Usually I buy apples from the supermarket and they end up sitting in the fridge for weeks without being eaten, bananas I find too mushy, raisins sometimes taste a little funny, grapes aren’t so kind on my tummy…There you go, I’m picky. So, when Ultra Body turned up I realised they had all my snacking problems figured out. With a snack bar range designed to make you ooh and ahh over the fruit selections (I had never tried plum and apricot together), the easiness of getting a bit of nutrition in you is quite astonishing. You don’t need to fight through a sticky apple or blush at the way you might look chomping on a banana *ahem*.

Perfect for just carrying around and filling you up when your tummy grumbles in a particularly busy couple of hours at work, things like “minimum 90% fruit” written on the packets make you feel like you’re really being good to yourself rather than kidding your way through a salad with more salt than a McDonald’s fry. Plus, this is what they are…snacks. A Wispa bar will only fill a small space for a short time, and then you want more chocolate. These fruity wonders fill and fill and fill, whilst giving you the portions of nutrition you really need. My favourite snack was the Fruitus chewy bites with raspberry, a fruit I usually avoid because of its tanginess. A packet full of small squares couldn’t possibly be one of my 5 a day could it? Well, yes it is…and they taste delicious!

The best thing about these packs is the fact they involve Grizzly Bars, a chewy fruit and cereal bar. I remember these treats from my primary school tuck shop, where I’d queue with my friends whilst playing ‘Fairies’ for the choice between one of those or a small packet of digestive biscuits with my break-time milk carton. They’re perfect for breakfast, particularly when you’re running late and the only option is to snaffle on the tube ride in. Plus, as I can keep mentioning time and time again, they’re GOOD for you! I’m giving you this piece of advice now, and I’m challenging you to try something new. Put down the bag of Minstrels, leave the Crunchie on the shelf and try out something that will benefit you in the long run. After all, all men’s gains are the fruit of venturing ;)

As many shoppers know, not all of the UK’s Tesco stores offer the clothing range so this online option is perfect for those who can’t reach a large store to snap up stock. With some celebrity designer collaborations in the pipeline and their status as an official sponsor of London Fashion Week, Tesco is beginning to make a name for itself in the high street fashion sector, changing their previous cheap and cheerful status to a more stylish and contemporary, now online, brand.

Look out for some tv and magazine advertising in the coming weeks, and more importantly – browse the website itself and start filling your virtual basket! I’ve already had a peek and am definitely looking forward to pay day…

Good news, you no longer have to go back to the boring gym and pound the treadmills to keep in shape, as the new way to get fit is dancing. It’s sociable, exciting, different and perfect for making the hard job of keeping fit something fun to do.

The rise in the popularity of dancing lessons is largely due to the BBC’s hugely successful celebrity reality show, Strictly Come Dancing. Fitness fanatics are following in the dance steps of previous Strictly contestants such as Claire Sweeney, Darren Gough and Alesha Dixon to use dancing as a fun and energetic way of getting exercise without the monotony of treadmills and aerobics. Plus with the untimely passing of Dirty Dancing’s Patrick Swayze, dancing is in the spotlight more than ever before.

Dance studios offer Strictly-style classes by top trainers and award-winning dancers, boosting people’s morale on getting fit and creating a social atmosphere rather than a gym full of iPod-clad runners. From belly dancing to pole dancing, latin dancing to flamenco, Bollywood dancing to strictly ballroom dancing there’s never been so much choice.

Dancing queens… and kings?

Dance instructors in Leicester say class numbers can double in size when a Strictly Come Dancing series is aired as everyone gets that fever for dancing and signs up for the tantalizing tango or the sizzling salsa, and there even seems to be a rise in boys taking up dance lessons. The number of school pupils choosing dance has risen 83% in the last four years and a third of those pupils are boys. It could be the influence of Strictly contestants Darren Gough, Joe Calzaghe and Phil Tuffnell, who each have a background in sports.

Counting calories

The health benefits of dancing are tremendous, so now we know how Flavia Cacace always manages to look so bright and bushy tailed each week! Dancing the night away can burn on average 265 calories, which is more than traditional weight-trimming activities such as swimming or biking, plus there’s the added bonus of it being a whole lot of fun.

