Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Well my lovelies, I’m just about to sign off for the holidays (how very American of me!) and couldn’t go without:

Wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Fabulous New Year!

You’ve been totally amazing this year and again, I really appreciate every single one of you and the support you’ve given to me.

I hope you all have THE most wonderful time with your friends and family ... but just on one small, rather more serious note, if you do have any single friends, especially ones who’ve been single for a while (new singles tend to get tonnes of support, whilst people get used those who have been single for a while and sometimes don't realise that they need just as much love and potentially even more support) please remember to include them/check in on them.  It could be just a small thing that would make a whole world of difference.

Until next time lovely people, be good, have fun and look after each other ... oh and remember, BE FABULOUS!

Lots of Love

Jx

Спасибо России

I’ve just looked at the stats today and find that since my last post, my Russian lovelies have overtaken every other country in the amount of hits my blog has received.  In honour of them, I’ve attempted a Russian “Thank You” ...

Огромное спасибо всем моим русским читателям за поддержку. Это значит для меня все!

In case that didn’t translate properly, it should read ...

“A huge thank you to all my Russian readers for your support.  It means everything to me!”

You guys ROCK!

I haven’t got an awful lot to do today.  House is clean, ironing/packing is nearly done and Christmas shopping/wrapping is done.  I was thinking that I should go to the gym in a last ditch attempt to get my body in some sort of bikini shape, but short of radical liposuction or completely starving myself, I don’t think anything’s going to work now!

So, I may go and get a quick facial somewhere and then go and watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie ... did you see Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ ... Yum Yum Yum.  However, that’s bound to lead to a foot long hot dog and M&Ms ... it’s the Law you know when you go to the movies, to have a foot long hot dog and peanut M&Ms!  So maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea after all ...!

Whatever you’re up to today ... have fun and be fabulous!

Lots of Love

Jx

Wowwwweeeeeee!

Oh my goodness ... I’ve just checked the stats and I’ve now had over 900 hits!  So, another huge “Thank You!” to everyone for supporting me ... sorry if this is getting a bit boring now, but I’m genuinely shocked and eternally grateful for your support!

Stats for this week show that I’m getting tonnes of hits from my countrymen and women in the UK, lots from the US, Spain, Germany, Australia and Brazil but surprisingly, No 2 on the reading list is Russia! 

So a huge thank you to all of you (again!) and a special thanks to my Russian readers - Спасибо!  (I really do hope that the translation software I used for that is right ... I'd be very upset if I thought it was something offensive!)

Don’tya just love the internet ... opens the whole world wide up!

Not much has happened since my last post ... other than me doing 3 hours of ironing today (that’s really not very glamorous is it!) whilst watching Black Swan (OMG how I love that film ... I danced a lot when I was young, ballet etc and it kinda takes me back a bit ... love it, it’s a very moving film and has some really unexpected twists – the dancing is beautiful – it’s definitely one of my favourite films of this year) and Singing in the Rain!  I do love that film, in fact, I love just about anything with Gene Kelly in (he knocked the socks off Fred Astaire ... never really liked him ... a bit wooden for my liking!).

The Wonderful Gene Kelly in 'Singing in the Rain'

I can’t leave though without mentioning the Soaps ... what the hell is going on with Carla and Peter in Corry ... I just can’t bear the slurping sounds they make when they kiss ... do you think the producers have told them to make as much noise as possible???  Ewwwwwww I dunno, but I do know that it knocks me sick listening to them ... I have to swap channels cos it makes me wanna heave!

Ewwwwww - Makes me heave!!!!!

As for Zainab in Eastenders ... What is she thinking!!!!   How has no-one stepped in ... I find myself shouting at the TV whenever she’s on with that creepy Yusef ... he's rank!  I know, I know, they’re only soaps ... they are a bit addictive though aren’t they!

Now THAT'S one HELL of a nose!!!! (Him, not her!)

Lastly, I don’t know if you’ve been watching ‘Masterchef the Professionals’, but I just thought I’d mention that I have a weird crush on Michel Roux Jnr! Lmao ... no clue why ... or why I bothered to mention it, but there you go ....

My Weird Crush - Michel Roux Jnr!

(Mini apology to anyone reading from outside the UK ... you probably won’t understand a word of the last 3 paragraphs!)

I’ve got quite a bit on this weekend, so hopefully will have something a bit more interesting than just a general waffle next time!

Hope you all enjoy your weekends, my lovely readers ... until next time, remember ... be fabulous!

