People Watching vs. Rear Window

It's a fine line when you're at a party and one person says "I like to people watch" and then later that same night, someone else says "I like to watch people". Why does one sound very cosmopolitan, very chic, and the other sound very sly, very criminal?

I'm more on the former than the latter I would say, but I do also like to observe people's actions, behaviours and mannerisms. Which can take more than a few seconds. So maybe that's a bit of the latter.

One person who uses his watchful eye to great effect is a guy named Scott Schuman. He has turned his interest and passion into a career. If you haven't seen his site, GO NOW. It is like being transported to another city in the world without all the travel and liquid gel sacrifice at Heathrow. In an instant. Impressive.

Went out with Fin tonight, clearly an update on my foreign booty call in order, but also to put the world to rights... I think we did we did a good job - as usual (but we missed Tristan's dry take on things - no hint there then T!) - although without any clearly defined answers and only skirting round some of the true issues "status anxiety" played a big part in the conversation and lord does that get you thinking!

However, and this is clearly more related to my booty call than status anxiety, I read a piece in the Metro on the train on the way home - in between earwigging on all the future Engerland managers (!!) - : Cameron Diaz quote - "bonk me over the head, throw me over your shoulder. You man, me woman." This is my kind of girl, although I'd forgoe the "over the head" bit and just have the "bonk"!

AnnaK xx

Steve Madden and a New York address

It pays to know about both of these things for a happier life.

Just sorted out all the important women in my life almost on one site - Steve Madden's. I happened to meet the man a few years back in NY during the days when I was connected to rich Jewish people - alas now it is just pikey Anglicans - and was impressed by his take on how he saw himself and his fashions plugging into the needs of the New Yorker. It's less about pretending to be something you're not, or even something you want to be, and more about finding that person who was always inside your own skin. Or something like that. The champagne and roe was flowing at the time so coupling that with time, forgive me if the paraphrasing is a little out.

And having a NY postal address on hand makes online shopping that much easier. US Postal Service are generally happy to assist once you get a starting point of having a NY address...for this, leverage all your contacts possible at work etc to find branch offices, subsidiaries of branches, even quangos of government to make this happen. NYU students are often willing to provide a post restante service of sorts, for a little extra pocket money on the side.

Mwaaaah ha ha

Well, I've taken the plunge and have booked flights for a booty call in foreign climes!!

As a single girl that hasn't really been "about town" very much at all over recent times, I'm thinking this is a good thing! I could go into all sorts of justifying reasons and so actually, here are 10 to mull over:

1. I know him
2. I like him - but don't love him Tristan!
3. I get to go to a country I've never been to before
4. And therefore get to see sights I've never seen before
5. There will be cool wildlife to see - and I don't just mean the man in question
6. I get to be a spectator at a major world sporting event
7. I get to have lots of sex (I hope) - which I haven't had for quite some time
8. No. 7 above may involve No. 4 above! Nice!
9. It's a BIG birthday year!
10. And finally, but perhaps most importantly, life is just too [swear word beginning with F] short to let opportunities pass us by!

So there!

AnnaK xx

Ailiu Eanai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f5PrqP-ezQ

Perhaps AnnaK knows the words??

Great song - first discovered when I was 15*. I was writing for a radio show and had introduced two Irish characters. Found at one of those nerd record fairs. Secrets revealed...

* no, I was not 15 when this song was first released.

Eat to the Beat

Ate at a newish restaurant today for lunch - in the same building as the (old?) Shoreditch Town Hall. They have a different menu every day (around five mains, three sides and two desserts) and right now a £10 deal which includes a main, a side and any drink.

Good menu, good facilities (incl. baby change as Little Miss Van was in tow - though no high chairs which meant I had to eat my spicy salad with one arm, with chopsticks...) and worth a go. Seemed a bit quiet for a Sunday if I am honest (the other Vietnamese/Indochinese places were more busy around the same time...) so not sure how long they will be around. Therefore, get there while you can!

http://www.monsieurm.co.uk/

Shopping for food...

I'm just back from a trip to my local superstore. I didn't need anything specifically since my fridge is already quite well stocked and my cupboards fairly full with a variety of "emergency" tins and jars, but I went nonetheless. This particular experience made me conclude two things:

1. When approached by a face from the past that you would really rather not see (and no, it wasn't one of my previous men "friends") don't pick up the nearest bottle of red and walk swiftly away in panic before realising it is one of the most expensive on the shelf you happened to be standing in front of at the time. Particularly when you're not actually sure it was the person you thought it might be anyway! And,

2. Always go with a list, particularly if you've been out boozing the night before and your mind can't get past the requisite need for carbohydrates, and "oh doesn't that lemon cheesecake look lovely".

And so now I'm left with an expensive bottle of red which probably won't last the evening and the thought that there's always tomorrow to start that healthy eating drive...