Dancing can also help reduce stress, increase energy and improve strength, as well as increase muscle tone and co-ordination. You might also find that you feel a bit more positive after a good old jig around the front room. Ballroom dancing in particular helps keep the heart in shape, develops the circulatory system, tones legs and body, helps with weight loss, and builds and increases stamina, while salsa dancing may also help lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels.

So, if you’re already clearing the coffee table out of the living room to make space for the Foxtrot, well done – you’re a step in the fun direction to get fit and healthy. Engaging in social dance classes is a treat for the mind as well as the body, just be careful to not get carried away with the Johnny Castle look-a-like teacher.

Some lucky so and so is going to get the chance to join Patricia Field’s styling team for Sex and the City 2, and I’m beating myself over the head for not a) being an American Citizen, and b) no longer being a student. I’m sure that whoever gets it probably won’t get anywhere near SJP, and I’m not a huge fan of Patricia, but how many chances in life are there to work on a big-budget movie like that and do so whilst you’re still at school?

I guess I’ll just hold out and hope Guy Ritchie needs interns for his next gangster flick…

After months of slogging over word documents, sweating in the over-heated library for days on end, scrolling through pages and pages of online journals, pacing the library floors for books to magically appear back on the shelf (accruing some fines may I add!), and forfeiting Flower Parade evening for the last 800 words of the third chapter, I managed to hand the blasted thing in 2 days before the deadline date. How proud of this am I? VERY.

Wordle.net allows you to copy and paste your text (remember I managed to put 8,630 words worth up there!) and get it back in rather pretty typography. Then you can select the colour scheme you want and the font that looks nice with it, and publish it for all the world to see.

So here it is, my Dissertation in Wordle form: (online gallery)

Title: ”To what extent do film adaptations of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Jane Austen’s Emma enhance or detract from the nineteenth-century novels?”

A lot of things have been pointing at me to write about marriage recently, something which I didn’t want to write about until I had some experience! However, experience isn’t everything.

My family is a large one, we’re loud and have funny accents in some parts, but what I have noticed is the amount of marriages we have had. I’ve been bridesmaid for both of my female cousins and their husbands, and what lovely days they were! I got to be part of the day where each couple declared their love officially and promised to stay together for the rest of their lives. I come from a Christian family so my cousins didn’t live together before they got married, which really says something. Amongst their religious belief that they weren’t to live together beforehand, they must have been in ‘that place’ to pretty much know that they could spend the rest of their lives together without experiencing living with each other. Things like that make me feel so good about marriage, the romantic aspects and actually seeing them work in front of your eyes. It has to be a wonderful thing doesn’t it?

When I was younger I wanted to marry Bryan from Westlife, and look how he’s turned out! Then it progressed to sweaty rockers with black hair, Joey Jordison…Tomas Holopainen…even Jared Leto for flips sake! I’m 21 now and have so many things I want to do in my life, but a girl can dream right? I love knowing that my boyfriend is the guy I want to spend my life with, the guy I want to make more than a boyfriend, the guy I want to start a family with when the time comes. Isn’t it amazing to know that someone loves you that much to declare that to everyone you know?

Back to Bryan from Westlife, his marriage didn’t work out so well right? Well, not knowing much about their relationship at all I don’t really have an opinion on it, but my guess is that they just didn’t work at it very well. After all, relationships aren’t all fun and games. There are hard times when you just can’t agree on things and maybe realize you aren’t on the same par with each other, but you work through it right? I’m so sure it can make your whole world feel like it’s crashing down when disagreements arise, and having forgiven a boy when I was in my teens who pretty much took me for a fool, I can hold a pretty good grudge and most of the time feel like giving up at the first hurdle. If we all did that, however, there would be no marriages for life. People are different and opposites attract, but I’ve always believed you must never take the easy way out. If, on that one day, you declared to love and cherish for the rest of your life, you must have meant it? People must grow with each other, not away from.

