This week saw the launch of this year's Books are My Bag campaign and its bigger and better than ever. This time round the theme is desert island books and I've been asked to name my 8 books I'd take if I was stranded on a desert island. Now I'm taking it as a Shipwrecked type situation (man I miss that show) where channel 4 would swoop in a save me if I was actually about to die otherwise my list would be looking like this:

1. Boatbuilding Manual
2. SAS Survival Guide: How to survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea
3. The Wilderness Survival Guide: The Practical Skills You Need for the Great Outdoors
4. Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: A Guide to Building Shelters in the Wilderness
5. Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers
6. How to Survive on a Desert Island (Tough Guides)
7. Pocket First Aid and Wilderness Medicine
8. Ultimate Navigation Manual

I went into Lush yesterday fully intending to only buy the Halloween products but after the woman in the shop sang to me I ended up leaving with one Halloween and two Christmas products.


Sparkly Pumpkin contains juniperberry, lime and grapefruit oils but doesn't smell like citrus. Instead it has quite an earthy autumny smell. It's a bubble bar so will fill your bath with sparkles and bubbles.


This bath bomb smells amazing, like sherbet and cinnamon. It contains popping candy and course sea salt for that fireside crackle.



Five baths in one. Just break off a ring and crumble it in for some christmassy bubbles. Unfortunately my five rings became 3 after they got crushed in my bag but they're still good to use. The smell is sweet yet christmassy. I can't wait to try it out.

My job involves being on my own quite a lot so I've taken to listening to podcasts while I'm in the office and it's quiet. I've been listening to them for a good number of years now but my consumption has gone to a next level in the last few months. I've put together a list of my top 5 at the moment. If you think I've miss any off please let me know because I'm always on the look out for new podcasts.

And Bates wonders why everyone thinks he's a creepy murderer...

I rewatched the last episode this week and have caught up with my recaps just in time for tonight. The final series of Downton Abbey starts tonight at 9pm and I'm not sure I'm ready. That said I do have a list of things I want to happen in this final series.

1. The Dowager Countess must die.
Hear me out. The Dowager Countess was born 1842. Series six is starting in 1925 making her 83. That's really old now, let alone back then. As much as I will sob for days it would an excellent, yet emotional, way to mark the end of an era and the end of Downton Abbey.
2. Carson and Mrs Hughes get married
And live happily ever after. The end.
3. Baxter and Molesley hook up
Just get on with it already.
4. Anna and Bates go be creepy else where
I used to love Anna. The hate for Bates has been there for a long time but last series it rubbed off on to Anna and now I don't care about either of them. Maybe they'll have the Amy Pond effect and I'll fall back in love with them just as we have to say goodbye but they need to go. They're clearly cursed.
5. Daisy gets her GCSEs
I asked my friend Sophia (@sophiasaywhaat for quality Downton tweet-a-longs) what she wanted from this final series in she summed up what I want to happen to Daisy in one sentence, Daisy needs to get her GCSEs. She's the owner of a farm when is she going to remember that? I'm hoping she'll finally find some self confidence and move out and up in the world and become boss lady of the farm. That or as they suggested in the last episode, write a cookbook. Either way I hope she stays close enough that Mrs Patmore can still come and hang out with her.
6. Edith and Marigold move to London
Much like Daisy, Edith needs to remember she's the owner of a newspaper company. She needs to move away from the shadow of Downton and more importantly Mary and make a life for herself. I can totally see her getting more involved in paper and doing really well for herself in London. She just needs to break free.
7. Branson comes back
We know he does come back at some point. He's in loads of the final days of filming photos but I really hope it's not just for the final episode. I want as much Branson time (and Sybbie/Donk time) as possible. That said I want him to be happy. I'd be zen with him living on the estate somewhere with Sybbie and maybe a new wife, as long as she was lovely.
8. Mary
To be honest I'm not exactly sure what I want from Mary. I have a horrible feeling she's going to fall for the racing driver from Christmas and then he's going to crash. It would be great if that didn't happen. She should have married Charles Blake.
9. Robert doesn't die
The angina/ulcer shenanigans of the Christmas episode were too much. If he drops dead leaving George as the new Earl of Grantham I'll be so cross. Yes a new Earl would be a new start but I'm not down. Especially if he died and the Dowager doesn't. Cora and Robert just need to grow old together. It would be good if he didn't loose the entire estate and all the money but this is Robert Crawley, who am I kidding? 
10. Thomas finds a man
I'm so glad Thomas is back to his sassy, evil ways. I'm hoping he'll fall in love with someone that loves him. Possibly an aristocrat and he can leave Downton to become his "valet".
11. BONUS - They get a puppy
I had this fantasy that in the last Christmas episode that they'd buy Robert a puppy for Christmas and the puppy and Sybbie would become best buds. They would go off on adventures together and be so inseparable that Branson and Sybbie would have to stay in Yorkshire. It didn't happen, the Branson's went off to America, but I still want a Downton puppy.

