crankymonkeys in london

Coat: All Saints
Jeans: Topshop
Bag: Kookai
Boots: Jones*

There’s another new coat in my coat collection :) When I lived in Australia I only had cardigans of various thicknesses and one winter coat. Now I have 2 coats for very cold weather, 3 for semi-cold weather and 4 blazers for spring and summer! [...]

Brighton Half Marathon was hard.

Although the weather had improved from the day before and was sunny, it was still quite windy and running on exposed seaside was a challenge.

In addition, I had left my earphones in London so my run was only accompanied by the sound of the crowds cheering, which was very nice, and the sound of my feet pounding the pavement, which was not that nice. With music I’m able to tune out the pounding and just move with the music. Without music, however, my body felt so heavy and my legs so stiff. [...]

On Thursday morning we packed our bags and headed down to Brighton for a long weekend. Despite it being February, we had a lovely seaside mini-holiday: the kids loved sleeping in the same bed with us (we pushed a double and a single together to fit us all in, my mom had the other single); they loved going to bed late (as we were all in one room, we all went to bed at 9 or 9:30); they loved tossing rocks into the waves; they loved going to the swimming pool every day… [...]

I have a long way to go when it comes to my crafting skills, but the kids love this felt camera that I made this afternoon. Now I wish I had a sewing machine again, hand sewing is so time-consuming and painful :|

The bad news is that without any make-up I look exactly like Cameron Diaz without make up – no eyebrows, no eyelashes, a bit blotchy and very pale.

The good news is that with make up I don’t look too bad – almost as good as Ms Diaz when she puts make up on :)

I am now old enough to say that I have tried MANY different beauty products over the years and I have finally settled down to using my favorites, not buying new stuff very often anymore.

Here are my tried and tested favorites… [...]

So the western world is in Valentine’s Day mode at the moment – shop windows are full of pink and red love hearts and every other marketing email I get is about the 14th of February.

I am the wrong audience for all of this – I don’t get Valentine’s Day.

Do men need the pressure of finding yet another PERFECT present for the lady in their lives? (they probably still haven’t recovered from Christmas)

And ladies – do we really think that men want a Valentine’s Day present? (well, they might, if it comes in a form of putting a ribbon on yourself, but THAT can be arranged at anytime, right? ;) [...]

I think the British are some kind of a mutant superior race when it comes to handling freezing temperatures.

It’s been hovering around 0°C for the past week or two and this is what I see on the streets:

• At least half of the people don’t wear hats
• 90% of women wear the same shoes they would wear in the summer – ballet flats, etc.
• 100% of men wear the same shoes they would wear in the summer
• Teenagers do not wear coats
• Teenagers do not wear scarves or god forbid – hats
• An occasional adult walks by wearing a skirt and BARE legs
• An occasional adult walks by wearing flip flops

The mind boggles. [...]

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Post updated at 19:45pm with proof to my Mutant Race Theory :)