Gemma Cartwright

My Twitter Followers

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:26:00 +0000

This is the TwitterSheep cloud for all my followers on Twitter. Predictable much?!

Busy busy bumblebee

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Not content with the frighteningly unfinished novel, the pet project in the pipelines and many hours spent in front of the TV with the boyfriend watching Mad Men, Dollhouse and Castle (oh my God, Castle) I've taken on yet more Very Important Work.

Firstly, I'm doing some work for Yell.com's 'Sort Your Life Out' blog with my colleague Kelly. We're the resident fashion experts (natch) helping people sort out their wardrobes and get ready for the new season in style.

And then there's the very exciting Domestic Sluttery. This one is purely a labour of love. Sadly I can't take credit for the amazing name, the idea or even the blog itself. It's all the brainchild of the fabulous Sian (with design by the equally fabulous Robyn). I first heard about it when I first met Sian at a Qype event. It was at the height of my home decor obsession (ie. when I moved into my flat) and I loved her idea for a domestic blog for people who don't have time to actually be domestic. It's basically about cupcakes, Cath Kidston, cocktails and overpriced glassware. Perfect! As we as Sian, Robyn and me, there are two other wondeful writers, Jess (aka Digressica) and Jane, all of whom I'm very excited about going for celebratory cocktails with tomorrow.

Any excuse, eh?

Room for a little one?

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:26:00 +0000

From June, I'll be going part-time at Shiny Media, and I'm really looking forward to the possibility of doing other things.

But I can't pretend I'm not as scared as I am excited about what might happen in the next few months.

I've been working on Catwalk Queen (in some shape or form) since 2001. It's my baby, and I created it from the ground up, which goes some way to explaining why I'm not one of those twentysomethings who job hops every five minutes.

But working for five years at the same company is a long time when you're young, and things have to change eventually.

What I'll do with the extra time remains to be seen. I have my novel to finish, I have a pet project in the pipelines that may eventually become something worthwhile, but beyond that, who knows.

I know the freelance pool is already full of amazing writers, some of whom I've had the pleasure of working with during my time at Shiny. But hopefully there is room for one more fashionista, beauty buff, celebrity fiend and web geek.

If you hear of anyone looking for someone like me, do let me know!

See you at the tents.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:16:00 +0000

Not this week. Not only is it London Fashion Week, but the Oscars are on Sunday. I'll see you on the other side. Follow my stuff at Catwalk Queen until then. Maybe one day I'll get some sleep.

Funtimes at the Sanderson

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:38:00 +0000

The last few weeks (in fact, the last few months) have been a bit rubbish. I've been stressed out by work, the recession and the inevitable redundancies. Meawhile, the boy has been subject to all kinds of poking and prodding because he's not well and nobody really knows why. So in an attempt to forget our troubles and generally act irresponsibly, this weekend Charles gave me a ridiculously over the top present. 24 hours of this...

[image: Picasa]

It's my fault. We watched an episode of Masterchef (where the wannabe chefs ended up at in-house restaurant Suka) and I mentioned that The Sanderson is my favourite hotel in all of London. It may look fairly unassuming from outside, but the Philippe Starck interiors make me want to rob a bank just so I can afford to deck out my flat the same way. The staff are all model-esque beautiful. The lifts are a talking point in themselves. The whole place is kitsch, ironic heaven. We're talking miles of curtain and glass, unexepected seating throughout, Venetian glass everywhere, lip-shaped sofas in the lobby and dark, light-show lifts that look like the solar system. I've been lucky enough to visit a few times for press events, but I've never seen what the rooms look like until this weekend.

Charles, being both brilliant and cunning, told me not to make plans for the weekend and arranged for me to be at Oxford Circus at 3.20pm. All I knew was I needed an overnight bag and a nice dress. It was only when I got into town that I learned the plan. He'd booked me in for an afternoon massage at my favourite hotel. When I was done, I was to phone him again for further instructions.

