Off Skiing !

See you in a week guys !

I am all packed and ready for a week skiing, my christmas present off my lovely boyfriend.

It will be our fourth year on the slopes. We always go to the same place, Villars in Switzerland, where my boyfriend learned to ski as a child. He has been at least once a year since he was about 4 years old - so is the perfect guide.

I'm not a great skier myself. I was never the sporty type and I am terrified of heights. Skiing is one of those things best learned young, when you are too young to be scared. But I give it a good go, each year I gain more and more confidence. Plus the scenery is breathtaking. 

Whilst I'm away, keep up to date with my happenings and see the slopes for yourself via my twitter and instagram accounts.

Things I Think About at 2am

It's 2am. I am 23 years old. I should be in a club somewhere dancing the night away. Or at least slightly tipsy and just home from the pub. How old is too old to go to a club? I don't have many years left. Why am I not making the most of it ?! When I am old I am going to get regret not being out tonight.

Should I have moved back to the North East after university? Would I be out tonight if I was there instead? Would I have a better social life? All my best friends are there, and all of my very big, very close family. But there is less to do. They should all move to London. We could all live on the same street and be neighbors like the Neighbours on Ramsey Street. But then I don't want my parents to know what I'm up to all the time, so that probably wouldn't work. Is Eastenders set in a real place in London? What tube stop is it? Houses are so much cheaper back home. I could by my very own, beautifully furnished home in a few years at home. In London I am never going to have my own flat. And I could have a car and drive places. I could do a big supermarket shop in one go and not have to buy all my food on discount from the Co-op or Tesco Express. That's pretty boring. I'm 23 for goodness sake.

Have I chosen the right career? What if I discover it isn't for me? What if I do want to leave London eventually? My job is pretty London centric and it would be pretty crap doing it anywhere else. Could I be making more money if I had done something else? Why didn't I just become an accountant for God's sake, you can do that anywhere. Would I prefer to be an account? Does being accountant pay more than what I do now? Do my friends make more money than me? I can always become an accountant later in life. But then I would have to re-train and I would probably have kids. I don't want to be studying for professional exams and have kids, sounds like a handful. Plus, the pay cut when I start over would suck. Maybe I should do a masters.

I miss being a student. If I won the lottery I would go back to university and study something cool. Maybe I could do medicine and pretend to be Meredith Grey. I love Grey's Anatomy. But guts and stuff are pretty gross, and I hate hospital smell. Maybe I would get used to it though. But it's pretty hard getting into study medicine, I would have to do work experience and stuff. Or bribe someone. Does that work in English universities like it does on American TV shows? I would be a mature student too. Would I feel old? Would the other students realize? I do have quiet the baby face. Could I still go on student nights out or would I be the boring old one? I would also have the best flat *cue flat planning*. But then when people win the lottery there lives tend to go to shit. There are lots of documentaries about it. Would my parents get divorced? What would they do for the rest of their lives? Maybes boredom would make them do stupid stuff. I would love to help my brother out whilst he was at university. I could buy him a flat and pay his fees and buy him a car. But then what if he had too much money and too much spare time and ended up getting seriously into drugs? What if he drunk drove his car? Or just tried to show off speeding and crashed it and he died? I don't think I should buy my brother a car.

I need a haircut. I wish I had a friend who was a hairdresser and could do it for me. And a friend who is a tailor so they could tailor all my clothes. I need new clothes. But I need to lose weight first. I refuse to go up a size. My mam was really skinny when she was my age. How? If I'm two sizes bigger than she was then does that mean when I'm in my 50's I'm going to be two sizes bigger than she is now? I need to go to the gym tomorrow.

Thank Goodness - A Deodorant That Properly Works

I am one of the lucky few in London who are actually able to walk to work. It's great, I don't have to get on a cramped, smelly tube first thing in the morning. Halleluiah. I get to play my music in peace whilst I take a stroll over one of the most iconic structures in the world instead.

