Ice Skating in London

Ice Skating is one of the most magical winter pastimes, in my personal opinion. For me, ice-skating is an important part of my Christmas. Sadly the outdoor ice rinks in London are only open around Christmas time, so, they can only be a Christmas experience really. It is worth making the most of them whilst they are here.

My favourite ice rink is Somerset House presented by Tiffany and Co. This ice rink is especially magical after dark inside the courtyard of Somerset house. You can do anything from Club nights to children’s stories. This Rink is open from 22 November 2011 - 22 January 2012 to book tickets go to http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/ice-rink

Be warned that this is a very popular and busy ice rink. I would even suggest going early in the morning if you need plenty of space. I would also recommend booking early as the tickets sell out very quickly.

The National History Museum is also a personal favorite of mine. Though it is not quite a picturesque as Somerset House, it is still a wonderful experience. The National History museum doesn’t have as many specific events and sessions as Somerset House, but this should make it easier to for those who really just want to ice skate.  This ice rink is open from 4 November 2011 – 8 January 2012. To book tickets go to http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/ice-rink/tickets/index.html

When going to the Natural History Museum, do be prepared to wait in line and have your session very strictly timed. It does have a lovely café and I always have a lot of fun there. Again do book early.

If you wanted to have a longer winter/Christmas experience than just your allotted hour on the ice, the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is a fun day out. It is also good for people in your party who don’t fully appreciate ice skating and tend to make very good friends with the side of the rink when they go. Winter Wonderland is open from 18^th of November until the 3^rd of January. TO book tickets go to http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/tickets.

Be warned that Winter Wonderland does not have the same picturesque elegant feel that the other two rinks have, however it is a full on Christmas experience and probably better for parties with Children.

As it is Christmas time, all the open air ice rinks in London are opening. I have written about my personal views on each if the ice rinks. Make sure you book some tickets to decide on your own favourite.

Arabic Weddings

Whilst I spent time in Dubai, I was lucky enough to learn a lot about Arabic wedding traditions.  Arabic weddings are very different from the English weddings I am used to. Here are a few examples of the differences:

1.     Marriages are often planned by the parents of two families having similar wealth and social standing. If the families of the couple getting married do not like each other, there is little chance of the couple being allowed to marry. Therefore, there is no option to dislike your in-laws.

2.     The marriage is officiated by the signing of a marriage contract stating what both parties should expect financially during their marriage.

3.     There are sometimes gifts of heavy gold jewellery given to the bride to wear on her wedding day. This is similar to a dowry.

4.     Even though couples are technically married after the contract is signed, there is still a wedding ceremony. However, this wedding ceremony is split into separate female and male parties, so, there is no chance of meeting anyone at your friends weddings.

I learnt these wedding traditions from various people I talked to in Dubai. These traditions may not be the same for every family, but they give an interesting flavour of a different wedding experience.

Things to learn from Women in Dubai

During this month I have had the privilege of staying in Dubai and staying with a ‘local’ (Arabic) family. The majority of the population, in the areas I have been living, are Indian or Arabic. I have found that both Arabic and Indian women have many good beauty and style habits we could learn from.

1. Jewelry: Indian women have certain jewelry they wear every day. They wear a special necklace to signify that they are married and other pieces that have sentimental value. I am a lover of having certain significant classic pieces I wear every day, for example I have a pair of rose pearl stud earrings I received from my 18th birthday which I wear every day. I find that it makes your every day jewelry very special and personal to you, but do have a good collection of special occasion jewelry also.

2. Scent: Arabic women keep themselves impeccably clean, due to their religion and the heat. They also all wear a very strong and often very personal perfume. It is a pleasure to be around these women and experience the scent they have chosen to represent themselves. I don’t like wearing too much perfume, but I think I have learn to stick to one perfume for a fair period of time so people think of me when they smell it. At the moment I like to wear ‘Coco Mademoiselle’ by Chanel.

3. Make up: Both Arabic and Indian women are rarely seen outside without a full layer of makeup. Arabic women wear a lot of make up (I am assuming) because it is usually the only part of them that can be seen. Indian women wear make up to beautify themselves, but also to show their status eg. Married or un-married. Even though, with my English upbringing, I don’t like to wear a lot of make up, I appreciate that these women always make the effort to look their best. This is a practice I will attempt to follow.

Thank you Women in Dubai for these exceptional examples of every day style.