Lots of Love

Jx

A Little Bit More Asian Dating!

Hello lovelies, sorry it’s been a few days ... but it’s really been quite a quiet news week.  As I’m sure you can appreciate, that’s not always a bad thing in my life!  On the major upside, I finished for Christmas today and already have the bubbles open ... so if this post seems to slip into confusion towards the end ... I take no responsibility!

So, what have I been up to ... well, I was having a catch up today with one of my single Asian friends, when we inevitably got on to the subject of dating (just for the record ... nothing new on my side.  As I’ve told you previously, my nerves can’t take anymore Internet Dating at the moment ... so I’m giving it a rest in the hope that I’ll be back to full strength in the New Year!)  I asked her how she was getting on and she completely floored me with yet another type of Asian dating ... ‘The Asian Marriage Committee’!!!!!

“The what?!!!!!”

“The Asian Marriage Committee”

“What on earth is that?  OMG I’ve heard it all now ... not only do you have two types of matchmakers, but you’re now telling me that there’s a whole committee!!!!”

 “Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you about that.  I didn’t even know my mum had put my name down for it until she told me that a boy had rung and he got my number from the Committee”

“Woah woah, slow down tiger ... before you get into the detail of the boy ... tell me about the Committee first” (I’m always on the lookout for interesting stuff to tell you guys, so absolutely had to find the detail of this little gem)

Turns out that you can register your loved one (daughter/son) with the Committee.  As with the other matchmakers, you give them all your child’s details, age, eye colour, height, salary ... in fact, all the other stuff that I’ve told you about in my previous posts and, of course, what you’re looking for in their perfect partner (I was slightly worried at that ... if it’s your parents who put you forward, then wouldn’t it be their view of what you would want in a partner?  Now that’s bloody scary!) together with a recent photo.

The Committee then create a sort of ‘profile’ of you (once you’ve paid them the £10 matching fee ... Bargain I thought!  I joined a dating agency once and that was £600 - I was well ripped off!  I almost forgot about that ... I think I may have told you about it earlier in the year ... I’ll check back.  If I haven’t, I’ll do a post about it sometime soon).  They then proceed to check your details against what you’re looking for in the hope of coming up with a good match.

So, my friend got back from going out (obviously!) and her mum told her that a boy had called and he got her number from the Committee.  That’s the first my friend knew that she’d even been registered.  Classic!  Her mum just shrugged and said she’d forgotten all about it.  How can you forget about something like that! Lol

Now, not only does this Committee find matches for you, but they also have what are called ‘Viewing Events’.  Well, my imagination ran wild at that one ... Me, “So, does that mean that you all stand in a line and the prospective partners walk up and down and ‘view’ you?!!!”  That’s just kinda what I envisaged!  As you can imagine, I was conjuring up all kinds of things (I’ve seen far too many films!)  Apparently not ... Phew!  It’s were you can go and view the profiles of other people.  If you like the look of any, you take their number and call them.  However, should there be anyone there at the same time who is also viewing profiles and they happen to take your fancy, all the better.  You swap numbers there and then. 

You’ve gotta love it ... you can’t say Asians don’t take this marriage stuff seriously!  There’s definitely no half heartedness about it.  I’d love to tell you what’s been going on since my friend spoke to this guy, but I don’t want to break any confidences.  I’ll ask her if I can tell you though ... I don’t mention names as you know, so I’m sure she’d be fine, but I’d rather ask first!

Well lovely people, time for me to sign off again.  Things to do, champagne to drink an’ all that!

Until next time, as always, be fabulous!

Lots of love

Jx

Christmas Shopping Sucks!

So what else has been going on this week?  Well, Thursday, my current major client didn’t need me to work, so I thought I’d better get my backside in gear and do some Christmas shopping.  The only presents I'd bought so far were for Devon (you’ll remember in an early post when I described our Christmas Dress Shopping Expedition) ... other than that ... nadda!

However, it was harder than usual to get myself going ... my get up and go and definitely got up and gone, for a number of reasons:

1.   I was feeling decidedly crap (I’m so ready for a break ... I think my body’s giving up the ghost!

2.   The weather was disgusting and there were freak weather warnings on the TV

3.   ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ was on TCM!

