Fall/Winter 2012 in Singapore...why, o why?

Everyone who truly knows me will say I am a self-confessed shopaholic!  I literally will shop 'til I drop and buy everything and anything...

Loooooove this movie - cannot think why? :-)

But, and it is a massive and quite depressing big but...the stores right now are full of fall/winter collections.  Why, why, why when here we are in Singapore with a temperature never dropping below 26 degrees and humidity levels going silly on a daily basis.

This is what I'm up against right now...Esprit - my most favourite shop in the whole world are trying to sell me winter coats, thick woolly tops and would you believe boots.  Marks & Spencer (my inner British-ness adores this store) here I'm lusting over woolly tights, long socks and snugly warm pyjamas.    I've even been drooling over the Kookai Paris website (sad I know).

It's not right, fair or any other words I can use while stamping my feet...I love all these things, I love Singapore and the weather (mostly) but I'm craving these winter woolly garments.  Maybe I should on the air-con set it to a really low 10 degrees and dress up....perhaps I could host a fall/winter collection dress up evening, with Vodka and mulled wine and a rather French Raclette to keep us warm hehehe ;-)

Sounds like a plan hey!?

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)

Happy Halloween 'n' to a happy winner...

Here's me dressed up reading to go trick or treating with my boys...

Was I scary?  Apparently, Halloween doesn't have to be scary can be just fun and a good old party...erm, when I was a girl it was all about being scary and frightening the living daylights out of everyone.  Oh, and me and my cousin never had a pumpkin but always had a turnip with a candle inside...Yes, a turnip - how very odd :-)

Did you celebrate Halloween or are you having a little scary party this weekend?

So....to the most exciting then to hit my blog like ever....

We do have a winner for my BellaBox inspired give away...

Ms Erin Kong

Yep, my lovely it is you xx :-)  You are really not so far away from seeing your very own BellaBox...golly I hope you enjoy it.

Do inbox message me on the blog or Facebook and tell me your postal details.

Keep following the blog, keep following kisses and smiles on Facebook and all in all, keep making me smile and allow me to make you guys smile too :-)

Become a Bellabox.sg member HERE :-)

Stay happy, be safe and try be a 'tad' scary over the Halloween weekend.

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)

beauty goodies 'n' guest room

I seem to have been very pre-occupied by and generally surrounded by beauty products more recently...I know, not a bad thing to be surrounded by :-)

a mountain of beauty products

My problem is, these things have taken over my guest bedroom...what to do?  Should I move everything, tidy away and generally just get my guest bedroom back?

Heck, no!  I've decided to make my study into a guest bedroom and keep my "beauty products room"...it smells divine and totally makes me smile when I walk in there :-)  kind of reminds me of walking in Sephora...how lovely

Anyway, the temporary study come guest bedroom will be occupied as of tonight...when Grandma & Grandpa arrive from the UK.

Of course, I have 2 very excited boys here today.  I'm guessing Grandma & Grandpa will be sleepless on the plane and buzzing with excitement too.  Of course, they have been to Singapore before and absolutely love it.  The next couple of days will be busy planning exciting days out and places to eat and drink during their visit.  Any ideas, much appreciated...??

Something which has got me 'not so smiley' recently is the fact our swimming pool will be closing as of the end of November for a minimum of 6 months!  Oh, golly!  Everyone tells me pool renovation generally takes longer than expected so 6 months will become what...?

With no swimming pool is it possible to travel to Bintan every weekend?  Perhaps not, but it's worth a couple of visits during the next 6 months, right?

Love Bintan and the Lagoon Resort

Want to enter my Bellabox inspired giveaway?   Follow the link here:-

still time to enter the give away HERE xx :-)

Bye bye lovely people.

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)

Being a Bellabox blogger part 2 'n' Birthday month giveaway

What have I been doing for the last 3 weeks? For whatever reason I have found myself incapable of sitting down with my beloved blog....

But, this has to change, I cannot neglect my blog in its birthday month...yes 'we' are one this month! Who else celebrates a birthday in October...my Mum...

Ah yes, but there is another special birthday this month, for Bellabox.sg. is also one year old. I've been with them, loving them, reviewing them and generally getting excited about my monthly BellaBox for a whole year now....

