Merry late Xmas everyone!

A tad bit late but as per usual, I'm pretty much late for everything. So ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!!

My christmas was good this year - plenty of food :) definitely most important! I wore my dinosaur onesie christmas day and boxing day - very cold in the house so I had something to warm me up. Family have come and gone so it feels like christmas this year didn't last very long. I'm very disappointed with the lack of a white christmas. One day it will happen (or so I say.....to myself.......every year........)

I won't be setting up an alarm in the morning. Feels like ages since I've slept in and I deserve a massive lie-in. No more half four in the morning wakes!

Turkey leftovers for tomorrow. So many leftovers. Though I'm quite happy knowing I won't have to cook for awhile. Won't last long!

Chocolate sticks

So...I tried those little chocolate sticks I got from Brussels. OMG - it was delicious!! It's so fun twirling the little stick in hot milk and watching all the chocolate melt from it. I really have to go and buy more of these. I heard they stock these in shops around here but I haven't seen any yet.

These really are lovely and great to have in time for winter. Mmmmm....melt in the mouth...

October wins!

I've slowed down a bit on my comping lately - mainly due to work. So any win is really a bonus :) and a nice surprise!

Here are my October wins:

 

I'm rather intrigued by the steamcream I received. It uses natural ingredients fused together by a shot of steam. It's very lightweight and excellent for hydration. It smells typical of cream but not in a bad way, and the consistency is not very thick with a nice creamy texture. I'm pretty happy with my little wins!

Milano cookies taste so gooooood

Pepperidge Farm describes its cookies as "deep rich chocolate, exquisite cookies".

They sure are exquisite.

I almost ravished the whole packet. I bought them while they were on offer. I'd just take one, nibble on it, then take another, nibble on that one, and then one more, nibble on it, just one more.............and soon I've devoured the whole lot. And I don't regret it one bit - just so satisfying!

Adventures in Brussels

I went to Brussels for a day trip yesterday. We started off badly and missed the eurostar. As we got towards the escalators leading towards the eurostar, the glass doors automatically shut. The lady tried to stop the doors and wanted us to run up there to catch it - which we most definitely would have done, but it was too late. We still had 5 minutes before the train left the platform but we were refused entry. Grr! Instead, we had to wait two hours for the next train. Therefore, we already lost our two hours of exploring. Double grr!

Eventually we were on our way. There wasn't much on my list of things to do: beer, chocolates, waffles (what else am I expecting of Belgium?) We wanted to take the Metro to reach different areas for exploring and so queued up in a long queue at the ticket office. Took a while and when it was our turn, the ticket machine decided to conveniently break down. We were already not impressed with the turn of events!

The day did get better and we managed some wandering. Visited Grand Place, saw Tintin lookalikes, couldn't find the Moof museum I had in mind, oohed and aahed over the teeny weeny buildings in mini-europe, and popped into a few shops. Time passed pretty quickly.

I tried Belgium fries - I assumed they were quite popular because of the crazy long queues. They were nice though. Unfortunately I had a little too much and my stomach was too full to fit any waffles in. I had to cross waffles off my list. Chocolates were far too expensive for me to buy any but they very pretty to browse. I did get a couple of those chocolate sticks. I first saw them in a Chinese drama I was watching and thought to myself, "Oooooh, that looks awesome. I want to try that!" So I'll give it a try at a later point.

I really wanted to try beer in a bar but it didn't work out as those I was with sadly do not drink alcohol. I need buy some though so I guess that'll make up for it!

Here's my tiny little haul I managed to bring back with me (tried to make the image bigger but it won't let me):

 

I've started comping again :)

Yes, and now it all begins once again. I've begun entering competitions again in the hope that I win something big. I think I started again at the beginning of September and I've had three little wins so far: tickets to London Fashion Week catwalk show (which I've posted about previously), McCains chips (which I have yet to receive still) and Equinox Kombucha teas which I delightfully received in the post today.

I think I'll have to start posting up all my winnings to give me a boost. I'm still aiming for a television or a pretty Ipad - now, wouldn't that be lovely?

Postie drunk on my Baileys?

I received my small sample of Bailey's Chocolat Luxe. Sounds delicious so I'm looking forward to trying it out but I won't since it's getting late (and I bet you all say - when it's late, it's even better!). I need to treasure my beauty sleep - too much working at the moment!

Anyway, I received this little treasure in the post and it made me think back to the last sample of Bailey's I had sent to my house. It was during christmas and I think they had this new Bailey's hazelnut one or something of the sort.

I was NOT happy.

Some little devil had opened up my post and proceeded to drink my little Bailey's bottle. Adding further insult, the little devil decided it would be hilarious to return the bottle in it's packaging and deliver it alongside the rest of my post.

