I love this time of year…Christmas lights span the city streets, store windows decorated with garland and Christmas trees, Santa awaits the wish-listers of many in the shops while happiness and joy fill the air….
What I ALSO love are the numerous viral store vouchers that continuously enter my inbox!! It’s almost a race to see who can get the best voucher or be the first to send them through.Now if I was good I’d probably use these coupons to better my Christmas shopping but I just can’t help myself from using them for my own good….does that make me a bad person? I think not!
Happy shopping (for you…and others I suppose!)
I wasn't going to leave you hanging, here's a voucher for Selfridges
Last week, one night after work a bunch of us went to the pub (a regular occurrence any day of the week for us really!), but not just some random pub; the same pub we’ve been going to for the last year or so.We’ve never had a problem and even though most days we don’t get a seat we seem to always have a great time (who needs chairs anyway!). But on this particular night something I’ve heard about but have never witnessed happened to me.Someone stole my handbag from right under my seat!! I’ve never felt so violated and helpless in all my life.I’m not a very clumsy person, forgetful maybe but I always take care of what I own and rarely ever lose anything. A sudden rush of panic filled me as I went to buy a round of drinks and couldn’t find my bag – what the f%*k! Okay who took the bag haha funny, now give it back…..when no one fessed up I had to come to grips with the fact that it had been stolen!
After a quick look around the bar and outside it was clear whoever took it was a pro and left no trace of their whereabouts. Questions started to fester – How could this happen to me? How did (s)he take it without anyone seeing? Why me? Since my questions were leading me nowhere I had to take action.Between all my friends we were able to call and cancel and re-order most of my cards. And thankfully someone had an extra travel card and cash so I could get home! If I didn’t have my cell phone out (I was waiting for a call) I wouldn’t have been able to call my boyfriend to meet me at the flat so I could get in!I never realized before how much of my life I actually carried around with me on a daily basis, and come to think of it I couldn’t do without most of them….
Among other things, here is a comprehensive list of what was stolen, in one swift second:
Lululemon Purse (it was gorgeous…black w/ white pokkadots)
iPod (less than a year old)
Wallet filled with numerous cards – took a full day to call all of them
‘The Wars’ novel
Umbrella (forgot to replace this right away and was drenched on Monday morning!)
Make-up - All my favourite stuff including brushes and a really cool lip gloss from Japan (sorry Dianna….oh, oh maybe you could get me a new one?)
Fake Chanel sunglasses from Italy (what? As if I could afford the real thing!)
House and Work Keys
Bills (does that mean I don’t have to pay them?)
And, drum-roll please….
Dirty Gym clothes – take that crackhead!
I’d like to dedicate the below to the crackhead who stole my handbag:
Who do you think you are? I work damn hard for everything I own…I take careful consideration when making my purchases and taking care of my belongings.How dare you take what is not yours! I hope you were able to sell my belongings to fuel your habit a bit longer and are happy with yourself b/c you’ve just inconvenienced me and put me in debt (when I was doing just fine!) trying to replace what you stole so to know that it was all in vain would be a massive shame.
Word to the wise: Get an over-the-shoulder handbag (it’s my new plan!)
I got the below 'chain letter' from a family member the other day and couldn't stop laughing...not because I studied marketing at University but because it's SO true - every word of it!! The person who sorted this out is a genius - GENIUS I tell you!!!
Start of email: Several women I know have asked for me an explanation of Marketing. Perhaps the following analogies will help clear it up: You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed." -- That's Direct Marketing.
You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. One of your friends goes up to him and pointing at you says, "She's fantastic in bed." -- That's Advertising.
You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get his telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed." -- That's Telemarketing.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You get up and straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say, "May I," and reach up to straighten his tie brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed." -- That's Public Relations.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He walks up to you and says, "I hear you're fantastic in bed." -- That's Brand Recognition.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You talk him into going home with your friend. -- That's a Sales Rep.
Your friend can't satisfy him so he calls you. -- That's Tech Support.
You're on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing. So you climb onto the roof of one situated toward the center and shout at the top of your lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!" -- That's Spam.