49 of the fifty states are represented in the stained glass at the top. They're still working out how they're going to fit Hawaii in.

After a kinda disappointing tour of the Capitol we walked down the tunnel that connects to the Library of Congress and arrived just in time for the next tour. After a short video explaining the role of the Library everyone was split into 3 smaller tour groups and assigned a guide. We were given Shelley and jumped aboard #shelleystour.As soon as this little lady in bright fuchsia started bellowing SHELLEY'S TOUR as she walked up the stairs we knew we were in for a good time.

Shelley turned out to be some what of a rebel and we loved her for it. Highlights included see the beautiful reading room and one of the three remaining copies of the Gutenberg Bible. As well as Shelley going off tour to show us a cabinet containing the photo of the first meeting of the AME church. She showed it to us as a mark of respect for the recent shooting in South Carolina but while we were there she also pointed out the irony of a receipt in the cabinet from Thomas Jefferson selling one of his slaves to another founding father.

Buffalo Wild Wings
After a day schlepping round DC all you need is a massive plate of wings. My friend, Emma, who I was travelling with, knew just the place. BDubs, as its know by the cool kids, is a sports bar restaurant that specialises in buffalo wings in a whole host of flavours. Delicious and good value and being in America, massive portions, I can vouch that those wings tasted just as good the next day.The most exciting bit though is the iPad they give you when you're seated. It contains trivia games and poker that you can play against those on your table and in the rest of the restaurant. Being quite competitive and loving a good quiz we found ourselves locked in a battle with "Adecat" and we won every time.

Michelle Obama's inauguration ball gown.

My favourite parts were seeing the original Star Spangled Banner that was the inspiration for the song (the sheer size of it was incredible) and the exhibition of the Presidents and First Ladies. Unfortunately I’ve lost a majority of the photos I took on my phone while out there otherwise you’d be looking at a picture of me behind the president’s lectern right now doing my best Obama impression. On display was a number of belongings from the past presidents including the hat Abraham Lincoln wore when he was shot but my best bit was the display of dresses worn by all the First Ladies on their husband’s inaugurations since 1909.

When it comes to skincare I've never been very good. My "routine" for the last few years has been rubbing my face under the shower and slapping on some moisturiser when I remember. Every now and then I'd use an exfoliating scrub but that was it. I quite often didn't even bother to take off my make-up if I'd been wearing it. Gross I know, but I could just never be bothered.

Then I got lost in a Sali Hughes/Caroline Hirons YouTube loop. Watching their videos made me realise skincare is important and I need to make more of an effort. Growing up I had awful acne from about the age of 10 until 18. My skins only really been pretty clear in the last 2 years. I tried loads of stuff on that, including prescription treatments, but what worked the because what just leaving my skin alone. Since my oily, spot ridden teenage years my face has become more dry and just leaving it alone no longer works. So I've gone out and gotten myself a set of products and am now slowly training myself into a routine that takes better care of my face.

I'm now where near perfect and doing it every day yet but it's a positive change and my skin is looking better for it. As I've started using lots of new products all at once I have no idea if it's one particular product that's working well or all of them together but I'm happy with the results so far.




I've really not a fan of bananas. I had a banoffee cupcake the other day at work after being told it was a toffee cupcake. It was the worst betrayal known to man. So when I bought this I was taking a risk. Luckily it doesn't smell particularly banana-y. It anything it smells like playdoh. You do get a hint of banana after its been on for a while but it's not too strong and by then I'm washing it off any way. I use this every now and then for a pamper.

I've wanted to go to New York City for years and I wanted to visit Washington DC ever since seeing Night at the Museum. On a whim I booked my flights a couple of weeks ago and I'm off at the end of the month to join some friends for 9 days visiting the Big Apple and Obama's home. I love planning holidays and I have a few things that help me along the way that you might find useful too.

