Slave to Fashion

It's my 25th birthday on Sunday and I think I am having a mid-20's crisis. Ok, so I know i don't really look that old in the grand scheme of things (goodness, i still get ID'ed for cigarettes in Waitrose..) but I am starting to panic somewhat about the supposed 'slippery slope' I am due to embark on.

Let's start with the fact that I now need the required 7 hours sleep a night in order to look vaguely human and not something straight out of The Hills Have Eyes. Rewind three years ago and I would think nothing of heading out for a cocktail-laced night out on the lash mid-week. Now, however, my colleagues can spot a hangover from a mile off; Frizzy un-straightened hair, sallow complexion, huge bags under my eyes and a sour expression. Hence why I very rarely enter the depths of a pub on a school night now. But it's not just during the week when the dreaded eye-bags come out to play..It's even on a weekend! For example, my friends and I went to Thorpe Park a few weeks ago for my friend H's birthday. Lovely - good girly fun. But for me the day started on a sour note...The night before I wanted to de-stress, relax and get an early night in preparation for my 5.30am start the next morning. Sure enough, I was in bed my 10pm and sound asleep. The peace was shattered at 1am when my living companions, R and T, staggered into the flat, waking me up and leaping on my bed whilst yelling, "COME AND HAVE A DRINK WITH US AND WATCH THE BOXING, SOPH". Not happy. Not happy at all. Particularly when I didn't manage to get back to sleep until 3am. When greeting the girls the next morning at 6.30am the gasps were audible. I looked like an old zombie hag who hadn't slept for 3 weeks. The situation was made worse by the inevitable waving around of cameras, thus capturing my humiliating appearance for all and sundry on the wonder of Facebook to view. Joy.

Now, you may be wondering what I am having for my birthday. From my wonderful parents I am having some rather gorgeous Prada butterfly sunglasses - fab for my holiday in Marbella in 2 weeks time. Over-sized and, to quote my friend J, "VERY Sharpay-esque," i love them as they will certainly make a statement on the beach.

On a rather more unusual note, as a birthday gift from my beloved partner R, I am finally having hair extensions done. After year of being a faithful user of the old clip-in extensions (which are really quite fab and i would highly recommend) I have decided that I would like my locks to be lengthened permanantly. When telling R that this is what my heart would desire for my gift, I was surprised to recieve an email with the following three questions from him:

"Ok love, but I have a few questions:

1) How much do they cost?

2) How long do they last ?

3) Do they smell? "

??? Do they smell? Questions 1 and 2 I can understand, but asking whether they smell? Very odd. Once again, the male mind has baffled me. When I questioned him as to what he thought of the idea, he gave me the following response:

"You can have them if you want, Princess. The only thing is, what if you get the hair of an evil person and it seeps into your brain and makes you evil - like that episode of the Simpsons? I don't know if i like the idea of lying in bed next to you and someone else's hair.."

Good grief. I am in a relationship with a mental person. Felt like responding and reminding him that he called me evil last week when i attempted to give up smoking for one whole day, and that this was BEFORE any 'evil' hair extensions, but decided against it...

..As usual, I won in the end and I'm booked in for next Friday  ;-)

Firstly, Happy New Year! I know i have been rubbish and haven't updated this for a while, but work has been hectic and I have been punishing myself in the gym a fair bit in my spare time (a consequence of which is insanely stiff limbs - every step i take is accompanied by a shriek of pain).

Where to start 'eh? Well, I suppose i ought to explain today's entry title: The Cold War. In a nutshell, i had a bit of a wardrobe-related disaster when walking the dog this morning. As usual, when I walk the dog I tend to throw on whatever clothes I can lay my hands on. This morning it was my pink silk pyjama bottoms, a hoodie and my Ugg boots. Oh, and can I also stress the fact that I had my trusty velcro rollers in my hair this morning too...This is an important detail as it makes the whole thing that little bit worse..

Anyway, when walking down a particularly icy pavement, my Ugg boots lost their grip and I slipped flat on my face. Literally flat on my face. My right knee was cut, my beautiful pink silk pyjamas were torn and my hands were covered in mud from where I had tried to break my fall. Rollers slipped down by my chin and tears started to roll down my cheeks in a very childish fashion.To make everything worse, to my right was a van full of builders who promptly laughed their heads off at me. Shooting them a filthy glare and picking up any errant rollers, I stalked off in the direction of my flat - snivelling all the way. Damn Ugg boots.

