My Filofax Week (Week 17)

I missed out last week, so I hope this is the correct week 17, I'm a bit all over the place.

This week was great on the football front to see United win their 20th Premiership title was EPIC.

My lil' sis turns 18 today! CHAOS. I'm planning a little night out on the town around Leicester Sq. Just putting the final touches together with the Boyfriend before scooting off to get ready, it does take me a while and seeing as there's alcohol involved tonight I best make sure I fill my belly with some good food and try and avoid the MacDonalds Drive - In on the way home in the middle of the morn!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Photo Friday 9

Let me take this moment on this lovely Friday afternoon to introduce you, if I haven’t already because I’m losing my marbles as of late, to my African Grey Parrot: Angel. Or Angie if you know her well enough!

Angel - A.K.A Trouble!

We’ve had her since she was a youngin’ and she’s around 10 years old I think, which is very young for Greys as they can live to about 100 years if properly cared for i.e spoilt.

This one, is probably the most spoilt of the family, she’s a little charmer who is a fat and sugar junkie. It’s so hard to keep her away from the chips and peanut butter toasts. She is a darling though and keeps me company when I’m in the big scary house alone, usually by singing and dancing with me. She’s very good at the odd chit chat but she likes poking fun the most, hiccups to burps to blowing your nose if she catches you doing it she will rip the piss out of you until kingdom come. My dad once suffered from a bit of a chesty cough a few Christmas’ ago and every since when she sees him she starts hysterically coughing and wailing. To all of our amusement of course least my dad.

Munching on a bit of passion fruit, one her more healthy options

Then its the grudges she holds. Oh the embarrassment. She has this amazing animal sense that seems to always pick up on people we as a family like and people we, well perhaps like less and  when they come over, Angie is not one for discretion. She very openly expressing our feelings towards the person be it staring them down, attacking them straight up or just making so much noise you want to strangle her yourself! Its so embarrassing. 

But Alas, I love her nonetheless, for without her our home would be a very very quiet home indeed!

I don’t know if Angel would classify as an “exotic” animal, but I’d be very much interested to know what exotic or unusual pets you have. Scratch that I’m interested in your pets full stop! Leave me a comment below and share a few details about the loves of your life!

Happy Friday! 

Mundane Monday (week 8)

Courtesy of Etsy

I worry about the day ahead when I go to sleep, I worry about the days past in my dreams, I wake up and worry about the days that have yet to be. This is very true though it doesn't get me anywhere yet sometimes I don't even realise I'm worrying!

Hopefully you have a better solution in containing your worry demons. I am working on keeping myself too busy to worry!

Photo Friday 8

So I am excited to confess that this morning at 6am I went to... THE GYM! Yep, that’s a pretty big thing for me the last time I went into a gym forcefully was during P.E in high school and willingly? Well never.

But in aid my goal to get fit I accompanied the Dad to his local gym and sat on a bike for 30mins. I was right by the door and could not only see but make direct eye contact with practically every hunky guy that walked in, and my my did they walk in.

I started off thinking “oh this isn’t bad! This isn’t bad at all!” until after about 3mins a beep came from the bike telling me that was just the warm up, my face dropped, my hands gripped the bars tighter and for the sake of my dignity I had to avoid making eye contact with the next few hunks that walked in and go all out like Rambo on a bike.

I tasted my own sweat for the first time. Yeah I made the same kind of face as you are right now. It dripped from my eyelid, down my face and into my mouth where I nearly choked on it. My sweat was trying to kill me.

Oh and then came the 30mins! Oh the beeps and flashing lights of “You’ve made it honey! Go have a MacDonalds breakfast!” Glorious, I felt on top of the world a shy little gym-a-phobe transformed into a muscle powered, feel the burn gym junkie. And then I got off the bike.

OH MY GOD! Where were my legs! As I was getting of the bike I realised my thighs had gone completely numb and that as soon as my foot touched the ground I was going to fall over. So I casually acted like I hadn’t broken a sweat, gripped onto the bike as if it was King Kong and delicately limped my way into the next room to join the Dad.

Well.. hmm.. that is how I imagined it in my head but in reality I tripped on  the rowing bar and nearly fell on a sweaty man *horror face*

But I am not deterred! No spin bike you will see me again next Friday morning as soon as my burning crotch ceases to er.. burn. Jeez no one warns you about that one do they?

If only I made crotch burn look half as glamorous as these lassies!

My Filofax Week (Week 15)

Here’s my last week. As you can see it was a Cupcake free zone as I really battled with myself and try to shed the last few pounds to squeeze into the bridesmaid dress.

It was quite successful I lost 2 lbs which I wasn’t expecting to! I can do the eating right part, I cut all the sweet and carby snacks and replaced them with oat bars and walnuts and snack a jacks galore. Plus eating healthy to me = excuse to eat fish everyday! Which I love.

But the exercise.. oh dear lord I felt like I was going to die the first day. I’ve started some interval training cardio malarkey from clips you can find on youtube and I have enough space in the living room or sometimes the garden, while the suns out. I prefer that than the gym as I always feel a bit uncomfortable like they can smell I’m not a real fitness freak.

