the happy little world of miss ktp!

firstly: HAPPY CHRIMBO & HAPPY NEW YEAR! hope you had a great Chrimbo & will have a brill New Year! :o) Adam & i drove up to the rents on the 23rd night, thnkfully the roads were pretty clear of cars, ice & snow. we had a lovely Chrimbo Eve relaxing & pottering round town, then went to Christingle & Midnight mass while waiting for santa to arrive. We did presents nice and early & then adam left to go to see his family as I spent a quiet (but lovely) day with mum & dad watching tv & snoozing! boxing day was with adam's family & we had muchos fun while mum & dad went to visit my aunt & the rest of her family. it's the first year i've had some chrimbo time with adam's family which was really lovely. mum & dad picked me up in a service station & we headed back home. today was supposed to be full of catching up with old friends. firstly i was supposed to be seeing people i used to work with at woodlands but a...

i decided to see what words i've used the most this year in my blog by going on wordle (check it out!) & i'm pleased to say that it's all nice & possitive words which is cool! not that i think i'm the most miserable person ever but felt like i'd moaned a fair bit this year! yay for positive thinking! (i did try to link this straight to the website but couldn't get the embeded code to work, far too techincal for me!) not long now till chrimbo! can't wait! :) x x x

Popped into central london last night to do a few secret errands for santa. I realised it was going to be hard going when i had to queue to get out me leicester square station! It was the busiest night to shop apparently, why did i decide to do it then?! Anyway i went where i needed & ended up on oxford street so decided to have a nosey at topshop. I was on the phone to mum at the time & commented on how there were 10 security staff lined up in the entrance & i had to brush past them to get in. Mum said there'd been protests there cos of philip green not paying all his taxes to the uk cos he lives abroad or summit. Pretty much as soon as she'd finished explaining, all the front doors to the shop were slammed shut as people started banging on the glass & tried to get in. Everyone shopping had to move to the back of the store for safety while the police vans arrived & tried to diffuse the situation. I started to worry, not for my safety but for my bank balan...

As i walked out back onto oxford street i did a dad & decided to see if there was anything to take a photo of round the front. I was greeted by spray paint on the big window & the glass doors had been smashed. As well as the spray paint they'd smashed the big window, got into it & pulled out a display model hence the random leg part in the photo above! It was a really weird thing to be caught up in. Usually you just see these things on tv i didn't expect to be in the shop with the loud banging going on outside. Hats off to the topshop staff though they delt with us all really well. Trust me to get stuck in it. Adam did ask me how i'd not seen people milling around outside looking for trouble but it was oxford circus on a busy night, there's always people hanging around there & also i wasn't really looking out for trouble brewing. Also i kind of jinxed myself cos as i left work last night i joked that i'd probably get caught up in the middle of...

it was adam's birthday last week so we took the day off to relax & spend it together & when we woke up we were greeted by snow! it's been so cold recently & i was waking up each morning hoping that there'd be snow & then there was. it helped make our street look that bit more magical yay! the last time it snowed on his birthday we were in new york ice skating in central park. aaah to have money again! :P the view from our kitchen window with wembley stadium in the background the castle on our road makes me smile every morning the beautiful thatched cottage at the end of our road looked even more beautiful i was even more happy cos i'd managed to find the black & white setting on my dslr, it's only taken me about a year! yay for snow, enchanted roads & old school photos! x x x

I'm so excited! I was at homebase at 8am to buy our very first chrimbo tree. I've just spent an hour decorating it & here's the end result. :-) It was Adam's birthday yesterday & we went to winter wonderland in hyde park. We drank mulled wine to keep warm & ate bratwurst & crepes as we waked round the stalls. To make it even better it was snowing on & off all day so made it a bit more magical! The last time it snowed on his birthday was when we were in new york 2years ago & it was just as fun. Today he's back at work so i'm so relaxing at home grinning manically at our tree & catching up on recorded tv shows. Ahh this is the life! x x x

finally i have some motivation! when everyone else is just starting to hibernate & slow down for the winter & i'm ready & raring to go! i've missed this feeling of wanting to do stuff straight away instead of pushing things back & back & the to do list growing instead of me crossing things off but now the times are a changing! not sure if it's cos chrimbo is upon us & i'm getting stupidly excited as always & so am eager to do lots, but whatever it is i hope it stays around long enough for me to tick off most of what's on my list & start the new year with a fairly clean slate. here's to hoping! one reason i'm excited is that by june next year i should have no debt (except for my student loan which doesn't really count cos it comes out of my account before i even know about it!). it'll be brill to have that little bit of extra cash to save, go jiving more, buy that odd top & not feel guilty about it & go on...

