I haven't written in a while and that really is all my fault. I could say I've been wickedly busy (which is true), but I still found time do watch BBC iPlayer so...yeah.
But I'm back now and I'll fill you in on what's really been going on.
To start, I'm still in London and working well at school and at work--i.e. using work commitments to procrastinate on coursework. But that's still productive, right?
I've been to Brighton, and Bath. I've taken selfies with Elvis and Stonehenge. I've been a right ol' traveller, I have.
Chillin' with my druid friends.
That Elvis tho....
I've also consumed a fair bit of fermented drink, if you know what I mean. However, those are the pleasures of Blighty and they will sure be missed when I'm gone.
I've also made friends, the best of whom has been a young Chicagoan (I really don't know what they call themselves... I must ask), called Ryan with whom I have embarked upon adventures during my time here.
I also was reunited with my cousin Dominique who I haven't seen for around 6 years. When we last saw each other, we were both under five foot tall and prepubescent. She's now 6 feet tall in heels and towers over me. I'm forever jealous of her ability to source things from high shelves and she envies my shoe size. Despite our vertical differences, we've clicked and have spent time giggling, taking selfies, and drinking Caramel Macchiatos-- so basic, but so good.
This gal has been frolicking around London and other parts of England for the past month, exploring, eating, and being terrified by pigeons. This weekend I shall be travelling to Northumbria to see an old friend-- a girl I haven't seen in nearly a decade. I'm nervous about if we'll click back like it was 2007 or if it'll be awkward. I'm also very excited. We've more or less stayed in constant contact over the years via e-mail and later FaceBook, Twitter, and even Skype; but this will be our first in person meeting and she has lovely green hair.
I'd love to end this blog post by promising to write something next week, but I know if I did I'd probably be a rotten liar. I'll try, okay? I'll make something momentous worth writing about happen-- unless you'd like to read a type-off of my Tesco purchases. If the latter is the case, you can have your next post within a week, if I can find the receipts.
In 36 hours I'll be on an aeroplane again. I'll be taking myself on a long-haul flight to Blighty! That's right, England, the place where around 3/4 of my childhood took place. I can't wait to see family and friends that I have not seen for eons. Wahey!
However, my mother has disseminated an awful flu to the entire family. I plan to get rid of it before I venture out into the cold. Really bad to change climates from tropical to icy. There's a risk of pneumonia, you know. After being subjected to many weird teas and a cocktail of cough medicines, I do feel a little better; however I'm still wearing a fleece blanket as a toga in 30ºC heat. Not really a sign of optimum health, I assure you.
On the first night of the flu, I was cold and hot at the same time, shivering and too dizzy to get out of bed. I had hallucinations of Paul McCartney making a song with Kanye West. Wait... that actually happened. I imagined that my dog turned into a centaur. I further had weird cough syrup-induced dreams of me marrying someone who might be reading this. With that in mind, I'd rather not say for fear of professional status slipping and mental wellbeing being compromised. Let's just say it was a corporate wedding. However some good things have happened over the past week. I sat for six hours and got my hair braided, and I'm sure I've lost round about half a stone through being so sick I can only eat cucumber sandwiches and ginger ale. I did, however, manage to make and ingest some baked rosemary potatoes for supper. Every cloud...
My apartment is quite small, as a result, so is my bedroom. Because of its size, keeping it looking organised and devoid of clutter is a challenge especially when you're really busy. However, I have found a few ways to help decrease the mess.
Spice rack as cosmetics rack: I use a regular spice rack to store the hair, body and nails bits I use regularly. Right now it houses my daily cleanser, toner and moisturiser, deodorant, face masks, seasonal nail polishes and bodily moisturiser.
Rubbermaid Take-Alongs: These tupperware bowls are a godsend! In them I normally store things I'm not using but want to have close at hand such as non-seasonal nail and make-up bits, nail polish remover, my toothbrush charger, etc.
Suction Cups: These magical little cups have saved me from nailing or screwing things into my wall which would have been more dangerous for me than the wall (DIY was never my strong suit). They are strong enough to hold up the afore-mentioned spice rack and clothing hangers. I've tested it out on a heavy winter coat and a 4-pants hangers. I even use them to hang the next day's outfits when I choose them at night. All you do to affix them to the wall is hold them steady, and screw the triangle in a clock-wise direction until you are unable to do so. The suction is then activated and it's sturdily stuck to your wall. Then, pull the hook through the lowest hole and voilà- wonderfully strong suction power.
