Thank Haggis it's Friday!

Happy St Andrew's Day Bloggers!

Yes, November 30th marks the feast day of Saint Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland. Tonight will feature a traditional Scottish supper of haggis, neaps and tatties with a wee dram of whisky and then sleeping naked! (A rather bizarre tradition is for unmarried women to sleep naked on 30th November and they will dream of their future husband. Not for me I'm afraid, it's minus 7 where I live, that's way too cold to be sleeping without my onesie!) St Andrews day, as of 2006 is a bank holiday in Scotland. Not for me unfortunately as I am sat at work as I write this. All the same it's making my day go in a lot quicker.



The Scottish Flag, also known as the St Andrew's Cross and the Saltire.

 Exciting weekend planned. I have my Christmas night out with the work tomorrow. We will be attending a 'Black, White & Diamond Night' at The Mercure Hotel. It sounds very fancy, but not too fancy. We will be arriving at 7pm and greeted with cocktails at the bar, no doubt chatting about how glamorous we all look in our black and white dresses and (fake) diamond jewellery (it's an all girls night too, I should add). We get seated for dinner at 7:30pm where we will tuck into a four course meal and more cocktails. I have looked at the menu on the website and it seems very inventive with vast choices, but I will of course be opting for the traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Gotta love a big fat Christmas dinner, nice way to start December! The rest of the night will be followed by cocktails and dancing until the early hours. Don't know how long I'll be staying as I am busy Sunday too. Very much looking forward to this shindig. Pictures and full review to follow.

On Sunday, my friends and I are heading into Glasgow to attend Girls Day Out at the SECC Auditorium. I'm very much looking forward to this. I have a friend who is currently attending the event as we speak. She has already sent me a text to tell what a great time she is having and how much us girls are going to love it on Sunday. The event is scheduled to start at 10am and end a 6pm. I'm still not sure whether or not to be there for the 10am opening or show up a bit later. Need to make my mind up soon though. When we 3 Queen's leave the event we are heading into Glasgow City centre for a nice big dinner and probably some more cocktails and maybe a wee wander through the shops and markets. Thoroughly looking forward to this!! Again, a review followed by pictures of this coming soon to the blog!

Recent purchases in the last few weeks include my new BlackBerry. It's never a phone I thought i'd ever own as it's never really taken my fancy but when Vodafone gave me a good offer then I'm not going to refuse it! It's a BlackBerry Curve 9320 in violet no less. I have to say I'm absolutely loving it and i'm using it more than any other phone that i've owned (mainly because this is my first ever SmartPhone)

My violet BlackBerry

I was supposed to go Christmas shopping with my good friend Jileen and her son Aedan one beautiful Sunday afternoon, but ultimately I just ended up buying stuff for myself :-)
Whilst shopping in Matalan, I couldn't help but spot the bargains available in the sale section of the store, including a selection of trilby hats for £1 each. I bloody LOVE a trilby hat, so I bought myself 2!

2 Trilby's for £2. Happy Days!

I literally have an entire shelf in my wardrobe for all of my hats, so these two will make a nice little addition. My little shopping buddy Aedan and I were having such a good time together while we let mother goose, Jileen do her shopping undisurbed by us two scoundrals! I have to say Aedan was very well behaved and a fun little companion who was loving the hat sale almost as much as I was. I hat to treat the little dude to his own...

Could this picture get any cuter?

My choice of nail colour this week has been a very bright pink from Rimmel again. I'm not sure why I picked this colour as it does not match the weather scheme or the mood that most people are in right now. Still, i like it!

My nail polish of the week. The only thing it seems to match is my watch!

Peace and Love
TT

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas...

Still no sign of snow (thank goodness) but that doesn't mean Scotland hasn't got any Christmas spirit.

I was in Glasgow last night as I had planned to go to the cinema with my big cousin and his girlfriend. I live approx 35 miles from Glasgow and I work on Wednesday so after I had my half day granted I went home for a wash and change of clothes then headed out west on the M8 (motorway/highway) to the glorious city of Glasgow! The three of us had decided to make movie night a double feature by going to see the new Bradley Cooper movie, Silver Linings followed by our first official cinema Christmas movie, Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger.

