I went for a road trip with my brother the other week, as neither of us were doing anything that day and my brother enjoys driving to random places. We listened to old cassette tapes created during our childhood, caught up in general and went driving round different coastal towns - it was a really nice day!
My brother and I have been close all our lives. It might be because of how we were brought up or because we are both creative or it could be something completely different, but all I know is it is something nice to have.
Growing up I had a lots of mates who didn't get on with their siblings and didn't get how we got on so well, but for some reason it worked. We are four years apart in age (me being the older) and not being the same sex helps, as there has never been a massive rivalry in anything. We have been a similar height at times (me being tall for a girl and him suddenly shooting up in height) making some people think we were twins (hell NO, I'm the oldest sibling) or even worse, him the older one (hell NO, LOL)
The great thing about having a sibling as a child, was always having some around who you could have a laugh with outside of your friendship groups (for someone like me that had friends at school, but hated school, this was great!). Our child hoods were made up of making and creating props and sets and having fake fights or fantasy adventures - our mates used to come round and love all the costumes and things we built and we'd have crazy tournaments in are garden. It was a lot of fun! As we got older we both became interested in filming, so landed up making mock music videos normally including us both and any mates that wanted to be part of it - we had such a laugh.
As we have got older, we have both developed keen interests in stand up comedy and a range of music genres, meaning that we have a mutual understanding (most the time) of good entertainment. Although we don't always see each other (as our work timetables cross over most the time), we still have that other person we can talk to outside of our friendships, relationships and of course, our parents.
As an adult, I feel really lucky to have a brother like the one I do. He may not always be right (I'm most probably right, lol), he might not always make the best choices, but he's my brother and I'm lucky to have that extra person in my life that can make me smile and laugh when I'm down.
I want to dedicate this post to not only my brother, but all the great siblings of my friends, that make all our lives happier. We may not say it all the time, but we are lucky to have you : )
Us as kids
Blog title inspired from this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1KtScrqtbc
Went to my 3rd ever Hen Do on Saturday (I think it's my 3rd, I don't think there has been any unmemorable ones : s). I've been invited to others, but normally because of work, haven't been able to make it.
This particular Hen Do was for someone I have known for a few years, who I was lucky enough to meet through another close mate of mine. I felt really privileged to be invited to her Hen Do because we don't get to see each other that often, even though we get on well when we see each other. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this blog to her (you'll see her at the end of the blog, I'm putting her picture up, lol).
Anyway, so the Hen Do. I have to say, I think my ideas of Hen Do's have changed over the years. When I was really young (early adult, not a child, lol) I thought of them as scary nights out where old woman get drunk and get off with people, when I was a bit older, I saw it as a good old piss up with the girls, as now, I like the idea of having a realign good day, night or weekend with the girls without the piss up being the main and only feature.
I used to be a reasonably heavy drinker. Not in a really bad way, just I got used to holding my alcohol and being able to hold my own on a night out. Then after one or two particularly embarrassing nights, I lightened my drinking and became a lightweight (something I hadn't been since I was about 18/19). The problem is once you've been a heavy drinker and then cut down, you have seen yourself and others in a really bad state and it doesn't seem so appealing as the first time around. I like to be happily tipsy or toasted sometimes but the puking thing is not and never was fun (and this is coming from someone who has only ever been sick outside the boundaries of her house once and even in the house it has been bucket or toilet allocated - you should be impressed by that, I am : p).
My last two Hen Do's were quite different. The first one I went on was a weekend away in Brussels with all the girlfriends of my boyfriend's school mates. At the time I had been part of the group for a few years (and I wasn't the newest member of the team at that point), so it was an enjoyable trip where we went sight seeing, shopping, eating and drinking - it was a really good weekend. It was also the first time I think that any of us had seen a massive public billboard with a man and woman completely naked on it in missionary position - I tried to take a picture at the time, but we were on a bus, LOL
The second Hen Do was for a friend of mine from university. For this one a really big group of us started at my friends house drinking champagne and then went on to have a night of crazy drinking and dancing at a Bavarian pub in town - dressed as wenches and maidens, LOL. I have to say, due to starting with Champagne, I actually didn't drink that much, as I was worried about feeling ill (especially after feeling sick in the toilets). It was fine though because I took lots of pictures, helped other people that had drunk too much and in general, had a really good night. I think the scariest point of the night was a man wearing red Baywatch pants, no top on and wearing a giant horses head - thank god I didn't drink more, that would have haunted my nightmares, lol.
So, back to the other night. We started in a really nice restaurant South of the river Thames (three course meal and cocktails) and put on badges and sashes for the night ahead (classy ones I tell you, very classy). After a few more drinks at the bar, we were very kindly given lifts by some of the girls and headed to the O2 for Kisstory (the best music from the history of Kiss Fm). Now, you may or may not appreciate Kisstory, but it is one of many music hours I love listening to on the radio and couldn't wait to experience the club night.
Well, the people were as I expected them. It sounds harsh, but I don't fit the expected target audience of Kiss. I am an all-round music lover (who looks more rocky than anything) who breaks the boundaries of the usual target listeners and hard core Kiss fans these days are normally bracketed more as trendy, urban and young! You see I know loads of people that like Kisstory and don't fit this mould, they just wouldn't go to the club night (closet listeners, lol) I have to say though, I was a little worried of fights or punch ups starting in general, but only two people got chucked out that I saw and the bouncers did it quickly and smoothly - I was VERY impressed! That and Kele Le Roc played, Justin Wilkes rocked the tunes and it all took me right back to the old Skool : )
So, the night at Kisstory went well, we danced our socks off to Reggae, Garage (not so much me, lol), Dance and R n B until the final song - it was good! We even got our Hen's inflatable Gary Barlow joining into all the tracks (our Hen is a big fan of his) - slightly worried that he got more attention from guys in the club than we did, but that's Gary for you!
