My (N)Ever Changing Hair

Good evening to you all,

Hope you've had an event free Friday 13th. I have made myself giddy by talking/making plans for this weekend. It should be immense. Meaning full of jaegerbombs & dancing like a crazy person. It's gonna be old school!!! Yeeeeee! Right, sorry about that, really must get a life.

So what will be today's topic on a day that's bought us Korea rocket failures & blatant homophobic adverts only just being left off London buses? The important subject of hair.

I do not have fashionable hair, never have never will. I have a ridiculous amount of hair on my head, that sends itself into unruly frizz curls. It's natural colour is the epitome of mousey (sexy!) which goes platinum blonde  around the temples. Oh and the hair at the temples never grows so I am forever stricken with poofy horns of hair.

I find it very hard to find someone who can cut hair for us curly girls. What looks good straight does not necessarily look good curly, especially layers, which really spring up with a curl. I have spent years begging hairdressers for long layers, and they just don't listen, so I always look like I'm wearing very bad hair extensions.

But no more. I have found the most perfect hairdresser. She is called Jess (not only an awesome hairdresser, but she's sooo lovely & gorgeous), and she works at Charles Worthington in Percy Street. This is a lovely hairdressers: You get a goody bag on your first visit, they are constantly doing good deals (most recent upgrade from half head highlights to full head for only £10 more), and for £2 you get unlimited glasses of champagne (yes I have got tipsy), and sandwiches, and the most delicious brownies ever. I can't rate this hairdressers any higher and would really recommend it to anyone.

My hair throughout the years (can you spot a change!?)

So as you can tell I have never been adventurous with my hair. I basically just like it big & blonde! I sometimes wish I could do something drastic, but I know it just wouldn't suit me. Le sigh.

Which London hairdressers do you recommend? What do you think I should do with my hair?

Kat x

I need a (valid) excuse to eat cake!

Hello world,

I'm sitting in my room, snuggled in my dressing-gown listening to the thunder outside, talking about cakes whilst eating a cake. I have never felt the need to exercise more. Oh well, as ever, the diet starts tomorrow.

But back to the topic in hand. Cake. I found this when wedding cake window shopping with my friend.

How amazing is it? She refuses to get it, but I need this in my life. It combines 2 of my passions, musical theatre & cake (oh God I'm going to die alone aren't I?).

So can you find me a reason to get this/attempt to make it? Have you seen any amazing cakes?

Kat x

Pictures lovingly borrowed from here

May as well be in Scotland

Hello all!

Hope you all had a good Easter (or just Bank Holiday weekend) I had a lovely but tiring time as I was stuck cooking for everyone. I ate waaaaay too much, and have been regretting it for days now. Have to be good now though as have an op coming up & need to be fighting fit for it!

The really sucky thing about uni ending is that all your friends move all over the country. The good thing is that you get to go to places you'd never normally go to visit them.

Classic example was a few weeks ago I went seriously up North to see my friend who has moved to Carlisle. Unfortunately I had to go on a Virgin train (seriously have they ever not been delayed), but at least they have chargers so I could entertain myself for hours on end.

Carlisle is definitely somewhere I would never have gone without a reason, but it's a really cute town (wait. Is it a city? I have such a warped view on qualifies a city status coming from central London. I think everywhere is a town!). It's a really cute town, and everyone speaks with a Scottish accent, which is slightly surreal! There's not much to do there so my friend suggested we go on a day trip to Newcastle. 

I was expecting a quick jaunt, but it took 90 minutes each way! (that's like my friend coming to see me in London, and I take them to Brighton, mental). And we went there on the ricketiest little train that was absolutely crammed. But bonus was that it took us past the Angel of the North! Newcastle is a lovely town, we walked along the Tyne & went to the Baltic Centre. I  had a lovely time but bloody hell there are a lot of stairs. We had to run to make it to a train, & I had to go up & down at least 4 sets of stairs. And all the girls there were in full on stilettos, how on earth did they manage that?

So here are a few snaps (would be more but  spend quite a lot of my time tipsy - Seriously we arrived went straight to Tesco & spent over £80.)

