Atacama.

Im 21.

So, the 30th March 2011 has already been and gone and thus i am now officially 21.
The lead up went as follows.


(Firstly i feel i should mention i had been a complete bitch for the week before complaining that my birthday would be horrid cos i have no friends and that Lulo is a hoe because she didnt even seem that bothered about this most hOLY of days)


Tuesday i had work in the morning but as i was ill and apparently appeared "feverish" i was sent home after 12.30.
I taxi-d my way home and picked up my favourite Chillean cake for my parents to try...

- Milhojas-

It's a dream.

It's literally these biscuity thin layers, in between which is sandwiched shit loads of manjar (aka dulce de leche) and then whipped egg whites are blobbed on top.

LIKE THIS.

Anyway after meeting up at my apartment, to give them the tour we taxi-d over to Solé Mio, a fishy Italian place for lunch where apparently 'avocado salad' means shit loads of avocado shoved on a plate. Not complaining though. 

Palta is the food of kings.

I then went back home to finish off some packing and meet Lulo to give me my card before Philly and i met my parents back at the hotel to CHECK INTO OUR SEXY HOTEL ROOM FOR THE NIGHT.

After being mildly annoyed at how unspecific Laura had been as to her whereabouts/ what she would be doing when she got here, we said our goodbyes and and Philly and i headed off.

BEST. HOTEL. ROOM. EVER.

I have never seen a bed so big.

I didnt even realise i had missed duvets.

There was a tv the size of Kirsty Alley.

All in all, it was awesome.

Still complaining that my birthday would be rubbish/ vaguely concerned i'd turn up to either a huge load of people i didnt want to be there, or i'd turn up to an empty table....Phil was left to the sad job of trying to persuade me there were nO SURPRISES and it would be lovely.

So, we got dressed and ready to roll and headed to the restaurant for my birthday dinner/ just general dinner cos my birthday was the day after...

As we arrived who was there but my lovely friendies all dressed up, sat at a big table, waiting for me.

It was such an amazing surprise and the food was sooo yummmyyy (STEAK STEAK STEAK) and my presents were sooo thought out.

Big shout out to Philly for 
a) managing to keep something secret from me.

b) Lulo, isabelle and Lore all keeping me off the scent.

c) ol' Kazza W and Sean-a-Paul for thinking up and paying for the whole thing, as well as the hotel room.

Best 21st ever.....and it wasnt even my 21st yet.

Anyway, we went back to the awesomely huge bed to shnuggle before i had to get up to leave for the airport at 6am....

NEXT INSTALLMENT TO COME.

Cerealsly good.

As per usual The Huffington Post, King of all IMPORTANT news, lead me to some, once more, life-changing discoveries.


54 CEREALS WE LOVED AND LOST.


Huffy, you've done it again!


You've taken the very words out of my mouth, added colourful pictures and a witty caption and hey presto- a list of the 54 best old school cereals from our childhood that should probably have never been made legally consumable anyway.


Here are a few of the best;

Yummmmmmmm.
Thank god we still have Lucky Charms......
and thank GOD they are NOT gluten-free.

I'M ILL.

I.HAVE.A.COLD.

evidence of my illness

I am ill.

I have the mother of all colds.

Runny nose, sore throat, major sneezing issues and a general demeanor that screams "GET CLOSE IF YOU DARE!"

My only working remedy appears to be the Options Belgian hot choc my mama sent over from England.

If i thought waking up at 6.30am was tricky before, tomorrow is gunna be a JOKE. In fact i actually blame this entire bout of sickness on work. 

Screw you La Segunda.

• Screw your infallible air con.
• Screw your kerazayy 8am-6pm daily routine.
• Screw YOU in general

I am disease ridden, and you have only yourself to blame.

You are dead to me.

SACA UNA FOTO

Olivia Stephany - Sienna- February 2011

Present...ing the best boot award.

This is what Lulo is getting me for my birthday.

Best present ever?......

Yes. Best present ever.

Thank you Lulo!!!

Can't wait til i get back to England and these lil babies will be patiently waiting for me on my bed, still cosy in their ASOS packaging.

Don't worry booties....MAMA'S COMING HOME!!

NEWS OF THE WEEK

Elizabeth Rosemund Taylor

February 1932 – March 2011

An English-born American actress, Taylor started as a child star who then became known for her acting talent, glamour and beauty; as well as a much publicized private life, which included eight marriages, several near-death experiences, and decades spent as a social activist, championing the cause of AIDS awareness, research and cure. 


Taylor, a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, was considered one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. 


The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.


Elizabeth (Liz) Taylor died on March 23, 2011, surrounded by her four children at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 79.

dog. wearing. glasses.

Paris, i miss you.

