Christmas Comedown

It's officially over for another year and I couldn't feel any worse! Christmas is by far my favourite time of year, the lights, festivities, food  but then there is the looming fear that once it's over, it's another 365 days till it comes back around. 365 days, that's 52 weeks and that's 12 months too long for me. Whilst you're eating your body weight in Christmas chocolate and left over turkey try and raise your spirit a bit by doing one or two of these things. 

Baking 

Baking can always cheer anyone up, you can go for the more complicated cakes like these these or you can stick to the simple, easy cakes with a twist. Try the chocolate cornflake clusters with added Nutella for a different taste.

90g Milk Chocolate

120g Nutella 

40g Cornflakes 

All you need to do is melt the chocolate and Nutella in a pan over a small heat. Once melted add in the cornflakes to the mixture. Once your happy with the look of them pop small clusters onto a sheet of baking paper or into cake cases if you have any of them lying around and put them in the fridge to cool. Voila. 

Online Shopping

You've cashed your cheques but don't want to get shoved around in the post Christmas sales, try doing it online! You get the best deals and all from the comfort of you're own house, you don't even have to take your pajamas off, I mean is that perfection of what? Some websites have more offers than others but that's the beauty of online shopping, you can browse to your hearts content. My favourite are River Island which have up to 50% off and Boots again, 50% off selected lines! I got some great gift sets for next Christmas and I may have treat myself to one or two bargains. 

Spend time with your family 

How often can you say you get to spend a whole day with your entire family? I'm betting on rarely, especially as you get older, my brother had to work this year so since we have relished every moment we could! We have played Articulate, the board game about 20 times as a family since Christmas and we've watched all our DVD's again whilst eating cheese and crackers in front of the fire. I'm guessing you're either back to school or work soon so spend the time you have with your family, it's one thing you won't regret. 

Make New Years plans 

One event over and onto the next. Start planning your New Years Eve parties or events, or make plans for the future. Buy a dress, speak to you friends and organise a big bang for the New Year. It gives you something else to focus on whilst you're still getting over your post Christmas blues, not to mention, it's just another reason to get your glad rags on and try out all your new Xmas make-up. 

Do something you've always wanted

You had you're eye on a dress that was a little pricey, you want to run a marathon or drop that last pound you've being clinging onto for the last month...then do it! Buy the dress, train for the marathon and eat healthy! You have to ask yourself one question in these situations, will it make me happy? If the answer is yes then there is nothing stopping you bar yourself. Get your ass into gear and your bound to feel better once you've accomplished what you wanted. 

I hope this helps you beat to Christmas depression and get back to normal life, take to Christmas hat of and come back to reality...it sucks I know but the countdown is back on. My goal for this year is to be a tad more organised, if I leave my presents as late as I did this year, I'm going to break down. 

Clinique

I know I'm so far behind the trend it's painful but I had so many other products to use up that I just couldn't justify purchasing yet ANOTHER cleanser. Cleansing is something I take very seriously, my biggest fear is premature ageing and god forbid someone says "I thought you where older" one more time...I'll start wringing necks. It would be a safe assumption that I've had a couple more than an average person in terms of cleasners, from oils, creams, soaps and balms. I have never found one that I absolutley LOVE as of yet, I've had pretty good ones and ones that I want to throw out my bathroom window in disgust but I've never had the big L quite yet.

Que Clinique 

Clinique Take The Day Off Balm is something I've heard rave reviews about in the past but come-on, can it be that good? The answer is yes, yes it fucking can! I wasn't too optimistic to be frank but I put it on my Christmas list and low and behold Santa did his job and it was tucked under the tree come Christmas. I nearly had a heart palpitation when I first used it, it took all my make-up off in like 30 seconds and a rinse, no faffing, which I just don't have time for after a session of vino and champers so I was sweetly surprised. 

It leaves no oily mess and it didn't dry my skin out...dare I say I may be falling. 

