Episode 14: Lonely Nights No More

Picture the scene; it’s a dreary Friday evening before payday, nothing on TV, everyone’s busy and your wardrobe and shoes are already ordered and colour coded... what could you possibly occupy your time with?

 Think of a dorky way to amuse yourself.

 ANYWAY being stuck in a book hangover* I couldn’t delve in my normal direction for solitary entertainment. This never happens to children. Ever. They always think of some way of having fun because they are so much more in tune with their imaginations than adults.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
~Albert Einstein

What would say an 8-year old budding young geek do? Make a mess first and foremost! So here are my ingredients;

If you have never tried any of these experiments when you were younger then clear your plans for next Friday because it’s fun AND tasty AND magical;

Chubby Gummy Bears

Well that’s lies, it’s not magic it’s just science J. EVEN better I'm sure you’ll agree. This is pretty basic science but I like to see things in action for myself, never take anything for granted!

Equation: Gummy bear + Glass of water + 12 hours = One chubby chewy bear

 

Procedure:  Put chosen gummy bear in a glass of water and leave overnight.

ITS ALIVE!! Nah, it’s just swollen because of Osmosis. Gummy bears are just sugar, water and gelatine. The sugar content means the concentration of water inside the gummy bear is lower than outside, the molecules of water then move in to try and balance this out and create an equilibrium. Normally you would expect this to dissolve in the water but the gelatine keeps it all together so we get giant sweeties! You actually don’t technically have any more gummy bear than when you started but at least you get your money’s worth in entertainment.

Starburst Gobstoppers

In my day these were opal fruits gobstoppers but sure we’ll just move with the times...

Equation: 4 starburst + rolling + freezer = homemade fruity gobstopper

 

Procedure: Squish up as many starburst sweeties as you like (I used 4, one of each flavour), roll them into a ball and leave overnight in the freezer.

Freezing stuff is always fun. Unless you’re one of those creeps that keeps their dead pet in the freezer, but we certainly aren’t doing that here. It’s pretty clear what’s going on, the yummy sweeties are warmed in your hands so they get soft enough to squish together into a nice ball. The freezer then cools them enough to go hard so they turn into a hard gobstopper. If you leave them to come back up to room temperature they return to their original state of molecular integrity. This works because your hands reach the right place between solid and before melting point to make them soft and the freezer temperature (~-20degrees Celsius) is cold enough to make the gobstopper hard but not brittle. 

This wouldn’t work with fruit pastilles for example because you would need to heat them to melt enough to combine into a ball, although maybe that’s an option for future! One of my favourite things was to make homemade ice lollies in ice cube trays with lemonade J.  

Coke Fountain

This is self explanatory. Fountain of Coke.

Equation: Diet Coke + Mint Mentos = *mini volcano*

Procedure: drop 3 mint mentos into a bottle of diet coke. (also prepare for mess)

I’m sure a lot of people have actually heard of this but never done it. It’s actually more impressive than my pictures make it look, its difficult to drop the mentos in, get away and take a picture. As I mentioned I was by myself or clearly I wouldn’t even have been doing it! I also bought a small bottle of Diet coke, rookie mistake BUT that’s what experimenting is about.

Luckily for me other people have studied this more extensively, although it does work with other drinks, Diet Coke gives the most impressive spurt of foam. I’ve read the optimum materials for this are a 2ltr bottle of Diet Coke and 6 mentos. DO THIS OUTSIDE, its eruption is more impressive than you probably imagine!

My scaled down version follows the same principle though.

The television show Mythbusters (A-MAZING) was actually the first team to really investigate what components caused this. The rapid formation of foam is caused by the potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO₂ in the liquid and gelatine and gum Arabic in the sweets. Specifically the mint mentos are integral to the reaction as their surface area is porous therefore giving a bigger surface area for the reaction to take place quickly.

After this, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Tonya Coffey had a team of scientists there investigate it. They found that the speed at which the sweets fell through the liquid also contributed to the jet of foam. All of the original theories like basic acid reactions or caffeine components were de-bunked.

Read the details of the study here in an article from New Scientist Magazine (aka The-Greatest-Magazine- Available-In-The-World-Ever.)

And you’ll have lonely nights no-more with science in your lifeJ.

(*Book Hangover: Inability to start a new book because you’re still living in the last book’s world)

Episode 13: Flat as a Pancake

Unless you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia I hope you’re ok reading episode 13? Not scared of the number 13? Good, please continue.

