new blogs baby, yeah!

hey blog fan!

i'm spreading my wings and making new blogs! woo! exciting!

here you will find my alter ego Tashwag, hehe, where I am hoping to photograph instances of splendid facial hair on strangers!

I have a bit of a backlog already from the recent World Beard and Moustache Championships in Brighton in September but if you have any fab pics you'd like to donate please contact me asap!

I'm also starting another less niche picture blog here where i can share things wot i see when i'm out and about in my so called life!

one day soon I'm hoping to have something similar to and certainly hoping to sound a lot like a podcast... I'll keep you posted on my cretaive ramblings!

shouldn't have to

the clocks went back this weekend and frankly i've got jetlag - either that or I'm suffering the longest ever hangover! whichever it is i ain't feeling hot!

it's so quaint that we mess with our clocks in blighty - so farmer giles... you'd think we'd have outgrown it with the industrial revolution but people don't like change hey? haha

all this talk of the time reminds me of this amazing website - i can't remember who first showed me it but i've kept a note of it ever since... it's quite hypnotic really... or is that just me?! haha

i think at around this time of year all brits should be allowed to fly south for the winter, i just go into hibernation mode when it gets cold... what did cave folk used to do in winter? i guess there's the upside to all this and that's my large collection of hats gets an airing! haha i've always been a fan of headgear and frankly it keeps the heat in - perfect for the practical but stylish girl in all of us! haha

i think this blog has become quite distracted... that's the jetlag talking, see what i did there? a callback! get me - until the next time reader... x

he did laugh

it's been the Manchester Comedy Festival this week and we all know what that means! haha

not much sleep for me! in fact I'm an official comedy volunteer! I've been getting feedback from comedy punters and bumping into the same people at different gigs which is quite amusing! it's a small crowd this comedy following...

so far I've seen many funny peeps including Toby Hadoke; Norman Lovett; Mundo Jazz - drugs are cool, but wrong! - Seymour Mace; Richard Herring; Jason Cook; Gary Morris; John Bishop and Rhod Gilbert... and there's more to come cos the festival runs til Monday! Woo!

Comedy is very much a generation thing - my mum doesn't understand why Ricky Gervais is funny, and I find it difficult to explain to her, if you don't laugh then it's not for you I guess... but what really made me laugh was my young friend Belle who didn't know who Richard Herring was when I excitedly told her I met him at the Frog and Bucket this week and was only interested to know if he was hot! Celebrity is certainly only in the eye of the beholder!

I don't think there's anything better to do of an evening than watch live comedy... unless it's very bad, then it's just painful... but when its good it's such a great night out! or night in - Larry David always makes me laugh if i'm feeling down after a hard day at the orifice...

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Reader, may your weekend be filled with laughter - i know mine will be! : )

my music

Recently I was asked to write about my musical enthusiasms, and I was genuinely surprised at what came forth! Not that I should be, I've been an enthusiastic music fan for as long as I can remember! My mum says I was probably enjoying the hits of The Beatles and the one and only David Essex while in her belly...

So now I'm asking myself why haven't I written about it before, it's been such fun to write about! I guess sometimes you can't just can't see the things right under your nose! I've decided it would make a splendid 2-part blog and as soon as I've finished it you'll be the first to see it! How exciting! A blog-tease! Tune in next time! haha, I'll warn you tho - it's going to be an epic, I'd written almost 200 words and it was only 1982! haha

I've also had the chance the write some other non-work related stuff which has been a breath of fresh air from the usual ad blurb. I'm almost gagging for extra-curricular writing projects! I really want to do a picture blog... a beards blog... a blog about baking... feeling rather creative this sunny October and I don't mind telling you, must be something in the tea!

happy shopper

It's not often you get to use the phrase 'can't smile wide enough' and really mean it!

But that's what you would have heard yesterday if you saw me at Manchester's Arndale shopping centre with someone elses money to spend! haha

How nice it is to be pampered! 'This is how the other half live' I thought in my private dressing room with people running around getting me jewelry and hangbags to match a wide variety of frocks! haha

I shopped with a lovely lady called Debbie and my friend Clare for around 3 hours, only finding the perfect frocks in the last store, of course...

