OPB - Princesses, Posh Birds and Handcuffs

So one of the things I love about blogging is when I'm stuck for what to write, I trawl through OPB - other people's blogs - and see whats around that makes me laugh or think or wish the blogger and I were friends.  Not in a stalkery way, just your average follow you everywhere you go, take photo's of you when you're not looking, watch you when you sleep normal friendship... Anyway I've found three that I like so much I feel that over whelming need to share with you. Behold...

Taken from http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/

Rejected Princess 
A little blatant piggy-backing here as this blog has been reviewed on Stylist, Huffington Post and the MTV site recently but still, just because something is popular doesn't mean it's hype.  This is a series of posts about real women in history that would have made amazing Disney Princesses, the kind of girls that cut off their own hands so that their brother wont try to marry them.  Had Disney given them reel time they would have been sanctified to within an inch of their lives, much better that Jason Porath gets his mitts on them.  He tells their stories with more than a little humour and some rather impressive drawings.

Constantly updating the site, he holds his hands up when he gets something wrong which is a characteristic I admire and is still unknown enough to reply to tweets!  It looks like a book of the stories will be coming out some time soon(ish), I just hope he keeps his chilled unaffected style when the millions come rolling in.

Taken from http://redlemonade.blogspot.ie/

Red Lemonade - The Fifty Shades Series
If you loved the books and thought whats-her-face's writing was aces you may wanna skip over this one as it's the most beautifully harsh piss-take of a book I have ever encountered.  Red Lemonade has a wit as sharp as Jon Snow's sword which she wields frequently at the writing, the storyline and the characters in this utter pile of wank book.  The exasperation she expresses at the dimwittedness (that a word? oh well it is now) of ol' Anastasia is highly entertaining. Case in point: "She also says really stupid things like how her stepfather Ray is "the reason I know the difference between a hawk and a handsaw". Apparently this was something that had to be explained to her"

I honestly sat at my desk shaking with laughter at the majority of these posts, and I work with academics so barely get even a giggle going most days.For anyone that is over 30 she also reviews the Sweet Valley Twins books in an equally cut-throat style. 

Taken from http://www.tatler.com/news/sophia-money-coutts-made-in-chelsea-blog

Sophie Money-Coutts - The Made in Chelsea blog
I know I know I've probably lost you now but I honestly love the show (and blog about it often, here, here, here and here.) Sophie it seems is becoming less of a fan with each passing episode, understandable as the content this series was tedium televised.  Again it's her exasperation at the actions and constant bed hopping of the twenty-twats that make her blog so entertaining.  I do wonder if a little of this is jealousy at not being asked on the show herself, but that would mean she would have to sleep with Spencer (seems to be a Chelsea rite of passage for anyone that is, just about, of age) but I'm pretty sure she's not that desperate.

So there you have it.  Looking over these three, I can see that sarcastic writing is the common theme.  Whoever said "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit" obviously wasn't clever enough to understand it.  Not only is it a high form of communication it's also maddeningly funny, so there!

Hungry for more of Hungary.

Sorry guys meant to put this up on Monday but a horrendous journey back home meant it got delayed.  If you're interested in the details of what happened it broke down like this:

11:50 Plane lands

12:20 Find out car alarm wont immobilise, call AA
01:35 AA contracts job out to different co. man turns up

02:15 Man fiddles with car then say needs to be recovered, but he won't take us as he has already worked too many hours, calls for another AA van

02:30 No AA Van

02:35 Decide to live out rest of life in Luton Long Stay Car Park

02: 40 No AA van, Call AA back.

02:45 AA advises next pick up time is 5:30am! Go back to terminal.
05:34 Pick up arrives (not AA) Van man advises he is dropping us off at black cat round about as he needs to get his van to be MOT'd

05:36 Loose will to live.
06:30 Dropped at black cat roundabout

06:30 No AA van.
06:50 Real AA van arrives, get home around 07:40

The End 

8 hours to get 54 miles, incredible huh?