Excuses, excuses ... finally, after two cups of strong black coffee (I don’t think I’ve mentioned my love of coffee ... not the instant type ... OMG, that’s just rank.  I’ve no clue how anyone can seriously drink that stuff ... it should only be used in dire and I mean dire emergencies!) I managed to prise myself off my decidedly comfy sofa, slapped some slap on and ventured out into what I can only describe as Armageddon!  The wind and driving rain where a total nightmare ... however, needs must an all that.  I would much prefer going into Manchester or Liverpool for my shopping, however, given the weather, thought that the Trafford Centre (Shopping Mall about 30 miles away for those of you who don’t know it or who haven’t read previous posts) would be far more appropriate.

I did worry slightly about the crowds ... I just don’t do queuing (getting in line) or 'shopping crowds', I just can’t bear how distracted people get when they’re shopping, it puts my blood pressure through the roof!  I won’t even go shopping on a Saturday afternoon because I can’t stand the jostling ... which is 10 times worse at Christmas.  These are the types of things I’m talking about:

·         People who you’re walking behind, just stop ... for no apparent reason

·         People wandering aimlessly picking up stuff they’ve no intention of buying

·        Men (sorry to pick on you, guys, but ...) wandering around getting in the way and looking completely lost and embarrassed (you just know their wives have said, “I don’t care if you don’t want to come, YOU’RE COMING.  At least you can carry the bags if nothing else and why should I have to do everything blab la bla”.  The men just have that, “I’m here under duress and am hating every moment of it” rather distressed, hang dog look)

·         There’s never enough staff (back to that ‘poor customer service’ thing again)

·        Children/babies screaming the place down for no apparent reason and their parents seemingly totally oblivious to their ‘little loves’

·         General disregard of people for their fellow shoppers!

I’ve got to be honest, I love to shop ... no, I mean I LOVE to shop and I’m unbelievably good at it, even though I say so myself!  However, I can’t do as a lot of my friends to ... shop all day ... God, I’d rather stick hot pins in my eyes.  I’m a strategic, in and out, no messing around shopper.  I know what I like, I know what suits me and I know what I want.  There’s none of that, ‘spotting something in the first shop, then going to every other shop only to return to buy the first dress you saw in the first shop you went in 8 hours ago’.  I could never get that and on the odd occasion when I’ve happened to go shopping with friends who do that ... my patience runs thin very quickly.  Therefore, unless I can possibly avoid it ... I shop on my own (who needs the extra stress!)

I can stand at the front of a shop and practically scan it from the door and pick out anything of interest.  That’s ‘in and out’ shopping at its best.  Two hours tops is all I can do.  Works for me.  However, the amount of money I can spend in those intense two hours ... well, in case my accountant’s reading this, I’d better leave it there ...

So, Thursday, after 2 good hours shopping, I’d got most of my presents and THE most fab pair of ‘over the knee’ Ugg boots from Selfridges (my all time favourite shop)  Now, you know that I don’t like flats (apart from on holiday), but I do love Uggs ... although I only wear them on a Sunday or when I’m shopping and want to run around quickly without the distraction of sore feet ... my latest purchase makes that my 8^th or 9^th pair (can’t quite remember) ... love em!

My lovely new 'Over the Knee' Uggs!

When I finally emerged, shopping ladden, the weather was even worse ... a total nightmare.  Not only that, a huge queue (line) had developed to get out of the car park ... it took me half a hour to get out grrrrrrrrrr as if I don’t queue enough getting in and out of Manchester every day!  That was a Thursday, imagine what today would be like ... Shop on line people, shop on line!

Today, I'm still not feeling on top of the world, so I ran out this morning to pick up some bits before the mad Xmas shoppers get out there and have spent the afternoon wrapping presents and watching old films ... can't beat it!

Well, that’s it for another day ... Oh, before I sign off ... I went to the cinema yesterday to see ‘Puss in Boots’.  That was definitely worth watching ... some very funny disgused adult humour in there ... something for everyone ... far better for kids than Hugo.

Until next time lovely people, be fabulous.

Lots of Love

Jx

Welcome to my New Readers!

This is just a super quick post to say "Hello and Welcome" to my new readers this week, from the following countries:

• Germany
• Bulgaria
• Brazil
• France
• Paksitan
• South Africa

Not to forget my loyal readers too ... thank you so much!

I'd love your feedback!  You can either comment by clicking 'comments' below each post or email me at the address at the top of the left hand column on this page.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Next post is titled "Chrismas Shopping Sucks!" ... I'll post it later today.

Until then, be fabulous you lovely people.

Lots of love

Jx

I've Got a Kindle!