Guide Books



Any excuse to buy some new books, the first thing I did after buying the tickets was run down to my local bookshop and pick up some guide books. While I really like having good old google for tips and things to see from people who have already visited wherever I'm going nothing beats having a flick through a guide book and getting all excited about your upcoming trip. DK guide books are my favourite as they are packed with pictures They're great for making a list of places you'd like to see and then if needs be doing your own research. These ones also come with a removable map so you don't have to lug the guide book with you.



One Note



I LOVE MICROSOFT ONE NOTE. It's a totally underused tool in the Microsoft Office suite. Whenever I'm planning anything, a party, a holiday, this blog, I use One Note as a place to store my thoughts and findings. It's basically a computerised notebook that you can use however you want. For my trip I've made 3 main sections, one for over all plans, one for New York and one for Washington DC. So far the city sections have links for things I'd like to do and see, suggestions from friends and my hotel details. You can see some of the things I got in the main plans section, visa, flights and lists. The tick list part is my favourite bit of One Note. It's available online and as a computer program and mobile app. Ultimately the computer version is the best but they all sync together so I'll have all my information with me on my phone and backed up on the internet.


Google Hotels


This tip was something on only discovered the other day. When you type an area into Google Maps it gives you the option to search for nearby hotels. You can then enter in your dates and it gives you prices on the map for each hotel. Obviously you can then hunt around using your own comparison websites to make sure you're getting a good price but it's a great tool to find out what the cheapest hotels are in a specific area.

I love getting beauty boxes. Who doesn't like a box of surprise goodies once a month? It's like a mini Christmas. So when Pink Parcel, a subscription service that sends sanitary protection and some beauty treats to your door, announced they were giving a completely free box to anyone who signed up on International Women's Day I jumped at the chance to try it.

On the 17th March I received an email saying my box had been dispatched and that if I hadn't received it within 72 hours I should contact them. 72 hours passed and I gave it a few more days before contacting them on the 22nd (5 days after it was "dispatched".) The next day I received a reply saying Royal Mail hadn't picked up half the parcels they were supposed to but they had now contacted them and I should receive my parcel by the start of next week (around 30th March). By the end of that next week my parcel still hadn't arrived and my period had been and gone. I contacted them again on the 5th April, this time in a tweet venting my frustration. At first I had been sympathetic. Royal Mail had supposedly let them down, that's not their fault, but now I was still waiting for my parcel and it got me thinking, surely someone would have realised fairly quickly if half the parcels were still in their offices and it would have just been good customer service to email and explain what had happened without me having to chase them. They replied to my tweet and asked me to DM them with what's happening. I explained and they apologised stating my replacement parcel hadn't been requested and that they'd had a customer service person who "didn't quite work out" and they were recruiting a new person at the moment. They admitted that was no excuse and said they would refund me the price of the box. They then realised I was one of the free box customers and said if I took up a subscription they would "definitely make sure" I got a free parcel again.



I told the lady I hadn't cancelled my subscription so I should be receiving April's box in the next week. April 16th came and there was no sign of my replacement March box or the April box. Once again I DMed them and ask if my replacement box had been requested and that the website said my dispatch day would the 11th but I was yet to receive a dispatch email. They replied with a message that was over 140 characters so I only got half of it. Seriously, first rule of twitter, keep it within 140 characters! How can someone doing customer service/social media for a company not know this? What I got from the half a message though was that she wanted my email address so she could do something... that was the bit that got cut off.

I told her my email address and she told me she'd emailed me so she wouldn't go over the word count again. I never received an email but in the few hours a waited to see if an email would appear my parcel arrived. Looking at contents reviews online the box I received was the replacement March parcel. Once again I DMed and said I'd not received an email but my box had turned up. Again she said she'd emailed me and again I received nothing so I sent her a different email address to try.

This time all I received was an out of office reply. I waited a few days thinking that as it was around 5pm when she'd been DM'ing me maybe she was leaving work and would deal with it the next day. Three days later I DMed again and said I'd only received an out of office reply. She asked for another email address and claimed she'd sent another email. Yet again I just received an out of office reply. By now this had been going on for nearly a month and we'd tried three different emails. In the end I just felt so embarrassed at constantly asking for emails to be resent that I just stopped bothering to complain. I felt like I was looking like an idiot who didn't know how to work email even though it was clearly a problem at their end.

