New Year's Eve!

NYE. You only have to watch the film 'New Year's Eve' to note the pressure everyone feels to have the time of their lives on this one particular evening. Like the world is about to explode and this is our last chance to party hard. YOLO comes into full effect on New Years Eve. HAM is given new meaning. But mostly, the overwhelming hype surrounding the last day of the year leaves me feeling a mixture of exhaustion, excitement and mild anxiety (pretty much like how I feel when I'm running a tad late...this reference is for you Kate Dooley).

NYE also happens to coincide with one of ma besties birthdays: Happy birthday Charl!

As I've got older, we've come to realise that less pressure= more fun. So this year we made some vague plans and decided to see where the night took us!

It took us: to winter wonderland (more specifically, to the mulled wine and cider at the bar), a Thai restaurant in Soho which conveniently advertised itself as 'permanently closed' online (a blessing in disguise as it meant we could make a verrry last minute booking), an interesting, some would say 'edgy' house party / renovated warehouse in Camden (my words when we entered: guys, we need to pretend to be cool), and of course, a kebab shop; the perfect end to a pretty perfect night <3

Shout outs to some special people:

This babe and our standard pre-night picture outside of my house (but the first outside the new abode!)

Special shout out to this girl, Kate Dooley. Thanks for all the blog advice and stalking. And of course for enlightening me on the existence of Robson Green. Keep on reeling those bad boys in Kate. 

These two beauties. Always got my back. Always keeping it real. Too much love.

And lastly, a shout out to this dude who has made the last few months of 2014 a whole lot brighter! (When did I get so cringe?)

Cheers to 2015 everyone! Lets do this. 

XOXO

OOTD: "Chilled" Friday Night with Laura

Happy Bank Holiday Monday everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. This is mainly due to the fact that my camera (well, my sister's camera which I have adopted) went for a walkabout and has only just returned to us. But that's a story for another day. 

The words 'chilled' and 'Friday' are rarely used in the same sentence, particularly when it comes to me and Laura! But a few weeks ago we were discussing alcohol, its highs and (mostly) lows, and made a pact to lay off the merry/ toxic substance for a while! So Friday night we put our willpower to the test and decided we'd have a chilled evening at The Ship in Wandsworth.

We set some ground rules: 

1) We'd stick to red wine and vodka.

I've become a bit obsessed with Madeleine Shaw's blog and after reading her most recent post, The Clean Drinking Bible, I realised that I've been very mistaken about the 'healthier' alcoholic beverages to consume. I knew that red wine contains less sugar than white wine, and that spirits generally come with fewer calories and less of a hangover than beer and white wine (my downfall) but I always thought that gin and 'slimline' tonics were the 'healthiest' drink out there. Oh, I was wrong! 

2) We'd be home by 2am. 

One of the reasons we were set on just a few drinks and an earlyish night (for us anyway!) was the dreaded hangover. I don't know if it's just worsened x1000 because I'm now 23? But nowadays, not only do they last the next day, but I'm almost always not back to my perky self two days later. Starting to feel like it's not worth it for a few extra drinks! 

3) We would not end up in Cafe de Sol on Clapham High Street.

Too many times have we ended up in this place, most often after a bar crawl around Clapham. Why? I don't know, but I've come to loathe it. It's crammed, sticky and full of hazy memories. And I always wake up regretting it the next day. 

Here's what I wore: 

I Am Wearing: 

Top - Forever 21 

Jeans - Topshop

Blazer - Primark 

Bag - Primark 

Shoes - River Island 

Nail Varnish - 'Buff' by Topshop

Rings - H&M

Necklace - Primark 

Lipstick - 'Infrared' by Topshop

So how did our night turn out?

Well..... 

1) We got back to mine at 4am. 2 hours late for our curfew (I feel like Cinderella) ...hmm, it could've been 6am I suppose?

2) We stuck to red wine, vodka, and one little sol may have made an appearance towards the end of the night. Not bad! The rule didn't say how much red wine and vodka we were allowed to consume...

3) We didn't end up in Cafe de Sol - yaaaayy! However, after a few drinks at The Ship, we did end up on Clapham High street at The Landor pub to meet some friends, and then went on to The Clapham North instead, as it's open until 3am. Still, we technically stuck to this rule, even if our venture to The Clapham North was just another excuse to parrrrtay. A girl's gotta live a little. 

Hey, progress is progress.

It's alllll about the baby steps...

XOXO

Bank Holiday Weekend OOTD #2: The Orange Blazer

On Sunday, the Bank Holiday weekend celebrations continued...yeaaaaboi!

And even though I'm unemployed and the Monday was in effect just another day in the life of Nish (at the mo anyways), of course I still celebrated the occasion with my friends. It would be rude not to! 

We went to Battersea car boot sale in the day where I picked up a few bargains- Rocketdog boots for a fiver, a Topshop dress for £3 and an American Apparel skirt for £3. Winning.