I never did try that Bailey's :(

London Fashion Week: Palmer & Harding

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Palmer and Harding's catwalk show as part of London's Fashion Week. It was my first time going to anything of the kind and it was pretty amazing. The stage was beautifully set with with scaffolding and we had front row tickets (plus goody bag - who can forget the perks of going to such a show!)

I wasn't aware of the usual arrangement so I just sat for enjoyment. The models came out and walked around the scaffolding....but not for a particularly long time. The show ended with the models standing in a row at the front of the stage where photographers were given more than enough time to take photos. The designers were around to take questions and the audience mingled with drinks.

I'm quite fond of the last photo I took of two models having a talk amongst themselves. Captures a little something.

Siro-A

I went to see Siro-A perform last week. They have been compared to the blue-man group but a Japanese version. I've heard that the blue-man group are amazing so I was expecting something good to come out of this.

Siro-A are a group of six men who perform through dance, mime and puppetry using astonishing visual effects. I knew it would be absolutely new and different for me - which was mainly the reason why I wanted to go. Most likely because it contained a lot of electro soundtracks which I'm not at all into. But it being totally out of my comfort zone, I felt a need to go see it.

It was exhilarating and out of this world. Smile.

It completely hit my expectations and the performance was amazing. Even though it was a short hour and a half (ish), it seemed far longer and I couldn't believe how much they fitted into that small space of time. Siro-A had so much energy on stage and they involved the audience as much as they could. It was brilliant.

Reading up on some info after the show, I found out they performed at the Shanghai Expo to 30,000 people and they won the Spirit of the Fringe award at the Edinburgh Festival. At this point, I'm going "ooooooooo............."

If you happen to be in and around London, I definitely recommend these guys to you. You wouldn't regret it. They're still performing at Leicester Square Theatre up until the 13th October.

Your attention will definitely be captured.

Rush

I saw a preview of Rush the other day - a movie due to come out in cinemas next week. The film is based on a true story about the rivarly between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the world of Formula One. There was a review I read just before the movie telling me how the film's depiction of the two characters were spot-on, however the action on the race-course were pretty poor. This appeared to be very true and I enjoyed the film to a certain extent.

I'm not a very big fan of motorsport and I hadn't even heard of these two characters before. But the movie's storyline captured me and it was one of those films that I really wanted to see. The movie theatre was packed and they insisted on I.D before I went in. Luckily I had no problems. Upon arriving right on time due to my other party's lateness, we were forced to sit at the very front. So there I was squirming in the front seat of the cinema screen with my neck at a crooked angle fidgeting throughout.

I love movies based on a true story (apart from the horror ones - that would scar me for life!). It relives the past and they have a tendency to link it to the real life events before the credits roll. This reminds me of Argo - I thought the movie was exceptionally good, and the resemblance between the movie and the actual event were so brilliantly close. These type of movies always makes me want to find out more when I get home.

Free movie screenings are the best!

Am I after something crazy to happen?

I'm wondering if I have some hidden wish to be robbed.

I'm having dreams of work. Bit of a boring job really - in an office dealing with monies. Both dreams felt so real - like it really happened. In last night's dream, I was working.

My colleague left a little early for our break - she didn't want to wait for me and seemed a bit irritated. So I finished off what I was doing and was about the leave.......when I saw two faces peering through the small window where money is usually moved in and out of the office. That freaked me out a little. They didn't see me but I could see them breaking the window. At that time I was in between two set of doors that lead in and out of the office.

I pressed the panic alarm and wondered if it was working. I looked back and they were climbing through the window. One man and one woman. The man was caucasian and looked in his late forties or early fifties. The woman was black and was a bit large in size, around her thirties. The images of what they looked like was so vivid. She had a little difficulty trying to get in and he gave her a helping hand. She seemed very capable as soon as she was in, like she knew what she was doing. Jumping up on her feet, she moved around the office....searching, and looking around.

I got a creepy vibe from the man. I pressed the panic alarm again but I still wasn't sure if anyone was coming. I quietly crept through the other doors, trying so hard not to make any sound. The man came towards the doors - it was as if he knew something was up - like I was there. His eyes darted through the other window which I was peering through before when I saw them come in. He had a very creepy crazy look about him.

I went and tried to hide somewhere. Anywhere. I could hear him saying "burglar, burglar, burglar" in a repetitive way. He was like the joker - just saying that one word over and over again in a sing-song. My heart was caught somewhere in my throat. Where could I hide so I wouldn't be found?

I woke up then. But his sing-song voice stayed in my head.

That was one uncomfortable dream.

My other previous dream was something similar but the people breaking in were like expert ninjas. They must have heard me come through the doors of the office and they all froze. I froze too and slowly backed out. Ran off to find security. They were gone by the time I returned.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just waiting for the day something crazy would happen.

