… with a little vanilla-coloured eyeshadow from the palette. There are some nice shades in this set and you can probably see that the mid-brown has been worn through to the base.

That magnificent mirror was a present from Mum and Dad today. Whether it lives on my dresser or not, or only comes out when in use, depends on whether or not I give myself a stroke catching sight of my own (unexpected) reflection in it every time I come into the room.

Mmm, shiny new iPod Shuffle. It’s intended as my gym buddy, but I’ll be going to the gym in a minute without it, as I haven’t made the time to make the playlist for it yet. Any suggestions as to what songs I should include?

Also, if someone could insert the chip into my brain that let me understand how Instagram works exactly, so I don’t sit here with a knitted brow while my picture appears in places I wasn’t quite expecting, before I was expecting it, that would be great. And at the same time it could also explain to me why I couldn’t see Hipstamatic on my screen, which, it turns out, was actually what I was looking for.

I like the idea of being able to take and post pictures with my (other new) iPod, I just wish I understood it better. I usually feel as though such things are Penny to my Sheldon, but in this case she’s just asked me who Justin Bieber is.

All of my bones ached today on account of spending the day walking around Bluewater shopping centre yesterday. Suzy and I didn’t do badly with our shopping. I got a few Christmas bits and pieces done and we both found some nice clothes. We were also both very smug about getting lunch before the crowds descended on the eateries and seating areas. We also made sure to stop for a rejuvenating coffee and cake break in the afternoon just before entering the temple of H&M. That plain ol’ cup of Joe up there, just waiting for a splash of milk is mine. The pile of froth and nonsense spilling onto the table is Suzy’s festive chai latte.

Though I didn’t come away with piles and piles of clothes like some people, H&M was good enough to me to provide me with a few bits of knitwear (which I didn’t particularly need, but which are pretty). I also now have a grey and black stripy top which made me feel like Mildred, the Worst Witch when I tried it on. That pleased me for some reason.

Another niceness from the day happened as I walked out of a shop and a little old lady walking by stopped to tell me what a little sweetheart I was and that I looked lovely. I thanked her and she asked me if I had a boyfriend. “No, I don’t”, I said. “Well, with a face like that you’ll get one” she said. I thanked her and she disappeared into the crowd. I don’t know who she was, but I think she should have some nice karma coming to her for that.

Anyway, the glamour of the Pan Am stewardesses inspired me to play around with my makeup while I watched (because barely anything nowadays gets my full attention; I have to multi-task at all times). I tried out applying the creamy eyeshadow in my Sleek palette with my Mac brush rather than the sponge applicator. That’s what the Pixiwoo ladies do, so I gave a it a go and the result was good. I thought I’d also try a winged eyeliner for a change (aeronautical makeup seemed appropriate) and the result was pretty good, though perhaps also proof that I am clearly not ambidextrous.

Here I am, Hipsta-ing it up. I was given a new iPod for my birthday, as it turned out that while the one I had was in perfectly fine working order, it was too old to be updated to iOS5. This new one has a camera, which means I have now finally entered the world of Instagram and Hipstamatic and all those things that are completely old hat to millions of iPhone users. I’m still not allowing myself an iPhone for the time being though. I don’t think it would be good for me to have access to the web and email everywhere I went; I’m not sure I’d be as attentive to the real people around me as I should be. So for now I have the Everything But of an iPod with access to the net only if there’s wi-fi. Which is fine for me. Well, for now at least.

My interest in the game is linked to my interest in aerial photos. I just find these views of buildings, streets and little pieces of life fascinating. I took the photo above [full size] not long after taking off from Salzburg a couple of weeks ago. I tracked down the area on Google Earth and Bing Maps and by dint of these photos being best when you’re relatively low, I have earlier photos from a similar place. The picture below [full size], which has been my desktop background for years, shows the reverse side of the red, green and blue apartment buildings (right of centre above) at the bottom of the shot. On the online maps they’re still under construction, which makes them a challenge to find:

Mum noticed the lime green edged building in the new photo, a little below the road on the left edge of the picture, and wondered aloud what it might be. Knowing roughly which area the picture showed, I went a-looking. It had a nice distinctive roof to find, with two white squares on top. Except it was nowhere to be found. I found the roofs around it, but the building in the middle wasn’t right. Ok, well at least I knew now that it was a school though, thanks to the label on Google Earth. So I Googled the school and … yep, as I thought might be the case, it popped up on a couple of websites belonging to architectural firms. The school had been knocked down and rebuilt … and the pictures on the websites showed the lime green walls that we could see in the photo.

I just love doing this kind of investigative research, tracing people or objects from place to place, thinking outside the box in order to find a new path to follow. To top it off, when I went back through my old Salzburg photos, I found the one below. At full size I can just see the white fascias of the old school building. So I have my own little before and after archive for the school.

Well, at least all that kept me occupied for a while.

Lookit, I has a new bag! I’m off to Salzburg early tomorrow morning and since I’m flying with BA this time, rather than Ryanair, I’m not being charged for the joy of checked luggage. So instead of stuffing everything into my big rucksack and trotting through the airport with something on my back not much smaller than myself, I’m taking a suitcase. However, I didn’t like the visual of turning up for a three-night stay with a suitcase and a big rucksack on my back – “Surprise! I’m moving in!” – I wanted to find a less assuming shoulder bag that would be big enough to take my laptop, camera, passport and a drink. It wouldn’t surprise me if I break my shoulder carrying those few things, but I’m hoping it’s still better than the weight of all that plus toiletries and clothes and things like the power supply for the laptop in a rucksack on my back.

