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 ;)

This wasn’t ordinary frizz, this was frizz like I’d never experienced before. In fact, I’d never had a problem with frizz until I decided to go blonde from bottle brunette in that one afternoon. It didn’t matter what I did or what I used before my quick change, my hair was constantly shiny and soft. After the afternoon’s dying it became a different story, and fast – my hair constantly felt like straw and no amount of hair masks or special conditioners could bring it back to life. Until I decided to try Aussie…

I had previously been using Aveda and Paul Mitchell products, both with super strength ingredients for coloured hair, but none compare to the magic that Aussie has done for my dried out locks! As long as I don’t go straight from blowdrying to straightening on the hottest setting (which has taught me a hard lesson), Aussie manages to keep my hair moisturised and frizz-free. A real miracle worker! Their no-nonsense approach to advertising and their simple aim of turning helpless hair into fierce manes sold me, and for once it works. Years and years have been spent trying different products: anti-frizz serums, straightening protectors, moisturising masks, and none have given my hair the vibrancy that Aussie does – especially after drying it out so badly with the afternoon of bleach!

Aussie get a 10/10 from me for beating the odds against my damaged hair, and are sometimes on offer at Superdrug or Boots stores for half price (or 3 for 2). Learn more about their mission, and the wonderful ingredients that make it smell so delicious, at the Aussie Website.

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.

At Wahanda we don’t think there’s anything wrong with men plucking and tweezing every now and then to tidy up unsightly bushy eyebrows, but when it comes to full-on waxing or threading to shape, define and create what’s now known as ‘guybrows’, we’re not so sure.

According to Debenhams, men now make up 40% of visitors to their in-store brow bars – that’s double last year’s figures. Probably taking example from celebs such as Russell Brand and Danny Cipriani, men are now catching onto the idea that a good brow shape can be beneficial to a face. Noel Gallagher, take note.

The most popular way of de-bushing those brows is threading, a very simple method that’s been used in India, Turkey and Egypt for years. It carefully removes unsightly fuzz in a quick and painless manner, ensuring that no stragglers are left behind to ruin that perfectly defined arch. But, while many women enjoy seeing a tall, dark stranger with a piercing stare (all you Twilight fans know it), there has to be a line before the new trend goes too far. Sylvester Stallone has already set the bar high for overdoing it, and we’re not sure Mr Darcy would have had the same effect without his manly mono-brow.

Many men are getting it right, managing that perfect mix of metrosexual style and shape but still looking manly enough without having to resort to hedge-trimmers. Slowly but surely the taboo around eyebrow shaping is fading, and men are beginning to take more notice of how their brows look. Ladies, we have beauty competition…

Forget that amazing non-surgical facelift, lunchtime liposuction and quick tummy tuck over the weekend, because there’s a new op in town. The announcement of a new two-in-one cosmetic surgery treatment has hit the news this week, making that ‘too good to be true’ idea of taking the fat from your hips and putting it back in places you’d much rather have filled out, a reality.

You can soon, in one single operation, get unwanted fat removed from parts of your body you’d like to be slimmed out and use it to enhance your breasts by up to three cup sizes the natural way. The new procedure hopes to overtake implants to dominate the cosmetic surgery market, providing a more natural looking and longer lasting breast enlargement while making women feel doubly confident by reducing fat from areas such as hips, thighs and stomachs.

First devised seven years ago, the op is due to be available from early 2010 and is expected to cost around £8,000. The Harley Medical Group are offering the two-in-one procedure at 25 clinics in the UK and 1 in the Republic of Ireland, but it won’t be available for those with low body fat or those who are happy with their body shape.

Utilising body fat of course raises some health issues from the sceptics; however the effects of the procedure are said to have roots in constructive surgery, and they provide a better and natural shape as well as being longer lasting than the traditional silicone implant which needs replacing every 10-15 years. Grafting the fat from the places you wish had a little less padding and using it to plump up your chest has been a want of many women for some time, so there’s no doubt that muffin-topped ladies will be queuing round the block to sign up as soon as it becomes available.

