Posted by Bel. The time is 3.47pm here in Wellington NZ

What you think about your friends

I know, without a doubt, that the friends I have are my true friends.

Posted by Lou. The time is 2.45pm here in London UK.

What I would find in your bag

I think Bel and I have actually done this by email twice... Shame!

Okay here we go - this is the contents of the purple leather shoulder-bag I've been using the last couple of weeks:

• A massive collection of keys connected to my "cat of glory" key ring. Hmm one of the big fat keys is for the rubbish repository of my apartment complex - do I really need to be carrying this around??
• Eye-drops
• Oyster card in an Institute of Contemporary Arts oyster card holder
• My work pass - which I can assure you is not hanging on a lanyard despite repeated and futile attempts by security to get me to use one
• iPod nano - red with my name on it, FYI (in a crusty cheap red rubber holder as I love the actual iPod so much I didn't want to get it scratched... but doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of having a lovely red iPod?)
• My Nokia brick phone
• An umbrella with a toon of Shakespeare and many of his quotable quotes printed on it
• Sunglasses in case - incidentally I complained to Fiorella about how shit the sunglasses are a few weeks ago (they do not stay on your head when you swish them up into your hair - hence several scratches from concrete landings, and a couple of near misses with toilet bowls)
• Kitty change purse
• Red little wallet with Maori design
• Pocket mirror with NZ map imprinted (gift from mum when I left NZ)
• Pen from what appears to be a German hotel
• Red spotty zip-up purse thing containing:
• compact
• kleenex travel pack
• sticking plasters in Hello Kitty plaster case
• Japanese good luck pouch with a blessed wish thing inside (I assume)
• pink lip-gloss (which was free in a No.7 gift bag)
• tiny notepad with a stilleto-heeled boot print on it
• Kiehl's lip balm
• nail file
• 3 hair ties
• Boots tinted lip balm
• Carmex
• 2 throat lozenges
• a tampon
• 2 ibruprofen
• a little black lip-pot sized container with body butter in it

There would usually be a book too but I am just finished one.

No crumpled receipts or used tissues hidden in the dark depths - woop woop!

Posted by Bel. The time is 3.03pm here in Wellington NZ

What I would find in your bag

Funny, I am sure that Lou and I did this via email at some stage?? Fuck we must've been procastinating something chronic!! Haha.

Currently I am rocking a backpack, not a handbag, as I am doggedly walking to and from work, which is a nearly two hour round-trip. (Yes I am exceedingly proud of myself, and did I mention it is all uphill on the way home? Because IT IS.)

And to top it off, my backpack is a castoff from my stepdaughter, who got it free when she signed up to her gym. So it is emblazoned with a "City Fitness" logo. Shaaaaame! I would use my own backpack, which is a perfectly lovely red Kathmandu one, but it was purloined by my husband, who used it to transport paint and - well, you can imagine.

Anyway, inside my (shame) backpack is:

• iPod Nano (silver, ancient)
• keys with Eiffel Tower keyring bought at the Eiffel Tower and Snowy keyring, exactly like this:

• Misery mirror compact (gift when I left a workplace, chosen by Lou and Hayley I'm willing to bet!)
• Maybelline "Royal Red" lipstick my mum gave me that her partner didn't want
• Chanel "Rouge Coco - Gabrielle" lipstick I splurged on and always hold conspicuously

• Nutrimetics "Strawberry Cream" lipstick (actually a hot pink colour)
• Business cards for my fulltime job
• Business cards for my freelance job
• Snapper card
• Gym swipe card
• Wallet (from Iko Iko so long ago the pattern is almost worn off!)
• Shoes: nice looking work shoes OR shaaaaame trainers, depending on whether I am at work or on my way there (Walking. Two hours round-trip. Uphill all the way home. Did I mention?)
• Water bottle. ALWAYS.
• Hair brush, the round barrell variety. To keep my FRINGE!! in check
• Travel size Fudge hair product. Ooh this exact one:

• Journal
• Assorted biros, Sharpies, etc
• Recycled plastic shopping bag, for my lunch

My "proper" handbag is still containing most of my usual essentials (i.e. useless crap and pointless kept receipts), in the wistful hopes that the backpack will be spurned and rejected for a more fashionable alternative. We'll see. I may yet get sick of my current routine. (I walk to and from work at the moment, did I mention?)

Posted by Lou. The time is 2.00pm here in London UK.

A letter to your parents

To mum and dad,

Why oh why didn't you make me get braces on my teeth? Yes, I know that you are right when you respond "well, there was no making you do anything!" - I am a stubborn person and yes I would have (okay, did) kick up an almighty fuss - but couldn't you have made me?

Now I'm stuck with wonky teeth for life when all it would have taken was a few dozen tantrums, lots of tears, and 2 years of being miserable when I was in my mid-teens. (I was miserable anyway!)

Kthnxbye,
Lou

Posted by Bel. The time is 2.26pm here in Wellington NZ

A letter to your parents


To my mum and to my dad:
 
Thank you that your genetics combined nicely when it came to my hair. I've inherited Mum's fine texture, but a wave from Dad's curly mop. I avoided bottle-brush straight hair like Eddy or uncontrollable ringlets like Davy, instead coming out with the winning combination of thick, manageable and easy to colour hair, which has provided me with ample self-indulgent blog content.
 
Cheers!!
 

Demonstrating great hair even before curls kicked in during teen years

 
PS One thing though: pity about the mousy blonde colour, would have preferred to be naturally dark but can't complain too much.