You will maybe have read my part one to the TFI Friday blogger event ..HERE...  and now, here's what else I loved from the night:-

Firstly, my assigned beauty table was with Pétronille....get to know Petronille Cosmetics  This whole concept sounds amazing and I met and chatted to the founder a lovely Parisian lady. At the beauty table we had a special little make your own facial gommage or facial scrub session. Fab idea...here's what went in my little jar of goodness:-

Brown Sugar 1.5 cup, olive oil 1 cup, multiflower honey 1 teaspoon and ginger essential oil 2 drops.

Of course, we were given lots of info to help us choose the right ingredients for our perfect gommage...my reasons were these:-

Brown sugar - it has natural properties to exfoliate for supremely soft skin, naturally prevents moisture loss whilst gently buffing away dry skin cells,

Olive oil - contains a high level of healthy fatty acids and antioxidant vitamin E that moisturise, protect and nourish skin,

Honey - an emollient in skin care and creates a watertight film, allowing skin to rehydrate itself.  Moisturising, softening and sweet fragrance.

Ginger - to add scent.

A Pétronille goodie bag before we leave? Oh, how lovely.

I may not have been up to date with my blog but I've been doing research into Pétronille and have actually found the time to use my facial gommage and the real Pétronille product, thoroughly love it and "J'adore" the concept of cream for day or night and then the add-in booster for your particular concern.  The texture is fabulous and does actually feel like it is doing some goodness to my 'visage' ;)   Have you heard of Petronille?  Learn about Petronille Cosmetics HERE

Who else was present at the event, Aveda you already read about ...Aveda love... so, who else was present for us to meet, greet, trial and test? 

Elizabeth Arden with gorgeous eye shadow and mini makeover. I absolutely loved the look I was treated to, as a newbie to eye makeup, i was presently surprised at the texture and effects given by their 'Beautiful Colour' eye shadow duo.

Caudalie - with their Vinosource, I would like to say the 'vino' in the title does not get me interested but it does :-) I'm looking forward to trying some more of their products, but thanks to Bellabox I've already had the chance to discovered their 'eye and lip cream'. 

Bioderma with their Sensibio H2O - I'd actually heard about this before but had not had the chance to see it in action.  Seeing really is believing and it quite literally wipes away every trace of make-up, dirt and grime.  I'm sure this will be a fave and heading to the top of many cleanser/makeup remover lists.

This beautiful lady with very gorgeous make-up...

 

....and here she is with one side of make-up removed, with zero effort...amazing !

 

Of course, we were treated to the famous 'make your own BellaBox' my first time at this...I was not disappointed and managed to pick up some of my faves. What a wonderful experience and fun event to blend with like minded beauty lovers.

A lovely big 'merci' to the BellaBox team for the invitation and for putting on and providing such a fun event. Hope to blog about another v.soon xx :-)

A selection of my goodies will be packed into this Bellabox and sent to one lucky winner xx ;-)

Have you tried BellaBox.sg or indeed BellaBox somewhere around the world?

Become a Bellabox Member

As its my blog's birthday month along with BellaBox.sg's birthday month, I thought it would be pretty cute to do a little giveaway of my very own Bellabox and goodies:-

So, I'm new to this technology of contests in blogs but here we go, let's try this out...

Please drop by Facebook and like my page....kissesandsmiles on Facebook xx :-)
Please drop by facebook and like the Bellabox.sg page...BellaBox.sg on Facebook
Please drop by Facebook and like Petronille's page....PETRONILLE on Facebook
Finally, leave a comment on this blog to make me smile :-) xx :-)

I'm going to leave the contest open until Sunday 28th October 2012, when I shall see who's been liking stuff on Facebook and who left me a really lovely comment. I'll paste the name of the winner (no random computerised picking just me myself shall choose) within one week of the contest closing and we'll see where I need to deliver the BellaBox to...good luck!

Kisses n smiles from me xx :-)



NOTE this contest is open from the date it goes live until the above mentioned closing date, it is open to all countries in the hope that delivery and customs will be allowed. The BellaBox i have up for grabs is in accordance with regular BellaBox.sg procedure, in that it shall include 5/6 selected products from true bellabox recent boxes. I think that's all, let's hope it works!