Hopefully it’s a lucky one? Well for me it’s an unlucky incident I'm afraid. Don’t mess with gravity; it’ll get you down...

“You may hate gravity, but gravity doesn’t care”

~Clayton Christensen

Long story short, there was this big fold up chair leaning against a wall, I was shuffling past, it dumped itself on my right foot. The only reason I knew I wasn’t dead was because I could still feel the pain.

I did however survive to tell the tale, it’s not even broken, as you can see in the picture above that dark shadowy patch on the side of my right foot isn’t a fake tan incident but is evidence of an impact which damaged my underlying blood vessels – a contusion, i.e. a bruise.

Bruises are areas of discoloured skin which are the result of trauma which has ruptured blood vessels (capillaries, or in worse cases venules) which in turn seep blood (haemorrhage) into the surrounding tissues. The seriousness of a bruise actually has a scale;

Harm score	Severity level	Notes
0	Light bruise	No damage
1	Mild bruise	Little damage
2	Moderate bruise	Some damage
3	Serious bruise	Dangerous
4	Extremely serious bruise	Dangerous
5	Critical bruise	Risk of death

I thought mine was a 5 but upon reflection perhaps in the grand scheme of things I would only score a 1. I say 1 and not 0 because although there was no underlying fracture to bones or organs it was painful enough to prevent me wearing heels to work all week.

Thus the photo above, thank goodness there are only 5 days in a work week because I only have 5 pairs of flat shoes that aren’t stinky trainers that could run out the door by themselves. These 5 are my Monday to Friday line up; lady brogues, dalmatian print, cream, gold glittery and appliqué flowers. All bases covered. I quite enjoyed having to make more of an effort with the rest of my outfit to still look professional but am definitely looking forward to sliding back into black stilettos next week!

It has brought to my attention the need to further define the scale of bruises that are specifically found in the foot/leg area;

Harm score	Severity level	Notes
0	Light bruise	The sky is the limit
1	Mild bruise	Platforms possible
2	Moderate bruise	Mummy Heels
3	Serious bruise	Stick to wedges/flats
4	Extremely serious bruise	Trainers/flip flops
5	Critical bruise	Stay in your slippers

This is how I will define my injuries to people in future;

“I hurt my leg”

“Was it bad?”

“It was like a 3, I had to wear wedges out to lunch”

If you fall victim to an impact injury remember the treatment; RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Luckily (unlike number 13) your body deal with bruises almost immediately as as soon as the endothelium of the capillaries is damaged, endothelin is released which causes the blood vessel to narrow and stem the blood flow to minimise bleeding. Von Willebrand Factor is also released which begins the coagulation (blood clotting process) to block the site of the wound until your tissue and be mended.

The entertaining colour change of bruises is actually due to the breakdown of the component of blood - haemoglobin which is gradually cleared from the area by phagocytosis.

 

Haemoglobin – Biliverdin – Bilirubin – Hemosiderin

Red/blue – green – yellow – golden brown

There you go, next time you see someone with a bruise you can a) inform them what stage it is at depending on the colour or b) recommend what shoe type to wear until recovery.

OR If I’ve disappointed you and you wanted to read about pancakes you can delight yourself with a peek back at Episode 4 for all your fluffy sweet sugary bread needs!

Episode 12: Geeks and Sweets - The Challenge

100% better than Alien vs. Predator; Nerds vs. Geek.

I was presented with a serious dilemma today.

Not in work, no no, that stuff is simple in comparison. Is your IL-6 high in patient sample 19 because of RF interference? Is my OXYC2 curve looking like a drunk trying to walk down a straight line because of ACE non-specific binding? Whatevs. I can deal with that, I can logically pick my way through the problem to the solution and experiment my way to success. This was an illogical dilemma with no 100% perfect solution yet known to mankind.

I found them. The favourite sweets you talk about from your childhood that you can’t get any more. They were there. In the shop. Being delicious and tooth-decaying-ly sugary. NERDS!! My homies in confectionary form. BUY THEM!

BUT

I was on the way to the dentist. Why life? Why? I mean obviously I bought them but now I have to feel bad about it. The sneaky sweeties challenged my brain into a ‘what do I dooooo?’ moment in the middle of the shop! 17 years of education did not prepare me for that. The age old questions of life aren’t ‘what is the meaning of life’ and ‘what is my purpose here’ but the stuff that challenges your inner logic every day;

·         What speed do you put the window wipers on at?

