Meet Elsie

Could not believe my luck at the weekend. Just casually looking around the January sales, aimlessly following Mother around House of Fraser when I got sidetracked by the beaming beauty of this Chloe bag. But wait what is that tag hanging off of it? It had a big fat 'HALF PRICE' sign all over it!

As I came closer, the lovely saturday-working girl gushed about how pretty it was and the low price. And I blame her entirely for convincing me this would be a good purchase. The 'Elsie' style was £700 down to £250. How could I possibly say no?

So after a lot of twiddling with my student bank card - I decided any designer bag is an investment and nodded. I now am completely in love and can't wait to start wearing it properly and teaming it with the many work outfits I come to arrange together in a few months time.

I can't resist a bargain, and especially a designer one at that.

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Saying goodbye

I'm only a few months away from finishing university - forever. In those three years I have gone from being 19 and clueless to (nearly) 22 and eager. My course has even been altered half way through and changed to suit the rapidly growing market of social commerce and networking.

Charlie Burgess was our guest speaker today. I like to call him the 'Top Dog'. He seems to know almost everything about the media from working as a managing editor at the Independent. He now calls himself -quite interestingly - a 'recovering journalist'.

He explained how 'newspapers are dying - yet journalism is not'. This form of news will inevitably vanish, as it fails to create profit and interest thanks to the vast upgrade in technology in which we can all access our desired news. He also noted how 'more people are reading newspapers than ever, just not on paper.' This is especially interesting, as due to access on mobiles, tablets and laptops, we can seek the easiest form of information without physically holding that product.

Although I agree with him in the sense that holding the paper for tactile enjoyment as well as content surprises is limited with online news. I've definitely become accustomed to choosing what information I read online by clicking on my interests, although magazines and newspapers provide that serendipity.

So, as we are waving away to a past media outlet, I also have to say goodbye to somewhere I worked that has recently gone into administration. (Excuse me if I go a bit soppy)

Working for La Senza for the best part of three years was amazing. The girl power pact was something I've never experienced before - or I will probably be able to again. The tears I had when I left aged 19 were genuine, that's why today it's sad to see my Woking branch close down.

It will never be the same! I even worked at their head office for work experience in PR. But as we've seen, things move with the economic times. I guess there is something from them I will always take with me, and that is the magical power of guessing women's bra sizes (correctly) from a single glance. Superman hasn't got anything on me...

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South Wales

This year, or should I say last year, my friends and I decided that we could not be bothered with the pressure of doing something amazing for New Year, so thought about the plan of just getting away to a log cabin. A whole weekend devoted to eating, drinking and celebrating was a pure delight and rest.

This is in the town of Tenby, near Carmenthen where we stayed. The shops next to this cliff edge looked idyllic - as they were all painted soft pastel colours, neatly built down cobbled streets. I did my fair share of window shopping and copious repetitive impressions of Gavin & Stacey.
Of course, if you listened to the news at all you would of heard that South Wales was quite a badly hit place in the New Year storms - although it didn't actually feel like it was that bad. Especially after seeing this rainbow pop up after a shower of rain.

When we were walking along Carmenthen beach to a rock pool area, one of my friends saw this little seal pup plodding around the stones and we couldn't believe our luck. A wild baby seal! What a treat! After a while he played up to the cameras by rolling around in the sand, using his flippers to be all coy.

It was a sweet little getaway that helped me relax - but also brought out my competitive side! We played a lot of board games, one of which was 'the Logo game'. For those of you who don't know what it is. You NEED it. It's on-par with the success of Articulate.

I was surprised by how much information I have stored about brands in my mind, even stuff I thought I didn't care about. The fact I managed to guess how much peanut butter is eaten every day (300 million) remains a mystery. I felt like Rachel and Monica in that episode when they answer Ross's questions, which they famously betted their flat on against Chandler and Joey. " He's a... TRANSPONSTER"... ''That's not even a word!" - Like them I just kept shouting random things!

But now it's a New Year, I've decided to conjure up some new goals that I hope to achieve:

• Get a job. A real one.
• Graduate. Obviously.
• Save money. Properly.
• Purchase a new work-wardrobe. Sell the huge amount of unwanted stuff.
• Force myself to enjoy some sort of exercise.
• Finally get rid of my useless Blackberry. Hello iPhone.
• Go on holiday!

I think that's about it?

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Presents and pecan pie

I thought I would share some of the thoughtful gifts I got this Christmas. Because let's face it, that's pretty much what everyone is doing, just playing with their presents. I finally got myself a copy of 'Luella's guide to English Style' which has been imperative to my fashion forecasting work I just handed in.

Finally got my hand on some Cath Kidston mixing bowls which all slot nicely together like russian dolls.
An Estee Lauder red lipstick to replace the lost lipstick of a few months back! I don't think I go a day without wearing some sort of lipstick. Unless it's a really bad day.

Quite hilariously too I got given this American cooking book - which actually has some fab recipes, (once you get used to the measurements being in 'cups', and everything drowning in butter). Once such example was 'Imperial Inkeepers Pecan Pie'. I can't help but pronounce it like 'pee-kaan'.

It tastes amazing and it's now my new favourite thing to make. Even made the pastry from scratch. Impressive stuff I know!

Now to ponder the thought of starting a diet in January...

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Sticky toffee pudding

Yesterday I had possibly the best sticky toffee pudding ever. Hell, even the best pudding. It was the most warming, gooeist, yummiest dishlicious pud I've had in a long time.

And it was made by none other that my own Mother! She nabbed the recipe from Delia's cookery book from the 80s or 90s (not positive which one) but there is no way any other sticky toffee pudding could beat this recipe.

By chance though, after settling down and watching 'The Roasts of Christmas Past', I noticed the very same recipe bubbling in the oven in true 90s fashion. Sweet.

I should of really taken a photo to complete the transition and show you just how GOOD it was, but these 'vintage' ones will have to do.

The documentary however is a good comical look at the past 60 years of the 'TV cooking' phenomenon. From the pioneering Marguerite Patten's make do and mend recipes, Fanny Cradock's glamourous and questionable delights to Delia herself on the simple how-to's, its a clever indication of the relationship between Britain's two favourite things - food and television.

Finally, back to 2011 now - I recently involved myself in a live webchat with Nigella Lawson with Stylist magazine and she luckily answered my question about student cooking. I asked what was the cheapest meal, she replied:

'Hi Harriet, when I was a student, I was the Queen of Onion Soup. I bought a huge sack of onions from the market and endlessly feeding huge crowds of people without spending much money...'

I believe I can say we are now officially best friends...

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Singing Christmas tree

Literally no other way to make you feel more festive than taking a trip to Longleat Safari Park. The beautiful grounds are decorated with England's first singing Christmas tree, surrounded by gift stalls and the usual array of over-excited children.

Needless to say we stood around like them, often joining in for a little jig and giggle as the tree sung, quite literally the best selection of Christmas tunes. Nothing sounds better sung from a tree than the Home Alone theme. Fact. Don't believe me? Watch it here.

Having a cup of hot chocolate in the Orangey was also a real treat. Warming you up after spending so much time outside with all the animals. Managing to fit it all in one day was quite a skill looking back.

Now to continue the countdown towards Christmas. I've been hand-making/decorating a lot of presents this year. I'll be sure to show you how you can make your gift have a more personal touch to it.

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Loosing my mind in third year

Sometimes I like to decorate the eggs in the fridge for no reason at all...

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