So this is Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

I managed to get all my Christmas shopping done in one fell swoop. I wasn't expecting it, and it did indeed, take me by surprise! Ladies and Gentlemen, the secret? The Royal Exchange! It has EVERYTHING for your present buying needs.

1) It is not Oxford Circus- good enough.

2) It is not Oxford Circus- such a good point, is deserves two spaces.

3) It's main shoppers are city folk, who know what they want, when they want and DO NOT DAWDLE. Also meaning, that if you shop betwen 10-12 and then 2-4 there will be NO ONE around as they will be working away in their offices.

4) Agent Provocateur, Jo Malone, Smythson, Penhaligons, Laduree, and Paul A. Young: all staples in my shopping buying list.

5) It is a stones throw away from Cheapside- for Space NK, Paperchase, Daunt Books, Topshop, M&S, and Oliver Bonas! All great for stocking fillers! The only thing missing is a Wolford really.... And of course COS, but I am just being selfish now.

So now you know for next year! All hail The Royal Exchange!

Seasons greetings, have a wonderful Christmas!

Reflections part 1... YELLOW KAMPF

This year has been BIG. Lots of first and lasts, new and old and lots and lots of discoveries.

I started the year getting promoted at AP, promoted into the depths of HELL that is also known as Selfridges. EVERYONE warned be of it, and EVERYONE told me I would hate it. EVERYONE was right.

Day One consisted of a manager that had absolutely no idea how to work a till (or to work people for that matter, her longest standing staff member was about 3 months) and a floor manager threatening to sack me because I corrected her on garment knowledge. Never mind the fact that in the training I laughed when they said it was a gross misconduct to carry water on the shop floor, and they told me I was welcome to look for another shop if I found this very serious matter entertaining. Having SCRAPED through training, I managed to earn a SLN badge (kill me now) and SLN ID card (If I wasn't going to be charged about £100 for not returning it, I would have burned it.)

The very fact that it is "illegal" to carry lipstick on the shop floor was enough to remind me of school, creeping through the corridors in case you get caught for not having a toilet pass. And boy, if you forgot your Selfridges badge, you might as well just cane yourself and save the floor manager the bother...

So, entrance to Fort Knox. Walk through the staff entrance, scan card, hike down three flights of stairs to the most depressing locker room in history, find a locker (they don't provide you with your own, you have to FIND a spare one AND bring your own lock?!) This in itself was a massive stress. Then you have to get past the FRIENDLY (sarcasm) security guards. NO PURSES, NO CASH, NO WATER, NO FOOD, NO MAKE UP, nothing but your Selfridges ID card and yellow badge (wait does this sound a bit like Nazi Germany? With the yellow stars pinned to your sleeve...) However my manager (yes my very responsible manager) did inform me that if I flash a bit of cleavage (what cleavage?!) They might let you get away with taking a lipstick upstairs (LUCKY ME!) Then once you've passed customs, with literally nothing to declare, you can hike up four escalators to lingerie. Every step closer and my stomach was ILL with anxiety. I missed Diane, and Gaby from the City store, where we worked HARD, smashed targets and had FUN, not to mention the fact that I now had to work weekends. (every weekend, I had the privilege of one weekend day off a month) AND lates, and the lates WERE LATE. Yes, I know I would have known this BEFORE I took the job, AND EVERYONE had to work lates (everyone apart from the manager that is, who put herself on nothing but earlies, you know as the earlies are the busiest period, when the staff REALLY need a manager around for support coz it's SO RAMMED... Good one...)

Anyway, we all get it, I hated Selfridges. Bla bla bla. Moan moan moan, I started spontaneously collapsing at work, to the annoyance of manager, who told me to go home coz I was of no use to her, I asked her why she hadn't even asked me if I was ok (obviously wasn't ok, as was collapsing) and she simple said that it wasnt her job to ask if I was ok. So I quit. Hurray. Vowed never to set foot in Selfridges again, until I REALLY needed miu miu shoes from there and they were the only store that had them. Needs must and all that.

Onwards and upwards to PART TWO... the lovely land of triyoga... more of that later on this evening.

Curry is just about to be delivered, for our NYE night in! This is the first year we have "stayed in." Are we getting old? Paul hasnt been home for 6 weekends out of 8, and this is some well deserved quality time together. I am looking outside and it is raining, and I am looking inside at our lovely home with our lovely cats, and the MASSIVE pile of DVDs we just bought, and I could not be happier.

Happy New Year all, here's to a fantastic, 2013.

Samantha xx

MAIDS

"Maid of honour" Arghhh. The dilemmas, the trauma, the tossing and turning and the umming and arring. After all of this, I decided not to have a maid of honour. I had narrowed it down to a short list of three, I felt like a casting director. Then it hit me, I didn't NEED to choose just one, I could have all three! My own gaggle of hens, MAIDS of honour, if you will.

These three ladies have been with me pretty much since I moved to London, I have been in bands with/ lived with/ worked with/ holidayed with/ laughed and loved these beautiful people for near 7 years. They have remained constant, even at times when constant meant not seeing each other for a few months, because you know, it's "LONDON", and that just kinda seems to happen, one minute its March and then it's August and Rachel has another new hair colour.

So let me introduce you to the lucky three.