·         Do I put my monochrome dress in a white wash or a black one?

·         What do you clean a bog brush with?

I am yet to hear concrete satisfying responses to the above. I deal with them by;

·         Making someone else drive in the rain and complain when the wipers are too fast/slow.

·         Giving it to Mummy to wash.

·         1. Never touch the bog brush anyway

2. Buy a new one if it looks in any way shape or form smelly/scruffy/discoloured.

The grapple with my conscience paid off though because here on the back of the box is a lovely quote which I am putting on my desk immediately;

 

My favourite part and my new ethos for life “Mystic and Marvellous surprises that will Entrance, intrigue and delight you beyond measure... Feed your imagination”. Oh you sneaky dog Willy Wonka, you’re talking about science aren’t you? *Brain Food*

Oh I just thought of another one.

Do you indicate when you are taking the last exit on a roundabout in the right hand lane but geographically it is actually straight in front of you??

I’m not even going to try to answer that because even the sweets nearly beat me already.

Why can’t I ever resist them anyway? Sweetie, Fatty goodies? Oh yes thank you human body for being a hunter gatherer and loving everything that’s bad for me.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good and is released after eating sweet food. That means that you actually really do feel less stressed and tired after eating it. 4pm pick me up, thank you!

 I think I won the sweet challenge J. Just not the whole box of Nerds maybe? I’ll try.

Episode 11: The Truth About Hangovers

You may or may not have noticed I’ve been AWOL for quite a few days. Let me discuss with you something that has been close to my heart during that time.

“hang·o·ver

n.

1. Unpleasant physical effects following the heavy use of alcohol.

2. A letdown, as after a period of excitement.

3. A vestige; a holdover: hangovers from pre-war legislation.”

~Dictionary

Clearly I am referring to point 1. Now I’m not divulging whether the hangover which was the muse for this post was my own or if I was a witness to another’s grief. Whoever the owner of that particular hangover was though, I'm sure you will be glad to know, has made a full recovery.

Let’s look at that definition though.

“Unpleasant”- understatement of the century

“Physical” – you forgot psychologically harrowing and mentally destructive

“Effects” – symptoms of abuse would be more descriptive here

“Heavy Use” – now that really depends upon your age/sex/body/dinner/mental state

Here is my broader definition – The mini death experienced from 2-24 hours after drinking alcohol without having your dinner.

We all know the ‘rules’. Like the breaking of the school rules leads to detention, breaking of the drinking rules leads to hangover central.

The Rules

1.       Don’t mix grape and grain. Or ‘Beer after liquor makes you sicker’. Beer or Wine plus spirits = no.

 

2.       Eatin’ is Cheatin’ – Eating is cheating except what you are actually cheating is yourself out of a hangover. Cheat away and laugh at the apocalyptic zombies you have the pleasure of being friends with the next day. The greasier the better (the food, not your friends) as this will line your stomach better and slow down alcohol absorption.

 

3.       Every glass of water taken the night before saves you drinking two the next day. Hydration is KEY.

The actual rules s designated by UK government are; 21 units per week for men, including 2 alcohol free days and no more than 4 units in one day. For women it’s 14 units per week, no more than 3 a day and 2 free days per week.

Horrify yourself about the details of units here.

Recent studies have shown massive variations in guidelines though, even within Europe. Some countries make no differentiation between men and women and debate whether alcohol free days are required. I think my rules above are far more helpful, I’ll consider submitting them as internationally agreed consumption guidelines.
 

The Facts

1.       The Hypothalamus is a sneakily small part of the brain; its size is not relative to its role. It’s like the chief housekeeper of the body and drives Homeostasis (regulating and maintaining the internal conditions e.g. temperature,). Alcohol seriously upsets its delicate balance and this is displayed by increased blood pressure, hunger, thirst and urge to pee. Body and temperature and heart rate decrease.

 

2.       The pituitary gland, controlled by the hypothalamus, secretes ADH (anti-diuretic hormone). ADH acts on the kidneys to reabsorb water. Alcohol consumption leads to the inhibition of ADH which in turn leads to decreased absorption of water in the kidneys meaning you pee more often and become severely dehydrated. This is the main culprit for the hangover.

3.       Alcohol is broken down by an enzyme called Alcohol dehydrogenase into Acetaldehyde. A variant in the gene for this enzyme, found commonly in Asian people, leads to increased metabolism of alcohol. However many also have a variant in the gene for acetaldehyde dehydrogenase which breaks the acetaldehyde down which means that although they don’t feel as much of the ‘buzz’ from alcohol consumption, they have increased side effects due to toxic build up. This is called Alcohol Flush Reaction.