The only let down was out two cabs not turning down. I wouldn't normally do this (because I am bigger and better than this) but don't use Blackheath cabs (putting a downer on my friend's Hen Night - tut tut!) They not only didn't turn up, they kept telling my friend on the phone that they were on their way... for nearly an hour! So after freezing ourselves to the bone, we managed to get two other nice companies to drop us all home - hooray, it all turned out well in the end! And that was the success of another Hen Do : )
For more from Kisstory, follow Justin Wilkes
@justinwilkes
Blog title based on Single Ladies by Beyonce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY
And just for fun...
Piss take with Justin Timberlake in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRGogYu2gRE
Gary Tank Commander piss take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TRiLDuzx5A&feature=fvst
Apologise once again for the late blog. Long hours of work and a computer that is rather here and there doesn't allow me to do this easily : (
Today's post is split between two topics: Spanx and Reunions
Spanx
I'm going to a friend's Masquerade Ball today (I know, how posh am I, lol) and decided to try on some of the dresses I wished to wear yesterday. Once I had finally chosen the dress I stood in front of the mirror to check how it looked. That's when I was like - uh oh! I am not that big in size that I am going to complain, but since the running around of panto in January I have been a bit lax with exercise and have been eating "well" and the tummy that I had joked about on panto was now definitely there.
Now we are not talking beer belly or anything like that. I like to know of it as a "Care Bear belly" (I loved the Care Bears as a kid) which basically means it is a very slight mound that is slightly cuddly : ) Anyway, normally I have no problem with my slight roundness until you put me into a skinny cocktail dress, then it shows big time.
My week has been hectic with a capital H, so I didn't have much time to play with but decided to go to a local department store to find something to solve the problem. Unfortunately for me, the only one nearby was a rather posh shop, so no own brand stuff, just the expensive stuff. An array of different items hung in the lingerie section marked "support". In all honesty, this had been a section of lingerie that I had either ignored or just not noticed before. And this is where the Spanx come in. Spanx (for those of you who don't know and I didn't know until fairly recently and I work on musicals) are very tight, generally unsexy pants that hold in everything so you can were slim line clothes. I have to say, I didn't even know there was so much choice. As well as pants of all different lengths and shapes there are basques to were under clothes. Most of the stuff ranged from £17 - 75 (people spend that amount of money on this!).
So, I head into the changing room with a range of items (from the lower part of the price bracket : s). Well, for someone who had just done a laundry call for a show, it was not the time to try these evil contraptions on. I was contorted and made to look even worse most the time, by these evil pants and basques. They were all so difficult to get into (well, the ones I could get into) and so hot. How people wear them under normal clothes in Spring is beyond me!
In the end, I took all the items, handed them back to the lady and walked out. I decided that most of them were not holding me in any better than I tight pair of high rise cycling shorts I have, so that's when I had the idea. I'm not going to pay this amount for hideous pants that I know for a FACT I'm not going to want to wear, so it's cycling shorts with my cocktail dress. I can have a secret smile all night knowing I have cycling shorts under my beautiful dress, but who cares if it does the trick and saves a few pounds : )
Reunions
Reunions are a nice thing with the right people and you find you do them a lot more of them as you get older (especially when time passes so quickly and you just don't get to see everyone all the time).
I didn't used to be a fan of the "Reunion" and that was mainly because when I was a child I didn't know that many great people that I wanted to see again after we lost contact. That and I reunion has to be something that all the parties involved genuinely want. It doesn't work if "so and so" has only gone because she's been pressurised into going. I have never been to a reunion for primary or secondary school (and probably would never will) and the college one I went to was awful (you are mates with certain people for a reason, don't try and force friendships with a whole class it doesn't work).
I have also had reunion meet ups with old friends, which has been good but it is always hard to keep the contact up constantly when your life is quite hectic.
Anyway yesterday, I met up with a group of people I originally worked with from 2004 - 5 and between us, a group of us have kept in contact since. The thing I love about our meet ups (I wish they could be more often, as we do have a great time) is the fact that we all got on so well when we worked together and we have been able to take that laughter and connection out of the workplace (which is normally the difficult things - when your not laughing about the stupid printer at work and idiotic people in other departments, sometimes it can be forgotten there is an out-of-work person in there too).
I think another reason we are so close is that our ex-manager (who is part of the group that meet up) allowed us to be our natural selves at work, which meant we worked to our abilities and we were taken for who we were (even if she is reading this, she is still one of the best managers I have ever had and that's not me trying to gain Brownie points). My time with this bunch of people was so good, that I always base future jobs with people on this experience. Mainly because I had work satisfaction through the role and the people I worked with and it proves that can exist and it's quite easy to forget that in the arts (unfortunately not everyone is always as great as they make out).
So I met up with the girls yesterday (our only guy part of the group, the MG, couldn't make it because of his filming schedule - alright for some) and we ate, drank, laughed until the hours ran out. I want to thank them all for a wonderful evening and I hope we do it again soon. Friendship appears in the most random places (most my friends I have met through jobs I've enjoyed or random interests I have tried) but when you find it, it doesn't matter how long it is until you see them next, it will be like it was only yesterday that you saw them. It can't be bought and that's what makes it a wonderful thing! Awww : )
(Pictures will start appearing at the bottom of my blog again soon, but I've had to write this in a hurry : s)
Blog title inspired by Fall Out Boys' Thnks Fr the Memories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzL0EM1pKY