Well it’s been a bit of a weird week really and nothing of real note has gone off, so I guess this post may be a bit ad hoc! 

So what has happened?  Well, I don’t really know if this is newsworthy, but I finally succumbed to the lure of a Kindle.  I’ve resisted for ages.  The thought of reading a book on a tablet just didn’t do it for me (I love love love books so much, I love the smell of them, the feel of them ... just everything about them!) and despite what everyone who has one tells me ie that they resisted at first but now totally love them, I just couldn’t bring myself to get one.

However, last weekend, I was looking at my book shelves debating which books I was going to take away with me on holiday in a couple of weeks and when I piled them up (I read about 6/8 books when I’m away for 2 weeks) I just thought, “Blimey, that’s ridiculous ... I could fit an extra few pairs of shoes if I didn’t take all those!” plus, I pretty much always have to pay excess baggage (no surprise there then!) and I’m sure a lot of it must be books (“Yeah, right” ... I can hear what you’re thinking, I can read minds ya know!) and although I totally love my books and couldn’t go away without a lot of reading material, the lure of taking more shoes and replacing my books with a Kindle, was just too much for me to bear!  Also, I always run out of books when I’m away and end up swapping with other holidaymakers ... having a Kindle would mean I can take as many as I want and download even more if I did happen to run out.

The only downside that I could really come up with is: Kindle + suntan lotion + pool + sand + sea = an icky mess!  However, I’ve been assured that they are really robust and are designed for all sorts of situations!  So, I bit the bullet and ordered one.  To ease the perceived pain and make the whole experience a bit nicer, I decided to order a nice leopard print skin to go over it (you can never go wrong with a bit of leopard print!) ... well, I have to protect it from the sun tan lotion!!!!

My New Leopard Covered Kindle!

It came on Wednesday and last night I downloaded around 18 books.  I’ve nearly finished one already (The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins), what an amazing book!  I can highly recommend it.  I’d read loads of reviews about it on Amazon and decided that I’d take the trilogy on holiday ... it is every bit as good as the reviews say, and I’m really happy to say that the Kindle, whilst taking a bit of getting used to it hasn’t detracted from the content at all!  In fact, what is good about it, is that sometimes if a book is really thick, they can be difficult to handle and if I’m reading for at least 8 hours a day (like I do on hols) then my hands can hurt after a couple of weeks ... yes, honestly! 

So I’m happy to report, the Kindle is nice and light (in fact it’s incredibly slim and weighs next to nothing), easy to handle, easy to find your way around, easy to download books too and all in all, pretty damn good.  Also, I often carry a book around with me when I go to the hairdressers, dentist, getting nails done etc ie whenever I think I’m gonna be sitting around for a while and it’ll be great for that too as it won’t weigh my bag down!

Although, the true test will be on holiday ... I’m not sure I’ll be able to sit in the pool while I’m reading like I usually do when I get too hot ... dunno how the electronics bit of it works, but I’d hate to electrocute everyone in the pool if I dropped in it by mistake! Lmao (I’m sure the technical bods amongst you will be shaking your heads in dismay now!). 

Despite really liking it and seeing a lot of positives with it, it won’t completely replace books for me ... that would be too awful.  It kinda reminds me of that film, The Time Machine (the original 1960’s one – obviously) when the hero goes into the future and there are no books, they’ve all turned to dust!  That always upset me, even as a child!  Heartbreaking!

So, in summary, if you’ve been debating whether you should get a Kindle ... give it a go.  They aren’t that expensive now and you never know, you might like it!  I’ll let you know how I get on with it on holiday ... should be interesting!

Must rush now lovely people ... well it is Friday and there are bubbles that need to be drunk!  Hopefully I’ll be back with more nonsense tomorrow. 

Until then, be fabulous, as always!

Lots of Love

Jx

THANK YOU! You Lovely People!

Well my lovelies … yesterday, ‘Tales of a High Heeled Honey’ reached the 800 hit mark! WOW … that’s so AMAZING!

A huge THANK YOU again to all of you for your continued support and your fantastic feedback … I must be doing something right then! (Now that makes a nice change I can tell ya!)

I’ve now got readers from:

UK (obviously)

USA

Spain

Russia

Germany

Netherlands

UAE

Ireland

Australia

Canada

Italy

Unbelievable! 

