Rachael Phillips

Freelance Writer and Blogger… 


**Website still under construction**


Posts

  • August 23, 03:21 PM

    Cat, Power and Disco...

    I love a good nap.  Its funny,  never used to be able to nap efficiently but lately napping has become a little pleasure. It's not just me either, it appears everyone likes a good nap, especially my pal Becca who naps so often that “going for a Becca nap” has become a well known term in our circle. 

     

    I’m sure you’re all  wondering the point? Well today I’ve stumbled upon something really quite "special".  Introducing the snazzy napper.


    Download now or watch on posterous
    snazzynapper.mov (7699 KB)
    Although I’d not recommend using these in public, not if you plan on looking people in the eye ever again or you don’t wish to be mugged anyway.

     

    However, I’ll take the risk so if you wish to gift me one then please do feel free (happy to provide proof of usage)

     

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  • August 21, 05:13 AM

    Weddings

    ** Note this is a repost of a blog post I wrote for different site so you may have read it's contents before! ** 

    I hate weddings. Seriously, it’s not that I don’t want to share in your joy that you’ve found “the one” (a fact which when you’re about to sign those divorce papers I’ll thoughtfully not remind you of) but because when you decide to have a huge wedding you just cause a world of pain to people like me. 
    Let me explain..
    First up…I don’t want to buy you a gift. Especially not when I’ve spent three figures on a dress, visited the hairdressers, nail salon, beauty parlor and then gone and taken out a mortgage just to be able to afford a single glass of chardonnay at the ridiculously over priced hotel that you’ve deemed necessary to have as your venue. I especially won’t be giving you cash…my very presence at your wedding should be gift enough and the way I will combat the “We have everything we need (because we’re smug twats) but we’d love some cash” requests will be to jot down the amount of cash it’s cost me to look semi decent in YOUR wedding photos in that meaningful card that I’d have lovingly picked out. 

    Secondly, if you’re single at a wedding it’s a freaking nightmare. This could be just limited to my family – although I suspect not. Having that “so when are you going to get married” question fired at you from every angle is bad enough if you’ve got a partner but when you’ve no one and there’s possibly no actual chance of you finding anyone half decent in the near future it’s even more depressing.  Plus then you have the remixed version of “oh you’re single? Oh never mind you may meet the man of your dreams here tonight”. NO, no I won’t. Mainly because this room is filled with 50% of my family and secondly (and I take this from my own personal goings on at the moment) the bride and groom are THAT much younger than me that if I were going to attempt to find a mate in this hyped up over priced jungle I’d be looking at signing some register somewhere.  Ridiculous thing to say. End of. 
    I’m thinking of lying when I’m asked this question at my baby cousins wedding tomorrow, I may take time out of my “drinking lots of vodka” session to make up Mr Perfect, of course he’ll be rich, hot and totally amazing and unable to attend the wedding because he’s doing outreach work in the third world, helping those less fortunate than himself (maybe throw in a few lines how the cost of just one glass of wine could actually build a whole village).  I’ll be honest, I’ve already got my perfect wedding planned out in my head (no you’re not invited) and I know what I’d like my future groom to look like  so it’ll be pretty easy to go along with the lie and at the end I could maybe just blame artistic license? What do you think??
    And finally, (because really I could go on all day about what’s wrong with weddings) and I know, I know this is nitpicking now but still hugely annoying. Soup! Why does every single wedding breakfast menu include soup to start? A hundred people in an enclosed space slurrrrrrrrrpppping soup. I don’t even need to elaborate on that, because you know what I mean don’t you?? The kind of noise that makes you want to drive your bread knife in to your own ears just to stop the pain. 
    So, with that, I’d like to get my happy face on, practice walking in my highest heels and work on my “perfect boyfriend” alibi – can’t leave that to chance.