Anyway, I ordered a bunch of bags from Accessorize to test them out. Word to the wise, they offer free returns and free delivery on orders over £40, so it’s ever so convenient and economical to make them bring you a bunch of bags to peruse and possibly reject.

I ended up choosing this graphite bag. Yes, I’d have liked one of the pretty plum or teal bags, but they didn’t fit me or the laptop. Banging about on my knees is not one of the qualities I was looking for, neither was straps that don’t stay on my shoulder. This bag fits me well, the laptop and camera fit easily inside with room for more of all the gubbins that I feel the need to take – I try to be a light packer, but am ultimately a Just In Case packer and come close to trying to take one of everything I own wherever I go.

Mum and I made a small addition inside the main pocket of the bag. I had the idea that a strap could be made inside, in which you could fasten a bottle of drink, keeping it upright and tucked out of the way, rather than it rolling about being a nuisance. One length of velcro and one D ring later that was done and will be put to the test tomorrow once I’m through security and have bought my traditional bottle of Ribena.

Well, my hair is currently 3 miles wide, because I haven’t straightened it yet, so I should crack on with that and not be too late to bed – up at 6am tomorrow. At least it’s not the more usual 4am!

I arrived at the restaurant first and was given one of the booths, where I waited for Suzy with my Coke-with-no-ice-please that had ice in it. Last time I’d arrived before Suzy at this restaurant the waiter had gone for comic effect and seated me at a table for four slap bang in the middle of the restaurant, directly under a low-hanging lamp. There I waited, apparently for my interrogation, while Suzy meanwhile was driving around the car park outside under the mistaken impression that I’d have the manners to wait for her outside. This time she knew to come inside and saw me pretty quickly as I waved to her from our booth. I hope I didn’t look like too much of an idiot waving. There’s something about me and putting my hands in the air, it always comes off as way too pompous. There was the time I stopped a car as a hedgehog was crossing the road (to get to the other side) and then just recently I caught a bus at a request stop and came far too close to saluting an invisible Führer in making sure I’d caught the driver’s attention.

Our burgers turned up before Suzy arrived and when the waiter brought them to the table he checked that Suzy hadn’t arrived and offered to put the food under the heat lamp. “Actually, can I have mine?” I asked, conscious that we were sailing close to the wind that was the cinema timetable and that I’m a slower eater. Except that the music playing in the restaurant was evidently at a frequency that mingled with my words and transformed them into “if you don’t mind” and both plates of food were whisked away and not one waiter came near me again until Suzy came in the door.

Magically we finished our burgers in just enough time to get to the cinema, get two of the last tickets for “The Help” and find our seats in the dark as the trailers started. The only seats left were in the premiere seats, which is possibly just a way that the cinema likes to have its fun with people. You’re late, so you must pay more for this seat which is slightly wider. Now go and scrabble at it in the dark auditorium while we laugh at you from the projection room because those seats don’t need unfolding, sucker, they’re already flat.

I had been told by Mum that I had to read “The Help” before seeing it at the cinema, so I was in the little secret club of people tittering as soon as Hilly’s pie was presented. I think without a doubt the book should be on your reading list – before or after seeing the film – as I think there’s so much more to pick up from the book on the political and social environment of the time. Truly frightening stuff and it’s still so difficult to conceive of such situations and mentalities being real and not just the content of a book or film.

Turning out the lights after a long day. It started at 5.50am when a dream about needing the loo, going to the loo, but then still needing the loo merged into realising that I was now awake and needing the loo. Only it turned out that that wasn’t actually causing the discomfort. Everyone’s favourite aunt was making her imminent arrival known, so I trotted downstairs to get some painkillers and what we call The Warmy Thing (one of those microwaveable wheat/lavender pads). Then I completely failed to get back to sleep, which may just explain why I’m now very much ready for bed. And the weekend.

Have a good one, boys and girls and I’ll see you at Christmas!

I’ve been eating quite a few Hobnob biscuits recently, having re-discovered their yumminess and habit of being relatively high in fibre for a sweet treat. I mean, come on – 0.8g of fibre in one biscuit? It’s practically a leafy green vegetable!

There have been some wonderful evening skies recently, one in particular turning bright, startling pink in just the few moments I had turned my back to it, giving me quite a start when I turned back to the window. These pinks and blues have become quite commonplace for the moment, which is rather nice – and gives me thoughts about knocking down the houses opposite so I get a better view. But I’d lose a reader if I did that, so I’ll put that idea on the backburner for a while at least.

It’s also that time of year where the curtain in the office has to be drawn at about 6.30pm so I can actually see what’s on the screen of my computer, rather than just blinding myself with the reflected light from it. Last weekend the light coming through the window later in the evening was amazing. It was the same blinding light that we’d had at Suzy’s Come Dine With Me. Sure, you can’t see a damn thing, but if you stop worrying about little things like that and just stand in it, you’ll find it’s perfect photography light.