Sunday Self Secrets Week Six 'The Flat'

Goodness, this week I'm doing Sunday Self Secrets on time for a change! It must be because Spring is in the air or it could be that for once I'm not doing anything until work at 5 today (not that I have too much interest in going after yesterdays disaster of a day!). I could be washing up or doing laundry but there isn't anything I like better at the moment that doing a blog post, mainly because I love reading your comments, they always make me smile. I have a huge list of blog post ideas I'm working through so keep a look out for those.

Today's Sunday Self Secrets is a bit of a cheat. My camera is currently on charge so I can take pictures for ebay (free listing days are today) for tomorrow so I'm using pictures I already have in my iphoto. These pictures are of the flat, which is good in the way because the flat is a completely mess at the moment since my day off isn't until Tuesday and the boys isn't until Friday! Our flat is lovely it's perfect for two twenty one year olds, oops I mean one twenty one year old and one twenty two year old! We both know the next time we move it'll be into a house and then we'll start settling down into marriage and children. This is our second home together, we moved in last year on the 18th July. It's proper professional lettings and not some grotty student flat like we had the previous year. It's big, bright and full of Ikea furniture. It's as close to home we can get without being able to decorate or replace the pictures on the walls.

So here is a guided tour of our own little world.

When we were looking for a new flat, one of the most important things was a nice kitchen with lots of storage this one was the best. Beautiful marble like tops, gas hob, big sink everything I wanted. The kitchen is my favourite room in the house (when the sink isn't piled high with dishes, next house much have a dishwasher!). It looks small in this picture but infact it's really spacious. From the sink the counter continues on with the washer underneath and more cupboards above. On the other side is the fridge freezer and a place to stand the brush, mop and hoover. There is also a gap for the bin. It's not huge but since i'm the only person who is ever in the kitchen it's big enough for me. One of my favourite features is the fact the sink has a seperate little bit that I can drain water from pans even if I'm washing up in the other sink already!

Along from the kitchen and down a small step is a our tiny dinning room but after not even having a table last year this was a dream come true! Even though it is only a small round table with four chair at Christmas I squeezed another chair in for my sister. I'm not a huge fan of the glass table, it's really hard to keep clean but I haven't found a table cloth yet that doesn't make it look like it should be in a old ladies house. I'm still hopeful though! It's usually the warmest place in the house due to the french doors hence the clothes drying in there. I love the french doors and mini balcony and can't wait for watching the sunset in the summer with a bottle of pear Kopperberg and a nice salad like we did last year.

Our lounge is so big that I needed four photos to show all the features of it! I love our lounge, all of it, well almost. I hate that the fire is old fashioned and that its wood like flooring. I'm a firm believer of carpet for sitting rooms, it makes the room quite cold in winter otherwise and the sitting room should be the warmest room of all. The sofa is hideous, its small and so uncomfortable, I wish we could replace it. It's my least favourite thing in the whole place. The two bookcases either side of the TV are ours as is the lamp beside the chair & the table the gerbil cage is on (I think you can just make it out). I guess the good thing about everything being from Ikea is that everything matches. The TV is ours too. The walls and curtains are lovely, I'd probably of picked them out myself. The boy lives in this room, so much so when the boiler was broken we have been known to bring the matress into the sitting room and sleep there since the bedroom faces North and the North Wind is the worst.

I always have to have a house with a bath, I much prefer to have a bath than a shower and this bath is HUGE! Even the boy at 6ft 3" fits in this bath! I also love having storage in the bathroom so I do love the little ledge behind the toilet, the cupboard under the sink and the mirror cupboard. We stupidly went for black in the bathroom so the mats and towels are all black, I do not recommend this to anyone as once you get out the bath you get covered in black fluff and yes I have washed the towels, about a million times and they're still covering us in black fluff! Disaster. The other problem about the bathroom is the shower is not powerful enough for my liking but I think that has something to do with the fact it's an over the bath shower rather than a stand in shower like I would one day love.

We do have two bedrooms but one is the boys office (or junk room), I'm not even bothering to show that one off as it's always a mess. The only time we tidy it is if someone is coming to stay as it has another double bed in it.

