How easy is it to become a domestic goddess?

I like the idea of being able to cook. In my relationship I am not the cooker though, if I start to make anything and my boyfriend comes in I will slowly be moved out of the way and before I know it I will be moved near the sink and on washing up duty.

There is something in me that would love to be able to bake a cake, or make a huge meal from scratch but being the accident prone person I am, I do fear that it will turn out like Bridget Jones' dinner party in which she makes marmalade, and blue string soup. I once was cooking Spag bol and managed to set an entire roll of kitchen roll on fire, still to this day I don't know how I managed it. I do get nervous if anyone is in the kitchen as I feel they are watching me but I think left to my own devices I think I would do ok.

I think I have the cleaning bit down but to be able to cook would be good, I would love to knock up a chocolate cake, from start to finish and for it to be edible as well.

I have the 1950s tea dresses so maybe I am half way there to becoming a domestic goddess, if all else fail at least I'll look nice reading a Nigella Lawson cook book, looking like I know what I am doing.

I have recently received my Hummingbird Bakery cupcake book and made the hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes and they were a success really yummy! So I am getting there, woo hoo! But then I don't think it is that easy to be a domestic goddess... only time will tell.

Weird crushes...to admit or not admit?

Everyone has a weird crush, those ones that either don't make sense or that you wouldn't want other people to know about, sometimes even both at times.

Heat magazine does a weird crushes poll every year in which you vote for your strange crush. The poll is usually topped by Richard Hammond or James May. These crushes are the ones where the guys are un-cool or they are about the same age as your dad. Thinking about it there is probably a daddy complex in relation to these. These guys could probably look after you, make you laugh or give you a massive bear hug when you need one, it's more the thought of them looking after you than a physical attraction I am guessing...or hoping.

Then there are other weird crushes, the ones when the guys are not like anyone else you have every liked before. I'm happy to admit that my weird crush is Tom Meighan from Kasabian, not when he had long hair though, when he had the crop.

He looks nothing like my boyfriend or anyone else I have ever fancied for that matter but there is something about him that I find attractive.

I really don't know what it is. Is it his stage persona? His cockiness? Or his singing voice? I don't think it's the fact that he is in a band as I usually like bass players or guitarists, but again my boyfriend is neither.

It's almost as if you have always liked big rugby guys who are huge and muscly and you are out and see a skinny indie guy with loads of tattoos and a cool haircut and a flutter in your stomach appears and you think 'huh? How strange?' But then at the same time there is something about them, you don't know whether to tell your friends as you know you will get the look of a 'really? He's not your type is he?' or you know they are thinking 'Oh My God he looks awful, have you no taste? Or are you that drunk?'

I suppose some of them are just that they are so different from what you are used to, it's like if you are a boy and you like brunettes and then you have a crush on Nicola Roberts or Pamela Anderson.

It happens to the best of us though, Sienna Miller and Rhys Ifans, if she was your friend and after Jude Law brought home Rhys Ifans as a friend you would look a little dumbstruck thinking really? But then when she was with him his attractiveness did go up a bit, so he probably became some people's weird crush. I think Anna Friel goes out with him now. 

It's not that werid crushes are ugly but most of the time no-one can figure out why they like someone, may not be weird to all but some. I would consider Tom Cruise a weird crush, why oh why would anyone like him?

I think weird crushes should be embraced, as you never know, if you are single and your usually type never really works out maybe this weird crush will? As they say in Priscilla Musical 'You don't know unless you give it a go.'

Some say it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all...

I am convinced that those that do say that fall into three camps:
1. Your Mum
2. Your Friends
3. Someone who did the dumping.

Your mum and friends will say it in times of turmoil to make you feel better about your situation that it was a good thing to happen as you can learn from it. The third camp, the dumper will say it because obviously they have never been hurt to that degree that you feel as if your heart has been ripped out of your chest. As the dumper they see the experience as a positive thing and although they have lost you they know in the long run is it a good thing and you learnt something from each other.

I have in my years encountered heart ache and know friends who have been left heart-broken, and that saying never brings comfort.

I understand that it is good to have known people in your life as knowing them makes you the person you are today and shapes certain parts of your life but the heartbreak isn't always worth the pain.

In many ways you just hope that love will last forever, but as the celeb world shows even those that you think are pretty solid can come undone. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt and Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon.

So is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? I'm not convinced either way.

Rest in Peace - Amy Winehouse 1983-2011

This weekend has been one of shocking news and devastation, first the terrible attacks in Norway, which involved a car bomb and shooting on a youth camp island and then today the tragic news of the death of Amy Winehouse.

I am a fan of Amy Winehouse, in 2007 I think I had tickets to see her live at Bournemouth International Centre, but when we got there she had cancelled the gig. I was devastated, I really wanted to experience that amazing voice live, and now this will never happen.

Some people have jumped on this news that she brought it on herself, but to be honest we all will never know the problems she had and how she may have tried to overcome her dependency on drugs. People are very quick to judge but none of us truly know what she was combating and never will.