Fishie fishie, in the sea

I'm having a grand time with beaches lately. I visited Bournemouth two days ago with a couple of friends where we built a big hole in the sand hoping to "dig our way to China". Obviously China never happened but the hole....well, we were pretty proud of it. We even leapt over it in glee.

Today I went Brighton with family. The boys wanted to do a bit of fishing since it's been a while since the last time. They were more successful this time round and caught over 35 mackerels. As far as I know, they're still going it as I'm getting ready for bed. My brother said - "...One was crying wen I dehooked it.. soo cute" That made me think he was the cute one.

So I've fishnapped 14 of their caught fish and stored them in my freezer for dinner time. Woo! Can't wait. I do love my fish!

Pay to snooze?

Hah! I just heard that someone created an alarm clock where if you press the snooze button, it sends a certain amount of money from your bank account to charity. Nice thought but I definitely wouldn't want to try this out. By the time I fully wake up, I'd be broke!

300 hats 300 caps

Half of the family went away on holiday while I remained behind. Work didn't allow me to go (tsk). I was home and a delivery man came with a huge box. I signed it without much thought. After a few moments, I had a little think. I never ordered anything. My sister would be the only one and her name was on it. I was curious to see what she might have ordered in a box so big. I messaged her telling her I was going to open it and peer in out of curiosity knowing she wouldn't mind.

To my surprise, there were 300 blue caps inside. Someone had ordered it for a marathon but it definitely wasn't us. I messaged my sister again and made a joke out of it. I don't think she took me seriously until she came home from her holiday. How many hats did she want to wear?

It took a very long time to resolve the problem and get it sent away. Apparently the sender had sent double the shipment but the one to our address was a mistake. Now, if only it were candy - no one would ever see that extra shipment ever again..............!

Just an update

I was looking forward to my run in the morning. I had planned my route and everything and even had an early night. Unfortunately, it decided to downpour at midnight waking me up and giving me an uneasy sleep.

My dreams were muddled up and I remember I was holidaying alone somewhere and ran into a random hotel room weeping. Someone came in and I told them to go away. I was in hysterics. He said it was his room and I shouldn't be there. The man gave me directions to my hotel and off I went to look for it. I somehow was lost again and couldn't find the hotel I was supposed to be staying at. I came across another gentleman. He worked at a different hotel and asked me why I hadn't chosen his hotel. It would have been better that way. I agreed but I was still so desperate to find my particular hotel. His kindness stood out. It's all I remember of it but looking back, it was quite an uncomfortable dream to have.

I awoke after 5pm, stuck my hand out the window, shivered, and crawled back to bed. I couldn't quite see whether it was raining or not as my eyes were all gluey but it sounded like light rain. I stayed in the warmth of my bed and decided I didn't want to catch a cold if I ran. I didn't have anything particular warm to run in. All I had was light gym stuff.

So today I had to run a few errands anyway. Bus would have been the lazy way out so I decided to speed walk and take that as my exercise for the day.

I have a lot of work today but boredom has been filling me the last couple of days. Makes me want to do nothing. I've been watching The Voice in China. I don't understand Mandarin but I get the odd phrases here and there. I feel like there's more going on than the one I've watched in the UK, plus the singers are far more talented.

Ugh boredom boredom. Any suggestions welcome. But I do have some anime I need to catch up on......I feel more lazy days are coming!

Morning runs are the best

Everybody's been complaining about the hot weather lately in London. I've been enjoying the sun somewhat but I tried to stay in the house as often as possible - though that didn't work out too well. My past couple of weeks have been filled with work, work and more work. Usually awake by half 5 in the morning, off to work, back home, do more work, and sleep around midnight. Or if I have time, I have a run in the mornings as my gym has closed down for a month for refurbishment. I don't want to be without exercise for a month so I'm making an effort to go out for my run. Early mornings are refreshing! And less people around = less embarrassment!

Oh, and I've improved my runs. Managed to do my route of 2 miles non-stop. Might need to twiddle it around a bit so I'm made to run more. I think my previous stopping-and-starting was due to not being used to running and people staring at me and making me feel self-conscious. That doesn't happen as much in the mornings. Plus running into other runners (pardon my pun haha) gives me more of a push to continue.

Go me go!!

Men's toilets the wrong direction to go!

I went to see the Internship in the cinema yesterday evening before it's official release. Just before the movie started, I wanted to pop into the toilet. Worse thing is wanting to go toilet during the best parts of a movie. I don't think I've ever done it and pretty much get annoyed when people in front of me do. I get distracted very easily!

So off I went, hunting for the toilets. I looked up and there was a sign there. The male and female icons was arrowed left and the disabled and baby changing was arrowed forward. Fair enough. I headed towards the left and glanced at the door. It had a funny looking icon and it looked like someone messed around with it. Meh, I thought. You often get toilets with strange, funky signs but you accept them anyway because they're meant to be cool.

