Month by Numbers: Ice, ice, baby

7 favourites...

1.) I left on a jet plane and hopped over to Iceland and it was unlike anyone I'd ever been on holiday.

The sunshine was swapped for snowy mountain-tops and bikinis were out while thermals were in. 

We galloped around geysers, went chasing after waterfalls and soaked our troubles away in the Blue Lagoon.

I came back feel uber-zen and my soul feeling as happy as Larry.
(and skint. very skint. Reykjavik is expensive y'all.)

2.) But you know what doesn't cost a thing? Love. 

So when my lil' nephew ran and threw his arms around me when I arrived for a surprise visit, boy did my 

heart feel all warm and fuzzy.

Oh, and when he told me he likes me visiting and wants me to come back on a sunny day? 

Well, I'm done. No emotions left in me cus he's taken them all.

3.) Perks of my jobs are one of the best things about my job and this month has been particularly brilliant.

First thing's first is the opening of a new gaming bar. Four Quarters in Peckham is filled with old arcade games

and holds a special place in my heart. So when they invited me to the opening of their new bar, for a night

of beer, burgers and video games, well how could a girl refuse?

Also, I won Street Fighter, and my girl Chun Li came out with this, on International Women's Day nonetheless.

Jumping for joy like chocolate frog that I'm drunk off butterbeer on Diagon Alley 🔮✨#forbiddenforest #WBTourLondon #harrypotter #HP #diagonalley #london #boomerang #gif #instavideo #instavid #video

A post shared by Amy Lo 🐚 (@amylo92) on Mar 28, 2017 at 1:39pm PDT

4.) Secondly, a night to galavant around the Harry Potter studios while I chomp on canapes and sip on bubbly?

Erm, YES PLEASE. I got invited to the opening of the new forbidden forest at the studios, and despite having 

been before, going after hours with booze somehow seems more mischievous. 

5.) Last, but not least, the third perk was a night to run around Thorpe Park like a bunch of school kids. 

And free beers, which I didn't take full advantage of because I didn't want to embarrass myself on rides!

I haven't been on a rollercoaster in about 10 years, and I used to get my kick out of them, and I'm proud 

to say that after some initial nervous-ness, I still bloody love them (and love to swear on them it seems...)

The Last Thing on my Mind when I went on a Steps night out was that actual @officialsteps would turn up to Stomp all night. Pretty sure I turned a Deeper Shade of Blue from excitement as 8-year-old me was SHOOK 😱💃🏻🌟 @middletonhadley @welovepopclub @lisascottlee1 @fayetozersmith @princessclarabella @ianhwatkins #deepershadeofblue #videocollage #video #collage #nightout #weekend #instavid #steps #90s #london #vsco #vscocam

A post shared by Amy Lo 🐚 (@amylo92) on Mar 12, 2017 at 5:03am PDT

6.) Steps was one my favourite bands growing up, so when they reunited and released a new single that 

was everything I wanted to be and more, I was all over it. 

(Groups looking to have a reunion - THAT'S how it's done. Don't try and be 'relevant'. Don't lose your identity!)

So when me and friend went to a Steps themed night out, expecting an evening of fun and silly dancing,

and lo and behold, the actual band decided to show up!

We were excited to say the least.

7.) On March 22nd, an attack happened in Westminster and people were killed and injured.

I never thought I would see the city that I'm living in, trending on social media as people prayed for us.

My heart was breaking, and this happens all to much all over the world, all the time sadly. 

It's always horrific, always shocking. But when it's happening to London, to your home...

But I couldn't be prouder to be British and live in London. While the media were scaremongering and 

portraying to the rest of the world that we were stopped with few, in actual fact, mere hours after the 

awful event, the Westminster tube stop was open and running again.

Our Shaun of the Dead 'let's go to the Winchester' spirit will never be beaten. 

5 tweets....

1.) Woman next to me on the train has a bottle of wine in handbag, listening to Streisand & whipped out a
cheese toastie. She knows how to LIVE 

2.) Back in the day I would've already started drinking & putting my lashes on for a night out.