I was particularly angered by this man’s blog: http://badmarriageblog.blogspot.com/
He pretty much gives the reasons why it was a mistake to marry his wife, and blames it on the fact his wife changed after giving birth to their daughter. He was angry that his wife had become a ’stranger’ and states: “Stranger was given the opportunity many times to change back to Wife and it never happened”. If I had been in that relationship, I would have felt betrayed. You make a vow ‘for better for worse’ right? You face your disappointments and you work on them to make your dreams, and then you kick the problems to the gutter!

I’ve come to the conclusion that if you see something negatively, it will become negative for you and the other people it involves, a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy if you will. This is why you work through it and make sure your relationship doesn’t fail, no matter how many times you have seen it fail for other people. If you love someone so much to marry them, never let them go because of silly reasons. After all, Virgil knew what he was talking about when he said “Love conquers all”.

It’s a book of

“Teenage diaries, journals, notes, letters, poems, and abandoned rock operas”

compiled by a woman who started the whole thing off by holding a night in a Brooklyn bar where she, and others, would read the most embarrassing excerpts from their childhood diaries. Reading the book was probably the funniest week of my life, purely because we can all relate to a bit of teenage melodrama! Stories of boyfriends, parents, sex, best friends, and music being the only thing that keeps you alive at the age of fourteen just made me snort with laughter and at the same time tut and “ohhh” at the things that had also happened to me. Accompanied by pictures of scrunchie-clad teens and their diaries inscribed with their everlasting love for Fox Mulder, the book has some classic teenage feelings and experiences that are so innocent you can’t help but take in a breath or “nooooo!” at some of them. One of my favourites has to be from Sarah Kelly, whose page goes a little something like this:

“My mom is a total PSYCHOTIC. Seriously all she cares about it grades, its not like she cares about us at ALL! Yesterday she threatened to take away my boombox AND my synthesizer. Doesn’t she know how important they are to me?? I HATE HER! ! ! BYE!”

I can totally relate to the whole “music is my life” thing, my poor Mum had to put up with my Slipknot induced ramblings about how much Iowa meant to me. So, after reading Cringe (click HERE to see what it’s all about) I dug out my old diaries and tried to find some truly horrific entries from my teenage years. I can tell you now there were plenty of cringeworthy entries from the neurosis that was myself aged 13-16, some just too embarrassing to put out there as there might be a few people who would either get offended or think I was a stalker! (Which really I wasn’t, I was just super desperate…). Here is one extract which sums up my relationship with my Mum vs. my taste in music from 5th February 2002:

“I’ve been thinking and I won’t buy a choker ‘cos Mum’s freaking out because I bought black nail varnish”

For years my parents fought to put some colour in my clothes and I railed against it because black was the only colour that could show how deep, dark, and utterly frustrated I was. Yeah? Get a grip!! Everyone has to go through the goth stage and I’m not ashamed about it, I just wish I could have been better at it than I actually was!

Another problem I had was boys. Boys boys, all those times I wanted to just say “Umm I like you” but couldn’t because I was so damn shy! No-one ever told me they fancied me so I thought I was destined to be alone forever, the old woman with the cats and the brown fur coat. So I just ranted away in my little diary, telling it how much I loved one boy this week and another the next. How awful I felt when my crushes fancied someone else, or got girlfriends and totally ignored me. This happened many a time so eventually on the 19th March 2003 I scribbled the immortal lines:

“Its not fair! I’m in love and he has a girlfriend! I am totally over Patrick now, totally. Him going out with her has put me off for life!”

I was devastated, how could this guy who I loved so much but had only ever said ‘Hello’ to go and betray me like that?! I soon got over it though and moved onto the next poor soul. I was a girl who had crushes on anyone that paid the slightest bit of interest, forget about standards I just wanted someone to hold my hand around Queensgate shopping centre! So if you’re male and I knew you from 2001-2004 I probably fancied you. Celebs didn’t escape my clutches either, I used to write how much I loved Sean William Scott and Ashton Kutcher, man if only I could have married one of those two…

Going through my diaries has given me the biggest laugh, and taught me to not take myself so seriously. All those crushes I went through, the times when my Mum wouldn’t let me go on town leave because she didn’t want me to buy anything to do with studs or Slipknot, wishing my boobs were bigger, wishing I could get a boyfriend, wishing I could move to Canada! Life as a teen was so hard :)

Before I arrived in New York City on Sunday 1st June, I had been told by many that it would be an unforgettable experience. Well, it certainly turned out to be but not in the way I thought it would.