One heavenly (if thorough) aromatherapy massage later, I was pummelled and prodded to perfection and ready for the next bit. It turns out the boy had been happily ensconced in a room on the floor above for hours, watching the rugby and generally applauding himself for being able to to watch the peanut-hugging egg chasers and be a good boyfriend at the same time.

After I joined him, all over-excited grins and slightly sore back from the massage (I'm feeling the benefit now) we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking overpriced champagne on the sleigh-like king sized bed in our ridiculously decadent, glass-and-curtained room before a highly anticipated dinner at Suka.

That, I must admit, was one of the lower points of the weekend. Though the food was lovely (especially the pudding) it wasn't outstanding, and the atmosphere was busy, the music was loud and the staff were so attentive I wanted to tell them to get lost a couple of times. In short, it was nice, but not as nice as I've had elsewhere.

We finished with cocktails at the Purple Bar, a tiny but scarily opulent little hideaway reserved for hotel guests and people who know the right people. It was all tiny chairs, huge martini glasses and so many Venetian mirrors you didn't know where to look. It also had the bar of my dreams, with an entire wall lined with every cocktail ingredient you could ever imagine. I loved it.

Suka redeemed itself in the morning with breakfast. A buffet including banana bread is always a winner, and my eggs benedict were gorgeous...what's not to love about heart-attack inducing hollandaise?

I should finish off with a paragraph of schmaltzy talk of just how lucky I am to have someone who'd do this for me. But I hate 'isn't my boyfriend brilliant' people, I know he will already be embarassed enough by this (despite asking me countless times when I was going to write about him) and, quite honestly, my mentionitis is already bad enough. So I'll just say this instead...

Best Weekend Ever.

The inevitable Twitter post.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:43:00 +0000

My first Twitter update was "Laughing at Katie's birdwatching geekdom" on January 16th 2007, on the CatwalkQueen Twitter. I wasn't an early adopter - Twitter launched in 2006 - but I have racked up a couple of thousand updates since that first one. The only thing that's changed is that I've moved to my own account, shinygemma, where my updates are slightly more frequent and a lot more irrelevant.

This week the anti-Twitter brigade have been out in full. Now that celebs like Stephen Fry, Phillip Schofield, Andi Peters and Jonathan Ross are spreading the word away from the geeks and the 'social media experts' (Kat can tell you more about them) everyone's jumping on the hate bandwagon. 'Twitter is for Twits' read one (predictable) headline in the Telegraph. Congrats to Bryony Gordon (or her sub) for pissing off 6 million people before even starting the article. That's a pretty good move, I bet the page views are through the roof.

The point is, while Twitter isn't for everybody, it's definitely not for twits, and I resent the fact people are getting paid to write articles where they moan about the fact it's just a glorified facebook status update application. Talk about lack of research. In the right industries, it's so much more than just a 'what are you doing' time waster.

Michael Litman got a job via Twitter. The Dogs Trust has managed to find new homes for dogs via informal Twitter chats. The British Red Cross currently has a team member visiting Sierra Leone and Liberia, where it's not exactly easy to jump on the internet and send an email or file copy. She is updating Twitter via text message. Not only do her colleagues and family know she's safe, but the public can see what she's doing out there and how their donations are helping people.

My followers list - though relatively small at about 350 - is a goldmine for me. If I need a quick opinion for an article, I tweet a question and get a dozen answers within minutes. I've been able to speak to people via Twitter who've never answered my emails before. I follow everyone from those much-publicised celebrities to celebrities in my own little world. My friend Emma, who used to send out half a dozen emails a day with links to interesting stuff she's found, now tweets her finds instead. Yesterday, when the company I work for had to make some (heartbreaking) redundancies, news was out in the industry within seconds, and all our Twitter pages were littered with @ replies and DMs from concerned parties. Twitter is the only place I still feel is full of nice, friendly people who genuinely want to share ideas, build relationships and help each other out.

