Shock horror - I now like coffee

You'll know from reading my blog that I have been on a 21 day trial to see if I can actually get to liking coffee. My previous post shown here starts my coffee diary and now this blog will show my trial at it's end.

Feeling like a "somebody"

Me, Future bride and Bestie were invited to The London Fashion Week event last Sunday and we were at first very excited and then a little bit daunted to be honest. We all try to keep up to date with the fashion trends but would we actually be able to "fit" in at such an event?

Wedding Show and Champagne

The National Wedding Show provided me, Future bride and Bestie with all the wedding help we needed without the rude and unhelpfulness that we had found on previous wedding shopping trips.

Today

Ten years ago today Spurs boy was in the Army and he was injured in the line of duty. He still has scars from his injuries but it's the mental scars that hurt him the most. 

He had joined up with the Army with his two friends from school and on this day ten years ago he was with them both. Tom and Stephen were like brothers to Spurs boy and he saw it as a great honour to be serving his country but also to have his best friends with him.

Sarah Loves... FarmVille

Yes it's sad isn't it? But I do love FarmVille. In fact this could be another addiction. FarmVille allows users to invest in farm equipment and sell their produce for profit and has exploded in popularity since being launched.

• FarmVille is the most popular application in the history of Facebook. 
• Right now, FarmVille has 62 million users. 
• 22 million people log in everyday.
• FarmVille players outnumber real farmers in the US by a ratio of 60 to 1.
• There is actually a Facebook group devoted to hating FarmVille. 
• On an average day, FarmVille players purchase 500,000 tractors. John Deere, the biggest US manufacturer of real tractors sell around 5000 a year, though they are a little more expensive.
• Apparently serious health care professionals break into their sleep in Singapore to harvest their crops (good luck with that heart bypass tomorrow), students miss essay assignments and real farmers sign up to remind themselves of why they started farming in the first place (before the dead cows and broken ankles took the fun out of it all)
• Players spend an average of 20 minutes a day tending to their farms, with much of that time taken up with planting their fields.
• Although Farmville is free to play, Zynga draws revenue from online advertising and from some users who are prepared to pay for virtual goods.

Do you play FarmVille?

The Good The Bad and The Ugly of my week

The Good

I'm loving all the goodie bag action you get from going to events! Party bags definitely are not just for kids :-))

Loved my Valentines getaway weekend with Spurs boy, making cocktails was a lot of fun although learning the tricks and juggling was a little messy!

We saw Invictus and it was awesome

Booked tickets to see Legally Blonde with Bestie and Future Bride

Manchester United beating AC Milan 3-2 at the San Siro :-) Good times.

I loved iRock4Haiti although not sure I was happy at being called Z-list...

My favourite Brits performances were Kasabian and Dizzee and Florence :-) Also Peter Kay was genius!

BBC's Just Dance for Sport Relief is also pure genius and I would love Rufus Hound to win for his version of Cheryl Cole's Fight for this love. This was only the first week though and Katy Brand was also fantastic (which I will blog about later on). I think the final could be tight this year

Loved coming home to find these Reebok trainers waiting for me :-)

Winning prizes on twitter is like a hobby for me...pure escapism and I did well again this week

Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't didn't like coffee. You see what's happened? I like coffee. I really didn't though

Had lots of fun at the National Wedding Show and today's London Fashion Week event (will blog about them both later this week)

Damages Season 3 comes to BBC this week :-) and True Blood Season 2 on FX

Weird find this week - A footballer with an IQ of 150? Surely not...and definitely not him. Oh really? Frank Lampard!!!

The Bad

Spurs boy is away from the end of the week and won't be back for A WHOLE WEEK! :-(

Realising the reason that the Sky+ isn't recording is that it's full!

My leg is sore after physio but need to keep going.

Manchester United losing 3-1 away at Everton. Not impressed!

The Ugly

Being short 5 "3 actually if I want to wear a dress it can be difficult to find a long one to fit me that doesn't drown me. And yes I said dress! This is proving to be a problem for my bridesmaid dress as was evident this weekend but I did manage to find ONE dress that didn't drown me for the iRock4Haiti event from Jane Norman here

Bridesmaid adventures continue...