Wardrobe Essentials

As I promised that I would add to my list of Autumn styles, I thought I would share with you my favourite classic wardrobe essential for Autumn and Winter, the cashmere jumper. Whatever style of cashmere jumper you prefer to wear, it is a perfect wardrobe staple that will make any outfit look smart and elegant and it will keep you nice and toasty at the same time.

Personally I like simple v-neck cashmere jumpers with dark-wash straight jeans a good belt and some simple pearl jewellery. I have a wardrobe full of them in every colour.

Here are some of the best shops to find good cashmere jumpers this winter:

1.     Cheaper option: Uniqlo and Zara do some lovely simple cashmere jumpers. They are not very expensive and I have some from Uniqlo that I have used constantly for the last four years. Both shops are well worth going into to stock up on a few colour options.

2.     My favourite: Pringle of Scotland have beautiful cashmere jumpers they are my favourite they feel beautiful and I tend to have to treat myself to one each year.

3.     Expensive option: If you want really fine cashmere with a bit of a edge to it and you don’t mind spending a fair amount Louis Vuitton and Fendi tend to have one or two beautiful cashmere pieces in their Autumn/Winter collections.

Whatever you do make sure your jumpers and hand washed. I have lost a few precious pieces because I left them in the laundry basket foolishly assuming everyone would know to hand wash them.

Mai Pearls Charity work

Along with this blog I also update a blog for Mai Pearls. This post has nothing to do with me personally, but I thought it was uplifting so I am going to share it with you anyway.

As you may already know, Mai Pearls gives 10% of its profits to Operation Blessing’s Chinese orphan care program.

We were recently blessed with some letters from the children this money helps. I thought I would share some excerpts of them with you.

Dear Uncles and Aunties:

"I really appreciate your kindly help to me. I am studying in Lizi Center Elementary School. My parents worked very hard to pay my tuition. Now their burden is lighter because of your help. I want to see you and say thank you in person."

"You have been helping me since grade 2. There was one time my parents do not have enough money and they decided to ask me stop studying. I was very sad. However now I can go to school every day happily. And my parents do not need to be so tired. Thank you. I will study hard and get a good degree."

"Since I cannot return your affection today with anything else except, I can only say thank you with all my mind and all my heart, and I want do some good things for others, just like you do for me. I want to show my appreciation again, thank you very much!"

"Thank you so much dear aunts and uncles. I won’t disappoint you. I will work hard and let the world be more beautiful in the future."

"Now I am in grade three, I got 90 points last semester and I am happy with that. Thank you so much for your help and love. I am 14 and going to be in grade 4. I will not fail you. I can feel your warm and love which give me strength to live. Happy everyday!"

Thank you all for your help in supporting these children.

 

Anna and Paul's wedding

I had a lovely day yesterday meeting up with all my friends again at a wedding. For someone who is usually fairly punctual, I have a bad habit of arriving late to weddings. This time my friend and I left an hour and a half of extra time to ensure we were not late and we still ran into the wedding five minutes before the bride after having quickly change in a feild.  Apart from the initial stress, the wedding was beautiful. I picked up some good ideas that you can draw ideas from (or just copy) if you are planning a wedding.

1.     The table decorations were beautiful and simple. Pretty lanterns with a thick white candle in each. These looked beautiful on the table and were lit after dinner to provide a (safe) candlelit dance floor for the evening.

2.     A good idea is to have a ceilidh as part of the evening entertainment or for all of it. It is great fun and every one can get involved as you are told exactly what you are supposed to be doing on the dance floor. This is a relief for those joining in and also those who have to watch.

3.     If you have a group of over excited friends, like us, put them as far away from the head table as possible. They will be quite content entertaining themselves and they won’t spoil your wedding day with their questionable fun.

4.     Let your friends know what colour the bridesmaids dresses are to avoid confusion when your friends all randomly decide to turn up in the same colour dresses as the bridesmaids and then proceed to try and take over the bridesmaids duties.

Thanks for an amazing day guys

Autumn Styles

I landed back in London yesterday to find it was chilly and pouring with rain. Instead of it making me miserable as that weather usually does, It in fact made me quite excited about the prospect of Autumn. Since July, you’ll have to admit that the summer in England was a bit of a let down. However, as we tend to have Autumn weather all year round in England, I like to get excited about Autumn. I can pretty much guarantee it will meet my expectations. Most importantly, with Autumn comes the Autumn/Winter fashions!

I wanted to list some of the best trends I have seen for Autumn/Winter 11 so far:

1. Pearls are actually a massive Autumn/Winter trend this year, with Donna Karen actually naming her collection “Pearls of Wisdom.”