Retail Christmas

So I've been hella busy in the recent weeks buying presents for everyone, and meeting up with friends and family over the festive period, that this has had to take a back seat for the time being. I'd say I was sorry but to be honest, I've had such a blast meeting up with everyone that I just can't apologise sincerely, I'm afraid...At least I'm honest!

I don't know about everyone else but working in retail at Christmas is like working in a chocolate factory at Easter, completely hectic and full of melts. The questions you're asked sin work seriously makes you question the sanity of certain customers. However, it does help you work on self control, just remember, you can't punch a customer in the face and get away with it unscathed. Some questions that I get asked just make me want to walk away crying, so to help us slaving retail workers this Christmas, please try and avoid asking any of the following:

1) Is there any in the back?

No. If there was, they would be out on the self, if you wanted something that bad, you shouldn't of waiting till Christmas Eve, muppet. 

2) Can you not order them in for Christmas?

We can yes, but the 24 hours notice you have given us is just a little too short I'm afraid. 

3) If it isn't right can I return it? 

Just cause it's Christmas doesn't mean the return policy all of a sudden does not stand anymore. If it doesn't fit you can return it, just like the other 11 months of the year, use your head. 

4) I've been waiting for ages? 

awh have you?! Sorry sweetheart next time you come in, we'll personally make sure all our staff bring you a bottle of champaign and top notch customer service despite having another thousand customers to deal with, but don't worry, you're more important than them....dream on...first come, first serve darling. 

5) Why didn't you stock more?

We did, double in fact but unfortunately, you're not the only one at Christmas who needed it. You should've come earlier. 

6) What are your opening hours? 

I don't know why don't you check on the sign you walked straight passed.

7) Gosh, it's busy isn't it? 

Yes, yes it is! Thanks for stating the fucking obvious, the massive fucking queue behind you was a bit of a giveaway though love. 

8) I know you're shut but I really need *this* item

Well, it's a good job your aware we are shut then, cause you're not coming in...

9) It was half price last week ? 

Well, it's currently this week, and it's not half price anymore, the sale is over... 

10) What can I do? *After card has been declined*

Go to the bank, if you're trying to suggest I give you these on a IOU basis, NO! Sort your shit out and come back when it's sorted...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE...

Amsterdam: Ice Bar

You've seen people on your FB and Twitter newsfeed posting piccies of the time they went to "that" ice bar. You like the picture and scroll past it secretly drowning in jealously, well, that was me anyway. Until Now. I managed to see first class what it is like and how much a fucking bitch the bar tender was when I accidentally spilt my drink on her fir coat, pretentious prick. 

It was £19 each for entrance, a cocktail and 2 drinks when you're in the ice room, but there are little budget cards that have discounts for loads of things around Dam and if you manage to find one for the ice bar it knocks it down to £16.50 each so quite a bargain. 

We went in and grabbed our cocktails and waited patiently for our turn like little children, when our turn came we of course were first in line, given our amazingly heavy blue cloaks and gloves and entered. -10 degrees is a hell of a lot colder than I imagined. Literally everything is Ice, ice bar, ice glasses, ice polar bear, ice feet in sandals. (choose sensible footwear, unlike me!)

Quick tip, the glasses are made out of ice and the gloves aren't exactly the most mobile beings so hold the glass with both gloves otherwise you will drop your glass on the floor, twice! 

Our cocktails

Bar Before you enter the Ice Bar itself

Overall, It was a great experience and I made a great profile picture! I had a great time and you get 1 hour in there but to be frank it was all done within the first 15 minutes, including our drinks, so we got on our way after that, thinking an hour was just to long to be stood in the cold without a vodka in my hand! Saying that, some people stayed for more photo ops. 

Experience 10/10 

It was something I've always wanted to do and lived up to expectations 

Value For Money 9/10

The cocktail before we entered was lovely and the drinks inside where nice but a bit stingy on the vods. 

Fun 9/10

Again, it was good fun but an hour was too long for me to be without a drink in my hand. 