Anyway onto the actual reason for the blog, my Budapest trip.  I'll start with the not so amazing bits.  Mainly cos there really aren't that many but I figure I should add them just to be impartial, but first another pretty picture. 

Get prepared to spend a pretty penny.

Okay so while Budapest itself isn't that expensive, you'll find that the public bathrooms all cost you between 35p- 70p depending on where you are.  Considering how warm it is and how much water you may need to drink it could get rather annoying.  The upside is that this means you won't encounter a smelly wee hole anywhere in the city.

Top ten let downs.
We borrowed a 'Top Ten Best' book from a friend and while we took the chance not purchasing a new one the differences between what we found and what we were told was vast.  Take the Gellert spa and baths.  Supposedly the most luxurious baths in Hungary but these were a little disappointing, the book advised it was cheaper in the last 3 hrs of the day (not true) and didn't mention the fact that you pay extra for towels.  And that it is forbidden to go in the inside swimming pool without a bathing cap, which they also charge for. Honestly the showers weren't that hot (or clean) either, I may have well been spoilt though as I've been to some pretty amazing spas in my time. 

Parlimentary House 

This is beyond beautiful, but the so called free tours are anything but (around a tenner per person).  You'll queue for ages, under the museum across the way to get a ticket for a tour in your language.  These are advertised as being available on the hour throughout the day.  The next one free that we could have attended was at 3.45 (it was 11:50 at the time).  It IS beautiful though, and outside is where the real worthwhile view is anyway.

Now onto everything else!

I never imagined I'd feel so at home away from my home. Hungary has got to have one of the most chilled vibes of any city I have visited and is definitely in my top 5 most beautiful.  Summer is a great time to visit as pop up bars arrive throughout the city.  We found one right at the bottom of the Chain Bridge, bought cheap beers and sat listening to a free DJ all three nights we were there.  Each night a different type of music (anything from French rap to house and all that's in between). 

In a stark contrast, drinks at the Four Seasons Gresham Hotel was a completely different type of exciting.  Sat with my Cosmo and a glass of Hungarian sparkling wine (which I don't think I could tell from champagne) I had a happy little buzz on so when I said "doesn't that look like a thin Miranda Hart" my husband dismissed me.  A fool hardy mistake as it was indeed the comedian.

Miranda (we are on first name terms now) seemed very happy to be there and I must say looked particularly trim.  I worked hard at not looking like I was looking at her whilst simultaneously stalking her every move.  So dedicated was I to nonchalantly eyeballing my new BFF, I completely missed the fact that she was sat with Rose Byrne (my husband gets these points!) AND Melissa McCarthy.  Budapest treated us well that night (well all nights really).

It was a trip that I didn't expect to like as much, a place I didn't believe I would find as comfortable or magical or as breathtaking.  It was a quick weekend away, now I'm hatching a plan to get all my friend's to live there too.  

MIC Episode rehash - Is Spencer the mastermind behind the whole thing?

And so the reign of Binky the nice normal posho comes crashing to an end.  Proof that even the sweetest girl will turn into a screaming, defensive, unreasonable banshee when put through/accepting of enough pain.  The weight of the infidelity (along with the weight of her hair extensions I imagine) has all been too much for her as last night’s MIC episode saw B lose her shit at the only people that have had her back through this whole mess and storm out of not one, but two separate scenes.  I for one am getting rather fed up of the tedium that is this storyline.

Oddly Binky seems to have forgiven Spencer for leading her beloved into an orgy which is more than a tad unbelieveable, so I did some digging.  A little bird, whose name shall be protected, advised me at the beginning of this game it was Spencer that took the show idea to a number of channels.  He apparently got turned down several times before E4 took them on so it seems he’s the mastermind behind the whole debacle.  This at least explains why girls keep falling for him and why his friends keep forgiving his diabolical behaviour, it’s cos they don’t want to be chucked off the show.  This theory is further held up when you look at what happened between him and Emma, the only girl to have said no to him in the history of Chelsea and she’s booted.  