It's that time of year again & i'm really happy to say that i've seen so many more people wearing poppies than previous years. I did my poppy collecting at euston station last sunday & i was pretty busy & even had people coming up to me asking all about it. On one hand there are loads of people already wearing them, on the other, people were saying i was the 1st poppy person they'd seen! I'm on my 4th poppy so far this year! I bought my 2nd one cos i'd left the house with a different coat on & felt guilty not wearing one then needed the 3rd & 4th cos the others fell apart! This year the poppy means that bit more to me cos our very close family friend buck passed away on the 12th oct. He was from texas & a paratrooper in the 82nd airbourne division during world war 2. He made the jump on d-day & was awarded the purple heart after suffering a gunshot wound to the head while pulling one of his fellow soldiers to safety. He came over ...

I love winter it's my favourite season. When i looked out the window this morning & saw the wind & the rain i was so happy! It meant i could get out my thick winter coat with a furry hood, snuggle down into it & battle with the weather. The cold weather also means that they turn up the heating on the trains & you can curl up & snooze. Bliss! I'm now in work waiting for my ready brek to heat up. Who said winter was horrible?! x x x

I see this on my way to the bus every morning & it still makes me laugh! It's been written in wet concrete on the floor & i just have an image of wesley snipes crouched down on the floor writing this with a broken twig! Or if it was a kid & not actually mr snipes himself what a random name to pick?! Guess we'll never know who it really was *sigh* x x x

I know, i know, it's a bit late for a halloween post but i was talking to my old dentist today asking if they could send my x-rays over to my new dentist & about an hour ago i was sent this picture to my phone! It's a bit freaky when you're not expecting to see an image like this pop up! Random! Not sure what i'm supposed to do with this it's not exactly something you'll print out & frame on your fireplace! x x x

Saw this text in the metro newspaper the other day which made me giggle. Thankfully this hasn't happened to me yet even though i sleep on the train/tube/bus alot. Though sometimes i do wake myself up with a snort which is really mortifying! When that happens i tend to pretend i'm still asleep so i don't have to meet anyone's eye! Another thing i do sometimes is wake up from a dream where i've been eating & find i'm actually moving my mouth as if i really am eating! That's more weird than embarrassing i think! Maybe the answer is to just get more sleep at night then i wouldn't nod off on my commute?! x x x

found this today & it got me thinking how cool it would be if people really could time travel. no idea where i'd go or what i'd do. it'd be wasted on me though i can't remember what i did 5 minutes ago let alone going back 500 years & trying to remember everything i see & do! maybe it would be useful for me just to go back to yesterday to remember what's what & pop back present day & carry on with what i'm doing?! i'll save the mega important visits for someone else! wow looking back on that just realised how much i sound like karl pilkington! scary! x x x

Did something that's not very me today. I had a manicure! Emhen bought me a voucher for my bday & seeing as my cousin gets married tomorrow i thought why not?! I sat at the nails inc bar while they filed, soaked, cuticled (think i made up a word there!) & painted my hands feeling like a proper lady wot lunches! Luckily i had mum & dad with me to hold my coat & get things out my bag cos unlike ladies wot lunch i still had to do stuff in london & couldn't just flop into a chauffer driven car & wait for my nails to dry! Mum's already betted me £50 they'll be chipped before tomorrow! Really hope i can prove her wrong but don't want to cross my fingers cos i'll end up catching a nail! x x x

Now i know i've always wanted edward cullen to sneak into my bedroom at night but this isn't what i had in mind! I woke up this morning with 2 'fang' marks where my vein is on my arm! Spooky! x x x

geeky i know but adam & i had a chance to star in our very own fan video for The Gaslight Anthem this month. Put together by dimestoresaints.com it's brilliant & was quite a giggle to put together! so here it is for your delight: x x x

I've never even thought about reading a book by salman rushdie but when i was in india i was in my favourite place- landmark & needed to buy a book (or 4!) Ok ok i only picked it up at first cos it had a guitar on the front(!) but i quite like the way it's been written. I then looked up who rushdie was cos i knew his name but didn't know why & found out about everything. Since then he's been everywhere! Tv, papers, gossip pages you name it he's there! Good to know i'm such a trend setter that as soon as i start to read summit the world follows! (It's either that or the fact he's got a new book out? You decide!) x x x