4.       Do not take paracetemol (acetaminophen). Paracetamol and ethanol are detoxified by the same pathway in your liver, the cytochrome P450 oxygenase pathway. Taking them both together can lead to critical shutdown by overloading the pathway. This dramatically increases chances liver cirrhosis, failure and death.

5.       The Hippocampus is a part of the brain involved in memory. Alcohol reaching here leads to the age old question ‘What happened last night?.

The Cure

Here it is!

 The scientifically proven antidote to all hangovers!

1.       Water

2.       H₂O

3.       Liquid dihydrogen monoxide (that’s just water too babes)

 was going to do a whole section on The Myths, but it’s much easier to say everything except water is a myth. Raw eggs, black coffee, having another drink etc only help either by delivering you their water content or delaying the effects.

It’s not really all that surprising, water is the basis for life on earth, and in this case can revive you from apparent death. I apologise for not giving you a matrix style pill that reverses the night’s damage and has you dancing around doing the housework and singing to mice Cinderella style. Or did you do that last night?

“Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as Hydrogen and Oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.”

~Dave Barry

Option 1 - If you have become unexpectedly inebriated the only way to avoid a hangover is to continue consuming alcohol until you die.

Option 2 - Option 1 is not a real option and I strongly recommend putting the jaegerbomb down, drinking some lucozade and going to bed. Followed upon awakening by a full Ulster fry and approximately an Olympic sized pool amount of water.

Option 3 – Stay sober? Or just follow up on your progress by paying better heed to The Rules next time and attempt to “drink responsibly”. https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

So really the truth about all hangovers is, they’re like paper cuts. You feel like you’re going to die and yet receive not one button of sympathy.  

Episode 10: Books or Looks?

I restrained myself last week.

 7^th March 2013 was World Book Day, but I waited.

I waited in order to give everyone a fresh slap in the chops with the wonders of literary genius.

I waited, but with a plan, to wait until a week later when you may have ‘forgotten’ to pick up that book you bought or ‘forgotten’ to read that new novel someone lent to you or maybe you even ‘forgot’ to go and sign up at the library?

NEVER FEAR! I am here to remind you to take that trip to the library, have a browse on Amazon or maybe even purchase the sequel to the book you decided to read last Thursday, all because of the encouragement provided from World Book Day.

People should be encouraged to follow a more book filled life. Books have always been a part of my life, as my mummy likes to tell people about my childhood; ‘Ruthie would just sit there in the corner with her wee book, no trouble at all’. Thanks mummy, so I’ve been a total geek my entire life then? She just kills any social credibility I may have mustered. But it was, and still is, true;

Here we have le bookcase bottom right, these shelves are dedicated to books I read for pleasure, academic books and textbooks etc. have another bookcase, on the top is my sausage dog book bookmark (see episode 7 for explanation) and the bottom left shows my little bookie beauties all lined up and waiting for my literary consumption, like a book to do list on the top shelf, yet to be explored.
It makes me happy just thinking about sitting down and reading them all.

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
~Jane Austen

I love listening to people reasoning out why they don’t read;

1.       I don’t have time to read. Do you not have time to eat, have a bath, travel to work or go to bed? Unlikely.

2.       I can’t afford books. Library?

3.       I have no space to put them. Although it isn’t my personal preferred method – eReader?

4.       I don’t like books. Well see you in hell blasphemer.

Saying you don’t like ANY books is an extremely loaded claim as you are implying that you have read every book and didn’t enjoy a single sentence. Have you read every book in the world?

No you haven’t, and your hypothesis on not liking ANY books is therefore null and void. It’s also very narrow-minded, like saying I don’t like ANY fruit because you didn’t like a plum you had once when you were sixteen.

Everyone likes something, unless you’re Eeyore, and in fact even he likes eating thistles. So you see Eeyore might enjoy reading a nice book about the best thistle species for summer and where to find them?

‘Having time’ to read is also an easily solved issue, most people these days spend their evenings watching TV. Mind-numbing, thought burning, intelligence annihilating TV. For HOURS on end. Everything in moderation, there’s nothing wrong with catching up with some of your favourite programmes and enjoying cuddling up with a movie. But just think on the fact that you burn more calories sleeping than watching TV. That is how much of nothingness TV is. Your brain is more active sleeping and you aren’t even conscious.