BTW my love for Bellabox and their brand partners is in no way influenced by my invitation to be a blogger. I truly love the concept and am enjoying my discovery of amazing products from both new and familiar worldwide brands xx :-)

The day I lost my connection to the world or the iPad saga...

I thought my world, has I knew it, had ended!  My most precious and thing closest to my plug socket, laptop and, usually, my bag had gone...

I had  'misplaced' my connection to the world :-( definitely not a smiley kind of morning!  The major problem I had was that I was 90% sure where it was or where I left it.  Problem was, staff in said place, had not seen it.  I felt sick, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream and swear (I did swear, in my muttered breath!)

Living in Singapore, I kind of thought "it's ok, I'll get it back, it's just when".  Am I perhaps wrong to think that this beautiful city is so honest and secure?  I began to doubt one of my main reasons for loving this City.

The security guy in my shopping mall was brilliant, understood my distress immediately and passed me the required form for completion (please, my hands are shaking, I want to scream).  Of course I completed the form.  The necessary calls were made, two additional security guys came to 'help' (I say help but I'm sure they needed to see a distraught British expat with their own eyes)...I held it together and managed to bite my quivering lip!

Completely distraught and really, very angry.  Not angry at anyone other than myself, I knew it was my own silliness which had misplaced my most cherished piece of technology since my bright red Sony Walkman of 1980 something :-D

I ran to 'get nailed' (erm, not literally, I know it sounds odd but it's the name of my manicure place).  The girls all gasped in horror "but where you lose it?"  Obviously not in here then!

Ran down stairs, my poor Mum didn't know the words to comfort me and Mum's always know what to say.  No, this was one of those moments you just never can prepare for!

An hour later, we took the step of heading to the car park in deep thought that, really it's gone, never to be seen again.  A fellow manicure client came over to my car and asked if I'd found it, very concerned and gave me her best wishes that it comes back to me.

I had an idea, I 'knew' where I had 'misplaced' it and had the receipt from the store confirming the time I was there.  Again, ran away from my Mum and up to the security guys...they were smiling and, I am sure, thinking 'Crazy Ang Mo found it'!  No, I explained I wanted to leave them my receipt as my only evidence.  The nicest security guy told me I should report to the police...but where is the nearest station?  He began to explain and tell me that the police would need to be involved should the store manager not agree to sharing the CCTV footage.  Oh no, could it really come to this?

Mr Nice Security Guy looked over my shoulder and said 'oh my, look what we have here!'  The staff from the store where I 'knew' I'd left it came running to me with my irreplaceable iPad!  I almost bowled the girl over, not 'cos I was angry with her but I simply gave her the most massive hug, like ever!

So, faith is still with me in this beautiful city of Singapore, I'm smiling again and have 4 new friends - my 3 security guards (who now address me as Miss Clare) and 1 sales assistant (who probably still has the bruises from my massive hug).

"Case Closed"

The final words must come from my iPad;-

"Sent from Clare's iPad

who was lost and distraught at being away from my owner for over 2 hours

xoxo"

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Being a Bellabox blogger 'n' Aveda love...

Here is part one of my 'Bellabox Blogger' post.  Not that I want to drag the whole thing out but I feel this needs a little explanation as to why me, little me, with limited beauty knowledge can suddenly become one of the 'kind of' official Bloggers and get involved in all these wonderful things...

well, I'm an extremely lucky girl is the simple answer :-) 

Seriously though, my whole Blog came about due to this beautiful beauty of a box and of course, the inspiration of a good friend.  Bellabox launched in Singapore in October 2011 and I've been loving my monthly beauty samples since then.  Blogging about my goodies and reading fellow blogs about their faves, tips, tricks and general love of beauty surprises makes the whole thing even more fun :-)

Yes, I've covered my monthly delivery of Bellabox and shared my love for this super duper concept.  If you want to join in the fun and receive a box of goodies each month just click and join their 'club' bellabox.sg - you will love it xx :-)....

