I'm not one for.....

Posting more than once a day - hell, sometimes I'm lucky (you guys not so much!) if I post once a week but I think I need two separate posts today. Not because I'm going to write about anything spectacular or that the post will be too long that I need to split it up. It's purely because I wanted my next post just to have it's own little moment of glory!

I am absolutely loving the weather here at the moment. I believe it hit 28 degrees Celsius yesterday (well that's what my car temperature dial thing said) which is amazing. It also meant that I couldn't do anything too exhausting (not that I usually do!). So the weekend was a laborious one of chilling and partying in the Sun.

Friday night was spent getting rid of clothes and shoes for charity. I pulled out my whole wardrobe and gave away what I didn't need or haven't worn for the best part of 2-3 years. I also managed to give away a whole heap of shoes. Needless to say, I managed to fill quite a few bags and my wardrobe is much lighter because of it.

Saturday - Going outside wasn't an option because it was a lil' too hot so I stayed indoors in the shade and watched One Tree Hill until it was time for me to get ready.
We were celebrating a friend's 26th b'day and his GF had booked us a booth in Sitaaray. Basically centered around Bollywood, the restaurant had booths dedicated to heroes, heroines and of course villains. We were sat in the heroes booth and the amount of pictures surrounding us were immense!

Now I don't know too many Bollywood heroes apart from the painfully obvious ones of Sharukh, Hrithik and Amitabh but I do know Kollywood so I got über excited at seeing Rajani (above) and Kamal (obviously below) also featured.

A good start to the evening was had due to the Mojitos that were consumed.... The various flavours available at Guanabara keeping it popular as per usual! (L-R: Normal, mango, 2 x passion fruit)

An extremely fun night of how life should be in the sunshine! :)

Sunday - I went to a family BBQ. Not my family but B's - I love how I'm a part of her family! :)

Who am I?

Scrumpy the daughter, the sister, the best friend, the close friend, the ex-girlfriend, the acquaintance, the reliable friend, the funny friend, the crazy friend, the I-don't-know-you-but-find-you-really-easy-to-talk-to "friend", the "lend me some money" friend, the pushover, the emotional one, the clever one (!), the outgoing child.....

I have been described in all these ways BUT who is Scrumpy the blogger?

Happiness in the form of Sunshine

Sunshine rocks! No seriously - it's amazing how much of a difference a little bit of sunshine can make. For those of you in sunnier climes (eg - SL!), maybe you don't see the difference a lil' bit of sunshine makes!

Here in the UK -we've just had a long weekend. 3 day weekends rock (but not as much as 4 day ones - Easter bank holiday)!
We've also had some crappy crappy weather - it's either been raining bucket loads, or been far too cold but this weekend - this weekend was different because... the sun shone. And I don't mean the kind of shining where it peeks a few rays out from behind the greyest of grey clouds. No; I mean the kind of sun shining where the sky is blue, not a cloud in the sky and the Sun itself elicits a reaction in people. They start to smile and become more appreciative of their surroundings. People become more pleasant and for someone who loves people who have manners - the guys become that much more attractive. They have their dishevelled rolled up sleeves look going on and combine this with manners and you're well on your way to finding my Prince Charming!

I love the fact that the Sun makes guys take that little bit more notice of girls (me being one of them!). It means that my legs can be subjected to a bit of sun. They've been hidden away for far too long but now the time comes when I can wear skirts and flip flops. It means out goes the winter coat and in comes the summer jacket. And it means sunglasses Audrey Hepburn style adding that lil' bit of glamour to a poor soul on a random street in London!

I just like the feel good factor that people get from the Sun - it cheers me up no end! :)

Scrumpy the Sucker

If any of you have your mind in the gutter as you click on this post - get it out! I'm not that kinda girl... (Chaarmax - I see what you mean about a conjunctive pause!).

Stuff that I'm a sucker for (and in no particular order):

1. The Apprentice: This is a programme that basically has an x number of contestants trying to win a high paying job with one of Britain's biggest(?) entrepreneurs - Sir Alan Sugar. It's fantastic TV and the latest series is amazing. If you guys haven't had a chance to watch it, there are some clips on youtube. I would love Raef to win! Check out this clip where he defends Sara - such a gent!
2. Manners: Speaking of Raef and gentlemen - I am a big sucker for manners. Whether they are from women, men (who somewhat become automatically more attractive!), or children - I don't care. I just think that it's so easy to say "please", "thank you", "excuse me" or "I'm sorry". I also find it highly endearing when men hold open doors for women, or let a woman onto public transport first - it just shows me that chivalry is not yet dying! I'm a big sucker for men with manners. Even the hottest guy can become unattractive if he doesn't have any!
3. American Idol: I've never been that interested in this but for some reason I have watched this series from the audition stage and it's coming quite close to the final. I would love to see David win and this is not so much due to his singing abilities (though he is good - granted). It's more down to the fact that he is sooooo polite! I love it!