Multiple article hangers: I wear a lot of skirts, shorts and trousers but I don't have the space to horizontally pack the hangers. So, I use these. They have four pairs of clothes pins which hang vertically which allow for one hanger to do the job of four.
' Using empties as helpful pots: After I use my Bodyshop Body Butters I don't want to just throw away the little pots they come in. Instead, I use them to hold small bits and bobs like rings, earrings, hair pins and extra buttons. They're compact and stackable, perfect for neat storage!
Here are my favourites in the world of beauty, music and whatever else I've especially liked this month! 1.Body Shop Body Butters: These body moisturisers are creamy body moisturisers and a great alternative to lotions. I've been using the Shea Butter and Olive Body Butter this month and have been loving the moisturising power it gives to my skin. The containers also double has handy little organisers. I've began to use them as littler jewellery pots for when I'm travelling and don't want to take a jewellery box but want to keep everything protected and in one place.
2.Aussie Hair Insurance Leave-in Conditioner: I've recently died the tips of my hair purple, which involved bleach. That being said, my ends get dry and tangled easily now, so what do I do? Use his leave in. Especially after washing my hair whilst it is still damp, this spray has magical detangling powers and makes my hair smell lovely! I can't say how many people have been sniffing my head since I began using this regularly.
3. Origins A Perfect World Moisturiser with SPF 25 and White Tea Extract: I have dry skin that tends to get oily at times and contrary to popular belief, if you are black YOU STILL NEED SPF. Skin cancer and melanoma do not discriminate. This has been my favourite moisturiser for a few months now and now that I've nearly finished the lot and am looking to repurchase it has to go into this post. A little goes a long way with this. A dime-sized dollop is enough to cover my entire face and it doesn't have a strong fragrance or leaves a white ghostly residue like other SPF moisturisers seem to at times. It also stays well under make up.
4. Simple Moisturising Facial Wash: Apply to a damp face, lather it in and rinse. I use this twice a day to cleanse and it does a really good job. When I have make-up on I just rinse and all of it is gone. I do rinse twice sometimes if I just want a really deep clean. It gets rid of dirt and gunk in your pores without drying your face out and leaving you looking like a raisin.
5. Body Shop Tea Tree Oil: Lately I've had a few breakouts, but this little saviour in a bottle just kicks ass. After cleansing my face, I pour four or five drops on my palms, rub them together and just pat it on my face, especially my cheek and chin (where I tend to get the most pimples). This not only dries up and gets the pimples to go away, but actually prevents them from coming up to fast and I also found it to even out my skin tone a bit where I had acne scars. Really a little miracle in a bottle. Thank you to my friend Abby who recommended it!!!
6. Nacidit Aloe Vera Treatment for Normal and Mixed Hair: Now, I ran out of my normal Organix Keratin Conditioner AND my It's a Ten Deep Conditioner (the latter being not the cheapest of hair products). I was in the Caribbean where getting those conditioners back would have meant spending an arm and a leg, and I quite like my arms and legs. My mom took my to a West Indian beauty parlour and where the Dominican stylist recommended this BIG pot of heaven ( which only costed about ECX$30.00 which is only about USD$11.00). It's cheap, so I thought I'd try it out, and if not, just give it to my mum. Now I want it, and I found it on eBay and Amazon so I know or a fact I'll use it again. It is a product from Santa Domingo and it smells heavenly. It uses Aloe Vera extract and is very nourishing to the hair. My hair feels moisturised after using it and breakage drastically decreased. Highly recommend.
7. G.H. Bass & Co.: The original maker of the penny loafer. I was looking for a pair of fun and funky flats to wear on vacation so I ventured to the DSW website and found these oxfords. They had in navy blue with peach soles which I really liked and a grey with yellow soles. However, they did't have it in my size in either of those. Instead, I got these taupe and turquoise ones instead, which are a brave look. Wearing them isn't as hard as I thought, good pair of khakis or black slacks and they look incredibly chic and fun.
8. Twin Folks- Cross my Mind: I heard this song whilst watching a Drama called It's Okay, That's Love which in itself is a wonderful drama series with deep characters which make me laugh and cry many times per episode. The OST (Original Soundtrack) for this drama is on point! A mixture of English and Korean songs and all of them I love. My favourite was this one which plays whenever a happy moment like a drive montage or date happens. It's a really happy go lucky upbeat song that I just listen to on loop and dance in my bedroom.
