bigger box and put a small collection of breweriana on the lower shelf in the form of a Babycham bambi, a Pony and although that frame was empty when I took that picture, it now contains a Babycham beermat from the 60s just because it's survived all this time I don't want to be the one to ruin it by putting a drink on it.

I also recently bought some white floating shelves, I've got three and have managed to get one put up but it's much harder than it seems, or so I'm told so I'm still waiting for the other two to be put up. I put a few books on it to try it out.

I bought a lumber jack style shirt from Topshop in Cardiff as well.

Photo Credit: Me.

Currently listening to: Another Invented Disease - Manic Street Preachers

Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth

2008-09-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Philip Larkin

I've added a few more blogs to the Reads sections:

3191
Abby Try Again
Polkadots & Vodkashots

Currently listening to: the rain falling outside my window.

Everything's for sale

2008-09-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I go through eBay phases where I scour the house looking for things to sell. I am currently going through one such phase and at the moment I have listed a Tinkerbell snowglobe, a Me to You snowglobe, a job lot of shampoo or conditioner, a handbag, more tshirts than I care to count and some curling tongs that I could never get on with.

I've also become quite partial to selling my wares on Amazon as well, I've got lots of books, DVDs and CDs listed that I've grown bored of and have decided I'd rather have the money than a CD/DVD/book that I won't listen to/watch/read again.

Photo credit: me.

Currently listening to: Cruel Summer - Bananarama

Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair

2008-08-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Little Baby Nothing - Manic Street Preachers and Tracy Lords

So being me I completely forgot to take my camera to both the Manics and Madonna so I had to make do with my phone...with little success I have to admit. On the upside, there was a million photographers in the divide between the Golden Circle and the non-Golden Circle standing people at Madonna so I can pinch their photos.

Madonna:

Naturally Madonna was amazing! I loved every single second of it! Her voice sounded better than I expected, the show was amazing, I liked her costumes, I liked the fact that she didn't have that many costume changes so she stayed on stage most of the time, there was a good mix of old songs, more recent songs and songs from the new album (I prefer the 80s Madonna to the now Madonna really), I loved the Britney in a lift video thing...I don't get it, I don't really know what the point of it was but I loved it all the same...just publicity for Brit Brit maybe?, I liked the guitar playing Madonna, I loved being close enough to see the whites of her eyes and all of her teeth and her unusually defined cheekbones...I could go on.

The only thing I didn't much like was waiting from 5:30 when the doors opened until 9pm for Madonna to come on stage baring in mind the Golden Circle was way over packed (literally up to the railings and the stairs, evidently there's no health and safety when Madonna's in town) and there was no support act. We chatted to the people around us, took pictures of them with their friends (other people managed to remember their cameras), browsed through their programmes (I'm too cheap to buy a £25 12page book of artsy pictures that I could no doubt see on the net anyway, £15 is about my limit to spend on a programme and even then I hand over my pennies begrudgingly, I am from the tight fisted land of Yorkshire after all) but even that got boring. People had actually started booing by about 8:30 and everyone was fidgeting and my feet were hot and hurting.

Manic Street Preachers:

(Nicky Wire)

(I know this was supposed to be James Dean Bradfield but...I'm not so sure if you can actually make him out!)

(I've convinced myself that I can see Nicky on the right of the picture.)

The queen of pop was amazing but even so, the Manics were better. I loved the tiny venue (Newport Centre is a like a leasure centre and people were minding their own business swimming and doing aqua aerobics while the Manics were playing), I loved being so close to the front. They're probably my fav band so I'd have loved it no matter what to be honest.

I'm not a huge fan of Newport though, we got a wee bit lost finding the venue to begin with and happened across a bridge full of police cars and ambulances, as we drove over the bridge we could see a man on the wrong side of the railings which was unpleasent and on the way back over the bridge (having realised we'dgone the wrong way and turned around down a dodgy looking street) he was still on the wrong side of the railings but chatting on his phone. I hope someone managed to talk him down. We ended up parking on some wierd bit of waste land, purely because when it comes to parking, I'm something of a sheep and everyone else was at it so I followed suit. It didn't look the safest of placest to leave your car but a) it was free, b) didn't close at 10:30 like some car parks and c) no one could steal my car since someone decided to park behind me and then someone else parked infront of me and since I'd already parked between too cars I was surrounded on all sides so only a very persistent criminal wouldn't been able to to steal it. Maybe if they'd had a helicopter; or broke into one of the surrounding cars first, moved it, then came back for mine; or maybe if they'd driven over one of the other cars monster-truck-style, but that seems the least likely option since I drive a 1.4 Peugeot 206 not a Hummer, tractor, tank or similar.

