Sunday 29 April 2012

You have cancer, but can't have the right treatment

This makes me SO angry- people can't be restricted to treatment types based on the location they live!

It's disgusting.

OK

I suppose I am that dick who wants to tell everyone that everything will be ok. Because it has to be, doesn't it? Even if we don't believe it at the time, there's a new side to everything.

Love and writing

This story just sums up the beautiful amazing wow, that the words we write can provide.

mmm bop! Time for breakfast

Saturday 28 April 2012

Fuzzy

Nice way to start the mornin', pulling off the mould from your bread...

Jam, PB, Honey. Done.

:)

Whip ma haaairrrrr

Friday 27 April 2012

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope your weekend is going to be a great one- mine has already started well, I've been paid and received a nice 'Big' coffee from 'Eat' for free (!) from Monica :) Thank you!

As good/bad as it is, coffee is one of the few things which can zap my brain back into shape when I'm feeling a little urghnaaahhhh. Bad, because it inhibits iron absorption- but my tablets seem to be helping well with that!

Anyways, I'm sure there are more interesting things to talk about other than my nutrition skype (yes, I just used a product name as a phrase!).


Today work will finish at three, and at five I shall begin to celebrate my good friend Matt's (poo face) birthday! A friend of mine sent me a picture of a card from Urban Outfitters which would go well with Matt's personality... and face...


I'm not a huge card buying person, so if Matt reads this he can see my affections through a blog post.

Later, we will be at Browns in Bank to start the fiasco. This place is a favourite of mine and they do the best fishcakes I've ever had (not sure if that says more about the fishcakes I've had, or the latter). This place holds a few memories for me too- a few dinners with friends and a nice catch up with my cousin. The service is good, and here I fell in love with a waitress because she served well and actually made me want to tip her (I hate tipping). Sometimes places have service charge included- but at least with this you can guarantee a smile and food which arrives on time- instead of careless staff with no sense of humour.


This week I've also been running, Wednesday I felt sooo chuffed completing 6miles when I intended to do 5.4. I'm near my goal, so I can start running home instead of traveling for a near hour, and then running for an hour, shower, food, sleep!

Saturday holds another birthday celebration for my friends Fry and Beth. Fry, does look a bit like Fry from Futurama. Ruggers and booze sounds fun, will be great to see my friend play, I'm already craving a pint...

May will be jam packed with lots of visiting friends and family- April has gone so fast already, even in work I've been speaking and referring to published research which felt like yesterday, when in fact it was two weeks ago!


Work is going really well- the people there make me roll my eyes as much as laugh, and I'm learning more as we go through which is sooooooooo nice. Hopefully proof reading will take off soon and I'll be up to scratch with the lingo in financial research (I'm in publishing). Whether you are interesting in it or not, it's amazing what you can pick up by glancing over this stuff everyday. I hope to work myself hard for many more years- who knows, by the time I'm wrinkly I will chill a bit more and open my own bakery- I have a name in mind already. :)


This post has been a bit of a reel off, my fault for not posting during the week! I tend to post less if I'm feeling crappy, though sometimes I post less because I'm having too much fun and can't concentrate! haha, either way I'm doing ok.

CHOW!

I hear ya

A cute blog I follow, on a lady who allowed herself a day :)

'I also discovered I was perfectly content to spend my free day by myself. (Save for an hour or so with two 18 month olds.) I don’t know if it’s my out-of-control anxiety mixed with my already introverted tendencies, but I have no desire to be around people lately. And when I am, I’m very quiet. I am happiest in the silence of my front yard in the mornings, or locked up in my bathroom with a book and a bubble bath at night. I’m trying not to dwell too much on this “I need to be alone” part of my life and I’m just embracing the fact that I need all this down time to let myself sort out my thoughts.'

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Fascinating and heartbreaking

North Korea defect.

We all should count ourselves lucky. Stuff like this might make you bitch and moan than necessary.

Skinny flat white

In the coffee shop this morning, a young guy ordered a skinny flat white. In my 6am madness, I had to stop myself saying out loud 'ohh, he's a skinny one' as if I'm some Hines breed of parrot.

In fairness, my outburst would have matched his slender frame...

Monday 23 April 2012

Chocolate face

Sometimes, it's nice to get up real early, work early and leave.