And I even got a glass of much deserved champers at the Manchester Comedy Festival launch party straight afters! get me with the rocknroll lifestyle! haha

It's amazing to me what a buzz a good shopping spree can give a girl! I guess I tend to avoid going shopping therefore aviding spending money i don't got - but since yesterday's spree was free it was the best kind! hurrah!

It's given me a fix tho and like any junkie worth writing about it's given me a taste again for those days when I spent on the plastic and didn't look back! haha them days are over!

But golly shopping is so wonderful - not even wearing the stuff afters comes close! Except maybe with shoes... but then i can never walk in the shoes i buy so they end up pretty in the box forever... ridiculous i know...

I guess my style just doesn't match my budget. pah!

but while my shopping high lasts I'll try to just enjoy it and hide my credit card...

this might actually make up for all that radio play

James Blunt on Sesame Street

TFI Friday!

Went to a charidee fashion show last night and had much fun! But since I'm over 30 having to get up for work the next day doesn't suit me no more... haha so it's been a slow day...

The theme for participants from the media agencies attending was Music from the Movies and we were treated to songs and performances from the Blues Brothers, Singing in the Rain, Pulp Fiction and Grease, oh and Moulin Rouge but gosh let's not go there...

The best for me was the Pulp Fiction since it was a chappy playing Mrs Mia Wallace and the twist contest was re-enacted! Brilliant! But the Grease pair got extra points from me for attention to detail... they got the 'One that you Want' head-bobs just right in my humble opinion! haha

Often events like this can be dull but with all the apparent effort put in by so many it was hard not to smile all evening... or was is the vino making me smile?! haha

I won another prize draw! haha This time a meal at the hardrock cafe - and why not! i reckon i better play the lotto this weekend, this lucky streak feels good!

the mean Boots lady made me cry

yesterday i had a very unpleasant experience at Boots the chemist!

i know! i couldn't believe it either!

i'm being quite philosophical about it now, assuming the mean lady in question must've had a bad day and i was in the wrong place at the wrong time - but that's what they say about most murder victims and we don't forgive those guys for it hey?! haha

what happened was i bought an eyeshadow (greenglimmer, thanks for asking) the day before and it wasn't until i got it home that i realised it was - and i believe this is a technical retail term - soiled goods! nothing too serious, i wasn't desperate to try out my new colour so i just took it back... i figured it would be a 30second conversation, i even found a replacement eyeshadow before going to the till to make it easier for everyone! so much for that!

sourface seemed a little vexed at the couple in front of me - who strangely enough were also returning something - so when i made it to her till i was for it! i explained i'd bought the item the day before that it was soiled with a stranger's fingermarks and that i simply wanted a replacement. it was at this point my lunchhour took a turn for the worse.

"do you have a receipt" she asked, eyeing me i can only presume with suspicion, like i was trying to get one over on her... but why would i take back something to swap for the same thing for my own ill gain? how would that work?!
i explained that no, i had thrown it away already, but that i didn't need one as the item was soiled (i didn't shop for the last 17 years without finding out my returns rights! haha i am a girl after all and sometimes we buy on impulse...)
she responded to this statement, delivered a matter-of-factly, like i'd just told her she didn't know her own name... "yes, you DO need a receipt" with an aggressive tone only an idiot who didn't know anything could use... like if she said it in such a way it became true, haha
i replied calmly that i didn't want to argue about it "i'm not going to argue with you about it" she snapped back, at this point i was genuinely confused as to how the 30second conversation i'd anticipated had turned into such a personal argument!
before i could ask for a manager, the mean lady told me she would have to 'get advice' this confirmed to me she knew nothing! she wandered off looking for a floor manager and i smiled at the lady behind me in the queue and rolled my eyes, 'how friendly they are here' i commented and she smiled back in agreement...
ages later (about 4 minutes) she wanders back and says "you DO need a receipt, but we'll do it for you this once" - take note reader the old bag didn't maintain eye contact quite so confidently as she had earlier in our exchange!
i refrained from educating her about my consumer rights and how she was talking out her illeducated a*se and refused to speak to her, took my new eyeshadow and left... but as i left the store i felt stung!

i hadn't done anything wrong! and this woman, who ironically had actually served me the day before to sell me the item i returned so promptly, was having a bad day and took it out on me!

i took the address of the company head office from another counter with a mind to complain about my hideous experience. even though i knew i probably wouldn't bother. my man called me while i was in the middle of the exchange so i called him back and there's something about someone asking what's wrong? when you're upset that makes the tears flow!