In a way, I knew.

I thought it was strange......and the icon looked like a man. But the arrows pointed in this direction, so it must be. You know how you get some toilets where you enter through a door and the men's are on the left and the women's are on the right? Well, I assumed it might be one of those. I pushed open the door and met another door. But only one. How odd.

I pushed it and srraightaway I saw urinals lined across a wall. Omg, I just walked into the men's toilets!! Big woops! I was lucky not to come across anyone inside and I edged away quickly. A girl walked past as I left the final door and goodness knows what she thought.

The ladies were actually in the direction of the disabled and baby changing.

The signs were so misleading!! *blush* I hope I wasn't the only one to make that same mistake.

Zombie status

I couldn't sleep at all last night. A toss here, a toss there. Just could not settle down into sleep. Then I was having a dream where I was looking into a mirror at my hair and pulling out something what seemed like broken mirror shards. I could see it reflecting in the light. I awoke after pressing my snooze button a dozen times and looked at the time.

05.30am.

My head immediately told me my bus was due in 6 minutes exactly. I changed into my work clothes, put my uncombed hair into a ponytail and literally just walked out the house. Ran for a bit for the bus too. Managed to catch it and just sat there in a daze for a good 5 minutes or so.

Then I thought to myself, "Hang on a sec, what day is it today?" I had to search for the date on my phone. I wasn't actually due to leave home for a good 20 minutes. I wept (not literally). I could have brushed my teeth! I drank two cups of coffee at work and felt like a zombie throughout the day.

I brushed my teeth as soon as I reached home. I hate the feeling of unbrushed teeth - stays on my mind for a long time and I think my little bacteria are having a mini party inside.

One of those stupid moments

I was so tired the other night.

I was attempting to retrieve something from one of my drawers. You know, the ones with the knob in the middle - you pull and ta-dah! it opens.

My mind wasn't processing normally. I sat down on the floor right in front of my drawer and started pawing at it for it to open. Obviously that wasn't the way it works. I did that for a good few minutes, staring at my drawer rather stupidly. Why won't it open? Then I tried grabbing in from the sides and pulling at it but it still refused to budge. Confuddled - I stared at it for another long while before realisation hit.

Then I laughed.

Note: I didn't drink that night.

I've made improvement! ...& a bit about ROA

I went gym straight after work yesterday. I knew I would be exhausted by the end of it as I hadn't stopped moving since getting up around 5am til getting home around 11pm. But here I am, pushing myself to see how far I could go. Though I do have to travel all the way into central to reach the gym - it's free so why not? I refuse to pay £30-odd to work out. Though I may reconsider when I can no longer go for free........

Happy time in the gym: I did 30 minutes on the bike, 15 on the rowing machine and 20 on the treadmill (2.6 miles~not bad). I was sweating like I'd never sweated before, red-faced (it won't go!) and with empty water bottle in hand.

I'm wondering if I can keep this up when I will have to work 6/7 days a week - covering others' holidays at work. I'm still aiming to do twice a week - Wednesdays and Fridays.

On another note, ROA did a beautiful piece down by southbank which I will definitely have to go seek out. Hopefully they won't erase it and everyone can see how awesome it is! He has another one down Bethnal Green - I went there once trying to hunt it down without knowing the exact location because everyone was being so secretive about it and couldn't find it. I had to go back a second time with success - I found it and here it is -

Can't....run.....anymore......

I've started going to the gym. Yesterday was the first day I stepped foot in one. Never would I have thought I would. I spent a good half hour on the exercise bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I'm quite happy with how much I had done (perhaps a bit more than I expected). I still feel like I know nothing about the gym and getting fit but hurray for starting somewhere. Running for buses always made me out of breath so I knew I was mightily unfit. I was a bit intimidated by the stares of other men though and the naked ladies in the changing room. Though I was forewarned!

Today I attempted to do some running around my area. Even the thought of it always made me feel intimidated. I'd always wanted to go running but my dodgy area where I live displeases me and I thought it unsafe. But today, meh to this thinking. I was only hoping that I wouldn't come across too many people or traffic (I'm well aware I look like an idiot when I run and my face goes an unsightly red very quickly - proof from yesterday).

You'd never guess: I came across the bus driver I knew, the postman who thinks I ignore him, and two police officers along with the occasional workman. Maybe I should just go running early morning (too many commuters?) or at night (oh my god, am I going to get stabbed?).

And it was such an awful run. I felt I could do way more on a treadmill than I can outside. I logged my run and completed 2.11 miles in 25 minutes. Now that is awful. I stopped running around 6 times because I couldn't take it (weeps) and because I decided to leave my water bottle at home. Never again! Bottle will come with me next time. I can't really judge if I did well or not since it is my first run outside. Hopefully, I'll keep this going. Gym maybe twice a week. Runs - once a week? I need a run buddy.....

