DOH!

You know when you meet someone and then you smile to yourself at how hot they are...

...and then you see them again and you realise that they're not as hot as you thought they were?

Yeaaahhhh.........

*sigh*

Don't get me wrong - I'm all about personality these days, but it's still hard not to feel just a little disappointed when that realisation hits home.

And it's even worse when the other person is telling you that you are even more stunning than they thought you were!

DOH!

I'm going to be good, though, and give it a chance to see where it goes.

OMG I HAVE TO TELL YOU!!!

Last night I met a Republican!!!

You know I was saying during the election campaign that I'd never met one before? well I randomly bumped into one at a bar. The guy I was with was as pure a Democrat as you can get and oh my goodness I got caught bang in the middle of a hardcore debate about taxes!!

It was so funny and fascinating to watch - I couldn't believe my ears with some of the stuff that was coming outta the Republican guy's mouth! To be fair though, it was pretty much from a fiscal point of you (he's in finance himself) and he was able to argue his point way better than the other guy could. 

Amazing. 

xoxo

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving weekend was certainly eventful!!

I was absolutely knackered on Friday. I struggled my way through work and then had to leg it home to meet my girl who came up from Nagoya. After chilling out for a bit and baking brownies, I called it a night and passed out.

I woke up on Saturday as sick as a dog. The second I opened my eyes, I was overcome by a wave of nausea and started throwing up.

Typical.

I haven't been sick ALL YEAR. All year. And then the one day that I do get sick has to be the day that I was due to host a Thanksgiving dinner and my girl was here.

WHY? Sod's law. 

My girl was amazing. While I was dying in bed and with my head sporadically down the toilet, I gave her a shopping list and she headed out to the supermarket to get the stuff we needed for dinner while I rested up in bed. She helped me clean and then we started cooking.

So what was on the menu?

• Brushchetta
• Pumpkin soup
• Chips and dip and a bean salad brought over by my friends
• Roast chicken
• Sweet potato and white potato mash
• Garlic sauteed green beans
• Carrots
• Broccolli
• Stuffing
• Gravy
• Pumpkin pie
• Brownies
• Copious amounts of wine

Nom, nom, nom!

I was so impressed with my pie!!!! The pastry was a little thin but it tasted absolutely delicious - not bad for a first attempt! There is no way I could've got everything done without my fabulous ladies though. They helped me get everything chopped and prepped so I could just go ahead and cook it all. It was so nice to see all my guests enjoy their meal - I barely ate a mouthful and was drinking water all night, but they had a good time.

And I finally attempted a plate of leftovers on Sunday while watching Breaking Dawn Part 2.

A little disappointed with some of the cringeworthy moments in that movie but I still enjoyed it!!

After mooching around, we headed out to Midtown to see the Christmas lights. Absolutely beautiful - I'd been in a festive mood all day because I'd boiled down the chicken bones to make a stock and my kitchen smelled AMAZING!!! So seeing the lights just made me excited to go back to the UK for Christmas next year. LOL - only I could be that excited about a trip that I'm planning to take a year from now!

Another spot of good news - when we were heading back to Roppongi station, I met a very fine specimen crossing the road. It was one of those typical moments when you're both looking around at each other shamelessly! HAHAHA! When I turned around again, he was running back across the road to talk to me, opened with a hilarious one liner and it was all good from there!

I've had the most disastrous dates over the last few months so I just cut to the chase.

Married?
Girlfriend?
Seeing someone?
Living with someone?
Age?

LOL!!!!! And all came back with very positive answers!!!

The rare thing about this guy?

He CALLS.

As in on the phone. No mail.

I can't remember the last time a guy called me just to talk to me. On the phone that is - I'm on Skype all the time. It feels weird but refreshing at the same time. 

And even better?

Man, this boy CRACKS ME UP!!!!

HAHAHHAHAHA!!!

We'll see.

xoxo

Masterchef?

I've just spent an hour making lunch.

I'm just amazed that after a seriously tough aqua workout (which was more like aqua kickboxing than aqua dance!!), I could still be arsed to come home and put so much effort into my lunch.

So what was on the menu today?

Cumin infused hamburgers with a salad.

And they were DELIGHTFUL!!!

Maybe I should go on Masterchef!! Or not...HAHAHA!!

Super excited about this weekend - my girl will be arriving from Nagoya on Friday night and I have my other girlfriend coming down from Saitama and we're having a massive cook-a-thon on Saturday for Thanksgiving. None of us have done it before. And none of us are American!

HAHAHAHA!