Amy: Or better known as Theoretical Girl, I met Amy at 18. We met through our ex boyfriends (at least they were good for something.) On arriving in New Cross London Sep 2005 for university, we "freshers" headed to The New Cross Inn. A solo artist, Theoreticl Girl was playing a gig. I thought she was ace. Her hair was the reason I chopped off my waist length hair into a short black bob. A few months later, by chance, I started seeing a boy who just happened to be in the same band as Amy's boyfriend. Amy taught me to play bass, and the rest, as they say, is history. Amy is the sweetest, kindest, most generous person I know. And she always has AMAZING HAIR, oh and an IMMENSE record collection.

 

Rachel: Rachel, again, we have shared many a hairstyle (or rather, variations of the same hair style) We met each other, again through ex boyfriends, (what useful people these exes are turning out to be!) at a house party in Angel. Rachel was a little firecracker, 5ft 2 (ish?) and full of energy, and I just remember thinking "I have to get to know her!!!" She has the Madonna gap in her tooth, always been envious of, and despite me trying to pry open a space between my teeth it AINT GONNA HAPPEN. We then, by chance, started working together at Agent Provocateur in Knighstbridge, and many a ghost encounters and lounging in changing rooms later, we moved in together in Canonbury. Rachel was the front women in shriek beat band (is that what they called it?!) KASMS! She's such an incredible front woman, and we always always wanted to do a band together. The timing was never right.

Marine: aaaand again, through ex boyfriends! Marine was part of The Frenchies, (she will kill me for sayin this!) The DJ set from Nice. She lived in Holloway and she had a fridge in her room, with two double beds pushed together? We always used to eat curry from a joint frequented by the Darkness... Classy... She had this amazing mane, curly and blonde and to her waist. When we first met, we could not understand a word each other was saying, my geordie, and her half spoken English, but we drank through it. I helped her with her Geordie, she helped me with my French. For the first three years of our friendship, we insisted upon visiting EVERY Strada across London, and I had the same dish EVERY time. It was a comfort I guess? God knows... We took a ski-ing trip one year, and let's just say we have a difference in opinion on how to ski! Now a hot shot lawyer, with straight brown hair, and still every inch as beautiful.

 

 

Thankyou ladies, for being you. I love each and every one of you more than you can ever know!

Samantha x.

BACK FROM THE DEAD

So, it's been a while. I only recently remembered I had this blog, when I was trying to remember my favourite films, and lo and behold, of course! I did a whole post on it! So, off I trotted to re read my fave flicks. It was a bit like bumping into an old friend and chatting for hours.

So I'm back. Alot has happened, a lot has gone down.

I left the legion of pink ladies, to work in a yoga centre (who would have known after my years of dealing with the dreaded public, the worse type of customers were in fact in a YOGA STUDIO)

Pfff... More about that later. Treats for you all! Namaste and all that....

More exciting news, Paul and I are engaged and are getting married on 8th March 2013. No doubt, many a posts to come will be about this. (well, and CATS, obviously, sorry)

Speaking of cats, the cats are doing well, they are massive now. (Massive in both senses, one is rather tall and kind of the size of a TIGER and the other one is fat, kind of like jabba)

The only other thing, is I have watched Bridesmaids FOUR TIMES IN THE PAST MONTH. Is this some kind of record? I hope so.

Well guys. That's my catch up. I have missed you.

Here's to the future.

x

Dans Le Noir

AP Christmas party. Dans Le Noir.

After MILD panic attack at the entrance, and giving the other half of the group the wrong address, the evening went swimmingly.

Dining in the dark is a unique experience. One I was not prepared for. Guided by blind waiters- why blind waiters? Blind people are most comfortable with not being able to see of course, and therefore most confident- we waited with baited breath, as we allocated members of the party to carry out certain tasks. It felt much like a team bonding exercise, working together is key. Or you will end up with wine everywhere.

Not knowing what you are eating or where it is, is something I found particularly hard to deal with. As those who know me, know I have certain control issues. I don't eat this, and I don't like that, I don't like the idea of this, and I don't morally agree with that. High maintenance? Sure. Why not....

I found the best way to deal with the fact that you cannot see a thing, is to keep one hand on the wine glass, one of the water glass, one arm against the wall, and one against Olivia. I am aware of my surroundings, and can mentally visualise where things are. Almost.

The food comes, and I thoroughly enjoy everything on my plate. Your senses are heightened, and I found myself whittling on about the best cabbage I had ever tasted. And the spicy sausage (which turned out to be BLACK PUDDING, dear dear dear god)

Dessert was incredible. Thin layers of white chocolate with milk chocolate fondant in between. And raspberry jelly. Gross. Gave the jelly away.

I also found eating with knife and fork is out of the question. Fingers all the way. Thank GOD no one could see me.

Another bonus to dining in the dark is you can tell neighbouring tables to shut up and they have NO idea who it is. Win win.

Sneaky mention to the Maitre D that we are from AP and a cheeky discount is added to the bill. Naughty.

Pink Ladies

As a child, I dreamt of becoming a Pink Lady. Mostly Rizzo (??slightly worrying...) Now as I have grown up I am happy to say I'm now firmly back in the pink dress at Agent Provocateur (for the second time). A pink lady of sorts, at least I can check that off my childhood aspirations.... Now I need to get onto sorting a way to make Coca Cola come out of taps....