Oh, What A Day!

 

Yoga, baby!

First, I am very happy to announce that the Integral class at Merchant City Yoga was great and I really enjoyed it. The teacher was nice and quite funny, and explained all the stuff really well.  I'm looking forward to going back.  Also, because the teacher was a wee bit late, he didn't charge us!  So KM and I still have 10 classes to take on the vouchers that we bought.  Score!



KM pre-yoga

After the yoga... what a day we had!  Firstly, we headed into Merchant City and popped into the Bernardo's on Wilson Street.  I got a really funky pink belt for a fiver (the stuff in this shop is great, but it ain't cheap, for a charity shop!) plus a couple of books, which is good cause I was just about to start in on one of my regular Oh-no-I've-nothing-to-read-now-what-am-I-going-to-do?? panics.  Then we headed further into the M.C. to get something to eat.  Maybe a coffee or something...





Prosecco

Well, we passed this new place, Boudoir, on Bell Street, and saw an offer in the window - pastry and coffee for £2.95.  And then we saw another offer: cheesecake and a glass of Prosecco for £3.95!  So, of course, we went in.  And it was superb! 



The aftermath

We also got a plate of antipasti, worth £5, which came with Brie, salami, Parma ham, french bread, olives and oil and vinegar.  The place was busy, so the waitress was a bit run off her feet and we had to wait ages for her to bring the food over, so she gave us it for free!  Bargains galore!





Bottoms up!



After going round to the pet shop to check out kittens for KM (they didn't have any), we popped into Corinthian and had a bottle of red wine!  We went into the small bar called Bootleg, which is all done up in huge mirrors, chandeliers, embroidered chairs, etc.  And we got a very reasonable bottle of Sangiovese red wine for £15 (definitely the best idea, because cocktails are about £7 each) and they were playing great blues-guitar music.  I would totally recommend it if you're looking for a bit of decadence and indulgence, without breaking the bank!



I also recommend have a friend like KM to join you in such adventures, but you'll have to find your own, because KM is already mine.





"Half a pound of tuppeny rice...

...Half a pound of treacle/That's the way the money goes/POP! goes the weasel."

Remember that nursery rhyme? 

Today I was meeting KM for A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Oran Mor, and last night when I couldn't sleep I was trying to decide on what to wear.  Then, as I flipped through the pages of Glamour, I hit on the fashion/style section which was devoted to colour pop, and the decision was made.  I'm not sure what the difference between Colour Blocking, and Colour POPping is and, to be perfectly honest, I suspect it might be a bit like the ASBO and the new CBO (but shhhhhhhh!  I'm really just a ASBO with a new name!).

I deleted the good photo by accident,
this one will have to do, sans hairband.

Anyway, I suddenly remembered my canary yellow mini-dress (or is it a long t-shirt?), dug out three cardis, in various shades of the same colour (!), my jewel-blue headband, and fretted over what shoes to wear.  Ballet flats?  But my black ones have a hole in the sole and need repaired.  Gold ones? But that would detract from the zing of the dress.  Wellies?  Too clumpy, and what if it's not raining?

Then, like a bolt from the blue it hit me: my brogues, of course!  Hurray for brogues, and patent ones at that.  So my colour-tastic, style bonanza slotted together and I've had a spring in my step all day long.

 

Shopping with KM

Ooooft, I'm tired.

Yesterday I spent nigh-on the entire day in my bed, watching make-up clips 'n' tips from Lisa Eldridge.  I discovered some new ones that I hadn't seen before and revisited a few classics.  The reason for this uber laziness was KM and her rockin' party.  My dad very kindly went out to buy me straws (glitter lips had to remain in tact throughout Cava and punch drinking, and thus required straws) and bought me a bottle of the ole Cava to take up with me.  So when we arrived we tanked that and discovered the cheese board, which me & ED quickly scarfed before anyone else could get a look in.  Then we had KM's punch, which really did, er, pack a punch (badoom-TCHSH!) and then ED very kindly shared his posh grapefruit vodka and M&S lemon juice.  Met some lovely peeps, had a good bit of chat and admired in awe, KM's new flat which is really rather lovely.  She does have one of those mad canopy beds though - like a double-sized bunk-bed with no bottom part.  I must admit I slightly worry for her safety and await the day I get a text message from her in A&E with a concussion, having drunkenly missed a step on the ladder on the way for a mid-night pee.  So far, though, she's been OK.

I left my cardi at her flat so we met up today so I could get it back for my hols, and then we had a very nice day.  Went for lunch in a wee coffee shop in the West End where we had lentil soup and shared a plate of basil-tastic bruschetta, and then... what else? We hit the shops.  I got some toiletries from Boots and we went into that houseware/junk shop Townhouse, where we spent a happy hour or so browsing the junk and picking up some gems for KM's pad.  Then we went to that wee Moroccan (I think it's Moroccan) shop on Argyle Street and were having a happy nosy about when - joy of joys! - I saw a black turban hat slung on top of a row of jewellery hooks.  Now, anyone who has ever listened to my fashion-obsessive chatter for long will know that I've been searching for a wee stylish turban for a while, but to no avail.  The problem was that any I found were woolly, winter ones, or just cosy headbands which, for some reason, a lot of shops have taken to describing as turbans.  Things like this:





Nice though this may be, it is not a turban!