     

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  • August 08, 03:38 PM

    Newport State of Mind GLC style

    Well the other week I posted a blog on the Newport State of Mind viral that was going crazy on the Internet. But here come Goldie Lookin Chain (Newport’s most famous residents) with their own version: NEWPORT STATE OF MIND (YOU'RE NOT FROM NEWPORT)

    As a resident of Newport I can confirm we do actually have a Pizza Hut – two in fact…still, that’s not really a reason to come visit.

    x

    Thanks to the lovely Gemma who pointed me to the video!!

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  • August 05, 11:23 AM

    Flying...A visual diary

    If there’s one thing I hate its flying. Actually, it’s not the actual flying it’s the people. I accept that if I want to escape this Welsh weather (which of course is glorious at all times, please do come visit Wales) and sit on the beach drinking cocktails that I do indeed have to suffer the hell that comes with herding myself like some human form of bovine on to the plane. It’s funny though, no matter how pleased I may be at escaping our little Island of Britain I lose all sense of humour when it comes to people reclining their seat in to my lap.

    This reader is my biggest pet hate. I don’t want your head in my lap. I’d actually like to use my ½ inch of space to partake in some time passing activities like reading or squinting at my personal tv and “enjoying” 80’s re-runs. Instead it seems every flight I spend time staring at the scalp of the passenger in front.

    And another thing (whilst I’m on one) airlines that censor movies…what’s that all about? On a long haul flight back from Aruba 2 years ago I settled in to my seat to watch Sex and the City the movie. To my horror I soon come to realise that the movie police had been on duty and had censored it remove all swearing and get this…sex. Now. Forgive me for pointing out the obvious here but Sex and the City without the sex (and if you’ve seen the first movie you’ll know there’s quite a bit) is really a little pointless and when words such as “dick” get replaced with “thing” is becomes even more tedious than it was in the first place. There really is no point in any film without sex and gratuitous language if you ask me. First Choice Airlines even deemed Charlotte “pooping” herself as offensive. Strange.

    Anyway I digress from my original reasoning for posting this blog…below is a great  visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London) from the New York Times which I think sums up the whole flight experience. 


     

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  • August 04, 03:48 PM

    YouTube parody of "The Social Network"

    Wouldn’t it be great if work was surfing youtube all day looking at cute pets and watching people make fools of themselves across the world? Oh, you mean it is? Well here’s a YouTube parody that’s doing the rounds across the internet at the moment…

     

     

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  • August 03, 03:19 PM

    Gorgeous Photography...

    I love good photography. When I say that I don’t always mean the technical great or work by famous photographers but images that just capture the imagination and drag you in to the scene.

    I really wanted to blog about my lovely friend Deborah Lee who is an amazing photographer, just take a look at some of her images and she’s just set up a facebook fan page so make sure you “like” for some more of her lovely images…

    ALL Photos are property of Deborah Lee. You MUST NOT use them without permission, if you wish to use the pictures or hire Debs then either Tweet her or Email her.

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  • July 24, 08:31 AM

    Spex Appeal...

    I have a confession to make. I’ve got 3 new crushes to add to my list...you know, that list I have. But it’s time to tell the individual members of take that to move aside, gone is Mike Phillips and Gerard Butler may as well stop calling because my new loves all have one distinct feature – they wear glasses. Oh yes! I am totally in love with men in glasses.

    I’m not too sure what it is about my love of men in glasses, I don’t know if it’s the assumption that if they wear glasses they’re a tad more intelligent than the average man on the street or whether they’re just the ultimate sex-cessorie (yes, yes I did just make up that clever little ditty). So what’s prompted this little confession? Well Specsavers are searching for the nations sexiest spec wearer of 2010. So if you think you look great in your glasses or you know someone who does just click HERE to enter. First prize includes:

    • A year’s modelling contract with top London agency Storm Model Management

    • A two week premier, all-inclusive holiday for two in Barbados or St Lucia, courtesy of Almond Resorts

    • £250 spending money

    • A makeover with celebrity hairdresser Andrew Barton

    • A fantastic goody bag, including hair products, courtesy of Andrew Barton Salons

    • A year’s supply of skincare products from Simple

    • A Specsavers eyecare voucher worth £150

    There are also lots of other prizes up for grabs so get on it…

    And in the interest of proving just how sexy man folk who pop glasses on are here are my top  celebrity crushes…

     

    Russel Howard via flickr.com

    Barret Foa via facebook.com

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  • July 08, 11:25 AM

    Modern Pet Camper - Thoughts?

