Hehe - I remember the one with the red walls and zebra print and the owner was some kinda veggie/animal rights person/hated animal print Oh dear... it was cringeworthy



Yay!! Can 't wait to see!! I am re-using my dress too! I get to wear it three times! Go me!!

Oh - don't forget to pm me q&as so I can add them to my spiffy list

g'morning uk

Afternoon Charles

I have to admit that, whenever I have watched that show, I've thought the end results were hideous. But I love watching Laurence. He's a hoot. I laughed when one guy (was it handy Andy? ) imitated Laurence flipping back his hair. I was SHOCKED to learn he's married. I SO thought he was gay.

Yeah - I always really liked him as well

Hurrah! That sounds like a really lovely ensemble



I think many people were shocked! I loved his dress style, though. He carried it off very well.

A few of the results were nice...but naturally many are going to be outlandish and hideous because ultimately that's what makes good TV! Plus I imagine it was hard to keep up a variety of ideas and themes for the rooms.

Seem to have a vague recollection of lots of teapots being smashed on one of those changing rooms episodes?

Yes! The woman had been collecting teapots for decades, and one of the female designers decided to give her shelves that were suspended on wire in the middle of the room. The teapots were too heavy for the shelves and they collapsed.

The lady was very good natured and said that she hadn't really liked all those teapots anyway, but once she'd been given two or three all her relatives and friends had assumed she was collecting them and kept giving them to her as presents!

Wow...I remember really odd things. When it comes to important occasions (first/last days of school, outings, holidays, graduation) my memory is as blank as a slate! How terrible is that?!

I am exactly the same!! I can't remember things I did yesterday then all of a sudden I will have some random memory of something totally bizarre... Forgotten all the good examples though

My girlfriend bought Gingko Balboa one day while we were shopping..... to help her improve her memory, said she. A few weeks later I asked her how it was working. She said "I don't know. I keep forgetting to take it."

I used to live in Blackheath, right near Laurence. Early one morning I was going for a walk near his house when he walked out his front door to collect the newpaper, wearing only silky paisley boxers and a dressing gown, his hair all a-muss.



I stared at him, he groggily looked at me, flipped back his hair and retreated into his house.

That is AWESOME.

g'morning uk'ers

I've just had my first ever bikini wax and was totally surprised by how little pain is involved! I am totally having that done regularly from now on.

Erm... probably seems an odd thing to post but I've been worried for the past two days about how much it would hurt and I'm overcome by relief-induced euphoria!

Good to know! I've always been curious but my anxiety about shopping affects me ever placing orders for anything else, too. I even often cut my own hair so as to avoid having to book haircuts. But...maybe one day!

I'm 27 and my mammy still cuts mine. I'm scared of hairdressers after one made a mess of my hair when I was 10 or something...kids can be cruel and it was hard to hide a missing chunk of hair where the hairdresser had "slipped" with the scissors.

I'm a terrible penny pincher (comes from my mammy, she's an accountant) and I find it hard to treat myself as if I can't justify the price of something to myself I wont buy it.

Better a penny pincher than a big spender!

I think I've picked up a lot from my mother, too. She's never been very good at spending money on herself and she too dislikes shopping (the two of us together are hopeless! But at least she has more confidence than me - although she embarrasses me!).

Hannah you crack me up!!! I literally laughed out loud here at work! I guess you didn't go for the Brazilian!

That is the only way I'm my mom's kid. I'm a shopper, and not the best saver. Total 100% yuppie girl...I like my haircuts, my shoes, purses...did I say shoes again LOL?

I think I have at least 50 pairs of shoes. My poor OH! I think when we have our own place my stuff will take up 99% of the closet space!

Wow! Lucky you! That is so not the norm. You'll probably have painfree childbirth too!

I was burnt terribly, once, by the new girl at the esthetician's. Went back a few weeks later to the regular girl and she was horrified (still had burn marks..... kinda like a bad sunburn). She said that the girl had obviously used the wrong wax. (She used hard wax instead of soft wax.) Anywhooo.... don't have the nerve to get it done anymore. I'm not into pain. But there is a cream you can get to dull the nerves if you're sensitive to waxing..... Emla Cream. You rub it in before your appointment. Or you can just shave.

Aaah burns

Nope, not yet anyway - I rather suspect more er... intimate waxing would be much more painful! I've had several scary at home waxing mishaps and my body reacts badly to shaving (itchy rash... not exactly comfortable or attractive) so I've been a bit stuck trying to figure what to do and figured I had to at least try salon waxing. I read up a lot about it first and found out that you should avoid going during the 10 days leading up to your period as you are most sensitive to pain then. I've never even had my legs waxed before so I was uber worried it would be hideous, but really it was almost completely painless - didn't even sting a bit afterwards.

AND it only cost £7!!!

I've heard lots of horror stories like that too. One of my friend's cousins tried giving herself a bikini wax and f'd it up completely...basically she tore out a chunk of skin, and to this day she apparently has a scar...or chunk missing.

