British Grandmother Dreads Build Up To Christmas!

         After spending two weeks in the highest hotel in Europe, eager shopper Penelope, her daughter Mandy and her three and a half year old grandson, Jack, were starting the daunting task of Christmas shopping. A task many Brits dread every year. “It’s really difficult to buy something for everyone. Normally I end up receiving the same things every year, Soap, body wash, stuff like that, it’s like they don’t put much thought into it.” Described Penelope, 63, as her daughter and grandson tried on shoes. “This year, I brought a lot of the Christmas presents for relatives when we were on holiday in Switzerland.”

 Penelope explained how she and her family had stayed in the highest hotel in Europe, the “Riffelalo Resort” in Zermatt and that they had explored 150 tunnels in Europe as well as visited the highest town in Europe, Davos. She continued to explain how the town of Davos, which was built on a fort, is in the Swiss Alps, which she and her family also explored, describing it as a beautiful and breath-taking experience.  After shopping in Switzerland she compared it to shopping in Southampton, saying that Southampton shopping was more of a rush than when they were on vacation.

 “The last few weeks in the lead up to Christmas are the worst! Long queues and lots and lots of toys!” making a glance at her grandson, who was sat grinning at his grandmother. “I miss the peace and quiet of the Alps, Christmas away would be perfect!” she reminisced. Losing her concentration slightly in thoughts of the last few weeks she’d had away. Finally, leaving with saying that the one thing she dreaded more than Christmas shopping was her upcoming trip to the dentist!

Two pints of coke and a bowl of chips (more of a rant than anything else tbh)

Two pints of coke and a bowl of chips.

After a long evening of shopping with a friend, a glass of coke would go down a treat! Little did we know how much of a struggle it would be to quench out thirsts!

After deciding how to fill our stomachs, my friend and I headed towards the newly opened American diner. Planning on indulging in some unhealthy cuisine to supplement our unhealthy shopping addiction. (Which being a student is a serious challenge!) after being seated by a acne-infested waiter, we shrugged off his grumpy attitude and took it as he was having a rough day. After all student lock in is a really busy night!

After glancing over the menu, already knowing what we wanted to order, we tried to grab the attention of the waitress. After we had located her, with great difficulty! I guess however the clue is in the name, WAITress. After, what seemed like forever, the waitress showed up at our table to take our Order. Greeting us with no apology for the delay, and informing us that we couldn't have a glass of coke as the machine was broken. Typical. Orange juice and water it is. Healthy!

Gradually the diner filled with happy customers, leaving with full bellies. Everyone around us receiving their orders AND glasses of coke! After once again asking for a glass of coke from yet another waitress we thought that we were in luck, with everyone around us having coke, surely we would actually receive the glass we had ordered primarily this time...

Orange juice! Excuse me?

The waitress had just given us yet more orange juice! Gaining the attention of the staff yet again, was impossible. After several more attempts of asking the waiters to come to the table we had service, we explained the mysterious OJ situation, not that he was much help. The waiter simply just explained the machine was broken, even though clearly everyone around us has coke in glasses as well as tiny glass bottles, and then left.

After an hour or so of waiting our food arrived. Thankfully, both of our stomachs were starting to growl. (Embarrassing!). Again with no apology! Finally something good about this place though, food! Or maybe not, cold and soggy food doesn't go down too well when you have hungry grouchy students in your diner. If food takes that long to come out of a kitchen that's right in front of the customers, it has to be good. Not only was it lacking in taste, the chips weren't completely fluffy, still containing bits of raw potatoes! Yuck!

Again, having to wait around to pay... It's like they didn't want our money! (Just like we didn't want their food, with half of it still being left on out plates) we left the diner, and I for one, am not likely to be returning anytime soon!

What brought me to Solent!

After pondering around my room for hours, debating whether or not I was going to go to uni or not, looking into every possible option I had. I finally clicked that I wanted to be the first one in my family to attend uni. I’ve always had a passion for writing, and have wanted to be a journalist since I was little, and had gathered numerous newspaper articles and leaflets that had interested me over the years. Fascinated by the idea that the media can influence peoples views and decisions, I decided that I would further my opportunities and knowledge in media based subjects. After I achieved my media studies A level, my next step was to decide where I went from there. Do I go to uni? Do I try out gaining work experience and work for a year? Or even become an apprentice, and take a more practical approach? Or do I just sit on my arse and blog? And believe me, the last option after 13 years of education was really tempting!

