Hey guys,

I know it been longer then a week since my last update but I have been sick with a cold *cough cough* and have been confined to my bed. Sleeping the flu away.

But now I'm back and better then ever. (That sounds like the tag line of a really cheesy movie sequel).

I thought I would update you guys on what I have been up to. Which has mostly been moping around...and eating...a lot. My most recent culinary adventure has taken me to Meat Market in Covent Garden. Now I know I might be a bit late to this party but Oh My Gawd. Lawwwwd this food is good. As part of the Meat Liquor franchise I had heard many good things so my expectations were high, and I can happily say Meat Market did not disappoint.

Hidden away above Covent Garden market, this narrow little restaurant is a gem. The decor in the restaurant almost took on the feel of a traditional American diner on crack and a dive bar. Tres Chic. But seriously there was always something to keep your eyes flitting from one place to another.

Now moving on from ambience and decor blah blah blah, let's talk about the important stuff aka 'The Menu'. Now I love me a burger, I love me a hot dog. But this menu made it particularly hard to choose. So little time and so much to eat. As you can see from the picture below there is a large selection to choose from all great in there own way.

In the end I went for the Ripper hot dog which consists of a deep fried bacon wrapped frankfurter, danish sauce, mustard, spicy relish and onions. Intense I know, for my sides I split a bag of deep fried Mac'n'Cheese with a friend and a refillable soda...Boy was it good.

The pictures don't do it justice, but I am trying to take all my own photos, and working with an iPhone camera isn't preferred, but you got to work with what you got.

After this feast I was still hungry...as I always am and so went for the deep fried pickles with a blue cheese dip. Not the most healthiest of choices. And I know everything I ate has some deep fried element to it, but what can I say...I luuuurve me some grease.

Doesn't help with the whole keeping fit thing though....oops

Let me know if you have any interesting places to eat. I would love to give it a go.

Chow for now

xxx

Thank you soooooooooo much Esse Hearts for nominating me for the Liebster award. This is all relatively new to me and I have only been blogging for a month as a part of my new years resolution, but I am trying really hard to keep blogging even if I'm the only one that reads it. So far I have had great response to my blog and I love finding new blogs that cover a variety of topics and seeing how people have different writing styles and interests.

For this I will be following Esse Hearts examples and revealing 11 randomj facts about myself, answering her 11 questions and nominating blogs with fewer than 200 followers and ask them to do the same.

RANDOM FACTS

1. I used to attend the BRIT School (and went there the same time as Ella Eyre, King Krule and Sasha Keable)

2. I was on TV show on BBC3 called the insider (you can watch my episode here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5CCvtqcNdE&list=PLnXJh42igx6fi7ZKYPcPoM1AVCE6igELv)

3.My favourite film franchise is the Fast and Furious films (that's mostly because of my obsession with Vin Diesel)

4. My celeb crushes in no particular order are Vin Diesel, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Tyrese Gibson and Charlie Hunham (There are many more be we ain't got all day)

5. I have never broken a bone in my body, but have always wanted just so I could get a cast and get my friends to sign it.

6. I hate hate hate cake, which most people find really weird. But it make me gag and is just so eurgh...

7. I'm always loud. I have two volumes loud and LOUDER!!!!! The only time I'm quiet is when I'm asleep.

8. I'm 5'10'' and tried to be a model, but kept on getting rejected so I decided to get into fashion another way.

9. My go to karaoke song would be anything by Beyonce, because lets face it, she's awesome.

10. My favourite book in my life so far is Memoirs of a Geisha. 

11. My favourite food is probably sushi or steak. I love me some fish and I love me some meat. Give me a bloody rare steak and some mash and I am happy.  

QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME

1.  What and/or who inspires you?

My mother is my biggest influence in life. She is a single mum, and even though I'm only child I can only image how had it must be.  She works hard in everything she does to achieve what she wants including buying her own home. She is my best friend and she always encourages me to try new things and be the best I can be.

My career inspiration is Kelly Cutrone, as she is a PR maven with the fashion industry and she is well respected with a lot of influence.

2. Who is your favourite actor/actress?

My favourite actor/actress always changes depending on what I'm watching or films are out. In terms of acting ability I am a big fan of Sandra Bullock and loved her in the blindside. But my overall favourite actress at the moment is Zoe Saldana.

3.What do you enjoy most about blogging?

I really enjoy get my thought and opinions out with blogging. It's a bit like having an online diary, I can get lost in what I'm writing and ramble on and on, but I know I'm being 100% myself. Even if no one else is reading my blog I have it for me, bgut I also have the opportunity to share it. Other people get an insight into my crazy mind.

