September 11th 2001. A whole 10 years ago. One date in history that we will never forget. Everyone no matter what age, remembers where they were and what they were doing the day of the terrorist attacks which killed so many innocent lives.
8:46am. The time things changed forever. American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower. Eighteen minutes after the first plane struck, the second plane hit the South Tower, trapping another 600 people.
5 years ago I wrote about The Falling Man called Jonathan Briley who was one of the many jumpers from the Twin Towers. His story & that of so many others still brings a chill down my spine 10 years later.
My thoughts, as always, are with the innocent lives who died as well as the bravery of the police & firefighters.
In June last year, these lonely heart cards kept popping up every now & then at the bus stop near my house. Every few months, they re-appear, only to vanish again a few days later. I’m not 100% sure if they are fake or if is a real life guy actually looking for love & has no other way to find a woman than to advertise himself & his erm… wacky personality at the local bus stop. I keep trying to imagine what he looks like. So far, my imagination is envisioning a short, fat guy with a fluffy jumper collection, who irons EVERYTHING, has beer bottle glasses & bad body odour
I have to say that it’s hilarious reading them while waiting for my bus into the city & often wonder if anyone actually messages him. Reading them kind of makes me think he’s your classic loner serial killer though, so I’m not too sure he’s been lucky with the ladies. Saying that, he is handy with a tea towel & does seem to love washing up LOL
Know anyone who we could hook him up with? Let’s make love happen! <3
Last week I went to the Riverside Museum which is the new Glasgow Museum of Transport based within the Pointhouse Quay area of Glasgow Harbour. Opening on June 21st 2011, it cost a massive £74 million for the development which was designed by Zaha Hadid and engineers Buro Happold. The internal exhibitions and displays were designed by Event Communications.
I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. As a little kid, I was born with really fine & thin hair, the type of hair you could hardly do anything with. I’ve lived in different continents where the weather has had huge effects on my hair, be it frizzy from humidity to dry & course living in the Middle East. My hair has also gone from poker straight as a kid to thick and wavy as it is in my adult years.
My natural hair colour is a mix of 3 different colours; brown, blonde & red, however, it’s rather dull therefore, every now & then I dye it to get some life into it. The problem is, my hair is so thick as well that no matter what I actually do, I always end up sticking it up in a ponytail because it get’s to the stage that you can’t really do much else with it!
I’ve been back in Glasgow since 2006 & I’ve still not found a hairdresser that I’m 100% happy with. I think with anything, when you do find a place that you really like, you will always go back time & time again. Sadly, I’ve never really had that experience with a hair salon. Until now.
My hair was getting way too long & unmanageable, so I decided that it was about time that I did something about it. I looked around at different salons in the area such as Sasson’s & Alan Edwards which are two of the popular salons in Glasgow but decided to try Bowers & Peacock instead after striking up conversations with them on Twitter (plus the fact they were cheaper!).
Upon talking with them, it turned out that Bowers & Peacock was actually a re-brand & they were in the process of renovating the existing salon. The salon used to be called ‘Jar Hair’ run by 3 different partners. From that, John & Rocco (the J & R of Jar, just incase you didn’t get that!) decided to take over the salon by themselves. Bowers & Peacock was then born, re-opening on June 14th 2011 after a massive revamp & re-branding.
I made an appointment with Bowers & Peacock for last Friday. In my head, I had already decided that I wanted to change my hair up a bit. I was pretty much bored with my current hair style & colouring but had no clue what to do with it. One thing I did know was that I didn’t want to cut it really short again as on lazy days, I like tying it in a messy ponytail, especially in the office.
After getting lost trying to figure out where Bowers & Peacock’s was situated, I eventually made it on time for my 1pm appointment. I was greeted by a friendly receptionist & shown the waiting area while Rocco (who was going to be doing my hair) was finishing up with someone else. I was then asked if I wanted a drink & talked into trying one of the homemade brownie’s that they have in the salon (later I found out that it was Rocco’s partner Craig who made them, to die for!).