Amsterdam: Amadi Park Hotel

After setting off in the early hours of the morning and driving and travelling until late at night, albeit the flight itself was lovely as quick, the last thing I needed was to rock up to the hotel and fall asleep on a bed of uncomfortable bricks...enter Amadi Park hotel to solve all my problems. We were greeted by a lovely woman who went through everything with us, from the best tourist attractions to the best places to get rat arsed. She showed us to our room and my feet literally came from underneath me, a lovely step in the right direction from my usual Travel Lodge on a budget. 

see "the cube" shower room to the right. 

This room had everything bar a bath, which I hate anyway so it was like it was made for me! Black out electric blinds, walk in shower, kind sized bed, TV, coffee maker, THE WORKS. The toilet and shower situation was a bit  confusing at first, they're in a glass box, think "the cube" with blinds but it's actually quite quirky so you can shower looking out or with someone looking in, if you're into that! Or, my preference, completely sealed off, like a separate room. 

The Amadi Park Hotel is located just a 10 minute walk from one of the main areas of Leidseplein so not exactly in the centre but it doesn't need to be really because it is surrounding by beautiful boutiques and cafe's which are perfect for a brekkie and snack. It has a cafe just underneath and a supermarket a round the corner if you want to just chill out one night and binge of Dutch food, like us! Well, we wanted to take full advantage of the room in our defence alright! 

Comfort 10/10 

 I even asked where they got these pillows from, it was like sleeping on a cloud, either that or the vodka did the trick. 

location 8/10 

 It is about a half hour walk from Dam Square so if you're a bit of lazy ass then it's not ideal and after a few drinks it isn't the easiest to find. 

Quality 8/10 

 The room was great but the mini fridge wasn't stocked and the maid woke us up early every morning despite the "do not disturb" sign we hung outside. Other than the one or two little inconveniences it was perfect! 

AmsterDAYM.

As some of you may know I ventured across sea to Holland, it was a birthday surprise from the boyf and after months of subtle hints he done good. Amsterdam literally has something for everyone, if you adore little boutiques and hand-made chocolates or prostitutes that literally rival our page 3 girls you'll find "something" to do! You can walk or cycle along the adorable canals whilst browsing into windows of naked girls, or take a trip to the nine streets where you can look through hundreds of independent clothes stores.

Museums aren't hard to come by in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum is by far the most impressive. There is A Van Gogh museum and my favourite, The Anne Frank Huis. The Anne Frank House takes you round her impressive hide-out during WWII and tells you about her family and her troubles after being found by the Nazi's. I would 100% recommend this, I even bought her book afterwards, get me, little book worm. 

One thing I would suggest doing is hiring a bike, you can walk around but there is quite a walk between the different areas and there is also trams and buses but hiring a bike gives you the best of both worlds. There are bike lanes everywhere so you don't need to worry about getting used to the road system, We hired from Mac Bike, they weren't the cheapest but it was right next to our hotel so my 5 inchers were swaying me.

There are tons of things to do and everyone is so pleasant and polite so it's easy to keep busy. I would recommend the Red Light District by day and night. The museums can keep you busy for a whole day and if you are a football fan and you're lucky enough to go when AJAX are playing then get a ticket, the fans are on another level to us Roughians. The Ice Bar is brilliant, and fairly cheap too as well as the different bars and restaurants in Dam Square and other areas. The problem is, the price of drinks isn't exactly a bargain!

Would I go on again ? Yes! Without A doubt, it was a beautiful city and to be frank, the people are just so polite and pleasant it would be hard to say no.

Read my other reviews and posts soon on here!

Zoella

Recently I've been hearing a lot about the YouTube star Zoella, or Zoe Sugg. She has hit the millions in subscribers and has released her own beauty range, from candles to make-up bags and recently, her own book, Girl Online. She puts the majority of her life online via blogs and vlogs so she spends a lot of time with a lot of people. She is a role model to girls around the world and good on her like. She isn't balancing a wine glass on her ass and she isn't jumping into fame via a sex video so why are people hating on her ?