I also need to put a little request out to you, my lovely readers …I’m always looking for ideas of things to put in my blog to keep it as interesting as possible, therefore, please let me know if you have any requests for topics you’d like so see me cover … you can leave comments by clicking on the ‘comments’ bit at the bottom of each post (please be aware that I am able to vet them before they go live!), or mail me at handbag-gladrag@hotmail.co.uk.  Alternatively, if you know of something that I’ve been up to, but I haven’t done a blog about it (believe it or not, I have a shocking memory!), please let me know.

 

Thank you again you lovely, lovely people and remember, be fabulous!

Lots and lots and lots of love

Jx

Asian vs Caucasian Dating - Part 2

I found the second part of my post, yay! Back to Asian vs Caucasian dating ….

Traditional Matchmakers

Firstly, obviously there’s the traditional matchmaker … usually a family member who you give all your details to eg:

• Height
• Weight (yes WEIGHT!)
• Skin colour (light coloured skin is highly prized)
• Dress size (honestly! … dress size is really important to prospective husbands, apparently it’s fine for an Asian girl to be overweight after she’s married and I quote, “No-body cares what you look like after your married, you can put as much weight on as you want, as long as you’re thin when you get married”!!!! OMG!)
• Job
• Salary etc

And you give them a list of what you are looking for in your partner including job type (ie professional) and income … yes, income!  Caste isn’t so much of an issue, as they are family, (I’m not going to go into Caste here, suffice to say that’s it’s a class system, similar to our working/middle/upper class, only more complex … Google it if you want to know more) so will be aware of your caste. It’s still really important to marry within your caste, however, I do know of girls who’ve married lower than their caste and their families have come round … eventually!  It wasn’t easy for them though.

The Matchmaker will then go away and match you with someone suitable.  Pictures and telephone numbers will then be swapped and if you like each other after seeing their picture/first phone call, a meeting will be arranged where you meet them, not on your own, but your whole family will meet their whole family … no pressure then!  If you like each other, then it’s pretty much a done deal there and then and you could be married within a few months!

Community Matchmakers

Then there are matchmakers in the community … I love this one … some local shopkeepers have ‘Books’ which contain the details of all the eligible bachelors and females within the community … containing every bit of info you’d ever need, caste, height, weight, clothes size, income, job, University degree, inside leg measurement (nah, not really, I made that one up) and you pay them to find you a match.  If they find someone suitable, then same as above, you meet them with your whole family and theirs bla bla bla.

Back to the conversation I was having with my friends … we couldn’t talk about arranged marriages without asking about forced arranged marriages (you hear so much on the news about the most awful things happening to women forced into marriage, so while I had the opportunity, I asked … plus, my friends are used to me asking questions, I’m fascinated by different cultures and am forever asking them stuff, so they don’t mind).  Apparently, yes of course forced arranged marriages do happen and more often than you’d like to think, but luckily not in their families. 

Despite the use of Matchmakers being commonplace in the Asian community, I think my Asian friends would all agree that they would far rather find their own partners because they can do it in their own time and there isn’t as much pressure.  Often they don’t tell their parents if they’ve been dating someone unless they are absolutely sure they’re going to marry them!

I love having friends from different cultures … it really opens up your thinking and, as I’ve mentioned above, it gives you a great chance to get underneath the stereotype and ask as many probing questions as you want … hopefully without offending anyone!

In the next few weeks, I’ll get into the Asian dating site stuff and give you some real dating experiences that make my dating escapades look like a Disney Film with a Fairytale Ending! Lol

Until then, be fabulous lovely people.

Lots of love

Jx

I Love Films

I was going to post the second part of my Asian vs Caucasian Dating story today, but I can't find where I've saved it (don't worry - not that you were - it'll turn up) and thought I'd do a quick film review instead!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned but I absolutely love films.  Love Love Love them and I’m not really that picky about the types of films I watch.  There’s just something wonderful about going to the piccies (movies for my American friends) that’s just so fabulous.  I don’t know whether it’s the fact that nothing else matters whilst you’re in the cinema ... the whole world is blocked out and you get totally absorbed in the film (providing that it’s a good one) ... it’s bordering on magical!  (Is that sad?  Hmmmmmmm I dunno ... and actually don’t really care!)