Afterwards, we planned to head to The Ship in Wandsworth (the best riverside pub in London) but it was refusing entry due to the 18 degree heat and hoards of people desperate to get their tan and drink on! (yes, you heard me correctly, it was 18 degrees...in London!!!). 

So we ventured down Northcote Road and settled for seats outside an Indian restaurant as absolutely all of the pubs and bars with outside space were packed with a capital P....it was like every single person in the South West had just turned from vampire to human and this was their first day experiencing sun. Olaf would've loved it (if you haven't seen Frozen, ignore this reference...but do go and watch it immediately after reading the rest of this post as it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!)

At the Indian, we ordered chicken/lamb wraps and chips. So well cultured. And of course a bottle of vino! 

Later we ended up at The Windmill, a lovely pub in Clapham South, and I am now in love with the cute beer garden with heaters to keep you warm until close! Definitely a new local! (You can call a pub 45 mins away by public transport a 'local' if you live in London right?!) 

Annnnd then partied away at Vodka Revs on the High Street...clearly can't get enough of Battersea and Clapham these days. Post-drinks back at mine ended in an empty bottle of my parents wine, the birds rising before our bedtime had even begun, 2 hours sleep and a verrrry hungover Nish and Laura. 

Anyways, enough of that. This outfit was great as it took me from day to night. My orange patterned blazer from River Island is one of my favourite statement pieces for spring: 

I Am Wearing

Orange Blazer - River Island 

White Top - Topshop 

Leopard Shorts - Motel 

Cut Out Boots - Missguided 

Bag - Zara 

Necklace - Primark 

Frilly Navy Socks - Topshop

These are some snaps I found from much later on in the night: 

Note to self: never apply makeup when heavily intoxicated. Especially when it's a silvery sparkly eyeshadow stick. It's like handing a kid a crayon next to an old, worse for wear wall. It only makes it doubly unfavourable.

XOXO

My Birthday: Outfit Of The Day & Partaaay!

Yesterday, I turned the very scary age of 23...aaaahhhhh! I feel like I'm nearing a mid-life crisis already, until my brother pointed out that they happen at around 40, and unless I'm planning an early grave then I should stop being so dramatic. I quietly agreed.

I do feel old though. 

There were both good and bad points to my birthday coinciding with Easter Sunday this year; Good because it meant I could consume triple the amount of chocolate I usually would on a hangover, and had two reasons not to feel guilty about it! Bad because Jesus stole a lot of my limelight...I mean, you can't really compete with Jesus, can you? 

My birthday also coincides with one very horrible man's day of birth, yes, none other than Hitler. Luckily, he died 69 years ago. So that's something else to celebrate! 

I celebrated on the Saturday night with some friends in the lovely Jam Tree pub on the Kings Road. You know it's Spring when you're able to sit outside until 11pm without a jacket on and not freeze yo arse off (okay there were heaters, but still). Summer vibes y'all. 

Outfit of the Day:

I Am Wearing

Top - Topshop 

Skirt - Topshop 

Platform Shoes - River Island 

Bag - Asos 

Rings - H&M 

Earrings - H&M

Watch - Michael Kors 

Necklace - Primark 

Nail Varnish - Topshop in 'Buff'

After the Jam Tree we stumbled to Mare Moto 30 seconds down the road, and ended the night in style, with Laura, Ellie, Shannon & I demolishing two pizza's at Damilola's, passing out and going home. 

We clearly know how to party after hours! 

Some of my favourite piccies and people!

Laura love

 Dot And Foo Foo

 Rosie aka Ron Weasley

Rosie, Nicolas & Michael 

My girlies - Zo, Ags & Laura

 Nicolas my rice cake & Chris

 Finally got to meet Nic's other half, the lovely Laura!

Zoe's got the moves like jagger. 

Elisa aka Emma Watson, Ellie, Rosie & Shannon

Drunk?

On my actual birthday, I spent the day with all of my family in a great pub called The Roebuck in Chiswick, eating roasts and drinking wine (my attempts at hair of the dog all got too much and I was home and in bed watching YouTube channels - standard- by 6pm!)  

It's safe to say I ate enough chocolate to build a giant chocolate Nish (kinda like the cardboard cut-outs, but with chocolate. That reminds me, I've always wanted a cardboard cut-out of Niall Horan. May have to splash out with my birthday money). Luckily it's still the bank holiday so I have time to recover from this chocolate-induced coma I am still in. 

Hope everyone's bank holiday weekend has been as boozy, relaxing and indulgent as mine! 

XOXO 

A Review of Tinder: Is Romance Dead?

Helloooooo people!

So here we are. 2014. 

I have officially eaten enough food to feed the five thousand, drank enough booze to make George Best look teetotal, and am one step closer to a heart attack since my last post! Thanks a lot Christmas (although it was totally worth it). 

One of my New Years Resolutions was to blog once a week. Well that failed as we've already hit the third week of January and this is my first post of 2014...oh time fliiies. But now I'm back baby!