We arranged to meet outside Cineworld at 5pm so I left home at 3pm. On the way I pulled over at Coatbridge for a cheeky McDonald's at the drive thru. Whilst in the queue I notice that they have updated their normal menu to the festive menu so I couldn't help but treat myself to a potion of Cheese Melt Dippers. So scrumptious.



I LOVE the festive McDonald's menu!

 I was worrying about my time keeping as I was fully aware it was about to hit rush hour traffic. I decided to complete my journey by driving through as soon as I had finished eating thinking I would make it in good time. I couldn't have been more correct, literally 13 mins later my car was parked and my parking ticket was placed on my dashboard. I had arrived a whole hour early! The car park is a good 15 minute walk from Cineworld so I decided to take a longer route and go a little walk on my own.

At this time of year, Scotland (and the rest of the UK) starts to lose daylight at about 3.30pm and in the last few weeks it has been getting mighty cold! So with my bobble hat, gloves and new BlackBerry phone I headed out in search of Glasgow's Christmas decorations and light displays (I was desperate to give me new camera phone a go).

I headed down through to George's Square, a popular landmark in Glasgow all year round, but never more popular than at Christmas. The whole Square is glittering with lights, a huge Christmas tree, the full Nativity set, an ice rink, a Helter Skelter, the Chair-o-planes, plus food and clothing stalls! I had to resist my temptation to go for a wander around the whole square as I have made plans for later on in December to come back and sample everything here. So I walked along the side of the road taking pictures with my new phone. The pictures turned out well I thought...but in real life it is something else!



The famous George's Square lights. They have remained unchanged for as long as I can remember!



The white gazebo where the Christmas bar is. You can see the Helter Skelter in the background.



The fairground section of the Square

 


The Chair-o-planes! A favourite in my family.



It looks beautiful from every angle

I spent a while taking in the view before heading over to Buchanan Street. I stopped along the way to get a Christmas coffee at Costa's - a creme brulee latte. Yummy, plus it kept me warm! I took a short cut so I could pass through the side street next to the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. This is what I walked under...



The GOMA. Not sure if you can see the statue of the Duke of Wellington at the front. He is wearing his traditional traffic cone hat.



The gorgeous light canapy



The colour of the sky made this perfect to walk under.

I headed through to Buchanan Street which is always busy no matter what time of day. The lights are up and people are Christmas shopping with friends and family.

This used to be a real working police box until they became dysfunctional in the 1980s then it was used as a coffee stand AKA 'The Coppochino'. Since the revamp of Doctor Who in 2005 it now stands as a tourist attraction. There are several all over Glasgow, including a red one!

Happy but cold Christmas shoppers in Buchanan Street



Something for the kids...

 I enjoyed my little detour but the clock was ticking and it was time to see these movies. I met up with Kris and Fiona outside Cineworld then we waited in line to get the tickets to see the movies. Kris and Fiona are both members of the Cineworld movie club so they pay annually to attend the cinema as many times as they want for a full year. I on the other hand had 2 Orange Wednesday codes with me so my trip to the cinema was totally free...apart from the stint at the concession stand :-S

The first movie we saw was Silver Linings, this was my pick! I must be honest, I hadn't seen or read anything about this film I just wanted to see it because the lovely Bradley Cooper was the star and Robert De Niro was playing his father. The film is based on the novel of the same name. The main character, Pat, played by Cooper has just been released from a mental hospital after a 9 month stint. He was an undiagnosed bi-polar patient who had a severe mood swing when he discovered his wife had been having an affair. He is released from the mental hospital and taken to live with his parents as his wife has had a restraining order placed on him and moved out from their martial home. The story is about him trying to battle his mental illness and get back to his wife but on the way he meets the sister in law of a friend who has recently lost her husband. She has also had issues dealing with her husbands death and needs his help as much as she needs him. I really enjoyed the film. It had a lot of heart in it and was very funny at points and it had a Christmassy element which was a nice wee surprise.

