Eurovison

A bit too late but these were my favourite songs from Eurovision 2017:

1. Hungary I didn't actually like it the first time in the semi-finals mostly because of the rap part but then the refrain just really got stuck in my head and I now find that this song is brilliant! (still not a big fan of the rap but what can I do)

2. Armenia - Also found from the final - the camera movement in the first part is amazing and then the dancers! Loved them! The song is good too :D

3. UK - One of the best songs I think and did you notice she was singing ALONE! no backup singers! it was solely her voice which is ahmazingggg! Yes the faces were a bit funny but she put her heart and soul into it 

Honorable mentions are Moldova,  Azerbaijan and Cyprus

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

MLB Spring

Can you tell I haven't been too excited about these this time? Looking at photos (because my memory is shocking) I blame the last May box.

Starting with March which was really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    

#nofilter

I freaking loved practically everything in it!

Best thing: the brush - which I actually use daily now! It's sooo soft :) how did I manage without it before? I did have a similar brush before but it broke :D and I just wasn't that keen about it...

Secondly the cosmetic bag! I've been looking for one that's cute and the perfect size for ever and voila here it is!

Other things in it:

• A little notepad (can't get enough of them)
• Phone ring - I do like it but have not yet used it because once you put it on can you take it off and put on again? It's really useful but I don't want it on the phone all the time...
• Baby pink nail polish
• Blemish free primer - good to take on trips
• Make up forever Ultra HD Microfinishing Loose Powder - supposed to give your skin a perfect radiant and smooth look

April

Not as good as the previous but still good :)

Best thing: Water bottle fruit infuser

Other things included:

• A full size body lotion
• Vitamin shot face scrub
• Early morning moisturizer
• monthly fruit and veg calendar 
• magnetic shopping list pad
• Bandana scarf
• Coconut bites

Not the best box but certainly not the worst

And then the May one which was just bad...

It did arrive quite late as well so I had the "pleasure" of reading comments on their FB page that said the box sucks :(

The theme looks promising but the insides....

Coasters - not even cute ones...

A bow for a bra??????? What even is that? Why?

A big gold triangular hair pin - might be handy

Kohl eye pencil

Nail polish

Cocktail recipes

Body cream (again)

If anyone wants to try body creams I have loads :D 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Salty Churros

My final, long-awaited post about just random things that I want to note down about our trip to Barcelona in April :D

Firstly, I'd forgotten that we had a pool in the hotel! And not just a pool but one on a freaking sun deck. Could anything be cooler than that - no! And when my companion wanted to go to the sun-deck  on the first two nights I wasn't too keen - wot the point? I can just chill in bed :D Then on the third day she finally piped up and said there's a pool there!!!!!!!!!!! OMG if I'd known we could've spent the hours that we had on the first day between Sagrada and Parc Güell in that freaking pool instead of wasting time by torturing ourselves in the heat with nothing apparent to do!

The second night we made a snap decision of going to see a Flamenco show. Luckily for us there was one quite near us as well that started late enough for us to make it. Unknown to us though we had chosen a very emotional show (there were three types at different times during the day). The dancer were very into their dance and pulled some quite funny faces at times. It was quite an experience. There was 3 women and 3 men, mostly solo dances with a few group dance. There were also musicians there so the music was live, which I wasn't really expecting to be honest.

Our last day was mainly plan free. Wandering through the little narrow streets of the Barri Gotic (I could've spent the whole day there). There was a pianist playing beautiful music on the main square, later we stumbled upon some sort of demonstration where loud bangs could be heard.

Next we made our to way to La Rambla - desperately holding onto our bags, as it is supposed to be a hotspot for pickpockets. And then she's extra polite and holds a conversation with the "Hey pretty girl, where are you from" guys -.- !!!!!!!

 The beach was full of people offering you something. Practically every minute either a massage, mojito, big scarves to lie on, henna? tattoos and god knows what else... Not the most relaxing of experiences.

 And finally after days of finding the right moment it presented itself - we had churros at a cafe and they were ... absolutely horrible :D Why oh why are they salty? Why have I never heard that their salty before? Obvs I ate it all but... they're salty man!!! What?

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Girona and Montserrat

On the second day of our holiday we hopped on a train to Girona to see the historic centre where Game of Thrones was filmed!!! Ok I'm not that big of a fan but it did look a bit familiar to me :D Once you get to the little narrow cobblestone streets.

The Eiffel Bridge 

First off we headed to one of the cathedrals in town but decided not to go in as it was 16euros! (combined ticket for both cathedrals)... Why so expensive? We did have a sneaky peek inside and compared to Sagrada (can you compare anything to it?) it was meh...

Next we headed to the Arab baths. Followed the signs until it disappeared. Where did it go? Why aren't there any more signs for it?!?!?! Then we turned around and voila it was directly behind us and only 2 euros to get in :) Mind you it is quite small but the main room makes it all worth wile.

Look at this!

Watahhhhhh

Right next to the Arab baths is a stairway to the city wall which is looooooooong and with multiple tower viewpoints. Be careful in the narrow winding steel stairs that actually tremble when you're climbing them... Scary but the views are fantastic.

Second more impressive cathedral that was featured in Game of Thrones.

Third day took us to Montserrat - a monastery up in the hills. We actually took a cable car to get to it! 

We did do a little booboo and bought the wrong tickets: we wanted to get the ones that have the 2 funiculars included as well but ended up having to pay for one instead (we didn't have enough time for all of it).

First tip: arrive early! If you want go hiking in various mountain trails. Unfortunately we only had time for one path on the top of the mountain. Half due to the fact we didn't buy lunch to go as we had planned (someone got up too late) so we had to join the enormous queue at the diner and pay an extortionate price for the food there... There was supposed to be a shop in that tiny village but it was closed, probably only open during high season.