Come home, crack open a chocolate egg, hot water bottle, bed and a TV show.


I'm spending less time with my headphones now and it's a good thing. It seems there is less noise to block out.




I now have sugar teeth from my 1000 calorie dinner (yes, Easter eggs really are that much). I haven't had a chocolate egg that good in years- probably because I've always bought my own and this one I didn't.

I am so very grateful it was a gift :) Perhaps Easter eggs are just one of those childhood favourite moments of mine. I remember once mum set up an Easter egg hunt in the house. She left notes for my brother and I to find our treats whilst her and dad remained in bed. She even lay bowls and Frosties out on the table for breakfast, I know she'd sneak downstairs before we woke to put out fresh milk.

They always wore dressing gowns and we always wore slippers.

One note said 'Follow your nose' with a picture of a sock drawn on. I even remember walking around the kitchen with my brother, sniffing the air for chocolate (or cheese?) - we kept the washing basket under the counter. For us, it was like Christmas day. Our parents made it magical.

Sunday 22 April 2012

"why are you sleeping?!"

Wake up.

Head adjusts... 'oh i'm horizontal and that dream wasn't real'

Time? 7.36am

Phew, a natural wake up today- should be ready for 5am start tomorrow.

Sun, birds (techno bird is about- the best one)

I tweet along with cup of tea in hand, scanning endless internet pages for research, inspiration (reading the news & blogs now seems like some sort of artistic gump)

Tummy rumbles and I start to imagine what to have for my favourite meal of the day.

and this. is. heaven.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

'After all, it’s just touch.'

'Something happens. Maybe you graduated college and lost your strong network of friends. Finding a relationship is harder now. You actually have to work at it whereas before it usually just fell into your lap. You’re no longer guaranteed to meet new people. Your life isn’t as open as it used to be. Working to be social. What a strange concept.

Float through the days. Watch yourself become more and more locked up. Flinch when someone brushes your shoulder on the street and marvel at what you’ve been reduced to. You’re someone who once had amazing sex and been in love and now you’re getting your breath taken away by a passing stranger. How does one get to this point? Is it possible to find your way back? Is it possible to have a healthy amount of sex again and not give a crap if someone brushes your body at a bar. After all, it’s just touch.

Yes, you can. You can meet the love of your life. You can meet them in a bookstore, in a coffee shop, at a party, at a bar, through friends of friends, on the Internet, whatever. The trick to finding this person though is to never resign yourself. Never let the lonely days swallow you up, never accept that you’ll just be one of those people who doesn’t get to be loved. Because the second you start believing it, it can become true. That’s the scary part. How quickly days can turn into years. Just like that. I’ve always said that the whole “love comes to those who aren’t expecting it” is BS. Who ISN’T expecting love? I didn’t expect love for two solid years and guess where it got me? Celibacy. You should always expect to be loved, you should always expect to find somebody to love because if you don’t, you do get your worst fears confirmed and then you’re a goner. Then you’re denying yourself what you deserve. What you can certainly have.'

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Readership

I think I've figured out why writing on here is so easy- writing about anything, without much hesitation...

The readers are real, but the faces remain annonamous.

Monday 16 April 2012

Caramel bear & Brown girl

I remember queueing up for a theme park ride as a kid, and the boy in front of me said I should 'go back to my own country, go back to China'.

He was so wrong.

It's interesting how people have thought my brother had a different Dad to me- because his skin tone is so much lighter than mine.

I grew up being the more 'tanned' one, and not seeing it any different to my friends. I think it took for me to move to London a year ago, somewhere so multi-cultural (if you like that phrase), for background and skin tone to be a subject of interest and where it was pointed out in a positive way.

And even then, we still experience racial bias from our peers. I do my best to point out the ignorant assumptions- most of the time, they link with safety.

This article hits home a little, specifying in the representation of race in video media.

I don't watch enough television to comment, yet I think it shows enough impact our 'colour' plays into representing who we really are.

Sunday 15 April 2012

How coffee is meant to be (yerr, pillocks...)


"It's not what you do it's the way that you do it!"

This is a post tribute to my life long southern friend who whips up these beauties every day, and does it nice and tasty. Barristers in London are Jeffs (fucks).

