It's Been A While

So I haven’t written a blog post in absolutely ages, and for that, I apologise! I haven’t been overrun or in another country or doing anything that crazy, I’ve just been getting on with life and haven’t sat down and written anything in a while. So, how are you all?

Where to start! The never ending story of my visa is still going strong. It was a relief to have all the paperwork done, sent in, and then two weeks ago I had my medical. They poked and prodded and did x-rays of me, took blood, and charged me £227 for the privilege! So now, I wait for the final piece of the puzzle; my interview. The last part that could finally help Caleb and I, finally be together, or keep us apart for even longer! I wonder how it feels to have so much power to decide when and if someone is allowed to get married to the person they love! 

Down Set Go

I had a few days off work this week as I thought I might get passes to Reading Festival (and have my 10^th

year there); unfortunately, I didn’t end up receiving any (Caleb’s music label didn’t have anyone playing there this year, booo! ), so I decided that I would go to Southampton instead.

Since I’ve been living at home with my parents for the first time in many, many years, I tend to go to work and then come home and watch online TV / read / write, and then go to bed and start the cycle again. A lot of my friends that used to live around my parent’s house have now moved to various places, including London and even Australia, so at the moment there are only a handful of people to spend time with (now including new work friends). So, a few days off meant jumping in the car and driving to see my best friends.

Letters To You - Barack Obama

Dear Barack Obama,

I know that you have far more troubling things in this world to worry about, but I need your thoughts, or help for what is just a simple love story.

Sometimes, in this day and age, you meet someone who is not from the same place as you. One day, you get on a plane, land somewhere foreign and fall in love with the most wonderful human being.

They say the course of true love never runs smoothly, but even they can’t have been talking about immigration laws.

August and Everything After

So what are everyone’s wish lists like this month? Mine keeps growing longer and longer and I just don’t know how I’ll ever afford all of it. Now that I’m working, there is certainly a nice bonus knowing that I will have a bit of money coming in, but I still have random payments to do with sorting out my visa, and at some point, flights back to America to pay for (and a trip to Vegas), so I’m still being rather stingy with my money. Having said that, I did buy myself these rather lovely red floral E-Street Vans (below) that I had lusted after since I saw them back in June, and at £29 in the Sole Trader sale, it would have been rude not to. I just don’t know how I’m ever going to transport all my shoes back to America when the time comes. I've already left about seven pairs there! I wonder if Caleb knows what he’s letting himself in for...

Who Are You?

I wrote a piece about this a while back on my Tumblr, but the thought resurfaced today as I was reading an article about what Brad Pitt had said in an interview.  I find the idea of ‘fake’ celebrity really annoying, really frustrating and I don’t know why. I guess, I think that people should just be who they want to be, rather than pretend that they’re something they’re not. Kristen Stewart recently said that she had never created a ‘persona’ for the red carpet because she didn’t like the idea of being fake; she thought she should just be herself, no matter how uncomfortable she looks. And although, in interviews she comes across as a moron, you can at least see that she’s not trying to please the world – supported I guess with her latest actions. It was quite refreshing to see a tiny bit of honesty from the world of celebrity, something that is not echoed across the board.

The Winner Takes it All

It’s been a few days since I last blogged, but that’s because I’ve actually been doing things! So, here’s my catch up!

A couple of years ago I reviewed Sonisphere for an online music magazine, and managed to get on the mailing lists for some record labels promoting their artists because of it. So, a few weeks ago I thought that I would e-mail a couple of these labels to see if they had any kind of short-term internships going on. I’d already been offered one this summer, but it was full-time for three months and unpaid (I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t survive on that!). So I e-mailed a few others and to my delight last week I was actually offered one (after filling in an application and having a phone interview) - for one day a week unpaid at Earache Records. I can handle one day unpaid, and they’re not the hugest of labels, but I was just so excited to have an opportunity to see how it all works behind the scenes, and see how the PR side of things within a label gets done. I started this on Monday in London and the day was great. A small office, and two great women to work with, I just got down to learning about the artists on the label (think extra heavy – they have bands like Rival Sons, Oceano etc), listening to some new music, thinking of PR ideas, tidying up spreadsheets for artists information and a whole array of things. I shall continue to learn and do this on a Monday for the next couple of months and as well as enjoying it; it will do my CV the world of good! Hurrah! 