Continuing with the war theme, i have decided to wager a war with a particular popular online retailer. By war I mean that i have vowed not to purchase anything from them for an entire month. Yes, an ENTIRE MONTH. It'll be tough, but I have been working on my will power of late - I actually lasted  three whole days last week without checking my Facebook account - tricky stuff. Anyway, I am currently mad with them because i have been desperately trying to order a really cute black playsuit with white horse print on it this week (a la Katy Perry). They have sent me the incorrect order TWICE now. There is nothing more disappointing than seeing a parcel on your desk when you arrive in work, tearing off the packaging in excitement to find....Oh, a boring old pair of grey trousers in a size 16. Then there is the hassle of posting them back (if you are anything like me then rather than actually posting things back they end up hanging around in the bottom of your wardrobe, banished to a black hole of fashion faux pas) and waiting ten whole days for a refund. Very, very frustrating indeed.

As a final note today, my main priority this week is to chose a handbag to purchase on pay day on Friday. At the moment I am torn between a black patent Jimmy Choo number, the black patent Mulberry Roxanne and a black Balanciaga tote. As you can guess, i am very into black handbags (particularly patent) at the moment.  I guess I will have to let you know what I decide upon when the glorious day of pay arrives....Only 36 hours to go, and counting..... ;-)

I have done something unusual. No, I haven't thrown away my GHDs or given my Chanel make-up collection to a passing tramp..I have made a sensible purchase. Yesterday I bought some gorgeous chocolate brown Ugg boots in order to protect my little tootsies from the current arctic conditions. Arguably, I could have hunted down some cheaper imitations, but the lure of the sheepskin-lined interior was far too tempting. I thought that yesterday when watching the Bristol City game at Ashton Gate would be a good time to test them out, as I have been known to spend the entire 90 minutes hopping about from one foot to the next whinging and whining about how cold my feet are. FYI, stilettos are not good at insulating your feet.

They were FAB. Not only did i not complain once, but my feet felt toasty warm throughout the entire game. In yet another break from normality, I also decided to wear sensible attire to the game too. This consisted of a cute red hat, some long wooly gloves, lots of layers and my trusty City scarf. I thought i looked pretty cool, but my housemate T soon burst that little bubble by proclaiming that I looked like an elf. In fact, to quote, "Hahaha, i'm surprised Santa has given you time off to come and watch the game, you elf dork!" I like to credit the superb win to my new football-spectating look, actually.

Christmas in the Yates-Round household was as fab as ever this year, and I was lucky enough to get some truly gorgeous pressies. An Armani, diamond encrusted watch from the other half, a pink digital camera from the parents and a wonderful assortment of gorgeous pampering products from other assorted relatives. In my opinion there is no better way to spend a post-Christmas evening than to soak your feet, exfoliate yourself to within an inch of your life and treat yourself to a lovely relaxing face mask. I am also proud to inform you that I was still a frequent visitor to the gym over the festive period. There is no way I am going to let my mothers gorgeous Christmas dinner hang around on my waist line. That said, I am determined to attempt to go through the entire month of January dedicating myself to healthy eating, no booze and an even stricter fitness regime in order to get myself in tip top condition.

I'm not going to write my blog for a couple of days now as I am off to Cornwall tonight with my fantastic gang of mates for our standard New Year shenanigans. As a tip off, if you have a large bunch of mates who all want to spend New Year together, and also fancy a post-Christmas break, then hiring a large house in the country is the way forward. Nothing prepares you for the January blues better than a week surrounded by great company, plenty of booze and relaxation.

Happy New Year, i will return in 2009!

xxx

Ok, so I have FINALLY finished my Christmas shopping. Usually most years I am pretty organised but this year it all went completely out of the window. I managed to start my 'Christmas shopping' in late November, though didn't actually purchase any gifts for anybody other than myself until the end of last week...

