Guilty Pleasures

Shoes

Clothes

Food that's bad for you

America's Next Top Model

All a bit crap, isn't it?
Nothing that's really embarrassing.

Well, maybe there is one... Really dodgy music.

Anyone who meets me for the first time and thinks that there is evidence of some good taste will inevitably be disappointed as soon as the subject of music comes up. Any credibility well and truly goes out out of the window the minute I admit to liking not only bubble gum pop (which seems to be quite acceptable these days) but also awful 80s/90s stuff. Such as When The Rain Begins to Fall by Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora.



Do I need to say more?

How rubbish am I?!

No, don't answer that.

I have promised - vowed in fact - to write more regularly. And I have completely broken that promise. Yet again.

It's not like I have nothing to write about:

I've got a new job.

I went home to see my "little" brother get married and attended the lovely multi-cutural wedding weekend (he got married to a rather beautiful Argentinian girl, I managed to speak German, English, Italian and bits of Spanish).

My mood has been changing from pretty much blissfully "skipping through summer meadows" happy to "I want to hide under my duvet all day" blue.

And I bought a number of rather nice shoes.


So why haven't I written?

Maybe it's because I am so busy, chasing from one social engagement to the next (not true).
Maybe it's because I am sharing my PC with two other people and it's in the kitchen where I just can't get comfortable enough to write down my thoughts (partially true).
Maybe it's because I think that I don't only want to write about rubbish and thinking too much about serious stuff means that I will think too much (pretty much true).
Or maybe it's because the stuff I would like to mention on here is too private and I would not only share my own but other people's lives who might not want that (definitely true).

I am sure I have pondered over this issue before.

One day I will stop writing about writing and just write instead.

Another promise...

Happy Birthday!

Yes, today it is exactly one year ago that I started my blog!



How exciting!

And how sad that I find this exciting...

BTW: The little doggie is supposed to run (which it does if you open it in a new window) but doesn't. So should anyone read this who knows about blogs, html and all that stuff, please tell me why he stands still!

Freeezing!

It's May. In fact - it's nearly June.

And I am cold.

Near the point of digging my winter coat back out. How ridiculous is this weather?! 13°C?, rain and wind?

And there I was writing about a heatwave a couple of weeks ago...

Needless to say that the particular portion of good mood that is associated with nice weather has been used up.

Sleepless

So what do you do if you can't sleep because you have 1,000,000 thoughts running through your head? I used to write in my diary and for some reason that always helped me.

Not really that surprising, since it obviously makes you sort thoughts, literally spells out in front of you whatever was chasing around in your mind, in some kind of immaterial, elusive and rather foggy manner before. Thoughts become facts - or at least theories then.

The question is: Do I really want to do this? Or at least - do I want to do it now? What can of worms will it open I might not be able to cope with at the moment? And is it really that big of a deal? Maybe I am just hormonal (I heard women do get that sometimes), maybe I am nostalgic, emotional or just plain stupid and tomorrow I'll think "whatever was all that about?!"

So if I write it down now, then it might become more than it actually is and I might create a problem and obsess about it (apparantly something else, women are pretty good at) for no reason whatsoever.

So maybe I'll just get a cup of coco and surf the 'net for a while and restrict my thoughts to the ones that fit on the back of a stamp.

And stop obsessing about trying not to obsess about stuff.

Summertime...

It seems like it's finally here. Today we had about over 20°C (actually, according to the BBC it was 25°C!) and I walked outside without a cardigan or a jacket! Most people will think that this is hardly anything worth blogging about but everyone who knows me will agree that this is a rather rare occurence as I am always cold.

Anyway, the sun was shining and although it was very windy, it was very warm. I had forgotten how much weather like this improves my mood. I had the window wound down all the way, sang along to Fleetwood Mac and it didn't even bother me when people cut in front of me. Now that is a real sign about how happy I must have felt!

I know that it is supposed to deteriorate in a couple of days but I am hoping for another nice day tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Lunchtime

Why doesn't Marks & Spencer have sandwich shops somewhere near where I work?

And how is it that Sainsbury's will stop selling a particular sandwich as soon as I start to really like it?

Why can't more places have a bit more choice than cheese & ham, cheese & coleslaw, cheese & cheese, spam & cheese...?

Why do I feel the urge to share this particular issue? I am turning into a grumpy old man.

Ok, woman then...

Secrets? Never!

So how do I know what I can publish on here? I mean, I am only aware of about two people (yeah, that's TWO whole people) reading my blog - maybe one of them even stopped - but I just don't know if someone else might stumble across this and read something that I'd rather they didn't know.

Having added my picture of course doesn't help in keeping this anonymous.

Sitting in a room on my own I may well think that this is a very private experience. Well, it's not. Guess there is a difference between my little lockable diary - yes I had one when I was 12 - and sharing my thoughts online.

So I shall not write about the stuff that's been keeping me awake recently, the dream I had last night or my bank balance. (The latter certainly being the most embarrassing one.) I will not obsess about what I should do about something I am not going to mention, how I should talk to someone I'm not going to name and when I will be going to a place that I am of course not going to be at.

Confused? Yeah...

Heatwave?

According to those clever people at the BBC we are going to get a little heatwave on Thursday. Apparantly we can expect up to 24°C - well, at least London can. Up north we can look forward to about 21°C.

Fine by me.

I'm waiting.

The search endeth here...

Yes, I have found a pair of shoes to go with that lovely dress.

I actually found some shoes a while ago but have (once again) neglected to tell my poor little blog. And I didn't only find one pair of shoes; I found two (more than suitable) candidates.

So here they are...

This pair is from Office and my second choice. I think they are at their best with a black pencil skirt and some other secretary-related paraphernalia (thinking of blouse and bracelet here rather than note pad) but I do believe they look lovely with my dress.