AnnaK xx

Through the looking glass

I may be poor - but I can still look - right. So I went on a Disney Alice in Wonderland window-shop today. Check out these fabulous easter eggs from Harvey Nichols. I also love, love love the Mad as a Hatter nail polish from OPI but as I am so virtuous I managed to resist on both counts. Perhaps I can drop a few hints to the rock god.

Now for a totally different subject. I hope you are also watching Glee - talk about stepping into a totally different world - it makes me chuckle all the way through.

Tell me why..

does the voiceover woman from MasterChef sound as if she has a separate job working for an 0900 number? Did the BBC intentionally ask her to do this?

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma-roma-mah

Flowers, chocolate, edible body paint (I always thought this was a phase people went through in their early 20's and then moved past once realising it's not all that...apparently not) all form part of a new romance. But now that I am a man of some years' marriage, what constitutes romance is something quite different.

The fact that whoever gets up first makes tea for both, is right up there in the romantic stakes. I would take that over a love letter (or worse, a poem) any day.

Myself and Mrs Van are both off work at the moment (don't worry, at least one of the people on this blog actually work...that would be AnnaK yet to grace us with her wit: fund my pension, biartch!) so we are spending a lot of time together. We had our kitchen refurbed too and so that meant the house was a mess, we were eating dinner in the bedroom and cooking it in the living room etc. Tempers frayed. The cabin fever kicked in (being of ethnic origin, it is my genetic disposition to watch workmen in my house like a hawk, thus not really leaving the house except for short periods at a time).

I thought some old-style swooning romantic gesture might break the domestic hell. A dinner at one of Gordon Ramsay's Restaurants was booked (we had a gift voucher to use up there, I would never choose it myself, even before the minimal cost vacuum-sealed food parcel story came out).

So we hike to the West End, the three of us (there's a baby on the scene btw), and then sat to eat the usual style of dinner at these places (big plate, tiny serve; mandatory stop for fast food on way home). And though the setting was right, the candles were lit, and we were reasonably dressed, it didn't flick any switches for us.

What became apparent is that as you grow even more intimate as you fall in love, you reach a level of connection where things like expensive dinners, flowers, chocolate etc are almost on the periphery of the bond shared between the two of you. Sure they break up the pattern of life every now and again but as we rode home, we both concluded that we could have stayed at home in our normal clothes, in our normal mode, taking the piss out of crap tv as we often do, or watching not-meant-to-be-hilarious-but-they-are videos on youtube, and that would have been bliss.

I did get the cab to pull over as I ran out and grabbed some fast food since we were both starving- and I knew exactly what Mrs Van wanted without even asking. I could tell she was impressed when I got back in the cab...Gaga-Ooh-la-la.

Is there such a thing as a free lunch?

As a very recently unemployed person I have been trying to fill my free time up with limited funds.

Clearly I'm not going to jump on the vacuous 'volunteering' bandwagon as that would seem too much like work to me, but without any financial gain. No, no,no, most certainly not for me.

But I did find this beauty: mycitydeal.co.uk once you get past the crap deals (mostly restaurant offers which are no better than toptable.com) there's some good stuff available, so far I've bought two cinema tickets for £1 each and 2 spa days for £25 each. Total saving = £173. If I keep this up I'll soon be rich, or something like that!

I also received a call from an old colleague who has an expense account and wants to take me out to lunch next week. So, yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch after all.

So far so good - I'll post more of my free-ish finds as and when I discover them.

So back to yesterday's dilemmas I had to buy a whole hair dye to get the roots brush thing for my hair, but I bought it with Boots points so it was effectively free. I am soooooo good at this saving money. Maybe I don't need a job after all.

I've ordered my dad's cake - it's going to be something like the one here - well at 70 everyone plays bowls don't they? I had to call my sister though and tell her about my jobless situation as I need her to help pay for the other party food.

Still working on the earning a living thing...

Finn, xxx

Jay-son De-Rulohhh

I feel sorry that this guy has to sing his own name in his latest song. Fine if he wants to tell us who he is, so we can somehow distinguish him from the many similar acts out at the time, but most other artists at least get someone else to say their name in songs eg. Mariah Carey, JT, J-Lo, Beyonce/Shakira (each say the other's name in their duet).

Can anyone think of other songs where the artist has to sing their own name?

The hunt is on....

The search is most certainly on indeed.

Firstly, after my rather untimely exit from the job market last week (yes- I was sacked) I need to figure out a plan to make some much-needed cash.

Secondly, I am currently looking for someone to make a wondrous cake for my dad's upcoming 70th birthday celebration. Due to my first point I did consider baking one myself, but had flashbacks to a pottery class disaster in '87 where I ended up with a slurry moustache.

And finally...I want to buy one of those little brush things to 'do my roots' I can no longer afford my £200 visits to Jo Hansford and the wonderful Taylor।

And I'm not the only one searching am I Anna K?!?!?


Best, Finnx