Finally, our bedroom. The bed is a comfy divan that you can just make out in the bottom of the picture. We have cream and plum bedding on it and the blanket that was a gift from an American friend, I believe it even appears in an episode of Friends! We have a wardrobe each mine is the one with the soft toys on top. Finally after twenty one years I have a make shift dressing table seen on the right. The mirror is also from Ikea. Next to the drawers is my own bookcase. We also each have a bedside table for our individual junk. I love how simple and uncrowded the room is, I always shared with my sister so our bedroom was always full of stuff. This is just perfect for me and again like with the sitting room the colours are perfect. My only nag is the sun hits our window so early in the summer months that I rarely get a lie in but at least the room is lovely and warm.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing where we live, the problem in renting is you can't make it as personal as you like and that's what I do look forward to when the time comes that we can buy (which at this moment wont be for another million years) but home is where your heart is no matter what it looks like and since the boy lives here too this is where my heart really is.

Sunday Self Secrets Week Five 'My Twenty Second Birthday'

Once again, this weeks Sunday Self Secrets is late due to the fact on Sunday I was celebrating my twenty second birthday at my best friends house. She'd organized me the most wonderful birthday but to be honest I wouldn't expect anything less from her since she is the most wonderful best friend. Not only did we go out for lunch to Damon's but she threw me an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party in the evening with some of the most important people to me attending. Because of this I'm going to dedicate this Sunday Self Secrets to my amazing party as it is something I'd love to have a memory of for those dull and lonely days.

I opened all my presents first thing in the morning helped by my best friends two beautiful daughters. I received a lot mor than I have over the past few birthdays, some of the high lights were champagne flavoured bubble bath, a new charm for my bracelet, a leather purse, paperchase photo frame and two beautiful bits of Disney Couture Jewellery the watch necklace from the boy & the key bracelet from my best friend, these are actually my two favourite bits from the collection!

In the afternoon we went out for lunch, Damon's offers a free meal for the birthday girl and since it was mothers day my best friend and her mother who also came received free cocktails. I also had a blue lagoon cocktail to celebrate in style. The meal was delicious, I had a combo of bbq chicken breast with scampi, chips and salad. There was also this delicious rice that I could of ate a whole bowl of on it's own! I also received a free cake with a sparkler in it and everyone on my table only sang happy birthday to me. I was sort of glad of this with working in F&Bs I find the big birthday song incredibly humiliating but the small table only one at Damon's was lovely and intimate. I would recommend it to anyone! As I have mentioned before the food was excellent too, I sort of wish I had the ribs though as they looked amazing! And for what you get to eat, it's excellent value for money.

After the meal, the boy took me to Sainsburys to get some snacks and little did I know my best friend was creating me my own Wonderland! Even though we arrived back before it was finished, I was completely taken by surprised especially by the fact the boy was in on it! He has never been able to keep anything a secret ever and I was bowled over that the two most important people had been conspiring behind my back! It was an amazing surprise though. Here are some of the highlights of Amy's Wonderland...

L-R Cheshire Cat Balloons, Delicious Spread with Bread & Butterflies and Cupcakes, Cards!
Paper Lanterns, Alice Cake with 22 Sparkler Candles, Directions in Wonderland, Cards & a Shroom!

There was also chess pieces, lots more cards, teapots with candles in, a big banner, flamingos & so much more! I feel so lucky to have such an amazing best friend who knows me so well! The wine flowed generously and I got stupidly drunk but it was my birthday! Not only was the boy and my best friend there but my friends from University and two of my other friends came over. We all drank copious amounts well into the night! It was the most excellent birthday I've ever had. I know she'll be reading this since she has an excellent journal over at Film Bluff but I am so incredibly lucky to have her as a best friend. I hope she knows that!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! x

Sunday Self Secrets Week Four 'The Family'

I don't have loads to write on this subject as it's a very very personal one, and I don't suppose my parents and younger sister would like our private lives posted on a public blog.

My family are three of the most important and valuable people in my life. We've had some hard times while I was growing up but I'm hoping finally we're all on the straight and narrow. I love them more than words can describe and I feel so lucky that I ended up with such wonderful parents. Some of my happiest memories contain these three people, including three trips to Walt Disney World in Florida which has had such a big impact on my life. For all their faults and for all their mistakes I honestly believe that these three are good people and I am genuinely blessed.

I am one of two girls and I'm the eldest by 2 years 4 months. My younger sister Erin (the brunette) was the pain in my life when I was growing up. We shared a room and we were completely different in every way so we struggled to find common ground. In her nineteen years she's had two near death experiences, one when she was very young and neither of us remember and one was in recent years that ended up with us both growing closer. We still argue but we enjoy time together and have a lot more in common these days. She's busy training to be a dental nurse and is finally happily in love. I'm both proud and happy for her.