This holiday was mine and Simon’s first together, and my first time on a plane in my whole life (a very surreal but exciting experience for sure), so to be evicted from our rented holiday apartment by the Court Marshall (America’s equivalent of a bailiff) at 8.30am the day after we arrived put a very clear picture of the “Big Apple” in my mind.

We had been turfed out of our only place to stay, with nowhere else to go and not enough money to pay for somewhere else, lugging our suitcases behind us as I sobbed my way down block after block. It was clear to us that we had been scammed, the woman we rented the apartment from had taken $1600 of our money and wouldn’t answer her phone when we tried to contact her. After filing a complaint at the local police station, where the lack of donuts and coffee surprised me but the sitting around eating Mentos and watching ‘Cops’ didn’t, we were pointed in the direction of the Civil Court where we were told nothing could be done as we were not residents of New York City.

At that point my feelings of sadness about the situation turned into anger. I felt completely let down by this wonderful and exciting city I was supposed to experience. I saw the people as unpleasant, the police as ineffective, and my legal rights as a visitor insignificant to those around us. I take back those feelings now but at the time I was devastated that I had not fallen in love with the city right away, something people swore I would do. After a day of trying to find a new place to stay and get our money back, we finally got in touch with the woman we met at the apartment who confessed to us she had posed as the owner whilst they were away from the city. She had no idea why the rent hadn’t been paid and met us later in Times Square to hand over the $1600 we thought we had lost. We were relieved it had turned out to be a genuine mistake and not an elaborate scam, but had lost a day of our holiday! For my first trip to the former Big Onion (yes thats right!) I didn’t plan to traipse up and down Times Square with no make-up on and unkempt hair, especially after not having the option to shower either! Never did the Y feel like a brilliant idea until then…Thanks to our lifesavers Julie and Todd in Brooklyn, Simon and I had a safe and comfy place to stay for two nights and were free to finally enjoy our holiday.

My negative feelings towards the city started to vanish as I stared up at the huge buildings, feeling about 2 inches tall. My tan was topping up nicely too in the 30 degree humid heat! After years of being a milk bottle in training I was finally becoming the bronzed beauty I had always wanted to be. (Not as much as Salma Hayek but for me it was a start!). I began to see city in the way I should have the first day, it’s busyness was inspiring, and I felt myself stride through it with pluckiness. I don’t know exactly what it was but there was a feeling of ease that came with doing things over there that would normally make you quiver in your knickers back in London. Simple things like walking down an empty street at half 10 in the evening to go to the grocery store felt like an exciting expedition, with no worry of being mugged by a teenage chav in an Adidas tracksuit. In fact there was a distinct lack of chavs in the whole place anyway…that was refreshing. As I was previously warned, the food portions were pretty much my weeks supply of meals on one neatly heaped plate. However, that didn’t stop me from attacking a super size slice of pizza from Sbarro and later on epically failing in a fight with a mozzarella and pesto panini with chips and salad, plus a side of half a pickle placed on top of a lettuce leaf. Simon wasn’t so impressed with the pickle…

We took a nice day trip to Liberty Island and Simon soon forgot about the pickle impostor, but later became confused with the lack of salad cream and the dried vegetable pieces sprinkled over our chips. Their weak attempt at traditional fish and chips almost made me bellow a big fat HA, much like Nelson from ‘The Simpsons’ actually. Enough about the battered fish inadequacy anyway as I’m sure our feeble attempt at American pizza pies are equally as laughable! I thought Chicago Town Takeaway was giving me a taste of culture but boy was I wrong. A nice look up Lady Liberty’s dress and the amazing view over to Manhattan made up for the fact I’d just climbed 146 steps after flashing my bum to everyone in the security queue (thanks to the padding down machines that blow compressed air onto your body). Later we took a choppier boat over to Ellis Island and sat down to search for some relatives, then we discovered the huge circle of names outside! The serious business got done and we found quite a few names that might have had something to do with us, then we came across some very funny names indeed. I still feel like God was looking down on us with his angry eyes when we were wetting our pants over the Samuel and Fanny Weiner Family, but by the time we’d gone past Harry Wankoff I’d lost all shame.