Goodies galore xx :-)

So, to the Bellabox blogger event of September.  I was thrilled to bits to receive an invitation and totally loved the whole evening of meeting and greeting some their product partners:-

Pétronille - http://bellabox.sg/brands/index/view/brand/Petronille/
Bioderma - http://www.bioderma.com/en/the-laboratory/bioderma-around-the-world/singapore.html
Elizabth Arden - http://bellabox.sg/brands/index/view/brand/Elizabeth%20Arden/
Caudalie - http://bellabox.sg/brands/index/view/brand/Caudalie/
Aveda - http://bellabox.sg/brands/index/view/brand/Aveda/

I'll go into more detail of the evening, my favourite product partners, my appointed beauty table and, of course, what was in those goodie bags in part 2....But, until then I just have to share my love of Aveda...

Aveda is not new to me but I have to admit I let my exclusive use of their products fall to the wayside some time ago.  I've mentioned, times many, how I am absolutely addicted to colouring and highlighting and generally 'killing' my hair.  Well, most recently, my hair has become a real disgrace and has been in need of HELP!  I was at a loss and really did not know what to do, MERCI BELLABOX for putting me in touch with Mr Aveda at this Blogger Event.  I quickly explained my situation, the guy nodded and felt my hair (he may have been shocked, but kept it well hidden), finally, he selected the exact product for me (the magical Aveda potion).  A few sprays, a little brush through and WOW I was head over heals in love with Aveda.

Now my hair is back to it's full loveliness and it feels 100% better and I promise, promise, promise to keep it in such a great condition in future.  Thanks to my Aveda Angel at the Halo rooftop bar xx :-)

honestly, my hair has no looked this good for over 3 months

Part 2 will be up v.soon and will no doubt coincide with the anniversary of my blog and the anniversary of the Bellabox.sg launch.

I could be packing this give-away box just for you... xx :-)

Also, and very excitingly, I have my favourite products and now full size pieces which I've either purchased from Bellabox online store or have been lucky enough to find in and around Singapore (I'll do a little run down of my fave products from my first 12 months as a subscriber to Bellabox v.soon...AND I'm hoping to do a little give away too (if I can master the technology of this)...stay tuned xx :-)

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Back to School (finally), Thailand 'n' The Beach

Summer hols are actually over...8 weeks of school holidays really was way to much!  It says a lot when the kids are actually ready to get back to school :-)

We had an excellent summer...of course there was England for 4 weeks, Singapore 2 weeks (trying and failing miserably with jet-lag), Thailand 5 nights then back to Singapore with fully re-charged batteries and ready for another school year...

Thailand was wonderful...My Mr Man booked it all and he has now been promoted to 'chief holiday booker' because of his amazing choice.  We stayed at The Residence Resort and Spa at Phuket...in a 2 bedroom villa with private swimming pool and roof top terrace - gorgeous, gorgeous! :-)

Here's a few pics of the Resort and our villa...

 

 

We were actually walking distance to the beach but with there being no pavement and not feeling very safe from traffic, we decided to use the Resort shuttle bus and/or tuck tuck (my boys loved the tuck tucks).

We had a couple of days by the beach (Bang Tao), dined at Bliss with a view of the sunset...

and yes, of course, we visited Phi Phi Island to see 'The Beach'! 

The boat trip to Phi Phi was fantastic and the views amazing...so happy I went although I would have liked all the tourists to just **** off and let me have my own special moment on The Beach :-D

Of course, on our return to Singapore we decided to re-watch the movie and see Leonardo discovering The Beach...quite amazing to see it and realise it is a true place!  My boys watched it with us although they did find parts of it a little scary (Daffy, the shark attack and Richard keeping watch on the hill).

Of course you could never forget what we have done, but we adapt. We carry on. And me? I still believe in paradise. But now at least I'll know it's not some place you can look for because it's not where you go, it's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something. And if you find that moment.....it lasts forever.

“

”

Richard's speech at the end of the movie.

 

I wonder what I'm doing in the parallel universe? ;-)

 

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

 

Rocket Science with VanityTrove

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to be beautiful...all you need is VanityTrove in your corner ;-)

Just look at this amazing trove of 'beautiful surprises'...could the fabulous VT Team fit any more in that pretty box? I do not think so ;-)

August edition of VanityTrove

My favourites and what I'm going to be testing first are...:-

Morilins organic facial therapy mask for 'brightening and tightening'...I've said loads how much I love a face mask - 'my time' of 10-15 mins of hiding away allowing the mask to 'do it's work' ;-) ah, heaven!