(http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/F2011RTW-DKARAN)  Make sure you finish off your outfits with some pearls this season.

2. Camel Coats are in again this season. Which is great news if you bought one last winter, but even better news for people like me who didn’t get round to buying one last winter. The first places I am going to look are Max Mara and Burberry for a classic investment coat. If I find I can’t spend that much Zara often has nice camel coats and Spitalfields market in London has some brilliant coat designers that (if you make friend with them) may make you a coat in the exact fabric that you desire.

3. Fetish leather is also in this season. Personally I have never seen anyone who has managed to pull off head to toe leather (maybe I haven’t been to the right places). It is worth thinking about purchasing (or finding in the back of your wardrobe) a good leather statement piece. You can look at Vogue for some inspiration http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends/2011-12-autumn-winter/fetish/gallery.

Saying all this, I have yet to find myself a good leather jacket so I may have to start there.

Start working with those three. I’ll add to these throughout the season…

Have fun building/ planning your Autumn wardrobe. I know I will.

Sources: Vouge.co.uk, Style.com, Elle magazine, Tatler magazine and personal experience.

Getting into it

Hey Guys,

Sorry it has been ages since I posted. I initially wanted to post something every day. However I have had some distractions and apart from that I haven't been up to much.

You will be pleased to know that I have picked up a courses guide from my local college to see if they do Danish courses. So far I haven't opened it, but I have found a nice place for it in my surprisingly tidy room. The cooking thing may be on a standstill for the moment as people in our church are very kindly providing food for us. Also mum has decided to totally give in to all her food cravings, that naturally means that due to all the junk food around the house I have eaten my body weight in it.

One thing I have realised over all this time is that pushing a wheelchair is so much harder than it looks! On my first ever outing I had to get three separate people to help me up and down curbs. Safe to say mum was holding on for dear life. I am pleased to say that I have now become a natural. Though today I almost through her out when I didn't see a bump in the road (I couldn't stop laughing it was awful) and I still groan when I have to push more than my body weight up steep curbs.

The craziest thing happened today. I was being stroppy and miserable all morning because I was tiered and mum may have been being slightly demanding. Anyway, on my way to the fourth pharmacy for the day (no joke) I saw someone running and for some crazy reason I had this sudden urge to go for a run. This obviously shows that I am being slowly pushed over the edge. Anyway, I did go for a run and then did some more exercise afterwards. I am so proud of myself. I actually think that doing some regular exercise will be my third goal of the year.

I'll try and write sooner next time

Hanne

body clocks

Hey guys,

I would love to tell you all that I haven't been writing for the past few days because I have been productive trying to complete all my goals. However I have simply been messing up my body clock.

So let's face it New Year's Eve wasn't a good sleep and then I managed to stay up even later from a party two days later. The lack of sleep was defiantly worth it however last night I managed to sleep from 2:30 am to 4:45 am! That was it!

So due to my inability to sleep (which is rather annoying as I am usually really good at sleeping) I decided to play the angel child card this morning and offer to take Lilli to the Airport. Lilli is all grown up and leaving me to go and live in Madrid. I offered to go in the hope that the whole ordeal would make me tiered enough to get some sleep. However, my mum thought i was being a lovely daughter and has now given me an unlimited oyster card! So I won't be draining my bank balance on wildly expensive London travel.

The feeling of pure satisfaction from being on the tube in morning rush our knowing everyone was going to work and I was only going back to bed was worth the whole thing.

It does scare me a bit that people aren't even back at uni yet and I am already able to write a whole post musing about my sleeping habits :)

January 1, 2010

Hi Guys,

I decided to take a year off from life right in the middle of my final year of uni. I am still slightly debating with myself if this was a good idea, especially as my main accomplishment for this whole week has been to do laundry and get through too many seasons of Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City.

I had all these great ideas of all the great things I was going to do with my year off such as travel, do internships and spend as much quality time as possible with my mum. Over the last few weeks I have realised that the first two of these will be impossible due to mum's condition. So in an attempt to not let my mind go to mush as I sit on the sofa for a whole year I have decided to write this blog to document what I do manage to accomplish this year.

So far my goals for the year include:
1. Learn another language (Danish) ((for me this needs a lot of time to accomplish))

2. Actually learn to cook more than my 5 signature dishes (thanks Bex)

So thanks to Holly (I forgot what you wanted me to write) I have decided to document how these goals pan out and any other bizarre things I decide to do. Enjoy 

(I had to copy paste this whole thing to word to spell check it. What effort!)