2014 has, as I'm sure it has many of you, led me to question things in my life / look at things in a new light. Job, living situation, appearance, friends...relationships. 

Particularly the dreaded r-word. 

In 2013, one by one my friends slowly started getting boyfriends. Now I've been single for approaching two and a half years now, and I've actually been really happy. Don't get me wrong, relationships are great too (I do not say this from personal experience...my ex and I created our very own World War III in the three and a half years we were together...oh young love). But as more and more of my friends began their very own love story, I began questioning... 

Why is it I'm being left behind when some friends have had more boyfriends than Taylor Swift?

How many frogs do I have to kiss before finding my Prince? 

Where and when will "the one" appear?

And I feel almost more guilty for not having a boyfriend with the emergence of apps like tinder. I remember a day when internet dating was solely associated with desperate, socially recluse weirdos searching for a chance of happiness with some other poor, equally strange / desperate being. It was also associated with the older generation. Young people and internet dating were rarely used in the same sentence. And here we are, in 2014, with this new dating app which has become so popular it makes Facebook look pedestrian.

 So how have we got here? What happened to the good old fashioned world of dating where a man wooed a woman face to face...where people actually met first and exchanged numbers after?

I felt even worse about my current relationship status when I heard stories of friends of friends and their experiences on Tinder. One described having the "best date of [her] life" while another has been wined and dined simultaneously by three guys she got talking to on it. So I thought I'd give the app a go...

...139 matches and two months later, I had some pretty odd proposals...

"I'll be Burger King and you be McDonalds, I'll be having it my way and you'll be loving it" 

"Ahhh so annoying, really wanna blowey. I'm so fed up with my five finger shuffle"

"My mate who I'm sitting next to told me to like you on his behalf"

"Sit on my face and I'll eat my way to your heart"

Charming! 

I also learnt that people aren't always who they say they are...(as much as I did love this one)! 

...and I made a few discoveries...

1) I only used it when I was bored as a form of entertainment,

2) I found myself thinking 'When the hell did I like you...I must've been either half asleep or drunk?!' over and over again,

3) I could never be bothered to actually talk to any 'matches', even if they were Ryan Gosling lookalikes. 

The fact of the matter is...I had no clue who these people were. And no desire to get to know them. 

The pure existence of the app itself also made me realise that life isn't a fairytale, but if it was, I certainly wouldn't be meeting my Prince Charming on Tinder....nor would I want to.

It's superficial. A persons appearance is the one and only definitive factor which determines the users choice of whether they swipe left or right. Surely there's more to a person than their looks...after all, Belle certainly didn't choose to be with The Beast for his dashing smile and muscular physique!

So after pondering all of this, I have decided that I am still happy as larry being single, and my search for the one has officially come to a halt this year. I have also decided that when he does eventually turn up at my door with his witty charm, Irish accent and a bunch of roses, it'll all be down to fate, not a million dollar dating app which, in my opinion, is more of a social platform for casual sex than anything else. 

Next week I'll be uploading another YouTube video on New Years Resolutions so stay tuned :) 

xoxo 

Boozy Sunday Fireworks

Last night, myself and Charlie ventured to Richmond for the fireworks display on Richmond Athletic Ground. 

Outfits Of The Day 

Appropriately dressed as a firework...

Top- Beyond Retro

Leggings- Next

Boots- Debenhams

Fluffy Headband- Primark

Lipstick- Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush Lip Balm Crayon in 'The Redder The Better'

Standard selfie

Charlie was rocking his autumnal look in a leather jacket and stripey scarf.

Quote of the eve: 'I broke the cardinal rule of getting a jacket that's cooler than I am'. 

So true. 

To be honest, it's a miracle Charles managed to temporarily remove himself from the comfort, class and city life of Notting Hill to the 'countryside' of East Sheen/Richmond, so I thought it was only right that we made the most of this rare situation. 

A bottle of red to share in The Orange Tree was followed by another bottle, and a basket of chunky chips was washed down with some sambuca shots. By the time we stumbled down at 7pm to the fireworks, they had already started and tickets were all sold out. 

On the down side we missed out on the music and the toffee apples! Shock horror. 

But on the plus side we saved 8 quid and still saw the display from outside the gates...winning? Well not quite. 

looking hip with his hip flask 

Bang

 Bang 

Sparkle 

Glitter 

Woop

Charlie also bought me some flashing glasses. However, he failed to mention that I looked like a class a dick'ed in them...and there was me thinking I looked well cool like. 

haps

The display was short and sweet. 

We then turned to the most reliable of sources, google, for the best pubs in Richmond. The Cricketer just by Richmond Green came top, so we headed there and got even more boozed up...and it was pretty awesome. I'll always have a friend in google.  

Loving life...

Chocolate cheesecake obvs happened.

And then some cheese...

Then back to mine...

Where we harrassed Dora...

Played with sparklers...

Ordered two pizzas (both of which I ate) 

...and passed out on my sofa (or in Charlie's case, floor)

...the sign of a successful Sunday night! 

xoxo