Origins anti-ageing serum and anti-aging cleanser...Life puts the wrinkles in. Now nature helps take them out. ;-) love it! I'm actually 'seriously' concerned with my 'not so fine lines'...my time in 'dry' England didn't help (yep, the air is dry and drying, even though it's raining constantly! :-). So any one thing that can promise decreasing my creases gets a thumbs up from me. I'll let you know how I go, although the trial size is probably not enough to help me in my hour of need :-(

Neutrogena deep clean mulberry foaming scrub...I'd actually seen this in Her World as an advert and thought 'yep, I'd like to try that'...now I can! Don't you just love VanityTrove for being one step ahead ;-)

I'm not over excited by these:-

 

Scottish Fine Soaps body milk...the scent is a 'wee' bit grandma-ish ;-)

Oxypad oxygen sanitary pad...erm, I'll try it though :-/

Vita-C natural powder with an antioxidant and brightening effect...could be the odd translation issue from Chinese to English but I'm not 'entirely' sure how to use ;-) I'll give it a go and see what "10 minutes after degree elapsing it sleeps rightly" actually means :-D

not great translation :-D

What else is there:-

Majolica Mojorca eye reset gel...eye make-up remover,

Bioré...gel eye make-up remover,

Brands inner shine drinks x2 (grapeseed extract 50ml and prune essence 42ml) these tasty treats are promising youthful and radiant skin,

Skin79 super BB cream...whitening, wrinkle improvement and SPF25...yet another BB cream hits the stores ;-)

Sampar x3 products - poreless magic peel, equalising foam peel and 'glamour shot'...so Sampar Paris is currently getting loads of hype and of course I'm excited to give these a try ;-)

Vouchers:-

Erabelle erabrow design at $18 (u.p. $29) and free long lasting eyebrow pencil.

15% off at Zalora.sg. Erm, now I'm not sure...I've heard some bad reviews about Zalora but I shall give it a try as there are some v.pretty pumps I'm sure I 'need'...just hope the correct size is shipped to me and before they go out of fashion... ;-)

Well there you are go, all in all I am very happy with my August edition of VanityTrove ;-) if you'd like to subscribe and get your pretty paws on their September edition 'Fall in Love' go HERE NOW...xx ;-)

One last thing...Her World Singapore August edition has a feature which VanityTrove lovers or those wanting to learn more about VanityTrove may well be interested in...(page 251 to be exact xx ;-))

VanityTrove founders and the team are really doing a fabulous job xx ;-)

I'm off now to lock myself away from 'life' (for a little while) and do some serious testing and reviewing...will my 'not so excited by' products end up as my faves?

Do you subscribe to VanityTrove or any other beauty boxes? 

Which 'try before you buy' beauty boxes do you recommend?

What did you discover which has become your favourite beauty product?

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

The great British summer...

When I organised my 'summer' vacation I intended having just 3 weeks in the UK but when I started planning I realised I 'simply' would not fit everyone in.  So, a little change and an added week was 'simply' necessary! :-) It's a good job that I did...the time whizzes by and there really is never enough hours in the days.

My schedule has been planned, re-planned and all in all BUSY but FUN, FUN, FUN :-)

It's been an eventful 4 weeks...driving, shopping, Geocaching, buying apartment, furnishing apartment, hair appointment, meals out, drinks out, family, friends and all in all a 'right lot' of fabulous fun :-)

Bolton Abbey Station, Jerry & Ben's Holiday Cottages,

floods in the North Yorkshire roads x 2, Bizzie Lizzies Fish & Chips x 2,

Bienvenue to Yorkshire ;-) Bolton Abbey windows

just a few of my best bits xx ;-)
...