Liz T.  Now all I need are the diamonds to match.

 

So, anyway... as soon as I saw this lying there in the shop, I grabbed it and tried it on in joy.  It looks awesome, and it is actually exactly what I've been looking for; a bit Elizabeth Taylor, I like to think.  I decided that if it was under a fiver I would just buy it for myself.  So I skipped up to the desk and asked the price, and the guy told me that it was only 99p!  I flipped him a pound with a Cheshire grin and couldn't believe my luck.

The funny thing is, the way it was just lying there on top of a bunch of necklaces and earrings, and the fact that it was the only one in the shop, made us both think that maybe it wasn't really from that shop, and actually someone might have left it there while they tried something else on and then forgotten about it.  I think the guy working at the cash desk was just chancing his luck, selling it for a pound!  This suspicion was compounded when KM asked if he had any others and he very quickly replied (without so much as a glance at where I'd picked it up) "No, that's the last one."  The last one, or the only one, I wonder??

A very happy result for me today and I think I'll stick that on for travelling on Saturday because it's very lightweight and will be comfy for keeping my hair off my face, which is my pet hate.  Although I'm sort of growing my hair out at the moment (more out of indecision and apathy than anything else), it drives me mad when it's hanging in my face or on my neck, so I'm always tying it up or sticking a hat, scarf, or turban, on to get it out the way.  I'm sure it won't be long til I get it all chopped off again.  But in the meantime I'll wear my fabulous turban with joyous style and pizazz!

A bit of a cheerier post...

Well, after being a bit of a grump most of the day and having an annoying and long journey through to Uddingston (long ticket queues, missed train, Pret a Manger closed when I'd planned to hop in for some Miso soup...), I made it to MM's and had a lovely night, hanging with the gurls.  LH & RJ were there too, and Mrs M made amazo steaks and chips for dinner.  I don't know how she does it, she always whips up such tasty meals for whoever happens to have popped in at a meal time!

I did get in to Boots before I got the train and I got my tinted moisturiser (using my Advantage Card points - hello, bargin!) and a bright pink glitter from Barry M.  I had a little pot of a silvery grey Dazzle Dust, but it was unopened, and still sealed, because when I bought it I got two at the same time and, despite testing them all up my arm, I managed to come away with two in a very similar shade.  The thing is, I think I got them in Superdrug, who had a bigger range than Boots... but today I chanced my arm, and returned the grey one and asked to swap it for the hot pink, which they did without any bother at all!  So, all in all, a very cheap and cheerful makeup shopping trip!

KM is having her flat-warming party tomorrow, so that's what I wanted the glitter for.  I don't know what my outfit will be yet, but I do know that I'm going for a kitchsy, dramatic make-up look that I've seen on the Lisa Eldridge blog, which is fantastic.  If you're into make-up and trying out new ideas/products/looks then I totally recommend it!  The videos are also great for passing a bored hour - something about her calm manner and slightly posh voice/accent makes them quite soothing!  I'm really looking forward to the party, and it seemed like the perfect time to go all out and get dressed up!

So, this is the look I'm going for:  I gave the glitter a quick trial at MM's, over the matching lipstick I already had, and it worked quite well, so I think it'll be even better when I do it all properly tomorrow.  Awesome. 

From this photo the glitter doesn't look all that fierce, but once it's on it really shows, and has quite an impact.  Loves it!  Think I'll take a straw to the party though, so I can drink without shedding sparkles all over the place, like some kind of half-cut Tinkerbell.

Why weren't we born in the 1920s?

Oh what a night.  Met Hannah and Keira for coffee at 5:30 and then me & Keira went round to Sloane's for our 2 for 1 macaroni cheese bonanza and it was lush.  The bottle of wine also helped it go down, natch. 

AND then we decided to have a wee drink of brandy afterwards, because... well, who needs a reason?  But instead of staying at Sloane's we headed round to Rogano's on Royal Exchange Square and there we propped up the bar to the sound of Billie Holiday and had our brandy. And then we decided to order a wee plate of oysters, seeing as that's Rogano's speciality, it was only £9 for a plate of 6, and I'd never had them before.  Well, I still have the fishy aftertaste in my mouth, but they were devine.  I highly recommend them to even the most skeptical of people.  We had another brandy and hung out at the bar, lamenting the fact that we weren't about in the twenties to be Flapper girls, listen to jazz every night, eat oysters and drink gin and whisky as a matter of course, whilst wearing pearls and fringy dresses. 

All in all, a very nice, and original night.  And we only spent about £20 each over the whole night!  Sweet!