The trick is trying to stay on it till after the wedding, I have my sister’s birthday after so that’s another goal but I do need to start thinking about long term fitness goals.

Hope you had a good one!

Mundane Monday Week 8

"No, I don’t think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how." 

- Gone with the Wind 

 Oh how very true that is! I do need a good kiss, it’s all that is wrong with me! 

What with wedding fever everywhere I can’t help but feel a little loved up at the moment. Indulging in premeditated wedding ideas for a wedding that technically doesn't quite exist yet and possibly going one step further and buying some weddings favours "‘cause they are on offer now and may not be in the years to come if I every marry".. I mean that’s all normal right? We’ve all been there, done that? Exactly, I knew deep down I was quite the normal bride.. Imaginary bride then..

With Spring in full swing and birds calling out to their mates very loudly outside my window at 5am I think another movie weekend is due. Filled with all the classic romantics, gone with the wind, the notebook, Roman Holiday.. All the movies the guys are happy to label as chick flicks but secretly swoon over too.. 

Yes boys we know you love The Gosling secretly..

Hope you're loved up or just enjoying the love around you. If you’re getting a bit sick of it all, go and get a kiss! It’s just what you need!

Cheat Easy D.I.Y Filo Dividers

I was feeling lazy a few weeks back and decided to make some homemade dividers, but I had very few resources and not a lot of energy so I decided to cheat.

Here’s my brief tutorial on how to too!

What you need:

Scissors

Pritt Stick

Blank filofax dividers

Printed out designs from the computer/postcards/pictures

Standard hole punch

Tools

 Step 1

Decide if you want a theme for your dividers and then go forth and search for pretty pictures to inspire you throughout the year.

I printed some pictures off from the internet.

For the A5 size I printed two pictures each the size of half a landscape piece of A4 paper.

For a personal size divider I printed the pictures to a slightly larger size than those found on personal insert templates.

Step 2

Once you have your pictures printed out:

For an A5 divider go ahead and cut them out

For a personal divider take your current divider and place it on the printed paper and draw around it.

Draw an outline of your personal divider and cut out

Don’t forget to draw in the punch holes too. Once your done go ahead and chop chop chop!

Step 3

Re-arrange the picture on to your blank filofax divider and go ahead and stick on some pritt stick really making sure you get the edges and stick on to the divider.

Arrange & stick!

Please note: for the A5 dividers the half an A4 size picture printout will be small and fit in the middle of the filofax divider without you needing to punch holes. Adjust the picture size before printing if you’d like the print out to cover the whole divider.

Step 4 – for Personal size

It’s optional whether you want to punch the holes before or after you stick the picture on the filofax divider. I find with a little patience and your eye close to your hole punch you can just punch the holes one by one over the pencil markings you drew earlier.

Punch holes

Ensure that your hole punch is the correct size and not too small for your filofax rings. Also be careful not to re-punch early parts of the paper as you move the hole punch down the page (as I did one too many times!)

Et voila! Cheat easy, sort of professional looking dividers. If your extra creative go ahead and laminate and decorate etc. I don’t have the tools so these lovelies will do me good for now!

A5 dividers

Personal sizied dividers

Tips

I use pritt stick instead of heavier glue as I’ve found I can usually peel it off with little tears and rips to the original divider later on when I change my mind and want a new picture. This happens very often.

Hope this helps!

Mundane Monday (Week 7)

Hope your Monday is going well. Open every door to make it more exciting and less mundane!

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door. 

Emily Dickinson

I'm going to be positive in opening every door this week. Exhaust all the opportunities I'm presented with and take hold of opportunities I create. 

What's your interpretation of the above? 

My Filofax Week (Week 14)

Apologies for the late post. I was a bit M.I.A yesterday. Another week over and I’ve been plodding along getting things organised for the wedding. I’m still on the lookout for some flash diamante necklace set but why are fake jewels SO expensive!

I’ve also been secretly, well maybe not so secretly cursing The Boyfriend this week while he lives it up large in L.A. He’s deliberately sending me pictures of clear blue skies, strolling around in shorts and tee while I look out of the window and see snow. Hmmmmm not happy!

Other events this week have been totally car focused, I changed baby's battery (Yes my car has a name, her name is baby and nobody.. nobody puts baby in the corner), I fixed a wing mirror that decided to drop off because of the cold weather, I even got my head nearly stuck under her and had that two second panic moment when you cry out for your mum. You know similar to when you get your head stuck in your jumper and for a moment you think you'll never see the light of day again. 

Here’s my week and at the top you can see my little pack of Momiji stickers. 

Week 1st - 7th April 2013

They’re so cute lots of little dolls and happy quotes and kisses. I bought them at a paperchase like shop in Watford call Presence. They have loads of other bits of stationary in the “Momiji” range. J’ADORE!

Photo Friday 7

Are you city sleek or countryside relaxed?

I'm countryside relaxed. I love rural landscapes compared to cities any day. I usually get mocked as all my 20 something mates love the thrill of the city and while I do get caught up from time to time I couldn't imagine living there.

The City?