Do you know what motivates me? Kitkat. Yes, kitkat. I see how much calories I burn and I think to myself - that's my kitkat gone. 107 calories.

Lemon Tea

A thought popped into my head which I found amusing.

I remember attempting to make lemon tea. I thought making it would be pretty simple.  I popped an ordinary teabag (most likely PG Tips) into a cup along with lemon slices. I added water and then milk and, to my horror, it curdled up. Terrible mistake and I believe I didn't even attempt to taste it. White frothiness.

I stupidly made the same mistake another time, forgetting the first mistake I made.

I'm sure I'll forget and it will happen again!

Graffiti - art in a different form

I love graffiti. Absolutely love it.

This is one of the reasons why I really like London. You can find amazing graffiti all around - and sometimes you can come across them without realising it. For example, literally just around the corner from the city - in and around Liverpool Street with men/women in suits - there is a whole different side of London to be seen. Shoreditch and Brick Lane are two of the best places to go. And very often I go for a wander into London just to search for the latest piece that catches my eye.

I'm very particular in tastes for graffiti. I find tags rather distasteful and a poor sight. But when you really search for it, some of the things you might see just takes your breath away. I have a few firm favourites like ROA, Phlegm and Otto Schade who I keep an eye out for. ROA is my absolute favourite though. He held an exhibition in London not so long ago and I was amazed. I'm actually browsing right now and have a newfound interest in DALeast who has just put up a few pieces around London that I am planning to see.

Below are a few I have captured on my phone during my wanderings:

This one is by ROA - this piece is massive and very close to Shoreditch Underground. It is still there but it has been somewhat ruined by the tagging which you can see underneath it.

Stik does many great pieces everywhere in London. I'm sure he has more than 200 Stik figures pasted all around walls and doors! I'd be surprised if you've lived in London for a long time and never seen one before!

I haven't seen much of Phlegm's work but what I have seen - I like.

And this cute little piece is by Ronzo. I adore this :)

Would you rather?

My neck is still rather sore and painful. Give it time I say....(how much time I ask myself?)

Anyway, I thought I'd play around with "Would you rather?" which gives you a dilemma and provides two choices which you have to mull over. So I googled and here's a few I came upon....

Would you rather.....nail all your fingers to a table OR break every bone in your hand?
Wow - the first one they give me is a gruesome one and I'm suppose to pick which pain I would prefer. Isn't the pain in my neck enough? Hmm...whichever I choose, I would have to put into action. Which one gives me less pain - because, obviously, no one wants to experience any discomfort whatsoever. I think I'll go with nailing my fingers to a table. I'd also make sure I'm at a hospital when that happens so they can fix me up pretty quickly while I'm writhing in pain. Breaking every bone in your hand sounds pretty painful and I'm sure there's a lot of bones to break *googles* Oooh that's 27 bones I would have to break. And I have 5 fingers. Nailing my fingers to a table it is!

Would you rather.....kiss a frog OR be a frog?
This one's easy. I'd kiss a frog. Done within a second and I don't have any squeamish qualms. You can get cute frogs too. Just make sure it isn't a poisonous one! Also, there could be a chance that I can find my prince charming. Sounds even better now....

Would you rather.....be seen as quite dull and boring OR be hated.
This one is quite simple too. Because I tend to be a shy and quiet person, people have often seen me as dull and boring. No new experiences there! I wouldn't want to be hated - that makes me sad. Besides, it does say "seen" as quite dull and boring, but it isn't necessarily true that you are. I know I'm not. You just need to get to know me better *evil grin*

Would you rather.....have 1 dollar OR have 1 chicken?
I'm starting to feel skeptical towards these questions. Chicken is the answer. No point having one dollar - it's not much and I can't spend it in the UK anyway. I'd end up buying penny sweets (which unfortunately is a rarity now). With the chicken - I'd look after it well and it can give me my morning eggs. The chicken can be my pet too and we'll play chase in the garden.

Okay one more. Would you rather.....be used as a human paintbrush by a giant OR only travel by goat for the rest of your life?
This is hilarious. It depends really. If the giant was gentle and he was painting you across a nice flat smooth wall then that's fine. But if he's walloping you against a brick wall......well, let's just say it doesn't paint a pretty picture. Would the giant be using you to paint only once.....because that would seem short-term compared to travelling by goat for the rest of your life. The goat appeals to me though because then I would have a travelling companion and he'd only be used for travel - which is great if my I'm feeling tired!

I'm in pain.....it hurts!!

I made a joke to my brother. I said yesterday that I'd spend all of today sunbathing - you know...catching up on some sun that I'd missed when I went Hong Kong. And besides, my legs are pasty. It's like I've never seen sunshine before - I have the colouring of a vampire. Obviously I hadn't planned on spending all day in the garden - perhaps just a little for some nice sunshine but I was looking forward to cooking. And the house needs a little hoovering too. I also have some other work that needs catching up. Sunbathing all day seems un-do-able for me - I'd find it a bore. I'd feel like I'm wasting the day away just sitting there soaking in some sun when I could be doing something productive. I'd be all fidgety.

