©LifeofYablon
This year, instead of a Valentine’s Day card, I placed my love words on a scrabble board. And then I sent it off to my local Snappy Snaps where they everso magically whizzed it onto a 15cm square aluminium fridge magnet (£19.99) …for my HIM.
Follow @SnapsSwiss for lots of Instagram merchandise ideas
Filed under him
You may remember I ‘went RAW’ a couple of weeks ago. And, of course, the best bit of that little experiment was the opportunity to dive head first into the raw beauty lotions and potions courtesy of my delicious sponsor, A Beautiful World.
Elizabeth and Georgia Jagger flaunt their bee stung pouts!
Organic, natural, raw beauty products are currently where it’s at in the beauty world. Especially when your face is worth a fortune… the Jagger sisters (Georgie May and Lizzy) are completely potty about the Bee Yummy skin products. Together with flat mate Cara Delevingne, they stock pile the jars when in NYC because – until now – it hasn’t been for sale over here in the UK.
I say ‘until now’ because – as of this month – A Beautiful World, is now retailing the whole range. Packed with the likes of bee pollen, propolis, wildflower honey and royal jelly, you’ll visibly notice your skin rejuvenate – without the help of a single chemical.
COMPETITION: The natural beauty website is offering a full set of Bee Yummy products (Skin Food, Honey Mask and Eye Balm worth £78) to one of my VERY lucky readers. To enter this competition – all you need to do is follow A Beautiful World on Twitter and tweet them at least one of the ingredients of this super-natural beauty-boosting range. The winner will be chosen on 1st March 2014 at random and notified via Twitter.
Oh goodness me. This blogging lark has just stepped up the moral ladder… again. It even disturbed my precious sleep last night as I lay in bed wondering what to do. So, I’ve decided to let you advise me…
Here’s the scenario. A good friend tells me about brand new restaurant opening. I mean, why wouldn’t she? Her friend’s husband is one of the backers and it sounds interesting enough. Modern Vietnamese. I’ve read about it actually (it’s called House of Ho) as it’s the Soho home of the Egyptian-Chinese celebrity chef and TV presenter, Bobbie Chinn and it signifies his London landing after much critical acclaim in Vietnam.
As usual, the PR agency throws their weight around a little while my site’s reader profile is under scrutiny but finally a table for 2 is confirmed.
last night’s House of Ho, Old Compton St
Along I went last night with friend who needs a hot meal.
Ho’rny Devil: lemongrass vodka + Vietnamese devil’s chilli + fresh coconut £8
Cocktails and food are ordered.
friend who needs a hot meal posing with a Ho’rny Devil cocktail
But then – one of the restaurant’s other investors and his wife are shown to their table. Next to ours. As it turns out, I know of this investor too. His wife is one of the friendliest at the school gates (of both Smalls’ schools) and we more than nod politely to each other.
Bobby Chinn’s House of Ho in Soho
Then we eat. And the issue isn’t that the food is absolutely dreadful as it isn’t. Some of the dishes were pretty good: Shaking Beef (£14) Seafood Ceviche (£9) and the Wok-tossed Morning Glory (£4).
The ‘Shaking Beef’ was my favourite dish with grass-fed 21 day-aged fillet
But my over-whelming feeling is… it’s bland, an odd mix of foods and a distinct lack of excitement and anticipation – which I tend to get when reviewing anywhere new. I sit back and think of Ceviche, Gymkhana, Blanchette, Dinings, and the penny drops. This isn’t special or different or even mouth-watering.
I ask our very keen-to-please waiter if Bobby himself is around. Not tonight. Drat. That would have been House of Ho’s saving grace, I reckon. The place feels completely soulless now.
My dilemma was whether to tell you how I really felt – therefore disregarding the feelings of those investors that I’m one degree separated from, and their lovely wives and friends. But as you can see, I’ve very much spilt the (oriental) beans. If I truly love somewhere, I’ll say. So, in the same light, if somewhere isn’t lighting my fire, I have to come clean.
I hope, reader, you’ll agree that if I’m not honest, what’s the point in any of this immoral blogging?
Do you gift on Valentine’s Day? It has come out of nowhere this treat-after-treat-after-treat…. Surely a card with a big fat heart on it and a sloppy, wet kiss should be plenty? Well, it seems we’re all being swept along with the idea of giving is loving (and vice versa) and so I didn’t even baulk at the idea of being sent on a Valentine present buying mission…to the recently opened London Designer Outlet.
on my way to the London Designer Outlet this morning
Despite being only one tube stop from my house, news of the London Designer Outlet hadn’t yet reached me. Off I trotted this morning amid gale force winds and driving rain to check out London first ever designer outlet, located just next to Wembley Stadium.
casherooooni to spoil Him this Valentine’s Day
As instructed, I met the marketing girl at the Customer Service office where she promptly handed over £50 cash and asked me to keep my receipts. I had given myself an hour for the mission.
squeaky clean, tidy and ever-so empty, London Designer Outlet
During this hour (to be fair 930am on a Tuesday morning) I didn’t see one other shopper. I hear the centre is busier at lunchtime and really quite busy the weekends before Christmas. I counted 4 cook shops, a handful of sports/outdoor shops and some basic fashion outlets such as Superdry, L.K. Bennett, H&M and Gap. Most of the products are 50% off, making shopping a REAL bargain.
discount mania
I browsed in Superdry for Him but wasn’t convinced He would be happy with yet another t-shirt.
Then – in one of the cook shops – I had an amusing idea. Our slightly seen-better-times baking trays tend to wind Him up. At half price, I wondered if I could pass them off as a ‘romantic’ gesture?
And that was then I suddenly remembered him mentioning that He needed a new running jacket. (There’s only a certain number of miles you can run in a jacket before it can run itself… to the bin.) I popped into Asics and found this rather smart one marked down from £70 to £49. Mission accomplished!
a new running jacket for a loveable Him
But I did pop back to buy those baking trays too (Procook £17 for 2 instead of £34) . Oh and a pair of fingerless mittens (Gap £2.97 from £9.99) for myself. Picture editing on cold platforms just got a little warmer…
those romantic baking trays and my fingerless mittens
COMPETITION: Now it’s your turn to go and check out the London Designer Outlet! One of my lucky readers will win a £50 gift card… all you have to do is LIKE my Facebook page and follow me on twitter. The winner will be chosen at random on 1st March 2014.
Filed under Exclusive to website, life, prizes, shopping