Granted, Twitter is inherently an ego-driven tool for ego-driven people. But we're journalists, bloggers, PRs and so on. We're egotistical by nature (and often by necessity). When one of our own starts taking cheap shots at us for embracing a new communications tool, it just makes me think they're scared of what it'll mean for them.

As one very smart commenter on that Telegraph piece put it, "Twitter provides a place for people to write about what they are doing and what they think about things that matter to them. That so many people are taking the time to do so (and that so many people are reading the entries) must be of great concern to a journalist who gets paid to do the same thing."

Black and White.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:37:00 +0000

[image via Apartment Therapy]

The fact that I even like this is testament to why I currently live alone. I'm getting it all out of the way until I have to compromise and tame the inner WAG.

"You were brilliant."

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:12:00 +0000

There's nothing better than coming home after a day of feeling irrationally grumpy (well, I think it may be PMS) to find they're showing Journey's End on BBC 3. For those of you ~~with lives~~ not familiar with the titles of every episode of Doctor Who, I'm talking about the final episode of season four, aka 'The Donna Season'. It's equal parts fabulous and rubbish, full of all the usual Russell T Davies schmaltz and sci-fi plot holes, but it also has two Doctors, Captain Jack and a genius turn from Catherine Tate (who exceeded all expectations as probably my favourite companion).

Ok, I'm turning the geek switch off.

For now...

Return to Oz

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:57:00 +0000

On Monday morning at 9.15am, I waved goodbye to one of my best friends. She's the second person in twelve months that I've lost to Australia. Bloody Oz!

Jojo was my housemate for the first two years of Uni, and my best friend (well, one of them) and holiday buddy following that. Even though she was in Lincoln and I was in London, we managed to keep in touch, see each other fairly frequently and cause mayhem everywhere we went. I have such brilliant memories of our days as students, terrorising the staff in the pub round the corner, making margaritas in the kitchen, wondering whether our other housemate really was eating toilet paper...knowing she's not just a couple of hours away is a killer.

But, I know she's going to have the most amazing time. Her visa lasts a year, so she will be back eventually, but as much as I know the next twelve months will go by in a flash, it seems like an eternity to be without the girl who rides motorcycle, swears like a trooper, drinks like a fish and then goes home to tend to her vegetable garden and play with her cat.

I managed not to cry until today.

Sew so vintage, darling.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:39:00 +0000

I said on my 25th birthday that in the next year I wanted to take up sewing again, using vintage patterns because I love looking like I fell out of a fashion history text. To help keep the dream alive, I am now (or soon will be) proud owner of the means to produce all these dresses...

There's a lot I've forgotten about sewing, mind you, so I'll be attempting the easiest one (top right) first. I can't even remember how to do a tailor's tack at the moment. I'm sure I'll pick it all up gain after a few frantic phonecalls to my mother, though. She's such a good seamstress she made her own wedding dress, and when I was 17 she helped me sew my leaver's meal outfit, which included a corset with 15 plastic bones stitched into it. Never again.

The problem with sewing is it's such a lost artform that, like knitting and crochet, it's now incredibly expensive. The pattern is £5 - £13 to begin with, and then there's the fabric. I can tell I'm going to miss the close proximity to cheap fabric stalls (I've yet to find anywhere in London that's as good as Birmingham market, even Walthamstow which used to be on my doorstep). Ebay is ok but by the time you add shipping, you may as well just go to Berwick Street where they mark everything up ridiculously.

Good thing my mother has four boxes of unused stuff, and I'm heading home this weekend!

Best Comment Ever...

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:11:00 +0000

I don't know whether this girl is angry at me for recommending Casting Creme Gloss (and saying 'DO A STRAND TEST') or whether she thinks we're actually from L'Oreal and she wants to berate us for turning her hair 'fuckin plum'. Either way, this was left on Kiss and Makeup recently, and I'm really quite worried that I'll get a call from the Lawyors [sic] soon. Really.