The benefits of reading;

·         It makes you smarter. Obviously! Not only are you keeping your brain active and improving your memory but you are gathering more information whether that’s learning real facts or dissecting moral dilemmas.

·         Reading improves your vocabulary, grammar and spelling which also benefits your own creativity and writing skills.

·         It’s a stress buster. I find this exceptionally potent myself, which is why I very often delve into fiction. Escaping from reality makes it much easier to step back and deal with issues.

·         It’s fun! You know what you could read which is regularly updated with interesting short reads? A blog ;).

The benefits of reading with a cup of tea;

·         Above list plus you also now have a nice cup of tea.

The benefits of reading with a cup of tea and biscuits;

·         Now you have tea AND 2 milk chocolate digestives. Win for life already and you haven’t even opened the book yet! It’s all about preparation, settle down somewhere quiet and comfortable and prepare to enjoy yourself.

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
~ C.S. Lewis

As highlighted in the movie Matilda by her somewhat simple-minded mother, Mrs Wormwood, some girls are led to believe you have to set your life down a path based on either books or looks. As if being academic means you couldn’t possibly groom yourself.

I mean sometimes you stay up late to just finish the end of the chapter, and then just the next chapter and then the next, and just a few more pages... and you know what? There’s not that much left to just finish the book! You probably look like you’ve suffered from a lifetime of insomnia the next morning because you were too tired to get up and brush your hair but wasn’t it satisfying finding out what happened to Harry and Voldemort??

Less of your old fashioned opinions Mrs Wormwood, smart women are sexy! Even with bags under their eyes...

 Everybody has their place of solace, a thing you do just for you that relaxes and refreshes and lets you escape problems and worries. Books do that for me,

and sometimes there’s even a snuggly sausage dog hiding between the pillows and blankets on your reading chair!

I have my book, my sausage dog, fluffy blankets, a cup of tea and 2 biscuits. If the fiancé comes around with a crème egg now I’ll just have to die because my life will have already hit its peak.

 

A few of my own recommendations for Geeks to get started;

 For a little Geek;

Tony Robinson’s Weird World of Wonders: Funny Inventions – Tony Robinson and Del Thorpe

For a Chic Geek;

How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything – Camilla Morton

For a History Geek;

Fall of Giants – Ken Follett

For a Fantasy Geek;

The Eye of the World – Robert Jordan

Episode 9: A Chic-y Geek-y Day

Geek and Chic. These two words have become synonymous together as a regularly coined phrase.

The phrase was first used by the fashion industry in the mid 2000s to define the trend of incorporating stereotypically ‘geeky’ ensembles into their shows. It’s a sort of semi-sophisticated style; think retro work wear, high waists and sensible accessories.  It also made glasses an acceptable fashion piece.

Being a geek is not wearing fake glasses but being passionate about your subject.  Someone should conduct a study on the connection between wearing glasses and IQ. Is your brain bigger so it affects your eyes because there’s no room for them? Maybe wearing glasses means your eyes can be lazier so there’s more energy for brain function? I think not. I think the correlation between people wearing fake glasses and being idiots would be much stronger.

I diverge, apologies.

Recently though, it’s actually more of a description than a specific fashion movement. Like someone saying ‘yea they’re kind of geek chic’ really translates as ‘they seem really smart but are actually pretty cool and fun and don’t wear tweed jackets and bow ties either’. Unless it’s in fashion of course, but ‘geek’ has morphed from an insult to a compliment.

It is very cool indeed to be a geek. Since everyone has read the humorous breakdown of the comparison of wealth of Bill Gates vs. Michael Jordan (have a laugh at it here; http://imgur.com/gallery/y2Brq) there has been a mental shift to; “Oooh, probably shouldn’t make fun of the physics nerd. Captain of the rugby team as your formal date? Nah, Captain of the chess club please!”

So now that I’ve convinced you that I’m cool..... oh. Right. You aren’t buying it? Whatever. My Glasses are real!! And I quite enjoy my paradoxical life. Running from a Genetics lecture to the launch of the first heat of Miss Northern Ireland is all in a typical Thursday. Quick change from scrubs to stilettos, moving between environments where the scale of image importance ranges from nothing to everything.

Public lectures aren’t really the kind of place you get your photo taken at. If you even asked someone to take a photo of you beside a groundbreaking molecular model of the structure of DNA they would be like why? Did you win an award? So I have a photo for you of the presentation screen and my complimentary cup of tea.