My plans fell through.

I woke up this morning and I'd somehow strained my right neck. I'm a little bit awkward in my actions and any slight movement to the right side of my neck pains me. I'm in the garden catching some sun because that's all I can do right now. I'm hoping that the pain will ease somewhat soon so I can get to doing the simpliest of things. How unfortunate.

I can't dodge the wasps and massive bumblebees either - because that pains me so!

Never got to see the pandas

I'm becoming lazy with the blogging again.

I recently went to Hong Kong for about a week and this was one trip I'd been looking forward to for a good two years. I missed out on the trip last year because work is really evil and refuse to give me holidays (despite the fact that I wanted to take a couple days off, and I didn't have the heart to call in sick which I suppose I should have on reflection). My parents come from Hong Kong and the place always feel like a second home to me. I feel closer to my culture and completely love the experiences I have every time I am there. I think the place is amazing!

It wasn't much of a holiday though to be honest. It rained almost every day and the odd occasion which it didn't, we painted the roof of our flat (paint and rain isn't a good mix!) We had planned to go visit Ocean Park -- I was dying to see the pandas - but unfortunately the rain prevented us from going. It was a huge disappointment for me. I'd lost all my photos I'd taken the last time I saw the pandas. They were so cute and adorable and they were nibbling on their bamboo shoots.

I spent most of my time in Hong Kong eating and seeing family. Not much in terms of sightseeing. Eating was superb. Dim sum every single day. Absolutely loved it. The dim sum is so much different to the dim sum here in London (I tend to go to China Town in Central). Best thing was the sui mai. I don't care what they put in it, they always taste soooo good. Mum tells me off for eating and loving it too much!

Coming back to London made me sad. I fell ill for a couple of days. Bed-ridden and sad. I'm guessing it must be post-holiday blues. I'm actually considering moving to Hong Kong for good but I'll keep my options open. Looking for work here is so hard and I think perhaps Hong Kong might provide me with better opportunities. We shall see.

Which famous people have you seen?

Living in London gives you the opportunity to see famous people when you're out and about...or around. I remember the first time I got roped in was when I was at Uni. It was nighttime and I was passing through Leceister Square when I noticed a huge crowd surrounding Vue, one of the cinemas there. I decided, mostly out of curiosity, to stay and see what I might find. I can't quite remember which premiere it was *goes to find out* ............nope, can't figure out which movie it was. It wasn't one of the big ones though.

So I'm there, at the front. I somehow found a way to wiggle up to the front to find out what's going on. I don't even recall if I waited a long time but it must have been a while as these events do take their time. So here I am, and Ewan McGregor pop's right out and everyone is screaming and people around me were desperate to get a whiff of him, be it a photo or a signature. He indeed came very close to me that I could have very well touched his face. But I didn't. I wasn't a crazy fan of his.

Out of fun, I went to stand around for a long duration at another premiere and dragged my sister to this one. It was War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise in 2005 - so a good few years back. My memories of it is hazy. It was a lovely day and there were hoards of people everywhere. We got there pretty early to avoid being stuck around the back. I'm one of those that love being at the front of any event otherwise it isn't worth the bother (I make a special point of this when going to gigs or concerts - definitely not worth the money if I'm in the distance and particularly awful if I'm having to watch things from a small screen when I could kick back and relax and watch it on telly at home!). My technique (yes I have a technique!) was to, in time, make my way to the front as people shuffle and move around. I made it! My technique works well I'm chuffed to say.

I'm no good at recognising people. Generally I need others to tell me who they are so I can say ooooooh. That was then so imagine what I am like now. I think I've offended my postman by not recognising him outside of his work uniform. I'll defend myself by blaming his hat. He doesn't wear the cap when he's not working. I still don't recognise him I'm ashamed to say. I'm moving away from the topic. I only recall seeing three well-know people at the War of the Worlds premiere: Tom Cruise (of course! It would be embarassing to say I never saw him!!), Dakota Fanning (oh how she's grown now from when I saw her here at this premiere) and Greg Rusedski (he was one of my surprise highlights of the day as I'm a tennis fan and seeing him was like wooooah).

To keep this blog entry from getting too long, other well-known people I've seen are:

- the Backstreet Boys (twice in concert - my favourite band in the whole wide world!)
- Novak Djokovic (twice at the ATP Finals in November at the O2 - tennis fan! Though it would complete me to see Roger Federer - my all-time favourite)
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (he played Djokovic) and Mardy Fish
- Vivienne Westwood (when I was out and about and she passed by in a car attending a funeral I believe)
- Joanna Lumley (near Brick Lane when she was promoting M&S 'swap and shop' and I didn't recognise her until I saw in the paper on the way home)

There are more, for which I can't recall right now. I'll edit it in if I do. There have been a number of people friends have pointed out to me but I fail to know who they are!