Needed a bit of a giggle on my way home tonight so put on an old ricky gervais podcast that i'd first heard in lufbra in my final year. The reason i knew this was cos as i was listening to the ramblings of the mad man that is karl pilkington i could see where i'd been walking when i'd first heard it! It was really odd! I could picture walking down leopold st, ashby road, the roundabout, the students union & onto campus......weird that my brain had registered certain sights i'd seen on my way with different words & phrases. Normally i can remember where i was when i heard a song but never the route i walked. How bizarre! x x x

i'm in india at the moment designing the rest of our autumn/winter 2011/12 collection that we'd started in august. i'm in mumbai & thought it was pretty warm here (about 25-30degrees) untill i got to gujarat visiting the mills & process houses for 2 days! there it was 45degrees outside & then in the mills it was about 55degrees! i've never felt heat like it! we actually had sweat dripping down our faces while we selected fabrics, who said fashion was glamourous?! i can't believe people were working in those conditions, then again they have no choice, which is pretty rotten. luckily we had an air-conditioned car waiting for us that we leapt in to cool down again but they don't have that privilage. normally i complain that the a/c is too high & i'm cold but this time it was so appreciated! even when we got off the plane in mumbai at 8:30pm & it was still 30degrees that felt so much cooler! it's really steamy over here at the moment ...

At heathrow airport in whsmiths & they have jars of marmite & huge bottles of tomato ketchup! Just in case you can't cope with the local food, why not add either of these?! Oh i'm so proud of being a brit abroad! x x x

....sitting on the underground. When you watch people pretty much everyone does it. First the two end seats go, then as people get on they fill in the gaps always leaving one seat between them & the next person. The tricky bit is what happens when you have to fill in those gaps? Whos personal space (i.e armrest) do you invade & whos do you leave?! Decisions decisions! x x x

Can't believe its 9.30pm on a school night & i'm sitting on the sofa replacing some buttons on my dress with the radio on! All i need to do is turn the lights off & do it by candlelight & it'll be all authentic! x x x

This joke made me giggle on my otherwise blurry eyed commute this morning. Makes me realise i really can't win & how fustrating it all is! x x x

I can't believe i've never been to the v&a on a friday night before! It's brill! There's a dj playing, a bar & loads of interactive exhibitions to take part in. I only came tonight because becca & i are off to the grace kelly exhibition & i was a bit early so went for a wander. I'm now sitting in the entrance foyer having a great time people watching. Will have to come again with the plan of doing all the fun free stuff! It seems like THE place for people of all ages to meet up & socialise. Ooh beccas here better go & join in with the cool kids! x x x

Doing our weekly shop we were looking at the sarnies & came across these gormet beauties! Classy or what?! x x x

When i got into waterloo this morning i stood on the escalator & noticed a sticker with some graffiti on it 3 steps infront of me. Nothing new there apart from the fact i'd noticed the exact same sticker from same spot a few days earlier. I wondered what the probability was that it was the same one & there weren't just loads of them stuck on the steps. Then i decided that was too mathematical & decided to just think it was pretty cool & leave it at that! x x x

anyone seen my inspiration & motivation? i'm going through a bit of a block at the moment where i really want to do stuff but the end result is that i just can't be arsed! i know noone else can do this for me so i need to find a ruddy big rocket & lodge it somewhere to get me activated! roll on bonfire night! ;) x x x

Here’s the second installment to ‘Chez P’ This time we’re focusing on the main bedroom which is all finished now except for the light which we have & have had since before we moved in but because we’ve got used to it sitting there on the floor next to the laundry basket it gets forgotten about & never actually put up. Hopefully we’ll get it done soon though! Again it's in a little story for you to see! When we looked at the room before buying we could see it was a big room but just needed a more modern touch & much much better wardrobes (more of our beauties later!!) All my junk got dumped in here as well as the lounge & we had to work round the pile of stuff while decorating! How can one person gather so much stuff?! More importantly how can one person gather so much stuff when she was just living in one room in a rented flat?! Adam putting the finishing touches to his very carefully painted picture rail! We've gone for white walls, bright green rail...

....right, now that my parents have picked themselves off the floor i'll carry on! i never understood that broody feeling of wanting one of your own & your heart melting when you see them playing, but now i'm getting that soppy sensation when i think about them & would love one at one point when our money situtations are a bit calmer. we'd then be starting our own little family. it's been getting quite bad recently, when i'm out & about & i see them going by it brings a huge smile to my face, i talk to them if i see them on the train, they're so cute & fun when everything in the world is new & their little faces with cold wet noses melt my heart..... that's right i'm talking about puppies, what else could you expect from me?! haha sorry mum & dad :P x x x

Here’s a random fact for all you fact finders out there: "The first publicly available package trip was arranged by Thomas Cook in 1841, from Leicester to Loughborough. He soon realised that the delights of the Midlands were unlikely to catch on so, in 1855, he started package holidays to Europe". thanks to popbitch for the info! Hope that brightened up your Monday! x x x