My mother is a teacher in a pre school nursery, however nowadays they're not supposed to be called teachers or nurserys but that's fundimentally what she is. Before I was born she was a hairdresser but he went back and trained to be a teacher once my sister started school. She was always the mediator in our family fueds and never likes to take sides. Since my sister and I have grown up she now spends all her time looking after her gerbils, Daisy and Maisy. She enjoys gardening and watching all sports on tv. In two years she'll have been married to my dad for twenty five years, he's promised to take her to Wimbledon to watch the mens final on centre court. We're more like best friends now than mother and daughter and I miss seeing her every day. She is one of the funniest people I know and always comes out the worst things. She comes down during her school holidays and we spend a day shopping together, in Easter I've promised to go with her to see Nanny Mcphee and the Big Bang as the first one is her favourite film.

My dad is a long distance truck driver. He loves his job he has nowadays as he gets to deliver new cars and often gets to test drive them. Paddy is very envious of this. Because of his job we only saw him on weekends when we were growing up which was tough on all of us. He did it because it's the only job he's even knew and it was good money. So good nowadays that he gets excellent pay. My sister and I have very similar tempraments to my dad which caused us all to always bash heads. He's always very over protective and always worrying which used to annoy my sister and I. Of both my parents he spoilt us the most and still does. I look forward to him stopping in Newcastle so we can go out for dinner together and catch up. I sometimes think he has more time for me than he used to because he now had Paddy to talk to too! I love him more now than I ever have. He loves classic rock music and still goes to festivals.


On Saturday I took a train to my hometown and spent a night at my parents to celebrate my birthday early. On arriving they had a cake and my sister, her boyfriend and my parents sang happy birthday to me and then I opened my presents. I received everything I'd asked them for plus two charms for my bracelet. From my sister I got a bottle of pink sparkling rose. That evening we had a huge chinese and lots of wine, what a lovely grown up birthday.

Sunday Self Secrets Week Three 'The Make Up Bag'

In my teens I wasn't the make up junkie I am now, infact my make up obsession didn't really start until I was nineteen perhaps? Nowadays I enjoy buying make up more than I do clothes and that is really saying something. I have really sensitive messy skin, the dark circles under eyes, the occasional dry patch, the spot patches, I even have horrible small milk spots that I've had since I was a child. If I'm truthful, my skin is one of the things I'd HAVE to change if I ever came into vast amounts of money. Anyway, what I was meaning to say is my excuse for buying such expensive make up is the fact my skin reacts badly to anything cheap so I need to buy nice good stuff as to not make my face any worse than it is. I'm a sucker for high end brands anyway and I can't remember the last time I owned anything high street (although I do recommend L'Oreals True Match range, before I could afford anything expensive I swore by this and to all the girls with sensitive skin, this does wonders!)

I have two sets of make up, I have my every day make up that I keep in my handbag and then I have my not so regular use make up which stays on my dressing table. This generally includes anything shimmery that I use one a night out, my make up brushes, my MAC pallet and lipglosses. I don't tend to wear lipgloss on a regular basis as I'm not a huge fan of shiny lips and I prefer to keep it matte during the day. Today's Sunday Self Secrets is going to be looking at what's in my make up bag that I use every day, and it's not pretty.. the amount I use to pass for normal looking to leave the house is quite upsetting!


As I said, it is quite a lot more than I'd like. I wish more than anything I was a natural beauty, but I'm just not. Without eyeliner my eyes sink into my face, without my illuminating concealer under my eyes I look like I haven't slept in weeks, without some colour on my lips you can see how chapped they are. I don't believe in fake tan, or caked on foundation but I do have to wear something, and here it is.

My little mirror is from a stall in Camden and cost £2.50 (well two for £5, my best friend has the other one). The comb with the broken tail end is from Boots, I snapped the tail end off so it would fit in a tiny clutch bag on a night out. My blusher brush is a cheap one but it's so soft it and hasn't fallen apart in over a year, it's as good as an expensive one! And my perfume is D&G L'Imperatrice which smells deliciously fruity, everyone always compliments it at work. For an every day face I use Paul & Joe's Primer (£15.75), it has spf 40 which I must wear due to my very pale skin. This is a recent buy that I am doing a review on but it is amazing and smells really good. MAC Select Foundation (£19) & Moisturecover concealer (£12.50) in NW15, as I mentioned before I don't like my make up to be caked on and I found studio fix and studio sculpt to be far to heavy for me, select in the concealer and foundation is a perfect combination and covers my skin flawlessly. For under my eyes I swear by YSL Touche Ecalt (£19.75) in shade one, this is my third one and I use it religiously. It also blends perfectly with my foundation. As a finishing touch I use MAC's loose powder (£17). It's a bit messy but again I use it because it's not heavy on my skin and just gives me that matte look I love so much. I used to apply it with a brush but I have just ordered an empty compact from Lily Lolo (£9) to try and reduce the mess this makes when i'm in the hurry (or applying in the car when I've slept in for work).