London is a big place with so many people, and perhaps even you might bump into someone well-known yourself one day.

Eggs and sneaky sellers

I'm typing in the dark. Let's see how well I know my keys. You can't judge because you can't see!

I dragged my sister around Covent Garden on Saturday to hunt for the eggs they've "hidden" around the area. They're raising money for Action For Children (I believe) and have gotten artists from all over to decorate large(ish) eggs which are sold and bidded away. There are 101 of them, which we all found. A lot of them weren't difficult to find. The Big Egg Hunt did do a very similar thing last year and it was definitely much harder to find them all as they were dotted all over London. That one was a lot of fun. Shame this one is only on for a short period.

The eggs were only around up until last Sunday and then they bundle them all away and take them around different areas of the UK where they stay around for a week in each city before they travel back to London for a final showdown.

I took a few pictures so here's a few for you to see. Pictures are a bit shoddy as it comes from a camera phone.

 

 

I left home half 7 in the morning to get there before the crowds and I'm so glad I did.

During the day, a couple of men rained down on us and scooted us into a shop and tried to sell us a "wonderful" and "magical" cream. I rolled my eyes but my sister was easily drawn in. So I just sat there as this guy tried to sell us this product. Then he moved onto prices and claimed that each product was £100 but today they were going to give one away when you buy one. I rolled my eyes. I was particularly interested in his method of selling.

Seeing big hesitation coming from my sister, he dropped the price of one cream to £50 with other "freebie" products. This clearly wasn't going to work. A massive amount of compliments on our beauty oozed from his lips. Again, I rolled my eyes. He then proceeded to sell us a lovely spa treatment with £20 taken off the price if we booked now. Ha. And guess what? That didn't work either. Apparently I have a beautiful smile and never age. I know where to go when I'm fishing for compliments.

Oddly enough, I was approached a while later near Oxford Circus by another seller. I thought it was a bit rude to ignore him completely so I hung around a few minutes at the most. "Where do you get your haircut from?" he asks me, trying to draw me in. I smirk in my head and tell him I cut my own hair. "So how much do you think a haircut costs in this place?" and he gestures towards the hair salon behind him. I shrug. I didn't care. It wasn't a very good attempt at selling when it costs nothing at all for myself to cut my own hair. And I definitely did not want to colour my hair. Not for £35 a month. Kudos for trying!

Not easy for anyone to sell me anything.

Smiles.

Bucket list - things I want to do before I.....

I was talking to a friend last night about bucket lists. He was curious to know what was on mine. I've kept the list mentally in my head and I have never written it down anywhere. I have a lot of things slipping in and out of that list and in that mind of mine (I do forget what I put on there!). It's very easy to forget things than to remember them!

A few of the things on my list include reading all of Stephen King's novels. I adore Stephen King and if I can, I want to finish everything of his. At the moment I'm reading IT and loving it. Another on my list would be to see the thunderstorms out at sea. I saw an image of that somewhere and thought it was beautiful (yet dangerous!). I also want to walk through a graveyard at night in the middle of the night.

There are so many things on the list but who knows when they will ever be done. Just wishful thinking for now..

Cookies and Dreams

A friend of mine gave me a recipe to make Millie's Cookies as I was talking cookies non-stop. The craving for them didn't fade and as soon as I got home that day, I went ahead and made those cookies. Those cookies were lush. Tasted so good.

The recipe I was given (if you don't believe how lush they were, go ahead and try it....you know you want to......):

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened

100g light brown soft sugar

125g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g self-raising flour

½ tsp salt

200g chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4)
• Cream butter and sugars then add the egg and vanilla extract
• Sift in the flour and salt, then the chocolate chips
• Roll into walnut size balls, for a more homemade look
• Place on ungreased baking paper. If you want to have the real Millies experience then bake for just 7 minutes, till the cookies are just setting - the cookies will be really doughy and delicious. Otherwise cook for 10 minutes until just golden round the edges
• Take out of the oven and leave to harden for a minute before transferring to a wire cooling rack

As simple and as delicious as that!

I've made it twice since but was a little displeased as I added too much butter the second try (I have no scales so I had estimated it). I've bought a lot of chocolate drops now so I'm prepared when I have a cookie urge.

Cookie cookie cookie.........

I had a dream last night. I was baking brownies and I had to make 70-odd something of them. I've no idea why but I was trying out my first batch. And now it has me thinking of cookies.

Shaking the wing of a seagull

I used to dream a lot but not as much anymore. I tend to forget them all or not dream at all. And it's been a very long time since I've had an amazing dream. So I thought I'd get this one down before the events all disappear.

