The only rules in life you should follow

I have never fully professed my deep love and admiration for the wonderful and magnificent, Ron Swanson. Men don't come much more macho than Ron, and his views on life, government, women, and woodwork are all case in point.

He does have his weaknesses, mainly women named Tammy (his mother, and his two ex wives). I like that such a strong mustachioed man, who takes shit from no-one, can be instantly reduced to a lovesick, corn-rowed, mustacheless fella after one word from a Tammy.
Ron Swanson has many rules of life, and how to be great at it. You too can be just as great at Ron if you abide by his pyramid of greatness. 

I have mad love for all the characters in the brilliant Parks and Recreation, but I think the lessons that Ron teaches throughout the show really translate into real life. I mean just his advice on Poise alone is priceless -  "Sting like a bee. Do not float like a butterfly. That is ridiculous" Pure brilliance.

Since having Ron Swanson in my life, when I am faced with a problem, I just ask myself WWRSD? (What Would Ron Swanson Do?) And the answer is usually, nothing at all, because as any good Ron fan knows, he doesn't like to do much. Which is just part of his amazeballs way.

Peace&Love&Mustaches. 

CHECK OUT MY MENTALCAKES BOOTS!

For those of you who may have wondered why I have been strangely quiet recently... it's not due to any sadness or whatnot, but is down to the fact that I couldn't actually speak after having all four wisdom teeth whipped out. I looked like a hybrid between a square faced hamster, and Eddy Murphy in the nutty professor...like this:  

AMAZEBALLS NO?? In actual factualness, my face looked like this... 

sooooooo sadddddddd and beyond ridiculous. I hope you all had a good laugh at that. Unfortunately every time I looked in the mirror I was very conscious of how hilarious I looked, which made me start laughing, which just hurt my mouth a lot. So it was a bit of a pickle really. Hilariousness vs pain.

 I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone how really quite not that horrific taking your wisdom teeth out is. I put it off for over two years, due to all the absolutely vile stories people told me about the whole procedure, meanwhile my teeth got all crooked cause apparently there just isn't enough space in my little mouth for all that teeth (insert dirty joke here). And at the end of it all... it was TOTES FINE. I think it's all about your state of mind, and of course having a calm and skilled dental surgeon is a bonus. So for anyone needing to take their wisdom teeth out, DO IT NOW. And then you can look like a hamster, take a week off work, and eat nothing but soup and mash potatoes (so you end up looking like a fat hamster head on a toothpick body) THE BENEFITS JUST NEVER END!

At some point during the week of never leaving home, lying in bed re-watching 30 Rock, eating mash and feeling sorry for my square face, I had a visit from my chum Janna. She is a bit of a globe trotter, and after her trip to Thailand a few years ago, returned with some awesomesauce cloth boots. Obvz I was very upset that she didn't think to bring me back a pair, and tried very hard to persuade her she would simply NEVER be able to wear them in England as it's too wet, they would be better off left in Cyprus under my watchful eye. That failed. Luckily, being the jet-set backpacker that she is, decided on a whim to go back to Thailand this year for Christmas on the beach. Cause that's just how she rolls, innit. I was pretty pissed that she wasn't coming back here, choosing tropical paradise and buckets of vodka and ephedrine filled redbull over Xmas in Cyprus, but oh well. LUCKILY she managed to pull it back in her favour when she not only made a spontaneous trip to Cy, but on top of that.... Brought me my own pair of super awesomesaucementalcakes boots!! Behold their splendour.... 

 Pretty amaze no?? I have worn them once so far, but I am just dreaming up different outfit combos to pair them with to inundate your senses with. Powwww!

Peace&Love&AwesomesauceBoots!

My Grandmother's Dress

My grandmother gave me this dress a few years ago. On top of it being my favourite colour, it has such a great cut and vintage feel to it. My grandmother is an amazing lady, over 80 years old and she is more energetic than I am. She travels the world, works, writes, cooks, teaches and is pretty damn chic while doing it all.

She has taken to handing down amazing items from her wardrobe to me, my mother and my sister, which we are only too happy to receive. I love that I have something thats not only historic, but personal. It makes me imagine my grandmother in the 50's getting dressed to go out for dinner with my grandfather. Putting on a touch of red lipstick, fixing her stylish, short hair, maybe adding a necklace. He is dapper as always, in a suit and tie, maybe a little pocket square, his hair brushed back, neat. They go out for dinner, maybe somewhere along the Corniche, maybe alone, maybe with friends. They eat, share some wine, maybe walk home, him supporting her slightly if she had worn high heels.