Except it doesn't usually work out like that. As I mentioned here, I massively struggle with mornings. So, of course, I am always running late. Thus, my calm walk into the office becomes a mad 20 minute sprint instead. And so I arrive a big, hot mess.

Not great. That, plus office air, plus dubious air conditioning, plus running around at work, plus lots of hot coffee is not the best combination. It does not make me the freshest of person, and quite frankly my old deodorant was just not cutting it.

So, I decided that I needed to try something new. I traded it in for Sure Maximum Protection. And thank goodness for that! It comes in a cream formula which is something I have never experienced before. It feels wetter than a spray or a traditional roll on and took a few goes before I learned the correct amount to apply, but I quite like that is a bit different. It emphasizes that it is something a bit more special. In terms of protection, it definitely does what it says on the tin (2x the protection of regular deodorant!). It keeps me dry and fresh and sweet smelling all day long. So far, I have only tried 'everyday fresh' which has quiet a strong scent, but can't wait to compare it to some others in the range too.

Night Owl

I am such a night time person. Through and through, without a doubt.

It is when I get my inspiration, my motivation and my best ideas.

It is not conducive to a 9 - 5 world. Every morning is a struggle. Every morning is a battle with my alarm clock ('can I get away with one more snooze?'). I literally minute swap. If I wear my glasses instead of my contacts today that's two more minutes in bed. My hair doesn't really need a wash today, it can last until tomorrow. An extra twenty minutes, yay!

My walk to work does go a fair way to wake me up. I can at least face talking to another human being by the time I get to the office! I grab a coffee and scan the morning news. I catch up with my co-workers. I check emails, I make my to-do list, I check the morning news again, I catch up with different co-workers. I grab another coffee. It is safe to say that I am not at my most productive for those first few hours of the day.

Then, typically, around 10pm I get a boost of energy and an urgency to get things done that has so far alluded me all day. When I should be winding down to get a good nights sleep, I become a flurry of activity. Cleaning, tidying, drafting blog posts, working on my project of the moment, exersicing, planning. All of which leaves me too wired to get a good nights sleep when I finally head to bed. Which does not help with my hating mornings!

Oh how I would love if work started just a couple of hours later. But then, it would end later. So I would go to sleep later. So I would get up later. So my 8am would be 11am, but wouldn't it feel like 8am still? But 11am is just so much more of a civilized time to get out of bed!

It's not all bad. According to this article, it means that I am 'more intelligent' (also, I love some of the imagery used in that article). Here is a less biased view as to what characterizes night owls vs. early risers, and also gives some reasons as to why I hate my alarm so much.

Four Legged Friends

Insanely cute. This video makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on a miserable Monday night.

When the mammy and daddy doggies come to help the little pups I swear it makes me tear up.

I would love a little furry friend - I don't have a very extensive pet history unfortunately.

My mam isn't particularly animal friendly, so despite mine and my brothers pleas, we only managed to wangle ourselves a rabbit and a few gerbils over the years. At university my flatmate adopted a massively floppy eared rabbit called Ruby who lived in her cage in our living room. After a trip to get her nails trimmed, we discovered that Ruby was actually a boy, and so we re-christened him Rupert. He was an expert at giving us frights in the middle of the night! We should have called him Houdini. His trick was escaping from his cage in the wee hours of the morning and running around the place, making us think we were being burgled on multiple occasions. And he was great at chewing through laptop cables and Iphone chargers. But we loved him.

One day, when I have a proper house, I will have an adorable four legged friend and I can't wait!

Harry Potter Love

I am a massive Harry Potter fan.

I have been a massive Harry Potter fan for a lot of years now. I remember waiting for the last couple of books to be released. The day before was like Christmas eve I was so excited! My wonderful Dad would go and que up outside our local supermarket so that he could get me one of the first copies at midnight. He would leave it outside my bedroom door, fresh for my reading first thing in the morning. I would then spend the whole day devouring the book, finishing the last two the very same day that I got them.