    As my family like to point out on a semi regular basis I’m heading right for that evil path of spinsterhood where I shall wake up surrounded by hundreds of cats, obviously this assumption has been brought about by my failure to litter the planet with those little rug-rats you lot call children.

    But, something I do have in place of an ankle biter is a little pooch. Yes that’s right, I’m one of those, I treat my little Georgie (the princess) as…well, yeah, a child.

    Which is why I actually squealed (and I did squeal a tiny bit- trust me) with delight at this little camper van…just how cute is this for your pet pooch…a Pet Camper.

    I’m actually not caring right now that I could be bordering on the ridiculous by getting this for my dog…especially when we move in to our new pad…imagine what the new neighbours will think of that one.

     

    Modern Pet Camper by Straight Line Designs...

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  • July 07, 08:34 AM

    Cat Refuses To Get Rickroll'd (VIDEO)


    Ahhh Rick Astley…always reminds me of a birthday party I had as a child (I know what you’re thinking, I couldn’t possibly be old enough – naturally it was one of those retro tunes…honest).  I did laugh a lot at this little video…after all, Cat videos are what the internet was made for right?

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  • July 06, 10:53 AM

    Paul The Octopus Predicts Spain Will Beat Germany In World Cup Semi-Final

    via ITNSportsNews

    I really worry about the sanity of people when they start claiming an octopus is “psychic”.


    I’m pretty sure the octopus should be more concerned about becoming Calamari than who wins the world cup…in fact, I wonder what the Spanish are planning as their victory meal.

    Watch out little Paul…watch out!

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  • July 06, 10:28 AM

    Video: 24 hours on Caroline Street

    Thanks to WalesOnline for pointing this out…

    Great video here by Nathan Collins (@cardiffblogger). Shot on 5th June – the day that the Stereophonics and Wales v South Africa came to town this videos shows 24 hours on one of Cardiff’s most famous streets – Caroline Street (aka chippy alley).


    Excellent work by Mr Collins I think you’ll all agree – wish I’d known he was doing it, I could have given a little wave.

    Please do click like and RT...go on...please? ;)

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  • July 01, 10:49 AM

    How to freak people out in one easy step...Human Thumb Drive

    How to freak people out in one easy step...

    Seriously, I’ve seen some weird stuff on Etsy but usb drive made from the cast of the sellers own thumb is probably is the freakiest thing I’ve seen in a while. I’m almost tempted to buy one just to freak out the kids in my local coffee shop...actually scrap almost tempted I'm SO tempted.

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  • June 24, 08:33 AM
  • June 21, 06:30 AM
  • June 11, 08:46 AM

    Photos...

    Just going through the enormous task of transferring over all my old photographs on to a hard disk and thought I'd share some holiday snaps...nope, it's not giving me itchy feet at all (*attempts not to book flights*)

    Portugal...

    Aruba...

     

    Photographs by Rachael Phillips. Please do not use without permission.

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  • May 17, 12:35 PM
  • May 17, 11:30 AM

    Russell Howard - The Daily Mail Gives You Cancer

    There seems to be a lot of Liz Jones bashing going on today so I thought I’d hop on board and give you all another reason to hate the Daily Mail. The list is getting quite large isn’t it?

    This was aired on the second series of Russell Howard's Good News on BBC 3

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  • May 17, 05:27 AM
  • May 12, 11:31 AM
  • May 07, 03:05 AM

    Election - Guardian Style...