Inside the monastery

Then for some reason my travel companion decided to wear summer shoes to go hiking :D and the path marked easy wasn't that easy after all and surely half way her shoe broke... She trooped on to the next viewpoint and the top of the mountain was just there so I conquered that alone. Fell :D and scraped my arm and back thigh. Basically got a beating from a bush :D But I made it. 

Making our way back to the funicular station a couple of Americans told us to take the easier way back. At first we were happy, then it looked like we are going to the wrong direction, then it wasn't as easy as they had made it seem. The path we came was really hard for only a short amount of time but this seemed to be harder for longer + going the wrong way :S it was getting late, we couldn't go back and finally we got to a proper path that twisted back to the right direction and gave us views down to the town. Basically we circled that peak.

View from the top of the mountain

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Gaudi Barca

I was amazed when we got out of plane at like 7PM and the sun was still bright in Barcelona, I had expected to get lost in the dark while trying to find our hotel but no... And all the shops were still open! But since we were walking along Passeig de Gracia (with suitcases might I add) there were really none we could walk in to... I'm talking about all the Guccis and Rolexes and Diors etc every luxury brand you can think of is represented with fabulous window displays and fancy security guards opening doors for fancy customers. Fabulous first impression of the city :) And then boom Casa Mila! it was just there! With a queue outside the door obvs. Wasn't expecting this on our first hour in the country :D (yep totally walked past Casa Batllo without even noticing all these bling bling shop windows caught my attention you see ;) ).

Later on that day we went for tapas (not a fan of shrimps) and discovered we're only 10 mins away from Sagrada Familia, so went for a little nighttime walk. Surprised it wasn't lit up in any way though.

Our hotel room

Tapas!!!

yucky shrimps and awesome patatas bravas

Late night walk 

So the first day was Gaudi day. Starting with the fabulous Sagrada Familia that is even more spectacular that I could've imagined.

Look how cool this van is!

Tree inspired pillars

Possibly the best stained glass I've seen

Sun makes the insides even more special

Views from the tower

Staircase down, yeap our legs were shaking afterwards.

Unfortunately I made the booboo of having about a 4h gap between the scheduled Sagrada and Parc Güell :( That was partly due to the fact that midday sagrada and towers were pretty much sold out so we had an earlier start than we would've liked. So we wandered back to the passeig de garcia to see if we could spot some stores we could actually go in to :D Instead found a lovely tiny park behind the tourist information centre. (warning for Emma, I would rather sit in that a park close by for an hour or so instead of shopping...)

Oranges

Casa Mila, unfortunately did not go in, regretted later 

Casa Batllo

We found the weirdest toilet in a shopping centre where the doors were seethrough - until you lock it then they become nontransparent. Stood there for a good while before I could be certain that indeed no one can peek in :D Did I tell you these were unisex... and my friend found out the hard way :D Yeap there was a guy in a cubicle that for some reason hadn't locked the door, I only saw his upper body but she saw the whole shabang :D Welcome to Barcelona!!!! :)

Then we trekked to Parc Güell.

The road from Sagrada to Parc Güell

Gingerbread houses inspired from Hansel and Gretel 

It was designed to be an elite neighbourhood for the rich socialites but no one wanted to live that far away from town (house in town showed more prestige) and the rules about building a house there an maintaining the garden around it were too strict. So the only people living in it were Gaudi and Güell themselves. 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Quarterlife

I'm 25!!!! Don't really know if it's good or not :D Never made a big deal out of birthdays but I just kind of want the time to stop. At least until I figure out whats up. According to the initial plan I should've moved by now... but life happens and how can I possibly say no to a promotion... Only a couple of months more... max a year... please?!?!?!?

For the past year my life has literally been work-sleep-work-sleep-work-sleep. And it's not even like I'm some bigshot stepping up some fancy career ladder... :D But I don't lead a bad life... Could be so much worse... At least I'm saving money like nobody's business :D

For some reason I'm not very good with doing chit chat posts... just like real life I guess :D But I have recently discovered Real Housewives of New Jersey... God the drama does not compare to anything I've ever seen :D It has taken over my life and that's how I spend my days off :D

Marks and Spencer finally opened and there was a queue of people outside waiting to get in! In this little town! The whole county probably showed up. You couldn't move in there. Looks nice though. Bringing Aber to the future. Now just need to wait for Pizza Express to open and the unlikely event of Primark coming to town, and I don't need to move anywhere :D All my faves in one place :D

My annual tradition has been to note down what major events have been happening in the world during this time. This year a couple of days before a madman tried to grab a soldiers gun at Orly airport, but luckily he was stopped. Then a couple of days later another madman drove his car down Westminster bridge's pavement! One lady jumped in Thames to escape, then the driver got out and actually got into the Parliament garden where he stabbed  the police officer who tried to stop him...

And the everlasting Brexit debate. Any day now details of Uk's exit plan should emerge and the official process will begin. Scots threatened to hold another independence referendum. Uneasy times... Wonder if I'll be kicked out... Or just not let back in without a passport...

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

End of a store

When I walked in two days before the official close I was stunned, there were people in here! Actual customers?!? And a queue no two queues! I've only ever seen like 2 other people in this store beside me. This was the night everyone came to get reduced stuff. And looked like I was just a tad bit too late as most of the selves were already empty. Still scored £70 worth of stuff for only £20 so can't really complain. And the best bit, they had new Easter eggs half price! What a bargain! Usually you have to wait after Easter to get it cheap...

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...