Tomorrow I head off to The National Wedding Show with Future Bride and Bestie. I have read The Bridesmaid's Guerilla Handbook and I sort of feel ready, well after my last blog 'Being a bridesmaid'.

We know that Future Bride is not wearing traditional white as well let's face it she's had two children so we're not really fooling anybody. They have decided against a church wedding and are looking for a venue to host the big day.

We will be heading to the show with our very own little Wedding organiser that we made, although I had been thinking about getting a filofax just for wedding preparations :-)

I found this cute wedding stationary idea whilst browsing Confetti the other day but it's pretty expensive unfortunately :-(

I'll let you know how we get on at the show, we have Bestie's 25th birthday party in the evening so all round it will be a fab day!

But for all you romantics I thought I'd post my favourite proposal scene. It's from Grey's Anatomy. Enjoy!

Shock horror - I just don't like coffee!

It's true I don't like coffee! I like the smell of it but the taste makes me make a funny face and say "bleurgh". You'll have seen in my blog The You Code that I learnt a few things about my daily choices and body language and my choice of not liking coffee meant that I was a wuss! A wuss yes that's right.

I drink tea and I love hot chocolate it's just I don't like the taste of coffee. I never have and until I read the book I thought I never would. I've tried at different times to get into liking coffee by having the odd coffee drink when I'm out, just to say I've tried it and I didn't like it.

Apparently though it takes 21 days to change my cycle of disgust. So I decided I would start this coffee challenge, and see if after 21 days I would continue to drink coffee and most importantly drink it out of choice. Spurs boy loves coffee and possibly drinks too much coffee a day. I think he'd prefer to order as he puts it a much more "normal hot drink" for me when we go out rather than hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows :-) We have a nespresso machine that I use only to make Spurs boy his coffee but I will try out in this challenge and try making my own.

I knew I'd have to start off with a very weak coffee to start off with and would need it to be very milky! Otherwise I'll be put off from the start.

Day One -1 very milky coffee with 2 sugars, finished it.

Day Two -1 very milky coffee with 2 sugars, finished it.

Day Three - Spurs boy made me an espresso and it was far too strong, he likes the nespresso capsules of strength 8+. I did finish it after topping it with milk though

Day Four - 1 nespresso latte strength 3, with 2 sugars, finished it.

Day Five -1 nespresso cappuccino strength 3, with lots of foamy cream, finished it.

Day Six -1 nespresso cappuccino strength 3, with lots of foamy cream, finished it. Also went to Starbucks and got a vanilla extra foam cappuccino - this was yummy!

Day Seven - 1 nespresso latte strength 3, with 2 sugars, finished it.

Day Eight - 1 nespresso latte strength 3, with 1 sugar. finished it.

Day Nine - Starbucks vanilla extra foam cappuccino, again yummy!

Day Ten -  Another Starbucks vanilla extra foam cappuccino, addicted I think!

Day Eleven - 1 nespresso cappuccino strength 3, with 1 sugar, finished it.
Day Twelve - 1 nespresso latte strength 3, with 1 sugar, finished it.
Day Thirteen - Starbucks vanilla extra foam cappuccino, again yummy!
Day Fourteen (today) - 1 nespresso cappuccino strength 3, with foamy cream, 1 sugar, finished it.

So far so good. Although I'm only having one coffee a day at the moment I still sometimes find the taste too much and that's why I've needed sugar to make it sweeter. I bought a vanilla syrup today that from tomorrow I will be using as I really like the vanilla cappuccino at Starbucks (you may have noticed).

I don't feel that drinking a coffee is a chore each day and in fact I've liked the routine of it, so maybe I was a wuss. I'll let you know how the rest of the 21 days go.

Do you like coffee or are you a wuss? Is there anything else you don't like that maybe in 21 days you could end up liking?

The You Code

I received my free copy of The You Code by Judi James and James Moore from the Facebook group page Ebury's Free Book Group and it is a fascinating if a somewhat freaky read.