Credit: Me (though I don't suppose anyone would be desperate enough to pass of my camera phone 'photos' as their own!)

Yaaaaaayyy!

2008-08-20T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Manic Street Preachers tickets finally arrived yesturday morning before I set off to work! Which meant that I could then officially get excited, I didn't dare let myself get too excited before unless something happened to the tickets and I couldn't go or something.

I started my packing last night and if over-packing was an Olympic sport I'd definately win another gold to add to team GB's unnusally large collection. I'm going for 4 days and I've packed 6 pairs of jeans, it wasn't until I came to pack my case that I noticed I owned jeans in every possible hue and realised what I dilema I faced in selecting which pairs/colours to take with me. I'm taking black Paper, Denim and Cloth bootcut, pink All Saints skinny, black leopard (very subtle, obviously) All Saints skinny, light blue Cheap Monday skinny, white Topshop straight cut and dark blue Dorethy Perkins skinny. I've so far packed 15 tshirts/tops which I intend to whittle down to an essential 10 tonight.

“It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.”

2008-08-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

J.D. Salinger

I've alphabetised the list of reads on the lefthand side of the page and added a few new ones. The new blogs I've added to the list are:

Fashion Fake
i heart photography
je ne sais quoi
Lisa Place
modèle de ville
NYC Donut Report
port2port
Prickly Pear Bloom
Shining Egg
Soir de Fête
The Passive Observer
The Search for Chic
Treats and Treasures
Tree Fall

I've also added a Flickr badge that links to my Flickr to the left hand side column.

"When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it."

2008-08-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Madonna.

I'm going to see Madonna on the first night of her Sticky and Sweet tour in Cardiff a week tomorrow and the tickets finally arrived on wednesday but nobody was at home so they sent them to the Post Office and I picked them up today! I'm so pleased to have them at last, it seems like ages ago when we booked them. We've got Golden Circle tickets so we won't be loitering somewhere at the back watching everything on the big screens.

Since we'll be in Wales which is about 6hours drive from where I live, we're also going to the Manic Street Preachers warm up gig for Reading and Leeds festivals in Newport, that's next thursday and according to the ticket company the tickets only came in to stock today and will be posted 'shortly' so I'm praying that they don't get held up in the post or anything.

'I got a dream and it's gonna come true'

2008-08-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

be your own PET.

I've updated the 'Reads' section.

We had what can only be described as a monsoon today! The lambs at work had a quite a good swimming lesson. (I work in the ice cream shop of a family friend's open farm).

Currently listening to: The Kelly Affair - be your own PET

'You can't put off being young until you retire'

2008-08-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Philip Larkin

I placed an order with ASOS on the 5th July and their estimated time of delivery is 3-5 working days...my parcel arrived yesturday which was the 4th July, by my reckoning that's 30 days in total and about 20 working days. I am appauled that it took so long to arrive, I hadn't ordered anything exciting either.

I ordered some naff white Rayban-alikes that I was planning on wearing in the car, a little 'purse-belt' thing in black for my mother to wear to Madonna (I have a similar one in silver) and some false eyelashes I'd planned on wearing to the wedding which I no longer need so I'm planning on putting them on eBay and they also sent me a free bag which says 'FASHION IS POSH' in pink, I recieved a 'KATE WORE MY T SHIRT' one with my previous order, I feel quite eco-friendly when I tote them around in place of carrier bags.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

2008-08-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

I was a bridesmaid at my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago and although we haven't got the photographer's photos yet, quite a few people have e-mailed me their snaps:

'A place where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed'

2008-08-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Robert G. Ingersoll.

Today I went with three of my friends (my future housemates) to meet with our new landlord to a) look around our new home for the next academic year without all the junk in it from the previous tenents and b) find out exact dates for when we can move in/get keys and also if we needed our own kettle/toaster/iron etc.