I was in a tiny coffee shop and a young girl was showing me the machinery she uses. There was something that resembled a cake tin with a whirly thing inside of it going round and round (can't recall the name of it as I'm still full of sleep!). It was mixing chocolatey water with some chocolatey powder which looked like it had just been added. The girl rummages around with other metal food machinery, worried that something is not done correctly (probably something like food being on the stove too long). I've no idea what these machines are making. I'm more of an observer.

Anyway, I appear just outside of the shop to talk to "something". This "something" is actually a small animal. I really can't recall what animal it is but I am indeed talking to this animal and, he, back to me. I was telling him how the seagull (yes, the seagull) will not get something he wants from me unless he uses his time wisely and help other people. It would give him good experiences and he will find out if he does it. Say, for example, volunteering. The seagull could go and volunteer and he will get so much out of it.

A bit later on, the seagull flies in. There are people seated in the corner of the coffee shop (towards the left hand side as you walk into the shop if you want specifics). They were seated much like how a waiting room of comfy chairs look - in a row. Anyway, the seagull flies in and I feel very happy to see him. He doesn't settle down but seems to linger there in the air, staying just by the door. I don't say much to him but before he flew off, we shook hands/wings. What I remember most was the way his wing felt so soft as I shook it. So delicate. And so white in colour. A pure innocent white.

I thought it was an amazing dream. A dream where I talk to animals and shake the wing of a talking seagull.

On a side note, it is snowing outside. It's settling for now - a small layer but I doubt it will stay. But it does look pretty.

Wax and eye masks

I just had to rub away a bit of wax perched on the side of my laptop. Had a bit of an incident when I decided to light up a floating candle and stick it in an empty tealight so the wax wouldn't leak anywhere when it melted. It did melt and it did go everywhere. It's all stuck to my desk right now so I've got a scraping job to do.....when I can bother with it.

They do look very pretty though. I just wanted it next to me whilst working - makes me concentrate more and gives me a certain calm. I have a lot of tealights and once I use them up, I'll just sneakily nip into my sister's room and take one by one by one.....until she notices and I'd end up getting my own again!

Guess what I've got plastered on my face? An eye mask! I thought I'd give it a go. I purchased a large pack of face masks to try out as I've always been intrigued. The brand is 'My Scheming' and I bought mine from yesstyle which is where I mainly buy my clothes from. I reckon the prices are reasonable but some would say they're a rip-off. I guess it depends on what you buy as I tend to target sales whenever I do order. Anyway, these little beasties cost me under £10 which I thought was pretty good for what it was. It includes 7 face masks and 3 eye masks tucked into a tiny little plastic box.

 

The one I'm trying is the Crystal Hydrating eye mask. It didn't have any instructions on the back of it - just a list of all the ingredients. My eyes were feeling very tired and I thought it would be the perfect time to see how effective they are. I just whipped out these little jelly fillets and slapped them under my eye. It feels very cool and doesn't smell too bad either. I'm not sure how long I'm meant to have it on but it gives a lovely relief to my eyes. Hydrate it has! But I don't think it will reduce the puffiness I have at the moment. I must say, I'm looking forward to trying out all the other products!

To hell with new year's resolutions?

Wahey! And welcome to a new year! Once again.....how grim...

I've had so many people wishing me a happy new year. I usually respond with a "happy new year to you too" in return but with less enthusiasm. New year isn't a big deal to me. It's another day another year...I'm sure many people would argue my point. I'd probably say something along the lines of "my new year hasn't started...it's in February and then I'll celebrate more". Truth or excuse? I haven't decided.

New year resolutions. I make a poor attempt at them too. The usual - don't play with hair (my mum complains about that one, especially when I used to bite it when I was little) and keep my room tidy. Shall I make the same ones again this year? Hah. Well the don't play with hair one I'm not too bad at keeping. I only play when i fidget. Talking about fidgeting, I did that a lot during a showing of 'The Hobbit' in the cinema. That was one awesome film. Best I've seen in a long time. I came out wanting to re-watch all of the Lord of the Rings...which I will do at one point. The Gollum scene was my favourite - the riddles were awesome! Anyway, the tidy the room resolution comes every year - as one would expect. I used to be tidy and now I have clothes thrown all over the room and I have no place to put them.

I have to clear the newspaper pile in my room too. Every weekday, my sister brings home the Metro, the Evening Standard, as well as the magazines like Time Out and the Stylist. So they all get dumped into a pile in my room which I'm suppose to read. The earliest newspaper in my pile is dated May 8th of last year. Now you can guess how bad it looks. Don't worry, it's not as bad as you may think. I've read a few papers here and there since then so the pile isn't hitting my ceiling...as yet!

What's your new year's resolutions?