The You Code: What your habits say about you and it gives an insight into yourself, your friends and family and even your boss! The book looks at different aspects of body language and how the smallest things we do can send out messages to others. It works as a guide that you will keep coming back to as you meet new people and of course if you wish to change the way that you are perceived it also provides a guide to that too.

I found out these things -

• Because I don't drink/like coffee I'm a wuss. I will blog about this discovery next.
• My choice of still water means that I'm seen as sensible and reliable.
• My across the body style bags show I'm locked in Enid Blyton world (LOL) and I have a practical approach to life. A typical head girl or hockey captain.
• As a brunette I have healthy self esteem.
• My curly hair shows I like spontaneity and lack of control. 
• I prefer slipper boots to wear out of choice which shows I want comfort but I can have sex on my terms rather than wearing killer heels!!!
• My wedge mule slippers bring out my inner diva (So where is she?).
• I often say "If you like" which means I'm passive aggressive.
• As I fiddle with my necklace this shows I feel under threat by someone/something
• Doodling boxes shows a desire to create order out chaos
• My hair twiddling can be seen as flirting. Also parents got you off to sleep by stroking your head as a child (apparently this is true!)
• I'm careful with magazines and books and I like to prevent creasing means that I want approval worthy behaviour from those around me
• Highlighting TV programmes in the TV Guide shows me as a troubled perfectionist and apparently my parents made my "bowels as regular as clockwork" as a child (apparently also true)
• As I like to twitter/tweet I live in the belief that the world is waiting to hear what I have to say
• Using facebook shows I have low self esteem
• As a blogger I like a public performance!
• As I like a clean tidy hallway this shows that I'm a keeper of order
• Having a schizo bed (tidy on top and chaos underneath) shows my life is about firefighting and that I drink too much!
• Because I call the toilet "The toilet" instead of loo, lav etc shows me to be honest, open and a bit bland
• I like prawn sandwiches as a choice and this shows me to be a giggler, young at heart and I like to gossip
• I like to listen to my iPod on long commutes which shows me to be anti-social and vindictive
• Bourbon biscuits being my favourite shows that I like to get my own way
• Having a black car shows me to be personally competitive and not a team player

Spurs boy had a read of it afterwards and he was also a bit freaked out.

Have you read it?

Sarah Loves... Pancake Day

Pancakes... nom nom nom. Nuff said. Today is pancake day so how many will you have? What's your favourite topping?

Maybe try one of the Jamie Oliver pancake recipes? Nom nom nom

The Good The Bad and The Ugly of my week

The Good

I have scheduled this post for Sunday evening as I will be away this weekend to London with Spurs boy. This is actually our first trip away as a couple and we really cannot wait. He was away this week and the place seemed empty without him and it's good to have him back. Our trip to London is a little bit for Valentine's although we have agreed "NO PRESENTS" but I'm arranging Saturday and he will arrange what we do Sunday. We won't know until the day what we are doing. I can tell you now that on Saturday I have planned some shopping (only a little as he'll moan and my leg will hurt) and then a cocktail making class, then dinner and then off to see Invictus. No idea what he has planned for Sunday though, we both hate surprises! 

As I have spent most of my week recovering from my hamstring injury, which turned out to be a Grade 2 tear, only had Grade 1 before :-( I have been very much enjoying comfort food. Not so much chocolate and crisps but jacket potato with cheese and beans, lasagne, pancakes etc Nom nom nom! 

I got another follower to my blog - Welcome!

Bestie came to stay with me whilst Spurs boy was away and it was fab. It's her birthday on Monday, she'll be 25. We are having dinner with her, her family and friends in the evening and next weekend will be the big party! I still need to get an outfit and of course her present. 

Regarding the hamstring injury as a certain Ryan Giggs used to have troublesome hamstrings a few years ago I'm now being referred to on twitter as "Twitter's Giggsy" which I like :-))

My Lakeland order arrived :-), the heated towel rail is fantastic, the Cupcake Cake Pan and Paella Pan will be used next week. The make up caddy has been placed on the dresser, haven't actually put anything into it yet as I need to have a good old clear out of all my make up. Another thing for my to do list this week

I'd been waiting and waiting for the new Sade album and as it's been 10 years since her last album it has been some wait. Soldier of Love is fantastic from start to finish and it's really the only thing at the moment out of choice that I want to listen to. The title track is probably my favourite, check it out here.