I’m not particularly bothered about genre (although I’m not a huge fan of war films or, gritty reality type British films – far too real for me, I like a bit of escapism and a really good story) I do love a good old film, in fact all of my most favourite films are real oldies.  In no particular order:

·         Some Like it Hot

·         Alfie (the original, not that crappy version with Jude Law ... that’s just nasty)

·         Breakfast at Tiffanys

·         Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

·         Brief Encounter

·         Now, Voyager

·         Plus a whole raft of Ealing comedies and anything with Peter Sellers in (pre 1970s)

My absolute perfect afternoon is watching an old film at the cinema, like it’s supposed to be seen.  My local cinema used to run old films once a week ... there was just nothing like watching ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’ and other such oldies on the Big Screen ... loved it.  Sadly, they don’t seem to be doing it anymore and I’m not aware of anywhere else that does ... if you know, please let me know!

So, because I go to the cinema at least once a week, I decided to by an unlimited card - £14.99 per month to watch as many films as you like.  Bargain! I’ve seen 4 this weekend!  On second thoughts, I’m not so sure that it was a good idea ... I may never see daylight again and as I’ve moved on from my love of pick n mix and I’m now totally addicted to Hot Dogs and Peanut M&Ms, there’s a very real chance I’ll end up hugely overweight too!  Oooooo that’ll be a nice look ... my eyes will start to get bigger and I’ll develop big black bags under them (like that girl from that book we all read in the 80’s ... ‘Flowers in the Attic’) and my ass will spread so that I’ll have to take up two seats! Lmao ... don’t think there’s really much chance of that, but hey!

So what’ve I seen this week? 

Hugo – Meant to be a kids film by Martin Scorsese – now I usually really love his films (Gangs of New York is a total classic and I’ll never understand why that was so under rated) but this, whilst cinematically absolutely beautiful, the story just didn’t work and was really tedious in places ... if you’re thinking of taking small children and they don’t have the best attention span, I think they’ll find it quite hard going, I did ... in fact, I don’t know whether it was because I had quite a tough week last week and I was shattered, but I did feel my eyes closing a few times ... if it’s a good film, that never happens, no matter how tired I am! 

The Thing – I believe is a prequel of the 80s film with Kurt Russell (or so the guy who sold me my ticket told me ... I can’t remember it).  Anyway, it was really the typical alien monster tale, you know how it goes ... spaceship is found buried deep in the ice somewhere, alien creature is found buried, is dug out then wreaks havoc.  In my opinion, not very scary, although a bit gory and not a patch on the Alien/Predator films (however, there were 3 teenage boys sitting behind me to screamed like girls a couple of times ... that frightened me more than the film!).  Worth seeing though, although probably wait and see it on DVD.

Dream House – This is the film that Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz apparently met and fell in love on.  Anyway, it’s had lousy reviews (I never take much notice of reviewers - and here I am giving your my views - they slated two of my most favourite films of this year – The Rite and The Priest – so if I fancy something, I’ll make my own mind up!)  I actually quite liked it ... although, don’t see the trailer if you don’t want to know what happens ... they give the biggest part of the film away in the trailer ... mad!  Don’t know why they did that, but there were still quite a few twists in it that I didn’t see coming.  I enjoyed it, worth a look.

My Week with Marilyn – My favourite film for ages.  I really liked it – I’ve been looking forward to seeing it ... I love Marilyn Monroe and am fascinated with her mad life.  Michelle Williams played a really good part and it was actually a quite intelligent film with a good script, some lovely costumes and beautifully shot.  I can highly recommend it.

This weekend I’m looking forward to seeing Puss in Boots (you’ve gotta love the Shrek films, so this is bound to be good) and maybe, New Year’s Eve, although I believe that’s very like Valentine’s Day and I wasn’t a fan of that.  However, as I’ve already got my money back on my ‘Anytime’ card, I might as well check everything out ... God Bless My Waistline!

Until next time, have fun lovely people and be fabulous.

Lots of love

Jx

Eyebrow Tattoo Update

 

I thought I’d give you a quick update on the eyebrow situation ... as you’ll recall, I was supposed to be going for my follow up appointment last Friday.  However, I got a phone call on Tuesday from the Spa to say that Nilam was unavailable on Friday and could they re-arrange for the New Year!  Very annoying when I’m following her tweets and she’s quite open about where she is and what she’s doing!  Remember how I always bang on about the importance of customer service ...  Well now I have to take another day off in January and as I work for myself I don’t get paid for the days I don’t work – so all in all, that’ll be 3 days lost on eyebrows! ... Arrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh these are turning into the most expensive eyebrows of all time!

My re-arranged appointment is now 16 January ... on the upside, I go on holiday between then and now (Caribbean again baby, yipeeeee) and I’m told they can fade a bit in the sun ...