In the episode/series low point, Fran reappeared and had a great deal of the twitter verse wondering what she has done to be kept on the show at all?  That Lettuce leaf girlie came across as wildly immature but at least she livened the place up a bit, I suspect a favour was done for/called in from one of the above mentioned directors here. Toff reappeared at a spa as well but it remains a complete mystery to the rest of the world as to what the point of her is, aside from giving us a glimpse at the roundest face in the world that is. 

Elsewhere Lucy’s facial expressions got a real day out as she turned all green over Jamie and Riley hooking up.  Understandable, but personally I’d have kept my feelings under wraps and certainly not discussed them with an American friend complete with camera and lighting crew around me.

In a strange turn of events it was Stephanie and Louise (I know!) who actually seemed the most together of all the girls this week. Steph was the one that reminded Lucy ‘It’s not about you’ when Binks storm out no: 1 occurred. And Louise (bless her) tried to mediate between Cheska and Binky by explaining what it’s like when you’ve been cheated on multiple times, though got a mouthful off of Binks for her troubles.  It’s very sad to see what a real tosspot can do to a girl if she loves him enough.  

Good job these aren’t real friends of mine, I’d have shot myself a couple seasons ago if this is all I had to hang around with!

100 Happy Days Challenge

I've done it, 100, ahem, consecutive happy days.  So how did it go? Well I'm glad you asked cos it went a little something like this...

The Challenge

Every day submit a picture of what made you happy!  

It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day to a favour you did to a stranger.  

#100happyday challenge is for you - not for anyone else. 

It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest. If you try to please / make others jealous via your pictures - you lose without even starting. 

A particularly worthwhile Happy Day - if you want to donate too go to: http://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/shinealight

The Issues

Strangely the one issue reported to cause most people to fail (time) wasn't a problem. My main issue was having the attention span of a gnat so I frequently forgot which day I was meant to be on.  Sometimes I'd report day 66 twice or jump from day 67 to 69 or forget a whole day.  I soon decided that I didn't really give a toss about that though, as I was enjoying myself too much.  It's a proper lovely thing to find out that, give or take the odd day, I am pretty happy on a regular basis.  I also got a closer look at the things in my life that made me smile and most of my images revolved around the four F's Friends; Food; Flowers; Fashion.

Sometimes it was something a bit more frivolous that made me happy

The Outcome
The outcome was I found I could concentrate on the positives in the day even if I'd had a really crappy one.  For example on a particularly bad day on the slopes (I can feel this may not be the best place to start but stay with me) I fell over 17 times on one run.  This was in February and the bruises are still visible, that day was beyond frustrating and more than a tad painful!  As I had just started 100 Happy Days I didn't want to give up so looked around for something nice to photograph.  Which is when I saw the view (I know I know, trust me it's more difficult to pick out if you're tumbling down multiple times!).  I focused on how bloody lucky I am to be there at all! I'd like to say this made me a better skier but alas, it had no effect on my physical performance.  I cried less after that though! 

Sometimes it was a beautiful sunset

These past few months have also seen me fall out with a friend I've had (or not if you were to believe her) for coming up to 15 years.  There were days when I was getting slammed in long rambling text messages and being spoken to like the worst person to set foot on the planet.  If I hadn't been doing 100 Happy Days I might not have been able to realise the negatives that were hurled at me weren't really about me at all. As it was, the real friends and family I have were at the forefront of my mind and really helped me through.

And sometimes it was copious amounts of cheese!

I've always been a lists person and this is the best list I've ever kept.  At times I'd find myself all proud that I had uploaded my photo for that day before the morning was over, other days were more difficult.  Normal mundane days had me searching round at 9pm looking for something to snap for my challenge.  Those days usually ended up being dedicated to TV shows or whatever was in my eye line at the time.  

In short it's a totally worthwhile challenge which I'm now extending to you, go to: 100happydays.com and see if you can keep it up better than I did.    Feel free to copy my twitter handle theemiddlesis in your images too.  Cos if there's one thing that does make me happy, it's nosing at what makes others happy too!