Despite all this I didn't cancel my subscription on the off chance that my parcel would turn up. It never did but I wasn't being charged so I kind of forgot about it all for two months when out of the blue I got an email, "Your parcel has been dispatched." I checked my bank account and I'd been charged £5.95 which is their first box special offer price. The box then arrived within 48 hours of the email and I was suitably impressed. Out of curiosity I decided not to cancel the subscription and leave it to see what happens the next month. Again, this month, just before my period I got a dispatch email and within 48 hours a parcel. This time I was charged the usual £9.99.

I have absolutely no idea what was going on with the emails or why my parcels for April and May weren't delivered.Nor do I understand why after two months of nothing they suddenly realised I am one of their customers and started sending the boxes again. If we're looking for silver linings at least they never charged me during those months.

The thing is, despite all that hassle and frustration, I actually really love the box. Let's be real here, being someone that has periods is expensive. Tampons and sanitary towels are not cheap. So when you consider that Pink Parcel costs £9.99 it really is good value. Each box contains either tampons or pads of your choice. I got the Always Infinity pads which are one of the most expensive brands in the shops. I've done the maths and if you were paying full price in the shops for the number of pads you get with Pink Parcel you'd be paying £6.75! That makes the rest of box cost a grand total of £2.24 and the quality of the extra stuff you get is amazing.



This is by far the best parcel of all three. The serum, mascara and sunscreen are great, high price items. The lip balm seems a bit cheapy but with the other items being so great who cares?


The two boxes I've received for the last two months have arrived on time and with no hassle. I have no idea what the hell was going on at the start but it seems like they've sorted it all out. For value for money it's definitely worth it as long as they've fixed their customer service problems.

www.pinkparcel.com

It's been a while since I last listened to an audio book. In fact I think the last time was when I was 17 and stood in the snow measuring ivy leaves on a biology field trip. Naturally I was hating the fact I stood in the snow measuring ivy but I did it with the company of a Torchwood audio book and smug in the knowledge I wasn't one of the poor sods, I mean fellow classmates, currently stood in a stream.

Whitchurch Silk Mill, Hampshire
Open Tuesday - Sunday 10:30 - 5:00pm
Admission: £4.50

After a US based postal system failure my parcel from the reddit snacks exchange finally arrived and it was totally worth the wait. I received an amazing mix of snacks from round the world. A tasting video should be up soon!

In 2009 a user on the website Reddit decided to do a secret santa. Last Christmas 212483 people took part in the 2014 exchange. Alongside the big Christmas Secret Santa, redditgifts , the website they now use to host the exchanges, also do themed exchanges throughout the year. I've taken part in number of these over the last two years, videos of me unwrapping some of them can be found on my YouTube channel.

The latest of these has been the book exchange. As you can see from my video I got a great selection but the part I enjoyed the most was picking out books for my person. She told me she likes sci-fi/dystopian books and put the hunger games down as her favourite book. With this in mind I went to Waterstones picked up a copy of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel as I'd enjoyed it so much myself a few weeks before hand. I also got another book that I've now forgotten the name of but the guy in the store recommended it to me and I thought why the hell not. Then I went down to Dulwich Books and enlisted Chloe's help in picking out 3 more. Dark Star by Olivier Longmead, a noir sci-fi written in epic verse, The Girl With All The Gifts by M. J. Carey a novel about zombie children and Red Rising by Pierce Brown, that Chloe described as the Hunger Games but better and with more death. All in all I think I did pretty well. It's great fun trying to put together a parcel for a stranger based purely on a few paragraphs they've written.


If you fancy taking part in a reddit exchange have a look here and see which ones are running at the moment: www.redditgifts.com

On 8th March I put on my dancing shoes and grabbed my friend Emma and headed up to Wembley Arena for a marathon dance session, a danceathon if you will.

All of this was in aid of comic relief. It was a 6 hour slog, changing styles every 30 minutes. The instructors who led each section were amazing and kept everyone going. I was particularly grateful for the diva session which came just as I was really flagging and regretting signing up about half way through. With the help of Britney, Beyonce, Xtina and friends as well as the only dance instructor I've ever seen wear a suit to teach in I got through that half hour and felt more energised.

