So it has once again been a ridiculously long time since I updated Strawberry. I can only blame work, the truth is if I continue to walk back through my front door at 9pm every night I may consider looking for another job after Christmas.

Grump aside, Chris and I are now the owners of a very tiny, very naughty little kitten. Her name is Iah. I have taken some nice pictures of her and intend to upload them tomorrow to show her off to the world. I said after rattie died that I wouldn’t get another animal but I couldn’t resist, and the company is nice when I’m home alone. Plus she keeps my feet warm when I can’t find any socks. She’s not so kind to the sofa though…

I have also recently become a fan of two other things. Namely Castle and Lush Cosmetics. I recently went on a bit of a Lush haul and bought myself a Lemon-y bar of soap (very fresh), a Cinnamon bath bomb (Christmassy!), some Snow Fairy shower gel, a Bubblegum lip scrub, Honey lip balm, Silk Stockings, a blueberry face mask and some natural shampoo and conditioner. I have just used the shampoo for the first time and I’m awaiting my hair to dry for the verdict, but it certainly smelled nice! I needed something that would keep my hair fresh for a couple of days because my hair is prone to turn limp and a little greasy after sleeping on it. Tonight will be the test. So far my favourite products are the Silk Stockings body tint, which I use as a face bronzer and which smells divine and the face mask, which also smells divine.

The face mask has to be kept in the fridge, because all of the ingrediants in it are so fresh – but it does therefore leave a lovely cooling feeling on your face as you use it. It’s great because it doesn’t dry out my skin, but reduces the redness because of it’s balancing properties. The body tint doesn’t show up as darkly as it does in the picture, and I love it because it leaves a gentle but natural bronzed shimmer on my cheekbones and isn’t too greasy. I’m definately considering going back to get some more fruity smelling gifts for myself!

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I’ve been at my new job just over a month now, and it felt like a good time to update Strawberry – my life has been rather hectic over the past few days. I’m now almost settled into work, but I am still entirely terrified by the though of all of the things I have yet to learn. On Monday most of the schools in the country go back for the new year, so our opening hours change to decidedly unsociable ones; I will be working until 8pm or later each night. I’m seriously hoping that this doesn’t become too difficult, particularly now that I don’t live alone and would actually like to see my boyfriend every now and again…

In other, but more exciting news, I spent most of Wednesday night in hospital. I have never had to go to hospital before, and it turns out I am fine, but it was an experience nonetheless. On Saturday of last week I began to get some strange chest pain – strange because it wasn’t harming my breathing, but was definitely painful. Five days later it was still there, and no local doctor would see me so I had to go to A&E. They gave me and ECG, a blood test (from which I still have a nice purple bruise) and an x-ray. More medical tests in 3 hours that I’ve ever had in my life before. They thought I may have had a blood clot at first, but it turns out that thankfully I am okay. Still no idea why my chest hurts though.

Aside from my adventurous visits to the hospital, I have been out shopping and spoiling myself with my first paycheck. Over the past few months I’ve developed rather a liking for River Island clothes. Yesterday I bought a new handbag, a top and a pair of trousers of work. I keep eyeing up their website too, but I’m a wimp when it comes to online shopping – I add the things I like to the checkout, but then chicken-out when it’s time to pay the money.

I have also reinvested in some MAC cosmetics. I absolutely adore the brand and used to use it all the time at University. For some reason I then decided to try a different brand, but MAC is still my favourite; particularly their Studio Fix foundation and their concealers. I’m also thinking about purchasing some of their eye shadows, but I haven’t been able to decide on the colours that I want.

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It’s hard to believe I haven’t update Strawberry.nu since June! I apologise, I began my new job at Explore Learning at the start of this month and I have hardly had a free minute to post. My usual working hours are 11am until 8pm, and I think they’re going to take a bit of getting used to!

In the little free time I have had I have rekindled my love for Buffy and have been eagerly awaiting the release of some small indie-made films which look absolutely fantastic. Next Thursday I am attending the advanced screening of Powder with the cast of the film and shortly after another film called Like Crazy is due to be released. I have included the trailer for this below for you to see because it is absolutely phenomenal.

Felicity Jones is completely flawless in this, even though the entire script and dialogue were improvised. I cannot wait to see this at the cinema!

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When Emma Watson was first announced to be playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, I started to follow her career. Since then she has easily become on of my favourite celebrities, I particularly love her fashion and have often taken inspiration from her outfit choices.

These new photographs, released by Mariano Vivanco are simply breathtaking in my opinion, even the boyish hairstyle looks elegant!

Looking at pictures of beautiful people never fails to encourage me to take care of my own body and health; I am jetting off on holiday on the 18th of July, and really don’t want to be the ‘podgy one’ in my bikini on the beach. Last year I bought a beautiful bikini, which looked lovely when I weighed less and worked on my feet all day, so I decided to take action and purchased the much acclaimed Clean and Lean Diet book from amazon. It’s endorsed by Elle MacPherson, Hugh Grant and Rosie Huntingdon Whiteley, and has been featured in British newspaper The Daily Mail. I started doing some of the exercises featured in the book yesterday, and they are surprisingly easy yet feel as if they will be quite effective. My 14 day kickstart diet begins this Saturday!