4.What is your most memorable moment?

Probably when I got my acceptance letter to the BRIT School. I remember ringing my mum and running around like a mental patient but it was awesome. I was so nervous in the lead up to getting that letter and it set me up for where I am now.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?

I am  a city girl and I always say fresh air makes me feel a bit sick. As I already live in London I would happily live in New York, some place cool like Brooklyn. Or somewhere like Tokyo, Japan. I hear their big on KFC out there. 

6.What are three things you cannot live without?

I could not live without...hmmmm....I don't know. Probably my friends and family, I don't think I rely on anything to much besides the people on my life that I wouldn't be able to live without it. When the internet goes down I read a book. I don't wear make-up everyday and I have hardly any hair.

7.If you could be any Disney princess, who would you be?

If I could be any Disney princess I would Mulan, who is also my favourite princess. She is FIERCE. Becoming top dog in a man's world, she is a good feminist hero for young girls. And she was willing to do some things I know a lot of girls would be scared to do. You go GUURRRRLLLLL!!!!!!!!

8.Favourite TV Series?

Now this is a hard question as my favourite changes on my mood, the time of year and what's actually on. At the moment I love love love, and can not wait for the return of House of Cards. Kevin Spacey is an evil genius as Frank Underwood. And Claire is his ride or die on the hunt for power. They are like the evil political version of Jay Z and Beyonce.

9.When/why did you start blogging?

This is my second time on this blogging rodeo. My first attempt at blogging was couple of years ago and was done for all the wrong reasons. I was obsessed with becoming famous. This new blog I have started has a birthday of January 2015 and I am doing this blog with hopes of it furthering my career in fashion PR. It also acts as an outlet for me which is great. I feel 100x better about this blog then my previous attempt.

10.If you could meet anyone, who would it be?

Beside my career inspiration Kelly Cutrone and all my celeb crushes I would love to meet Rihanna. I think she has an amazing sense of style, a great career and I think we could have a laugh whilst chilling on a yacht in Barbados.

11.Describe yourself in three words.

Crazy. Loud. Awesome

My nominations

• The Vivace Style
• La Whimsy Writer
• Suitcases and Smoothies
• Re-a-Live
• A walk beside me
• I'm looking for me

My 11 Questions for you guys are...

1. What is your dream career?

2. What is your favourite place on Earth and why?

3. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

4. If you could be a character in any TV Show, film or book who would you be?

5. What would your death row dinner be?

6. If you could meet someone famous dead or alive who would it be?

7. What is your favourite book?

8. What is your best skill?

9.What is something you wish you invented?

10. If you could be any ice cream flavour what would you be and why?

11. Who is your style inspiration?

I look forward to seeing everyone's answers and thanks again to Esse Hearts for nominating me

xxx

Hey everyone :)

So this I promise will be a short post. But for the first time ever I felt as if I could keep up with my kickboxing class. Maybe not in everything, I still fail at the nightmare that is burpees, but I'm finally seeing an improvement within myself. When I first started I could manage about 2 push ups before I wanted to roll over and give up, now and can manage a lot more (number to still be confirmed) before finally giving in. One small step for man a giant leap for mankind.

I've also decided to name for my journey to fitness as so many people do.Skinny fat to Skinny fit. I think its catchy and definitely worth copyrighting. I actually managed to make it to all lessons this week which was great. Now I just have to keep up with my juicing and not eating so much junk food. I'm giving myself until my birthday in April to have a flat stomach (abs are more then welcome to make an appearance) and perky bum, on the off chance that someone wants to buy me a ticket to LA or Miami for my 21st. We'll see how that goes.

Until next time

Zbogom!!!

(Told you it would be short and sweet.

Hello guys so its been awhile, once again. But what can I say weekends are meant for sleeping, even if I am trying break that habit...

Last week I was an absolute fatty, which goes against everything I am doing as a part of my get fit motive for the new year but I believe I have some genuine excuses. And to be fair I did work of most of them calories I gained on my Saturday kickboxing session.

My biggest food sins last week were eating out for dinner two days in a row and excessive drinking. The first instance was for one of my friend's 22nd birthday. Which meant eating and drinking had to be enjoyed otherwise it could not be considered a celebration. Anyway we ended up going to a fried chicken restaurant in Hoxton called Bird. Never did I ever think a place like this existed, but boy was I glad it did. Like any sane person I love me some fried chicken, but like an insane person I had yet to enjoy the simplicity of chicken waffles. Bird, whose specialty is the waffle and chicken combo made perfect sense to pop that cherry. And as is my saying in life, I chose to go hard rather then go home and feast on the magnificent waffle and chicken burger.