"I hate you fuckers! you ruined my hair you assholes! it was blond and i tried to die it chocolate brwn now its fuckin plum!i hope you all die in your sleeep you good for nothing bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hate you so much right now AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (8) state of you dickheads youl be hearing from my lawyors"

Obviously beauty websites attract only the really smart kids.

A fashion interlude

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Thanks to the credit crunch and my insanely high rent, I won't be buying much this year. Especially if I want a holiday (*coughVegascough*). However, I'm highly tempted to whip out the credit card and get a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood shoes. Why? Oh, just look at them! In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, "Hello, lover." In these shoes, I could rule the world.

Shame I missed the sample sale at the end of last year. For now, I'll have to make do with my Rupert Sandersons.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Happy 2009! It's been a while.

I realise I don't blog here very often. Sometimes I wish I still had a secret, anonymous blog where I could actually say all the stuff I contemplate saying on here. The problem with that is there's always someone who'll work it out and 'out' me, and while I'm not sure anyone out there cares enough to stick a spanner in the works just for the fun of it, it's happened to me before.

It's ironic that the more I blog professionally, the less I can do it personally. At least, not the way I used to. It's all well and good for me to post pictures of whatever dressing table I'm now cooing over (for the record, it's this one) but I'm not so sure it's as good an idea to go on about how wonderful my boyfriend is (as much as he'd love that).

However, all that said, I'm going to attempt to keep up the blogging on here in 2009, even if it turns into even more of an interiors blog as time goes by. And on that note, I'm off to rearrange my bathroom...

The Shiny Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Last night at the Christmas Party, I did a quiz for the Shiny Media staff. On request, here are the questions from the general knowledge round. Remember, they didn't have access to Google or Wikepedia...

1. What is the name of Tin Tin's dog?

2. On a Monopoly board, what colour is The Angel Islington?

3. Margaret, Josephine, Elizabeth and Amy March are better known as what?

4. Brompton Road, South Harrow and York Road are closed stations on which Tube line?

5. The Piazza San Marco is a famous square in which city?

6. Who presented the MTV Video Music Awards this year?

8. In which area of London did Tim Bisley and Daisy Steiner live?

9. From 1600 – 1854 only one European nation could trade with Japan. Who was it?

10. John Everett Millais, Frederic George Stephens,and Thomas Woolner were part of which artistic movement?

11. Which 19th-century French author's grandmother was a former Afro-Caribbean slave?

12. Name all the original Thundercats.

13. Which three teams were relegated from the Barclay's premiership last season?

14. Which artist & designer famously added graffiti to Louis Vuitton bags shortly before his death?

15. Chlorine, Bromine and Iodine are part of which group of elements?

16. Who won the 'Best Actress' award at the 2008 Academy Awards?

17. In 2004, who dumped her boyfriend of 43 years for a surfer called Blaine?

18. What is a Shrike?

19. Which American post-modern author, the writer of Infinite Jest, hung himself earlier this year?

20. What was the name of the home of the Gods in Norse mythology?

21. Which group are Scott Summers, Bobby Drake and Hank McCoy part of?

22. What does DHTML stand for?

23. What marmalade substitute did Paddington Bear recently try in his sandwiches?

24. George Bailey is the main character in which festive film?

25. George Bush, Cameron Diaz, Eliza Dushku and Kelly McAuliffe...who's the odd one out and why?

EMERGENCY!

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:51:00 +0000

I've just experienced my first real flat-related emergency. The radiator leaked. All over the living room carpet. This was a disaster waiting to happen, as there'd apparently been a tiny leak to the flat below for a while, but my plumber and the downstairs landlord hadn't been able to communicate efficiently enough to get it looked. So my brand new boiler conked out (again) and then this happened...