These are just a few in my list of stuff - there are so many other things but thinking about it now, I think that most of the things I find endearing have manners/pleasantness at it's core.

It's amazing how something so small will change how people portray you!

Bananas and some randoms!

I hate them! I actually do. I'm on some kind of health kick at the moment (in a bid to look a lil' bit more flattering for the summer!) and I've decided to cut down on junk food and eat a lot more fruit and veg. What astounds me the most about this is how much I've kept to it. I'm having more than my 5 portions of fruit and veg a day(!) which is a big thing for me! However, my amma keeps trying to give me bananas (like I'm some kinda chimp!) and it pains me to eat them. With every bite, I generally feel queasy. I know there are those who are trying to sing the praises of bananas to their monitors but they just suck (IMO). My favourite fruit are pears. Ripe, juicy sweet pears. I can't get enough and I might even make a pear crumble this weekend (I'll try not to post any photos Chaarmax/Dili!).

On a totally different note - regarding the recent news in Austria which T has blogged about here - I was absolutely appalled! The fact that someone had the capability to do this and keep up this pretence for however long is a sign of the downward spiral in society. What kinda FUCKED UP SHIT is that man?! (Excuse the profanity)

A E I O U

We only have 5 vowels in the English alphabet. 5! Therefore we should make as much use of them as possible no? One of the things that I am completely anal about (completely!) is the use of good grammar, punctuation and spelling. So being an avid fan of Facebook (FB) (yes I admit, I am a FB stalker - it's quite sad really!), emails and text messaging, it only winds me up further (should I have used farther?) when I see the English language being ripped to shreds because people can't differentiate between they're, there or their, you're or your, affect or effect - the list is endless.

or when they dont use any punctuation no full stops no commas no capital letters at the start of sentences.no spaces after full stops or any kind of punctuation.No apostrophes.

It makes reading text so difficult. If you're going to write something that you obviously think is worth reading, then at least make it readable!

Which brings me on to the use of vowels or rather the lack of!

Example 1:
"This is so gonna sound lyk an April Fools!! Bt u knw dat phD I applied 4 @ UCLA 4 a laugh... DEYV INVITD ME 4 AN INTERVIEW!!!!! Dunno wat 2 do! Ring u ltr xxx "

Fair enough - this was in a text message (trying to save texts and money) but it was from a grown adult! She could have written it out properly and still only sent 1 text!

Example 2:
"Yea, I dnt thnk I am eithr I ges bt I hav bn actng lyk I am! Thanx 4 da girlie chat yst mrs. Hav fun 2mrw x2

Same person - but again, she could have easily used the vowels! However, I'm willing to let these slide because they are texts and there is a limitation on the number of characters that can be used.

Example 3 (taken from FB):
"yh me bless ini..ntn mn juz jamin..klkl..cum da dai..it'l b jwkz ini..styl..vere enada?nefin nu?tc da x"

WTF?! Alright, I know that two of those words are an attempt at written Tanglish but the rest of it?! And when did ".." become punctuation? Is it the end of a sentence? Should we pause?! Seriously?!

Example 4 (taken from FB)
"im crious i aint a vry jkative person im havin hell ryt nw iv been wid a gal 4 2 yrs an stuff r gtn bad2

Give me a break! You've got wall space on FB so you can use the God damn vowels!

However, what grates me the most (and I remember that Darwin might have mentioned this a loooong while ago so I will find the link and add it at the end) is the people who write like this:

"i iz a COL student me have lotz of friendz gut 1nce and bad 1nce i izt known as a G But iZ nOt a G iZ just A noRmaL StudeNt jUsT aSk 4..."

Why are some letters capitals and others not? Doesn't it take much longer to write things like that? Why do you do it to yourselves (and more importantly us as the reader!)?

Now I'm too scared to spellcheck this as I've probably made lots of mistakes!

And for the record - Darwin's post (sorry Darwin - I'm not sure if this is OK within the etiquette of blogging!).

*Disclaimer* - I never claimed to be great at spelling, punctuation or grammar but I do like to read text that is readable which is why I posted this.
If you notice the mistakes (of which there are probably a few), don't berate me. I'm only human! :)
And I'm sorry for the rant!

In all it's coloured glory!

For Ian and Darwin - here's the coloured pic! I shall endeavour to not make that mistake again!