Maybe that Christmas eve feeling is why it is now my tradition to re-read the books for what must be the millionth time, every winter. That and castles and dragons and magic just makes Harry Potter the perfect to read on a dark, cold day, curled up on the couch with the fire blasting and a hot cup of tea.

10 Reasons for My Harry Potter Love:

1. It is so British. I love this, it makes me proud.


2. True relationships. The characters fight and fall out and disagree and get jealous but they are  family, they are always there for each other. True love. 


3. They are so well written. Read them allowed, they flow so well. There are no gaps in the plot. Everything ties up, everything has a purpose and is so well planned out. You know that J.K Rowling had the ending all planned out right from the first book.


4. The descriptions in the book are great; you feel like you have been to Hogwarts yourself and as though the characters are your friends (even without the films!). You can dive into these books and get lost in the story, forgetting everything else that has been going on in your life.


5. It's a children's book that doesn't sugar coat life. Beloved characters die throughout, pets died, people are cruel. The main characters parents died at the start of the book. 


6. The writing of the books grows with the characters. The first book sounds young as the characters are young. The final book is grown up feel as the characters are grown up.


7. Powerful moral lessons. It's a great book for children to grow up reading. Harry Potter teaches equality, girl power, the right route vs the easy route, standing up for what you believe in even when your superiors are trying to push you down, there are causes worth dying for but none worth killing for, appearances can be deceiving, love concurs all... I could go on.


8. Snape. Just thinking of Snape puts a lump in my throat. What a way to sacrifice everything.


9. Neville. Forgetful, clumsy, bottom of the class Neville. Brilliant, loyal Neville. Fights so hard for what he believes in and shows just what determination can achieve.


10. Wonderful, wise quotes such as:

There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live

If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals

In our dreams we enter a world that it truely our own

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right

I am going to feel so lost when I reach the end of the series.

Back to London

After two delicious weeks of being at home and being looked after my parents, it is time to head back to the big city.

It had been such a good, well needed, break. The beauty of Christmas time is that everyone comes home for it. I have got to see all of my family, spent time with my best friends and I have got plenty of lungs full of fresh sea air.

It is always sad saying goodbye and leaving the place that will always be home to me.

At the same time I am ready to get back into my own little flat and my own little life. I am looking forward to my super cosy double bed, choosing what I want to eat for dinner and when I want to eat it and of course catching up with friends.

I am not looking forward to reacquainting myself with my alarm clock and trying to remember what it is do for a living.

See you in a few hours London!

Afternoon Tea at Jesmond Dene House

For Christmas, one of the gifts we gave my Grandma was Afternoon Tea at the beautiful Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle.

Set in a grade II listed building, the venue has a really grand feel to it. It was especially lovely all decorated for Christmas.

Built in 1822 and designed by John Dobson (the architect for many iconic buildings and streets in the area) the house was originally home to the Mayor of Newcastle. Since then it has been a college, a civil defense establishment (many of the hidden tunnels still exist!), a seminary and a residential school. In 2005, after 18 months of refurbishment, it become the hotel and restaurant it is today.

The Menu was as follows:

Assorted Finger Sandwiches

Turkey, Cranberry & Stuffing

Coronation Egg Mayonnaise

Smoked Cheddar & Grape Chutney

Hot Smoked Salmon & Avocado

Scones

Spiced Fruit, Plain, Cheese

Clotted Cream & Home-made Jam

Selection of Pastries and Teas

Cranberry Macaroon

Mince Pie

Mint & Chocolate Truffle

Mulled Pear & Cinnamon Cheesecake Sundae

As a savory person, the cheese scones were the highlight for me. The perfect amount of cheesiness!

Even though there was five of us we only ordered food for four people. We had heard that although the portions may look small on first appearance, they soon fill you up. It is a good job we did, even with an extra person we ended up taking a doggy bag of left overs home.

I was impressed. Next time, I would love to go there for dinner.