Gonna be so much fun though - we're gonna have chicken (no time to defrost a turkey) with a whole load of sexed up sides! A variety of stuffing, sweet potato mash, garlic and rosemary roasted potates, a whole load of vegetables cooked with a twist, bruschetta, stuffed peppers and pumpkin pie!! Haven't made a pumpkin pie before either - gonna attempt that on Friday night.

How it all turns out remains to be seen!

xoxo

 

 

Missions

Trying to work out my itinerary for NZ has been seriously tough going!

I've decided to bus my way around the country and it's meant that I've had to cut out a couple of places that I was DYING to go to for the sake of time. It's just annoying because some of the places are pretty close together but there are no direct bus services between them. There is always the option of doubling back, but when you're travelling 8 hours to get somewhere, well, you've lost a day pretty much.

And when you only have about 17 days to get around the whole country, time is precious.

I talked about Abel Tasman National Park before. Incredibly stunning, but unfortunately it's one of the places that have been cut outta my plan. I've decided to fly between the islands instead of taking the ferry as I'd originally planned so that I would have enough time to spend in some gorgeous spots in the south.

You just can't do everything in such a short space of time! I'm already being my usual self and cramming in a million things as it is, but I will still have some time to relax, which is what I want. Chilling out against a perfect backdrop of stunning mountains and lakes. Nice.

Not only has that National Park been cut out, I'm foregoing the glaciers. I know they are a super famous attraction, but there is no direct route between Mt. Cook and the glaciers so I've decided to go straight from Mt. Cook to Queenstown. As it stands, I do have a day extra in Queenstown, but the glaciers are 8 hours away - unless I can find some amazing day trip, then it's just not going to happen. And that's OK because I don't wanna miss Lake Tekapo or the stunning view of Mt Cook. The days that I'm there are gonna be the ultimate chilled out days because the bus times SUCK which means I have longer there that I would ideally want, but hey, it's gonna be boxing day and a nice wind down afte visiting friends and probably blowing a fortune in Christchurch.

Now that I've worked out a rough itinerary, I need to start looking at hotels and getting a bus pass. I don't wanna book everything because we all know that things can just change, but if I can book something, then most of the time you'll be OK cancelling a couple of days before.

Gonna be such an awesome trip - I can't believe it's only a month away!!!

So this is roughly the route I'm thinking about taking:

Christchurch-->Tekapo/Mount Cook--->Queenstown--->Milford Sound--->Wellington--->Taupo--->Tongariro National Park--->Rotorua--->Waihi--->Auckland

 There are definitely more stops in the north, but it's OK because the towns are really close together and it's all on the way back to Auckland. Looking forward to catching up with friends in Christchurch and Waihi and then making new ones in between!

I wish I could take just a few more days out. Technically, I could, but it's not worth the financial strain I'd have to endure upon my return!

xoxo

Crushing

Recently I've developed a couple of new crushes.

James Arthur anyone?!

I know that he is not conventionally hot, has got busted teeth and is that little bit awkward, but there is no denying how incredibly SEXY his talent is. I absolutely hate the song he sang on the X Factor this week, but just the fact that he completely made it his own made it easier to listen to.

Over the last 10-12 years, I've done that typical switch that most girls make where they really start paying more attention to personalities. And his is diamond.

The second crush?

Gotta keep that one in. All you need to know is that it's someone I know. And I'm just going to admire from afar. LOL! Sorry!

xoxo

 

ANTM **SPOLIER ALERT!!**

OMG I am soooo disappointed with the winner of this cycle of ANTM!!!!

Don't get me wrong - I was a HUGE Laura fan in the beginning. She's absolutely stunning and just looked amazing. But ever since she went all "Team Kristen" and turned on Leila, she just became this horrible, bratty bitch.

I was rooting for Kiara. I was the opposite with her - hated her and all her attitude in the beginning, but that girl has developed and grown so much and by the end she was my fave and seemed to have gotten absolutely STUNNING!!! That waterfall shoot anyone?! Damn girl!!!

There's no doubt that Leila is the best model but she can't walk for s***. I was gutted for her when she fell in the final runway show. I would've been happy if she'd won, just because I really don't think that Laura deserved it as much.

Spoilt rich girl....of course, even rich girls have dreams too, but it would have just been that much more special for Kiara to have won. Everyone LOVES a rags-to-riches story. And she showed that she has a heart of gold and a wonderful personality.

Such a shame.

I'm sure she'll go on to do really well in the future though

Do you know what, I was thinking about ANTM this week when I was in the hairdressers. You know when they have the makeovers and you always get the girls who go insane when their hair is cut too short? I always thought they were ridiculous - I mean hair grows back, it can't be that big of a deal, right?

Wrong.