Girlie night in Skipton, Craven Arms in Appletreewick, Geocaching in Skipton,

Waterfall in the forest in Malham, Cliffton Park in Rotherham x 2,

my window ledge in Skipton, Skipton canal (view from Aagrah),

Malham Harry Potter style ;-)

So, on Sunday I said goodbye to my beautiful Yorkshire and 20 hours later I was saying good evening on Monday as I got back to Singapore with my boys...well, to say we were sad to leave is a major understatement! Though, it goes (almost) without saying that we were 'proper' excited and happy to see Mr Man/Daddy and Mr Dog xx

I hate goodbyes...one of those things I never, ever get used to! Always loads of tears :-( it really never gets any easier! It's kind of like 'pay back' for having such a fun time.

***

Sometimes you have to just hold your head up high,

blink away the tears and say,

Goodbye xx ;-)

***

We'll be having visitors to us but when will we be back in the UK?... Maybe Easter, maybe summer but which ever more than 6 months away...

Still, I'm actually ready to leave this cold, damp and often depressing grey weather of Yorkshire. The tropical-ness of Singapore is my preferred climate ;-)

Heck, I'm feeling quite emotional :-/ but as my blog description says..."good days, bad days, happy days 'n' sad days but hey, always smiley days".

For everyone finishing off their fabulous fun times visiting 'home' and are on their way back to their 'other life'...."don't be sad, spread your wings and fly" :-) xxx

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

I want to add...

...that Britain experienced it's most wet summer since records began!

...and the Goodbye poem was found on Google Images it so made me cry that I 'simply' had to use it.

Driving with courtesy...

I have very recently discovered that driving with courtesy is actually more difficult than it looks.

Well, I have moaned on about the very un-courteousness of Singapore drivers ;-) they point blank refuse to give way, when changing lane they don't signal and if I ever want to change lane they speed up so as I cannot get in front of them!

I now know that I have grown used to this un-courteousness ;-)

Driving to The Trafford Centre in Manchester with, the fab and very yummy mummy,  and Mummy-roc (Mel)...I heard her saying these things..."hell Clare, they'll never let you out if you don't signal !". "Clare, do you ever signal?" "Clare, don't you ever thank other drivers?" Only after Mel pointed these things out about my driving did I start to notice just how very courteous and so British the UK drivers are... And, even I actually became a little embarrassed about my driving habits ;-)

Flashing lights to give way, signalling at round abouts, waving to thank a fellow driver... :-) how nice but, how very odd and completely opposite to Singapore drivers. Then I thought about driving in France...is this where my un-courteousness began?

Have I really become just as bad as the worst and most un-courteous driver? Most probably, yes! Made me think about other stuff I do which is 'not very British' ;-) ...Mr Man can no doubt write a list...I'll ask him to add some comment later ! ;-)

I've become what, a bit French, a bit Singaporean or just very International ! :-)

I am now trying to be more courteous while driving around my beautiful Yorkshire but I just know when I get back to Singapore their un-courteousness will again annoy me to death. To feel better, all be it become just as bad as them, I'll forget my courteousness and be as un-courteous as the others ;-)

What I will do though is never 'push' on the MRT before the passengers get off (another thing that annoys me to death ! ) Oh gosh, don't get me started on that...

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)

fabulous family, fantastic friends 'n' endless rain...

I shall not apologise for my talk of the weather...I would not be British if I was not constantly obsessed with the weather be it too hot, too cold or, in this case, too 'blinking' wet!

Here in Yorkshire for the last 2 weeks the weather has been fantastically wet...the wettest since records began in over one hundred years...crazy we chose this very time to visit 'beautiful Yorkshire'.

Of course, I've been piping on for the last few months that "I'm not visiting Yorkshire for the weather, some cool fresh air will be appreciated and seeing family 'n' friends is priority" BUT a couple of dry days would be nice ;-) those shorts I packed are well and truly staying in the bottom of my suitcase :-D

Weather aside though, my 'fabulous family' and 'fantastic friends' have been exactly that :-)

Yorkshire...on the Jigsaw map ;-)

Jet-lagged but giddy with excitement for a welcome meal and drinks a plenty with my family...Mum, Dad, Aunty Jean, Uncle Brian, Jonathan, Jennie and Uncle Paul x

http://www.craven-cruckbarn.co.uk/

My new friend Rigsby xx ;-)

a wonderful Sunday afternoon catching up and chatting to extended family and super friends...

French friends visit...