A favourite moment from the day came during the bashment (no that is not a misspelling of basement like some of my unnamed friends thought. For those who have never heard of it before, it's Jamaican dance hall music.) section. The instructor's microphone kept failing and deafening everyone. A sound person ran on and tried to fix it but it was no good. After yet more ear splitting crackling noises the instructor had to run off leaving us and the stage full of celebrities left unsure what to do. It was at that point Rufus Hound stepped forward and improvised a routine for us all to follow. It was hilarious. You can see a bit of it in the video above.

I wore my Jawbone Up24 step tracker that day and was informed that by the end of the day I'd hit 20 miles worth of movement! On the train home I ate a KFC Big Daddy meal and for the first time in my life I've already burnt off the calories I was shovelling in my mouth.

The whole thing was exhausting but totally worth it. I had a great time, did some exercise and raised £265 for comic relief.

My sponsorship page is still live so if you are feeling generous and wish to help me get to £300 feel free to donate here: http://my.rednoseday.com/sponsor/laurenkane  thank you! x

One of my favourite things about the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square is that instead of programmes they sell the play text with cast lists inside, all for the grand price of £3. Considering the average price of a play text is £10, despite quite often only being 100 pages long, this is an absolute bargain. About a month ago I started wondering if all their texts stay at £3 or if the price goes up after the show so I paid a visit to their online shop. Lo and behold they had quite a few on there for £3 but what really caught my eye was something labelled 'Surprise Playtexts'. For £10 you can get a lucky dip bag of 5 random plays. I immediately ordered and selected collect from box office to save me even more.

Now skip to last Wednesday when I saw a tweet from the Royal Court mentioning that their bookshop would be open at 4pm and suddenly I remember that I never collected those books! So on Friday, after a trip to Spitalfields City Farm*, we headed over to West London to collect the books. Unsurprisingly the woman in the box office told me the books hadn't been sent up to the box office (like I said I ordered them a month ago) and that I could collect them from the bookshop downstairs which opened at four. One handbag later and a good look through the kitchen and haberdashery sections at Peter Jones and we returned to the theatre to collect the books.

The bookshop is a small section downstairs in the bar, it's tiny in comparison to the National Theatre's bookshop. I've yet to have a drink there but it seems really nice. We were greeted by a very friendly man with magnificent glasses, who told me he didn't have any surprise bags already put together at the moment but he would go and pick some out now from his magical cupboard. As he left he asked if I was reading or writing so I felt like he was putting some thought into my "random" section.

The bookseller returned from his magical cupboard with a selection in his hand and stuck them in a white paper bag. "I don't know why, but I got you four female writers," he told me, "These are going to change your life." "Excellent!" I replied. Once outside I sat in the sun and had a look at what I got.





If you fancy getting your own surprise set of texts they are available from:
http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/shop

Royal Court Theatre is in Sloane Square next door to Sloane Square tube station. 
The bookshop is open Monday to Friday 4pm – 8pm Saturday 2pm – 8pm. 
Most productions do £10 tickets for Mondays which you can book on Monday the week before.



*If you wanna see a lamb being scared by a pigeon click here

• A book with more than 500 pages
• A classic romance
• A book that became a movie - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
• A book published this year - The Shadow Cabinet - Maureen Johnson
• A book with a number in the title - Station Eleven - Emily St.John Mandel
• A book written by someone under 30
• A book with non-human characters
• A funny book
• A book by a female author - The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart
• A mystery or thriller
• A book with a one word title
• A book of short stories
• A book set in a different country
• A nonfiction book
• A popular author’s first book
• A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet
• A book a friend recommended - Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloane
• A Pulitzer Prize-winning book
• A book based on a true story
• A book at the bottom of your to-read list
• A book your Mum loves
• A book that scares you
• A book more than 100 years old
• A book based entirely on its cover
• A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t
• A memoir
• A book you can finish in a day
• A book with antonyms in the title
• A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit
• A book that came out the year you were born
• A book with bad reviews
• A trilogy
• A book from your childhood - The Past, The Present and The Loud, Loud Girl - Karen McCombie
• A book with a love triangle
• A book set in the future
• A book set in high school - Paper Aeroplanes - Dawn O'Porter
• A book with a colour in the title
• A book that made you cry
• A book with magic
• A graphic novel - Displacement - A Travelogue - Lucy Knisley
• A book by an author you’ve never read before
• A book you own but have never read
• A book that takes place in your hometown
• A book that was originally written in a different language
• A book set during Christmas
• A book written by an author with your same initials
• A play
• A banned book
• A book based on or turned into a TV show
• A book you started but never finished