The second film we saw was Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger. This was a communal choice as we all wanted to see a proper Christmas movie, plus the star of this film is the lovely David Tennant! Having never seen the first Nativity I didn't really know what to expect (apart from the obvious Nativity). The only person in the film who I found genuinely funny was the cameo appearance of Jessica Hynes playing a Welsh Opera diva. The rest of the film, I imagine, was mainly to be aimed at kids. The plot was full of holes and poor jokes and was trying too hard to be sickly sweet. It went on far too long despite having a load of really cute kids in the cast. Overall I really didn't enjoy the film and would only recommend you go and see it if you are taking children. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it.

Despite the disappointment of the second film I had a fantastic (half) day in Glasgow. I enjoyed spending time with Kris and Fiona, I loved my solitary walk around the Square and I loved the first film.

I am definitely in the spirit for Christmas now. I just hope this inspiration helps me get my Christmas shopping done!

Recent Purchases

It's November now, the month before Christmas and statistically speaking the busiest month to do your Christmas shopping. I'm not one of those brilliantly organised people who had all of their shopping done by the end of July so I am right in the thick of it now! But along the way as you pass by all the shops and see all the 'stuff' on sale you just can't help but treat yourself to a few little bits and bobs can you? Or is that just me?

I went shopping with my friend on Sunday, who is as equally as disorganised as me (if not worse as she hates a spending spree) and as you can imagine our local shopping centre was mobbed (for any non-Brits reading this, that means busy). Groups of people: friends, parents, families etc all out and about shopping for the best bargains and Christmas food. I love shopping, especially at Christmas and in a busy shopping mall. I love when all the display windows and restaurants are covered in fake snow and tinsel. I love when the outdoor and indoor walls are draped from top to bottom in white lights. I love the 'centre piece' of a mall where they have the biggest tree in town surrounded by fake presents and little kids getting their picture taken next to it. I love going to a restaurant or a coffee shop and find that they have added new flavours or renamed drinks to get customers 'into the Christmassy mood'. I love driving to the shopping mall during the day and leaving at nightfall when all the Christmas lights have been switched on. As Bing Crosby once sang, 'It's the most wonderful time of the year'. He was so right, I absolutely love Christmas and I love that warm feeling I get every year when I see all of the above.

My friend Claire and I had an idea of what and who we were going to buy for but unfortunately Claire wasn't feeling too well and wasn't in a mood for shopping so it was really left to me to get what I needed. I was very good at first, buying for other people including the person I got for Secret Santa at work but then in relapsed and spent most of the day shopping for me...oops!

My great aunt from Glasgow had given me £40 for Christmas despite the fact that I keep telling her that I'm too old for all this but she never listens. It was very kind of her so this kind of gave me an excuse to treat myself. I went to Primark and got myself a green military style jacket which is just new in the store. We then headed up stairs to the underwear dept and there I saw something I just had to have...a Minnie Mouse Onesie!

My Minnie Mouse Onesie!



I even have a tail on my arse!



And a hood with Minnie's face and the iconic polka dot bow!



It's super cute and super cosy, plus it makes me look cool!?!

After buying the most stupid thing in the store I headed to The Body Shop. Previously this had never been a place I visited often but a friend at work has taken a keen interest in Body Shop products over the last few months and has introduced me to a whole new variety of body butters, shower gel's and even make up! They have lots of great offers on for Christmas and lots of gorgeous little stock fillers, one of which I treated myself to: 5 different flavoured lip gloss' in a lollipop stick gift set. It's absolutely beautiful the way it has been presented and the 5 flavours are so delicious. I'm currently wearing (and licking off) the orange flavoured gloss.

Looking for a stocking filler for a girly girl? You can't go wrong with this!

We then headed to HMV, my home away from home to pre-order Liverpool comedian John Bishop's new Blu-ray (out the next day). I had gone to see that very show in October and it was fantastic. I went back into Livingston the next day to pick him up.

The brilliant John Bishop's new Blu-ray

Having spent nearly all of the money my aunt gave me, I still had enough to purchase a new (and cheap) nail polish from Boots. It's not normally a colour I wear but I did think it was cute and Christmassy so I got it. I have to admit, it does look too bad.