A Miss NI heat is a different cup of tea all together, you get your photo taken beside everything and everyone! And I love both atmospheres; they are social and relaxing for completely opposite reasons which is why I think they complement each other so perfectly. That is the real thing connecting the words Geek and Chic. Yin and Yang, life is all about balance.

You want to hear about my day? Well alright then, seeing as it was a good one!

Work bit – 6am. YES, 6am. Did you think it was all social hilarity and no work?

“For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work.”

~Jessica Savitch

 

 Geek bit – So I worked a little earlier than usual so I could get to a public Genetics lecture at my University, Queens University Belfast (QUB), specifically the School of Biological Sciences.

 I love Genetics even more than I love crème eggs. We had a great introduction to the ethical questions raised by modern advancements in the field of Genetics, entitled Genethics, from Prof. Anne Hughes of QUB.

Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 we have been made privy to a vast amount of data about ourselves. Our knowledge about genetic disorders as well as genetic susceptibility to certain illnesses has given us the potential to unlock personalised medicines and gene therapy. However;

“Knowledge Is Power”

~Sir Francis Bacon

“With great Power comes great Responsibility”

~Stanley Martin Leiber

Described wonderfully as the “50 Shades of Grey” in Genetics it demonstrates the varying shades of grey that people have on opinions of ethical importance, as well as the future problems we will encounter as our knowledge of genetics grows, perceptions of society develop and doctor patient relationships alter.

1.       Do you have the right to know the contents of your genetic code?

2.       And do others have the right to this information?

A potent decision in the near future for many people will be the potential for genetic screening of foetuses. This can include disorders from the mildly interfering to extremely debilitating like Kleinefelter Syndrome, Down Syndrome and Duchene Muscular Dystrophy.

With studies showing that the numbers of women terminating foetuses with genetic deficiencies is directly proportional to the doctor who gives them the news, needs for non-directive counselling is more crucial than ever. If the doctor suggests a termination is a viable option the responsibility is removed from the parents and can swing their decision either way.

Opposite problems also arise in that some parents can ask for attributes in their ‘designer babies’ for example to ensure the child has dwarfism if both parents are afflicted.

Screening of offspring can also implicate their parents. If a person decides to have themselves tested for say Huntington’s Disease as a grandparent has recently died of it, this directly affects their parent because if the test is positive their father or mother must also suffer from the disease.

There is also the potential for the information to be abused, for example by insurance companies.

Currently the UK operates a Freedom for Testing, Freedom from Testing policy.

Some great reads as recommended by Prof. Anne Hughes;

The Genius Factory - David Plotz

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

 You can imagine that after this mental moral struggle than I needed a cosmo or two;

 

Chic bit – Forget the I’ve-been-up-since-6am hair and makeup, note my Monochrome on Thursday homies. Working the s/s13 trends. Of course that dress is 2 years old but its allllll about style, which is timeless, fashion is not.

“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.”

~ Coco Chanel

I had the absolute privilege of being a finalist in the Miss Northern Ireland contest in 2012 after I won Miss East Belfast. I had never been to anything like that before and just decided to go for it as I was getting a bit long in the tooth, it was always an experience I wanted to have. It was absolutely fantastic, from the heats to the photoshoots, interviews and of course the big finale over 3 days in Belfast and the gala final.

I’ve always loved attending shows like Belfast Fashionweek with all the glitz and fashion, and you don’t get more glamorous than Miss NI. The experience as well as the fun and friends made it one of the greatest weekends!

 Although it took me a few weeks to even look at tan, eyelashes, hair extensions or high heels again...

So I was invited to attend the first heat for the launch of Miss NI 2013 at Cafe Vaudeville in Belfast. Unbelievably I felt more nervous at that than I did even at my own heat or catwalk-ing in a bikini at the final. I think it was mostly uncontained excitement for the opportunity the girls competing will potentially have. It was great to be back though mingling with the girls;

Even if I did jog there from a genetics lecture with hair and make up from 12 hours before, I had half an hour to change into my dress and put on my eyelashes. It’s not easy keeping up appearances! I have to morph from a nerd to a former beauty pageant contestant.

I thought I would include my favourite Geek and Chic moments, do you see something in common in those pictures above? This me rocking at my graduation from QUB and winning Miss East Belfast. Thank you timeless, beautiful dress for two of the best days ever :).  It’s definitely my dress for success!