The other day I saw a status that simply said: 

"I'm sick of this Zoella Girl, just cause her book is the fastest ever selling she thinks she is a better writer than JK Rowling" 

like, please! Her book has been the quickest selling novel since records begun however, no one, not even me and my ego has a mind of it's own would compare their books to Harry Potter! Zoe gave a very thankful message on her YouTube Channel and the gratitude was genuine. Another person posted:

"What has she even done?!"

What have you done? Your sitting there fucking clicking away at your computer when she is probably playing with her new puppy and not giving a shit what you think! She is travelling around the world and millions of people are watching her channel and you've not even got out of your jimjams today mate, shut your gob. 

Zoe has done exetremly well to get to where she is and remain humble whilst doing so, why are people hating you ask? The same reason you gave that stunning girl daggers in the street, and the same reason your Ex's new bird is a "fucking minger" ... Jealousy. 

Rules Of Carry-On

My birthday was just last month and my wonderful boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Amsterdam! Lucky as I am I had one too many questions regarding the carry-on! I can't be without my essentials, what if I run into Tom Hardy? God forbid I look like Sloth from the Goonies.

Packing is essential and you'll have to stock up on certain things before you step foot on that plane, the probs with carry on is that it has to be of a certain dimension and of a certain capacity! Basically all my shit has to be squeezed into a 100ml bottle, da fuck?!

Sainsburys was my saving grace here, as soon as I found out I was going I pretty much legged it there and picked up everything I could find under the allowance. My moisturiser, my cleanser, my hairspray, fucking everything is more than 100ml so I grabbed all the other bits that I could in the adorable small packaging made for these flights. It isn't ideal like but it's better than being bare-faced and rat tailed right! Some things I picked up I thought were completely essential!

I found this little number in the supermarket which eliminates the majority of my problems. I have very sensitive skin so a lot of make-up wipes do not agree with me however Nivea is one brand I can use. I don't particular adore using make-up wipes but what's a girl going to do when her cleanser is 250ml and impossible to put in a small plastic bottle. Its only for 3 nights so I'm sure I can suffer in silence. However, this little package of dreams has the majority of things you need. 

Clear plastic bag - You need this for going through customs with all your products in
Deodorant - 25ml with 48hr protection 
Make-up Wipes - 25 wipes for normal and combination skin 
Moisturiser - A cream for hands, face and body 
Lip Balm - Mainly for the flight
shower gel - With moisturising properties 
All from Nivea. 

Things I need to pick up 
Batiste Dry Hair shampoo
Hairspray
Plastic bottles
Toothpaste
cleanser...if only. 
Eye Make-up remover. 

Hope This helps all those Christmas jet setters, ASDA has a lovely little sections of goodies to pick up for flights. Nip in there and see what you can pick up, happy flying.

What To Get The Men In Your Life

Christmas is coming and you've got you've got the ever nearing prospect of gift buying for the men in your life. Lame Christmas jumpers or shitty socks don't exactly say I love you. 

Tickets...Tickets are always as good option whether comedians, shows, horse racing. Tickets are pretty fail safe, think of something they like and get them a ticket for it. NFL is pretty huge at the minute and tickets are hard to come by so grabbing a pair of these for any sport loving boy will be a big deal! If he isn't into sport check out Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights Tour

http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/peter-kay-s-phoenix-nights-live/?src=peterkay

Watches are always a great buy, if he can tell time that is. There is tons of watches out there from Michael Kors run of the mill generic watches to individual websites that create their own one of kind watches at a more reasonable price. Check out http://www.boohoo.com/ and http://www.asos.com/ for some designer watches, and you can easily find discount codes on line for these sites.  

All men are secretly boys inside and what do all boys love? Toys, gadgets, things you wouldn't look at if it hit you in the perfectly contoured face. Remote control planes that can do 360 spins in the air and LED alarm clocks that sing you the time, to us it sounds completly lame but to him, it's the best thing he's ever seen. Try http://www.red5.co.uk/ for some funny gadgets and gifts. 