It is believed that the singer died of a suspected drug overdose but officially her death is being treated as "unexplained", full story here....
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Amy-Winehouse-Found-Dead-At-Home-In-Camden-London-Police-Confirm/Article/201107416036201?lpos=Showbiz_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_16036201_Amy_Winehouse_Found_Dead_At_Home_In_Camden%2C_London%2C_Police_Confirm

It is just a tragic waste of life and talent that may have been stopped. She is considered by some as a self-destructive wild child, but then it could be argued the most talented artists are. She never hid her addiction and did on some occasion, it is reported, try to kick her habit but her demons were obviously too strong.

Amy Winehouse was born on September 14 1983, and her parents Mitch and Janis have talked openly about their hopes for their daughter to kick her habit.

She had an amazing talent for singing and songwriting and although she hadn't released anything in a while she will be missed in the music world by fans and artists for her jazzy tones.

Another sad fact is also that she joins the 27 club, a club where musicians have died at 27, included in this are Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain, all great musicians whose lives were cut way too short.

I am still an Amy Winehouse fan, and I send my condolences to her family and friends, she was an amazing musician and now may she be at peace.

Just make sure you remember her as she was and not what she became near the end...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojdbDYahiCQ

My First Front Page

I am very proud of it and the people of Horsham have donated a pram, money and good wishes. It's just awful that my first story is a sad one but it is a human interest story and what I want to write about.

Everyone loves a wedding... film.

I saw Bridesmaids on Sunday. It is one of the funniest films I have ever seen and very relate-able. As my mum said in life there are always Helen's. If you have seen the film you will know what I mean and you will nod your head in agreement.

It is so funny, there are bits I keep thinking about and I can't help laughing. It isn't too girly I think you could go with your boyfriend and he would enjoy it. It has been dubbed the female Hangover, I do love The Hangover but you laugh at it because you think stupid men, but with Bridesmaids you think 'Oh My God, that is so true' or 'Oh My God that reminds me of that time...'

If you are going expecting Bride Wars or  27 Dresses, you will be mistaken, it is not candy floss it is dark chocolate with yummy bits of caramel to sweeten the deal.

A brilliant girly film and I have a bit of a girl crush now on Kristen Wiig, she has tremendous comic timing and I am surprised at how many films she has been in that I have seen. She is the film producer in Knocked Up, she's Ruth in Paul, and she is in Adventureland, Date Night, she nearly kills Ricky Gervais in Ghost Town and she is in Semi-Pro and Whip it. Amazing comic actress.

Anyway I am going back to my original reason for posting was to talk about wedding movies, although I notice I have a bit of a theme with weddings but then two of my friends did get married in the last year.

Anyway, everyone does love a wedding film right?

Well not quite, everyone likes the classic Four Weddings and a Funeral. But recently there has been an influx of wedding movies we have Wedding Date (not great), Made of Honour (not seen yet), 27 Dresses (great film but a little fluffy) and  Bride Wars (good film but again shows the outrageous craziness of females and the fluffiness of friends).

I think that is my problem with some wedding films, ok we have all heard of Bridezillas but why do films turn women in to paranoid, crazy  monsters when it comes to friends. It turns friends against each other for wanting the best wedding or jealous because friends are getting married. This is not always the case! Yes some people turn into crazy people, but some women just enjoy it.

That is one of the things I liked about Bridesmaids Annie was happy for her friend being engaged but her main problem was worry about losing her friend and things changing not the fact her friend was getting married and her still single and alone.

I do love a good wedding film but I love Bridesmaids it is just refreshing to see a more realistic view of weddings and female friendships.

Teenage Crushes Never Die

After seeing Take That I remembered a piece I wrote about teenage crushes, I wrote it while on work experience at the Chichester Observer, it was printed on August 5 2010:

With the recent shock marriage of Robbie Williams to his girlfriend Ayda Field, I knew that around the country whole hosts of 20 and 30-somethings inner teenager's hearts were breaking.

This got me thinking about how our teenage crushes never seem to leave us.

When Take That reformed, the girls screaming uncontrollably and making a spectacle of themselves were not teenagers but women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, recapturing a simpler time before jobs, kids and mortgages, when the most challenging decision was whether to buy Smash Hits or Top of the Pops magazine.

When I was younger I was convinced I was going to marry either Robbie Williams or Jason Donovan.

It didn't matter to me that there were about 20 years older than I was, nor did it cross my mind I would probably never meet either of them. It took me until I was an older teen to realise this would never happen.

It seems women's belief in seeing the good in their crushes never falters.

Whenin the past couple of months it came out that pop's good boys Ronan Keating and Mark Owen had had extra martial relations, it took a while for people to believe it; you could see the heartbreak in seemingly-grown women's eyes.

Not only were some kicking themselvesit could have been them, but the image that both presented was one of the wholesome family man.

Pre-Ayda you could believe it is Robbie (the former womaniser) had kiss and tells revealed, but not Mark Owen, the baby-faced, innocent member of the band.

I can only imagine now that the girls lusting over Justin Bieber or McFly will in years to face the news they have got married, had kids, or had affairs in a composed unfazed manner, only to shed a tear in private.

Especially if they always lived in hope they would one day marry into the band. Never fear we have all been there.



I realise now as well that poor old McFly fans will face this sooner as Tom proposed to his girlfriend the other month and she said yes.