To Tinder or not to Tinder?

Having a pretty busy work life I like to spend what evenings and weekends I get free doing not much at all, as boring as that may sound.

So how does a single gal go about meeting a lovely chap when she's at home in her pjs with her hair in rollers? And that's when I heard about Tinder.

Tinder has been all over the internet but just in case you're sitting there thinking "what is this Tinder?" then I'll explain.

You set up a profile, the images and biog of which are initially taken from you Facebook page, although you can edit it if your Facebook pics don't show you in you best light. Then you set a radius, say you only want to hook up with guys in a 20 mile radius of where you live set the radius and voila.

Once that's done you're ready to get going. A guy will show up on your screen and you swipe one way for yes, the other for no. If you have said yes to a guy that has also said yes to you, you will be informed of this match and you can either say hi or carry on playing.

When I first downloaded the app onto my iPhone, I'm won't deny it, I was obsessed. I would be working at my desk itching to get on it and see what potential beaus Tinder would show me.

And a word of warning here, some people are there for a bit of fun. When a pciture of a guys crotch shows up you know it's not true love they have on their mind, and you quickly swipe to no. 

Swiping through I amassed a fair few matches quite quickly which was great, but this is where it all sort of went wrong for me.

I am incredibly old fashioned and will never chase a guy I like. I just assume if a guys feelings are mutual they will do something about it. But sadly for me we aren't in an old black and white movie and sometimes I, the girl, have to make the first move. And that right there terrifies me.

So despite all of these matches on Tinder, I haven't actually done a single thing about it. I have been on one Tinder date but, from the stories I've heard from other Tinder users I could have been on a lot more.

Deep down though I'm  not too bothered. Granted people meet organically, eyes across a bookshop style, less and less today, but I still have hope.

Delusional? Maybe. I just like to think it's having hope that technology hasn't taken complete control of my entire life.

A few of my friends have suggested I start internet dating (I'm only 23 don't write me off as a hopeless case just yet!), but  I don't think I'm quite ready to give up hope of meeting a chap the old fashioned way. And for me Tinder, although it is very much a step in that direction, it's more a curiosity thing.

You never know maybe I will meet my Mr Darcy via the app, in which case I would like to thank it's creators. But for now I'm going to hold out for something a bit more old fashioned.

A hearty hello to you and welcome

Having neglected this for far too long (if there were any avid followers out there, can't apologise enough) I have decided to get back on the blogging horse as it were.

After a press dinner last night I decided I had lots of opinions I wanted to share with the world (granted I had had several glasses of wine).

But before we get bogged down in putting the world to right and sharing my day to day adventures, just a quick catch up.

Anyone who read this a while ago will have seen that I was an intern at The Lady, well now I actually work for them as a Staff Writer. Have also moved to the big smoke from my hometown of Southend. This means although I miss my Morris Minor (and of course my family) life is a tad more exciting!

So hello again and stay tuned.

Hats beautiful, rather large, hats!

Well things have been rather hectic as usual here.

The Lady's jubilee edition, not to be missed, will be out next Friday so it's been all hands on deck to make sure that we produce the ultimate Jubilee guide!

And even if I do say so myself, it is shaping up to be really quite brilliant.

In other news, I went to a rather fun event at the Sloane Square Peter Jones department store earlier this week. With the races upon us most ladies thoughts have turned to beautiful hats. With that in mind, this week Peter Jones opened their new Hat Academy.

To mark the opening of the academy, Vivien Sheriff, milliner to the royals, hosted an event in which we all got to enjoy several glasses of pink bubbly and try on lots of beautiful, rather large hats. Including one that the lovely Kate Middleton wore to her first royal engagement in Anglesey.

Being a lover of hats I had an absolute blast, and am now looking for an excuse to buy a beautiful Vivien Sheriff hat...

Ascot anyone?

Tea cups and gin

This weekend was yet another opportunity for me to don me 20s get up and party like it's 1929.

New dress on (a beautiful duck egg blue drop waist number) and hair set with many pic curls, my friends and I set off for The Victoria Tunnels in London for this months Prohibition party.

As always, I knew it would be a totally spiffing evening, especially as we had consumed large amounts of booze on the minibus enroute! But the acts of the evening made it a real night to remember!

Tricity Vogue was the star event of the evening in my eyes. Performing real old tunes and new tunes with a 20s sound, there wasn't a lot you couldn't like about Tricity Vogue.

Singing along to Video Killed the Radio Star whilst supping Gin and Elderflower from a very pretty teacup was a real highlight of the evening.

If you've never heard of Tricity Vogue then I'd strongly advise you check her out!

An evening or Sea Chanties and wine

Jazz music is always going to be where my main musical passion lies. But I also love folk music and sea chanties.

There is just something about the sound of a fiddle that makes me want to jump up and jig around- although I usually just keep it to a lively foot tap!

Maybe it's my love of, and the fact that i live near the sea that makes me appricate this music. But i think in the main, it's the melancholy tunes and words that have me hooked. Sailors singing of their love on dry lands, it's so heartfelt how can you not be moved?!

Being an old romantic, melancoly tunes are very much on my radar, so an evening of sea chanties and wine in a little hide away in Limehouse, is my idea of an evening well spent.

Retro Sunday

In sunny Southend on the second Sunday of every month Jiveswing hold a social swing dance night. It's always a great night but after The Essex All Dayer the day before on Saturday I was really quite excited to go dancing again and show off my new moves. Despite my aches from the 12 hours of dancing the day before!

Yesterday however, was a very special Retro Sunday. Myself and three other friends had been working on a Charleston routine for a while and yesterday we performed it for the first time as The Charleston Chicks!

Here it is in video form for you to enjoy, but come along to a Jiveswing event and see us perform it for real! Check out the Facebook page or follow on twitter!

It's only Tuesday and i'm pooped!

Yesterday was probably one of the busiest days I've had in ages!

As well as doing my usual work I was also calling various people trying to get some bands to play at Southend's swing dance night, Retro Sunday.

I had my phone glued to my head pretty much the whole day, but hopefully it will pay off! We now have one band booked, and two other bands interested! All in a days work, yes, I am the queen of organisation!!

It looks like Retro Sunday could really be very exciting. So keep the second Sunday of every month free!