I showed my hairdresser a pic of how I had my hair cut back when I went to England in the summer. A sweeping gradual side fringe, starting from just below the eyebrow. My hairdresser was all confidence and smiles as he asked me to trust him.

What a mistake that was.

He was standing in front of me so I didn't have a clear view in the mirror. I heard a snip and then I felt my hair fall against my forehead...

,,,ABOVE my eyebrows!!!!

I pushed him out of the way and was absolutely mortified at how short he had cut my fringe. My hair has a natural wave and even though the roots are straight, there's no way I can carry off this ridiculous fringe. As I shouted at him to fix it, he kept cutting and cutting and cutting and I was just holding my head in my hands telling him how much I hated it.

He kept trying to fix it and then when I eventually had the courage to look in the mirror again, it happened.

I CRIED.

I NEVER thought I would be one of those girls that cried about hair. But it looks so AWFUL and completely changes the way I look. I absolutely HATE it.

I think my hissy fit lasted for about 10-15 minutes before I demanded that he give me some vlips and I clipped the fringe back and had to go back into work.

Gutted.

The problem is now that I'm gonna have to clip the whole thing back until it at least grows back past my eyebrow. And then I'm going to have a nightmare styling it anyway coz it's a strange shape and just looks ghastly. I washed my hair this morning and normally I would just be able to leave the house with wet hair and let it dry naturally, but because the fringe is so damn shorts, it looks ridiuclous so I had to blow dry it. And then it looked even weirder having this dead straight fringe and gentle waves so I had to blow dry the whole lot straight.

I don't mind wearing my hair straight - it just requires a whole extra load of maintenance...like brushing!!! HAHAHA!

it's interesting though coz my hair has gotten CRAZY long. I had no idea until I blow dried ti out just how long it is. Another inch and it's gonna be past my boobs! YAY!! I've been trying to grow it this long for ages, but now I'm thinking about getting it cut. Not for a while though - I love how ultra feminine having super long hair feels. And it keeps me looking young as well!! Always a bonus.

Rant over - I'm going to bed!

xoxo

Best Of British

I absolutely loved The X Factor this week.

The theme? Best of British. Quality.

If there's one thing that Britain does well, it's music. 

Two words. JAMES ARTHUR.

His version of Adele's "Hometown Glory" was just simply PHENOMENAL. I was backing Jahmene to win but I've changed my mind, just because James Arthur is a true artist. That and I wasn't a huge fan of Jahmene's performance this week. James Arthur is gonna go on to be a global superstar, and I, for one, will be buying his album. He has one of those voices that you can just listen to all day. It's truly incredible and he is raw talent.

I highly encourage you all to check it out on You Tube if you're not watching the show.

Other stand out performances of the night go to the boy bands. I absolutely ADORED both of their perfomances and it helps that their song choices were iconic. Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" and Coldplay's "Fix You". Even if you're not into the bands, how can you NOT just absolutely LOVE those songs?! Beautiful performances and I really enjoyed them!!

People are always cussing out reality shows. I've said time and time again that I support them when the objective is to find talent. Everyone loves to slam the X Factor, but there's no denying the platform that it has given to certain acts that have gone on to become GLOBAL SENSATIONS.

Leona Lewis and One Direction are easily the biggest thing to have ever have come out of The X Factor. Not to mention other acts like JLS, Olly Murs, Cher LLoyd which have all enjoyed global success since being on the show.

One Direction are insanely growing in popularity in Japan. Guys and girls of all ages just LOVE them and my clients are always raving about them. These kids only formed their band 2 years ago and have already had something like 12 million record sales and they entered the Guiness Book of Records for being the first British group to have a debut album go to number 1 in the US Billboard Charts. Whether you're a fan or not, that's impressive.

They're a little too poppy for me, but I have to admit, I kinda like their new single.

*hanging head*

xoxo

GO OBAMA!!!!

I haven't been following the Presidential race as closely as I did 4 years ago.

As we approach election day in the States, I decided to get up to speed and watch the 3 debates.

And I'm sorry, but I really fail to believe that people feel Mitt Romney is a viable candidate for the Presidency.

Seriously?!

Half of the bull**** that was coming out of his mouth left me gobsmacked - absolutely OUTRAGEOUS!!! I was thinking about my American friends and I feel pretty confident that none of them would vote for this fool. Well, I truly hope they wouldn't.

But of course, everyone has the right to vote and everyone has the right to their opinion. To be honest though, if anyone I know does choose to vote Romney, I think I'd prefer not to know about it. America gained a lot of worldwide respect when they voted Obama into office 4 years ago - let's hope they make the right decision today. 

It's only been 4 years people!! Rome wasn't built in a day!! 

GOOD LUCK OBAMA!!!! \(^0^)/

xoxo