My Airline Conquerer USA score is now 324! Whoop whoop!

Totally addicted to Rock Band both on The Wii and my iPhone. Still on medium though, guitaring is my choice of instrument. Spurs boy likes to drum!

As I have been working from home I have been more than sticking to my revision plan and I've actually done more than I had planned for which is very good!

Apparently I will like the new 2010 range of filofaxes as I had sent the Filofax twitter page my link to my recent blog and based on my choices they said I will like the new range! Very excited and apparently it's out from March! Cannot wait...but I will have to!

I saw this picture and it made me want a panda even more! Maybe not at all 16 though

Liking the new England Away Shirt for 2010-2012

The Bad

Ryan Giggs out injured (no not his hamstring, that's me!) for four weeks :-( So he'll miss the crucial Champions League match with AC Milan this coming week and The Carling Cup Final and a couple of Premier League games. 

Facebook has changed again! I know soon enough we will all forget about what it looked like before the changes but honestly WTF happened? And... most crucially my news feed doesn't actually work and always shows things from a day ago. So that's a facebook fail :-(

The golf practice is going to have to wait till my leg is better, for now have been playing Tiger Woods (snigger) PGA Tour 10 on the wii. But I can play it sitting down so it's not really counting as practice is it?

Spurs boys work trip was not very successful and he will need to go out again. Boo! :-(

The Ugly

Definitely my hamstring! It is definitely better now but when it was swollen it was not so good. I swore...LOTS. I felt stupid having crutches but it was much easier with them and although I'm not using them much now it's nice to know they are still there in case I need them. 

Football managers are said to love team selection problems and Mr Capello seems to be having a few with regards World Cup selection. Not just with the John Terry mess but now with Ashley Cole out for 3 months after suffering from a broken ankle. Please Mr Capello could you look towards James Milner or maybe even Leighton Baines as a suitable replacement for Cole. That said though; Milner and Baines you need to step it up a gear and prove you deserve your place too!

Another Filofax in the Home

Lyndhurst Personal Organiser from Filofax

No it's not mine. Spurs boy has decided he should join the Filofax community and has purchased this before he went on his trip away and he is already using it! I thought it was a bit of a joke when he said he would buy one as he has survived all these years just using his brain (no joke) and more recently his iPhone. He has about 10-15 property projects on the go at any one time and they are all at different stages and yet he knows exactly which one without having to look it up. I am not like this at all!

When I said I would help with his business I told him I would need to have this information written down as I cannot just "know" it all like he does. So I got him to write it all down and although I think he was a little freaked out by doing it I think it helped him to see it could actually help him. He also has noticed that other people that do the same work as him have a Filofax or a likewise organiser of some type.  It's probably a trend thing but he'd never admit it.

So I still am coping with my little Mini filofax and whilst it's working as I can write small it's still not ideal. So I have been having another browse on the Filofax website since learning of Spurs boy's purchase and as we will be staying in London this weekend I might just have to pop to the Filofax store. I did send a little tweet to Filofax about there not being a nice choice of purple organisers, they have the Adelphi range but I'm not fond of the padded jacket look. Filofax then replied to say there "might" be some purple ones in the 2010 range and they will be instore March - June.

I'll still go to the store but for now here are my favourites, but I might just have to hold on and see what this new 2010 range has - please be purple, please be purple...

ALWAYS HAD MY EYE ON THIS ONE - Butterfly Personal Organiser

DEFINITELY ON THE LIST - Finchley Personal Organiser

LOVING THE CHERRY COLOUR! - Filofax Classic Personal Organiser 

 ALWAYS HAD A SOFT SPOT FOR THIS ONE- Domino Personal Organiser

Songs that seem to follow you

Do you ever have a song that seems to follow you over a period of days?

Whether it be on the radio, adverts, television or walking into shops and hearing songs on their in store radio, sometimes music and certainly some songs can follow you.