It makes me happy to imagine the memories that these items contain, the history from within my family. And it makes me proud to wear them, putting a little bit of my personal history in a modern setting.  

Sometimes, I just love my job so much...

Peace&Love&Abs&Abs&Abs&Abs&Abs 

New Year

I always feel hopefully optimistic at the start of the new year. You make resolutions that you hope to keep, you feel slightly renewed (once the hangover wears off anyhow), you make plans for what you want to achieve in the coming year, diets, gym, less alcohol, less predatory-ness. And then about a week or two in.... it all kind of goes to shit and you fall back into old routines and habits.

Last new years I was all like, "2010 sucked ass, bring on 2011 I'm gonna rock the shit outta it, woopwoop" and suchlike. And then I proceeded to have the most difficult, challenging, soul-searching year (so far that is). Without being overly dramatic, there were a few times where I really didn't think anything would be ok ever again, that I would never really be ok ever again. But all things considered, I think I'm doing just fine, on some days maybe even better than just fine. Life is pretty funny like that, it can hurl shit at you so fast you don't know where to even begin picking up the pieces, and you just deal, you manage, you get by, you get better, until one day you look back and a year has passed you by, and you're still here, still alive, still being awesome. So it can't be that bad all things considered.

And when I look back on my last year, at the end of the day, the good memories far outnumber the bad. I suppose it's down to the fact that the bad things injure your soul so much more than the good stay in your heart. I'm not really one to make resolutions, but one thing I am going to try and hold on to for the new year (aside from having deleted facebook) is to focus more on the happy moments in my life, and try and let whatever bad things come my way not hurt my soul.
So now, when I look back at 2011, I'm not going to focus on whatever hurt I went through. Instead I'm going to think of the good times. The amazing friends who made me laugh and let me cry. Trips to new places, Godsisterly awesomesauceness. Having a great time while doing great photoshoots. Spending summer at the beach, and getting trashed and predatory on VODKAMONSTER. Parties and dressing up. Spending the day lying in bed watching Gossip Girl (shh don't tell anyone, it's my guilty pleasure) and cuddling Minnie. When I see it written down, and when I look through my photo's, it's actually been a really awesomesauce year, I hope that 2012 can top it.
Here are some of the highlights of my year,

My princess had a little prince

My papa was weird and lurked behind walls

Beirut was beautiful

I ate yummy food

I went snowboarding

I saw awesome boys

I rode around on cruiser bikes with monkeys and models

I got to drive a bad-ass car (even if it was just for a day)

Got dressed up like mentalcakes

I styled baby

I went back to blonde

Ate yummers cake

Monkey moved in

Did some beach planking

Partied it up with awesome peoples

Finally got a pink leg knife!!

Went to the magic place

with my awesomesauce Godsister

Partied Vomgirl style

I camped it up

with a for reals monkey!

I did a lot of this

Got hated on by a burnt photographer

got a bit burnt too

I got some mad props 

Went road tripping

And drank a lot

And then drank a lot in a pool

then drank more in a pool

I embraced florals

I got rowdy at a basketball game

I fell over in heels and knocked a shot into someone's eye

I cuddled baby

I got to see this amazing view

I had lovely times with friends

Vomity times

And long distance times

I was rowed in a boat on a lake

I had fun times on shoots

Cuddled Minnie a lot

May have gone slightly banana's at times

Had lunch cocktails

With my amazing boss-eyed Pookie

I got some new tattoos 

Got blinged up

And dressed like Madagascan royalty

I had more cuddles with Minnie

And drank cocktails from lit up glasses!

Got drunken with lots of fun peoples

Took some gross pictures

I was lady gaga

I lazed in parks on sunday afternoons

I got licked by a monkey

Bought amazing sparkly shoes

Had brilliant adventures (round two) with my Godsister

Dj-ed with The Apostle and Pan the Man

Drank too much monster

Decided to grow a fro

Cooked some amazing meals

I SAW A DOUBLE RAINBOW

Had brunch on my sunny balcony

Did some awesome Djing, Vomgal style

I walked around a lot

ate more deliciousness

Had Xmas fun with the fam 

Ate even more delicious food

Saw some owls.

All in all, a pretty fucking amazing year. I hope all of you look back at the past year and have as many happy memories as I do. I look forward to many more adventures with you in the new year.

Peace&Love&Newness