31 Mar 2011

Early Night

I need an early night and a later morning. I've been quiet of late and it's got a lot to do with my new job. I'll explain in the morning but right now I gotta grab a bit of beauty sleep or I'll continue to have the worst shadows in the world.

Speaking of which...any tips on how to get rid of dark under eyes without sleeping about a million hours every night?

Sleep tight everyone xxx

15 Mar 2011

Growing old disgracefully...and I LOVE it!

Since I was fifteen I have been captivated by the style of one Deborah Harry.



From her faded band tees to her glam rock, glittery one shoulder dresses, I love it all! Her just-rolled-out-of-bed chic was what made her popular with both men and women. Men thought she was sexy but low maintenance and women loved her thrown together sex appeal. Her outfits have always complimented her personality perfectly and both her and her clothing choices can be summed up perfectly with one word – unpredictable.

Thirty years on and she is still a style icon. My favourite thing about her is that she's (as my mam puts it) "growing old disgracefully". That doesn't sound too complimentary but it is and that's how my mam and I want to be too. I'll explain myself...all we mean is that age doesn't interfere with how you want to be or dress and she's obviously not self-conscious or caring much what people think she should wear at her age. After all, why should you stop having fun with your look just because the years are rolling by?  You shouldn't!

10 Mar 2011

It makes no sense...

I saw on the news this morning that 28% of retail units in a town near to where I live are empty. Why is that? There are plenty of small to medium business owners so there's definitely a demand for them and with more redundancies than ever, people are using their payouts to have a bash at a dream that they probably never would have got the chance to take a punt at before.

I've leased a business property before and although my rent was cheap, there are so many costs that you think you've taken into account but probably haven't until the money is flying out of your account. Now, I'm not a stupid girl and I went into business with my eyes wide open but there's elements of self employment that will always take you by surprise. And that's just things in your control. The attitude of your landlord can make a lot of difference.

My landlord was harmless but like the stereotype you imagine, he was reluctant to let go of his cash. Even when light bulbs were exploding and water was leaking through the ceiling (of mine and a neighbouring unit from the flat above) he failed to recognise there was a proper problem. After much battling (but no apology) he tried to rectify the situation. I had that unit for two years and got so cross about him not keeping his part of the bargain that eventually I chose to continue the business purely online. Another unsuspecting victim took that unit on and probably still has the problems I had and many before me had.

When you see all these empty retail units you wonder why landlord don't just put their prices down. Surely it's better to be making some money on rent rather than leaving it derelict and slowly running it down? That would help small and new business to get on their feet and then maybe they could negotiate on rental? There's so many things that can be done to help people on both sides of the fence so why won't anyone do anything?

Let's hope things turn around sooner rather than later for the sake of our High Streets.

9 Mar 2011

Back to the Drawing Board

Well, today has been a strange day so far. I had a job interview which seemed to go well and was actually quite enjoyable. The less enjoyable part was knowing that I got told today so everytime my phone was buzzing I was almost having a cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, they chose someone already doing that role somewhere else. Grrrr, how about internal applications only? Back to the drawing board...

The other slightly distracting thing is that I have a disgusting cold that has totally come out of nowhere. Saturday I was fine and then since Sunday I've been getting progressively more sniffly and sick  which probably didn't sound too impressive in the interview this morning. I'll blame the cold if I don't get picked haha.

I think when you're waiting for news of any variety it can be very distracting indeed. Things that you intend to get on with seem not to get done somehow and then if you don't get the news you want the whole day seems wasted. Mind you, a few book reviews I'm doing have kept my mind on something other than employment so it wasn't a complete loss.

Have you had any big news (good or bad) that you've been waiting on recently? I'd love to know I'm not the only one or to share your successes :)

7 Mar 2011

A bit of a bummer...does anyone want to employ me?

Sorry my blog posts have been a bit few-and-far-between but this past week or so has been a bit strange and not in a good way. On Thursday I got made redundant. It was a bit of a shock which resulted in a few tears, but part of me wasn't surprised because of what has happened recently when I've been forced to take a reduction to my contracted hours and other rubbish things.

I don't really want to get into all the details but to be honest I've been a bit gutted about it all after doing a lot more than my job description meant for me to do. The thing I'm most gutted about is that it was a great job. I loved the people I worked with and loved the job I did. Now I'm left worrying that I will find it hard in the current climate to find a job which is a pretty rubbish situation for anyone.

So whilst I'm trawling the job page in the paper and scrolling through endless job sites, if anyone wants to offer me a shiny, lovely new job please do! I'll love you forever!

6 Mar 2011

Why I'm thankful for Long Tall Sally

Last summer I was in a bar with a group of friends who were between 5ft and 5ft 3". I felt like a giant, when realistically at 5ft 7" I'm in the horrible inbetweeny category of not tall but not average either and this makes finding the correct proportions of trousers and jeans very tricky indeed. Especially if you want to wear heels, as all your trousers end up looking as though you choose to buy half-masts. If truth be told I measure a 33 inch leg which means standard jeans and trousers are too short and I end up buying long length options hoping they'll shrink just enough for me to wear the correct length! It's very rare that I can find somewhere that stocks the exact leg length.

Long Tall Sally are fabulous. They cater for and are the specialist brand for the taller woman with items of clothing that are proportioned well (unlike some 'tall' version clothes on the high street that just had a few inches of material slung in the bottom without consideration for any other body part). Their 34" leg jeans are just perfect for my night out glamorous heels.

This just goes to prove that although their main market is ladies 5ft 8" and above, they still cater for little inbetweenies like me :)