And those are all my favourites this Month! See you soon!
When flying from Antigua, I normally used Delta. However, Delta decided not to fly from Antigua to JFK anymore so I'm stuck having to deal with my love-hate relationship with American Airlines. I love American Airlines so far because every time I've flown with them I haven't died or been critically injured. However, their customer service and sense sometimes annoys me.
I'm suffer from Chron's disease which is a form of inflammatory bowel disease. Eating the wrong foods results in bad stomach aches, headaches and just overall pain. My wrong foods include mostly meat and dairy but white flour can do me in also. After reaching to reserve my in-flight lunch, I realised that only a chicken salad and teriyaki been entrées were available. So, like any tech-savy millennial I sent a cheeky little tweet to American Airlines.
No word on how to reserve my special meal, I resorted to the website which contained a few menu options such as Gluten Intolerant, Vegetarian and Halal (good on them). I called the 1-800 number to reserve a meal but the helpful, though sarcastic customer service member informed me that "special meal choices are not available for my flight"... I thought I paid so I won't have to smuggle food from the in-airport pizza joint in or risk getting my mustard-laden homemade sandwich taken away in accordance to airport security rules.
Sigh *American Airlines* Everytime I fly a "lunch-time" flight with you guys from Antigua I've got to buy a vegetable pizza at the airport and smuggle it in. It'd be nice if I could get a nice little tray with a salad and sit down with a glass of wine.
I'm on holiday in the Caribbean with family right now. I thought I'd love it but the sun is seriously starting to get on my collective tits.
However with views like this, it's nearly worth it.
It's good to be where I spent so much of my childhood limbing fruit trees for mangoes and having fun with childhood mates. Bikinis and cocktails all around, my friends!
So I've been thinking about what I want to do with my Economics degree. Do I want to work for the private sector? The government? Journalism? The Apple Store? (that would be one cool gig though...). One thing I do know is that I'm doing study abroad to England next spring. It promises to be fun and I'm looking forward to seeing my old friends as well as making new ones. I've already decided on what festivals or comedy gigs I want to see while I'm there too. I'm well chuffed with the possibility of being back home for a long period of time as an adult. I'll be there as a nineteen year old who can pub crawl. I haven't been back to England since I was about 13 and I was with my parents who were not as hipster as I am... NO FESTIVALS :(
I joined my university newspaper this week in an effort to try my hand and journalism. The editor and other interns seem to be really nice and a big happy family which I hope to join fully as they get used to me being there. My first article will be published on Wednesday and I can't bloody wait!
As I plan my I interview with the manager of a local eatery for my next article, I can't help but wonder if Journalism is what I want to do with my degree. I love economics to death but really have no idea what I'm going to do with this knowledge. Ah well I'm young and opportunities will come for me to take. I'll fake it 'til I make it! I'll persevere and work hard until I no longer have too look like I know what I'm doing, but rather actually know.
I wish you many great cups of tea and an abundance of hobnobs.
I always thought that as a college student I would be extremely busy and have no time to waste hours on Netflix, but due to my parent's overloading me with activities as a child (seriously.... five different dance classes, two instruments and tutoring), I am extremely haunted when it comes to having to spend long times with inactivity. That, and the fact that college is expensive is leading me to apply for jobs. JOBS!
My two ideals are the Apple Store and Urban Outfitters but at this point I'd take any one that would have me.
So I just moved to New York 6 months ago... yaaay.
But I got mugged today, I'm officially a New Yorker. Some bloke ran up to me, took my wallet. I was able to cancel my British cards though and I had no ID on me so he only got around $20.00 in gratification, and I was calm and went about my day as usual.
But, when I told my parents they freaked out. Not only because I got mugged but if I had been in church it wouldn't have happened. My parents are religious and I sure as hell am not (pun intended).
Her car was broken into one night whilst she was at church, but I didn't want to bring that up, I wasn't up for that argument, not now. I just sat and took her nagging.
I always took the world view that "Shit happens" and as a result I'm reluctant to ask "God" for anything, as if he exists I'd rather he help the starving african children first rather than save my beautiful Urban Outfitters wallet.