Carlisle Citadel, Carlisle's Gay Bar!, Newcastle Baltic Centre, River Tyne

Newcastle Opera House, Millennium Bridge, I can't remember! Never ending staircases!

I can't wait to go back up again, for more drunken frivolities!

What do you recommend next time I go up North?

Kat x

Pictures my own or from here

In the County of Swords

Hello peeps,

About a month ago I left the safety of London & got taken away to the scary streets of Essex to party with a couple of uni friends. The weekend involved copious amounts of booze, friend food, dancing, injuries, abandonment and laughter.

I'd never been to Essex before, and was really up for a TOWIE experience. My friend's from Leigh-on-Sea which apparently is a nice area, so we were having none of that, thank you very much. But tbh the people relaly didn't disappoint. They are an amazing laugh, and so friendly, it's just like being up North. Thught I almost started a fight with the cabbie when I asked him to teach me how to "speak Essex", unsuprisingly he thought I was being a condescending bitch and stopped the cab till I apologised (whilst trying to teach him to speak Northener!).

So I thought I'd do a brief unnecessarily long photo montage of the lost weekend:

Our dinner, which was basically just 4 different types of cheese

Our table water, which we thought was beer,
but not before flagging down the waitress to complain.

Reunion!

Dirty Martini - with extra olives (can you tell I love them?)

Bagels for breakfast

Hangover sunglasses

Frozen sea

Chips cooked in peanut oil, so I couldn't eat them


So I had a lunch of ice cream & Bloody Mary

Typical Essex interior decoration. Doggy style ornament

And so the night begins

Cue tipsy floor dancing

Dinner

No idea where we were

There are no words

So there we go. It could be used as a warning against binge drinking.

I absolutely loved Essex & really want to go back soon as my friend is moving to London in a few months & then it'll be lost to me forever.

Can you recommend any parts of Essex I should go to?

Kat x

All photos my own

Don't Put It Off

Hello all,

Bit of a random post, but one that I think is very important.

This year I am turning 25, which to all girls (well those of us in England at least) means the beginning of the dreaded Smear Test.

I am not the first of my friends to hit the big two five, but I am the first one to have my smear. I think this is shocking, we are so lucky to have the NHS providing us with free health care & even more to have routine screenings thrown in to check up on us. I think it's absurd that people don't go in for them. When I asked my friends why they said it was cause they "dreading it". Well ladies I have to say it is absolutely fine. It's over incredibly quickly (10x fasted than a wax) and really is not as awkward / invasive as you would imagine. I think another thing putting us off is that our mother's generation had it much worse than us. I don't want to go into too much detail, but they had to put up with much more uncomfortable (and cold) instruments than we do. I was in and out in 5 minutes, and only on the actual bed for 2. 

The results for the test come incredibly quickly (I got mine within a week). Hopefully you'll get the all clear, and then won't need to worry about another smear for 3 years. However, some women will get an abnormal result. I was one of these women, I got a letter saying I had mild dyskaryosis.

I was not worried about this as I have a lot of knowledge in this field. This is a really common occurrence and all it means is that there were a few cells which had gone through some mild changes. However the letter came with a pamphlet with a massive word saying cancer (which would have really panicked me if I did not know this). I really think they should rethink sending this out! 

So I had to go into hospital for something called a colposcopy. This is a very simple procedure where they examine your cervix with a big magnifying glass, and depending on what they find they may have to perform a biopsy. This is obviously a little longer than a smear test, but you can watch along on a TV so it's very interesting. I got this appointment within 3 weeks and didn't need a biopsy. Yay! But I do have to have another smear in 6 months.

I hope I have shown that the smear is nothing to worry about. It's not stressful, painful or embarrassing. All the health care professionals I encountered were amazing, incredibly professional, and listened to all my concerns. It is very important to go for your smear as the risk of being exposed to HPV (a virus that can lead to cervical cancer) is incredibly high. So please don't put it off, and just get it over with.

Sorry to bang on about such a serious topic, I promise it will all be shallow and light-heartedness again!

Kat x