GOLD!

We ended the day with dinner at Chiquito's. Both Claire and I love Mexican food so this place a is a real favourite of ours. Claire was starting to feel better now so we enjoyed our meal. Claire had jalapeno poppers to start, followed by spicy chicken and chips washed down with a ginger and cranberry mocktail. I had nachos to start with then chicken fajitas for my main course washed down with a cranberry and apple mocktail. Delish!

A good day was had but I'm no further forward in completing my Christmas shopping. I imagine Livingston Shopping Centre will be seeing a lot of me in the next coming weeks!

In other shopping news, my tickets for Girls Day Out arrived! They were very quick i have to say. I ordered them on Tuesday and they were delivered Friday. I texted all the girls to let them know and we are all very excited. I'll keep checking the website to see what other activities have been added and other goodies that we have to look forward to.


Looking forward to a girly day out!

My make up brushes, ordered through Wowcher, have not arrived yet. It'll be at least another 2 weeks before I get my hands on those!

Titanic. It really is a masterpiece.

***This may contain spoilers of bonus features on the new Titanic Blu-ray. I will try not to give away the ending to the film :-)***

I love James Cameron's Titanic. I was only 9 when it was released so I was too young to go to the cinema to see it. It was hailed as a masterpiece even then, with my mother raving about it after going to see it with a group of her girlfriends. The trailers and TV spots made it look so different to any other film released at the time. It really didn't look like the type of film I would enjoy, old fashioned, actors that I had never even heard of, over 3 and a half hours long and I already knew how it ended. But I'll never forget the excitement of the Friday afternoon when my mum brought home the newly released video - in wide screen no less!

It was planned that my mum, dad and I would have a family night on Saturday and watch Titanic together. My dad, who had never seen the film was a big history buff (I too would later become one) and was looking forward to seeing this film, especially after all of the Oscar wins. My mum was still in love with the film after seeing it at the cinema and she confirmed with my dad that it was ok for me at 9 years old to watch it. So Saturday night arrived, we ordered a Chinese take away and ate that whilst watching the typical Saturday night 1998 schedule (including a new show called Who Wants to be a Millionaire?). Then at 9pm, we pulled the couch closer to the TV in the living room, switched the lights off and the 3 of us cuddled up together, fast forwarding all the trailers as my mum was all too aware that Titanic was long and there wasn't any time to watch them and the full film. The 3 of us sprawled out on the couch, unable to move after such a big dinner...then it started. The sepia coloured screen accompanied with that hauntingly beautiful soloist, people happily waving from the doomed ship in slow motion before the camera pans over the Atlantic ocean and the name Titanic appears. Already the excitement of watching the film has disappeared and replaced with a sadness in me. It was that exact moment that it hit me that this is a
true story and I actually started to dread what was to follow.

It took an unsuspecting turn for me, I wasn't expecting Titanic to start in the modern day terms and in a submarine. I was slightly confused, were we watching a documentary? I'll never forget that image
of 'the ghost ship'. Beautiful yet frightening, this was the real deal, I was fascinated.

The Ghost Ship

The story starts with with a crew of men who are desperate to find 'The Heart of the Ocean', a rare blue diamond necklace that had allegedly gone down with the ship 84 years ago. Whilst searching for, and not finding the necklace they come across a portrait of a nude young woman wearing the necklace that had been drawn the night Titanic sank. The picture hits the news which is seen by an elderly Rose DeWitt Bukater, who contacts the crew straight away as she is the young woman in the picture. Rose is brought aboard with the treasure hunters, accompanied by her granddaughter Lizzie. She is shown all of the trinkets that the crew have discovered and retrieved on visits down to the ship, some of which rose recognises as her own. It's at this point that she has an extreme case of nostalgia and tells the story of Titanic from her point of view as a First Class passenger travelling with the fiancee she does not love and the mother she despises.