Fun, isn't it! Luckily, because my boiler was new when I moved in, the water was clean (apart from that rusty bit around the pipe) so when this dries, it shouldn't be too bad. Most of the 'staining' is just where it's wet, rather than dirty. On the upside, I do now have a boiler that works and radiators that have been freshly bled. On the downside I have a sofa and table out of action, and a tiny fan heater sucking up electricity as it dries this carpet in sections.

I'm currently taking votes on how long it'll take for the whole thing to dry out completely. I'm going with four days. You?

Bad mood moaning

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:10:00 +0000

A few quick tips for up and coming online shops / ebay sellers photographing clothes to sell...

1) Get a steamer. Really. Clothes look better when they're not creased to hell.
2) Stop making your models stand like morons.
3) Don't belt things that are empire line. We want to see how they hang normally.
4) Don't belt things that don't come WITH the belt. It's false advertising!
5) Don't photograph things on clear plastic mannequins, ever.
6) Seriously...get a steamer. Or even an IRON!

It amazes me how many decent shops have ridiculously shoddy photography. Theoretically, the clothes should look better in the photos than they do in real life, not the other way around.

In Good Company

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I think I've accidentally stumbled upon a trend. I put zebra print stuff in my living room because I had a faux fur throw that I needed to use somewhere. It worked out quite well, if a bit bachelor pad-ish. But it's actually quite cool in the decorating world at the moment. Just look at this, a suggested design for the interior of the Red Room at the White House once the Obama family take residence.

Apparently, when the new family moved in, Congress will give them a hundred grand to spend on redecorating. I would make some credit crunch-related comment here about how that 100k could be better used. But to be honest, I'd want a lot of money to de-Bush the place, too. Not sure I'd go so inside-of-a-strip-joint in a political house, but I love the idea, not to mention the footstools!

In other news, my brand new boiler is broken. And it's freezing. Fun!

London bloggers and Spanish decorators

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Last night I headed to the depths of the City for the latest London Bloggers Meetup, which was my first meetup in a while (I'm still gutted I missed the one that involved custom Smirnoff cocktails).

This time around, Melanie was giving a talk, so if nothing else I wanted to go along to provide a bit of support. She was great, of course, and I also got to catch up with a few old friends / colleagues and fellow bloggers. It's amazing how many folks I feel I know really well despite having only met them a few times, mainly because of Twitter. It's very easy working in the online world to think you have this huge clique of mates, but you very soon realise that most of them would barely be acquaintances if it weren't for the fact you congregate around a free bar any time anyone invites you.

Hey, it's the credit crunch. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

On a completely different topic entirely, I went to Spain on a press trip. It was nice. This nice, in fact...

I know, I hate myself too. I was reviewing the ESPA spa at the Intercontinetal Mar Menor hotel in Murcia. The hotel was gorgeous (the room had a whirlpool bath, amazing bed, big balcony, more wardrobe space than I have in my flat, etc etc) and we were treated very well. And also, since I'm obsessed with interior design at the moment, check out the club room...

Pretty, no? You wait until you see the rest of it...

Housewarming and more decorating (bored yet?!)

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:24:00 +0000

Despite the fact the flat still isn't quite how I'd like it, I had my housewarming party on Saturday. It was a rather lovely little gathering of Very Important People, and involved a lot of girls wearing black, me drinking out of a slightly outdated 'Happy 21st' champagne glass and Katie colour-coding my DVD collection. Oh yes, I know how to throw a proper rave up.

Speaking of the flat not being how I'd like it, here's my current eBay obsession, because I know you all love my interior decorating fixation.

Right now it's going for £14. I think it's safe to sat it'll go for a lot more than that, and very quickly end up out of my price range. But I can dream. Look at the big mirror! Heaven! I'm already imagining the fabrics I can cover the stool cushion with. What do we think of this one?

NaNoWriMo-No

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Technically, I'm not taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. I am planning on writing 50,000 words of a novel during November, but I'll be using the time to finish the oh-so-wittily named 'Period Pains', rather than starting something new.