...I don't know about anyone else, but I find it so hard to go shopping for gifts without spying a bargain sale purchase I want for myself! The first time I went I managed to buy several products from the over-enthusiatic sales person on the Yves Saint Laurent make-up counter in House of Fraser. The second time it was a cute black pleated mini skirt and leopard print cardigan in the Warehouse sale and the third time it was two pairs of shoes from Dune (classic black stilettos, half price - bargain). By this point it was the 20th December and I had bought nothing for anybody else - what a selfish cow! I did manage to go on Sunday though and get everything done in one day. I did also, however, cock up monumentarily by accidentally wrapping up my own make-up purchases instead of the ones I had bought for my friends (seriously, I had to un-wrap and then re-wrap everything - typical me). Oh, and I have forgotten to label everything too...

From chatting with my girl friends last night it appears I am not the only one who has been laughing in the face of the credit crunch and treating myself as well as my loved ones. That makes me feel slightly better ;-)

Oh, and one quick word of wisdom before I sign off for the day: If you are going to delicately french manicure your nails, remember to do so AFTER wrapping up all your Christmas gifts. I have managed to chip virtually every single nail by scrabbling around the sellotape to find the damn end of the roll...

My goodness. I am currently sat at work (which is rubbish as nobody is in the office) sporting what can only be described as a post-boozy-weekend-hangover. This has been as a result of three nights out in a row - seriously. I am clearly getting too old for this now..

The work christmas party on Friday night was brilliant. My colleague C and I went to have our hair done in Toni and Guy beforehand, and I can highly recommend it if you have a special event to go to and want that extra bit of glamour. They put in my new hair extensions and curled the whole lot, and it was fantastic - i felt like a princess. It was quite pricey, costing £45, but like I say - well worth it for a special occasion.

Anyway, despite being asleep at 1am, I still felt like I had been hit in the head repeatedly with a hammer when I awoke on Saturday morning. Hangover number 1. My hair was a tangled mess of extensions and kirby grips and I had a false eyelash stuck to my cheek. There was only one thing for it, and that was an entire day in bed watching television whilst the boys were out watching the football. Bliss! Soon enough though, 5pm rolled around and I realised I needed to drag my pyjama-clad self out of bed and into the bath to prepare for that evenings' celebrations - in aid of my flatmate T's birthday.

For this occasion, I decided to wear a new (if slightly daring) outfit which has been lurking in the wardrobe for a few weeks. This consisted of my leather-look leggings from French Connection, a new loose fitting silk top with pussy bow blouse in a dark grey colour, simple black stilettos and a new bright pink lipstick. Combined with an over-sized bright pink clutch bag and new blingy earrings, I was pretty pleased with the outfit choice...This lasted until I reached the bar where I met all the lads where I was greeted by, "Woohooo, nice tights trousers!!". Yes, they made fun of me all evening. They even made fun of my other half by saying he had a matching pair (R, much as I adore you, that is a really horrible thought...) and all insisted on, "feeling them". I was compared to both a dolphin and, even less flattering, a balloon..The girls were much more complimentary though and all loved the look. Which was nice!

To cut a long story short, 20 apple martinis, a whole load of jokey insults, 4 unsightly drinks spillages down my silk blouse, 1 comment on a Fila puffa jacket (J and J - you are both BEASTS) and 1 kebab later and it was Sunday morning where I awoke with hangover number 2. This one was slightly more bearable than number 1, but this time it was my neck and back which caused me the problems. One swift phone call to J reminded me that her and I had decided to dance like complete lunatics that evening, all as a, "piss-take," and I had managed to crick my neck in a bad way. My blouse is covered with drink stains and my patent stilettos have got sticky shoe prints all over them from where they were trodden on repeatedly.Good night though - in fact I don't think I have ever laughed so much!

Last night was social event of the weekend number three. My friends and I held a Welcome Home party for our friends who were returning from travelling. Debating the idea of getting stuck into the cocktails, I declined at the last minute. To make matters worse, i looked terrible at this party. Having been woken up by R (i had only laid down on the bed for 2 minutes to rest my eyes, of course) I left myself with ten minutes to get ready. After hastily applying my hair extensions, some more Bobbi Brown shimmer brick and my new fuchsia pink Karen Millen jumper dress, tights and heels, I was ready to go. If still half asleep.

And this leads to me at this point today. After eventually going to sleep at midnight I have stumbled into work today feeling jaded and lethargic. My hair feels lacklustre and I have bags the size of suitcases under my eyes. There's only one thing for it; Booting the lads out of the flat this evening so I can have a long bath and try and repair myself with the aid of a face mask, hair treatment and good book. Perfect!