I like looking out of my window and seeing random animals from deer to squirrels it often makes me feel a bit like Snow White/ Cinderella.. Hmmm if only I could master the art of getting them to clean my room.

And I love trees and grass. Sounds mad right? But I love the feeling of nature around me, sometimes in the city I get a bit claustrophobic when I travel for miles until I find a lonely tree. I usually run up and start hugging it like a hippy to the disappointment of the oh so cool city sleek Boyfriend.

Or the Country?

Now that's not to take away from the city's charm. It has everything you could possible want and I would be lying if I said I've never succumb to the charms and that sense of always being young.

 But at the end it's all about the Country.

Which one are you?

The day I became a Director

Did I tell you about the time I became a big shot director? Oh what fun it was!

The fabulous Boyfriend came to me one evening mid week and proposed I help him create a short movie for application purposes. I was on board as usual although didn’t really think much about it, I mean I’m just holding a camera still right?

We pencilled in some time and spent a whole weekend from dusk till dawn filming lots of difference scenes in different locations. We even got the ginger kitty involved.

I was quite excited once he ran through the plan and scripts with me but I couldn’t see how I’d be much help as I have absaloutely no background in film apart from appreciating a decent made one. However, once we starting filming (oh I sound so pro) I was quite surprised at just how much I became involved and sort of er.. took over.

Me being a bit of a Boss!

Being a director is mad! I don’t think I’ll ever view another film the same way. It wasn’t so much about just filming a shot but making sure that the lighting was just perfect, that little bits of dodgy skyline didn’t come in shot, re-structuring scripts last min to allow more time/less time. Chaos.

Now of course in real life a director won’t be shooting etc, but having studied briefly the PFD contracts on the LPC I didn’t quite appreciate until I became one for a weekend just how “on form” they have to be. They are like the nice version of the eye of Sauron (LOTR fans I got you) overseeing absolutely everything, it’s all on them legality wise at the end of the day. Then comes the passion, forget someone suing your ass once the camera starts rolling you forget everything you become captivated with the actors, you go into terminator mode eyeing out all the discrepancies with precision its an incredible feeling!

I love getting creative and being organised and this weekend allowed me to do both. I got a bit carried away knighting myself Stephen Scorsese Smalls, a mix between Stephen Spielberg and Steven Scorsese. Here’s my directors chair..

I may sound a bit obnoxious here but thinking back I really can’t find anything in particular that I disliked. One night we were up till about 2.30am which was straining and it can get a bit stiff repeating a take over and over again to get it perfect. But if you enjoy something I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s less of that frustration if it doesn’t go right first time and more of a hunger to keep working at it.

The Boyfriend was a faboulous actor to work with, not a diva in the slightest though I have a few bloopers of him staring me down as if he wanted to strangle me when I’m getting a bit picky after 6 hours of filming and commanding him to re-shoot a take for the 55^th time because a bird flew past behind him..

On the other hand the unexpected diva turned out to be shai! Oh my lord we had one scene with him, it was supposed to be the easiest but he became such a Madonna! While we were setting up lights and angles he was helping out climbing into prop baskets and sniffing everything then when we looked at him like “let’s do this” he looked back with a “Nope, I’ve changed my mind I want some low fat cream first” and ran outside. Gone. Just like that he was out the cat flap prouncing about in the garden.

So we made a cup of hot chocolate and waited 30 mins for Mr Diva to return after which we had to chase him around the house as he decided he wanted to plat cat and mouse first. When we finally got him in the shot he did wonderfully, although a few times he made me burst out laughing while filming as he turned to The Boyfriend giving him the dirtiest looks a cat can give. I loved it! My little superstar!

Working with Shai also made me appreciate just how stressed out animals can get and how it is so important that film productions take good care (don’t get me started on the horrific events during the filming of the Hobbit. Shame on you Peter Jackson) of the animals on set. Just as the takes were taking a toll on us they were too on little Shai. He had memorised the script and knew exactly when The Boyfriend was coming to an end and would run around for a stroll before he’s even got there. It was great and I ended up learning more about his superstar qualities while treating him to a rare bit of cream as a treat after!

The best bit about filming is watching all the bloopers after. The Boyfriend has promised me a tape of bloopers as a little souvenir. It was really great experience perhaps more so because I got to be a glorified boss for the day!

Some good tools and imagination is all you need!

If you’ve got a love for movies and the sort I’d encourage you to gather some friends, family, lovers and get involved with your own movie making and no.. dirty ones don’t count!

Mundane Monday (Week 6)

Happy Easter and Bank Holiday Monday! Yay!

Best of all the sun is out! There is a spring time hope yet! Hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday Easter weekend and maybe looking forward to getting back to the grind from tomorrow? Nope me neither.

I've been gathering all the work that's piling up around my room and have reminded myself that I have to get stuck in to reap the sweet sweet benefits. So here's a little nudge if you've had too many easter eggs like me!

Taken from Google images

Mr Thomas Edison himself people! There you have it, we all knew it but sometimes we still like to think that if we just snuggle up in bed tomorrow we'll win the lottery.. I'm just so sure of it!