I first heard "Temptation" by Moby on Monday morning just as I had woken up. I put my spotify on random every morning (I can't stand listening to radio in the morning, too much chatter!) and Temptation came on. I probably haven't heard the song for years and I had forgotten how much I liked it and how beautiful it is.

I spent the rest of the day humming the song and deciding that I need to try and listen to more things on my spotify playlists that I haven't done for ages.

On Tuesday I was watching Vampire Diaries with Bestie when Temptation was featured near the end. It made me smile, mainly as I hadn't heard the song for years and now had heard it twice in two days.

Then on Wednesday I had put my spotify playlists on shuffle and had been sorting out my desk. I needed something from another room and when I came back, Temptation was playing.

Today I went out with Bestie to the charity I volunteer at for a visit and one of the guys said he'd been listening to Moby and had I been a fan. He said he would play his favourite to me, yes that's right, Temptation.

Now I'm waiting for the next time the song plays...silly really as if I don't hear it tomorrow I think I'll be disappointed.

You ever had a song follow you?

One Tree Hill Quote "Why won't you ever just let me all the way in?"

I thought today I'd watch a bit of One Tree Hill and I picked a random disc and a random episode and it was Nathan and Haley's wedding. Tear jerker bit is the scene with Lucas and Brooke and key quotes from this scene are:

Brooke Davis: "A kiss always means something"

Brooke Davis: "How about how you show it? I am not pushing you away, Lucas, I am holding on for dear life. But I need you to need me back, okay? Why didn't you tell me about the kiss? And why didn't you call me while you were away? And why won't you ever just let me all the way in?"

Lucas Scott: "Please don't be mad, Brooke".

Brooke Davis: "I'm not mad, Luke. I'm not mad".

*wipes tears*

Sarah Loves... Lakeland

Just put in another order with Lakeland, it's becoming another addiction. After our iRobot buy that I blogged about here and then last week we started looking through and seeing what things we needed wanted. On the website you can also read what other people thought about their purchase which can offer you more insight into whether you feel it would be best for you.

ALREADY BOUGHT Grand Remoska Electric Cooker

We've only used the oven 3 times since we bought this three weeks ago. It's cheaper to run and it makes gorgeous sponge cakes.

ALREADY BOUGHT Remote Control Tidy

We just had too many remotes and it seemed "my" place to put them was always different to where Spurs boy wanted them to go. So now we have no excuses...

ALREADY BOUGHT 'Empty Your Pockets' Organiser

Spurs boy bought this to prove he can leave his "stuff" in one place. He did challenge me to get one so I would be able to empty my bag every day! My answer "I'd need a much bigger one!" :-P

ORDERED Heated Towel Rail

We seem to run our tumble dryer loads recently and we're getting very aware of our carbon footprint in recent weeks and this seems a good way to cut down in the home.

ORDERED Mini Make-Up Caddy

I suppose this is actually my version of the 'Empty Your Pockets' Organiser as I'm hoping this will make me cut down on make-up splurges! I doubt it though, although the thought is there :-P

ORDERED Cupcake Cake Pan

I have a real sweet tooth and love cakes. This seems like the ideal purchase for me

ORDERED Lakeland Paella Pan

Spurs boy and I are big fans of paella and this is only £9.99 and they say you need to have a paella pan to make the perfect paella. Nom nom nom!

 

ALREADY BOUGHT AND RE-ORDERED Chef's Candle

We have an open plan kitchen, dining and lounge so kitchen smells can linger for some time and this is great for eliminating those smells. A definite must!

 ALREADY BOUGHT Tomato Compost Crock

Living in a second floor apartment isn't very easy to take out your kitchen scraps and this clever little pot is handy to have as we can then take them out to our bin later on. Has a carbon filter inside to neutralise odours for a couple of months. Also it's red!

Are you a fan? What was your favourite purchase?

The Good The Bad and The Ugly of my week

The Good

I have done quite a bit of revising this week as I have exams in April and I have been pretty lapse in getting started. Have set up a revision allocation amount for each week and will try to stick to it :-)

My Airline Conquerer USA score is now 306

Finished Tantalize
 

Loving the new Corinne Bailey Rae album

I got another follower to my blog - Welcome!

Had a very productive work week and I'm busy with work all this next week also, although the snow may put a hold on that.

