the wonder begins

After some deep and conclusive chats lately with my crack-den pals Izzy and Paige, we have actually realised that a lot has happened in just 2 months since moving to Hong Kong. Crack-den is the nickname for our flat because, well, one would probably mistake it for a crack-den if they saw it in its messy state, which is embarrassingly often. But actually our little village house is very welcoming with its pink interior, swamps of geckos and nightly live lounge sessions.

I haven't actually had too many crazy outings, having been riddled with bronchitis and generally being a hermit. But I have had a good few drinks courtesy of a random DJ in a bar. This resulted in Izzy throwing up in a bin, with the DJ having to hold her hair back for her whilst she puked to the rhythms of whatever song was playing. It's also my new favourite story to tell everyone.

Other side stories include queuing 3 hours for the My Melody cafe, being given a 1-day notice for a relative's wedding, walking past riot police at 4am, barbecuing in 30 degrees heat, and making new pals when drunk, etc etc. I actually tried making friends sober, but seriously, I'm just too awkward for that. My goal is seriously to make 10 new friends by the end of 2014 (not including colleagues). On 4/10 currently. Getting. There... Slowly.

Day trip to Macau. Seriously need to come here more often even though there's like nothing to do apart from gamble. Macau is like the Canary Wharf of London in the People's Republic. Like, there's just so much space on the streets that you can actually walk without being barged into. Post-Bronchitis me also needs more of this fresh air - pretty sure HK's dirty air is slowly making me asthmatic.

Didn't do much apart from take shots of dreamy Venetian and Brick Lane-esque City of Dreams. And I didn't even gamble so, yeah, took my broke ass home.

I need to stop buying the same kind of tops in different colours and patterns. And how does one get curvier without eating a shitload of junk? Lacking curves these days (and all the days that have passed actually).



So, what's happened lately? Hong Kong protests happened. Don't want to get all political, but why should we not fight for democracy? Yellow ribbon supporter here. I also got a haircut. And I hate it. Missing those 5 inches of hair. Well, not really, but it just feels really short. Gonna get a digital perm after I get the iPhone 6. Shopping list is too long. Help. And been suffering from Bronchitis apparently for the past 2 weeks. Sigh. Life.

An overdue post! So, 3 days before the BAFTAs, I found out I was going. Tickets courtesy of my fashion mag fave ELLE UK. Cue madness, omg-ing with my fellow attendee Izzy and turning my wardrobe inside-out for a BAFTA-appropriate outfit. It was a crazy week, and I spent 3 whole days dithering between an all-white ensemble and a black maxi dress. I wore high street fyi (Miss Selfridge and Zara).

Outside the Royal Opera House, our group was put next to the entrance of the building, and the red carpet is quite a stretch, so I couldn't actually see all the way down it. Attempting to do a live Twitter coverage, I had a 5 second cameo on Edith Bowman's BBC Three show where I was on my phone, looking bored and touching my hair. Red carpet ready.

Started to get a bit excited when I saw Will Poulter walk past. Sadly, my clearest pictures from the red carpet were of Tinie Tempah. I say 'sadly' because I was hoping my golden shots would be of Mr Gatsby.

Hi, Tinie.


I managed to get lots 'back' shots (or just plain blurry) of some actors - Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams, Tom Hanks, Lupita Nyong'o (kinda stole the show in her Dior) and my main man Leo. People had been continually chanting his name for so long that it just seemed to be a false alarm. Then someone next to us shouted 'Leo!' and suddenly the man who had just stepped in front, turned round to wave. And then all I could do was hyperventilate, resulting in a blurry snap of him walking away. He's ageing, yes, but he will always be Jack Dawson <3 Biased because Titanic is my favourite film.

Jack, come back!


Unfortunately, we had to go to our seats because the red carpet finished, so I missed the likes of Brangelina, Bradley Cooper etc. (Angelina made me feel better about wearing trousers to the BAFTAs amongst a sea of dresses) Our seats were high up, and sorry to the drag queen sitting in front of me, but your wig blocked a third of my view /cries. Nevertheless, we managed to get decent photos of anyone who went up on stage (Leo, Stephen Fry, Cate Blanchett, Prince William, Dame Helen Mirren, Steve McQueen, Oprah Winfrey, Emma Thompson, Sam Claflin, Uma Thurman, Chiwetel Ejiofor etc.) When I say 'we', I mean Izzy got decent photos thanks to the power zoom on her camera. The BAFTAs ended a few hours later and we proceeded for dinner with the EE team at Christopher's in Covent Garden.

We stayed overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel. Not that we got any sleep til about 4am; too much post-BAFTA excitement about breathing the same air as Leo and Angelina. Since when did my life get this exciting?



This man needs an Oscar already.


Stephen Fry and a head.


Hors d'oeuvres à la BAFTA.


I think people thought 'Why are these 15 year old girls going to the BAFTAs?'.

I heart Taylor Swift. And I'm gonna declare now that The Red Tour will remain as my highlight of 2014.



My teenage self would probably have gone to The Red Tour donning cat ears, but these days I'm feeling old. Once a non-fan of Taylor Swift and country music, I am now a fully-fledged, raging Swifty because the Red album converted me. No one sings a good break-up song quite like Taylor (or Adele). Let's not start on which songs I love the most, but Red is possibly my all-time favourite from the whole album.

My girl gets a lot of media backlash for her dating life, but, let's be honest, she puts on a good show and writes good songs. Her album is like a confession of my heart, though unfortunately I am not able to articulate it as lyrically. 'I Almost Do' and 'Begin Again' pull on my heartstrings a lil. And at least she actually wears clothes and is not getting DUIs like the rest of her peers (no names).

Ed Sheeran came out as a surprise special guest. Who just so happens to be my favourite male singer (closely tied with The Weeknd, but no one does a soft acoustic ballad quite like Ed). And then I was on the verge of crying/losing my voice. I'm now re-obsessing over Sparks Fly, re-watching her tour videos daily and abusing the repeat button on iTunes.