    What with all this election stuff…good to see that The Guardian know how to report the news…I did say election there didn’t I?

     

    ** Screenshot from The Guardian RSS feed

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Posts

Posts

  • September 01, 10:14 AM

    Turn your hoodie in to a computer sleeve…

    I’m not too sure I’d want to carry my beloved macbook around in my jumper BUT I have to admit to finding this pretty cool. So now when you’re sorting out you’re wardrobe ready to cram it full of next seasons must haves you can scout out some old jumpers and upcycle them to create a handy laptop sleeve.

  • September 01, 09:18 AM

    Beautiful Bathrooms…

    As the nights start to draw in a long hot soak in the bath starts to become more appealing…

    Here are some beautiful bathrooms to take some inspiration from.

  • August 25, 08:08 AM

    iPouch…

    Like your gadgets and your fashion but find the two don’t always mix well? Well worry no more because thanks to iClothing you can bring out your inner marsupial and have your very own pouch in which to store your iPad. Yes that’s right ladies, they’ve designed the iDress.

    “The iDress is a black, above the knee, short sleeved dress with a built in protected pouch to carry and store your iPad without hindering your movement or style.” Another huge plus to the iDress is you can already forget the idea of looking slinky what with the huge square shaped bump you’ll be sporting so you don’t have to suffer ordeal of getting those spanx on – I’m liking it already.

  • August 25, 07:41 AM

    Big Knickers…

    I know us ladies may not want to admit to owning them (naturally we all wear sexy lingerie even when we’re doing the housework…don’t we?) but apparently British women are turning their backs on skimpy thongs in favour of full-sized maxi pants, boy shorts and magic ‘hold it all in’ pants.

    The granny pants tag is being forgotten with Pixie Lott and Lady GaGa are even wearing them as outerwear. I don’t think anyone’s quite ready to witness the wall of lycra that I’d need so I’ll be keeping mine firmly under wraps but the fuller knicker trend is also fitting in with Autumns 50’s inspired look, so basically making them sexy which is good news all round!!

  • August 19, 11:40 AM

    Bargainous: Magazine Subscription Time

    So I’m a magazine junkie. I actually managed to spend more money on magazines on my last weekly shop than I did food – quite the achievement no?

    Anyways, one of the ways I manage to justify my addiction (which let’s be honest isn’t cheap) is to subscribe to various monthly magazines whilst they’re on offer. Not only is it perfect for saving the pennies but you also get the magazines a few days earlier than if you were to buy them in store.

    Here are some top offers from some of my favorite magazines that will help you save some money and get your fix…

    Red Magazine (travel size version): 12 issues for just £15. Just go HERE to get each copy of the magazine for just £1.25 rather than the £3.60 that you’d pay in-store

    She: Get 3 issues of She Magazine for £3! Click HERE to get your copies of She for £1 per issue.

    Cosmopolitan (travel side) 12 issues for £15 Click HERE to take advantage of the offer…

  • August 13, 06:32 AM

    Art: Beautiful Prints for under £11!

    The perfect way to add a new lease of life to your décor is by using art and photography. For a lazy girl this is perfect…no messing about with paint or wallpaper just go find a print and hang it up – simple!

    I absolutely love the work by fashion artist Jill Tovey

    Not only is her work gorgeous but you can pick one up from just £10.44 per print… At that price you could afford to get yourself a print for each room!

    Go grab a bargain before she hits the big time!! You’ll thank me for this post when you have a Jill Tovey Original hanging in your boudoir!

  • August 13, 05:31 AM

    Cocktail o clock: Frappe it up with Thud…

    I love Fridays! And even better on a Friday is that moment when the clock hits Cocktail o’clock so here’s a guest post from the wonderful Daren H…

    Now those of you who follow me on Twitter will know very well that I have an affinity with all things alcoholic! Some would say that my obsession with booze borders on psychopathic and as such is tantamount to wanton liver abuse. For those of you that are rolling their eyes at that last statement then just hold that thought whilst I just pop out to the shed & get my “bothered” face!