I need to organise some golf practice, as the charity golf match is in May and I haven't done anything since November.

I started on my homework from Gala Darling on Your Radical Self Love Bible :-)

Watched 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' film this week which Spurs boy and I thought was fantastic if maybe a little bit slow in parts. Also Brad Pitt is in it so that's a plus

You'll have probably read already in my blog about Being a Bridesmaid and today I got some more ideas from a wedding reception that we went to of someone Spurs Boy works with. The wedding was on a more extravagant budget but hopefully we'll be able to find some cheaper options. 

I also have a coffee challenge which I will blog about later.

The Bad

Snow might be coming back!

Spurs boy is away from Monday for a couple of days but Bestie is moving into our spare room so that means homemade cocktails and scoffing creme egg ice cream!

Watched 'We Own The Night' and we were both disappointed, the plot was weak and there were no real surprises. Shame though as we both like Joaquin Phoenix as an actor :-(

I was getting all excited about Owen Hargreaves coming back to United's First Team but his exclusion from the upcoming Champions League squad was an unhappy sight. I still believe that he is an important player for both Manchester United and England, but we need to see him back. There are rumours that he can't recover from his double knee surgery that he had in November 2008. I really hope he can.

I think I pulled my hamstring on Friday, it's still sore but will get checked out this week. It has swollen in the last few hours :-(

The Ugly

I stupidly arranged a meeting for 7pm on Friday night - will never do this again!

Turning up late for a time management course. Speaks for itself really!

Being a bridesmaid

Today I started on my quest of being Chief Bridesmaid for my friends wedding in July.

I met up with the Future Bride and my Bestie (my best mate) who is also in the bridal party, and we started off with doing normal shopping. This meant I was able to get everything I had seen on the New Look website the previous day. Other shops made us go in and we again spent money that we hadn't planned to. We then stopped for lunch and we got down to the serious business of 'The Wedding'.

Now I've only seen Future Bride in a dress once before, when we were bridesmaids at another wedding. Bestie wears dresses most days but these are bright vibrant fashionable ones and she has never worn a prom or formal dress in her life. We are not girlie girls, of course pink was the first thing agreed that would not be featured.

Future Bride's parents died 3 years ago and Bestie and I know that every step of the way they will be missed and we have prepared ourselves already for this. Future Groom's Mum died last year and his Dad is having treatment for bowel cancer. Future Bride and Future Groom have two little boys aged seven and two.

We started off on our trip around some bridal shops and in the first two we found the assistants to be snotty and unhelpful, I think they thought we were there for fun and that we weren't being serious about wanting help with dresses. The third one the assistant was just plain rude and by this point I think we were all thinking "What do we do now?".

Where do 3 girls go needing inspiration for Weddings? The pub. Honest. No joke.

Before we did this though I headed off to WHSmith and bought all the wedding magazines available and all the stationary necessities needed to plan this wedding. We sat in the pub with cocktails, we just had to do it! We made our very own Wedding Planner organiser for Future Bride to use. We laughed through the magazines, some people like some weird things to wear!

We cut out the best ideas and put them all in our organiser and then asked Future Bride what she really wants from her day (you see we can be a little bit girlie) Before the cocktails kicked in we had completely set up our organiser and Future Bride seemed much happier, although this might have just been the cocktails!

We know we still have to look for dresses and we will come across some rude snotty people along the way but now with our organiser in hand we will be much more wedding wise.

We even selected the colour of the bridesmaid dresses -

Each bridesmaid is to have a different style of dress. Although really that means just me and Bestie as the other bridesmaids are under ten years old. As the budget is quite tight we are having the dresses bought for us but we have said we'll pay for shoes and accessories. The thought of wearing a dress doesn't seem so bad now.

Our day at The National Wedding Show should provide added inspiration and obviously people won't be rude!

When I got home sitting on the table waiting for me was The Bridesmaid's Guerilla Handbook that Spurs boy had apparently ordered for me and it had arrived that morning. Going to give it a read tonight and make sure I'm fully wedding-wise. Surprisingly it was a bit of a girlie day, but definitely no pink!