After bumming around my house for almost three months doing pretty much nothing I decided that I would follow up the application I sent in the winter to look into the universities I had applied for, after all I had received offers from all 5 of my choices. Just had to pick now. After I had eliminated a few options, well, Bournemouth. After the interview I had there, there was no chance of me going back, it was far too big for me… with both my school and college being quite tiny, Bournemouth uni was a bit of a big jump. Unlike Solent, with its smaller, tighter community had a more welcoming approach. Making me feel comfortable as soon as I walked in.

 Greenwich University, my insurance, was where I was heading however, with other aspects of my decision-making leading me towards there. Although it was huge, I was still set on going there. However, after receiving my results and working out some of the finances, it was better and wiser for me to stay at home, and study at Solent. The course interested me more, allowing me to leave my options open in which part of the media I wanted to go into, and to give me all sorts of skills and new experiences. So finally settling with Solent, with its friendly atmosphere and exciting career opportunities. 

Just a post to say that this is my new, updated writing blog that doesn't include some of my older posts. The posts on this blog will be more recent and kept more up to date than before due to lack of time over the summer what with preparing for uni and spending time with old friends that will be moving away. Any comments or criticisms are welcome, and will help me improve, thankyou. 

Grow old gracefully or paint a perfect picture? - an article in favour of airbrushing

Grow old gracefully and paint a perfect picture?

Samantha Buxey finds out how to blush with the brush!

How far would you go to look good? How do we get rid of all our lumps, bumps and imperfections? Take a chunk out of the bank balance and get a chunk off your body by going under the knife? Or maybe you’d prefer a more natural way and hire a tough trainer to tone up that ghastly body you despise?  What if I told you, that you could get a beautiful figure, flawless face and a ton of confidence for a cost that is bank friendly and requires minimal effort? You wouldn’t believe me, would you? I didn’t think so. Well that’s the beauty of airbrushing. No matter how much of a bad day you’re having, you can still get that flawless finish that will leave you feeling gorgeous inside and out.

Recently in the press there has been lots of criticism about airbrushing. Describing it as fake and unnatural, but this is because they haven’t been exposed to the beauty and elegance of the airbrushing industry. They don’t understand the feeling one gets from seeing oneself at one’s potential beauty, seeing ourselves the way we want to be without the increase of imperfections caused by other ways to look good, such as cosmetic surgery and plunging under the knife. Cosmetic surgery doesn’t always live up to what it claims to do. Airbrushing does. Airbrushing never fails to meet its expectations; providing quality finished products whereas surgery can often leave customers down or unhappy with their new ‘improved’ physique. Another bonus of airbrushing is that it leaves no scars, and is 100% risk free! This is unlike plastic surgery that has one of the highest risk factors in the world, and leaves numerous scars. What would you rather have, Scabby scars or perfect pores?

“Where can I get this?” I hear you all cry; I can guarantee that your local photographers will probably have some sort of package deal to offer you. This would include a makeover with a photo shoot complete with lighting and equipment to make you look and feel fantastic! The cost is next to nothing compared to what you’d pay to get the tiny nips and tucks from the cosmetic surgeon. Or fancy doing all the productivity yourself? Get yourselves down to the computer shop and pick up a photo editing package that will put an end to all your figure faux pas.  

“But how would this change our appearance physically. If it’s just editing photos, you can’t airbrush your physical appearance.” Many have pin pointed air brushing’s faults down to being fake and unnatural. They say that it takes the natural beauty of a person away, hiding who they truly are. They also say that it doesn’t have any physical effect of the customer’s appearance. That’s where they are wrong; As well as looking great on screen you will also feel like a princess. And as it’s scientifically proven that if you feel more confident in yourself and are happy with how you’re being presented to the rest of the world, you will start to feel naturally beautiful and become more confident without the use of silicone implants or Botox injections. Natural beauty is the best beauty. With airbrushing you will release your natural glow, and reveal your true identity... After all it’s not what you look like on the outside that matters, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. On the other hand we all wouldn’t mind looking perfect some days without having our body chopped up like a piece of meat at the butchers.

Airbrush your appearance. Feel fantastic.

Turn to page 35 to have a peak at my Airbrushing experience!