It's my final year at university and it's also two of my future housemates' final year as well and it'll be one of my future housemates first year living away from home and the rest of us have lived in university owned accomodation and last year I lived in a 'luxury' student apartment owned by an agency. I met all three of my future housemates while living in university owned accomodation in my first year; I lived with one of them (we were the only English students out of the 7 students living in our house everyone else was German, French, Spanish or Chinese so we were a very multi-cultural household...which often led to conflicts over mis-communication as language was often a barrier, food was frequently an issue but above all there was one thing that caused the most arguments and that was the humble washing up bowl, seemingly only the English use such a contraption and everybody else had a bizare and random seehting hate for the poor green plastic bowl), another lived next door to us and the third was a friend of a friend who eventually became a friend. I don't want to jinx it but it looks like this year could be the best year accomodationwise. We all get on, no one has a stupidly small room (I slept in what can only be described as a cupboard in my first year) and the landlord seems nice and reliable.

I think university owned accomodation is probably the safest way to go in your first year since you probably don't know the area and there's always the union to complain to if something goes horribly wrong. However, because they have so many properties they are not always the most reliable and unless your problem is either lifethreatening or incredibly easy to solve it will probably go to the bottom of a very large pile of other problems. We had a lot of problems with ants in our kitchen which the uni were very reluctant to do anything about even though they were crawling all over the worktops and on the chairs in the living room. the cleaner also had a habit of stealing so someone had to watch her while she cleaned to make sure she wasn't helping herself to other people's stuff.

Last year in my agency rented accomodation we had no heating throughout November and no electricity in December.

So we're hoping for better things for next year.

I've managed to bag myself the biggest bedroom. It has two windows, some disasterously jazzy curtains (the decor in the house is a little...interesting), a wardrobe bigger than most shops, a shoe rack and the biggest bed I have ever seen. The landlords are a retired husband and wife team who own two student houses and treat each as if it were a child, the wife has been and bought us a brand new kettle, toaster, microwave, washer, tumble dryer, iron and ironing board even though we would happily have supplied most of those things ourselves and popped home or to the laundrette with our washing. They've also got us Sky and a massive TV to watch it on and are currently shopping around for a new sofa for us to sit on while watching our big TV. The wife has planted a pretty little garden and hopes we'll have BBQs out there while the husband has been re-plastering walls and drilling into us the importance of setting the burgalor alarm.

'Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.'

2008-08-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sylvia Plath.

Boots haul:

Tommy Guns Basil and Sage shampoo

Tommy Guns Basil and Sage conditioner

Ruby and Millie false eye lashes

Boots dental floss

Rimmel Londen mascara

Rimmel London 050 Tangerine Queen nail varnish

'Hip hop is my passion. I love to pop, and lock, and jam, and break.'

2008-08-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Martha Cox, High School Musical.

I'm loving the new Elle photoshoot with Ashley Tisdale, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. They're trying to be all edgy and grown up. But even so, I like it. I think it's sweet that Tisdale gets her cute little dog into a picture as well, bless.

