LAST TIME I SAY THIS....

This is the last time I say this, but I am now giving myself an ultimatum to write my blog. As you can see the lasy post was something similar in June or July of last year- not cool! So, I am going to be pro-active, get some direction (i.e. some ideas people might actually want to read) and start blogging on a regular basis (I do work at a digital agency after all!)

You have been warned...

Me again...

This is becoming a bit routine.... I don't post for about a month and then a flurry of posts and then nothing! Well, I suppose it doesn't matter too much as I'm not sure anyone actually reads my blog - so this is in effect very sad that I am even bothering to continue (queue violins!)

I do have lots of catch up posts to do, I've been on holiday, and just trying to remember what else I've done since my last post and the fact that I can't doesn't bode well- old age is setting in!

Stay tuned for more profound musings... or not!

Austique Design a Dress competition

Austique, a lovely boutique on the Kings Road are currently running a competition from now until the end of May to design a dress for their SS11 collection. I wish, wish, wish I was gifted artistically but even my stick men look dubious so I am working on learning to draw in the next couple of weeks so I can submit something. I think it is such a cool competition, giving someone the opportunity to have their design made and sold! The beautiful artwork is courtesy of Natalie Hughes of Canned Fashion who does the most beautiful illustrations and has done some really pretty ones on the Austique Girl blog.

So take a look at the Austique site for more info Austique's Design a Dress competition

Volcanic ash above Britain (and lots of other places)!

I know that everyone has been banging on about the Icelandic volcano erupting, who's name is impossible to remember, but I wanted to jump on the bandwaggon, as standing on the platform at Victoria the other day I had to giggle about an ash related announcement over the tannoy system:

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to volcanic ash above Britain, Heathrow is closed on the Picadilly line"

Now, maybe no one else found that amusing, but I really never thought it was something I would ever hear! And it is awful how many people have been stranded, but I do think that the whole issue seems to have been dealt with very well and NATS and all other aviation/weather/travel bodies involved have offered coherent statements and policy which I think was quick off the mark and boringly, quite sensible. And this is very selfish, but as I do live under a busy flight path in South London, it has been bliss waking up and not hearing planes flying over every few minutes over the last few days, and I do wonder if it has helped cut down carbon emmissons at all- although thinking about that, with a volcano spewing out all sorts of gasses etc not sure if it really helps at all! Anyway, good luck to everyone who is stuck abroad or even in the UK, fingers crossed restrictions are lifted soon.

Night busses, the joy of!

Summer seems to be almost here- two days running of sun! Almost too exciting for words! It means that everyone in London seems to come out of hibernation and starts wearing summer dresses etc which I am just prepared for! Not ready for wearing summer clothes at all, I do need to ease myself in! So this weekend has been spent in South London, between Brixton, Clapham, Tooting and slightly off track, Shoreditch. This post is primarily about the joys of night busses in London (easy to guess from the intro)! They don't run often enough, never have enough space and the driver is always very pissed off, and admitedly if I had to deal with some of the drunken idiots I saw last night I would be pretty pissed off too! But I do have rather a soft spot for them; making random friends, they are super cheap and you get a night time tour of London- is that me trying to be too enthusiastic about night busses!?

I always find it is fun to make friends on night busses, especially the N35 to Clapham Junction (thankis TFL) as it makes what is a tediously long and boring journey, quite entertaning and bearable! Last night was no exception, there was some complete idiot talking at the top of his voice at the bus stop about nothing, everything and generally being quite foul! Needless to say when he got on the first bus that came along we all heaved a sigh of relief and waved him off- he looked quite confused, but it did mean that a few of us bonded and subsequently realised we all sounded like our Mums and realised we all needed to get out more or just go to bed earlier! But it does show that London isn't as unfriendly as it can seem. People only seem to have time for themselves and no desire to speak to new people. Maybe drink loosens peoples tongues and the fact that it is silly o'clock in the morning makes people more willing to chat but I do enjoy it. But I can't say it's something I enjoy doing every weeeknd though (one can only be so sociable!!), taking the night bus that is and next weekend I am pleased to say it is a
Tooting night out for St George's Day and I need to find a red and white costume, and suggestions?

Tripbod

So summer is coming and it’s time for travelling and holidays- I’m off to Lisbon at soon and then hopefully later in the year off to Singapore, Cambodia and Malaysia- very excited! However I write this post it sounds PR-ie but I am going to plug Tripbod! This is a fantastic company founded and run by a couple of great friends Dot and Sally- it’s a service which connects you with local experts at the desitnation of your choice. So when you go on holiday you can see the country as a local and have insider info about where to go and what to do instead of the usual tourist places you can get a real flavour for the place! I am also a Tripbod for London, and all the other bods are fantastic and I wish I had the time and the money to use Tripbod all the time! So if you do want to go away and want someone to help you plan a fabulous trip and pass on some insider info check out Tripbod and I promise you’ll be a fan!! and it isn't just for trips abroad, you can also have some help planning a trip to somewhere within the UK!

And if you’re interested, here’s a link to my profile!

Bad bad bad Ali!

Bad bad bad Ali… I know I always say this, haven’t posted anything for a while… blah blah blah! I will turn over new leaf and post things all week… well as you can see I haven’t so I won’t promise to regularly update my blog but here is a long overdue post!

Naked Heart Foundation

Last night was one of the biggest parties during London fashion week, the Love Ball and it was a charity event held to raise money for the Naked Heart Foundation, set up by beautiful Russian model Natalia Vodianova, to build play parks in Russia. Natalia grew up in Nizhny Novgorod and is very open about her childhood poverty which is why she want to give something back and allow children the opportunity to play and be children! Now because this event was held in London, some of the money raised will be put towards building a handful of play parks in the UK as well as Russia. I went along to help spot in the auction Christies were running and generally help out and had a really fabulous night! There were so many celebrities there it was at first amazing and then I think we all very quickly got bored with star spotting but met some fantastic people working backstage- Shu Uemura were doing everyone's make up and were brilliant (another post to follow) and the cocktails were AMAZING!!! I had my make up done at the Mac shop in Covent Garden before the event- it took some getting used to (drag queen cam to mind) but I am told it looked good. The girls in the office convinced me I couldn't go to such an event without having my hair and make up done, so one out of two ain't bad! But a big well done to Amy and Hony who work at NHF and did a great job of organising what was a great event. I am hoping to get some photos at some point but for the time being this will have to do.

Naked Heart Foundation

Brits

All I have to say is, Peter Kay is a genius!! He was absolutely the saving grace of the Brits and sadly the audience didn't seem to get most of his jokes. Well I absolutely loved him! Best quote of the night about JLS "The black version of Bucks Fizz" Genius!

(I'll hopefully post a clip tomorrow!)

Winter Olympics

So I'm guessing the obvious post after a post about French organic skincare brand Melvita would be another beauty post but no, I like to mix things up! Currently watching the Winter Olympics opening ceremony and I love it! I think it is the highlight of my sporting calendar as I love ice-based sports, so I may be a bit of a hermit the next couple of weekend! Although and not that I want to knock the British team but who designed there team outfits?! They entered the stadium wearing dark blazer style jackets with white hoodies underneath and little berets.... now I'm no fashion designer but it is a dated look and I am distinctly underwhelmed, which is a shame but not the end of the world! Anyway, that one tiny issue aside, I am very excited that Russian figure skater Evgenii Plushenko has come out of retirement and is back competing- he is a genius on the ice and I can't wait to see his performance! (although I am posting a link to his involvement in Eurovision with Dima Bilan, you can make up your own mind up about the artistic merit of both the song and the skating!)

(sorry currently having technological issues with the video!)