Dressing like this...

Eating these...

Riding these...

Drinking these...

Doing this...

Sleeping in this...

Theses coats...

Shopping here...

Being with her...

DONT MISS THIS THOUGH

Leading up to the Bigg'un

Feeling a bit down today.

Got back yesterday from Big Apple (desiphre as appropriate)where i met up with my parents. I was so lovely to see them and 'Good Airs' was A.M.A.Z.IN.G.

(photos will follow, plus more info when out of danger)

But today i'm back at the office with that cheeky 6.30am start i've so been enjoying, and back to the ol' routine.

After ma wee lil trip, ive decided i need to get out more.

This 6.30am til 7.30pm malarky is taking up way to much of my time and i need to BE FREEEEEE.

So, in the next few months i've decided im going to Buenos Aires (for the first time?), Pucon and Frutillar, as well as the Atacama desert with my parents for my birthday next wednesday.

21. 30th March 2011

Not looking forward to it.

On the upside i now have a suitcase filled with Cadbury's chocolate...

SACA UNA FOTO

Rachel Forster- Granada- February 2011

NEWS OF THE WEEK

Chicken and Waffles,

 Limited time offer.

IHOP on Thursday brought the fried chicken and waffles combination to its locations nationwide with a new limited-time offer.

The Chicken and Waffles dish, available at participating locations for a recommended $7.99, includes four all-white-meat chicken tenders with four Belgian waffle quarters.

“Innovation is at the heart of IHOP’s efforts to tempt the taste buds of our guests,” said Jean Birch, IHOP’s president. 

“Combining sweet and savory tastes is a trend that we know our guests crave, and IHOP is the first to offer the delicious combination of crisp Belgian waffles with juicy chicken tenders to guests in all 50 states.”

nrn.com

i KNOW I WNAT SOME!!!

Another day at the office.

"A permanent residual deformation field at the Earth surface that is generated by the permanent displacement of the two walls of the fault and it is detectable by GPS and other satellite techniques at thousands of kilometers away from the epicenter. The values of this deformation field range from several meters around the epicenter and it is still some millimiters thousands of km away."

Just a lil taster of what im translating at work today

-LOLLLAAAA-

Shnuggles, come back.

It's been ages since Isabelle left to go travelling (with her parents- lame)and it's about time she came back!


AND SHE IS!!


Though only for a few days and most of which i'll be away for :(


However, this Thursday she will be back and we can once more spend time watching american tv programmes whilst bitching about other flat members.
Sigh.
Can't wait.
It's been awful lonely withoutcha.

The Golden Girls.

Everyone's allowed a top five.
Here are mine.

Jane Fonda

Sean Young

Debbie Harry

Barbi Benton

Grace Kelly

Uh.

Wish they were all alive.

Come and play.

One weekend.

27th August.

The 'festival' of all festivals.

.wyndstock.

http://wyndstock.com/ 

who doesn't want cocktails in the woods?

Anni and i have already got our tickets.

Have you got yours?

T.S.U.N.A.M.I

As a journalist working on the international section of a Chilean newspaper i should probably be the one going update crazy, but after having read and written about it non-stop over the weekend..... I really just can't be bothered.


Lulo's got it covered.

For updates on the Japan earthquake and the Tsunami's that have hit Chile, check out our gal in the know:

http://getdownlo.blogspot.com/ 

SACA UNA FOTO

Phil Locker- Santiago -January 2011

LoDaCrap

It's a Laura and Daisy creation.

It's a LoDaCrap.

ITS LODACRAP.

Watch.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LoDaCrap

NEWS OF THE WEEK

Penis graffiti goes floppy.

A painting of a large penis on a bridge in Russia's St Petersburg has been dropped from the shortlist for an art prize, the organizers said.

The penis, which pointed skywards when the bridge was raised, was painted last June by opposition Russian art group Voina, to protest against tight security in the city prior to an international meeting.

The penis, which was washed off by firefighters, faced the St Petersburg headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service, successor of the Soviet-era KGB.

Organizers of the prize for innovation awarded by Russia's State Center of Contemporary Arts and supported by the Culture Ministry had included the picture, which Voina had called 

"A Penis in KGB captivity."

But after failing to get approval to include the large penis from Voina, the organizers removed it from the shortlist.

"The repressive act of removing the penis from the award brings shame on the Ministry of Culture," one of the group's activists said on Sunday.

reuters.com

dog. wearing. glasses.

A tea with that please?

Last Sunday i went to Valparaiso to meet Lulo for a day of coffee, cafés and culture.
Substitute the coffee for tea and the culture for cake, and that's exactly what we did.