"ahhh, I'm an arrrtist"

Morning all!

I have had the best Saturday, and am now waking up slowly with a cup of tea and the sound of pigeons cooing!

How was your weekend?

Before I crack on with breakfast (my favourite meal of the day!) I must tell you about a brilliant Saturday out in Camden! It was the perfect weather to wear my new velvet blazer, I picked it up last week for a bargin of £10, at Spitalfields market. I also straightened my hair, which a year ago would have been a huge no no; however now I'm less iron deficient (even my nails are growing long-pow!), I gave it a try and it was very fun feeling like how I did a couple of years back-good!

Messy floor!


I hadn't been to Camden Market for about a year and up until then I hadn't been overly amazed by it- until yesterday! Once we got there, we made our way through the busy (but bearable) street up to the markets. There were sooo many stalls selling various kinds of food: Turkish, British (fish and chips! pies), Chinese, Indian, Caribbean food and many more-it was great, I know If my step dad and sis were there with me-they would have loved it! There was even a cake stand selling slabs of cake and wicked smelling apple and cinnamon hot drinks!

Joe started with a mix of chinese- Teriaki chicken, green chicken curry, rice and nooodles! You can get a brilliant sized portion for £5, and If you can put on a charm always try to haggle for that extra spring roll! I had no idea what to eat, so I waited and took my time choosing cake instead-red velvet! (chocolate cake dyed red with awesome icing on top-it's all about the icing!) After tasting Joe's food and balancing it with a little sweet cake, I decided to buy my own chinese mix of yum. We shared all of the food and headed off to the markets.

As we made our way through people and narrow lanes, I bought a coffee made from Ethiopian beans. I'm a big coffee person and over the last year I have grown to know just how I like it. I suppose it's a win/loose situation, if I'm handed a coffee, I walk away, sip and recently have been left reeling that the coffee tastes bitter and a cappa c just doesn't have enough foam. This one tasted better then the few I've had this week- a semi skimmed cappa c, but it had no foam (take away cups always ruin the foam potential) and I couldn't find that coffee punch (I've been having 'issues' with coffee all week in London city, clearly I needed to get this off my chest!).

Once the coffee was half drank, we popped into the brilliant Cyber Dog. I was very glad to see the dancers had come back, perched on their own personal balconies- a shop blasting dance music, anything fluorescent and selling the perfect utilities for a good rave. If you go, always check out the music that's playing- they leave a CD on the side so you can take a look. I usually go in and don't find anything I'd want to wear, as most of it you'd wear if you wanted to look like a colourful platform boot goth-however they have added a few things for women which could be pulled off as 'casual'. The 'room downstairs', which you can find if you make your way through the tunnels of clothes suited for guys, girls and even kids, featured a pole dancer in platform heels and fishnets-I'm sure you can guess what's sold downstairs!

After cyber dog, it became all about exploring the shops. Me and Joe bumped into a 50s dress shop and I fell in love, it's an outfit i've always fancied buying. Though they didn't have my size, it was fun to try things on and get an idea for the future purchase! We searched through more shops and laughed over old vintage outfits-Joe particularly liked the retro trainers and seeing me try on oversized mens coats! I managed to get a couple of bargins and came home very pleased!! (pictures to follow!)

An interesting image I found on the bridge (going to send it to my Nana!) 

Camden!


If you live North West, It's so easy to get a bus home (or to) Camden-so we jumped on the bus to Kilburn, back to Joe's place. Do ever find it satisfying when your heading home and as you are 10 seconds away from your bus stop, you can see your bus coming towards you in the near distance?! Winner! Double decker top floor, front seats are perfect for taking in the sun.

After giving a quick lesson on hanging wet laundry (HA!...) we made chicken caesar salad and scoffed it down with red wine (yes, a supermarket stylee bottle- sorry, inside joke...you know who you are!)

It must have been around 10pm, where we made our way to The Black Lion. A beautiful pub with high ceilings and hanging lampshades, we had surprise cocktails-they became a surprise because they had ran out of beer or 'anything decent' as the barman put it. I think I like it when barmen give opinions on particular drinks without you having to ask, I appreciate their blunt guidance...