The beautiful, yet fictitious Heart of the Ocean

The story kicks off and the element of falling in love has started. People have often mocked Titanic for being over-the-top-romantic, but what's wrong with that? Some people really do fall in love that quickly and would happily sacrifice their own life for the one they love. That's what Titanic is, 1/3 history lesson, 1/3 love story and 1/3 disaster movie. It's so epic and glorious that I really can't bear when people dismiss it as a 'multi million dollar chick flick'. There is so much more to the film than romance, not to mention the ground breaking CGI special effects (the latest in movie technology in 1997/1998) which still stand out today. The thing that got me as a 9 year old watching this film, and had a lasting effect on me for some time was the scene after the sinking, the image of passengers who couldn't get on a lifeboat floating around in the calm ocean. The make up that had been applied to these men, women and children was outstanding. Frozen corpse's, some of whom had their eyes opened were covered in ice and frost and their skin colour had become a whiter shade of pale. It gave me nightmares for years after first seeing this film, the thought of all those real passengers who had succumbed to such a horrible, terrifying death. It didn't help that as my parents and I were watching the film on the couch in the living room I suddenly became aware that it was like we were in the film. The couch the three of us were lying on became a lifeboat, the blue carpet of the living room became the cold dark water of the Atlantic ocean, and with the lights off it was like the middle of the night with no-one around to see or hear us. It's amazing the way a child's mind can play tricks on them, if anything it just made the film more real to me. I had never felt like this when watching a film, I became so involved and very emotional. The hardest part of the film for me to watch was the scene during the sinking that involved a family being torn apart. The old rule 'women and children first' meant that several families had to go on without the man/husband/father/bread winner of the house. The scene where 2 little girls are sobbing as they are being put into a lifeboat are crying for their father who has to remain on board. The father can be heard saying, 'It's goodbye for a little while, there will be another boat for daddy's to get on shortly'. I found this heart breaking and still do. We know, he knows and his little girls know there won't be another boat for daddy. It was at that point that I started to well up but tried to hide it from my parents, but I had to voice my opinion as I did not agree with the situation. 'I think it should be families first, not just women and children!' I said through a breaking voice. 'Oh, so that's me getting on the boat then?' my dad answered sarcastically. 'I WOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT YOU ON THAT BOAT YOURSELF DADDY!' I screamed as I couldn't hold back my tears. It's funny when i think about it now and really quite sweet, but that's the effect of a great movie. If you can get through to the mind and heart of a little girl then you've really made a good effort in my opinion. It's remained one of my favourite's ever since and I know I will love it forever.

In April 2012 Titanic was re-released for the 100th anniversary of the ship's maiden voyage and sinking. As I hadn't been old enough to go to the cinema first time around I made damn well sure I was going to attend this time and make it better by upgrading to IMAX (arguably, the greatest ever cinema experience). Nothing has changed in 15 years, I still love it and cry in all the same places. It was extraordinary seeing it on the massive IMAX screen in Edinburgh's Cineworld with my aunt, cousin and his girlfriend, 3 other people who also love the movie. It was a complete sell out on the day we went which was the week of the anniversary. I was extremely impressed with a young family who were sat in front of us. A mum and dad had taken 2 young kids who must have been aged between 8 and 6 equipped with sweets and pop corn managed to sit through out the entire film! No-one fidgeting or needing to get up and go to the bathroom, they sat silently, glued to the film for over 3 hours. That's impressive!

Later on in the year, in September the Blu-ray was released. I used my lunch break from work to nip to the local shopping centre and purchase the film. I thought it looked great at IMAX, I got home and put the Blu-ray on...it...is...GLORIOUS. As well as the digitally enhanced picture quality of the film you are also treated to a whole new set of bonus features. Including documentaries, trailers, production note and unbelievably, deleted scenes! Imagine how long the film would have been had these scenes been included in the final cut? Some of the scenes that were not included in Titanic add a bit more depth to the movie and give extra details to the more famous scenes of the film i.e. what happened to Jack and Rose when they were being chased by David Warner's character back into the drowning dining room? That explains why, in his last scene where the ship splits in two, he is covered in blood!

Over all, a fantastic piece of cinema and a wonderful Blu-ray to add to my collection. Highly recommended to all movie and history buffs!