After the two hour bus journey there, i met Lulo and we walked up one of many Cerro's to Café Brighton which is at the end of a street that actually looks exactly like Brighton (except all the houses are made of corrigated iron in stead). 
I want to say it was cool but really mainly it was just creepy- like when you go to Universal Studios and walk through 'New York' and it looks so real but you just KNOW it's not and you don't like it.
Yeh it was just like that.

After a tea and some cat petting (on Laura's part, obviously NOT mine)at Café Brighton we headed off to stop number. 2.
A café 2 minutes away called El Desayunador.

obscene cake

For the rest of the afternoon we drank Twinings tea, had lunch, ate cakes, planned future youtube videos (WATCH THIS SPACE) and generally enjoyed sitting somewhere that could have been anywhere because we only had eyes for each other.


- Check out http://getdownlo.blogspot.com/ to see what really went down -

At 8pm we started walking back through the winding streets to the bus station in time for my bus at 9 back home to Santiago.

All in all, the perfect day.

Tea = good.

Chai tea = very goood.

Cake = extremely good.

Lulo + all of the above = SO. G.O.O.D


cant wait til next time.

On the way.

Last Sunday i went to Valparaiso to see Lulo, which i'll post about tomorrow, but first i wanted to just mention something that happened to me on the journey there.


While on the bus on the 2 hour journey, a man who was with his wife and son's girlfriend broke his sweet in half and offered it to me.
I took it and said thank you.
He started talking to me and eventually swapped seats so he could be next to me.
He told me about his children, particularly his daughter who was around my age, that she was so brave, like me, for being abroad so young. 
He told me she was 22 years old and studying in Miami to improve her English with her boyfriend. He showed me pictures of her and told me how clever she was. He then took my hand and said how happy it made him that i would wnat to talk to him  because i reminded him so much of his beautiful daughter who he loved and missed so much.


He then told me that 2 years ago, almost to the day, she was shot, along with her boyfriend and 2 other chillean students, in a town outside of Miami and that they were contesting the release of her murderer later this year.


When we parted ways at Valparaiso, his family waved me goodbye and he helped me off the bus and carried my bags and hugged me, telling me to always be safe and to never to be too trusting because, like his daughter, i was very special.
He thanked me again, for letting him spend some time with what felt like his little girl.


I then mentioned it to my friend Lore, who said she remembered the case.
I looked it up online and saw that two years ago, just like he said, a Chillean girl and her boyfriend had been killed in Miami in a racist attack, along with 3 others.


Im not sure whether i should be blogging about this or not.
I don't want to make it seem any less important than it felt at the time or it does now.
This was honestly something that really deeply moved me, almost to tears, and was obviously a very important moment to Dagoberto.
He was such a lovely man and obviously so happy to talk about his children. Throughout the whole journey he took care of me, obviously enjoying the feeling of being a parent for a young girl again, but what what most moved me was how happy he was.
Not once did he seem sad or angry at what had happened. He spoke of his daughter with such pride and love that i truly felt honoured to hear him talk about her.


Im not sure what anyone will make of this, i'm not really sure how i feel about it either.
I just thought it was important, especially for those of you who are away from home, just to be careful.


When you read about cases like this in the news, it feels so distant and unlikely somehow. 
I think we forget that these things actually happened to real people, and think ourselves invincible.


We are most certainly not.

SACA UNA FOTO

Olivia Stephany- Paris - November 2010

NEWS OF THE WEEK

SUCK ON THAT.

London Ice cream parlour 'Icecreamists' sells breast milk ice cream.

Yes.

You heard me right.

Covent Garden based, 'Icecreamists' have released a hot new flavour- breast milk ice cream, donned- Baby Gaga.

The recipe blends the breast milk with Madagascan vanilla and lemon zest before being churned into ice cream.

Priced at a hefty 14 pounds a serving Matt O'Connor, Icecreamists founder, is sure it will be a success.

"I had a Baby Gaga just this morning and I feel great!"

reuters.com

Be my Bachelor

The Bachelor

The best programme ever invented?

Most likely, yes.

An irritating self made millionaire from Austin, Texas returns for a second series to find the woman of his dreams.

Week by week he chooses specific girls to have one on one dates with where he spends large amounts of time talking about his emotions and how strongly he feels for said woman.

Next are the groups dates, where each woman must battle for Brad's affections and time, in a hope to make a big impression and be 'the last one standing' at the end of the show, where Brad will then ask her to marry him.

There are kisses.

There are hot tubs.

There's far off destinations and 'real' emotions.

There's heartbreak.

There's blondes taking off their tops.

THIS is R.E.A.L.

Brad's an idiot.

The girl's are retarded.

It's comedy at its best.

Watch it. Love it. Live it.

The Bachelor. Abc. Tuesday's.