The stars of High School Musical, the little cable movie that transfixed a generation, just might convince you that singing is the new rebellion. And anyone who said that sexy had to be dirty obviously never got a look at Zac Efron.By Andrew GoldmanPhotographed by Tierney GearonStyled by Kate LanphearPerhaps we shouldn’t have been nearly so shocked as the pair of High School Musical movies grew into the money-minting behemoth and generational touchstone that they have become. The first installment of the made-for–Disney Channel movie was produced for less than $5 million (and frankly, it showed) but became perhaps one of the most influential movie musicals of all time, and certainly the most profitable (chapters one and two have spawned a $1 billion industry). Nobody could argue that for a certain tween and young-teen demographic, the stars—Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale—inspire any less of the kind of panting, overheated adoration and obsession that John Travolta and Olivia-Newton John braved when Grease was released 30 summers ago. Whenever any two of the three go out, fans have a name for the combination, be it Ashnessa, Zashley, or Zanessa. (If the trio were witnessed slurping frappuccinos in the wild, it would be a sighting of the elusive Zashnessa.) But why have these films—on their face, no smuttier than any Doris Day picture from the ’50s—exploded smack-dab in the middle of what may someday be known as the Era of the Skank, in which alarmingly little kids began lionizing a group of young celebrities who view public pantilessness as a career move?For starters, because there’s real genius behind HSM’s modesty. Kenny Ortega—the director and choreographer of the first two films, who returns for the big-budget big-screen High School Musical 3: Senior Year—knows well the winning formula for concocting a teen sensation. As Dirty Dancing’s choreographer, he was the guy who pulled Baby out of the corner and sent her soaring into Patrick Swayze’s arms. With High School Musical, Ortega demonstrates he understands that every great teen movie—whether it’s Sixteen Candles, Grease, or West Side Story—succeeds not because the lovers eventually get together but because they are kept apart for so long. How else to explain why it took two entire films for singing jock Troy Bolton (Efron) and crooning mathlete Gabriella Montez (Hudgens) to finally lock lips on-screen? “The Disney Channel has done movies where the guy and girl kiss, but Kenny thought it would be really nice if you didn’t actually see that,” says Tisdale, who plays Sharpay Evans, the couple’s foil in song and snog. “It left fans saying, ‘Wait, we have to see them kiss!’ ” And even though the feature film will cover both prom and graduation, the East High Wildcats will remain frozen in that preteen fantasy of high school. “I mean, you’re not going to see Sharpay smoking or anything!” Hudgens says. Regis will surely get to second base with Kelly long before you’ll ever witness Troy getting his paws anywhere near Gabriella’s bra strap.Not that Ortega could have produced the same brew with just any random group of agency-repped adolescents. Hudgens brings an innocent spunk to a girl who can equally rock a bikini and the Pythagorean theorem, and Tisdale possesses that kind of pretty-girl-with-comedy-chops quality that served character actresses such as Teri Garr so well. But Efron—who, in the first two outings was too much of a pup to be Travolta-in-his-prime hot—still possessed a certain animal something on-screen that caused moms everywhere to lower their newspapers to watch him shoot hoops. It’s not just that he can shake it like Elvis, it’s that he has that magnetic quality that so many of the real deals demonstrated early in their careers. Warren Beatty had it, as did Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and one former member of the Mickey Mouse Club who plotted his own Magic Kingdom escape, Justin Timberlake. Nothing is certain, of course (someone somewhere must have once dubbed Ralph Macchio the next Brando), but Efron seems to have devoted some thought to making his big move. “Leonardo DiCaprio,” Efron says when asked to name a career he’d like his to emulate. “He did it flawlessly, starting out with a teen audience and making the transition.” This would seem to rule out a High School Musical 4: The Postcollege Years, in which our trio could vie for table-waiting jobs and off-Broadway roles while the audience holds its breath waiting for the moment when Troy and Gabriella, at 21, will finally swap spit. “It feels to me like making number four might be gratuitous,” he says. You’re 100 percent sure you’re done with HSM? “I think this is the final adventure for the Wildcats. But who knows?” No pressure, Zac. If you leave them now, all those little broken hearts will heal. By college, at least.

Credit: Elle.com

'Now oh so easily you're over me'

2008-08-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Ting Tings.

I really love the Ting Tings at the moment, I bought their album a couple of days ago and I've been playing it in my car non-stop. I can't get their songs out of my head.

Wear underwear! Wear your panties!

2008-08-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

Mary-Kate Olsen.

I really love Mary-Kate look while she was out shopping with a friend in LA. The only thing I'm not so keen on is the big shirt tied around the waist.

Credit: Olsen Pap World

Everything happens for a reason, so there is no such thing as fail

2008-07-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mary-Kate Olsen.

I'm loving the new covers for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's coffee table book Influence, especially the Ashley one (the one of the right), she looks radiant...in a photoshopped kinda way.

Tonight I'm going to watch Gok's Fashion Fix, I don't always love Gok's high street fashion replicas and I'm not falling for the premise that the voting studio audience can't tell which is designer and which is high street because surely anyone with half an eye can spot a Miu Miu logo and take an educated guess as to which side is the designer side. That aside, I like to lust after the designer outfits and hear the snobbery from the fashion buyers and I like to see what Alexa Chung is wearing, and every once in a while Gok creates a nice outfit.