I can't take props for this photo as this has been taken from the @bird_restaurant Instagram feed, But if you want heaven and a heart attack in one plate look no further. Consisting of boneless thighs, thick cut bacon, American cheese, crispy shallots, hot sauce and Canadian maple syrup sandwiched between two cheddar and onion waffles. Whilst my best friend is away I may try and replace her with food...who knows.

After completing the majority of this monstrous burger we then went on to Forge and Co members club. Super cool venue with a chill ambiance and DJ. 

Drink total with this meal: 4

1 beer, 3 glasses of white wine and one shot of tequila

Overall an awesome dining experience and I would definitely recommend to try.

Friday...another night out on the town. Not really. My mother and I decided to go out for dinner at London Southbank. We weren't sure where we wanted to go but my mum was feeling Mexican so we decided to go to the South American restaurant chain Las Iguanas. I had been to Las Iguanas before during happy hour to get drunk off cocktails but I had never eaten there before. We got to the restaurant in time just before happy hour was over and got two Long Island Ice Tea's, my favourite kind of tea.

Instead of ordering a set meal we decided to go for a selection of tapas which included Gambas; Butterfly cooked prawns cooked in garlic lime and chilli. Pato Taquito; Rich shreds of roast duck & caramelised onion rolled in a flour tortilla & char-grilled, with a spicy cranberry salsa. Albondigas; Patagonian style lamb meatballs with apple, mint, parmesan & a pinch of nutmeg. Braised in a rich tomato, mint & mild chilli sauce. All with a side of sweet potato chips and a pitcher of Long Island Tea. The service was really good and the staff were super friendly. The food came so quickly which was a bonus as I was huuuuungry. My favourite tapas of the night was definitely the Albondigas which were so good we ordered a second serving.

Ranking of the the tapas in order of best to worst (not that there was anything wrong with them) 1. Albondigas 2.Gambas 3. Sweet Potato Chips 4. Pato Taquito. I know the chips weren't apart of the tapas but I still preferred them over the duck option. I think I'm just not a fan of duck, but that menu is all to blame. Made them sound so damn delicious.

Drink total with meal;

6 glasses of Long Island Ice Tea (approximately)

Nice restaurant and all but next time I'm in Southbank I'm likely to try something a little different.

Once again thanks for reading and I will update soon

(please note, none of the images in this blog post belong to me)

Despedida!!!!

Now by no means am I that person that only has one friend, and there is nothing bad about having one friend. In fact sometimes having a singular true friend is better than having to trim the fat and get rid of loads of toxic people from your life. I have multiple friends but my best mate, my ride or die, wifey for lifey is leaving me for two months whilst she goes to LA for pilot season; the trials and tribulations of actors...Sun, Sea, Sand and Hollywood.

In no way am I jealous...okay I might be a little jealous, but that is mostly because she will get to hang out in the sunshine whilst I’m left with the bitter cold. Additionally she has the chance to dip in the delicacy which is the American boy...no fair. Besides all that I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do whilst she is gone. I mean Facetime is great and all but with the time difference alone it won’t be what I’m used to.

Maybe now is a great time to socialize more with my other friends and complete more of my goals for the New Year. I mean what’s two months, maybe I will take up knitting (doubt it). Maybe now is the time to get a boyfriend...hmmm where do young people go to meet other young people. I’m practically a Grandma, if my hobbies and ideas of relaxing are anything to go by. How do people organically extend their friendship circles? All of the friends have made over the years have been whilst I have been at school or uni. I am now a 20 year old woman in London, who has no real idea of ways to meet new people. Is that really sad or does anyone feel the same?

Sometimes when I’m stalking people on Instagram, as it’s one of my favourite past times I see so many people with so many different friends, is that a life they have created for social media or do they actually have that many friends. If so, maybe I’m not a social as I thought I was. But I like my small circle.

Maybe these next two months will give me the motivation to start crossing things of my bucket list, like writing a book, or becoming a superstar DJ. These 2 months could be the beginning of my origin story...

Here goes

Tchau

Sorry for the delay in posts...its hard trying to balance life, work, social activities with sleep.