    Anyways, with the above in mind it comes as no surprise that I managed to take something as deliciously innocent as a Frappé and booze it up Thud stylee! So seeing as I have been tweeting about it incessantly for the past couple of weeks I thought I would share the recipe so you all could try the deliciousness for your self!

    So this is what you’re going to need: to make the perfect Frappé a la Thud.

    NB: The following is enough to make a 500ml serving. Multiply as needed for your required amount of servings

    • 2 glasses of ice (use the glass you are serving in as a measure
    • ½ glass (¼ pt) of chilled strong filter coffee (preferably leftovers from the morning pot!)
    • splash of vanilla essence
    • sugar to taste
    • 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
    • 1 metric ton of booze! (either vodka & whiskey work best!)

    Basically you just place everything in the blender & whiz to fuck until it looks like a Frappé you would get from any reputable high street coffee house, pour into a glass & enjoy! Repeat as required until you are suitably warm & fuzzy (read: pissed!)

    Simple as that really!

    Finally I should add that the hangover effects of binging on these Frappé are quite astounding! I once got up at 6am & cleaned my oven & made 3lbs of red onion marmalade!

    Follow Thud on Twitter….

  • August 12, 06:56 AM

    Sherlock Chic…

    I think I need to say thank you to the BBC. No longer will I complain about the cost of my TV license, all because of the gift they have bestowed upon us the last few weeks – that’s right Benedict Cumberbatch *takes a moment to swoon*.

    In honour of our gorgeous new muse, you’ll be pleased to know that Sherlock Chic is set to be huge amongst the gentlemen of the UK…Ladies, it’s time to get styling your men!

    Here are some Sherlock “looks” from the show that will help you gather some inspiration (ok, ok you’ve rumbled me, it’s really just an excuse to post some pics of our favourite detective, but whose going to complain?):

    Don’t forget this is modern day Sherlock Chic, no dear stalkers or pipes going on, it’s all sweeping capes, high collars and beautiful, long tailored coats. I think we all agree that it’s about time our men got smart.

    Now of course if you really want to achieve “the look” and have a spare £1350 to treat your man this season, then you can go along to your nearest Belstaff store and purchase the original Belstaff Millford Coat.

    The stylish jacket is made of genuine pure wool Irish tweed bonded with sophisticated, ultra-light microporous film, to make it waterproof without altering the natural qualities of comfort and breathability and is available from Belstaff stores nationwide.

  • August 10, 12:52 PM

    The £12.50 Shift…

    The shift dress never goes out of fashion, it emphasises curves and instantly gives that chic, feminine look.

    If you’re a fan then head down to George at Asda who are stocking a gorgeous range of shift dresses for just £12.50 which means you can afford to treat yourself to one in every colour.

  • August 10, 09:59 AM

    Love Letters…

    So email, text, social media and instant messaging are easier but when did we forget to start putting effort in to our communications?

    Of course certainly take advantage of online communications and have used services such as moonpig in the past but nothing beats a handwritten note…

    There’s nothing nicer than sending or receiving handwritten letters. I admit it,  I am a total stationery addict so perhaps I’m a little biased when it comes to sharing my love of letter writing but it is so much more personal and encourages us to use our brains and really put thought and feeling in to our communications.

    Here are some lovely examples of stationery on handmade website Etsy

    From Left to Right:

    Row One: Rock n Roll Retro Ladies Note Paper Set, Wherever the March Wind Blows Mini Letter Writing Set, itsybitsypaper,
    Row Two: Letter writing set by Thephantomlimb, Dear Colleen, Lion Notelets by Paper by forget me not

    Top image provided by http://www.weheartit.com

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