Now, I've just cleaned the house & made a tea 

3.) Papa Lo just fed some Pringles cus I've painted my nails and they're still wet. My dad's a babe 

4.) Brother laughed that I have feminist badge on my jacket. C'mon bro, get with the programme, this has 

been the situation for years now! 

5.) It actually felt like spring today! I'm happy as my natural comfy state is in sunnies (which @anna_tabs 

points out is a Mariah statement ) 

3 songs...

1.) Little Mix - Beep Beep

This is just pop-tastic, fantastic. Makes me feel like I'm a Pink Lady in Grease and about to break out 

into a synchronised doo-wop dance routine.

2.) Gavin James - I Don't Know Why

This makes me feel SO excited about summer and when Gavin goes all falsetto to sing the leading lines,

boy does it give me goosepimples.

3.) Sigala - Only One 

If Gavin James' song makes me think of summer in a chilled on the beach, watching the sunset kinda way. 

Then Sigala makes me think of summer in a 'opps, I accidentally got drunk by day-drinking in a beer

garden all day' kind of way. Very mad. Very excitable. Very happy.

It's the golden labrador of songs.

Month by Numbers: N64, night moves & namaste

7 favourites...

1.) October has basically been intervals os being jam-packed busy with plans, and then being a lazy coach potato. One day i might get the perfect balance instead of going from one extreme to another, but for now, this is what my life looks like.

2.) What better way to spend get over the hump in the middle of the week than go bake the biggest cake you ever did see, and being taught to do so by a past Bake-Off winner. It felt my ateries clogging up with diabetes as I was making the chocolate and sweets covered doubled up monster, but my-god was it worth it. Drinking bubbly and icing chocolate fingers on a cake with your buddy. What a great British evening eh!

3.) For my birthday, my flatmates got this yoga-loving bear a trip to do yoga while overlooking the city of London at the top of the Shard. So at the crack of dawn, I headed out into a crisp and quiet central London and my god, the early morning was more than worth it. I spent an hour just contemplating the big ol' city while stretching every limb. I left feeling refreshed and relaxed - just the R&R this bear needed in the midst of the London hubbub.

4.) Growing up with 2 older brothers meant I was a bit of a game freak. You might not of guessed what with the fluffy lilac bag and sparkly skirts, but throw a Nintendo controller my way and i'm a happy bunny. So a bar where you can play arcade and videos games - old and new - until your heart's content? I'm running there quicker than a a blue shell flying through Mario Kart. And with such a fab place, it was hardly surprising that it was busy and filled to the brim with people having a ball. So when it came to time for me and my friend Thea wanting to play some old school N64, we made some gaming buddies. They scoffed with pity as they offered me the character of Princess Peach and picked 50cc for our benefit. Cue me whopping their asses on Mario Kart and Thea thrashing them on SNES Street Fighter. If that isn't girl power, well, then I don't know what is.

5.) And now onto night out of a completely different calibre. For my gorgeous friend Chez's birthday. I went for the nicest pre-drinks of sushi and Prosecco (come a long way since the days of Apple Sourz and Dominoes!) before heading to Piano Works which was THE most fun! With a live piano band taking centre stage, there's no set list, the crowd hopped up on tequila shots and beer request all the songs and they just kill it each and every single time. Form Outkast and Gangsta's Paradise to All About That Bass and Spice Girls and everyone is just having a ball.

6.) Having a couple of days of holiday left to use up at work, I used up some for a long weekend to go back home for some peace and quiet from the city life. Life and work and all that's in between is so damn tiring - being an adult is tough y'all! So sometimes you just need to go back to your hometown, to your parents and just sleep, be fed and spend afternoons chasing your nephew from a field of pumpkins. Feel like a new woman after that long weekend! That is, until I got back to London and hopped on the tube...

7.) I love a theme so it's unsurprising that I love Halloween. Our house was covered in cobwebs, we were splattering blood (fake, of course) all over my flatmate's wedding dress ("Zombie bride? An ex-wife" - name that film!) After going my fave babe Ariel fora friend's birthday before, i've been desperate to go as Ursula for Halloween and finally did it. There was purple in my face, white in my hair and gin in my tummy. Which I'm pretty sure is why I felt like a poor unfortunate soul the next morning...

5 tweets...