Anyway week 2 of kickboxing, it feels so much easier then the first week in certain aspects that I have convinced myself I must be doing it all entirely wrong. Monday’s session recapped some of the things we did in week one but we also learnt the right leg round house kick which wasn’t too tricky, but as lanky as I am I feel as if I should wear a hazard sign; WARNING flailing limbs. I think the hardest part as always was the warm up. Upper running cuts, straight running punches, pulsing squats and high knee runs. The list goes on and on, but I hope to God it’s worth it. I think my little pouch on my stomach has gone down from all the burpees, but I can’t be sure. Maybe it would have been more useful to take a before and after picture, but ain’t nobody got time for that.

Wednesday’s session was more of a work out, my colleague from work joined me and made me walk 40mins to get to the gym rather than hop on the tube for 2 stops. She said it was the warm up before the warm up. I said she was insane. I went into Wednesday’s session trying to be all professional, even brought some hand wraps from Sports Direct. Of course I had no idea how to put them on and Alex, the instructor had to put them on for me. This session was tough and besides the compulsory burpee’s , butterfly kicks and planks this week included punching sit ups and planks which I won’t even attempt to describe.

Saturday I ditched kickboxing in favour of hanging with my best friend who is abandoning me for two months, read more about that in an upcoming post...

Arrivederci

Hi everyone out there in blogger land, this is your captain speaking. I joke, I joke.

Anyway 2015 is well underway with January being almost over but I thought I would do a post on new years resolutions anyway...because why not. So in all the previous 20 years of my life I have not been one to stick to any resolution I have made. "This year I'm gonna get fit" to "This year I'm gonna save money". Once again I am hoping this year will be different for a variety of reasons.

2015 is the year where I turn 21. When I was younger I always thought that 21 was the perfect age. I thought at 21 I would have a car, a nice income, a boyfriend, an awesome designer wardrobe blah blah blah. But alas my life has not worked out to be that way. I still have a few months to make that happen, but so far I am not on track. I failed my theory test by 3 points two years ago and haven't been behind the wheel of a car since. I have a very moderate income considering I am a student on an interns wage, thank God for that student loan. My non-existent love life has basically been lacking since I can remember. I have been on one date in the last two years, but that's a story for another time. And finally my designer wardrobe...well I have a few designer pieces in my wardrobe that have all been gifts from my dads very generous boss, but unfortunately aren't items that can be worn everyday. So my youthful ideas of what being 21 are like haven't come to fruition, but there is still hope.

Anyway the year of 2015 will be my year (I won't hold my breath). I didn't start of so well, so I decided my new year would started on the 18th of January. Which was great for me as it meant I had more time to eat all the chocolate, greasy kebabs and junk food I wanted. It also meant I had three extra weekends of sleeping all day watching movies on my laptop and only moving when I needed to pee. It got 2 and half weeks extra of being a skinny fat girl slob but something has got to change.

So starting from my new year I plan to get fit, so that I am no longer huffing and puffing for my entire 30min journey home after running for my train. I would like to save some money so that when I go to uni I am not completely broke. I would like to eat healthier, which is going to be super hard considering the relationship I have with cheese hmmmmm. And finally I would like to do something productive with my weekends rather then sleeping, even though I do love it.

How will achieve all these goals you ask (even if you haven't I will tell you anyway). 1 Fitness; thanks to my bargain hunting savvy I have  found a six week kickboxing class on Groupon for £58. £58 for six weeks you say,why yes I do and that includes 3x 1hour lessons a week and a grading at the end of the course in which I could potentially earn a white belt. To find out more please look out for my future kickboxing posts. 

2 Money; Has anyone else found that when you were younger you used to be really tight with money and as you got older you spend your money like your playing Monopoly? I have given myself a goal of saving £300 a month for the remainder of placement, but then I remember I love shopping so we will see how that goes. 

3 Healthy eating; Now I will be the first to acknowledge I will slip up in this area, I already have unless have 2 Twix's for breakfast is healthy, but I plan to start to juicing which you can read up on in future posts, and eating a lot more lean meats and veg like broccoli, just the thought scares me.

4 Productive weekends; Now this will be tricky because most of my hobbies involve money or being at home in my bed. Hopefully I can find a hobby that gets me out of bed in the morning and costs little to no money. I am open to suggestions...Please give me some ideas.

Okay I think I have bored you enough, but I hope you stop by again.

Hi Everyone and welcome to F.I.F. I'm your host Courtnie....

Anyway this post I hope is something that's relevant to a few of you out there, that's if anyone is actually reading this.