On my eyes depending on how I'm feeling I may choose to use pencil or liquid eyeliner. Both of mine are from Benefit's Bad Gal range. The liquid eyeliner was only available once in a Christmas gift pack along with mascara and the chunky eyeliner, neither of which I particular liked however I did love the liquid eyeliner which has lasted me over a year. I'll be very sorry when it runs out. I recently purchased the new waterproof Bad Gal eyeliner (£14) from Fenwicks and so far I'm impressed. It stays on my eyes all day however it does smudge easily, I don't mind that too much because it gives the smokey look. The only draw back is it needs sharpened often because it is gel rather than khol. Look out for the full review of this product coming soon. I am a newbie to mascara as I don't really need it having brown eyelashes, however of the few I've used Dior Show Blackout Mascara (£21.50) is the best. It's thick and excellent at defining eyelashes.

To add a bit of colour my every day pallet is pink. As I've mentioned before I don't like using lipgloss during the day because a) it's too shiny and b) I don't like the sticky factor. So instead I use my all time favourite MAC lipstick Chatterbox (£12.50) it's an amplified cream and goes on so smoothly especially if I put a lipbalm underneath. In the winter my lips are often chapped and I find amplified cream by MAC the best lipstick to use. Over the top of the lipstick I use Vaseline's rosy lips (£1.49) the colours of these blend perfectly and it just keeps the lipstick in place. On my cheeks I love my Hipness blush from the Fafi Collection by MAC (£16.50), it's a gorgeous coral pink. I'm quite upset it's nearly finished as I don't think I'll be able to replace it and when that happens I think I'll give Nars Orgasm a go.

Of everything make up related, my make up bag is my favourite. It's by Loop NYC for Disney Couture and I bought it from Urban Outfitters. The best part of it all it was £20 down to £5! It has Tinkerbelle on it, you can just see her in the picture. It is a great size but when zipped up it pulls everything in making it a good size to keep in the handbag. It's a bit grubby now and could do with a was but I'm afraid it'll ruin it!

What are everyone else's every day essentials in their make up bag? I'm always interested to know if everyone needs as much as me to keep them pretty, according to Calvin Klein who claims "the best thing is to look natural, but it takes make up to look natural" everyone does!

Next week 'My favourite things'

Sunday Self Secrets Week Two 'Valentines Day'

I apologise now for the fact my Sunday Self Secrets is late this week, but I was a little preoccupied last night with what is being this weeks Sunday Self Secrets, Valentines Day.

In the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach" which is how I feel about my loving boyfriend who spoiled me so much last night. I had to work during the day from 10:30 until 5:30, and it was very crazy with it also being Chinese New Year (I work just behing Newcastle's China Town) and Valentines Day, so I came home very grumpy and exhausted. He had me locked away in our bedroom while he did some preparation. When he came to collect me he was wearing a shirt and lead me through our flat, it was pitch black but he lit a little path way with tea lights. It was so romantic! He had a mix tape playing that I had made for his stocking the first Christmas we had together (he never plays romantic music, it was great). All along the sideboard he had my yankee candles in wrapped in tin foil so they didn't melt onto the wood work. On the table he had my card, a single rose and my present. He'd made a goats cheese salad for starters as the Sainsburys meal we had didn't include one. I'm a huge fan of goats cheese and balsamic vinegar salad, he'd even made his own home made croutons. I had also bought a garlic bread pizza to go with the salad, it was from Tescos and was just like the kind you get at Zizzis. It was delicious. We were also drinking the pinot greigo that we got with the meal, it's one of my favs. For mains we had a paella that was really delicious but in my opinion it was more cream base like a risotto. Still nice though even with the peas. The chicken and king prawns were my favourites. For dessert we had stawberry cheese cake which was so delicious def my favourite part of the meal. I ended up being too busy eating to take a picture. We drank the whole bottle of wine with the meal so we moved onto the frescati while we opened our cards and my present. I loved the card I got
my boyfriend, it was about a fairytale couple which is perfect for us. I also got him a gingerbread cookie. He however, along with a single red rose got me an Elsie Belle necklace, the one I'd been lusting after for so long, the Cinderella carriage. I gave him links to three necklaces and he chose this one. He really does know me. I got him How I Met Your Mother Season 2 on DVD, I preordered it for him and we've been busy watching it since Saturday night.