Nos amis françaises..

their first time in the UK (outside London) and they agreed Yorkshire truly is beautiful ;-)

food better than expected, weather exactly as expected

et nous nous sommes bien amusés ;-)

Cuz ventures up t' north too...

long journey, fantastic company but way too short a time together... (see you soon Nicky, Catherine 'n' Harvey...Singapore, maybe ;-)?)

Loving you all...family 'n' friends and yes, still smiling 'n' having fun despite this wet, wet, wet 'British summer'.

Two more weeks in the UK for me...Trafford Centre with the gorgeous mummy roc (her blog is here), completion of purchase on my beautiful Yorkshire apartment, hair appointment with Sam @ Monroes and, yes, wine, fun and lots of smiles in Yorkshire...

I leave with a message to my wonderful, loving and fantastic Uncle Paul...he's had a tough time lately and things just aren't so great right now...I'm truly hoping health will return, happiness is around the corner and negative 'folk' give him a break! Love you Uncle Paul xxx

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Departure...airports 'n' airplanes

I do remember the days I would find airports v.exciting places...all the comings and goings, looking forward to the flight and the holiday at the other end. Perhaps the feeling changed with my getting 'adult responsibilities' :-) Anyway, for the times I've been flying as a 'mum' I've found the whole airport thing the most stressful experience! It can be the queueing to check in, will we all be sat together, are the bags too heavy, have we got more carry on baggage than is allowed? 

After boarding passes are handed out, we head to departures and next up for the stress is the queueing for the scanner business....unloading the liquids, unloading the electrical items, do we need to take shoes off...and my belt? Have I got everything back in my bag, is that product really over 100ml ? A corkscrew, oh yes I suppose it is dangerous...out it goes!

If we're lucky we can get in the 'business' lounge...great a glass of bubbles to calm the nerves and fight off the stress, oh..wifi I can get Facebook in here ;-) calm and relax for an hour or so...

http://www.loungeguide.net/wiki/u/Singapore_(SIN)_Independent_The_Skyview_Lounge

Time to head to the departure gate...do the security really need me to unload the liquids, electrical items and take off my shoes again? Oh, please not big boy's shoes, they have laces and I'll hold 'everyone' up while I have to kneel down to re-tie them for him! Ok, now get everything back in the bags and re-thread my belt...

Now someone else wants to see my boarding card and passport? Oh, right just the passport. Walk a few steps and, yet another security person asks to see my passport...oh, not the passport, just my boarding card...come on boys have you got all of your bags and documents? What do you mean no? The red bag, the one with the booster seat for the car! Excuse me, I just have to grab a bag I left on the security check...you need my boarding pass..really?

Finally, time to board...now let's sort the baggage out again, will it all fit above us and near us? "oh, you have many baggages Madame!"...now he's made the mistake, I'm already stressed "you should see the amount of bags we just checked, now s'il vous plait Monsieur, vous pouvez aides moi avec 'these baggages'?"..."bien sûr" (mais NOT avec plaisir) :-)

Ah, now we have to sit here for how long? Are we nearly there yet? Can I have a drink? White wine please, water please, wine wine, white wine...I need to sleep! Mum, mum, I feel sick! Quick get to the toilet, occupied...wait, please hold it, don't throw up here...

Wake up with a jolt, my head slips off my hand where it had been resting for 5 hours! 7 hours to go...stretch legs, "boys i know your tired, we are all tired", a bit more sleep, only 3 hours now...we'll be there soon!

Steps...



Of course, there have been times I've been in airports 'n' on planes and the experience has been 'less' stressful and actually pretty great.... Flying to Paris on the same plane as 'Steps' (pic above for all who haven't a clue), flying to New York in first class with the pilot's wife, flying from shanghai with a rather good looking Taiwanese-Australian guy...turns out he's actually quite a famous Violinist...travels the world and makes CDs. (pic below...isn't he cute ;-))

the v.cute 'n' talented Ray Chen

Breakfast is served...'café, s'il vous plaît' I need that to wake me up and ready me for the whole 'arrival...airport' experience!....'merci'...'now don't knock my arm boys this is hot.....what did I just say!?'

The travel is stressful and often 'painful' but the knowing we'll be there soon with family and friends makes every bit of pain and stress sooooo worth it :-)

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)