Until next time lovely people, be fabulous.

Lots of love

Jx

Caucasian Vs Asian Dating

I've been thinking of some different topics for my blog and happened to be having lunch last week with some Asian friends.  We were having a good old girlie gossip and got on to the subject of dating.  We love this topic (nearly as much as eyebrows! lol) ... I’m always totally incredulous about how it works, The Asian Way!  You think us Caucasian girlies have a hard time of it, you ain’t heard nothing yet!  I’ve asked if I can share some of their stories … as they’re quite something … to which the reply was, “Yes, if you don’t mention names!”  A fair trade in my view! 

I’ve struggled with how best to tackle this, as in how to structure the info, as there’s so flaming much of it and it’s all a bit ad hoc ie there’s not always a story attached, so I’m just gonna launch into it and see what happens …

Asian Dating

Dating, Asian style, couldn’t be more different than Caucasian.  There are some things we have in common like Internet Dating (which is similar in name alone from what I can see), which I’ll go into later, then there are the traditional Matchmakers.  But it’s the whole dating process that shocks the hell out of me and the directness of it all!

When an Asian man or woman decides that they want to get married, there’s no messing around with unnecessary dating (I probably need to put some context around it all here … if a girl isn’t married by 30, she’s on the shelf and is pretty much looked down upon and classed as an old maid – however, a man can get married at whatever age he wants … usually when he’s got ‘partying’ with Caucasian girls out of his system!  It’s extremely rare for an Asian man to marry a Caucasian woman or indeed and Asian woman that he’s had a casual relationship with - but when they decide it’s time to marry, they don’t mess around), therefore, they ask the most amazing questions upfront. 

Straight away, from the very first conversation, both sides will be ascertaining whether the person is marriage material or not … in the first conversation they’ve had with a man my friends have been asked:

• How many relationships have you had?
• How long did they last?
• Were you physical with your partner(s) (it’s the ideal to marry a virgin … yes, honestly!)
• Can you cook? (Asian men do not do housework/cooking AT ALL!)
• How many children do you want?
• Will you stop working after we’re married? (and yes, they use ‘we’)

That said, my friends will think nothing of asking:

• What’s your job?
• How much do you earn?
• What financial plans have you made for the future
• Where will we be living?

Both sides will have no issue whatsoever in talking about marriage plans in the first conversation … I’m not even talking about first meeting here, I’m talking about first conversation!  Quite often, as my friends recall, men have said "when we get married ..." numerous times in the first conversation - which they admit that it can be a bit overwhelming!  I find this incredible, I’ve gone out with men for years who’ve got hot under the collar when you say the ‘m’ word!  Could you imagine if you mentioned marriage to a Caucasian male, or female for that matter, the first time you speak to them … well I can guarantee that you wouldn’t be speaking to them again (me included!)  In some ways, you’ve got to admire it though… at least everyone knows where they stand right from the get go!

With regard to where an Asian person would find their ideal husband/wife, well obviously I’ve mentioned Asian dating sites and there are the usual introductions by friends, meeting people at University/College, meeting someone at a wedding (they’re all quite a popular ways to meet someone in both cultures I think), but there are also Matchmakers …

Unfortunately, I’m stuck for time again folks, so I’ll continue the tale tomorrow.  Until then, be good and be fabulous, lovely people.

Jx

Face Tattoo’s Hurt! (Even semi-perm ones!)

I can’t believe I haven’t told you about my eyebrows yet!  I’ve had them tattoo’d!!!!!  Ouch!

For years I’ve wanted to have them done, after major over plucking in the 80’s and subsequent waxing mishaps made by incompetent therapists over the years, I’m left with very sparse eyebrows which I have to pencil in.  I’ve been thinking of having semi-permanent tattoos done for ages but have never found anyone who I’d trust to do them. 

I knew of a few people who’d had them done, but I have to be honest, they’re all pretty awful.  Either those hideous big black square brows that look really unrealistic or totally the wrong shape or colour making the person look permanently startled or really angry!  (I had those HD Brows a few months ago ... dunno if you’ve heard of them ... think I may have mentioned them in an earlier post, but they kinda ended up like those big, thick, square ‘Scouse Brows’ ... watch ‘Desperate Scousewives’ which started on Monday and you’ll  understand what I mean .. the ugliest brows I’ve ever seen).

So, how did I end up having my brows done by the country’s leading eyebrow tattoo type lady?  Well, if you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll know that I’m really not good with poor customer service and shoddy workmanship, especially when it’s something as visible as your eyebrows ...