Without a doubt it was the best Valentines day ever. I always have to work because of the trade I'm in so usually I have to something before or after it (this is the third one I've had someone with well with Paddy, the year before it I'd just been dumped so I was happy to work it). It was lovely to do something on the day and I'm so glad I managed to get the evening off even if we were too broke to go out. My boyfriend and I had a great night and I did enjoy being spoilt for once and have some food made for me. I hope everyone else had a great night and you all enjoyed this weeks Sunday Self Secret.

Sunday Self Secrets Week One 'The Handbag'

Starting today I have created the "Sunday Self Secrets" part of my blog. Every Sunday possible I'll let the world see a little part of my life. Starting today with my handbag.

According to Kathy Eisman, author of How to Tell a Woman By Her Handbag the best way to tell what a woman is like is not by her eyes, or how she dresses but by her bag and it's contents. Could this be true? Do the secrets of our personalities lie within what style of bag we choose and it's contents? I don't know about anyone else but I'm not 100% bought by this theory, as my bag and my purse often changes with mood or what is practical. For example I don't take a tote on a night out. I do however have one main handbag that I keep my every day contents in and that is what I'm going to share today. I don't exactly know what my handbag tells people, perhaps that I'm boring because it's just one colour? Or maybe the fact my purse is tartin patterned people could assume I'm frumpy and old lady like? Who knows, but I'll let you all make your own assumptions of who I am from my handbag rather than I tell you who I am. For the time being anyway.


This is my handbag and it's every day contents. Sometimes it has other stuff in, such as my gloves, or voucher codes for restaurants, or if I'm going on the train I also have the book I'm currently reading. My handbag itself was a Christmas present from my parents but I did pick it out. I'm a firm believer in having a bag that goes with every outfit and a tan coloured satchel handbag was just perfect. It was £28 which I thought was reasonable enough for an every day bag. It isn't real leather, or have any leather in it so it would be perfect for the vegans of you out there. The strap is just long enough that it fits comfortably on my shoulder and not to heavy to carry it on my arm. This one here is my old handbag. It was a lovely soft buttery fake leather, it was great but had no pockets on the inside or the outside so everything kept getting lost in it. It was from Muse (part of the Arcadia group) for £20. I've kept a hold of it incase my new bag breaks.

Inside my bag I carry a lot of stuff, but thankfully it's not heavy. Firstly I have my make up bag, it's Loop for Disney Couture and from Urban Outfitters. It cost a meer £5 and I love it. More on that next week. I have my diary which is hand made from a local shop and was £2.99, a notebook that was a gift from a friend and my passport for ID. I also have 3 pens to use at work. My glasses, which are French Connection but I only use them for the cinema. Then my big bunch of keys. The key rings on it are special as they're all from important people in my life. The Disney heart with the princesses on were was brought back from Disneyland Paris by my best friend, the owl I bought in Rhodes on my first holiday with my boyfriend, the heart was bought in Greece by my mum and the Sex and the City inspired LOVE keyring was bought as a Valentines day gift last year by my boyfriend. I rarely use my keys because the boy uses his since the car keys are on it but I like to have them in my bag just incase. Next is my Blackberry Curve which I never go anywhere without and of course my purse. This is just a temporary purse because I haven't found a perfect one yet. It's from Topshop and was £7 in the Christmas sale. I like it because it has a place for coins, a photo and lots of room for cards. The one fault with it is that sometimes the cards are difficult to get out, but maybe that's my stubby fingers. Another one of my prized posessions is my ipod. It's an 8GB nano (not the one with a camera, the one before) in purple and it was a gift from my boyfriend for my 21st last year. The best part of it though is my owl ipod case! It was £10 from Paperchase and I love it! I also have a purple ipod sock to keep the screen clean. With living in England it's essential to to carry an umbrella, even in the summer because it always seems to rain. My umbrella is floral with a frilly edge and is originally from Accessorize, however I bought it on a thrift community on Livejournal. I also make sure I carry my e45 for chapped skin, likewise with my lipbalm and vasline. I swear by vaseline rose as it gives my lips a pinkish tint if I don't have any lipgloss. Finally, I always have mints, mainly because at work I often do double shifts and since I work in an Italian restaurant everything is laced in garlic, a garlic smelling barmaid does not earn many tips, trust me.

Next Week 'The Make Up Bag'