Peace and Love

TT

My Thoughts for Today

Woke up to the fantastic news that Barack Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States. It's not so much that I am totally pro Obama, it's more that I am 100% against Mitt Romney! America has made a great choice and hopefully he can make his last 4 years in office the best of his career. You may find it unusual that a Scot takes this much interest in American politics and rarely writes or discusses my own. To be brutally honest, I hate the Conservative Government. Like most Scot's my age I was brought up to despise them by my parents who had to suffer under the 'leadership' of Margaret Thatcher during the 1980's. She and her party brought my country to its knees and raised unemployment to an all time high. The Tory Government has always looked after the posh and privileged and neglected the working class, much like what Mitt Romney more than likely would have done had he been elected President. So as far as I'm concerned, American politics are far more interesting than British politics. All the best Obama, don't let your wonderful nation down!

4 More Years

And now for something completely different!

In other good news that I read today, Ossie Clark fashion is to make a come back at Debenhams! Along with Mary Quant, Ossie Clark is one of my all time favourite fashion designers who made waves during the sixties and seventies. I have spend many a 'hard day' at work sprawling through vintage clothing websites ogling Ossie's gorgeous creations and never buying them either because of clothing size or money issues. But as of next year, Ossie's designs will be on sale (all be it re-envisaged) AND affordable from Debenhams. I'm well aware of the fact that I will never look anywhere near as good as any of Ossie's models such as Pattie Boyd and Twiggy, but in mind I certainly will! Must start saving for a big shopping spree next spring!

My favourite model, Pattie Boyd, wearing one of my favourite Clark mini's

The Ossie Clark Trio. Pattie, modelling the maxi with 2 other chicks sporting hot mini's

A gorgeous red maxi by Ossie Clark. Red is my new colour to wear at the moment, so I would kill for this dress!

Also I have recently bought tickets to Girls Day Out, a girly event taking place in Glasgow's SECC venue between 30th November to 2nd December. Very much looking forward to it with my wee pal's Jileen, Claire and Fiona. All I know about the event so far is that we will be treated to a free goody bag (who doesn't love a goody bag?), greeted with a glass of wine and later on a cocktail while spending the whole day shopping and sampling the best make up, fashion, drinks and food the organisers can throw at us. Expect a blog update on that in the next month or so...
This all came about as I have recently become a tad obsessed with voucher discount websites. I have signed up to lots of them i.e. Groupon, Wowcher etc but never really taken any notice of them until earlier this week. I saw on Wowcher a great deal for a 32 piece make up brush set for £15! I almost threw up when I realised the week before I had paid £12 for ONE foundation brush from The Body Shop! So I took the plunge and treated myself to the Wowcher which I shall be claiming in the next few days. Again, I will post a review of it here when I receive them.

My 32 piece make up brush set, from Wowcher I got a whopping 66% off the retail price.

We are reaching the end of Autumn now which means I have gone back to wearing dark nail varnish again. My favourite at the moment is Black Cherries by Rimmel. I am a big fan of Rimmel's colours, they are so vibrant and in your face that they don't need an explanation, you can wear any colour, any time with any outfit. I shall be on the look out for some new ones so watch this space. Any recommendations are always welcome...

Rimmel Lasting Finish, No 193 Black Cherries

 Peace and Love
TT

My Best Friends Wedding

My best friend of 10 years is now a married woman!

It's hard to think someone I went to school with, grew up with, had sleep overs with, argued and cried with is no longer a single lady. She is married and a home owner which technically now means she is a grown up. But lucky for her, she'll always have me to fall back and be silly with. I imagine even the most serious of people need to be silly every now and again. But your wedding day is not really a time to be silly, especially not during the service. I'm happy to say everything went to plan and the bride and groom had a wonderful day. This is their wedding from my point of view.