It's All About You...

I was asking myself the other day ‘if there was one celebrity whose wardrobe contents I could have who would it be’... and the answer was obvious: Lauren Conrad (although Rachel Bilson would be a close second).

Now, some of you may remember her from Laguna Beach (I once drove to Orange County and upon seeing the LB sign started singing the theme tune “Perfecttttttttttt...”), some of you may know her from that glorious TV show –turned nightmare TV show, The Hills (I really dislike Kristin Davis). Or, you may just know her as a novelist or fashion advocate who now also writes books about what to wear, and how to do your hair and make-up. Either way, if you DO know who she is, then you must know what I’m talking about. The perfect hair, the beautiful dresses, the not-too-clingy clothes and the wonderful shoes that constantly adorn her feet. Since I first saw her start working at Teen Vogue (and start to grasp her fashion sense) I have been transfixed by her choices and how perfect they are for her frame. So, I created a collage of some of her best looks that I could find on the internet, and a few tips and hints that I think create the Lauren Conrad look. There are many other celebs that are far more adventurous, but for the classic look I think that Conrad gets it spot on all the time. For her view and opinion, I would of course buy her book (or read her website), but here is what I think about the Conrad ‘Classy, but Cute’ look:

With or Without You

Now I am no health-nut. I don’t exercise a million times a week, I eat chips (fries), I like alcohol. I honestly think the best diets contain a bit of everything; they are balanced. Every person should have a Big Mac every so often but they should also eat cherries and berries and apples and lettuce. When I was growing up however, I always had problems with my digestion. In my first year of uni I lived off a diet of pasta and bread and I put on about a stone of weight. A lot of that was from the amount of alcohol intake I had (I can’t lie), but it was also because I was putting a huge strain on my intestines and not even knowing it. The summer after my first year I lost the weight I had put on, because I was mainly at home and not eating pasta (my mum hates it). My whole life pasta has been my favourite food, I absolutely adore it. I could eat it every day, easily. But, a couple of years ago I had to go to the doctor because I was experiencing migraines and bad stomach problems (since I could remember), that were getting worse. It took them a while to figure what was going on, but in the end we realised it was an intolerence to gluten and dairy (Celiac's disease is a more serious form). What’s strange is that I honestly think, in some small way my body was trying to tell me to avoid these things already. I don’t like sandwiches, I’m not a huge cereal eater, I’ve never been one for crazy amounts of ice-cream and I don’t eat cheese. The only thing that my body shouldn’t have been consuming that I actually loved was pasta. Sometimes, you need to listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

Since then, my life has consisted of trying (and mostly failing) to find good tasting gluten-free and dairy free alternatives for my diet. The dairy wasn’t hard to give up. As I said, I’ve never been one for much dairy anyway, so the only changes I had to really make were to soya milk and dairy-free sunflower spread. The gluten thing was a lot harder to figure out – but only because of my hunt for pasta that tasted the same.

Rolling with My Homies

Today I'm back on the search for a job. It's a rather dull existence, not helped by the fact that I only need something to fill the next three months, so I thought in-between sending my CV out I would catch up on the weekend that I just had.

On Friday (after being stuck in standstill traffic for an hour) I was finally reunited with my friend Rosie! I've mentioned her a few times on here, but she is a great friend of mine from Southampton. We used to work together, firstly in H&M and then when we got grown up jobs after University in a Communications department (she was actually my manager, but I won't hold that against her). She is one of the people I miss most since leaving the UK as we can always have scarily honest conversations with each other and whenever we get together it's pretty funny and quite refreshing.