1.) Life as the youngest person in the office: my editor just asked me if I new what a jukebox was

2.) Sat here with my carrots and hummus before sacking that in and cutting myself a fuck-off massive slice of cake
3.) People need to go on more 'mate-dates' cus @delphinechui & I went from social media buddies to IRL friends  #LevelUp 
4.) Just had Diet Coke moment: Hot moving guy came into our female filled office. Tried to be cool, strut by. Fell into a door intstead..
5.) Haven't seen my aunt for a while and she just said 'have you said thank you to your mum & dad for making you so beautiful?...WHAT?!? 

3 songs...

1.) I am a fully-fledged feminist through and through so when H&M released this bomb-dope ad showing what it REALLY means to be a lady, i was all on board. Being a lady doesn’t just mean swanning around mansions and swishing their dresses in fields. They also get on the tube and love to chow down on meals.  Oh, and that babe that is Lion Babe’s cover of a Tom Jones classic encompasses this perfectly. 

2.) Little Mix are one of the only and best girl bands around at the moment. Watching them perform and sing sassy lil’ songs as a something makes me feel the same kind of girl power that  I felt when I was throwing peace signs to Spice Girls in my bedroom. And when it comes to break-up songs, there’s the ones that you just want to sob to as you drown in your bottle of wine, but after that, you need something feisty and this is that. When you need to say to your ex, ‘yeah it’s nice what we had and yeah i was sad for a bit, but i’m so much better than ok now so cheers for that.’

3.) This is just one of those songs that make you want to ditch just plain ol’ walking all together and stut like you own the place. I find a new one of these songs ever so often, but sadly my grounds for strutting around is just the the northern line on the London underground, which usually is accompanied with mice , At lease this song makes it feel more glam than that eh? 

Month by Numbers: Ibiza heat

7 favourites...

1.) At the very beginning of this month, I headed to Ibiza and it was the perfect remedy that came at the most perfect time. After what were some of the worst months of my life, I got to get away to a sunny paradise with some of my favourite people. We danced, we did nothing on the beach and our meals consisted mostly of sangria and gelato. 

This is uber-melty, but there was one point on the holiday where we were on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (6th in fact FYI) and I went for a swim on my own in the bluest, most crystal clear water I've seen in my life. And there was not a worry or thought in my mind and before I know it, I'd swam so far out, I was just on my own and I just felt truly content for the first time in ages. After all that's happened this year, I was just floating there thinking 'You know what? It's really not all that shit. Life's OK. I'm OK.'


2.) After coming back from Ibiza tanned and filled with tequila, I spent a whole weekend with my bestie and a bunch of boys from Sheffield who I have a blast with every time I see them. Which would be once. I've met them once before. One weekend last year, I spent a weekend with my BBF, and her boyfriend had some uni friends stay. We all ended up hanging out all weekend and becoming friends - isn't that just the sweetest story you ever did hear? And this time, we drank a lot, and played a lot of games (because, you know, we're really cool like that)


3.) Sadly, all those drinks and games means a lack of sleep and an increased chance of feeling pretty rubbish. Probably not the best combo before you do a 5K charity run for Cancer Research. BUT, even after 5 hours sleep and being low-key hanging, I laced up my trainers, travelled from North to South London and threw myself (literally) into the mud that is the Pretty Muddy 5K. I'm not even joking, there was mud EVERYWHERE. In places where mud should never, ever be. But we did it! We raised over £350 for an amazing cause, which was made even more amazing after receiving the news that my no.1 gal Mama Lo had been given the all clear from the Big C after showing it who's boss, just like we all knew she would. 

4.) Ah the Bake-Off. It'll come as no surprise that I'm a massive Bake-Off fan. In fact, last year, me and my flatmate baked something each week to go the theme of said week. I love how wholesome it is. I love the cheeky innuendos. I love the characters on it. I love Mary Berry. I love how a whole nation is gripped by a show about cakes and soggy bottoms. And then, it all came tumbling down all so suddenly! First, it was moving to Channel 4. Then the hilarious Mel & Sue were leaving. And the final blow, the Queen herself Mary Berry bowed out. This current series of the Bake-Off is the last one as we know it, and I am not emotionally prepared for that guys.