oh i certainly felt silly for crying about the mean lady from Boots but i guess its cos when someone is rude and you don't expect it, it shocks you... so they were tears of shock not real emotional pain! haha, i'm not THAT soft!

i haven't complained as yet... my blog is surely therapy enough! but i thought it a big enough story in my week to write about so there you go... and the greenglimmer?
i busted that out last night and its gorgeous!

my favourite mug

my favourite mug in the office mug cupboard used to be the united airlines heat sensitive mug, when you put the tea in it changed the colour of the map of the united states, brilliant! a warm drink and entertainment! now that's value for money!

but fickle as i am, when i realised i could get more tea in one sitting in the slightly bigger mugs i moved on! haha

now my favourite mug is probably a solicitor's rebrand mug - its got a nice blue sweep of colour and is the required size... but i try not to get to attached, after all its a free for all in there every morning!

while at the kettle earlier today one of the girls looked for the favourite mug of another girl, and it made me smile because i do the same thing! my boss has his chelsea FC mug, another girl has one with a fairycake on and my deskbuddy likes the one with a cartoon cat on the side...
i think its really cute when a person gets attached to an inanimate object!

but then my bedroom is full of junk that i'm sentimentally attached to and frankly i wish i wasn't!

butler's in the buff

last night i won a £200 shopping spree courtesy of the arndale shopping centre! woo! get me!
and i saw strange men's bums!

at some fashion show last night for themagazine, they had butler's in the buff (they covered their manbits with little aprons reader, just so you know there were no danglies on sight!) and dudes giving hand massages while a few models showed the latest outfits for the office chicks of the world...

then there was a prize draw and i won a shopping spree with a personal shopper! brilliant! like a dream prize! i haven't booked it in the diary yet but i'm well excited!

it was well weird these almost naked dudes wandering around tho - i'm not one for seeing people earning a living doing stuff they'd rather not, but there's no doubt i couldn't help but giggle in delight at seeing some poor geezer's bum as he walked off...

in fact the very same naked butler gave my prize draw a lucky touch - cos who do you know that actually wins stuff?! haha brilliant! my lucky butler...

but who grows up thinking 'when i grow up i'm gonna hang out naked with strangers'?! i mean seriously, its all a bit Roman empire for my liking! i don't know, maybe if i had a perfect bod i'd want a job where i got it out all the time! haha

turns out our new friend 'steve' lives near me and my friend from work, so we may bump into him down the local supermarket - but will we recognise him with his clothes on?! haha

domestic goddess in waiting

it may be the weather but i been getting all 'nest-building' this last week...

from checking my larder, to buying stuff for the bathroom in my shared house, to clearing out the cr*p in my wardrobe... i'm thinking it's pure autumnal instinct but i always like to take notice of when i'm behaving in a 'primal' manner, i think it's fun and gives me a little perspective on the world...

i also got creative with some chickpeas in the kitchen last week! now i don't know about you but i love a bit of houmous and cos i had spare chickpeas from a nifty chickpea and feta salad i'd dished up for my man t'other week i decided to have a go at my favourite savoury dip! now i'll be honest and tell you it was a little lumpy but that's cos i need an electric hand whisk in my life, but you know i thin it added to the character of it! i always think of mu mum's lumpy mash with nothing but fondness! infact i'd go as far as to say that no-lumpy mash just doesn't do it for quite as much! hehe

here's the recipe i used if you fancy having a go yourself:

2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
Qtr cup lemon juice
Half cup water
14 oz (400g) canned chickpeas rinsed and drained
Half cup tahini
1 teaspoon sea salt

PLACE all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, scraping the sides occasionally.
Variations: If you like a spicier hummus, add a small red chili (chopped) or a pinch of cayenne pepper, or try a little cumin for a more exotic variation.
Tip: Prepare extra quantities of hummus as it can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 week and frozen for up to 3 months.

i gotta warn you tho you might want to scale down that recipe - its been a week and i'm still trying to get through all that houmous! Tahini is a little tricky to get hold of but i eventually found it in my favourite health food store Holland & Barrett...

i squished the garlic in a crusher thing before adding and since i only have a rubbish blender i mashed it all together with my hands - I KNOW! hence the lumps.. but you know what - them lumps had character! hehe

let me know how you get on if you decide to go for it!