The date: Thursday 25th October 2012
The time: 2pm (actually 2:20pm as the bride was a tad late)
The venue: The Vu in Bathgate, West Lothian

My day started at 7:30am, that's when I got up. I was like a zombie. Because the wedding was on a Thursday I had decided to take the whole week off from work in case i had any last minute shopping to do, so due to my natural night hawk state I didn't have a single early night during this week so getting up on Thursday morning was more difficult than planned. Somehow I managed to drag my sorry ass into the shower, not even to wash my hair (as I was due to go to the hairdressers later) just a nice, long, hot relaxing shower to waken me and set me up for the day ahead.

My next task, after getting dressed was to pick up my 'plus one'. As I am single at the moment and didn't really fancy hiring a male escort for the best part of ten hours I asked my good friend Jileen to accompany me. She had never met Debbie, the bride, before but was more than happy to oblige as we made plans for a girly day to spend together. The plan was to pick up Jileen at 8:50 after she dropped her son off at school, but a text came through from Jileen telling me she had had a bit of trouble with her son that morning and was running a tad late. Not to worry as this gave me time to nip to the shops to buy breakfast and junk food for us to much in while we got ready. So, I got that done then went to pick up Jileen and brought her to my house just after 9am. We had breakfast accompanied by donuts (why the hell not?) and had time to chill out and catch up before we ventured out again.

Our next appointment was the hair dressers. I had just asked for a wash, blow dry and style where as Jileen got a wash, cut, blow dry and style. We were in their for under an hour. My hair dresser wasn't your average hairdresser - she didn't talk to me at all! Quite unusual in my previous experience. Not that it complaining, I had too much on my mind to be making small talk. As she was drying my hair she asked how I wanted in dried, I replied 'big, volumised and voluptuous'. She mustn't have understood me as my hair looked as flat as a pancake then she made it worse by straightening it. My hair looked like it was stuck to my head! I was feeling a bit shaky about this, and I think she picked up on it as she then suggested that she back comb it to make it look bigger. I must admit I loved the back comb...until she flattened it again by brushing it down. No matter, my hair looked slightly different from how I normally wear it, which was the plan, and it was nice getting the whole hair dressing experience with Jileen, who looked stunning with her new hair cut. Not too dissimilar to mine as she too had a back comb, only hers wasn't flattened!

Home just after 11am. Quick cup of tea then we moved things upstairs to the bedroom. Yip, it was time to get ready! I don't know why, but I sometimes find the getting ready part better than the actual night out, especially if you are getting ready with someone as fun as Jileen. So on the music went, the clothes were laid out and the make up was out on. We were at this for 2 hours!

Starry, Starry Night...

The above picture is Jileen in my room, posing under the stars and the moon, about to apply her fake nails. Hair and make up already complete.

We are finally ready just after 1pm. I had decided to not drink at the wedding and take my car (unusual choice for me not to drink at parties however, I had a busy day the next Friday with a lot of driving involved) so at least I knew we would get there in time. The venue is only a 15 min drive after all. So before we leave, I get my aunt to take a picture of us looking all 'wedding guest-y'.

Get us to the church on time!

So above we have Jileen, looking stunning in the light blush dress, accompanied with a light pink clutch bag and, although you can't see them, matching heels. It's not a colour I often see Jileen in but it really suits her olive skin complexion. Her make up is lovely too. I am wearing a red (bold colour choice for me) dress which is long at the back but short at the front with black strappy heels accompanied with a short black blazer and a black Guess handbag. Amazingly Jileen and I had only bought our dresses 3 weeks before the wedding! We didn't really know what to go for, all I knew was that I wanted a red dress. Until 2012 red was a colour I never wore, it's now become a firm favourite of mine. My car is red, I purchased that in April of last year. I read an article online where studies had recently shown that women who wear red will get further ahead in life. Maybe that is where my inspiration comes from. But this year my wardrobe has never been so red! Tops, dresses, scarves, shoes, hats, jewellery, hair bands and even this years winter coat is red, and I'm loving it!