Since the official NaNoWriMo rules state you can't work on a half-finished manuscript (I believe they describe it as being 'punishable by death') this means I'm not a true participant, and I'm not going to log my word count on their site. That doesn't mean I'm under any less pressure, though. This book has been sitting unfinished for far too long, and it's high time I got it finished.

Luckily, this year there are quite a few NaNo-ers who will help to spur me on. Plenty of brilliant bloggers are doing the blog version - NaBloPloMo - including Cate and Christina, which will no doubt keep me entertained. Keris is using the month to finish her current book, Jenni is taking part (that may have something to do with me) and I've also roped in the boyfriend. So far our writing time has mainly involved him giving me dirty looks as I hit the daily word count before he does. This is probably because I bash dialog out without caring while he takes the time to write things that make sense. Right now, I just want to get the basics down so I have the story in place.

Problem is, it's hard to write 1700 words a day when there are other Very Important Things to be done, like putting up mirrors, re-arranging the living room, sitting in the pub reading The Sunday Times, walking around Crystal Palace park and watching BBC Four programmes about Mills & Boon.

*cough*

An impromptu greyscale gallery...

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:52:00 +0000

This week (work aside) three websites have had my undivided attention. Apartment Therapy, eBay and Etsy. Now I'm settled into the flat, I'm able to seriously think about decorating and actually buy all the things I have my eye on. Sort of. Obviously money is a problem, but I'm very good at hunting down the cheapest option, and I was given a bit of cash by my family to spend on the flat.

The bedroom is getting there, the kitchen and bathroom are done (minus a bathroom mirror) and I finally have a doorbell and a lamp in the porch. So I'm now on to the living room, which is going to be mainly black and white, because I need to use my zebra print throw somewhere. My nasty sofas are covered, and I'm beginning to make cushion covers (half black, half zebra) to finish them off. I've just ordered one of these in black...

...to go above my fireplace. These decals are great because they can be removed without damaging the walls. On the opposite wall I'm going to put my three black and white Marilyn Monroe prints (I don't care how predictable and girly that is, I'm still doing it). I've even found special picture hanging stickers which - again - won't wreck the walls. Oh, the things you have to consider when you're renting.

Now, I have my beady eye on this, which I think would be the perfect finishing touch.

Sadly, it's not at all within my budget at £60 from Oli. Just because it has Maria Grachvogel's name attached! So I headed to eBay to find a suitable alternative. I discovered this, which looks the same but less...dangly. I've been trying to count the drops and I swear they both have the same, so maybe I've found my winner?

I might have also bought this on eBay today.

I know, I know, but it's Ben De Lisi, it cost me less than £20 and it looks like Dior circa 1947. It called to me. Neither of us would have been happy if it wasn't mine. How fabulous will it look with seamed stockings, black heels and gloves?

Yes, in my head I live in a black and white movie.

Five mins of fame: ASOS magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:29:00 +0000

My ~~stalker~~ colleague Zara was kind enough to point out I'd not done my usual showing off by posting this...

It's from ASOS.com's customer magazine. The feature is about online talent, and also includes some other familiar faces - my good friend Susi, fellow fashionista Michelle and The Lipster's Rebecca (among others).

Every time I look at it I just think 'I wish my hair was straight'. This says a lot about my priorities, doesn't it?

Meme Time. Three for Three.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:38:00 +0000

The lovely Mel and Jaz both tagged me to do the Three For Three meme.

I love a good meme as it means I don't have to think about what to write, so here goes...

Favorite non-work Websites

1. The Daily Mail
I confess, I love reading the Mail every day. I'd never pay for the paper (or even be seen with it) but the website is my dirty little secret. It infuriates the hell out of me, but it also makes me feel much better about myself as a human being. There's nothing like some futile NIMBY outrage to get your blood boiling.