Anyway! I finallllllllyyyyyy arrived at our friend Nicole's house, just in time for the walk to buy some Crunk Juce (yes that's actually how it's spelt). We had planned to go out and we needed cheap alcohol to get the night started. I actually opted (once at the Off Licence) to try a Blue Raspberry Four Loko. I'd heard it was a less harsh version of Crunk and well, it kind of was, but only by a little.

Ring a Ring o' Roses

Tonight has been a quiet one and so I've used this time to try and play around with my blog and work out how to use this site a little bit more. I used to think I was tech savvy, but after today I'm not so sure. I have also used this evening to look at things to buy on the internet. Now what's different about tonight is that I actually bought stuff off the internet. I can be a bit sensible when it comes to spending money on things, and tonight  I went ahead and bought myself some rings! I'm not usually one for rings, I don't wear them a lot, but my friend Rosie (yep her again) told me to check out the website Kukee jewellery and I was happily suprised. I finally ended up buying five, yes FIVE rings. This was helped by the fact that the most expensive one was £2.50, and three of them were a set, so it would have been rude not to really. If you love quirky things around your fingers and on necklaces but don't want to spend a fortune, look no further and check this website out. Below are the rings that I ended up buying. I will have to let you know how I get on with them once they arrive. 

 I bought the stars

 I bought one in each colour; copper, gold and silver

In Love and Death

At the weekend I was speaking to my friend about our favourite Amy Winehouse appearance on British music quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. We spoke about her jokes, how funny she was; in general just her overall wit and happiness. At that point she was in the height of her addiction and somehow she still had charm that could take over an entire show – I don’t even remember who the other guests were. I don’t often get upset about celebrity deaths or well, anything to do with celebrities. I’m interested in their lives (I can’t deny it), but there just always seemed something so extra sad about Amy’s demise.

It seemed quite random that we discussed her as it is almost a year since her death. (I remember reading a tweet just as I was switching off my phone for a flight to New York to join Caleb on Warped Tour , that said she had died.) Two weeks before I had said to a friend (after Winehouse’s disastrous performance in Belgrade) that she would probably die soon – I didn’t expect it to actually come true. Today I read an interview with her dad about her death and the foundation that he has set up since to help people. What struck me most about the interview is that he professes that she was at her happiest in her whole life the 18months before she died, but with it there were some quotes that didn’t quite match that view.

You know this could be, the greatest day of our lives...

My first post on my new blog, can only be about one thing and one thing only - my sister getting married at the weekend! My sister, Jessica, finally took the plunge and married her boyfriend/partner/fiance on the date of their 12th anniversary! 12 years! They met at Sussex University became boyfriend and girlfriend at the end of their first year and have been together ever since!

My sister had been planning the event for at least a year, so it was great that it finally arrived and actually all went smoothly (althought I'm sure she wouldn't agree). It took place in Putney, London and I was there with about 100 other people.

For the day I wore the outfit below. A blue chiffon dress from ASOS  [£35], a grey waterfall blazer from New Look [£24.99], grey platform shoes with zip detail (from New Look about a year ago) [£25], a bronze swallow necklace from eBay and a bronze three star detail necklace from Top Shop [£10]. I also had to wear a cream lily corsage to show I was part of the wedding party as my sister didn't have bridesmaids. Caleb wore his new extra skinny fitted dress trousers from Top Man, which he found that morning and looked amazing on him.

Caleb and I in the hotel before the day started.

Where have you been?

Today is the beginning of my new blog. I plan to actually keep this one going, updated regularly and full of wonderous things that people may or may not find interesting. If you like to read posts about music, strong opinions, shoes, clothes, my adventures on moving to America and, well, more shoes, you have come to the right place. For the most part, I will try and keep this blog light-hearted, however I am sure there will be times when irritations get the better of me, so please be patient. I value other people's opinions and views and love to gossip and see what others have been up to - so I can't wait to get involved in the blogging community. One of my best friends Rosie has her own amazing blog, which has inspired me a plenty. Lets hope this is the beggining of our long journey together!