fashion victims

I know that fashion has a tendancy to repeat itself, but don't you think that some things should just never come back in fashion. Like short pants and stockings for men.

 

Or men in belted sweaters.

Well I saw some shocking fashions on the weekend - always worn by young girls, who look like they think they're in a music video. And let me tell you, just because Lady Gaga wears it in a music video, it doesn't mean you should wear it in public.

One girl in particular stood out - she was wearing a white lace top, over a hot-pink bra, with a mini skirt and she had one black fingerless glove on her right hand. Her friend also had a black fingerless glove on her right hand.

They looked absolutely ridiculous. And one could say that maybe they were in fancy dress...but I really don't think they were. I think they had dressed like that on purpose and thought that they looked awesome. I'll tell you now, they didn't!

I think that I would like to start taking photos of fashion victims - I should do it with my phone and try to be subtle. Of course I would blur out the faces, but gosh it would be funny!!

Stay tuned for fashion victim photos!

five languages of love

Today one of my friends told me about the Five Languages of Love. Apparently there are only 5 ways in which people express love, and I did a quick test and my result was "Physical" - which isn't the kinky kind of physical, just touching and that. Which is quite interesting considering I don't really like people touching me. Except for my boyfriend that is.
The five languages are:

• words of affirmation
• quality time
• receiving gifts
• acts of service
• physical touch

I think I would say that my boyfriend uses the gifts language - I think he had only known me a week before he sent a single long stemmed red rose to my work! - and physical touch. When we first started dating one of my friends commented that we couldn't keep our hands off each other - we always had to be holding hands, or touching in some way. I think that has dropped off a bit, but we still do it. Even when we're sitting at home watching TV, him on the lounge and me on my chaise, we're still almost always touching. And for someone that doesn't like to be touched, that's a big thing!

But then there are the 'acts of service' - when my boyfriend carried my carry-on bag all around the airports for me. It was my choice to bring a carry on bag, and so I was prepared to carry it, but he would take it off me every time. That's love.

What is your love language - there is a link at the bottom of my blog to the 5 love languages quiz.

competition

I am in competition for my boyfriends affections. Unfortunately the competition isn't in the form of another girl (which I could solve by smacking her down), it's in the form of sport. Over summer Cricket has been taking his attention (both playing and watching), and now it is football.

My work has picked up again so that I'm working basically two nights every week - but still working full time because I'm too busy to take the time off. So that means at least two of my days each week are 12 hours or more of work. So no, I don't really feel like going to a club and watching football on TV, or even watching a live football game. And only one code of football has started back! There are three codes in total, plus soccer, so I don't know when I'll actually see my boyfriend.

At the moment I am just too tired to fight it - but I fear that soon I'll be so tired that if he suggests watching football instead of seeing me I'll end up crying. But I don't want to be the girlfriend who says "No, you can't watch the football with your mates". I guess I'd rather be the girlfriend whose boyfriend would rather spend time with her than with football.

Maybe it's just because cricket and football are overlapping at the moment. Hopefully once cricket finishes (on the 19th of March) I'll have a boyfriend on Saturdays that I can do things with...unless there is a football game on, of course!

new design

In an effort to procrastinate even more I have re-designed my blog.
I realised that I have had this blog for a while now, and maybe it needed a bit of a pick-me-up. There's nothing like a new pair of shoes to make you feel better, so here they are: blue, kind of stripey, shoes.
Will this get me more readers? I don't know - probably not. But I'm going to make an effort to write about interesting things...not just ramble on about my own very boring issues.
Wish me luck!

analytics

Looking today at my Google Analytics page I was struck by the thought: what attracts thousands of readers to one blog, but not to another? This thought also stems from watching Julie & Julia on the weekend - which is about a girl called Julie who decides to go through all of Julia Child's recipes in one year and writes a blog about it.

As you can see from this screen capture

it's not like I don't have anyone reading my blog, I just don't have the thousands that some other blogs have.

Why? Maybe it's the name of my blog "The Duchess" it's not very descriptive is it. It doesn't tell you what this blog is about. But what is this blog about? Not much - just my random musings on life, and my opinions on stuff.

The average time on the site is only 24 seconds...hmm...what can I do to get people to stay longer? Maybe I need more drama or I need something that people actually want to read about. But that is the $50,000 question, isn't it? What do you want to read about?

fight for your right to....work?

At the moment I am feeling as though I have to fight to do my job. Not in the sense that I'm being discriminated against for being a woman, but in the sense that everyone else seems to think that they can do my job better than me and so they go ahead and do it!

It's very frustrating when you go to do something that is meant to be your responsibility only to find it has already been done - and not because I took too long to do it, but because the other person just decided to do it themselves.

I also think that I'm going to need to say to a work mate "I sometimes feel that you think I'm stupid with the tone you use to talk to me. I have a university degree and fairly high intelligence level (proof of which can be found in the fact that I understand things more quickly and more concisely than you do) so I don't need things explained to me as though I'm retarded".

But then I run the risk of offending this person because she's highly strung.

And then I think that the more highly strung you are and high maintenance you are the more support you receive from management here. Which is a bit annoying, because I can't be bothered making a fuss for no reason, but without that fuss I don't get any recognition!
Ugh!

don't want to rush things

What do those 5 words actually mean?

Do they mean:

• You want things to stop?
• You want things to slow down?
• You're feeling rushed/pressured?
• Or you're just a dick?

They're probably some of the most often said words in relationships but I don't think they actually express what is going on with the person who is saying them. Especially when that person says things like "I'll always want to marry you".

So really - what does that mean!?!?!

end of business

I have decided to officially 'close' my business. In 2009 I left my job without another job to go to (due to working in the car industry with horrible people!) and I decided to start my own event management business. I have had a total of 1 paying job, and that was from a friend. I have not had any enquiries or anything. True, I haven't done a lot to promote my business. I advertised in the Canberra Wedding Guide (for about $1,000 and got no response), and I was interviewed for an article on weddings in the CBD and I thought that might generate some interest, but no.

So I have just requested that my website close at the end of this month, and I will throw out most of my 1,000 business cards that I had printed (yes, I was a little over-zealous). I think I'll keep the letter head that I bought, I can use that for scrap paper and it was only about 500 pages.

I will box up all of my business related stuff and store it just in case it's needed for tax purposes, or I decide to start it all over again.

The frustrating thing is that with events people think that anyone can organise them. And I guess that is true to some extent, if you want a crappy event and a stressed out organiser. If people hired me to plan their event, they would get a great event and be able to enjoy it!