The other night I went to a really quaint venue/bar call the The Social, to check out a friend’s band (they were awesome by the way….. Sushalini; check them out).After a pint or two I made my way to the toilets to ‘relieve’ myself…once I was finished it was straight to the sink to wash my hands – this is usually the part I dread, sometimes even more so than the toilets themselves! The reason you ask? Well mainly because you’re usually stuck with limited hand dryers that are often taken-let’s be honest here; so your having to ‘pretend’ to wash your hands for hours until one becomes free and then when you do get one there’s the shake and rub technique that has to be used to improve the efficiency or you could be there for a couple of minutes. Then there are the places that only have paper towels and with a long night of drinking/partying by the end there is none left so your options are to use your clothes (depends on what I’m wearing) or to use toilet paper – there is fine line with this options as it could get very sticky.......have I made my point? Good, lets move on. As I was saying, oh yes, the hand dryers at The Social were INCREDIBLE!!!! You literally put your whole hands to the bottom of the machine and slowly bring them up through the ‘blast’ of air et volia your hands are dry in 10 seconds (10 SECONDS!!!!!)…I couldn’t believe it.Let me introduce the Dyson Airblade ‘The fastest, most hygienic hand dryer’EVER! Apparently they can be found in some Canadian Airports, so keep your eyes open for them next time to you come to visit ;)
Sorry for my little hiatus, I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head chopped off….but having a great time nonetheless!! Well minus the fact I’m trying to shake-off a cold - go flu, go away!!! Anyway, I’ve decided to dedicate one (massive) post for all the events/things I wanted to write about but couldn’t find the time to do so…I’ve even created a theme (what? you have to!) – ‘Summer Time in Jolly O’England’ and even though it rained most of the time they sure know how to make things interesting here!
1.Warhol Vs Banksy Exhibit @ The Hospital From August 10th to September 1st the first exhibit ‘anywhere’ took place with two iconic artists – Andy Warhol and Banksy.40 mixed media works were put on display, carefully organized to show the contrast in style…Warhol with his simplistic approach and Banksy with a more political statement; both equally incredible to view up close.It’s true that you could walk down any street in London (or Liverpool for that matter) and see a fresh Banksy tag but seeing them in this exhibit made me realize our artistic tastes as a community has changed progressively since the likes of the ‘Group Of Seven’ for instance when it was all about oil paint and canvas…I for one am glad new media forms are being considered for their greatness.
Comparision:
Which do you prefer?
2.Deckchair Dreams @ various Royal Parks around London 25 deckchairs have been designed by 25 artists.It’s meant to ‘represent the amazing trees and wildlife of The Royal Parks’ through the vision of the celebrity artists. The originals have been auctioned off but reprints have been created for ‘everyone to sit on and enjoy’ between June and October.They look really cool…check this one out.I’m still trying to find one…will keep you updated
Initial designs by Ben Fogle
3.Reading Festival OMG!!!! I’ve never been to a festival of this magnitude before and I can honestly say it was an incredible, overwhelming experience. Most of the bands I’ve been listening to for the last year were playing, which was amazing yet difficult to pick which ones see – which one took precedence over the other (?!?!)….and with over 80 thousand people, it was a bit harder to run around from tent to tent – however that didn’t stop us!! With the likes of The Sounds, Klaxons, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, CSS, LCD Soundsystem,Gogol Bordello, Brand New, Against Me, Tokyo Police Club, The Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Subways, Crystal Palace,…..and so many others you can probably understand why I have a cold!!!Can’t wait for next years…..
Here’s just a little taste – Arcarde Fire’s Rebellion (lies) playing while the sun sets in the background; too bad I was in a loo (and had been for over half an hour!!!) – Thank goodness for YouTube, enjoy!
4.Camping in ExmoorNational Park So I went camping this past weekend (with my cold yes – horrible, yet so much fun!) and I’ve come to realize that what they call ‘camping’ here is very different from what we call it back home in Canada. It felt like we were 10 years old and camping in our backyard – with manicured lawns and a ‘river’ view (which was more like a stream but whatever!) and of course a local pub not even a minute’s walk away! They do however have great local beers (microbreweries) which was a good thing for us when it started raining…think I can get use to this
Mainly becuase I still want to share what I find intriguing, fascinating or just plain weird - things I'd normally 'advertise', as my good friend would say - even though I'm across the Atlantic. This way when I call, we can talk about more important things....like, um, my hair!!