2. GraphJam
The people behind lolcats bring us more stupid memes, this time silly graphs about all kinds of random stuff. I'm particularly loving this one at the moment. The internet imploded when they did a graph about Rick Astley.

3. SomeeCards
I wish I had the guts to send more of these to people. Right now, there are only two or three people I know who I'm confident would get the joke.

Favorite cocktails

1. Bellini
I've discovered you can make these cheaply if you a) hang out at a lot of fashion events and b) live near a Lidl. Lidl sell peach juice (unlike any tesco friggin' local, which don't even seem to sell bread most of the time) and fashion people have a tendency to give you little bottles of champagne in goodie bags. Mix the two, et voila. On holiday in Corfu they made their Bellinis with apricot brandy, which was even better, if a little more headache inducing.

2. Amaretto Fizz
Tastes like Refreshers sweets. Fact.

3. Strawberry Daquiri
I like them with fresh strawberries and a tiny bit of lime juice for a kick.

Favorite karaoke songs

1. Hold On by Wilson Phillips
This wasn't on the list at K-box, which saddened me. Who doesn't want to do their best Carnie Wilson impression (minus gastric band) while trying to mumble the words (and the harmonies) after too many glasses of Pinot Grigio. Just me? Oh well...

2. I Just Can't Wait To Be King from The Lion King
Trust me, if you'd heard my colleagues Zara and Duncan singing this, you'd agree.

3. Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks
Have you see School of Rock? Yeah. I wish I was Joan Cusack.

And I tag Amber, Keris and Alex.

Guess what? I'm still talking about my new flat.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:29:00 +0000

One thing has struck me since getting the keys to the new flat and being able to show it to people.

The utter shock on people's faces when they get there.

Not just to the flat, but to the surrounding area as well. I've been greeted with shocked exclamations of "Wow, it's nice!" from just about everyone. I think they all expected me to have found some poky little hovel in a disgusting area or something. The fact I have a big flat on a safe, quiet road in a nice area close to a station seems to have shocked them all immensely.

All this is good, of course, but it does make me wonder what people thought of me before, when I lived near the notorious Bakers Arms on the border of Walthamstow and Leyton, in a house with ancient wallpaper, disgusting carpets and a mustard bathroom straight out of the seventies. Did they think that was what I planned to do for the rest of my life?!

I think this is why I'm being so ridiculously picky about the new place. I spend hours scouring eBay for the perfect things to put in it. I want it to look and feel like home. When I invite people over, I don't want to be apologetic about anything. I want amazing bedlinen and matching furniture and gorgeous trinkets and scented candles and pretty crockery. I'm obsessed with having the perfect place to the point where I spent half an hour on Sunday staring at the living room with a frown on my face trying to work out how the hell I could arrange it (the boyfriend disagreed with most of my suggestions - good thing it's not his flat). I'm still not sure what to do, but I have discovered that 'original features' can be more trouble than they're worth. By that I mean fireplaces are lovely, but they don't half take up valuable wall space.

Things that I love about my flat:

- The bedroom is huge, and now has shabby chic bedlinen in place
- The living room has space for two sofas and a table and chairs
- The bathroom is white, modern and has a decent shower
- I have a dishwasher, which is good since I HATE washing up
- Nobody can ring my doorbell. This will be great at Halloween

Things that I will grow to love about my flat:

- The only built-in storage is in the bathroom. The freezer is in there
- The freezer stinks. Fun cleaning job ahead!
- The bed has seen better days. And that's putting it mildly
- My upstairs neighbours appear to have wooden floors
- There is only one working plug socket in my bedroom

You can always trust your best friend to be honest.

noreply@blogger.com (Gemma) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:29:00 +0000

Me: Would it be really naff if I put my digital photo frame actually in the fireplace in the living room?
Jenni: Er, don't take this the wrong way, but...
Me: It'd be awful?
Jenni: No, just...if there's anyone that could get away with it, it would be you.
Me: Yeah, perhaps I'll put the oil burner in there instead.