Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle Costumes!!!

A fairly long time ago (over 10 years which is worrying) I made a teenage mutant hero turtle costume for various fancy dress parties at university (cartoon character, animal, superhero....). We only had one fabric shop at uni, which wasn't great, and for costumes, there was the added challenge of only buying remnants of fabric from the bargain bin. I think the fabric for my original costume cost less than £2 and it has been worn many many times.

When we were invited to a New Years superhero fancy dress party, a friend as if I had any ideas of what her and her boyfriend, and me and my boyfriend could go as, and I practically shouted at her: TEENAGE MUTANT HERO TURTLES!!!

It was high time Donatello got some friends.

So I took my costume into my local favourite fabric shop (A-One Fabrics on Goldhawk Road) and although I couldn't find anything exactly the same, as my original costume had been so cheap, and they only sell nice fabrics, I found some pretty good matches.

Here are some photos from New Years Eve....I think we all rock the green look!

Not bad for an afternoon of sewing....

What A Strange Country - Oh Wait, It's Malaysia!

Malaysia! Such a beautiful, underrated holiday destination, but also a rather strange place! We crammed a lot into our 3 weeks, and hopped all over the country, visiting the capital, an island, the jungle, another island, with Sharon's house on the mainland, some tea plantations in the mountains, another island, a historical city, then a short stop in Singapore, before the overnight train back to KL.

On Pulau Tioman we saw loads of fish, quite a lots of monkeys, and I got sprayed by a cat whilst at dinner one night!

We had the most amazing Satay one night, as well as some scrumptious Singapore noodles and far too many cocktails.

After a short stay in the jungle where we encountered far too many leeches than is necessary (only about 5 but that's 5 more than I' comfortable with) we headed to Penang for a stay with Sharon! She was an amazing tour guide and took us to all the best places and made us eat all the local delicacies. Including Cendol. Do not eat cendol - it's weird! Who puts noodles and beans into their pudding??

Onto another island, and we headed to Pulau Pangkor which was very calm and quiet compared to Tioman, but we did manage to persuade one of the local barmen to bring us mojitos on the beach at sunset every day. And there was an inflatable obstacle course in the sea. And a temple with a Mickey Mouse and a mushroom. What more could you want?

From Pangkor we headed to Melaka (my Greek housemate says this means 'arsehole' in Greek so finds it pretty funny every time I mention this!) which was a beautiful old city. It was baking hot but we still managed to fit in lots of wandering and a visit to one of the local night clubs.

Then we headed South to Singapore (followed by a Frenchman who we were very rude to) and spent a classy day and a bit in a posh hotel with a rooftop pool, a cocktail at the Raffles Hotel and then a good explore.

We overnight trained it back to Kuala Lumpur and did a final bit of sightseeing and finished off our bargainous shopping, before partying in style at the Reggae Mansion - the best hostel in the world!

I loved Malaysia (so much more than Thailand!) and would definitely recommend it as a holiday destination!!

Interview, Sales & Other Reasons To Go Shopping

Twice a month I have a Wednesday off and I always try to use my Wednesdays wisely. On this particular Wednesday, as well as going to my usual Barre & Stretch Class and Jazz Class at Pineapple, and going along to give blood, I also did a spot of sale shopping.

I was on Oxford Street anyway, as I went to the West London Blood Centre and so seeing as there were all these big red inviting signs saying 'Sale' everywhere...I couldn't really say no!

I ended up buying this outfit which is pretty good going seeing as I'd been after a pair of smart black shorts and a yellow cardigan for ages. And then the Shirt was so cute I couldn't resist.

I did feel slightly bad when I got home but the whole outfit only cost £39 which is pretty amazing really! So where's it all from...

1. Cardigan = Mango £11

2. Blouse = Urban Outfitters £18

3. Shorts = Gap £9.99

I wore it to my interview at work...fingers crossed it made a good impression!