Shopgirl is back

I've managed 10 days on the detox, which is 10 days more than I thought I would do... I gave up when I went out with my colleagues for a meal and realised everything on the meal contained meat. It was one of those American pizza places. Still, I did quite well. Another low point was when I realised that the Scottish oatcakes I'd been eating contained, in fact, 14% cheese. Fourteen percent!!!
Anyway. Apart from breaking wind more because of all the beans and chick peas I'd been eating, I didn't notice loads of difference. My skin looked a bit better, but that might be the placebo effect.
I hate January with a passion. No Christmas to look forward to, dark nights all around, rain instead of snow - mind you, we've been getting a bit of the white stuff in the past 2 days, it's brightened things up a bit. In the past, I've usually had to wait until February for any improvement in my well-being. But not this year, oh no!
It was a week ago, I suddenly noticed that the phone was flashing, indicating that a message had been left. That's the annoying thing about this phone (that and the fact that you need to use so much force to press each button, the tip of your fingers get blue!): because we always forget to put it back on its charger, it tends to die every now and then, and I never reset the date and time, which means all the messages we get tend to have a "received Monday at 12 am" voice-over. Anyway, I worked out that last time I'd used the phone was two days before, so the message couldn't have been there for too long. It said: "Hi I'm Natalie, from Debenhams press office, I'm ringing regarding the £2000 competition, if you could ring me back on etc...". And that's when I remembered that I'd entered a competition to win a shed load of vouchers for clothes. I had to wait until Monday to ring the woman back and confirm it, so didn't dare hope too much.
When I rang her, she confirmed that I'd won, only, it was one thousand, not two. Still, no more January blues, I'm hitting the shops. Woohooo!!

New Year New You...

Hmm, resolutions... Like, "will post a blog twice a week..." Obviously, I've been so busy celebrating that I've not posted something for the past 3 weeks. Shame on me.
Well, there was my 25th birthday on the 20th. I quite like being 25. I remember one day at sixth-form, whilst studying Rousseau in French, our teacher asked us what age we imagined we'd be all "sorted", and as if she was guessing my thoughts, she said that a lot of people at our age answered 25. Uni over, started a stable job, got married, living in a nice house with my own furniture... Seems pretty sorted. I remember she said that 25 was extremely young and that once we'd reach it, it wouldn't seem so far away and perfect, and I kind of agree with her now. Still, I think 25 is pretty cool.
Anyway. I got a gorgeous dress from my other half and it fits absolutely perfectly, which got him some brownie points. Then we went to one of my favourite restaurants in York to celebrate. Perfect birthday.
On Christmas' Eve, we flew to Switzerland to spend a few (non-white) days with my family. That was really nice. My sister went crazy when she got her usb missile-launcher, and my cousin was pleased with his Chelsea shirt, whilst his mum was worried how much it must have cost, seeing that it wasn't a fake. Thank goodness for eBay, I don't know how I could have lived without it. I'm tempted to start next Christmas' shopping already!
One tradition that was started a few years ago in my family is what we call "The Ugly Presents". Les Cadeaux Affreux, in the original text. Throughout the year, we collect all sorts of small and not-so-small plasticky, tacky and kitsch objects, and then do a raffle at Christmas. Receiving an Ugly Present is a terrifying yet delightful experience, and I'm always relieved when I see that the size of the present is small and therefore will not take too much space in the luggage/drawer (waiting for next year). Oh yes: some Ugly Presents make it from year to year, if not broken inbetween accidentally-on-purpose.
Anyway. This year, I got the Award for Most Revolting Presents Collected, as I managed to find some truly ugly decorative (ahem) spoons with colourful fruits stuck at the end, as well as some bright red vanilla-scented boxing gloves to put in your car. But the best present of the evening, the one that got everyone in fits and tears of laughter, was what I found hidden on a shelf in Matalan (this by the way is not a criticism of Matalan as I love their clothes and jewellery): a Father Christmas collectable-type painted clay figurine, complete with elves, presents and sled, and three snow-bubbles stuck on it. So horrific that I found myself apologising and explaining away to the shop assistant. My aunt got it and sure enough, I have a feeling that this object might be a regular feature on the Ugly Presents.
Anyway. Now that we are in the new year, I've made some resolutions:
1) Will start by doing a 2-week detox. So far, it's working, but I've only done 3 days and a bit. I'm not allowed to drink wine, tea or coffee, I can't eat meat, fish, eggs, wheat nor anythink dairy, which I was shocked at, because I thought that this was pretty much all the food there was in the world. So I'm turning into a mobile garden, with all the fruit and veg I'm eating. And oats and beans and lots of seeds. And SOYA. Actually, soya milk is not too bad, in fact I can't really tell the difference.
2) When my knee has recovered, will join a gym and go once a week in order to keep in shape.
3) Will try and keep the house tidy and keep on top of housework by making sure the house is hovered once a week, the bathroom gets cleaned once a week, and that the recycling gets emptied twice a month. Only one word springs to mind: Maaaatt!!