Celebrities are already flocking to get the natural enlargement operation, namely TV star Ulrika Jonsson. Spending £8,000 on mastoplexy has helped her get back in shape after the birth of her fourth child last July, saying it had given her back “the body I had when I was 16“. Mastoplexy is said to cause minimal scarring, providing a completely natural breast enlargement without the silicone.

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…

1. Ravage Transformers Drive
For all the fans out there who will collect absolutely anything to do with Transformers, this little drive is perfect to add to the collection. As it’s only available for pre-order at the moment, you can place an order at bigbadtoystore.com. Not only does it store 2GB of stuff, it’s Windows an Mac compatible, and ‘transforms’ (of course) into this nifty little creature. You can leave him sat there at lunchtimes to guard your work. If you really wanted to.

2. USB bracelets
Now here’s something I really didn’t expect. These colourful USB bracelets are probably the most convenient way of carrying important data. We’ve all been there…scrabbling around the room, trying to find that tiny little stick you trusted with that lengthy essay due in in one hour. The sweating, the tears, the tantrums. Now you just don’t need to go through any of that pressure if you keep it on your wrist. Available in different styles and colours, you can get these clever little things at Amazon for between £11-20.

3. C3PO Drive
Back to the figures again, but this time it’s a Star Wars theme with C3PO taking centre stage at urbanretro.co.uk. With a cracking 4GB storage, there’s plenty of room for you to keep those pics of Princess Leia on it; and whilst I don’t understand why the website explains the series is “available in several flavours”, I highly advise you not to put the stick in your mouth…

4. Poker chip
Here’s one for all you poker fans out there. This Dane-Elec Poker Mate is only 1GB, but is pretty nifty for making it look like it’s not a flash drive. Compatible with Windows and Mac OS 9.2 or later, it’s a pity MI5 didn’t use these decoys instead.

5. Freshly Baked USBs
First the hamburger phone, and now the hamburger USB drive. What will people think of next?! Quite an amusing way of holding all your data, these little nibbles just might make someone in the office smile on a bad day. Available as a hamburger, french bread, pizza slice, hot dog, doughnut, or fortune cookie, you can buy them in bulk at vavolo.com.

6. Steampunk
Personally, I feel steampunk to be one of the worst styles/crazes in the history of all things nasty, but I can’t deny that there’s something intriguing about this little drive. This one is handcrafted with brass and copper, so is really quite impressive. If you can speak Russian, made even easier with Google Translate, head over to the modding forum to see exactly how it was made.

7. USB Tie
Ever had trouble thinking of a Secret Santa gift for your boss? Well, look no further my friends because this USB tie is perfect. I can imagine it being a little uncomfortable to fit into the side of most laptops, and at the back of a PC tower, but it’s the thought that counts right? So far it seems to be a concept by dialog05, so sorry if you were really looking to buy one.

8. Zookeeper USB
Finally, one for kiddies! These Zookeeper drives come with 2GB of storage and are compatible with both Windows and Mac. Look at their cute smiles, who wouldn’t want something sweet like that plugged into their computer? As if the smiles weren’t enough, there’s even a hole at the top to dangle the drive from a necklace or keychain for easy carrying. Buy Monkey, Cow, Giraffe, or Zebra from usbgeek.com for around £10.

9. TrekStor bottle opener
If you’re one for kicking back with a beer whilst loading your USB up with info, then the TrekStor bottle opening USB drive is just the thing. Suitable for use with Windows, Mac, and Linux, it’s available with 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16GB of memory, and can be used with any bottled beverage of the owner’s choice. So, after you’ve saved that brilliant presentation on it, you can settle down with an ice cold drink and laugh heartily at the cleverness. Have a look on their website to read the specs and download the data sheet.

10. Poken
Poken seem to be the ‘in’ thing at the moment. Blowing the Zookeeper drives out of the water in cuteness stakes, these little creatures hold all your social networking details for an easy and fun way to share them with others. Jump to doyoupoken.com for better details on how they work, but just be careful when asking people if they ‘poken’. Also, get them here at firebox.com for £12.95.

If you’re interested in more strangely interesting USB sticks, head on over to the Worth1000.com competiton to look at some..err..really odd designs.

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”.