I was sitting on the flight (finally!) with my ipod on & decided to listen to my travelling mix that's made up of songs that mean something to me, reminding me of people & places. It's a strange compilation & jumps from rage against the machine to steps to faithless to turin brakes. It's great though cos for that 3min you're back in the place at that time with those people, having fun or sometimes crying. Whether it's jumping around in echos, the fresher's christmas ball, partying in bangalore with nat nat, moshing at rock night, dancing routines in michelle's mum's lounge or crying at heathrow when i left for india the 1st time, they're all stages in my life & i'm glad i have these songs to remind me. Yes some are pretty embarrassing & i hope the person next to me couldn't hear them but hey! Anywhere where was i? Ah yes, leaving high school in '98.... X x x

as long as the monsoon slows down soon. it's been raining heavily with a few breaks for 2 days & i'm due to fly home very early tomorrow morning. i hate this night flight cos you're in the mumbai office for the whole day working hard & then have to keep yourself awake for the 02:30am departure, you have to not let yourself get too wound up at the airport (not such a problem now since they re-did the place) so you can't sleep when you sit in your cramped economy seat, instead you have to let everything wash over you & keep calm (rum helps!!) so you just keep awake for take off then as soon as you can tip your seat back you're away in the land of nod. it's not easy to keep calm for me sometimes but i manage it better now. that is, till i looked online today to see if my flight's on time only to be greeted with a delay that keeps getting later & later. it's currently at 05:35am & hasn't changed for a while so hopefully it'll st...

I'm so excited! My birthday present from my aunty has arrived. It's a 'robot3' camera that has 3 lenses so when you take a photo the 3 images all appear on one print. I can't wait to get out & about & take some quirky & different shots! Yay! It actually feels great to hold something so light, plastic, tacky & cheap for once & understand how something that looks so insignificant next to my slrs can bring so much experimentation & fun back into my photography. The camera doesn't even have a view finder or a flash! Haha. Bring on the fun times! X x x

There i was minding my own business, deep in thought comp shopping, thinking about the new trends when suddenly i'm brought back to the real world by looking up & being faced by this gruesome window display. Now if you know me you'll know i'm really not happy when faced with clowns, masks, puppets, etc so when i saw these i wasn't overly chuffed! I was actually walking round the shop (the rather trendy & posh dover st market if you're interested) when i spotted them so i tried my best to keep looking like i honestly belonged & could afford things in there while constantly keeping my eye on my freaky friends in case they came to life & started to chase me (cos that could have happened!) Mental note- must stop watching scary movies! X x x P.s i know, i know comp shopping during the summer hols i must be mad! When do they go back to school?!

Sometimes I get little envelopes filled with newspaper cuttings from my parents that they think will be of interest to me. I love getting them, it stemmed from when I was in India when I used to cut things out from the Times of India of interested for them & vice-versa. The one I got the other day was brilliant & one article caught my attention. It was headlined ‘No More Cheap Shots’ from The Sunday Times on 16th July &ll about how the cool kids no longer prefer Digital photographs, they’d rather use ‘toy’ cameras that use film. The 1st paragraph caught my attention... “Satan was the worst photographer in hell. It was an embarrassment, so one day he told Beelzebub, his go-to guy, to see if he could come up with something to fix his holiday snaps. Beelzebub went to California & returned waving a small box. “This is it!” he cried. “It’s destroyed the art of photography on earth. Now you can do what you like with your pictures.” It worked. Satan’s snaps glowed. The bo...

You’d have thought by now that I’d be used to people coming & going what with the Cosmo lot when I lived in Bangalore & now living in London where Ozzie flatmates changed like the weather & other mates heading off to pastures new. But once in a while you really connect with someone & you kind of get used to them being there & then suddenly they’re not going to be any more. Don’t worry no-one’s died or anything but a friend (show knows who she is, not sure if she’s told people yet hence not naming names) who I’ve become very close to has a new job in a new city & will be off very soon. I’m so pleased for her getting the job, braving it in a new place & finally having some money to enjoy life but at the same time in a more selfish way I’m gonna miss her like mad. The good thing about London is that nowhere is far away, the train will only be a couple of hours & with the wonders of modern technology it’s so easy to keep in touch, but it’s not quite the ...

over the next few days/weeks/months/years i'm going to update you on the wonderful goings on in our home...... i didn't want to start posting anything until the rooms were completely finished originally, the lounge isn't 100% complete but you'll get a good idea. we just need curtains & a bookshelf mainly but i'm sure on our next trip to ikea we'll find many many things that we need & have to buy straight away!! i've done my photos in a bit of a before & after story so you can see what we've been up to so enjoy! :) the lounge - before we moved in. i took this photo on the 2 nd time we went to see the property, the fireplace & the wood panels were a reason we fell in love with the place cos it wasn't just an ordinary new build that just has a generic look. it's quite funny actually cos we've had compliments from delivery guys who've said it's quite unusual & different (just like it's owners! :P) a ...