The Empire State Building was next on the agenda so we began our trek through the marble halls and up the escalator to the queues. 15 minutes later we were in the lift to the 80th floor, and were released into yet another queue for half an hour. Once at the 92nd floor I was armed with Simon’s camera to film my Sleepless in Seattle re-enactment. Oh it was magical, and so was the night view. I wasn’t deterred by the hoards of schoolgirls walking down the queues with mascara streamed cheeks, they were just wimps. By the time we had got halfway back down the building my feet were absolutely killing me, the trusty New Look shoes I kept re-buying had finally failed me. No amount of strawberry Twizzlers or Junior Mints could keep me happy so we departed back to our fancy hotel in Brooklyn, our hotel with the marble bathroom, queen size bed, 42 inch HD tv, and city view. Oh yes, take THAT East Village apartment owner.

The 4th of June arrived and so did the Diggnation live podcast, where the queue of about 3,000 people tried to pack into a 500 capacity venue. After a very long wait and the both of us being in separate queues as I’m under 21 (by 5 months, come on!), we finally got into the Studio B venue to see Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht do what they do best. Whilst we were queuing they both came out to say a quick hello to their fans, so I feel quite privileged to have been 2 steps away from Mr Rose himself! You can watch the podcast at www.Revision3.com, episode 154. And while you’re at it check out where the podcast comes from at www.digg.com, as Diggnation only covers the hottest user submitted stories from the social network.

All in all, I spent most of the holiday in awe at how tall everything was, at how flippin’ hot it was!, and how great it felt to actually be there. Walking around Central Park felt like a nice and normal day out in the sun and I wished I could have spent every day there for the rest of my life. The subways were clean and air-conditioned, a far cry from the greasy head marks on the glass in our London tubes, and the clothes were dirt cheap! I loved that I could actually afford Marc Jacobs over there, where back in Britain I leave my breath and paw marks on the windows of shops like that. I can’t wait to go back for another holiday, hopefully sometime when it snows so I don’t feel like I’m going to die of heat exhaustion every time I step outside! Whatever the weather though, it ain’t gonna stop me from shopping until I drop.

When the time comes to say goodbye to a friend, everyone understands it is no easy task. Especially one that has been with me through thick and thin for the past year, laughing with me when I whacked my head on the worktop for the tenth time, crying with me when I felt I just wanted to give everything up, but most of all for just being there and sitting on top of the gas heater with that deep red smile making sure I was alright. So it saddens me to inform you that Mini Charley Egg passed away on the 23rd of May 2008 at 1.06am.

She was a beloved sister of Mini Stacey Egg, a devoted friend to Emily, Sophie, Stacey and Charley and always welcomed visitors to the student home with a smile. The circumstances surrounding her passing are yet to be determined however she was not pushed off the gas heater or forced to jump off, nor was she smashed against the wall by excited and slightly tipsy hands that had previously ripped apart a Chicken Cottage Veggie wrap. Her life was short but eventful, and she showed a great example to all Mini People Eggs all over the country. So what can we take away from her tragic death? Never take life for granted. One minute you could be sitting on the gas heater, tidying up the abandoned letters and asking who the hell owns the bottle of juice thats been sitting there for the past 2 months, and the next your life could flash before you as you’re cruelly broken.

Mini Charley Egg will be sorely missed, but never forgotten. Her legacy will live on (as will her purple beret with the sequin on) through all those whose lives she touched. The funeral has already taken place but those wishing to make a donation may do so.

Goodbye dear friend, goodbye.

“Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise.”

I’ve never really looked at the percentage of ‘cute’ guys in an Apple store since every time I’ve been in one I’m more conscious of the fact they have see-through stairs and I’m mostly wearing dresses, or tutting at the fact their hand-held tills use Microsoft software (Oh yes! let’s just hope they didn’t install Vista), but next time I’ll make an effort to look around and spy whether the Love Gods that are Cosmo writers are correct. In the meantime, get yourself down there and bag a Geek, they’re hidden gems.