5.) Hi, my name's Amy and I've become obsessed with pin badges. They're sassy and cute and creative and teeny tiny and up my accessorises game in a big way. But sadly, they're also starting to drain my bank account in a big way too.

6.) And speaking of little things, I've been doing more little gestures. I know what a heartwarming surprise it is when you get or hear something you really didn't expect to. So I've been writing postcards left, right and centre for my friends. To cheer them up, to encourage them, to thank them, and just to say hello. And I'm hoping they've loved the sentiment as much as I've loved sending them. 


7.) A mixture of holiday blues and that back-to-school slump of September meant that I felt like I was in need of about 50 hours sleep, 50 cups of tea and cuddles with 50 puppies. Fortunately, one of my fave babes told me to come up North where she could provide me with lie-ins, all the teas I could ever ask for and 1 adorable puppy. She even threw in a 10-course fancy and fabulous Italian dinner and some dancing as well. She knows the way to my heart.

5 tweets...
1.) Catching up on #GBBO on the train. Man asleep next to me woke up as I let out an audible gasp at someone forgetting to turn on their oven
2.) Playing Heads Up at the pub & Vera Wang came up. Me: designer makes lovely wedding dresses!  Lads: surname sounds like a DICK 
3.) Something in my lad of washing has made all my clothes glittery...whilst I don't love it, I don't hate it either
4.) Let's just get this out of the way. Thing I don't like that everything else loves: avocado, Idris Elba, chocolate orange & salted caramel..
5.) Can never remember how to do an accented 'e' on my keyboard. Always end up googling Beyoncé and copy & paste. PROFESSIONAL JOURNO Y'ALL 

3 songs...

1.) Tove Lo - Cool Girl

This makes me feel like a genuine cool girl, no matter how much I may not be. If you see you strutting down the street and swooshing my hair, 90% certain this is what's playing on my headphones.

2.) Little Mix - Move

I feel in love with this song with my BBF 2 years ago at uni, and even now, it still makes me dance like I wish I was in a girl band. Sass-central y'all

3.) Kanye West - Fast

If the other 2 songs make me feel like feisty and cool independent women, this song makes me feel tough and ready to box about 10 rounds in the ring. Neither of which I am, but the bass lines and auto-tuned singing in this makes for a good disguise for it

Until next time...

A.x

Little Minxes!

In 2011, four girls were put together on the UK singing contest, X Factor. Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall joined forces, won the contest, and Little Mix was born.

4 young women with their own distinctive voices, and just as distinctive style, which has hopped across the pond and shot straight to the top of the charts and into people's heart. And wouldn't they? 

Their quintessentially British, kooky humour and silly behaviour, along with a slick and fun style has put good old-fashioned girl bands back in the limelight, and it's about time too!
Girls groups have come and gone, many who have made their way into my life and onto my iPod, but there isn't this kind of sassy girl-power frenzy since they days of Spice Girls. 

What started as a very bright, loud and fun style, has slowly evolved into a slick, sassy and still just as fun. What I love most is that they don't deny who they are, their fashion have grown with them as they've turned from girls to young women.

Their envious wardrobes, coupled with their infectious odes to pop music, they have winning combination that is dominating the world.

And why I love these girls, and why I think people have taken such a liking to them as well is, they're having fun. The time of their lives and you can tell. It's like they're having a sleepover and you're invited to join in!

Whether you're looking for something fun that you just want to dance your troubles away to, or inspiring lyrics sung by some powerful voices, Little Mix has something on their menu to cater to your needs, but my ultimate favourite is 'Move' which I have listened to over and over again since it's come out, and I still bop around to it like I did when I first heard it!

Their recent single, where proceeds went towards Sport Relief, will also no doubt make you move your feet and is helping towards an amazing cause.

So if you haven't heard of these girls or wanted to raid your wardrobes after seeing them, a.) where have you been?! and b.) what are you still doing here, go and check them out!

(sources: justlittlemixstyle.tumblr.com, funkidsliv.com, metro.com, pixiwoo.com, yahoo online, promonews.tv, billboard.com, captitalfm.com, digitalspy.co.uk, little mix instagram)

Are you a little lover of Little Mix? 

Hope you're all well, 

Speak soon,

A.x