I had a little chat about my hair with Rocco before we started, I told him that my scalp has become really dry the past few months after taking antibiotics for a chest infection I had which flared up my skin & since then, I haven’t been able to get rid of it. Rocco recommended a product to me which they ran out of, but gave me the name of it to buy it myself somewhere else which was great (I’ve since managed to get a hold of the product & can’t wait to try it out!). We then discussed possible hair colours I could go for. I personally like dark colours, I wanted something darker but with a lot of shine. Rocco then recommended warm rich colours based on my skin colouring & told me the difference between the different brown colourings around in relation to skin colours. The colour “Iced Tea” by L’Oreal really stood out to me & it was the exact one Rocco was thinking about as well as it was a high gloss shine & warm.
While he was putting the colour on my hair, we spoke about the re-vamp of the salon & told me that all the furniture was custom-made by his friends. I really loved the purple seat in the waiting area, that was my overall favourite. The old school barbershop chairs were re-covered with customisations, the mirror’s with the built in storage for appliances were really nice as well. There were even illustrations of a peacock & a bower bird throughout the salon which gave it a big personal touch based on the surnames of both owners. Unique artwork was also featured on the walls which another friend of the owners created. Everything revolved around a colour scheme of black, grey and purple & had a real boutique salon feel to it. I loved the fact that the entire salon had personal touches to it, it wasn’t the run of the mill salon, but one which a lot of love & effort was put into it to create. Just like the homemade batch of brownie’s which are given out to all customers
After all the colouring was put on my hair, I had to have this random ultraviolet machine just above my head for a while (I honestly can’t remember what it was called!) until the hair dye set. After it was all washed off, the hair cutting began! I asked for around 2/3 inches to be taken off, my hair thinned a little bit & my long fringe at the front layered a bit more. One thing that has never happened to me before is the fact that Rocco actually asked how I style my hair & if I normally blow dry etc. Usually salon’s just blow-dry it straight for you & use hair straighteners as well if you don’t have visible curly hair. However, Rocco asked me questions that made me go “oh!”. When styling my hair, I usually have the top half straight & the bottom half wavy with big curls for volume without using any extra hair products. So when blowdrying, Rocco put big waves into my hair using the rounded hairbrush, something I’ve never seen before (usually it’s all done by hair straighteners!).
Finished product? I loved it! In total, it cost £109 to colour, cut & style my hair which is pretty reasonable based on the quality of the finished product. The colour looked great against my skin tone, the cut was really good, my head felt instantly lighter, my hair had an amazing shine to it & the way it was styled was perfect for me! My hair once again had life! I knew half was through the hair cut & blow dry that I had finally found a salon that was perfect for me. One that took the time to get to know it’s clients, give recommendations & suggestions for the client based on questions asked. That is key & now I’ve found a keeper!
Bowers & Peacock is located on:
57-61 King Street
Glasgow
G1 5RA
Tel: 0141-552 6789
Note: Thanks to Rocco for taking photos of my hair & letting me take photos of the salon for my blog afterwards
In Collaboration with JML Direct to celebrate their 25th Birthday this month, I’m running a little competition on my blog & giving away 2 of my favourite products from JML for those who love to bake
The company was founded by John Mills in 1986 from the basement of his house in Camden Town, London. The company has seen rapid growth in recent years and now has over 300 staff in the UK alone. Global expansion has also been critical to JML’s success and the company has established offices in USA, Germany, Holland, Slovakia and Singapore.
Rules:
1. You must live in the UK & Ireland
2. Only 1 entry per person
How will I determine the winner?
Entries will be accepted by commenting this post. Once you comment your answers to the questions, your comment number will automatically be your entry number, for example if you are first to comment, you’ll be Number 1 and so on.
Once all entries have been gathered, I will be using Random.ORG to determine the winner by inputting the total amount of entries and randomly generating the winning number. The winning number will be captured and posted to show that I’m not favouring one entrant over another.
The winner will then be posted on the entry after the closing date (so check for updates!) as well as on twitter, and will be emailed for contact details, so make sure you enter your correct email address when you comment!
Closing Date:
The competition ends Friday 29th July at Midnight.