I was having a chat with Mehreen about my brows ...  I don’t know if you’ve guessed this, but Mehreen is Asian and I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this too, but I’ve never seen an Asian lady that doesn’t have the most fabulously shaped brows (apparently it’s an absolute must and according to Mehreen, “There’s no excuse for bad brows”! I do love her ... she makes me laugh!).  Well, when I mentioned I fancied having my brows tatoo’d, she immediately told me that I should get them done with Nilam Patel, as she knew someone who’d had it done with her and her brows were amazing.

So without further ado, we did a quick Google check ... turns out that she does the brows of everyone from Kylie and Dannii to GaGa, Katie Price (hmmmmm) loads of people you’d know from lots of well known TV shows and she’s THE Brow Lady on XFactor ... the very one that sorted out Cher’s crazy brows ... do you remember them?  She’d shaved of her natural brows and pencilled spidery thin brows in the middle of her forehead!  Now I don’t watch the XFactor, but I remember her crazy brows!

So, I promptly rang the Spa number (not a salon this time ... a Spa!) and was told that there was a waiting list until January 2012 and I should ring back in October to make an appointment ... this was March 2011!! OMG! Apparently, she had so many celeb clients and was so busy with her other company ... yes you guessed it “HD Browns” ... that it would be nearly a year before she’d be able to fit me in.  Now I must point out here, that this procedure is not cheap ... decidedly not cheap, so I really didn’t think I’d have to wait that long.  Anyway, I asked if I could leave my number in case they had a cancellation.  The receptionist said that it was unlikely, but yes, she would keep my number.

Well, we kinda forgot all about it and I continued to fill my brows in using Illamasque eyebrow cake and their wonderful angled eyebrow bush (available at Selfridges ... thanks for the tip, Mehreen - both products are quite amazing actually ... they beat pencils hands down ... very precise!).  Anyway, at the beginning of October, I got a call out of the blue from the Spa asking if I was free on 21^st as there was an appointment available.  Well, of flamin course I was available!  So it was booked there and then, together with an appointment 6 weeks later for a top up.  Phew!  I was out and about when I got the call and was so excited that the first thing I did was ring Mehreen to tell her (she loves that stuff as much as I do!).  We’re both girlie girlies ... what can I say!!! Lol

So the momentous day arrived and as I had to travel to Milton Keynes and get there for 11.00, I got up super early (I do loads of travelling and MK is only a couple of hours away, but cos you never know what the traffic’s doing and my ‘issue’ with lateness, I left about 7.30 ... and got there at 9.30! Nutter!  After a stop off at a service station for coffee, I finally arrived at the Spa for 10.45 ... filled the necessary paperwork in and had a ‘numbing’ cream applied to my brows.

 

When Nilam arrived I was quite shocked at how small she was, she was tiny (I guess people always look bigger on telly!), but she is extremely pretty (great skin), with fab brows (obv) and absolutely lovely ... such a sweet person, I liked her straight away ... even more so once she started to tell me some fab stories!

I had my consultation, we agreed to keep my brows the same size as they currently were when I’d filled them in, so that I didn’t get scared when they were done!  She said that if, when they’d settled down I wanted them thicker, then she would do it at the top up.  So I settled down to an hour’s worth of pain!

Boy did it hurt ... despite the fact that she kept putting numbing cream on.  The hour went unbelievable quickly ... she was so funny ... I loved it (not the pain though!). When she’d finished, they were THE most fabulous shape, but extremely black!  Like, CRAZYILY black.  She said that I should go really heavy on the eye makeup for the next week or so – like ‘going out’ eyes heavy – to counteract the darkness of them. I was told to put cream on them at least 3 times a day, that the scab (yes, scab!) would drop off after about a week (hmmmmm nice!) and they’d look really pale for a while.  However, over the next month the pigment would come through in time for my top up, 6 weeks later.

Gotta be honest, that week was a nightmare ... you obviously (like any newly done tattoo) can’t pick at it ... and when you’ve got flakey bits in your brows, it’s hard to resist ... it also doesn’t look particularly attractive! lol

.... It was all so worth it though ... I had such a fantastic day ... I loved every minute of it and my brows look fab, although I think I may go a little bit thicker when I have my top up ... which I’m so looking forward to!

Anyway, as usual, must rush ... until next time be fabulous, lovely people.

Lots of love

Jx