Sorry I have been AWOL for the past few days, I've had an eventful time of it so haven't had the time to post anything. So this post is a little late given it's the 4th day of 2011 but I'll ramble on regardless as always! Myself and Chris hadn't thought much about what we would be doing for New Year's Eve because to be quite honest, we weren't that fussed and agreed that it's often the biggest anti-climax of the year. We were invited to a friend's new house for drinks and general NYE goings on and it seemed like a nice way to bring in 2011. Since we would be in a relaxed atmosphere, I didn't want to dress up too much but I still wanted to look smart since it was an occasion...
I just opted for a nice neutral dress (this is from Rise...post to come soon), belted at the waist with my oh-so-loved black Warehouse waterfall blazer, black tights (it was chilly pops outside!) and my zara peep-toe sandals with gold 'keyhole' detail on the front. Sorry about the crappy quality of the photos...I will be looking into getting an SLR camera but more about that in another post!
I wasn't in the mood for faffing around with my hair because we had been rushing around all day so I opted for a quick and easy option. I just popped in a couple of my Foxylocks hair extension wefts, back-combed the crown slightly, pulled back the top section of my hair and held it in place with a teeny clip, then put on a thin gold hair band.
Voila! I didn't want it to look perfect so I left it a little messy with hair falling down to frame my face. Does anyone else find it weird seeing pics of their face side-on?...I know it's a stupid thing to say but I always think I look so different from that angle. Probably because I only ever really see my face straight on!ha ha.
My hair is definitely in need of highlights and a trim in the next couple of weeks. I can always tell when I should book in with the hairdresser because my hair just doesn't fall properly around my face and it tends to look really flat. It's weird that we all go through these stages between hairdresser appointments where you first get your hair done, you get home and do things to it to make it look more like your normal hair, you're happy with it for about a week, then you spend the next few weeks getting frustrated with it before you get it done again. So out of a whole year, there's probably only 6 weeks in total when I'm completely satisfied with my hair!ha ha.
Because I was in a rush getting ready, I didn't think much about my makeup so it's really not going to set your world alight! I just grabbed my Urban Decay Baked Palette and used all the bronze/bronze shades and black gel eyeliner to create a neutral eye. I just went for an easy nude on the lips with Mac Angel lippy and Nars Turkish Delight lipgloss over it.
I wore OPI Let Me Entertain You on my nails which I got in the Show Stoppers set for Christmas and I must say that I am in love with it! I tidied up my nails with the OPI Crystal file in the set and I had forgotten how much better they are than your run of the mill cardboard file. It makes filing your nails so much easier and it has a much finer grain so there's less chance of leaving any annoying snags.
Let Me Entertain You is a Fuschia colour with cool toned reflects and it gives great colour after just one coat. I went lightly over my nails with a second coat just to intensify the colour though. It actually stayed put pretty well and I only saw the first chip after 4 days, which for me is very good because I always end up making a mess of my nails!
I did apply the OPI Nail Envy top coat to ensure my nails stayed looking perfect and I will continue using that product on my nails on the days in between wearing coloured polishes because it's supposed to really strengthen your nails. Everyone has their own preference on nail length/shape and my favourite is to have a little bit of length with the edges squared off softly (I think it's called squoval!?). I just prefer longer nails because it makes my fingers look longer and more elegant and it also makes me feel more feminine.
I will now tell you about a horrible experience we had on Sunday. We spent New Year's Day at my parents house and had a lovely meal of Beef Wellington and it was heaven! We had left Wolverine at the flat since it was only one night we would be staying away. We don't like to leave him for too long on his own because he drinks alot of water and if he ran out, it can be very dangerous for hamsters. Plus, he has a history of escaping from his cage. This is no ordinary hamster you see. He has worked out how to unscrew the tops of the towers in his cage...
So we now have to put masking tape over EVERY conceivable escape hatch in his cage to make sure he stays put. He also worked out pretty quickly how to unlatch the top of his plastic ball he runs around in. So we have to keep a close eye on the little blighter. So when we left him at the flat, we checked and double checked his cage to make sure it was secure, then we closed the kitchen and livingroom doors so if he did escape, at least we would know which room he was in. Well we got back on Sunday and on checking his cage...he was gone! The weird thing was, there was NO sign of how he got out. Nothing had been left open. Also, the livingroom door was slightly ajar and he had chewed the very bottom of some of the doors in the hallway so we knew he had been out there. So we started searching for him and after a few hours, we started to get really worried because normally we find him within a couple of hours. It got to around midnight on Sunday and I was almost in tears by this time.
I know alot of people will be thinking "What? It's just a hamster!". But the thing is, when you have looked after and nurtured an animal from a being a baby, you really do get attached to them and hamsters are very entertaining and smart creatures. Wolverine is extremely tame, loves being handled and has never bitten anyone. So it's hard not to love him. So there's me, crying on Chris' shoulder, imagining Wolverine had gotten in behind the bath and fallen down the wall cavity to the very bottom of the building which would mean he was either dead, wounded or would starve to death down there. All that going round my head just made me feel awful. I was sitting watching a film in the livingroom, unable to sleep and feeling really down when suddenly I heard shuffling behind the wall. I narrowed it down to behind the wooden unit, so I pulled it out of the way and looked at the socket in the wall where the Sky cables go into the wall. Chris pulled off the socket, it made a right mess but we weren't bothered about that...
We got a ripe banana and put it by the hole in the wall, more shuffling was heard! We could hear him making his way towards the opening. I was SO relieved he was still alive. We eventually coaxed him out and he didn't look as well groomed as normal...
He was all dusty and covered in fibre glass insulation - not sure what that stuff will do to his life span but at least we got him out in one piece. I gave him a rub down with a wet cloth so that he didn't ingest too much dust or fibres because he spends half his day cleaning/grooming himself normally. The poor little thing was really thirsty after being out on the run for more than 24 hours and breathing in all that dust so he spent quite a while guzzling water. He has been well and truly spoilt since then with hazelnuts, bits of banana, dates, hamster chocolate drops and fresh greens.
I know it seems silly to get so upset over such a small animal but I'm the type of person who cares about all living creatures, no matter how small they are. We want to give him the best possible quality of life because he really is the cutest little thing and he always makes me smile, especially when he's all curled up sleeping in cotton wool in his bed...
And as for how he escaped in the first place? Well that will forever remain a mystery!