Technology, Restaurants, Clothing, Movies, Gadgets, Books, Beauty Products & Hotels. A few things that are reviewed online, but do they actually influence you & make you want to purchase something?
For me, when I want to buy something expensive like a new digital camera, laptop or phone, I will generally read everything & anything I can find out about it. After reading the reviews from other consumers & their personal opinions, I will then decide whether or not to purchase that item. I’m VERY picky when I want to buy a gadget as I know that I will be spending a lot of money & I want to make sure I’m spending it very wisely.
I myself have started product reviewing as you have probably already seen if you frequent my blog, but do you actually read, take notice and/or influenced by my opinions? I know that several people I know via Twitter & Facebook have been to restaurants/cafes that I’ve recommended based on my reviews of them such as @iLovePinto & Restaurant Bar & Grill in Glasgow. That makes me happy in a way, because people actually listen to me (ha!) and also because it is somewhere that I love & want to see succeed, especially if they are a new establishment.
According to a study by Social Commerce Today, within the UK:
1. 61% of people read online reviews for products and service
2. 75% of people compare prices online
3. 49% of people post online reviews
4. 64% trust review from other consumers
5. 58% trust reviews from professional reviewers
6. 67% of people will have changed their minds about buying a product after reading 3 negative reviews
Do you agree with those figures & results? How far do product reviews influence you & would you change your mind about buying a product due to bad reviews or would you rather test it yourself & make up your own mind?
Ain’t he a cutie? I pass him daily en route to the bus stop to work & always stop to say hello, sometimes giving him a chunk of grass to munch. Today he stopped & posed for a photo which was nice of him, except I think he didn’t like the fact I had no munchies for him so blanked me afterwards hahaha
My first cupcake order, EVER! I made 50 Safari cupcakes for a 1st Birthday Party & these were the results. It took me a few hours over 2 days to make them all (in between working full time in my real job!). The cupcakes are a mix of vanilla & double chocolate. I revamped my recipes this time around & the chocolate cupcakes came out better than EVER. My secret? Sour Cream. Yes, Sour Cream! It is a handy trick that keeps your cupcakes moist!
I love baking, it relaxes me but I don’t think I could ever bake full time, I’d lose the love I have for it & I never want that to happen. Ever. Nope. Not at all. I’d much rather do the odd mass bake-a-thon
Because of my crazy working hours, it’s so hard to find the time to actually go out shopping when the shops are open. I finish work at either 4:30, 6:30, 8:30 or Midnight so it’s hard to fit going browsing in shops during my free time when I’d rather catch up on sleep or hang out with family! That’s when Online Shopping is totally handy!
I can spend hours searching online for work clothing, the only problem is, it’s so hard to search for womens clothing online because the way it looks online is rarely how it looks when you actually get it! I’ve found that a few times ordering online from ASOS. things looks amazing online & when I get them, they look terrible on! Saying that, the trousers & little cardigans from them are amazing!
While I was googling (yes I do that A LOT!), I saw an article in the Telegraph about the rise of Online Shopping & the amount of money & how approx 17% of all purchases are Online based which isn’t as much as I would have thought due to the easiness of it but makes you think how far things have come since it really hit the web in 1995 with Amazon.
Anyhoo, back to my Online Shopping adventures…. I’m picky, very picky. I also shop like a guy. If I actually do go into a shop, I’m not one of these girls that would spend hours looking at things. I’d rather be in & out a shop in under 15 minutes. I cannot stand crowds & queues in shops. The whole entire experience would end up with me becoming really grumpy & you really don’t want that! You really really don’t!
Do you prefer Online Shopping over Real Shopping? If so, what are your favourite sites? I need to add to my collection
Ananyah is the alter ego of Michelle, who grew up in Singapore & Kuwait but is technically Scottish even if the accent isn't there! She now divides her time between Glasgow & Paris and could quite happily eat herself to death with macarons à la pistache, cupcakes & starbucks <3
Working in the IT Industry, she loves everything & anything to do with cooking in her spare time, has a handbag addiction, loves to take the most random photos & drools over shiny gadgets *swoon*
