Archives for March 2012

Things I Need In My Life: More Automated Cakes

March 30, 2012

I’ve been to Holland a few times with my dad, and our favourite thing was Febo – a chain of automatiek restaurants where you put money in and get fast food out (Hey, I blogged about it in 2008! So long ago!)

As far as I know, we don’t really have anything like this in the UK yet – wouldn’t it be perfect though for those late night snacks after you’ve had a drink or 10? – but I’d be happy never to see one in the UK if we could get one of these

A CUPCAKE ATM.

Its just… beautiful. At Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, the cakes are freshly baked and the machine can dispense so many different types, even cakes for your dog. This video from the Huffington Post shows the machine in action:

The closest we seem to be getting in the UK is the Mr Kipling bus stops which dispence slices of angel cake and smell like cake. Except there aren’t any in Bristol – bah!

If theres a dispenser for macarons though, I’m going to be first in line!

Brava, Bravissimo

March 28, 2012

Bras! Important things. Well, if you’re a girl they are. If you’re a boy…um…bras are still very important, but you’re unlikely to need one as much.

My best friend (you probably know her as the Wife) is an advocate of getting measured and of Bravissimo. I gave in to the measuring demands, but because of the location, I avoided Bravissimo. The nearest store to Bristol is over in Cardiff, and it wasn’t until recently that I made the trek over there (rather stupidly, on Grand Slam day) and went to get measured.

Bravissimo doesn’t do measuring like most shops with a tape measure, but instead look at how something will fit. The store was quite quiet when Sarah and I went in, and they could see me straight away. I went into a cubicle and undid my dress so I was in just my bra (stupidly I wore a dress that day, but at least it was one that buttoned down the front!) and the lady came in and looked over the bra I was wearing. (This sounds really wrong. It wasn’t.)

She asked what sort of bra I preferred (lacy, plain, padded, etc) and came back with some bras for me to try. The one I chose in the end was the Freya Deco bra – she then brought in the matching pants as well which I thought was a nice touch (cynically, I would think this was a way to upsell to me, but I would have bought them anyway)

Compared to my last measuring at House of Fraser, this was the complete opposite – the service was great, and I actually feel like I have the right size now. In the post where I talked about being measured at House of Fraser, I mentioned that I thought that the sizing they measured me at was a bit odd – and now I know it was! I suspect that I was measured to that as it was more likely that there were items in that size in stock. Very annoying.

Another thing that I liked is that Bravissimo have a guarantee on their products that as long as they are handwashed, if anything goes wrong (wires popping through, broken straps, whatever!) then they’ll replace it. They keep all the details on their system as well under your own account, so you don’t have to try and hunt out that receipt. All these little things just add to how great a service they provide (well, in my opinion!)

Now I’m going to have to build up my bra collection…any suggestions for stores that deal with the larger sized bras well?

Disclaimer: Not needed, not even an affiliate link to be found. I was so impressed with the service that I had to talk it up!

Burn So Bright

March 26, 2012

Um, so this is an overdue outfit post with something I’ve probably worn before on the blog. *shrug*

Top (“dress”): Dorothy Perkins | Leggings: ASOS | Shoes: Primark | Handbag: Mulberry (with a Hobbs scarf)

I don’t have the hugest wardrobe, and this was a panicked wardrobe pick because despite getting up in plenty of time, I ended up with 20 mins to get ready. I’d like to blame the clocks going back, but in reality, I don’t notice it when my clocks all change automatically!

My best friend Helen is in town for a week to look after her cousin…which she mentioned just a few hours before getting the train down to Bristol! It’s been so nice to be able to spend some time with her though – on Saturday, we went to Giraffe in Cabot Circus, and of course, something was done wrong with the order…I’m starting to suspect that they just hate me in there for some reason ;) After dinner, we headed back to mine where the Singstar came out…of course. Before dinner though, I spent most of the day in Cabot Circus, having an eye test (and while not intending to buy any new glasses, ended up buying a new pair, a pair of sunglasses and going back this week for a contact lens check up!. Oops.) and having lunch with a friend at Coal, which had been on my avoid list (which really, you’d think by now that Giraffe would be on) but made up for prior mistakes with an epic plate of ribs (or #riiiiiibbbbbs as lunch was referred to on Twitter) Definitely going back there!

I spent a little money too while I was mooching about…the book was part of my 6 month late birthday present from Helen (which I prefer to think of as a half birthday present), the grey tube is the new Topshop lipstick that’s supposed to react with your natural lip colour or something, the one next to it is a Revlon lip butter (in Raspberry Pie – so pigmented!), the bottle of perfume is from Zara – only Â£8! – and finally, the bra was bought while I was waiting for an appointment at the Benefit brow bar in Debenhams – never again! (I asked if they could fit me in, and they said to come back in 20 mins, booking me in. I wandered about, bought things, and went back, only to have to wait half an hour with no apology. I was desperate to get my brows waxed – I’ve been growing them out but I cracked! – so waited and waited, only for the actual service to not be so great: missing hairs and putting on concealer when I didn’t ask for it is rubbish)!

This week is already looking pretty awesome – I’m only in work for 4 days, I hopefully will see my bestie again this week before she goes home, I get to see some gorgeous girls at the Aussie party this weekend and (most importantly!) I get to see my boyfriend on Friday for the first time in 3 weeks. SO EXCITED. And not just because I’ve been told about a present. I’d say it was 10% excitement of present, 90% excitement to see Alex and to not be on my own for a while…I’m going crazy! :(

Edit: So after I wrote this post about my awesome host, I thought I would send them a little something – a big box of chocs which they received today. We often talk about who provides awful customer service (in fact, I did just a few paragraphs ago!) but I think its always a good idea to say when things are awesome!

Archives for March 2012

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