My friend could be exagerrating but I'll just continue to shave gently :-)

I'm a shopaholic too! If only I had more time and money!!!

Bargain!

I'd like more clothes/shoes, but even when I have the money I find shopping a hassle. I have to try clothes on, and I especially have to try shoes on (wide feet, narrow heels/ankles...sigh). I sometimes fantasise about having the money to have my own personal shopper with me to walk around and pick things out and I'd just have to follow her commands and place down the money

That bolded bit's true. There are anti-bump/rash products on the market which are quite good. Check the ethnic aisle..... they have good shaving products for men because of how their facial hair grows.

I remember one of my co-workers bringing in a catalogue from one of those home sex parties. That came out wrong. Hopefully, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, we ended up in a conversation which began with a teddy which looked something like this.....



I jokingly said that "Oh, this would look attractive after shaving.... it would match my razor rash." And my friend said "Especially when you've got those little pieces of tissue stuck to all the little bumps." We all ended up crying with laughter and disrupting the entire office.... and all the guys coming into my office wondering what was going on. I miss my former co-workers.

£7 for a bikini wax????? Where???

I get nasty rashes from shaving too. I use an epilator now, the best thing ever invented.

Gillian

http://wikiality.com/The_British_Empire

For fans of the Colbert Report.

Did you guys catch this one - it was posted a while back...

Wax is not your friend!
_________________________________________________

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The epilady, scissors, razors, Nair... and now... the wax.
My night began as any other normal weeknight.
Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours:
"Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet."
So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!)

I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad.
I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me!
I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the one strip across the right side of my
bikini line, covering the right half of my *hoo-hoo* and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (Yes, it was a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP!!!


Another deep breath and RRIIPP!! Everything is swirly and spotted.!? I think I may pass out... must stay conscious... Do I hear crashing drums???

Breathe, breathe... OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the
glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!

There's no hair on it! Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip. I touch.

I am touching wax.

CRAP! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake... remember my foot is still propped up
on the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

DANG!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of a cell door.

Hoo-Hoo?? sealed shut!

Butt?? Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself, "Please don't let me get the urge to poop.
My head may pop off!"

What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!!

I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???



WRONG!!!!!!!

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub... in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cement-epoxied myself to the porcelain!!

God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter -
"So, my butt and who-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!"

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or who-ha?"

She's laughing out loud by now... I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!!! Right!!
I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions. I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace.... the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. IT WORKS!! It works!!

I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair.... THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......
Now thats funny . Notttttttttt

I have always wanted to wax and never had the guts... thing is I would *have* to have a brazillian or something just because it would annoy me otherwise... and that just... ouchies... sounds soooo nasty...

Oh Audrey - that is genius!! Just what I needed! Some light-hearted relief from massive anxiety and stress about immigration tomorrow!

Hey - has Phil entered the US since you started this visa process? Has he had any trouble at all?

that is the funniest thing I've read in ages...OMG I was almost off the chair laughing

I'm glad that you thought it was funny - it's just what we all need, huh?

Yes, Phil has entered the US - many times. In March, May, June, July, September, October, November and our trip to Figi in December. He was questioned on the November trip as to why he was coming here so often. He explained to see his girlfriend and a bit of business. They gave him the hardest time however when he met me in Chicago for our flight out to Figi. They wanted to know why he was not carrying much luggage for a 10 day trip? He just told them that his clothes were already there and they let him be on his merry way.

I hope that you have a great trip - be safe. Definately send pics.

g'morning uk.

i see someone discovered brazilian waxing

good morning charles!

I hear you like the brazilian for yourself!

just for my back, otherwise i can be mistaken for shag carpeting.

Just don't start sharing those pics with us again.

Poor nessa!!

I agree with krikit - no pics!! I beg of you!!

oh darn someone remembered those

anyways.............yay it's friday!

Hurrah for Fridays!

Hurrah indeed!

Going to a curry-all-you-can-eat for dinner with a friend tonight. Hey, what can I say? We're both poor

Also, £48 to ship Alex's Valentine parcel. Ouch

Woah... are you trying to send yourself in the mail

Seriously though, that's really sweet of you!

I'm ecstatic that Mark arrives the day before Valentines *fingers crossed* and so I've been buying yummy things from Marks and Spencers for us to have a little bedroom picnic

Ooh, yay! You'll be able to spend Valentine's together Bedroom picnics are an awesome idea!

I sent him two DVD box sets and some Jaffa cakes. I know the postage prices jump from £19 for a parcel just under 2 kg to £40 for a parcel just over 2 kg, and usually I try to either split the parcels up or make sure I purchase lighter goods. But I had no real idea how heavy the box sets would be, and one of them alone was 2 kg so it wouldn't have been any less expensive to split the parcel up!

Making some homemade shortbread for my DF. Considering cutting them into heart shaped cookies but that is awful cheesy all the same!

Nah, that's not cheesy. Cheesy would be more like finding a really sappy poem and then icing each line onto each shortbread slice. Hearts are expected on Valentine's - go wild!

will just be a valentine phone call for me and Nick, won't be long until I'm there though.