Credit: The Fashion Spot, Channel4.com

'A bird does not sing because it has an answer It sings because it has a song'

2008-07-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

Joan Walsh Anglund.

Sequined top - French Connection

Pale blue skinny jeans - Cheap Monday

Metallic flip flops - Bertie

Watch - Ted Baker

Red string wishbone bracelet - Dogeared

Gold bamboo bangles - Primark

Gold hearts necklace - vintage

Spotted a complete Z-lister this morning at Cafe Nero...

Dan Bryan from Big Brother...4? Or maybe 5?

I briefly entertained the idea of taking a photo of him and sending it into Heat magazine in the hope of getting 'Crap Spot of the Week' but since he barged infront of us in the queue I don't think he deserves a magazine mention of any kind.

Happy Bunnies

2008-03-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

I love both Mary-Kate and Ashley's outfits in this new photoshoot for the Daily Telegraph free colour suppliment Stella but their faces look so glum and sad...other than that I think the shots are beautiful.

Currently listening to: Suicide is Painless - Manic Street Preachers

Snap, Crackle and Pop

2008-03-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

I made some chocolate crispy buns today:

Yummy.

I bought four plain t shirts from Zara; grey, white and black with v necks and a brown crew neck one:

The first three are the same as the yellow Zara t shirt I bought a few days ago, I like the cut so I bought a few more. I like plain t shirts because you can dress them up however you want.

Currently listening to: Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails

Yellow please

2008-03-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

I know when it comes to fashion Victoria Beckham isn't terribly inovative but I think she always seems to know what works and she pretty much always looks amazing (except maybe that Marc Jacobs pink thing she wore to the Spice Girls Victoria's Secret performance...) and I love this outfit, it really makes me think I need some yellow jeans...

Credit: ONTD

Latest Purchases

2008-03-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

Bertie silver lace ups:

All Saints parachute skirt:

White pin stripe shirt from Zara:

Yellow t shirt, also from Zara:

Lots of Clinique, some Hard Candy and a Too Faced mascara:

Essay Time

2008-01-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

I think probably the worst part of the end of the Christmas period when you're a student is that it means you have to start all those essays and do all that revision you didn't bother to start in December because it was Christmas which or course is the perfect excuse to eat loads, wear glitter and do no work. Which is exactly what I did. My priorities become all askew as soon as December arrives; I can't do anything truely constructive like write essays, revise, fill out forms etc. etc. but I have boundless time for making Christmas cards, making Christmas cake, shopping, putting up decorations, shopping, looking out the window hoping will snow, shopping, watching Christmas special, watching made for TV (aka, dismally rubbish) Christmas films (I actually tape them when I can't be there to watch them and other such Christmas-related things which seems so trivial from the first of January. So now I have tons of work to do, I have two essays to write by the 14th, two questions for a seen exam to prepare for on the 15th, an unseen exam to prepare for on the 21st and another essay to do for the 31st. Luckily I do everything at the last minute anyway, if you give me a deadline 6months in advance I'll still only just have started by the week before it's due, so I'm accustomed to doing everything in a rush.

In addition to rushing through all my univesity work, I'm selling half the house on eBay. I'm on a decluttering mission but at the moment there's an enormous heap of stuff ready to be sold on the floor in my bedroom. I currently have 25 items listed (some craft items and some CDs), only 4 of which are selling.

New Year

2007-12-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm spending my New Year in a really exciting way: babysitting and watching High School Musical 2 and Hairspray!

Christmas Eve!

2007-12-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

So it's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting here blogging and folding napkins ready for the Christmas Eve dinner table. The napkins are cute and have The Snowman on them but unfortunately the pattern doesn't lend itself too well to being folded but hopefully they'll look cute on the table all the same. My mum collects the older Snowman ornaments, the ones from the '80s so it's obligatory for us to have Snowman napkins, Snowman loo roll, Snowman kitchen paper, Snowman tissues etc. etc.

Last time I went to London I picked up a gingerbread house kit from Harrods, it's basically a cheats way of making a gingerbread house, they give you the house in pieces and a few figurines (witch, Hansel, Gretel) and you stick it together with icing. Here's the way my attempt turned out.