Ever since I was little I have gone through a crisis every year where I didn't know what I wanted to be and so I changed my career options every year. I would always have this panic about what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted to be super successful and make loads of money. Over the years I wanted to be a singer, dancer, actor, athlete, film director, music director, script writer etc. The list is endless. The only reason I decided to study public relations is because my A-Level media teacher suggested it and I did some research, done a couple of placements and thought hmm I could do that.

But its that time of year again and I am questioning what I want to do with my future. In no world would I drop out of uni and its a little too late for me to change course but I do question whether a job in the PR world is for me. Don't get me wrong I have been loving my placement and the experiences and skills I have been available to develop because of it but do I see myself doing this everyday for the next 40-60 years of my life. I don't think I personally a massive fan of desk jobs, but that is mostly because I'm really lanky and my legs get cramped from sitting down for the majority of the day.

I think I would like to get into Fashion shoot and runway production. That way I can still use my PR skills, work in an industry I enjoy, I would have something new to do everyday and I can use my organisation to its fullest potential.

Even though I have this career meltdown once or twice every year, I know I don't really have to worry...yet. I think one of the reasons I get so scared is because when I was younger it was always drummed into me to work hard to get the grades to go to university, to get a job, to work my way up the career ladder. Now that I think about it, that path isn't for everyone, and maybe instead of shooting up the career ladder I can zig zag my way through so I can gain more experiences and find what it really is I love. I would love for my passion to also be the same thing that makes me money...too bad I'm not Beyonce.

Maybe it's time I took the advice I give to my friends and apply it to myself. Your 20's are your selfish years. so be selfish and focus on you. Find what you like and dislike. Make friends and travel the world. You have your whole life ahead of you...Okay so soppy moment over, but I think if I do follow that mantra then I can dismiss my five year and ten year plan and instead just see where I land and be all the more happier for it.

Let me know if you've ever felt the same.

For now Adios...but don't be a stranger.

Howdy!!!

So this blog post I hope will be interesting...As I mentioned on a previous post I recently started a kickboxing class that lasts for 6 weeks including 3x1hour lessons a week. I was fortunate to find this class on Groupon for £58 (Yay for cheap thrills). Besides the awesomely low price the other reasons I decided to start kickboxing, include it being close to work meaning I have no excuses no to go. It gets me out of bed on Saturday and I get the opportunity to be graded at the end of the 6 weeks which I could potentially be a white belt and soon on my way to kicking asses and taking names. For now though that's a long long way away and as this blog post suggests at the moment kick boxing is kicking my ass.

I had my first lesson on Monday, and let me tell you I have never sweated so hard in my life and that was just after the 10 minute warmup. I who have no current level of fitness and don't believe in the gym, finding it to be some masochistic self torture chamber that people pay to attend, was sweating after the first set of star jumps. But thats okay, I have been ensured as the weeks go on I will improve. So here's to hoping. The first lesson was awesome and we learnt the left straight punch , right jab, front kick and probably the most important tool...ducking. Now I personally believe I'm a lover not a fighter (yeah right) but if I were in a real fight I probably would just try and avoid being hit all costs. Anyway the class was really good and a great way to meet other like minded people all with the hopes of getting fit in the new year. The only thing I could have done without are the push ups of which I only managed about one , and even then I'm not even sure if that counted.

Lesson two took place on Wednesday and by this time my body was in pure agony begging to be relieved. It hurt to stand up, it hurt to sit down, and now you know why I don't believe in paying a monthly membership for this. At least with the pain I'm feeling it came at a discount, but on wards and upwards. Lesson 2 consisted of another exhausting warm up, this time with added elements such as burpees which I was in no way ready for, leg swings and a whole bunch of other stuff. Tiring, yes. Worth it, oh yes. By the end of Lesson 2, I had added on to my ever expanding skill set a left hook and roundhouse kick. I think part of me is just itching to get in a fight now to show my new fighting skills, how effective they would be, I don't know. By the end of lesson two the pain in my body started to ease up and I felt like I could take on the world.

Lesson three and the final lesson of the week took place on Saturday, and was not what I expected. The class numbers diminished significantly, but I guess most people have actual plans on a Saturday unlike me but I guess it worked in my favour as there was more opportunity for the multiple instructors to tell me everything I was doing wrong. Now I might sound ungrateful, and truly I'm not, but there's only so many times you can tell me to lift my leg higher, push myself harder when I feel about ready to collapse. No new moves learnt but I do believe I have mastered the burpee...still have to perfect those lunge jumps and squat jumps though.

It's now late Sunday evening and I am raring to go for the next 5 weeks. Who know I might even take up doing burpees at home. In the meantime I hope to keep you updated...that is if you actually care

Auf Wiedersehen