So, our picture is taken and we make our way to the venue. As I had said its not a long journey so I knew we wouldn't be late. I hate being late for anything. I'd rather be a whole hour early that be a minute late. We arrived at 1:30 with plenty of time to spare. We sat in the car for a bit just chatting then the nerves kicked in! It suddenly dawned on me that my best friend was getting married. This is huge! Until that moment I hadn't really thought about it, Debbie is really getting married. Today. In half an hour. It was like I had been overcome with sympathy nerves, I felt nervous on her behalf because I knew she would have been. Debbie is very self conscious and insecure, she can't deal with people looking at her and she was going to have to deal with this for a whole day. Poor thing. To calm my nerves we take a wander around the venue. The Vu in Bathgate is absolutely stunning! I've never been here before but i have heard many great things about it. There are two parts to the location, The Water Lily and The Oasis. The Water Lily is a like a giant conservatory that sits in the middle of a reservoir, this is where you get married, so no matter if the weather is good or bad you are guaranteed beautiful pictures during the service. The Oasis is the restaurant, this is where the dining and dancing takes place. A huge white room which is beautifully lit and to top that off the dance floor is black with white LED lights underneath to make you feel as though you are dancing across the stars. It was a perfect venue for an October wedding. The only unfortunate thing is the popularity of the place. Over the last few years The Vu has hosted many weddings and has nothing but great reviews which means that you cannot get a weekend date unless you book 3 years in advance, hence this wedding taking place on a Thursday, a real first for me!

Strike a pose!

Above, me posing on the bridge between The Water Lily and The Oasis. Amazingly for an October day, we had plenty of sunshine although it was mighty cold! The sunshine made the view for both the ceremony and pictures even more romantic!

The view of the reservoir at The Vu. Can you see why it was given it's title?

The entrance to The Water Lily where the wedding service takes place.

Inside The Water Lily. As you are making your vows you are treated to a breath taking view.

 Unfortunately they do not allow you to take pictures during the service apart from the official photographer.
So the service begins, we have already taken our seats. The groom, Omar looks happy and content and he waits for his bride to appear. The music begins, the bridesmaids in their coral dresses make their way down the aisle as they make way for the bride...and what a bride! Debbie looked stunning. She had kept her dress a secret from everyone apart from her mum and bridesmaids. It was an ivory, strapless, princess styled gown. she sparkled with happiness as she walked down the aisle on their arm of her father. It's at this point that i started welling up, she was so beautiful and I was so proud. The sun was shining through the window on to the golden couple as they were wed that gorgeous afternoon.

Just Married!

After the new husband and wife have left The Water Lily, we all follow suit to have pictures taken. Jileen and I managed a good 15 minutes before heading back in doors. It was absolutely freezing! So we stay inside drinking and eating any time a waiter with a tray passed us. We were the ushered over to The Oasis for the speeches, dinner and dancing. The dinner was delicious. We had carrot and coriander soup to start followed by sorbet then in typical Scottish tradition, steak pie and to finish we had white chocolate cheese cake which was to die for!

Seated for the speeches

The beautiful centre piece

My wedding favour, white chocolate and raspberry flavoured fudge. Fudge is a very common wedding favour in Scotland

Jileen toasting the happy couple

And so with our tummies full with good food and our heads spinning with fine wine it was time for the happy couple to cut the cake and start the dancing! The had a beautiful 3 tier sponge cake topped off with a peach coloured flower with wilting petals falling on each tier of the cake.

The cutting of the cake. Note the gorgeous dance floor!

The first Waltz

The bride dancing with her father. In the background, the maid of honour and Debbie's older sister Lauren dances with her partner.

The first waltz was to an Alicia Keys ballad followed by a Paolo Nutini track, both artists very close to Debbie's heart. Sadly and very unusual for a Scottish wedding, there was no ceilidh dancing. I shall have to save my highland fling for my other friend's wedding next year! There was a good DJ who played a variety of old and new dance songs to get everyone up on the floor plus the odd Moroccan number for Omar's family. We danced until the end of the night! It really was a fantastic day. I'm happy to report that my best friend's wedding was a success and she was an absolute star! I'm so proud of you Debbie, hopefully soon 'auntie T' will be hearing the pitter patter of tiny feet?!? Until then, enjoy the honeymoon period and I wish you both a long and happy life together!

...til the end

Peace and Love
TT