I have no idea what the name was for my cocktail-raspberries, gin, elderflower and something else! Joe ordered a 'Alexander' and for round two I had a Bourbon Blush-strawberries and jim bean. Joe had something which had a liquor in it which was called 'gum'.







Apologies for my teenage-esque writing. I've woken up still buzzing from a great night. As we got home, us 20 somethings had a war of nerf guns and I experimented with my hair- I'm well chuffed how much longer it is!
A variety of styles!



I have a good aim

Blimey, it took me a long time to upload my post and now breakfast will be more like lunch.

Have a great Sunday!

Publishing

An interesting article which caught my eye, based on a discussion which started in work.

Saturday 14 April 2012

Things to do before you are 30...

As I'm receive constant reminders that I'm 'so younggg', here a tribute to all of this age talk:

  1. Blame everything on bad luck, poor timing, and a rotten economy. It’s currently your generation which means you have complete license to talk about how screwed you are and how nothing is ever your fault! (guilty. I'm sure I've blamed my defaults on society instead of getting off my ass and doing something about it) Act fast now because by the time you turn 30, the tides will have shifted and you’ll no longer have the luxury to blame all your problems on being in a post grad funk or lack of job opportunities. You’ve had eight years, dammit! (I like this, and it's true.)
  2. Date someone who most likely hates you. Dating someone who might actually hate you is super chic when you’re just starting to figure things/ yourself out. (Just make sure they have a big dick and occasionally buy you dinner.)
  3. Cry in Whole Foods. Because life is hard! Life is a $7.00 organic grass-fed glass of Kombucha.
  4. Read The Secret. And believe it because you are very fragile right now.
  5. See a shrink (done) and put it on your credit card (Haven't done. Thank you nice work establishment). And tell your therapist things like this: “This one time my mom wouldn’t drive me to Target to buy the new Strokes CD and I think that’s why I have intimacy issues, to be honest. I’ve never told her but I think we both know.”
  6. Bump your elbow and take three Vicodin in the middle of the afternoon. Because it just hurts so bad honey….
  7. Scream at someone In Da Club! Point fingers, throw drinks and scream “YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!” to a stranger who has done nothing wrong. (Talk to strangers and having some jesty inside joke that lasts the whole night through eye contact, does that count?!)
  8. Go to places that have a long line, intimidating bouncers, and a list you most definitely aren’t on. Being in your 20s means going to a douchey hip club at least once and doing coke with that chick from The Ring. Trust me.
  9. Go to Europe (Berlin woo!!). And tell everyone for the next eight years about how it changed your life and how you’re definitely going to move there someday. (So that's why I always feel more chilled when I'm abroad)
  10. Do something sexually that totally shocks you. So you can have a story to tell at brunch for the next 5 years. (Depends what you view as shocking)
  11. Deal with an asshole boss. Who is approximately four months younger than you.
  12. Tell people that you’re in a really good place. (Done)
  13. Tell people that you’re in a really bad place. (Done)
  14. Tell people that you’re confused as to what place you’re in. (Done)
  15. Try to die before you turn 30. Fail miserably. (I don't know whether walking in front of motorbikes or buses counts...)

Crema Catalana

This stuff tastes like a adult banana nesquick. Awesome!

My housemate, Hazal and I went for tapas spontaneously last night. We ordered muscles, garlic mushrooms and salad. Half a bottle of Spanish white rioja and caught up on feeling great :)

It was niiiiice!

Much to our surprise, the Spanish waiter brought us over a big red juicy strawberry, we had one each! Then, as we were handed the bill, he poured us this shot stuff! I loved how these little extras weren't included in the bill! It was the best service ever and nice to be served by Spanish guys!

We had the shot, paid our bill, chatted some more...the waiter must have liked us because he then gave us another shot. Winner!!!

After, we walked over to 'The Railway'. It's a really nice pub, relaxed and has a lot of nice lights so your faces glow! The food menu looked so good, I must go back to try their grub. Hazal had raspberry beer and I had cherry! More talk, chat over Australians and admiring the muscles of our friends...it was a good night!

Today I have a slight headache, and after downing coffee and porridge (blueberries and maple syrup yum!) I must shower had head off to Camden to meet Joe and his smiley face. I hope they are playing good music in cyber dog!