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Admittedly this is unlikely to be a post about macros, though this is a rather yummy looking photograph of a strawberry themed breakfast.

Remember the interview I discussed in my last post? Well, I got the job! I am now an Assistant Director for Explore Learning. This means I will be tasked with the job of helping to keep one of their centers running and popular. I am still waiting to hear which center I will be working in, so hopefully they’ll get back to me with that information soon.

The success of my rather short job hunt has made me feel much more excited about life in general, and the prospect of moving to our flat in London soon. One of the reasons I decided not to go into teaching after my training year is because the job makes me feel so old. I miss feeling young and fashionable and fun. Everyone at Explore that I’ve met so far has been so friendly and young that it fills me with optimism. Finally I feel like I can wear fashionable clothes again without looking like I’m trying too hard to be ‘cool’, and I can go on a diet without worrying about looking too ‘young’. I am excited.

The fashion-bug inside me is a huge fan of Japanese styles, the cute and colourful nature of Asian clothes just makes them so fun to wear. I’ve been eying up the clothes over at Yesstyle but I’m not sure if the items would be too small for me, as Asian women tend to have much smaller frames than Europeans, and the sizing guides don’t seem very clear to me. I remember that Camden Market in London has lots of Japenese fashion stalls, perhaps I can treat myself to something pretty when we move there in two months time!

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This week has been a rather busy one; it was my 23rd birthday, my first week back to my teaching placement, and my final interview for a job I probably won’t get but really, really want.

I spent my birthday teaching, so it wasn’t very exciting. I did go out for a nice Indian meal, and eat a lovely homemade chocolate cake but that really is it. I also was given a fair amount of money, but the majority of it paid the travel expenses for my interview, which is pretty depressing if you think about it.

The interview was for a graduate assistant director role at Explore Learning, which is a tuition company for 5-14 year olds. I really don’t know how the day when from the company’s perspective, but I have that horrible sinking feeling of failure so I rather doubt they’ll offer me the job. The sad truth is though, that now I’m pretty stuck. I’d put a lot into preparing for this opportunity because it’s the one thing I really wanted, but now that it probably won’t happen I have no idea where to start next. Back to the drawing board I suppose.

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Instead of posting my own photography, this week I wanted to share the images of my very talented friend Shelley – whom I’m convinced we shall see appearing in high end fashion magazines in the very near future. Her colouring, composition and detail are all beyond stunning. I have included some of my favourites below, but do check out her website milkandblue.com for more.

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I’ve been trying to lose a bit of weight recently, having put on a fair amount during my University teaching placement. Admittedly, I am not obese, nor am I particularly overweight, I just feel a little too rounded and a little too unhealthy for the upcoming summer months.

Two weeks ago I began with the Special K diet. It sounds promising, and it’s free so I thought it would be an ideal place to begin. I am looking to loose weight healthily, and have stuck to the diet almost perfectly. I find it quite hard not to snack on ‘bad’ foods, particularly when my housemates are often baking delicious looking cakes. However, these past two weeks have been extraordinary for me, and I have been sticking to my personalised kick-start diet plan, snacking only on fruit and cereal. Yet I haven’t lost a pound. Not one. Even though I have been walking every day, eating smaller portions and avoiding the chocolate.

I am aware that it takes a long time to loose weight healthily, but I would have expected some small difference.

This disappointment has led me to order a Weight Watchers cookbook. I have read many good things about Weight Watchers, and have always wanted to try them but I simply cannot afford the hefty membership fee. After much searching using Google, I have found a way to calculate the amount of ‘points’ I should be eating and thought it would be beneficial to switch from the Special K diet, to one that allows a little more freedom in the types of food you eat. Wish me luck!

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I rather like taking photographs of pretty flowers, they’re one of the few subjects for which I am often pleased with the results, though they do become a little boring after a while. I took the following picture in my boyfriends garden when we visited his parents in London, added a simple dark blue exclusion layer in Photoshop, and this is the result. It is perhaps a little dark for my style, but I quite like the overall effect.

Sometimes I wish I had some brothers or sisters to practice my skills with, or that I had more snapshot talent so that I could be brave enough to ask my friends to allow me to photograph them. In the mean time, I shall stick to pretty flowers.

I have been thinking about investing in a longer lens so that I can take some pictures of things at a distance, I often see scenes that I think would make a beautiful photograph, but my camera’s kit lens just doesn’t quite do the job. If anyone else uses a Sony Alpha DSLR, please comment with your recommendations!

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I hope everyone has, or will have, a cheerful Easter Sunday! Although I am not a Christian person, I have always celebrated the holidays because they are such a natural occurrence here in England. It makes me feel like a fraud sometimes, but they have lost their religious meaning so much over here it would be stranger not to celebrate them.

Where religion is concerned, I have always felt myself drawn more to the Pagan style of life, but I think I am just not suited to living a life governed by a set of rules I myself have not created. I am not an immoral person, and I always try to think of others and live my life well. I suppose I simply have no real need for religion.

This week we have been in London, and among other things I am now thoroughly excited about moving into our little flat. I have already decided on the colours and themes for each room; purple for the bedroom, strawberry and country for the kitchen and nautical beach for the bathroom. I am going to have a lot of fun decorating when we move in.

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