Not exactly a gift but http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/ does amazing little and large gifts that, as the title says, you cannot purchase on the high street. Everything from a chilli powder matchbox set for the spice lovers to a beard and moustache caring kit, for the 21st Century men. If you're struggling even thinking of an adequate present for your men then this can give you crucial ideas, if it doesn't contain the right gift for you that is! There are literally 1000's of gifts to browse through. 

If all else fails, bake! Bake him something. The effort will not go a miss and to top it off you could include something of his favourite incorporated into it. So he loves Star Wars, a Darth Vader cake topper with thrill him. It might take a little longer than entering your bank details but he'll know that. As someone who isn't exactly a dab hand in the kitchen, I'll be checking all the sites as a first option like.

Don'ts of Dating

most girls are aware of that dreaded first date, the awkward silences, the grilling questions and the complete make-over you give yourself in a desperate attempt to make him love you! There are certain, faux pas, let's say that you shouldn't for take in when it comes to that date of dread. 

1) Don't order a salad. 

Don't be that girl on a first date that has a Caesar salad with a glass of water. Let yourself go a bit, so you're a bit of a health freak, he doesn't need to know that just yet so order a pizza and leave the crusts, you're cutting out the majority of the carbs and you're not being a complete snooze festival. 

2) Don't order the messiest thing on the menu.

The other end of the food scale, the greasiest, fattiest, messiest thing on the entire menu, guaranteed to end up down your brand new dress and partially on your face. No-one and I mean nobody is sexy when gorging on food bigger than their face, with their mouth full, trying to explain their undying love for their pet dog. Just keep it simple. 

3) Don't get shit faced. 

4 bottles of wine later and you're puking on the street whilst sat on a curb, your dressed hitched up to your waist and the evening has taken a turn for the worse. Sobbing into your date's shoulder and telling him all about your ex isn't going to bag you that second date I'm afraid. 

4) Don't lie to him. 

Yeah, stretch the truth from time to time sure, but telling him you're a world renowned fashion model who won mastermind and lives in Bora Bora isn't quite the same thing. He'll brush you off faster than you can walk the catwalk. 

5) Actually speak 

An embarrassed nod and stupid giggle isn't going to create intense conversation. If he asks a questions a response bigger than a nod is expected in return. If your shy, Dutch courage will sort that right out for you, a vodka or 2 will get you going on like a right chatterbox. It will put him at ease as well, when he gets a word in edgeways that is. 

6) Laugh at his Jokes

Chuckle, giggle, cry with laughter if it's that funny but don't over do it. Don't be that girl that giggles when he asks "how was the food?" It's not funny, not now, not ever so leave the laughter till the actual jokes appear! 

7) Don't be too forward

By this, I mean...Don't fuck on the first date. Don't jump straight into bed with him, easy is as easy does! He got what he wanted so do not be surprised if he says he call and he doesn't. Wait a while and his respect will grow, cliche I know but respect isn't made in the bedroom. 

8) Don't Dress like a slag

This fits in with number 7! Dress like a massive whore and he will treat you as one! Legs, boobs and bum shouldn't all be flaunted when your being wined and dined at a posh restaurant! stay clear off low cut, Primark numbers and take a look at VB's insta. 

9) Don't mention your EX! 

"Me and my ex used to come here all the time, we loved it" 

"My ex used to call me that"

"My old boyfriend has that top"

are all inappropriate, unless you want to sound like your still in love with the air headed knob who cheated on you! It might be a funny anecdote for the pair of you when you've been together a while but for now, keep it quiet. 

10) Don't pretend!

Just be yourself, if he likes you great, if not...well, onto the next! if you lie eventually he'll discover you're not all that and dump you so cut the crap! 

If you follow these "Don't of dating" then you'll be going on a lot less date, although these aren't exactly tried and tested...quick disclaimer 

Truth B Told 

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