I always make a Christmas cake with my mum, we made the cake some time ago and have been tossing the brandy on it from time to time and we finally iced it and decorated it last night.

Advent

2007-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

So yesturday was the first day of advent so out came the advent calanders. I've been home this weekend and my mum got the advent calander out the she made me years and years ago, normally she puts little presents in each pocket but this year she's put chocolates in with Victorian style Christmas drawings on the wrappers.

I always get an advent calander as well in return, now that I'm older. I got her this Snowman one from Marks and Spencers because she collects the Royal Doulton Snowman ornaments.

We have a little felt envelope for us to put our Christmas lists in as well which is currently hanging above the fire place in the dining room but it'll be moved next week when we put the decorations up.

We bought this CD yesturday because it has 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' from the Marks and Spencers advert on it. It's a nice CD with a mixture of old songs and classic Christmas songs like Band Aid and Wizzard on it.

We got several packets of Christmas pot pourri last week in York so my mum has put vases and bowls of it everywhere to make the house smell all Christmassy. I can't for next week to put the rest of the decorations up! So I'm coming home next weekend as well which is the last weekend before the end of this semester, we break up for the Christmas holidays a week next friday which is the 14th!

Yesturday I went Christmas shopping with my dad for gifts for my mum, we had a suprisingly successful trip even though we didn't have a list, I also bought It's a Wonderful Life on DVD because I've never seen it before and everyone always says it's their favourite Christmas film so I'm really looking forward to watching it. Last night me and my mum made a start on wrapping the families Christmas presents while watching The Muppet Christmas Carol and The Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie on video (how retro!) while drinking hot chocolate.

Currently watching: Father Christmas

Last weekend

2007-11-24T04:16:00.001-08:00

Last sunday was a really miserable day, it rained most of the time so I decided to dash to the university library to check my e-mails and eBay (I've been selling lots of stuff on there just lately) and then go back to my flat and curl up where it's warm with a cup of tea and read some magazines and some Christmassy books to get me in the mood.

I took this picture on my way back from the library, it had just about stopped raining as I was walking but you can kinda tell how wet it is and the trees look all pretty in their different colours.

I'm also in the process of making Christmas decorations to give to people as gifts. I'll scan the article later on.

Currently listening to: Plumb - Damaged

Apologies...

2007-11-16T14:14:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the rubbish quality photographs, I took them with my phone with its 2 megapixel camara. They'd still be badly composed even with the best camara in the world but at least they wouldn't be so grainy.

First real post

2007-11-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

I'm a second year university student and I live in a 'luxury' student 'apartment' which is essentially a slightly posher student flat with new furniture instead of old cast-offs from the landlord's family and friends, nice new carpets in the bedrooms rather than musty 1970s carpets that are thread bare and probably started to smell long before they went out of fashion, a fitted kitchen with real units and working appliances - our's is what I can only assume is what the landlord considers to be trendy with shiny white units, some with red doors and some with frosted glass doors, grey work tops and flooring and more chrome than you can shake a stick at; chrome appliances, chrome handles, chrome utensils, chrome chairs, chrome table etc. etc., we have two bathrooms between the six of us; one for the boys (a hazardous obstacle course of unwashed boxer shorts and empty shower gel containers) and one for the girls (a tranquil oasis with purple cented candles and stylish wooden mats). The nicest thing about apartment, which last year used to be 11 school class rooms and a school dining room, are the charming original Victorian floor tiles in the hallway and porch.

My room used to be the school's kitchen. I only have a small desk so unfortunately it doesn't lend itself very well to crafting, there's just about enough room for my computer and all of it's assorted odments.
I'm not really a fan of posters but I do like photography. Other people's photography that is, not my own. These are just some photo's I've snipped out of magazines and arranged around that plastic square thing, it looks quite at home there in amongst the pictures.
Today I decided this half of a box would make a nice trinket box.

Really it's just half of the packaging for this handwarmer from Accessorize but the pattern was too pretty to throw away.

Being the exciting party-going student that I am, last night I say in my room with a hot chocolate and painted my nails while watching Never Mind the Buzzcocks and The Devil Wears Prada.

Currently listening to: The Matches - Shoot Me in the Smile

Welcome!

2007-11-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome!