Yummy Mummy Heaven

I'm young. Okay, I'm not that young, but I often daydream about what my life could be like as an adult. I have this vision of life in London a few years from now- lovely rich husband and kids in tow and gorgeous Victorian house in Holland Park, no professional obligation. Country house, beach house, fancy car, walk-in closet, nannies, live-in help, first-class travel, dinner parties. The list goes on. But it's only a fantasy - an artificial dream. Is there a job in my dream? Nope. Are there problems, financial, professional and personal, in my dream? Not likely. I am a Stepford wife in my dream; and then I wake up, and I hate that dream - this isn't what I want! 

Certain areas of London sometimes feel like that dream. Not only are the women gorgeous but they just look so relaxed, fulfilled and perky! They go on daily walks around the neighborhood, stop for tea, or - a low-fat, no-foam, extra-hot cappuccino (just so), shop at the Matches around the corner, attend 3pm Pilates classes, and send their nannies to fetch the children at school. Yummy mummies have the best life! But do I really want this?

Yesterday, I took a leisurely stroll down to Holland Park and the dream state kicked in. Holland Park is the hood I sometimes refer to as Stepford Central. What a beautiful area, though. Norland Square has it all, the restaurants, the shops, the spas, the gorgeous people, the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the epitome of English elegance. Wait a minute, I like where this dream is going.

Julie's is one of the highly popular spots for the yummies of Holland Park. It's a lovely place to stop for a nice salad. No, but seriously, in reality, you can cozy up and sink into the delicious velvety sofas and enjoy the wintery feel of the dark-wooded walls in the winter and bask in the sunshine on their outdoor terrace in the summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this dream sounds amazing!

The dream doesn't end there. After lunch, comes the shopping! Virginia is one of those gorgeous secret gems only a handful of Londoners know about- and those who know about it covet it like a super exclusive members club. This treasure trove is filled with one-of-a-kind vintage designer dresses, shoes and other mysterious accessories from now back to the 1930s. The prices match the intimidation factor of the shop window and you can be sure to find many elegant fashion-forward yummies, and sometimes even celebs such as Kate, Sienna and Naomi, chatting up the very rude but brilliant shop owner, Virginia herself. I think I like this dream?

After the shopping, comes the spa.  If the dream hasn't been tough enough, what with the many coffee breaks and shopping excursions, there is no better way than to really work it hard in Holland Park's luxurious Cowshed spa. Enjoy a freshly squeezed juice or detox green tea to completely indulge yourself after your massage. Invite the ladies, the nannies, but not the kiddies. After consideration, these places sound great. But I like my reality better than my dream. What about you, zesties? Any fantasies of the yummy mummy lifestyle?

Julie's Restaurant & Bar
135 Portland Road
W11 4LW

Virginia Vintage & Second Hand
98 Portland Road
W11 4LQ


Cowshed Spa
119 Portland Road
W11 4LN

Hitting the Bars after Work

There seems to be quite a fascination with turning everything into bars here lately: you've got wax bars, nail bars, now you've even got brow bars. Yeah, brow bars. Kind of like personal grooming is now to be associated with something fun, like hitting the bar with your mates after work. If you ask me, grooming is not always fun. Waxing hurts the living hell out of me, and still does every time I get it done professionally. Getting my eyebrows done is a chore and I tend to do my nails at home mostly because mani pedis in London make me broke. I am starting to think this bar business is just a scheme created by grooming professionals to trick customers into thinking there is alcohol served at the end of the treatment just to relieve them of the pain.

Blink Brow Bar is yet another bar to be found at Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, though don't be fooled. It's for eyebrow grooming only. Don't go there with the hopes of getting tipsy cuz it's just not that kind of a place. For £17, you can walk in and get your eyebrows done right then and there and be out in a flash. 

The masterful Indian threading techniques (strings tangled up together to naturally pull each hair out of their follicles) are excercized to their full potential over at Blink, and they'll leave you feeling and looking clean and spectacular. You'll find yourself surrounded by girliness in a mini salon full of buzz but no fuss. It's quick and dirty and surprisingly good value for money. With such a meticulous technique as threading and results like these you'll find yourself quickly addicted. And for good reason. Good eyebrows are under-rated. But if you fancy a "facelift" and a natural "injection" of Botox, getting your eyebrows shaped at Blink gets the job done and will leave you looking something similar to this: (misleading marketing, moi?)

London's Best Kept Secret-The Sanctuary

Ever been to a place so tranquil in London, that you forgot you had just stepped out of the hussle and bussle of the city just five minutes prior? Goddam those crazy Christmas shopping Saturdays. I'd much rather be spa-ing and getting pampered in peace, while everyone else is stomping on each other, shouting obscenities to one another and swearing on their mother's life things you wouldn't want even your vulgar aunty to hear. That's right, a little massage here and there never hurt anybody. I can be selfish. We can all be selfish. Especially pre-Christmas. It's that time of year to be taking care of yourselves, ladies.

Last weekend, I was lucky and selfish enough to accompany a few close and equally selfish friends to The Sanctuary Spa, a peaceful and luxurious oasis of tranquility on the adorable paved Floral Street, smack in the middle of Covent Garden. If you decide you want to be selfish too, not only will you be pampered like never before, but you'll feel like Cleopatra on an opium cloud, bathing in milk, while being fed grapes straight from the grapevine, forgetting all of those nasty heartaches caused by your beloved Julius Cesar.

Treatments range from the signature oxygen and collagen facials, Thai and Swedish massages and mani pedis, to the more special treatments such as the sugar scrubs, floats, wraps and exfoliants. 

You can book 25 or 50 minutes and also enjoy the spa's many facilities all day long. You can lounge around, eating and reading, chatting with your friends and simply enjoy what the spa has to offer; great soothing aromas, lovely food, great spaces for you to spread out, and professional care. Call up for a day session at £69 and book the treatment of your choice to go along with it. You won't regret it. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the inside is mystifying. 

Get a Quickie or Get Happy

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had happy halloweeney weekends, filled with glorious costumes, lots of tooth-aching candy, lots of atomic orange-colored cocktails and not so glorious hangovers. I don't know about you, but I've been hit with a serious case of the Mondays and I need to write about something happy to help me get through this week. 

My blogging mind is set on sharing a happy thought with you to help YOU get through this week with a little less pain and a little less stress. I have something to tell you. It's a secret. It's an AMAZING secret! It will make you twist and turn in your office chair, slap your hand on your kitchen counter or roll around with joy in the comfy sheets of your mooshy bed (whoever you are, I'm jealous). Hang tight, this is as zesty as it gets. And this is why: whatever I'm about to tell you will get you as close to a happy ending as you can possibly get. Who doesn't want a happy ending? At 123 Spa and Massage  on 123 Queensway in Bayswater, you can book an appointment for a Thai or Swedish massage, for a whopping £50 1 hour massage or an even more interesting quickie for an awesome £25 for 1/2 hour massage. It's a pretty sweet deal for a London massage. This place is a hole in the wall in the midst of busy Queensway madness and you would probably walk right by it if you didn't know about it.

I'm not implying there is actually a happy ending in this hot spot of a gem, but whatever massage treatment you choose, I promise you, these masseurs deliver and they deliver good. Book an appointment now at 123 Spa and Massage and you will get your own version of a happy ending!



Technically speaking, this is what they guarantee:

Benefits of a Thai Massage treatment:

Increases flexibility and energy level

Eliminates muscle pain and muscle spasms

Promotes relaxation

Stimulates blood circulation and lymph drainage

Stimulates internal organs

Benefits of a Swedish Massage treatment:

Improves blood circulation

Stimulates a chemical reaction in the body

Relieves tension and stress

Promotes health and well being

Chop Choppity Chop at the Urban Retreat

The Gwyneth. The Katie. Let's face it ladies. A great haircut is hard to come by. I have lived in a little over 5 different big cities in my life, where I have had probably a total of 7 great memorable haircuts. And I am no young sprout. So yes, those are slim pickens. I have to admit, I am obsessively inclined to change my hairstyle every three months. I mean, drastically change my hair. I can let it grow for years, then chop it all off. I can decide to grow the boy cut out into a feminine bob and decide it's too cutesy. The long tedious process of letting the hair grow. I have been there...way too often. I am simply never satisfied with one hairstyle. Maybe that's because I associate a change of hair with a change of lifestyle, or a change of hair with a change of mood. Or a desire to start anew, to start afresh. I don't know. But looking back at my 7 successful cuts, I am starting to think that I may have a real problem. I was living in NYC for a total of 4 years. Tried  different hair dressers, ended up with one great one (Monique at Paul Labrecque , you have shears of gold and I trust you with my life!) The only problem was, before I knew it, I was moving again and the search for the perfect hairdresser was about to begin all over again. Blerg.

But there's no point in moaning about it, is there? We must find a solution (my advertising friend, who is the best motivational speaker I know, used to say: "there's no point in bitching," she would authoritatively remark, "the key, Emily, is to find a solution"). So there I was, freshly arrived from across the pond, conveniently in need of a haircut again and desperate to find a solution to my ever so bothersome problem. So I asked around. Prices were always too high. Senior stylists always too busy. Excuses excuses excuses. To my own surprise and delight, I nailed an appointment with a young lady called Natasha (recommended by a friend) at the Urban Retreat , upstairs at Harrods, and was determined to make her my loyal hair chopper. I went, she saw, she conquered. The cut was £55.  I left feeling happy, satisfied and ready to tackle the big city of London. I have had 2 haircuts since I've arrived in London. 2 different lives, I guess. Or 2 different moods. I'm not sure. I am eagerly waiting for the next mood swing to come creeping down my scalp. It's way too eery, I know. Tell me hair fairy, what will I do next?


                               The Urban Retreat at Harrods

  A recent nearly successful cut (making it the 7th)  at the Urban Retreat

Don't leave the Urban Retreat without checking out the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie . The boudoir room adjacent to the salon is a gorgeous jewel filled with vintage and modern scents alike. Watch your nostrils flare as you breathe in the variety of magnolia, florals and musky odors emanating from the sparkly bottles.


                             Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, Harrods

LondonZest Beautifies

There is nothing like a £50 mani pedi to make you think twice about living in London. But yet again, this tends to be my sentiment about London prices in general. Tell me, why is it so hard to find an inappropriately low paid Vietnamese-employed, hygenically-challenged nail salon in this town?? New York has them strewn about everywhere, why why why does London have to be so PC all the time??? 

I have lived here a year now and I've gotten a professional manicure...hm, let's see...twice! And don't even get me started on the waxing. And so, I am ashamed to admit that beautifying and taking care of my girly self has not been such a top priority these days. Instead, I find other ways to brush, groom and paint my body parts and extremities. Yes, like most girls, I do it myself...no pun intended.

As low budget as self-beautifying can be, it does get tedious. At times, it gets boring and at times, excruciatingly dangerous, especially when it comes to applying hot liquids to your skin, in and around obscure areas. But what girl doesn't need to indulge once in a while? I was told that the less you treat yourself to the small luxuries in life, the more you appreciate them. The truth is, the less you treat yourself to the beauty salon, the uglier you get. That's the truth. And no, my friend, ain't no appreciation in an ugly pair of hands and feet or the inability to put on a bikini. And I know a self-made manicure seems like a walk in the park for most of you, but for some reason, I can just never stay inside the lines! Well, maybe it's because I could never do it even when I was little and trying it in my coloring book. 

There's nothing like a little splurge to make you feel fresh and girly again. In fact, I happen to really look forward to my trip to the spa, and also really enjoy it once I'm there. My personal favorite spa in London would have to be the Savannah Urban Spa, on the quiet and charming Hereford Road in Notting Hill, not only because it's close by to my flat, but because the prices are pretty reasonable (bikini waxes range from £20 to 30 and mani pedis from £25 to 35), the service is quick and professional, and they actually really care about their customers. I'll also have to admit that I really really enjoy their mood music; and I'll sometimes find myself swaying side to side until the manicurist has to tell me to stop moving cuz I'm making her slip. But seriously, this place is a true find, so what are you waiting for? Go get pretty!!!

                      

                                Savannah Urban Spa, Hereford Road