To infinity and beyond!

Did anybody watch Inside Incredible Athletes on Channel 4 on Sunday night? It just made me realise that the human body really is an amazing thing! Take Liz Johnson, the swimmer with Cerebral Palsy, the left side of her brain can't control the right side of her body so to compensate for this the right side of her brain controls not only the left side of her body but also gives partial movement to the right side. Confused? Maybe, amazed? definitely!

Think you could give rugby a go? How about if you'd had your neck broken and were paralysed from the chest down?! Well Mandip Sehmi and Steve Brown play wheelchair rugby, affectionately referred to as "murderball" for England and at the moment are campaigning to have it considered as a sport in the 2012 paralympics in London. If you think that the wheelchair version of rugby is in anyway toned down then you are very much mistaken. These men, are rough, tough and not afraid to take a bit of a battering during the game!

These athletes, along with the others featured in the programme (and the following channel 4 programmes) are the best in their field be it swimming, running, blind football or dressage. I'd just like to tell you about one more athlete who wasn't featured on the show.

Aimee Mullins is an American athlete, actress and model. Pretty impressive list of achievements for anybody let alone someone who had both legs amputated below the knee at one year old. As you can probably tell, Aimee has never let this hold her back. Like the thousands of other paralympians and disabled sports men and women out there Aimee has turned her disability round as she has the ability to do such amazing things that maybe she wouldn't have realised had she been able bodied.

I first became aware of Aimee Mullens because in 1999 she modelled on the catwalk for the late, great British designer Alexander McQueen wearing a fierce pair of carved wooden prosthetic legs which he had designed just for her.

She also acted as Cheetah Woman in the 2002 film Cremaster 3, complete with these fantastically beautiful Cheetah limbs.

For someone interested in fashion, and modelling, Aimee Mullins is one of my biggest inspirations. She shows that you can do whatever the hell you want with your life if you don't let the little things stand in your way. Go for it, be who you want to be, for the most part the only thing stopping you is you. Who wants to get to 70 and have a life full of regret? Certainly not me! I'm well on my way to getting what I want out of life. It may not be easy and it may not be instantaneous but it's within sight and within reach. I'll get there, the question you have to ask yourself is will you?

Do you know the muffin man?

Hey! Long time no speak! Sorry i've not been writing the past few weeks, it's pretty odd moving across the country and having to adjust to new surroundings.

Well i'm still not in Southampton. I'm in Poole looking after my sister's kids over the summer. Moving in date is the 18th September. Cannot wait!!

No outfit posts today, or for a while, until I get myself a new camera. But... how does muffins grab you? I've been baking my little heart out while i've been here and took a photo of my chocolate-banana muffins the other day for you to drool over.

I'm sure you'll be wanting to make some of your own so here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

100g Plain chocolate, melted

150g Unsalted butter

175g golden caster sugar (but you can use ordinary caster sugar)

3 Eggs, beaten

175g Self-raising flour

1tsp Baking powder

25g Cocoa powder

2 large banana's, mashed

Heat the oven to 180, 160 - fan oven or gas mark 6

Mix together the butter and sugar, then add each beaten egg one at a time, mixing in well. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into the butter mix. Fold in and add the mashed banana and melted chocolate. Mix well and pour into muffin cases. This mixture is enough to fill 12 muffin cases. Bake for about 30 minutes.

A few days later I made chocolate-orange muffins using exactly the same recipe but changing the bananas for 200g of thin cut orange marmalade. They were absolutely amazing! Make sure though if you're making the banana muffins that you use ripened bananas!

Happy baking people!

When in doubt, eat cake!

So in approximately 13 and a half hours i'll be on my way down south! I've been saying goodbye to my nearest and dearest, it's been awful, probably the hardest thing i've ever done but thing's are only going to go up from hereon in.

So no outfit photos today, i've been more concerned with packing all my clothes the past few days rather than wearing them!

I have however been baking up a storm! Blueberry muffins last week and two lemon drizzle cake's this week. Two?! I hear you ask, yes two because the first didn't even last a day. Not to blow my own trumpet or anything but this is the most amazing cake i've ever tasted. Marks and Spencer's has nothing on me!

I found the recipe on a baking blog but tweaked it just a touch. I added cinnamon to the flour, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon on vanilla essence to the mix and the juice of one and a half lemons to the drizzle rather than one. I also found that 100g of sugar was too much for the drizzle so I lowered it to 75g.

Do you stand and deliver?

I don't think i've laughed so much in a long time as I did last night. I had a girly sleepover at my best friend's house and we decided it would be really funny to do our make-up as Adam Ant. So I chose Adam from the Prince Charming video and she chose Adam from the Stand and Deliver video.

Adam Ant songs are actually one of the first things we found out that we had in common. We're pretty much chalk and cheese so it's nice that we have a few things in common. Like Adam ant the Ants and Audrey Hepburn films.

It was so nice to just have fun and be silly for one last night before I go.

Today has been her little boy's first birthday so all morning we were sorting the house out, blowing up balloons and making sandwiches. Thank goodness i'd made his birthday cake last night and not this morning!

Good food and even better company.

I went for the most amazing meal last night. How I do love Akbar's, even when it's jam packed! Me and the girls went for a meal before I leave in 11 days!! It was such a lovely evening, even the torrential downpour which soaked my H! jacket and made it impossible to wear, or the fact that my train was cancelled and I had to get the bus home didn't ruin it.

I wore an old black, paisley cut-out dress from Primark, purple tights, biker boots from New Look and a vintage look cameo/lace brooch from Topshop.

It was chicken korma's and nan bread all round, stories and giggles, good food and even better company!

Best buds and vintage

I've been to see my absolute bestest friend ever today, love her so so so much and gonna be gutted when I leave her in two weeks. Also today I went to pick up my vintage drape coat from being altered, it was a size 22 and I am not a size 22 but where do you find a tartan vintage drape coat for £10, so I had it altered and it's fab! Stay tuned to see that one!

Talking of vintage, I'm wearing a vintage top today that I got from Babysaysboutique. Love love love this website, it sells some absolutely beautiful pieces. This top has a pleated section at the front and a tie at the side. You can also see my Onochord tattoo here.

Did you notice I have straight hair today?! Probably not because it's tied up but it dried funny so I had no choice other than to blowdry it and shot it up. It feels odd though, so used to it being curly now.

As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a thing for cameo's. (I even have a Bob Dylan cameo tattoo) Here is the latest addition to my cameo jewellery, a brooch from Topshop with vintage look lace bow. It's yum!

Baby's got a brand new bag

Oh how I love charity shops. There's a certain one in Redcar, the Kidney Research UK shop that always has something great every time I go in.

Yesterday I went in just for a look as I always do and found this beautiful navy blue overnight case. It was only £1.99. Yes that's right £1.99. I had to check the price tag about three times to make sure it wasn't £4.99 or £7.99, no it was a measly £1.99! As you can see It was a massive bargain and I just had to have it before someone else snatched it up.

This is also the perfect opportunity to show you another beautiful case I have. I've never actually used it yet, it's one of those things that i'm waiting to use but have never has a good enough excuse really. My sister bought me it for my birthday about two years ago, so far it's just been storing some of my many scarf's. It's beautiful, I love the 1920's style design.