My first choice are actually these babies from TopShop and I think they need no further introduction, especially since I saw them in numerous magazines since I bought them. Coincidence? I think not!




Should anyone wonder whether I always take pictures of my shoes, be it to stick on the front of shoe boxes or to post on here, I'd have to say "no". It just so happened that my usual shopping friend went to a conference and got so bored that he wanted to know what kind of shoes I bought. I know what you're thinking and no, he's not gay.

Anyway, I obliged and contorted myself to get the two shots where I actually wear the shoes. Just goes to show that my life is even more boring than his, since I had nothing better to do. Before I forget, I would also like to point out that I am wearing the sparkly socks for presentation purposes, i.e. the shoes' details became much clearer on my crappy phone camera once I put them on, and not for real.

Although... I think I might just give it a go.

Shoes!

I can't believe I managed to write for so long - even if not that regularly - without even mentioning how obsessed I can get with clothes... shoes... fashion in general basically. I don't think a day goes by without me cooing or squeeking (apparently not a particularly nice sound) over something I see on tv or in one of my 4.000.000 magazines I buy every month. I'm sure some people call me shallow for that, but I'd rather see myself as someone who loves beautiful things - it's all art, really.

Anyway, I now need a fabulous pair of shoes to go with my lovely dress and I have a few favourites. I considered briefly posting the links to those on here but then decided against it because - hah! - what happens if anyone reads this (does anyone read this?) and falls in love with the same pair of heels that I want? And what if they have the same size and snap up the last pair?!
A dilemma best avoided!

However, I have one fab shoe-site, which I am prepared to share: shoewawa. It's a blog-thingie just about shoes and contains such features as Ask Ms Shoewawa, High Street vs Designer and Ugly Shoes.

It's just again one of those things where you got to think "If only I would have thought of that first!"

Well ok, maybe just me then.

Wedding Plans

So my little brother is getting married. Well, he's not really that little anymore, he will be turning 27 in August, but he'll always be my little brother.

It's weird - I don't actually know whether I ever want to get married or not but I always assumed that if I'd get married, I'd do it before my brother. So if I wait until I'm 45 and then decide to get hitched he'll wait until then and get married after me. All a bit daft, huh?

Anyway, it should make my parents happy, because, let's face it, although they haven't really been asking for grandchildren constantly they're bound to expect them pretty soon. My brother and his lovely girlfriend (sorry, fiance) should now be taking care of this. Not that I think it'll happen too soon but certainly sooner than it would happen with me. Scary accidents excluded.

Anyway, I went into town last weekend with a friend and thought I'd have a look for an appropriately stylish wedding outfit.

(See, how I manage to turn a conversation that could so easily become serious and not superficial into something shallow and bla! You could say it's a gift.)

I expected him to lose the will to live after the first girly shop but he proved quite useful when he (!) picked out a rather nice dress.
Karen Millen.
I tried it on.
It fitted.
I liked it.
He confirmed the fact that it fitted and that it was nice.
I bought it.
...And a jacket.

Bad girl!

Although I had been moving away slightly from the 100% TopShop look and veered more towards River Island and the odd designer piece, I hadn't quite put myself into the Karen Millen box yet since I always thought of this label as "very nice, but very grown up" - which I'm not.

And when I paid for the dress it kinda dawned on me that either I was more grown-up than I thought I was or that Karen Millen had suddenly turned hip.

I choose to go with the second option.
But the jury is still out on whether I am ever seriously gonna try to wear leggings (or rather footless tights) and a mini skirt.

We will have to see...

In lieu of actually writing something interesting myself...

Louis XIV Music Video Codes

Playing: Louis XIV - Pledge of Allegiance
Myspace Layouts Music Video Codes

I kinday like this one, probably because it reminds me so much of being 16 or 18 and not having much else to do but hang around, listen to music and eat lots of sweets.

Gute Vorsaetze fuer's neue Jahr

That's German and means as much as "good resolutions for the new year".

Maybe mine should be to improve my English.

Every time I have been at home for a bit I come back sounding more and more like a foreigner - which of course I am. So there.

I had a lovely time at home although some of it was spent being poorly in bed. Typical, isn't it? Working all the time, then having some time off - only to be sick...
Anyway, Christmas was the usual family get-together. Of course it is sad to see that every year the circle gets a bit smaller but I shouldn't complain since I had all my grandparents for a long time, much longer than many other people I know. Even my great-grandfather lived until I was about 12 years old.

So as I said: Christmas was all Christmas tree, cookies, music (dad playing the organ and my "little" brother playing the trumpet) and of course lots of food and pressies!

A few days later we even had a proper winter wonderland outside thanks to the 10+cms of snow, unfortunately that was gone within a couple of days.

For New Year's Eve I went to a restaurant/hotel with my family where we danced the night away. Well, how often do I get to see my dad a bit tipsy?! (the answer is "not very often" by the way!).

My birthday was a bit scary this time (big one with a "0") but probably the nicest I have had for years. I had my family and best friends around on the day and they spoiled me with lovely and thoughtful gifts. I think at some point I nearly cried... We had copious amounts of cake and for dinner we had raclette. After that we played "Who wants to be a millionaire" and generally just laughed a lot.

At the weekend we went out to my favourite club ever - the Schwimmbad (see below) and I got all silly and dancy. I got the DJ to play a few of my favourite songs and it was nice to finally introduce a friend of mine into the wonderful world of the SMC. I had been going on and on about it for years and kept annoying him by calling all sorts of songs played on the radio "Schwimmbad songs", so it was nice to prove that the mystical place actually exists.

Anyway, it was all lovely!

Resolutions for the new year then. Definitely to write more in here!